A character commission, Sir Renault Harthfolde, 2nd gen Lordaeranian Death Knight belonging to @thecyanbladesman.

Grace of Elune- Rescheduled! (12/9/18)

Hello everyone! Again, many apologies on the last-minute cancellation on Sunday. I’m happy to let everyone know my dad is making a swift recovery, and was discharged earlier today. Thank you everyone for you kind words and well wishes.

THAT SAID! I’ve decided to just postpone another week, to 12/9/18. The event details and time will remain the same, and I hope to see you all there!

This event will take place on Wrymrest Accord, however if you would like to attend and are from a different server, please get in touch with me! I will be happy to trade btags to arrange a cross realm invite.

The important OOC note still stands! While this will follow the same structure as previous events, with a sermon then ending with a blessing, the blessing itself will contain content that is bloody and somewhat gorey. The sermon itself will be PG and safe as always, and I will let you all know when the sermon ends and the bloody bit begins so you may excuse yourself if necessary. If you have any questions, please contact me in-game on Roraelis or here on tumblr.

@the-royal-courier @wowrpevents @wraconnect @warcraftisastage

Grace of Elune (12/2/18)

A note written in familiar script but seemingly heavier than before appears on the message boards of the Alliance:

OOC:

Are we back? We’re sort of back. There are many exciting things coming for nelves, and it’s about time we prepare ourselves for it!

IMPORTANT OOC NOTE: While this will follow the same structure as previous events, with a sermon then ending with a blessing, the blessing itself will contain content that is bloody and somewhat gorey. The sermon itself will be PG and safe as always, and I will let you all know when the sermon ends and the bloody bit begins so you may excuse yourself if necessary. If you have any questions, please contact me in-game on Roraelis or here on tumblr.

When: December 2nd, 6pm Server time.

Where: Twilight Grove, Duskwood (picture below) **Should anyone need help getting there, please contact me prior to the event and I will be happy to fly anyone over!**

What: A brief sermon on the wonders of Elune, ending with a blessing.

Why: To prepare ourselves for what is to come, and to reignite our faith.

Who: Led by Roraelis, everyone is allowed to attend. While invites are not mandatory, they will be offered for those who need help in finding the location. 

Please note though- this is a sermon event with the focus on one speaker. During the sermon try to keep emotes and /say to a minimum so that the event text does not get lost in chat spam, and everyone can read what is being said. :)

If you have any questions, suggestions, or even requests on what topic I should cover, feel free to hit me up-game on Roraelis or here on tumblr! I also have a calendar event for it in-game so if you’d like to be added get in touch with me!

@the-royal-courier @wowrpevents @wraconnect @warcraftisastage

Exact location under the cut:

Keep reading

47th Infantry Regiment - Military Ball

The 47th Infantry Regiment proudly presents our first annual Military Ball. Hosted by Lt. Commander, Lady Olivia Bell, and Lord Marshal, Wallace McCree. Come join us at Bell Manor, Cindervale for an evening full of dancing, entertainment, and pleasantries.

Location: Cindervale, Redridge Mountains, Eastern Kingdoms ((OOCly: Greymane Manor, Gilneas, Eastern Kingdoms)) When: November 17th, 2018 Time: 6PM-9:30PM servertime (invites will start being sent at 5:30PM) Faction: Alliance (WM off) Attire: Formal or Dress Uniform with ribbons. Uniform NOT required.

MANY PRIZES TO BE WON INCLUDING MOUNTS AND PETS! 

6PM - Drinks & Conversation 6:30PM - Introductions by Olivia and Wallace 7PM - Dance & Bar 7:30PM - Dinner & Desserts 8PM - Dancing & Games 8:30PM - Raffle Winners 9PM - Dancing & Winding Down 9:15PM - Closing Speech by COs of the 47th 9:30PM - Curtain Call Have anymore questions? Site: fortyseventh.shivtr.com Or, PM Olivia at lostinawalmart.tumblr.com/ask @wowrpevents @wraconnect

With the new baby trade boom coming to Kul’tiras soil, what better way to expand your market and gain new alliances and trade agreements than through an open market!?

Anchor Trading Company is hosting an open trade market on the 24th of November for any and all legal trade companies and merchants to peddle their wares. This is a chance for mainlanders and islanders, alike, to branch out and generate new avenues of trade and revenue alike.

For this we only seek one thing.

YOU!

We will be opening up a simple form for tradesmen and merchants to fill out in an effort to fill the trade grounds with their presence and wares. Mainlands and Islanders are all welcome. This form will be open beginning next week, but we are taking preregistrations from those who merely wish to be on the list of vendors from the get go! This is open to any and all Alliance no matter your server. Come one. Come all. ( Please be aware that party groups or raid groups may be required due to sharding)

We are seeking security members to help keep the peace at the faire. If you are interested in this- please seek out Sabine Hadley ( @tirasiansails or Amber#3565 on discord) to discuss.

Guidelines and Regulations for the faire will be posted on the same day the registration form is opened.

DON’T MISS THIS CHANCE TO EXPAND YOUR RP HORIZONS! JOIN US FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET NEW PEOPLE AND CREATE NEW AVENUES OF STORY FOR YOURSELF AND/OR YOUR GUILD!

The Guardian Gearworks will be hosting a Hallow’s Eve party on October 27th at 6pm server. It will be held at the entrance to Upper Blackrock Spire–don’t worry, it’s safe! We will have a ton of activities for everyone to enjoy, including a pumpkin carving contest, a costume competition, a scavenger hunt, fortune telling, dancing, and more! We hope to see you there totally decked out, all are welcome! 

Another War

He hated war, he had hated it ever since he had left his woods and found how it tore across the world while he had lived in ignorance and solitude. Now he was here, fighting another war so soon after the last, but this time it was against the men and women he’d fought shoulder to shoulder with on Argus. The Horde had always been known as an ally to him, they’d aided the Alliance in fighting a God and his armies, and here they were, slaughtering each other for the lifeblood of the very earth they stood upon. It had taken the loss of his brother Calel and the Blighting of several of his own troops to steel himself towards the horde, they had shown their unwillingness to simply live on Azeroth in peace, and so there would be none. The battle had been savage from the beginning, old hatreds seemed to thrive as enemies from an age ago reignited the spark of anger and tore into each other like old times. He frowned as he brought his ax down on a young orc, wondering if this was his first time fighting the opposite faction. He shook his head and looked up from the corpse, preparing to fight the much older looking orc in front of him when out of the corner of his eye he saw his father go down under an orc. Anger rose up inside of him, all hesitation in killing the horde burned away as his father screamed. He turned on his heel, intending to charge over and aid his father when he realized his mistake. With a glance towards the orc in front of him. He sighed just as the orc’s ax was buried into the metal of his helm. He crumpled to the ground, darkness taking him almost immediately.  @gareththeknight @sunset-sword @caeliam @thecyanbladesman

A Chorus of Blue

This was something that Gareth had dreamed about in his younger years. After Arthas had completely obliterated the old kingdom, he fought so harshly to reclaim what he had lost.

Then as decades passed, he slowly lost that hope, and only hoped to at least purge what infested the land. Then he met the Forsaken that decided to fight for their old kingdom, rather than for that Undead Queen. Time in Lordaeron and the Argent Dawn soon tempered him with the belief that all could have some manner of good. Truly, he believed this. As he years went on, he refused to take sides, knowing full well it’d go against his principles.

Then there was Blight.

Somehow Gareth was able to justify that… only those who followed Sylvanas were pure evil. Truly. And so he kept to his principles, and considered the more erratic, radical-nationalist Forsaken as just another type of Scourge.

Then there was his son.

Adopted or not, the pain was real. And it spurred the old forge of hatred and anger. He considered his principles to be more than a weakness, but a self-justification that did harm to the world. He saw himself as a force of chaos in a world that demanded peace and unity.

So it was that force that Sir Gareth Davice, Knight of the Silver Hand, Son of Lordaeron, and Vassal to Harthfolde stood among the sea of blues. When his king charged the field, so did he, and how glorious was his holy crusade upon the scores of Horde.

Gareth slaughtered his old enemies, the Orcs and Trolls. He destroyed fresh ones, such as the Undead and their monstrosities. He culled old allies like the Blood Elves, and killed even what he considered peaceful additions to the Horde such as the Tauren and Pandaren.

It was on this field that he’d make his mark. The elder knight’s threat grew red and spotted, his warcries lifting with every unceremonious kill upon his opponent. The large maul he held, tempered through every war and forged to bring justice, slaughtered all in his path.

It was here that he met an older Orc. The beast of a warrior swung his battle axe high then low, the Paladin just narrowly escaping a steely death. His azure pools, as young as they were in the beginning, shimmered with golden light. His features, old and aging, practically lit up as he sent golden flames into his opponent’s side, searing steel to flesh in a matter of moments.

Another swing was deflected with a harsh guard from the shaft of his maul, before following through with a swift crack of the pommel sliding across the now broken jaw of the Orc. Gareth Davice raised his weapon, hoping to overpower the warrior with both the Light and holy steel, but was met with an extreme pain along his right.

His maul flew and fluttered, the head slamming into the familiar, yet burned earth. Gareth grabbed at his arm, the Orc’s axe having torn through and sliding deep. With a roar did the elder lift his hand and unleash a torrent of holy fire, melting away the flesh of his enemy. Yet, almost as a last show of defiance, the old warrior dragged his axe down enough to totally remove the limb from the Paladin’s body.

True, the Knight continued to fight. His wound was closed by the graciousness and warmth of the Light. He fought clumsily, and not at all like what he was. He’d see this through to the end, however. Yet, he was met with the same sight he had before when retreating to Lordaeron.

So many dead. So many Undead now roaming, and his city in total ruin.

Gareth collapsed, and everything went dark.

@sunset-sword @danirel-davice @thecyanbladesman

Ashes to Ashes.

“The Ashmark, the ancestral seat of the House Westerly…commonly shortened to West. It is our home, and our home has been stolen from us, Edric. It is inhabited by thieves without mind for morality.”

“What does that mean, Lord Father?”

“It means, my child, that we are to take it back one day. The legacy of my father and his father before him is desecrated every second those beasts rest within its walls.”

“But…what if they aren’t bad? What if they just want to live there?”

The elder frowned. “Edric. What did I say about questions?”

The child hung his head, a mop of blonde hair hanging low over his face. “Sorry, Lord Father.”

The raven haired man tilted his head. “Go, child. It is time you studied with the Headmaster.”, and with that final word…the young blonde haired child scurried off to the halls of Castle Highstar. To the headmaster.

“One day, you’ll understand.”, Lord West turned his gaze out of the window. “One day I’ll make you understand.”

Edric snapped awake, the aftermath of the siege of Ashmark. A slaughter. The Davice troops ran through the undead like a wave of righteous fury– a fury decades in the making. The Inquisitor found himself staring up at the keep with the rest of the retinue left to their officers.

Edric knew what would be waiting for him in these halls. A shadow of the father he grew up with. The Lord Richard West. The legend who destroyed House Highstar and seized the Helm for himself at the age of nineteen, now defeated at his, no…their ancestral home.

Slowly Edric made his way through the barren Castle Ashmark, sheathing the sword Mercy at his waist. The halls decrepit and the tattered banner of the silver lion running rampant hung on every wall…this was the end. The end of an era. Stairs that ran for what seemed to be an eternity, like climbing a mountain. Dread encompassed his conscience.

What would he say? He was victorious. Would he gloat? No. He would prove he was right. That was a victory far crueler than death…the first thing Richard taught Edric. To kill an enemy is a victory, but it is far more cruel to prove you are right. Edric arrived at the Lord’s quarters. 

He would be here. Edric reached for the door and opened it.

Not a day over forty, a man with a full head of short cut raven hair and sickly, glowing yellow eyes turned to address Edric. He set down his glass of wine and stood, tall and thin. Clad in finery colored black, silver and red. Unflinching, unbreaking eye contact was met and a heavy silence fell upon the air.

The Lord finally spoke. “The Sunset Sword.”, he addressed his son in mock reverence. “It is to you that I owe this defeat, I take it. My son.”

Edric narrowed his gaze. “It is.”

Richard inclined his head once. Retrieving another wine glass and pouring out half a glass in each of the two on the table. “Let us speak, one last time. Not as enemies, but as father and -son-.”, the Forsaken Lord, taking his seat at the table.

Edric silently approaching, taking his own seat but not touching the glass. Staring into Richard’s eyes, a furrowed and hate filled gaze filling his unnatural eyes the color of amber.

Richard scoffed. “I know what you are, poisons are futile.”, he mused, nursing a sip of wine. “You’re here to kill me. I know. Vengeance for what I did to you, how I raised you. I won’t make excuses nor appeal to your conscience–because I know your intent by the look in your eyes. Let me speak my final word– and then carry on my sentence.”

Edric blinked. Words escaped him at that very moment, he had to consider what he said…always, even now. Even when his father was his enemy and he had the power…he was still powerless. “Speak.”, Edric resigned.

“You defeated my forces twice. Both times when I possessed the advantage. Staniel’s teachings, I suspect. Alas– I am more impressed with -you-. I’ve never seen such focus, dedication in a battle commander. And such hatred, for the Light to award you with such power in knowledge of how you wield it? You’ve made a cosmic power a weapon against me, a weapon that has rendered countless of my kind dead.”, he cleared his throat, and nursed another sip of wine and leveled an ivory finger.

“You were never like that sniveling coward of a brother of yours, Arthurion. Even when you were young I saw a hatred that you channeled into focus in everything you did. Reading. Swordplay. Even Ballet, to my disapproval. You were willing to do what was necessary– stabbing Erik Norwood in the heart…watching the love of your life, rendered a corpse and nailed to a cross in a red cloak. Not even a tear. I knew at that moment in Fury Keep, I chose the wrong son to invest in.”

Edric grit his teeth, fury encompassing his expression. His fist clenched tight as the Light pooled out– ready to lash out and destroy this being he called Lord Father. Face twisted in anger– Edric had never felt such rage, and the sword Mercy begged him at the back of his mind to draw the truesilver sword and bring it down in all its wrath upon him. But no. Restraint was the key…victory would not belong to Lord Richard West.

Richard smirked, a smile that cut like a knife on a face much like Edric’s own. “You have handed me my first and second losses in my entire lifetime. You have learned well, my son. Now…let me teach you one final lesson. Empires are built atop centuries of murder, and your’s, my child? Your empire’s first stone will be laid upon my cold corpse. I am only ashamed that I cannot watch you build it. I am so proud of you.”

Edric shot up from his chair and shot forth a bolt of piercing Light from an outstretched right hand. A bolt that hit Richard in the chest and sent him over his chair and into the floor with a single hole in his chest, leaving nothing but a smoldering corpse.

His breathing grew heavy, and his fist clenched tightly. Shaking violently. He slowly turned his eyes out toward the window. And there it was…a figure standing among the hundreds of bodies on the Blackfeld. A single cloaked figure with yellow eyes…

(( To be continued in part 2. ‘Brother’s Bane.’ ))

Honorable mentions: (( @gareththeknight for helping me with this arc. ))

I had Gareth drawn! The artist is so good. I highly suggest them!

https://artistsnclients.com/slots/16221-sketches-full-body

Edric’s dad! Go check this man out.

The Siege’s combined forces. House Harthfolde and its vassals Ironshield, Duskhaven, Davice, and Victoriam.

@sunset-sword @danirel-davice @thecyanbladesman @jorsef-ironshield @redheaded-heroine

The Flame follows Dawn

(Before tonight’s event.)

The morning fog rolled out of the forests, pooling along the edges of narrow land-bridge that snaked towards the gatehouse of the ancient keep. Undead lookouts, supposed deserters of the Horde, stared out, their tireless eyes scanning the horizon.  One guard let out a call, his right, boney arm lifting to point. The wall patrol quickly shot to stare into the same location; many eyes were better than a singular pair. 

From the fog came large figures, though soon it was revealed that it was mantlets. It didn’t take long for a volley of arrows to hit the stone battlements, long-bowman and Quel’dorei rangers quickly moving to keep the Undead from immediately returning fire. 

Swiftly, trebuchets were unpacked and constructed. Half an hour passed, and now the keep and combined troops of House Harthfolde exchanged in vollies of arrows. The massive beams of the trebuchets fired upwards, the slings arching and releasing their large payload. Sizable rocks arched and spiraled down to slam behind the ancient wall. 

The siege had begun. The Crusade would be finished. Gareth awaited, his fiery, azure hues focused on the keep’s gate, his Warhammer’s head pressed into the blighted earth.

@sunset-sword @danirel-davice @thecyanbladesman @jorsef-ironshield

 @redheaded-heroine

Five Gifs for the Sunset Sword!

Tagged by: @braeliong-dawnsong and @olliehaldstan

Tagging: @gareththeknight @danirel-davice @gloryofsteel @thecyanbladesman @kaerlic-ironshield @jorsef-ironshield @the-handmaiden

Hillbrand

The Seething Shore was a mess. Alliance covert troops and Horde covert operations clashed consistently. Today was no different. Well, mostly. The Alliance was caught hard in between two groups, now. Aethel held his position, his emerald gaze focused hard through his scope, the crosshairs gingerly resting on a Blood Elf that hid in a nearby brush. He took in a breath, his body just barely shifting to accommodate the action. Past that, he was a rock. A rock. *Don’t. Move.*

The man’s index finger now finally pressed into the trigger guard, the tip of it resting along the curvature of the mechanism. *Four seconds.* He moved the crosshair up and to the right, finding the correct drop of his round against the wind’s movement. *Three.* Exhale. Slowly.

*Two.* Inhale now, suck it in. *One.* He felt his chest gently fall as his breath exhaled, his crosshairs steadying finally as he centered the shot onto the man’s chest. Aethel squeezed the trigger, his rifle pulling back and kicking along his right shoulder. The bolt plunged, the shell ejecting with white smoke following as the brass item clacked along the floor next to him. The large caliber spiraled forward, cutting through the foliage to eventually, and ruthlessly slam into the Blood Elf’s center mass. The sound cut out and into the air like thunder, his shot ringing along the tropical shoreline like a reminder. Aethel nodded once, watching the opponent fall to the floor, his chest rising and falling quickly before suddenly stopping. He couldn’t scream, the bullet made sure of that. He couldn’t move; the pain was unbearable. It was a shitty way to die, but he did what was required. The man shifted back after the Elf stopped moving, moving to escape through the nearby brushline. *Three minutes* Aethel continued through his planned escape route. He was planning to rendezvous with other Alliance covert troops, or at least friendly Harthfolde levies. It would be easy. It was something he did all the time. *Right. Left… Wait. Wait. Right, again.* Aethel burst through a bush and into a clearing. He just had to cross it. *One minute. Not bad* As the man started to clear it, he felt something rise in his chest. It wasn’t something he was used to. It was just a bad feeling. Aethel pulled up his rifle just as one Elf pushed out of the brush, an arrow aimed straight at the man. Then two came out. Three. Four. *Shit.* Aethel allowed the gun to fall along his chest, his strap tightening along his shoulder as it kept the rifle suspended. Silence took over, and soon the man elicited a sigh. His emerald hues lifted to search the tropics before he nodded. “Well… Thirty-two or something years? That’s not bad, right?” Aethel chuckled, his right hand rising, “Hold on. Just… give me a second, right?” With a grunt, he removed his lighter, a small package opened with tobacco rolls plastered within. He removed one, pushing it between his lips before he shakily lit the tip, his hand almost burning. “Well.”

Aethel clapped his palms along his thighs, lifting his wrist up as if he was going to bite into his wrist. He spoke softly before he once more allowed his arms to fall. “For the Alliance, or some-shit.” An arrow slammed into his left breast, the steel head and wooden shaft sliding deep. *So that’s what this feels like* —————— Harthfolde troops moved through the tropics, eventually finding the body of their comrade. His body was hunched over, his knees placed securely against the ground. What kept him up was the extreme amount of bodkin arrows penetrating his front. Nothing was spared. 

They knew who it was. He always did smell like smoke.

(This is not Gareth. Just don’t utilize an Aethel tumblr.)

Isabella Harthfolde

@thecyanbladesman and his Waifu Isabella

No Longer

He had been through much loss. It wasn’t rare for the elder knight, after all. He lost his homeland, his people, his paragons, and his close friends. Gareth understood loss at a young age as his life was completely focused around warfare, after all.  Gareth then lost his brothers; the last of his family thrown to the dirt either by the Horde, or even by their own hands.

Yet, this was different.

For every loss, there was at least distance. For his homeland, there was a fight to continue chasing, for his people, there was still many to protect, for his paragons, to uphold and spread their values, and for his close friends, to remember that they died with honor. His brothers were already so detached from his life that his ability to overcome the grief was far easier when compared to any other (That is not to say he did not feel heavy grief, of course). 

Yet, this was different.

Gareth adopted his sons, each handpicked for their values and separate upbringings. He was wholly prepared for his own life to be taken, that he wished his sons to be the ones that raised his Nathaniel. Each would provide differing perspectives that would change the very way how Nathaniel thought, and each would create a Paladin that would bring pride to the family name once more.  Then they took him.

The Horde. Vile Greenskins. Traitorous Elves. Naive and simpleminded Tauren. Grotesque, disloyal Goblins. Primitive Trolls. Heretical Undead. They would be expunged from this world. Agents of chaos, and nothing more. The true enemy of all that was pure in this world; the ones who slaughtered his son, his sweet… son.  Gareth’s fingers barely folded into his cyan tabard, the symbol of the Silver Hand barely wrinkling.  The Orcs shall pay for their crimes upon all of peace. The Tauren will be taught and trained like the beasts they are. The Goblins thrown to the Maelstrom, and their machinations cast in as well. The Trolls will learn the feeling of fire rolling over their primitive, abhorrent flesh, their ancient civilizations torn down. The Undead will finally know the memory of the North; the pain as the Light turns them all to ash and cinder. The Dark Lady shall know the darkness like his Prince must. The Elves will be converted or removed so that the Quel’dorei might stand once more, while the traitorous Nightborne are slain for their transgressions. Gareth folded his tabard, gently placing it down, lifting a far darker blue, though rather ragged one over his head. The Lion crest fluttered down and along his chest. I am a knight of the Alliance. Gareth turned, making his way to the keep. Left behind was the graveyard of his family, a freshly built headstone resting within it. 

                                    Here lies the Hand of Serenity.                           Loving father and devout follower of the Light.

                                                Calel Davice

((Nothing like a son dying to get Grampapa to feel all that Second War hate again! Well, I was looking for a way to keep Gareth for BfA; here it is! I am gonna miss the story with Calel, but his decision is well respected and has helped move along the family story.))

Obligatory Family Mentions: @sunset-sword

@danirel-davice

A Callout/Open Letter to an Abuser and the Abused

This is a long post. Please be patient with it. To start, I am in no way trying to demonize or slander any of the mentioned parties. I am trying to be entirely and thoroughly honest and to hold all parties accountable for their actions and create a desire for change and more personal accountability across the server. I will be identifying patterns of abuse in a specific player and hopefully he will respond accordingly and embrace this as an opportunity to make some positive changes. At its most basic, this is a statement about a player and several of his fellow guild members who crossed the line.

As my close roleplay friends on Wyrmrest Accord have noticed, I have been absent from the server for some time now. While I have several reasons (an illness in the family, work getting more intense, dedicating more time to other passions) I would like to mention one of the chief reasons I’ve been absent from the server: The House of Crows. Specifically, Isato also known as Demetrius Deveraux. Now I know if you’ve read this far based on your personal interactions, you might already be ready to defend him and discount what I am going to say, and I know some of you have experienced exactly what I am revealing in this letter.This post isn’t to start a flame war, this isn’t one butthurt roleplayer crying to the community because things didn’t go his way. I would ask of you, the reader, to withhold your judgement until you have read this whole post. If after you’ve heard me out you still feel the same way, at least you heard me out, that’s all I can ask for.

Anyway.

I’m going to start by laying out patterns of abuse. I will be using a very famous and well renowned book titled, “Why Does He Do That?” written by Lundy Bancroft. I highly recommend reading it, as it helped me identify abusive behaviors both in others and in myself and fight to correct them. Below is an excerpt from the book.

“The qualities that make up an abusive man are like the ingredients in a recipe: The basics are always present, but the relative amounts vary greatly. One man may be so severely controlling that his partner can’t make a move without checking with him first, and yet, oddly, he contributes substantially to the domestic work and child care. Another man may allow his partner to come and go as she pleases, even accepting her friendships with men, but there is hell to pay if she fails to wait on him hand and foot, or if she makes the mistake of asking him to clean up after himself… Each woman who is involved with an abusive or controlling man has to deal with his unique blend of tactics and attitudes, his particular rhythm of good times and bad times, and his specific way of presenting himself to the outside world. No one should ever tell an abused woman, “I know just what you’re going through,” because the experience of each woman is different.

Viewed from another angle, however, abuse doesn’t vary that much. One man uses a little more of one ingredient and a little less of the other, but the overall flavor of the mistreatment has core similarities: assaults on the woman’s self-esteem, controlling behavior, undermining her independence, disrespect. Each abused woman has times of feeling that a riptide is dragging her under the sea, and she struggles for air. Confusion has been part of the experience of almost every one of the hundreds of abused women I have spoken with.” (Lundy 220-222)

This story starts well before my introduction into it. I won’t make any claims of anything I don’t know or don’t have receipts for or was not privy to in person myself. I will also add that a lot of this stuff happened 2+ years ago for me, but some of it is still currently on-going. For me that started when I met one of my good friends on the server, Pleo. We met through an ongoing plot line where our character’s clashed and then interacted, she was in the guild at the time and I was not. Now through several roleplay sessions we got it in our heads that we would continue to roleplay, and that my character Ulysses, since he was already locked in street brawls and conflict with the House of Crows as a whole, would make an excellent heel to this evil/crime themed guild. This would make it easy to write some more internal stories with an in-house heel and make for much easier dialogue and communication, or so we thought. I had a talk with the guild master Isato in voice chat that was meant to set clear goals, expectations, and boundaries of what we were comfortable roleplaying. After this talk I joined the guild with great enthusiasm and confidence.

Unfortunately, that confidence was short-lived. In the coming weeks and months, plots that had been thoroughly discussed among myself, Pleo, Isato, and other guild members were entirely ignored, altered, or outright stolen by Isato. The chief example I will use is a plot-line I wished to write that was about my character possessing a power ring. The gist was my character was going to generate a power ring that was a new source of energy outside of any currently existing in the world that would augment his current strengths. This would provide both an explanation as to how one man was able to consistently fight an entire guild and also a goal for those within the guild to strive for; fighting my character and taking the ring for themselves. Alternatively, they had the option to side with my character and be granted a small taste of power.

That is not how the story went. Almost immediately, my character was isolated and my chief connection, Pleo, was barred from events that involved my character. Any roleplay battles were always slated to end in the defeat of my character despite our previous agreements. This would cause me to get quite upset–I’m all for organic and spontaneous roleplay, but when a plan is created with a promise of a storyline, then altered, then it’s disingenuous to a person’s roleplay partners and in this case the guild as a whole.

I was isolated within the guild. Whether it was intentionally done or otherwise, that simply is what happened. I would plan events with Isato he would say “Talk to me later and we’ll set it up”. A week would go by. I would ask again. Get the same response. This went on for over a month on two separate occasions, despite the careful planning of myself and Pleo, as well as others within the guild. Many events that members tried to create would be promised to be addressed then ignored. In creating a backlog of events, this created an atmosphere of craving Isato’s approval. When your “turn for interaction” came (for lack of a better term), you took it because the player had been wanting to do this event so badly, no matter how much Isato interfered, altered, or redirected the event. This is the first controlling and manipulative behavior I saw that really stuck out to me, and it wasn’t just happening to me, it was happening to many of my fellow guild members.

Basically to sum up the first pattern in a nutshell, it’s this: guild members craving events and roleplay are isolated and made to wait, creating an atmosphere of poor communication generating confusion and desperation for said roleplay event. This creates leverage in playing the event how the manipulator wants said event to go.

In my case, this abusive pattern was used to take my storyline and redirect it for Isato’s personal use, despite the hours of careful planning and writing that I had done for it, something I consider to be tantamount to plagiarism or theft of someone else’s storyline, and I know I’m not the only person who experienced this within the guild.

The second incident was more blatant; an outright infringement of boundaries previously set.

Fast forward to a month after the first event. I was quite livid that my storyline had been usurped and I was trying to work with this guild and Isato to redirect things In a healthy direction. This would come in the form of my character attacking the guild’s established fronts and headquarters. This was planned with Isato and other members in chat, and after a few revisions a conclusion was agreed upon. However, before this plot could be enacted, a guild meeting was held. The purpose of this meeting was to establish that as a villain guild, House of Crows would be adopting the practices of slavery again. Naturally my character’s reaction was less than favorable, but let’s go back to those boundaries set.

I will roleplay most things, provided the other parties roleplaying them are comfortable with it, but two thing I won’t roleplay are rape and the murder of someone’s character. Now you can roleplay whatever you like so long as it’s consensual in my book, however it needs to be just that. I’ll remind the reader that at the beginning of all of this before I joined the guild there was a voice chat with Isato as well as several other guild members. Among other things discussed were the boundaries of what I would be okay with happening to my character, and I said, something along the lines of, “You can do whatever you want, so long as you don’t kill my character or rape my character. I can write bloody torture scenes or mindfuckery all you like.”

Here I was, two, maybe three months in, and one of two guidelines set was being broken at this event, as during it they tried to humiliate my character by turning him from male to female with the intent to have him be raped and become a sex slave for other guild members. Not. Cool. You can see how this would be classified as undermining my independence, disrespectful, and controlling behavior.

Another instance of abuse given to me was by an ex-officer of the guild who would prefer to remain nameless, I’ll refer to them as Lee. Lee was an officer within the House of Crows who decided to leave the guild along with a few other friends, for character development reasons. This split was meant to be amicable. It was agreed upon between Lee, their friends, and Isato through several chats that they would phase out of the guild over the course of two weeks. Within twenty four hours after this was decided, Isato called a guild meeting to publicly announce that they were leaving the guild and proceeded to force them out before they were ready. This caught Lee and their friends by surprise as the time frame they had established was not observed, nor was the split remaining amicable as planned. It robbed these leaving members the chance to continue roleplay with members still within the guild after the split. By outing them in this manner, Isato had once again undermined these players’ independence and corrupted their public image to serve himself. These players had formed their own guild and were trying to move on in spite of these events and would still regularly interact with the House of Crows. that changed when a member of House of Crows spied on them under the guise of friendship, entering their voice chats and relaying information back to the House of Crows who then used this information against them. You can see how this behavior is a clear breach of respect and trust. This breach went deeper and came to a head when Lee was called out as being abusive to one of her long time roleplay friends:

http://wyrmrestaccordsecrets.tumblr.com/post/150294095492/foxes-who-think-they-are-wolves-are-talking

The link above is a WRA secrets post made by a House of Crows member alluding to said abuse, however I have since spoken to both parties, Lee and their friend, who assured me this was a fabrication created by the House of Crows to smear this ex-officer publicly and cause further rifts to form. You can see how this is is doubly problematic as this sort of behavior is not only an attempt to corrupt someone else’s public image but also a blatant lie and manipulation tactic generating the kind of confusion Lundy Bancroft wrote about.

Finally, more widely known instance of abuse (though I think has some confusion around it) involves someone who wants to remain anonymous. For my purposes, I will refer to her as “Debbie”. Now for those of you unfamiliar with the House of Crows, they are an 18+/adult themed guild. Debbie is not 18. Debbie explained to me that during her tenure within the House of Crows, it was known among most members that she was a minor. The best case scenario is negligence on Isato’s part and the worst case scenario is his feigned ignorance of Debbie’s age. The House of Crows and its guildmaster either knowingly permitted a minor to join their guild and participate in adult content, some of which went beyond established boundaries, or did not know at first and refused to take responsibility after the fact. I know anyone can go on the internet and see just about anything, but when you set a standard you need to keep it.

(CW: Violence, nudity)  http://bubblesteaart.tumblr.com/post/158413069096

The link above is from an event staged by the House of Crows in Stormwind. Debbie’s character was beaten, stripped naked, paraded through the streets, tied to a cross and burned alive. Gruesome stuff. However, the devil lies in the details; Debbie wasn’t playing her character. The avatar you see in the images in the link above are not Debbie’s character, nor was the art featured commissioned by her (it was actually commissioned by someone else within the guild behind her back). Debbie originally was participating in the event. She voiced her disapproval when her character was beaten in the House of Crows’ RP hub, stating, “Do whatever you want, I’m done.” Whatever followed, she had not consented to. She then proceeded to log off, logically assuming that would be the end of it, as I think most people would.

However, rather than speak to Debbie once she had cooled off, the participating guild members created a faux simile of her character and proceeded to strip her naked, parade her through the streets, and burn her alive with the expectation that Debbie as a player would be totally accepting of this. Now I don’t know about you, but when someone tries to kill off my character without me even being present for it I would reject that notion and so did Debbie.

So, with no resolution in sight, Debbie decided to leave the House of Crows guild, which resulted in her harassment. This harassment escalated so much that Debbie felt there was no other recourse but to leave the server entirely. Even that didn’t end all of the harassment she received. This is a complete refusal to acknowledge someone’s independence and agency over their own story and character. It’s putting his own desires for an outcome to a story that is supposed to be a collaborative effort by all parties involved.

Given these three detailed examples of abuse and the seven other unwritten stories I heard, I felt the need to address this to hopefully inspire a positive change towards accountability and observing consent. I would much prefer no one else have to go through this and I would much prefer the perpetrators see their errors and learn from them, but this won’t happen unless we all hold the parties involved accountable for their actions. I know some of you might discount or question the validity of these accounts, and to those of you who do, I implore you to investigate further. If any errors or inaccuracies are found, please detail them to me.

Out of nine people I spoke with, ten including myself, only two other people allowed me to use their stories, provided I protect their identities. So of 10 people who experienced this behavior, 3 of us felt comfortable enough to speak out, the rest of these people were too afraid to speak out due to fear of harassment. Two of these other eight were so badly harassed that they left the server and have not returned since. Three people speaking up out of 10 is 30 percent. If 70 percent of people you have previously interacted with are so fearful of retaliation from you, that speaks volumes to the kind of person that you are and the behavior you exhibit.

Yeah, we all pay our 15 dollars a month but this doesn’t entitle us to overstep our bounds in favor of our own desires. There came a point when their in-character behaviors bled into their out-of-character actions, and this crossed the line. Behind every computer, behind every character, there is a real person with the right to the same respects we give ourselves. With that said, I will take a moment to reiterate that this is not a call to harass, slander, or otherwise do things of ill intent or nature to the House of Crows members. We can only precipitate change when we as a community hold ourselves accountable and that means doing the right thing. It’s okay to stick up for yourself and  call out the toxic and abusive behaviors you see in others, it’s not okay to repeat them. Uphold the standards you set for yourself and uphold the standards you agree upon with others. The only person’s behavior that you can control is your own, when we lift ourselves up we lift everyone up. I can’t tell you how to deal with toxic behavior but moving forward, we all must deal with this with respect and decorum. Otherwise, we’re not any better than those we condemn.