66 replies to this topic

[Emperor of the East]

This is good news

[yams in a can]

I personally think that the Mallorn trees could work as leadership and a healing structure. A ton of Galadriel Mirrors is weird.

Either way, the normal tree for the sentry tower is smart idea. I also like all these new additions .

[Zeta1127]

Impressive, most impressive.

Yams, I like the idea, seems reasonable to me. There is bound to be lore that supports that if I remember correctly. There are other ways to use Galadriel's Mirror, a unique structure with an effect would be a better choice.

[Námo]

... Námo, would you know what color Grimbeorn was, as a bear? =)

Oh boy, the blue Knight has just escaped from those colored bears, and then encounters a particularly fierce one ... well, I believe that making Grimbeorn like his father Beorn would be pretty close, so I just quote a few online sources:

Thain's Book:

... Beorn was of the race of Men, but he was a skinchanger who had the ability to transform into a large black bear. In his original form as a Man, Beorn was large with strong arms and legs and he had black hair, bushy eyebrows, and a beard. He was gruff and quick to anger but he was good at heart and was considered a great person by Gandalf the Grey. ...

Names & Etymology:
Beorn is an Old English word meaning "man, warrior." It originally meant "bear" and was derived from the word béo meaning "bee" in reference to a bear's love of honey.

The name Beorn is also related to the the Old Norse word bjorn meaning "bear." Bjorn - or Bjarni - was a man in the Norse legend "The Saga of Hrolf Kraki" who was cursed to become a bear by day and man by night. Bjorn's son Bothvarr Bjarki was able to send a bear-form into battle. Bjarki means "little bear."

Beorn died sometime before the War of the Ring. He was succeeded by his son Grimbeorn. It was said that his descendants for many generations were skinchangers with the ability to assume bear form.

Encyclopedia of Arda:

1) Tolkien makes it clear in his letters that Beorn's lifespan was no greater than that of an ordinary Man. It's very unlikely, then, that he survived much beyond III 3000. (see The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien No 144, dated 1954).

2) In the same letter referred to above, Tolkien explains that despite his remarkable abilities, Beorn definitely belonged to the race of Men: 'Though a skin-changer and no doubt a bit of a magician, Beorn was a Man'.

3) The etymology of Beorn's name is interesting. The Old English word originally meant 'bear', but evolved over the centuries to the point where it came to mean 'warrior'. So, Beorn's ability to transform from a bear to a man echoes the linguistic development of his name.

The original meaning of Beorn relates to the bear's love of honey, and contains béo, meaning 'bee'. This also appears in the name Beowulf: like Beorn, this means 'bear', but is literally 'bee-wolf'. This bee connection explains the references in The Hobbit to Beorn's bee-pastures and huge bees: 'The drones were bigger than your thumb, a good deal, and the bands of yellow on their deep black bodies shone like fiery gold' (The Hobbit 7, Queer Lodgings).

I have three objections, or rather just comments, on this:

1) I think the colour isn't the most important issue in relation to Grimeorn. A pure black bear might be a difficult beast to 'skin'; in my opinion a dark hue would be sufficient, allowing for small nuances in the skin ... maybe with an added warm and fuzzy glow, corresponding to the fact that the ability of Beorn/Grimbeorn to appear as a bear is just that: a special ability.

2) Apart from the obvious special ability of being a skinchanger, will Grimbeorn like Beorn also be able to summon a swarm of those big bad drones larger than a thumb? ... please, honey.

3) It's not that I want to come between a Nazgul and his mod, but we've had a small conversation concerning Grimbeorn before:

How big was Grimbeorn compared to a regular human?

As he is of the race of the Northmen (ancestors of the Rohirrim): from six feet to six feet four inches; not higher than the Dúnedain (descendants of the Númenóreans), but broader and heavier build, cf.:

[of the great stature of the Númenóreans]

... two rangar was often called 'man-high', which at thirty-eight inches gives an average height of six feet four inches, but this was at a later date, when the stature of the Dúnedain appears to have decreased ...

It is however said of the great people of the past, that they were more than man-high. Elendil was said to be 'more than man-high by nearly half a ranga; but he was accounted the tallest of all the Númenóreans who escaped the Downfall.

The Rohirrim were generally shorter, for in their far-off ancestry they had been mingled with men of broader and heavier build. Éomer was said to have been tall, of like height with Aragorn; but he with other descendants of Thengel were taller than the norm of Rohan, deriving this characteristic (together in some cases with darker hair) from Morwen, Thengel's wife, a lady of Gondor of high Númenórean descent.

The ranga is said to have been the length of the stride, from rear heel to front toe, of a full-grown man marching swiftly but at ease; a ranga is slightly longer than a yard, approximately thirty-eight inches.

Edited by Námo, 25 October 2010 - 10:10 AM.

[Námo]

@Nazg: Just an afterthought: You now have two Dutch Knights riding with you ... one yellow and one blue ... the Swedish national colors.

One black one yellow one blue ... Cheers! [an old brew from southern Sweden (1975)]

[Nazgûl]

LOL that's true... never thought of that! But yes... the dutch knights sure do wear swedish colors, if you mix them, hehe... or Ukrainian for that matter

Grimbeorn will be well built rather buff man, around his fifties or so, dark or grey hair, and as a bear he'll be black-ish. Just like the screen RB posted =)

[klementinos]

summer 2011???

[Ridder Blauw]

What do you mean?

No were not giving a release date.

[Ridder Geel]

The dutch knights? Are you referring to RB and me?

[Nazgûl]

hehe yes.... the knights, coming to the aid of the kingdom...

[drogoth232]

Looking foward to Grimbeorn, Naz. I'm guessing one of his powers as a bear is to throw a beehive at the enemy which sucks the life out of them and heals your own troops? (C'mon that would be awsome! )

[Nazgûl]

Is that was Namo was refering too...?

[Nazgûl]

Slight hickup in plans....

I've just "lost" the option to trade with 2 of the 3 trading partners we have had due to them, well simply not wanting anything from SEE atm =p This means we have to make more models than I thought, and with basically no full time modeler on board, this is gonna take some time... Sorry about this, just wanted to make a note on it =/

RJ: Robnkarla is gone/missing and we've used the stuff we agreed on... a few models have not been put to use yet, but I can't grab anything furhter than we spoke of, since Rob's not around.
RC: One of two in the mod's top staff decided he didn't feel like trading all of a sudden... so, yeah.
Edain: Atm have no interest in SEE... so that's it.

At least we currently have a coder... that's progress in itself
Ed of the 3rd kind might be able to help out a bit... we'll see, and perhaps I can convince Ridder Geel to kitbash som CaH fixes for a few models when he's got the time (whenever that could be) Oh well... I'll keep fighting for this mod's progres somehow =)

[yams in a can]

I actually favor this .

[njm1983]

Dont lose faith Naz! We just got this going again! Most likely Id guess that the models you were interested in from edain were special to them. No worries though lets finish what we can without those new models.

[Ridder Blauw]

Well coding is possible all the way without new models. Just use other existing models as placeholders.

[Nazgûl]

I actually favor this .

How so??

Dont lose faith Naz! We just got this going again! Most likely Id guess that the models you were interested in from edain were special to them. No worries though lets finish what we can without those new models.

I ain't talking about losing faith bro, I'm just talking about the fact that we will lose some of the speed this way, and whoever's interested in SEE might wanna know that, after waiting 2-3 years for Beta 4.7... It is a big change after having a deal with 3 mods about trading assets (not ALL of them off course, but some parts here and there). So, we'll manage on our own, and thus it will take more time than estimated, as I don't want "stand ins" for an official release. For the WiP, sure... =)

[yams in a can]

More uniqueness to SEE ^^. I loved this mod right after I saw the glorious Gondor skins :O.

[Nazgûl]

Yeah well... even more time to reach goals as well ;p

[Lü Bu]

Ill be glad to kill few orcs after this version is done!