The Legion of Bloom

=What is the Legion of Bloom?= The Legion of Bloom is many things. To themselves, they are a close family of Aurin and Aurin supporters, dedicated to safeguarding and restoring the forests of Nexus- foremost against the Dominion. To the Exiles, they are a primitive organization of forest dwellers adhering to the ancient culture of Arboria- friendly, flighty and aloof, preferring the comfort of the forest to technology, and occasionally blood-crazed. To the Dominion, they are frothing rabid hairy blood-crazed terrorists hell-bent on genocide with an unhealthy fixation on trees, blood, and fertilizer.

After the destruction on Arboria, all Aurin refugees were left homeless and suddenly thrust into the middle of a massive ragtag technological machine. Some embraced the changes quickly while others tried desperately to cling on to their ancient culture. Stripped of their forests and left homeless like the other Exiles, a small group banded together with an agenda of revenge and the perpetuation of their culture. They helped grow and tend fertile farms despite being aboard a massive starship and tried to make a new home for themselves in space and beyond. This group became the Legion of Bloom, and although their original purpose remains unchanged, the discovery of Nexus has added new goals as well as given them opportunities to enact vengeance.

The Legion of Bloom is led by an Aurin Matria who is supported by her Consort aids. Beneath them are the regular Hunters and the Watchers of the Woods, followed by the regular Initiates. Although the Legion is focused on the Aurin and their cultural heritage, they occasionally permit the honorary membership of other races so long as they support their long term goals with their own skills. While such membership is allowed, however, such members of the community are often viewed as only second-class citizens: they are barred from being given any higher level of authority within the community.

=What does the Legion of Bloom actually entail?= The Legion of Bloom is a heavy roleplaying guild with an Aurin theme and a Lawful Evil alignment. Roleplaying is our primary emphasis, but we also intend to have a secondary focus on casual world PvP and doing casual dungeons as well. World PvP in particular comes as a consequence of roleplaying rather than the reverse- there’s an agenda and long-term purpose behind attacks when they are done. Despite this, the Legion isn’t a militaristic guild or overly rigorous in its ranking system; it’s more like a village with a trained militia. The best way to explain the general atmosphere of the guild is a cross between Friendship is Magic, Chaos Space Marines, and a hefty dose of Druidism (that’s totally never been done before, right?). To the Legion, the ends most certainly justify the means, but let it never be said we don’t have a sense of humor too.*

While the guild does feature a Lawful Evil alignment, this is more from an objective viewpoint than an actively antagonistic role. They are friendly, supportive, personable, and outgoing around other Exiles, but when it comes to the Dominion, ruthlessness is the name of the game. That being said, if another Exile were to attack them or wrong them somehow, there's very little they won't do- up to the very edge of legality- in order to exact revenge.

=Structure of the Village=

Matria
As head of the village community, the Matria is a female Aurin who is responsible for the day to day affairs of the village. She is also responsible for joining new members into the fold (and is therefore also responsible for the joining rites involved), presiding over ceremonies and rituals, and often serves to direct the purpose of the village through the years. The Matria is often the foremost spiritual leader of the Aurin village as well, and as a result, spends a great deal of time communing with the forests through the Weave. She is assisted in her duties by her consorts.

Consort
The next foremost authorities in the village, Consorts are hand-picked by the Matria to assist with managing the finer details of the village. Contrary to their name, Consorts are not always romantically involved with the Matria. Each Consort generally has a specific specialization for the village’s benefit, such as the Watchers, Hunters, Caretakers, and so on.

Caretaker
Among the most spiritually strong of the village are the Caretakers. Caretakers see to the needs of the trees and commune regularly with the Weave in order to address any issues or problems being faced by the forests. The Caretakers are usually led by the Priestess of the Weave, a consort of the Matria.

Watcher
The most stalwart and sturdy of the Aurin in the village become the Watchers. These Aurin are the soldiers of the community and they bring the wrath of the forests wherever it may be needed. When not at war, they are vigilant in watching over the forests and all who dwell within them. They are usually led by the Commander of the Watchers, a consort of the Matria.

Hunter
Every village needs food and supplies to sustain itself, and this is where the Hunters play their part. Hunters scout the woods and make supply runs to neighboring villages and towns, and return their yields to the village. They take from the forests only what is needed, and spurn any excesses. They are usually led by the Head Hunter, a consort of the Matria.

Honorbound
A few villages have obtained honorary members since Arboria was introduced to the intergalactic stage nearly 25 years ago. The Honorbound are second-class citizens in these Aurin villages and work to fill roles that the Aurin aren’t capable of doing themselves. Often, this includes heavy manual labor, research and development, and more. The Honorbound do not have a specific leader, although they collaborate with the village often through the Enginseers.

Acolyte
The newest members of the village, Acolytes have passed their joining rites but haven’t yet chosen a branch of the village to specialize in. Acolytes are often inexperienced to the ways of the village, but are fairly quick to learn.

=How do I join?= To join the Legion of Bloom, contact Sindra in order to arrange for a meeting and in-character interview. If you have any questions about the guild or how it works- IC or OOC- feel free to ask! There is no minimum character level requirement at this time, but characters who go longer than a month without logging in will be pruned from the roster (pun intended). Also note that level 14 is required to access home estates, and we're using one of those for a guild gathering site.

New applicants to the guild are given an initiation ritual to complete which is a short and sweet introduction to the community. This also gets your character on their feet and running out the door right away (either into the community or in stark terror of, that's up to you).

Finally, please note that the guild has a maximum population cap of 40. This number can change from time to time depending on how active the guild is, but generally speaking, we tend to focus on quality over quantity. We are an intentionally 'small' guild, but we aren't very picky when it comes to new members. We just don't want members to become "faces in the crowd," as it were.

=The Raw Statistics= [Ranks]: Matria, Consort, Caretaker, Hunter, Watcher, Honorbound (Non-Aurin), Initiate (New members)

[Leader]: Sindra

[Officers]: Anninion, Eskari

[Current Membership]: 27 / 40

[Membership Activity**]: 96% (last week), 80% (last day)

[Meeting Location]: GM Housing Estate ("Grove of the Matria")

[Garrison Location]: Sylvan Glade, Celestion Forest

[Founding Date]: 6/4/2014

[Timezone]: Central (CST)

[Primary Focus]: Aurin Roleplaying

[Secondary Focus]: World PvP, Dungeons

[Website]: None at this time

[Recruitment]: OPEN


 * - Whether or not it's a good sense of humor is up for debate.


 * - I figured it might help a bit to put this in. Basically this is the percentage of players who have logged in to the game to play within x number of days. Players that don't log in for a month are removed for inactivity.