The Red Cord

It was chaos, those months after Andorhal. It's getting hard to imagine these days, what with the roads being what they are now, but, back then, it never seemed to stop. Wave after wave of them pushing south, barely stopping as they went. Scarcely even to bury the dead.

The string started with them, I think. A bit of red on a fencepost, a birch, a carin. Marking the way for whoever they hoped would follow. Where to go, who to trust - who to avoid.

Somewhere along the way we picked it up too - those of us that wanted to help.

Red means friend. That's what my Gran said. And north of the Span these days - well, you need all the friends you can get.

Overview

The Red Cord is a community centered around a rag-tag collective bound by a shared commitment to the defense and aid of the embattled communities north of the Thandol Span.

Born from the desperate, improvised efforts of people across the north to respond to the immediate aftermath of the Fall of Lordaeron, the Cord is not so much a recognizable organization in its own right as an increasingly informal network of precious news trickling along trade routes, ad-hoc gatherings in back rooms, and ill-maintained caches.

Intent

To create a framework and a community for collaborative, character-driven storytelling out in the world - with a real sense of adventure, stakes, and continuity - without the usual price tag of time and commitment that have made those things increasingly inaccessible to me personally.

The Cord achieves that by providing the pretext for characters to get together and do something meaningful together, i.e.

• Why would I be there?
• How would I know about x?
• Why would I interact with or help this person? How do I potentially know this person?
• What motive do I have?

Who is this for?

If the premise seems thin, it's deliberate. The flat hierarchy, the chaotic and improvised circumstances of its formalization, the broad remit, the loose affiliation... A huge range of people can be associated with the Cord in some way, as long as they're aligned with its cause: Wildhammer dwarves, Kirin Tor mages, Argent Dawn members, traveling merchants, hedge mages, stubborn holdouts, farmers - whatever.

How does my character join?

You have three paths here: a) you could already be a member or affiliated in some way, b) you can be initiated off-screen, no problem, or c) we can arrange to bump into each other. There is no leader and members are initiated by other members. 

So what does it actually mean to be a member?

Members of the Cord are bound by solemn oaths: The Oath of Vigil (to defend the lands and peoples of Lordaeron to the utmost end of their strength); the Oath of Hearth (to furnish, shelter, and protect those bearing the Red); and the Oath of Answer (to answer a summons made by another member). 

So, by honor, essentially. Similarly, members are identified by a red cord tied prominently upon their person.