Shieldmaiden's Return - Satella of Gladden

This is a bittersweet post for me. My champion, the only character that had some semblance of a background story, has returned to her home of Aldburg. If you had asked me almost four years ago if I expected to see this historic town in LOTRO, I would have said never. Not once was it mentioned in the LOTR Trilogy, and even then, only briefly in the legendarium's Appendices. As I write this, I recall memories of my character's adventures across Middle-earth--Moria, the Golden Wood, Dunland--along with each and every outfit she wore. I'd have to say, of all of my toons, this one's story has progressed the most. A shield-maiden, barely known, that ventured from Aldburg some years ago into the heart of Eriador returns a seasoned soldier, clad in the garb of the races she encountered.

Oddly enough, there wasn't any specific concept behind this outfit other than "hey, let's see what armor sets I can mix and match today!" It started with one of the chest pieces from Draigoch. Originally, I was going to use the Guardian's but it didn't exactly dye the way I hoped it would. Instead of the chest ornamentation changing color, the scales everywhere else did. I really liked the emblem on the plate, but I moved to other pieces. When I came across the Warden's chest, I noticed it had the same emblem, and furthermore, the plate surrounding the emblem dyed instead of the scales. I was ecstatic! From there, I was determined to find gear complimenting the chest without using anything else from the Draigoch sets.

Sticking with a gold accented theme (seems to be a popular method for me), I started browsing through my metalsmith recipes. Desperately, I was hoping to avoid the Helegrod sets...I've used them far too often, and besides, the I knew them well enough to know the gold trim those pieces bore was too orange for the chest. I worked my way from T1 to T9 hoping to find something that would work, and I stumbled across the Westemnet Battle Armor set. The boots, shoulders, and gauntlets all matched, so I instantly integrated them into the outfit. After that, I took to the wardrobe and cycled through my collection of Ost Dunhoth leggings and picked the one that best matched. I was going to dye this all as evendim blue, but when I dyed the legs, the muted base gave me a navy color. To keep the set, I dyed the rest of the body armor navy.

The circlet? Added it because I finally found a use for it!

Head: Runemaker's Hat (Gold, Barad Guldur Rune-keeper's barter set found at classic skirm camp vendor)

Shoulders: Westemnet Battle Pauldrons of Power (Navy, T9 Metalsmith recipe)

Back: Ceremonial Wig-feld (Navy, LOTRO Store or lootbox drop)

Chest: Chestguard of the Tireless Sentinel (Navy, medallion barter at the Adventurer's Quartermaster in Galtrev)

Legs: Lesser Ward of the West Leggings (Navy, Ost Dunhoth Guardian armor medallion barter)

Hands: Westemnet Battle Gauntlets of Power (Navy, T9 Metalsmith recipe)

Feet: Westemnet Battle Boots of Power (Navy, T9 Metalsmith recipe)