EBONGUARD

[zaviire]

[align=center]

 

Have Linkpearl? Will Travel!

[/align]

 

Ebonguard is a network – plain and simple… But what’s a network without the people in it, the members comprising it? The members of Ebonguard are as varied in interests and tastes as there are interests and tastes to be had (to say nothing of motivations).

 

Have Linkpearl? Will Travel! is a thing that the officers of Ebonguard are going to start doing which entails encouraging members to attend events that we have been recommended to or that we believe would be fun to attend as a group. These events can feasibly be anything: performances, tavern nights, book clubs, fighting tournaments, black markets… While Ebonguard as a group is themed around criminal activity, it’s safe for most of us to show our faces in public. For the moment.

 

The criteria that we will likely be considering when picking what events to recommend are…

 

1. Attendance/Turn-out: We are more likely to recommend events that have a lower turn-out or are smaller on the whole. This is partly due to concerns with chat scroll.
   
2. Location, Location, Location: As it pertains to most events, we are more likely to recommend events that are hosted in their own spaces (not in the open world). There are likely to be exceptions to this on a case-by-case basis (i.e. it’s kind of hard to have a parade in a house or something).
   
3. Entry Fees: We will never endorse an event that requires an OOC gil fee to enter or attend.
   
4. Personal Schedules: Our application requires all our members to inform us of their timezones, so we have a vague idea of what times are likely to work for our members. (Ebonguard is an NA linkshell most active during the evenings.)
   

(These criteria are liable to be amended at any time as the Ebonguard officer team sees fit.)

 

If you have an event that you would like us to check out, then by all means contact us on Tumblr or here on the RPC! Again, all event themes are technically welcome. If you recommend an event to us then please include…

 

• Name of the event (example: The Pub Tavern Night)
  
• Start time of the event (example: 7:30PM Central Standard Time)
  
• Event host (example: or Character Name)
  
• Location of the event (example: Goblet Ward 99, plot 99, room 9)
  
• A person to contact (Name#1234 or an in-game character name)
  

A little bit about the event would also be appreciated, as would any links to Tumblr or RPC posts.

 

Thanks! We look forward to potentially hearing from people.

[zaviire]

[align=center]

[/align]

 

News travels fast in Ul’dah, particularly when money is involved. Hardly a sennight after the completion of the ‘heist,’ the White Chocobo Trading Company took to the news… And their story was promptly snatched up by two freelancers who, to this point, have only managed to be published in The Sunway Daily, a news journal known for its less-than-becoming ‘respect’ for journalistic integrity. Still, given that the Ebonguard has historically been plagued by issues of publicity, the fact that it was reported at all ought to give the members some pause…

 

The Ebonguard is and has always been a network of criminals, comprised of thieves and smugglers and other such knaves. But in a time before, prior to the Ebonguard becoming the Ebonguard, there was another case. It was a mile and more away from the network’s most recent escapades, but due to the lack of organization of the network, the way that the case was covered by the newsprint and handled by the authorities very nearly led to the network’s downfall.

 

Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them.

 

NEXT SCENARIO: THE OLD GUARD

 

(Details TBA)

 

Interested in getting involved with the Ebonguard Scenario, either as an ally to this band of n’er-do-wells or as a force working to stop their criminal ways? Both members and outsiders more than welcome! Send an ask to our tumblr or PM me here and we can work something out (posting in this thread is also acceptable)!

 

We are also open to being involved in the plot lines of others, either as allies or antagonists.

 

Our Discord is available for non-members to use as freely as members, and we even have a channel specifically for collaboration. We ask only that you provide us with a character name, and that all involved parties are lore-compliant.

 

[align=center]⸻

 

Post-Stormblood, Late-July Update![/align]

 

Hey everyone; it's been a while! There has been some delay in stuff and things due to Stormblood hype (and I myself am preparing to attend college), but we're still around and now-gearing up to head into our next Scenario, which is going to be a lottle more plot-focused than the last one. Though don't get me wrong, crime will still be happening, but Scenario Two: The Old Guard will likely be more about delving into Ebonguard's background lore a bit than anything else... And, well, learning from the mistakes of the past as it were. With so many meddling kids around, can't get away with nuthin' these days.

 

Going into this plot arc, we are more than open to the idea of collaborating with mercenary, bounty hunter, or law enforcement characters and groups who would be interested in acting against Ebonguard seeing as it is very much a network comprised of criminals. If you're interested in the prospect of doing this on a semi-consistent basis, then drop me a line and we can work something out! In order to keep things fair, we will likely be using some form of dice-rolling shenanigans, because it's no fun when one or the other side is guaranteed to win.

 

Aside from that, we apologize for some noticeable slowness when it comes to getting through OOC interviews to bring applicants into the LS. In addition to Stormblood shenanigans, many of our officers also have real life things to tend to. In the coming months, I will be looking into growing the officer team (we have only four at the moment) so that this is less of a problem in the future, and to help make events for the LS more frequent!

 

We are also looking into boosting our activity by encouraging our members to attend events through Have Linkpearl, Will Travel and have been plugging events in the Discord lately. Look forward to screen caps and event accounts from those shenanigans as well, to be posted on our Tumblr!

 

Till next time!

[zaviire]

[align=center]Almost-August Update![/align]

 

[align=center][/align]

 

On Wednesday, July 19, Ebonguard attended the grand opening of the After-Dark Grill! It was quite a bit of fun for all the members who attended -- and I know I had a ball watching how many ears perked up at the mention of 'Crow.' More screencaps here!

 

We're always looking for events to crash attend, so if you have one you think we'd be interested in, then by all means send me a PM here or contact us on our tumblr!

 

We have new officers! In light of the fact that Stormblood hype meant we got behind on a lot of interviews to bring people into the LS, I promoted two new officers to help keep things running: Narantu Dazkar and Vasir'li Sohlu!

 

I also promoted two people to the rank of Organizer to help arrange events and get things going in the linkshell proper: Aerius Destroven and Ququki Quki!

 

That makes it so as of right now, our officer team is comprised of: Leonnaux Altoix, Edda Vincents, Aran Aethersmith, Gwannes Oskwell, Narantu Dazkar, and Vasir'li Sohlu, with support from the organizers Aerius Destroven and Ququki Quki. If you have any questions about Ebonguard and catch one of us in-game then by all means feel free to ask! I'll update the main post in this thread (and our Tumblr) to reflect this change as soon as I'm able! Hate to update and run, but I've got some last-minute planning to do, heh.

 

An OOC Linkshell?! As people are doubtless aware, Ebonguard is a strictly-IC LS! However, an idea was pitched to us to look into potentially creating an OOC LS for ease-of-communication while in-game. While this didn't end up getting enough interest from our members or our officers to become an actual thing, we do think that having a way to communicate OOC in-game has merit... And thus we are teaming up with a pre-existing OOC LS that a few of our members and officers are already members of: ERP:NEO! Please direct inquiries about this to the appropriate people, because I myself am not an officer of ERP:NEO. I'm just there for the dank memes.

 

Discord Channel Changes! We got rid of two never-used channels recently in order to make way for the new-and-improved #workshop channel, which is exactly what it says on the tin, really. It's where we're probably going to shunt lore discussion and character-building prompts -- and talks of dice systems when people are in the mood for that.

 

[align=center]

wew![/align]

 

Scenario Update! We've finished figuring out a rough 'skeleton' to work with for the next leg of the Ebonguard Scenario -- so our focus is going to shift toward putting meat on that skeleton's bones! The goal is to get it kicked off sometime in August, but things are pretty hectic for the officers and organizers at the moment (myself included, since I'm preparing to move halfway across the country for college) so we're also looking at early September at the latest.

 

Hopefully August, though, because coming up on August 25th is Ebonguard's one-year anniversary! ... Unfortunately, I will be away from the internet for Fall Orientation beginning on that day! GG, past me. G fuckin' G. But I'll try to do something for it anyway, because woah! A year! That's pretty awesome.

[zaviire]

[align=center]September Update![/align]

 

It has been a while! Crow here with some semi-important announcements!

 

1) First Activity Check! In the past, the other officers and I (mostly me, really) have struggled to figure out what would be a fair way to guage activity for the members of the linkshell. As a result of not requiring activity, the LS has thus become bloated with members who don’t really interact with anyone else IC or OOC.

 

For our first activity check (and probably subsequent ones), we decided to make it a bit different from how people usually think of activity checks: we created a Google Form for our members to input their character names into so that we have a list of every character who is interested in remaining in the LS. That’s it! There are more precise details that members are privy to that I won’t bore people who are just happening across this with, but starting on October 1, any member of the LS who didn’t put their name on that form is going to get booted from the LS.

 

Does this mean we’re downsizing? In a way, yes! After my most recent sweep of members of the in-game LS who were not in the Discord (which is required for membership), we have 45 members, and we will likely lose quite a few through this activity check. However, it is our hope that we get a more involved and interested memberbase out of it, especially since being a member of the LS is not required to join the Discord and make connections with people that way (even if the reverse is true because our Discord is how we make sure that important announcements like these get out to the memberbase).

 

2) New Tumblr Theme and Application! They’re both pretty swanky. The second is what’s most noteworthy, though! Recently, I gave the application a once-over and reformatted it to be less messy, and to be functional for people who want to bring in alts or notify us of a character change. The new application is already linked on the blog and in the first post, but for the record, it’s located here: [ https://goo.gl/forms/J9PKAt8nqNayPUbP2 ]

 

3) I have recently acquired a house which I intend to put to use as an event venue for Ebonguard.

 

[align=center][/align]

 

It’s located at The Goblet Ward 11 Plot 55 and is the site of The Cloak & Dagger. This venue is staffed by (invisible, currently; use your imagination ssshhh!) NPCs and technically exists already, but I want to play it into Ebonguard’s story and lore through a mini-storyline, after which I’ll unveil my plans for running a monthly event out of it! Hopefully these plans generate a bit of RP for all interested parties, and needless to say…

 

[align=center][/align]

 

[align=center]Please look forward to it!![/align]

[zaviire]

[align=center]

[/align]

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH AT 7PM CST

 

After a while of quiet, the rumor-mill has begun to spin once more: of a search for a place to call their own and of what is, quite possibly, the perfect location… Recently under new management.

 

[align=center]⸻[/align]

 

Hey, it's been a while! Things have been a little hectic on my front so it's mostly on me (ah the woes of being a student), but we're going to try and get some stuff going both in the way of (somewhat) benign socializing and (significantly) less benign criminal enterprising. Starting with a meet-up on November 4! While IC the Cloak and Dagger is currently unstaffed (and therefore, to some extent, this meet-up is BYOB... so in other words it's high time to judge others for their drinking tastes), this meet-up technically is public, and it would be public knowledge that the establishment has recently come under new (currently anonymous) management... So if anyone outside the LS wants to stop in and chat, then they are more than welcome to do so!

[zaviire]

[align=center]

[/align]

 

[align=justify]THE CLOAK & DAGGER: NOW HIRING STAFF & SECURITY

 

Formerly a quiet establishment situated on the outskirts of the Goblet, the Cloak & Dagger has recently come under new management. A man known only as Crow seems to take frequent fancies to lost causes; having swindled the property out of the hands of the previous owner in a game of cards (or so he’d say), he hardly accounted for the lack of staff and the poor location of the restaurant itself.

 

Or perhaps, the perfect location for shady people and shadier dealings. Far enough out of the way that few prying eyes are present and fewer would bother to wonder about foot traffic, the Cloak & Dagger is ripe to be molded into a sanctuary for the sort of people who would like to keep things off-the-record…[/align]

 

[align=center]⸻[/align]

 

[align=justify]The Cloak & Dagger is a RP venue located at The Goblet Ward 11 Plot 55 that has come into the possession of Crow, an information broker who claims to be the leader of the criminal network known as Ebonguard. Although intended to be used as a sanctuary for people to conduct their dealings in-person (as is usually necessary with the transfer of goods or the providing of payment for services), such operations necessarily require a front… And, well, there’s no problem in making some coin off of a front.

 

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

 

From an IC standpoint, the Cloak & Dagger is hiring staff (waitstaff and bartenders) and security (hired muscle). From an OOC standpoint, we’re looking for people who would be interested and willing in helping to run a MONTHLY (ish) public event geared toward criminal-types and shady sorts. This doesn’t exclude characters of more neutral/lawful persuasions from offering work, though, since flyers regarding this ‘job listing’ would likely be posted all around Ul’dah.

 

QUESTIONS, ANSWERED:

 

“Do I have to join Ebonguard?” Nope! The allure of Ebonguard is and always has been the idea that you don’t have to leave any groups that you’re currently a member of in order to join (since Ebonguard is strictly a linkshell). Running with that theme, you don’t have to be a member of the Ebonguard linkshell in order to work with the Cloak & Dagger or even go through that whole application process. In order to make contacting everyone easy, though, joining the Discord is required.

 

“Are there any requirements as to the kind of character you want for the Cloak & Dagger?” The short answer is not really but the long answer is kind of. There are no real requirements as far as race or character concept – your character could be a Lawful Good Dunesfolk bookkeeper who’s just looking for a side-job and stumbled upon the listing. All that we ask is that your character is lore-compliant, and preferably isn’t too involved with the Void. (It’s not a deal-breaker but we’d probably need to talk about it because of how sticky those sorts of things tend to get.)

 

“What’s in it for me?” OOC: Potential connections, RP plot hooks, something a little different to do for one night out of the month, and my (Crow’s) eternal love and adoration. IC: Potential friends, potential clients, juicy information to spread, some spare coin and good drinks on the house.

 

WHO TO CONTACT:

 

If you’re interested in getting involved with the Cloak & Dagger, then please contact @ebonguardls directly via our inbox, Perc#5086 on Discord, or Leonnaux Altoix in-game! You can also PM me here.

 

(Read this post on our Tumblr!)[/align]

[zaviire]

Ebonguard is temporarily closed for recruitment in order to give officers time to get through the applications we have as well as to focus on academics, work, and other things generally associated with the end of the semester and the holiday season! It should re-open by January 2 at the absolute latest (but I will update if it re-opens earlier)!

 

[align=center]

[/align]

 

Also, the Cloak & Dagger has a webpage on our Tumblr now, located here: http://ebonguardls.tumblr.com/cloakanddagger

 

It has a bit of IC information about the establishment itself, its 'house rules,' a menu, and -- when our volunteer staff get some time on their hands -- will include a short list of characters working there and some RP hooks for interested parties as well!

 

If you are interested in working for the Cloak & Dagger, please contact me directly at Perc#5086 on Discord, @ebonguardls on Tumblr, or Zaviire on the RPC. Regardless of our current recruitment status, we’re happy to accept any volunteers who want to help get this little event up and running! This is because, as detailed in my previous post, characters do not have to be members of Ebonguard in order to work at the Cloak & Dagger. Send me a message via any of the aforementioned channels and we can work something out!

 

Nothing is set in stone yet because people are obviously busy due to the holiday season, but I'm hoping to have both a soft-opening for members of Ebonguard (and outsiders they invite along) and the grand opening to the public sometime in January.

[zaviire]

Ebonguard reopened its recruitment doors at the beginning of this year, but that's not all!

 

[align=center][/align]

 

On January 7, we had a soft open of the Cloak & Dagger last night for members of Ebonguard (and friends of members of Ebonguard)! It was great fun: the Cloak & Dagger got a few new employees and the waters have officially been tested with regards to getting a feel for how to run this sort of event. (Which I’ve never done before!) (View post on tumblr.)

 

And that's not all... We've planned the grand opening for Februaru 25! Here's the flyer and the Tumblr post. I'll post a thread about it in the Events forum as the time draws closer.

 

[align=center][/align]

 

The Cloak & Dagger welcomes performers to its stage. Please contact me for more information.

 

The Cloak & Dagger is an RP venue affiliated with the Ebonguard criminal network LS, owned IC and OOC by “Crow” (Leonnaux Altoix). If you’re interested in helping run a monthly public RP event (be it as waitstaff, security, etc) at The Cloak & Dagger then please contact me vie PM.

 

You do not have to join Ebonguard or even play a criminal/shady character to help run or to attend this event. No lasting commitment is required and said monthly RP event will be scheduled on a case-by-case basis according to the volunteer staff’s schedules.