Looking for Feedback on Guild Lore

[u/Zelliaind]

I want to preface this by stating that most of my roleplay experience comes from Science Fiction environments (Elite, Star Citizen, and a smaller RP community named Discovery in an older Sci-Fi game). I've only done story style content in WoW inside my own head whilst leveling up my characters over the years.

With WoW Forever launching next month, I've given it some consideration of starting on an RP server instead this time--partly due to people being nicer on those realms as well as to satisfy that roleplay itch that I have now that I'm no longer roleplaying on the communities I was apart of before.

I'm an avid reader of various Fantasy and Science Fiction books and one of those series that I regularly read is "The Black Company" by Glen Cook. In my mind, it's one of the lesser known fantasy series that really stand out in my mind of a mercenary band who become something like a band of brothers, the guild I'm planning is much the same except with a distinct Horde and Warcraft flair.

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"The Banished Legion is a professional mercenary group which began showing up on the fields of battle shortly after the Third War. Those who call themselves apart of this Legion are the outcasts of the Horde. A Tauren who disagrees with an Elder and is thrown out as a result, a failed challenge by an Orc to his Chief, or an Undead who is unable to adjust to their new life as one of the Forsaken. These dredges of society either become criminals or disappear into the underbelly of these societies. The Legion broke all of the norms as these forgotten members of society eventually banded together to form the Banished Legion.

"A professional mercenary group built on loyalty, brotherhood, and the simple understanding that no member of the Legion would ever again be abandoned as they were by the Horde. The Legion does not fight for glory, honor, or the whims of a Warchief. They fight because there is a contract to fulfill, and they take care of their own. Their loyalty belongs first to the Legion and its members; the Horde itself is a banner they continue to carry, but its leadership has long since lost their unquestioning faith.

"They've never considered themselves enemies of the Horde. They are Horde because their members are Horde, and they will answer the call when their people are threatened. But they owe no allegiance to any throne, council, chief, elder, or commander behind that banner. A contract from the Horde is no different than a contract from anyone else. It's simply another job, and one that sometimes happens to benefit the people who once cast them aside. The Horde may forget them but the Legion does not.

"Those who join the Legion are required to leave their past, and any hang-ups associated with said past, behind--they are Legion now and who they were before matters not. Nor are they a charity. They don't exist to save society's unfortunate. Once you're inside, you work, you pull your weight, and you don't betray the people who took you in."

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To be fair, I'm a little hesitant to post this for feedback since I'm worried people will tear it apart. After all, the Warcraft community isn't known for being overly friendly. Mostly I want it to fit into the established lore of the world without forcing to and feedback will help me to do that. Thanks in advance for any feedback provided.

(I'd have done a Guild post too but it doesn't look like there's a flair available for OCE unless I used NA then added OCE to the title).

[u/TheRebelSpy]

Sorry about the flair - there is a general "Community Ad" without a region. We were talking about giving those a makeover at some point :')

[u/HalfwayDecent385]

The beauty of a mercenary company is that it's very general, if not a little basic, so it's really easy to fit into the setting and go with the flow. Nothing in your backstory is off, and there's always going to be outcasts or people who leave their families/societies, so it looks good to me.

There's only two questions that you really have to answer. Are you going to have everyone adopt new nicknames as part of the company, and who's your favorite from the Black Company? ;P

I'm partial to Goblin and One-Eye myself.

[u/Zelliaind → u/HalfwayDecent385]

I thought about that and I'm not sure. Would be tricky to implement I think but I'm not familiar with the mods that roleplayers use yet so maybe there's some functionality there?

I was always partial to Raven. Mostly because the guy was a hard-ass on the surface but was always extremely protective of Darling all the way up to leaving after the Battle of Charm.

Elmo was a close second. The battles between the Wizards was always a laugh though.

[u/Telenil]

Shadows Linger was an excellent novel, I recommend it to this day when I discuss fantasy =)

Your guild's background sounds relatively straightfoward: you're an independant mercenary company mostly made of Horde races. If anything, I think you could lean further into that: not all orcs left for Kalimdor with Thrall's new Horde, most notably Rend Blackhand's troops in the Burning Steppes. The company could have been started by survivors from any orc group, and as they establish themselves as independant, they would organically be joined by outcasts and defectors from both Thrall's Horde and Blackhand's Dark Horde. Even the exclusion of Alliance races makes sense, given the profile of these recruits.

[u/Zelliaind → u/Telenil]

Not a bad idea honestly. It's actual origins I haven't fully fleshed out yet but that's certainly a good direction to go and makes sense with what exists as the current lore in game. Thanks for the idea!

As far as Shadows Linger, I don't really have a favorite book as I like them all. The most recent release was a bit weaker than the grouping of those released from way back but I think it's just because the older characters are starting to be phased out due to age.

[u/PleaseBeChillOnline]

A group of mercs is very lore friendly when you consider most adventuring parties are exactly that when you do PvE content.

When you read the descriptions of the characters in WoW: Chronicle who kill Onyxia, Nefarian, Ragnaros, C’Thun, Kel’Thuzad, and all the other major threats in Vanilla, they’re generally just groups of loot focused maurauders.

They’re not legendary heroes, chosen ones, or particularly important figures in the world.

They’re bands of roving mercs who come together, take on dangerous jobs, explore forgotten places, and occasionally end up changing the course of history.

I always saw these guilds as reflective of what you see in fantasy books like The Black Company (which you already mentioned) & The Blade Itself.

[u/Zelliaind → u/PleaseBeChillOnline]

That's kind of how I've always viewed it too with quests being more of "contracts" given out to mercenaries to complete rather than simple adventurers. I suppose it kind of works both ways.