CHAPTER 1: THE EARLY DAYS: THE FALL OF WINTERSHIELD
CHAPTER 2: THE EARLY DAYS: ATOMIC GODZ
CHAPTER 3: THE SECOND SERVER WAR
CHAPTER 4: THE ALLIANCE OF BALANCE: RETURNING TO THE FIGHT
CHAPTER 5: CORRUPTION: EPIC SAGA LOST TO THE SANDS OF TIME
CHAPTER 6: TEST SERVER: RISING TO THE TOP
CHAPTER 7: WRATH: IN OUR PRIME
CHAPTER 8: VINDICATION: END OF AN ERA
CHAPTER 1: THE EARLY DAYS: THE FALL OF WINTERSHIELDThe Winterblades began back in those heady days of 2001 when all waited on bated breath for the release of the much anticipated open pvp MMORPG Shadowbane. The Winterblade?s founding members had already been playing together for years in UO, but were ready for a new challenge. We sat in IRC and on our forums through delay and disappointment until March 25, 2003 when the answers to all our collective prayers arrived.
Shadowbane was a brutal game. It was the true ?sandbox?. In Shadowbane, guilds truly risked something when they built up their cities and unfurled their banners. The product of months of a guilds combined labor could be reduced to rubble and ash in a mere three days. An individual?s actions were consequential in Shadowbane, both for himself and his guild. Shadowbane was a political game. Influence over how the political wind was blowing could bring a guild salvation or destruction. This was the environment in which the soul of the Winterblades was forged.
And so we began on the Deception server under the leadership of Talin Kir'shen and Talimor de'Monte the original founders of the guild. Winterblades grew steadily from server up and made alliances with House Daenyr (HD), who we helped found the first city on Deception. Wintershield was founded a few days later with the repayment of HD?s loans and an injection of several million in stolen gold from one Maleficc Soulstealer. Wintershield attracted many recruits to the Winterblades in the first few months due to its location and early foundation on the server.
The server, however, became dominated by the incredibly numerous Alliance of Order, led by Defenders of Order (DoO), from their Ice Island fortress. In the name of ?Order? they called on all guilds to destroy any ?RPK-Random Player Killer? guilds who had begun to raid and pillage parts of the mainland?s more restive city-states. DoO branded the Avatars of the Flame, Lords of Avatar?s Torch and Undead Island RPKS and the first server war was on.
Talin choose to have the Winterblades sit this one out except for the first battle of the war, and first city destruction on Deception. The destruction of RPK?Shadow Syndicate?s city of Gehenna. It was in many ways a party with the who?s who of Deception showing up at the direction of DoO?s Owyn. Little did Talin and the Winterblades know how ironic the situation was.
The first server war proved one thing to the players of Deception. DoO could bring overwhelming numbers to a battle if they choose to do so. Moreover DoO flexed its political muscle and demonstrated that they could coerce other large guilds through fear to join them in their campaigns. Talin Kir'shen, to his credit, was not one to be intimidated. He, however, grossly overestimated the courage of his allies. Talin began to speak of building a mainland alliance to counter DoO's influence on the mainland. To this end Talin attempted to win over House Daenyr?s leader King Tearin, who was fighting a losing war against the RPK nation of Kill Cult. House Daenyr lost several sub-guild cities to Kill Cult. When Gaeryn?s Hope became threatened, Talin rallied the Winterblades to aid our friends in House Daenyr.
Owyn disturbed by a possible alliance the two of the largest guilds on the mainland, began to threaten Talin in private correspondence with dire consequences. Ignoring these, Talin worked to strengthen his position and Winterblades accepted the fealty of two sub-guilds The Echelon of Eagles Reach and non-other than Shadow Syndicate of the former city of Gehenna. This led to a chilling of ties between DoO and the Winterblades. . . for now we harbored the evil "RPKs", Shadow Syndicate, who had publicly renounced their "RPK" playstyle and appealed to the masses for enough mercy to allow them to continue to play Shadowbane. In private Owyn threatened to use our subguilding of Shadow Syndicate as a pretext for war, if Talin did not stop aiding House Daenyr against Kill Cult. Hoping to rally the entire server against DoO?s manipulative dominance from afar, Talin published the letters. The server was outraged, but it was also afraid. No leader was willing to risk an innumerable horde of DoO showing up on their doorstep. In preparation for the coming storm, the Winterblades sought to shore up their mainland friendships with Knights of the Alliance and House Daenyr whose city the Winterblades helped build and defend. It was at this point that the political leadership began to despair of Talin?s provocative course. Both Galahad and Tearin refused to stand up publicly in defiance of Owyn. DoO issued an ultimatum to desub Shadow Syndicate or be annihilated. The back channels of diplomacy raced as Winterblades admitted defeat and gave in.
However, the hounding of RPK guilds was not the Defenders of Order?s true goal. Owyn wanted blood and to silence the critical voice that had challenged Ice Island?s domination of Mainland Deception. In a clever ruse de guerre, Owyn claimed Shadow Syndicate continued to fly the gray wolf banner. A banestone was placed to sap the energy from Wintershield?s tree of life allowing DoO to lay siege to Wintershield three days later. Despite our aide of House Daenyr in the past, our backchannel pleas and warnings of future doom, fell on deaf ears. House Daenyr betrayed us and renounced their support of Wintershield. Communication with the Knights of the Alliance ended, when Galahad, founder of KoA, indicated that though he valued Wintershield?s friendship and support, he could not risk the future of his city. The Winterblades had been forced into a corner and in a defiant rage launched a massive raid on DoO?s island fortress breaking through their defenses at Erkenring. Over several days the Winterblades slaughtered DoO?s farming groups, pillaging the cities of their subguilds and returned to raze the outer defenses (dog shacks) at Erkenring. Unused to having to defend their homeland DoO finally rallied annihilating the raiders before the gates of Lion?s Pride. The Winterblades exacted what price they could from the unprotected lands and structures in DoO?s heartland and took the short route home with grim pleasure, resigned to the impending loss of Wintershield. In the last hours before the siege Ascension forswore their oaths of fealty and desubbed. The Winterblades thus stood alone, friendless and betrayed, against the hordes of Owyn?s Alliance of Order.
Scores of Winterblades died defending Wintershield, but they could not staunch the endless waves Defenders of Order and Owyn?s others puppets. The few score fell before the few hundred and Wintershield was razed to the ground. Many Winterblades died true deaths that day, forever lost to the dark void between life and death. Their souls were severed from their connections to Wintershield?s tree of life and were never heard from again. Talin Kir?shen was amongst those who were severed.
Despite this great loss, the Winterblades were a hardy people and promptly planted a new tree of life amongst the ashes of Wintershield I. A week later a banestone was placed on the fledgling tree of life of Wintershield II. Owyn?s true intentions were then revealed to Deception: Resistance is futile. In the name of Order, no challenge to DoO?s influence over the mainland would be tolerated.
The tragedies of the first siege were repeated, only where once scores fought now there were only tens. The insult of the siege, however, grew; fighting alongside DoO was Echelon, our former subguild. Knowing the city was lost, the defenders made a last defiant drive to slay Owyn as he commanded a squad of sappers undermining the foundations of Wintershield?s inner wall. Wintershield II was razed to the ground and more Winterblades died true deaths in the endless void never to arrive in heaven or hell.
The fall of Wintershield was not completely in vain. As revealed later in Owaine?s historical treatise, The Great War and the Siege of Lion?s Pride, the exposure of Owyn as a fraud and hypocrite angered many in his own Alliance of Order. Owaine, guild leader, of The Ancient Order and the Thieves of Enlightenment desubbed and joined with Kill Cult and the Legion of Steel (former Avatar?s of the Flame) opening a two front war against House Daenyr and Owyn?s DoO.
Thus the chapter of Talin Kir?shen?s rule over the Winterblades ended with the beginning of the second server war, but the story of the Winterblades continues on. From the ashes four comrades Merek (who is lazy) the Mad, Ssly Unterdepth, Damebix, and Angelmar (Maleficc) took up the leadership of the guild gathering the remnants of the Winterblades and headed south into the Bog of the Black Drake and the swamps of the Southern Deception to rebuild. Meanwhile, the server bathed itself in the fire and destruction that began with the fall of Wintershield.
The swamps were the backwater of Deception. The trackless depths were the original havens for groups of lawless murderers and thieves like Shadow Syndicate and Kill Cult. In the swamps we eeked out an existence until we heard from our contacts in Shadow Syndicate of a small city state on the coast that would be willing to grant us sanctuary, despite the risk of becoming targets of Owyn. The Winterblades swore fealty and became a subguild of the Atomic Godz of Mount Olympus.
The Atomic Godz also had their roots originally in UO. The Atomic Godz in Shadowbane were an interesting mix of silent hard bitten barbarians, an all male enclave of elves known as the ?Fairy Rainbows?, and a hypochondriac leader known as Montok.
The server largely forgot both the Winterblades and the Atomic Godz. The locals of the swamps were our concern and the bogs rang with the cries of A*G?s unorthodox combat leader, Montok. A*G and -W- rallied behind the battle cries of: ?MONTOK NEEDS A HEAL! MONTOK NEEDS A HEAL! HEAL MONTOK! IM GOING DOWN! MONTOK NEEDS A HEAL!? The small scale banes rewarded us with several trees that were repeatedly captured and lost accounting for Wintershields III-VIII.
CHAPTER 2: THE EARLY DAYS: ATOMIC GODZ
CHAPTER 3: THE SECOND SERVER WAR
The rest of Deception did not stand still while we recovered in the swamps. The alliance of The Ancient Order under Owaine (the group that left Owyn?s DoO), the Legion of Steel comprising the remnants of the Avatars of the Flame (the targets of Owyn?s first server war), and Kill Cult had shifted the balance of power. The TAO/LoS/KC alliance despite being outnumbered laid siege to House Deanyr?s Capital of Gaeryn?s Hope. The city was barely saved from complete destruction, by Owyn?s timely arrival with his Defenders of Order. The Northern mainland reacting to this treat renewed their vows of allegiance and together the Northern Alliance (House Deanyr, Knights of the Alliance, and Kingdom of Eleador) went on the offensive laying siege to Cair Yingyang, the capital of The Ancient Order. The Northern Alliance (NA) and DoO offensive was easily turned by TAO/LOS/KC, who countered by successfully razing Archeron, the capital of the Knights of the Alliance, and Kingdom of Eleador?s capital. Echelon who had betrayed the Winterblades at the siege of Wintershield II, continued their treachery and switched sides for the Archeron siege against their allies the Knights of the Alliance. In retaliation the Knights of the Alliance captured Echelon?s Eagle?s Reach and took it for their new capital.
TAO/LoS/KC pressed their advantage after razing two of the three capitals of the Northern Alliance and again laid siege Gaeryn?s Hope, this time successfully breaching the walls, forcing the defenders to take refuge in the Cathedral of the All-Father. The attackers unleashed their greatest Pyromancers and Aeromancers on the Cathedral, raining fire and lightning on the structure until it went ablaze and began to collapse. The defenders made a desperate drive to escape but were slaughtered on the steps of the cathedral as they tried to escape from the arcane torrent.
The NA/DoO retook Gaeryn?s Hope, but the tide of the war was running in favor of TAO/LoS/KC. Defenders of Order?s capital on Ice Island, Lion?s Pride, was regularly raided and placed under siege. TAO/LoS/KC almost attained their vengeance upon Owyn and the Defenders of the Order. They raided and locked down every city on Ice Island and breached the walls of Lion?s Pride. Owyn rallied the NA/DoO on the mainland and travelled via the runegate back to Ice Island and broke through the TAO/LoS/KC force at the gate, but they had far to travel. The fall of Lion?s Pride was all but expected, but higher powers intervened and the server crashed.
CHAPTER 4: THE ALLIANCE OF BALANCE: RETURNING TO THE FIGHT
TAO/LoS/KC however would not be stopped by mere gods. They again laid siege to Lion?s Pride with the Winterblades and Atomic Godz once again entering the story. The neutral nations of Khar, the desert island, and the Southern Mainland had watched the events of the war with unease. The autonomy and power of the neutral states had greatly increased while the Second Server War raged. Owyn?s untold hordes had been defeated, the spell of his supremacy broken, and most importantly the Defenders were too busy with TAO/LoS/KC to risk offending anyone else. But the heads of the neutral nations worried if Lion?s Pride should fall and Owyn lose control of his hordes, would Owaine from TAO not just replace Owyn as the dominant force? A decision was made to form the ?Alliance of Balance?. The alliance consisted of the Defenders of Aleria, Shadow Syndicate, and other desert states who formed the DIE nation, along with the two largest southern nations, the Adumbral Empire under Shadow Rhal and Atomic Godz under Montok.
The decision to aid the Defenders of Order was a close one amongst the Inner Council of the Winterblades. Despite protesting votes, we showed up with the rest of the Alliance of Balance at what was to be the largest battle on Deception. Almost 1000 players took the field at Lion?s Pride. The enemy unlooked for is the most deadly. TAO/LoS/KC were dislodged from their siegeworks with a pincer movement. The Defenders rallied from the walls, while the Alliance of Balance attacked from the flank and rear and TAO/LoS/KC were routed from the field.
The new combined AoB/DoO/NA force laid siege to TAO?s capital of Caer Yingyang and Kill Cult?s capital of Lankmar. The first siege of Caer Yingyang was epic. Although not as large as the assault on Lion?s Pride, the siege was the longest on Deception. The attackers took the field six hours early and began to man the bulwarks and trebuchets in hopes of making an early breach in the walls. Owaine realizing he had lost control of the walls, moved all his forces to a citadel within bowshot of the bane stone. When the banestone went active and the Tree of Life?s protection was removed, the attackers easily took the tree and deranked it twice. The banestone, though, was also falling to a steady hail of arrows. It became a race on two fronts. At the tree the AoB used hand weapons to destroy the Tree of Life and tried to prevent TAO suicide runs to repair the tree. At the bane stone not only did TAO?s archers led by Owaine have to fend off attempts to take the citadel but they had to out damage the bucket healing brigade that had formed to heal the bane stone. And thus the siege of Caer Yingyang was prolonged for almost three hours as both sides committed all of their resources into this nine hour long battle. In the end, the tree was deranked, but before all seven levels were destroyed the banestone fell.
The following week the AoB split into three forces at Lankmar. DIE held the defender?s citadel while DoO was tasked solely with finding Kill Cult tree healers. Shadow Rahl led his own Adumbral Empire and the rest of the Southern contingent made up of Atomic Godz and Winterblades at the banestone and the siege works bombarding the Tree of Life. In another epicly long siege the attackers had taken up their positions ten hours before the bane and held them throughout the day. Despite occasionally smashing through the DoO skirmishing group, TAO/LoS/KC never took the banestone. The combined ranged fire from DIE in the citadel and the AoB forces under Shadow Rahl thwarted all attempts at dislodging the attackers. Lankmar fell.
A week later TAO?s Caer Yingyang was again baned. However another epic full day siege was not to be had. Owain deleted the tree and subbed to LoS, due to lack of funds for a proper defense.
Owyn wanted to complete his victory with the destruction of Legion of Steel?s capital, but he miscalculated when he tried to use the new AoB as a tool to dominate the server. The neutral nations that had saved Lion?s Pride all had different reasons for aligning themselves and their differences weighed strongly on their minds. DIE disbanded. The Adumbral Empire and Atomic Godz returned to the swamps of the southern mainland and continued their close ties. Owyn?s Defender?s of Order proved insufficient on their own for Owyn?s grand schemes and broke themselves on the walls of the Legion of Steel. Low level raiding ensued, but the Second Server War ended and so too did Deception, but not before a taste of vengeance.
The Echelon had replanted their city Eagle?s Reach II. The Winterblades had been betrayed by the Echelon at the siege of Wintershield II when they broke their oaths of fealty and aided DoO in their attack. The Echelon had also betrayed their next liege lords, the Knights of the Alliance at the siege of Archeron siding with TAO/LoS/KC. It would have been an atrocity for such treacherous servile mongrels to hold a tree at the close of Deception.
The Winterblades desubbed from Atomic Godz and declared war on the Echelon guild vs guild in order to leave no excuse for Echelon?s impending humiliation. The siege brought back old faces from the early days of the Winterblades on Deception.
When the city fell it became Wintershield IX and so ended the story of the Winterblades on Deception. The server was brought down and we moved to Corruption.
CHAPTER 5: CORRUPTION: EPIC SAGA LOST TO THE SANDS OF TIME
As a chronicler I must admit with great sorrow, that my records from Corruption did not survive. They were lost in the burning of the Wintershield library during a Dreadlord raid. The Shadowbane College of Herald?s also was destroyed during our stay on Corruption making research into the area very limited.
The Atomic Godz and the Winterblades merged for the launch of Corruption into The Chosen. The guild was lead by Chaka Zulu. Deception was in decay, the fragment was near to destruction. Unlooked for in those dark days, emissaries from the seat of the Church of the All-Father appeared, with arcane masters of great enough knowledge to open portals between the fragments of Aerynth. We fled to Corruption leaving everything behind. Unlike Deception, Maleficc was not able to steal enough cash for a tree. The Chosen rallied together and massacred orcs in Balegrim Forest until our small core of veterans were collapsing in exhaustion. Some of the last warriors standing in that marathon farming session were Damebix, Kid Charlemagne, Vasic, Ssly and Angelmar. The Chosen were rewarded for their efforts, placing one of the first trees down on Corruption and in a prime location. We realized the power and security an island home can bring and claimed the smallest of the three desert islands for ourselves. We gained several sub-guilds and new members including future Winterblade member and Sentinel Advocate CoolWaters.
If Deception was the story of the rise and fall of the Defenders of Order, Corruption was the tale of the horselords known as the Dreadlords and their unholy alliance with forces of Chaos and the Asians. Corruption was never dominated so clearly as Deception had been. There were always multiple regional factions.
The two larger desert islands were also claimed by old Deception nations. The western most island became the province of the Defenders of Order and their Deception puppet states like House Daenyr, The Fringe, The Fremen Knights, Temple of Tempus, Iceclan (now Fireclan), and Kingdom of Eleador. The southern island was claimed for the Defenders of Aleria and their allies. The Dreadlords themselves were not a threat to the major capitals of the Desert. The horselords were not numerous and their strength was in mobility on the open field, rather than taking heavily defended fixed positions. However, the Dreadlords realized others were also angered by the politics of the desert. The combined threat of the forces of chaos, Asians and the Dreadlords required action. The experiences of the Alliance of Balance and contact between its members created a natural alliance between amongst the peoples of the eastern desert. The Sand Pact Nation was formed by Phelix and Alittle Co-leaders of the Defenders of Aleria and Chaka Zulu of The Chosen to unite the eastern desert against the Dreadlords and their allies and increasingly demanding voices from the western desert.
In the western desert, Lord Owyn held court once again, however this was not to last. The Dreadlords, thwarted in the east, began to make inroads in the western desert despite the logistical nightmares such a war entailed. Leadership issues internally within the Alliance of Order camp and between east and west desert flared.
On the mainland the largest three power blocks were Dissent Nation, Chaos Nation, and The Crystal Order. Dissent nation, created by former Shadow Syndicate officer Deli, ruled must of the eastern and southeastern mainland. The Chaos Nation hailed from the icy islands to the north and was an unholy alliance of the forces of Chaos and the Asians. In the far northeast The Crystal Order kept to themselves in their mountainous home. Amidst all of these alliances were the Dreadlords and their allies including The Shipwrecked Pirates led by Arnie.
It is difficult to describe properly the Dreadlords, for despite their unrivaled military prowess, their only major success in their long campaign against desert and later the Sand Pact Nation was the burning of Lion?s Pride. The Dreadlords were a black group of Centaurs who strayed from their race?s noble heritage and became disciples of chaos. They were largely barbarians, although even some druids, rangers, crusaders, and prelates were to be found in their ranks. The only non-centaurs they allowed were bards to record their epic struggle and scouts and rangers for intelligence work. The Dreadlords? tactics involved attacking their enemies from multiple flanks, drawing out their enemies so they could be killed piecemeal, and above all focused fire. It was a thing of beauty to see half a dozen centaur barbarians suddenly stop and charge the foremost pursuer, eviscerate him and start running again.
The Dreadlord wars dragged on for months. Their early campaigns in the west desert against the Alliance of Order forced multiple leadership changes. The humbled Alliance of Order opened negotiations with the Sand Pact for admittance into the alliance and were accepted. This move united the desert and stabilized its politics. No major shifts occurred in the balance of power.
With the increasing numbers and presence of the Asian factor in the Choas/Dreadlord alliance, the mainland became involved in the wars of the desert. A marathon series of sieges of Hedge of Chaos ensued with multiple day long banes. The wars however dragged on and eventually the Dreadlords and the Defenders of Aleria, the two major antagonists announced they were leaving Shadowbane. The Dreadlords and the forces of Chaos baned Aleria in what was to be the climax of Corruption.
The Sand Pact had learned from the Dreadlords mobile tactics and split their forces for the bane. Divisions of Centaurs were used for flanking and harassing in the field while the ?two-leggers? defended the walls. However the student had not surpassed the master. The Dreadlords broke through the Sand Pact outriders and then rushed to the walls where they contracted a mercenary wizard to teleport a strike team on to the walls of Aleria. The surprised defenders, mostly casters, were driven from the walls by the axes and hammers of the Dreadlord barbarians. The remaining Dreadlord forces began summoning back their dead and bombarding the outer walls.
Phelix of Aleria rallied the Sand Pact at a nearby city and marched on Aleria. The Sand Pact forces managed to capture the banestone, but it was feared the tree of life was falling too quickly. The defenders pushed through the breach in their walls to find utter chaos. The initial rush to the city center and the Tree of Life was largely uncontested. The Dreadlrods instead fell back retreating onto the complex inner walls. In a textbook move, the Dreadlords used the momentum of the returning Sand Pact defenders against them. The defenders rushed onto the walls fighting pitched uphill battles. When the Dreadlords were losing, they pulled back only to turn and fight moments later. Phelix, in the critical moment, realized the peril of the situation and tried desperately to rally his own Defenders of Aleria to the tree. The disciplined Defenders returned, shifting the momentum of the bloodthirsty charging Sand Pact defenders and soon the various guilds leaders were recalling their own troops. The Dreadlords were unable to dislodge the massed force at the tree and the remaining forces on the walls were removed wall section by wall section. Phelix kept the Sand Pact forces rallied close together and brought overwhelming force wherever he directed on the battlefield. The Dreadlords did not give up, but the tide had turned and the defenders eventually broke the siege.
Following the exit of the Dreadlords and Defenders of Aleria from Corruption, the server became even more infested by the Asian scourge. An unforeseen event from Asia sent shockwaves across Corruption, The closing of En-Tranz, the Asia Shadowbane Distributor, caused a spike in the Asian population on Shadowbane. Suddenly there were hordes of players speaking in pictographs. This influx brought the server together transcending the normal desert versus mainland dynamic. The Asian Wars saw the alliance of Sand Pact, Dissent and TCO and others in attempts to remove their scourge. The greatest obstacle was rallying enough players to awake at 6 A.M. to attend offensive banes against the Asians. Months of 6 A.M. offensive banes and no-show NA primetime defensive banes got old and so the Winterblades began playing on the Test servers to pass the time.
CHAPTER 6: TEST SERVER: RISING TO THE TOP
Our time on Test server spanned three different builds. The key thing about test server is that gold and experience were increased by tenfold so playing there was just about having fun and meeting people.
During our first build, the server had two major nations: Ghosts of the Slaughter and The Knights of Silvermoon. Since the server was scheduled for reset, most of our time was spent crashing banes (showing up to a siege where you are not an announced attacker/defender) between these two nations. We managed to gain some notoriety for the havoc we created at other people?s sieges. Wintershield X sadly never had the opportunity to be bathed in fire.
The second build we played was dominated by the Knights of Silvermoon (SM) as Ghosts of the Slaughter had broken up into smaller factions. Lucky for us we had managed to make a nuisance of ourselves on the previous build and Wintershield XI and our other trees became a favorite target of banes between SM and Winterblades. Wintershield XI was lost during a no-show bane as we had bane obligations on Corruption.
Our third build was by far the most entertaining. We ran two major trees, Wintershield XII and Papa Smurf?s Lil? Birdies. In order to fund our two main cities, we secretly ran two other cities. Test Trainers was dropped as one of the first trees and located right outside Khar Th?Sekt. The first rank 7 trainers were produced in this city, which was advertised anonymously. The very first day of rank 7 trainers produced 43 million in gold. The gold produced from Test Trainers easily funded our entire infrastructure; the Wintershield XII fortress, Tree of Care (Papa Smurf?s Lil? Birdies tree), and an additional secret vender open tree holding only the most skilled craftsman of their trade. Here some of our most entertaining specialized combat groups (spec groups) were invented and tested.
By now we were regulars on test server and the usual suspects showed up. Ralcor?s Knights of Silvermoon, Hili?s GALG, Jolly?s Deathryders, and Hidetade?s Jellyfish all made their appearance at banes and fun mine fights were had by all concerned. One new guild to show up on the radar was ShadeyOak?s Commander?s Reborn (CR), who planted just north of Winterblades? Papa Smurf?s tree in the southern bog. CR was at first somewhat inept. Shadey baned Papa Smurfs and we counter baned. Both sieges Winterblades carried the field relatively easily. Conversations following our fights painted CR to be decent guys. The Winterblade IC decided to just derank their tree down to rank one and knock over a few forges, rather than razing the city and forcing CR to go errant. Over the months on test CR grew and increased in skill. Mine fights over the nearby bog zone became fun and interesting along with the occasional bane.
While on this build of test we ran a Centaur group, practicing our Dreadlord-esque tactics. We also ran our patented American Psycho group of sheathed Elven Arch-Mage Channelers lying in wait for Centaur groups to draw in the enemy. Early on test, CoolWaters also developed the American?s Revenge template that became the standard Sentinel build and helped in his successful campaign for Sentinel Advocacy. Lastly, he formulated the very powerful health regeneration group, which had major success later on our history.
The fate of Wintershield XII is honestly unknown, a new server, Wrath, was announced and Winterblades moved quickly from Corruption/Test to Wrath.
CHAPTER 7: WRATH: IN OUR PRIME
Near the end of 2004, the Corruption fragment began to show signs of imminent destruction. This was likely due to a great increase in the number of Shades and activity of the undead. It was revealed that a new island ruled by the undead had surfaced. To explore this new continent, the Winterblades were invited into the Thorne of Oblivion beta. A pact was made at the Throne of Oblivion by the leading guilds of test to form a test server nation for the upcoming server release. To this end the ChocoMoonBlades was formed and arrived on the newly discovered fragment of Wrath, which resembled old Vorringia from before the turning.
The race for the first tree of life was heated, and the Winterblades missed planting the first tree of life by only minutes. As we neared our intended location, bordering on the Elven Kingdoms of Arean Belador and Aerath Highlands we found a new sapling had just been planted by a contingent of seedy individuals known as Crime Syndicate. Not to be thwarted, we quickly headed south and planted our precarious seed of life across the river Aedroch near the Aedroch Highlands. Unbeknownst to the Winterblades, the cities of Crime Central and Wintershield XIII, separated by little more than a river, would soon be locked in a constant struggle for supremacy on mainland Wrath.
The ChocoMoonBlade nation was short lived, lasting only a few weeks before the Chocobos returned to Test. The rest of the alliance reformed under the wolf banner led by Damebix of the Winterblades. Wrath was the high point for the Winterblades in Shadowbane. We were one of the two major server powers and we enjoyed the support and allegiance of many of our friends and former rivals. On Wrath, the Commander?s Reborn, GALG, Deathryders, Silvermoon and elements of old House Daenyr and The Fringe joined us in creating the Winterblades nation.
Against the Winterblades was Crime Syndicate, who moved to solidify their hold on the Ulward region and began settling their sub-guilds in the area. Notably among these sub-guilds were The Wretched lead by Phylor the Jester. The Wretched were a division of the Temple of the Cleansing Flame and fielded Templars and Confessors almost to the exclusion of all else. In order to maintain a foothold in the Ulward region, Winterblades placed a tree and GALG was settled in the city near the Ashfell Plains and Haldrom's Gate. GALG?s city was soon thereafter baned by Crime Syndicate and would become the focal point of the war.
The first bane on GALG?s city was a close loss for the Winterblades. The tree was only rank three (of seven) and even then we almost had the banestone destroyed before the tree went down. The Winterblades held on the walls, after the first breach was made, but Crime Syndicate rushed their melees to the tree. Sensing opportunity, Damebix rallied the remaining defenders on the wall and broke through the attackers at the banestone. Summons were sent and the race between the two siege teams commenced.
The following week the Winterblades recaptured GALGs? city. Crime Syndicate had not finished the repairs to the walls allowing the Winterblades to take the tree initially and begin dismantling the defenses. The roles from the previous week were reversed as Crime Syndicate rushed to the stone in hopes of destroying it first. Following their defeat, Crime Syndicate again laid siege to the city.
The siege of GALG?s city in northern Ulward, or more correctly the siege of the ruins of GALG?s city, became almost a weekly event between the Winterblades and Crime Syndicate. Both sides eventually stopped repairing the walls and the sieges became massive open field skirmishes. Skorpion, leader of Crime Syndicate, was a student of Horwathi nomad tactics and favor lighter combat troops with greater ability to do damage. In open field battles Crime Syndicate would present in two ranks: the light troops in the front with priests and holy warriors in the rear. The light troops would cycle forward and then retreat back for heals, forming a cantabrian circle.
Skorpion?s tactics were always engaging, but not always successful. Winterblade military doctrine relied heavily on hardy, well armed, and armored shock troops. Some weeks Skorpion would prevail, but on others, the initial charge of bloodcrazed barbarians and berserking warriors would smash through Crime Syndicate?s front line and not stop until they chased Skorpion back to Crime Central.
Another favored tactic centered around the large devout contingent in the Winterblades, dedicated to the Church of the All-Father. Chief among these holy warriors was CoolWater?s Americans Revenge, a Dwarf Sentinel of great renown across all the fragments of Aerynth. Following the Winterblade heavy combat troop doctrine a mix of Crusaders and Sentinels backed by Prelates and Priests made this group a durable shock force with potential for ?stack busting? in the Sentinel?s ability to channel the archon Dangiriel?s Might into their Divine Word of Binding.
The steady months of GALG city banes were an impromptu and enjoyable arrangement for all except perhaps GALG. Captial sieges on Crime Central and Wintershield XIII were occasionally made, but neither force came close to taking their rivals capital. The expense and effort of these major sieges eventually became viewed as a poor use of resources, especially after Crime Syndicate proclaimed Crime Central as Ulward?s realm capital and Skorpion took on the title of Warlord.
The Winterblade?s were also striving to make Wintershield XIII a realm capital, but they were not alone in this ambition. House of Errants, lead by Drenath, also had their nation capital in the Aedroch zone. Unburdened by a costly war, they ranked their tree of life to seven and captured the realm. Thwarted at home, the Winterblades looked abroad for opportunities to increase their power.
In the realm of Belandar, where Commander?s Reborn had built their city the Fortress of the Commanders, a small ten man guild, LDV, had claimed the realm for their own. Unwilling to let a ten man guild prevent their ambitions, Damebix and Shadey placed a bane (the first rank eight realm capital bane on Wrath) and prepared to siege LDV. The Winterblades showed up early to the siege and found the city spires had not been turned on. Accepting such an excellent invitation, the Winterblades teleported their summoners inside and proceeded to dig in around the tree. LDV was unlikely to give the Winterblades a good fight due to the disparity in numbers. Winterblades fielded almost six combat teams, over sixty people to LDV?s ten warriors. Lucky for the Winterblades, Masquers, lead by Queen Angela of the bog island realm of Thollmar, brought her fifty best warriors to the aid of LDV. The initial attempts by Masquers and LDV to retake the city were handily countered.
After purging the field of their enemies, Damebix ordered the Winterblades out of the city through new breach in LDV?s walls. The LDV bulwarks were still a threat to the banestone, should Masquers and LDV win the field and work began on the bulwarks? destruction. Masquers and LDV rallied once more while their bulwarks were being destroyed, but again failed to remove the Winterblades from the field. Damebix again ordered his troops back to the tree where they deranked the tree from rank eight to rank seven, removing LDV?s claim at realm leadership. LDV and Masquers returned again, but this time brought another full group of minotaurs which were unleashed on the banestone.
The Winterblades warriors low on stamina from destroying the tree with hand weapons rushed out to meet this latest charge by Masquers and LDV. A prolonged fight ensued, with the warriors on both sides dying multiple times thanks to efficient summon teams. In the end Masquers managed to take the field, but Shadey claimed the title Warlord and took Belandar for the Commanders Reborn.
Despite the desire to capture the Aedroch realm for the Winterblades, the national treasury was drained. The continuing war with Crime Syndicate, the expense of one realm capital bane, and the upkeep on the Belandar realm capital left little extra cash for other expenses. House of Errants however was restive. Drenath had not had an opportunity to exercise his troops in months and was itching for a challenge. House of Errants provided the banescroll for a siege on their capital. The bane was placed and an epic siege ensued. The five hour siege was a series of amazing fights as HoE sallied from their outer walls in hopes of pushing us off our bulwarks and siege equipment. The Winterblades had over 50 on the field versus House of Errants 30 to 40. The Winterblades held the field throughout the night despite several very close battles that required much of our forces to be summoned back. When the inner walls finally came down we rushed the tree and had just enough time to derank it from rank eight to rank seven before House of Errants rallied. Damebix ordered everyone from the tree to retake the banestone that was now under attack. The Winterblades now had to assault their own siege engines and, along with the timely presence of a group of ten Crime Syndicate, were repulsed and then routed. Although we lost the bane our objective was complete. Damebix seized the Aedroch realm making Wintershield XIII its capital and was proclaimed Conqueror Damebix. House of Errants later attempts to recapture the realm prove unsuccessful.
After six months on the server, Crime Syndicate announced their intentions to retire from Shadowbane. The rivalry between Wintershield XIII and Crime Central ended on the best of terms. On future servers with the ever shrinking Shadowbane population, the remnants of CS and -W- members that were not tired of Shadowbane would play together under various tags. With Crime Syndicate leaving for other games and the general decrease in server population, maintaining a large nation tended to discourage fights. Accordingly the Winterblades Inner Council made the decision to encourage our larger sub-guilds, such as Commanders Reborn to desub.
With the larger mainland nations disbanding the Wrath server entered into a period of post-political lawlessness. Bane ?crashing,? attending banes with no interest in helping either party, became a standard order of the day. In efforts to gain power, guilds such as The Knights of Glory and Beer, led by Holrom, increased their recruitment activities and dropped what little standards they ever had. Mass recruiting or zerg nations were a favored target of guilds like the Winterblades and House of Errants. This led to many banes back and forth but despite their overwhelming numerical superiority KGB rarely made inroads against their aggressors.
This was largely due to their lack of effective leadership and combat tactics. When Holrom, the KGB leader, was not present the KGB masses rarely stirred themselves to take strategic resources or even attend their own banes. It cannot be denied that Holrom was a charismatic orator. When he was present, he was actually able to mobilize the large masses of warriors that nominally wore the KGB colors. Holrom?s favorite and almost exclusive tactic, likewise involved his oratory skills. Holrom?s voice could easily carry across the battlefield, and over the din of war could be herald Holrom?s battle cry: ?STACK UNDER THE TEXT! FOLLOW THE TEXT! GET UNDER THE TEXT?. It was not the most imaginative of tactics, but then quantity can have a quality of its own.
Holrom, finding his ambitions so often thwarted, began to associate his Knights of Glory and Beer with other nations like Blood & Iron and Manshoon?s Zhentil Keep. The alliance of Holrom and Manshoon was a match fated by the gods. Both relied on their oratory skills in their conquests, Holrom on the battle field and Manshoon in the political sphere (forums). However, Manshoon was not the most adept political actor. Manshoon?s ?board warrioring? soon had managed to insult most the nations on Wrath. Combined with his history for aligning with the asian hordes, a temporary agreement was made by Commanders Reborn, Winterblades, Corrupted, The Wretched and Obsidian Overlords allying together for the siege of Zhentil Keep. Holrom?s Knights of Glory and Beer and The Wrath Alliance, which Manshoon was a part of, defended Zhentil keep. The defenders were no match for the superior forces arrayed against. For once the mass recruiting nations were not a severe numerical advantage and the tree fell.
Soon, thereafter, the Winterblades much like Crime Syndicate grew tired of Shadowbane after almost five years of continuous activity. The Winterblades announced their retirement from Shadowbane. In under a week Holrom placed a bane on Wintershield XII. In a gratifying moment, the Wrath server expressed its outrage at this opportunism by the Knights of Glory and Beer and many former friends and enemies including, House of Errants, donned the wolf banner of the Winterblades and decimated the Knights of Glory and Beer and their allies.
Wintershield XIII continued to stand long after the Winterblades stopped actively playing Shadowbane. Almost a year after the Winterblades left, a small contingent returned to Wrath, pleasantly surprised to see that Wintershield XIII was still standing and in fact had remained the capital of Aedroch in the intervening eight months.
CHAPTER 8: VINDICATION: END OF AN ERA
Almost a year after the Winterblades retirement from Shadowbane, a new loreplay ruleset Shadowbane server was announced. The Winterblades along with many other guilds including Crime Syndicate, House of Errants, The Shipwrecked Pirates, Commanders Reborn, and returned in force to test the new ruleset on the test servers. The newly discovered fragment of Aerynth was named Vindication, in honor of the long standing desires of the lore community to have a server that follows the wonderful Shadowbane lore written by Meridian.
The Winterblades entered the server as a Centaur cohort with great success. Other guilds such as The Ship Wrecked Pirates also played as a Centaur cohort. Wintershield XIV was placed just south of the river Aedroch in honor of Wintershield XIII. The Winterblades was recognized for publishing the first RP storyline on Vindication.
The difficulty with the lore ruleset was most charters had only a few race and class combinations, which became boring and repetitive. To combat this, many guilds switched charters after the first month. The Winterblades, staying true to their historical traditions, became a division of the Church of the All-Father.
The Vindication server revived the collective memories, rivalry, and fun that made Shadowbane great. However after five years the game was becoming stale and most guilds left after three to four months including Crime Syndicate, House of Errants and the Winterblades.