Raven Council | Public / GuildLore

History and Origins of the Raven Council.

After the third war, Celsan ?, a member of Druids of the Talon, was disillusioned with the other Talon Druids due to an event during assignment in Westfall. A group of war refugees were being robbed by Defias Brotherhood, lead by VanCleef who wanted to prevent the reconstruction of Stormwind. Unable to simply observe, Celsan ? moved in with his contacts and chased the attackers away. Afterwards, he wanted to have a role with more consequence instead of being just a secretive, passive bystander.

As a result, Celsan ? was cast out of the Druids of the Talons and stripped from the Storm Crow form. He still had an extensive network of contacts and started, with likeminded souls, to form an inner circle of the upcoming Raven Council.

The council still retains much of the connections to the larger druidic community, more specifically the Cenarion Circle. As such, if anyone wants to get in touch with the Raven Council "officially", messages can be sent via contacts in Moonglade. Most of these contacts are not aware of the true nature of the Raven Council - they just think it's a band of adventurers with strong druidic overtones due to the circumstances of the founding.

After the initial founding and meeting of adventurers now known as the High Councilors and their founding of the Raven Council, they recruited more people whom they could trust. The "gathering" phase took over a year, where everybody contacted their old associates and sought anyone who'd be interested in "working outside of the box".

However, it was soon realized that more people were needed. Since not everybody can be trusted with even the partial story of the organization, a front was established. Some of the members started appearing publicly as "Councilors" and had more people join up, posing the Raven Council just as a simple adventurers guild, providing the normal benefits and support that guilds traditionally do. All the new recruits were, and still are, carefully monitored on how they handled different situations...their ethics, battle prowess, personal connections, morality...and if suitable people came along, the Raven Council lets them join an inner circle.

The network of people somehow connected to the Raven Council has been steadily expanding since the last war. For example, a smaller community of shadier characters are aware of "a second layer" of the Raven Council. These people usually meet with members in pre-arranged rendezvous-locations instead of Moonglade. Most of these people consider the Raven Council to be a relatively reliable group of mercenaries who work quietly, efficiently and without leaving a mess. The councillors try to uphold that image.

Initially the councillors concentrated on building a good information-gathering network. However, first real show of power occured when Celsan ? decided to order a strike to a place that had started it all - Westfall and Defias Brotherhood's stronghold. [Van Cleef Calling, 11/3/2007]. The council had received information from a Defias traitor on the whereabouts of the Defias headquarters in the area.

Members of the council delivered a quick and decisive strike on the holdout inside the old Deadmines of Moonbrook. Defias' leader Van Cleef's body was left behind for anyone to find. To this day, common story is that some agents of Stormwind had dealt with the Defias and restored order to Westfall - but behind the scenes, the Ravens knew the truth...

Another interesting occurence came about starting with an ordinary mercenary search and rescue quest. An expedition from the Explorer's league in Ironforge had been missing in Uldaman, and a group of Ravens took part in the search. [8/4/2007, Uldaman RP run]. Besides the dwarves, they discovered something amazing - artifacts left behind by titans themselves about the history of Dwarvenkind's creation. They were later delivered anonymously to the Explorer's league - and as far as we know, the knowledge from the Discs of Norgannon has shaken the dwarven society.

Recently the guild were recently pushed quite close to the entire crisis concerning the throne of Stormwind.

It started with an unusual report about the Horde - or at least a posse of orcs and trolls - moving an expeditionary force towards Tower of Azora in the Elwynn forest. The councillors quickly marshalled members and were able to capture and started interrogating them. Unfortunately, before any information could be extracted another Horde group attacked and rescued their compatriots.

Proceeding with enquiries, the councillors eventually arranged a meeting with a Horde guild, the Burning Dawn. For some reason they were insistent on giving a box full of items which supposedly prove that "The Horde has nothing to do with disappearance of the King of Stormwind, Anduin Wrynn". Afterwards, the councillors decided to hire the service of the Arch-mage Xylem in Azshara for divinating the items origins and purpose.

Unfortunately, the courier which was bringing both the box and the information back to the councillors was attacked - again, by a posse posing as members of the Horde. However, these did not seem to be working in conjunction with Thrall.

The activities of the Raven Council concerning the ascendancy of Stormwind and the Wrynn family troubles continue. The lower-ranking members are usually concerned with such assignments as simple courier duties or similar "adventuring" tasks, while higher ranks actively monitor activity at Stormwind keep.

The recent opening of the Dark Portal has also meant the councillors have sent a contingent to the Outlands. This contingent has the dual tasks of analyzing if the situation there requires any action, and also to start integrating into any local power bases. Lower-ranking members have been sent out to this grand new place to have adventures - higher ranks try to re-establish old contacts at Cenarion Expedition and newer ones from Lower City of Shattrath to higher towers in Honor Hold.

To promote unity and camadedrie, the Black Feather Tournament was set up soon after opening of the Portal. The tournament is a bit of fun and competition between the members, and to provide an opportunity to test and observe those suitable for certain more dangerous quests. Councillors, or their agents, are often present (often in secret), to see firsthand any new and rising talents the guild has to offer. [BFT - Since February 2007 and monthly ever since, except for summerbreak]

When the campaign in Outlands is drawing to a close, new threat has emerged from the North. The Council started investigating the events and eventually decided to launch their own expedition into Northrend. During exploration of Northrend Raven Council came across evidence of Old God Yogg-Saron and decided to join the Alliance forces trying to penetrate the defenses of Ulduar.

Last but not least rumours have it that the councillors even detached a small group to infiltrate the Horde...