To the Roleplayers of 11th hour... ((OOC Discussion))

[elarion]

... how do you (or do you) RP your guild tag?

I remember Lydia explaining some of the guild history to us when we joined the guild, and so far I've run with that. I also tend to take all of our PvE activities IC, to a point. You can't exactly run around saying "I killed Nefarion!", when you are going to kill him next week again, and two other whole guilds can make the same claim. I, personally, just explain it vaguely as "our continuing battle with the black dragonflight".

Anyways, I'd like to hear a bit more of what you all think before adding more of my thoughts.

-El'arion.

[elarion]

No replies? :-(

roleplayers are sleeping <_<

no..but I honestly wouldn't know how to RP our guild tag :/

I always play us as a mercenary company. I've never heard of us being particularly beholden to any one or group so I figured mercenaries works as well as anything.

As for MC or BWL, I just call it elemental or orc and dragon killing, don't bother getting specific about it.

[Sadie]

I haven't been doing much RP lately, since Sadie is somewhat unsuited to long-term story, and she ended up becoming my most played character. :( But were it to come up, I'd call us a mercenary company constantly undertaking campaigns against whatever it is we're raiding, yeah. It's consistent with the origin story, if the officers and warders haven't changed the IC purpose of the guild since then.

Although when you think about it, it's funny that the raiding actually makes us poorer, but better-equipped.

[elarion]

I haven't been doing much RP lately, since Sadie is somewhat unsuited to long-term story, and she ended up becoming my most played character. :( But were it to come up, I'd call us a mercenary company constantly undertaking campaigns against whatever it is we're raiding, yeah. It's consistent with the origin story, if the officers and warders haven't changed the IC purpose of the guild since then.

Although when you think about it, it's funny that the raiding actually makes us poorer, but better-equipped.

But what is the origin story? Tell us! :-P

[elarion]

I personally found what I knew of the origin story to be much more compelling than simply a mercernary band. I know deciding to join 11th was partly predicated on the story for those of us that came from Aku Soku Zan. I do sort of have a hazy memory of it, so I'd like to leave the telling to someone who knows more.

-El

[Arzamas]

Yes, more story and less hazing this time round - we were drunk off our arses when inducted into Eleventh. It would be good to hear the story WITHOUT a haze. (IC I mean, not IRL - least, not me)

"That bug was level 57, I SHHHWEAR...hic!"

[Nataliya]

I could see us being mercenaries in the sense that the Dendarii Mercenaries are. (For those who've read the Lois Bujold books.) We fight for money and glory, but somehow we always end up taking on tasks where the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

[Ebonshadow]

/em points at Dosia, and nods in agreement.

In a balanced world, we would be collecting accolades and waterfront Keeps for the evils we have rid from this world. Instead we collect repair bills and the occassional fancy trinket or shiny piece of armour.

With his impressive array of dragonspawn warriors, I am sure that someone of Nefarion's power employs a healer or two to patch him back up. Not like we don't get rezzes after a particularly nasty fight. This war that we wage is one of attrition at best. Both sides have powerful magics, and it is only through the herculean efforts of companies of combatants like ours that the evil is kept in their dens and caves.

(( People rarely ask me how I got into Eleventh, but when they do, I spin them a tale of how Jibjob taught Ebonshadow to use her budding Rogue talents for a more than lining her own pockets. After meeting some of the other hardened members of Eleventh, Ebonshadow knew that she could learn and be tested here. ))

[Sadie]

But what is the origin story? Tell us! :-P

Heh. I thought it was up somewhere, but that must have been on the old forums. I'll have to give a brief summary of Lydia's background, for context.

---

Lydia was born and raised in Tarren Mill; interested in becoming a healer, she left to Lordaeron City to train with the best. The plague and then the Third War broke out toward the end of her priest training, and she ended up losing basically everyone and everywhere she knew and renouncing her faith, escaping to Stormwind.

She spent a few years in the Stormwind guard for need of something to do, for vengeance and to forget. During this time she became aware of how dire the overall situation seemed. It felt like the world was coming apart. Gnolls, kobolds, and other bandits pillaged and looted unchecked through what human lands remained. Duskwood became a wasteland. The Scourge had free reign of practically the entire continent of Lordaeron. And the Stormwind armies were always occupied elsewhere.

Lydia felt that the people needed hope in these dark times. They needed something to believe in, dedicated to trying to put everything right, from the small problems to the numerous larger ones coming out of the woodwork. So she founded a small mercenary company with some friends, cynically counting on the allure of money to gather people who had the drive to become powerful enough to begin forcing back the darkness.

Privately she felt that it was a lost cause. It was primarily something to do to bring hope to the people, so that humanity's last days, the race's eleventh hour, would be less full of despair. There was also the desire to interfere enough with the Scourge that we'd cause Arthas some annoyance before he wiped everything off the planet. To be able to spit in his eye before the killing blow landed, as it were.

Well, the company succeeded beyond her wildest expectations. In addition, having surrounded herself by good, determined people, Lydia began to put much more stock in the power of banding together and of alliances, and began to see the light herself. Over the next year various events caused her to regain her faith and contentment, and she temporarily passed the mantle of leadership on to her good friend Ada while they considered who would be most suitable to lead the now repurposed mercenary company. They decided that Luxury would best succeed, and the rest is history.

(In recent months Lydia has spent most of her time operating a small potion shop, occasionally taking up her sword when needed against the forces of the Hakkari and Qiraji.)

---

So yeah, the 'mercenaries who happen to end up repeatedly saving the world' angle works well.

Basically, I think of it this way. Onyxia has not been killed, Ragnaros has not been killed, Nefarion has not been killed.. they all still exist. If you truly think about it, killing Ragnaros or Nefarion would change all of Azeroth. Forty of us would be heroes. We would have statues erected of us. But then again, forty more from another guild would have statues. The world would be filled with heroic statues. Molten Core would be hollow forever, probably not even existing anymore because the rift was closed.

Sadly, game mechanics make it so you can't brag about killing bosses like those. In reality, Molten Core would be bigger too.

[Lugnutz]

I tend to RP differently from most people. I don't bother coming up with reasons to cover game mechanics. I remember back in the day everyone would flip out if you said you were "level XX" and felt the need to be "season XX" instead. That always bugged me more - since it was an unnecessary coverup of game mechanics. If season refers to "seasons" then that puts most non-elf adventurers into thier geriatric years. I always figured "level" was just as good since it could mean a system within a persons class guilds/organizations - like some martial arts have distinctions such as colored belts and whatnot.

So I really don't bother to hide game mechanics. I also don't take the time to set aside RP time as many people tend to do. My method of RP is to develop different characters. Most of my toons will have a different spin and different quirks than the others. All of them will share some part of personality with me - but each should have a different feel to them and this is how I tend to RP. So I don't have to set aside specific time to do it and can RP most of the time.

Lugnutz has a very different personality than ScurvyPete or Wurzzag does. Most of my chars have a story around them that evolves as I play and think up more crap - but I am often too lazy to write stories for any of it - although I have been meaning too.

Lugnutz is a grumpy bastard with a deep-seated hatred of Trolls. Long in the past he was deeply wronged by trolls and holds them all responsible. His primary profession in life was as a prospector and the role of an adventuring warrior came to him later in life as he sought revenge.

ScurvyPete on the other hand is a foul loud-mouthed pirate. He has no allegiance to anyone at all and will cut your throat without hesitation if there is any profit in it. He has no particular prejudices as far as race and will ally with anyone if its convenient at the time.

Wurzzag is an ancient Orc warrior long past his prime. He had descended into the realm of senility and partial dementia for many years and was cared for as an honored and revered warrior elder in his clan. Recently he began having visions of ancient spirits that promised to renew his former glory in exchange for his allegiance. After years of sitting around the elder's hut in a stupor he picked up his well-worn axe and simply walked out under the guidance of these voices that spoke to him. He slips from lucidity to madness at the drop of a hat. He is too frail to wear the plate-mail from his younger years but still wields his axe with skill surpassing most warriors a fourth of his age.

Ztungul is actually Lugnutz in a Cybork Gnomish Infiltration suit trying to spy on the horde. This is a fun character to play.

[Kiiyue]

((Since Seven ((DEATH TO THE GONG ROBBER)) plays out Tempora Heroica as an offically sanctioned army unit for the Alliance I've been seeing The Eleventh Hour as another official task force. Of irregulars, mind you; we STILL don't have matching uniforms.

Since Luxury isn't a REAL NAME ZOMG I've regarded it as an alias for something a lot more famous so there is some reason that The Eleventh Hour is as strong as it is today. Perhaps a forgotten disciple of Uther Lightbringer, or maybe even Sir Lothar reborn. Hey, legends can spread.

Oh, and Cathela wields a whip. :) )

[Raystlyn]

Oh, and Cathela wields a whip. :) )


us members of Divine Intervention, knew of her whip fetish ages ago :P