This week I want to introduce something new to the Project Updates: New I hope for the project staffs to write the updates on their projects. This will not only reduce the load on my shoulders a bit, but also will give you a more profond insight into the progress and more often will include some previews and announcements for the future! Accordingly I also give the author to the updates, if theres none given, the text is written by me.
In the coming week I also will set up a matching possibility for Public Projects leaders to submit such updates.

Have fun reading and enjoy the Sunday!



Annúminas (In Progress) - Lead: @Wollip666
Project Annúminas has been halted for some time due to in real life duties of the main project leader. Will_em has done a bit of progress in the city but don't expect to see a massive influx of stuff. If Artists are interested in working out some buildings in Annúminas, they should contact Will_em. We will see how we will tackle Annúminas once we have finished some other projects first and once we have a dedicated person behind the project. Do not fear however, we aren't abandoning it like the Arnorians did.
- Will_Em

Calembel (In Progress) - Lead: @Ivan1pl
Poor house freebuild is nearly finished. Main road is done and more buildings appeared in industrial, military and administration districts.
- Ivan1pl

Dol Amroth (In Progress) - Lead: @Demonataz
Progress goes it's usual way here: Occasionally a new house here and some new wool outlines there. Great things will happen in this city, but it wasn't in this week

Edhellond (In Progress) - Lead: @_Luk
Most details have been added, and ruining has started.
So be sure to stick around and you might be able to see the destruction of Edhellond in time lapse.
- _Luk

Lebennin (In Progress) - Lead: @oth0116
Took over Lebennin, not a big pile of stone anymore
Just have some details/forests left of the terrain and will soon start working on the villages
- otho

Lossarnach (In Progress) - Lead: @Tyranystrasz
Tyr is also active in other projects like Pelargir, Edhellond and the Misties atm, thus this project is being put aside for the time being.

Misty Mountains (In Progress) - Lead: @Finrod_Amandil
The Nimrodel and its tributaries area is just being finished as I write this. @Eriol_Eandur (formely mullerl) is just finishing the last glacier gates.
Now only one big chunk on the western side is left to do for the mountains of Moria. Voxelling has already begun there.

Pelargir (In Progress) - Lead: @Credoo
New plots have been added for Artists to work on. Construction has started on some purple plots near the palace. The city walls are getting some extra fortifications in terms of Hourdes (Hourds are defensive wooden structures built onto the top of a defensive wall) and flank towers. More blue plots have been created and they are eagerly waiting to be constructed during a job.
- Credoo


Public Projects:

Agar and Udul (In Progress) - Lead: @Mandos
- no progress this week -

Bandit / Traveler Camps (In Progress) - Lead: @PINT00
The Freebuild for Loot tents is done now. However normal tents are still needed! On the build map some new tents have been placed. Warp to Linhir and try to find all the five camps along the road to Pelargir!

Ethring (In Progress) - Lead: @AWOL777
Not too much changed here beside the addition of a great red arrow pointing to a sign where it is vehemently asked for getting rid of a really ugly forest. I agree there, gonna do that when i'm done writing this . Additionally, a ruined house has been added. Looks very nice and kinda adventurous.

Lothlórien Vegetation (In Progress) - Lead: @yourie98
All markers for the additional trees have been added throughout the forest now. Still a very high risk that this project may involve you in a job!

Shire Trees (In Progress) - Lead: @kisos
Still one of the four types of Treebuilds is lacking some trees (Wych Elm Trees). Be sure to do /mvtp plotworld followed by /warp shire treebuild, and then fly to the furthest away plots and build kisos a nice tree there!



Current Plotworld Jobs and Projects:

• Bandit/Traveller Camps Tent Freebuild
• Shire Treebuild

- none -



Media of the Week

My call for new screens was answered by @Genexos! And how it was answered! When he showed me that first picture I immidiately knew that it is one of the best pictures ever taken on this server, and the other ones are admirable too. So here my two favourites of this new collection. Check all of them by following >>this link<<

Tom Bombadil's House (/warp Bombadil)


Andrath (/warp Bree and walk southwards)



Build of the Week

This week I want to reveal a newer addition to the Misty Mountains: A (non-canonical) cave, shaped by the river Nimrodel. Do /warp Falls of Nimrodel and follow the river a bit into the mountains to find the entrance, and thanks to all who helped me with the dripstones!


New Themed Build

<<Themed Build post>>
Iant Iaur (Old Bridge)





Part 6 - Tengwar: Mode of Gondor

This week i'll start right off where we left last week and give some explanations on the consonants. afterwards I'll tell how vowels are handled when using tengwar and after a few special points you should be able to transcribe and read Sindarin texts fully yourself!


This is basically the same table as last week, with some more addition though.
The consonants are basically pretty obvious: For most consonants you see in the "readable" text, a tengwa exists. However there are some exceptions. Mainly notable is that for quite many combinations of two consonants only one tengwa is used. One part of learning the Tengwar thus is learning those special combinations by heart. Because if you would transcribe the combination "ch" using the tengwar for "c" and "h" instead of the one that directly depicts "ch", that would be wrong! The reason for that is, that the Tengwar are a phonological script (every character represents a certain sound), and the combined "ch" sounds different than the sounds "c" + "h".
A special remark to the use of "R". There are two tengwar for this (#21 and #25), the first one shall be used at the end of a word, and #25 at the beginning and in the middle of words.

Vowels are written using small markers that are placed above the following consonant. These markers are called tehtar. So if you want to write the Sindarin dad ("down"), you write twice the tengwa for "d", but above the second one of those you write three dots for the "a". Note that the letter y is a vowel too in Sindarin!

Certain combinations of vowels only take up one syllable. These are called diphtonges and In Sindarin exactla six of those can occur: ai, ei, ui, ae, oe, au. Every other combination has to be written as two separate vowels, most notably are io, ia and ie NO dipthonges.

It may happen that there is no consonant available to place a certain vowel tehta on. This especially occurs when two (independant) vowels are next to each other, or for words ending in a vowel. In these cases a "short carrier" is used to support the tehta, such a short carrier looks like an "i" without the dot.

Long vowels are marked with an accent (é) or a circumflex (ô) in readable Sindarin text. In Tengwar both are usually represented by placing the vowel tehta on a long carrier (longer version of the short carrier), regardless whether there would be a consonant where the tehta could be placed on. An alternative to that is doubling the tehta, compare the table for that. Note that this won't work for long i and y, as doubling the dot for the i would result in something looking like a y.

To keep this as short as possible, I'll only give a few examples and exercises and no more explanations. If you have any question, feel free to ask!

Examples



Scheduled Tours: If you didn't know already: Our guides our running scheduled tours twice a week, every Wednesday at 6pm GMT, and on Saturdays on 9pm GMT. So if you look for a tour and never managed to catch a guide to give you one, those are the dates you gotta go on the server!

Short Story Contest: @Tyranystrasz organised a Short Story Contest. Until the 29th of march you can submit your fan-fiction based on Arda / Tolkiens Lore. The winner can win a gift card and the 3 best stories get featured here in the Times!
For more info read >>this post<<

Times Feedback: Have a thought concerning the presentation of the MCME Times and how it can be improved? Because we are always looking for new ways to mix up and improve the Times experience through any means necessary and, if you have a comment or concern, it's likely that someone else had it as well and just didn't say anything about it. So be sure to message @Finrod_Amandil your thoughts through a PM or directly in this thread.




I am a complete nerd of Tolkiens stuff, especially the languages. And I spend way more time with that, and here on the server, than would be ideal for my studies. And with that I once stumbled upon a word on the internet: Escapism. "The tendency to escape from daily reality or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy, or entertainment."* And I asked myself: Am I an escapist? Yes I am. Is that something bad? Many people say yes, but there is one person I really look up to, that says No, and so do I!

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
- J.R.R. Tolkien

Click to expand...

*source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/escapism