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LOTRO: Throg's thoughts on the recent influx of immigrants from Azeroth

Since leaving his rugged mountainous homeland of Ered Luin Throg has been struck by the number of adventurers who have recently come to Eriador from far away Azeroth. We are not certain why so many bold wanderers should choose to migrate at this time. Could it be that Azeroth has run out of dragons?

Throg is sure that Azeroth is a very fine place. Indeed his own ancestor Camuun won much reknown as a hunter in those fair lands but our doughty dwarf has mixed feelings about the benefits this latest invasion.

On the positive side this influx of migrant adventurers makes it easy to form fellowships in order to carry out commisions that would be too difficult on ones own. To give them their due many of these former Azerothians are well skilled in the arts of combat knowing when to attack and when to defend.

On the other hand Throg is tired of the constant comparisons between Azeroth and Eriador. At first they complain because we do too many things differently in Eriador and then they complain because we do too many things the same.

A more difficult objection is the apparent disdain that many of these blow-ins show for the rich heritage of life, culture and adventure that Eriador has to offer. Many of these visitors seem to care only only for priceless treasures that may be found in the deepest dungeons of our fair land. One hears them calling out in the market place that they are forming kinships to focus on these the pursuit of such treasure trove, an occupation they bizarrely call "end game". This causes Throg to chuckle somewhat for if they choose to describe the life of an adbventurer as a "game" then surely "end game" refers to the demise of the adventurer, which may precisely be their fate when they chose to delve into troll infested depths. They treat the good folk of our land with contempt . When they do lower themselvs to undertake minor commissions for the inhabitants of our lands they make it painfully clear that they are only undertaking such quests as stepping stones on their route to the real treasures of this "end game" they aspire to.

The disrespect they show to our citizens pales into insignifcance beside the disrespect they show to our established vocations. Instead of steadfastly working at a profession building first proficiency and then mastery over time they take on a profession pursue it maniacally until they reach some personal objective and then abandon the profession entirely to try something else. They also mock the interdependence of vocations. Instead of trading materials with other crafters they employ teams of endentured servants (known by the Azerothian term "alts") to produce their own raw materials. These poor alts are treated little better than slaves. In seeking to undermine the hallowed principle of interdependence of professions they threaten to undermine the lifeblood of trade on which our whole economy depends.

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