"Who we choose to be around us defines who we are."
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| Guild Crest - Most Wanted Postals |
Due to the inherent social nature of MMO's, all games offer a formal system to create organisations of players, these go under various names - Clans, Corporations, or in World of Warcraft's case, Guilds.
Guilds allow players to band together under one banner, to provide aid to each other in the form of shared expertise, shared resources and also familiar faces to group with in order to advance through the harder content in a game.
Naturally, Guilds vary in size, attitude and purpose. Some are just social affairs - essentially there to provide a private chat channel for a group of friends and unite them under a funny name, others are a whole lot more well organised and serious in nature, with strict screening processes for new members, a clear vision and goal and well defined roles for the members to fulfill (i.e. someone who has learnt Alchemy will be obliged to provide free potions for the guild to use, in return for this they are able to use ingredients gathered by other guild members free of charge to help advance their skill in that profession).
Guilds that managed to establish themselves as the top dogs on each server stood essentially at the pinnacle of the social ladder, and were (in general) accorded respect and admiration for their accomplishments by the rest of the player base.
At the time, I had no idea about any of that - but some way through level 13, I felt that I should start looking around for a guild. It would make progressing through the game easier, and I felt that it would be fun to have a regular bunch of people to play with as well, instead of the solo game I had enjoyed up until then.
I had spent about a week based in Auberdine at that point. It was rather depressing. There was always an air of melancholy hanging over the small town and the surrounding forests - no doubt driven by the proliferation of fel wildlife and malcontent spirits lurking in the mists. Even the sun seemed to abandon it's duties in this land; it's rays weak and wanting.
I sighed as I arose from bed, the ninth day now. The serenity of Teldrassil had become nothing but a distant memory now, pushed to the corners of my mind by days filled with exploratory quests - more often than not ending up in fierce combat against wayward spirits or the enraged and diseased animals that still called this blighted shore their home.
I pulled on my garments - a simple cloth tunic and pants, dirtied and ripped, along with a comfortable pair of well made cloth boots that had been my latest purchase. I fastened my belt - tough hide which was now fast falling apart under heavy use, and girdled my trusty mace. A parting glance as I headed for the door revealed that in the short time I'd been here I'd managed to make a thorough mess of the tiny room I stayed in; stacks of paper parchments were scattered all over the desk, empty potion flasks rolled around on the wooden floor and a pile of dirty laundry sat in the corner, growing larger by the day.
Didn't know you were such a slouch!
Not compared to you I'm not!
Touché.
Anyway...
It was on that day I met Chaspal. A meeting dictated by chance more than anything. I was walking through the town centre of Auberdine, out towards the ruins of Ameth'Aran, when suddenly a voice called out from behind me.
"You! You're a Priestess right?"
I turned to face the stranger. In my travels, I've met a lot of rogues, and in my experience they generally fall into two classes; the rogue-ish sort, who love to tell a good tale and enjoy some friendly riposte before attempting to pickpocket you, and the other, assassin, sort. Silent but deadly. You know...the stare at you then stab you whilst you weren't paying attention type (and then they would pickpocket your corpse, although strictly that's probably better classified as looting).
I looked up at his unsmiling face, and immediately put him into the latter category.
"I need some support down south, there's a Furbolg tribe which could potentially give Auberdine a lot of trouble. Come?"
I didn't really have anything better to do, so I agreed.
So, yes, I did indeed meet this Rogue called Chaspal in Auberdine. I remember he was maybe four or five levels higher at that point, but struggling with a quest (if memory serves me right).
We ended up grouping, and he must have taken a shine to me as a healer because we ended up doing several quests together (or so I remember). They were of the rather trivial sort, i.e. collect 5 bear asses, then go kill 5 monkeys etc, so having someone to chat to definitely made it more enjoyable. He also seemed like quite a friendly bloke, despite what Lyara says.
I also noticed that Chaspal was part of a Guild called The Revenants - in fact, he was the Guild Master. It was a pretty good name, or so I thought, so I decided to ask him whether I could join.
He had a think, then told me that although they needed healers, I was a bit low level. He said that I should get to level 15 and then talk to him again before logging off. At this point, I was pretty determined to join, and so I set my nose to the grindstone and began questing like mad.
Thankfully, it was the weekend, so I ended up playing all day, and the next time I bumped into him I was level 18.
I could imagine him nodding approval as he extended a guild invite. As I was about to accept it, I realised that I knew absolutely nothing about the guild apart from the name, and Chaspal. For all I knew, they could have been a guild of LBGT roleplayers (such guilds do exist!). Still, what the hey, I thought, and clicked the "Accept" button.
"Lyara has joined the Guild." popped up a little message on my chat box.
Several "His" and "Welcomes" came in from various other guild members who were online. It turned out that I had joined an exceedingly small guild, with only 7 members (me included). Of these, six were officers. It turns out I was the first fully fledged member to join.
I learnt quickly that the officers in the guild had met in the beta test, and were so enamoured with each other that they'd decided to stick it out in the release of the game. That sounded pretty cool to me.
What was also cool to me was I was now a member of a guild. It was like I now belonged somewhere - I had a flag to fight for.
We stood on the pier in the late afternoon - the sun, having given it's token effort for the day, was well on it's way back down to the horizon. Waves lapped softly at the supports, slapping them gently and rhythmically. Rows of elven lanterns hung from graceful supports, shimmering pale blue.
"So, is there some sort of ceremony?" I asked.
"No," he replied, communicating amusement with the slight upturn of one corner of his mouth; Chaspal was an elf who's speech was as pointed as his weapons.
"Here." He tossed me a small wooden badge, emblazoned with the guild crest - a droplet of water surrounded by ripples. "Congratulations, you're now a member of The Revenants."
And so, sometime during the late afternoon, on the tenth day after I'd left Teldrassil, between the second and third lanterns on that pier, I became a Revenant.
I've often looked back on that point and wondered how things would have been had I said no to his request for my aid; it seemed like it was by pure chance that I accepted his proposition. But as I reminisce now, it has come to my realisation that fate often plays it's hand under the guise of coincidence, and in the grip of destiny, we have less choice in matters than we think.
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| Auberdine - artist's impression. |
I had spent about a week based in Auberdine at that point. It was rather depressing. There was always an air of melancholy hanging over the small town and the surrounding forests - no doubt driven by the proliferation of fel wildlife and malcontent spirits lurking in the mists. Even the sun seemed to abandon it's duties in this land; it's rays weak and wanting.
I sighed as I arose from bed, the ninth day now. The serenity of Teldrassil had become nothing but a distant memory now, pushed to the corners of my mind by days filled with exploratory quests - more often than not ending up in fierce combat against wayward spirits or the enraged and diseased animals that still called this blighted shore their home.
I pulled on my garments - a simple cloth tunic and pants, dirtied and ripped, along with a comfortable pair of well made cloth boots that had been my latest purchase. I fastened my belt - tough hide which was now fast falling apart under heavy use, and girdled my trusty mace. A parting glance as I headed for the door revealed that in the short time I'd been here I'd managed to make a thorough mess of the tiny room I stayed in; stacks of paper parchments were scattered all over the desk, empty potion flasks rolled around on the wooden floor and a pile of dirty laundry sat in the corner, growing larger by the day.
Didn't know you were such a slouch!
Not compared to you I'm not!
Touché.
Anyway...
It was on that day I met Chaspal. A meeting dictated by chance more than anything. I was walking through the town centre of Auberdine, out towards the ruins of Ameth'Aran, when suddenly a voice called out from behind me.
"You! You're a Priestess right?"
I turned to face the stranger. In my travels, I've met a lot of rogues, and in my experience they generally fall into two classes; the rogue-ish sort, who love to tell a good tale and enjoy some friendly riposte before attempting to pickpocket you, and the other, assassin, sort. Silent but deadly. You know...the stare at you then stab you whilst you weren't paying attention type (and then they would pickpocket your corpse, although strictly that's probably better classified as looting).
I looked up at his unsmiling face, and immediately put him into the latter category.
"I need some support down south, there's a Furbolg tribe which could potentially give Auberdine a lot of trouble. Come?"
I didn't really have anything better to do, so I agreed.
So, yes, I did indeed meet this Rogue called Chaspal in Auberdine. I remember he was maybe four or five levels higher at that point, but struggling with a quest (if memory serves me right).
We ended up grouping, and he must have taken a shine to me as a healer because we ended up doing several quests together (or so I remember). They were of the rather trivial sort, i.e. collect 5 bear asses, then go kill 5 monkeys etc, so having someone to chat to definitely made it more enjoyable. He also seemed like quite a friendly bloke, despite what Lyara says.
I also noticed that Chaspal was part of a Guild called The Revenants - in fact, he was the Guild Master. It was a pretty good name, or so I thought, so I decided to ask him whether I could join.
He had a think, then told me that although they needed healers, I was a bit low level. He said that I should get to level 15 and then talk to him again before logging off. At this point, I was pretty determined to join, and so I set my nose to the grindstone and began questing like mad.
Thankfully, it was the weekend, so I ended up playing all day, and the next time I bumped into him I was level 18.
I could imagine him nodding approval as he extended a guild invite. As I was about to accept it, I realised that I knew absolutely nothing about the guild apart from the name, and Chaspal. For all I knew, they could have been a guild of LBGT roleplayers (such guilds do exist!). Still, what the hey, I thought, and clicked the "Accept" button.
"Lyara has joined the Guild." popped up a little message on my chat box.
Several "His" and "Welcomes" came in from various other guild members who were online. It turned out that I had joined an exceedingly small guild, with only 7 members (me included). Of these, six were officers. It turns out I was the first fully fledged member to join.
I learnt quickly that the officers in the guild had met in the beta test, and were so enamoured with each other that they'd decided to stick it out in the release of the game. That sounded pretty cool to me.
What was also cool to me was I was now a member of a guild. It was like I now belonged somewhere - I had a flag to fight for.
 |
| Auberdine pier |
"So, is there some sort of ceremony?" I asked.
"No," he replied, communicating amusement with the slight upturn of one corner of his mouth; Chaspal was an elf who's speech was as pointed as his weapons.
"Here." He tossed me a small wooden badge, emblazoned with the guild crest - a droplet of water surrounded by ripples. "Congratulations, you're now a member of The Revenants."
And so, sometime during the late afternoon, on the tenth day after I'd left Teldrassil, between the second and third lanterns on that pier, I became a Revenant.
I've often looked back on that point and wondered how things would have been had I said no to his request for my aid; it seemed like it was by pure chance that I accepted his proposition. But as I reminisce now, it has come to my realisation that fate often plays it's hand under the guise of coincidence, and in the grip of destiny, we have less choice in matters than we think.
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