Author's Notes
Thank you for reading my novel Nag Kath. This is my first attempt at fiction. The only reason I wrote it was I had an idea spinning in my head that wanted out. I am imagining Middle-earth as it may have developed at the dawn of the Fourth Age. This is purely for my enjoyment and I have made it public for anyone else interested without any intention of personal financial gain.
The yarn follows a created (literally) character as Middle-earth rebuilds from the devastation of the War of the Ring and the plagues and brush wars before and after. What follows in this forward is some of my methodology (or lack thereof).
Even writing this for myself, I always kept the possibility of other readers in mind. A modest grounding in either the books (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion) or the movies will help. This is a long novel. As I near the end of edits for the second draft, it is as long as the three books mentioned above combined.
Economics
My day job is in finance and I used a smattering of that to create several economies for this world. They include; currency, inflation, money-supply, values and incentive. One of the problems I have with a great deal of fantasy writing is that a great lord will decree a great project shall be built. Unless you are using slave labor, the guys with the shovels expect to be paid and fed. Someone has to move rocks from here to there. There will be people in-between who collect and dole the money. Some of them have sticky fingers.
More importantly; access to resources defines social strata and always has. The ability to build and use wealth for war, peace and those lordly projects mentioned above determines the flow of men and materiel. I have tried not to make money intrusive. It is just to give readers some grounding in the price of dinner.
Differences in the books and the movies
I am old enough to have read the LOTR and Hobbit several times before the excellent Peter Jackson films. They vary quite a bit. For example; in The Return of the King volume, Saruman is killed in the Shire. In the extended movie he is impaled in Orthanc. My solution is to say he came to a bad end so readers can fill in their own narrative.
That said; the movies have completely replaced my original mental images of key characters. I'm guessing that except for purists, those actors own the roles. In the unlikely event any of them read this, you were great. I apologize for graying your hair and adding pounds as your characters are unfrozen in time.
Erkenbrand and Glorfindel didn't make it into my story either.
With respect to fanfic and games
My novel is really a human interest story and does not borrow characters from role-playing games or created military history after Morannon. If I have ignored pieces that are considered near-canon among loyal fans, it isn't because I dispute your lore.
Maps
I have borrowed heavily from the maps of these authors and acknowledge them with references with thanks for their fine work. If a horseman can average 22 miles a day on a certain kind of terrain, that defines how long it takes to get somewhere, not including weather, combat and demons. Getting there is half the fun.
Internet maps from games and fanfiction are referenced with footnotes or chapter introductions. If you are reading this on a computer, it may help to visit /a/mbXUOO4 as you follow along.
European Equivalency
My book is set centuries after the presumed Dark Ages Europe in most of Middle-earth. It is more-or-less a late medieval, quasi-feudal period in the lands of free-peoples. That has to square with the Hobbits who were portrayed as nearly Georgian with glass windows and mail delivery. Gunpowder has already been introduced by Saruman but I only use it for distractions and not as an armament.
The main reason for the extra centuries is that I need people. Characters along the road need towns and farms and reasons to travel two hundred miles. In the Tolkien appendices, Boromir took almost four months to reach Rivendell from Gondor. A good part of that was because he lost his horse at Tharbad and had to walk for lack of finding another mount. In my book, he would have been able to commandeer a horse. Populations are well below the glory of the middle Third-Age and some places are still desolate.
More-or-less in keeping with popular images, western Middle-earth ranges from lower Scandanavia to the Celts with a central European influence in Dale, merry old England for the Shire, central Asia for Rhûn and more southerly Asia for Khand. Harad is most similar to the Middle-East.
Magic
In my world, magic is on the decline. That is mostly because in my modest fantasy reading, great lords can flick a finger and cause massive destruction. I often find that dampens the human-interest lines. There are remnants of old powers and newer ones emerging, but they are rare and weak, nothing like the Valar or Maiar could conjure. As ever, people still fight over what is left.
Language
This is really hard for me on several levels. One is that I wrote a lot of this like a script rather than as a book. It is just how it comes to me so I apologize for the poor syntax and punctuation. I hope it is easy to follow.
Another issue is that I am following a story by a master linguist. An attempt at California Ye Olde Englishe would fail miserably. I have tried to keep language courtly. Like any BBC drama, high-born persons don't use many contractions or spit before answering questions, salt of the Earth types; less so. Dialog is more Edwardian than narrative.
There are no swear-words in keeping with JRRT's sensibilities. I had to create a couple epithets to replace ones we will all recognize. I have also reclaimed the words 'gay' and 'queer' from the 1920's meaning no disrespect to more modern applications. There are quite a few of other words, towns, rivers and descriptions I invented from whole-cloth for context in the appendices. Some Elvish names are pulled from online translators. Black speech I was going for the sound.
Characters
In the main, canon-characters are extended from the originals. Mortals age and die on schedule if it was written. If not, I guess. Then there are hundreds of new characters I've created. Quite a few are in an appendix with some detail on their introduction, origin, country and lifelines.
Reproduction
Sex is implied but not observed or gratuitous. I have kept this PG-13. This is not a children's book.
Commercial
This was written purely for my own entertainment. I don't expect to publish it, get paid or sign a three-picture deal. It is not intended to interfere with legal copyrights, privilege, distribution contracts or anything else in place to protect intellectual property. That said; if anyone figures out how to make a buck legally, cut me in.
None of this is copyrighted either. Use whatever you want with my blessing. Mention me or not. If this helps in your enjoyment, cheers!
Thanks again and I hope you enjoy reading this. sh