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“The strength of the Hand lies in its variety. Different folks from all walks of life, races and goals, combining their different strengths and accomplishing those goals together. Our world is one full of dangers. Demons, cultists, necromancers, slavers, monsters. We are the ones to face the darkest parts of it. To leave the place better, and to grow strong doing so.”-Champion Anroka Scaleslicer.
Update:
“New threats have awoken on Azeroth that seek to throw the world into destruction and chaos. The time is here to deal with the threat of these "Primalists" and explore the ancient home of our dragon allies, as they seek to reclaim it. Whatever threats, wonders, powers and challenges these new lands hold, the Hand, and its allies, will prove themselves ready to face them together.”---------------------------------------
How are we set up?
We are a RP guild first and foremost. The order is led by Anroka, supported by a team of Officers. Our guild chat is Out Of Character, though we have a separate In Character communication network channel. We are loosely divided into 3 factions within the guild, based on the primary expertise of members. We are not a military order with very strict discipline, but we do have a command structure. We count many groups as allies and try to be an active part of the community. Roleplay-wise we are best described as an adventuring guild, with wide connections, and affiliations with many other factions. Primarily the Horde, but also many neutral ones.
What can you expect from our guild?
Though not overwhelmingly so, the Hand of the Titans is one of the older and bigger guilds around. We try our best to operate as a stable and engaging platform for you to enjoy the varied aspects of the game. Our guild tends to run 2 to 4 roleplay events each week for those interested and available, with spontaneous roleplay often occurring between and after such events. We do our best to offer an accepting environment with little drama. Suitable for old and new roleplayers.
What sort of members do we seek?
We seek members who would like to roleplay, would like to be part of an involved group of people, and would enjoy the opportunity to join a guild such as ours. We’re open to all races and classes, in principle. It’s all about how you handle your character. There are a million reasons why anyone might seek to join the Hand. Whether you are a powerful demonslayer, a scholar of history, a concerned grunt or magister, or a mercenary looking to make a buck fighting for a good cause, most will find they have goals overlapping with ours, especially in these times of conflict that threatens us all. Righteous knight, shrewd bounty hunter, ambitious mercenary, or tomb-diving scholar; all may hear the call to the adventuring life, and seek the benefit of joining a well-connected organization.
For more specific questions about evil or corruptive characters, addons, people new to RP, level requirements, OOC behavior, and other questions, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions section of this thread, further down. Beyond that, tolerance towards people of all genders/orientations/races, adherence to WoW guidelines, RP etiquette and decent grasp of the English language are appreciated. Roleplaying is crafting a fitting place for yourself in this world we all enjoy. As long as you have the willingness to adapt and learn in that pursuit, we are more than happy to support you.
How do you join the guild?
Now that you have read our thread, you should have a more clear idea if we are the place for you. Now, it is time to contact us, and sign up for an interview. The "/Who Hand of the Titans" command would normally bring up a list of all people currently online. Unfortunately this command is currently broken, and shows only a few of the people online. It is easiest to find me by adding *Anroka-Moonglade*, *Xyra-Moonglade* and *Asperia-Moonglade* to your friend's list, or send them a mail. (Lots of alt leveling is happening right now). Nlaea, Morag, Lara, and Simili can also help answer questions, and any member could help you get in touch with an interviewer. If you would like more info on the interview or how your character could have learned about us, check the Frequently Asked Questions below.
Extra info:
I am always available for questions. I am also always glad to help with your backstory, lore or other advice. We are definitely also always up to cooperation with other guilds. You can also post here if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. This thread could likely use the bumping anyway.
Current events:
The call has been made to the Dragon Isles, where the Hand will be aiding the Reliquary and the Dragonflights. Dealing with the Primalists and whatever other dark threats the lands hold. While these are the current priority, our eyes remain on other problems that may linger or arise on the lands of Azeroth. We're also signed up with the Dragonscale Reinforcements multi-guild team-up initiative.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I have answers to tons of more potential questions in our FAQ. Unlike the rest of the thread, these are not required reading. However, if you are curious, feel free to give them a look.
Frequently Asked Questions (Click questions to open them)
Do you have any required addons?
You will find that nearly all roleplayers have a profile addon. These add a lot to your roleplay experience, letting you recognize other roleplayers, see their last names and descriptions, as well as their current conditions. TotalRolePlay 3 is currently becoming the most popular one due to the features it offers. But MyRolePlay is compatible with it and remains in use by many, due to its simple design and use. While you are not required to use a profile addon, and it's no problem if you show up to your interview without one, getting one is highly recommended.
Does the Hand have a uniform or dress code?
We do not have uniforms and dress codes. For most folks, going on missions for the Hand is a part time thing. So you are welcome to use armor and gear of your choice, or from your other professions. We do have tabards, cloaks and even shirts available in our storage, should you wish to display our colors.
Do you accept people new to roleplay?
We all have our start somewhere. We do accept new roleplayers. There will be things to learn. Common mistakes we all made. That is fine. We are always there to help you.
Am I required to know much of the lore of the game?
Much of what we do as a guild will be deeply entwined with the lore of the game. Roleplay is all about making yourself a fitting puzzle piece in this world we all enjoy. That said, the lore of the game is vast, and you are not expected to know more than the basics.
What makes for a good roleplayer, is not perfection in your mastery of the lore, but about how adaptable you are. We have plenty of loremasters in the guild. As long as you are willing and able to adapt, when you do make a mistake, you won't have any problems at all. Even with little lore mastery. We are there to help.
Does your guild have a headquarters or other assets?
Over the decade, we have managed to save up and obtain several great assets for our order.
The Horn of Golganneth. Our ship is actually an old trading vessel, reclaimed from pirates. Recently upgraded with steel armor, she has yet resisted the Hand's bad luck with ships.
The Black Anarchy. An expensive airship, custom constructed from scratch. The Black Anarchy is built for speed, ready to extract the Hand from, or drop them into enemy territory.
Threat Containment Island. We have built up connections with a secretive organization within the Horde called the Threat Containment Unit, dedicated to protecting Azeroth from threats, items and phenomena that are too dangerous for the Horde to use, but cannot be destroyed. We currently use their secret island base as a headquarters, represented ingame by Ashran.
How active of a player must I be to join?
No one gets as much available time as they would like. Being more active will help you gain rank, and will help your character see more of campaigns and friendships, naturally. But we make an effort to make our roleplay and events easy to hop into, even if you cannot be available very much. We do remove members if they aren't around for many months, of course. But otherwise there is no requirement for how active you must be.
Are you able to offer help with working out my character details?
Happily so! If there are any character details you would like to brainstorm about, be it history, personality, character traits, timeline, family, skillset or anything else, you will find someone happy to help you with advice, tips, information and ideas.
How active is this guild right now?
The Hand of the Titans is one of the most active roleplay guilds on the server. This is very unlikely to change. Beyond random roleplay, there are usually at least 3 roleplay events a week. Our peak hours are evenings. You should be seeing about 5 to 15 people there. Even if once this thread had grown old, rest assured we will still be around!
How does the guild feel about warlocks/death knights/demon hunters?
Playing these characters on Azeroth naturally comes with some stigma. That can be part of their appeal. In as varied a group as the Hand, it is of course inevitable that some will start off with a negative attitude towards those dealing in darkness. So make sure that you actually enjoy the challenge of playing a controversial character!
We certainly do accept these darker characters. Experts in dark power are a great asset in fighting our enemies. But there are a few rules they are required to follow. Such as not consuming mortal souls, no making deals with demons, no raising new undead mortals and no summoning demons without permission.
Due to events in Legion, our relationship with the *Ebon Blade* Death Knights is currently poor. Death knights unwilling to openly oppose those actions committed by the Ebon Blade, are therefore unsuited for the Hand.
Are you accepting of non-standard classes/races/backstories?
This question is hard to answer generally. It will have to be judged on an individual basis. As a general rule, it will depend very strongly on how well you can represent it. If you want to play a Dark Ranger, Shadow Hunter or Tinker, or a half-Draenei orc or something, then make sure that this is more than just a note in your roleplay profile. That you are something different has to be obvious to those that look upon you. It has to ooze out of you. Strong representation is important. And this requires work. Be willing to put in that work before considering this path.
Level of power is another important consideration. What you are playing has to fit the scale of your fellow players, if you are to face challenges together. For that reason, we cannot accept players that play a dragon or a lich as permanent guild members. While awesome character concepts, a flying tank and supreme necrotic monster would be way out of balance with the average roleplayer.
Does the guild use some sort of rolling system for combat?
Roleplay events with combat are great, but they can take a long time. To smooth things out and introduce a randomness factor, we often use a simple 1-100 /roll system with 3 to 5 HP (6 for defensively geared). Where hitpoints are a measure of how long your character can endure sustained damaging combat, based on their toughness, stamina, agility, training, experience, health, armor, and magical defences.
It's a system designed to be intuitive and easy to jump into without difficulty that we have iterated over the last 8 years.
I am not yet max level. Does that mean I cannot join?
Anyone over level 20 is able to apply and join! However, please be aware that we do often roleplay in high level areas, and sometimes have a campaign in such an area for a few weeks. This could mean that there will be roleplay events that you are unable to join us for. We do our best to bring our lower levels whenever possible, but it will not always be possible.
How could my character learn about the Hand of the Titans?
The Hand of the Titans do not rely on recruitment posters anymore. Your character would likely have either been looking for a group like ours, or heard of us through word of mouth.
We have been an adventuring organization since the Scourge war in Northrend. Our banner has been seen on battlefields against any major threat. And we have good connections with the Argent Crusade, Earthen Ring, Wyrmrest Accord, Cenarion Circle and Steamwheedle Cartel. Of course we are also openly registered in Orgrimmar, so if your character wishes to research known adventurer groups, the information would not be hard to find.
How does the interview work?
Interviews are about us getting to know each other. It is important to find out if we are the place you would fit in best! Some people get nervous about the interview, but it is generally pretty fun. Don’t worry about making a mistake. It does take a while; generally 90 minutes or more. So we will have to find a proper place and time for it.
We will agree where to meet, out of character. Then a guild representative will meet your character there, in character, for an interview appointment set up in advance. The IC interview can be paused at any time, if there are questions OOC between us.
Does the guild have a website, forum or Discord to stay in touch?
We do have a website with a forum. [url]http://handofthetitans.shivtr.com[/url]. It is however mostly just used to post stories these days. We've got an official Discord channel now. While RP remains done in the game, because we greatly value people logging in to interact together, it's a good tool for active members to share things, and more efficient than the website.
Am I allowed to bring alts into the guild?
You are allowed to bring in an OOC alt, that is not an IC member. You are also allowed to bring in new characters into the guild IC. It would take too long to interview all of people's alts as well. So we have a questionnaire for alts that represents an interview, but is a lot faster.
Naturally we can't allow you to immediately bring in 8 alts. But ultimately, the rule is that you can have as many alts as you can keep active.
When and how often do you organize roleplay?
Active roleplay times are usually in the evenings. It is when most folks will be online. If the roleplay is a planned event, it will most often start at 20:00 server time. Generally there are 3 or more events a week on the calendar. Days may differ greatly.
How is the guild, outside of roleplay?
We have done our best since the beginning of the guild to bring in good people. Forging as stable and supportive of an environment as we have now, has taken a long time. But it has created a robust and friendly team of people and a strong foundation for anyone to grow into.
It is important to us to provide a supportive environment where people of all types can feel accepted. Part of that means to keep language in the guild "politically correct" and avoiding local politics.
We have had 6 amazing real life Guild Meetings and we find it important to stay on good terms with our allied guilds and the server community.
Am I allowed to organize my own events?
Indeed you are! Everyone is allowed and encouraged to bring people together for roleplay or to put an event on the calendar. Guild leadership will also be more than happy to help you organize these events, or to help you develop those skills.
Can evil, amoral, chaotic, self-serving, rude, rotten or deceptive characters join?
Basically yes. But the long answer is that you should consider it carefully.
There are a lot of selfish reasons to join the Hand of the Titans. The prestige. The resources. The network of contacts. Getting to legally hurt, murder and rob enemies. Claiming the knowledge and power of the dark cultists and monsters your allies slay. Their political influence. Or even repaying your legal debts to society for your past deeds. Exploiting a group of adventurers such as this can help you obtain vast wealth, knowledge and power.
However, operating within such a group requires cunning, thick skin or great deceptive skills. Those around you, shiny knight and honorable orc alike, will be operating under different moral standards. If you do not balance your evil actions out with comradery to those few on your side, or are rude to everyone without logical justification, everyone is soon going to hate you.
Basically, do not be one-dimensional. People are going to react realistically to your character. If you want something from them, they will want something from you. If there is nothing likeable about you, you will not be successful. Even a dark cult has a charismatic leader and a bunch of minions sucking up to them, that hope to replace that leader.
In Short: Don't be both Evil and Rude. Unless you really enjoy constant conflict. That requires thick skin and enjoying that OOC. Deceptive Evil, Charismatic Evil, or even Subservient Evil may be better paths than Rude Evil. And if it is Rude you seek to play, why not combine that with Earned Arrogance, Comical or Dependable as character traits.
Where does your guild operate in terms of power scale, allowed mounts, artifacts, etc?
Power: Being a roleplayer is about fitting into Azeroth's story. Not about shaping that story. That is the role of the Lore characters, and the Legendary Champions of Azeroth that killed the Lich King and Archimonde.
Naturally, our role is a lot more subtle. We do qualify for the High Fantasy for the Hand. Our mages know portal spells to major portal hubs. Some of us have glowing weapons. We travel to locations of great danger to fight for our world, like Argus. But only together as a large group do we hold any chance against foes the heroes of Azeroth take on alone. Against greater threats, we have no chance without help.
Mounts: There are many amazing and prestigious mounts in this game. And most of us like to show off our favorite ones. However, while roleplaying, it is important to be able to justify how your character obtained that mount. That can be hard to do! Many of the best mounts are very rare creatures. Or they are very powerful. Or very specific to a certain group or race. Or just very expensive.
First ask yourself what your character, given their history, would likely be riding. See if that would match how much they would be willing to spend on a mount. Make sure it is not a rare or unique creature. If it would be weird to see 2 of them in the same group of people, it's probably not a good idea. Lastly, beware their power. Don't bring a mount into a situation, where the mount is more useful than you are. This is why we do not allow draconic mounts. Not only is a dragon a superior lifeform that is a person, not a mount at your beck and call, but they are flying tanks that can probably solve the problem the event is about. They are too useful.
Artifacts: What we mean by this are items that grant you abilities or bonuses beyond normal. While it is fun to grant a player power beyond what they would normally have, we tend to make sure that balance and the normal state is restored soon. Just like Legion did, the Hand of the Titans have had a few artifacts that stuck around for a while longer, letting a player take exceptional actions in certain circumstances. However, this is super rare. If this is something you are considering, please discuss this beforehand.
See you on Azeroth!