''Elendor'' is a free online text-based multi-user game that simulates the environment of
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
's
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...
. Users create characters by determining species, sex, culture, description, history (and sometimes persona) and then role-playing with other users within the setting and atmosphere of Tolkien's world. For the purposes of consistency, the game accepts ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...
'', ''
The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...
'' and ''
The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavri ...
'' and to a lesser extent the other works of Tolkien as canonical materials. The time frame is shortly before the onset of the main events of ''The Lord of the Rings'' with Bilbo having gone to Rivendell. The game is run on a
MUSH
In multiplayer online games, a MUSH (a backronymed variation on MUD most often expanded as Multi-User Shared Hallucination, though Multi-User Shared Hack, Habitat, and Holodeck are also observed) is a text-based online social medium to which mul ...
server using a variant of PennMUSH.
The game was established in October 1991 and has been called "the original Tolkien Middle-Earth MUSH". It has been noted for its large player population, and at its height during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the time of the production and release of Peter Jackson's
film trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part ...
, ''Elendor'' was regarded as one of the most popular text-based worlds on the Internet. It was chosen as "Best Tolkien Community Site" by
Yahoo! Internet Life magazine.
Game play and mechanics
''Elendor'' comprises twenty-one factions known within the game as cultures.
Each covers a different group or geographic area of Middle-earth. As in ''The Lord of the Rings'', action is confined to the northwest of Middle-earth. Users may play an
Orc
An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially '' The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugl ...
from
Moria, an
Elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
from
Mirkwood
Mirkwood is a name used for a great dark fictional forest in novels by Sir Walter Scott and William Morris in the 19th century, and by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 20th century. The critic Tom Shippey explains that the name evoked the excitement of t ...
, a mortal
Man
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...
from
Dunland or a
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional race of people in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. About half average human height, Tolkien presented hobbits as a variety of humanity, or close relatives thereof. Occasionally known as halflings in Tolkien's writings, ...
from the
Shire and other creatures and species.
Some cultures and species are restricted and require approval by the game administration. These include the
Ents,
Trolls
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...
and
Dúnedain
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, the Dúnedain (; singular: Dúnadan, "Man of the West") were a race of Men, also known as the Númenóreans or ''Men of Westernesse'' (translated from the Sindarin term). Those who survived the s ...
as well as other special or powerful species. "Feature" Characters (FC) and "Book Feature" Characters (BFC) are granted to users as rewards for their dedicated work for a culture, good roleplaying ability and seniority.
The cultures are each governed by a "+ruler" (an out of character position) and a council of "Local Admins" or "LAs" who assist the +ruler. These users are responsible for the theme and day-to-day operation of their respective cultures. Above the +rulers is a council of "royals", and then "wizards", who are MUSH-wide administrators who have wide-ranging responsibilities that range from code and server maintenance to user arbitration and game theme oversight.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{MUDs
1991 video games
MU* games
Role-playing games based on Middle-earth
Role-playing games introduced in 1991
Video games based on Middle-earth
Video games developed in the United States