Keepers of Ancient Lore

Artwork around Mordor

On the date of March 20, 2003, an orc captain by the name of Eru the Big, proposed the idea of a Black Speech, just for the minions of Mordor. Helping him from the very begining and with the foundations and grammatical rules was Sharrash.

She did wonders for the Guild and eventually more or less took it over and became the new ’owner of the thread’ After much discussion and work, the language was finally being formed and words made. Although this list of words was not followed up with in the future, here is the very first word list out of the guild:

lord - lurd
slave - slevi
darkness - derkniss
Mount doom - Muant duum
Uruloki - Araluko
Grishnak - Groshnek
Dragon - dregun
Wolves - Wulvis
Cave troll - Cevi Trull
Uruk hai - Arak heo
Nazgul - nezgal
Mordor - murdur
Orc - Urc
fire - fori
olog hai - ulug heo
dwimmerlaik - dwommirleok
Easterling - iestirlong
Wainriders - weonrodirs
Morgoth - murguth
Sauron- Searun
valar - veler
troll - trull
Barad dur - Bered dar
Cirith ungol - coroth angul
Minas Morgul - mones murgal
Morannon - murennun
Morgul - murgal
Gothmog - guthmug
Smaug - smeag
Balrog - belrug
Ancalagon - Encelegun
Glaurung - Glearang
Shelob - Shilub
Witchking - Wotchkong
Angmar - Engmer
Sea of númen - sie uf namin
blood - bluud
shadow - sheduw
flame - flemi
death - dieth
anger - engir
disease - dosiesi
warg - werg
elf - ilf
minion - monuon
Orodruin - Urudraen
Gorthaur - Gurthear
Melkor - Milkur
Rohan - Ruhen
Gondor - Gundur
Rivendell - Rovindill
Fangorn - Fengurn
Khazâd-Dum - Khezêd-Dam
Minas Tirith - Mones Toroth
Meduseld - Midasild
The White concil - Thi whoti cuncol
The shire - Thi Shori

After the first thread, Sharrash made the decision to wipe the slates and start anew. Even though many ot the ideas from the first thread were later reused and are part of the current black speech (still in progress at the moment).

Finally, in the third thread of the guild, Sharrash put together the ideas from the second thread here was out first ever organized post stating some basic grammatical rules. Here it is:

consonants

B (b), C (k), D (d), ð (th- you can make it by pressing alt+208) , F(f), G (G in gardener), J (J), L (L), M (M), N(N), P (P), R(R), S (S in star), T (t), V (V), Z (Z).

This way we would have less consonants but there will be no confusion in writing because every sound would be represented by only one letter. To represent the sound sh i would suggest the s with a ^ turn upside don over it. I couldn’t make it here but i could in my computer at the Microsoft Word. This way we would have only 17 of 21 and we have all the sounds.

Vowles

Well i’ll begin with a pronounciation (NOT spelling) suggestion:

a = a in father or u in stuck when short
e = e in leg or e in mate when short
i = ee in greek
o = aw in Hawk or oo in cook when short
u = oo in cook or y in calamity (another name for Eru the big ) when short

Compound letter sounds

Some Compound letter sounds for example:

ai ~ i sound in the english word "high"
sh ~ sh sound in the english word "shy"
sn ~ sn sound in the english word "snake"
thr ~ thr sound in the english word "throw"
sk ~ sk sound in the english word "sky"
rz ~ sounds the same as "ruse" [silent e] (ok so that’s not a word, but you get it)
zg ~ sounds the same as "zug" would sound if it were a word.

These letters should always accompany one annother in order to make those sounds. Following this will add to the whole powerful, mennacing, and harsh sound we should be going for.

Just something to think about: I also wanted to make a note on the vowels: how often do you see the use of e and o in the black speech? I don’t think we will be using it that often if we want to make it as close to Tolkien’s wishes as possible.

"The vowels are a, i, o, u; the vowel o is stated by Tolkien to be rare. The Black Speech does not seem to use e" (source as stated in my second post of this thread)

Verb Endings

Ok, here are some verb endings! I’m thinking the verb will start with a root, being the infinitive, and then you can add endings on to it to modify it. The following endings are for the present tense.

Infinitive: Root
1st person singular: Root+ac
2nd person singular: Root+is
3rd person singular: Root+ot(masculine), at(feminine), or ut(neuter)
1st person plural: Root+ach (’Ch’ being that throaty noise you make with the ’G’ and ’Ch’ in Dutch and a Chai in Hebrew.)
2nd person plural: Root+ish
3rd person plural: Root+oth (masculine), ath(feminine), or uth(neuter or mix of masculine+feminine)

Thus, the conjugation of the verb Cash (a verb I just made up, meaning "To fight") would be as follows:

Cash: To fight
Cashac: I fight
Cashis: You fight
Cashot, Cashat, Cashut: He fights, she fights, it fights
Cashach: We fight
Cashish: You (plural) fight
Cashoth, Cashath, Cashuth: They (M) fight, they (F) fight, they (N or mix) fight

For word order for basic sentences, we could use SUBJECT-DIRECT OBJECT-VERB. So, it would be Maedhros Gothmog Cashot (Maedhros fights Gothmog). Word order, not endings, will determine if a noun is the subject or the object or whatever. For example, if I were to reverse the place of Maedhros and Gothmog in the previous sentence, it would be the king of the Balrogs attacking the tall Elf hung from Angband by his wrist instead of the other way around. For indirect objects, word order will be SUBJECT-DIRECT OBJECT-IND. OBJECT-VERB. An example would be Grima Dakush Saruman Hathot (Grima gives loyalty to Saruman). Ok, I’m done for now.

For plural nouns we can add a suffix. Don’t know what it will be though.

For designating tense in verbs, we can add a prefix. The prefix Vi- will designate past tense. The prefix Lo- will designate future tense. Examples.

Vicashot- He fought
Locashot- He will fight

I suggest that most verb roots begin and end with consonants.

For nouns showing possession, we’ll add the suffix -ikil. Example: Sharrak Uglukikil (Ugluk’s sword)

Well, the pronouns can be integrated into the verbs, as evident in the rules of our grammar. Cashac=I fight. In English, we have the verb and the pronoun, but in our new black speech, it’ll be all one word. As for pronouns not integrated with verbs...

Ac=I
Ach=We
Is=You
Ish=You (plural)
Ot=He
Oth=They (referring to a bunch of guys)
At=She
Ath=They (referring to a bunch of girls)
Ut=It
Uth=They (referring to a bunch of miscellaneous objects or a guy/girl mix)

Vocabulary is definitely going to take a long time. For now, I suggest we work on grammar. I just had a great idea a while ago. Vocal punctuation! We can add a word on to the end of a sentence to show if it is an interrogative sentence (question) or an interjective sentence (exclamation point).

The punctuation word for interrogative sentences will be guar.
The punctuation word for interjective sentences will be bukh.

So, if you were to ask if your friends were going to the pub tonight, you’d add guar on to the end of your sentence.

And there you have it. A tad long and a tad tedious to read through but quite ingenious indeed. The current wordlist can be found on the guild website, found <here> The current list of GuildMasters is as follows:

Mjolnir IF
Denethor II
Sam Hobbit
and of course, the mistress of the guild, Sharrash

Even though it has a shortage of active members, the guild is rolling along quite nicely at the moment and the speech could be fully developed soon with only words left to add.

Submitted 31st of May 2003 by Gorsereg

The Blood Brothers of Mordor

The Blood Brothers of Mordor is a select group of the finest and most respected members of Mordor. They were formed long ago as a brotherhood of warriors, loyal to one another. The first was Lord Vader, then Black Tanzil, followed by Delithranduil (a.k.a. Feanen), and Umarth, they were the first four of the elite order. The requirements are simple, great expertise of combat and the art of war, trust for one another, loyalty, and above all, the readiness to die for your brothers. They are the most feared of the warriors in Mordor, renound for their deeds and admired for their chivalry. At the christening of a new member, they are given a ceremonial ring, which must be worn at all times, and a ceremonial sword, known as the "Blood Blade". After receiving the sword, they then make a cut in their hand, as do all the other memebers, and shake the hands of all their comrades as they too have done in the past.Great are they in heart and mind. The love for their comrades is what sets them apart from all others, they are true heroes. If you practice hard and contribute to the betterment of Mordor, who knows, you may be the next to join the elite of Mordor.

Submitted May 29th 2003 by Lord Vader

The Mordor Breeding Centre

It is well known that Minion love their pets, wolves, griffens, or dragons. But the question is, do they know the history of the place that made their pets possible? The story of Mordor’s current Breeding Centre is truly ancient lore. The foundations were formed long before most of the current active minion here today in Mordor. I have done some major thread digging, and from what I can tell, there were a few Breeding Centres.

The first was the Uruk Breeding Centre, run by a minion by the name of Nobody. At this time, he is a dwarf. This old thread can be found here. One could also find the Dragon Ranch and the Dragon Stable, here and here.

Next, there was the Ultimate Breeding Centre, which would be considered the first actual Breeding Centre. It combined the Uruk Breeding Centre and the Dragon Breeding into one. However, the name was abandoned, to the ’Full Breeding Centre’ which it later became. TA later took over it and contributed much to the Breeding Centre. However, the animals in the these first versions of the BC were designed with stats and spells which were to be used in battle. These were later discarded however, at the bidding of Indur & Idril. Also in these BCs, there were no breeders or trainers. TA took care of nearly everything including the ordering of pets.

Indeed, there was no where near as much organization as there is in the BC as we know it today. Then Naia Nightwatch, who is now retired, soon took charge of the BC. Appointing breeders & trainers was a big step and the centre flourished until it became the well known organization it is today, not to say it wasn’t then.

The next version of the BC came with TA’s ’Improved BC’ It was indeed improved and the opening post is quite similar to today’s.

The current Master Breeder is Ugluk, the current Master Trainer us Sharrash. The rest of the current breeders/trainers are as follows:

Dragon Breeder: Ravenlock
Dragon Trainer:  Gashsnaga
Wolf Breeder: Winddancer
Wolf Trainer: elriel
Griffin Breeder: Gorsereg
Griffin Trainer: Alagkrision

To order, minion fill out a form, listing their pet’s name etc. Breeders and trainers will typically make up a story about the animal. The animal can then be used by the owner in most RPGs.

Submitted June 3rd 2003 by Gorsereg

Mordors Caption Contests

The Departure of Lord Indur Dawndeath

On June 12^{th, 2004, Lord Indur resigned from the plaza, hanging up his Melkor Administrative position. Melkor was one of Mordor’s, and even the entire plaza’s, oldest members, joining exactly 2 years and 5 months before his resignation, on January 12th, 2002. While it’s unknown to anyone besides the man himself the exact date when he first became Witchking, co-ruler of Mordor along with -haste-, since our plaza archives don’t even go that far back in time, (!), but we do know this: Lord Indur, or Indur Dawndeath as he was known as at the time, became Lord Sauron on March 22nd, 2002, you can see it in >this thread<. His reign was long and fruitful, and in his time as Sauron Mordor grew from a young, slipshod kingdom to a prosperous hub of activity. His dedication to Mordor and to the plaza continued after he resigned as Sauron and moved on to the more formal and commanding position as Melkor in November of 2002, the position he kept until his departure from the plaza.}

Submitted July 22nd 2004 By Narv

The Formation of the new Garrisons

Grishnak the Brazen steps down as Pub Master and Master Trainer

Grishnak has always been the owner and manager of the pub since the days after the swamp was closed. Grishnak was a great bar-keep and a great host as well, he threw the best parties in Mordor, maybe that’s one reasons everyone likes him so well. So why did he leave the pub you ask? Well, let’s find out.......

Grishnak, the long time owner/manager of the pub decided that his life as a ruler was too much, closed the pub and went on about his rulerly duties. Soon after, many of the Minions were disgruntled about the lack of a pub, so he reopened the pub and left it in control of the new owner, Mandallah. With so much work as the Witchking on his mind he simply had no time to look after his beloved pub, that in essence, is why he left.

However, he not only stepped down from the pub, he also left the training grounds as well. Grishnak once ruled over the training ground, monitoring it and occassionaly sparring with it’s members. The duties of rulership soon became too much to bear and he was forced to leave the training grounds in the hands of a Master Trainer, which is Winddancer.

Thanks to Grishnak there has been many great things made in Mordor, thanks to him, many great Minions have been made in Mordor. We owe him much thanks as we have all come to look up to the great and noble Witchking of Angmar, Grishnak the Brazen.

Submitted May 26th 2003 by Lord Vader

By Winddancer

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