A New Manifesto - The Axiom of Change
One of the most important rules of the natural world is the axiom of change. Look now to the world around you and observe. The sky changes gradient and its cloud-cover shifts and intermingles. The water of the river passes and does not stay. The fire burns, always consuming and always liberating smoke - either moving upwards or moving downwards depending on its available fuel. In short, everything flows - all things are passing, and nothing abides.
Why, then, do the Kaldorei people work against this natural law? Contrary to change, we do not flow - and we always abide by the false rules, systems and expectations put in place by our elder others. How can we uphold our world if we work against its flux? We have seen our people suffer and writhe within its ancient constraints - held down by old knowledge and old warfare while other more violent, more dangerous and cruel races advance, twisting our stillness against us.
Why has the High Priestess only now abandoned these old methodologies? Why are so many still resistant against the change she now brings in? Only recently have we reconsidered the exile of mages - many of which had learnt from their mistakes long, long ago - many of which never stood with Dathâremar and the exiled. Even after the sacrifice of many for their people in the War of the Thorns, they are still scorned! Despite victory and vengeance, many of our people are still shackled by false ideas of âwhat isâ, as opposed to the true constant of change - âwhat is becomingâ.
It is time for the kaldorei people to become and join the worldâs natural flow. Walk through the river, and seek out the Circle of Ash if freedom of practice and liberation from the âexpectedâ is what you seek.
WHAT IS THIS?
The Circle of Ash is a loosely structured group made up primarily of dissident druids who are interested in experimental druidic magic. This could be anyone from a druid of the fang to a modern druid of the flame, all of whom are interested in looking for safer ways to use these discovered powerful techniques. Other potential ideas are druids interested in decay and fungi, or a druid who believes the worgen curse to be a superior, perfected druidic form. Other classes are accepted on a case-by-case basis - see the âWHO CAN JOIN?â section for more detail.
WHO'S IN CHARGE?
The leader of the Circle of Ash is an older, experienced druid who offers to protect other kaldorei (but particularly druids) interested in experimentation, guiding them and getting them out of experimental mishaps. He pledges protection to each member individually and has a zero tolerance policy against any judgement or discrimination towards other group members and kaldorei as a whole (that is to say that he is not accepting of anti-mage radicalists - to him, it is suggestive of a closed mind). Disagreement and discourse in regards to experimental method, however, is encouraged and accepted. He will be an occasionally present character IC to maintain a level of mystique and distance, though he keeps eyes on the group through other means whilst busy with scrolls and research.
All other members of the group are considered broadly equal - though only those who submit research to the Circle Leader are considered âtrue membersâ. Once research is submitted, members are moved from the rank of Noviciate to Dissident after a ceremony. Dissidents are given some responsibility in keeping other members safe and are also granted access to the groupâs seedier annals of knowledge - including the research submitted by other dissidents. Those who conduct exceptional research may come to be considered a âRevolutionaryâ, though rumours of what this might entail are few and far between.
HOW WILL THIS WORK?
The Circle will have a variety of different events in search of old texts, scrolls, books, and revolutionaries - looking for other dissidents who may have made more progress in new technique than the Circle have. Events will be character-driven, emote-based, and investigative, involving travel to lands both near and far. Characters will also be able to inform the Circle Leader of their interests, allowing the DMs to create events and campaigns tailored to this focus. However, we are also more than happy to have our members make their own events likewise. The groupâs primary interests are related to study, and as such Horde focused events will be much less frequent, though not shunned. Besides this, there will also be casual RP, which should be easily fuelled by charactersâ needs to discuss their ideas.
Unsurprisingly, the group is unlikely to openly announce their whereabouts to Sentinels and Watchers who may be interested in their activities. As such, you can expect the group to be quite secretive and shun open discussion about their membership and unorthodox ideologies. We will generally stay away from large kaldorei settlements, though may occasionally attend public events to spread leaflets and make scary speeches.
WHO CAN JOIN?
The Circle Leader only accepts kaldorei who:
- Are not part of another organisation.
- Are not likely to be a danger to other members of the group.
These prerequisites make it very unlikely that DHs can join, for example - but the Circle Leader is open to hearing from any kaldorei interested in SAFE experimentation - even those that might possibly pursue darker magic. An example of someone like this could be a renegade priestess interested in the void. It is a guild for dissident druids first and foremost, but it also aims to be a home for kaldorei outcasts and rejects.
HOW DO I JOIN?
Just message me in-game or add me on discord! (Illidong#3042) Iâll talk through your character with you and ask a few questions to check if you have a grasp of the lore around the area youâre interested in, as well as see if your character would be a good fit in general. Given the lack of lore in the guildâs area of focus, we need people who are comfortable with justifying the choices and creations they make in RP using other forms of lore to fill in gaps.
If you have any questions or enquiries you can add me on discord too and ask away.
If you have any issues with anxiety or getting a foot in the door, we can likely figure something out for you too.
OOC RULES
- No discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, orientation, ability or race (we are completely LGBTQ+ friendly).
- Try to keep things IC and let us know about things bothering you if you canât!
- No ERP (please).
OOC DISCORD?
Our guild discord will be largely for IC use and lack an OOC general chat. You can expect OOC announcements, IC research, off-screen RP and an LF-RP channel. Most OOC chit-chat will therefore happen in the gameâs guild chat and all events will be put on the in-game calendar. This is simply down to personal preference!
PREVIOUS MANIFESTOS!
We have been burned and turned to ash for our home several times over. Resistant to change, we have continued to follow out-dated protocols and stratagems until hitting our very lowest with the burning of Teldrassil. Finally, the High Priestess returns to older, outlawed texts and rejects principle, asking Elune to give US a reason to keep following HER, and is richly rewarded for her bravery and sense! Such courage helped us push back the Horde from Darkshore and brought to the surface wider issues in tradition.
We have followed Malfurionism like wide-eyed does, forgetting the truth that he is a student himself, and always will be. He hypocritically cowed the Druids of the Pack in the War of the Satyr and sheepishly banished the Druids of the Scythe to torture under Daralânir, blindly applying Cenariusâ tactics to different creatures entirely and creating a life-long vendetta. Then, on top of it all, Fangfireâs experimentations returned in the form of the now perfected worgen to save Stormrage from his OWN failures in preventing Darkshore! Still, his beloved Circle preaches neutrality! Druids and other Kaldorei are dying like flies and we can no longer adhere to his Circleâs flimsy demarcations of correct and incorrect druidism. Experimentation must renascence and druidism must stop believing itself above the patterns of nature - all things must change, and to resist change is to die. We must find new methods to deal with new threats in druidism also, and take notice of Whisperwindâs courage, returning to older books and old, experimental discourse.
Shun the Cenarion Circle and seek out the Circle of Ash, a haven for freethinkers that wider Kaldorei society finds itself afraid of. Our hands can no longer be kept clean.
The only constant is change.
druids I find the concept of forbidden experimental druidism pretty interesting.
