The Lordaeron Memorial March heralds the start of the annual observation of the Forsaken, reflecting upon the Scourging Of Lordaeron and the events of the 3rd war. This year’s Memorial March retraced Arthas’s journey from the Throneroom after slaying his Father, to the Sunwell. The observant faithful of the Cult Of Forgotten Shadow led the observation with prayer, and blessings of ash before those gathered were able to leave offerings of mourning at the blood stain upon the throneroom floor to the fallen King. Escorting the observers and mourning was a squad of Death Knights under the command of 2nd generation Death Knights sworn to repay their debt to the fallen for this sins in the 3rd War against their own people.
Upon arriving at the border Qual’thalas the Lordaeron Memorial March was greeted by the awaiting combined forces of The Pheonix Legion and Sunfury Battalion, who welcomed the mourns before proceeding to lead the march to the Dead Scar where the Sin’dorei would end the march with their own mourning and speeches reflecting back upon the terrible events.
Thank you all for making this the single largest memorial march, with well over 100 players attending.
Guardians of the slain, a debt yet to be repaid. (Below)
Reception of the march by the Sunfury Battalion and The Phoenix Legion.
The speech and presentation by Luneth, it was exceptional.
Sadly, I did not catch all of the speeches. However, here is a small sample of the rp speeches from this year from various RPers.
Aeythyr, Sunfury Battalion Speech
Aeythyr dismounts his warhorse and walks slowly to the center area of the scar. Reaching down to a satchel near his belt, he extracts a bottle of what appears to be a dark liquor. He remains silent, uncorking it, then raises the bottle into the air with one hand and begins tipping the bottle slowly. Eventually, dark brown liquid begins pouring out, slowly at first, then faster as he continues to tilt the bottle further and further, until it is completely inverted.
Aeythyr watches as the last drops trickle out from the bottle, replaces the cork, and puts it back in the satchel at his belt.
“Tonight we honor our fallen, our brothers and sisters, Sin’dorei and other allies, who have selflessly offered their blood, to protect Quel’thalas, and this Horde, so that others may sleep safely without knowing the horrors of war. To those who fought at our side, we thank you for your sacrifice, may you know that we continue to stand vigilant to protect that for which you died. To those captured, prisoners of recent wars, still in the hands of our enemies… We are coming for you brothers and sisters. We are coming with vengeance.”
“Make no mistake, the vigilance of the Sin’dorei shall continue… to those who would protect our people, I offer you my shield and the aid of the Sunfury… to those who would threaten our people… I offer you… my sword at your throat, and condolences to your next of kin.”
“Selama Ashal’anore… For the Glory of Quel’thalas.”
Aeythyr salutes the crowd and walks slowly, back to his steed.
Sinor, United Rose Speech
“Bal’a dash friends, comrades, and allies; I am Sinora Bloodrose. Twenty years ago, these lands were sought out by Arthas Menethil, seeking to use our Sunwell for his twisted ends with the aid of an army of Scourge Undead and the traitorous Dar’khan Drathir. In the terrible assault and near genocide that ensued, I was stationed with a Battalion in Southern Eversong—now known as the Ghostlands. My Lord-Commander received reports from sentries that the Prince had crossed our borders and was butchering his way for the Outer Enchanted Elfgate; we were given orders to move forward and provide the Ranger-General with whatever backup we could.”
“I remember how certain we were… how we thought the Prince’s little “tantrum” would be an empty threat to us. After all, what damage could some shambling mindless Human corpses do to our High Home? However, we underestimated their numbers and necromancers. We were overrun. Every death only added another to their ranks. Our pride, self-assuredness, and reckless courage? It was all for nothing… when our Lord-Commander was killed, what morale was left died with him, and our ranks shattered. Many still stood their ground, but others fled into the trees for their lives, while a few… like me… pulled back to try and help evacuate our families. Many of us were local, hailing from Houses in Southern Eversong, and believed the Inner Enchanted Elfgate was unbreachable, and if only we could get our kin within it… we’d be more than fine with facing punishment for abandoning our posts after it was over.”
“If only we knew what would come later. However, my house… we never even got as far as crossing the river. At the time, it consisted only of my father, myself, and our handful of servants. A simple evacuation, yes? No… because the Scourge army covered too much ground too quickly. My home was directly in the path of what would soon become the Dead Scar. Needless to say… my father did not live to see our homeland fall, and I retreated to Silvermoon alone with a broken shield. Silvermoon fell within days following the first attacks, and our Sunwell was corrupted and had to be destroyed by our Prince.”
“The hunger left in the wake of its end, however, was staggering. It was humiliating to witness… everyone staked their hopes on our Prince—a young man still grieving his father—and cried to him for hope while siphoning dry the mana of the very fauna of our home to try and stall their withdrawal effects. In desperation, we all turned to our mortal allies… the Prince departed with those who followed him, leaving the Regent-Lord in charge during his absence.”She took a slow, deep breath, hands closing their fingers around her forearms behind her back. “And despite my house’s oath of service to the Prince, I lingered behind…”
“We suffered. All of us suffered! We fell from the grace our own efforts bestowed us and became lax, arrogant, and repeated the foolishness of our Highborne ancestors! We stagnated and closed ourselves away! Now, however… now we’ve not only shed our own tears, sweat, and blood to avenge the ones who fell, but we’ve become even greater! Because we stood up and refused to surrender ourselves! We stand together with the Horde! We have a new Sunwell but we do not depend upon it! We will forever remember those we lost so long as we don our red! We are the unbending Sin’dorei!! Aranal, Sin’dorei! Anar’alah belore!”
There were many more speeches and so many amazing moments. Thank you all for coming out, and making this march so exceptional.
Location: Wandering booth
The stuff I’ve been able to attend so far has been unlike anything I’ve seen, and you all really do have a mark of quality!
