Thursday, September 17, 2009

Know Your Rogue Lore: Ravenholdt

You can not call a Blog "Daughter of Ravenholdt Manor" and then do a series on Rogue Lore with out covering one of the most unique rogue organizations within the World of Warcraft universe Ravenholdt  also known as  The Assassin's League. What makes them so unique? They are TOTALLY faction neutral and class specific. Despite that, due to a seasonal quest just about everyone in the game has the opportunity to stumble across them at some point.


So who exactly make up the Ravenholdt community and how did they come to be there? Most simply, Ravenholdt is the home of Lord Jorach Ravenholdt, now wither his title is due to courtesy or actual noble birth no one knows for sure. What we do know is this, Ravenholdt and his people work in conjunction with other rogue organizations in the training and testing of rogues. While the majority of the individuals who live on the manor grounds are Human there are also some other interesting individuals who call this place home. Most notably an Orc by the name of Master Kang and a Blood Elf called Myrokos Silentform. While WoW was still in Beta Garona Halforcen could also be located here but she was later removed.

Now this next bit is PURELY speculation on my part based on what I have read but this is what "I" think the lore of Ravenholdt is since very little "official" lore is out there.

When the King of Alterac betrayed the Alliance to the Horde, he and those nobles who had supported him were banished by Uther. When the Horde refused to offer them sanctuary they began to prey upon the very people they had once ruled over. Ravenholdt (I believe) came into existence to counter this threat. Personally I think Jorach was a minor noble who was unaware of what the major houses were doing due to his isolation. However when it became clear what the former nobles up to in an attempt to regain power he could not allow that to take place. So using the skills he had along with other connections he organized a counter offensive to deal with the issue directly. Jorach doesn't care about race or affiliation, his concern is with HIS area of influence. If others want to sharpen their skills while doing work for him, all the better.


Rogues will first hear of Ravenholdt when they hit level 24 and learn the skill Detect Traps. At that point they will be given a quest by their trainer to locate the manor and speak with Fahrad. Many a rogue will spend HOURS wandering the hills around Durnholde attempting to locate the hidden manor. The easiest way is to start at Durnholde keep and go north, along the left side hills you will stumble upon a grave, go forward up into the hills and until you locate the narrow path winding up the face of the hill, follow that to a tunnel entrance guarded by Ravenholdt's people. Going through the tunnel you will see a trunk, now if you happen to be a rogue you will notice it is trapped, all others will just wonder at its presence. (And the piles of bones around it.) The real trick to this whole thing is learning PATIENCE as a rogue (something we as a group of players tend to be REALLY bad at.) If you PASS, you move on, if you FAIL, you do it again but get mocked at the end before he sends you on to the guards for a little Syndicate farming.

Then begins a long spell in which you hear nothing more about Ravenholdt, you almost forget about it until level 50 when suddenly your class trainer lets you know that Jorach wishes to speak with you again with a simple request. Before Burning Crusade, this quest chain was one of the most important for a rogue and long discussions took place over which of the items it was best to chose at the end. Now of course this is no longer the case and many chose to skip this quest chain all together.

What brought Ravenholdt back on the map for many people was the introduction of the Insane in the Membrane Feat of Strength achievement. Since this achievement is TOTALLY dependent on a ROGUE to pickpocket the Heavy Junkboxes needed for the Junkboxes Needed repeatable quest it renewed interested in this fascinating organization.

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