Blacksky Company

Overview

The Blacksky Company is a World of Warcraft guild founded for, and run by, members of the RPG.net forums, founded by a character of the RPG.net member, IceShadow, named Blackbraid. Its intent is to give the members of the forum, who have often discussed the game, given advice, and generally helped each other as much as possible through the medium of an internet message board, a place to play with each other on one server, and in one guild.

It is a horde-side guild, based on the North-American Kirin Tor Roleplaying server. The RPGnet channel (joined by typing /join RPGnet) is a good place for people to meet who haven't yet been introduced into the guild. Any guild officer, listed below, will be able to invite you into the guild.

Members are expected to assist each other, and to be civil to each other out of character. Normal speech is to be used (no leet-speak!), and all efforts to correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization will be appreciated.

News and discussion about the guild will take place in the Other Games Open forum on RPG.net. Relevant topics will begin with the [Blacksky Company] tag.

The guild tabard looks as it does to the right.

In-Game Background

The Blacksky Company was founded by Baelor Blacksky, a Tauren of little renown, when the Orcs first breached the shores of Kalimdor. Baelor was one of the first Tauren to urge acceptance of the new arrivals, although he had little political clout in the Taruen society. He had already been versed well in the art of combat, being a low-ranking officer in the standing militia gathered to fight against the threat of the Centaurs, but also understood that a wealthy man was more often an influential man than a wise one. Finding an old Orc who had been recently freed from the internment camps who agreed with his monetarily-motivated lifestyle, the Blacksky Company was formed after Baelor felt his obvious leadership qualities were being ignored by the standing forces of the Tauren.

He quickly gathered others who were either eager for monetary gain or the acclaim of battle, and with a war already brewing, the regular commission of the Company by both individuals and fledgling nations was all but assured. The Company quickly grew to acclaim with the ferocity of its warriors, tempered as it was with honor and success. By the end of the war, it was one of the most prestigous mercenary companies available for general hire, and its membership had swelled to several hundred of the Horde's strongest soldiers-for-hire.

Peacetime, however, is never kind to a mercenary company; the uneasy truce between the Horde and Alliance following the Battle of Mount Hyjal was horrible for the financial health of the Company. They began to take any job that paid, lowering their wartime standard of ethics in order to try and maintain the now-bloated roster that had come to expect a regular, and hefty, paycheck. Foolishly, and against the advice of his closest confidants, he accepted a campaign that would doom his Company, and himself.

Several soldiers in the Company refused to go out with Baelor on his ill-advised campaign, including his son, Blackbraid. They knew there would be no pay for the duration of the campaign, but they felt that the meager wage offered by their employer was not worth the risk involved. Baelor was furious, but knew it would be in the best interest of the Company to allow the dissidents to remain behind in the fledgling city of Orgrimmar, where the Company based. Leaving Blackbraid in charge of the small remainder of soldiers, he left to fight. Not a man returned alive.

The Company was shattered, and only a handful of soldiers remained. They went their separate ways for a short while, with no leader to bind them. Once he had overcome the grief and guilt stemming from the loss of his father, Blackbraid took the mantle of Captain of a defunct Company upon his own shoulders, and set out to reform the Company in the memory of his father, and once again raise it to the honor and glory it once knew.

Guild Rules

The following rules are meant to help with the enjoyment of all. Please read them, and respect them. If any of them are issues for you, contact your guild officer, or Blackbraid directly.

Roleplaying

This is a guild of roleplayers, for the most part, and the server we play on is a Roleplaying server. All names of characters are expected to be within reasonable bounds for that race, per the rules of the server. Roleplaying is strictly optional, but encouraged.

It is suggested that players use the flagRSP addon, although it is not by any means required. It will allow you to add a surname and an outer description that other users of the addon will be able to see. Also, a backstory for your character is not required, but recommended to aid in your roleplaying style. As of the 1.9 update, flagRSP is an "outdated" add-on but still perfectly functional.

All /says and /yells are to be completely in character (IC), with no exceptions. Also, /guild chat is expected to be IC.

/party speak is typically a mix of out-of-character (OOC) speak and IC speak. This may change in the future as the guild's partying becomes more and more specific.

OOC speech is best kept in private tells, and in the RPGnet channel.

Officer speech will also be a mix of IC and OOC, as appropriate by the situation.

Looting Rules

Chatty's Guide to Looting and Plunder!

So you've butchered yourself a trogg, and perhaps feasted upon its innards. But LO! What's this? A fine dagger of unparalleled sharpness? One dagger, five soldiers... What to do, what to do? Well, fleshies, there are two main categories of loot of which we need to be aware. When you have a look at an item, pay attention to its binding properties: Bind on Pickup, or Bind on Equip.

Items that Bind on Equip (BOE) are quite desirable! They can be sold at a profit in the auction house, or - preferably - traded amongst each other to keep our power within the family!

What should you do when faced with a BOE item?

Simple. If you can equip it, and it's better than what you have already, roll Need. Don't be shy! Otherwise, roll Greed or Pass, depending on how you feel and how full your bags are. Remember, these items will not bind to you immediately, so if it turns out that somebody in the group needs it more than you do - and we should always be mindful of each other, oh yes! - you can always discuss that and hand it to them afterward, perhaps after exacting all manner of disquieting concessions for your magnanimity!

If you win a greed roll for an item you don't need, you can sell it, disenchant it, or send it to Xaan - the choice is yours. However, there are some items that are definitely worth keeping in the guild - occasionally, a powerful BOE Blue item will drop. These are worth a great deal of money if you don't need them, but talk things out with the guild first. It could be that somebody within the guild could make great use of your new find, and is willing to compensate you for it.

But wait, what's this BOP thing I keep hearing?

Some items are bind-on-pickup. Pay very special attention to these, as they cannot be traded to anyone once they're picked up. If an item drops that is BOP (and they tend to be held by dangerous instance bosses), everybody in the group should pass! Even if you need it, pass! Thereupon, the group will discuss what to do, and who needs that item most. Don't pick it up off the boss monster's tasty, steaming corpse until you're satisfied that anybody else who can make use of it has cleared you to do just that!

If nobody in the group needs the dropped BOP item, there are two things you can do. You can always roll greed and sell the item to a vendor if you win(remember, it can't be traded, and therefore cannot be auctioned). If there is an enchanter in the party, however, the item could be used much better. Nobody needs it, after all! Better to disenchant the item for a shard or some essence. Shards can be tricky to come by, and the guild's enchanters will thank you!

So, to reiterate:

BOE

Better than what you've got? Roll need! Don't be shy.

Do be mindful that someone in the group might make better use of it than you. Some items are of use to everyone, but of MORE use to certain someones. Warriors can use agility, for instance, but be mindful of any rogues or hunters in your party. You should still roll need if it's better than what you have - if another person wants it, they'll pipe up and ask you for it, and you can discuss amongst yourselves how to resolve the issue. Do also be mindful of the attributes you need an item to have. Strength is as useless to a mage as a bonus to arcane damage is to a rogue.

BOP

Pass, and discuss. If several of your companions desire the item, show off what you have on in its place. It may be that someone in the group has a substandard item on, and that should be kept in mind. If multiple players still want the item after discussing, you can /roll on it, and trust in fate.

It's especially important with BOP items to keep in mind your party makeup. Many, many classes can use daggers, but some - like, say, mages - will not be meleeing with them anywhere near as much as a rogue, and some. That doesn't necessarily mean rogues should get every blue dagger that drops (after all, shamans, warriors and hunters can often make good use of them as well). But it does mean that they should be allowed a bit of priority.

Preferred items by class:

Warrior: Shields and all weapons. Mail before 40, Plate afterward. You want: Strength, Stamina, DPS, some Agility, proc effects.

Rogues: Daggers, sometimes maces and swords. Leather. You want: Agility, Stamina. Strength is tertiary. DPS, proc effects.

Hunter: Bows and guns, almost all weapons (but melee weapons are more of a priority for all other classes - you only fight up close when things go badly; likewise, melee classes that can make use of bows and guns should cede them to you if they're better than what you have). Leather before 40, mail afterwards. You want: Agility, Stamina. Strength and Intellect in smaller amounts. Procs on melee weapons are not as useful as stats, as you shouldn't be meleeing much.

Shaman: Shields, some weapons. Leather before 40, Mail afterwards. You want: Statistics are dependent on build, but usually a goodly mix of all of them. +Nature and +Healing are handy.

Druid: Some weapons. Leather. You want: Statistics dependent on build, but you don't need to mix it up as much as shamans. Caster druids will want caster stats and possibly some strength, feral druids will want warrior stats. Weapon procs and dps are meaningless for ferals, as they won't factor into your animal-form attacks. Attribute bonuses carry over. +Healing, +Nature and +Arcane can come in handy.

Mage: Staves, some 1-h weapons, off-hand items. Cloth. You want: Intellect, Stamina, Spirit tertiary. +fire, +ice and +arcane and +mana regen can be handy, but are of more use at higher levels than low.

Warlocks: Itemization as per mage. You want: Stamina first, THEN intellect. Spirit's just about useless, as you can Tap your health for mana. +shadow and +fire are handy. +mana regen... meh.

Priests: Itemization as per mage. You want: Intellect/Spirit, Stamina. +Shadow and +Healing are handy as well.

Officers

Each class has a guild officer that represents their class. Officers will have invitational powers, as well as access to the officers' notes and players' notes (to add new RPGnet handles if they invite). Officers will be responsible for organizing trips into instances that the players in their respective classes need, keeping discipline in the ranks, and, if the guild gets too big for the Guild Master (or Captain) to handle minor issues and grievances himself, they will represent the general needs of players in their class.

Of those eight officers, two of them are selected as Senior Officers. They will have almost all the control over the guild of the Captain, including demotion, promotion, and removal from the guild.

All officers' alts will be promoted to Squad Leaders, which will be, in effect, identical to the Officer rank. The only distinction is for roleplay, and to keep track of which class each officer represents.

At present time, all officers are selected by the Captain. At some future time, a more democratic process may take place, especially as more and more power is divested into the positions as the guild grows and becomes more influential.

The current officers are as follows:

Player Name	Character Name	Rank	Class
IceShadow	Blackbraid	Captain	Warrior
IceShadow	Xaan	Quartermaster	N/A
IceShadow	Yaama	Quartermaster	N/A
nonsenseconscience	Thundersong	Senior Officer	Shaman
Bim	Bimmeh	Officer	Mage
cbeilby	Mairenia	Officer	Warlock
E. Deirdre Brooks	Sobeki	Officer	Warrior
Final Excalibur	Salrene	Officer	Priest
Iceberg3k	Gorahkar	Officer	Hunter
Murglor	Murglor	Officer	Rogue
Professor Phobos	Redeyes	Officer	Druid

Members

Player Name	Character Name	Race	Class	Professions
Abulia	Untor	Tauren	Warrior	Leather/Skinning
Anunnaki	Dolmeni	Tauren	Shaman	Skinning/Mining
Arawaen	Akhana	Orc	Shaman	Herbalism/Alchemy
Atomsk	Tallyr		Priest
Bim	Bimmeh	Undead	Mage	Tailoring/Mining
Beckett	Wultram	Undead	Warrior
Bogie	Bogatuus	Troll	Mage	Mining/Skinning
Bruce Baugh	Strawhorn	Tauren	Druid
Cassandra	Sibko	Orc	Hunter
cbeilby	Krithasan	Tauren	Druid	Mining/Smith
cbeilby	Mairenia	Undead	Warlock	Herbalism/Alchemy
Champion Blue	Neerax	Troll	Priest	Mining/Engineering
Conor Knoxx	Rastifari	Troll	Mage	Tailoring/Enchanting
Craptastic	Windshear	Orc	Shaman	Herbalism/Alchemy
Crazy-Cabal	Zulakiyani	Troll	Mage	Mining/Skinning
CrazyIvan	Taurma	Tauren	Shaman	Mining/Skinning
Curt	Damasus	Undead	Rogue
Digital Archon	Shaaresh	Troll	Mage	Mining/Engineering
Dionysos	Voidseeker	Undead	Warlock	Herbalism/Enchanting
Doc Bosch	Yakigyu	Tauren	Druid	Leather/Skinning
Dorchadas	Nakar	Orc	Warlock	Tailoring/Enchanting
Drastic	Eschaton	Orc	Warlock	Tailoring/Enchanting
Dugan	Varniher	Tauren	Druid	Leather/Skinning
E. Deirdre Brooks	Sobeki	Troll	Warrior	Skinning/Mining
eskatonic	Ootah	Orc	Shaman	Mining/Skinning
eskatonic	Urzael	Undead	Warlock	Tailoring/Skinning
Ferret	Razylia	Undead	Rogue	Leather/Skinning
Final Excalibur	Salrene	Undead	Priest	Tailoring/Skinning
Fortinbras	Gralag	Orc	Rogue
Iceberg3k	Gorahkar	Orc	Hunter	Leather/Skinning
IceShadow	Blackbraid	Tauren	Warrior	Mining/Smith
IceShadow	Xaan	N/A	N/A	Quartermaster
IceShadow	Yaama	N/A	N/A	Quartermaster
inscrutable	Kaelthos	Tauren	Hunter	Leather/Skinning
J Arcane	Lokroth	Orc	Hunter	Herbalism/Skinning
J'Dai	Ednae	Tauren	Shaman	Herbalism/Alchemy
Jeb Boyt	Merojin	Troll	Shaman	Herbalism/Alchemy
Jeffwik	Aro	Orc	Warlock	Herbalism/Skinning
kumar	Venilin	Troll	Warrior	Mining/Skinning
Lamentation	Gloomweed	Orc	Warlock
Lamentation	Paintoy	Undead	Rogue
LastLivingSoul	Yuridine	Undead	Warrior	Mining/Smithing
Madu	Joombada	Troll	Rogue
Murglor	Murglor	Orc	Rogue	Herbalism/Alchemy
Naxuul	Acasta	Undead	Mage
Nick Warcholak	Ramijin	Troll	Mage
nonsenseconscience	Chatterskull	Undead	Priest	Tailoring/Enchanting
nonsenseconscience	Thundersong	Tauren	Shaman	Leather/Skinning
old hat	Rothela	Undead	Priest	Mining/Skinning
old hat	Gatanaya	Orc	Warrior
Pakratula	Lamort	Undead	Warrior
Pasha	Bowyet	Tauren	Warrior	Mining/Skinning
Perdidas	Hral	Tauren	Druid	Herbalism/Alchemy
Professor Phobos	Redeyes	Tauren	Druid
Professor Phobos	Rickon	Undead	Priest
Psicorp	Windtotem	Tauren	Druid	Leather/Skinning
Rosencrantz	Jhest	Undead	Rogue	Skinning/Herbalism
Rosencrantz	Rainsinger	Tauren	Hunter
Scott Leaton	Oxxorz	Tauren	Hunter	Skinning/Herbalism
Scott Leaton	Starblight	Undead	Mage	Skinning/Herbalism
Tar Markvar	Jakkat	Troll	Hunter	Herbalism/Alchemy
Tar Markvar	Sitheen	Undead	Warlock	Tailor/Skinner
The Ghost of Bink Pulling	Mordenkar	Undead	Warrior	Mining/Smith
TombThaneGregg	Gixx		Hunter	Mining/Engineering
TombThaneGregg	Maniketh	Undead	Priest	Herbalism/Tailoring
Topher	Nazgrim	Orc	Warrior	Mining/Engineering
TRavenson	Murzak	Orc	Hunter	Mining/Smithing
verdantgreen	Ainu	Undead	Warlock
woodsmoke	Asurac	Tauren	Druid	Leather/Skinning
lurker	Junarn	Tauren	Warrior	Herbalism/Alchemy

Totals:

Orcs	Tauren	Trolls	Undead
15	19	10	21

Druid	Hunter	Mage	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
8	9	7	7	7	8	10	12

Alchemy	Engineering	Enchanting	Herbalism	Leather	Mining	Skinning	Smith	Tailoring
8	4	4	12	9	18	22	5	8

People showing interest:

Kintara
Eilonwy
Plume

Quartermaster

The guild quartermaster is Xaan, a grizzled old veteran who has helped the guild since its creation shortly after the Orcs' arrival in Kalimdor. He now permanently resides in Orgrimmar, the better to tend to the stores of the guild and, when work is to be had, distribute guild wages. His assistant, Yaama, helps him with his chores.

Xaan and Yaama are characters owned by IceShadow, and act as the guild bank. A listing of all items in their posession may be found here; anything in their inventory is free for any player in the guild. Do not hesitate to claim anything in the bank! It will simply fill up, otherwise. Simply contact IceShadow on the message boards via PM, and they will mail it out or otherwise arrange delivery.

All raw trade goods, and other things that are only useful as bits for recipies, should go to Yaama. Other things (such as green drops, bags, and recipies) should go to Xaan.

If a green item is better than yours, claim it! If you do not have a recipie that Xaan has in store, take it! Do not feel guilty. If the only reason you want some trade materials is to level your profession, that is fine! Yaama will send you her entire stock, and you can return the leftovers. Please do not do anything but orange leveling, though...yellow and green skills are better saved for other things. (The exception to this is first aid, where you have no choice sometimes but to grind on yellow and green recipies.) Also, please be able to immediately learn any recipies Xaan would send to you.

Xaan will also rotate through his green items as he gets more and more in, first attempting to sell them to the auction hall to raise the money in the Company coffers. If they do not sell, he will send them to an Enchanter to be disenchanted, and either skilled with that enchanter or sent on to Yaama.