Interview: Thornroot #16

Firewire: I always start with three personal questions. Would you share your afk age, gender and home country with us?

Thornroot: 18/Male/England-UK if you want to be less specific.

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

Thornroot: Uh, not really - it's an invention from when I moved this character over to Argent Dawn. On my original server he was called Dannelor (his first name) but that was taken over here, so I thought I'd use his surname instead. In-character, like most elf names, it's linked to some kind of family history or mythology, but I've not properly thought up what yet. Might do one day.

Firewire: Why did you switch servers?

Thornroot: I moved over in late Cataclysm, because the RP community on Steamwheedle Cartel (the old server) felt a lot like it was dying. A bunch of mates and I all made the jump together. It had got to a point where we had all these ideas for projects and events but there simply weren't enough people around to get them off the ground, so we decided to seek out greener, more active pastures.

Firewire: Did you guys find what you were looking for on AD? Did the server give you the possiblities you needed to do your projects?

Thornroot: Definitely! With resources like the Argent Archives and a more active realm forum I've been able to branch out a bit, hosting the odd community event, expand my guild (we're still small, but concept wise it's a lot more detailed than it was back then), get involved with other players more, that kind of thing. I'm about to launch a guild coalition project called the Starhost with a handful of night elf guilds on the server, which I would never have been able to do back on SWC.

Firewire: What will this project, Starhost, be about? (or is it to early to tell?)

Thornroot: It's a loosely structured warhost coalition of night elf & Kalimdor based guilds. Lorewise night elves have a good history of banding together en mass when faced with big threats like the Legion or the qiraji, and I wanted to see if we could show what that might look like in our community. Especially with Legion on the horizon, which I am well excited for! There's a forum thread for it and an AA page if anybody wants to do any further reading.

Firewire: What things from Legion make you excited for it?

Thornroot: New zones with plenty of pretty elf themes, duh. And more Emerald Dream/Nightmare stuff, which'll give me plenty to write about in my druid guide, and the return of demon hunters - which I'm looking at with a bit of trepidation, because I don't know how they'll be handled lorewise, but either way, there's going to be something there for the Guardians to play with! And the whole thing about big lore characters potentially dying is really exciting. Shakes things up a bit. I'll put my hands up and say I hope Malfurion dies. That'll be fun.

Firewire: Could you tell me a bit about the role the Argent Archives has for you and your role playing? How do you use it? What does it achieve, etc.

Thornroot: Sure. I use the Archives to document conceptual stuff around my guild - I've come up with a series of rituals/traditions that the Guardians continue, for example, and put them up there if people want to know what they are, or do them themselves, or get into the history of my characters, or just for general writing. It's really great to be able to write sides of your character that might not often come up in role play but still have them easily accessible by your guildmates.

Firewire: Would the death of Malfurion influence your guild lorewise?

Thornroot: On its own maybe not, it really depends how everything around him changes as well; what kind of line the Cenarion Circle takes, who takes leadership there, how Tyrande and Darnassus reacts, that sort of thing. For Thornroot and the Guardians it might mean getting a lot more freedom to get involved in conflict openly and 'legally', if, say, the Cenarion Circle get a more active leader. In the context of wider night elf society, and the Guardians' standing there, it'd be interesting to see what role they take. Malfurion dying could either kick the night elves into modernising faster (Highborne, Alliance, demon hunters, etc.) in which case they'd be staunchly against that, or it could effect a rejection of modern changes and a retreat to conservative principles, which the Guardians would absolutely welcome. Might even get them out of Ashenvale and into Darnassus taking a more public role.

Firewire: Could you tell us a little bit about Thornroot? Who is he? Where does he come from? What does he want to achive?

Thornroot: Dannelor Thornroot - affectionately dubbed by Queteron as the 'Mad Druid of Ashenvale' - is these days something like a radical religious fundamentalist leader, really. Born shortly after the Sundering during the days when kaldorei society was being massively overhauled, he adopted all those kinds of revolutionary ideals about druidism and ecocentricity and the Balance and since then his history has been one of progressive radicalisation; He grew more and more convinced that the druidic/Elune-based ideology of the Night Elves that came about in the wake of the Sundering was the best way forward, and when he sees it challenged - by the Highborne, the orcs, integration with the Alliance - his instinct is to fight it. 'Balance before all,' is the Guardians' tagline these days. In a nutshell what he wants is for the night elves to go back to their pre-WC3 days. That's impossible, I know, but it's really interesting to explore.

Firewire: How would Thronroot treat Firewire if he would meet her IC?

Thornroot: He's ... a bit of an angry racist to be honest. Likely he'd lump her with all the other environmentally degradating goblins with their rampant consumerism and callous disregard for nature.

Firewire: Would you share your favorite story you played in WoW RP with us?

Thornroot: Tough question. I have to say the plotline the Guardians are on now, actually it's a story orchestrated by Yeneira, one of my guild mates, centered around her family's collective skeleton-in-the-closet (in the form of a sister who was a demon hunter). I can't tell you how it ends, because it hasn't yet, and I'm not in charge so I don't know any spoilers, but the role play we've had so far has been some of the most in-depth and interesting stuff we've ever done. The writing has been amazing, I really love the concept, some of the DMed events we've had in Barrow Dens and dreams and druidic rituals have been great, and I can't wait to see how it finishes.

Firewire: Warlords of Draenor goes for one of the weakest expansions as Blizzard lost about half of its subscriptions in a couple of months. How do you think about the situation RP on AD is currently in? Is it influenced in anyway by the subscription loss?

Thornroot: Yeh, tack that last comment on the end of there. WRT to WoD - When WoD was really in full swing, before Tanaan and the wind down to Legion, it was basically awful for us because we couldn't really find a good reason to go to Draenor, and even then actually RPing on the continent was nearly impossible. As for how sub drops have had an impact, I think there has been a decrease in the number of very big guilds, but not so much that the scene is completely dead, and nowhere near like it was on Steamwheedle Cartel when I left.

Firewire: Can you think of things you learned for your afk life through playing WoW and/or doing RP?

Thornroot: It's hard to pinpoint exactly what things come from where, whether my RP changes because of real life developments or real life changes because of things I've learnt while RPing, but one tangible thing is my confidence in leading things, or offering opinions, feeling confident that I have something to offer. That feeling that started with lore & role play in WoW has really made an impact on me outside of RP, which is great. I'm not worried of speaking my piece or offering an opinion if I feel I have something worth saying.

Firewire: Three short questions: Your favorite place to be in WoW, your favorite tavern and your favorite NPC?

Thornroot: Favourite place: Grizzly Hills, Grizzlemaw specifically. The tree within the bigger tree and all the furbolg houses and the lights in the air is such an amazing image

Favourite tavern; the Pig & Whistle in Stormwind has a ... special place in my heart, because of what it was like on Steamwheedle Cartel, but the tone is different on AD so I don't really know. Otherwise I love the dwarven inns.

Favourite NPC is a hard one. Fandral before they made him mad, maybe? Lorna Crowley. Maiev. Wrathion. Kelsey Steelspark. There's too many characters that I like.

Firewire: Is there anything else you want to add or to share? Any shout outs?

Thornroot: I'll give a big thank you to my guildies who sit so politely while pretending to listen to my crackpot theories about how night elves do this or that or whatever other thing. Shout out to Queteron for always making me laugh and his efforts to save my soul from atheism (they haven't worked). Apologies to Boush for not having an 'Enraged Thornroot' moment here, I'm sure there'll be one coming soon. Aaand that's about it! And you, for inviting me over and being a good interviewer, and Acrona for being so patient and amazing with us last night at the Snapshot event! So very helpful.

Firewire: Hey thank you. It was a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you for your time and this interview.

Interview: Nimsil #15

"Don't be honest. Be a goblin."

-Nimsil

 

Firewire:

1. If i understood you right, you are the founding father of Gearfist IBS correct?

Nimsil:

I am one of the three. Gearfist IBS was meant to have three leaders - one per division. Hence the IBS - Intelligence Battalion and Supplies.

Firewire:

Tell me a little bit about the founding days of Gearfist IBS? How did that project came to life?

Nimsil:

Before Gearfist IBS there weren't many Goblin RPers. There was a main guild: Blackwealth PMC. They acted like an IC gang or something like it. Unfortunately some of the IC "harassment" went OOC and people felt unconfortable by RPing a goblin that would be beaten and smuggled all day long. And, if ya wouldn't accept that, OOC arguments would start.

Gearfist IBS was founded to be the oposite. A place where people would feel welcome. Where they could learn RP without being judged. At the end of the day, made Goblin RP flourish.

Firewire:

What was/is the background story of the guild?

Nimsil:

Gearfist IBS is meant to be a semi-independent corporation. It fights for the Horde, because that is the contract to "rent" the north section of the Valley of Honor. The rent is paid by providing free gear for the Grunts, building of siege weapons and by salvaging the battlefield, before other factions do it (ex: Alliance). Gearfist IBS takes the salvaged stuff from battlefields, pillaged villages and "found items". It sells the good stuff, repairs the broken and smelts the bad.

By working with "garbage", it can easily bring "found items" (stolen) to the market again. Its basically a legit facade, for criminal activity. Dodging taxes as it can.

Firewire:

Whats the story about the guild having 3 founding fathers? How did that came to be?

Nimsil:

Nimsil was intended to be head of Intel - specially because most see him as trader. Lailar - former Blackwealth worked as a spy for Nimsil. She proposed him to start a guild where she would be the "official leader". While handling Battalion. Nims would lead Intel. And other guy (who left on 2nd day of guild creation) was handling the Supply division.

Firewire:

How did the goblin rp developed since than

Whats the situation now?

Nimsil:

With the end of OOC drama and an active guild, goblins started to pop up frequently. It begun with alts from other guilds (the race was quite new in Cataclysm). With time they were converted to main - but it has allways been a race of alts. Id say +90%.

Being alone for a while made Gearfist IBS grow fast. Some guilds rose and felt during IBS existance. But it kinda had the monopoly of Goblin RP, because alts want instant activity - they are not waiting for RP to happen. So they naturally merge into a big blob.

Today, Gearfist IBS is alive - never been trully off since 2011. And it is getting very active. We are holding GM elections this week. So the future is bright.

Firewire:

What has been your favorite story/event within Gearfist IBS until now?

Nimsil:

Tsk. Events? We have so many! LOlol. Our record (if I recall) is seven events in a day, started in a morning and ended... well in another morning. LOlol! But above all, my favorite thing is to see that we managed to teach RP to someone. That we contributed to the server quality.

Ah! Well, the Quickcoin's 11, 12 and 13. Clearly a reference to Ocean's triology. Three events at which we robbed: gambling tournament, goblin mafia bank and... I think we also robbed ourselves for insurance money - something between those lines.

Firewire:

How does someone do a gambling tournament within WoW?

Nimsil:

Well - was before Hearthstone so we had no real games. It was done with rolls. I can't remember with precision. But it was something like: Each player emoted taking a card then /random. Then stay in or go out like a poker game. At the end, each player sums his rolls. The one with higher, wins.

Firewire:
You told me about a project similar to Booty Bay Free Press back in the days.

Nimsil:

Its a newspaper we had in the past. But on GHI. Norionil (the only name I can recall) used to write books in GHI and sell them to people. My char took the oportunity to create a printing press. After all, who controls the media, controls public opinion. We had a couple of reporters - one per city

- they wrote one article each and we would compile them into an IC magazine. Unfortunately it lacked illustration... and people are lazy! LOlol! So it only sold a couple of copies. But had a small loyal group of buyers. I'm still interested in doing it, tho. *wink wink*

Firewire:

So you guys did IC interviews? What did you ask the citizens of Argent Dawn? Also was it Horde Only?

Nimsil:

Horde only. Yes. It had less of an inpact on my RP than other projects. But it was compleetly IC. Nimsil didn't do the questions. He just organized the people. I've been the chanel to many RP projects yannow? I introduce A to B and we form a group. Then C comes with an idea and I know D. And I join them too. Yada yada yada.

Firewire:

Did the game change for the better for RP over the years in your opinion?

Nimsil:

Yeah! Addons help a lot. GHI? MRP? Tsh! Can't live without them. They add A LOT!!! RP is preety much alive and kicking.

Firewire:
Is there anything else you want to add? Any shout outs?

Nimsil:

Yes. I would like to take this oportunity to shout for more interaction and less judging of new RPers.

AD is a great server. It stands as the bastion of RP in europe. Our lack of interaction with eachother - will be the downfall of RP. If we close ourserlves. if we choose not to give "noobs" a chance to learn RP. The server will die. Don't like the RP current quality? Do something about it. Teach RP. Teach =/= judge.

Gearfist IBS has new RPers. Allways had. And if depends on me? Allways will. It bothers me not what "elithists" think of our guild. Because my friends are making friends here. They are building a family. They learn RP. AND we are helping the server as a whole.

Do the same.

#

Interview: Auldring #14

Firewire: We are meeting in-game as goblin and human in a peaceful way today. Would that be something that would be possible for Auldring IC?

Auldring: It would certainly be possible, though improbable. His clashes with the Horde prior to the truce would make any meeting with them tense.

Firewire: I'm not totally up to date to the WoW lore. Could you tell us a little about Auldring's clashes with the Horde? Maybe some highlights, and also tell me a little bit more about this "truce" you mentioned. Is the truce official lore, or server/realm lore?

Auldring: Well, I hope I don't put my foot in my mouth here, but as a man of Arathor, Auldring has seen his fair share of fighting with the Forsaken in particular, so whilst he might have grudging respect for the noble tauren warrior, or the strong orc fighter, the Forsaken, and by extent, the whole Horde, have his contempt and hostility. In a grinding war of attrition that has been going on for many years, there aren't really any "highlights" so to speak.

And as for the truce, I believe since the Siege of Orgrimmar there has been a truce between the Alliance and the Horde that is official? Whether this will remain the case I don't know, and how seriously others on the server take it is up to them, but personally, I see it as an absolute barricade between any hostile actions against the Horde.

Firewire: Is peace between the factions a thing that Auldring would welcome?

Auldring: Well, that would certainly depend on some pretty extreme circumstances. A far greater threat to the safety of his family and household would have to arise for him to put aside his differences with the Horde.

Firewire: What are Auldring's goals in life. What does he want to achieve?

Auldring: Quite simply, he wants to be safe and secure, to prosper and to leave behind a good future for his children. Everlasting glory and renown would be the cherry on the cake ...

Firewire: So if there are children, is there also a wife in his life?

Auldring: There is indeed, Auldring is happily married.

Firewire: To a NPC, or a real player?

Auldring: A real player.

Firewire: How long have you been playing WoW, and how did you get into role-playing?

Auldring: I've played WoW for seven years. *Has a small panic attack over the amount of money spent then moves on* I've role-played for four of those years and truly, role-play is the only reason I continue to pay my subscription. Sure PvP can be fun, and occasionally I'll drop into LFR, but the role-playing community here on Argent Dawn is great. Lots of special people here.

Firewire: Why did you start role-playing? And who or what helped you to start with it?

Auldring: I remember idly flicking through the role-play forums one day and seeing a thread by the Three Hammers. Reading that got me super psyched to role-play with them, so I made an alt, joined their guild, and promptly forgot about that alt. I believe it got to level seven. A few weeks later I made a second character, leveled him up and joined the Blades for Hire on Defias Brotherhood. Amazing community, excellent officers, and I wish everyone I met there luck wherever they may be. They taught me most of the lessons you need to learn early on. My second guild after them was the Stormwind Regiment, also on Defias Brotherhood. I totally speak without any bias at all here when I say that they were the best guard role-playing guild ever.

Firewire: What made you switch to AD?

Auldring: I switched over with a couple of friends after a role-playing story line came to a close on Defias Brotherhood. Together we planned to make a new guild over here, The House of Strathmore. We did that, one of my friends leading that guild with myself as an officer at first, but eventually I ended up leading the guild when the first GM took a break from the game.

Firewire: If you break it down, what's the story of your guild?

Auldring: Well, this is a new guild. Its story is pretty simple. A human household community trying to get away from Arathor due to the losses sustained there. Seeking a new life with prosperity and peace.

Firewire: Why is it hard to get away from Arathor?

Auldring: Well, we're trying to think realistically. Financially, abandoning our homes is a big risk, yet the threat of the Witherbark trolls, the Syndicate, the ogres, and the looming Forsaken just over the border all make it worth that risk.

Firewire: Could you tell us about your favorite RP event, or your favorite story line you played in WoW?

Auldring: My favorite event was an impromptu one that happened down in Surwich. After an off-hand remark about a gnomish security team installing some gadgets in a house, we turned it into a night's worth of tripwires, booby traps, lions in pits and a shark-infested cellar. It was very silly, but very fun. Maybe you had to be there.

Firewire: Are there any RP events you look forward to?

Auldring: Hm ... good question. To be honest I'm a little out of the loop. I would love to be involved in any kind of RP events in the future to be honest, but there are none in particular I look forward to.

Firewire: 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?

Auldring: I haven't done so myself, but there are many reasons. One thing I see and love on Argent Dawn are the powerful female characters. Warriors, politicians, healers, mages, you name it, they are here. I think that is a big part of it, trying to portray powerful archetypes. As well as that this is a universe where we can portray whatever we want to. That must be a large reason why people explore other genders in role-play?

Firewire: 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?

Auldring: I think on some level, role-play has an element of escapism for everyone. Whether you're just bored and want a fantasy world, or for some other reason, we all come here to lose ourselves in this universe for a while, you know?

Firewire: If you could change the game to improve the RP experience, what would you change?

Auldring: Inter-faction communications would be a must. I'd love that. Other than that ... I don't know, more customisable options for armor. That's my final answer!

Firewire: Three short ones at the end: Favorite place to be, favorite tavern, favorite NPC.

Auldring: Favorite place to be, too many. This game has lots of special memories for me location wise. I like the Pig and Whistle in Stormwind, you can sit there and just listen to role-play, its pretty great. I guess that answers the first two questions :P

And favorite NPC ... it's got to be Gamon. Say what you like about him, he has dedication.

Firewire: Is there a person (or more) that you would like to see me interview next? And do you have a question you'd like to see answered by that person?

Auldring: Testaros, if you haven't caught him yet. Funny guy, good guild, and he's amazing in bed. Disclaimer: I haven't had relations of any kind with Testaros.

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

Auldring: Shout out to my guild, I suppose, for being the best on AD (not biased). To Callistia, for being the best co-GM and partner anyone could ask for. That's about it.

Firewire: Thank you so much for your time and this interview. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

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!