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Thread: LOTR Remastered: The Last Days of Gondor

  1. #1

    Default LOTR Remastered: The Last Days of Gondor

    An attempt to get back into writing that will coincide with me playing the new Lord of the Rings mod for RTW Remastered. I was torn between this and a Late Roman AAR, it may be that I attempt both, but my eagerness to try out the new mod won over for now.

    We will begin with the failing kingdom of Gondor trying to hold back the darkness. Stay tuned.
    Last edited by Gandalfus; August 02, 2022 at 10:56 AM.

  2. #2
    McScottish's Avatar The Scribbling Scotsman
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    Default Re: LOTR Remastered: The Last Days of Gondor

    And I am here to watch this. Let's be having it.

  3. #3
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: LOTR Remastered: The Last Days of Gondor

    Me too, I'm looking forward to seeing Gondor's last days.

  4. #4

    Default Re: LOTR Remastered: The Last Days of Gondor

    Chapter I: A land of waning glory.

    Forgive my weary and shaking hand, for I am not as young or vital as I once was. I dictate these words to posterity in the name of Denethor of the House of Hurin, twenty-sixth ruling steward of the Kingdom of Gondor. Being but a humble scribe, I obey the wishes of my lord and master, who wishes to compose the history of the waning years of his reign, which in his wisdom he has foreseen to also be the waning years of our beloved kingdom. It fills my breast with sadness and longing to write that the realm of Elendil and the last light of Numenor shall fall, but I dare not doubt the word of our Lord Denethor. With his own eyes he has beheld the victory of the eastern shadow and the end of all things. Though age and weariness stoop his back and grey his hair, he remains a great man. If Gondor is to survive, it shall be within the tomb of these pages. My arm can no longer lift steel to strike at the hated foe, so I shall make do with spilling ink instead of blood.

    Berethor: Forgive me, dear reader, for scribbling in the margins. Though this work is officially to be presented to the steward, I have decided to keep my own private copy to note the 'true' history, as it were. Some things must absent themselves from the official history for the good of the realm, so they shall survive on my bookshelf instead.

    Denethor II


    So I begin. My lord Denethor has ruled Gondor wisely and well for three decades. But the Shadow has again risen in the east, against which there can be no lasting victory. For thirty years the sons of Gondor have held the Anduin with steel and blood, and though the frontiers have held the enemy at bay, it has been hard won. Many fathers, sons and brothers have ridden off to the brazen ringing of silver trumpets, and each year fewer and fewer return. For now, the eastern bank of the Anduin holds. But my lord's foresight has sensed that soon the enemy will press fast and hard against our eastern defences. The thrice-cursed Wraith King musters his legions within the city of the dead. How my lord has seen this, I know not, but his long and weary days in the White Tower reveal that our doom will be delivered on the backs of the horde of vile beasts that gather in the ashen plains of Gorgoroth. They whisper that the Steward has almost as many eyes and ears as our enemy. That is just as well, for as the enemy goes stronger so does the fear of faithless treason grow. My lord has confided in me that we can no longer trust the old alliances, or even our own people. A dark shadow has come to rest over the hearts and minds of our people, with many beginning to sense that our doom is upon us. Many would rather meekly and cowardly surrender to the enemy rather than fight to the bitter end, as honour and our history demands. Old and frail though I may be, I am determined to meet my doom as a man of Gondor should; with a sword in hand and a death-cry on his lips.

    Berethor: Denethor looks as old as I am, even as I approach my hundredth year, and ever more fatalistic and paranoid by the day. I have some inkling of why the Steward spends his days locked in the tower, but I cannot know for certain. It is sad to see how quiet and solemn the palace has become.

    The Frontier



    But my lord, an example to us all, remains defiant, the fire of resistance still burning bright in his fading eyes. So long as his valiant sons lead the defence of our kingdom, I feel a sliver of hope still flickers amidst the overwhelming portents of doom. But for many days has Boromir been absent, lost to us on a northwards quest that even his lordly father has lost sight of. Faramir still ably holds the garrison at Osgiliath, but all know his elder brother to be the greater warrior. I fear for my lord should his son fail to return, for much of our hopes lie Boromir, hero of Osgiliath, who was the last man to check the advance of the enemy across the Anduin with a daring victory. This was only the latest of a long string of triumphs, and his experience is sorely missed. All pray for his swift return. For despite the strong rule of the Steward, the focus on our eastern border has come to the detriment of Gondor's heartland. Left unchecked, evil men in the employ of our enemy have laid waste to the central and western fiefdoms. Dol Amroth and Belfalas still stand strong, but the soft underbelly of the kingdom has become a place of lawless brigandry, courtesy of the hated corsairs of Umbar.

    Alas, no men can be spared from the front. Every able spear watches our eastern borders.

    Berethor: This was, despite popular feeling, no fault of the Steward. Our defences have been hard pressed from all sides for some time. As for Boromir, his absence is keenly felt, though none know the real reason as to why he was sent to distant lands in secrecy. Even more keenly felt is the coldness of Denethor towards his second son. Command of the eastern troops was unofficially given to Huor, one of the Steward's lackeys, with instructions to deny Faramir any opportunity to fail by removing him of his army.

    The Fiefdoms



    Therefore the defence of the west lay within the hands of the lords of Gondor, the local rulers of the fiefs that are beset by the enemy from land and sea. From them rose a young man who has single-handedly delivered the western fiefdoms from the enemy; Elphir, the eldest of Prince Imrahil's sons and our lord's own nephew. With fire and sword he scourged the central lands of raiders and corsairs, and they scurry back southwards in their ships as the inner heartland of our kingdom has been reclaimed. A fine sight it must have been to see the silver lances of Dol Amroth run the heathens to their ships! Edhellond was recovered and populated, and so too have many towns in Anfalas been restored to the kingdom. Every atrocity the corsairs inflicted on our innocent kinsfolk has been repaid in kind to the barbarian menace. Doubtless they have not felt the sting of defeat so keenly since the days of Thorongil, who burned the Umbarim fleet at anchor and made safe our shores for a generation. What the kingdom would not give for his return!

    Elphir's victories were the first good news we had received for some years, and it prompted several days of spontaneous celebration in the capital. Toasts were raised to Elphir's health in every quarter of the city as more good news came of his campaign to bring the banner of the White Tree to the shores of Andrast, the ancient border of the kingdom in the days of our splendour. In Elphir, it seems we have Thorongil come again, though sadly in these new days we cannot spare the ships or men to recreate his glorious sacking of the pirate city.

    Elphir


    As just reward for his triumphs, Elphir was named lord in his own right over the conquered fiefdoms, and made a member of Gondor's Council. Victory filled the people with hope that perhaps we shall not fall as prophesised, for our borders were growing rather than shrinking. Tribes of Middle-Men now once again knew the rule of Gondor and lent their strength to our cause.

    But, as my lord warned, the true enemy has yet to rear his vile head above the eastern mountains. What are a few corsairs and bandits compared to Sauron, great and terrible, who returned from death to bring on our doom? It is perhaps a final cruelty that we are being restored to our former glory so that we prove a foe of fitting grandeur to our hated enemy, defying our downfall at His hands.

    My lord was proven wise in his warnings that very same year. As our borders were secured in the west, one of our enemy's lickspittles came slithering out the mountain passage to the east. A great host of orcs, led by the hideous Gothmog, undoubtedly the most deformed of the Witch King's lieutenants. They began their traditional wanton pillage through Ithilien with their usual aplomb, defiling the ancient heartlands of our kingdom unchecked by any resistance.
    To great surprise and anticipation, our lord decided enough was enough. Armies were gathered from the western fiefdoms and sent by way of Osgiliath to confront the enemy before they could test our eastern defences.

    Berethor: Denethor was naturally alarmed by Elphir's prodigious success, and sent several agents to watch over him and his father. Reports containing the young man's victories are now forbidden to even enter the palace. I speculate that it is to Denethor's burning shame that his own young son is not half as successful, so often does he rail against Elphir's 'robbing' of the fiefdom troops to conduct his own private campaign against the Corsairs.
    Faramir, however, has never been given a chance to stand on his own feet, or step out of his elder brother's shadow. It has been many months now since he visited his father's court, and I fear the two will not be reconciled without Boromir's return.
    As for the 'horde of orcs', it was little more than a raiding party into Ithilien rather than any true invasion. However, the famed warlord Gothmog was indeed the unfortunate leader of the small band. Whether the vile creature had been convinced we are toothless, I know not, but it gave me no small joy to imagine his surprise at the strength of our response. I am told his head is unusually large for one of his size.

    Thus in the next summer did our wise lord Faramir dispatch Captain Huor to the east with the strength of the Osgiliath garrison, a formidable force in its own right. But buoyed by the axes of Lossarnach, the brave knights of Anorien, and the Steward's own elite guardsmen, it was truly an army to be reckoned with, and a show of force that the West had not seen for close to a decade. It was as grand as any host of old, and no small measure of pride swelled in my breast as our soldiers briefly recalled the glorious days of our victorious splendour as the columns of men filed out of our gates, their white burnished steel catching the light of the sun's majesty as the banner of our royal tree fluttered high in the morning breeze. They were fearsome to behold, and it was thus their destiny to be victorious.

    Gothmog stood little chance against the finest of our men, and thus the first blow was struck not by the enemy, but by us! They fell upon the hated foe in the woods of Ithilien, the orcs quickly finding themselves surrounded by superior numbers before news even reached them of our coming. It was retribution, swift and brutal.

    Gothmog



    As for Gothmog himself, his ugly snarling head was displayed upon a pike outside the gates of Osgiliath as an ugly and swollen reminder of the fate of those that oppose Gondor.
    As Elphir was the year before, Huor became the toast of the city, with our gracious lord granting seven days of official thanksgiving celebration. However, our lord in his wisdom sought to temper the excess of his countrymen, and so addressed them in the city square. Even in his advanced age, my lord has lost none of the power in his frame and voice,

    "Drink well, and deep, for we must savour these victories when we can. Soon, the enemy in all his wrath and might shall be upon us. Enjoy the sun, but beware of the dark clouds that gather overhead."

    It was a warning that would be well heeded. But nonetheless, the good mood continued. Especially when news reached the city that winter that the veteran hero Boromir was returning to the kingdom with assistance for Gondor's beleaguered frontiers. Our people had every reason to be buoyant and defiant against the coming storm.

    Berethor:
    Ever the optimist, Denethor nonetheless drank in the people's adulation. He even displayed some amusement at the comic farce arranged as part of the celebrations. It seemed that our lord was back to his old self, comfortable once more outside the confines of the tower and in the company of his fellow man.
    Unfortunately, the much looked for return of Boromir would not be as he expected...


    Last edited by Gandalfus; August 07, 2022 at 12:54 PM.

  5. #5
    Turkafinwë's Avatar The Sick Baby Jester
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    Default Re: LOTR Remastered: The Last Days of Gondor

    Welcome back to the writing scene Gandalfus! A LOTR AAR always peaks my interest (as well as the mods, it looks great will definitely check it out. See how fleshed out it is).

    A superb start I must say. It really sets the stage of the tragic end of days for the last free kingdom of Men. Really looking forward to see where Berethor takes us in these last days of Gondor.

  6. #6
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: LOTR Remastered: The Last Days of Gondor

    I agree, this is a superb beginning, and I hope Gandalfus will continue this tale.

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