The Ebon Hounds

[Ben]

This is the initial, basic, post for the Rogue-DK Hunter guild.

"We see them in our Villages, Towns, and even our great Cities. The black Knights that roam causing untold horror to our people. Theft, debauchery; some even murder your brethren. Like the Plague that birthed them, they spread and destroy."

This guild is aimed at assaulting rogue Death Knights, and either killing them, or teaching them a lesson. As a recent discussion on the forums has shown there is a rift between us all about Death Knights. On the one side, calling for them to require Special Profiles, and on the other for them to be able to be created freely.

The aim of this guild, OOCly, is to bring back the old ways of doing things in regards to how Death Knights are played.

"Do not misunderstand me, I do not mean them all. Many have, and are, fighting bravely in Northrend to destroy the remnants of the Scourge. I myself have fought alongside these Ebon Knights, and seen how valiant they can be. But what of those that remain here, amongst the masses? They were created for the sole purpose of destruction, does that not worry you? Your very families are at risk with these renegades roaming the streets."

There are now many Death Knights who are not played in Northrend, and those are the ones who will be targeted by the Hounds. But not all Death Knights in Azeroth will be attacked. You can obviously hide from us, that's a viable option. We look for three features in identifying a Death Knight, their Eyes, Blade, and Voice. If these are not all identifiable we will not take action; but we may still be suspicious.

"Let us not jump onto unstable bridges, let us first test it to see if it is safe; if it is good. If it is not, then what do we do? Nothing? No more. The Ebon Blade are previously indisposed it seems, unable to deal with the looming threat to the general populace. Our armies fight with them. Who is left? It is down to us to stand up for the land and protect our families from these threats. With the Light with us, we can find these menaces and destroy them before they destroy us. It seems this battlefield is one of 'dog eat dog'; then let us become hounds, the Ebon Hounds. Who of you will join me?"

The guild is open to Death Knights, Priests, Paladins, and perhaps the more pious of the other classes. I know, you hear Death Knights as the first class mentioned who can join, but think why:
-The Ebon Blade aligned Death Knights are trained to despise those who do not fight with them, seeing them as traitors. In times of old this would result in your character's potential death. Why not now?
-Death Knights know what other Death Knights will do. It allows us to fight fire, or rather frost; with frost. Just because most of the Ebon Blade are in Northrend or with military units in Azeroth, doesn't mean that the hunters are not about.

Why? Well I guess I should have said this earlier. The Death Knights are looked upon as the Warlocks are in the Alliance, but by both Alliance and Horde members. There are those who value their trials and accept them, but it's playing with fire. You don't trust an unexploded bomb because it hasn't gone off yet. In order to try and improve public sentiments towards them the Ebon Blade try to keep their Knights and their glowy eyes and weapons, out of sight of the general population.

So when there's 10 or so Knights insulting each other in a tavern it doesn't look so great. Other patrons may well be getting scared. That's not what the Blade want. Therefore they harshly punish those who are amongst the population with:
-Their runeblades on clear display
-Riding Deathchargers
-Walking around with a ghoul at their side.
It's a PR disaster that they can't afford, and won't afford.

The Ebon Hounds then. They are lead by Father Paul, the man who preaches what you read above. We stick to all the server rules, as a given. Our ranks are, currently, as follows:
-Dog, these are the trainees or initiates of the guild, yet to choose their specialisation. These members of the guild do not have a radio.

There are then three 'specialisations'. All of these ranks are able to invite into the guild and view 'radio' [officer] chat. These are as follows;

-Sniffer hound, these are members of the guild who are constantly on the lookout for rogues, and make notes on potential targets, whom they then report to the Tracker Hounds.

-Tracker Hound, these are members of the guild who receive tip-offs and follow them up. Rogue Death Knights are identified fully by these members.

-Bloodhound, these are the brute force of the guild. Once identified, these guild members are the ones who move against the rogue(s).

-Hound Master, this is the head of the Hounds, currently Paul. The Hound Master authorises movement against Death Knights and monitors the situations.

Before you start a drama about how unfair this is, the aim of this guild is NOT to kill Death Knights because of what some view as overpopulation. It is to teach people how we used to do things, in a manner that worked before. The three pillars of identification; Eyes, Blade, Voice, must be strictly adhered to, and if you see someone who is not doing so, and is a member of the guild, you MUST inform me, and give evidence of where this happened. Such action will result in immediate guild kicking as this will not be tolerated, at all.

Thank you.

[muhaha8]

I like. Lots.

...

If whatever DK group some vent buddies are starting up, doesn't get off the ground, then I offer you the support of Luthaian, my DK. I guess he could be considered -sort of- rogue, as he has yet to return to the Ebon Hold. Got lost in Northrend, you know.

...

Anyway, if that group gets off the ground, I'll work on a different character to join y'all!

[Beltharean]

It might be nice to add what one can do to prevent disrupting the three rules; A deathknight is basically incomplete without his blade, most helms are likely prohibited in a town unless the face is revealed, and you can't do much in the voice area.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Let's do this.

[Ben]

Are you going to be fighting in a town?
Are goggles prohibited?
All three factors are needed, not voice alone.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Are you in-game, Ben? I'm on Jolia.

[Aphetoros]

I might be able to join on Agatsu.

[Kira13]

Davonn is definitely interested.

[Beltharean]

Are you going to be fighting in a town?
Are goggles prohibited?
All three factors are needed, not voice alone.

Seeing as how my knight was recently kidnapped within a town, yes.
Nope, just not preferred.
Then why even mention voice at all, if there's nothing you can do to prevent it?

[JackofBlades]

As cool as this sounds, my DK is rogue and...I don't really want people after him. The Blades honestly don't care about their reputation, as I said. As for the runeblade thing, in Azeroth it appears much more acceptable to carry a weapon, just like the old knights and castles time, the soldiers, heroes, knights they all had blades on their belt. Ergo while this is a good idea, I'm not changing the way I play Parker, I.E hiding his blade, simply because people may get "scared"

Just to sum up, good idea, don't really want to get kidnapped and forced to be taught because of a CotH tradition of hunting *nod*

[Zarquon]

I like the idea, but if you are trying to get rid of PR disasters, these disasters tend to happen if the belligerent death knight is already in a town. . .and it would be counter-productive to stop them there; essentially being the cause of a PR disaster yourself. If a rogue death knight never leaves a city, for example, what would the Ebon Hounds do? And theoretically, they are for reasons beyond me unopposed from walking openly in lets say Stormwind City, so it's a moot point unless a rogue death knight starts a fight. And even when that happens, it would be up to the guards.

Finally; I like the guild idea, but I disdain the overt references to dogs. It's kind of demeaning, and insults my pet dog as well. . .

With all that being said and done, I will see about getting a character in to help with the hunt, since I cringe at the thought of terrible DKs.

[GeneralDefyre]

Wait...Tell me if I'm getting this right.. The hounds are a DK guild who hunts Rogue DK's or other way around?

[Beltharean]

DK guild that hunts rogue DKs; So of there's a knight running around, killing civilians in a rural area, the Hounds would come in to keep the good name of the Ebon Blade in place.

[GeneralDefyre]

Ah ok. Now I understand. Um...What if our DK isn't really hiding the fact that he's a DK and the Hounds believe he's rogue and decide to try to kill him?

[McKnighter]

As cool as this sounds, my DK is rogue and...I don't really want people after him. The Blades honestly don't care about their reputation, as I said. As for the runeblade thing, in Azeroth it appears much more acceptable to carry a weapon, just like the old knights and castles time, the soldiers, heroes, knights they all had blades on their belt. Ergo while this is a good idea, I'm not changing the way I play Parker, I.E hiding his blade, simply because people may get "scared"

Just to sum up, good idea, don't really want to get kidnapped and forced to be taught because of a CotH tradition of hunting *nod*

Well... That's like saying "I'm a warlock who kills people, but please don't have paladins come after me."


If you're a rogue, be prepared for a house visit if the Ebon Blade deems you rogue worthy.

Ah ok. Now I understand. Um...What if our DK isn't really hiding the fact that he's a DK and the Hounds believe he's rogue and decide to try to kill him?

Then you get hunted and killed?

I think the goal is to take knights back to the Ebon Hold for a scolding and a final warning, but if you resist they have no problem with killing you.