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#steampunk númenor
ao3feed-tolkien · 10 months
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Oh where is the sun
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/W2wuy8X
by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)
Lilóteo, the erstwhile Royal Physician of the Númenorean court, is waiting to be sacrificed when he receives a strange visitor.
Written for the prompt "And the Empire grows, the seeds of its glory, for every five tanks, plant a sentimental story" + manekimi's OC Death and Sauron or others
Words: 1025, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
Series: Part 1 of Steampunk Númenor, Part 9 of Variegated Tolkien Prompts
Fandoms: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: Gen
Characters: Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Sauron | Mairon
Relationships: Original Male Character & Original Female Character, Original female character & Sauron | Mairon
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Númenor, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Prompt Fic, Sacrifice
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/W2wuy8X
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Tar-Míriel: How the hell are you alive??? You’re so stupid!!
Sauron, gulping down an entire bottle of wine after doing something really stupid: I don’t know how, but I am STILL ALIVE BITCH!
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Steampunk!Númenor AU
Personally, I’ve always seen Númenor as a perfect set-up for introducing elements of steampunk! So here are a bunch of thoughts about it. :)
They both include:
Colonialism 
“Person/machine vs. nature” conflict
Advancements that have a cost
Underlying darkness and menace
Discussions about materialism and sensualism
“Person/machine vs. religion” conflict
Encouragement of exploration and discovery
A hint of exceptionalism 
Struggle against potential corruption
General Ideas:
Númenorians who not only sail on the ocean, but explore the skies in aeroships
Maybe the island itself moves? Like in the movie Castle in the Sky? The island itself could have mechanisms so that they’re constantly seeing new places
A lot of interest in astronomy, given Elros’s connection to the stars--an observatory on the Meneltarma, huge telescopes, etc.
I imagine Númenorian culture as similar to Turkish, Persian, and Indian cultures, so do with that what you will (I’m just going to chuck away all the Victorian English outfits and things)
Electricity! They can do hydroelectric stuff from the ocean!
When the start attacking the mainland and annexing, they become famed for their weapons. People tell stories of whole cities covered in ash and swarming with metal soldiers.
Slightly More Fleshed-Out Thoughts:
Give me a Númenor that’s made of copper and steel, wires and gears and pistons that never cease to churn. Give me Númenorians who fly with gliders and aeroships and hope to reach the stars they love. Give me black, choking smoke rolling across the water as the moving island sloughs through the waves, ready for another conquest in the name of progress. Give me a Númenor so obsessed with immortality that they begin to create life forms of their own, robots and automatons that can never die. Give me the bodies of rulers lying in golden pods, ready to be revived when their scientists finally find out how to replicate Eru’s spark. Give me a Númenor that cries out to the gods for guidance, and when they get none, decide to build their own with pliers and wrenches and beaten metal. Give me a a Númenor that smells like oil and kerosene. Give me the wreckage of abandoned machines strewn over Middle Earth when Númenor is gone, drowned in the waves of the sea they sought to conquer. 
Give me a Númenor that is beautiful and wonderful and advanced and dirty and cruel and capable of horrible things. Give me a Númenor that shines with electric light, a star floating in a dark sea. Give me a Númenor that consumed itself and transformed into a ticking, screeching, creaking, thrumming hell of oil and rust and blood and death and corruption so thick you could smell it. Give me a Númenor that flew too close to the sun and ripped its own mechanical heart out and bled kerosene into the sea.
Anyways, yeah, I think Steampunk!Númenor is pretty neat.
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ao3feed-tolkien · 1 year
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The Fates of Man
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/j9TbUdo
by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)
Two natural philosophers struggle to warn the Faithful that the end of Númenor is approaching. But can sworn enemies find a way forward in the midst of the final tumult?
Words: 6185, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
Fandoms: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Categories: M/M
Characters: Original Male Character(s), Piero Joplin, Anton Sokolov
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Piero Joplin/Anton Sokolov, Original Male Character & Original Male Character, Piero Joplin & Anton Sokolov
Additional Tags: Númenor, The Downfall of Numenor, Stand Back We're Going To Try Natural Philosophy, Prompt Fill, Steampunk Númenor, Not an AU really, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Existential Angst, searching for meaning, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Dishonored but not a crossover really, I just stole the characters, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/j9TbUdo
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Remember the steampunk!Númenor AU??? Well! Take this monstrosity! (Note: wanted to go with some more Victorian inspiration for Maximum Horror Effect).
Sauron gets offerings from the Númenoreans, too. He gets knives and hammers and volcanic rock and jewelry and clothing he hates. (He wants for nothing, because the king wants him.) It’s hard for him to return things, even though every outfit he’s given is too pretty, too delicate, too impractical.
The King gives him industry beyond compare, gives him space to work, gives him gifts of machines and fine things he doesn’t want. The machines spew steam and the clothes have insect wings instead of jewels—a clear sign of decay.
Sauron loves industry, but this feels stifling, almost. Children with their faces smudged by spot run past him in rags (Thuringwethil never looked like that. Orcish children never looked like that. His blood boils). He wants to take them, to hold them, to whisper that all will be well—
He doesn’t. He can’t. He’s kept in a gilded cage by Ar-Phârazon, who stares at him in a way that makes him want to set himself alight and flee.
(He does, once. It happens when he cannot take any more physical contact but Ar-Phârazon won’t stop touching him and his hair explodes in flames.)
They create airships, a crude imitation of wings. Sauron is taken aboard one of them and he itches to jump off and away from the smoke and the misery.
Their factories burn. Their children toil inside them, locked in sweltering heat.
Once, at the end of the day, a child sees him, and, lip trembling, asks, “Can you save me?”
Sauron wishes he could. But he can’t. He can wait for Númenor to fall, for this madness to end, and that’s it.
He asks for the child’s name. They say it is Abâr.
He makes a note. The child must survive what is to come.
The island wanders and conquers. The king continues his advances.
Sauron asks to keep the child (an orphan, now; their parents died in the factory where they worked). He sends them to live on the Meneltarma. He doesn’t know why.
(They survive the Drowning, rescued by the Faithful. Sauron never knows this.)
Númenor is choked in black smoke most of the time. Thus no one sees when the king kisses him in the palace and Sauron panics.
(He has nowhere to run.)
(All he can do is beg Ar-Phârazon not to touch him because he fears he is poisonous.)
(It works. He’s safe for now.)
Númenor sinks, and when it does the water burns, so polluted by the excess of Númenor’s industry, so sickened by its poisonous dyes and its insect wing accents and its murder of birds, all for fashion, that it can do nothing else.
Never again shall industry get that far, Sauron vows.
(It can. It will. He just won’t be there to see it.)
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Sauron: Don’t worry, I have some more knives up my sleeves!!
Elemmírë, absolutely terrified: …I think you mean tricks
Tar-Míriel: He did not
Sauron, pulling knives out of his sleeves: I did not!
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Some silly Steampunk Númenor things:
- Sauron gets asked to teach the King how to speak Angbandian. Only teaches him swear words and passes them off as regular words
- Míriel gets a cool cane type thing
- Jokes about the poisonous clothing dye “so nice you’ll only wear it once” (this is a real historical thing, just look up Scheele’s Green)
- NÚMENOR HAS SUBMARINES
- But they’re Civil War submarines so they only go six feet below the water and are constantly being blown up by themselves. Torpedoes are just bombs on sticks
- This may have been Sauron’s idea of a practical joke
- Tar-Míriel surprised to learn that a being who lived for centuries with wolves is basically feral
- Sauron surprised to learn that humans are now Very Bad at understanding the perks of being completely feral
- The Nazgûl have no idea what the fuck is going on all they know is that Khamûl has gotten hold of a torpedo and that is Bad
- Elemmírë (Elendil’s daughter, borrowed from @wizardsandwenches) is Tired but the King’s advisor is always around and she’s very afraid of him because he is evil and thus cannot Sleep. BUT THEN he turns out to be okay?? And like,,,cares about the Queen??? wHaT
- Everything’s a mess. Everyone gets a hug
- Sauron is a child magnet they’re always around and he wants to adopt them all but can’t
- One kiddo becomes really close to him and survives the drowning because Sauron sent them to live on the Meneltarma
- Míriel and Sauron are terrifying working together
- “we get it you’re grieving but a death cult REALLY??!” - Everyone at Sauron every five minutes
- Elemmírë is sneaky and a very good spy
- Ar-Phârazon is the worst but he’s not very smart
- Everyone has a drinking problem
…there are not that many silly things about this AU are there. Sad.
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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A random headcanon for your trouble? okay so it’s just some more steampunk Númenor stuff but yOu KnOw
Reread my meta about Sauron in Númenor and uh…yeah. Turns out I implied legit assault and didn’t tag it. Like a moron. So tagging that now. TW for implied sexual assault!
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This meta was written because @riding-with-the-wild-hunt brought up a great point about that in a conversation we had.
Their point was that when someone is in control of another‘s safety and well-being the person whose safety and well-being is under control cannot consent. Which made me realize: what’s one thing my Sauron has always been able to fall back on over the years when all else fails?
If you guessed physical strength, you are entirely right. Sauron is very large and intimidating, and with the cutthroat society of Angband, he’s simply had to be able to beat the shit out of people. But in Númenor, he doesn’t have that to fall back on. He has nothing. No way out. He’s trapped.
And of course, Ar-Phârazon takes advantage of that. He traps Sauron alone, and, despite Sauron’s obvious aversion to touch and other such things, does the unthinkable.
And what can Sauron do to retaliate? Nothing, that’s what. The King did this; he has no one to report it to. All he can do is try desperately to avoid Ar-Phârazon while he comes up with a plan.
You see, the original plan was to bring Númenor down by means of spreading lies. But Sauron wants more than their destruction now. He wants them on their knees.
So he creates a cult to Melkor, and makes a pointed show of saying that Melkor is better than these people. He is superior. The Númenoreans believe him.
This is his way of coping with trauma. He remembers better times, when the people who he trusted were only a moment away. When he was safe, and when people cared about him.
Hence why he laughs as Númenor sinks. He was more than happy about it.
Also, for max payback, Sauron curses Ar-Phârazon. He curses his soul to remain forever trapped where his body lies at the bottom of the sea.
Pretty cathartic, huh?
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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I reread my own fic and DAMN I miss Steampunk Numenor-
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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I DID IT I FINISHED IT haHA!! Don't worry, there will be More of this AU soon! I'm way too invested to give it up yet.
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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*rubs hands together with glee* Hello my lovelies I am writing a one shot for the Steampunk Númenor AU I hope you know that
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Ha ha! Behold: the most horrific thing I've ever written! Non-graphic r*pe scene here y'all--get ready, or if you really can't handle it, just don't read this chapter. Please. Stay safe.
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Silly steampunk!Númenor idea
Sometimes, they burn those ostentatious bird hats for Melkor. He receives hats with entire eagles on top of them. Few he wants, mind you, but some he likes because they are extravagant and are a way of saying fuck you to his brother.
He loves this.
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Because @riding-with-the-wild-hunt’s post on Steampunk Númenor got my brain going in fifty different happy directions I present: some steampunk Númenor headcanons because even though I mainly take from the Byzantines in terms of culture I love the hilarious stupidity that is Victorian England.
Some actual history stuff before we go on *sigh* I couldn’t make this up if I tried.
Pigment containing arsenic for green clothing is in fact a thing that Victorian people thought was just the coolest. This gives a very bright green color…and slowly poisons the wearer. Very scary.
Also, beetle wings on clothes! Pretty weird, but actually really cool and not harmful to the beetles (the wings are harvested after they die naturally).
Finally, stuffed birds on hats. As in, dead birds that were stuffed. Yuck.
Late Númenoreans and fashion (aka taking real historical stupidity and shoving it into fictional stupidity!)
Late Númenorean fashion I will take from the stupidity showcased above. Stuffed birds of all sorts are showcased on hats (look, they say, we have triumphed over Manwë).
The arsenic dye could be used to symbolize the rapid decay in Númenor. They could possibly think it makes them immortal when in fact it just…murders them. Sauron is snickering somewhere.
The beetle wings are harmless but I like the idea that the nobles exclusively wear these in place of jewels (again, a symbol of the decay of Númenor).
Again, this was inspired by @riding-with-the-wild-hunt. All credit (and praise) to them and their spectacular headcanons, which give me life.
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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Chapter 2 is up! Warnings for heavily implied r*pe and some implied violence.
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councilofelrond · 3 years
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I wrote chapter three of The Deal yesterday but I feel like I should wait until tomorrow to post it?? I don’t want the chapters to feel too close together, and this has some DARK stuff in there…help.
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