HUB OVERVIEW:
What? An expac-relevant hub, hosting forces & individuals who have an IC reason to engage with the expansion
Who? Kirin Tor, Alliance, Horde, Arathi, Earthen, anyone who wants to punch some nerubians, managed by a neutral party (Kirin Tor survivors & refugees)
Where? Dunelle’s Kindness, Hallowfall
When? Hub launch on September 12th
How do I join? Here:https://discord.gg/PCPHPcvVjt
AA page:https://www.argentarchives.org/node/274117
Community Concept:
With the fall of Dalaran, the city that withstood the Scourge and the Legion, one thing has been made abundantly clear to all of Azeroth: Xal’atath is a global threat. The Violet Vanguard hub aims to provide an expansion-relevant space to gather all characters interested in facing it head on.
ICly, the hub will be overseen by surviving officials of the Kirin Tor, whose goals are to gather and safekeep the Dalaran refugees, rescue those who have been captured, salvage dalaranian artefacts and knowledge, hunt down escaped Violet Hold prisoners, train the earthen and the arathi, advocate and prepare for the arrival of Horde and Alliance forces, and seek aid and connections from both the locals and other factions to strike back against the nerubians and Xal’atath’s cultists.
The mages, refugees and adventurers gathered by the remnants of the Kirin Tor will therefore act as a diplomatic, academic and militaristic vanguard against the immediate threat of the Void: not only to avenge the destruction of Dalaran, but to take the fight to Azj-Kahet and wherever the next patches might carry the story.
As such, this hub will be a story-relevant itinerant community, first settled in Dunelle’s Kindness, Hallowfall, since many Kirin Tor NPCs and characters of other factions are present at the end of the levelling campaign, but likely to move patch by patch as the expansion goes on. Ideally, it would geographically follow the story’s development and land on the doorstep of Midnight’s launch.
Whether you want to explore the new lands, kill nerubians for sport, network with the arathi, the earthen or the other locals (or even play said locals), prepare the terrain for the Horde and Alliance, avenge Dalaran or simply make an opportunistic coin, this community is the perfect place to start.
The Location: Dunelle's Kindness
We picked this location because of the Horde, Alliance and Kirin Tor NPCs present there at the end of the levelling campaign, and the portal to Dornagal manned by Dalaran mages.
OOC, it is far from the main hubs and won’t be lagging or sharded (and if it is sharded at the beginning, a community will be set up); there are NPCs, but no hostile mobs, and plenty of space to use for social. So far, only a single quest from the levelling campaign brings the player there, and so there should not be an overwhelming amount of OOCers.
IC, it is also an extremely strategic location, as it was lore-wise the place of commerce between earthen and arathi, and is located near the Ringing Deep and the entrance to Azj-Kahet.
It has plenty of usable buildings and spaces for RP, namely:
THE DAWNTOWER:
In the lore, it upholds the Light beacon which keeps the settlement safe during the Void phases of the crystal. It has a downstairs area that would be perfect for small meetings, as well as an armoury.
https://i.imgur.com/HCHeV4h.png
https://i.imgur.com/TPNLWXL.png
THE INN:
It has a lot of space, comparable to inns in Stormwind, Dalaran or Stromgarde, as well as rooms upstairs and exterior tables. Perfect for social gatherings.
https://i.imgur.com/uMKlYO5.png
https://i.imgur.com/WXUPG2i.jpeg
TENTS AND EXTERIOR TABLES:
Peppered through the settlements are at least two mostly NPC-free camp areas, perfect for refugees and military forces passing through. There is also an area that can serve as an infirmary, with priests healing wounded soldiers.
https://i.imgur.com/50rOlU2.png
https://i.imgur.com/Q2I8lnR.png
https://i.imgur.com/ObGXgfy.png
There are also: a plaza, perfect for big gatherings, speeches and events, stables, a market stall, a stationary zeppelin, a flight master and an itinerant zeppelin going between major Hallowfall settlements.
General views:
https://i.imgur.com/tQOD7Ww.png
https://i.imgur.com/wBRsslC.png
Hub Population: What character to join with?
Kirin Tor members, Dalaran civilians, explorers, representatives and members from other factions (especially Horde and Alliance dispatched to train the earthen and prepare the coming war), locals (earthen and arathi), foreign mages with an interest in helping the survivors, adventurers going through the new zones in search of work.
ICly, there will be a gateway available in the hub, leading to the main factional portal rooms.
These are dangerous zones perpetually attacked by nerubians and rife with other local threats, and so we will not be housing merchant guilds, markets and purely social and civilian RP (although trade or donations of supplies, weapons, etc for the war effort are welcome); these kinds of RP also do not match the theme of a refugee/military hub on the warpath to get revenge against Azj-Kahet and Xal’atath. For the same reasons, minor & children characters are not accepted.
Content:
While the hub is launching, the Kirin Tor Intelligence guild (https://www.argentarchives.org/node/235223) will be hosting one weekly public event in rotations: diplomatic summits, resources gathering, academic expeditions, magical bootcamps, hunts for escaped Violet Hold prisoners and strikes against the nerubians.
In addition to the weekly public event, there will be a weekly social night, without DMed or scripted content.
We will also be quest-giving: if you need a prompt to take your guild or your group on an adventure through the new zones, we are happy to help and offer handsome IC rewards for a completed objective.
Finally, there will be a noticeboard in the discord (and IC, in the main hub building), where you can pitch your own events and RP hooks. These events and hooks only have to be consistent with the premise of the hub and the content of the expansion.
FAQ:
- I am an Illidari/DK/warlock/shadowmancer, can I still work with the shiny arcane mages?
In its state of disarray, the Kirin Tor is more likely to work with individuals wielding darker magics, like they did in Legion; but unless proven otherwise by incoming lore, they will still not tolerate that its own members turn to necromancy, Fel or shadow.
You can therefore join the hub as a dark arts practitioner, but if you RP as a Kirin Tor member, you are expected to either stick to the core concept of it or consciously take your character on a ‘corruption’ arc that might get them kicked out of the institution.
- Who are the IC leaders?
The IC leaders are the officer team of the Kirin Tor Intelligence guild, who organised the server-wide campaigns War on Magic 1 & 2 (https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/mage-rp-campaign-tww-spoilers-war-on-magic-the-second-fall/508411), a storyline dealing with the Fall of Dalaran, and set up the community. The characters (Acheleus Moonblaze, Kelly Jendrock, Aranict Rushbrook, Balthazar Locke, Nathaniel Wyldern) are all ex-Dalaran officials, with extensive experience in leadership IC, and OOC content providers.
ICly, their authority in the hub will come from whatever upper hierarchy of the Kirin Tor remains, as well as the good will and diplomatic sense of those who are not Kirin Tor affiliated.
Secondary leaders are likely to emerge and join the leadership as the community settles and more content providers step up; the hub might also need additional ‘important figures’, such as diplomats from the Horde/Alliance/other pre-existing factions, local representatives from the earthens or the arathi, menders minding the infirmary, etc.
- Can I join the leadership/DM and organise for the community?
DMs and hosts are indeed encouraged to show initiative and help us provide content for the hub: if the hosting character is also an IC leader or representative of any relevant faction, and that both the OOC skills and the IC writing are up to par, we will be glad to welcome them to the moderation team OOC and the leadership team IC.
However, we will not tolerate any power-tripping from characters & players who have not proven that they are both capable and reasonable. Having ‘archmage’ or any other title in your TRP will certainly not be a guarantee of landing a leadership position.
We reserve the full right to do some quality control: if some characters & players claiming authority are incompetent or simple grifters, they will be firmly barred from being granted any actual authority, even from characters who are supposedly their subordinates, and might end up on ignore.
- Why a Kirin Tor-centric hub?
The expansion kicks off with the Fall of Dalaran, with the Kirin Tor as the main traditional faction involved with the beginning of the story. When the Alliance and Horde get more involved in the next patches, the concept will be tweaked accordingly, and the Kirin Tor will transition into the diplomatic glue holding the hub together.
The hub itself will be mage-themed in the beginning, with Dalaran banners and magical flavour, but will of course cater to all sorts of characters willing to work with the Kirin Tor.
Finally, since the Kirin Tor’s objectives line up with the overall objective of the expansion (push back Xal’atath and aid the locals), a neutral faction is the perfect host for characters of all allegiances.
We look forward to see you all in September and will be happy to answer any question here! We have a lot of plans for TWW and we hope to include as many old and new friends as possible.
