[H] Ashen Ascendancy

((Posted this here after a very wise suggestion from dear Arli ))

((First of. This story was written on another server almost 2 years ago, just after the Cataclysm had hit. The story was done on another server, which means the server lore might be a bit off, but that's not the something i want to discuss here. The Council mentioned in the story could be any kind of old council that was in Silvermoon. As i understand, there's been quite a few beofre the one that exists today, so please keep all discussions about that in PM's to me. Thank you very much))

Chapter 1. Summons

The women stretched stiff muscles and blinked her eyes against the bright morning light. She looked around her and smiled as she looked out the window over the beautiful elven estate that was hers to guard and protect. She turned her head to loosen the muscles in her neck, years spent campaigning for this war or that had made her used to sleeping with tightened muscles, ready to spring to action when the moment required it. She grinned as she remembered how her short leave from the war had been before. Thanks to the constant infighting of the Silvermoon nobility in the council, all in the name of power, they had often been more stressful then her actual campaigns. Ever since the Regent Lord had disbanded the old council, life had been relatively peaceful in the sin'dorei kingdom. The Cataclysm that had wreaked havoc around the world seemed to have mostly passed them by. As she got up to get ready to dress, she was disturbed by one of her servants. The normally smiling women looked worried, which in turn made her lady worried as well.
'There is a messenger, Mistress.'
The hesitation of this trusted servant put her on edge and she nodded her stiff permission to send him or her up. She quickly dressed and only barely managed to look presentable when the messenger came in some minutes later. She couldn’t help but stare at him with eyes wide in shock. The white eyes showed this man for what he was; a blind, deaf and mute messenger that was sent to her by magical means. These types of messengers were legendary, their services extremely expensive and only used when the matter of secrecy was most dire. She steadied a shaking hand and took the scroll the man was holding out to her. The wax seal was unbroken, but unlike most messages it didn’t hold the house seal of whoever had sent it. She unrolled it slowly, and read a note written with the precise handwriting of a Silvermoon city noble.

Dear Lords and Ladies,
Grave news has come to me, news that has shaken my beliefs and will no doubt shake yours as well. For the good of the Kingdom, I call a meeting in the Forgotten Chamber. Secrecy is paramount...

The mistress closed her eyes. The note contained details on how to dress; fully cloaked and hooded in dark green so their privacy would be sustained. It held details for a time and place, where she would be magically transported to the Forgotten Chamber, a council hall deep within the catacombs under Silvermoon that was only used in the direst situations. The room hadn't been used in her lifetime, and the significance of the need for secrecy wasn't lost on her. By the sound of it, more of Silvermoons nobility had been invited, but she knew the ruling power of Silvermoon, the Regent Lord and his advisers would be oblivious to this meeting. As she sat down heavily on a beautifully carved chair she wondered what this could mean. The morning suddenly seemed too bright as she muttered to herself, 'Damn it you fools, what are you plotting this time?'


Chapter 2. The meeting

She sat shivering, her heavy cloak and the hood that covered her features. were not efficient against the cold damp of the Forgotten Chamber. She chuckled softly at the word play involved in naming this room in the old catacombs under Silvermoon city. The lady could see other cloaked and hooded figures already sitting on daises located around a circle with a faded Silvermoon insignia on it. In older times, this room would have been used for council meetings. She sat on the highest dais, as she had called this meeting. The position of the other seats indicated rank, the closer to her dais of honour, the higher the rank. For the first time in her memory, Silvermoon nobility didn't care to press their rank, seating themselves randomly to keep their identity private. As she waited, she wondered how the room was lit, as there was no discernible light source nearby, but the moment had come.

The last of the invited arrived with a light shiver, caused by the arcane transportation, and seated her or himself. The only sound was the constant dripping of water and the slight rustle of fabric whenever one of the invited moved, the air thick with expectancy. Trusting in her husbands spell, she raised her magically altered voice. 'Greetings, my fellow lords, ladies and your advisers.' She nodded to each cloaked figure in turn, taking her time before continuing to let them know she was confident in her authority to call them here, knowing that one of them was her husband, though she didn't know which one. 'Some months ago, we we're stripped of our political power. Our council was disbanded, giving the Regent Lord ultimate power.' The soft murmur of whispers broke out in the chamber, and she waited patiently for it to die down. 'On top of that insult, most of our lands have been stripped from our houses as well. We are now lords and ladies in name only.' Again she waited for the whispers to die down as she smiled in satisfaction under her hood. The voices had sounded angrier now, good.

She raised her voice to emphasize the next part of her speech. 'They said it was for the good of the people. They said we had too much infighting! Dutiful as we are, we abided by the wishes of him who deems himself king, but I say we have been duped!' The sound of muttering was heard, though she couldn’t make out the words. She decided to emphasize the wrongness of it. 'I won't even press the point that our so called regent lord has not a drop of royal blood in him, no! I say, it was not for the good of the people that we were made into puppets, It was not even so our regent lord could grasp all power for himself. That would have been understandable. No, it was that...' She paused for effect, 'thing... that calls himself Warchief, that barbarian who seeks to control every race of the Horde. It was he, who took our power, our Light given right to rule, so he could start forging our people into his machine of war.'

Her last word echoed through the silent hall, when a magically altered male voice rang out from the audience. 'You speak treason!' She sighed. She had expected some of them to be fools, but the stupidity of some of her fellow nobles still annoyed her. She turned her head to face the cloaked figure that had spoken up 'Treason? He himself is an usurper! He has the Banshee Queen on a tight leash, he murdered the Tauren chieftain in cold blood and the incident with Vol'jin is no secret! Our regent never had the proper training to lead our people, are we really so arrogant that we think ourselves beyond the machinations of that power hungry Garrosh Hellscream?' The room suddenly felt too small, as the acoustics amplified the voices of nearly all present that had started to shout at the same time. She waited, giving them a moment to let it sink in, before calling for order.

When the room quieted down, most nobles were listening to furious whispers from cloaked advisers. A few stood, indicating they wished to speak. She waved a pale hand to one, indicating he had the floor. He spoke, his voice as all the others altered by magic. 'The lady speaks truth! Garrosh is not to be trusted. He will lead the Horde, and our people to their end!' She smiled, somehow knowing her husband had just spoken as he sat back down, indicating he had said all he wanted to say. Another wave of shouts erupted, until her shout for order was obliged. Some of the figures stood with balled fists, outraged at what they thought of as treason. She pitied them for their foolishness. Even after all the suffering her people went through, some of its nobility was still too pampered and sheltered to recognize the doom that was falling upon them.

She waved her hand to one of those people and a feminine voice called: 'Instead of sitting around coddling the Alliance, we now finally have a Warchief bent on fighting them, and not giving any ground!'
In a breach of protocol another feminine voice called out before she got permission to take the floor. 'Ha! Ground? Ground for those savages on Kalimdor maybe, but what is he doing for us? It is the Banshee Queen who fights those beasts to the south. Does he recognize her worth? No! He has her babysat like a child!'
A male argued his point. 'Have you forgotten that is was Garrosh who fought and bled with us in Northrend while Thrall was wasting his time with a stupid tournament? And now, when we most needed strong and stable leadership, Thrall left us to do his shamanistic nonsense!' As emotions ran high, the lady who called this meeting didn't stand on protocol. She knew that the women who she had initially given the floor would probably be trying to kill her with glares, but she had no patience for fools like her. She had to suppress an irritated sigh as this so called noblewoman spoke again. 'Garrosh made us strong again, without having to depend on the alliance's good will!'
The women who had first breached protocol spread her arms wide in an ancient gesture that she was giving dire warning. 'Know this! If Garrosh continues as he does, the Horde will fall and we will fall with it! Those who do not wish to recognize this truth are welcome to leave!'
Clearly angered the foolish one replied. 'Oh please, go on with your petty conspiring. It worked so well for us in the bloody counsel, I will have no part in this!'
The unknown lady rubbed her thumb over a magical device and disappeared. The other fools and craven went shortly after. When the sound of teleportation dimmed down, the lady that had called the meeting saw that many had stayed. She smiled under her hood. 'Now ladies, lords, let's talk'

Somewhere left of the dais of honour another noblewomen sat with gritted teeth, still angry from the short discussion with what she considered to be a cowardly fool. She worked closely with a warband led by mostly orcs out of necessity, and had seen first hand what savages and brutes they were. Not trusting herself to not draw steel next time one of her fellow invited spoke nonsense, she remained silent but for voicing her support to the lady who had called the meeting. She already liked this woman, as she had shown guts where her noble counterparts only showed their willingness to bicker and argue. She had already decided she would play an active roll in this conflict, and prepared herself for the long meeting the others would need to satisfy their feeling of importance.

To the right sat the husband of the lady who had called the meeting. He smiled proudly at his wife, though he knew she coulnd't see it as his features were hidden. He knew they coulnd't count on many active supporters, but she had at least given them the illusion of importance. The invited would stay out of their way as they worked to right this wrong. He sat back, relaxed in the confidence that between his wife and his own well placed remarks, they would get exactly what they needed from this meeting.

On another dais, the mistress of the elven estate sat quietly. She wished she could speak to her lover, to ask advice. Suppressing a sigh, she realized that if her partner had been here then her beloved would be amongst those that had just left. She loved the one she married with all her heart, but she knew her lover would never stand for something like this. Fiercely loyal, her lover would have seen this as treason at worst, and the foolish plots of snobby nobles at best. She was also mostly silent. She liked the idea of Silvermoon in true power again, instead of the puppets of Garrosh they were now. She did not dislike the new Warchief, as he did fight the alliance boldly, which satisfied her need for vengeance against the humans that had betrayed her kind, but the arguments of the Lady that had called the meeting and her increasing number of supporters were compelling. She couldn't help but voice her support to this woman every now and again, even though she tried to remain neutral. As the meeting entered its fifth hour and her muscles had gone stiff from sitting, she decided to do what all but the caller and one two others had done. She would agree not to intervene in their plans, but won't be sending her personal support. She expected that the others did it this way so they wouldn’t get their hands dirty, or if it failed, they couldn’t be held responsible. She didn’t do it for those craven reasons, but to keep her conscious clear towards the person she loved more than all others, and who would never agree to this course of action.

The lady who called the meeting rubbed tired eyes then drank deeply from a water skin to wet her throat. She had gotten more than she could hope for, the bigger part of Silvermoons nobility had agreed not to get in her way, even look the other way when needed and she had even gained one very passionate supporter. Still she was sad to see how her people were unwilling to help themselves. If all those present had given her their support it would be a matter of weeks before they could actively begin work. Now, her plans would take months; years even to come to fruition. No amount of talk would get these pampered nobles to see things the way she and her husband did though, she concluded. Maybe the actions of her rebel group would pull more of them into the fold. She rose and bowed deeply to indicate the meeting had come to its end, her mind already racing with plans as she rubbed the device that would teleport her back to the sunlit world above.



((Ashen Ascendancy is a very small group of rp'ers using their alt charcters to create some antogonist rp in the server, Horde side. The idea when we made this group was that we wanted to give a sense of danger and evil created by rp'ers rather than NPC's, GM'ed events or Blizzard raid bosses. And at the same time, we wanted to avoid the antogonist that just wont lie down, cause they dont wish their character to lose. In Ashen Ascendancy we know that we are the bad guys, and in the end, we will very likely fall to those we've wronged. But on our way to the end, we aim to cause distress, danger, chaos, and hopefully some fun roleplay.

For a few months, our group has been causing trouble in Kalimdor, making themselves pleasently known to the larger guilds that resides there, Shatterskull Marauders, Orcs of the Red Blade and Banner of Bloodhoof. The feedback we've gotten from our attacks and events has made us want to make things bigger, and this is why we've started moving buisness to the Silvermoon based guilds aswell.

We believe that communication is the very best way to avoid the high chances of drama rp that often follows a group of aggressive roleplayers, so if anyone ever has any questions, feedback or the likes, they are very very welcome to PM me and i will do my best to solve problems and answer questions.

Hope you will all get to enjoy this as much as we do.))

Ashen Acendancy rocks!

You've brought a lot of people together for some great RP with some dramatic weight.
Had some good fun with Illisara and her numerous cronies over the past few months. And immense props to Illisara, she's got the patience of a saint!

You're evil wenches and bastards.


And I'm okay with that <3

Thank you for the kind words.

Illisara is an evil witch!

EEEEEVIL