Leader(s): iNamelessi
Player rank: Builder+
Private or Public: Public; open for applications
Location name: Folde, The
Lore: The Folde was the centre of the kingdom, in which the royal house and its kin had their dwellings; its boundary eastward was roughly a line south-west from the junction of the Snowbourn and Entwash to the mountains; the Eastfold was the land from that line east to the Fenmark 1 between Entwash and the mountains; the Westfold was the similar land along the mountains as far as the River Isen. The defensive centre of the Folde and Eastfold was at Edoras; of Westfold at Helm’s Deep.
Locations
Edoras:I see a white stream that comes down from the snows,’ he said. 'Where it issues from the shadow of the vale a green hill rises upon the east. A dike and mighty wall and thorny fence encircle it. Within there rise the roofs of houses; and in the midst, set upon a green terrace, there stands aloft a great hall of Men.
At the foot of the walled hill the way ran under the shadow of many mounds, high and green. Upon their western sides the grass was white as with a drifted snow: small flowers sprang there like countless stars amid the turf.
‘…Behold! we are come to the great barrows where the sires of Théoden sleep.’ ‘Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right,’ said Aragorn.
… the travellers passed the silent mounds. Following the winding way up the green shoulders of the hills, they came at last to the wide wind-swept walls and the gates of Edoras.
The dark gates were swung open. The travellers entered, walking in file behind their guide. They found a broad path, paved with hewn stones, now winding upward, now climbing in short flights of well-laid steps. Many houses built of wood and many dark doors they passed. Beside the way in a stone channel a stream of clear water flowed, sparkling and chattering. At length they came to the crown of the hill. There stood a high platform above a green terrace, at the foot of which a bright spring gushed from a stone carved in the likeness of a horse’s head; beneath was a wide basin from which the water spilled and fed the falling stream. Up the green terrace went a stair of stone, high and broad, and on either side of the topmost step were stone-hewn seats.
Meduseld: The guards now lifted the heavy bars of the doors and swung them slowly inwards grumbling on their great hinges. The travellers entered. Inside it seemed dark and warm after the clear air upon the hill. The hall was long and wide and filled with shadows and half lights; mighty pillars upheld its lofty roof. But here and there bright sunbeams fell in glimmering shafts from the eastern windows, high under the deep eaves. Through the louver in the roof, above the thin wisps of issuing smoke, the sky showed pale and blue. As their eyes changed, the travellers perceived that the floor was paved with stones of many hues; branching runes and strange devices intertwined beneath their feet. They saw now that the pillars were richly carved, gleaming dully with gold and half-seen colours. Many woven cloths were hung upon the walls, and over their wide spaces marched figures of ancient legend, some dim with years, some darkling in the shade. But upon one form the sunlight fell: a young man upon a white horse. He was blowing a great horn, and his yellow hair was flying in the wind. The horse’s head was lifted, and its nostrils were wide and red as it neighed, smelling battle afar. Foaming water, green and white, rushed and curled about its knees.
Now the four companions went forward, past the clear wood-fire burning upon the long hearth in the midst of the hall. Then they halted. At the far end of the house, beyond the hearth and facing north towards the doors, was a dais with three steps; and in the middle of the dais was a great gilded chair.
Stables outside Edoras (possibly royal stables?): ‘So on 22 [September] Gandalf leaves Edoras and goes to the horse-sheds. (They are some way from Edoras. Gandalf does not get there until evening?)’.
Aldburg: Here [at Aldburg] Eorl had his house; it passed after Brego son of Eorl removed to Edoras into the hands of Eofor, third son of Brego, from whom Éomund, father of Éomer, claimed descent. The Folde was part of the King’s Lands, but Aldburg remained the most convenient base for the Muster of the East-mark.
Harrowdale Valley: Before them stood the mountains of the South: white-tipped and streaked with black. The grass-lands rolled against the hills that clustered at their feet, and flowed up into many valleys … winding their way into the heart of the great mountains. Immediately before the travellers the widest of these glens opened like a long gulf among the hills. Far inward they glimpsed a tumbled mountain-mass with one tall peak; at the mouth of the vale there stood like sentinel a lonely height. About its feet there flowed, as a thread of silver, the stream that issued from the dale; upon its brow they caught, still far away, a glint in the rising sun, a glimmer of gold.
… far below them a leaping stream had run down from the high pass behind, cleaving its narrow way between pine-clad walls; and now through a stony gate it flowed out and passed into a wider vale. The Riders followed it, and suddenly Harrowdale lay before them, loud with the noise of waters in the evening. There the white Snowbourn, joined by the lesser stream, went rushing, fuming on the stones, down to Edoras and the green hills and the plains. Away to the right at the head of the great dale the mighty Starkhorn loomed up above its vast buttresses swathed in cloud…
Merry … saw only ever-mounting slopes, great walls of stone behind great walls, and frowning precipices wreathed with mist. …
The paths out of the narrow gorge fell steeply. Only a glimpse, as through a tall window, could be seen of the great valley in the gloaming below. …
In the deepening dusk they came down into the valley. Here the Snowbourn flowed near to the western walls of the dale, and soon the path led them to a ford where the shallow waters murmured loudly on the stones. …
… as soon as [Théoden’s] coming was known captains rode to meet him at the ford… Dúnhere, chieftain of the folk of Harrowdale, was at their head. …
The road [to Dunharrow] now led eastward straight across the valley, which was at that point little more than half a mile in width. Flats and meads of rough grass, grey now in the falling night, lay all about, but in front on the far side of the dale Merry saw a frowning wall, a last outlier of the great roots of the Starkhorn, cloven by the river in ages past. …
On down the grey road they went beside the Snowbourn rushing on its stones; through the hamlets of Underharrow and Upbourn…
[Said Théoden,] 'Folk say that Dead Men out of the Dark Years guard the [Paths of the Dead] and will suffer no living man to come to their hidden halls; but at whiles they may themselves be seen passing out of the door like shadows and down the stony road. Then the people of Harrowdale shut fast their doors and shroud their windows and are afraid.
… Cf. my father’s note on Dunharrow in the Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings (A Tolkien Compass, ed. Lobdell, p. 183): ‘Dunharrow. A modernisation of Rohan Dunhaerg “the heathen fane on the hillside”, so-called because this refuge of the Rohirrim at the head of Harrowdale was on the site of a sacred place of the old inhabitants (now the Dead Men). The element haerg can be modernised in English because it remains an element in place-names, notably Harrow (on the Hill).’
Road to Dunharrow + Dunharrow (Includes hamlet quotes): ‘Harrowdale at last!’ said Éomer. ‘Our journey is almost at an end.’…
In the deepening dusk they came down into the valley. Here the Snowbourn flowed near to the western walls of the dale, and soon the path led them to a ford where the shallow waters murmured loudly on the stones…
The road now led eastward straight across the valley… in front on the far side of the dale Merry saw a frowning wall, a last outlier of the great roots of the Starkhorn, cloven by the river in ages past…
[The] king’s party came up under the looming cliff on the eastern side of the valley; and there suddenly the path began to climb, and Merry looked up in amazement. He was on a road the like of which he had never seen before, a great work of men’s hands in years beyond the reach of song. Upwards it wound, coiling like a snake, boring its way across the sheer slope of rock. Steep as a stair, it looped backwards and forwards as it climbed. Up it horses could walk, and wains could be slowly hauled; but no enemy could come that way, except out of the air, if it was defended from above. At each turn of the road there were great standing stones that had been carved in the likeness of men, huge and clumsy-limbed… The Púkel-men they called them…
After a while he looked back and found that he had already climbed some hundreds of feet above the valley…
At last the king’s company came to a sharp brink, and the climbing road passed into a cutting between walls of rock, and so went up a short slope and out on to a wide upland. The Firienfeld… [lay among] the great mountains behind: the Starkhorn southwards, and northwards… Írensaga, between which there faced the riders, the grim black wall of the Dwimorberg… rising out of steep slopes of sombre pines. Dividing the upland into two there marched a double line of unshaped standing stones that dwindled into the dusk and vanished in the trees. Those who dared to follow that road came soon to the black Dimholt under Dwimorberg…
Overhead plan: Same plan for the Folde as in the Westfold in terms of agriculture and way of living. Most people live in rural parts of the Folde. Agriculture is the primary industry with most of the population providing for themselves or their local communities. Villages or larger settlements can provide services/professions, but the like the Westfold, the main profession is farming.
The image below portrays the map of the Folde, cut into 5 separate sections. Each section must be mostly completed (exceptions might be made for stuff like a lumber camp depending on the situation and pace of the projects) before beginning the next one (Folde project Gantt Chart). Section 1 will obviously be the first, with section 4 and 5 containing Edoras and Aldburg, being the final ones. Other than the sections themselves there is no real succession between the individual projects within them, everyone is free to apply for any at anytime within the section.
The Folde contains 29% of the population of Rohan, with an overall population of 2494. Population and number of beds are interchangeable. The goal is to finish the Folde within 10 months, meaning the deadlines of each section are loosely divided to fit that deadline.
Section 1:
- Homestead 1, 2, 4 and 5 (~80)
- Hillfort (~125)
- Village 3 [~25 houses] (~125)
- Lumber Camp 1 (~20)
- Quarry (~10)
Deadline: 2 months
Population: 360 beds
Section 2:
- Homestead 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 (~120)
- Village 4 [~35 houses] (~175)
- Iron mine (~30)
Deadline: 1 month
Population: 325 beds
Section 3:
- Homestead 13, 14 and 15 (~60)
- Village 5 and 6 [~35 and ~30 houses resp.] (~175 and ~150 resp.)
Deadline: 1 month
Population: 385 beds
Section 4:
- Aldburg (~110 houses) (~550)
- Homestead 18, 19 and 20 (60)
- Lumber Camp 2 (~20)
Deadline: 3 months
Population: 630 beds
Section 5:
- Edoras [~143 houses] (~714)
- Homestead 3, 11, 16 and 17 (~80)
- Upbourn [~10 houses] (~50)
- Underharrow [~10 houses] (~50)
Deadline: 3 months
Population: 894 beds
Tasks list:
The same thing in the Westfold applies to the Folde.
In-game guide : The style of the Folde slightly changes depending on the location and distance from the mountains. Below is a map dictating what the style of the settlements fall under.
Closer to the mountains (ie. Style 1) will include substantially more plaster (mostly white) with limestone as the foundation. Forests close to the mountains also provide Style 1 with more logs that can be used in the buildings, the occasional log-cabin can also be built. Shingles should also be used often in this section, being closer to the forests. A larger quantity of stone is also available, so two-high stone foundations is an option for most buildings.
Style 2 is a transition area for the most part, mudstone should be used instead of the limestone however. Logs should become less common but can be used sometimes. Same situation with the plaster, the brown plaster variant can transition well but I recommend using it conservatively, even less so with the white.
Style 3 is quite similar to what we have in the Westfold on the north side of the white line. Mudstone and the darker sandstone mixtures should be used in place of the stone. Planks and other wood types should be the
main wall material, as well as the mud tudor. You can use the brown plaster and the yellow on rare occasions.
The Roofing and Interiors are the same as in the Westfold, feel free to experiment with unique roof designs for some of your houses, but don’t go overboard.
Layouts are a another crucial element to your settlements. For this we recommend to use this to help form your layouts, if unsure you can always look at the Westfold. Splattering of houses should always be avoided if possible, they should always be linear and follow a particular path or road, connected the houses to form plots of private land can be a good method. See:Stipel.
Terrain: Will be done by Micah and Eaglz
Projects open for application:
SECTION 2
- Iron Mine
Projects on hold:
The Folde will run on newly-instated big-dick policy regarding deadlines. Each application will be given a deadline that is deemed appropriate by your overlords. Failure to meet them will result in either a change of leadership or consideration of future projects. Real life can obviously catch up with people so if there’s a legitimate reason then that will of course be appreciated, please let us know if that’s the case.