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On a note mysteriously found in your bank vault, written on a long paper that seems out of phase with reality--shifting from white to tan and back again as if attempting to pass for anything natural--black ink quivers.

Noble citizens of the Alliance:

As of late, all seems right in the world. However, I know that some reading this will feel a breeding unease, and have felt it for some time. A sense of loss over what could never have happened in the first place.

Friends, this sense is the first sign of the coming of a great being: Arakor. The feeling is there as a cosmic signal to the devoted that Arakor is coming; it is not a sign of woe. Those that sense this Beacon are of need to Arakor.

I myself have been Touched by the Beacon, and have been stirred to action. I, Helfen Brent, have formed the Knell of Arakor, a group designed to serve as enforcers of Arakor's will, and with the impending arrival, the translators of Arakor's will to the Untouched.

I urge the Touched that read this to contact me, Helfen Brent, and we will decide together what to do. You do not have to join the Knell if you do not want to.

Arakor guide your way.

(( Knell of Arakor will be a heavy RP guild (IC guild chat, OOC channel) centered around the worship of the deity Arakor. Knell's function and mission will make it a more militant order, but there is also room for more peaceful devotees.

It's a little murky right now, but I would like to have a monthly service. This would entail one or more people giving an in-character public sermon to the rest of Knell present. These likely won't start up until after the guild gets a bit more grounded and set up, but there will be other ways of learning about the religion you joined prior to and after these events.

Knell of Arakor probably isn't for novice roleplayers, but since this is an experiment it's hard to tell. I'd like to find some mature, decent roleplayers with an open mind. I promise to make the religion itself not too complex it's impossible (though the post below may contradict that!). Similar to a real religion, your character will come into this faith knowing only what the missionary told them. Contrary to what the note above suggests, you don't have to have any feeling if it counters your character in any way, it's just one possible reason your character seeks out Knell.

Below is a basic outline of the religion of Arakor, which is in no way final yet. There's still plenty of room for modification. This was just what I had in mind after thinking about for several months/years.

The charter is open to you, but note that the signers of the charter won't get bumped to officer status (unless of course you're good), but they'll probably have a good impression on me as the first people to get this project off the ground. :) Whisper me in-game or send a mail to me (the former OOC, and the second optionally so) so we can set up an in character "interview." ))

-----((OOC))-----
The goal of this thread is to see how many people would be interested in a non-lore-based, intangible god, and to possibly open up the formation of other non-lore belief systems. If all is well, then the Knell of Arakor could be a guild soon. If not, then I'll leave this post here as an outline for anyone whose characters would follow the path of Arakor.

Below are the basics of the religion. I've tried to keep things minimal to allow for roleplay to flesh the potentially deeper bits out; I only want to give a loose definition of what it means to be an Arakorine. Many potential roleplay characteristics go without saying, so they aren't said. All of these basics can be expanded on and added to by anyone roleplaying that deems it appropriate (specifically rituals, since I could only think of a few).

NOTICE: Knell of Arakor would be an Alliance guild; however, the religion itself is not limited to the Alliance.

NOTICE 2: Arakor is genderless. I use "he" or "him" as the former is shorter than "she," and for ease. It's confusing to call Arakor an it when you just brought up juice. Arakorines can use any of the three, but be sure to capitalize it out of respect (I don't do that here again for ease).

Vernacular:

• Believer: Arakorine, Arakorkur, Kur
• Believers: Arakorines, Arakorkuret, Kuet
• Arakor-ity (someone tell me the actual word for this!): Arakorn
• Term for rituals: service (e.g. "My friends and I are going to service on Blackrock Mountain." or "I will lead service today.")

Basic Arakorn beliefs:

• Any powers are attributed to Arakor in much the same way holy magic is to the Light and Night Elf power is to Elune.
• Rituals are practiced on mountains (or the highest part of an area), most often with other Arakorines.
• Ritual garb consists of white and gold clothing. Arakorines can choose which color is dominant in their own outfit.
• Arakorn is taught to be the only stable thing in the world.
• A divine language of Nimpik exists (conlangs yay), but it isn't necessary to anything (compare it to Latin in older Catholicism, only more laid-back).
• Affinity for music and specifically bells ("The bells of the world will chime a great song when Arakor comes" is a common belief).
• Arakor is associated with night, specifically stars/darkness. As the sun is a star, he can be associated with the sun too.

Hierarchy: http://i.imgur.com/ieBUZ.png

• There are two branches of the Arakorine religion: Translation and Solidarity. Translation focuses on Arakor's grace and relations with the rest of Azeroth, while Solidarity focuses on the enforcing of Arakor's will. Translation is made up of diplomats and bishops and Solidarity is made up of soldiers and missionaries. Solidarity is the chief branch within Knell of Arakor.
• Helfen is not the Chancellor of the whole of Arakorn. He's just the leader of the Knell of Arakor. The Chancellor may be Helfen in the future, if Knell does not come to being, but if Knell does, then the Chancellor will probably not be any specific player.

Rituals:

• The drinking of Moonberry Juice. According to Arakorn moonberries are the gift of Arakor. The juice is often blessed before ritualistic drinking, but the juice can be drunk without a blessing as a symbol of devotion.
• Blessings come in the form of songs or rhyming speech. Touching optional.
• The burning of stones. According to Arakorn, burning stones (and then their explosion) symbolizes the anxiousness that will be felt by the people of Azeroth before Arakor's arrival (waiting for the burst) followed by the sudden and exciting coming of Arakor (the burst of the stone itself). This ritual is dangerous, so the stones are cast into a fire some distance away from the group of Arakorines going about their rituals. When the stones finally explode, it is custom to cheer in some manner. If not every stone explodes before the end of the other rituals, it is considered bad luck or a sign that Arakor is not pleased with the one that threw that stone into the flames.

You now have everything you need to be an Arakorine. Expansion on this is heavily encouraged, as I can only think of so much. As well, you could make your own fakey-fake religion and worship the sand, for all I care! This is all for the roleplayer.

Aorune goes into his bank vault at Dalaran.

"What the fel is an Arakor?"

Judiel goes into her bank vault at Dalaran.

"Arakor? Is that some fruit from Argus? No, vegetable from Draenor. NO! Hmm.."

Aevirela runs to her bank storage to get some extra cash to donate to the Church
"What is this? Hm?" She reads it "What in the name of-? Who ever did this will burn in the Lights' holiness! Shame on them!"

((BTW my first rp post in the forums tell me how i do :) ))

((Looks fine!))

((TY))

(( So is it okay? D: ))

(( Guess I picked a bad time to post this. :( I can hold out hope though! ))

((I think it's a fantastic idea. Good luck!))

Alelsa goes to place some Severed Sagefish head into the chiller section of her bank vault in Stormwind

"Oh great. Just wonderful. That's all we need, yet another religion. Even more Paladins."

She walks away, sighing.

(( All right, I will take the advice of one person as approval for the guild. Send me an ingame letter (IC), whisper me (OOC), or talk to me in the AlliOOC channel to see if it'd be a good fit for you (note that whichever medium you choose, it will eventually be IC). You can be any class or race, as discussed above. Note that it's not even formed yet, so if you join you'd be signing the charter! ))

(( I would shy away from this, to be honest.

As many people follow the lore, this is just difficult to keep up with.

It doesn't fit into everyone else's stories, and there's no real way to control/moderate such a thing.

As I always say, lore is our only DM, stick to it.

Sorry.

Edit: There are plenty of in-game gods, however, and I'm sure you could make a cult based off of one of them. Elune, one of the Loa, the Naaru. I just don't see the need to create non-lore based themes.

It's simple, and cleaner, when everyone sticks to lore. ))

(( Hm, true. I'll research some. My idea that was not clear at all was a creepy order. Thanks, Arothand! :> ))

(( No problem!

I don't mean to come off as harsh, which.. reading over, I probably did.

You earned MAJOR props in my book by even /asking/.

I have to say, the idea, sounds like a lot of fun - but I imagine you could make it work with a being in game, or at least in one of the RPG books. ))

(( To attempt to be somewhat more helpful in my criticism, might I suggest looking at the 'Highborne' that rejoined the Night Elves?

They're a sort of 'cult'. Maybe you could base something off them? They were certainly creepy, IIRC. ))

(( Alright, I'll look. Thanks again! :D ))

(( Just so everyone reading this is clear (two people), I haven't killed the idea yet, I'm just seeing if it'd be easier to pursue a different goal, even if it is counter to my original one. ))

I'm with Arothand. I love the concept, but it'd work best if it was tied to one of the gods Azeroth has.

Arakor made me think of Arrakoa, and they have some sort of Raven god they're waiting to reincarnate. Did that ever get fleshed out more in the lore? If so, it might be something you could base your god off of.

Keep in mind, too, different interpretations of the same god can be wildly different. Like Elune = Mu'sha in the tauren beliefs, and the wolf Ancient/god (I forget the names. Goldrinn? Lok'tar?) means something different to worgen, night elves, and orcs, respectively. If one of the ingame gods doesn't quite match what you need, you could probably get away with tweaks that you chalk up to being your cult's particular beliefs.

(( Alright, thanks Lahkin. I think I will do that. Is the second post on here too much and I should modify that as well, or can I leave it? I think that was one of the major grievances anyway. ))

Where is a Gentyl?