In Progress Mordor 1A

[Mershy]

~:~|~:~ Mordor 1A ~:~|~:~

Project Leader: TheStephen, Rudolphius
Project Staff: barteldvn
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Section 01 - Mordor Approach

Approximate Overall Progress Percentage: 10%
Current Progress State: Concepting + Planning

Old Ithilien - 40%
Moorland - 5%
Dying Moorland - 5%
No Man’s Land - 25%
Dagorlad - 5%

Section 02 - Udun

Approximate Overall Progress Percentage: 5%
Current Progress State: Concepting + Planning

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INTRODUCTION

This is the official first post in reference to the Mordor Master Plan. I shall re add the map but please refer to this document also for additional information. With that said I would like to introduce you to the first project post for Mordor. This project post outlines the first area we would like to start within Mordor, which also encompasses parts of the outside terrain to tie in the area.

The first area we have decided to start is the 1A region in reference to this map -

This was created as an overall region area that we could follow, borders to be determined and probably edited in the micro scale. In this case, due to density of builds within 1B, I have decided to put Carach Angren into 1A in turn creating a good stopping point for the overall project area.


PROJECT AREAS

We have a couple project areas within the project running from terrain and detailing, architecture, camps, mines, tunnels plenty of variety to concept and build. The overall project area has been expanded a little due to over areas needing to tie into the Mordor region, specifically the outside terrain. This will need to be tackled in the first section. The second section will be the Black gate and beyond up until Carach Angren that is the stopping point for Mordor 1A.

Section 01 - Mordor Approach

Section 02 - Udun

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Section 01 - Mordor Approach

The Mordor approach is as follows. We have the road heading northwards towards the black gate and the surrounding terrain. For Ithilien, the idea is blending the older style and continuing that northwards until the red moorland boundary. This will save some time having to create a brand new style just for a small area.

Existing Ithilien - Trees, terrain and vegetation to be kept the same as current Ithilien and extended North to the Moorland border.

Moorland - Open heathland area with trees dotted around the area. This blends with the “Newer” Ithilien Style.

Dying Moorland - Same as above but with a gradient from lush Moorland to a more dry/decaying style.

No Man’s Land - One of the main areas that will be the first transition into the Mordor RP. Very cracked and desolate with dry vegetation, cracks and mud within the landscape and new RP additions including a dead bark system and varying types of bones. This will blend on the northern Dead marshes border.

Dagorlad - The Dagorlad will be the greyer terrain piece that connects to the main mordor terrain leading to the black gate. This will feature a brown to grey gradient from the dying moorland and no mans land and feature cracks, fissures and fumaroles spouting smoke.

No man's land and the Dagorlad will require plenty of concept work as well as properly planned out routes from the road and Frodo and Sams journey.

• Lore -
• Inspiration -

Moorland -> Dying Moorland -> No mans land concept

Putrid log models

No mans land concepting and gradient blends
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Section 02 - Udun

Loose outline of potential Udun area

So the second section of the project will consist of the Udun region and the first approaches to Mordor! So the project area for this one will consist of from the outside the black gate all the way to Carach Angren, that being our “Project border” as a nice boundary.

The map above is a very loose outline of what to expect,I plan to amend and revise this when we get closer to that region. Things such as concepting will also need to take place so if you are interested please get in contact. @Wieldablemars will be mainly helping overseeing this region.

 

[Mershy]

~:~|~:~ Update 01 - December 2024~:~|~:~

Welcome to the first update post for Mordor 1A. In this we will go over what has been happening up until this point as well as updated plans / areas.

Figure 1 - Mordor Approach

Section 01 - Mordor Approach

• Significant terrain work has been undertaken by Bart and Stephen (Figure 1). Bart has been working on the red section above and input into the orange section as well as Stephen working well on the yellow section. Nomans Land is in a great postion colouring and shape wise, all it needs is detailing and the gradient on the borders tidied up. Barts section needs smoothing, colouring, then the vegetation and gradient as described in the initial post.
• Old Ithilien has seen lots of work in the likes of terraining, smoothing and colouring. It just needs the vegetation and trees adding to it. The river work has been brilliantly progressed by Stephen, Tedo and Rudo on western side highlighted in blue and will be seeing more jobs as it progresses (Look out for jobs in the coming weeks)
• Showcase images at bottom of post (Appendix 1)

Next Steps

• Bart to finalise the terrain highlighted in (Figure 1)
• Once terrain is finished, coloured and smoothed then vegetation and trees can be placed on old Ithilien to tie in the first area of the approach
• River can be progressed and finished on the border between Old ithilien and Bart WIP terrain
• Large scale vegetation and gradients can be done for Moorland and Dying Moorland
• Gradients can be finalised for Nomans land and Dagorlad
• Trees to be made
  
  • Fir
  • Cedar
  • Cypress
  • Olive
  • Bay
  • Juniper
  • Myrtle
  • Ilex
  • Ash
  • Oak
  • Pine

Work Opportunities

• Trees - Lots of trees to potentially be needed. We have the list above (all be it they can be made with the rp textures we have) so I shall organise areas where people can get some trees going plus pick from the tree repository for further trees.
• River jobs w/ Rudo & Tedo - The river bordering old Ithilien and Moorland will require additional handwork and shaping. Look out for job alerts
• Nomans land detailing - This will require jobs and / or plots to add further detailing the terrain
• Dagorlad detailing - This will require jobs / plots for detailing fumeroles, cracks etc.

RP Progression (To consolidate with toti)

• All textures are finalised for Moorland, Dying Moorland.
• Nomans Land to require additional detailing textures and models
• Dagorlad to require addtional detailing textures and models
• Custom Inventory

Section 02 - Udun

• Whilst Section 01 has been progressing, we have been working on plan for Udun. This will go to the wool planning stage in the new year.
• Below (Figure 2) is an updated plan of what to expect within this part of the project.

Plan breakdown

• Major Roads - Main travel routes within the region, these will be robust and well maintained roads
• Minor Roads - Smaller and lesser travel routes that might not necessarily be maintained as well as a main road. Initial concepting ideas could be sunken gravel roads and / or temporary wooden walk routes atop loose terrain
• Fortifications - These are the looming forts that sit watching the valley. Ranging from Dark architecture structures, old gondorian and orc infested.
• Tunnels - The tunnels are a messy, filthy place of living for orcs that do deep and intertwine within the mountains.
• Mines - The mines are the industrial part of the valley where quarries, mining complexes and tunnels will be built here. Ultimately, some tunnels might have been converted from mines so expect plenty of wooden detailing and remnants of excavation.
• Trenches - The trenches are bottleneck parts of the valley that could also merge with living spaces for orcs.
• Camps - The main orc camps dotted around the valley, the main centralised spaces as well as smaller pockets.
• Spider tunnels - Spider tunnels deep within the mountains filled with webs, spider eggs and creepiness.
• Armouries - The holding areas for weapons, armour and equipment.

Figure 2 - Udun Plan
RP Progression (To consolidate with toti)

• Custom Inventory
• Textures and Models specific to this area to be progressed

Next Steps

• Wool planning to commence in the new year
• Concepting for all areas of the plan
• Major RP work

Job Opportunities

• Major Roads - Jobs and plots (Concepting required first)
• Minor Roads - Jobs and plots (Concepting required first)
• Fortifications - Concepting required first but opportunities for all
• Tunnels - Jobs and plots (Concepting required first)
• Mines - Jobs and plots (Concepting required first)
• Trenches - Jobs and plots (Concepting required first)
• Camps - Concepting required first but opportunities for all
• Spider Tunnels - Jobs and plots (Concepting required first)
• Armouries - Concepting required first but opportunities for all

Appendix 1

 

[TheStephen]

~:~|~:~ Update 02 - February 2025~:~|~:~

Welcome to project update #2, we've had lots of progress since the last post and have lots more work still to do! Please do come help us out where you can folks. Opportunities to get involved are listed below.

Figure 1: Northern Ithilien, the Noman Lands, Dagorlad and Udun as of 22/02/2025


Section 01 - Mordor Approach

• Bart's terrain has now been implemented on mainworld (thank you Eriol and Bart for this!), and it has since been extensively block-mixed and mostly vegetated at the time of writing. This includes heather moorland areas on the hilltops, as well as a transition into dying moorland and finally the dead vegetation at the borders of the Noman Lands. Rudo has also conducted derp fixing to tidy things up.
• Block gradients have also been applied into the Noman Lands and the Dagorlad from the Moorland areas.
• A number of plots were done to complete the main river marking the southern border of the project, as well as a job ran by Rudo to complete the tributary stream coming from the north in the middle valley. Thank you to everyone who helped on these.
• A number of small dead trees were made in plots by quite a few people this month, so thank you to all you folks who did those!
• laMoria has been developing concepts for larger dead and burnt trees that we'll be able to use nearer the road for areas orcs have vandalised. Mithlondel has also started helping with these. Look out for plots for these!
• Trees from various sources across the MCME were acquired for Willows, Firs, Pines, Oaks, and Ashes.
• Trees are now beginning to be pasted into mainworld on the red areas in Fig.1.
• Dagorlad concepts have been worked on by a number of people including Mershy, Alfo, Rudo and Stephen.
• Showcase images at bottom of post (Appendix 1).

Next steps:

• Road job/plots including bridges.
• Tree building for remaining trees: large olive trees, cedar trees, myrtle (? (may not use this one)), cypress and bay trees.
• General tidying up, derp fixing and some small alterations to the vegetation blends.
• Blending of mountain gravel flows into moorland areas.
• Further development of the Dagorlad concepts.
• Terrain that Sam falls off in the movie to be finalised.
• Move red line marking RP border to correct agreed upon location.

Work/Job opportunities

• Plots/jobs: Tree building for cedars, cypress, olives, bays, myrtles, dead trees.
• Plots/Artist work: Further concept development on the Dagorlad for pits, slag hills etc.
• Plots: Concepts for the main road from the Black Gate down into Ithilien.
• Plots: Bridge plots for where the road crosses streams/gullies.
• Jobs: Road building from the Black Gate to existing Ithilien (once a concept is designed).

Section 02 – Udun

• Rudo has made lots of progress planning out the locations of structures, camps, old fortifications and mines around the valley of Udun within Mordor in mainworld.
• Snowfox has been tinkering with the RP M blocks to develop some cool concepts for fortification styles.
• Alfonios, Human and TheLuke have begun working on concepts in plotworld for mining layouts and orc tunnels.

Next Steps

• Concepting for all areas of the Udun plan.
• Major RP development.
• Rework the Black Gate.
• Terrain fixes around the Carach Angren.

Work/Job Opportunities

• Digging the trench in front of the Carach Angen.

RP Progression
As per the discord post: Bart and Wyattrox are going to team up to work on the textures needed for the Dagorlad and within Mordor to allow concept development for orc camps, fortifications etc.


Finally, a significant thanks to the newly-resigned Mershy for getting this project off the ground and running through considerable planning, negotiation, perseverance and determination to make it happen. Life has sadly got in the way for him so he’s stepped down from project lead, but we’re very grateful for the work he’s already done.

As posted on discord: Rudo will now be taking the lead in Udun, and Stephen will be taking the lead finishing North Ithilien and the Noman Lands. Both of us will team up for the Dagorlad area.


Appendix A: progress images