Story of the Orchid: Chapter 5

The following is the fifth chapter of a six part history of the Order of the Elder Orchid and its Township of Darel'horth, written by Sir Ferenold Stormshend.

## Chapter 5

If there was any man that could rouse the refugees in the Oak, it very well might be I, for I had gained quite the reputation in the Oak, and I shall confess once more, that it was oft mere notoriety. Notwithstanding I was known, and my standing amongst the elves would allow me to speak without interrupts from the Sentinels or Belysra. So it was that upon the next day, the 30th of July, I would gather a small group of Gilneans and begin my speech, knowing full well the small commotion would stir more men to see what words were being spoken with such vigor. It would not be merely a small speech but a joyous gathering; and thus I enlisted the O’halley country band to play upon the next day before I was to speak.

It would be song of hope and renewal which their flutes and violins would compose; the harvest hymn, which would surely lift the spirits upwards of even the dullest of men.

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I saw them gathering ‘round now, and I stood high upon a peak on that fateful morn’, it was the beginning of the day, the iridescent globule of light burning bright as it hung waiting in the Darnassian air. I strode forth to the music, my garb simple, wearing nothing but a brown robe and the cape that billowed lightly in the wind. My stance was wide, I was the hero in a mythic tale as I was in the dream, and I was the figure upon a rocky cliff, but now not in solitude but rather a visage of hope manifest. The pride of an undefeated people; the spirit of a storm-torn Birch that’s roots remained planted within the earth, thro’ woe and hardened foe.

I was not yet a practiced orator, and thus not bound by the pedantic formality of the old, but nor was I in shackles to the mere passions. I spoke in a sweeping voice, the ecstasy of the music fading as I began, only to be replaced with an even greater sound.

“Men; women, all those whom have been born upon the fair and hearty soil of Gilneas, gath’r round and pay me heed. For I am not a stranger to your plight, to –our- plight. For three years I was in a state of paralysis as I gazed upon the news that traveled ‘round by word of mouth: Of the rampaging wolfbeasts that ravaged ‘cross our honest country, and nae, ev’n threatened the very walls of our city. In my father’s own country-house, we sheltered many-a-Gilnean in these dark’nd times, even the ones whom we knew were afflicted, and had to be put down with naught but sorrow.

And for more than two years now, I ‘ave been afflicted meself by the curse which has wearied us, and the blessing that has granted us strength. Yet let me speak now of the two people which I disdain, and if any of you are among these men, I call you to change your ways, for the good of our country, and the health of our people. I shall speak no single names, for woe is to the man whom slanders his own country-man in public.

The first man that I disdain then is the one whom casts out his brethren if they are cursed, who casts a stone upon he who has been bitten. Each of you knows of these men, whom cast a judging gaze upon you for a curse you have not taken willingly. Let me say this, to all men in the room whom are like this: I understand you, and perhaps even to an extent, I sympathize with you. We were not always Worgen, and the new forms are not that of Gilneans. Yet I call you to hold at least an iota of sympathy towards your brethren, for were we all not born from the same earth, which forges a bond that binds us all?

Now, I shall speak of the second man that I disdain. This is a man what I once was meself, and thus I do say in full honesty that I disdain what I once was, a man whom has forgotten Gilneas and become completely embroiled in the new. I was never, as some were, infatuated with the curse, but I had a separate infatuation which kept me from my country, and it was none-the-more-virtuous. Let me say to these men too: I sympathize with you, for I know that for many Gilneas does not wish to be remembered, after the horrors we have witnessed there. Yet I call to you, to remember your younger days, and I call to you to remember your homeland.

Then let me speak now of another man, a man whom I am, and a man whom each and every one of you is, by nature. And this is something that comes with us at birth, ingrained within our spirits, ‘tis truly natural. For us, many of us have grown to despise one another in the past years, it is no secret who I despise, and surely, many of you may despise me. Yet now I wish for that to be forgotten; I will ally with those of the city, I will love the industrialist as much as I love the priest, for we are all Gilnean.

And indeed, I do have a vision for Gilneas, and I shall not shirk to make it known. Yet without Gilneas, there shall be no vision. Without our country, without our homeland, without our collective culture not an iota of any of our visions shall come into place once more. This is why I have brought myself to work with a Lord, a man of formal nobility whom a mere year ago, I would have been woe to work with.

And this is why he too, works with me: we are bound together by not just a common purpose, but also the same earth that hath birthed us. And so for now, dear Gilneans, children of the North, forget the differences, for you will surely all rejoice when I say these words:

I paused momentarily, a smile now curving upwards on my lips. My eyes wandered around the assorted peoples; there were many of them now.

“The Forsaken Offensive.”

I began, a moment of silence now growing in the air, before it was broken.

“Is weaker than it has ever been.”

My voice grew louder now, into a shout. I was not a man of violence or war, but was this not glory? Did war not inspire acts of valor and courage in men ne’er before seen?

“The Forsaken, in their damnable arrogance, have sought to push into the ancestral basin of humanity, Arathi. They seek to, to expand north into the land of our brothers, Lordaeronians! They seek to fight a war against all of humanity, against all that remains in this world that is righteous and pure; and they have found that there are indeed vigilant defenders whom stand in their darkening path!”

I paused momentarily overlooking the crowd. There were upon the precipice of eruption, and so I spoke with a nationalistic fervor that I perhaps had not known before this day.

“They sought, my friends, to once more push into our beloved homeland after being driven out by the liberators of the land. Yet the forsaken did not know Gilneas, they knew not our lands contours and its secrets: They were met in the Northgate woods by our own, and it was there, not in the city which the wished to finally destroy, that they met their bitter hands at the Front’s claw! They still dwell in Silverpine, yet shall they dare invade our homeland once more, when they know that the defenders of it stand firm with such unbreakable vigilance?”

The crowd applauded, but I was not done.

“Ah, but this is not the only jovial news I bring. Cast aside whatever you may think of the Lordaeronians: They too, have suffered at the hands of these aberrations. And now in the south, in the city of Stormwind, the Lordaeronians gather their armies and wits to strike at the forsaken! I speak not of any single claimant to the throne, but rather each of them, despite their politic: For they all wish to see an end to the forsaken, and they gather vast armies that shall drive north into Arathor.”

I paused momentarily, and I smiled widely.

“Now hear this; the forsaken shall not pass away to-day, nor to-morrow, but their grasp weakens, they have over-extended, they have been the agent of their own inevitable demise. All righteous men stand against them now; and thus I say this: The reign of the forsaken is weakening; the death of the !@#$%, Sylvanas is no longer a mere distant possibility. Their reign –shall- end.”

I held my right hand outwards, and beckoned for the man to come forth. He was bearing the tabard of Gilneas, and carrying a banner of the forsaken. At first it produced naught but outrage; seeing it inside the Oak itself. That was until a man carrying a simple torch strode forth, and he set the foul flags to flame. The fire lingered, draining the flag from all remaining moisture, until beginning to consume the edges until it reached the center, and did away with Sylvanas.

As if only to increase the current fervor, the band began to play yet another song, this one of the glee that came after a triumphant victory.

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The yelling went on for some time in the Oak, until I raised my right hand upwards. It took some time for the Oak to finally quiet, and now I continued onwards.

“Most of you are not fighters. I do confess in full earnest I am not one meself; and yet, each and ev’ry one of you yearn for your homeland. We yearn for what once was, for what always –is-. The land we once lived upon cries out for us, it hearkens back to us; the skies weep for their lost people. And we have been confined here for far too long; within this bastion of nature. For as pleasing as it is to the eye, and as wond’rous as it is, it is –not- Gilneas.

"It is not the land that we have been born in, and now, with the Forsaken offensive crippled by our kin whom fight up North, I call for us to return!”

Eyes went wide.

“Few of you shall go with me north, and I will not lie that there are those whom live in this town that shall surely meet the end of their days. Yet at least they shall do so, knowing that they met their end in Gilneas, and not upon foreign soil. We have all that is required, boats, supplies; and the necessary materials to begin a new village, a new life that hearkens back to the old one that we loved.

This is not a mere flight of fancy that I have decided upon in a fit of passion: For there is a noble, Lord Vanston, the noble I spoke earlier of. He is a man of Gilneas as much as any man, and his unbridled patriotism for our homeland ‘tis truly unmatched. No doubt, he shall strive with the utmost of tenacity to ensure the safety of each person whom sets forth on this daring voyage!

And not merely Lord Vanston comes with us, but there is also another man I speak of, whom has spent much of the past decade fighting, bleeding, and nearly dying for that which is good and righteous. Now I speak of Lord Torean Austerlitz, a pure-hearted patriot as well and a fighter whose skill exceeds that of Lordaeron’s most vaunted knights.

I shall not exclude the poor and decrepit among you, either. Each man shall labor in the creation of this village; each man shall work with the sweat of his brow to lay the foundations for our buildings. Craftsmen, Artisans, men of the pen and men of the sword, each is welcome as we embark for Gilneas once more, upon a verdant land that is called the Glenwood, east of the Blackwald. It is here that there is a small village, hidden ‘neath a verdant grove, which we shall restore and live inside, a village that shall be distinctly –Gilnean-.

We have created a new Order; and this is the Order of the Elder Orchid, created with the intent and purpose of restoring Gilnean culture that has been lost, of bringing us back to our homeland, and of preserving our ways. My brothers, my sisters, Gilneas yearns for you as it always has; I can see in your very eyes that the life of a refugee does naught but sadden you. Come forth then, this is a time in which we may return to our land of birth, for the time is riper than ever now.”