World of Warcraft®

I have a couple of RP guild concepts in mind and I wanted to get some opinions on them as well as suggestions if you have them.

The first concept is more simplistic of the two. The guild will based upon an old kaldorei unit that was comprised of eccentric individuals that somehow performed well as a unit. Think of the A-Team, Mission Impossible or The Expendables. Its current incarnation wouldn’t be militaristic and would be comprised of all Alliance races but the unorthodox style will continue. There would be a lot of room for flexibility.

The second concept is a knock off of a guild I established on WrA. The guild was a secret spy agency for the Church, conducting missions for the Bishop Council. Just like SI:7 worked for the crown, the agency worked for the Church.

But seeing I don’t plan on returning to my rogue and concentrating on my hunter, I thought I could expand upon that idea in a different way but still maintain the theme. I thought about a spy network for all faith based organizations of all the races of the Alliance. They would conduct missions to further the causes of Elune and the Light but work in the shadows and also be willing to conduct missions that the typical holy order would abstain from due to the possible unsavory implications.

You're right in that option #1 is more simplistic. There doesn't seem much to differentiate it from another guild of mercenaries. I think it would also be hard for you to keep the ragtag feel of it if you grow your numbers too much. However, simplicity does allow for flexibility, as you point out.

Option #2 sounds more interesting, with more possibility for conflict and drama. Veering into Scarlet Crusade territory there, but the Crusade made for a good story. I'm not sure about the "all faith based organizations" bit, though, at least not in any official capacity, even if it's top secret. I don't think the goals of the Light's and Elune's followers mesh closely enough; one is more of a philosophy, while the other has an actual deity. It might be better to stick with the original concept, but feel free to convince me otherwise.

Another possibility is a secret organization supported by officials in each group who help cover up its actions "for the greater good," but is not actually under the control of the Church or the Temple of Elune; or at the very least, is no group Tyrande's ever sanctioned. The group could include the occasional mercenary who isn't very religious, but has his own reasons to join.

Throw in a certain Archbishop's recent disappearance and shadowy activities, and there's a story lead to follow on. Was Benedictus one of your supporters? Or were you working against him? With his disappearance, how do other people react to your organization now? I can think of several more questions.

Well, in short, option #2 got my interest enough to sit and think this out and write a reply. It has some immediate plot hooks and flavor. Plus, you have experience with that type of group. If you've more definitive plans, I'd like to hear them.

There are militaristic orders devoted to the Church - Pia Presidium comes readily to mind - but a holy assassins' guild? That definately has possibilities. The Inquisition had to have somebody to kill the heretics, after all, heh heh.

Pia Presidium has been known to deal with...mercenaries before. If you go with choice two look me up. I'll put you in contact with the leader of my covert ops group.

Appreciate the feedback.

The archbishop's corruption is actually an excellent catalyst for a covert group. The people trusted in him only to realize he was working in secret to destroy the world (assuming word go out about his actions). I wouldn't be surprised if the bishop council decided to create a secret society of sorts to make sure such corrupted individuals would never rise in power within the church.

It wouldn't be far fetched for the night elves to consider placing some measures in case something like that happens to them. Actually it has: Fandral. Although he wasn't a priest, he held a great deal of power and influence.

I'll have to refine my idea more but yeah, the second option always appealed to me more. I think one of the key points are whether such a group would be "unofficially" sanctioned by the church or temple. I'll appreciate more suggestions.

If anyone is interested and wish to be part of the second option (which is still evolving), please let me know.

Also please keep in mind one very critical point. I play WoW at night. So almost all the activities would occur in the evenings, 8pm and after. If you are interested and that fits your schedule, I'd love to brainstorm with others.

I personally like the idea of a covert group, much like SI:7. On another 'server' I proposed running an SI7 based guild, were it was basically a leader, or the director, of SI:7 and all the agents where in the field and embedded into the different guilds. To keep their cover, messages would be delivered and picked up in person by senior agents, which I called "Handlers" that posed as regular merchants, etc, etc.

Porting this idea over to CC and I can see a group like this operating in conjunction with a few of the established guilds: Pia and the Stormwing City Watch come to mind; with the obvious targeting being the LO and various other guilds... hell, you could even get an agent into the AAMS if you wanted!

One of the mistakes I made with my previous guild was that they really didn't have a cover but they had to work in secret. So when they congregated to investigate something or accomplish a mission, any outsider would suspect the individuals to be part of a group. Eventually, understanding this problem, I made the guild public but at that point it lost some of its flavor (although going public did advance the core plotline of the guild in a very crucial way).

The covert group still needs a cover. I may make them publicly a mercenary guild but in truth they are much more than that. But as a merc company, no one would suspect they had a secret agenda other than performing the mission they had been hired to accomplish.

Due to current events, I figure most of the Alliance kingdoms and nations are a bit paranoid. Fandral Staghelm and the Archbishop completely betrayed their people. And the dwarves still have some apprehension over Moira.

So I am leaning towards a group that works like the Mission Impossible team. They work in secret for the Alliance and if any of their missions or assignments go wrong or are exposed, they are pretty much on their own. But at the same time, they will have access to more confidential information and resources.

I usually play in the evenings after work. So I'm either on in the afternoon or late at night, depending on my shift. Late shifts mean I don't even get home until 8pm. Keep an eye out for me.

I don't think I'll be on tonight, since I have some late holiday guests staying with me, but I can sneak to the computer every now and then to check forum posts.

Ketlan, the character I use on CC is Drayson. I just log him into the Blue Recluse just to scope things out.

Once I transfer Kalen over, things will be more concrete.