Fornost Erain - Custom Settlement

[FireFreak111]

Eriador in Third Age: Total War feels lacking in that there are sparse custom settlements to play in. One of the most important ones would be Fornost Erain, great fortress of Arnor, ruined in it's fall.

Well, it's time to bring it back to its former glory, one step at a time.

There will be two settlements technically, the Ruins of Fornost and Fornost-Erain - rebuilt. The design of this will be based on which of these two ideas:

Poll Options:

Spoiler

Option 1:

This concept is around a multi-wall castle, without major elevation. It features the greater outer wall, a wall defended central passage into Fornost with walls and towers on both sides and then a central complex, which within lies the central Castle of Fornost. It attempts to create the feel of a City of Spires.

Option 2:

This is a multi-wall, multi-elevation powerful Castle. It is more dependable, sacrificing some of the looks for a stronger build. The upper tier would be much harder to damage with catapults and such, due to it's natural elevation.

A poll will decide this, raise your opinions!

Credits:
FireFreak111 - Terrain and Campaign implementation
Halogrunt100 - Modelling (Battle map and Campaign map)

 

[Halogrunt100]

FireFreak and I will accept Help from anyone who is willing to give it, we want to finish this as soon as possible!

!REMEMBER! YOU DON'T HAVE TO HELP!

 

[FireFreak111]

That is true, feedback is completely welcome, ideas, information and more is willing to be accepted.

 

[smoesville]

"Deadmen's Dike, you say. So it has been called for long years; but its right name, Barliman, is Fornost Erain, Norbury of the Kings." – RotK

Something which neither option seems to have is the dike. Surely if it was significant enough to be remembered in folk tales and a local name (of people who never went there) it should play a large part in the fortress itself?

PS
I stole your sig Hope you don't mind.

 

[AnthoniusII]

Vote for option 2

 

[FireFreak111]

The Dike is used likely as a metaphor, rather than literal Dike.

@smoesville
I don't mind I used it from the DaC thread.

 

[smoesville]

You could be right about the dike, i'll do some research on it, more to satisfy my own curiosity but if i do find anything pertinent i'll let you know. And technically i both stole and altered the sig I prefer the Northern Dúnedain to Arnor or the Reunited Kingdom, something about their hard and dangerous existence.

 

[Bowmaster]

BFME concept. Not only because it seems cooler, but also because it's not as hard to create as Deviant Art's Fornost.

 

[smoesville]

I really think that option 1 looks too much like a city for me. I prefer the idea that the fortress was created first and only later was there a city built around it so there would be two similar but distinct areas. I'm not even sure if the city would be there considering that it was only used as the capital after the decline of population in the North.

 

[Madril]

I like the second option best . BFME's Fornost was too flat and actually didn't really feel like a city for me . I think War in the North's own depiction of Fornost in ruins was pretty good . But there are no maps of it

 

[paradamed]

Voted for option 2 cause it is much more interesting.

 

[dannyalex]

Option 1: BFME concept art

from Merp books u could create Fornost..much of vanilla is from those books-game

 

[Deleted member 75176]

You can mix both . You can use the multiwall concept and architecture of the first and the distribution of the second xd

 

[dannyalex]

You can mix both . You can use the multiwall concept and architecture of the first and the distribution of the second xd

interesting ...

 

[Kindjal83]

Voted for BFME concept, although a mix of both would be perfect in my opinion! :d

 

[Araval]

Was Fornost a fortress or a city?

 

[dannyalex]

Fornost Erain (Sindarin 'Northern-fortress of the Kings' from for (north) + ost (fortress); "Norbury of the Kings" in Westron) was a city of Eriador in the north of Middle-earth.

 

[smoesville]

Well the name translates to Northern Fortress (of the) Kings so i reckon it was more of a fortress, perhaps like MT but i reckon it would have been less grand since the population of the North was always less than that in the South.

Edit:
Ninja'd by dannyalex

 

[Dutch-Balrog]

You can mix both . You can use the multiwall concept and architecture of the first and the distribution of the second xd

This is exactly what i have in my mind. I think the BFME version looks cool, but the second option looks more like the real thing in the lore. So how about mixing them up?

 

[Ngugi]

Fornost mean 'Northern Fortress', but least in HoME 12 it's always refered to as a 'city' once it is Arthedain's capital while I have not found any references anywhere of it as a fortification (besidee the name, found in Silmarillion's lexicon), so both is the proper answer.

EEDIT: lot of traffic here ^^

 

[dannyalex]

Well the name translates to Northern Fortress (of the) Kings so i reckon it was more of a fortress, perhaps like MT but i reckon it would have been less grand since the population of the North was always less than that in the South.

Edit:
Ninja'd by dannyalex

I am follower of the Great Ferret!

 

[Drorin]

I vote for option 2. Something like a fortress surrounded by a city

 

[Araval]

Fornost mean 'Northern Fortress', but least in HoME 12 it's always refered to as a 'city' once it is Arthedain's capital while I have not found any references anywhere of it as a fortification (besidee the name, found in Silmarillion's lexicon), so both is the proper answer.

EEDIT: lot of traffic here ^^

I think then that a mixture with BFME's looks would be the best

 

[~Asukav of Epirus~]

Vote for option 2
But I also think it would be nice a mixture of both

 

[FireFreak111]

If only I could add a third option to the Poll, but don't worry, a mixture is definitely being taken into consideration as that option

 

[Ngugi]

It can be handled by a moderator I read when I made my for DCI: LA, though not a local such as me, contact one of 'em big mace guys in blue or bright red who should either be able to edit it or point you in right direction.

 

[Halogrunt100]

Well looking at the poll, i might need to have to haul ass and make sure i make this map as good a possible, The BFME II ROTWK concept is easier to design but a bit harder to make, the Deviant Art concept will be easier to make but harder to design,

A Hybrid between the two looks very promising, maybe keep the idea of the city of spires and add more of a multi tier design?

 

[FireFreak111]

Yeah, by the looks of it the second option will win, but will have big inspirations from the first option.

 

[Gr1m_4c3]

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of mroe custom settlements, but...if you don't mind me asking, why did you decide on Fornost Erain?

 

[Halogrunt100]

Well FireFreak and I have a rather large interest in the Eriador region, and we both love the Faction of Arnor, Fornost was the Capital of Arnor so we dream of having it in the Third age mod, but remember the ruins of Fornost will be a very interesting settlement to fight on, defending the once great shards of the Kingdom of the north, and eventually re building the great city of spires!