Ithilien Savant

This past month, I've been slowly taking a second character through Eastern Gondor and collecting the cosmetics I missed on my first pass, due to a lack of inventory space. Luckily, the skin used by the Robe of the Five Rivers (along with most Eastern Gondor quest gear) can be obtained from multiple quests. I may be behind the times, as other players have already featured this robe, which can be found here and here, but I wanted to give it my own spin and pair it with an old, hard to acquire staff--Forvengwath's Despair and create a unique appearance. It's not often I use purple in my outfits, as it can be a highly saturated color, but matching the staff made it necessary. I wouldn't have expected sienna and purple to go together so well either! At least this served as a nice break from the green-themed outfits I've published lately.

I'm afraid I don't have much to say about this week's outfit. However, I'll share a couple of thoughts that passed through my mind while writing this entry:

First, if it weren't for the certh (Sindarin for "runes," cirth being the singular) and the celtic knot-like patterns typical of Rohirric dress, this could be passable attire for an Easterling. After all, Eastern Gondor is not all that far from Rhûn. Far Anórien has brought us closer, if only a little. I wish Rhûn wasn't largely a mystery. It's gotten some mention in lore, though references are highly scattered between the core books and the many volumes of The History of Middle-earth. Anything coherent source I've found, especially online, warns that descriptions of Easterling culture is based on conjecture or non-canonical sources.

Anyway, it seems I've slightly strayed off-topic with the brief lore and history lesson. I should consider another Easterling outfit in the future to compliment the one from 2014, now that the juices are flowing again.

Second, I should mention that this outfit, the robe in particular, is more flattering on females than males. It's more form-fitting and doesn't billow outwards in the chest and stomach area.

In other news, it's been a little while since I've regularly played LOTRO. I've been busy with work and all things outside of gaming, I've been sucked back into Final Fantasy XIV with a few friends, and the price of LOTRO's new quest pack, Far Anórien, has become a major deterrent. If anything, that last reason has been the major factor in my lack of LOTRO game time. 1995 TP? Really? Personally, I'd be more inclined to pay 795 TP for the quest pack and instances, similar to Eastern Gondor and Enedwaith, and make the raid a separate purchase for 1250 TP, just like Draigoch. I don't need the raid and I'm only interested in the questing (despite the lack of quests to get players to 105) and, maybe, the 3 and 6-man dungeons. If I do want to purchase it, I'll wait for it to go on sale. Until then, I have an army of alts I can level!

Head: Circlet of the Seven Stars (Deafult, teal version from classic skirm camp vendor)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Mighty Verse (Sienna, Minstrel class vendor in the Twenty-first Hall)
Back: Eastemnet Cloak (Purple, T8 Tailor)
Chest: Robe of the Five Rivers (Purple, Eastern Gondor quest reward)
Hands: Elven Cotton Gloves (Sienna, T3 Tailor recipe)
Feet: Elven Cotton Shoes (Purple, T3 Tailor recipe)

Main-hand weapon: Forvengwath's Despair (drops from Forvengwath in Barad Gularan)