Interview: Amerane #13

Today we bring you a interview with Amerane, who had a lot of exciting things to say. Enjoy!

Firewire: Three personal questions in the beginning. Would you tell us your AFK age, gender and home country?

Amerane: I am twenty one years old, I'm actually a woman, which I'm told is rare in WoW, and I'm from East Sussex in England!

Firewire: Which you are told? Do you have a different point of view to that topic?

Amerane: Well, through playing I've had quite a few female friends. Though I see where the joke comes from with how many guys like to play female characters and vice versa.

Firewire: How do you know for sure that they were female and could you tell such a joke? Or, what do you think about the guys that play girls in WoW, especially those that make such jokes?

Amerane: Ah well, I'm open enough to speak to people over Skype, which usually confirms their gender. I think there is nothing better than talking to people who you enjoy playing the game with. And I think the joke is just that - a joke - that's been about in gaming for sometime. Though certainly, there has been a "gamer girls and proud" influx over the years of the internet becoming bigger. I've no issues with guys who want to play girls, each to their own.

Firewire: Did you ever play a male character in WoW, and did you also RP him?

Amerane: I have indeed played a guy in World of Warcraft, I believe at least four to date, each I have role played. One of them being created for the pure purpose of my guild's in-character progression. I believe there are people out there with really great imagination. And I personally have always found that I do not mind the gender of the character I play. As long as you've got the imagination to enjoy your character, why would you have to stick with one? I like to think more than just gender roles and about the character, all those things you should think about when making a character to role play.

Firewire: Is gender switching something you do afk too (in any way?) OR: Do you think that gender switching in WoW affects your life away from the game in anyway? If I talk about real life I use "away from keyboard", because I refuse to believe that WoW is not real life. (A philosophy I learned from the pirate bay founders.)

Amerane: No, it has no effect over me as a person in my real life. It's more like reading a book, just because it has a male lead does not make me feel (personally) like questioning who I am. I am quite solid in who I am and gender switching, when it comes to myself, is not part of that.

Firewire: I try to switch over to my RP questions now. Let's start with: You told me that you use Skype with people you know from WoW. Did you ever role play with friends over Skype?

Amerane: I have not taken part in Skype role play beyond using it as a platform to talk to Alliance guilds (such as the Eye of Dalaran) to help with communication. Which hopefully they'd agree helps the general process of running events in WoW to go smoother than without. The only kind of RP I suppose I've done in Skype is pen and paper RP, such as Pathfinder - a group one of my friends in a raiding guild invited me into. I've not done it for too long, but the group I do Pathfinder sessions with are lovely, and it's a different kind of RP than what you find in WoW that I've come to enjoy. We're even trying out the "Fate System" (a different kind of pen and paper rule system).

Firewire: When and why did you start playing WoW? And how did you get into role playing?

Amerane: I started playing World of Warcraft back at the end of vanilla around two months prior to the release of The Burning Crusade expansion. Back then I shared a computer with my family and my brother originally installed the game. Being the curious girl I was I went to play the game. He allowed me to use his account and set me up with the basics of the game. I created a mage with my afk name on the PVE realm, Ghostlands, firstly a human. I was trying to make it look like me. But when the expansion came out I was given my own account, re-made my mage on Ghostlands and embarrassingly, got my mum into playing the game at the time as well. I was hooked from the start, especially with the release of Blood Elves.

I did the grind to 70, with a very minimized view on my options that were available for me in the game. I met a load of contrasting characters who were all great. But I didn't actually RP at this point. It wasn't until Wrath of the Lich King that I moved realm onto The Sha'tar. The famously dead realm used to be thriving at that point. I moved realm with the encouragement of my friend at the time where we started our hands at raiding. And between raids I would portal into Silvermoon City where I'd see very odd people emoting and walking around. It was like stumbling into a community-created story book. I, bashfully, on my main paladin tried out RPing as well. Anyone who's role played in Silvermoon will likely know the story. You start in the Bazaar, stand at some stairs outside the inn and for some reason stare at a fountain and bashfully wait for anyone to come say hello. Exchanging the odd '/eye' emote, hoping they won't ignore you. As a fanatic reader afk, I couldn't get enough of it, and I guess I never have. But my gods, I wasn't half a wide-eyed, freshly changed 'noob' back then.

Firewire: How old (in play time, not in lore time) is Amerane and could you tell us a little bit about her story?

Amerane: In accordance to my /played, at the time of this interview, she's been around for 106 days, 4 hours and 22 minutes. That translates to her creation having been in 2012. Amerane A'vron has a rich background - seeing the changes of being a priestess, to a blood knight, to a commander of her own Sin'dorei relief order. It's hard to generalize a character's background really, but it's safe to say, with every Sin'dorei, she has had a fair few events thrown at her to make some stories to be told again.

Firewire: What's your favorite story you played in WoW that comes to your mind?

Amerane: I think it would have to be the most recent story line that the Blood Aegis has been through - something we, the officers, planned for six months. The story was created as a way to help guild progression and to get rid of part of the guild's story line.

The original leader of the order went on leave and so a replacement commander was put in place temporarily named Malanvai. He ended up deceiving the order and used them to help create a siege weapon he hoped would bring revenge on Jaina Proudmoore and the humans and high elves for the purge of Dalaran. A story of revenge, deceit and ultimately of forgiveness. It was a story that held so much for different members of the order everyone was able to take some progression away from it. And now the guild has been given a new direction and it has reminded them of the very nature of what their race can become. Revenge can be a hideous thing.

Firewire: What do you think about the RP scene in WoW? Is it developing in the right direction or has it seen better days?

Amerane: Now, my answer is subjective to my own opinion here, from what I have seen and what I have witnessed. I would like to make it clear that I think the RP scene in WoW is far too large to be going in just one direction. When I joined the Argent Dawn server, I joined as a blood elf that spent most of her time in Silvermoon City. So the scene that was given to me would be obscure in that fact to just this area. At this time there were only pillar guilds. By this I mean guilds that were -big-, that didn't leave room for new guilds to begin. Some of these bigger guilds had some unpleasant spearheads, others were quite lovely. But from just a perspective of a prospective guild member I didn't honestly like it. I thought the entire situation of small guilds not having room to grow and explore new RP was sad. I didn't like how there was hardly any room for people who were not blood elves to be accepted into RP around the area. Or so it had seemed. I am talking about Cataclysm time at this point.

It was bleak, and the large guilds had become so large there wasn't much room to feel involved in them. I left the scene of this following an argument with one such guild leader. But that wasn't to say there weren't beautiful, wonderful gems out there, that could provide wonderful RP. The thing about this 'community', the forums always discuss, is that it is just too obscure to assume you know it all. Or rather, too large. But, I have seen it change. I've seen these big guilds become smaller I've seen people become less happy to follow the majority and an encouragement of exploring new concepts and joining fresh guilds happen. I think getting rid of guild levels has really helped this as well. As for where we are now, I think that there is always going to be room for improvement. Just like society afk, there will always be parts we do not like. But from what I've seen there are less barriers up there. I for one have worked with my guild to explore outside of one niche. What I'd like to see change would be for people to become less bashful about approaching others with RP. To feel more confident in just approaching others and engaging them in RP. All it takes is for that one person to come up and say hello to someone sitting on their own for some fun role play to happen. In the end that's what we are all here for. I'd also like the forums to become a more accepting place. Too many people tend to care about what others think, and that's mostly seen on the forums. And then others use it as a way of trying to pride their negativity. I know what I would like to see happen is idealistic, but in the end we all came here for one thing: 

To enjoy the subscription we pay, to do what we enjoy doing. And that's having fun.

Firewire: Could you tell me a little bit about the role/situation of Silvermoon as a main RP hub? (Some people tend to compare its role play to Goldshire sometimes. But that's really stuff I heard from others. I really don't know anything about the RP scene there.)

Amerane: Subjective again, but I'd say that the role play situation in Silvermoon is fine. It's honestly a place of people who are trying to find kindred spirits who'd like to try this thing called role play. You have places where some are new to role play and also want to start with something imaginative - this would be the 'Goldshire-esque' area people hint at. Likely due to the new role players who are there and are not so well informed on the lore of World of Warcraft. Or perhaps they didn't want to follow the lore of Blizzard's game as much. Either way, that's fine, because we all start somewhere. There are other places which are less crowded and more spontaneous role play can occur. You also come across places guilds hang out in. I guess what I am trying to say is: I don't see much wrong with how Silvermoon is. There is something for everyone there, role players come in every day, some new, some old. And if you want to find some people that sing the same song as you, even if it takes a few attempts, I think you'll find someone.

Firewire: Do you have any tips for people that start with RP? Places to go, people to talk to, things to do?

Amerane: If you are starting role play I know it can be hard to not take being shrugged off as a step back, or starting in a new 'hub' as being scary. But you've just got to bite the bullet and the more people you approach, the more you start saying hello to people, the more likely you are going to find friends or have a nice time. Role play isn't something that happens all of the time, so it can also take a bit of sticking around to find it. Locations I'd suggest to look at are Silvermoon, Orgrimmar, Sen'jin village and Brill. If you are brand new to role play, have a look at some people role playing, approach someone in whispers and ask them if they can help you. There are also some beautifully made guides out there for people who might want to try role play. Again, if you feel you've been shrugged off or ended up with a bad crowd, then just get back up on that horse and try again. Like afk there are different types of people. But you'll find your people in time.

Firewire: Can you think of things that you learned in WoW RP (or WoW in general) that you can use in your AFK life too?

Amerane: Yes, dear gods I have. I used to be bullied a lot when I was younger and I think World of Warcraft RP has allowed me to learn, through seeing other people's RP and my own, how to take things on the chin and stand up for myself. I've learned how to approach other people and just -go for it-. And by it, I mean the old hello, how are you. I've built up so many friendships from just feeling brave that day and saying hello. I mean, for one funny story, I met my second in command and best friend, Tyrenas, by reading his MRP (role play add-on), upon passing and thinking, damn he sounds cool! So I followed him outside of the city, he in turn was following two people outside of the city. And so in my head I was all "Why's he following them?! Maybe she's his lover and she's cheating on him! Oh Ehm. Gee." He then took a turn off into the Farstrider's Retreat and so I stumbled up to him IC ...

I said I had taken notice of him and how he was like the mist because I couldn't keep track of him that well. I then invited him to come RP with my new guild the Blood Aegis and bashfully ran away. Turned out, he was new to the realm that very day and, because my hello was so forward and out of the norm, he decided to join us. I mean, I had no idea, he'd end up my second in command and my best friend for two good years. This and acting courses IRL helped me just putting those inhibitions of "what if they won't like me" aside to give things a go. And running a guild in WoW has given me so much experience, especially in my job in retail and my other jobs I get backstage in threat, how to handle situations with people, how to deal with stress and I think most importantly: To be okay with me and to do what ever the hell I want to do with my time. Forwarding this out to everyone who has a friend afk who is struggling. WoW comes with so much drama and so much fun, send them to it! And I've no doubt, I'm going to personally keep playing and all these people I meet are going to teach me more.

Firewire: Three short questions: Your favorite place to be, your favorite tavern and your favorite NPC.

Amerane: The Ruby Dragonshrine/Sanctum, World's End Tavern (The live music is top notch), Lor'themar Theron, whose voice actor even left a message for my guild, I think I might even be a fangirl for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odo_QefVAmU&list=PLPmO5yV0Kj2TCh9jj1IU_s7bThpLJHpw9

Firewire: Is there anything else you'd like to add? Any shout outs?

Amerane: Thank you very much to Firewire for going through all the effort of this interview and all the others that will or have been done. I guess, shout out to my guild of idiots - you know who you are, and shout out to Vox Turba aswell as the Dawnguard Guilds. 10/10 would recommend.

Firewire: Thank you so much for your time and this interview. It really moved me several times. I'm still stunned how many awesome people you meet in video games. I wish you all the best.

Guilds: The Blood Aegis #2

Fuse: Hello Blood Aegis. I'll start by asking for you to tell me in as simple words as you can, a little bit about your guild?

Shelarish: The Blood Aegis is a Military Order, focused on the relief of other units within the Horde.

Amerane: The Blood Aegis is a heavy Roleplaying guild that is part of the umbrella concept of the 'Thalassian Army', meaning we are Sin'dorei only. But what we work towards in that concept is to providing relief and military aid to all orders of the Horde and individuals that otherwise would be in need of our help. We have no limits and many possibilities on what we are trained in and thus - I like to think, a great way to inviting other guilds into RP.

Fuse: So you're essentially back up for other military units or orders, if I'm correct?

Amerane: That's correct, but it does not always have to be military units. We are able to aid citizens, alternate orders and organisations.

Senneria: In a fashion, just broader. We can bring relief to almost anyone, organization or individuals, as long as the situation fits with what the guild is about.

Fuse: Interesting concept you have, could you possibly tell me how does your guild qualify if the person or group in question is fit to receive help from The Blood Aegis?

Amerane: We do not aid nefarious means or in situations that may go against the betterment of the Sin'dorei's interests. As we are ultimately still part of the Thalassian Army, there has been situations for example, where if we aid in a fight, we may come across in a bad light to the rest of the horde. We have to take into consideration the politics of the situation as well as if our help is truly needed and if we can get to the location in time.

However, generally speaking, we have very rarely had to turn down our help. We do not charge for our aid and our help is far more reliable than that of say mercenaries.

Shelarish: We do our best to be able to deal with most situations within and without of fields of conflict. In the time I have been with the Aegis, we have almost all of the time, gotten results that the group or individual who has asked for our help, has been grateful in the end for our help.

Fuse: Let's say in the unlikely case a group with mal intent approaches your The Blood Aegis requesting for the help with false words. Is there any method of them detecting this or how would they deal with it on the road?

Blood Aegis:  If someone approached us, they generically do so in person. There has been situations where, we'll allow the individual to remain nameless, someone tried to use one of our most recent recruits to persuade us to head out to a location to help a group in a military operation. However, their hope was to actually harm the order and wipe us out essentially.

Our officers at the time, did not feel comfortable with the proposition in the first place and decided when it came down to it, that it wasn't appropriate for us to head out there. I think the short answer is, we're ran with such a diverse team of officers, each one being so different from the other, we always catch on early on! Which is lucky for us. But I'd imagine they'd have to be a large bunch to catch us with our trousers down and for it to work out badly for us.

Fuse: When not on duty, what else does the guild do?

Senneria: Usually the Aegis spots around for social RP, either between eachother or with other guilds or just random RP. It's a very diverse set of characters, so they naturally look for a diverse set of RP experiences.

Amerane: I recall, we've had pillow fights in the halls, met with random people we know and played truth and dare, thrown a few people in fountains, headed down to the beaches for general chats and training together, helping each other fit in. This also spreads to our out of character activities.

Shelarish: I normally get my arse handed to me in spars by the Aspirants. Ohh! Also, someone who shall remain nameless dumped a sack full of glitter over my head.

Amerane: We also have the project of the Silvermoon Medicae that sometimes can provide interesting random Roleplay.

Fuse: The Silvermoon Medicae, tell me more about it?

Shelaris: Right, I am the Chief Medicae of the Silvermoon Medicae, we treat -all- comers, no matter what, no questions asked, I do not charge for my time, only matiels used and operations, if needed, that I, or Miss Dearheart, the Medicae before me, does to the person. We also train the Aegis in these skills, to better them selves on the field, anyone can wrap a bandage around someones arm, but the training we do on live subjects and the injured insures that the order as a whole can man the Medicae in  the event of an emergency.

Amerane: The Medicae is basically what a student based clinic is in real life. You pay for the materials used in exchange for being treated there and then, with no quibbles. If you can't afford the materials used, you can work community service in the Medicae! (This helps us get random RP).

Fuse: That's a great initiative you've got going on there. I heard it's your birthday for the guild? How long have you been running for and what made you go with the concept in the first place?

Amerane: On the 10th of October 2015, Blood Aegis turns two! We're celebrating as a guild by having a massive Skype conversation and getting innately inebriated together and having fun runs of raids and maybe even silly roleplay.

I originally created the guild with Aurothir where we planned to have a split guild with two concepts, but due to IRL issues he couldn't keep with the guild and it became one under myself. I was inspired by wanting to create something that would help break down the barriers I had come familiar with since being on the Argent Dawn. Primarily being back then that other races didn't mix together in RP settings, especially blood elf wise. So we wanted to explore other guilds RP and be in a position to help people find RP by having as many contacts as possible.

Fuse: The text is beginning to pile up, so I'll ask one last question before we bring to this to an end. We always see there's a big tension between the Horde and Alliance. How does Blood Aegis perceive the opposing faction?

Amerane: The Blood Aegis is hostile to the opposing faction of the Alliance, but we do not seek fights with them, as we're not warmongers

Senneria: The Blood Aegis overall strive to keep their distance from the Alliance and the Horde, but some members are known to hold grudges towards factions within the Alliance, mainly the Kirin Tor due to Jaina Proudmoore and her actions towards the Sunreavers. If a mission sends us to deal with Alliance, the Aegis doesn't hesitate to undertake it to the fullest.

Shelarish: I work on a don't stick your nose in my business, I won't stick mine in yours.

Amerane: Saying that, we've also accepted the lore of having a truce with the alliance, leading us to working with guilds such as the Eye of Dalaran during the Whispers of War Campaign.

Fuse: Excellent with that being said, is there any last things you would like to add before we close off the interview? Perhaps send out a thanks to any specific players or such!

Shelarish: Emmeric Grey, from the Hand of Agony, for sharing my love of siege engines. And for some of the best and stupidest RP I have had outside the guild.

Amerane: Thank you to the recent Orcs of the Red Blades, Eye of Dalaran, Gearfist IBS and their beautiful officers and the Hand of Agony for engaging in constant RP with us.

Fuse: Happy 2nd birthday to Blood Aegis, I hope you have many more years ahead of you. It's been a pleasure interviewing you. All the best wishes, take care!

Sheladris: Have a lovely evening!

Amerane: Thank you Fuse and stay awesome.

Extras

A few players own words about the Blood Aegis and their experience of the guild!

Velnavir Dawnstriker: Blood Aegis is a guild that in my view favours campaigns and long-running plots over shorter event to event stories. To give occasional respite from the seriousness and, sometimes complex, storylines there tend to be humoristic events, training and social gatherings in between. Overall the Blood Aegis gives a very authentic military experience within the realms of fantasy, there are strict rules and stricter consequences for breaking said rules or otherwise failing to adjust to them. But it all serves to bring immersion that I have so far yet to see any other military guild replicate. Blood Aegis gives a fun and fulfilling experience that demands something in return from the members, it is that give and take mentality that creates the guilds overall success.

Elehn Sunseeker: The events in BA are absolutely brilliant. They're well thought out, they allow space for your character to be itself and really develop in a positive and fun manner. Outside the events the guild is populated with fun, open and nice people, and there is a great atmosphere, where people respect each other and talk to each other in a nice manner.

Lienyn Twinsun: The Guild is more than just a guild. We have come together to enjoy the game and everything around it. Our Events are not just the Events and Plots everybody makes. We even add some Fun-Events, Social-Events and have some fun together. The Main Aspect of the BA is Fun. I enjoy this crazy bunch.

Claire Silversong: I think what BA has become for me is something more than your average guild. I've grown, a loyalty to this guild over a long time, and I've found myself to really fit in with the people in it, it's become more than people I rp with and  have fun with, it's like a family. I can joke, laugh, make fun of, get made fun of, play and enjoy, and all of that without fearing that they are going to see me any different because we've been through times, had our ups and downs, where others who you didn't expect, came to support you more than sometimes your real life friends. I'm not afraid to be myself here, where before in other guilds, I've not been able to do so. I think that's what makes me the most happy.

Petranien Flarecrest: "Crazy bunch of lovely people. Ever since I joined, there has not been a single day, not a single moment that I’d have not felt welcomed. Even with myself being busy with acting as an officer in another guild, it is always really nice to log over to my elf, and listen to what had been going on, how the events had been, and what were the ‘spotlights’ of recent happenings. What can I say? With strong leadership and members that play well together, you can’t go wrong. If only we had more hours in a day, I’d love to spend more time with this bunch. "

Iltharin Flarecrest: "The Blood Aegis has personally been quite the experience. I had enjoyed much of its aspects as a member ranging from events and stories made with genius and creativity to

the encouragement and support through social interaction between its members and outside the guild, forming unique bonds both IC and OOC which i still hold dear from Day One of joining the guild.

Sure, like other projects, it has had its ups and downs and stresses here and there, but the fact that the guild community always mends and progresses onwards after has always been something that keeps me interested in the guild next to its open encouragement for everyone to take part in events and stories that is open to be contributed towards."

Interview: Veluca #12

Today we bring you an interview with Veluca, who was so friendly to fly me to Greymane Manor. 

Thundercable: Would you share with us your afk age, gender and home country?

Veluca: I just hit 18 a few days ago in fact, Male, and the Republic of Ireland.

Thundercable: Is there a story behind your character's name?

Veluca: To some degree. You see, this character is in fact my first RP character, albeit an incredibly evolved version. The character was originally a rogue during my early days, so I wanted them to have a suitable sounding name, the name Veluca came to me in my head, and I liked it, I even ended up looking it up and whadda y'know, apparently the word "Veluca" was a term for "snake/poison" in some foreign language I've never heard of, so young me thought this was a great combination.

It was only months later down the line that I realised where my young brain had inadvertently pulled the name from, a game by the name of Mount & Blade, in which there is a city called Veluca, happens to be the biggest exporter of wine in that game.

Thundercable: Since when do you play WoW and how did you get into RP?

Veluca: Technically speaking I've been around since vanilla, though the majority of that experience was levelling a character on my neighbor's account while he was actually doing things with his life. I didn't get my own account until around a third of the way into TBC, though I didn't actually -do- a lot until like, mid-late Wrath.

As for RP, I was introduced to the idea by an old, old friend of mine, whom I still speak to to this day, from my previous server Saurfang. They essentially taught me what RP was and I ended up being intrigued. They then disappeared without a trace one day, a few months later I decided to make an alt on Argent Dawn to try out this RP thing, this was, if I recall, probably around 2011-2012 ... actually yeah, middle of 2012.

I started off, as mentioned earlier, as a rogue, and thus the bdrp hijinks ensued. One day I ended up seeing an advertisement in trade for a "mercenary RP guild", In my youth and inexperience I thought this was a great idea, so immediately whispered the advertiser, and was instantly invited, and somehow managed to become an officer due to doing the guild master a favor involving temporarily holding the GM position so that I could give it to their alt.

From there the leader decided that we'd instead abandon the mercenary act and become a house guild, and that I would play the younger sister of the house's leader ... we were, and this pains me now to admit it, "House Stark".

I legitimately did not know what Game of Thrones was at the time, so I did not know any better than to accept this as top quality RP for the next few months of my dreadful RP career.

Until I met a very dear friend of mine who spent the next few years RPing and fixing me and is probably the reason why I'm at least semi-competent these days.

Thundercable: Could you give us a short summary of Veluca's story?

Veluca: Well, to understand Veluca, it's kinda necessary to mention her IC husband: Danielus, since myself and the player behind said husband worked together to form the backstory, and a majority of the RP with these characters, they were also the person I mentioned meeting and teaching me how to properly RP after the "Stark" thing from the last question.

Veluca was set up in an arranged marriage at a very young age to a suitable ... uh ... suitor. But due to bad things ended up being forced to marry their brother, Danielus, the two didn't get along at first, due to Vel's youth, (14/15 at the time of marriage) and disliking the idea of being essentially given away as a present to people she didn't even know or like.

Eventually however the two did grow affection for one another, and lived together for several years until the nasty business in Gilneas with the worgen,. Both her and her husband were afflicted with the curse and escaped with the rest of the refugees to Darnassus. Vel for the most part stayed put whilst her husband went off on numerous misadventures through Kalimdor, fighting against the Horde in Ashenvale and doing wizard things until they resettled themselves in Stormwind, her husband becoming a merchant to support them, and amassing enough wealth to live rather comfortably in the city.

Her husband eventually took Veluca herself as an apprentice, and that's where we -actually- started role-playing. From there Veluca's gone a long way from being a simple apprentice at magic, barely able to fling a spell, to a fairly competent caster and summoner, who specializes in conjuring and manipulating Shadowflame under her husband's tutelage, and with a few pointers from the people she's met and the guilds ... well, mainly one guild, that she's been in.

Her closest thing to a goal is to learn everything she can and become a full-fledged magus under her husband's teachings, and mayhap one day have a family, something that has been a long-standing problem with the pair for their eleven year long marriage.

Thundercable: What is your favorite RP event you were part of on AD?

Veluca: I suppose my favorite event, well ... it's less of a singular event and more of a large event chain, was one from my favorite guild, The Eldritch Covenant.

The event in question being a month-long guild expedition through Kalimdor, it was just after a server-wide event in Northrend, the name of which escapes me ... around July-August 2014.

The entire expedition was a massive month-long trip, that I have many fond memories from, and met many friends during, though in particular, the highlight for me was how -alive- everything actually felt. No matter what time it was there would always be -something- happening. You could log in whenever and dive into a continuous ongoing camp RP with people having been there role-playing and discussing things for hours before you even arrived.

It truly felt alive and really hammered home a very warm feeling of community, that there would just always be something happening. Others who were there might view it as nothing major, but to me that in itself was special, and that doesn't even begin to touch on the events which were always terrifically fun and engaging as well.

Thundercable: If you could change things in WoW to improve the RP experience what would that be?

Veluca: I suppose the first thing I'd do perhaps is trying to figure out a more tangible way to explain the game's lore to players in-game.

Having quest text and books containing little nuggets of lore is fine and dandy until you realise only about a tenth of players actually pay attention to either of those things.

I'm not sure entirely how they'd manage it or go about it, but it would give more people a reason to actually get invested and give role-play a go perhaps. Reading through endless pages of wikis and lore videos when I was getting started with RP was quite daunting, and might just outright turn other people off the idea. While they're at it, Blizzard could probably do with fixing a bunch of some of the more vague and broken aspects of their universe's lore.

As for improving the functionality for those of us already here, well ... there's not much to say that hasn't already been said, more in-depth customisation, some form of cross-faction speech that doesn't involve metamorphosed warlocks or being in Ashran, communal instances for guilds perhaps.

The only other things I can think of are a bit biased towards my own preferences as a warlock RPer: Glyphs to allow more customisation of our demons perhaps, different recolors, a better system for naming our demons, etc.

Thundercable: Three short questions: What's your favorite place to be in WoW, what's your favorite tavern and who is your favorite NPC?

Veluca: Favorite place. Uh ... to be honest, I'm quite fond of Gilneas, though of course, I almost never have a reason to be here OOC, and none at all to be here IC, so I rarely get to see it.

Favorite tavern, The Slaughtered Lamb, a lot of fond memories of RP there, plus it's quite the cosy little place, setting aside the crypt and the warlocks and demons below.
And favorite NPC ... hm, that's a toss up between Mistress Nagmara, the succubus from the Grim Guzzler, I always liked her quest of getting the potion for her so she'd unlock the door ... or Blackheart the Inciter from Shadow Labyrinth, for all the horrifying but amusing memories of him mind controlling the entire party to murder the healer whilst all you could do was sit and watch it happen.

Thundercable: Is there a person you would like to see me interview next, and do you have a question you would like to ask that person?

Veluca: The only one I could think of being appropriate off the top of my head would be Arlemont, The Eldritch Covenant's guild master and a very good friend of mine, and unlike me isn't a complete nobody and has somewhat of a reputation among the forum community.

Thundercable: Thank you for the interview and for your time! 

Interview: Flamecog #11

Today we bring you the first interview of Magnet who interviewed Flamecog. Enjoy!

Magnet: Thank you for taking the time to sit down and have a chat with me. Firstly, mind telling me a bit about yourself? How long have you been playing WoW, how did you start role-play, etc.

Flamecog: Hello, thank you for having me! I started playing WoW early Cata when my brother introduced it to me. I began RPing a few months before Mists of Pandaria on an undead hunter.

Magnet: Did you start off on Argent Dawn, or did you begin with PvE/PvP?

Flamecog: I started off on Grim Batol, a PvP server. But I never got to cap, I changed server to Argent Dawn before I got to 85. My brother taught me how to do a basic emote on Horde. I found a guild called the Reavers of Wolfbane and joined that, I was incredibly new to RP but somehow got accepted. I learned RP through that guild.

Magnet: That was you then, what about now? What made you become Slozi Shadeshank, or Phineas Flamecog?
Flamecog: Well, I became an officer in that guild before leaving it. Then I went around a few guilds, a few different characters and such. I feel my RP was only good when I started to RP Slozi, and then I made Flamecog. My experience was molded by the people who RPed with those two characters.
Magnet: Anyone in particular you'd like to give a shout out?
 
Flamecog: Hmm. Nimsil, Magnet, some of the GTA members perhaps

- like Flinkz and the officers. Razkul too, he led the Wolfbane!
 
Magnet: Great. So, how do you feel about Argent Dawn now? What do you think about the Horde RP scene on AD? Or the RP scene on AD in general?

Flamecog: The RP scene is good and bad in my opinion. I find the common Orgrimmar or Stormwind RP to be boring a lot of the time, and some things that can be seen as exotic are turned down quite a bit. But there are a number of great people out in the world. I recently joined The Unsworn Collective, which is a good example of this.

Magnet: Things that can be exotic? Can you give any examples?

Flamecog: Characters who are not exactly like the rest of their race. Or things like enhancing age with magic, and generally having a big history.

Magnet: You're known (or were) as an overseer of the GTA. What is the GTA? How did it begin? And, just recently, how/why did it end?

 
Flamecog: The GTA is a group of gnomish military men who defended their local area of all threats. I joined half way through, but it was made by Flinkz. It ended because of the lack of activity and the fact that people lost interest somewhat. So instead of letting it drag out we decided to end it. It was a hard choice, but a good one.

Magnet: Also, what has been your most memorable community event/campaign?

Flamecog: My most memorable one? That is quite hard. Most likely the most recent one that was held in Vash'jir about Naga.

Magnet: What game changes would you like to see from Blizzard to improve the role-playing in WoW?

Flamecog: Cross-faction communication is a large thing that many role-players would like to see. It would help in campaign RP for sure, and provide more interesting RP. Who wouldn't want contacts in Orgrimmar?

Magnet: Lastly, who's your favourite NPC in WoW?

Flamecog: A very hard question! I really like warlocks and mages in lore, so many characters stick out to me. If I had to say one though, I'd go for Medivh or Kanrethad Ebonlocke. Most likely Medivh.

Magnet: Thanks for the interview!

Interview: Varoneth #10

 
Today we bring you a interview with Varoneth. Enjoy!

Thundercable: I start my interviews with three personal questions, you don't need to answer at all. But I find it interessting to see the persons behind the avatars for a bit at least. I would be interessted to know your age, gender and home country.

Varoneth: I am a nineteen year old male from Sweden.

Thundercable: Coming to your avatar's background. Is there a story behind your name?

Varoneth: Not really, no. When I come up with names for my characters I go to the wowwiki pages to the according race and I read through the name list, I was however very surprised that Varoneth was not taken already.

Thundercable: How long have you been playing WoW and how did you get into RP?

Varoneth: I have been playing WoW since the release of TBC which is uh ... A few years, I have no clue how long it's been to be honest but it has been quite a while, loved every second. -- And RP would uh ... Since late last year? I remember attending the Lunar Festival event on my alt where I got into (and fell in love with) Kaldorei RP.

Thundercable: Can you tell me a little bit about that festival and what was so special about it?

Varoneth: Well, we walked from Ashenvale, Astranaar through a few places on the way, up through Felwood and through the furbolg tunnel and into Moonglade where we celebrated through the evening and night. Was lovely seeing the more happy and mortal sides of characters where they honored their lost ones and celebrated the goddess. I also remember a bonding celebration in Moonglade which was kind of fun too.

Thundercable: What is the story of Varoneth?

Varoneth: She is the child of a druid father and a huntress mother, both very old members of the Kaldorei society. Her father tried to train her into a druidess but that didn't work out too well so her mother shaped her into a very talented sentinel to continue the mother's legacy (who had become too old to continue fighting). She was trained through many sentinel academies like the Silverwing Sentinels and Feathermoon. Being called to duty many times through the recent history like the cultist invasion on Hyjal where she lost her father and the Siege of Orgrimmar.

Thundercable: What are the goals she wants to achieve?

Varoneth: Safekeeping her people and the forest, combating the worst foe of the world, the Legion.

Thundercable: Can you tell me a little bit about the people she is with or better about the guild you are currently with. What is their story?

Varoneth: Keep in mind that these are the opinions of me and not the overall consensus of my guild or its members.
She is in the guild Shadowleaf Watchers who are a collection of brave Kaldorei men and women who, rather than protect certain towns/settlements/lands like the sentinels do, primarily hunt criminals or enemies who threaten innocent people, mostly being Kaldorei, however sometimes it's also people who threaten the safety of any. Sometimes on the orders of the (priestesses of the moon) temple.
And the Watchers were those who followed Maiev way back as jailors of the Kaldorei race.
I can imagine my guild leader will smack me if I get anything wrong here.

Thundercable: Then let's not lose any more words about it. Is there any other event or story that is one of your favorites you have encountered the past year?

Varoneth: Any event involving Acrona's hosting, simple as that. Nisharil as well, the Astranaar city hours and the Moonrise events are just lovely to attend and meet others, and the festival of the twin bears was -amazing-, I am glad Acrona is a part of this community.

Thundercable: How do you think about the RP scene on AD in general?
And have you ever played on other RP servers?

Varoneth: Both good and bad, everything has both good and bad sides and AD isn't an exception. I think that it mostly depends on with what kind of role-play you surround yourself. I have been on the server for a while so I know where you find better and where you find worse role-play. It is however the best role-play scene I have ever come across. -- And no, I have not. I wouldn't dare betray my friends I have made here ... Alsothey'renotasgood. :x

Thundercable: Could you tell us where to find the better side of RP on AD and why it is the better side?

Varoneth: The better side is IMHO anywhere a little bit away from human lands, humans being the most popular race most people would logically pick one of those when trying Argent Dawn. And they either go to Goldshire or Stormwind, the latter one becoming a hub for all kinds of RP, lowering the general quality of it all when Stormwind gives every role-play at least one or two people to RP with even if they tend to break lore or powergame. Giving them approval and they sort of get into this idea of continuing to role-play their more disliked RP ideas in Stormwind, thus many of the very serious role-players go elsewhere, some travelling around a lot like mercenary bands or sellswords. However I'm not gonna lump everyone together into one, I know there's a very good RP guild in Darkshire and the Crimson Insurrection looks very promising so far.

Thundercable: What are some criteria that make for a good RP experience? Think of things that in your opinion are important for RP to be become fun for you. What do you need for a RP session to be a good one?

Varoneth: Well, I don't want to seem like an elitist or a jerk here but ... Good grammar, quite quick response with emotes and enough text in the emotes to emote back against. Otherwise I feel it becomes awkward when me and the other person don't understand each other.

Thundercable: Playing WoW I very often run into guys playing girls (including myself). What do you think is a reason why people play opposite gender characters?

Varoneth: I heard a fairly fun statement a while ago in a discussion about this: "If you're going to stare at a persons behind for hours on end, then I'm not surprised many guys play female characters". And I actually don't know why that is, I do it too and I can only assume that they prefer the model or they prefer the role-play coming from playing a female character. I'm not going to go into the whole ERP part of reasons but that can play a part too ... I assume.

Thundercable: People that don't play WoW or videogames talk about the terms Real Life and Game. How do you think about that? Would you say playing WoW had something to do with your real life or not at all?

Varoneth: Not personally, no. However, I know that many, many people have met life-long friends, lost friends and found mates for life due to World of Warcraft. Being a very social-demanding game that's been around for so long it's inevitable that many people have had World of Warcraft involved in their lives, both major and minor. And I don't think that's really possible anymore with games nowadays, the social aspect has gone away and replaced with much more single-player aimed games that have hit the mainstream. But I do truly think World of Warcraft is really one of its kind, of course along with Everquest and older MMOs.

Thundercable: If you could change game mechanics within WoW to improve RP what would that be?

Varoneth: Cross-faction communication, the ability to get instanced versions of zones without NPCs that walk around everywhere and ruin immersion.

Thundercable: Three short questions: What is your favorite place to be in WoW, what's your favorite tavern and who is your favorite NPC?

Varoneth: My favorite place to be in would probably happend to be ... Kun-lai, I love the sight of the mountains to the north with the snow-caps and the grass and such down to the bottom, very beautiful.
My favorite tavern is the one in Booty Bay, I just love the design of it with the bridge at the top and the two rooms and the upstairs, downstairs.
My absolute favorite NPC is Blingtron, I can't say no to free stuff. ;)

Thundercable: Is there someone you would like to see interviewed next and is there a question you would like to see answered by this person?

Varoneth: Perhaps Thornroot or Didonius? A question for them ... Hm. Maybe their best memory of Argent Dawn?

Thundercable: Anything else you would like to share or add? Any shout outs?

Varoneth: A shout out to you, you deserve it for taking the time in your day to do this. It's very interesting to see what different role-players think of each other and how they are behind the character.

Thundercable: That's very kind of you. Thank you, and thank you so much for your time and your interview.

Guilds: Crimson Shadow Order #1

Fuse: Hello Erebus. I'll start by asking in as simple words as possible to give us a little information on what your guild is about?

Erebus: Our guild is basically the reborn Scarlet Crusade raised as Forsaken and now dedicated to the Forgotten Shadow, their mission is still to retake Lordaeron but not it's retaking Lordaeron for the Forsaken rather than the living.

Fuse: So you're essentially Scarlets that work for the Dark Lady (Sylvanas)?

Erebus: Pretty much, though our order never admits to people they are the Scarlets they've taken a new name now and while they do serve Sylvanas they see themselves having a higher purpose of being the army of the Forgotten Shadow of fighting a holy war. The order see the Dark Lady as a saint, an agent of the Shadow's will.

Fuse: Sounds interesting, could you tell me a bit about how you go around doing this through events with your members or possibly other guilds? How does the Crimson Shadow Order begin to go about it's mission.

Erebus: The first is through sermons and converting fellow Forsaken to what the order believes is the "True path to Ascension" and the "true virtues." There's many different schools of thought on the Forgotten Shadow and no two priests agree on what's right, so.

The Crimson are trying to bring the Forsaken onto what they consider the right path, we're often seen in Brill preaching and arguing with other faithful.

We have a lot of private rituals for the guild, religious ceremonies conducted in secret to venerate the shadow.

We've also been going off into the world, taking the fight to agents of the Light either in DM'd events such as our attack on the cathedral in Gilneas. Or in RP-PvP like our event with the Rotgarde fighting Undaunted Unity in Durnholde.

Fuse: Let's go back to those Sermons could you possibly give me an example of a section of what you might say during it?

Erebus: "Borthers and sisters of the Shadow, remember always the lessons and the gifts the shadow has bestowed upon us, abandon the notions of Compassion, let there be no mercy in your Shadow Essence, for to do so is to fly in virtue of Power and Death. Remember always that the living would see us undone, they hate us, scorn us for we are strong they are weak, we shall Ascend when they can not, they cower, they hide, they suckle upon the festering milk of the Light and the shackles it bestows."

Fuse: Nice. Could you tell me a bit now how the Crimson Shadow Order interact with other religious Forgotten Shadow representatives as you stated there's sometimes disagreements if I'm correct?

Erebus: That's correct, that's partly why I wanted to get involved in Shadow RP I loved the lore surrounding the differing cult. For the most path we get on with other faithful. A lot of our disagreements come down to the wording of our faith rather than the actual spirit of the faith if that makes sense?

For instance there are three core virtues, Respect, Tenacity and Power there are then two lesser virtues Compassion and Death and it differs from cult to cult about what are virtures are not beyond the core three. Most Shadow RPers just RP that all five virtues are valid, which is fine that's one way to interpret the teachings icly. But our Order forsakes the virtue of Compassion, they say it's a corrupting and damaging influence.

For the most part when we argue with other faith, when it comes down to it what other orders see as Compassion our order sees as Respect. Our orders are able to agree to disagree upon the wording and go our merry way.

There is another guild however The Ravensun that practice Compassion to such a degree they allow others races into their cult, our order can't stand that so there's always tension between our orders. There's been at least one trial of combat between our two orders thus far, people speculate there may be more in the future. Who knows? it's exciting to see it play out.

Fuse: I see you've acquired rivalry and partnership with differentiating guilds. Let's speak about the partnership, you spoke about doing RP-PvP with the Rotgarde? how does work there.

Erebus: Between us and the Rotgade or between us and the Alliance?

Fuse: Between yourselves and the Rotgarde.

Erebus: ICly there's a pretty good relationship between ourselves and the Rotgarde, they've brought us along on missions to lend support in the past so when it came down to us tracking down the undaunted unity in Hillsbrad and we realised we were outmanned. We turned to the Rotgarde for help, who it turns out had been hunting the unity as well. While we're not the best of friends there's a level of respect between our orders icly, that may not be completely comfortable with the fact we look like Scarlets but they know we're loyal to the Forsaken people and will do what needs to be done. And of course our order respects them for their military might. Also the Rotgarde have always been really good to us OOCly, they're a great lot and I can't say enough good things about them.

Fuse: Excellent. Let's go to your guilds thoughts on the Alliance and light users.

Erebus: We love them, especially in white mushroom sauce with a glass of red wine.

Fuse: Sounds delicious.

Erebus: The alliance are bad enough for our order, those were scarlets before raised as Forsaken feel abandoned by the Alliance and in death they remember that resentment. They hate them because the Dark Lady is at war with them, and they hate them because they're living.

As for users of the Light, they represent everything the shadow stands against. They see it as a corrupting force, one that enslaves people that makes everyone weaker as a whole. Our order wants nothing more then to wipe the Light from the face of Azeroth, this is also our order's ultimate goal to usher in an age that Erebus saw in a "vision" called the age of shadow.

Fuse: This all great insight into your interaction and views with certain areas, how about we go onto the next question what inspired you to create this guild or who?

Erebus: The Scarlet Cursade actually back in MoP I was running another guild ally side and we ran through the new Crusadae dungeons together, it sort of work up this dormant love I had for Scarlet RP, it brought me back to a guild I used to RP with on my old server. The Scarlet missionary and I wanted to find a way to bring back Scarlet RP. I mean at the time there were lots of Scarlet Guilds allaince side but I always felt the whole "We survived the Forsaken and Voss and are now seeking redemption." line was a bit.... tired and weak?

It's about that time I happened to stumble upon the cult of the Forgotten shadows lore and the entire thing just seemed to click, to me the real core of the Crusade wasn't the Light persay. It was about the corruption, the power and the zealotry, the Forgotten Shadow seemed to work best in that favour, it looked to me like something that would work with the Crusade. So I can up with the idea of Forsaken who were cursaders trying to rebuild the order in that direction.

Fuse: You found an excellent way to do so, is there any last things you wish to add about your guild?

Erebus: Only that we're always looking for more poeple to join us and we're looking for more guilds to interact with horde side and alliance.

Fuse: Would you like to finish off with thanking any players or guilds that have assisted you so far?

Erebus: Yeah I really want to thank Perroy and the Rotgarde when we started working on this guild we didn't know anything about the landscape horde side (We're all originally ally players) and they approached us through a mutual friend and were super friendly along with being helpful.

I want to thank the Hand of Agony for inviting us to their larger events like the harvest it was a good way to meet old and new forsaken roleplayers. I want to thank the Ravensun for being such great heretics, also they invited us to a sermon which introducted us to all the forsaken roleplayers in Brill. The Undaunted Unity and the Gilnean Royal Guild for the RP-PvP.

Fuse: Thank you for allowing me to interview you, I wish you luck in your guild and hope this gives a little more insight towards other players that are still unsure about it!

Erebus: Thank you for the interview, I really enjoyed it, I look forward to reading your future ones with other guilds.

Guild: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/15161253285#1

Interview: Boush #9

Today we bring you an interview with Boush, a happily married sky pirate from Ratchet. Enjoy!

Firewire: As you might already know my first questions are: Your afk age, gender and home country.

Boush: 21 years old, Male, Finland.

Firewire: So let's dive right in. You just told me that someone made fan art of your character. How did that happen?

Boush: The first picture with Boush's grin was actually some free sketch Rickarla made for me, as I won the lottery in her art thread (got randomly chosen). The other two are commissions, since I like her style, especially how she draws goblins. I am not very good at drawing anatomy myself, nor motion or different poses so it felt natural to ask an artist like her.

Firewire: Commission means you paid her to draw the pictures?

Boush: Yes, in gold (heh). The armor one was 30k, and the old spice one was 5k.

Firewire: That's an interesting way of gold making I must say.

Boush: Well, with her talent and how happy I am with the result, I can't complain. Money well deserved.

Firewire: How do you use your fan art for WoW role-play? Do you just show it off on the forums, or is there any other use of the art?

Boush: It's really mostly for myself to look at and get a gleeful smile. But people have been making points in RP about how his armor looks so heavy and so magnificent, how does he manage with it and/or did he craft it himself? So yeah, it creates RP in a minor sense for those that are interested about the character more deeply. But for a complete randomer? Not so much. I don't push it into other people's faces really.

Firewire: Would you tell us since when you play WoW and what brought you into RP?

Boush: I've been playing since vanilla on a shared account, but got my own around TBC since my cousin wanted the account for himself. My first own character was a tauren shaman called Nakasu, on Sunstrider PVP server. But I truly began RPing at the end of TBC, near the beginning of WotLK back on The Sha'tar RP server. Years passed and stuff happened, and now I'm here. So around eight years of RP in total.

Firewire: If you need to guess, how many different characters did you play in these eight years?

Boush: I had Nakasu, the shaman, Naani, a female tauren druid, and Anselm, undead warrior. Also an undead rogue named Tristan or something, but that was pretty much it.

Firewire: And Boush of course, right?

Boush: Oh yeah. When I got to Argent Dawn, Boush developed one year after my arrival. Then came Hokima, my Zandalari troll, and later Pavoka, my monster hunter. I also have a few other minor characters but they're not nearly as relevant for me. Pavoka's a tauren. Also drew him a couple of days ago:

http://lu0l4mursu.deviantart.com/art/Pavoka-Thunderhorn-colored-With-text-and-lore-557463752

Firewire: Looking back, who of these did you play the most, or did you have the most fun with?

Boush: Boush, of course. He's been my main ever since I created him. I have had so many fun things with him both IC and OOC that I can't even start counting them all. He's really the joker and smile bringer of the group for me. And he's also the most invested character, with Hokima being a close second and Pavoka on 3rd place. Boush is also my most visible avatar, so many people recognize him both IC and OOC, and I have a lot of friends OOC and IC over him.

Firewire: Could you maybe tell us a little bit about Boush then? Maybe a little story that shows what kind of goblin/guy he is?

Boush: Sure thing. Boush hails from the Undermine, from one of its most notorious slums. He was sold to slavery for mines by his mother when he was around five, because times were hard and he wouldn't survive without food in their home anyway. A fortunate gas explosion destroyed the foreman camp and burnt the records, during which he was able to escape the mines and scurried to the streets. There he survived with the other street rascals, doing what job he could, and stole food and other things to stay alive. He also picked up his craft of engineering around that time, and later found his father, with who he started a diving company. Things happened and his father died, and he wanted out from Undermine. He sold his mother to the alchemists union and paid a trip to Kalimdor to work under Gazlowe. He has been just about everywhere, from constructing Orgrimmar to the Isle of Conquest oil rig assembly. He's not a stranger to neutrality either, and he's been working as far away as Ironforge and Stormwind. These days he's a hardened tinker and a warrior who takes no crap from people who try to push him around. He's married to a lovely goblin lady called Kreena, they currently have two children, and live in Ratchet above his workshop.

(For anyone who has met Boush, he has a good sense of humour and a positive view on life, even with all the crap in it.)

Firewire: That opens up a lot of questions. I hope you got time. First I'd like to ask you about the story of Undermine. It's a goblin city right? But it's not in the game at the moment, correct?

Boush: Aye. It's located on one of the islands near Kezan, or below it. There are sources that differ, but it's basically a big GTA style town with notorious slums, and glamorous trade princes' palaces right next to each other. What became of it after Cataclysm since Kezan's eruption is unknown.

Firewire: Is Undermine the birthplace of all goblins? What role does the city take within goblin society?

Boush: Not all goblins, but it was their first home. Since goblins were slaves to the trolls. But after absorbing the strange effects from Kaja-mite which made them intelligent, they overthrew the trolls and established their home under the mountain. It's home to many trade princes and different goblin organizations such as the alchemists' and the tinkers' unions, so I imagine it's got a ring to it. But goblins are a widespread, opportunistic race, so they don't care much for their roots, I'd wager. Boush for one enjoys Ratchet over all things.

Firewire: Second: You mentioned that Boush worked in Ironforge and Stormwind. Is that lore you invented, or was that RP that actually happend in game?

Boush: Obviously it's a bit hard to RP in the said places as a goblin, but it's part of his story. I also got several stories of his visits and time there written down, but due to some of them containing adult material, I don't publish them as they are. I have a few more forum aimed stories for those, though, but still in progress. But to answer how'd he end up in said cities; First he went to work during one Winter Veil in Ironforge. Things happened, he got hooked up with one gnome girl he met around the time he spent there and they had a short relationship. Meanwhile he worked for a dwarf as a fixer, as he was rather skilled with some machinery. Eventually he began craving back for Ratchet, but the gnome wouldn't leave Ironforge, so they split on good terms. He went for Stormwind to hitch a ride with other neutrals, but ended up working a couple of weeks in the dwarven district before leaving with a caravan to Stranglethorn, from there to Tel'Abim, and then back to Ratchet.

Firewire: That brings me to my third question. Boush is married to Kreena at the moment. They both have two children with each other. I'm guessing this is a player to player relationship as well? Does it end within the borders of WoW RP or not?

Boush: Not at all, we're a pair IRL as well. She's my girlfriend who lives in Norway.

Firewire: That's quite a distance still. Did you two meet in WoW for the first time? Or did you know each other before that?

Boush: Aye. We met almost eight years ago in WoW, but the feelings we have these days developed roughly four years ago. We have our third anniversary in the winter. The distance is long, but I am working to move there myself, learn the language and start work.

Firewire: Is there a date of the wedding already?

Boush: Hah, not at all. We live day by day, we don't really plan too much ahead. But I could well imagine that happening.

Firewire: Meeting a girl in a game, then deciding to live with that girl in a different country, learning a different language sounds pretty life changing to me. Would you say that WoW is more than just a game?

Boush: It's the world's biggest dating site, hah. But for real, I think I'd never have this fluent and good grasp on English without it, nor so vast amount of cultural knowledge. If anything, it's a phase I'd recommed everyone to try at least once in their life. You also meet great people like Fyne, Perroy, Mance, Moody, Matowa, Dark, and many others, sharing awesome tales about IRL and other stuff.

Firewire: Let's make a swing back into the realm of RP. Would you share your favorite storyline or RP event with us, at least a short version of it?

Boush: Ahh, what a tough question. I really have so many good ones, but I got to say I -really- enjoyed the Gnometheus even we had with the Iron Vulture. We were hunting for an ancient gnome artifact, Bloat (Fyne), Djem, Moody and me. We also had our NPC crew - like Murder, the gnoll - with us. We ended up fighting Zandalari trolls and sea monsters, before finally catching an epic gnome artifact, ending with a small cinematic some person had made of it. And then there was the Abyss campaign, during which the crew (the same combo) and Feranos with his ogre and Ransul from Blackguard fought off a group of naga and killed their warlord together, with me as a DM. It was amazing. All in all, best part about Iron Vulture, while they're rare, are the events. I also have many warm memories of The Hallowed Balls, all of which I host annually during Hallow's End.

Firewire: Purely out of personal interest I'm coming back to your monster hunter character you mentioned earlier. I always thought that WoW would make an awesome monster hunter game, if they would just add something like a list, or a card collection for every monster you kill, you catch, or whatever. How does your RP monster hunter work out? Like how do you play a monster hunter IC?

Boush: Most of his ventures are stories I write, the latest one being his black dragon hunt, as it is quite hard to find evil RPers that want their characters get killed/hunted. Most of the RP comes from people asking about him and him telling stories about how he got each trophy of his armor he carries (he wears a set of trophies on his armor and braids a strand of his mane in honor of the hunt). But there was a moment during WoD when he helped to kill a Gronn, or well, actually solo killed it, since the melee had such a terrible time killing it.

Firewire: Could you tell us a little bit about the story of the guild you are currently in, so others get a picture what you guys are up to?

Boush: We're the best airship pirates the Azeroth has ever known; The Crew of Iron Vulture! We're the terror of the skies, liberating dead (and alive) people of the burden of their pockets' and belongings' weight, working for our own goals. With the ship crashed, the crew is scattered around the world to make up money to get the great machine back up to the sky, to blot out the sun. We're led by the infamous Captain Carnage, the best goblin pirate there is to this date on Azeroth.

http://lu0l4mursu.deviantart.com/art/The-Iron-vulture-454633274

Firewire: Do you have any ideas how to change WoW to improve the RP experience, beside toy cooldowns, armor customization, and cross-faction communication?

Boush: Remove orks. No but seriously, add more customization in the sense of your character's looks; Update worgen and goblin models, give us the ability to haul bags, banners and the like, not just the armor/gear we wear. That's about it really, since WoW is otherwise a pretty good RP ground, all things considered.

Firewire: Usually I ask people what their favorite place in WoW is. You seem to have a special relationship to Ratchet. Could you tell us a little more about it?

Boush: It's really the look of it that I enjoy. I mean I love Kezan, Booty Bay and other places too, but ever since I first started WoW, these places have always been the set up places of "adventure". Taking a ship or wyvern to start an epic adventure of some sorts, but first taking a look in the greedy goblin town to see if there's anything you might need for your travels. That, and it's run by Gazlowe, my 2nd favourite lore character.

Firewire: Who is your favorite than?

Boush: Cairne Bloodhoof, hands down. Epic bull, got me into WoW the first time I started. That guy had serious charisma, and an amazing storyline and personality. Was really sad to see such a good character go.

Firewire: Is there someone you would like me to interview next, and would you like to ask that person a certain question?

Boush: Perroy, definitely. And ask him how'd he end up in the Forsaken RP scene in the first place, never asked him.

Firewire: Anything else you'd like to share or add? Any shout outs?

Boush: If anything, big shout outs to Brigante and the Sunhawks, and the late Gnomish Territorial Army. Both guilds are/were amazing and have wonderful people in them, all of which I have had great pleasure RPing with.

Firewire: Thank you so much for your time and this interview. It always blows my mind how many nice people you can meet while playing a videogame. All the best to you!

Boush: Likewise. It has been a pleasure, truly. Looking forward to RPing with you.