Executive Summury:

The Sons of Numenor is a comprehensive but casual hybrid Kinship within The Lord of the Rings Online. By hybrid, the intention is to facilitate both RP focused players and those with a mind to raid and grind quests. No oath is put on any member to do more than their interest commands. It is understood that players evolve and the best fit is not always where one starts. As such, all members come and go as friends to all.

The Founding Lore of Sons of Numenor:

The Thursby family, dwelling in the Gondorian Fief of Belfalas, is an ancient blood line tracing its roots to the island of Numenor. Not of noble blood, they achieved renown as craftsmen and lore masters. Their skill in building ships and being of the “Faithful” who did not fall to the shadow of Sauron, lead their ships to be those which carried Elendil to Middle-Earth when Numenor fell.

The family mixed its blood with that of “Middle-Men” and took the sur-name of Thursby in honor of those kin and as a sign of peace towards their fellow men. They became wealthy in building ships and in trade through-out Middle-Earth, but most notably along the western most parts of Middle-Earth.

It was common for this family to send their children to learn from the highest Lore Master, even the Fair Folk with whom they had trade.

Likewise the children of the Thursby family found their way into the service of Gondor, and of the princes of Dol Amoroth. So respected did the wisdom, martial and news gathering skill of the family become, that in the late Third Age, Prince Imrahil called on Tenfalas Thursby to dispatch in his own name, a member of the family to gather news from Eriador. This out of fear that the steward of Gondor had become lax in his attention to the north lands of Middle-Earth. Likewise, Imrahil desired to avoid sending his own men, and to not give orders directly which might draw the suspicion of the Steward of Gondor. The 14 children of Tenafalas were dispatched in many directions, but foremost among them was Benjimir.

Tenfalas dispatched Benjimir north, with orders to survey the lands from Rohan, to the Elf Havens beyond Ered Luin. Using the family merchant missions to relay news south, in coded messages within mills of lading, Benjimir sent news north. For two years, Benjimir traveled north, settling finally in Bree-land, from which he sortied far and wide.

It became clear to Tenfalas that no aid to Gondor could be expected from the north, as the witch-kings minors cast their own shadow from the north. In a final message to his son, Tenfalas bid that Benjimir give what aid he could, and to rally those who might resist the enemy in the north. No commission to this task was given by the Prince, to avoid tying Gondor to war in the north without leave of the Steward. In the year prior to the events of the War of the Ring, Benjimir summoned his brothers to him in Eriador, and sought to gather what free people he could, to oppose the shadow of the Enemy where ever it might be found.

Benjimir choose the title of Sons of Numenor, to invoke the memory of the ancient and most powerful of enemies of the Shadow. For it was the Sons of Numenor which defeated the first Dark Lord, ended the threat of the fell king Angmar on the fields of Fornost, and whose waning blood lines stood fore square against the Enemy now. Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, and free Men and Dunedain alike invoke the name of Sons of Numenor as a heralds of streangth and opposition to Angmar, Mordor, and the fell forces of the Enemy!

On Kinship Stories:

There will not be “epic stories” with this Kinship. Rather, there will be broad themes, so that all members know the nature of what is going on in the world around them. There will be a Kinship lore, but it too will be general and thematic in nature, leaving individuals free to craft their own stories, much as well all do with the story of Lord of the Rings in this game.

There will be stories underway much as you see with the quests in-game, your role in that is as great or small as you choose to play it. This obviously relates more to RP’ing and such. SoN is not here to oppress or dictate, rather it is here to help people have a good time, by brining together fans of the game, who like the idea we lay out here.

Kinship Administration:

The administrative functions of SoN will be conducted offline, by way of the Kinship website forums. This is to allow members to focus on what counts: playing the game.

On Use of RP Tags:

Unless you have no interest in RP at all, when not in combat, group quests, raids, they should have their RP tags on. If repositioning their players, crafting, or otherwise taking care of in-game maintenance, they should have the RP tags off, and should be politely ignored by their Kinmates, unless they too are not displaying RP tags.

On Alts and Mains:

“Alts” are welcome to join, and membership of alts or Mains in other Kinships is entirely fine.

On Recruitment:

Recruiting will be open and ongoing. Membership is open to all race and classes. There are no level restrictions. There are no minimum playtime requirements. There will be periods of open recruitment, during which time, all members will have Officer Rank, and be encouraged and able to invite members at will. Outside of open recruitment, members continue to be encouraged to invite members as they may. Members should honor requests for membership, solicited or not. If a member remains unsure or unwilling to invite a person making a request, they should refer the requesting individual to another Officer or the Founder directly.

Player names should be plausibly acceptable to the general player world, which is to say, names such as WoWROTLK, Toiletseat, and other such pathetic names will not be retained.

On Membership Status:

There will be no expulsion for players or Alts which do not login for long periods of time. Only if the Kinship reaches the membership limit of 1,500, which we expect to do at some point, will dormant players be involuntarily expelled.

On Officer Ranks:

Officer Ranks will be awarded at the ultimate discretion of the Kinship leader.

The use of the Officer Rank in-game is intended first as a way to administer a large and growing Kinship.  In select cases officer status will be given to specific members for specific tasks.

From time to time, SoN will engage in Kinship-wide open enrollment. At these times, all members will be given officer status. When those periods end, the rank will be drawn down to those members who hold it for specified purposes.

Alt characters will be granted the same rank as their players designated Main.

On Officer Conduct and Authority:

We honor the rank, not the holder of the title in SoN. This means that for the purpose of aiding in keeping things civil, Officers ought to be heeded if making requests.

Should any Officer’s conduct be the cause of a member to object, said member should direct those concerns directly to the Founder. Communicating these concerns ought to be done by either in-game mail or off line by way of the chat room, or his personal email. Complaints made in-channel, or on the publicly viewable forums will not be tolerated. This is keeping with the mandate that SoN avoid turning in-game playing time into exercises in bureaucratic drudgery.

Any complaints will remain private, but any appearance of retaliation in light of no action being taken will dissolve any bond of privileged information.

On General Assignment of Officer Rank:

Rather than a handful of officers controlling all aspects, and putting pressure on single people to constantly be in-game, we will employee a committee structure. Several people will sit on various committees, and for such service, will be given Officer rank. These assignments are at the discretion of the Founder, or otherwise subject to his approval when allowed without his direct leave. With exceptions for Officers on detached duty, or undertaking special service to the Kinship, when membership in a committee ends, so does ownership of the rank.

On Officer Committees:

Understand at the outset, there are no fixed numbers as such. The idea here is to spread what needs for leadership we have, across enough people to avoid burn-out. Nobody should feel they must carry the full burden all the time. When a member wants or needs a break, ask for it, there is no judgment here. We are here to enjoy the game, so if something isn’t working for you, don’t worry about, we are a Kinship, we’ll figure it out as a group. That’s what Kinships are supposed to do!

Subject to the discretion of the Founder, various committees will be created to serve the Kinship.

Recruiting:

The Recruiting Committee members process invitation requests and serve to promote joining Sons of Numenor. This is done by posting acceptable chat-channel messages and conveying approved recruiting messages to new members. Members of this committee need to understand what we are about and the message we want new members to understand about us before they come into the Kinship. You don’t need to be great at speeches, we’ll provide that to you.

Garrison Provosts:

LOTRO is a massive game, full of people who enjoy light to heavy Role Play and exploring. Sons of Numenor seeks to establish a presence in all areas of the game, both to further our members enjoyment of game play and Role Play, and to contribute to the server-wide community.

We encourage members to station Alts, as Officer Ranked characters in areas they enjoy visiting or dwelling in. Members in this committee may station their main characters in such areas if they are spending time working through quests. These areas will be designated by the Founder, with specific physical locations in each area to be considered the Garrison Quarters.

The goal is this activity is to firmly establish open Role Playing among members and others in these areas on a regular basis, and among those who do not Role Play, a local contact to aid in seeking help for quests. Likewise, Recruiting Committee members among the Garrison Provosts will seek to establish a flow of players of all levels coming from these designated zones.

It is expected there will be members of various levels among the Garrison Provosts, and as players progress the Alts or Mains beyond those zones, they are encouraged to feel free to request reassignment to other garrisons. However, we welcome those who simply enjoy planting themselves in an area and calling it home.

The Council:

This committee is an ad-hock cabinet of advisors. The number and role of these Officers are entirely at the discretion of the Founder.

The Consulat:

Members with Alts within the Kinship, who are Officers of other Kinships will be granted reciprocal rank within Sons of Numenor. They may, with their other Kinships permission, be granted status as designated ambassador to Sons of Numenor.

The Emmesariat:

These Officers are tasked with actively riding with our brother and sister Kinships on detached duty, to deepen bonds between allied groups.

Non-Officer Cohorts:

These are groups within the Kinship intended mainly for fellowship and enjoyment. They may be formed at the will of the membership.

The Numenorian Guard:

This is a uniformed military group. Members acting as part of this band must display the cosmetic uniform appropriate to their non-Officer rank in the group. The purpose is to form a fast moving unit for non-quest military action against foes in various areas. In addition, shows of force in areas, in a Role Play context, but also to show our banner to the community are expected. Being able to understand basic unit commands and formations, mainly for show and public drill, are central to membership.

Within The Guard, there will be a mounted unit, participation in which requires having a mount, preferably a dark skinned horse. Formation riding, basic mounted drills, etc, are central to being part of this cohort.

This group can lend assistance to the general community, but using force of numbers to lend cover and help to fellowships on quests in open areas.

Suggested Cohorts:

Crafting

Music

Intelligence

As Founder and friend to all members of Sons Of Numenor, I welcome you all to the adventure that is Lord of the Rings Online!