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The Keep
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Keepers of Stromgarde
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New Recruits
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Ranks
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The Nation of Stromgarde
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On the outside, the Library of Stromgarde was like any other building in the ruined city. Signs of old fires and battle marked its crumbling stone facade. Fallen timbers and jumbled rocks rested at its base; its windows were boarded up and its main door was obscured by a pile of debris. Crossing the threshold of the door, the visitor could make out archers and cloaked swordsmen hidden among the rubble. They were Keepers, guardians of the city. As the Library was now under their supervision, it was only fair they take up its protection as well.
Passing by the guards and entering the inner chamber returned a stranger sight than the outside. Hollowed out houses -- at least four of them -- were connected by a hodgepodge of poorly built walls and stonework. There was a large skylight in each corner of the room, and a few windows faced only the least exposed sides of the buildings, covered by large iron shutters.
The room was only ten or so feet high, with bookshelves and scroll racks reaching to the very top. Many of the shelves were empty, while others were filled to such a point that many scrolls had fallen to the floor, and many more teetered on the edge. A Squire of the Keepers ran by holding several scrolls and tomes, some looking older than the Eastern Kingdoms themselves and some appearing to have ink still fresh from the well. He darted down one of the empty rows of shelves and placed his charges in their chosen spot, then continued the process with the literature which had fallen to the ground, sighing with each pass.
The visitor came to what could only be the center of the Library, bathed in the light from a fifth, round skylight, where two figures were hunched over a table. A dark-haired human, loosely wearing red robes and a high collar which masked much of his face, under which there seemed to be highly worn leather armor, sat across from a purplish-gray draenei whose scarlet tabard was belted simply over a chain shirt, white linen showing through beneath it, and form fitting pants, only a few shades more gray than her skin; her long white hair obscured the silver hawk that must be on the tabard. These two, a study in contrasts, were the Keepers of the Library, the Lorekeepers of Stromgarde. They were members of the Keepers of Stromgarde, given the task to defend not just the city itself, but the accumulated knowledge contained within it.
"Excuse me..." the visitor ventured.
He approached the table, noticing the scrolls and tomes from all different ages, in many languages, spread out across the table.
"Pardon me?" he tried again.
The human scrawled hasty translations from one of the many foreign language books stacked at his elbow. As he finished a page, the draenei took it from him and began the arduous process of translating his furious scratch-marks into a more recognizable Common. Neither noticed the visitor as he stood there plaintively trying to attract their attention.
After about fifteen minutes, the draenei ran out of ink. Frowning, she stood, empty inkwell in hand, and turned from the table, almost knocking over the visitor.
One hand instinctively flew to her heart and she gasped in surprise. Recovering quickly, she smiled at the newcomer. "Arkanon Poros, aPhilei. Can we be helping you?"
"Well..." the visitor stammered, having almost given up hope of making his request, "I am interested in learning about The Lore, Keepers."
"The Lorekeepers!" laughed the man at the table. "We're glorified librarians!"
"Is being unfair description, Aeldon!" the draenei protested. "We are being protectors of sacred knowledge of Stromgarde's people."
"Yes," Aeldon retorted dryly. "Librarians with swords. Also known as 'glorified' librarians. Glorified librarians in a military order guarding a city of warriors."
The draenei grimaced. "You know we are doing more than that." She turned back to the bewildered visitor and smiled charmingly. "We are also coordinating many happenings for Keepers and answering requests for information from outsiders. We are being contact point for new recruits," she pointed to herself, "and for Squires," she gestured back toward the human. "Aeldon is being Master-at-Arms... I am running tavern in Stormwind..." She seemed to be mentally ticking off a list. "And he is teaching a Lore class every week."
"I--" the visitor tried.
Aeldon rolled his eyes. "It's all for a purpose, Aurhia. You can only get so far with reading books. Sometimes, someone has to force the knowledge down your throat. As for your tavern... drinking is always a good way to forget the miseries of the War."
The draenei flashed him a disgruntled look.
"We are still just librarians." he finished.
Aurhia shook her head. "I still say is being poor description, Aeldon." She turned a piercing gaze on the newcomer. "Is your history not deserving sworn defenders, not deserving being taught to your children?"
The visitor grew increasingly confused. "Um...yes... no, sir, ma'am, I was just --"
"Just a minute, kid." The human cut him off, raising an ink-covered hand nearly to the visitor's face. "That's a matter of personal opinion. I see it as remembering past mistakes to avoid the same in the future, and to remember the greatness, to try and recreate it."
"But Aeldon --" she started.
"Of course," he added, "maybe they are just giving me something to do to keep me busy."
"No, Aeldon! Those are being very good reasons! Is deserving our protection!"
"Pardon me..." the visitor said, raising his voice to be heard.
"That's what those Keepers outside are for. The Trollhunters are about as good as angry merchants defending their cargo compared to Keepers. All we do in here is arrange the bookshelves, write down histories, and set up the parties."
"But those are being important duties! Is why there were given to us. You are knowing histories so well! And I am knowing people --"
He broke in, "I had nothing else to do for years on end besides reading books, and in your... year or so on this world --"
"Almost two!" she interjected.
"Two. Whatever. You probably learned more about our history in these last few months from these scrolls and tomes I've had to rewrite --"
"Oh no," she broke in again, "there were those books from the Stormwind Library as well." She looked around quizzically. "I wonder what happened to those books."
Aeldon picked up one of the books on the table, quickly scratching the "Property of Stormwind Royal Library" tag off the binding.
"Excuse me!" The visitor finally cried out in anger. "I was not asking about you Lorekeepers! I wanted to know about The Lore of Azeroth, Volume 1-8. You know, The Lore?"
The two Lorekeepers looked at each other. Aurhia hid her laughter behind one hand while Aeldon just sat there and shook his head. Aurhia took a few steps down a row of shelves labeled "H", her bare hooves clicking on the wood floor, and returned with a book as big as a paving stone and about as heavy.
Carefully placing the book in the visitor's hands, Aurhia said quickly, "Is being first volume, The Shaping of Azeroth." She smiled. "Was translated from Titan to Dwarven, and then into Common many years ago, so is not making much sense in places."
"And this," Aeldon added, slapping a piece of paper down on top of the book, "is our list of rules. Be more specific next time!"
The visitor, weighed down by the heavy tome and the leers from other library patrons, slowly backed out of the Library.
Watching the visitor retreat Aurhia shook her head and sighed, glancing back at the other Lorekeeper.
He grinned up at her knowingly.
She concedes. "Glorified librarians."
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Lorekeeper
- Story Telling:
Wouldn't it be nice if all our Keepers were educated on Azeroth history and they all had deep knowledge of all conflicts of the past? Too bad they aren't. Your task is to teach our troops a little bit of the past and hoping they learn from it. After all we're running a regiment of fine and sofisticated adventurers, not a bunch of orcish grunts.
- RP dungeon crawl:
Dungeon crawling doesn’t have to be a boring and mechanic experience. Who said RP and PvE don’t combine? They do! You’ll be surprised by the degree of enjoyment and social interaction a simple instance run can provide all those involved in the feat. It doesn’t have to be a hard instance, but of course, a little challenge wouldn’t hurt. So take your party and take on an adventure, RP style!
- Inn Management:
Although we live in a world where war is waged in every corner, it doesn’t mean we can’t sit down and relax just for a little bit. There are a few abandoned inns around the Kingdom from which we could benefit greatly. Selling some fashioned products and some amount of licor could very well boost our regiment economy. It’s up to you get the provisions, launch the public campaign and entertain the customers… Of course, with some help from the guild.
- RP Enforcement:
As stated above, the “Keepers of Stromgarde” is a martial regiment known by its honor and respectful ways in the battlefield, but there’s much more than that. We’re also known for our RP behavior in the battlefield and in our towns. It’s up to you to enforce an RP behavior amongst the guild; make people use parethesis in guildchat if chat is OOC, promote RP chatter/topics and events.
- The Lorekeepers are also bound to ALL the High Keeper's and Keeper's tasks... |
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