In Progress North Ithilien Revamp

[Wyattrox03]

~:~|~:~ North Ithilien Revamp ~:~|~:~

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Project Leader: @Wyattrox03
Project Staff: @_TedoIsBad, @Alfonios, @calendih
Terrain Council: @barteldvn,@TheSweViking

View attachment 28980
(screenshot by calendih)


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OVERALL PROGRESS AND STATE

Approximate Overall Progress Percentage: 40%
Current Progress State: Planning + Building


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Introduction

Hello, for the last several weeks I have been working on my next terrain endeavor which is the northern reaches of Ithilien. This region reaches from where Stephen started his moorlands down to the Morgulduin, stretching from the mountains to the Anduin. Bart reminded me last night that it would be nice to have documentation of this project on the forums so here we go. The current iteration of this region is over 11 years old and with terrain updates on nearly every side of it it has increasingly become out of place and improperly blended. Since the Mordor terrain was put in this area was never blended correctly to the east and has sat unfinished. Bart started working on this but was quickly caught up helping in other areas of the map such as the Rauros and Amon Lhaw. As such I offered to help with the understanding that I would redo the whole of this region, not just the base of the mountains. This project will thus include the shaping of the terrain (done) ruins/camps and veg. We will be using new forest update veg on this project and Tedo is already working on building a repository for it. In any case here is my plan:


Project Sections

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View attachment 28977

The division of this project makes the most sense in the following terms: Base Terrain (Not including veg), Ruins/encampments, and Forests/vegetation. At the time of the writing of this project post the base terrain is nearly complete needing only a final few rivers to be completed. The terrain consists of a large plateau that runs parallel to the river with sweeping vales running north to south. The ruins have been started near Osgiliath surrounded by ruined field walls. Next we will work our way northwards trying to include as many movie accurate ruins as possible and filling the gaps with farmsteads and manors. The houses near Cair Andros at Cormallen will have been the last abandoned in this part of Ithilien and so will have wood remnants on them. In addition there will be several ranger camps consisting of Henneth Annun which is 95% redone by Mithrilled and Alfo as well as another cave camp and a tent encampment. There will also be a few orc camps scattered throughout the north east. As far as vegetation Tedo has kindly offered to help with this part and has already begun assembling a tree grid. Once this is in a serviceable state I will be helping him paste them down and figuring out veg mixes. This is the largest thing yet to be concepted and determined on the project and likely is what will make or break it considering 90% of this project is woodland. Here is a breakdown of these divisions’ percentages which I will try to keep up to date:




Base Terrain
Shaping: 100%
Coloring: 100%
Rivers 60%

Ruins/Encampments
Henneth Annun: 95%
Second Ranger Camp 15%
Third Ranger Camp 0%
Orc Camps: 22%
Osgo Fields Ruins: 75%
Forest Ruins: 15%
Roads: 5%

Foresting/Veg
Tree Grids: 25%
Forest Placing: 0%
Field Veg: 0%



Note: As this project is a revamp of a large part of Gondor and will temporarily reset terrain that some consider done, it is being built currently on plotworld at /warp wyattithilien and will likely remain here until it is completed.

BACKGROUND LORE:

Ithlien, or "Moon-Land," is the easternmost province of Gondor that is subdivided by the stream of Morgulduin into Northern and Southern Ithilien

In the Second Age and early Third Age, the land was prosperous, filled with many woods and gardens though it was largely abandoned over time with the rise of Mordor and loss of Minas Ithil (Minas Morgul). Since then, the province has been subject to constant raids by both Orcs of Mordor and Haradrim from the South. However, scouts were kept in secret locations throughout such as Henneth Annun.

The land is described as "a fair country of climbing woods and swift-falling streams," with gentle slopes "shielded from the east by Ephel Duath and yet not under the mountain shadow, protected from the north by the Emyn Muil, open to the southern airs and the moist winds from the Sea." It also included "a wealth of sweet-smelling herbs and shrubs" and a vast array of tree species, likely planted by men in earlier days. Despite the desolation, the land "kept still a disheveled dryad loveliness."

Henneth Annun: a hidden outpost in North Ithilien, consisting of a cave behind a west-facing waterfall that overlooks a pool, described as the "fairest of the falls of Ithilien" The cave had been excavated by the stream feeding into the waterfall, but originally fell from the hole in the cliff constituting the "window-curtain" name, however the stream itself has been diverted by men to fall from doubled the height and the tunnel was sealed.

The Field of Cormallen: a tree lined field in North Ithilien on the banks of the Anduin near Cair Andros. This is where Aragorn and company greet Frodo and Same after their rescue from Mount Doom.

Cross-Roads: Surrounded by a belt of tall trees, this point marks where the north-south Harad road meets the east-west road between Osgiliath and Minas Morgul. Next to the road leading to Osgiliath, there is a statue of a Gondorian king. Though it is missing its head.

(Summary by FireInferno13)

Quotes:

You will have no lack of water as you walk in Ithilien, but do not drink of any stream that flows from Imlad Morgul, the Valley of Living Death.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

They stood under the boughs of the woods again. No noise of the falls could be heard, for a long southward slope lay now between them and the ravine in which the stream flowed. To the west they could see light through the trees, as if the world came there to a sudden end, at a brink looking out only on to sky.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

‘If you take my counsel, you will not turn eastward yet. Go straight on, for thus you will have the cover of the woodland for many miles. On your west is an edge where the land falls into the great vales, sometimes suddenly and sheer, sometimes in long hillsides. Keep near to this edge and the skirts of the forest.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Frodo lay and slept away the night on the deep mould beneath an ancient tree.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

As the third stage of their day’s march drew on and afternoon waned, the forest opened out, and the trees became larger and more scattered. Great ilexes of huge girth stood dark and solemn in wide glades with here and there among them hoary ash-trees, and giant oaks just putting out their brown-green buds. About them lay long launds of green grass dappled with celandine and anemones, white and blue, now folded for sleep; and there were acres populous with the leaves of woodland hyacinths: already their sleek bell-stems were thrusting through the mould.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Light was fading fast when they came to the forest-end. There they sat under an old gnarled oak that sent its roots twisting like snakes down a steep crumbling bank. A deep dim valley lay before them. On its further side the woods gathered again, blue and grey under the sullen evening, and marched on southwards. To the right the Mountains of Gondor glowed, remote in the West, under a fire- flecked sky. To the left lay darkness: the towering walls of Mordor; and out of that darkness the long valley came, falling steeply in an ever-widening trough towards the Anduin. At its bottom ran a hurrying stream: Frodo could hear its stony voice coming up through the silence; and beside it on the hither side a road went winding down like a pale ribbon, down into chill grey mists that no gleam of sunset touched. There it seemed to Frodo that he descried far off, floating as it were on a shadowy sea, the high dim tops and broken pinnacles of old towers forlorn and dark.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

‘Yes, Master. Dangerous places. This is the road from the Tower of the Moon, Master, down to the ruined city by the shores of the River.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Must go east now, away up there.’ He waved his skinny arm towards the darkling mountains. ‘And we can’t use this road. Oh no! Cruel peoples come this way, down from the Tower.’ Frodo looked down on to the road. At any rate nothing was moving on it now. It appeared lonely and forsaken, running down to empty ruins in the mist.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Frodo shuddered as he looked again at the distant pinnacles now dwindling into night, and the sound of the water seemed cold and cruel: the voice of Morgulduin, the polluted stream that flowed from the Valley of the Wraiths.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Gollum reluctantly agreed to this, and he turned back towards the trees, working eastward for a while along the straggling edges of the wood. He would not rest on the ground so near the evil road, and after some debate they all climbed up into the crotch of a large holm-oak, whose thick branches springing together from the trunk made a good hiding-place and a fairly comfortable refuge.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

The ground became more broken and walking was more difficult, but Gollum seemed in no way troubled. He led them through thickets and wastes of brambles; sometimes round the lip of a deep cleft or dark pit, sometimes down into black bush-shrouded hollows and out again; but if ever they went a little downward, always the further slope was longer and steeper. They were climbing steadily. At their first halt they looked back, and they could dimly perceive the roofs of the forest they had left behind, lying like a vast dense shadow, a darker night under the dark blank sky.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

‘Hobbits must hurry. Not safe to stay in the open in these places. Make haste!’ He quickened his pace, and they followed him wearily. Soon they began to climb up on to a great hog-back of land. For the most part it was covered with a thick growth of gorse and whortleberry, and low tough thorns, though here and there clearings opened, the scars of recent fires. The gorse-bushes became more frequent as they got nearer the top; very old and tall they were, gaunt and leggy below but thick above, and already putting out yellow flowers that glimmered in the gloom and gave a faint sweet scent. So tall were the spiny thickets that the hobbits could walk upright under them, passing through long dry aisles carpeted with a deep prickly mould.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

On the further edge of this broad hill-back they stayed their march and crawled for hiding underneath a tangled knot of thorns. Their twisted boughs, stooping to the ground, were overridden by a clam-bering maze of old briars. Deep inside there was a hollow hall, raftered with dead branch and bramble, and roofed with the first leaves and shoots of spring.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Across the tumbled lands between, the mountains of the Ephel Dú́ath frowned at them, black and shapeless below where night lay thick and did not pass away, above with jagged tops and edges out-lined hard and menacing against the fiery glow. Away to their right a great shoulder of the mountains stood out, dark and black amid the shadows, thrusting westward.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Very stealthily Gollum led them down the hillside, keeping under cover wherever it was possible, and running, almost bent to the ground, across any open space;

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

Down from their hiding-place they went, and then turning south they steered as straight a course as Gollum could find across a long broken slope that leaned up towards the mountains. Presently, not far ahead, looming up like a black wall, they saw a belt of trees. As they drew nearer they became aware that these were of vast size, very ancient it seemed, and still towering high, though their tops were gaunt and broken, as if tempest and lightning-blast had swept across them, but had failed to kill them or to shake their fathomless roots.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

‘The Cross-roads, yes,’ whispered Gollum, the first words that had been spoken since they left their hiding-place. ‘We must go that way.’ Turning eastward now, he led them up the slope; and then suddenly there it was before them: the Southward Road, winding its way about the outer feet of the mountains, until presently it plunged into the great ring of trees.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien

As furtively as scouts within the campment of their enemies, they crept down on to the road, and stole along its westward edge under the stony bank, grey as the stones themselves, and soft-footed as hunting cats. At length they reached the trees, and found that they stood in a great roofless ring, open in the middle to the sombre sky; and the spaces between their immense boles were like the great dark arches of some ruined hall. In the very centre four ways met. Behind them lay the road to the Morannon; before them it ran out again upon its long journey south; to their right the road from old Osgiliath came climbing up, and crossing, passed out eastward into darkness: the fourth way, the road they were to take.

Lord Of The Rings - Journey to the cross-roads - The Two Towers” By J R R Tolkien



Inspiration

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How to Help?



Artists are welcome to help with forest ruins and ranger camps, reach out to myself or Alfonios on discord to get involved with this. Also artists, commoners and adventurers are needed to help Tedo fill out his tree grid. Also as always keep an eye out for job announcements on discord to help with those when they come around.