Grim Views

Nine bells of the evening,
Scarlet Monastery,
Tirisfal Glades

The Monastery. Home for many years, and still a place of comfort, oddly enough.

Sitting at the desk I had used for many years, I ran the ragged nails of my fingers over the well-worn veneer of the once-pristine oak. This had been life as a Scarlet Crusader - research and battle - in no particular order. Many an evening had been spent working by candle-light, eyes strained to the point of barely being able to stay open, let alone capable of reading manuscripts and holy texts. Still, a pervasive sense of duty and, yes, belonging, had driven myself and those like me to do our utmost in our service to the Crusade. Losing Lordaeron had been felt hardest by ourselves, after all, for while all others had either been struck dead or had fled in cowardice, we alone had remained behind to try to save the fatherland.

How things had changed. Now, as one of the very creatures I had spent my life trying to destroy, it was increasingly difficult to reconcile my spending any time at the Monastery. Could I even continue to wear these colours without being a hypocrite?

A matter for another time, I mused, and turned my attention to what had brought me back to my old place of study in the first place.

I laid several parchments before myself on my old desk, and I examined each in turn with great care. I had been tasked by a rather enigmatic Orc to determine what it mean to be a part of The Grim - the new Order I had pledged myself to. I had spoken to several well-regarded members of The Grim in the hope that they could enlighten me as, after all, there are few better sources of information than the most trusted members of an organization.

The first scroll a laid in front of myself bore the name, "Yemana". An unprepossessing druid of good manners, I had found her to be precisely what I expected one of her kind to be - kind and of great use to me. When I asked her what it mean to be Grim, she had responded that to be Grim was not to neccessarily follow any one path - there was an over-arching goal to which we all strove, but each took his own route in pursuit of it. She mentioned that some pursued our particularly violent goal with great exuberance, which others regarded it more an evil neccessity, born out of the reality that peace cannot be had without conflict. Yemana even spoke of the sorrow she felt at such death and destuction, but I suppose such feelings should not be unexpected from one who is entrusted with preserving life. I myself could not empathize with her sorrow; one does what one must to survive. The pleasure or sorrow of it does not matter.

The second scroll I laid before me bore the name, "Gex". I had wanted to see if all druids felt as Yemana did; surely, I thought, not all druids bore the same perspective. I was therefore little surprised when Gex responded that to be one of The Grim was to quite literally be exactly what they purported to be - those who brought peace through annihilation. Through five years of wearing the Grim tabard, Gex had become convinced that the goal truly was as simple as it was written, and though he admitted he had some personal perspectives on its deeper meaning, he declined to share them. It seems that the prejudice against our kind still perseveres - "you cannot trust the walking dead", as they say. Then again, perhaps Gex was merely busier than he let on... one imagines that druids are forever trying to grow something, somewhere, and who was I to get between a Tauren and his favourite plants?

The third scroll I carefully unfurled was marked, "Leyujin". I thought that it would be best to consult someone who was not a Tauren, and by my still limited understanding of the Horde, a savage troll from the Southern Isles seemed as unlike a peaceful Tauren as one could imagine. Instead of meeting such a savage, however, I instead found myself speaking to a Troll whose words and wisdom matched that of many of my own race - a far cry from the barbaric cannibal that I had imagined all trolls to be, when I was still mortal. Leyujin interpreted our directive as more than merely being those who sought peace through annihilation, seeing us instead as the Horde's sole harbingers of peace. It seemed that Leyujin believed that many others fought for selfish reasons, masked by grand words, while those who were Grim were honest in their intents. It was this honesty and devotion that I could well identify with; serving Lordaeron and the Scarlet Crusade had required the utmost devotion, and the trials that both had undergone had certainly tested my countenance.

The fourth fellow I spoke with had been Mohan, a Tauren hunter, and I next laid the scroll with his words in front of me. Mohan had echoed much of what Leyujin had said, emphasizing that it was devotion to a cause, above all, that set the Grim apart from most, even above many other Orders of the Horde. Mohan spoke of how many Grim had other passions - how he himself wished he could spend his life hunting the wilds in peace - but that he recognized that without The Grim, the Horde may not survive to see a day when such pastoral activities would ever be possible. It seemed, then, that to be part of The Grim was to realize that there was more than just death and destruction to the Order; that all strove towards securing a better world for themselves, and for their allies. I found this most re-assuring, as during my mortal years, I had always equated the Horde with the barbaric Orcs of the Second War. Those Orcs had been creatures of demonic cruelty, driven by little more than blood-lust. To know that my new allies were entirely more... 'human'... that was comforting.

The fifth and final individual I had spoken to was a fellow Forsaken by the name of "Anaie". It was my hope that speaking to a fellow Forsaken who had served with the Grim for some time might give me the best sense of its purpose; after all, coming from a similar background, should not one's countryman be the most enlightening? It seemed that Anaie, much like myself, had served the Scarlet Crusade, though she had perished some time ago, rescuing her sister. Anaie seemed an unusual sort, given to a peculiar 'naval' dialect, and she referenced the Grim as very similar to a ship's crew - a group of individuals bonded together as much for a job as for a shared sense of purpose. Anaie even drew comparisons between the Scarlet Crusade and The Grim, noting how both could be single-mindedly driven to achieve their ends - admirable, at any time. Perhaps most re-assuring was that Anaie indicated that The Grim, and all those who followed its banner, could be trusted. In a world torn to pieces by war and political machinations, where trust was - and is -  as rare as true peace, I believe it is indeed trust that must be held between those of the same Order, else we forever must watch our own backs, even amongst allies.

Carefully rolling up the scrolls, and storing them in my weather-beaten satchel, I stood up, and headed for the Cathedral doors. It was time for a ride in Tirisfal, as I often enjoyed in the late evenings. Something about the rain and the darkness always seemed to be the most relaxing...

((Screenshots of my conversations with these people can be provided, if asked for.))

Good. Dead thing seem it learn... Always need learn more though if want be good Grim.