WARNING! Tolkien pursists turn back now!

I'm not sure if I've blogged this before. This is an idea I tossed off-handedly in the Attacks of Opportunity RPG forum that I frequent (no, it's not a D20 forum). The thread sort of came alive and people are still posting ideas and variations. Some of the discussion has been very interesting. This idea is a work of alternate history and not meant to be a slight upon the Tolkien canon.

"Middle Earth. Whom among us has never heard those words with a slight pang of longing. Oh, if only it could be true. If only it might have been true...

Mid 19th C: Oxford Don JRR Tolkien publishes "The Lord of the Rings" an eclectic compliation of certain Scandinavian, Norse, and Saxon legends into something like a coherent Story.

Mid-Late 19th C: Paleontology is all the rage. Archeaology is beginning to emerge as a science. Continental drift is proposed as an explanation for the shape of the earth. Science begins to seek its roots.

1870: German archeaologist Heinrich Schlieman postulates that he can find the ruins of ancient Moria, long thought to be pure myth. Preliminary digs in Siberia lead to startling discoveries.

1877: American Pleontologist Marsh makes a startling discovery in Arizona - the first complete skeleton of a dragon. Long though a mythical beast, this discovery sets the world on its head. British Paleontological society publishes learned paper "proving" that the "dragon" could neither fly nor breath fire but was merely a sluggish, land-bound lizard.

1912: So-called "Orkoid" skull found at Piltdown Quarry by Charles Darwin. Heated debate over possible historical existence of Orcs rises to a fever pitch.

1913: Strange plumes of smoke over Antartica are interpreted as evidence of fresh volcanic activity. The truth is far more startling.

This game takes place in a world where Tolkien is not fiction, but myth; and myth seated in fact at that. This is probably best played as a hybrid fantasy-pulp setting rather than some kind of "Modern LOTR". In other words, no Gandalf, no One Ring, no Sauron. The Elves have left, the Dwarves retreated from the world, and Men have ruled for thousands of years. Some things that ought not have been forgotten were forgotten.

The orcs are multiplying again, this time in Antartica, Siberia, Tibet or some other remote locale. They haven't been idle. They have guns and artillery. Antartic Orcs might even have giant U-boats loaded with infantry and primitive tanks for an invasion of Britain.

The ruins of Moria have been found. What ancient evil might the archaeologists uncover if left to themselves.

Humankind is in danger. Where might they seek allies? Do Ents yet stalk the ancient forests of Bavaria? Are the dwarves gone, or merely in hiding?

What allies has the enemy prepared? Does he have agents in the courts and assemblies of Europe? "

You can view the full discussion at Attacks.