Herding Raptor Hatchlings – ((Casual Raiding Fun and Frustrations))

Over the last few weeks, I have gathered a small clutch of raptor hatchlings for research purposes.  They are being kept in the stables and have already provided insight into the behavior of these unusual creatures.  You may have observed their natural behavior if you have spent any time in Un’goro Crater or the Barrens.  Depending on the individual species and environmental conditions, they can exhibit very different behaviors.  Though typically a social creature, they have the potential to be quite violent and aggressive, even with their broodmates.

At such a young age, much of their intellectual capacity is still growing.  Full adults typically exhibit incredibly intelligent behavior, coordinating group activities and analyzing complex threats.  However, the juvenile form has clearly not developed this advanced capacity.  When released into the common yard, they frequently ran about like madmen.  They would avoid me entirely, then suddenly veer in the opposite direction and slam their tiny little oversized heads into my shins.

One little guy was uniquely amusing.  His extraordinary leaping abilities enabled him to slam his head into my assistant’s stomach.  Nothing is quite as entertaining as watching a mewling goblin roll on the ground in pain, clutching his belly while a little raptor chews on his toes.  It was really hard not to laugh out loud.

The Dark Places of the World

Every time I entered their pen, chuckling as their tiny teeth attempted to nip at my ankles, my mind would wander to another experiment I have been leading for years now.  Since the reopening of the Dark Portal, I have led a group of adventurers into the various epicenters of corruption and death within Azeroth and beyond.

My own goals are more aligned with the Earthmother’s wishes to cleanse the land and restore a proper balance to life.  However, I typically ask only that our fellow adventurers be willing to eliminate the corruption.  Expecting all to take up such a moral goal is simply a recipe in disappointment.

These attempts began with the darkly foreboding tower of Karazhan.  We spent a very short amount of time in the troll ziggarauts of Zul’aman.  With the discovery of the Lich King’s actions in Northrend we soon moved north to the floating shadow that is Naxxramas and have spent the majority of our most recent time there.  A few very short excursions have been made into Ulduar, and that is likely the source of my thoughts today.

A Different Method

We plan these excursions differently than most.  We are not part of a large sponsored organization.  We do not expect complete commitment to us and nothing else.  We do not expect an individual to join us every single excursion.  We do these things purposefully, to create an environment where an individual can feel welcome to enjoy the battle, enjoy the coordinated camaraderie, and yet maintain a balance with other commitments.

I know we are not as successful in our cleansing efforts as others.  It is my hope that in addition to defeating the sources of corruption and shadow, our attitude and method encourages a lasting peace in these places.  Perhaps not as lasting as I would wish, but more so than those who rush in without the same degree of concern for their fellow warriors or for those left over in the aftermath of their whirlwind of death.

What if just one of those ghosts in Karazhan decided that Moroes and his constant debauchery had grown old, instead instituting an atmosphere of welcome and peace in the void left behind.  What if just one of the trolls in Zul’aman looked upon his gods as an inspiration for change instead of a source of power and death.

This decision to foster a different type of environment for excursions into the dangerous places of the world has led both to satisfaction and frustration, as you might imagine.  There are repercussions and consequences to these decisions.  This relaxed attitude and encouragement of those survivors left behind lead to challenges in leadership.

Ultimately however, we do it because we find it to be a fun activity.  Not fun only because we are defeating the evil in the world, restoring a balance for future generations.  Not fun only because we are gaining lost equipment left behind by long-dead adventurers.  Not fun only because we are learning and improving in our knowledge and abilities in combat.  But fun because we can do all these things in the context of making each other better, spending time with those who share similar values, and find satisfaction in working together as friends.

That makes it worth all the ankle-scars and hatchling bites in all of Azeroth.

Ghosthorn Dreamstalker
Lorekeeper, Da Doctas School of Medicine

Differences of Opinion: Interests

I promised a few weeks back to provide suggestions and insight on how best to mediate disputes between two well intentioned parties.  You may remember the story of the two students fighting over an ancient tribal necklace.  This kind of dispute is fairly common in Azeroth, as I am sure you each have encountered.  Leaders are typically required to act in situations such as this to resolve the dispute to the betterment of each party and the group as a whole.

In my time at Da Doctas School of Medicine, I have learned that there is a strategy that frequently works well to resolve these differences.  This method has been fully tested and expanded by many scholars far greater than myself.  I only profess to utilizing the method to make our campus as peaceful a place as possible.  Generally speaking, the method involves identifying the interests of the parties involved, generating options that might solve the situation, and then using objective standards to come to a conclusion.  I will try to expand on each component and provide examples for clarity.

The first step in this process involves exploring and understanding the interests of the parties involved.  While their motives may seem clear on the surface, there are often deeper concerns or issues that are leading to the surface behavior.  Ultimately, disputes typically occur because two or more parties find that their core interests are not being met.  If one of the parties or a neutral mediator can explore what the core interests are, it is easier to find options to satisfy those interests.

Let us return to the pair of students and try to explore their interests in this dispute in more detail.  Our young troll healer has recently received a family heirloom from her mother to motivate her to succeed on campus.  We can conclude that she perhaps wants to display that heirloom to others.  Perhaps she wants to wear that heirloom about.  Yet we should consider that these are simply surface interests.  They illustrate a set of deeper interests that motivate her behavior.

Perhaps it is the case that she wants to feel pride in her culture.  Perhaps she wants to feel encouragement from her family.  Perhaps she wants to better understand her culture and this is one way to connect with it.  These are all deeper interests, and by understanding them, we open up possibilities and options to a resolution that we may not have considered exploring just the surface interests.

Let us consider the young prideful blood elf.  His family has a long history of noble service to his people, much of which has been in conflict with the trolls of the Ghostlands.  On the surface, his interests appear to be removal of the hierloom from his presence, regardless of the method.  He may have already considered simply moving it elsewhere, or even destroying it.

Again, looking at the deeper interests at play, I suspect we can conclude his interests may include expressing pride at his ancestor’s actions.  He may not want to be reminded of the failures of his people.  He may want to be reminded of his own ancestor’s successes.

A picture begins to form that demonstrates these two do not have interests or desires that are directly at odds with each other.  It is true that the outward behavior driven by their core interests is in conflict, the retention or removal of the heirloom.  But their core interests are not directly in conflict.  Each can explore options to have their core interests met that do not by definition prevent the other party from also meeting their core interests.

While this is simply the first step in this dispute resolution process, it is a critical one.  Without understanding the core interests of the parties involved, it is impossible to explore options that might satisfy each side’s core interest without violating the other party’s desires.

When next  a dispute breaks out amongst members of your organization, consider asking each group to more closely explore their interests in the disagreement.  What is each side most concerned with?  What does each side want out of the dispute?

In your mediation of the situation, continue to ask the question ‘Why?’.  Why does one party feel the way it does.  Why does one party want a specific outcome.  Asking the question Why recursively will allow you to better understand the motives behind a person’s actions.  That understanding can then play a critical role in exploring creative options that can satisfy both party’s interests.

With our next exploration of this little heirloom dispute we will be examining the role of options in finding a resolution.

Ghosthorn Dreamstalker
Lorekeeper, Da Doctas School of Medicine

On the Realities of Life

((Given that Arrens has directed traffic over here, I want to provide a quick out of character update on why no posts have appeared of late.  I will try to avoid the out of character posts in general, but this is better than silence in this case.

My family is currently going through a period where our family dog is dying.  He is in his last days, though is being surprisingly resilient in his ability to hang on to life just a bit longer.  I have obviously not been in the mood to write as a result of this going on.  I would prefer to spend my time with him in his last days.

To our family, pets are another member of the family.  As a result, this has been a very hard time for us as a member of our family slowly dies.  I will try to get more posts up in the coming days, and at least one I suspect from the perspective of an ornery Hunter and his take on the value of his pet companions.

Thanks for understanding all.))

Differences of Opinion

I had two young students sitting outside my office earlier today, staring at each other with silent hatred.  It reminded me somewhat of daily encounters in Shattrath before the Shattered Sun Offensive ended the conflict between the Aldor and Scryers forces.  Walking along the broken ground of the Lower City you would frequently see Aldor soldiers on guard, tense with readiness, as a Scryers mage walked past.  Each would stand with their hands resting upon their swords or wands, ready at a moments notice to run the other through and stain the rocky ground with each others’ blood.

These students sat on opposite sides of the small antechamber to my office within the Library.  The silence of the stacks of books caused the hatred between these two to echo and build a thick tension in the small room.  Were it not for my presence, I am fairly certain they would still have been screaming at each other.

As young students are want to do, these two had little interest in resolving their differences without supervision.  This is not unusual in a school full of young individuals, just learning about the Horde and its many varied cultures.  The stories that could be told just from the entry of the Blood Elves into the Horde could fill many volumes.  Though whether anyone would want to read pages and pages about petulant children is debatable.

You might be asking yourself at this point, ‘what were they arguing about’?  An excellent question and one that, as I expected, was rather amusing.  Apparently the first student’s mother had sent her an old piece of jewelry that had been in the family for hundreds of years.  She had intended it to provide motivation and confidence to her daughter who was training to take on a tribal healer role in their small troll village.

The second student found this piece of jewelry to be horrifically offensive, and demanded that it be burned, or at the very least removed from campus entirely.  This student wrote his parents and demanded that they apply pressure to our Headmistress Nephytus.  He wanted to ensure that if the young healer was not going to remove it herself, that an administrator did it for her.

Somehow they ended up in the library, the young healer using a few books to prove her point that the piece of jewelry not only was a family heirloom, but had an intrinsic anthropological value in and of itself.  Before a librarian could step in and quell the growing argument, the two were rolling on the floor punching each other.  I am personally thankful that none of our short tempered students stepped in.  Being a school of healing, some of us tend to turn a blind eye to physical attacks since it provides an opportunity to practice the healing arts.

Did I mention that the piece of jewelry was a necklace of mummified elf fingers that her ancestors had collected in the wars between the trolls and quel’dorei many thousand years ago?  Oh, and the second student was a blood elf from Silvermoon City who had a long history of war veterans in his lineage.  To each, their positions were entirely logical.  To each the solution was simple.  Yet these two could not be further apart.

These situations are not unusual.  The frequency with which they occur are quite honestly staggering, and in a school with at least five different cultural groups, and many additional subcultures, it can perhaps be overwhelming to find a solution.  Yet in almost every case, there is a path through the overgrown forest that will lead to a peaceful solution.  It is just a matter of finding it.  Whether it be two quarreling students, two skilled adventurers in the heart of Ulduar who each feel they have earned the respect of their companions, or two leaders in an organization who feel they have the better plan for growth, there is almost always a solution.

It is just a matter of finding that solution, with a little effort and hard work.  I hope to show one method to find that common ground in the coming essays.

Ghosthorn Dreamstalker
Lorekeeper, Da Doctas School of Medicine

Like Watching A Gold Beggar

Have you ever walked into the front entrance of Orgrimmar, the towering cliff walls soaring above you, creating a breathtaking vista of orange and red as the setting sun bleeds over the edge of the horizon?  If you are lucky, you may notice trophies of the Horde’s heroes mounted on a pike there at the entrance, a testament to the ingenuity of our people.  I have as well.  It can be truly beautiful.  On more than one occasion it has prompted me to marvel yet again at the efforts of the Earthmother and her servants.

The further you walk down the gentle slope towards the bank however, the more likely you are to hear the pitiful cries of the poor beggars. You have likely heard them before, sad creatures apparently without the ability to earn the coin of the realm with their own hard work.  Often they are incapable of forming fully pronounced words, instead using strange combinations of letters indecipherable to any but those going soft in the head.  With their hand extended to some of our most renown heroes of the Horde, they utter strange phrases like ‘can u giv 1 gold pls’.  It is truly a sad state when such members of the Horde have lost the mental acuity to hold intelligent conversations.

Ironically, I find that sometimes, it is just as entertaining to watch the hopeless beggars as it is to watch the sun set over the cliffs.  The interaction between these individuals and their victims varies between sad and amusing.  Some of the reactions they earn deserve to be repeated and told to others they are so amusing.  I think it can be likened to a goblin zeppelin crashing into one of its landing towers.  You know you should not be watching it, yet you can not tear your eyes away.

My hope is that this collection of essays will fall somewhere between the two extremes mentioned above.  I hope to engage my fellow protectors and professors to provide their perspectives and insight into the world of Azeroth, the Horde, and the creatures we all meet along the way.  There will most certainly be different perspectives.  In fact, if there were not I would be sorely disappointed.

Ultimately, I do not expect anyone to consider these essays to be masterpieces or arts of work.  At the same time, I hope they are not frequently used to line the cages of the many animals we care for at Da Doctas School of Medicine.  Regardless of where you place them on the continuum of quality, I hope that they are like that pitiful beggar or zeppelin crash.  I hope that they proove difficult to tear your eyes away from.

Ghosthorn Dreamstalker,
Lorekeeper, Da Doctas School of Medicine

((Welcome to Lorekeeper’s Collection.  It is my intention to attempt a new project to include commentary on WoW within the context of a number of in character voices.  Periodically you may find OOC comments included in posts within the (( )) standard so that readers are fully aware of whether a post is in character or out of character.  This is also my first blogging attempt ever, so if anyone has any advice or suggestions, I am eager to hear from each of you.  Please don’t hesitate to provide constructive criticism and advice.))