Mordor

**The Shadow of Mordor** is the black fortress-land of the Dark Lord Sauron. At its heart sits the volcano Orodruin, Mount Doom, which spews forth endless fire and ash. Nearby is Barad-dûr, the dark tower, from which Sauron plots his conquests. He was defeated by the Last Alliance of Men and Elves at the end of the second age but has now returned to Mordor and begun raising new armies. Furnaces blast, orcs march, evil creatures bow before the dark tower, and the free years of Middle Earth draw to a close...

## Geography

Mordor is guarded on three sides by mountains. To the north run the Ered Lithui, or Ash Mountains, and the south and east run the Ephel Duath, or Mountains of Shadow. The gap where they meet is guarded by the Black Gate, and the east-west Morgul Vale through the central Ephel Duath by Minas Morgul. The only other entrance is from the east through the vast Mouth of Mordor, but that way is inhabited only by the Easterlings, who often ally with Sauron. To the south lie Harad and Umbar, both of whom are also friendly. To the west lies Gondor, Sauron's ancient enemy and the strongest of the free peoples. Invading it will be no easy task, though, as there are only three passages across the river Anduin: the fortress island of Cair Andros, the old ruined capital of Osgiliath, and the many islands of the Ethir.

## Focus Tree

    Mordor's focus tree consists of 5 branches.

**The Eye Looks Inwards** has two sub-branches. Every focus in **The Fires of Industry** grants 1 factory, in addition to various other economic and production relation buffs. Every focus in **The Fires of War** grants either manpower or army xp, in addition to varioous other combat related buffs. The final focus in each line increases the buffs granted by the "Servants of Sauron" national spirit, which will be removed if Sauron falls. There are also five plotical-power expensive focuses that grant Sauron significant permanent buffs, as well as activatable temporary ones.

**The Eye Looks North** demands the submission of Orcs of the Misty Mountains, Orcs of Gundabad, Vales of Anduin, Dale, and Erebor, of which only the former two will likely accept. The branch rebuilds the fortress of Dol-Guldur in southern Mirkwood, which can be used as a base against the elves of Lorien & The Woodland realm, as well as granting Mordor's subjects attack bonuses against various northern countries.

**The Eye Looks East** demands the submission of Rhûn, Khand, and Dorwinion, of which only the former two are likely to accept. The branch increases the benefits of having them as puppets.

**The Eye Looks South** demands the submission of Harad and Umbar, of which both are likely to accept. The branch increases their power, as well as allowed Mordor to train mûmakil.

**The Eye Looks West** brings Dagorlad under direct control. There is one sub-branch for either befriending or defeating  Isengard, one sub-branch for fighting against  Rohan, and an extensive one for conquering  Gondor. This sub-branch includes the option to take Ithilien via border wars before the main invasion, as well as various buffs for crossing the Anduin river and for fighting Gondor in general.

## Special Mechanics

Mordor has decisions allowing it to invest increasing amounts of war support, political power, army xp, and command power to improve (respectively) the attack, defense, planning, and logistics skills of its Nazgûl field marshals. Note that the Nine will all die along with Sauron should the ring be destroyed. Due to a bug in Hoi4's scripting system these decisions cannot check whether the Nazgul already is at max skill level, and thus the AI cannot be taught to use them.

"The Eye Looks North", "The Eye Looks East", and "The Eye Looks South" each fire events for several countries demanding that they submit to Sauron. Their decision is largely based on ideology, with opportunist, conquerer, and melkorite countries accepting and others refusing. If they accept they will become puppets of Mordor. If they refuse, Mordor will be able to select a decision granting wargoals on them once it is at war with a major country. "Strike the Elves" automatically grants this decision for Lorien and Woodland Realm without the option for them to submit.

## AI Paths

Mordor only has one set of behavior that the player can choose in the "Game Rules" menu before starting a campaign.

### Historical

Mordor will complete one path in each of "The Fires of Industry" and "The Fires of War", as well as each of 'The Eye Looks' directional focuses. It will also complete "Strike the Elves". It will declare war on  Gondor, as well as any countries that refused submission, in January 3019. It will not declare war on either  Rohan or  Isengard if it is at war with a major power.