Elenath
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Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Thu 22 Jul 2021, 04:55

IIRC it seems most Shire Folk and Breelanders don't know the connection between the Rangers and the Kings of Old.

I am aware at our table we can run it anyway we would like but I am curious to hear other's thoughts on a Hobbit or Breelander scholar knowing about the connection and how you would run it at your table.

Thanks in advance.
 
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HunterGreen
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Thu 22 Jul 2021, 12:42

I would personally leave it up to the player of the scholar. Heroes are by definition exceptional, and a Breeish scholar is already exceptional just in being a scholar. So it fits the theme either for that scholar to be surprised on learning the history behind a Dúnadan they meet, or equally well, being one of the only ones in Bree who knows what Rangers really are, and who is always irked at how dismissive others are of the Rangers.
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Asgo
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Thu 22 Jul 2021, 13:04

I would agree that it is basically a RP decision if that player wants his scholar to know that.

If I remember correctly, that knowledge falls more under the category lost/not advertised (depending on perspective) and not necessarily explicitly hidden, which would make it even easier to find a reason why a scholar might or might not know it based on preference.
 
Elenath
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Thu 22 Jul 2021, 13:47

Thank you for you responses
 
Fornost42
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Thu 22 Jul 2021, 20:52

I think a Breeish scholar would have a much higher likelihood of knowing about the Dunedain's lineage than one from the Shire. The men of Bree have been there for Ages, before the rise of Arnor and Gondor, so in the case that someone "learned them their letters" and wrote a history of the area, you'd expect folks to know. There's also a strong link to oral history in Middle-earth, so no reason to think no one living in Breeland knows about it.

What's interesting about this question is if the scholar and the people around them would be any more trusting (than an average Breelander) of the rangers with the knowledge of that history.
 
Themadviolinist
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Fri 23 Jul 2021, 01:54

Assuming that Breelanders would be more likely to know about the lineage of the Rangers seems to me to go against information implied in the original books that the Rangers lineage was something of a deliberately kept secret. The Dunedain of the north had good reasons to keep their links to the line of Isildur secret from agents of the Enemy. I think I'd be pretty sparing with who would know that, scholar or no, unless the scholar has links to Rivendell. I'd even suggest that Bilbo wouldn't know about that linkage until he retired to Rivendell after his party.
 
Otaku-sempai
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Fri 23 Jul 2021, 17:04

IIRC it seems most Shire Folk and Breelanders don't know the connection between the Rangers and the Kings of Old.

I am aware at our table we can run it anyway we would like but I am curious to hear other's thoughts on a Hobbit or Breelander scholar knowing about the connection and how you would run it at your table.

Thanks in advance.
For my Bree-warden, I'm assuming that he only knows local folklore about the Rangers and whatever his new Ranger friend might have told him or corrected him on. We have hand-waved his first meeting with the company's Patron, the lady Gilraen.
#FideltyToTolkien
 
coniunctio
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Mon 02 Aug 2021, 13:13

Thomas Morwinsky (amongst others) has done some excellent background material on the Dunedain from the decline and fall of Arnor and their place in the population of Eriador by the time of TOR setting. See Other Minds Magazine issue 13. Specifically toward the end of the document and how and why the few Dunedain enclaves position themselves throughout Old Arnor and maintain some connection in covert ways with the various settlements still in existence.
 
Otaku-sempai
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Mon 02 Aug 2021, 16:40

The oldest families of Bree might be of Northmen stock, though the majority of Bree-landers (local folklore notwithstanding) seem to be more closely related to the Dunlendings. Regardless, individual family traditions might speak of Dunedain ancestry in a few instances. A Bree-land scholar might be able to discover such histories, though they might not receive much attention for their efforts, especially when such discover contradicts local folklore and legend.
#FideltyToTolkien
 
MDuckworth83
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Re: Knowledge of Dunedin lineage?

Mon 02 Aug 2021, 20:54

So to be clear... there are basically four lineages of men that populate the Northern and Western parts of Middle Earth Right?

1. There are the Dunedain - remnants of the Numenoreans and their kingdoms (both good and evil) and descents of the Edain of the first age.

2. There are the North men, who seem to culturally parallel the real world Anglo-Saxons, and these consist of the Rohirrim, Beornings, Woodmen, and men of Dale and Esgaroth.

3. There is another seperate and (equally?) ancient lineage of men that consists of the Bree-Landers, the Hill men of Rhudaur, and the Dunlendings (and presumably the majority of the population of ancient Arnor before it was depopulated?) These seem to have sort of a Celtic real world parallel (except the Bree-Landers who seem curiously Middle English? lol)

4. Finally, there are certain tribes of wild men related to the Woses, that I've always though parallel either real world hunter/gatherer tribes in the Amazon or possibly Neanderthals in ancient Europe.

Do I have that about right? Did I miss anybody?

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