“You are human.

You are young.

Is not everything annoying?”

The words had struck more home than she had time to realize when he said that. Tharion was right. But it wasn’t fair, just because he was a night elf and older shouldn’t mean that it was easier for him. Her hands clenched until the knuckles were white. It hurt… reality hurt. Her shoulders shook, but she knew tears would be denied to her. Araatris had made her choice and the pressure of the blindfold and burning in her eyes was a constant reminder.

“I hate you…,” Apparently, she wasn’t denied a stuffy nose as she sniffled.

“No…” The demonic presence in her mind shifted slipped into her thoughts.

Araatris’ head snapped up. In her horrid embarrassment and melancholy, she’d forgotten about him. She berated herself, but didn’t directly respond to the demon.

“You don’t hate him.” The voice sounded disinterested.

“Yes, I do. It’s his fault!” There was a scurry of creatures as she shouted out to the forest.

“I know you. You don’t hate him.” If a voice could shrug, then that’s what the presence did.

Araatris frowned. It was messing with her again. “What? Because he’s -pretty-?” She tried to glare inside her mind.

“Perhaps, but mostly because you know he never made you do this. If it’s anyone’s fault… it’s yours.” The voice was horridly blunt.

“It’s… It’s… not my fault.” Her shoulders began to shake again.

“Do you want to die?” The voice was sharp, and very intense.

Araatris found a similarity in Tharion’s question when she said that it was easier to not speak with the demon manipulating her thoughts. He’d asked, “Will you be mute?” She wasn’t ready to give up, but it hurt. She sniffled again. “N-no.”

Malorin was silent for several moments. “You aren’t sure.” It was not a question.

The thought made Araatris’ heart skip. Was she really unsure about living? The thought terrified her. She trembled. “I’m… I’m sure.”

“Then why do you hide?” Malorin’s voice had relaxed into a mild disinterest again.

“I’m not…” Araatris paused. “I don’t know…” She glowered. “Why are you being nice?”

“I’m not. I’m simply protecting myself.” He growled, “Without you I no longer exist.”

Ah. So there had been an ulterior motive. “So, you’re lying?”

Malorin huffed, “What good would that do, brat? Then, for all I know you’d just get depressed and commit suicide.”

“So, you don’t know me as well as you think you do.” Araatris grinned slightly through the sniffles.

Malorin grumbled, “I know you as well as you know yourself, which isn’t very good. In your current state, you’re worthless. If you don’t know yourself, then you will never be able to master me. Not that I think you’re capable anyway.”

Araatris stared out of the tree hollow. “Maybe you’re right… maybe you’re wrong. If you have access to me, then I should have access to you. Argh! But he said that there was no you and me… this hurts my head.” She shifted and pressed her fingers into her forehead.

He shrugged, “Not my problem. Anyway, how long are you going to sit here and cry, brat? You’re starting to annoy me.”

She twitched, “Good. Now you know how I feel.”

“And stop talking out loud. You echo enough in this empty place without it.” Malorin grinned amused.

“Shut up!” Araatris fumed.

A deep laughter echoed throughout her mind, “That’s it, brat. Fight!”

Araatris paused and slipped out into the rain from the crevice. “You know what, Malorin… I think I will.” Taking off across the damp grass, Araatris’ feet lead her to the satyr village. Malorin’s malicious laughter echoed through her mind in response.

Yet, killing it hadn’t brought her joy. Just a simple release. Araatris held it up into the moonlight and felt an odd feeling she couldn’t explain run through her. It was as if for just a moment, she had been seeing through someone else’s eyes. She yanked the gemstone back down. She honestly had better things to be doing than staring at it.

She could be working about the Site or training, but instead she’d felt the need to be alone. A desperate need to meditate about her path and this gem. A deep shaky breath was taken as Araatris shifted her location.

It was a small moonbeam that reached the forest floor, but would serve her purposes. She sat herself cross-legged and placed the precious stone in her palm. It hummed and vibrated in her hand. It had begun doing this soon after she took possession of it. It was unclear whether it was normal and she’d not had a chance to ask. Araatris wasn’t sure if what she was doing was even a good idea. The crystal certainly didn’t feel pleasant.

Araatris fought the tremble in her arms as she raised it into the moonbeam. A shock ran through her body and froze it as the crystal began screaming. She felt her own mouth echoing the words that she couldn’t understand. Terrified, she was unable to react as she seemed to synchronize with the gemstone.

“You are the one that killed me.” It snarled and seemed to snap within its prison.

“You are mine now.” Araatris tried to sound confident, but her voice cracked in this guttural language.

“A child. Is this what finally did killed me?”

She could hear the sneer in its voice. “I claim you. You will answer to me.”

“Why?”

She sensed it wanted to find out more about her and that seemed dangerous. “You are trapped. You have no choice but to submit.”

It smiled; a gruesome thing that forced itself into her mind. “There is always a choice. You know that. I can sense it. We are alike, you and I.”

“No.” She shook violently.

“I will use you.”

The world shimmered and shook and Araatris found herself lying bereft of dignity. She sprawled on the ground ungainly and a clawed hand grasped her chin. It yanked her head up so that she looked into the eyes of her adversary. The satyr was just as he had been in life and still she found the traces of his previous life fascinating. It spoke plainly with its accompanying grin. “You are helpless, child.”

Her heart pounded, but she forced herself to stare into his eyes. They were mesmerizing, but she focused on the last time she’d seen such eyes up close. She’d thrown herself at that demon and had been blindly trying to kill it. She knew much more now. Her lips curled menacingly.

Without concern for herself, she grasped the demon’s wrist firmly. He seemed amused until Araatris used that as leverage to swing a leg up into his chin. He reeled slightly from the impact, but wasn’t disoriented. A thin scratch marred her cheek. The satyr grinned at the trickle of blood and licked his lips. “So, you want to play?”

Araatris crouched ready for combat, even knowing that there was a chance she might lose without her weapons. She was ready tear him apart with her bare hands if that was what it took. Without warning, the vile creature blurred and disappeared from her sight. It was without warning that that a hoof came crashing into her backside.

She flattened, but rolled aside before he could recover for another blow. Leaping to her feet, Araatris took the offensive, but her blows bounced off his skin until her knuckles and shins were raw. He was really playing with her.

It was easy enough to back off. He was too amused by her attempts and enjoying drawing the fight out. She watched him. This was a dreamscape. Tharion had told her as much about these. And this was as much her dreamscape as his, but… if she gave in. It would be no game, she wouldn’t get out. She hadn’t intended to take it this far, but now that it was the case she had no choice.

The straight forward attacks didn’t work. She needed to find a weak spot. Araatris leapt forward and feinted, a mild look of surprise crossed the satyr’s face as she slipped behind him and punched where his spine was. The hit didn’t connect as he twisted away. His snarl trembled through her body and she stayed firm.

It’d been so simple the entire time. He’d just been protecting his back. It was a pity that she hadn’t connected as now he was on to her plan. He knew she would keep trying for it. Her body tensed and waited for him to attack.

After a moment, the great hoofed creature simply straightened and smiled. “Do you really think it’s going to be that easy?

Araatris smiled. “Not at all, Red. I expect you to fight tooth and claw.”

He walked forward and Araatris held her ground. “It’s a pity you have no claws to fight with.” He shimmed and she felt the presence behind her this time. He leapt upon her like lightning, his blows cuffing her and she saw once again the claws headed towards her face.

“No!” Outside of the dream world, Araatris regained control of her limbs and firmly grasped the gem in her right hand.

Within the dream world, Araatris thrust up her hands and a blade appeared to block the clawed strike. “I have my own claws, monster.” She growled and snarled up at him. Araatris threw him off of her with a boost of strength. “I will not submit to you. Not now… not ever!”

The demon wiped at a small stream of blood from the corner of his mouth. He laughed, “Now this is more like it. Perhaps you are more woman than child!” He stood and gathered himself proudly. “Fight me, woman!”

“Gladly!” Araatris threw herself forward and found herself matching the demon’s pace and footwork. They weaved around the empty landscape like ballroom dancers. Their blows were rhythmic in time as they tested their openings, parried and thrust, dodged and moved. The openings were too far and too little and she could feel herself wearing down. The game had to end.

The creature had slipped up again. Perhaps he tired as well. It was a perfect opening as Araatris slipped under his arm and knocked his hooves out from under him. He was slower to recover than he had been previously and she crouched over his torso. Her blade tip pressed at the base of his neck until it drew blood. He heaved tiredly, but relented as she pressed harder.

The hum quieted as did the voice. She snarled at the crystal, “No… I will use you and your powers to quiet your kind. I will hunt them in the silence and they will not see their death coming. You are mine. Tell to me your true name, demon, so that I might bind you.”

It was soft and carried on the wind, “Malorin Shadowclaw.”

In a voice that Araatris didn’t recognize as her own, and in a musical language she did not speak, her voice rang out. The words they both understood. “I bind thee, Maloris Shadowclaw, by the blood that I have spilt. Thou will obey my call and commands at all times. Do you understand?”

“I understand… Mistress.”

Araatris’ heart pounded in her rib cage as her vision cleared as she stared at the crystal. Her voice was raw from the foreign languages of the demon. It no longer seemed wrong in her hands, but more like an old companion she could call upon. There was no doubt about the path she would follow now. She lowered the gemstone and placed it in a pouch, feeling none of earlier compulsion to hold onto it. She knew that when it was time and she was ready, then it would be as well.

I’m here doing my fishing daily and a guy on a mage runs up behind me as says “rawr” in say. No punctuation. No capitalization. Not done as an emote. This doesn’t say to me RPer, however, I decided in the end to emote back. I wanted to see how he would react.

“Lannia glances over her shoulder and turns back to fishing.” Not as friendly as I normally am, but I didn’t really expect a response. What I got was a surprise as he hopped off his mount and emoted.

“X frowns, ‘That’s no way to greet someone.’” By the way, neither is rawr.

I try to respond, but the mage is blinking about and going invisible and against my normal reaction I look about for him and ask if he wants to speak with me. He acts a bit flighty, but not too bad. Finally, as I get tired of waiting for him to come back I start to walk back to the pier and he pops next to me and starts talking.

He was a rather nice guy. And in the end, it was fun. My first impression of the guy was less than pleasant though. If you’re trying to test the waters and see if someone wants to RP, please try to avoid some of the things that griefers do. Like getting in your face and saying random stuff like rawr.

Instead, do what you might in real life to get someone’s attention. “Hey Miss! Do you have a moment?” or “Would you like some company?” are much more RP friendly ways to start a conversation. So, just think for a moment, how would you react to a simple “rawr” in say?

I’ve been thinking to myself. A dangerous thing, I know. When people say, “There’s no RP,” what are they really saying. Considering that I’ve never had a problem drudging up some RP when I wanted it, I think that they may not be fully explaining what they really want.

• I would really like to RP with X.
• I want to be a part of X with my RP.
• I’m really not comfortable finding random RP, I want to RP with people I know.

They don’t really mean that they just want RP. They mean that they want a specific thing in some cases. (Some people really do just want RP and they just don’t know how to do it.) Yet, sometimes people don’t come out and say it. It’s like saying, I can’t find chili, but you’re in a restaurant that has chili. What you may really mean is I can’t find a chili that fits my requirements/wants.

I was on Serephim last night and decided to hang out in Stormwind. You know Archmage Malin at the bottom of the mage tower? I decided to debate with him about something the Kirin Tor wanted Serephim wanted to do. No one had come up to me, so I wondered towards the main town square muttering. I pass through it on the way to old town and someone stopped me and began talking to me.

All I did was emote and walk through public areas and I found RP because I looked. Now, the RP wasn’t anything to squee about, but it was nice. I ended up talking to a farm boy trying to find his way in life. It was an interesting view on how the Lich King had managed to affect even the simple life. His friend had been turned to undead in the mines where they worked and he’d had to face him. How terrible, isn’t it?

A simple RP of just two people chatting because one caught the eye of the other. Nothing really special, but it fills out the world just a little bit more.

A few tiny tips when RPing just to remind those out there.

• Ask questions of the other person, RP is not a soliloquy.
• Use emotes, and not just the standard WoW emotes, to add flavor to your character.
• Make sure you have your story straight before you mention something, otherwise you might confuse the person you’re RPing with or it might seem disjointed.

To end this thought, I just want to say… communicate. Communicate clearly what you’re really looking for in RP and clearly communicate what you’re trying to portray with your character. No one can read minds, so we need to be straightforward and ask questions.

Examples are like:

• “Hey are you free this Thursday at 9? I really want to work on an RP storyline with you.”
• “Do you know when and where X is taking place? I’d really like to be a part of it.”

People work best with direct questions. Ask them when they’re available or even what they want to eat and a lot of people tend to just say whatever (at least the do from what I’ve seen). However, if you say I want to eat at Olive Garden at 8, then they can yay or nay it. Same deal with RP. It’s kind of weird, but I just wanted to bring up the thought.

May your RP be plenty! And your rewards great!

“You feel it, spark. He’s coming.” The familiar voice echoing in my mind was almost comforting. Unable to pronounce the real name of the elemental that I was merged with, I called him Blaze. We had an almost symbiotic relationship that was of much academic interest, but that’s a story for another time.

“I will not bow to him.”

“You did once before.”

“You were in his control then. Will you bow?”

“I am only fire, spark. What do you expect me to do?”

I growled under my breath causing a few strange looks as I leaned against a building for support. My ebony hair lay disheveled in my face on purpose. The unsettling fire within them would cause more trouble than I wanted at this moment. “I expect you to fight, Blaze. You said you ran from him to me in order to hide. I am your master now as such. I command you to fight.”

I waited for a response, wondering if it would truly work. Blaze was more prone to destruction of the lesser beings in this world than fighting against his old master. Perhaps a bit more self-preservation that the typical fire elemental had. I could feel him weighing the odds. He would have happily burned down all of Stormwind for me without a second thought. I would have to be careful.

“We are not master and servant, spark, but we are of one mind. I wish to be free and not his. I will lend my aid, but fire does not hurt fire. Remember that.” I frowned. It was enough. For now.

My mind was muddied by another earthquake and I was grateful for the wall to my back. It was a rather sickening feeling, and I felt something beyond what Blaze mentioned. Something much more powerful that his old master. It caused both him and I to grow weak with each roar. And… it was coming for all of us. Soon.

I looked about at the people passing me. All the soldiers, villagers, adventurers who were tending to their daily fair. They were clueless to the greater power coming. Things were going to change. And I would bet my life that it wasn’t going to be a good one.

• Some people have mentioned that this could be the screen refresh rate and other video issues, so make sure that your video card is updated (drivers and such) and set up with its optimal settings.
• There are some addons that shake your screen upon crits and such, so make sure that you don’t have any addons known to shake your screen on.
• Giants
• Felreavers
• Core Hounds
• The outhouse quest at Amberpine Lodge
• Basically any really big mobs
• Some items and spells

 Things that used to cause the effect but not longer will.

• Tamed Core Hounds – This was fixed in 3.0.

If this screen shake bothers you, you can also disable it in the video settings.

The WoW community seems split on this issue. I haven’t seen any screen shakes yet, but I’m not opposed to the idea that its possible.

There are, indeed, invisible mobs in WoW called shakers that were seen on the PTR for Icecrown. However, we don’t truly know their abilities beyond deriving what we can from their name. As far as I’ve researched, no one had the ground shake on the PTR to know if these mobs cast Earthquake on players. It’s certainly plausible.

There are also many things in game that can cause the screen to shake. There was a summoning arrow for the goblin cupid I believe that used to cause an earthquake effect. It’s impossible to know what people are doing around you. Even your computer, from your mouse to your video settings and drivers, can cause a similar effect.

Until it starts happening on a mass scale, it will be something that is difficult to prove to skeptics, even if you record every single one with where you were and time. It’s unfortunate, but true. However, I would like to believe that they are beginning with a slow lead up to Cataclysm. We would probably see small signs before the world ripped asunder.

I know many have asked online if Deathwing was on the Elemental plane, then how would that cause earthquakes? Good question. However, if the Elemental plane wasn’t overlapping with Azeroth at all, then how would Deathwing come out of the ground and change the world at all? Two planes that weren’t supposed to merge on this level are bound to change the world a little bit at a time. It would certainly make for great RP!

Overall, the tremors are plausible, but hard to prove. Harder than any other world event has been so far. We’ll have to wait for it to reach more intensity before we can say if this is truly a world event. Perhaps, Blizzard’s just pulling a fast one on us by sneaking under the radar with a world event. It’s a nice thought and I hope it’s true.

Lannia:
This man was corrupted much like anyone else who has involved himself with the Burning Legion. He is a pawn that has gone out of control, but since he’s a distraction away from the Burning Legion, they allow it. There is very little that is left of the hero of long ago, if any. It is truly sad how vulnerable people are in the end, even me. *smiles sadly* Perhaps we can help him find peace so that he can finally rest. Free from his madness.

Serephim:
*snorts* You’re asking me about the Ice Prince of Azeroth. If you want my opinion, you must be a bit crazy yourself. I don’t really care about him. He’s just another crazy in this world. -What? Oh, of course he needs to be stopped. Oh! I see. You think that I might take some part in it. *shrugs* I dunno. Got enough problems to work out for myself, let alone trying to stop an insane prince. Geez, you act as if he can hear me. Ice Prince. There’s no way that I’m going to call him back the egotistal name. He’s lord over a freaking iceland full or dead people and bones. Doesn’t sound very kingly to me. Personally, I think he should just see how pitiful that is and just himself for us.

Araatris:
The Lich King. Sure, I’ve heard of him. He’s done terrible things. Sometimes I wonder if he thought they were truly best at the time, but what made him think that. Especially the whole thing with Stratholme. I’ve heard people tell me about how it burned with all those people inside. It’s terrible! *shudders* I only wish I could do more, but for now I’ll have to bide my time.

Jhaara:
The Lich King is a fool. Does he truly think he can unite us all under one banner? Even with his thoughts, groups were able to break free. My brother and I will see his downfall. No one is lord over us. My brother would just rage ahead, but he always was hot-headed. We shall wait until the moment when the Lich King is weakest and strike. Together he and I will stand over the body of our creator and watch his screaming deparature. You think that I am harsh perhaps? So, are the winters up here. They can drain the heat from your body until you lie dead in the snow. Only this time… I will bring even a colder winter to the Lich King than any has ever known and I will suck the life from his corpse. *the interviewer runs in terror*

There have been times that I’ve been frustrated and even tired of healing, but I know why I do it. I want to help move my group forward. I don’t just play for myself. I play for my friends and with my friends and all the people I meet. Lannia, the warpriestess, is the epitome of that role. I have attempted to DPS with her even, but to me… nothing felt more wrong than going shadow. That definitely isn’t to say that there is anything wrong with shadow, but it’s not for Lannia or for me, her player.

Last night in Naxx 10, I was pleased when we only wiped once and that was on Heigan (a pain in the butt). We made it through even the Military wing without a wing. I was proud… not only of myself, but of our entire group. I feel as if we were growing up as a raid. Now, I’m not a hard core raider by any stretch. Only Naxx 10 so far and only once a week. However, I love learning about my party members, their play styles, and progressing with them. No deadline. No stress. Just us, once a week.

Recently, I’ve been looking at Lannia in a new light. Seeing how far she’s come and how precious she is to me as a character, I wondered why I’d been neglecting her for alts. She doesn’t even have Epic flying. She doesn’t have the rep to get head or shoulder enchants. The only thing I grinded rep for… a penguin. That’s it. That doesn’t do the Warpriestess of the Netherbane justice.

It is time to wake up and look at her once more. Why did I step away from her? Was the RP boring? As a friend of mine told me, sometimes if everything’s all too good and happy to have a story… then break something. I plan on it. Lannia’s waking up and I can hear her muse once more. She says that she’s ready to come back and kick some ass. Was I truly tired of healing? Well, I decided to mix things up and get healbot. That has helped me so much. I’m going to work on Power Auras and a few other addons to really scale up my healing. There’s no reason for me to just sit back and say… meh, it works. Why can’t I push that extra little bit? There isn’t one, so that’s my goal.

Perhaps, I just feel better today, but I can tell a difference already. I’m spending hours doing dailies and quests (I had to open up the Hodir dailies). I’m working towards dual spec and that epic mount. If I want something in game… I’m going to reach for it.

Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to neglect my alts. In fact, this will help them. If I can get and epic mount on Lannia, then she can earn gold to help Serephim get her epic mount. Then between Lannia and Serephim I can fund my other alts more. If I raid more then I can get BOA gear for my alts. My alts will not be forgotten, and will still play roles when I need a break from playing a character. They will still have RP and I will still love learning about the class. All of my characters are enjoyable.

I just realized that I didn’t want to leave Lannia behind, just to be logged onto when I absolutely had to. I felt that her presence was fading and honestly, I had no idea what to do. So, I’m going to ‘wake’ her up. RP-wise and playing-wise. She deserves it. She’s the character that began everything I do on WoW. My figure-head. And I’m going to make her worth being the center of this webpage.

I am Lannia, Warpriestess of the Netherbane, and I will protect the Netherbane til my last breath. Hunt me, threaten me, torture me and I will fight, but touch my family and I will bring the wrath of Elune down upon you… and I will make sure there is nothing to resurrect.

I want to solve this dilemia. I’m still working out how, but I have concepts beginning. Below are the first few.
First interface concept:

You have a list of categories. You click one and it opens into a list. You click another category and it switches to that list. So, kind of like the below.

These are sample categories. So, I click on RP Attacks.

That causes RP Attacks to open up and show a list like below.

Any thoughts from the community? Would this design be feasible?

I’m highly allergic to trees and weeds, and somewhat allergic to cats (love them anyway). However, it could be interesting and even add a tiny bit of humor if you have a character that’s allergic to cats. Could you imagine every time you run across a druid in cat form? “Achoo! Please…aaachoo! Could you change out of cat form? Sniffle!” You can make allergies as serious or as minor as you want.

Allergies aren’t the only thing you can use. Addictions, obsessive-compulsive disorders, superstitions, and more can all be used. You don’t need to have them play huge parts, but perhaps there’s a ritual your character has to perform before going into battle or your character can’t live without a particular type of sweets (addictions come on many levels).

I can see a lot of fun with superstitions as well, and you don’t have to use just ones from real life. Perhaps the character grew up believing that if you broke a branch off a live tree then you’d have bad luck (bonus points if they’re a druid ).

Once my allergies brought this up to me, I recall that some old tabletop RPG games used Advantages/Disadvantages in order to boost your character. Disadvantages gave you points and added depth to your character in that they were now no longer perfect. They had a flaw, even if minor, and it was up to you to roleplay that appropriately.

Think of normal things that people might have problems with, even clumsiness or forgetfulness (clumsy is bad if you’re the warrior, BTW… ). Take that trait and incorporate into your normal RP. Such as you hate shaking hands (could be afraid of germs or hate touching others), so you always ignore handshakes and do something else instead such as saluting or bowing.

Have fun with it! Just don’t take on more than you can easily RP.