Story
Timeline and geography
The game takes place between the events of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", but prior to the story of the "Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor". The story you are going to experience will take you to the South of Mordor, area known as the Nurn.
Nurn is a region located in the southernmost portion of the realm of Mordor that holds the inland Sea of Nurnen. Currently Nurn is a green, fertile land ashore the sea, which makes it perfect for farming, which may be necessary to support the armies of Sauron, as opposed to the arid plateau of Gorgoroth, which is north-west of Nurn.
Story set up
After the Sauron's defeat at Barad-Dur during the War of the last Alliance of Men and Elves, few surviving orcs have managed to escape and hide in the depths of the caverns under the Mordor.
As Sauron's reign of terror have ended, numerous orcish slaves were freed. The steward of Gondor have granted them sovereignty, provided they are going to remain within Mordor, so they have decided to move and settle in the South - ashore the Sea of Nurnen. Later they will form what now is known as the Southern Tribes of Nurn.
Over the next years the land of Mordor have started recovering from the horrors of war. Grass slowly started growing in previously desolate steppes. The birds sang in Mordor once again.
It was several decades later that the steward of Gondor has decided to station a garrison of rangers at the Black gates to the North of the passage of Udun: a few squads of rangers of Gondor had been sent there with their families.
Initially the main task of rangers was to keep an eye out at Mordor for possible threats. Later, when settlers and outlaws started moving to Mordor as Gondor crown's justice could not reach them there, rangers took over task of prison guards, to ensure none of these scumbags ever return back to the realm.
For some period of time - occasional attacks of the outlaws during ranger patrols was the only and the biggest problem.
But as the spirit of Sauron remained intact and lived within the grim halls of Barad-Dur, slowly evil started regaining it's power...
Decades later, the Dark Generals have appeared - traitors of men and elves, willing to serve the dark master for power. Spirit of Sauron granted them part of his might in order to forge new hordes and prepare Middle Earth for his return.
Over the next years numerous orcish citadels have been rebuilt, and the orcs have greatly outnumbered rangers. Mordor slowly turned again into dead lands covered by nothing then ash and sand. Soon uruks started roaming Mordor and attacking settlers and rangers, spilling their blood and enslaving their families. A new threat appeared on the horizon.
General-commander of rangers have sent a letter to the steward of Gondor, claiming that the orcish plague have returned and they need more men in order to fight it back. But the steward of Gondor was too busy playing politics: in return he laughed at the general-commander and called it impossible, as the Sauron had been defeated a long time ago and he does not believe that orcs are intelligent enough to pose a serious threat to a kingdom as strong as Gondor!
Realizing there is gonna be no help from the crown of Gondor, the rangers were left outnumbered to struggle against ever growing armies of orcs on their own. Over the next few years rangers have suffered serious casualties, as more than a half of soldiers were killed during clashes. Over time, orcs regained control of Gorgoroth and Udun and now the rangers were the ones cornered in their garrison...
Plot of the game
Despite all arguments among each other, orcish warchiefs are forced to work together, whether they like it or not. Sauron is regaining strength and he have ordered his Dark Generals to acquire certain ancient lost artifacts, which can be used to gain power and conquer Middle Earth.
Several squads of orcs with different warchiefs have been sent to South of Mordor - Nurn, in order to locate these artifacts. Orcish warchiefs were given no information what and where exactly they are looking for, all they were told is that local tribes, keepers of the ancient ruins and dungeons, must know where to start searching...
Rangers' scouts have acquired an intel from one of their spies, that a squad of orcs had been recently sent to Nurn in search of ancient artifacts for their master. Having no other choice, rangers have attempted an expedition to Nurn as well, to prevent orcs from finding the lost artifacts.
But who knows what secrets are buried under the ancient ruins of Nurn?
