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Sauron's World (Lord of the Rings fanfiction)

Chapter 17
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Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Jan 15, 2018

#51

Chapter 17 (Day 14,421,229,500)

Dawn crept over the horizon and gradually illuminated the Complex. Built and rebuilt thousands of times, the
breeding pens, aqueducts, greenhouses, stables, storehouses and workshops had endured for myriad
millenia, as had some of the roads. Most creatures avoided the place, in part due to the fence, in part due to
the predators (at this time Dark Prowlers) which patrolled and part due to the fact that those which had come
uninvited to this place for the past eons tended to have few offspring. But now there were new additions to it,
some new structures, new lands and new fields. To an observer who watched it from atop one of the hills
that surrounded it, the addition that would be most likely to grab the eye was a large smoking chimney rising

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from the mostly squat buildings, as well as the distant reverberating sound of a gong. Less obvious are a
small set of square stone buildings. There were six of them in a line, each about 4 meters tall and 6 meters
long and wide with a tile roof raised slightly at an angle. They had a set of small square holes near the top
and slightly less than half way down looking around and a small door at their front about half a meter wide,
slightly elevated off the ground and had a basic cat-flap construction. Inside each unit was divided in two
stories with a simple ramp allowing access to the top floor, there was a small fountain, a hole at the ground
level floor leading into a pipe full of running water that ran under all of them as well as about 40 to 50
Porters...

At least half of their number of them were pups, the smallest of which being the size of hamsters. But most of
the volume was taken up by meter long adults dozing on the floor. Most of them were asleep and those that
were awake were not doing much, until they heard the gong. with that, they woke up and wandered out of
their homes and wandered to a long sheltered trough of glazed ceramic. At one end of the trough was a
cauldron suspended on a pair of trunnions over a fire. Several porters pulled on pair of chains, tipping the

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cauldron to pour a thick brown grey sludge into the trough for the rest of them to eat. A few older pups ate
with the adults and some of the adults brought some tubers into their homes to feed the youngest that were
still confined there.

After their meal the adults went about various tasks. A few stayed with at this feeding station, rinsing out the
trough, feeding the fires with sticks and logs and topping off the cauldron with water (measured out with a
jug) as well as tubers, stalk vegetables and dried fish that were sliced up with a simple guillotine, stirring the
pot with an iron chandalier like contraption which was lowered in. Some went to a field of tuber plants,
weeding and otherwise tending to them. Others went to the fish pools, tossing chopped up tubers and weeds
in, as well as catching a few grown fish and hanging them up to dry and taking those that had dried off to a
storehouse. Some pulled along simple wagons outside, gathering fallen branches and hunks of wood from
the forest. Some of which went to the feeding stations and most went to iron burners. The charcoal produced
by some of these was gathered up by another set of Porters and carried it up a ramp to a chute near the top
of a smoking cylindrical building and tossed them down. A lone Porter did the same with handfuls of
greenish rocks from a pit. After an hour of this, Sauron pulled a tap at it's base, letting a stream of metal pour
out into a set of oblong molds, which he tipped out after a few minutes leaving a cool solid shiny reddish
brick. A couple of porters picked them up, loaded them onto a small wagon and carried them one by one to a
storehouse.

Sauron then continued through his rounds, investigating how things were going in the other Porter
operations. He watched as each creature did it's task and inspected the work. So far, things had been
progressing quite smoothly and no corrections were needed. Crops were tended efficiently, fish caught and
dried, feed stew prepared, fallen timber was harvested, ore smelted and ingots stalked neatly. One of the
wagons was a bit slow by the looks of things but that was a matter of carpentry, there were spares and it
could be fixed comparatively simply. He smirked with satisfaction at the smoothness of the operation. A
month had past since he needed to intervene.

The products of his latest (and still technically ongoing) breeding project, Porters were derived from a rather
flexible generalist species to serve as beasts of burden, although ones far more flexible than the various
draft and guard creatures that he'd been using. Their forelegs were modified to serve primarily as arms and
their intelligence had been pushed forward by a considerable margin. It was still at an animal level, but they
had a considerable memory and ability to learn. Back when he first arrived, he could order Hexacrawlers to
move to a specific point and latter he could order other animals to follow roads or guard locations or other
creatures. Porters in contrast could comprehend comparatively complex tasks if they had been broken down
sufficiently. They could not understand a direct verbal order such as "cook food" but they could understand
"First sequence: move to work station. Second sequence: turn valve 90 degrees clockwise, when jug is full
turn valve 90 degrees counter clockwise and tip jug into cauldron. Third sequence: pick up basket, go to
Tuber Storehouse, operate latch, open door, enter, collect 3 tubers and put them in basket, leave, close door,
go to Fish Storehouse, operate latch, open door, collect one Fish, put fish in basket, leave, close door, return
to cooking station." And so on and so forth, as well as responses to certain events such as "At the sound of a
Gong, begin work Day" and "If a wild predator attacks, run back to dormitory screaming an alarm". Once he'd
used the One Ring to give them said commands they would do them automatically and continuously.

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He'd been experimenting with them for thirty two years, giving them simple tasks and instructing them to
carry them out. Obedience was not an issue, the matter was working out the right set of instructions that
could fit into their brains to let them carry out their tasks as efficiently as possible, especially when working in
groups. If he ordered them to do so Porters would work themselves to death, though this was not useful. The
goal was to work out a set of instructions to give them that the Porters could memorize so that they could do
specific tasks without constant oversight and error corrections. As it stood farming and operating a copper
smelter were down. Now he'd have to do other things. There would still be severe limitations to this
arrangement. Porters were (at least now) fairly small, had limited dexterity, required direct instructions at
least once and while they could accept complicated commands, they were still only performing a set of
motions usually without any actual understanding of what they were doing. Something better would need to
be contrived in the long term. Even so, he could see the potential of them as a booster to his operations.

Last edited: Oct 31, 2018

wingren013

a fluid fluctuation of friendliness

Deatstroke

Deus est machina

Moderator

Midnighter13

Jan 16, 2018

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 #55

And the beginnings of the Dark civilization have come at last. I wonder, after so many centuries of struggle
and isolation, has Sauron mellowed a bit on the whole 'dark god' thing?

Chapter 18
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Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Jan 24, 2018

#56

Chapter 18 (Day 15,941,315,382-3)

Around The Complex was The City and it's farms, together they had a population of nearly ten thousand
Porters. Some were huge, bear sized brutes weighing 500 kilos which did the heavy lifting. Most were
slightly bigger but otherwise broadly similar in appearance to that of the first that Sauron had put to work.
Some had webbed feet, paddle like tails, oily coats and tended to the fish ponds and barges. All of them
were more flexible and dexterous than their ancestors, as well as gaining a measure more cognition. Their
lives followed a basic pattern: they were born in designated birthing alcoves in the boxy wood and brick
housing structures during the summer solstice, cared for by their mother or nanny. After their first month (or
first four months in the case of the great porters, who's maturation unfurled at a quarter speed) of life they
wandered about the barracks. At three months they wandered around a nursery pen, gradually getting
bigger and smarter with a collection of old tools to play with. After 24 months came the trials. The Juveniles
would leave the nursery pens and would be assembled on the field of judgement. Mairon (which he
occasionally referred to himself as and many Porters had some dim notion to associate that sound with the
being), whom they all regarded with unquestioning reverence and submission would descend to inspect the
juveniles and run them through a variety of tasks, which he would observe and take note of. Usually about
three quarters of them would be exiled, loaded up onto carts and barges and unloaded in remote locations
dozens of kilometers from any operation to fend for themselves. Those that proved themselves would be

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given a task by the Maiar and instructions on how to carry it out. Occasionally wild porters were brought in to
add fresh blood to the workforce.

After that their life would be a mostly unvarying routine: waking up, eating a meal of feed-stew from a trough,
going to work in the fields, workshops, warehouses, storage yards, kitchens, timber camps and similar for
about half a day with a short break at noon before eating a second meal, washing off in bath houses and
returning to their barracks to sleep. Some would work night shifts, but most worked continuously regardless.
Some followed a more erratic schedule, such as the constructors, which mostly made bricks and dig regular
cleanup but also built structures when directly commanded to. There would be a disruption in the labor cycle
in mating season and mothers would eventually be allowed time off to birth their new generation and directly
tend to them for the first few weeks and those that suffered minor wounds would be allowed short spells to
recover, but for the most part they worked continuously. Every now and again Sauron would make his rounds
among the various operations to see how they were progressing, though rarely did he need to directly
intervene. Those that had suffered major wounds, got sluggish around the age of 25 (or 45 for the Great
Porters) or (in a few rare cases) got into fights or screwed up repeatedly would go down to the hall of finality
and lay their weary heads in the rest of a guillotine. Their corpses would be cut up, boiled to disintegration
and used as feed for the fish farms, their heads and spines composed and their bones used for fertilizer in
the fields, or were burned in the case of the sick. A small number would be sent out to tend to distant way
stations for draft beasts and work in distant mines, but most of Sauron's Porters never left sight of the
Complex.

Most of their efforts were put towards sustaining their population and facilities, but a reasonable number of
them also worked to support the breeding projects. On this day one of the latest products of said programs
made were undergoing a trial.

One of the most prominent workshops was the cartworks, a long hallway with a variety of workshops built
around it in which about a hundred porters worked day and night. Simple handcarts were a key part of the
operation of the facility. Carts allowed a Porter to easily move it's weight about, be it of tubers, fish, charcoal,
ingots or whatever else needed to be carried from point a to point b. Their construction was very simple: an
axle with two solid wheels had a simple box put on top and two wooden handles. Over a thousand of them
were used at any one time and since they regularly wore out or broke down, a stead supply of replacements
were required. Lumber and nails were supplied and went through, each distributed to stations with various
guides and some water powered tools in place where it was gradually used to make components and then
step by step assemble them into the final product along a basic assembly line. On average slightly more
than four were finished daily to fill their master's requirements.

Now eight creatures observed them. They had many features in common with their porter cousins, but also
some major differences. They were larger and bipedal, with their central legs refined into arms. They stood
1.25 meters tall on average and weighing in at about 40 kilos. The Porters gave them little consideration as
they went about their tasks. It was not the first time creatures like them had intruded and unlike the
newcomers they were not particularly curious creatures by nature. They walked about taking notice of what
the Porters were doing at each stage. A couple focused on the wheels, others focused on the boxy top,
though each of them went over each of the jobs involved examined the finished product. Occasionally they

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would make noises at each other: grumbles, chirps, chitters, barks, sighs, burbles and gurgles. They would
also point at what the porters were doing.

After a few hours and the mid-day gong, they filed out and marched to a small structure near the river. Inside
was a pile of timber, including a long smooth wooden shaft and two blocks of wood with holes in it, and a
fairly substantial set of tools. They make a few noises and began work on the task. Planks were sawed into
the appropriate lengths (using measuring lines) and nailed together with stray nails hammered flat. Most of
these were brought together, but two square blocks were treated differently. A piece of chalk and a length of
string was used to draw a circle, which they then used saws to cut around, producing a pair of discs. They
ate a meal of Feed-Stew during the evening and fell asleep afterwards. The next day they ate another meal
and continued to work at their task, finishing touches on the components and assembling them. Dowels were
drilled on the shaft, they were threaded through the two base blocks, the wheels were slotted on and pegs
were hammered in on either side. They finished that evening and one of them ran off to inform their master.
Sauron entered shortly after. The eight creatures who'd completed their task bowed as the maiar past
through the door. He made his way around the Cart, looking it over from top to bottom. He took note of the
joints, the position of nails, it's balance and gave it a quick pull, observing how it rolled along. He gave a
quick smile and the eight his approval. The cart was nearly as good as those that the Cartworks could do
with less manpower. Moreover this was their first try and he was sure that they could improve on that.

Over thousand of millennia, Sauron had gradually refined Porters. Earlier Porters could only handle simple
tasks of collecting, lifting, pulling, pushing, depositing and so forth. A fair number of job could be broken
down into these with some forethought and specialized tools and guides. More recent Porters could use
hand tools, learn tasks by being ordered to emulate those already performing them as well as being able to
get better at tasks on their own with practice, such as hammering in nails or shoveling. The bipedal creatures
that he'd been working on for nearly a million years now had several advantages over Porters beyond the
greater number of arms. These creatures were bred for more than just performing actions. They had larger
brains. They'd never seen a wagon before, but they had done some carpentry projects in the breeding
complex. These were creatures not made simply to follow simple instructions, they were made to
comprehend and understand. Something which they could do quite well. They still lagged in the area of
vocalizations and communications, but that was a comparatively simple process compared to everything
else. Even so, he could introduce these Artisans into his workforce and considerably boost productivity.

Sauron was extactic, after more than 52 million years the final stage of his extremely long stretched plan was
now underway. He had made do with a complex for millions of years, eventually he'd gotten a small city,
soon he could extend his Dominion across this world.

Last edited: Jul 3, 2019

Zor
Jan 24, 2018
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wingren013

a fluid fluctuation of friendliness

Jan 24, 2018

#57

Interesting. Wonder whether Sauron plans to have their society united under him.

Deatstroke

Deus est machina

Moderator

Jan 24, 2018

#58

So finally he is reaching full sapience. I wonder if he will keep pushing into a human level of intellect or stop
before.

Also, the society he built with specialized sub-species seems interesting.

Oh and all those wild Porters are totally going to reach sapience on their own are they? I wonder how that
divide will go.

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Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Jan 30, 2018

#59

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 ​
An Artisan, basically like those in Chapter 18, though at this point the weaving industry is fairly under
developed and they wore nothing but loin cloths in that episode.

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Zor

Last edited: Jan 31, 2018

Chapter 19
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Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Feb 2, 2018

#60

Chapter 19 (Day 15,998,843,203)​

There were three main continents on Sauron's World covering about 24% of the planet's surface. The largest
of these was the Great Southern Continent, which made up for nearly half the continental landmass on the
planet, but there were two more in the in the Northern Hemisphere. On the Northwestern Continent there
was a well developed land dwelling lineage. Distant relatives to the Hexapod lineage, their ancestors
diverged long ago, developed along similar lines and had made their first steps shortly before Sauron's
arrival. Nearly 53 million years latter they had proliferated, diversified, re-diversified after The Impact and
improved on the basic design of their ancestors.

The southernmost corner of the Northwestern continent dipped a few dozen kilometers south of the equator.
On it's eastern coast was a bay, covering 2,100 square kilometers and accessed by a channel to the sea
fourteen kilometers wide fed by several rivers. It's was a hilly lush area covered in thick forest and bluish
green swamps. Much of the coastline was covered in beaches, along one of which marched a herd of
Trihogs.

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Armor plated tripedal omnivores that rutted through the flotsam and jetsam that had wash ashore, scarfing
up seaplants, dead fish, conecrabs, blossom shells and other such food as they went. There were about a
hundred of them, ranging from 15cm long hatchlings to 2.3 meter long elders. Many of them were fattening
after a herd wide mating period left them gravid. Occasionally they'd use their headspikes to dig into the
sand to uncover something that their olfactory sense detected, scarfing it up in their beaks and crushing
them. Smell was their primary sense for finding food, with Sight being used for navigation avoiding obstacles
and predators. Though their boney plates did offer them considerable protection, there were predators in the
area that had crushing beaks that could get through it.

One of the adults walked towards evidence of this, a heavily worn section of a Trihog's carapace left among
other bones and plates. Mostly stripped a swarm of Pinwheel bugs along with a few Conecrabs, Crawler
Shells and a Tetrawing were going over what scraps of flesh remained and each other. The Tetrawing
croaked defiantly at the three legged interloper for a few seconds before snatching up a Crawler shell and
taking to the air. Trihogs had an aversion to cannibalism and avoided the scraps of meat, but the flesh of
scavengers was another matter. As it feasted many of the scavengers began to abandon the shell, its

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probing beak following a large one to a wheel. It was about about a meter in diameter, spoked and had a
rusty steel rim. It pecked at the wheel trying to expose the creature. It did not pay it any particular attention to
the wheel besides the fact that it was an object that stood between it and a tasty morsel. It had encountered
similar detritus a couple of times on coastlines before over it's five years and in any case Trihogs were hardly
the smartest of creatures. Eventually it scooped up the Conecrab and proceed to take it apart messilly with
beak and toothed tounge.

Between swallows it noticed something on the eastern Horizon, a light up against some distant rainclouds to
the east. It trumped through it's nostrils to the heard which put them on alert. The rest of the herd took notice
and looked around. Most of the adults soon noticed small light illuminating the clouds and directed an eye or
two to look at it. It made them a bit uneasy. Unusual lights near the horizon illuminating clouds from the
bottom was a sign of forest fires, which made them a bit jumpy. The fact that it was a across the water made
little difference. They continued eating, though they kept an eye on the light. The light persisted for about a
minute then winked out. Confident it was no longer an issue they put it out of their minds.

Above the ocean a giant bat larger than any Tetrawing idled in the thermals before flying southeast. Sauron
had made a hundred or so to the other continents over the eons, but had never given them too much
consideration. His captive breeding projects required a lot of attention, as did managing his draft beasts and
workforce of Porters. Setting aside time to fly across the sea explore and do some worthwhile activity was
always a tricky thing and usually involved planning a year in advanced. At most he'd survey the local fauna
and flora, take note of some broad geological changes and occasionally collect seed samples of some
interesting plant. Occasionally he'd introduce a new breed of plant. Twenty eight million years ago he'd tried
to introduce Landlings to this continent, carrying a couple in a special pouch before releasing them into the
wild. He made five flights, in the first two and the forth the breeding pair died in transit, in the second one of
them died and while he did manage to get both of them alive they did not take. Probably they were gobbled
up by one of the ancestors of the Trihogs.

Sauron was quite familiar with those creatures and their long branched lineage going back to their
mudskipper like ancestors, but he did not hold them in high regard. Some of them were impressive as far as
dumb animals went and they had done a fair bit of diversification, but for all that they were still deficient in a
number of ways. They were sluggish, three legs were less versitile than four let alone six, they were all cold
blooded as far as he could tell and they lagged in a wide variety of areas, especially intelligence. Jumps that
he'd had bred in over a hundred thousand years took these shelled creatures a million or more. Proper
herbivorous strains only began to show up to show up a couple million years after the Impact, up until that
point they ate fish, small land going invertebrates, each other and maybe a few gobbets of leaves. He could
probably make something presentable with them with ten to thirty million years, but he did not have reason
to do so. In the last few centuries he'd been able to begin a period of expansion on a scale that he'd never
before had on this world. After millions of years of gradually breeding new species of plants and animals,
such rapid developments was amazing. Now he was considering the beginnings of a new phase of this
process. Doing so would require a beachhead, which this bay was ideally suited for.

He had his look, confirmed his previous general impression the area and would plan accordingly. Efforts
would be made and would soon be dispatched. As for the Trihogs and the other shellbacked three legged

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creatures of this land, they'd better hope that they can either make themselves or be made useful.

Last edited: Aug 5, 2018

Zor
Feb 2, 2018
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Cladogram
Informational

Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Feb 3, 2018

#61

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A rough cladogram charting the evolution of the evolution of life on the Sauron's continent (as well as a few
branches of Tetrawings which had spread to the other continents and the large predatory fishoid creatures
that fill the role of crocodiles).

Last edited: Mar 10, 2020

Zor
Feb 3, 2018
Reader mode

Informational

Doggi

Feb 3, 2018

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 #62

Did sauron breed the boglurks or did they evolve on their own?

Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Feb 3, 2018

#63

Doggi said:
Did sauron breed the boglurks or did they evolve on their own?

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Boglurks evolved on their own, Sauron helped the Landlurks along by breeding them for better terrestrial
movement around Day 7,000,000,000

Zor
Chapter 20
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More of a Zor than You

16/29
He/Him

Feb 9, 2018

#64

Chapter 20 (Day 15,998,844,001 to 125)​

Forty eight years ago a small triangular seed floated down to the forest floor and shortly afterwards sprouted.
It managed to beat the odds and avoid the maws of herbivores in it's early life as it developed bark and grew
skywards as a Highland Ribbark. Gradually it got bigger and stronger. As it grew an older neighbor declined,
exposing more sunlight, giving it the light it needed to fully grow. Eventually it reached the canopy thirty
meters and laid down seeds of its own. Healthy and with plenty of sunlight it could have lived to see it's
150th year, but this was not to be.

One day a group of Porters got to it. Wild Porters were reasonably common in the forest, but these were
organized, wore harnesses, had a wide variety of tools from hooks to satchels and were under the
supervision of a couple of Artisans. One of these Artisans came by it with a white pot of paint and marked
the tree with an X. Shortly afterwards a pair of Great Porters came to it with a long double handled saw
came and in a few short minutes brought it down. Had the tree had eyes, ears and a brain it would have
noticed that something was amok from the north and coming it's way. But as it could at best roughly precieve
drops in temperature it was spared the dread of the inevitable. A dozen smaller Porters with axes and knives
were soon released on the branches, cutting them from the main trunk and clearing off the spearhead
shaped leaves. The bare branches ended up in a pile while the leaves were used to feed Shaghorns that
were constantly coming and going under the supervision of Porter handlers.

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What was left was a straight log about twenty meters long. Two more Porters with hammers drove in a set of
iron loops into opposite sides, ran a chain through said hoops and hitched it to a pair of Shaghorns. The two-
tonne horned creatures then grunted and made it's way to a small path which merged into a larger path
which made it's way into what had become a muddy road. As the paths got more well tread the traffic
increased. It went by more shagbeasts pulling logs and carts laden with branches going in the same
direction as well as unburdened shagbeasts and carts that were either empty or full of tools, wood and iron
containers full of feed stew and flatbread, boxes full of fuses and paper tubes, the occasional porter or two
catching an easy ride and small seedlings. As they past periodically a stump would explode from a blasting
charge, leaving behind fragments that porters would collect while other porters would plant new saplings to
fill the gaps.

After a couple of kilometers the log reached the logging camp, a collection of thirty eight modular wooden
buildings around piles of timber. Here animals were penned and watered, food was prepared, supplies were
stored, tools were maintained, the crews slept and the products of the logging venture were stored and in
some cases processed. Resin from Slimebark trees was put into huge stills to be converted into turpentine.
Most of the branches and all the stump fragments were used by the kitchens and stills as fuel, as well as
being fed into charcoal burners. The Log was soon inspected by a junior porter, who marked off it's general
size and painted a number on it's base. It was quick and efficient in it's work, but despite that it muttered as it
worked.

"Keep it up Mirgnakh, Only a few weeks of this excrement and then you're out of this midden. Besides you
got a dozen more trees to label before sundown and then they'll be flatbread, stews and a mug of tuber-
beer."

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Mirgnakh murmered litany continued as The log was then stacked in a pile of similar logs collected by a team
of four Great Porters. There were dozens of piles in total and this one would soon have hundreds of logs.

Eight days latter the Log was loaded up with seven other logs of similar length onto a massive sixteen
wheeled articulated wagon drawn by twelve Shaghorns. There were twenty four of said wagons in a fifty
wagon convoy. They'd unloaded a variety of supplies for the camp: food, tools, cloth, medicine, kegs of
tuber-beer, nails, bottles, plates, a few new porters to replace a few that got squished and some other goods,
though they carried a lot more back out of it: chests of charcoal, barrels of turpentine, a few folios of reports
and of course the Timber. After a night's sleep the convoy made it's way back north, moving an average of
forty four kilometers a day, the Artisan Convoy Master and Crew eager to get the bonus for completing their
job ahead of schedule. The first day brought it past lands that had been extensively logged, with new trees
growing among a smattering of stunted survivors. This gave way to more managed forests on the second
day, with eight year old trees growing in neat rows. On the third day they passed into the fields of New Nurn,
a large expanse of fertile prarie that had been put over to intensive agriculture a hundred years ago. Every
few kilometers there were the small cluster of barracks, kitchen, bathhouse, workshops, barns, windmills and
granaries, the crews paid them little attention. There was in their experience no other way to run a farm.
Most of the land was given over to grain bushes, tuber plants and vegetables, though a few farms were
dedicated to pasture for Shaghorns, Fluffbacks and Domesticated Landlurks. There were a fair number of
Greenish Blue of the Fields dusted with the white of Fibertuft plants who's eponymous clusters of wind seeds
were being harvested by teams of porters with baskets and knives. The amount of traffic on the road
increased with pedestrians, carts and herds being driven into the small cities which dotted the countryside.
The convoy stopped at Waystops, where the crew could wash up, get a hot meal, a mug of tuber beer and
sleep in proper bunks. On the fifth day they unloaded some charcoal in a small food processing city, but their
main destination was ahead.

By the seventh day they reached the convoy had reached it's destination: a small town on a fork in the canal.
One branch of the canal was still damned up, being incomplete further what would soon be upstream. The
town had a population of about a thousand artisans supported by eight thousand porters of various sizes
living about two and fifty hundred four storey boxy brick buildings with window to let in sunlight with another
fifty warehouses and work-halls (sub divided buildings home to a variety of workshops). There the supplies
were unloaded by porters then (leaving aside some charcoal and two barrel of turpentine) loaded onto
barges by a crane, the log was loaded with forty two similar logs. Each barge was about five meters wide,
twenty five meters long and had a crew of three artisans, fifteen porters and was drawn along by twenty
shaghorns which were regularly swapped out twice a day, allowing the boat to travel ninety kilometers per
day. Over the next ten days they past through ten locks, twelve towns and two small cities before they
reached the Redway, the third largest river on the planet. After three more days they reached their
destination: the Port City of Redmouth.

Two hundred years ago a dozen small shallow drafted ships which were little more than river barges with
sails had made their way to this place to set up a small outpost. Now a vast sprawling metropolis grew in it's
place. Redmouth home to one hundred and sixty thousand artisans and one million two hundred thousand
porters inhabiting an area of 40 square kilometers across both sides of the river. Only the Shadow City

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eclipsed it in size. Thousands of mostly boxy brick structures stood in a neat grid throughout the city. Their
whitewashed facades colored a dull grey by the soot from thousands of fireplaces, bakeries, forges and
furnaces. Most of these were residential structures with workshops in their lower levels. A fair number of
them had windmills, drawing up water to feed rooftop water tanks uses for cooking, cleaning, drinking and
use in manufacturing. Larger industrial complexes were mixed between them as were temples with high
Clock-towers who's fluted walls and spiked tops set them apart from the austere functionalism of most of the
city's buildings. But rising high above everything else was the Tower of the Rising Sun, a massive fortress
with a pillar of black stone and iron standing three hundred and fifty seven meters tall. Designed by the Dark
Lord himself and made solid by His mighty hand. It was a holy site and the seat of Hand of the Western
Coast. Not that the crew of the barge gave it more than a respectful bow as they moored their barge. They
signed their forms and the cargo of timber was soon unloaded by crane and loaded onto small single log
carts. In less than thirty minutes the log had arrived at the Sawmill.

After a day waiting in the mill's storage yard, a team of Greatporters picked the log up, took it to a chute and
attached it to a long continuously moving chain which pulled it into the building. This brought it onto a cart on
rails, which it was clamped into place on before it was fed into a rotating circular saw. Sawdust sprayed as a
large section of bark was cut off over a couple of minutes. After it was done, the clamps were released, it
was flipped onto the cut by a team of porters under the supervision of an Artisan before being fed through
another saw. Then it was fed through another circular saw which took off another strip of bark. This process
was repeated twice more, stripping the log of bark before a finer saw was used to even things down to a
desired thickness. Waste wood was scavenged and taken down to the furnace at the center of the facility.
Normally this would have been done by water power, but this large sawmill was a more recent development
and the available sources of water that could have been used had already been exploited. A modified mine
pump engine was used instead, driving the dozens of saws, transporter chains and motorized carts that
made the operation possible. A final section wast taken off the end to get it to a desired length.

What was left at the end of the process was a large beam of wood 31cm to a side, which was taken outside
to a yard, set on bricks and left to dry in a stack that eventually had sixty four such beams in an extensive
lumber yard. For the next few months it sat there before it was deemed ready for the next stage of
processing. It was taken to another facility where it was sealed into a chamber and blasted with jets of
steam. When it was extracted, it was soft and pliable and soon it was fit onto a form and held in place with
huge clamps. It was left to dry out along with dozens of it's counterparts. In the end the frame was removed,
the curved section was carried by cart and crane before finally being set into place as a giant rib and
hammered into place by closely supervised Porters managed and often directly assisted by hands on
Artisans. The fate of the tree was to be part of the new fleet that was taking shape in the shipyards of
Redmouth. Previously they had made fishing boats, river barges and coastal cargo carriers. Now they were
making more robust craft with better sea-legs, inspired in part by what The Dark Lord had seen of the
Numenorians and their descendants from a very long time ago in a far removed world, ships that could cross
seas and even go so far west that they came back from the east.

Last edited: Feb 9, 2018

Zor

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 Feb 9, 2018
Reader mode

Threadmarks

wingren013

a fluid fluctuation of friendliness

Feb 9, 2018

#65

Zor said:

one million two hundred thousand porters

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That's a really large population for I guess Enlightenment level farming?

Hannibal_the_Great

Feb 9, 2018

#66

Have they become sentient now? It seems to hint at it.

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wingren013

a fluid fluctuation of friendliness

Feb 9, 2018

#67

Hannibal_the_Great said:

Have they become sentient now? It seems to hint at it.

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

its does a lot bloody more than hint at it.

Hannibal_the_Great

Feb 10, 2018

#68

wingren013 said:

its does a lot bloody more than hint at it.

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Well, it doesn't really mention any art or entertainment, so without those they're not fully sentient.

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Deatstroke

Deus est machina

Moderator

Feb 10, 2018

#69

Well, everything seems to be going well for God-Emperor Sauron, good for him.

Hannibal_the_Great said:

Well, it doesn't really mention any art or entertainment, so without those they're not fully sentient.

Click to expand...
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Yes they are.

You could say they aren't human-like but that is.

Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Feb 10, 2018

#70

wingren013 said:

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 That's a really large population for I guess Enlightenment level farming?

Click to expand...
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Sauron had several million years breeding food and fiber plants (admittedly as a side project compared to
cultivating intelligence) and had to develop aides for sub sapient Porters. That is a reasonable assessment.

Zor

Last edited: Feb 10, 2018

Chapter 21
Threadmarks

Zor

More of a Zor than You

He/Him

Mar 2, 2018

#71

Chapter 21 (Day 15,998,844,466)

A wave crashed over the gunwales of the Khamûl sending a sheet of water rolling over the deck as teams of
Artisan sailors and their Porters pulled on lines. Things were marginally dryer in the crows-nest, even though
Pûg Redmouth Mariner-8/7,223 was still pelted by rain even with the barrel lid awning overhead. Even with
his rubberized Canvas raincoat it was still miserable weather to be sailing, though it was one where his skills
were most needed. Pûg's lower arms held firm to the sides of the barrel while it's upper arms held a looking
glass up to it's Central Eye, surveying the surrounding sea, counting out the lights. Thirty eight points of light
illuminated the pounding surf, all of which were paired. That was reassuring at least, though he knew it could
change very quickly. He'd seen what storms could do to cargo ships and fishing boats, though none of those
were up to the standards of this fleet.

The Khamûl and her sisters were 40 meters long, 8 meters wide, had six meters of freeboard and three
masts supporting junk rig sails and were robustly built. They each needed a crew of twenty artisans and fifty

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porters to operate them. Pûg was impressed at the craft and it's ability to weather storms, but he wondered
how much longer they could take this. For the past 42 days they'd been out at sea, almost all of that in the
open sea. In its first 13 years at sea bringing in halls of Spinebacks and Redfins he'd been out of sight from
the coast for maybe twenty days total. There was rarely a need to do so even for Fishers following the
shoals. Cargo ships almost never did, despite some of the Awkwardness along some of the bays that might
have been bypassed. Usually a lookout would check the coastline for landmarks, now all there was to do
was look out for weather and keep track of the fleet. A necessary but remarkably dull task at the best of
times, which this obviously was not. The last three days had been stormy. Cold spray for twelve hours with
rest of the day spent in the damp dark lower decks without even a lamp or warm food or light to carve
geometric patterns onto wood by. Their duty may have been Holy, but only mad culls would deny it's
hardships.

After finishing his fleet inspection Pûg noticed a light on the horizon. First as something he could have
mistaken for thunder but as he went back he noticed it was too steady in it's burn and it's position and was a
warm orange slightly east of the fleets path. For a few seconds it waited to confirm it, watching as it grew
brighter and brighter just to be on the safe side before felt confident in what it was.

"CAPTAIN!" Pûg yelled at the top of his voice, getting the attention of several rather indistinct artisans on the
deck. "We have a light ahead, five degrees to starboard! We have a light ahead five degrees to Starboard!
Light ahead five degree to Starboard!" He repeated to make sure he was heard over the din. Several
Artisans surried about on deck and eventually one of them came up to Pûg's nest, one with a jacket with the
red shoulders and upper sleeves of command.

"You said there is a light on the Horizon!" The Captain Barked.

"Aye Sir!"

The captain made a quick bark of laughter, then he faced that way and gave a slight bow. "Very good!" He
turned to face a deck officer "Signal the fleet, we'll be turning five degrees starboard shortly! Keep it up
people! We're almost there people!"

A raged cheer broke out among the deck crew. Pûg soon watched as the signal lantern relayed it's message
and then noticed the sequences of lights which signified acknowledgement of the order. For the next twenty
hours they made the way towards the light at full sail. By the time Pûg retired to its hammock below decks
the light was visible even without a spyglass. By the next day the storms had subsided to a light drizzle with
modest winds. The light was still visible, as was the land in front of it. When Pûg got close he made out it's
shape, as well as the black slit in its center. As much as it could he in the crow's nests confines Pûg
attempted to bow in reverence at what he saw. That light WAS the Dark Lord, Mairon Himself guiding the
way for his followers.

The next few hours were spent approaching the coast and sailing through the mouth of a bay. Depths were
taken constantly and the ships went in slow. Nobody wanted to run aground on this strange land with it's wild
forests. Tetrawings flew overhead, snatching small creatures from the sea and occasionally being dragged
under. Eventually the ships made their way to a set of stone jetties near a cluster of stone structures, slowly

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easing their way in. Pûg and much of the crew were sent ahead in boats, were thrown lines from the Khamûl
to secure her in place. As she was among the first to dock, Pûg's team helped secure the remaining ship
afterwards. After that gangplanks were lowered and the rest of the crew disembarked. Half of ships of the
fleet carried 80 Artisans and 320 Porters of various breeds each, the rest carried another 200 Artisans in
total as well as animals, livestock, tools, seed, provisions and other such gear and supplies, some of which
was for the return voyage. Animals were led out and penned while Porters were told to sit in place for the
time being near a water trough by a rain collector. Last to leave from the depths of the Khamûl was dark
robed figure who silently observed things. As this happened the red light dropped from the sky to an
amphitheater. Once the animals were all secured the artisans made their way and took seats, bowing in
reverence to their Creator and the master of the world. Through a vomitorium the black figure entered and
advanced towards him.

The Tall figure in black and gold, Mairon, stepped forward stately and poised before he met with the robed
figure who knelt before him. He beckoned him to rise and the black empty hood faced the crowd. "To the
crews of the fleet, you have delivered my Children to this new land safely." As was told his voice had a
strange quality. "You have preformed your tasks well and I am satisfied. You may rest for a few days before
you prepare for the return journey. To the new settlers, the task ahead of you is to tame this land. Fields will
be cleared and sown, buildings erected, mines dug and families raised. Here shall rise a new city, a foothold
on this new continent through which more people and equipment shall come to bend this land to my will.
More people and supplies shall arrive in a few months. You shall be overseen by The Hand of the North" He
gestured to the black robed figure. "In all things strive to please your Creator." With that changed into a giant
bat a flew away. Pûg watched the strange flying creature as it took to the air and flew. This would be a day to
tell his children and grandchildren to be sure. Though the Artisan was also looking forward to watching the
New City rise from this wilderness.

Last edited: Jul 4, 2019

Deatstroke

Deus est machina

Moderator

Mar 2, 2018

#72

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And thus the reach of the Dark Lord ever expands.

I wonder how long before he finds something unexpected? Aliens? Other intelligent life forms? Another
cataclysm?

NashHQ

Watching you

SkyCrab

Mar 3, 2018

#74

Deatstroke said:

And thus the reach of the Dark Lord ever expands.

I wonder how long before he finds something unexpected? Aliens? Other intelligent life forms?
Another cataclysm?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You also need to wonder about the technological advancement of the artisans, so far, they've been following
Sauron's knowledge but at some point they have advance independently of him. No matter how smart
Sauron is, he's only one man, and it would be interesting to see his reaction to the artisans inventing modern
technology and scientific principles, even if he could learn them quickly once he knows about them.

Zor said:

Hand of the Western Coast

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Zor said:

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 The Hand of the North

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...Is he giving his rings away? This makes me wonder how powerful magically he is compared to when he
first got to this planet.

Deatstroke

Deus est machina

Moderator

Mar 3, 2018

#75

SkyCrab said:

You also need to wonder about the technological advancement of the artisans, so far, they've
been following Sauron's knowledge but at some point they have advance independently of him.
No matter how smart Sauron is, he's only one angel with a domain of the crafts, and it would
be interesting to see his reaction to the artisans inventing modern technology and scientific
principles, even if he could learn them quickly once he knows about them

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FTFY but yes, his people may eventually surprise him.

Of course is worth noticing that he made them to innovate on their own as shown by their introduction.

SkyCrab said:

...Is he giving his rings away? This makes me wonder how powerful magically he is compared to
when he first got to this planet.

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If we follow LoTR laws then he is the same. He probably can't do Maiar reality warping bulllshit but he is as
powerful as he was during the second age.

Last edited: Feb 14, 2019

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