'My dear brothers and sisters of the Harvest,
I am writing this letter, my hand quivering as I'm apalled by the turn our organization is taking. The recent weeks have only been constituted of senseless bickering over the sharing of captured demons on Argus. Akin to vultures, I witnessed as each one of you pulled on the Legion's corpse, not to forward another cause than your own. Have all these discourses about mutual assistance, faithfulness and trust been filled only by the Nether in which you dwell ? I liked to think otherwise once, yet my faith in the Order wobbles.
Not only that but our members seem to have become more and more....decadent. They wobble in their own arrogance thinking themselves above Sargeras, above the laws of the Universe. Have they not learnt any lesson from the demons' downfall ? Have they not beholden with their own eyes how the demons slackened and bloated on their own pride, their conquests of yore ? The moment you started to think yourselves as all-knowing is the moment you stopped learning.
I do not regret in the slightest joining the Order and contributing to its project, but this senseless masquerade cannot, I believe, be stopped by my sole effort. I couldn't bear to remain part of a crumbling order, slowly turning into yet another political power attempting to tip the scales of the present tensions between what was once the Legionfall.
Thus, I hereby decided to sail on my own, or rather, with the few remaining sensible individuals who've kept their ambition for knowledge, power and mind sharpening. If you deem yourself as such, follow me. Follow me, and dare to dive once more to the darkest part of our world and others, as well as the hidden part of yourself. Our potentials are far from exploited, and it'd be disheartening to see them fallow from a lack of ambition.
Reign in chaos and may the Netherwinds blow at your back...
An elaborate ink sigil followed, reading the author's name.
“Tahor Fyr Telirias – La Croix”'
Welcome, welcome, and thank you for taking your time reading this post. I am Roa, IG name of Tahor, and I am here to introduce my new project: The Witnesses. It's a simple idea on paper, a group of magi / warlocks banding together in order to unveil the secrets of magic. The arcane, fel, shadow and all creatures linked to these. In practice however, the organization is a bit more complex than it seems, and seems to hold a certain degree of mystery.
Its premices are actually fairly recent, birthed under Thalor's initiative at the conclusion of the Argus Invasion, it took a different path from the Black Harvest, keeping a certain degree of secrecy all the while being way more active in the research of artifacts and of unique spellcraft. It has also found itself quarreling with the Explorer's League or the Reliquary, as its quest for forgotten relics brought its members to struggle against the two institutions.
Its main field of study is demonology. The summoning of demons, the study of each individual fiend, their strenghts, their weaknesses and of course, the discovery and classification of new species, profiting from the Legion's downfall. It is not limited to it however, as some of its members have found themselves studying the Arcane, or even Necromancy as part of their process to better understand the cosmos and chaos.
In terms of roleplay, I'll do my best to keep the guild as active as possible. The main activities will be free-form adventures, in the style of a tabletop RPG. A main scenario will be thought about by myself, yet ultimately, the players will decide, by their actions, of the story's course. A roll system will be used with specific stats and abilities for each player. Progress is also paramount as the more expeditions your character is part of, the more powerful or knowledgeable they will become.
The second activity would be magical courses or experiments, in which the warlocks will be given to toy around with some type of magic, maybe design a few spells of their own or discover new uses to the existing ones. These events are a good way to simulate your character's theoretical progression, even if they're not the fighting type nor particularly experienced.
Finally, the rituals, which will have different purposes, going from bindind demons, punishing / promoting members according to their actions, or exploring new horizons in search of specific boons or powers. These are mostly used to reinforce the importance of rituals in the warlock identity. Something that, in game, takes a few seconds is supposedly the work of a few hours, trying to perfect your ritual circle, preparing the reagents, balancing magical energies across the runes, etc.
These will probably be the least frequent yet could be a good way to introduce a new demon character to the guild.
And about that...what types of characters are able to join ?
Well, I'm fairly lenient here, all races are accepted yet, and we will come back to that later, there must be a lore backing up your character and a purpose to their introduction to the guild. Obviously, there will be less tolerance towards races that are hardly enclined to warlockery or magic in general, namely Kaldoreis, Draeneis, Pandarens and Taurens among others. As for the class, your character must be a wizard (mage), a warlock or at least have some ties or interest with magic. Brutish guards are irrelevant in an association mainly focused on research. Demons are also accepted, yet are necessarily bound and thus, limited in power and size. (do not try to play a Pit Lord for example, at it would most likely destroy any kind of difficulties an expedition could pose.)
As for the types of players I'm looking for ? Tolerant and creative. Really, that's it.
During the events, I'll be making liberal usage of custom lore, for the simple reason that Blizzard's lore is full of holes that I'm not even thinking will be filled one day, that the full process of a ritual is vague, the number of currently known demons actually small compared to what you'd expect from a fully-fledged fantasy world, and the number of spells redundant and sometimes, mere copies of old school DnD spells. Magic should be about creating, experimenting and forging your own identity as a spell caster. Not being the same fire mage, destruction warlock or enchanter as anyone else. Thus, players that are reluctant to the idea of using custom lore should refrain from applying to the guild.
Now about your character's purpose here.
That's something you definetly want to think about, as the roleplay's flavour will be fully expressed whenever you confront your interests and perspectives to the other members. Search for power or knowledge is shared across all members of the Association, however, your character could have more reasons for joining. Maybe the tolerant academic frame leaves them enough freedom to experiment on an otherwise forbidden school of magic ? Maybe the association gives them funds for a project others would've found unviable ? They could be former members of a cult, the Twilight's Hammer, the Shadow Council, etc. Seeking to redeem themselves ? The possibilities are numerous, and I'll leave it to you to think about this important topic before joining.
Here you go ! Thanks for everyone that's read at least part of the post, if you ever have more questions or are interested in joining, please /w me in game on Tahor or join our discord (https://discord.gg/qv2YYA7)
Don't hesitate to give us suggestions below and hoping to see you soon in RP.
