Blizzard Entertainment has released Cost of Honor, a new short story for WoW: Forever that tells part of the history of the Riverglades, one of the new zones added in the game. The story is written by Jonathan Maberry and is available on the official World of Warcraft site both as an illustrated PDF and as a narrated video. The World of Warcraft account shared the video today at 11:23 AM MST. Check out the official post down below:
Blizzard's official description reads, "As a storm rages in the skies above, the young people of the Riverglades gather around a campfire to hear the stories behind their history's legends from the great Demar Brant. Through tales of war, sacrifice, and hard choices, they learn that the true strength of a people lies not in victory alone, but in the courage to protect one another."
Who Made Cost Of Honor
Maberry wrote the story, Surfside 3D handled the illustrations, and Peter Jessop narrates the video version as Demar Brant. The credits page in the PDF also lists Sean Copeland for lore consultation, along with a game team consultation group that includes Chris Metzen. The narrated version is on the official World of Warcraft YouTube channel:
What The Story Covers
Cost of Honor is framed as a campfire story. Brant, the Knight-Captain of Farholde Keep, gathers the young people of the Riverglades while thunder rolls overhead and tells them that the songs they have heard are only fragments of the truth. He then walks them through the Siege of Blackrock Spire, the Second War battle between the Alliance of Lordaeron and the Horde led by Orgrim Doomhammer.
In his telling, Doomhammer kills Anduin Lothar and the Alliance nearly breaks, until the paladin Turalyon, Lothar's lieutenant and a knight of the Silver Hand, rallies the army. Turalyon fights Doomhammer with Lothar's broken sword and his own hammer, knocks the warchief unconscious, and the Alliance takes Doomhammer and his orcs prisoner in chains rather than killing them all.
Brant also explains why his brotherhood broke with Stormwind and the Alliance to hunt the fleeing remnants of the Horde after the siege. "Ask yourselves . . . is an oath given of more worth than the lives of villagers and innocent farmers?" he asks the children. "If the respect and trust of the Alliance is more important than the lives of the people who depend upon us, then who are we? What are we?"
The story ends back at Farholde Keep, after Brant mentions the Twilight's Hammer and a place called Sunnyglade, which he says "is like a knife" in memory. "Yet here we are . . . in Farholde Keep," he tells them. "And this has become a safe home for us."
How It Ties Into WoW: Forever
The Riverglades is one of the new zones in WoW: Forever, built for characters level 35 to 40, alongside Zephras Isle, Shen'dralas and Mount Hyjal. WoW: Forever launched on November 4 with a level cap of 60 and 9 new dungeons. The game's presets and rules are laid out in WoW: Forever Quickstart Guide Explains Classic And Enhanced Presets, Rulesets And The Legacy System, and the launch is covered in WoW: Forever Launches Today As Blizzard Releases New Video For Legacy Talents.
The story is the latest piece of WoW: Forever lore from Blizzard. Copeland also appeared on the WoW: Forever Podcast for a lore episode on November 12, and the game's first raids open on December 9.
Will you be heading to the Riverglades in WoW: Forever after reading or watching Cost of Honor?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.