I'm creating a Horde guild to help bolster our Horde community and I need your help!

Moon Guard
21

Though I can’t seem to post on the Orcess that I have in this wonderful guild just yet. I wish to say that I’m really looking forward to the future of the guild. I’ve already met some wonderful people and looking forward to meeting the rest!

I’m looking forward to seeing this guild and the horde RP grow as a whole. I’m coming over from WRA, as I wish to make a main here!

So come join us!

Lok’tar Ogar!

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I want to post a quick update. We’ve gathered a nice core of thirteen people, not including alts from others who’ve shown interest in this project. That said, while we’re still open to more founding members for the project, I wish to simply say that I feel confident that our officer core will be solidified by the current crew working with me.

That said, I still highly value the input of all my members and whether you’re an officer or not, our Discord’s “think tank” channel is accessible by all our members. Honestly, I’ll most likely transform said channel into a “guild ideas” channel after our launch and have any future developments for the guild be discussed by all members alike. I try to stress a guild environment where everyone has a say or at least accessibility to a guild’s future development.

As a side note, my co-GM made a placeholder website banner in MS paint and it is glorious. :weary:

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Hey. So I’m pretty new to serious, not-just-sitting-in-a-bar-in-stormwind RPing and I’ve been looking into Horde RP more lately. I’d appreciate it if you could go into a little more detail about exactly what you mean by “extreme prejudice,” when you’re talking about the guild’s military RP content. I get the general notion of riding far edge limits of honor to make sure that the Horde wins the war because it’s facing an existential threat to it’s existence and “when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable.” But to be frank… I’ve heard a few stories about some pretty graphic subject matter in military guilds from both factions and I’m really not interested in a guild that crosses certain lines.

You mentioned in your OP about apathy concerning the Horde’s current storyline, and I’m honestly one of those people that almost quit this expansion several times because being complicit in constant and unrelenting War Crimes is not what I signed up for when I made my first Blood Elf Mage back in Burning Crusade. One of the reasons I’ve been getting into RP more is because it’s allowing me to engage with Warcraft’s story, which I love, with some distance from that garbage.

If you tell me that your guild isn’t for me if I feel that way, that’s fine, I respect you wanting to do the kind of story you want to do. But in that case I do hope you’ll take this post as constructive feedback on your concept and how it might be received by outsiders and neophytes, since going by your post it seems like you’re planning to make your group a regular part of big public player-run events.

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I believe that this guild is meant to satisfy players looking for a war-crime-y guild which, while an observable minority population, is certainly a population that deserves it’s own group. Most Horde guilds at this point are somewhere on the spectrum between pure neutral and “Hesitantly following orders until a coup forms”, so having a Horde guild for characters actually steadfastly loyal to the Warchief would certainly be adding some needed variety.

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I’d appreciate it if you could go into a little more detail about exactly what you mean by “extreme prejudice,” when you’re talking about the guild’s military RP content. I get the general notion of riding far edge limits of honor to make sure that the Horde wins the war because it’s facing an existential threat to it’s existence and “when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable.” But to be frank… I’ve heard a few stories about some pretty graphic subject matter in military guilds from both factions and I’m really not interested in a guild that crosses certain lines.

I believe that this guild is meant to satisfy players looking for a war-crime-y guild

I appreciate the desire for clarity, so I will try to be as specific as I can:

There are many people in the Horde community who see Sylvanas’s actions against the Alliance as incredibly horrific. Burning Teldrassil to the ground with civilians still inside or blighting her own troops to raise as footsoldiers during the Battle of Lordaeron are just a few of many. Horde players who resonate very strongly with Thrall’s vision, where Orcs/Tauren can get along with the Alliance if left to their own devices, have been rightfully put off this expansion and most likely side with Saurfang’s perspective. These players may not be the best fit for my guild, though I encourage them to seek out Kor’kron Legion or the Varokar Vanguard instead. I’ll be looking to work with these guilds in the future, and I’d enjoy RPing that dynamic out! Still, it’s my hope to possibly convince many of these Thrall sympathizers that… well, maybe Sylvanas has a point.

***Braces for the inevitable rotten fruit and vegetable barrage. :sob:***

I think a major problem with the current Horde storyline is that, frankly, Blizzard explained Sylvanas’s perspective incredibly poorly. We see the consequences of her actions rather than the motives behind it. The closest we get to the latter is a small block of text in a “blink or you’ll miss it” moment where she flatly explains that the Horde and Alliance are incompatible with one another. Sylvanas is definitely manipulative and scheming, but also a deadly pragmatist — an appropriate characteristic for an Undead character, in my opinion. In her eyes, the Alliance will never accept her people (and historically never have) and so how possibly can the Horde ever be at peace with the Alliance?

This launches into an overall theme for the Warcraft storyline that I feel is lost on many people: The Horde and Alliance have been at war for almost an entire generation with minor truces here and there. After the defeat of the Old Horde, the Alliance literally enslaved the Orcs. The Alliance have been vehemently “racist” towards the undead due to the Scourge, and arguably have the legitimacy to see the Forsaken as a mere arm of the Scourge. The list goes on, but I bring these examples up to remind people why the Horde and Alliance have legitimate reasons to distrust and war with each other. Blizzard, unfortunately, tends to undersell those themes (even in this expansion, which is dumb, IMO) when the Horde and Alliance continuously team up for the sake of trumping another existential threat. However, that’s a thread all in of itself so I’ll stop harping on it. Let me now directly address both of your concerns by answering this budding question:

Is your guild all about those spicey war crimes?

Sort of, but let me explain.

I want to knock a few things out of the way immediately: I have a zero tolerance policy OOCly for “war crimes” that fall under blatant sexual violence or child violence. A rule of thumb I follow is if it isn’t a theme Blizzard would touch, neither do I. Some roleplayers go beyond that, and frankly, I just don’t want writers like that in my guild.

However, when broadening the context of “war crimes” to violence against the opposing faction, this is where it gets more complex. My guild would be totally fine razing down a relatively defenseless Alliance village, similar to what you see with Brennadam in-game. From the Alliance perspective, the Horde attack at Brennadam feels barbaric. From the Horde perspective, the attack could be plausibly explained off as a necessity because Brennadam is likely a major supplier of food/resources in the Alliance war effort.

If we choose a more controversial example, my guild would probably support the use of the Blight at Lordaeron. The Blight is a horrific biochemical weapon, but according to the Old Soldier cinematic, we’re left with the impression that the Horde was genuinely at a disadvantage and possibly could have faced annihilation considering how much of the Horde’s leadership was stationed there. The Blight was a necessity to ensure the Horde’s survival, even if Saurfang wasn’t that happy about it, and arguably, Sylvanas did the right thing by following through on Vol’jin’s desire to ensure that the Horde “did not die” that day.

So, yes, my guild will be led by a main universe Blackrock Orc who’s grown up in a rather harsh environment. A good parallel for him is Malkorok, minus the Orc racism and willingness to drink the Old God juice. Blackrocks come from a harsh, militaristic society and typically see Thrall as too soft for a Horde leader. My character is currently aligned in that mindset and agrees that the Horde and Alliance are incompatible. To my Orc, Orgaz, he believes the only way to ensure the Horde’s survival is to crush the Alliance. Does that mean he wants to tie prisoners up and use them as target practice like Garrosh’s ilk in the Siege of Orgrimmar? No. Granted, Orgaz is still a brute and he’d discourage that level of sadistic violence more so because he sees torturing defenseless prisoners with no real gain in mind as weak behavior. What’s impressive about clocking a guy with an arrow if he can’t even move? Orgaz is more of the, “Give the prisoners weapons and let them fight each other for our amusement,” type of Orc. And before anyone spears me for that, the Horde literally have a gladiator arena in Orgrimmar for entertainment purposes. :sweat_smile:

So yeah, I hope that answers some of your concern Crystalette. I apologize for the massive wall, but I definitely wanted to make the distinction of how I view or intend to approach certain “darker” themes with my guild concept. I’m aware of the more public approach requiring a sense of finesse, and I prefer to be more tasteful in my writing, even if I’m writing for a visceral, bellicose character.

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I’m not as long winded as Kerdic is but I can say that I and my character would have a similar mindset to his. Especially about the line on OOC writing. War crimes could be thought of as an Alliance handicap to the Horde. We’ll use what we have to win a war. Our name venerates a dark leader but a leader that accomplished the greatest military victories against the Alliance over all other Warchiefs to date.
Our themes may be a little darker than some would like but we’re not going to be torturelust cultists. We just have a job to do in a war we’re losing and that’s generally my view on this subject.

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I cant speak for anyone but myself but my Character does not see any war crimes. He sees a leader who went to war to save the Horde, who did what was needed to fully and completely secure a land mass for the Horde. A leader who in a battle where she was out numbered and out gunned was so far ahead of the game she ensured that even in losing the enemy gained nothing. Now would be agree with all those choices no but he also swore an oath like all members of the Horde to obey the Warchief and as long as the Horde is breathing his honor dictates he follow her until death. ((just another note these are my Characters thoughts not my own.)) And really can there be Light without Dark?

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When I say “war crimes”, I typically mean those recognized by the international community in our real life world. A “crime” can only exist when paired with an existing law, either written or generated through tradition/judges/etc, and not too many international agreements exist in the Warcraft universe without the threat of some giant cosmic death god looming in the background. This would include chemical warfare, intentional killing of POWs and civilians, attacking medical personnel, and the sex crimes which tend to run rampant during a war. I’m glad you clarified that sex crimes would be off the table and that you would be sticking to the ones more likely to be shown in game, despite those also being pretty horrific.

I look forward to seeing those who take the motto “victory or death” seriously.

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If you are joing the Horde, I damn well better start seeing Chuck Norris jokeds in the Barrens.

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I appreciate the thoughtful responses to my concerns/questions. :slight_smile:

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I wanted to put a major shout out to everyone who was present in the Valley of Honor tonight! The Blackhand Battalion showed out in full force and made their loyalty to the Horde’s cause clear. We definitely had a lot of folks ready to remind us of Teldrassil’s carnage, and conflict is definitely the spice of life!

Looking forward to more tussles in the Valley! We’ll be at the Moon Guard Expo tonight at 9PM Server Time. Feel free to stop by as our project nears a public launch by the end of this weekend (if not sooner)!

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Great posts! I haven’t RP’ed heavily since MOP myself, but it’s great to see names from back then still around and putting great work into this community. /support

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This is great to see something like this happen. Although I play mainly in Wyrmrest these days, Moon Guard had been my home for years prior.

I would consider resurrecting one of my old toons or perhaps roll a new alt to support this new effort!

Keep up the good fight, friends!

FOR THE HORDE!!

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Kerdic is good people. Glad to see you’ve come Horde side and bring with you enthusiasm and drive for your guild concept. Lok’tar!

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35

Horde side has been nothing but great to me and I love(not literally) the people I’ve gotten to meet so far, both IC and OOC.

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Tossing my two lok’tar’s in here.

I don’t personally know Kerdic, but I have been among’st many events he’s had a hand in over the years. I can only really say good things about every event he’s had a hand in and see a good future for this guild and whoever chooses to join it.

It will be a welcome addition to the server’s roster and definitely open up some windows for the more poignant of IC viewpoints in this expac story.

But I’l still beat up anyone who tries to harm my Horde people. :dagger:

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Thank you, Rekfar!

I want to give a big shout out of appreciation to everyone who’s been in this thread and supported me thus far! Our project has finally launched to the public!

is now actively seeking new warriors who are ready to put an end to the Alliance!

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