Pretty pictures are secondary to me. But I'd *love* to see the game include structures with both some Orthanc-like functionality (nearly indestructible, accessible only with magic key) and Orthanc's back story. Or at least the ability for modders to build stuff like that. An 'abandoned' analog to Orthanc could make a great follow-up quest site after you quested to find the key.

My initital idea was to make it your keep. So, you'd be limited 1x per player. Although...I like some of the alternate ideas mentioned above!

I maybe got over-excited by the name of Orthanc. It immediately got me thinking about quest sites.

Re customizing your channeler's home, I'm guessing that something like that is in the works at least for modding and hopefully for some in-game editors like the GC2 Shipyard. I'd be interested to see what popped up in a Show Off Your Tower Designs thread.

I agree that being able to just build one whenever doesn't seem quite right, but I do want to point out that Barad-dur (a much cooler tower, IMO) wasn't built by some ancient, long lost builders.

This brings me to a question I have. How much can we "parallel" Lord of the Rings? Will we be able to infuse essence into our keep/tower/fortress/etc to make it nearly indestrucable? Can we infuse most/all of our channeler's essence into an object (ring, armor, magical boot   etc) and use it to increase their power, but at the cost of if it is destroyed, we are destroyed, or another channeller can capture it and use it against us? Will we be able to reinact the entirety of LotR from the first war of the ring/last alliance all the way to the final defeat of Sauron? Can you tell I'm a huge LotR fan?

I seriously respect Tolkien's novel, but some folks around here could care less, actually dislike it, or are only familiar with the visual treatments of the text. Those folks need to know that what you're describing has many more applications than 'paralleling' Lord of the Rings. IMO, in generic terms, essence mechanics like the ones you describe would add rewarding depth to the game and help it stand out in the fantasy TBS genre.

You're right, sorry about that. I just assumed that, given the nature of the game, most people here would be familar with LotR, Tolkien, etc, but, as you point out, that isn't entirely fair of me. So here are my suggestions without the references, for those who stopped reading my post as soon as they saw "Lord of the Rings"

• Being able to infuse your channeler's keep, tower, hovel, whatever with essence to make it nearly/totally indestrucable. The advantage of this, obviously, is that you have an indestrucable building, and that your channeller is safe from everything when inside it. The downside of doing this is that your opponent can trap you in your tower, so your only options are to stay there and hope he leaves, or try to leave the safety of your tower and fight your way out. Also, since you are trapped, your opponent would be free to pursue the Spell of Making or some other means of victory. The only way for the tower to be destroyed is to kill the channeller.

• The ability to impart most, if not all, of your essence into an object, like a ring, helmet, sword, whatever. As long as you have this item equipped, your powers (all of them, along with your empire) are increased. If you loose it (but it is not destroyed) you are severely weakened, as is your empire. If you loose it and your enemy captures it, they can either destroy it, and in the process you, or wield it themselves, which grants them immence power at the cost of being currupted.

Yeah, they would probably be overpowered. I've been trying to think of why you would ever loose your ring/helm/sword, but so far I've got nothing. It'd be hard to do it like it happens in LotR without you just being defeated.

But this got me thinking, can you put essence into a building, period? Can you give a trebuchet the ability to fling magical rocks that explode on contact with their target, or turn a city wall into a wall of flames?

I was thinking more along the lines of turning your own walls into fire, kind of like "upgrading" them, making it easier to defend that city.

I for one see the firewall as a kind of a double-edged spell you can cast either on yourself or enemies, with the caveat that only the caster can remove it w/o significant effort: a ring of fire around a city makes an EXCELLENT siege-on-demand.