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Nindalf Project Post - Squiggleland
Region Lead: rwyland Project Lead: FoolhardyFish Project Co-Lead: The Stephen
Introduction
The Nindalf is a large wetland area to the north of Anorien and southeast of the Emyn Muil referred to as “fen” by Celeborn in The Lord of the Rings. It’s a vast area, comparable roughly with the size of the Pelennor Fields outside Minas Tirith, but is generally flat allowing water to stagnate, and sluggishly make its way towards the Anduin.
Lore
In terms of lore, there isn’t much. Below is the extent of useful information in the lore regarding the Nindalf.
“... over the cataracts of Rauros down into the Nindalf, the Wetwang as it is called in your tongue. That is a wide region of sluggish fen where the stream becomes tortuous and much divided. The Entwash flows in by many mouths from the Forest of Fangorn in the west.”
Farewell to Lorien, LotR Book II - further info: Tolkien Gateway: Nindalf
“Sluggish” suggests difficult terrain or slow-moving water, or both. A “fen” is a type of wetland, where peat commonly accumulates and is fed by surface water or mineral-rich ground.
“the stream becomes tortuous and much divided” indicates that the Anduin splits off and spreads eastwards across the Nindalf, possibly having a significant effect on the terrain.
The Nindalf name itself is Sindarin, the translation of which is the objectively funny Wetwang. With the archaic meaning of wang meaning flat, this translates to “wet flat”.
"No!’ answered Aragorn. ‘Say rather that we will bear our boats by the ancient way to Rauros-foot, and there take to the water again. Do you not know, Boromir, or do you choose to forget the North Stair, and the high seat upon Amon Hen, that were made in the days of the great kings?"
The Great River, LotR Book II
389 (I: 406). the North Stair and the high seat upon Amon Hen - ‘North Stair, a great stair cut by the Numenoreans up beside the falls of Rauros, from the Nindalf to Emyn Muil’ (Index)
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, entry North Stair, p. 346
Aragorn’s passage above suggests the Gondorians used the North Stair beside Rauros to take boats (canoes) from below Rauros up to Nen Hithoel. This therefore suggests the channel was at least somewhat navigable. Note that the North Stair should be from the Nindalf to the Emyn Muil on the east side of the waterfall.
Inspiration
Primary inspiration originated from the Red Lake Peatland in Minnesota, United States (below).
This, alongside a myriad of images found on Pinterest within the ‘Marsh and Wetlands’ section of this board (https://pin.it/6DAaNNf), has influenced what will hopefully become MCME's Nindalf. Further info can be found at Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas website: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/peatlands.html
Further inspiration was taken from the Nutuvukti Lake and Fen in Alaska, which also has the classic ribbon-like tendrils of land among small to medium-sized pools. Nutuvukti Lake and Fen (U.S. National Park Service)
Concepts
With the lore being so meagre, I believed a sizable creative license could be taken as long as it followed Tolkien’s description of a “sluggish fen” and “tortuous and much divided”. A number of concepts explored fens, with the aim to create a typical marshland such as the Fenmarsh and Dead Marshes. However, the above image provided a unique and visually striking alternative to the current mainworld builds, and from which a first concept was built.
Wool Key
- Purple - Veg Covered Peatland
- Magenta - Submerged Veg Mix 1
- Pink - Submerged Veg Mix 2
- Yellow - Submerged Veg Mix 3 - Clustered Reeds
- Blue - Pools/Rivers
- Red - Veg Covered Dry Peatland
- Orange - Submerged Veg Mix 4
- Green - Forested Islands
- Cyan - Sandbanks/Mudflats
- Lime - Low-lying Central Marsh Mix
- Brown - Low-lying Border Mix
- White - Dried Up Stream Remnants
With the new addition of the Emyn Muil terrain, planning began in small steps. With rather drastic terrain changes having occurred since the Nindalf revamp was proposed, establishing proper boundaries seemed a sensible start. Additionally, and prior to wool placement, Stephen kindly created first, second and third planning drafts for the Nindalf. These included plans for additional variables such as sandbanks, islands, and a new low-lying border mix.
First draft plan created - 22nd November 2023 (left)
Second draft plan created - 26th November 2023 (right)
- Planning Edits - 14th December 2023
As of 18th December 2023, a sizable chunk of the planning has been completed with experiments into perlin and simplex commands being undertaken in order to add the lime green spray paint pictured above.
Project Plan
Below are the 5 stages for the project. In the absence of any structures around the region, most of the work will be focused on vegetation across the marsh, and terraforming close to the borders of the region.
Stage 1: Planning
- Lore and geography background: Complete
- Project map: Complete
- Concepts
- Terrain and environment: Complete
- Vegetation: Complete
- Main world planning: Complete
The project is divided up into sections detailed below:
- Northern squiggles: In Progress
- Eastern squiggles: In Progress
- Southern squiggles: In Progress
- Central islands: In Progress
- Rivers: Not Started
- Anduin border: In Progress
- Emyn Muil border: In Progress
- Dead Marshes border & connector: In Progress
This will mostly be done via world edit based on the wool assignments above. At border regions, some manual mixing may be necessary. These will mostly reflect the area being a Peatland, with fading out at the edges.
- Purple - Peat/land transition: grass-on-mud, peat, compost, grass
- Magenta - Compost, eat
- Red - Dark clay, dark dirt, coarse dirt
- Green - Patchy grass, dirt, coarse dirt
- Cyan - Sandbanks/Mudflats
- Lime - Low-lying central marsh mix
- Brown - Grass-on-mud, grass block
- White - Dried up stream remnants
Stage 4: Vegetation
- Purple - Veg Covered Peatland - fewer reeds, more flowers and grasses
- Magenta - Boundary Veg Mix 1 - Reed sweet grass & canary grasses, and grass blades
- Pink - Submerged Veg Mix 2 - tall reeds, stackable reeds, grass blades
- Yellow - Tall Reeds, Stackable Reeds
- Red - Green Bush, Mixed Grass, Grass Blades, Common Valerian, Nettles
- Orange - Submerged Veg Mix 4 - rushes, tall reeds
- Green - Willow Trees, Birch Trees, Green Bush High, Yellow Fern, Fern, Great Willowherb High, Mushrooms, Forest Twigs
- Cyan - None
- Lime - Low-lying central marsh mix - reeds, rushes, willowherb
- Brown - Field Thistle High, European Bistort, Green Bush High, Grass Blades
- White - None
Stage 5: Quality control and edits
Final edits and quality checks will be made across each of the sections
Jobs and Plots
- Island smoothing & detailing plots
- Anduin boundary islands jobs
- Tree plots
- River detailing jobs/plots
- Pool detailing plots
- Blending plots/jobs
