[A/N-RP] Hand of Cenarius

Argent Dawn
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CURRENT LOCATION: Orendil’s Retreat, Ashenvale
RECRUITMENT STATUS: Open!
CONTACT: Mythundis (Discord: Karbonkel#3509) (BNet: Karbonkel#21774)
AA: https://www.argentarchives.org/node/211703

Hand of Cenarius

Concept

Founded shortly after the third fall of the Burning Legion, the Hand of Cenarius is an aggressive, extremist order consisting of both Night Elves and worgen devoted to protecting nature. Leading a nomadic lifestyle, the Hand roams freely through Azeroth, heeding the call of nature. They travel far and wide to protect the lands from any defiler, be they Horde, Demon or Undead.

Small in number, the Hand of Cenarius often employs guerrilla warfare; their mobility allows for hit-and-run and ambush strategies, and is effective in their battle against the Horde. Currently, they are most active in northern Kalimdor, where they fight who they believe to be nature’s – and the kaldorei’s - greatest foe: the Horde.

Fueled by vengeance for the War of Thorns, the Hand of Cenarius feels increasing disdain for other, more passive druidic organizations like the Cenarion Circle. Keeper Mythundis is a strong critic of the Cenarion Circle’s deeds in the Battle for Azeroth – he believes that they shirk their responsibilities by not taking up arms against the Horde who desecrate Night Elven lands.

Expectations

What can you expect from us?

The Hand of Cenarius offers quality roleplay. With little to no druid roleplay guilds around, it is important that we put a fine example to the rest of the realm. We will look for quality over quantity – this may make us seem a little picky when it comes to recruitment, but this shouldn’t deter you.

It is important that the guild is open and communicative towards each other. With these two values, we ensure that we have strong mutual cooperation. This, in turn, leads to a strong guild and a stress-free atmosphere OOC. Guilds are communities and thus it is important that we communicate clear intentions; any decisions that affect the guild are, for this reason, also polled.

Another important concept that you can expect from us is character development. Through our own storylines and through casual roleplay, we strive to stimulate individual character growth.

What do we expect from you?

We expect that our members are mature. Mature members do not let themselves be swooped off their feet by emotions, and thus are easier to speak to when there happens to be an OOC dispute.

Treat your fellow guild members with respect. Disagreements happen and we understand this, but keep it civil. It plays into the rule of maturity: disagreements may happen, but mature people can keep it civil. Harassment will not be tolerated.

When you join the Hand of Cenarius, we expect that you show interest in the guild by attending our events and roleplaying with us. In short: be active!

Keep in mind that, when you join the Hand of Cenarius, you represent our guild tag. Your actions reflect not only on yourself, but on the guild as a whole. Keep that in mind in what you do and say.

Hierarchy

The hierarchy within the Hand of Cenarius is mirrored by one’s devotion and time within the order. Companions & Neophytes have a low, unimportant voice in order-wide matters, whereas those of the Guardians & Champions are respected.

Below, at the bottom of the food chain, stand the Companions. These are not actual members of the Hand of Cenarius; they have shown a desire and will to join, but they must first be tested. Although they may attend Rites of Initiation, their vote does not count as much as the higher-ups.

Companions have completed a Pilgrimage of Reverence and stood through a Rite of Initiation and, when the Keeper deems them capable, are to be sent on the Trial of Spirits to become Neophytes.

Neophytes are still newcomers to the ways of the Hand of Cenarius, but they are actual members of the order that have been welcomed in – they have succeeded in a Trial of Spirits and earned the favour of a lesser spirit animal. Their voice still does not account for much yet.

When one completes both the Trial of Spirits and the Trial of Nature, they become Guardians. Proven devotees of nature that have shown their strength, they become fully-fledged members. Their voice becomes heard and respected, and they are well-known with the others of the Hand.

The most devoted of Guardians are picked out to partake in the Trial of Strength. Here, in these tough trials, several traits are tested: strength, wisdom and faith. The Guardians that return from this Trial are the Champions; they are marked out as respectable paragons of the ways of the Hand of Cenarius.

At the top stands the Keeper and his council of Advisors. Usually, the position of Keeper comes with respect and responsibility – they make the final call and cut the knots. They are the main face and voice of the Hand. Together with his Advisors, the Keeper leads the Hand of Cenarius.

The Hand of Cenarius also enlists the aid of nature’s own forces: Moonkin and Treants mainly, with Furbolg on a case-by-case basis. These are the Protectors.

Recruitment

Since the Hand of Cenarius does not stick in one place for long and wanders the lands, it may be tough to find us. While we are away on campaigns, recruitment is closed unless specified otherwise.

Recruitment in the Hand of Cenarius consists mainly of two events: the Pilgrimage of Reverence, and the Rite of Initiation. The former sends a recruit out to prove their faith, whereas the latter consists of the Hand congregating and voting together on this possible new recruit’s worth. Although we are generally fairly easygoing, it may be smart to pick a concept that suits the guild’s concept; one can still be denied from an IC perspective and although that may mean we’d love to have you around OOC, your character simply is not accepted by the Hand’s members IC.

The Companion rank serves as an OOC trialing rank, too; for a short period (or longer, also somewhat dependent on the IC situation), you will be in a trial period where we see whether or not you suit the guild. During this period, we’ll look at your activity, personality and preferences to see whether you suit the guild. We reserve the right to remove you from the guild if you do not fit.

IC progression in the Hand features various trials:

Pilgrimage of Reverence

Joining the Guild

Upon expressing interest in joining the Hand of Cenarius, the interested is sent on a pilgrimage that will test their faith and worth. They are accompanied on their pilgrimage by a Champion or Guardian of the Hand that will intently watch them.

The pilgrimage sends the recruit out to honor nature’s sacred entities - be that by placing an offering at the shrine of a Wild God, paying tribute to one of nature’s smaller animal spirits or simply visiting places of druidic importance (Dream Portals or Nordrassil, for example).

The accompanying Guardian or Champion has a clear and distinct role in watching the to-be recruit on their pilgrimage - they observe closely what the recruit does, says and, through social roleplay, tries to work out whether they would be a good fit for the Hand of Cenarius. This is important for the following Rite.

OOC: the pilgrimage focuses heavily on the social aspect of the travel itself - there’s naturally DMing happening, but it is kept on the low and a focus is placed on the interaction between the Guardian and the interested pilgrim.

Rite of Initiation

After the Pilgrimage of Reverence, the recruit is thrown before a congregating Hand of Cenarius. At this congregation, the accompanying Guardian speaks mostly for the recruit, offering their thoughts and opinions to the rest of the order. Together, the order judges and deems the worth of the recruit. If the Hand deems them worthy, they will be allowed to become a Companion of the Hand. However, if they are not, they will be shamed, rejected and cast away.

Trial of Spirits

Companion to Neophyte

In the beginning of the Hand of Cenarius, there was a wooden symbol that was given out to members. However, not much was done with that. Now, with the rework, that is going to change. Idols of Spirits, as they will be called, will be given out again when one is ready to undergo the trial to become a Neophyte. They’re wooden idols that are shaped crudely in the form of a claw-like hand, much like that of a Keeper of the Grove.

In this trial, the to-be Neophyte is sent out to one of nature’s lesser animal spirits to gain its favour. Said lesser animal spirit’s favour is all the trial revolves about; when the favour is gained, the trial is complete and the Companion shall be offered a place in the Hand as a Neophyte.

Trial of Nature

Neophyte to Guardian

The Trial of Nature is a later follow-up to the Trial of Spirits. Here, the trialist’s connection to nature is tested through various means - for druids, this can mean a test related to their druid totem, but for others it can simply revolve around the Idol of Spirits.

In the end, these will be hand-crafted not only to suit the environment, but also to create a unique and satisfying experience for the trialist.

Trial of Strength

Guardian to Champion

The Trial of Strength is the last and arguably the toughest trial the Hand offers. The opportunity to undergo it is rare, and only few do. Currently, only Erania Stormsaber has.

In this trial, the Guardian shows they are worthy of being a Champion - they show their strength, wisdom and knowledge on a lone, dangerous journey. When they return, they will be crowned Champions.

Much like the Trials of Nature, Trials of Strength are handcrafted to best fit the character undergoing it. They’re also a bunch harder than the trials before and may or may not involve multiple parts.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions, leave them below or contact one of the officers! Either do so in-game through mail/whispers, via Battle net, or Discord.

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Henlo, Handy friends :wink:

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welcome to the new forums, druids!

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Mythundis is a very cool guy who runs a very cool guild.

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Mythundis… what… are you wearing? õ_õ

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Hello! The Hand of Cenarius is currently looking for people interested in RPing dryads in the context of this druidic order. A while ago we started a side plot in which a few of our members were given the responsibility to look after a dryad acorn each (four in total). This of course included teaching them about the world by whispering to it (https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Dryad). With the necessary knowledge conveyed over the course of several months, the acorns are now finally ready to sprout and ready for the next stage of their life: Imprinting on the first person they see (usually a druid) who will teach them to control and utilize their powers for the good of nature.

We thought a while about how we may deal with this phase of the plot line as simply DMing these individuals would not be ideal and not do their personalities justice. At the same time, having people in the guild RP them would also not be ideal, since their main characters may actually be the ones that “raised” the dryad, so interaction would only be off-screened. With that said, we’ve concluded that it would be best to find other players who may be interested in RPing this relatively exotic concept in the context of a druidic order/group that mainly wages war against the Horde.

So, I’m going to RP an NPC?
Absolutely not, just like any other RP character, you’ll be able to casual RP whenever, join our DMs if you want and so on. The only difference is, really, that these are characters with a fixed backstory. As in, we created profiles for each of the dryads depending on what was taught to them during their time as an acorn, how that interaction was shaped on an emotional level and who did that. This means these characters are not blank slates, but already have some vague direction for character development. Think about it the same way that you are trying to RP the brother of an established character. The backstory is fixed to some degree and you need to work around it and incorporate it. Past that, it is your character and you decide what to do with it.

What can we offer you?
RPing exotic concepts such as dryads can sometimes be a struggle since RP may be sparse due to the nature of the race you RP. In this case, the dryad will accompany the Hand of Cenarius that prepares them for the dryad’s return to Feralas and her duty of protecting these lands (or not, depending on the player preference). This should offer regular interactions with us and other players. You will be free to join our DM events, casual RP and join the guild OOC either temporarily or permanently (for that sweet OOC chat), depending on your preference. The dryad will of course be part of the Hand IC (Protector rank), should they choose to stay with us even after their “training”.

What do we expect?
A fairly good grasp on lore, especially regarding druids/dryads/night elves. We know -relatively- little about dryads, so there is some freedom for RP there, however we don’t want to dwelve too deep into grey zones that may contradict official lore. In essence: No totally absurd headcanon.

Additionally, we’d expect you to make use of the fancy prism to copy the appearance of a dryad (to aid immersion). There are dryads in Maraudon that Rogues can pickpocket for the appearance. While it would be amazing if you had a Rogue, one of us can certainly help you with that by logging on our own.

Regarding activity: That is completely up to you and this shouldn’t really be a problem as long as you can spare the occasional hour or two per week and have no problem mixing in some IC status messages in Discord.

Contact
If you’re interested, simply throw Zenys or Mythundis a whisper or in-game mail so we can get in touch.

The Backstory
We have the “profiles” ready, but I shall not post these here. Instead, we’ll send you the google document after we got in touch.

Useful Sources
Here some additional sources for people who want to read up on some dryad lore (there are spaces in the links so I can post them here):

General dryad lore, “birth”, origin, culture, diet - https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Dryad

Dryad flutes seem to get wildlife to follow them, though perhaps Mylune’s flute is special - https: //www. wowhead. com/quest=42042/teensy-weensies

Dryads seem to have the ability “Poisonous Song”, implying they may use songs or music for some of their abilities - https: //www. youtube. com/watch?v=l2SZ7mbOKMo (Quest: Champions of Elune)

Dryads have diverse personalities, but some seem to be “rarer” and more special than others:

One of the more upbeat/happy/talkative dryads: https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Kelnir_Leafsong

NPCs in the quests listed comment on her: “Should you find her, do be aware… dryads like her tend to strike other races as a bit odd.”

“Kelnir? Hahaha… Sometimes I wonder if her chatter drove all the other dryads away. But I’m glad she is safe.”

Another one of the quirky ones: https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Mylune

Several examples of more grounded and “normal” personalities:

https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Anilia
https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Legends_of_Maraudon
https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Scratches
https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Culling_the_Wild
https: //wow. gamepedia .com/Illiyana

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I’ve always liked Dryads and Keepers in WoW. Thanks for sharing the lore tidbits concerning them and I hope you’ll find some good people for the role!

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We have two more spots open for people interested in Dryad roleplay! They’ll sprout next week. Contact either myself or Zenys if you are interested.

Outside of that, we are currently located in Astranaar. So long as we’re there, we welcome people to come roleplay with us-- granted they take into account the area is contested and likely not something for civilians!

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Its so fantastic to see druids around! I hope that we can rp at some point i feel like we could form a good relationship between our guilds

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“We could not find them. The woods are their ally; and our foe.”

The sting of defeat, of another humiliation, soured an already volatile mood in the elf. Malice, a stranger in life, lived and breathed within her, in the place of the warmth that once sustained her.

“There will be another chance. Our quarry is too reckless to stay hidden for long. Instruct the others to ready to leave… the Alliance is coming.”

The Deathstalker offered a short salute, before skulking away into the shaded gloom of the treeline, to collect the rest of their hunting party. As soon as he was away from earshot, Rana hissed furiously, each sound dragged through her torn lips a new agony. Her fist collided with tree beside her, crunching bark beneath the newfound strength of her undead form.

Why did the living not understand? Was she so naive when she was among them? Elune had given up on the Kaldorei. She had abandoned them to misery, anguish and defeat. The White Lady, so far above, did not concern herself with the concerns of the ants beneath her. Only the Dark Lady cared; only the Banshee Queen offered any truth.

The druids had escaped her. They had scorned her mercy and denied her wrath. Her crimson eyes gleamed with choler. They would die. They would die alone and afraid. They would die like she had. And then, they would be reborn - they would thank her. That Rana vowed.

In death, there was salvation. They would not escape her a second time. With a dull grunt, she too slunk back into the forest.

Tonight, the Hand encountered (and barely escaped) one of Sylvanas’ new brand of Night Elven Dark Rangers in Darkshore, and this one seems to hold grudges.

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The Hand will be moving to Val’sharah tonight for the Blessings of War event that starts tomorrow. After the Blessings, we will be in Darkshore for a few weeks.

I figured it would be nice to share some screenshots of our adventures, since I have not posted on this thread for far too long:
https://imgur.com/a/SOwKJVW

All credit for the editing goes to our lovely Kraityn (Blackquill)!

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Hello, Argent Dawn!

It’s been busy times! Christmas, the New Year, and so on. But we’ve survived, and we’ve not sat still: we’ve been butchering Horde in Darkshore and revering Wild Gods in Val’sharah.

Soon, the Hand of Cenarius will start up its own plot. They’ll be introduced to a new enemy—or rather, host of enemies, involving goblins, goblins and more goblins.

In other news, recruitment is opened again! If you’re interested, contact Blackquill , Areo or Mythundis . The guild thread has been altered slightly to be more in tune with what the guild currently represents!

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I’ve been lucky enough to RP with these guys as one of their dryad DPCs and they are phenomenal RPers and a really friendly bunch OOC as well; if you’re looking for good druidic RP you absolutely should contact the Hand of Cenarius.

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Bump! Tonight’s event will take us to Forest Song, Ashenvale, in pursuit of a missing Keeper of the Grove.

Recruitment is still open! If you’re interested, approach us in-character or contact us OOC!

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Lovely guild, would rejoin again :herb:

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Wow, she seems really commited. Will you accept her back in @mythundis? :pray:

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i’ve been trying to join on my treant, jim, and mythundis won’t let me

Very cool guild otherwise!

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Love my time here so far, most fun NElf RP I’ve had in years. You should definitely join if you’re in the mood for cool druid RP without all the lame neutrality nonsense. :butterfly:

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It’s been too long (since-the-old-forums-long) since I’ve last given an update, so I figured it’s time for that!

Currently, we’ve embarked on a storyline in Ashenvale. A Keeper of the Grove has gone missing, and the Hand of Cenarius has set out to find him.

For the future, we’ll be looking to go to both Darkshore and Winterspring, but first we’ll head to the up-and-coming Lunar Festival.

We’re also still accepting new people that are looking for a more militant approach to your typical neutral druid roleplay!

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Absolutely stellar guild. I have been thoroughly enjoying my time here.

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