Mary Mary, Fey and Fairie

So Virgil finally worked up the nerve to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Mary. He picked a super romantic place to do it, too - in her grandmother's kitchen. Glad she said yes, now it's on with the wedding planning and forward to the next generation! I'm beginning to wonder about this girl, but more on her later.... I'm just not sure she's as top notch as some of the other spousal choices have been.

And how did this happen, you ask, when just the other day I announced how the house was full and there was no room for Mary? Well, about that - Virgil's parents, Aegon and Jodie have gotten divorced and Jodie moved out, taking most of the children with her. Apparently the stress of all those children in the house was too much for Aegon, who basically tossed her out with nothing. Unfortunately it seems he's got more of his father in him than Lily would have liked to see. Here's hoping Jodie's okay.

Virgil and Caesar stayed behind, but Jodie took Caesar's twin sister Sol, and the grade school-aged triplets Ash, Cypress, and Willow with her. Jodie got a house just up the hill, overlooking the legacy house, actually just next door to Aegon's brother Aemon's house. Not sure if the game does that by default, or if that was the only house in the game large enough to hold all those kidlets.

Virgil and Mary had a small wedding on the back patio, by the pool, and I was a bit put off that she didn't even have the decency to wear a dress. What kind of wild child have I brought into the Morel family?

Virgil Morel, P.I., and His Myriad Siblings

Hopefully no one is watching.

Virgil, first born son of Aegon and Jodie Morel, upon finishing high school, decided he wanted to be a private investigator, so, curious, I let him do it. I'd never had a sim follow that career path. Turns out, being a P.I. in the Sims 3 is a lot of picking locks and digging in trash cans for evidence. And talking to people. Lots of talking to people.

 Not so much on stakeouts and photo evidence. Honestly, the lack of incriminating photo-taking surprised me. I guess I was expecting more Veronica Mars and less, well, less approaching the klepto breaking-and-entering socialite.

He also has the option to do 'low-level police work,' which, as it turns out, is just going to the police station and disappearing down that rabbit hole for a few hours.What does he do there? Paperwork? Reports? Drink coffee?

It was hard to enjoy the career as well because the house, at that point, was so.... full. There was Aegon and Jodie, the parents; Virgil, their young adult son; Caesar and Sol, the twin teens; and Willow, Ash, and Cypress, the triplet toddlers. Life was hectic indeed. So hectic, that it really started to take a toll on Jodie. She became incredibly absent-minded and couldn't seem to finish the simplest of tasks, and in the end, went back and forth between caring for the triplets and taking naps on the couch outside their room. I began to feel sorry for her.

The garden fell into ruin, and most of the plants are overgrown now. I tried to get Jodie to take care of it, like she used to, and I even managed to get Sol to help every once in a while, but Sol is a bit of a snob and doesn't like to get her hands dirty.

Aegon and Mojo

Aegon seemed absorbed in his work and did little to help. In fact, Virgil and Caesar did more to help than their father did. Willow and Cypress reached elementary age just fine, but Ash.... Ash not so much. He was the first Sim in this whole endeavor whom I was not allowed to pick a trait for upon his birthday. The game picked for me.  I was a little perturbed.

The house was incredibly crowded, what with the eight people and the tiny kitten, Mojo. In fact, Mojo was so tiny he usually got lost in the shuffle, and I had to make it a special point to make sure he was well looked after. He was a favorite of Aegon's. Well, I say favorite like there were lots of other kitties in the house. There aren't. Just little Mojo. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if the game was going to let me have pets again at all, after one of the horses was collected by social services. I still wish I could've appealed that. There was nothing wrong with that horse. But they took him anyway, and prevented me from adopting anymore animals for a couple weeks, which in game-time is of course a very long time.

But it is odd how just a while ago I was complaining about how big and empty the house was, and now, all of a sudden, it's bursting at the seams. Someone is always awake, there is always a mess somewhere, something is always broken - it's almost like real life, just ... worse. I refuse to add onto it. It's big enough as it is, and the only way to go from here is up, and I hate dealing with multiple stories anyway. I was actually thinking about downsizing the house once the family size goes back down. As soon as I can get some of these younger kids grown and moved out. The house is so full, Virgil can't even propose to his girlfriend and get married, because she'd have nowhere to live.



I have got to make some progress. I feel like the generations have really slowed down. At this rate, I won't make it to 20 before the deadline comes along.

In the Halls of Our Fathers

Dwarven RP in Lotro is not something I've had much exposure to. For a while, even, I was not sure I would even want to play a dwarf at all. They are a bit clunky looking in-game, to be honest, and I can't quite get over how similar they are in movement to some stubby ape. Tolkien's dwarves, in the text, were represented as sturdy folk, to be sure, but I'm not quite sure if that meant their arms had to be longer than  their legs.

/ahem
Moving on.

My curiosity over dwarven RP, regardless of the appearance of the dwarves, has always been there, and when I saw an advertisement on the Lotro forums for the calling of an Althing - a gathering of dwarves, much like the Nordic tradition for which it's named, my interest was thoroughly piqued. So I cornered my RP buddy and convinced him to roll a baby dwarf, and together we went to the Althing.



The Althing was to be hosted by three of Lotro's largest dwarven kinships, but due to some last minute issues with attendance, the turnout was rather small, so the gathering moved from the main court to the interior of the Frosthammer Clan's stoic hall. Snorrir, their resident skald, treated us to a naming of all the statues lining the entry-way, and the Frosthammers joined together in saluting the memory of their ancestry.

Once inside and comfortable before a warm fire, the Althing began in proper, with a court of sorts held to bring for grievances and settle disputes. Braldr, Lord of the Frosthammers, was sound in his judgement and wise in his words, as befits a dwarf of his years and standing. Snorrir, the skald, also told an amusing tale behind his moniker Shiningbrow.

My only disappointment is that the announcement on the forums promised a recitation of an original epic, in the Germanic edda style, and that never happened. I'm sure they are saving it for a larger crowd, as they are for the sparring matches and competitions, I'm sure. A handful of 75s against a handful of lowbies wouldn't be much of a contest.

 My young Thyrca, who is a very young dwarf, comparatively, was quite overcome by the nobility of the Frosthammers, and vowed to find a way to bring honor to his young name and come to the next Althing with a grand tale to tell.

Side Note: I toyed with the idea of rping Thyrca as a female dwarf, as all my other characters are and always will be female, but I settled against it due to lore issues that I found unavoidable. Also, the fact that you cannot have a beardless dwarf, and Tolkien is not clear on whether or not the female dwarves were bearded gave me pause. I can be quite the lore-monkey when appropriate. So I made the decision he was male, and whaddya know, two of the dwarves in attendance were female. /lesigh.
 

In the end, the Althing was smaller than intended, but I took comfort in that because of my unfamiliarity with dwarven RP (which is vastly different, it seems, from the rohirric/general RP I've been enjoying the past few months). The Frosthammers hope to host an Althing monthly, citing ancient traditions and whatnot, and hopefully, as time goes by and exposure grows, the Althing will become a keystone event in the realm of Landroval's RP community.


We could all use more RP.