We’ve already covered this issue. Given Forochel’s latitude it would make no sense for it to have year-round snow. They would house in the snow in the winter, but during the summer the snow would melt and they’d have tents - just like many indigenous Arctic groups around the world.
edit: Your argument is akin to saying that the Misty Mountains must have had permnanent mist.
Please pardon me for Again discussing the Lossoth people, I really don’t try being annoying, but I must say I found a very important paragraph far in the back of the LotR concerning these Forodwaith… It pretty much explains everything concerning the climate -‘it is very cold up there because the cold of Morgoth’s realm Still lives there, even though it’s only 300 miles north of the Shire’- and their way of living -‘they live in snow and they’re used to the bitter cold and they live mostly in the big northwestern Cape of Forochel, but they camp often on the southern shores of the bay at the foot of the mountains’- and some other stuff: ‘they can run with bones at their feet and they have carts without wheels’. This can be found in the very last ‘chapter’ of the books, called Notes. It is note 22. at page 1400 in my edition. Plz no hate.
What do you think this actually contributes to the discussion? Your quote (these are not direct quotes by the way) literally states that they camp. That means they have tents.
And nobody is saying that they don’t ever live in snow and build igloos, just not at the time the map is set.
edit: Another quote:
‘But the winter was long in loosing its grip that year; and though it was then March, the ice was only beginning to break.’
This tells us two things:
Watch this video, and pay close attention to Hudson Bay:
Notice how the snow melts on the land before the sea ice melts? Also notice how it takes until June for that to happen? If the sea ice melts in March on average in the Icebay, we’re looking at a climate closer to that of mid to northern Scandinavia, which would undoubtedly be cooler in September but which would not have experienced snowfall during the summer.
It explains that it is unnaturally cold, because of Morgoth’s realm of the past. Despite its location; only 300 miles north of the Shire.
Yes. 300 miles north of the Shire - if we are to place the Shire in southern England - is Scotland. When I said: “we’re looking at a climate closer to that of mid to northern Scandinavia” that would literally not be possible without some magical intervention.
Arnor is now officially in progress!
I will be making a general style guide for Annuminas and for Arnor as a whole today, as to help encourage builders to give Arnorian ruins a try. Expect to see it later this evening. Cheers!
Do /warp ArnorGuide to see the style guide!
Quick comment on the various Arnor towns/fort. I think it would be a good idea to decide when and how each village was ruined, so the person who builds the town/fort can make a decision on how destroyed their project will be. Essentially, establish a little bit of lore about each place to create a sense of immersion and consistency.
Hi all,
I made some names in Sindarin for the Arnor towns:
Town 1: Ornduirro = tree Banks since it is placed near a river with plenty of trees
Town 2: Gwaeryn which means windy grove due to much trees again
Town 3: Athradamen= crossroads since it was a large trade town
Town 4: Maethoriach which means warrior’s ford because it was near the border between rhudaur and arthedain so there would have been a military presence there
Town 5: Amon-Garth which means fortified hill since there is a protected area in the centre of the town.
I will make soon some names for the forts.
Regards - creepy
The names for the forts shall be:
-fort1: Beriodîn= silent protection since its located in a swamp near the Rhudaur.
-fort2: Minas-Gwarth= fort of the betrayer since it is located in Rhudaur and it allied with Angmar.
Hope this works for you 
-creepy
Sindarin doesn’t usually take dashes in compounds, though 
(see Amon Hen, Minas Tirith).
Already changed
With a Rhudaur Fort (lead by @ooitsbirdo) and a Rhudaur town (lead by @Whickery_Dickens) already being worked on, I thought an interesting and worth while discussion to be had was the matter of style discrepancies between Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan. Would there be any differences in architecture? If so, what would they be?
Obviously, I understand we’re talking about ruins here so the differences, if any, will be limited, but I do think adding subtle elements, like how ruined things are (Rhudaur masonry may be less advanced than say Arthedain) and stone type would be interesting. I don’t know, maybe even castle/village shape (primitive towns with lack of planning vs. straight road, Roman-esk stuff?). Anyway, I think its worth getting this straight now before we get to deep into Arnor as a region, so we can avoid the need for revamps.
Maybe the basic shapes of buildings, afaik Rhudaur was the weakest, so maybe you could make their castles and stuff less advanced and smaller?
Well quite a few of these towns would have been founded when Arnor was a single kingdom, so I’m not sure layout differences would be all that obvious.
Alright time for a post with ideas for extra locations in Arnor.
I’ve watched this video today, and it gave me a few ideas for Arnor, and basically the rest of Middle-Earth.
While we see a lot of stone castle ruins, they are basically nothing compared to the amount of castles or fortified structures that were actually built in the Medieval period. Wooden castles generally don’t survive and leave nothing behind, except for a grassy mound where they used to be build upon.
So i’ve looked arround in Arnor on our map, and found a bunch of potential places where it would be cool to have some of these grassy mounds, or maybe even a few stone foundation remnants of fortified manors, wooden castles, and also stone castle ruins.
I’ve also been told by a few people, that the earlier Arnorians also lived west of lake Evendim, even along the river Lune. So i’ve added a few potential places for town ruins, and grassy mounds in that general area aswell.
Alrighty then, first arround Fornost:
Since Fornost was the capital of Arthedain, it would have been surrounded by farmlands, villages, and ofcourse, fortified structures like wooden castles and wealthier manors. The marsh used to be farmland aswell, so i’ve added something there too. The North Downs are a natural barrier, which makes a good place for one, or a few castles protecting the capital from the north.
Next up is Annúminas:
This city was a much larger capital of the entire kingdom of Arnor. Ofcourse such a big city would have had a massive amount of farmlands and villages surrounding it, and the entire lake. Same story as with Fornost basically.
I’ve also added a few possible locations for castles in the hills west of the lake. They probably would be pretty small compared to those on like the Weather Hills, but it would still be nice to have them.
North of the Shire:
The hills here would also be a good place for a castle ruin, or a few.
And finally, near the Lune river:
A few possible locations of where i think it would make sense for towns and fortified structures to have been long ago. Annúminas was a great city, and founded as the capital by Elendil. People naturally would want to live arround the capital, not too far away generally, in all directions. And afaik Elendil did sail up the Lune before he founded his city. Not much else to say really…
Again, these are all just possible locations that would make sense to me.
All wooden castles would be completely gone, except maybe a grassy mound. People did try to improve their castles in the past, replacing wooden parts with stone over time if they had the money, so we could have some partial stone/wooden castles aswell.
Some of the fortified manors could have been made of stone, but mostly all we need to build is just a grassy mound of where one used to be.
Anyways, these were just my ideas, and most of this stuff, if not all of it, is pretty easy to make.
