The Eternal Guard

If you want something done right, do it yourself.

And so we do.

There are two ways to protect what you have in this world: with your blade, or with the hired blade of another. The latter option obviously has its flaws. We choose the former. I often wonder if the Cimmerians and their apathetic god are not truly the ones who have things figured out best. Crom gives them strength, and they must make - or take - what they can with it.

This, here, is what we have made. Aquilonia. She is a fragile creature, and She must be guarded at any cost.

Any whose actions would be to her detriment will find themselves on the wrong end of our wrath, whether it be bandits, slavers, invading armies...the feudal lords, or even the King himself! Of course, those who work towards the benefit and security of Aquilonia will instead gain our support.

What gives us the right to decide, you ask?

Simple. This is OUR land, OUR homes, OUR people. Aquilonia, She is ours, and so She is ours to guard.

Yes, we aid Conan the King. For now.

...oh, I see, you heard about the little incident with Baron Jathis. Yes, all those 'horrible' things are true, and even a bit more. We take our mission quite seriously, you see.

Hmm, well, he had it coming.

Yes, ruthless would be a good word for us, but only in describing how we treat those who have earned it.

No, we aren't going away anytime soon. As I said, Aquilonia is ours to guard, even unto eternity. Before you ask, yes, that is why we call ourselves as we do. The Eternal Guard.

Why not leave it for someone else? Well, as I said...if you want something done right, do it yourself.

And so we do.

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Guild Information

Name: The Eternal Guard

Server: NA RP-PvP

'Races' Allowed: Aquilonian, Cimmerian  (more like nationalities than races, but ...*shrug*)

Classes Allowed: No class restrictions beyond the ones imposed by our racial limitations.

For more information on us as a gaming community, please visit the website (linked above) and view the About Us, Guidelines, and FAQ pages. Information specific to the Eternal Guard in Age of Conan can be found under the links in that section.

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Now, in plainer language (ooc), what exactly is the Eternal Guard and what are we all about?

The Eternal Guard is an Aquilonia-based paramilitary organization that operates under its own leadership rather than at the direction of the King or the various local Lords. Operating in both the political and military arenas, our aim is to protect our home - whether it be by birth or by adoption - however we see fit. This will likely include such things as influencing (or bribing) people to support our position, exerting political pressure both publicly and behind the scenes, hiring (or acting as) mercenaries or assassins when necessary, or taking part in outright military action.

Essentially, there will be ample opportunities for all kinds of (in-character) drama, subterfuge, intrigue, politics, and combat (especially combat!), both internally within our ranks as well as externally with the rest of the world. We aim to be an active and involved part of the larger role-playing community in AoC, and will certainly be collaborating with (or conspiring against!) other guilds as things evolve.

Some questions you might have...

Ok, so you're an RP guild. What kind? - I would classify us as "Medium" to "Heavy" RP (depending on whose definition you use). We require that all members maintain only in-character dialogue in all spatial chat channels (say, shout, etc), and encourage role-playing all the time, but don't require it beyond that. If you want to talk about life, or game mechanics, or anything else out-of-character, you're free to do so in private chats.

I don't want to stand around talking all day! Let's go DO something! - Role-playing is not just standing (or sitting) around talking endlessly. RP is the act of playing the game as the persona of your character would, not as you - the player - would. That includes doing quests, hunting monsters, adventuring into dungeons or raiding a dragon's lair, and so on. The Eternal Guard will be involved in lots of interesting plots that may consist of talking to set things up, but we're also going to be out in the world taking full advantage of the content available.

What about a guild city and the border kingdoms? - We will be involved in all aspects of the game, including building a "crafting" city, full exploration of PvE content (instances, dungeon raids, etc), and border kingdom warfare.

What!? No Stygians? What about the mage classes? - That's right, no Stygians. Our reasons there are lore based (Stygia is a long frickin' way from Aquilonia, is isolationist and hostile to outsiders, and is effectively at war with Aquilonia in the time-frame setting for AoC, to name a few reasons), but we are intent on being able to compete successfully in PvP, and should the game simply not allow guilds to be competetive without being ARAC, we will re-evaluate this position. So far, it seems that we will be just fine without them.

You have a number of veteran members, is there any chance for me to be a guild officer? - Yes! There are two answers to this question, actually. First, we have an OOC guild management with an advisors' council defined to handle the basic aspects of running a guild, such as a pve/raid leader, crafting manager, and recruitment/new player aide. This council is something that I, as the guild leader, will pick by hand based on a player's abilities, knowledge, dedication, and time available to give to the guild - it's not set in stone, and if someone isn't living up to the needs of the guild, I will look for a replacement.

Second, we're attempting a rather innovative approach to our in-game ranks. As mentioned above, we want to generate RP opportunities not just with other guilds, but within our own ranks as well - to help foster some interesting plots and keep the guild ranks a bit more fluid than you've probably experienced in the past. To that end, some officer ranks may be initially assigned by my character (who is the leader of the military arm) as he sees fit. However, as our numbers grow and the game progresses, players (as their character) will be able to initiate role-play based plots in an attempt to shift their position in the guild structure. I am even leaving it open enough that someone, if they had the motivation, drive, and in-character support of enough other guild members (this support has to be generated through RP, it can't be meta-gamed), they could stage a coup to oust my character from the position of Strategos. Another possibility for fun dynamics is the interaction between the larger military force and its goals and methods for performing the mission of the Eternal Guard, and the political arm and its differing methods and priorities. We'll just have to see what happens!

This system will be fairly open ended, but there will be a stickied post in our forums detailing the "do's and dont's" of how to go about these in-character manipulations of the guild ranks. I think it will be a great tool for adding lots of amazing role-playing opportunity to our guild, and if nothing else, it will keep our officers from getting fat and lazy!

What else should I know about the guild? - For starters, we're not just a guild formed for Age of Conan. The Eternal Guard is an online gaming community that developed out of our guild in Shadowbane about five years ago, although I personally (and most members) have been playing MMO's for longer than that. I strongly suggest reading up on the general community information available on the website (mentioned above - About Us, Guidelines, FAQs), as well as the Age of Conan specific guild information. It covers most of the normal questions that I would expect people to ask about our organization before joining.

How do I join? - We have a simple application posted on our forums that can be filled out to tell us about yourself as a gamer and role-player, as well as some more specific information about your character(s) for the game you are joining us in. All you have to do is register on the forums and post the completed application - we'll get back to you from there.

If you have further questions before filling out the application, feel free to send me a message personally, or post them on our Visitor's section of the forums.

I look forward to welcoming you to the ranks of our group in Hyboria, and to our community as a whole!