PLAYER INFORMATION
How long (approximately) have you been playing World of Warcraft?
I have been playing World of Warcraft since about 5 months before Burning Crusade was released.
How confident would you say you are with the English language?
English isn't my first language, but I seriously doubt I'll have any trouble. I am very confident and comfortable with the English language.
What experience do you have with roleplaying in the past?
In the past, I played Dungeons and Dragons quite a lot with a group of friends. That was really my introduction to Roleplaying. Since then, I've played several Tabletop RPG's, including ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' and ''Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game''. I have also done a lot of Roleplaying in MMORPG's like ''World of Warcraft'', ''Lord of the rings Online'', ''Dungeons and Dragons Online'' and even ''Second Life''!
What experience do you have within the World of Warcraft?
I started Roleplaying in WoW around about 2 months after I started playing. I started by joining a Guild on my Human Paladin. It turned out to be one of the most fun things I had ever done in the game. The guild was called ''Stormwind Royal Guard'', It was a lot of fun.
They had events weekly and a very friendly atmosphere. I worked my way up the ranks up to Sergeant when the guild disbanded. That made me sad, but it gave me a chance to explore other things. I went on to playing a Tauren Warrior, doing a lot of PvP, mostly AV, but not really doing anything else. I also did a lot of PvE raiding, much more than I had done on my Paladin.
I mostly went along with Kara PUGs as melee DPS, always downing the same couple of bosses. (Attumen the Huntsman, and Maiden of Virtue are the ones I recall downing the most.) It wasn't the greatest experience, but I had nothing to compare it to.
Soon, I went back to Roleplaying. I was still trying to find a guild that would be as fun as SRG, and it wasn't going all that well. Since then, I've been a member of an uncountable number of Roleplaying guilds, all with different settings and all on different characters. (including an Undead Warlock, A Human Mage, A Tauren Druid, A Tauren Shaman and several more that I don't even recall.) I've even tried running a few myself, but I'm not so good at that, so that didn't work out too well. I find that my play-style works best with Event based RP as I focus on Leveling my Characters a lot as well. I like to plan things ahead, so I know when I have an event coming up and when I'm free to do other stuff.
If you were to join the guild, what would you bring to the strong OOC community the guild shares?
I don't want to sound immodest, but I think I'm quite a funny, witty guy. I really love to make new friends and meet new people, especially if they're nice - And I know for a fact that members of ''The Spine'' Are nice people! I also know the game really well and I'd be more than happy to help newcomers!
If you were to join the guild, how often would you be able to play?
For the next couple of weeks, I'll be able to play for a while almost every day. Come August, I'll be on a limited schedule and my Internet connection might not be too solid, but I'll make an effort to play as much as possible when I can.
If you were to join the guild what would be your priority when online?
My first priority would be to have fun, of course! And I believe The Spine could help me with that. I'll get to questing at first, but I'll always choose RP over Leveling, so if I find it, an event is scheduled or someone is asking for it, I will always be there to RP instead of lolling around doing quests.
Why do you wish to join the guild?
I've seen a few members around and I'm really starved for Roleplay, at least on my Horde characters. 'The Spine' sounds like a really, really awesome guild and I'd like to be a part of the awesomeness!
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Philip Zerdak LaCroix (In game name - Zerdak)
Gender: Male
Title (if applicable): -
Current Occupation: Assassin, Blade for hire.
Age: Philip was at the age of 30 when he died - He was reanimated very recently.
Race: Undead Human.
Level: 40 at the moment.
In-game Class & Spec': Rogue - Combat/Subtlety
IC Class: Assassin/Rogue.
Hair Colour: None - He's bald, but it used to be brown.
Eye Colour: Gold
Height: 6 feet exactly.
Of the three Forsaken factions the guild represents: The Royal Apothecary Society, The Deathguard and The Deathstalkers. Which do you feel your character would fit in with best and why?
Philip would fit into the Deathstalkers, seeing as he is already a highly-trained Assassin, and has always been a shady character, even in life. He is friends with a few Deathstalkers already, but being one who likes to stay hidden, he hasn't really been noticed to the point where they would make him a Deathstalker. At least not yet. I think you will agree that his place is with them.
How does your character feel about the place of the Forsaken in the Horde? And how does he/she react to other races within the Horde?
Philip, like so many others believes the Horde should be lead by one of his own kind, but he isn't hostile towards the rest. He believes that being members of the Horde is very beneficial to both The Horde and the Forsaken. He tries to look at it from a logical point of view, and so far he has managed to keep a relatively neutral - Some might even say 'Indifferent' relationship with the other races of the Horde.
How does your character feel about the Wrathgate incident?
Philip's views on the Wrathgate incident are hard to come by as he rarely wishes to discuss the subject, but when he does, he will say that he despises treachery like that and that he truly wishes it never happened.
How does your character feel about the current state of the Horde?
Philip is very unhappy with the fact that the Horde has gone from being lead by an Orc of somewhat respectable intellect to an Orc with no intellect at all.
Family:
None. At least none that are known to him. They're all Long dead.
Character History:
Philip was born into a poor family consisting only of his father, his mother and now himself. They didn't have a home in that sense of the word, but they did have a Caravan - The equivalent of a Mobile home that they moved around the central Eastern Kingdoms and made a living running a Mobile General Store. Philip was always a naughty child, stealing pocket money from his mother's purse or picking the pockets of their few customers. Continuing this behaviour throughout his life, he eventually got to the point where he had murdered someone for threatening to report him to the guards. He quickly found he had a gift for murder.
One day, Philip met a Noble on the road from Goldshire to Stormwind. He immediately took the chance, and sneaked behind the Noble's caravan to swipe what he could from their storage lockers, which he skilfully unlocked. As he was about to swipe the last of the valuables, he felt a sword at his back. He turned his head to see the Noble's face glaring at him. Fearing for his life, Philip but the valuables back and begged the Noble not to kill him. He said he would do anything in exchange for being allowed to live. The Noble considered Philip's pleas and decided that he would let him go if he could kill a rival of his. Philip quickly agreed. Only a week later, Philip returned to the noble, having killed his rival. You might question the reason in ever returning to the noble at all, but Philip was young and naive. The Noble thankfully though, was so happy with Philip's work that he decided to pay him. It was then that Philip realized he could make a living, taking the lives of others. He didn't waste his time. He sought out other nobles or people of power, each one always having a job for him.
It didn't take too long before Philip met his match. One particularly paranoid Noble had laid a Trap for him. The Noble had called the Guards and had them waiting inside his office. Philip burst into the office and pinned the Noble's head to the wall behind his desk with a swift arrow to the skull, but he hadn't seen the Guards hiding in the shadows. Now having just given them the best type of confession there is, they attacked. He managed to flee for a short time, but they blocked the exists, leaving him stuck inside with a 4 story drop below every window. Philip was forced to surrender himself to the Guards. He was kept as a prisoner for a few months before being executed publicly with a bullet to the back of the head at the age of 30.
--Reanimation--
Darkness. So much Darkness.
Then a light. A light so bright, that surrounded Philip, reawakening his senses and opening his eyes. He saw a woman in the air, flying above him. He could feel the wind from her wings on his face. He slowly began to move his head, and then his feet and then his legs. He stood up slowly and looked around. He was in a 6-foot-deep pit. Around him were dozens of what looked like moving corpses. It didn't take long for Philip to piece together what had happened to him. He was in a mass-grave. The grave they had thrown him into after they executed him. He looked up at the flying woman above him, suddenly noticing other figures standing by the grave. Undead. Hordes of them. He saw some of them helping some of his recently reanimated brothers out of the grave and stretched out a cold hand to the nearest figure, who quickly grabbed it with an equally cold hand and pulled him up out of the grave.
Philip's fate was explained to him. He had awoken in Silverpine Forest. He was one of the Forsaken now. Here, his ways were a widely practised way of life, rather than obscure criminality. He felt like he belonged with these people. His newly found brothers were brilliant, strong, promising people, the likes of which he had never known in the Human world. He learned much about The Dark Lady, The Forsaken and He came to accept the Horde, all in a space of a few months. The months he spent in Silverpine forest and Tirisfal Glades were all spent training and working. Soon enough, he ventured outside the Glades and the Forest, determined to Serve The Dark Lady in other places, as wall as take revenge on the people that had killed him - Not that he didn't appreciate death by now.
Why does your character want to join the guild?
Philip often spent his evenings wandering the Undercity, having no need for sleep. After the while he spent there, he came to know the city well, and whenever something new appeared, he would be the first to investigate. One of those nights, he saw a poster, calling for all Forsaken truly loyal to the Queen to join 'The Spine'. Philip wanted to prove himself to the Dark Lady. He wanted to prove that he was loyal. He wanted to Serve her. He wanted to make her proud and to bring glory to the Forsaken. He could see no better way but to at least try to contact 'The Spine' and see if they would have him.
What skill set could your character bring to the guild?
Philip is a very skilled assassin and a thief. He has always had a gift for remaining hidden, be it in the shadows or in disguise. He is cunning and quick on his feet, and always thinks before he acts.
How does your character respond to authority?
Philip adores the Dark Lady and would never defy her orders. If it came down to it, he would gladly sacrifice his own existence for the good of The Forsaken and The Dark Lady. He spent his entire life finding and following orders, so he has no problem with that, as long as the source is legit. He won't just do what people tell him to without questioning it if he doesn't recognize the person's authority.
TEST OF ABILITY
Please write a short response (300 - 600 words) discussing one of the statements below, research is allowed but copying is not, you are encouraged to add your own thoughts and theories to the answer.
''The Forsaken are evil. There are no good Forsaken.''
I don't think the above sentence is true at all. It makes very little sense. Sure, I'm pretty certain there are more ''Evil'' Forsaken than there are ''Evil'' Humans, but that is a side effect of the dark and gloomy life they have just been thrown into. An example of that would be Lilian Voss. She was a good person in life, believing that she was serving a noble, good cause. She ends up destroying so much of what used to be her life, and she does it because her friends and even her father betrayed her because she became Forsaken. I think that could have a similar effect on anyone. Try to think about it from your own point of view. If you died and then suddenly woke up with a bunch of zombies around you, would your first instinct be to rob a bank and take an infant's pacifier? I didn't think so. My first instinct would be to scream and run, but that's just me. That only makes me afraid. People do stupid things when they are afraid, and those things may look evil from another person's perspective, but aren't really meant that way. The person was just afraid and confused. (Of course this doesn't go for everyone, hehe)
When you think about it, what does ''Evil'' mean anyway? Is it really evil when you don't intend to hurt anyone, but do it by accident? Or because you were afraid? I don't think so. So even the Forsaken that seem evil, might not be after all. Maybe they're just afraid.
Another thing: How would just dying and being reanimated alter your mind? We know it can change you in subtle ways, but I seriously doubt just being reanimated can completely re-write your personality. If you were a good person in life, you won't be an evil genius in death. That's a simple fact.
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Please note: I spent all night working on this Application and I was getting really tired by the end of it, as evidenced by the mediocre Character Storyline and argument for why not all forsaken are evil. I'm really sorry about that. I hope I get accepted into the guild, but If I don't, I will understand completely. Thank you very much for your time!
Subject: Application - Philip Zerdak LaCroix 
Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:09 pm
