Happy Easter everyone! Once more there's a hell lot of Times-exclusive content and thus I don't want to waste the space and your time with many insignificant words of mine.
Get your special Easter snack ready and prepare for a nice read!
Breaking News: Easter Egg Hunt 2016 The principle is nothing new, some eggs are hidden around the MCME server, and you get a few vague hints to find them. Still I tried to give it some new twists this year! If you are completely stuck at an egg, feel free to ask others for some additional hints, especially if you have not read the books any time recently you may have a real hard time finding these eggs^^. Finding them is really arduous, but once you found them you'll hopefully say it was quite a nice challenge!
The event will still last until next sunday. Then I will announce everyone that finished the hunt (those who write me a pm as described below), and I will roll up the solutions for all the hints and how to get there.
More information:
MCME Easter Egg Hunt 2016
Project Progress
No pictures this week, but 4 videos instead!
Andrast (In Progress) - Lead: @jacenpeter
Plugin DevelopmentAn amazing lot of terraforming happened in northern Andrast this week! Check the vast sandy area on dynmap there, pretty much all of it made some progress this week!
Anfalas (In Progress) - Lead: @kisos
A little lull in the action this week for me in Anfalas, was quite busy irl and on holiday, but @_Luk has done a fantastic job finishing up his village, and the river duo @Finrod_Amandil and @Ivan1pl continue to tackle my noobish rivers.
- kisos
Belfalas (New) - Lead: @Thijs1801 - kisos
Belfalas is a region of southern Gondor, encompassing the coast from the mouth of the Anduin to Dol Amroth. It formed a part of Dor-en-Ernil, or the "Prince's land", the Prince in question here being the Lord of Dol Amroth.
- Thijs1801
- Thijs1801
Fornost Reruin (In Progress) - Lead: @Fireinferno13 & @DemonatazGood progress this week! The sewers are done and the walls only have a few small portions left and should be done soon. The keep is still plugging along, unfortunately the artists aren't finishing it quite as quickly as I originally anticipated but hopefully it should be done soon.
- Fireinferno13
Lamedon (In Progress) - Lead: @Eriol_Eandur- Fireinferno13
At last the River Ringló has water again! Terraforming such huge rivers is very arduous, but nothing that Eriol could not compete with!
Misty Mountains (In Progress) - Lead: @Emilio_ (Eregion), @Finrod_Amandil (Misties), @Mandos (Gladden Fields)
Valley after valley gets terraformed, and there are many of them being worked on currently! We also had a short job to make the rivers for one of the Misties' longest valleys, down to Lothlórien, special thanks to @yomama629 and @DynoDaring for their perseverance with that!
Additionally I invited @Eaglz to do some voxel practice on the misties.
[Public Project] Fennas Drúnin (In Progress) - Lead: @thomasd16Additionally I invited @Eaglz to do some voxel practice on the misties.
132 pages of block breaks and placings in Fennas Drúnin this week I got when invesigating the changes (that's a lot!). It almost looks like this town is going to be completed just as quickly as once Linhir was. Awesome job, Artists!
Animation Plugin (New) - Dev: @Ivan1pl
The Plotbuild Plugin will make it possible to make plots on the main map that can be claimed and be built on by anyone and then be easily reviewed and managed by staff.
No changes since last week.
New New Player World (Ready for implementation) - Dev: @Eriol_Eandur, Assistance: @_Luk
Resource PacksA plugin to animate small parts of builds, mainly doors and gates.
No changes since last week.
Plotbuild Plugin (Testing in progress) - Devs: @Eriol_Eandur & @Ivan1plNo changes since last week.
The Plotbuild Plugin will make it possible to make plots on the main map that can be claimed and be built on by anyone and then be easily reviewed and managed by staff.
No changes since last week.
A new Intro Quiz for new players.
No changes since last week.
Moria Teleport Plugin (Testing in progress) - Dev: @Eriol_EandurNo changes since last week.
For seamless teleports to and from new Moria aswell as inside Moria.
Finished, testing in progress on devserver.
Minigames Plugin (Small fixes in progress) - Dev: @Eriol_EandurFinished, testing in progress on devserver.
A plugin to easily run various minigames like Hide and Seek, Races and Quizzes.
I had some discussion with Eriol about quiz question categories. Initially technically foreseen was that every question only could be in one category, but that would have made it really hard to make overlapping categories (e.g. category "Gondor" vs. category "Lord of the Rings"). Now however we elaborated what is technically needed to permit that one question may be in multiple categories.
MCME-Architect (Testing in progress) - Dev: @Eriol_EandurI had some discussion with Eriol about quiz question categories. Initially technically foreseen was that every question only could be in one category, but that would have made it really hard to make overlapping categories (e.g. category "Gondor" vs. category "Lord of the Rings"). Now however we elaborated what is technically needed to permit that one question may be in multiple categories.
MCME-Architect is an assortment of small plugins of all kinds that make building on MCME easier and more enjoyable.
There is a new addition to the Architect plugin: The Custom Head Collection. This is something really really awesome, it's basically a collection of heads depicting all possible things (food, plants, furniture), with a very nice environment of usage; the new plugin ensures that the head texture will not change when the user changes his skin, there will be an ingame gallery to browse the heads and everyone can submit new heads. Currently only one's own head can be added (so if you want a specific head added you first need to wear the skin yourself), but this is something Eriol tries to change and make more flexible. Best you watch the video to understand how it works:
Furthermore I have been intensively testing the Armorstand editor. There will be two things that will surely still be changed, if possible: First you will be able to store, copy, load and paste armorstands, which may save a lot of time if you need them in larger number. Second Eriol may add that you cannot break blocks with the stick (which is the editing tool) anymore, which often happened to me accidentally while working with the plugin.
I made several videos for this. The first one is just kidding around a bit, we most likely will not have this ingame, but it's another good example of how the head collection can be used:
Second my absolute favorite, had so much fun doing this and it looks just awesome:
Third an awesome idea @Brerbunny had:
There is a new addition to the Architect plugin: The Custom Head Collection. This is something really really awesome, it's basically a collection of heads depicting all possible things (food, plants, furniture), with a very nice environment of usage; the new plugin ensures that the head texture will not change when the user changes his skin, there will be an ingame gallery to browse the heads and everyone can submit new heads. Currently only one's own head can be added (so if you want a specific head added you first need to wear the skin yourself), but this is something Eriol tries to change and make more flexible. Best you watch the video to understand how it works:
Furthermore I have been intensively testing the Armorstand editor. There will be two things that will surely still be changed, if possible: First you will be able to store, copy, load and paste armorstands, which may save a lot of time if you need them in larger number. Second Eriol may add that you cannot break blocks with the stick (which is the editing tool) anymore, which often happened to me accidentally while working with the plugin.
I made several videos for this. The first one is just kidding around a bit, we most likely will not have this ingame, but it's another good example of how the head collection can be used:
Second my absolute favorite, had so much fun doing this and it looks just awesome:
Third an awesome idea @Brerbunny had:
Mordor Pack (In Progress) - Lead: @bender400
Rank Updatesno changes since last week.
Carrots - Creator: @Fireinferno13
Find more about it here: Carrots
POH-TAY-TOES - Creator: @Fireinferno13
Congratulations to @tfaddy1 on his promotion to Artist! His out-of-the-box thinking is something only few on here can par with, just check out his two ThemedBuilds: Tirith Aear with dragon and the Almaren destruction action scene!
Other news
Audiobook review
This saturday we awoke in the 21st hall of the Seventh Level of Moria, found out about the fall of Balin, but soon had to hasten on, over the stairs in new Moria ("Nobody tosses a dwarf!"), into the 2nd hall and over the bridge of Khazad-dûm. Too bad Gandalf had to leave us there.
On we went down the Dimrill Dale into Lórien where Haldir saw us and took us onto his flet in the trees. Blindfolded (pumpkin
An especially beautiful collection of screenshots we get this week! Thanks a lot for these @Wraith_Knight!
On we went down the Dimrill Dale into Lórien where Haldir saw us and took us onto his flet in the trees. Blindfolded (pumpkin
An especially beautiful collection of screenshots we get this week! Thanks a lot for these @Wraith_Knight!
Lore Bits #9: Elvish Naming Traditions
This week I've got something very special for you guys. The text below is an original text written by JRR Tolkien, written in about 1952 (a few years before the LotR came out). It is a text titled "A. Common Eldarin: Noun Structure. Early Inflexional Elements and Final Consonants in Eldarin". As the title implies its a very technical grammatical essay about Eldarin. But the last paragraph has almost no grammatical content but instead a lot of lore about how elven person names were created.
The text is transcribed from the book "Parma Eldalamber XXI - Quenya Noun Structure by J.R.R. Tolkien", ed. C. Gilson, P.H. Wynne and A.R. Smith, released in August 2013, pages 83-86.
Notes:
- "Eldarin" = Elvish
- "Elda"/"Eldar" = Elf / Elves
- The sections e) and f) I omitted. They are about the Chosen Names of the Valar. If the interest exists I can trascribe those too.
§6. a) "Personification". By this in Eldarin is meant the process by which a word that is not a "proper noun", or the name of any unique person, comes to be used as a personal name, with or without modification. It was only as the name of an actual person that any word of whatever significance was said to be "personified", and as such it was that person's name (or one of them) and did not imply any identity with, say, the natural object otherwise denoted by the word, nor any magical or religious association with it. But it implied, of course, a special concern with or love for (ndīli in Eldarin) the thing denoted on the part of the name-giver.
b) The Eldar did not "personify", in our sense, abstractions such as "Justice, Mercy, Love, Victory, Life, Death" or the like, or the names of countries, peoples, seasons, or natural objects such as earth, sea, fire, river, or star, or even any special or unique object such as Sun or moon or particular river or mountain. Their philosophies were many, but according to none of them was it held that the existance or being of any idea or "thing" was of the same order as the unique being of each of the Valar or of any one of the Eruhīni (Híni Ilúvatáro) or "Children of Ilúvatar".
c) The "names of persons" were contrived in this way, as far as the Eldar themselves were concerned. At the "name-giving", or rather "name-making" (Essekarme), a child was given a name devised by the parents. This was the name by which that person was usually publicly known forever after (except as noted later). When the child had learned to speak with skill, after about seven years among the Noldor who were accounted the swiftest at word-mastery, and had had time to become aware of his own particular phonetic character or sound-predilections (lámatyáve), came the "Name-choosing": Essekilme.
d) This "Chosen Name" was not often publicly used. But there was no taboo upon it, or secrecy about it, except for the normal respect for a person's private concerns. His "Chosen Name" was his personal property, like his clothes, cup, knife, books and so forth, which he could lend or share with kindred and friends, but was not to be taken unasked. The use of the Chosen Name, except by immediate blood kin of older generation (father and mother) or coeval (brother and sister), was a sign of closest intimacy and love, when permitted - and therefore (and not for any other reason) insulting and distressing when used without permission or friendship.
g) Since the Eldar were normally immortal, but anything but changeless - developing new talents and tastes, and abandoning (for a while or for good) old ones - their names might change.
UpcomingThe text is transcribed from the book "Parma Eldalamber XXI - Quenya Noun Structure by J.R.R. Tolkien", ed. C. Gilson, P.H. Wynne and A.R. Smith, released in August 2013, pages 83-86.
Notes:
- "Eldarin" = Elvish
- "Elda"/"Eldar" = Elf / Elves
- The sections e) and f) I omitted. They are about the Chosen Names of the Valar. If the interest exists I can trascribe those too.
§6. a) "Personification". By this in Eldarin is meant the process by which a word that is not a "proper noun", or the name of any unique person, comes to be used as a personal name, with or without modification. It was only as the name of an actual person that any word of whatever significance was said to be "personified", and as such it was that person's name (or one of them) and did not imply any identity with, say, the natural object otherwise denoted by the word, nor any magical or religious association with it. But it implied, of course, a special concern with or love for (ndīli in Eldarin) the thing denoted on the part of the name-giver.
b) The Eldar did not "personify", in our sense, abstractions such as "Justice, Mercy, Love, Victory, Life, Death" or the like, or the names of countries, peoples, seasons, or natural objects such as earth, sea, fire, river, or star, or even any special or unique object such as Sun or moon or particular river or mountain. Their philosophies were many, but according to none of them was it held that the existance or being of any idea or "thing" was of the same order as the unique being of each of the Valar or of any one of the Eruhīni (Híni Ilúvatáro) or "Children of Ilúvatar".
c) The "names of persons" were contrived in this way, as far as the Eldar themselves were concerned. At the "name-giving", or rather "name-making" (Essekarme), a child was given a name devised by the parents. This was the name by which that person was usually publicly known forever after (except as noted later). When the child had learned to speak with skill, after about seven years among the Noldor who were accounted the swiftest at word-mastery, and had had time to become aware of his own particular phonetic character or sound-predilections (lámatyáve), came the "Name-choosing": Essekilme.
[The Eldar could "talk" in one year - but by skill is meant a complete command of the language in structure & aesthetic.]
The lámatyáve was held, especially by the Noldor, to be a characteristic of the person as interesting as others (such as colour, height, and bodily aptitudes and peculiarities), and far more important than most, on a par with the most fundamental mental talents and aptitudes. This lámatyáve the child was supposed to express now in the Chosen Name. In later times, when there was a great store of names in existence (which children eagerly learned and savoured), the Chosen Name might well be one merely selected from known names, originally for the most part the products of bygone Essekarme. But it was still so chosen because of its sound-pattern. In elder times, and at all later times most usually, the "Chosen Name" was actually freshly devised, with (or often without) previous significance , as a pattern or sound-sequence that gave aesthetic pleasure, special personal pleasure according to the chooser's lámatyáve, when contemplating this pattern (non-significant, or emptied of previous significance) in relation to himself.d) This "Chosen Name" was not often publicly used. But there was no taboo upon it, or secrecy about it, except for the normal respect for a person's private concerns. His "Chosen Name" was his personal property, like his clothes, cup, knife, books and so forth, which he could lend or share with kindred and friends, but was not to be taken unasked. The use of the Chosen Name, except by immediate blood kin of older generation (father and mother) or coeval (brother and sister), was a sign of closest intimacy and love, when permitted - and therefore (and not for any other reason) insulting and distressing when used without permission or friendship.
g) Since the Eldar were normally immortal, but anything but changeless - developing new talents and tastes, and abandoning (for a while or for good) old ones - their names might change.
[Especially they might select a new Chosen Name after a long passage of time.]
Identity was preserved by the permanence, for all formal and as it were legal purposes, of the first Given Name. But this might actually drop out of current use. An Elda might wish for it to be so dropped and devise a new public name; but far the most common source of change lay in the "nicknames", or "surnames" (Anessi), which were often given to persons in memory of some deed or event, or recording some characteristic. These were parallel to the names of the Valar, and had no "authority", but might become widely known and used. They were usually subjoined to the Given Name, but might precede it (in adjectival form). The most famous instance of the replacement of the original Given Name by an anesse was that of Elwe, lord of the Teleri, widely known as Elwe Singollo (or in older form Thingollo), Elwe Greymantle. His surname in the later forms of the speech of Beleriand, Thingol, became the name by which he was known to all peoples. So, too, Beren was known to the Eldar as Erchamon after the loss of his hand at the gates of Angband.[There was also the Mother's name. The "Father's name" was usual at the Essekarme. But it often happened that the mother would be inspired at the time of birth or later to give some name to her child. The Mother's name was added to the Essekarme. In some cases adopted as the Essekilme.]
The most frequent types of anessi were naturally adjectives: tall, high, grey, golden, fair, wise, etc.: alone or combined or personalized by addition of -ō, mō, rō etc. (for males), -ē, lē, mē etc. (for females); possessive compounds such as Singollo (cited above), Erchamon (Q Erekambo), Onehand(ed), Malaphinde, Goldilocks, etc.: and the words made with -ndīl (cited above), or the similar -ndūr, which originally meant "attend, tend" as in Ithildur, Isildur, or Valandur. The mere names of things, such as "hill, river tree", and especially of unique things, as "sun", were not used, at any rate without differentiation: Aldar, Orontor, and the like: for that would imply some kind of total equation or identity. An Elf (or Man) would not be called Anar "Sun" even to depict great glory or radiant vigour. Partly because of the feeling of ndīli (Q níle) for the sun itself, as a unique (and unpossessible) thing, and partly because of such a name would suggest that Anar was a person with fëa or spirit. This was not an Eldarin idea: to them Anar was a "work of art", and though it had an indweller that guarded and guided it, she was distinct from it, existed before it, and was indeed quite capable of leaving it. Her "title", being a Vala she had no known true name, was Úrien. But an Elf or Man could be called Anárion, Anardil, Anarkalin etc.Themed Build
Theme: Havens of Sirion
with pre-built terrain!
Resourcepack: Eriador
Thread: #10/16 - Havens of Sirion
Scheduled Eventswith pre-built terrain!
Resourcepack: Eriador
Thread: #10/16 - Havens of Sirion
Audiobook session 9
Community OutreachIn the next Audiobook session we will take a break from the hectic journey through Moria and remain a while in Lothlórien, until we at last start moving on to the Great River.
Unless announced differently in the course of the week, the next session will take place on Saturday April 2nd, 19:00 GMT.
Jobs & PlotbuildsUnless announced differently in the course of the week, the next session will take place on Saturday April 2nd, 19:00 GMT.
Jobs for next Saturday will be announced in this thread over the course of the week. Be sure to ask Designers for jobs at any time, maybe they can offer something!
MCME Social MediaThese Times have been proofread by Ardelenia
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