Tiger - Venture Co.

So I was reading some homework and bumped into a text about cybersubcultures. There's a term called "A Mudder", MUD standing for Multi-user domains/dungeons. Muds are "online social systems, where issues of community, identity and sociality coalesce and are contested". In short a MMORPG like WOW ^^ And a "Mudder" would be the people playing it - like you !

Anyway, the interesting thing about this text is that it claims that these games actually has a therapeutic effect, because it provides a safe place for you to work through personal issues. It doesn't really explain how, but I can relate in the sense that its a way of getting away from rl at least...which would mean that I'm not really working on my problems, but rather hiding from them...hmm...well nvm that.

Another thing this text says, is that we should be careful, cause this virtual world is not a 100 % safe place to be, since we are, after all, dealing with other human beings. When people engage in social relations through these games, a bond of trust will be formed and hence theres the risk of hurting others or being hurt yourself if people let you down. Smaller things like people being rude to you could also effect you, even though you might not have a strong relationship to the person who does this. In that way, the virtual world interferes with real life (gasp !).

Okay so this might not be something shockingly new to you, but I find it funny to read some theory that actually say what we have experienced and observed in Wow ourselves. And I thought I'd take the oppertunity to remind us all - to play nice :)

/Mijo

If you havent been online recently, heres som important information about the officers.

Slashers left the guild and wont be our raidleader anymore *sob* He will be missed (and he will be back !)

Good news is that Holyangel is our new officer ! She will be doing raids. So treat her nice :)

Also notice that Zaigerne is having a new "Total World Domination" event (aka "TWD") which is a rp/pvp even where we go slay a lot of alliance and take over their territory ! So meet up outside Ogrimmar at 20.00gt this friday (2nd of may) Look out for the event at www.wow-raidar.com

Time for a chatbit ! Dedicated to Zashash (aka Reinos) for being back and still going strong :)


/Mijo


Mijo has come online

[Mijo]: Hey :)

[Zashash]: Hey Mijo

[Druidjim]: Hey Mijo. Long time no talk

[Mijo]: Ye. Just popped in to see how you guys are doin ^^

[Zashash]: Now that you are here, great ;-)

[Mijo]: Aww :p Still a flirt eh? ^^

[Zashash]: You know me... ^^

[Mijo]: Well, thats gotta be a healthy sign i suppose :D

[Zashash]: hehe

[Mijo]: And im covered in ink from my pen, so thats a sure sign that i havent changed either x)

[Zashash]: lol

[Mijo]: Im more of a keyboard person

[Zashash]: Why change?

[Mijo]: Aye :)

• Part 2

“Mijo, could you…” Zaigerne started, but noticed that the undead was nowhere to be seen. Swearing he turned to follow Shadespear’s still ongoing speech. He didn’t trust the rogue undead, but for experience he knew that Mijo did not care. She was a freelancer, worked for the one who paid him the most and she could easily betray him if she would receive higher offer. This was all Zaigerne knew about her, for she was a shadowy figure, never telling anything about her past. Zaigerne just needed to deal with the situation.

Pushing Mijo out of his mind, he concentrated on Shadespear’s speech once again. Snorting Zaigerne noted that Shadespear was still blaming the Alliance for being a “bunch of traitorous pigs with no sense of honor”. For a moment Zaigerne tough that Shadespear had enraged himself beyond the point of sanity, but soon he realized, that Shadespear was indeed getting closer to his goal.

“So my brothers and sister of the Horde!” William shouted and continued: “ What should we do to this scum called Alliance? If we leave them in peace, they will surely attack against us, betray us. They would slaughter our families, kill our loved ones and enslave us! Do we accept this? NO! what should we do then?”

“Kill them!” A deep voice yelled from the back of the cave. Soon, the whole cave was filled with roaring and screaming of hatred. “Kill, kill, kill,”, the word rolled around a cave like a living creature, born in the dark places of one’s mind, birthed by hatred and anger. Zaigerne felt that even his own blood began to boil, battle rage growing. A hand landed on his shoulder, it’s effect as calming as bath in one of the Winterspring’s lakes. He turned and nodded thankfully at Rafal who smiled at him.

Turning back to Shadespear, he realized that the noise in the cave was calming down. Shadespear held his hands high, asking for silence, smiling sadly. When the cave was silent again, he continued: “I’m glad to see that you are so enthusiastic t to defend our beloved Horde. But for my own displeasure, I have to say that open war is something we can’t allow quite yet. I…”
His speech was cancelled by a deep roar of anger, the audience clearly displeased by his words. Nodding to one of his advisors Shadespear ordered him to cut the screahe advisor roused an ancient looking horn to his lips and blow. A mighty sound rouse over the roars of the audience, stunning them and forcing them into silence. Shadespear continued his speech.

“I see and understand your frustration my comrades, but the time for open war is not yet. First of all, our leaders, as wise s they are, have some contacts with the Alliance, and for this they close their eyes from the crimes of the traitors. Secondly, the open war would surely be the end of us. As mighty we are, we have been badly wounded by the third war where the Alliance used us as a meatshield before the wrath of the Burning Legion. But our numbers grow, and soon we are ready for an open war!” a deep roar followed Shadespear’s sentence and he smiled: “But before we can cleanse the scum of Alliance from the face of this world, once and for all, we need to protect ourselves: Those blasted cowards surely use dirty tricks against us, assassinate our emissaries, insult our leaders. It is not yet time for an open war, but for a hidden one. We need to strike first to prevent them from striking us. Slay their assassins, those fools who think their disguise as emissaries allows them to do their dark work in peace. Soon they will fear the word “Horde”!”

Utter silence fell in the cave. This man was offering them a war, a hidden war, a war of stealth and secret. And stealth and secret weren’t the Horde’s way. After a moment, however, a lone voice from back of the cave roared: “Death to the assassins! Glory for the Horde! For Shadespear!”Soon everyone in the cavern repeated those words: “Death o the assassins! Glory for the Horde! For Shadespear!”

Zaigerne had had enough. With a camouflaged nod of his head he mentioned Rafal to follow him. When they were outside Zaigerne suited his toughs into words, “Somehow this Shadespears’s madness have to be stopped my friend,” he said and continued to walk towards the distant town of Booty Bay.

Rafal nodded, and asked the obvious question: “But how?”

[Zapda]: What are [Soul Essence] for?

[Samoira]: Tailoring

[Razhel]: Make stuff from it

[Falanien]: To make pigs fly... :)

[Razhel]: Put it in bank... we need it

[Samoira]: You dont need it anymore. I'm selling everything !!!

[Razhel]: I needz it

[Samoira]: I'll trade it for illusion dust

[Falanien]: You aint selling my pig !

[Samoira]: I'm not? Muhahahah I already did

[Falanien]: !!!!!!!!!!!! *sends a flying pig bomb to samo*

[Samoira]: /dodge

[Falanien]: It was a wise pig and it follow you muahaha

[Samoira]: /slay piggie

[Falanien]: Now its an undead piggy =)

[Samoira]: Shackle piggie

[Falanien]: /mirror image x 100

[Samoira]: /aoe

[Falanien]: /bubble

[Samoira]: /purge

[Falanien]: /stun

[Samoira]: resist >.>

[Falanien]: You resisted 101 stuns? O.o all my images can stun *cackle*

[Samoira]: No. They're dead already

[Falanien]: They are invalid targets... ^^

[Samoira]: Then I'm indestructible...

[Falanien]: Then

[Falanien]: Hmm

[Falanien]: /whosyourdaddy

[Samoira]: /mydaddyismydaddy

[Falanien]: EQ: God mode... ^^

The speech

Zaigerne and Rafal ventured through the tunnel in utter silence. Rocky floor of the cave was cold and wet, and he needed to concentrate on walking, for he wished not to slip over for a second time, his backside still hurting from the first fall over. Even tho he mostly concentrated on keeping himself from falling Zaigerne knew, that they should make some plans about what they would do when they would arrive to the great hall. But he could not break the cave’s silence, for it felt almost holy, almost as the touch of the Earth Mother still rested upon there. He gazed quickly at Rafal, who’s eyes were closed. Meditating, he thought and turned his eyes back to the slippery floor.

Zaigerne grunted. The silence of the cave was no longer undisturbed, instead he could hear faint echoes of voices coming from behind an distant corner. He turned to look at Rafal, and their eyes met. He nodded to the young druid, and turned his gaze towards the corner.

“It seems they have started without us,” Rafal noted. A faint feeling of anger and frustration could be heard from his voice.

“It appears so,” the old shaman answered. “But after all, we are not important enough so they would wait for us. Let us make haste, I don’t want to miss Shadespear’s speech.”

Both taurens increased their pace, and soon they arrived at the corner and moved around it into a great, nature made hall that was filled with hundreds and hundreds of the members of the Horde. The distand voices became crystal clear, as they joined the mass, and above all the grunting and stomping a lone voice, filled with emotion, could be heard. His figure stood atop a great rock in the middle of the round cave, his bodyguard and lieutenants standing next to him. He was a tall man, for being an undead, or he would have been if he wouldn’t have stooped. He wore an black armor, and an long silk cloak. His massive axe laid next to him at the rock. There was no doupt that this was indeed the William Shadespear

“…so my brothers, as I’ve already said I’m proud to see so many members of our Horde here, for we have many matters to discuss. Now, as you know, the fragile truce between the weak Alliance and the Horde is failing. It appears to me, that the promises they made after we saved their puny kingdoms during the third war truly meant nothing to them. They have openly insulted our emissaries, they have slain our brethren, and now they think they could ask us to help them with the “menace” of Onyxia’s brood? Hah! The traitorous cowards just wish to see us fighting against THEIR enemies, dying for THEIR land, and when the battlefield would be clear from the living, when we would have emerged victorious, they would betray us and kill us and take the precious jewels we fought for. Believe me, this would occur if we are ever to trust the Alliance. Also, I wish to mention…”

Zaigerne stopped listening. He knew the people like Shadespear, their speeches filled with promises and hatred, with little if any true meaning. But Shadespear was clever, heh ad to admit. He closed to his main subject slowly, gaining the attention of the crowd while he did. Many of the members of the Horde he saw at the cavern were listening to Shadespear eagerly, nodding to his words. The old hatreds could be easily awoken by a person who knew what he was doing.

Suddenly Zaigerne felt someone touching his shoulder. Again he turned like an youngster, only to face an grin only undead can make.

“Tóuche,” the undead lady said and cackled. Not much could be said about her, for she wore full leather armor, so only her face could be seen. She had glowing yellow eyes, and her lower jaw had long since dropped from it’s place. All in all, Zaigerne could have imagined prettier sights to see.

“Mijo,” he said grimly. “I have told you over an hundred time that you should not try to pick me from behind.”

“Sorry boss, just an old habit. By the way, I have done the task you gave me. Wish to hear the results?” she said and grinned again (grinning without a lower jaw really has a striking effect).

“tell me,” Zaigerne said quickly, forgetting his anger. This was something he desperately needed to hear.

“Well, you gave me an order to check what people think about this Shadespear,” she spitted as he said the name. “And if there are any important persons around. To be honest, I think you ain’t liking the answer.”

“For some reason I’m not very surprised,” Zaigerne said coldly. “Give me the cruel facts.”

“Well, the atmosphere here is, that most of the crowd agree with Shadespear. They can’t just forget the first two wars they had with the Alliance. And about your other question, there are far too many here than I’ve imagined. For now I have spotted about 20 or so, most notable of them being Magatha Grimtotem. You may know her, I presume?” the little accent at the end of the sentence made it a clear question.

“Yes, I’ve heard of her,” Zaigerne muttered, but refused to say more. Magatha was indeed a powerful member of the Horde, and if she would give her aid to the Shadespear it would harm his efforts of keeping peace between Horde and the Alliance.

You have now seen many easter eggs from the Horde territory and around some neutral places. Now its time for a peek inside the Alliance easter eggs. It's only around Stormwind city since it takes a higher lvl character to sneak around outside this area. So heres a peak at some ally easter eggs that the Horde wont bumb into.

[Picture 1]: A Bishop named DeLavey stands in the Cathedral of Stormwind and is a reference to Anton Szandor LaVey who was a big fan of satan! He founded the church of satan in 1966 where he worked as a high priest and he also wrote "the satanic bible" and founded something called LaVeyan satanism.

[Picture 2]: Haggle is a poor homeless guy that lives at the Deeprum Tram (a subway). Here he looks through the carbage all day long while he talks to himself. One of the things you can hear him say is; "Forty-two... forty-two... forty-two what? It could be anything! Forty-two... hmmm...". This should ring a bell to those who has read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - which is a really good book written by Douglas Adams. Apparently Haggle read the book before his life on the street.

[Picture 3-5]: If you take the three bankers in Stormwind and put their first names together you get the name Olivia Newton John. Olivia is best known for her role as Sandy in Grease with John Travolta but has also had succes as a popsinger and songwriter. You might know the hits "Lets get physical" and "I honestly love you" from the 70ies.

[Picture 6]: This dude is named after Leonard McCoy who is a character from the original Star Trek series. Treky or not, im sure you all have at least heard of this American Science Fiction serie that started way back in the 60ies. The middle name "Fingers" im sure he got cause he is actually a lockpicking trainer in the game. In Star Trek however, McCoy is the doctor on the ship and he must have done a good job since he got a Npc named after him. Unless ofcourse you see it as a punishment that they made him Alliance :p

/Mijo (Yes, this post has indeed been made by Mijo, and I thank her for being unable to stop blogging and giving me some time to slack around using her saved posts *cackles* Ps. The second part of the story is coming next week, so be tuned for it)

In the beginning there was… (Part one)

Rain fell like a silent wall from the heavens and surrounded the jungle trees of Stranglethorn vale, as it always did during these seasons. Zaigerne glared out of the cave and thanked the Earth Mother that he was allowed to stay here in dry and quite comfortable cavern without any need to wander in the rain getting fever. He had witnessed how those who had arrived today had been wet like those blasted murlocs when they had entered the cave, and was pleased that his mate had forced him to travel here few days before the meeting.

Yes, the meeting… He grumbled as his anger grew. The reason he had travelled from his beautiful land of Mulgore to this war-torn kingdom, to witness what this so called lord William Shadespear had to offer. He had his suspicions however, for he knew that the race William belonged had no love for anything but revenge upon those who had banished them to their eternal damnation of death… and yet, they were not quite dead after all.

Zaigerne shook his head. He could not understand the rage that had filled the veins of every undead he had met during his long journeys, and thus he had resisted the will of the council to allow the undeads, led by banshee queen lady Sylvanas Windrunner, to join the Horde. He had even asked the leader of his people, the mighty Cairne Bloodhoof, to repel the Thrall’s decision, but the old bull stood loyal to his friend.

Zaigerne sighed. It was not his to consider these things, for he was just a simple shaman, a tauren with no glorious ancestors to appeal to. He turned towards the tunnel entrance that led to a great hall of stone that was to be used as meeting room for the council, and was just about to leave his guarding site, when he felt hand touching his shoulder. With the agility that had surprised many of his former foes he turned to face this threat.

“Easy now, my friend, I’m not an assassin as you should already know,” said the stranger. Zaigerne noticed he was facing another one of his race who’s horns stand about 3-4 inches above his. The newcomer was not wet as those who had arrived earlier, in the contrary he seemed to have spent the whole rainy day inside. He had dressed to traditional druid’s kilt and he also wore leather jacket. He appeared to be some years younger than Zaigerne himself, but his eyes looked as if they had belonged to someone who had lived for centuries of pain, but yet found redemption.

“Rafal, my friend,” Zaigerne said and smiled, for this was the person he had waited. He had known Rafal since the tauren had been a young calf, for he was son of his former friend, who had passed from this world to join the Earth Mother many years ago. He had followed as the youngster had made mistakes and as he had almost destroyed his life. But finally the boy had found his salvation in the form of the blessed Earth Mother, and he became a druid. From that moment onwards he had dedicated his life to help others and to bring end to those, who’s souls were already beyond saving.

Rafal turned his gaze towards the tunnel and spoke. “It is great to see you again, elder, and I know we have a lot matters to discuss. But I fear we are late (The damned zeppelin burst into flames during the flight and I needed to swim from Westfall to here). Should we go in?

“Yes, I think you’re right. Let’s go in to hear what this undead zealot has to say,” Zaigerne grumbled and grinned. He turned towards the tunnel again, and began his journey that was to lead him even further than he could have imagined