It started with Saruman, fallen into folly. He took the great orcs of the mountains and bred them to corrupted Men of Gondor, creating the Uruks. They knew no pain, no fatigue, had no compassion...an army of psychopaths.
That was at the ending of the Third Age. Here now, ages later, they have come to look like other Men...indistinguishable to the eye for the most part. Ah! But their behavior always shows them for what they are...Uruk Orcs (I shall not give them the name of my own race for any reason). Now they rarely wield weapons of war, more commonly wielding weapons of finance and technology. They have found their way into all of our counsels, even the highest.
Aye, the Shadow has returned, but not, this time, as a single entity. Rather it has come to us as a dispersed and disguised host of beings seen as people....people lauded for wealth, power, and barely hidden corruptions of the vilest sort.
As has always been the case, peace left us to become complacent. The Watch was allowed to lapse, folk said there was naught to worry over any longer. The Shadow, they said, was gone save for small, insignificant remnants. And so it was...for a while. But it always grows back, does the Shadow. After a defeat it always returns....each time more difficult to see coming...but at least then it manifested itself in the will of a single spirit....now it is dispersed...a kind of social hive mind.
And we sleep even now, most of us. A few of us, as always, see and know it for what it is....
Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.
Eledhwen
The Ranger-Harper of Minhiriath
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Ranger Stuff
Mae govannen;
Bowyering and fletching, hobby pursuits that appear to be morphing into something else. I am not certain quite how this is happening, but it does appear to be (very slowly) moving into something more than a simple hobby. Selling arrows...and I have some interested folk in bows I have been learning to make....none of which are field tested yet. I wonder if making the things that go with them will go that route? Quivers, bow quivers, strings, vambraces, and gloves, to name a few. I must admit, it would be nice. That said, I am not counting on it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think of becoming a bowyer and fletcher. A blacksmith, sure...I am formally trained to it...but this archery stuff I am entirely self taught. Apparently I do well with the arrows and the bows seem to turn out well too.
I am currently working on a Ranger bow...more specifically a Northern Ranger bow. All that really means is that I am working designs into the bow that reflect the Northern Rangers...the Forandiri. Along with those are sea motifs....I am very fond of the sea and so do honor to the seafaring past of the Dunedain.
So there is an example...armory for the Sea Rangers. More fitting, perhaps, for those Rangers operating in the Bay of Belfalas out of places like Dol Amroth and Pelargir. However, I figure the Kingdom Renewed might use such folk operating out of Forochel and the Lindons. Yeah, flimsy reasoning, but there it is. I like the sea, I like rangers, so I combined them.
The same kind of reasoning 'supports' my use of bamboo as a bow backing....it comes from the East and so travels beyond the Sea of Rhun made it available...as did the copious booty from defeating the Eye. Ditto Haradrim items. Yes, this is all post Ring, but eh, I'll use it.
For the sea motifs on the bow I am using seabird imagery as well as dolphins. Nothing huge, no ugly monster carvings, nothing to compromise the wood. Mostly a bit of woodburning and wood dyes...what carving this is I keep very minimal...more of an accent.
I am also being enough of a heretic to work on an iconic bow for the Northern (Sea) Rangers. I am going to work with a reflex-deflex design, the which is far older than I had previously thought. Eventually I might use siyas instead of the deflex portion but we will see how the basic sort functions. They are not as common with folk as the standard longbow design. They aren't composite bows...although they can be laminated (also a far older technique than I thought); adding siyas won't make them composite bows. I am not even sure I can make that work, but it is worth a try.
If it does work, I will wind up with a very unique bow for the Northern Rangers. Or really, anyone I might make one for. No idea how feasible it is. I will try it though.
I am also going to start working with wood dye designs on arrow shafts. Color combinations and designs. No carving, obviously, but paint and dye can do some interesting things. I have dipping tubes and colors, and brushes and such, so in addition to my name in Tengwar as a marker, Northern Rangers might have arrows whose differences lie in the detail of the decoration. I prefer grey and white flights...seabird stuff...but there are seabirds with other colors too so that is worth looking into as well.
Strings...at the moment Flemish twist types, but there other kinds to work with as well. Something else to work with...and perhaps multi-colored strands to make the string. ;)
Sounds a lot of work, I know, but it fascinates me. Granted, the Northern Ranger stuff is kind of limiting from a design standpoint but it is a starting place and one I really like so one I will pursue with great intention. Where it goes from there...I have no idea.
Leather stuff...yes, the sea motifs and Northern Ranger motifs will carry into those as well. I am not certain just how...I need to work with the sketchbook for a while, but I will come up with something.
Lots of learning going on..and that motivates me more than anything else.
Vendui!
Eledhwen
Bowyering and fletching, hobby pursuits that appear to be morphing into something else. I am not certain quite how this is happening, but it does appear to be (very slowly) moving into something more than a simple hobby. Selling arrows...and I have some interested folk in bows I have been learning to make....none of which are field tested yet. I wonder if making the things that go with them will go that route? Quivers, bow quivers, strings, vambraces, and gloves, to name a few. I must admit, it would be nice. That said, I am not counting on it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think of becoming a bowyer and fletcher. A blacksmith, sure...I am formally trained to it...but this archery stuff I am entirely self taught. Apparently I do well with the arrows and the bows seem to turn out well too.
I am currently working on a Ranger bow...more specifically a Northern Ranger bow. All that really means is that I am working designs into the bow that reflect the Northern Rangers...the Forandiri. Along with those are sea motifs....I am very fond of the sea and so do honor to the seafaring past of the Dunedain.
So there is an example...armory for the Sea Rangers. More fitting, perhaps, for those Rangers operating in the Bay of Belfalas out of places like Dol Amroth and Pelargir. However, I figure the Kingdom Renewed might use such folk operating out of Forochel and the Lindons. Yeah, flimsy reasoning, but there it is. I like the sea, I like rangers, so I combined them.
The same kind of reasoning 'supports' my use of bamboo as a bow backing....it comes from the East and so travels beyond the Sea of Rhun made it available...as did the copious booty from defeating the Eye. Ditto Haradrim items. Yes, this is all post Ring, but eh, I'll use it.
For the sea motifs on the bow I am using seabird imagery as well as dolphins. Nothing huge, no ugly monster carvings, nothing to compromise the wood. Mostly a bit of woodburning and wood dyes...what carving this is I keep very minimal...more of an accent.
I am also being enough of a heretic to work on an iconic bow for the Northern (Sea) Rangers. I am going to work with a reflex-deflex design, the which is far older than I had previously thought. Eventually I might use siyas instead of the deflex portion but we will see how the basic sort functions. They are not as common with folk as the standard longbow design. They aren't composite bows...although they can be laminated (also a far older technique than I thought); adding siyas won't make them composite bows. I am not even sure I can make that work, but it is worth a try.
If it does work, I will wind up with a very unique bow for the Northern Rangers. Or really, anyone I might make one for. No idea how feasible it is. I will try it though.
I am also going to start working with wood dye designs on arrow shafts. Color combinations and designs. No carving, obviously, but paint and dye can do some interesting things. I have dipping tubes and colors, and brushes and such, so in addition to my name in Tengwar as a marker, Northern Rangers might have arrows whose differences lie in the detail of the decoration. I prefer grey and white flights...seabird stuff...but there are seabirds with other colors too so that is worth looking into as well.
Strings...at the moment Flemish twist types, but there other kinds to work with as well. Something else to work with...and perhaps multi-colored strands to make the string. ;)
Sounds a lot of work, I know, but it fascinates me. Granted, the Northern Ranger stuff is kind of limiting from a design standpoint but it is a starting place and one I really like so one I will pursue with great intention. Where it goes from there...I have no idea.
Leather stuff...yes, the sea motifs and Northern Ranger motifs will carry into those as well. I am not certain just how...I need to work with the sketchbook for a while, but I will come up with something.
Lots of learning going on..and that motivates me more than anything else.
Vendui!
Eledhwen
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Ranger Season!
Mae Govannen!
Right then, it looks to be a great year for Rangering about. New trails, new kit, new clothing, and more on the way. To start off, I found these sketches on the Rangers of the White Tree Facebook page:
Why do I find these so exciting? They speak to me of Arnor, Gondor, and Numenor that was Westernesse. I have always been more Numenorian in my leanings than anything else, more Second Age than Third. Also, these are a lovely blend of different cultures; Late Roman, Byzantine, and early Medieval Europe. They mix it so well too. I wish I had thought of this myself way back in my younger years with the SCA. Even so, I can use them now.
"But Eledhwen, those are all black and white, what good is that for a Ranger?"
Glad you asked. For a Ranger we just use 'earth tones' for fabric...you know, the usual greens, browns, greys, and even black. In my case, browns and greens, with a bit of grey, and black or very dark blue decorative bits. Remaining subdued and plain, but still in line with these sketches which speak to me so clearly.
Of course, your mileage will vary. *I* find them spot on, but others may not. I have never, ever, liked the later medieval images used by various folk for Gondor. That is just me, however.
In any case, from this point forward (and even a little backward as I revisit extant garb with decorative work), folk will have no trouble noting me as my garments, mannish and my own feminine dresses, will be based around these. I have to admit, the sagum and paludamentum type cloaks are very, very nice with this.
Additionally, I will be including this style of work in the decoration of my leather and wood projects..no bright colors, no glitz, just subdued work. The only truly fair thing I will wear is my Ranger Star.
On top of all of that, silk painting of the Northern Rangers flag begins in a week or so. Yes, that ridiculously complicated pine tree is to be painted. No idea why I do this to myself, but I do. There will be writing in Elven script on the banner, and there will be pennants for the spears and gonfanons for the wall, not to mention cushions. Yeah, obsessive, aren't I? ;)
Shadows' Bane, my bow, and Orcbane, my Elven knife, also going out and about. One of these days I will render them in Elvish...and name the Numenorian shortsword I am nearly done with. Yes, I still have my DelTin Glamdring, but honestly, I much prefer shortswords. I do have a spear, naturally, and I even have an axe....a belt axe, mind.
New boots. I am patterning them off the Medieval Hunting Boots seen in so many of my hunting texts. They will have a stacked leather heel, although not high stacked, and cuffs at the top.
Also on the new front; the Ranger pack I have been mucking about with. I have found that I need a frame. I have decided to build one and enclose it in canvas and good webbing and then attach the pack itself to that. If I get it right, it shouldn't be terribly noticeable. Sorry, but the misalignment of my shoulder requires it.
Finally, new arrows for my bows. I am fletching these with natural turkey feathers...although if I can get them, I will use natural grey goose feathers. These will be bound with artificial sinew, tipped with good hunting broadheads. The new trail area I will be hiking runs right through a nearby Wildlife Management Area that I can hunt in as I patrol, for whichever game is in season at that time.
So that's the update for this season.
Vendui!
Eledhwen
Right then, it looks to be a great year for Rangering about. New trails, new kit, new clothing, and more on the way. To start off, I found these sketches on the Rangers of the White Tree Facebook page:
Why do I find these so exciting? They speak to me of Arnor, Gondor, and Numenor that was Westernesse. I have always been more Numenorian in my leanings than anything else, more Second Age than Third. Also, these are a lovely blend of different cultures; Late Roman, Byzantine, and early Medieval Europe. They mix it so well too. I wish I had thought of this myself way back in my younger years with the SCA. Even so, I can use them now.
"But Eledhwen, those are all black and white, what good is that for a Ranger?"
Glad you asked. For a Ranger we just use 'earth tones' for fabric...you know, the usual greens, browns, greys, and even black. In my case, browns and greens, with a bit of grey, and black or very dark blue decorative bits. Remaining subdued and plain, but still in line with these sketches which speak to me so clearly.
Of course, your mileage will vary. *I* find them spot on, but others may not. I have never, ever, liked the later medieval images used by various folk for Gondor. That is just me, however.
In any case, from this point forward (and even a little backward as I revisit extant garb with decorative work), folk will have no trouble noting me as my garments, mannish and my own feminine dresses, will be based around these. I have to admit, the sagum and paludamentum type cloaks are very, very nice with this.
Additionally, I will be including this style of work in the decoration of my leather and wood projects..no bright colors, no glitz, just subdued work. The only truly fair thing I will wear is my Ranger Star.
On top of all of that, silk painting of the Northern Rangers flag begins in a week or so. Yes, that ridiculously complicated pine tree is to be painted. No idea why I do this to myself, but I do. There will be writing in Elven script on the banner, and there will be pennants for the spears and gonfanons for the wall, not to mention cushions. Yeah, obsessive, aren't I? ;)
Shadows' Bane, my bow, and Orcbane, my Elven knife, also going out and about. One of these days I will render them in Elvish...and name the Numenorian shortsword I am nearly done with. Yes, I still have my DelTin Glamdring, but honestly, I much prefer shortswords. I do have a spear, naturally, and I even have an axe....a belt axe, mind.
New boots. I am patterning them off the Medieval Hunting Boots seen in so many of my hunting texts. They will have a stacked leather heel, although not high stacked, and cuffs at the top.
Also on the new front; the Ranger pack I have been mucking about with. I have found that I need a frame. I have decided to build one and enclose it in canvas and good webbing and then attach the pack itself to that. If I get it right, it shouldn't be terribly noticeable. Sorry, but the misalignment of my shoulder requires it.
Finally, new arrows for my bows. I am fletching these with natural turkey feathers...although if I can get them, I will use natural grey goose feathers. These will be bound with artificial sinew, tipped with good hunting broadheads. The new trail area I will be hiking runs right through a nearby Wildlife Management Area that I can hunt in as I patrol, for whichever game is in season at that time.
So that's the update for this season.
Vendui!
Eledhwen
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