Greetings from Central Florida

[Wyrdmake]

Gi suilon,

I am so incredibly happy to find this group of enthusiasts! I've been looking for something like this for many moons, and as soon as I perused the Wiki and these hallowed halls, I was hooked. Looking forward to many campfire discussions, swapping trade secrets and trek stories.

A bit about myself: I live in Florida, but grew up in the mountains of Wyoming. Huge culture shock, but I've been here for 18-ish years now so I guess it is home. But I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains! I am an avid reader, and consider myself quite bookish.

Anyway, I'm 35 and I'm a pretty handy guy. I've been working in various construction trades now for 17-ish years. I dabble in many hobbies, but I'm hoping this lifestyle will stick. This is partially health motivated, I finally kicked smoking in December, and I have started walking a minimum of 5 miles a day since then. December also saw me at my heaviest, and I have lost 10lbs since then. Like I said, there is health motivation in this journey.

I want to start going on longer walks/hikes (I live near the Ocala forest so there are options), and I plan to spend a good part of this coming Sunday (2/25 for those counting) out on the trails getting more miles in. (If anyone has any recommendations on mileage to shoot for, I'm getting about 5 miles in at about an hour and a half currently).

That's Earth me. Let's talk about Arda me.

I am thinking that due to my location I'll either be a ranger in Faramir's company, Florida seems pretty Ithilien-like, or I like the idea of the Blackroot Vale archers (one sentence in RotK), but I'm not too sure if that would work for this group? What do you think? Would Florida be Vale-ish?

I've been doing some name research, not a huge fan of the Sindarin analogue of my first name (Daniel: "Erunámo"), but I am a big fan of the Sindarin translation of my surname (Richards: "Galadhorn"). I am interested to hear other's thoughts, but Galadhorn seems pretty solid, slightly knightly sounding (Galahad).

Lineage and history is up in the air until I settle on a "home" for Galadhorn, but I look forward to any suggestions.

As for kit, I have none. I am starting from scratch, and on a pretty tight budget (I've got two teenage kids, the food cost is insane!). I picked up some 100% wool yarn dyed a natural grey color and a Nalbinding needle, I'm going to Nalbind a satchel of some description to start with to carry my burgeoning kit. I'm eying up some decently priced deer hides from a vendor based here in Florida, I plan to snag one to make a belt and some pouches, as well as a snapsack and quiver. That's a good amount of storage to start with I think, I need to do some more research to decide on my actual clothing. Thinking of going with some Roman style breeches, but I worry about my lower legs, and sandals are out for me, so boots are needed. I also have plans to make a waterproofed cloak (it rains ALOT here), I feel like that is almost a must.

I'm also curious about bow recommendations for the forests of Florida, I don't think lugging a longbow around would be very ideal. Thoughts?

I'm sure I am missing a bunch of stuff, but that's my introduction, looking forward to joining the discussion.

Faro vae!

[Wilhelm]

Let me be the 1st to say hello! I am the least versed here on the lore as I am doing my 1st re-read in quite a few years to figure my set out.

[Peter Remling]

HI and welcome!

[Udwin]

Welcome to the MERF, it sounds like you are in the right place!
It seems like there are a number of members here also in Florida, so hopefully you may be able to link up with someone soon.
What are you using for your sindarin translations? Your greeting and closing are unfamiliar, but my elvish is elementary at best. As a biblical name, Erunamo makes sense for Daniel, but am curious how you got Galadhorn for Richards? Based on the etymology I would expect something starting with Ar- for king/ruler...galadhorn looks like it is based on either Light ('calad') or Tree ('galad') ??
Translation aside, it IS a very pleasing word - dh makes a voiced TH (as in 'There') - so we get GalaTHorn, not galad-horn.

As for location, although in the text it's described as a Mediterranean climate, not subtropical, Ithilien is probably your closer analogue...if you were still in Wyoming the Morthond would be a solid fit (Florida is just too darn Flat!) - but a transplant from Blackroot to Ithilien is conceivable.

Deerskin will work well for pouches and a snapsack, but I will suggest getting something less stretchy for your belt.
For a bow, as you are focusing on Faramir's Rangers, they are specifically described as carrying "great bows, almost of their own height", so a longbow IS the way to go.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with, any other questions I'm happy to assist!

[ForgeCorvus]

Greetings Wyrd
Salutations from the Fens (Earth)/ Erebor (Arda)

Good hunting to you too

[Wyrdmake]

Let me be the 1st to say hello! I am the least versed here on the lore as I am doing my 1st re-read in quite a few years to figure my set out.

Thank you for the hearty welcome! I just re-read around the end of the year and it was nice to dig into it again.

HI and welcome!

Thank you!

Welcome to the MERF, it sounds like you are in the right place!
It seems like there are a number of members here also in Florida, so hopefully you may be able to link up with someone soon.
What are you using for your sindarin translations? Your greeting and closing are unfamiliar, but my elvish is elementary at best. As a biblical name, Erunamo makes sense for Daniel, but am curious how you got Galadhorn for Richards? Based on the etymology I would expect something starting with Ar- for king/ruler...galadhorn looks like it is based on either Light ('calad') or Tree ('galad') ??
Translation aside, it IS a very pleasing word - dh makes a voiced TH (as in 'There') - so we get GalaTHorn, not galad-horn.

As for location, although in the text it's described as a Mediterranean climate, not subtropical, Ithilien is probably your closer analogue...if you were still in Wyoming the Morthond would be a solid fit (Florida is just too darn Flat!) - but a transplant from Blackroot to Ithilien is conceivable.

Deerskin will work well for pouches and a snapsack, but I will suggest getting something less stretchy for your belt.
For a bow, as you are focusing on Faramir's Rangers, they are specifically described as carrying "great bows, almost of their own height", so a longbow IS the way to go.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with, any other questions I'm happy to assist!

Thank you for the welcome, and the discussion points! My greeting and closing were from https://realelvish.net/phrasebooks/sindarin/gondor/, I searched for Gondorian greetings due to my future Persona hailing from the Fiefs, thought it fitting. My Sindarin name translations were mostly done with a cursory google search, I just looked too, and I seem to have messed up the translation for Richard(s). That said, I am hooked on Galadhorn, especially with the pronunciation you pointed out. Glittering Tree (Orn means tree in Sindarin, Galadh can mean glittering it seems?). I know its more of a Dunedain thing to have nicknames, or at least it seems so, but I'm thinking of adding in the Laughing/Smiling Wanderer as a cognomen, I love to laugh and try to stay light and happy even when the chips are down.

The flatness of Florida is something I periodically complain about, I miss living at the base of the Bighorns (The White Mountains in Arda). I like the idea of a being a transplant, moved to Ithilien as a teen/young man, though the motivation is up in the air...maybe he was looking for action or glory as many young folks do, but was rudely awakened by the state of Ithilien and the constant skirmishes with the forces of Mordor and Harad? Perhaps its a Luke Skywalker thing where he leaves the farm to be a part of something bigger. Some thoughts at least.

Thank you for the advice on leathers, what about Bison hide? Bison are a big deal in my hometown (Buffalo (heh) Wyoming), so it would be cool to have a nod to that, though I don't think there were many Bison in Middle Earth...

Ok Longbow it is, I'm going to research bow stave woods native to Florida, I want to build my own bow.

*******

I walked another 7 miles today, I've been tracking for a little over a week on a cool website I found, and I am nearly to Buckleberry Ferry at 61 miles! If anyone is interested, here is the website I'm using. Its an older one but it checks out. http://home.insightbb.com/~eowynchallenge/

I'm planning for at least 10 miles on Sunday, if not more, I'll update here. I am working on a plan for a few medium treks before I jump off the deep end and go for a LONG trek on the Florida Trail at this time next year. When I get some more concrete plans down I will put out the call and see if anyone would like to join me. This is the trial if anyone is curious: https://www.fs.usda.gov/fnst

[Harper]

Welcome Ranger!

[Tom_Ranger]

Welcome Ranger, and pleasant journeys to you.

[Barandir]

Hey there Wyrdmake! It's nice to see another Southerner join our ranks. Hope you enjoy your stay!

As far as deer hide goes, if you're wanting to use it for your bags that will be in inclement weather, I highly suggest making sure the vendor offers veg tan! That will make it far easier to waterproof, as braintan doesn't have the top grain layer. If they don't offer veg tan, I suggest going with something like goatskin for the bags and using braintan for breeches or a surcoat/jerkin.

When it comes to bows in these tangly southern woods, I suggest a nice compact recurve package, a la Tartar, Hungarian, or Scythian reflex bows. I have an inexpensive one I got online, but am saving up for a lighter weight warbow just because I've always wanted one lol.

[Eofor]

Greetings Wyrdmake and welcome to the forums, it always makes me happy seeing newcomers express that feeling of finally finding something they didn't quite know they were looking for.

I like that you're planning towards a goal of a longer trip next year as having a goalpost makes everything accountable and a bit more real. If you haven't already I would suggest sitting down and actually working out a roadmap toward that walk, knowing what fitness, skill and gear marks you need to be hitting and when you need to be hitting them will keep you on the track and prevent you from potentially being overwhelmed as your goal trip draws close.

For gear my bit of advice is to always make to the absolute best quality of material and skill you can manage at the time. You can always upgrade it later if you choose but you'll save yourself time and money in the long run by choosing the right material and making it well!

Finally I'd suggest focusing more on your day to day kit than weapons at this stage. Weapons can be expensive to do well (and as mentioned above my mantra is buy once buy well) and don't actually add much functionality to your kit. If you consider that for the price of a good sword you can pretty much do your entire soft kit then that really should be a no brainer.
Another thing I have found over the years is that if you have good soft kit you can go anywhere in any weather and look good even if it's with a simple walking stick, compared to the weekend warrior who carries a fine sword but whose shoes fall apart or whose bag isn't waterproof.



If you are able to carry one where you live then I would suggest a spear is a fine starting weapon for any ranger being both economical and exceedingly practical.