How to RP a Rohir

How to RP a Rohir

30-Aug-09

02:03 PM

Logfile from Elendor.

The Little Red School House

You walk into the lobby area of the little red schoolhouse. Looking out the window, you can see some kids playing like they are swashbuckling fighters, acting things out with their broomstick mock swords. Another group of kids are in a circle, and seem to be thinking really hard about things, talking amongst each other. You can tell they are thinking because there is smoke coming from their brains. :) As you watch, the swashbucklers accidentally tumble into the circle, disrupting everything! Well, they are still learning.

Theoden says, \"RP Class: How to Play a Rohir is now beginning!\"

Theoden grins. Oh, this class is designed for the students to talk, ask questions, etc. So, no need to apologize.

You say, \"So, this is a class, as I said, on how to play a Rohir. Before I begin, does anyone have any questions, concerns, or anything specific they want addressed?\"

Brandebras will probably just ask as we go along?

Theoden nods. Okie. The most important thing about playing a Rohir is *attitude*. And what I mean about that is the attitude we hold in regards to our own person, family, king, country, horses, and the people/lands around us.

You say, \"Starting with self, personal honor, and honor in general, is very important. We don\'t lie. We behave in an honorable fashion. We behave in an upstanding fashion. And, not only is our own honor important, but we often feel responsible for the honor or lack thereof in our kin or, in some cases, countrymen.\"

You say, \"So, for example, if I had an IC son who went and stole something from the bakery, I would feel myself lacking because I did not teach him right. If my sister married someone undesirable, I may feel my own family was shamed. And I would, of course, have qualms if I had to steal for some reason, because it would shame me, my children, my siblings, my parents, etc. Does that make sense?\"

Brandebras says, \"So what would be the reaction to a family member acting undesirably? Would they be cut off from the family, or would the family try to make reparations, or ..?\"

You say, \"Usually, the family would try to make reparations.\"

You say, \"Think \"Beowulf\". Tolkien drew very strongly on Anglo-Saxon tradition and A-S/Germanic culture in general when he created the Rohirrim. They aren\'t meant to \"be\" the Anglo-Saxons, per se, but the examples of Germanic peoples did strongly influence the creation of the Rohirrim.\"

You say, \"So, for example, for a death, there should be weregild, that is, reparation paid for killing. If our sons die fighting a war,l we should get reparation. If we steal, we must pay back. If we cannot, we will be in debt to the wronged.\"

You say, \"If the transgression was seen as very bad by the family, then the transgressor may be cut off, but that would be an extreme situation. Our family is part of our identity. When you name yourself, you aren\'t just you. When I was Hraefengar, I was not just \"Hraefengar\". I was \"Hraefengar son of Hrothgar\". My family ties are part of who I am, and that isn\'t just applicable for the king.\"

You say, \"Our \"name\" is important to us. Our reputation and our legacy after death are our immortality. So we are keenly aware of our image. Faestred brought this up. She used to play Faelwine, who was married to Hraefengar, who is one of the King\'s bards (scops). As Hraefengar was of a higher \"status\" (and \"fame\") than her father, she would name herself Faelwine Hraefengarswif as opposed to Faelwine Faldweldsdohtor, though both would be correct names. That make sense?\"

Brandebras says, \"Social climbing! Hah, somehow I thought Rohirrim above all that )\"

Theoden grins. No, it\'s just more subtle. And it isn\'t just \"climbing\". ) It is more a matter of understanding relations, securing our immortality, and making a place for our children (or younger siblings, etc). It\'s more like Hobbits\' family trees than Gondor\'s nobility structure, I would say. And your family comes to include the family you marry into as well as your birth family. Your family can also include anyone you were fostered to, or apprenticed to.

You say, \"Any other questions about self and family before I cover King and Country?\"

Brandebras says, \"Sounds good to me. Oh - average family size? Large? (think mine were)\"

You say, \"Yes. Families are fairly large. However, infant/child mortality would be similar to medieval Europe, women die in childbirth, men die in battle or accidents. Illnesses are often serious, even what might seem mild to us modern folk, and even a broken arm is a bad thing.\"

You say, \"So being lame, one-armed, one-eyed, etc... all this is a possibility.\"

You say, \"Stop me, by the way, if you have more questions.\"

You say, \"Oh, Faestred wanted me to bring this up. Rohirrim *bathe*. We groom ourselves. We aren\'t stinky Rangers.\"

Brandebras says, \"Eww! How horrid )\"

You say, \"Personal grooming is important to us. Sorry. ) It\'s one of those Anglo-Saxon traits. We might have hay in our hair or smell of horses, but we\'ll be *clean*, dangit!\"

You say, \"King and country. Very important to note, we do *not* call ourselves \"Rohirrim\". (Pet peeve: Rohir -- singular, Rohirrim -- plural, Rohirric -- adjectival and name of the language.) We call ourselves \"Eorlingas\" (People of Eorl), or \"Men/Women/Man/Woman of the Mark\". We call our land \"Riddermark\", or \"the Mark\" for short, which means \"Land of the Riders\" or \"The Land\".\"

You say, \"We self-identify with our first king, Eorl, and are all his people. Essentially, we are much like an extended family. There is a kinship there. Sometimes we are called \"Sons of Eorl\", as though we are all kin, and not just the royal family. That make sense?\"

Brandebras nods. It makes sense - it\'s just remembering it all in RP *blushes*

Theoden smiles. I seem to recall you managed it when you RPed in Rohan. :)

Brandebras bets I slipped in a few \'Rohir\' or whatever ) Anyway, irrelevant

You say, \"As far as the King goes, he is, in a way, a fatherly figure. He is head of the House of Eorl, obviously, but also the head of the Eorlingas, the extended \"Sons of Eorl\", as it were. He is expected to behave with honor, with generosity, with the best qualities of the people. The people are expected to behave in an appropriate fashion towards such a figure.\"

You say, \"Appropriate means not ordering him around, not mouthing off to him, not making demands of him. So, you need to watch your wording. \"You must pardon me for being late\" is not appropriate. \"I ask your pardon for being late\", however, is.\"

Brandebras says, \"What is the correct title to use, please? I seem to remember something like \'Sire\' rather than \'King\'\"

You say, \"Sire is correct, my Lord is also correct, my Liege is correct (not usually used by Rohirrim), my King is correct, and you can also address him directly as Theoden King and be fine.\"\"

You say, \"My Lord and Theoden King are the ones most used in Lord of the Rings.\"

You say, \"Two things that I have to cover are hospitality and gift-giving. Hospitality is a matter of honor in the Mark. It is expected of everyone. Hosts take responsibility for their guests\' comfort, their feeding, and, in some respects, their actions while a guest in his house. The guest has the responsibility of keeping peace in his host\'s house. The Meduseld is the King\'s hall, and all who enter are, in effect, guests. Fighting there (or in Edoras), is not permitted.\"

You say, \"Giving gifts is also important. It helps strengthen social bonds, it helps ensure loyalty, and it brings about reciprocation, service, etc. A gift entails obligations. A gift given is often for service rendered, or implies so0mething will be done in service in return. Theoden gave gifts to Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, (and later, Merry) because of this.\"

You say, \"Questions?\"\"

Brandebras ponders. What sort of things would we value as gifts (everyday ones, not Mearas for Gandalf!)

Brandebras says, \"Uh .. you .. they .. whatever\"

You say, \"Weapons and armor, jewelry, clothing, boots. Arm-bands, brooches, hair-bands (for braids) are all great for either sex. Bridles, saddles, horse-blankets. Great gifts, those would be for bigger things. Unusual trade goods, the products of your craft. Wooden flutes, drums, even a harp. Wooden carvings. Baskets, cups, table goods.\"

You say, \"VERY rarely horses. That would usually be reserved for the family, someone marrying into the family, or someone to whom you owe your life. A horse is, indeed, a kingly gift.\"

You say, \"Horses are almost as close as family to us. We don\'t give them to just anyone. We don\'t sell them. Those we give to Gondor are, honestly, still given, and they are culls, those we don\'t want to breed, rather than our best.\"

Brandebras grins and wonders if they know that )

You say, \"Shhhhhhhhh.\"

You say, \"Much of our culture revolves around horses. Our children learn in early childhood how to ride, some just out of toddlerhood. Only very few families are so poor they cannot at least have one horse. People without horses are pitied. Other cultures are pitied because they have bad horses and because they ride like old fat grandmothers.\"

You say, \"Horses choose their riders. A person might want a specific horse, but in the end, it is the horse that accepts or rejects. There are festivals honoring horses, and horse imagery is found throughout the culture.\"

You say, \"Any questions about horses?\"

Brandebras says, \"Tips on how to pose them ) Which I think is in the helpfiles - for the record, what are those called?\"

You say, \"+rohelp :)\"

Brandebras thankees. Will go have a look next time I\'m in the Recruiting Room

You say, \"As far as tips, I\'d snag Faestred too. She owns horses and is a great resource on practical posing tips. Also, watch the first half of \"The Black Stallion\", and read Black Beauty. That was Fae\'s tip. Hi Fae.\"

You say, \"Any other horsie questions before I get to culture-level and relations with other cultures?\"

Faestred says, \"If you say a woman looks like a horse, is that an insult or a compliment in the Mark?\"

Brandebras grins. Did we need to know Hraefengar\'s pillow-talk? :p

You say, \"Depends on what the horse and the woman look like, and who you mean to insult.\"

Faestred thinks absolutely Yes, you did. )

Theoden notes I have ***NO*** intent on covering innuendo in this class. p

Faestred says, \"Awww, but Fally... you\'re so ***good*** at innuendo. :P\"

Theoden hems. Anyway.

You say, \"Okie. We are a proud people. We are also an illiterate people. Under 5% of us can actually read.\"

Faestred says, \"Lord only knows how we manage to RP on a MUSH...\"

Faestred coughs and shuts up. :P

You say, \"We are not ashamed of this. Actually, we pity the Gondorians, because obviously their memories are so poor that they have to write things down instead of being able to remember them all.\"

You say, \"Our lore, stories, etc, are kept by the scops, and often told or sung. Singing and storytelling is very much a part of life in Rohan, and part of our education.\"

Faestred says, \"It\'s one of the reasons that honesty is so important to the culture. There are no written records of things: a man\'s (or woman\'s) word is all we have to know what actually happened.\"

Theoden nods. Yes. And, building on that, oathbreaking is one of the worst things you can do. You would often be forgiven for killing someone sooner than for breaking an oath.

Faestred says, \"And similarly, a good Rohir would likely rather die than break an oath.\"

Theoden nods. Hence why giving one\'s word, which is, in effect, an oath, is such a big deal.

Brandebras says, \"You\'ve mentioned killing twice now - /does/ it happen, then? Internally I mean, not death-by-Outsider\"

Brandebras always assumed the Rohirrim were united

You say, \"They have happened. What I am describing is a \"good\" Rohir. But there are feuds, there are brawls. There are drunks. Sometimes murder happens as revenge for doing something dishonorable to someone.\"

You say, \"So, you know, we had someone who was ICly raped. The husband/brother/father of this person might go and kill the perpetrator, That wouldn\'t be seen as a terrible deed by most, as long as it was done outside Edoras. They may be attacked in turn by someone in the perpetrator\'s family. Alternately, recompense could be demanded for either of these things that would require monetary or other value restitution.\"

You say, \"Make sense?\"

Brandebras nods, it does. More Icelandic than I thought )

Theoden nods. I should have said Germanic/Nordic.

You say, \"Now, Tolkien would likely describe us as \"lesser\" in comparison to the Gondorians. However, *we* do not see ourselves that way. We are a proud people. We think we\'re just as good, at least, as the Gondorians. In some ways we\'re better. Sure, they have these cool stone cities,, but, ugh, who wants to live in stone cities?\"

Faestred says, \"Blegh, stone.\"

You say, \"We don\'t think we *need* to read. We don\'t *need* stonework. Helm\'s Deep is a marvel, a place of refuge, but it isn\'t a place we live, for the most part.\"

You say, \"We don\'t need those freaky elvish influences.\"

Faestred says, \"Yeah. Freaky dwimmercrafty creatures.\"

Glorfindel says, \"HEY.\"

Brandebras seconds that! Who does? :p

Glorfindel sniffles.

You say, \"It lives. It speaks. How quaint.\"

Faestred sidles away from the pointy eared dwimmerlaik.

You say, \"Indeed, those who seem a bit odd or off or a bit crazy are often referred to as \"elf-touched\".\"

Faestred says, \"We\'re a highly superstitious lot.\"

You say, \"We like the Gondorians. They are our allies. We all hold Eorl\'s oath as though we had made it. It is our duty to fulfill. This really can be aggravating if/when they look down on us, because it seems they are trying to shame what we hold so sacred.\"

You say, \"We don\'t really trust anyone else. We hate the Dunlendings and the orcs. We are suspicious of other foreign men. Elves are not trusted. Dwarves are rare visitors, not so bad as elves, and if their motives are not bad, they are fun to trade with. If you come to Rohan, you will be driven out or taken to Edoras.\"

Faestred says, \"Or killed on the spot.\"

You say, \"Yeah.\"\"

Faestred says, \"But that kind of ruins the chance of RP, so we don\'t do that often. Though sometimes visitors have had to talk their way out of being skewered.\"

You say, \"So, as an Eorling, you would want to remember that it is odd to trust \"outsiders\".\"

Brandebras grins. Rohan and Dunland, separated at birth

You say, \"We are an intense, proud people. We are good fighters. Our women are also intense and proud. They\'re skeery. \"The only thing an Eorling man fears is an Eorling women.\"\"

Brandebras laughs!

Faestred says, \"\'s why I had to stop playing Faelwine. Everyone ran for cover whenever I showed up, no RP. :P\"

You say, \"We do occasionally have shield-maidens. Other than that, our women do not go into battle. However, most of our women know how to use a weapon, and will defend themselves quite capably.\"

Brandebras says, \"So would a father/brother train the women in the family to use a weapon, \'just in case\'?\"

Theoden nods.

You say, \"Or an uncle.\"

You say, \"So, what I have spoken of is the \"typical\" Rohir. One *can* of course, RP a character that does not fit te cultural norms in some way or another. That\'s fine, as long as you, as a player, are willing to accept the IC consequences of the deviations.\"

You say, \"That pretty much covers all I had to say. Any questions you would like answered? (Even from the dwimmercrafty one?)\"

Brandebras says, \"Nooo! Don\'t let an elf speak! It\'ll put a spell on you *shudders* What are you needing from tempalts? Any particular kind of char? Any particular place/type of scene?\"

You say, \"Anyone who wants to RP, frankly.\"

You say, \"We might have a festival soon, and I wouldn\'t mind getting some orc action.\"

You say, \"But, seriously, you want to come and play someone, we\'ll find a scene to put you in.\"

Brandebras nods. Would be happy to contribute to either scene, subject to my inflexible hours. If I\'m on, give me a shout - better still, give everyone on a shout )

Theoden nods and will.

You say, \"Okie, any other questions? I apologize for the length I had no idea I had enough material to cover two hours.\"

Brandebras chuckles. Not from me - think I\'ve bugged you enough. Thanks for giving of your time and knowledge! :)

Faestred would just like to add that I would be happy to help people out with questions and such, too. Just page or +mail me here on on Thuli. :)

Theoden nods. I am also free for any questions. Page or +mail Fally.

You say, \"Ama? Any questions from you?\"

Faestred says, \"And RP requests are awesome, and if I at all have the time, it\'s very easy to get me into a scene. :P\"

Glorfindel shakes her head. :)

Glorfindel says, \"Thanks for doing this.\"

Glorfindel says, \"And for letting me spectate from the peanut gallery.\"

Theoden nods. My pleasure. I hope it is of some use. And I\'ll be posting the log so that those who couldn\'t make it can still read it.

You say, \"Okie, class dismissed. Or, at least, I\'m ending the log here.\"