Out of character first: my brother and I have played the same two characters, the Iceblood brothers, since Ultima Online in 1997. Through Shadowbane, WoW and every world in between. We are bringing them to Forever as Skyborne on RP-PvP, and I wrote their whole history as a story. Here is how it opens.
Curious who else is carrying an old character into this one. What is yours, and how far back does it go?
[IC] The Ledger of Warrax Iceblood
Every soul I have ever killed has a line in my ledger.
The book is bound in bone. The ink is mostly blood, and very little of it is mine. I started it the winter my mother died, and I have never once lost count. Four thousand, two hundred and eleven lines. Give or take the ones Grymax swears were his.
You are reading this, which means you are not in it.
Yet.
Let me tell you how a man comes to keep a book like that.
I was born in the dark beneath Mondain's keep, firstborn of a wizard who collected children the way other men collect knives. My mother was a battle-priestess he kept in chains. She taught us three things in that dungeon: how to hold our tongues, how to read runes, and how to wait.
My brother Grymax came a little after me and a great deal larger. When we were boys, Mondain threw us into his deepest pit with one sword between us and one instruction. Only one of you walks out.
Grymax looked at the sword. I looked at Grymax.
I broke it over my knee.
Four days later we climbed out of that pit together, each of us carrying half a sword. Mondain never forgave us for that. We never forgave him for anything.
So we waited. Years. We learned his runebook the way a thief learns a lock, one mark at a time, and one night we swapped every rune in it for a blank. The next time the Stranger came for him, Mondain reached for his escape and found nothing in his hand but parchment.
You know what that means, don't you?
The greatest wizard of the age died like any other man. Surprised.
His keep fell. We walked into the snow with ice in our veins and nowhere to be, and behind us Minax screamed until the mountains cracked. She has hunted us through every world since.
She has killed us. Often. It does not take.
Kill an Iceblood and he only comes back colder. I have died in Britannia under a red moon. I have died on the burning walls of Aerynth with a castle coming down on my head. I have died in the frozen passes of Azeroth and woken up annoyed about it. Every time, I opened my eyes in a strange new world, and every time my brother was already there, axe on his shoulder, half a sword on his belt, saying the same thing.
"Took you long enough."
In Britannia we found others who walked beside death and did not flinch. The Undead Lords. They offered us a bargain. I read every word of it twice, and then I signed it in blood. My own. I am not a fool.
Mostly.
Now a new world opens its gates on the fourth of November. Here they call us Skyborne. The Horde has room for two more blades. And somewhere beneath this world, Minax waits with the last shard of a gem that does not let a soul come back at all.
She has had a very long time to plan.
So have we.
The rest is written. Every bargain, every betrayal, every death that did not take. A new page is unsealed each week, and you may read along, stranger, while you still can.
But know this before you do.
I have opened the ledger. I have wet the quill.
And I am very, very good at remembering names.
Warrax Iceblood
Firstborn of Mondain. Of the Horde.
____________________________________________
[OOC] What you just read
That is the opening of The Iceblood Chronicles, a dark fantasy saga built on more than 30 years of real gaming history: from my first night in Ultima Online in 1997 to the launch of WoW Forever, and every game world in between.
Warrax and Grymax are roleplay alts my brother and I have played together since the early UO days, alongside our guild, the Undead Lords (UDL). The guild wars, the sieges, the betrayals, the servers that closed and the games that died: it is all in there, woven into one story, with the real record of what happened shown alongside it.
- The Prologue and 14 chapters are free to read now, no sign-up
- A new chapter every Wednesday at 10 am Eastern
- Character art, a timeline of every world, and the archives of UDL
- The Ledger: a guestbook, if you just want to say hello
Read The Iceblood Chronicles at icebloods.com
Now your turn: what old character are you bringing into Forever?
Man, do I wish I had such a cool background and story to my character, I am also bringing back an old charachter from the first time I played wow back in 2006, his name is Kassar Duskwind and he's a Tauren Feral Druid, Bane of the Burning Legion and The Betrayer's End. I find RP really cool but never really got into it in MMOs, more on tabletop type of games.
Kassar Duskwind, twenty years on the same Tauren, and he took down Illidan. That is a story right there, you just have not written it down yet. Feral druid since 2006 is a commitment.Kassar wrote: ↑9 hours agoMan, do I wish I had such a cool background and story to my character, I am also bringing back an old charachter from the first time I played wow back in 2006, his name is Kassar Duskwind and he's a Tauren Feral Druid, Bane of the Burning Legion and The Betrayer's End. I find RP really cool but never really got into it in MMOs, more on tabletop type of games.
Honestly, tabletop RP is the best training for MMO RP there is. Same thing, you just roll with your keyboard instead of dice. RP-PvP in Forever is going to be full of people trying it for the first time, so it is a good moment to jump in. Grab an RP addon like Total RP 3 or Kinship RP, write three lines about who Kassar is, and you are already doing it.
And since you asked for a cool background, Warrax has a word for you:
If you want some inspiration for writing Kassar's story, read how the Icebloods' began in The Iceblood Chronicles. Thirty years of our characters, written down one chapter at a time. Steal anything you like.A Tauren who hunted the Betrayer and walked away. I know the weight of a name like that.
I have opened the ledger, Kassar Duskwind. Not on the page for the dead. On the other one. The short one. The page for those I would rather have beside me than across from me.
Do not make me move you.
Warrax Iceblood
Yes, and that is where we will be playing.
You inspired me to add a forums to our site for others to craft and share their character roleplay experiences and stories. Check it our at https://icebloods.com/tavern/ it is in the Stories and Journals section. Look forward to seeing your post!Kassar wrote: ↑9 hours agoMan, do I wish I had such a cool background and story to my character, I am also bringing back an old charachter from the first time I played wow back in 2006, his name is Kassar Duskwind and he's a Tauren Feral Druid, Bane of the Burning Legion and The Betrayer's End. I find RP really cool but never really got into it in MMOs, more on tabletop type of games.
