Proofreader's Note by _Lord_Of_Squids_
Welcome back to the times, everyone! This marks another 2 weeks of progress and fun, and the beginning of another! I've started to feel a change in the air as the year wears on, which is great news for us winter lovers. But, as summer ends, more and more of us are falling to the great beast known as education, and while this may hinder build progress for a little bit our spirits are never daunted! Besides, what better thing to do after a long day at school or university than relax and explore (or build) Middle-earth? So sit back, put your reading glasses on, lower your chair, raise it because you lowered it a little bit too much, get up because you heard your dog bark and go check the door, sit back down, and enjoy September's first edition of the times!


Anorien – Lead: @Oberanio | In Progress
Report by _Lord_Of_Squids_

Dol Calen has been completed! All that remains are the surrounding farms. A vegetation concept has been created outside of Dol Caranthan.




Andrast - Lead: @jacenpeter | In Progress
Report by _Lord_Of_Squids_

No news here!




Misty Mountains – Lead: @Finrod_Amandil , @barteldvn | In Progress
Report by NicovicTheSixth

There hasn’t been a lot of progress here as the great Finrod_Amandil went to see the mountains irl. However, the next areas are getting prepared, so expect more jobs when they are ready for glacier-ing!


Lond Daer – Lead: @Ivan1pl | In Progress
Report by NicovicTheSixth

The holiday season is over and the lord of Lond Daer is back, sadly this means that the past weeks not a lot has happened. Luckily the housing plan did come along, so it won’t be long until the start!




Moria – Lead: @barteldvn | In progress
Report by NicovicTheSixth

As some of you might know, there has been an interesting development in Moria, YOU! Yes, there is an actual competition going! I advise you to create a team (at least one commoner or higher necessary) and see if you can become the dwarves to help with the Great Mines! Furthermore we have got some small mines which are being worked on by RubenPieterMark and to wash ourselves we have got Slowlex’s amazing bath hall near the 21st hall, which is slowly but surely getting finished.




Osgiliath Vegetation – Lead: @ooitsbirdo | In progress
Report by _Lord_Of_Squids_

Despite university and Ooitsbirdo being on vacation, FoolhardyFish and his droog army have been completing plots slowly but surely!





Become a Donor
Hey guys! As usual, we need donations to keep the server running, so please help out if you can!
https://www.mcmiddleearth.com/donate/community-costs.1/

Our Donors

• Rawmusic
• Megaultratulin9
• LordArkanios
• sierraleone_

#MCMEdoesnotrunitself



Report by Didi45

@wazowskithegrey: Congrats to one of my all time favorite monsters… Mike Wazowski! Congratulations on achieving the rank of Guide! Make us, Sully and Celia proud! Make sure to wish Wazowski good luck!
Promotion

@gRodanE02: Congrats on the promotion to Artist! Welcome to the Purple Legion! Make us proud and show us your building skills! Best of Luck!
Promotion




Regular Interview
Interview with @laMoria

Question 1. How did you find MCME?
In a way as random as I am! I was actually not looking for it. I was playing in my World Edit "localhost" server and I was having some problem placing tall grass. So looked for a tutorial on the internet, going by "how to place double tall grass with world edit" or something similar. Of course, no one had talked about it on the internet, so google gave me instead a thread about MCME's vegetation where people were arguing about the use of tall grass. We do have great conversations! Anyway, I then got to the main page of the MCME forum and my mind went like "Oh my god, lotr+Minecraft!" Then, my brain went off for a few seconds. And after that, I logged myself on the server, and joined this great community.

Question 2. What was your experience like as an Adventurer?
Hmm, that's a tough question. Don't precisely recall my experience because it was during Christmas time. Globally, I'd say that I was happy with the server, always having something to build. I also felt very lost, I remember that. I had a very basic English level so I had to google every word I read and wrote.

Question 3. What made you want to become an Artist?
I wanted to do bigger builds, I only had done small houses. It was about a week after I joined. I then dedicated myself on my application, which led me to play MCME to what I thought were extremely late hours (12/1 am). I should have waited though, because I was a bad builder at the beginning of my artist life, and for the following year.

Question 4. What is your favourite thing about being an Artist?
I love to cooperate with others to do projects I couldn't have done alone. It helps me getting better and having some good interactions. If someone wants a co-builder, I am here.

Question 5. What is your favourite place on MCME?
Hmm ... Belfalas in general, its smooth lands, beautiful forests, towns that look inhabited. 10 out of 10 ! Though, if you ask me this question in three months, I will say Anorien, because it's getting even better.

Question 6. Who is your favourite character from Tolkien's legendarium?
Without a question, Galadriel. I love the character - not romantically speaking (please, don't get mad at me) -, she is powerful, good-hearted and has a pretty interesting story. I have her everywhere, profile pics, laptop backgrounds, and I'm definitely putting a picture of her in my school bedroom.

Interviewer: wazowskithegrey




We got some good ones as always. Make sure you show some special recognition towards the winners of the week! They’ve presented exemplary displays of our server’s creative potential! Give a hand to these winners!

MEDIA WINNERS:
Even though school started for most people, we had a high number of amazing screenshots. Maybe Mithrilled, Arothir_Fëanáro, XMine, Squid and Rre36 (and others which didn’t cross my mind immediately) are taking a course of cinematography, because they have taken some of the finest screenshots the MCME Times have ever seen. (In my humble opinion.)

(http://imgur.com/a/Pc825Cl)
As you read in the album, Mithrilred figured out with certain presets how to take amazing screenshots in Moria with a tiny light source. Moria has always been underrepresented - because of how hard it is to take screenshots in the dark - so please do ask Mith how he did it. Moria screenshots always get a bonus point from me.

THEME-BUILD OF THE WEEK:
We had some great competition this week, and I had a great time going through all the themed builds to find the best ones. With our new favorite designer handling the plots, Dav3ck, there have been more themed builds, and he aims to do make a new one every week. Of course, with the times coming out once every two weeks, I had to choose two winners, one for every theme. Please, give a round of applause to the two winners of this week!

(http://imgur.com/a/fT6xoMi)


The Trees of Valinor:

After the Ainur stopped the melody, many Ainur entered Eä to ready it for the children of Eru (Elves and Men). However some Ainur decided to stay with Eru in the Timeless Halls. Those who ventured into this new realm were forever bound to it and were unable to go back to the Timeless Halls. They split into two seperate groups. The 1st of these were 15 Ainur who became the Valar (Melkor, Manwë, Ulmo, Yavanna, Mandos, etc.), or power of Arda. The rest, who were recognized as “lesser Ainur” who accompanied the 15 became known as Maiar (the Istari, Sauron, Balrogs, etc.). When they all stepped into Eä, Melkor fled to unknown parts of the realm. The rest of the Valar and the Maiar formed Arda.

In the beginnings of Arda it was a perfectly flat and symmetrical world. This newly formed world had two great lamps, one in the far North (Illuin) and one in the far South (Ormal). This began a prosperous and beautiful age. The Valar dwelt at the place where the light of the two lamps met, Almaren. Not too soon after that, Melkor’s evil crept back up and he led an assault on the two lamps, destroying them. This cataclysmic event scattered the perfect land into 4 continents: Aman in the West, Middle Earth in the center, the Land of the Sun in the East, and the Dark land in the South. Where Illuin once stood was the Sea of Helcar.

After this occured, the Valar fled to Aman, naming it Valinor. Yavanna sang into existence the Two trees, Telperion and Laurelin. They acted like our Sun and Moon. Laurelin getting brighter for 7 hours, until at its peak, Telperion would brighten up and create dusk for 1 hour. Then Laurelin would fade while Telperion would get brighter. Repeating the process for sunset and for the rest of the day. Yet again, Melkor, along with the great spider, Ungoliant, sucked the light out of the trees. Before they were fully destroyed, Yavanna sang and Nienna wept which helped Laurelin produce one last fruit and Telperion one last flower. The flower and the fruit later became the Sun and the Moon.


Howdy folks! Raffy here introducing a new section to the times. I thought it would be a cool idea to add a bit of do it yourself to the times. So after the green light was given by Soarz, The beloved lore question is making an unfamiliar return.
Simply, message me (Raffy) on the forums with your proposed answer to the question. The person who answers the question correctly first will receive a shout-out in the next edition of the times!

Without further ado, here we go
This Week's Question: Frodo was injured on the shoulder during the War of the Ring. Who caused the injury and how?




Woop woop! Everyone’s favourite part of the times has returned again! Huzzah! We gotta kick off this with the usual twitter. Be sure to give us a “hello!” at MinecraftMiddleEarth (@MCMiddleEarth) | Twitter . Who knows, Cookies may be involved!

Twitter is not the most popular “social platform”, so for you “yooves” with a trendy Facebook account, try following us there too Minecraft Middle-Earth

But of course, the most important and obviously most used social network is of course Planet Minecraft! Be sure to give us a diamond there. It costs nothing! Minecraft Middle Earth Minecraft Server

(What do you mean Snapchat is more popular than Planet Minecraft of course it isn’t)

Artist
Ahh yes. We all know the question. “How can I build?", As well as the responses “You can try a theme build” and “You can take part in jobs." The other answer is “Apply for Artist”, and the last option is by far the most exciting. Being able to build in your favourite places all the time. Sounds awesome. We can never have enough Artists, and with a wide range of current projects, there’s plenty for you to do!
Are you inspired to join MCME’s main build rank? You can apply for Artist/ today on the forums! The Assistants, Designers and current Artists will work with you and help you on your journey.

Guide
Or perhaps, you’re not a builder. Well. That’s not a problem! Becoming A guide is obviously the better option anyway. As a Guide, you’re the forefront of MCME, and there’s no greater feeling than when someone says your tour was awesome. You don’t actually have to be a lore nerd either, you’ll pick up on lots really quickly.
When you join the Guides, you’ll be giving tours, running minigames and testing players in lore quizzes, or if you prefer less “on the spot” stuff, Guidebooks are obviously your zen, or helping to tell MCME about MCME by writing up articles in the times. You’ll also plan help plan events such as The Summer Events and The Anniversary Events. We hope you join us soon, because us Guides really would love some more of us. What’re you waiting for?
Just click Guide and apply today!