[H-RP] To Honor the Fallen: Discussion

Wyrmrest Accord
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A link to the old post: [H-RP] To Honor the Fallen: November 16th.

Hello everyone. Due to the quarantine rules, the death throes of one the community’s universally disliked expansion, cabin-fever and/or sheer boredom, I’ve decided to cast a line out into the pond of constructive criticism and input. I’ve noticed several events are beginning to take shape on both factions and I figured I would join in as well.

To Honor the Fallen is a strict Horde-only formal memorial event to (you guessed it) honor the fallen of the past. Initial setup and ceremony was taken from IRL’s several Tombs of the Unknown Soldier(s) in each respective country. Taz’jin and I also looked at ways to bring memorial traditions into role-play (done in tasteful manner). The Tombs would have guards that stood on an essential 24/7 schedule with absolutely no break in vigil - only to be relieved by another guard to take their place. While extreme, the Vol’kar attempted to emulate this with some folks farming the banners during the Battle of Nazjatar and standing on either flank. (The following screenshot is credited to Shaysinn:)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/269990447160492044/645437353829204016/Untitled.png

Additionally, these tombs have speakers that come to give input on the wars that the soldiers fell in. They are given creative prose to speak on the situation they may have endured, and the meaning of their sacrifice for the generations thereafter. At the end of these speeches, there is a minute of silence.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/269990447160492044/645451881686106134/unknown.png

A list of the old speakers and credit due:
  • Taz’jin Darkspear of the Gor’Watha Warband,
  • Sarestha of Lordaeron,
  • Aeyther, of the Sunfury Battalion,
  • Elarria of Suramar,
  • Enyetof of Mulgore (tentative),
  • Chentao of Shen-zin Su (tentative),
  • Nok’ghor of Draenor.

Since there are too many wars in the game World of Warcraft to count, and too many creeds of people, there isn’t one “grave” that represents all Horde, and not one locale that represents every aspect of Horde life. With a spoonful of creative freedom, Taz’jin and myself decided that Razor Hill is the most iconic focus point for 90% of Horde players. New or old, they’ve heard of the Siege of Orgrimmar (the first and second) and it is almost a certainty that the graves at Razor Hill aren’t just filled with orcs. We created a narrative that within the Seven Graves of Razor Hill, bodies of soldiers, (sometimes pressed on top of another) were simply buried, burned, or deposited here over the years due to the inability to recover identity. No amount of spirit-seeking, soothsaying, or rituals could determine who it was they owed their kinship to, or where they came from. The only thing that they knew - is what war they came from.

You could go even further with this creative freedom- each grave representing an expansion and its respective struggles. As to not create pure fanon, we did not state this- but made heavy allusions to the wars. The main focus was the Fourth War.

In the end, it was a splendid event with no upsets and LOTS of role-play. Folks lingered around for up to four hours after the event concluded (and it already ran for nearly three). Somethings occurred that nobody expected or decided - like how one person /kneel 'd, and it caused a ricochet of kneeling. I had to edit Jan-Mak’s speech to make a joke about this.

Credits to Axiann of the Sunreavers for initially rolling the snowball down the hill. Taz’jin of the Gor’Watha Warband and myself picked up the mantle and helped create what it ended up becoming. We had a lot of fun, a lot of role-play, and a huge attendance of people eager to return back to a comfortable spot in Horde role-play where it wasn’t about ideologies and grey morality.

So, the initial post said and done (to catch folks up to speed and a reminder on what the event was) - I am opening this post for discussion on next year’s (this year’s) event. I welcome everything. Down to the spaces between the Honor-Guards, or the specks of dust on your monitor that made it difficult to do something at a certain point.

What could be done better? What would you like to see? Should the date change from that Tuesday? Later in the week? Earlier in the week? Was it hosted too late? Did it go too long?

As well as: “speakers”. We had more than enough towards the end, but I wonder if there is a better system than “first come, first serve” pickings. Our guidelines for speakers were strict: they must have a speech ready, and can’t deviate from the speech topics. We would disqualify speeches if they strayed into goofy territory (i.e. Sylvanas-bashing OR Sylvanas-loving, Horde-bashing, etc etc).

We have plenty of time, and nothing pressing. Again- I welcome any and everything. This event isn’t something to be hoarded (no pun intended) or kept secret. Let’s hear it!

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I’d love to see it held in a different place each year, especially given the fact that we’re now governed by a nationally representative Council. In a sense, my idea would be letting each Horde nation host it at different times, each year.

For example, it was near Orgrimmar last year, in the orc land of Durotar. Maybe one year it should be held in Quel’thalas, or Mulgore, or the Echo Isles! Highmountain, Suramar, Bilgewater Harbor, wherever the Forsaken end up etc.

I’d love to see one in Quel’thalas this year honestly. It’d be a real gesture of unity - of embracing the diverse cultures of the Horde. As before we’d have speakers from as many cultures as we can muster, so the aforementioned cultural diversity would be represented anyway, but changing up the location could be really cool I think.

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I could see the location being rotated. A neat idea- but I think a landmark is still required for the brevity/effect. I don’t know of many graves in Quel’Thalas, but I could see it being done at a statue… I’ll have to write that down and scout sometime in the future.

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Depending on what you mean by grave… there is the whole Dead Scar. Either as a location for the event, or as something to trek across/alongside as part of the event. Tranquillien could be another location as a symbol of Horde cooperation.

I think the Red Rocks in Mulgore would be a perfect fit for this kind of event, too.

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I do understand your point - but if we were to use the Dead Scar, there would need to be some sort of ‘safe spot’ where there isn’t 1000 mobs (trivial or not) as that’d be pretty immersion breaking. The graves (or A grave) is a focal point of the memorial.

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I know this is hardly constructive, but I loved the event last time. I greatly enjoyed having Chentao speak at it, and would be honored to do so again! Though, I absolutely understand if it’d be better to give new blood a shot at it.

I do think Sarestha is spot on with changing up locations. Keeps things fresh, feels a bit less Orgrimmar-centric, etc. As for where, I respectfully disagree with Quel’thalas just because it didn’t appear to play any great role with this most recent war. But hey, I’d happily go just about anywhere. Maybe somewhere just outside the Undercity?

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Actually now that I think about it that’s something that bears discussion. What specifically does this event honour? The Fourth War? All Horde Wars? And if the latter, which I’d prefer, what constitutes a Horde War? That could get messy honestly, because if it includes any war fought by a member race of the Horde, we could have the War of the Ancients as a Horde War, or the Second War’s attack on Quel’thalas would amusingly be both sides of a Horde war, experienced by two different Horde races. It could get a bit big and messy.

My inclination would be to focus on the wars of Thrall’s Horde and beyond. The Third-War power that grew into a powerful international confederation. I think solely focusing on the Fourth War would be, in a sense, unwise. The Fourth War is, by nature, one of the more morally dubious wars. But if we focus on the wider Horde Wars, we include a great diversity of honourable causes the Horde fought for too. The War against the Lich King, the campaign against the Burning Legion, and so on.

Additionally, same xD I’d love to help as a speaker/organiser again. But I’ll gladly step aside if another speaker would like to represent the Forsaken, seems only fair. Still happy to help organise though, and definitely to have a guild presence if nothing else!

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Yes - Taz’jin and I were intentionally nuanced with the wars. I don’t think folks consider those events you mention as wars to ‘honor’ within the Horde. The Fourth war was just more recent- and requires most focus. The Fourth War, canonically, is the most bloody conflict to ravage Azeroth. It’s nicknamed “The Blood War” for the double edged meaning: 1) The death toll, 2) The conflict over Azerite.

The dead being honored at To Honor the Fallen is in similar vein to the dead being honored at the tomb(s) of the unknown soldier(s) (see above). Their identity is known but to the spirits - and we must honor their sacrifice for the Horde that they helped create and protect. Since the Fourth War was the most recent, it obviously took a big chunk of peoples’ speeches. For future memorial events, more freedom can be granted on the topic.

Perhaps we could even choose a war / conflict to focus on per rotation?

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Goor morning, all!

Can I just chime in and say that I am thrilled this event is already being discussed and planned for this year? This was an idea I had, the beginnings of an idea really, and cast a line out to see if there was any interest. You guys took that and ran and planned and ran a wonderful, immersive event. You all (organizers, speakers) did a fantastic job!

Wherever this event is held this year, the Sunreavers will be present.

Axiann

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Bump for prosperity and to say I appreciate all the input and different ideas. Hope to hear more. :smile:

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You spelt honour wrong.

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Hello all, just offering another bump. While the thread has slumbered for some time, it’s always somewhere in my mind - I really appreciate the symbolism that everyone has brought forth and it really shines when an event like this is made. It’s still a long ways off, but I still have plans to make it a yearly occurrence.

So far, in-between the mountain of creative writing that upkeeping a guild takes, I’ve thought a lot about the afterlife and death in the Horde. Not to re-start the conversation on a very morbid note, but I have often wondered about how the spirits of deceased orcs “live” after death on Azeroth. We will be given a boatload of information on that, I’m sure, but without a font (sans-convoluted double-plot) like Oshu’Gun, where is it they go? The Tauren seem to have a grasp of some purgatory-esque afterlife, and the Trolls have their own depiction of Shadowlands, but have the nu-generations of Orcs created some sort of mythos for Azeroth?

To quote a guildie who sent a letter to Jan-Mak, one passage really made me :thinking:.

“Have I ever told you of my mate, Avri? Her eyes were like the moonlight off the peaks of Nagrand, her voice like the chimes of a Naaru. I’ve never been a poet, but just the thought of her could put me into comparisons that sickening for decades. Our parents disliked one another- but who can blame them, I suppose? Still, our love persevered, and still does, I like to think. Every morning I greet her, and every night I bid her farewell. My only solace in this life is that, when they toss my corpse out of the boat, I get to see her again, into eternity.” -Orruk Rustcleaver

I wonder how orcs came to grips with, and processed how the spirits of their loved ones were used as fuel (not just once), and if they created something else. What is it that they do to honor their loved ones?

Without going off on too much of a lore tangent, so far I have two candidates for the next To Honor the Fallen location: Mulgore’s Red Rocks, or Arathi Highland’s Hammerfall.

Red Rocks is the resting place of dozens of previous Chieftains and great Tauren heroes, and is where Cairne himself rests. Going in line with Sarestha’s council point - from orcish-centric hosting to tauren-centric is a natural progression.

Arathi’s Hammerfall is a former internment camp of the orcs, but many believe it to be the birthplace of the Horde we know of today. Orgrim Doomhammer fell in battle attempting to liberate the biggest section (besides Durnholde) of slaves alongside a young Thrall and Grom Hellscream.

Thoughts? As always, I appreciate the discussion. :slight_smile:

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Just chiming in to say I’d be happy to help organize/speak/whatever needs doing, again Jan. It really was a wonderful event, and I’d love to see it keep thriving.

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I concur I think that sounds like a great location.

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Love the idea of keeping this event going as an annual thing. We had a great time at this past one. Razor hill was a great location for RP purposes - would be open to switching it up but hard to imagine a more universally approved locale.

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The Horde is a diverse place full of diverse people - I for one love the idea of it regularly changing. Maybe after a while, every people of the Horde will have an opportunity to host this service, and bring us all closer together, as one.

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Some time has passed and the thread has fell quite low on the list. To the top once more! This event hasn’t been forgotten, just quite low on my priorities due to the rapidly deteriorating state of 2020, lol.

Lots of information has come to light, and a lot of speculation about SL. November 16th is looking to be like prime real estate for potential launch date, or close to it. :thinking: It may end up being postponed this year purely for mechanical / scheduling reasons. It’s going to be pretty hard to host something while people are chasing the phat loot.

I hope to keep you all posted with regular updates in the future, once there is concrete information. I don’t really like leaving things to chance, and don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up in case this event is too close to a release date.

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I LOVE this

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Thanks! I’m using this post as an open transparent discussion instead of trying to keep information hoarded in a discord server or a group chat. If you have anything you’d like to add or an idea, go ahead! Don’t forget to read the main post too - and check out the older thread (linked). :slight_smile:

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Hello all, another bump [from the grave].

I haven’t given the event much thought in recent time, mostly due to the whirlpool of information.

Getting right to it: Shadowlands launches on October 27th worldwide, 26th for the Americas. The first tier of content releases November 10th, 2 weeks after launch. November 16th is a Monday.

Midterms for most college campuses and institutions begin as early as next week, approximately October 1st - 9th. Finals for 8 week courses start then as well. Folks would have put in their vacation times for Shadowlands, and if not Shadowlands, the plethora of game launches happening from October 20th to November 20th.

And let’s not even mention the obvious of November 3rd.

Basically, what I’m getting at is, with all these factors involved- hosting To Honor the Fallen this year would be nightmare-ish. An extreme amount of stress that wouldn’t cohesively fall into place.

Instead, it could be hosted in December of this year, in an insignificant enough date where nothing would possibly coincide on top of it - or cancel it altogether this year.

I’m leaning more towards cancelling it, as I have no possible idea the feasibility of hosting a December event until November 12th (last portion of semester begins for my college) at the earliest. This isn’t even mentioning the amount of guilds that would like to attend and the speakers that would like a spot for this upcoming one.

If anyone has any thoughts, it’d be appreciated! Just another news-like update for the event.

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