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To start, it must be established exactly who makes up the Crusade. For no action can be looked at in a vacuum. You see two men grab a third man, bind his hands behind him, throw their victim into the back of their car, and speed away with him. What did you just witness? Either a kidnapping or a suspected arsonist being taken away to prison, depending entirely on who did the taking.

And so it is with the Crusade. If they are simply misguided, or insane, or evil, as their opponents would clearly state, then they are also criminals squatting on land which is not theirs, killing people who have done them no harm. If, on the other hand, they do not match this description, then it is necessary to admit to the possibility that their actions are legal, sane, and possibly even noble.

However, such judgements, either in favor of or against the Crusade, cannot be made yet. The identities of all groups and forces at work in Lordaeron must be examined before a determination can be made about the motivations and actions of the Scarlet Crusade. The Crusade is only one group fighting to control what remains of Lordaeron.

Of the other groups, the most important to this essay is the Argent Dawn. Claiming to have broken away from the Scarlet Crusade when they realized the extent of the Crusade's corruption, the Argent Dawn retains four outposts in Lordaeron. They claim neutral status, taking their membership from both the Alliance and the Horde. There is even at least one undead, Leonid Bartholomew, standing high within the ranks of the Argent Dawn. The Argent Dawn has bases and/or representatives at the Bulwark, Chillwind Camp, Blackwind Lake and Light's Hope Chapel. Outside of Lordaeron they have only a very minor presence, save for on one occasion which will be noted later.

The Scourge would be the easiest group in Lordaeron to describe. They don't care about propaganda, reputation, or anything of the sort. They simply want to kill everything that stands in the way of the Liche King. Except the Cult of the Damned of course. The Cult are living members of the Scourge. A 5th column, recruited out of the human nations of Azeroth after the Lich King established control over Northrend. Some of their better known agents include the liche Kel'thuzad, formerly a mage of Dalaran; as well as Ras Frostwhisper, another liche. The Cult of the Damned will be further explored, later. The Scourge are in evidence all over Lordaeron, with larger bases in Andorhal, Caer Darrow, the city of Stratholme, and the floating Citadel of Naxxramas.

The Forsaken are a branch of the undead who regained awareness of themselves, and control over their own bodies when the Liche King was weakened during the events of Wacraft III: The Frozen Throne. Their leader, a former ranger of Quel'thalas, has taken over the ruins of Lordaeron's capital as her head quarters. Claiming complete independence of the Scourge, as well as hatred for their former master, the Forsaken are now tenuously allied with the Horde thanks to Cairne Bloodhoof. Thrall was said to be less than pleased when he heard of the arrangement. The Forsaken have political control of the Tirisfal Glades and are in abudance within that area.

The Alliance has some small presence in Lordaeron yet. Or, at least there are Alliance alligned individuals, including a representative of the Church of Light and a member of SI:7, at Chillwind Camp, just south of Andorhal. This is the camp at which Alliance members will receive many of their early Plaguelands quests. Chillwind Camp is also the only notable Alliance presence within Lordaeron.

The Horde is more involved with Lordaeron. The Forsaken, now a part of the Horde, lay claim to the western portion of Lordaeron, including its former capital. To keep this portion of Lordaeron separated from the Plague Lands to the east, the Horde and elements of the Argent Dawn have constructed a ramshackle construct called the Bulwark. The continuing presence of not only Scourge, but even a major Scarlet Crusade base within Forsaken claimed territory testify to the effectiveness of this wooden barrier.

Some other small groups, including the Zul'masha trolls and a group of high elves, also call Lordaeron home. The high elves have a small area just west of the entrance to the Ghostlands, but still within the Eastern Plaguelands. The trolls' have a city, Zul'masha, about as far east of the Ghostlands entrance as the high elves stronghold is west of it. These groups, however, have no political interests to which players are generally exposed. As such, while their existence should be noted, they are given only minimal consideration.

And so we must track the Crusade from its inception to its current form. When the Crusade first formed it was peopled by the three aforementioned groups. The particulars of Crusade history are not well documented, and given that most players have burned one of two known archives kept by the Scarlet Crusade, it is unlikely that such information will become better known in the future.

We can however touch on several highlights of Crusade activity, even if we cannot ascribe particular dates to any of them. The first would be the re-capture of parts of Stratholme. The Scarlet Crusade retook a portion of the largest city in eastern Lordaeron and turned it to their use. Now called Crusade Square and the Scarlet Bastion, the grandmaster of the Scarlet Crusade, known to the world as the dreadlord Balnazzar, makes his base here to the present day.

The second would be the Crusade's campaign against the undead in Northrend. At some time between the occurrences of Warcraft III and those of World of Warcraft, the Scarlet Crusade launched an invading fleet of ships whose soldiers made it all the way to Icecrown Glacier itself before being defeated by the Scourge. They lost their first, and only High Admiral as well as their first Chief Assassin in that campaign.

At some point in the Crusade's history, the dread lord Balnazzar took command. Defeated earlier in his attempt to retain control of the Scourge, it is unknown how Balnazzar took control of the Crusade. Although it seems likely that it was either done through a possessed crusader, or by an illusion meant to make Balnazzar appear human.

The last high point of the Crusade's history revolves around the sword known as Ashbringer. Supposedly powerful enough to allow one man to destroy an army of undead, the Ashbringer was wielded by Highlord Mograine until a Scourge ambush ended his life and the sword was spirited away to the citadel of Naxxramas. Mograine's son took over his position within the Crusade when he died.

And so we arrive at the modern Crusade. Supposedly led by a man who killed his own father in pursuit of power, a demon, and a small group of people who tortured squirrels for fun as children. They became corrupt, went insane, or just turned evil - this is the conclusion made by players and npcs alike.

As it can be done simply, now we look back to before the third war between orcs and man. Southshore, a small port town in the kingdom of Stromgarde. Players in World of Warcraft encounter this "old Southshore" via the Caverns of Time. In this recent past, players may watch future members of the Scarlet Crusade including Mograine Jr, Whitemaine and other named individuals, torturing a squirrel.

This is not history. The Caverns of Time are not taking anyone back in time, therefore the things seen within the caverns cannot be thought of as real history. This can be demonstrated through simple logic.

Either a person sent back in time can change history, or they cannot. If history can be changed, then members of the Alliance at least have rather little reason to see Thrall escape his prison. The assumption that changing history would be a bad thing is exactly that, an assumption. If we can change history, then it stands to reason that history can be changed for the better. To assume otherwise is to assume that the battered world of Azeroth is in the best condition it possibly could be in and that every action a player could take would lead to something worse.

The other possibility is that a person cannot change time. Namely, that if an industrious dwarf chose to slit Thrall's throat instead of freeing him, that the flow of history would not be altered in any perceivable manner. Of course, if this is true, then why would the Bronze Flight sent anyone back in time to stop it from being changed?

On the idea that since the Bronze Flight is sending you back in time, you must be able to make a difference, it must be noted that saving Thrall remains pointless. The Infinite Flight, those mysterious villains with the echoing voices, are apparently capable of traversing through time. So what happens when you save Thrall? You've saved the day? No.

You save Thrall. Infinite Flight realizes it didn't send sufficient force to deal with him. So they send more back in time. Then you fail to save Thrall. But the Bronze Flight sends more adventurers back in time, seeing that the Infinite Flight increased its numbers. So you save Thrall. But the Infinite Flight sends more soldiers back in time. You fail...and so on to a preposterous conclusion, thousands of individuals waging war across Hillsbrad with untold thousands more arriving at precisely the same moment.

You are not, as it turns out, travelling back in time to aid Thrall. Your very presence changes things, after all. If the Bronze's Flight goal is to prevent time from being tampered with, then they must prevent the Infinite Flight from ever tampering in the first place. As soon as the Infinite Flight succeeds in changing even one minor thing, history has changed.

And the point of this tangent? Only this: Just because the Bronze Flight shows you something that reinforces ideas you already have, doesn't mean you're really seeing what you think you just saw. Rather, you are seeing something designed to convince you of the Bronze's Flight honesty and benevolence, nothing more, nothing less. Have fun playing along, but don't take it too seriously.

That went a little faster than it should have. Let's slow down and look at things in a bit more detail. Horde players first meet the Scarlet Crusade when you are tasked with thinning their ranks just south of Deathknell. Again, just after leaving Deathknell, you are tasked with stealing pumpkins from human farmers who are being protected by the Scarlet Crusade. Before leaving the Tirisfal Glades, you will attack and kill a number of the Crusade's members.

Both Horde and Alliance are tasked with assassinating leaders of the Scarlet Monastary within the Glades. The Alliance version of this quest gives us much more insight into the Scarlet Crusade than does the Horde version, so we will look a bit more closely at it.

Sometime in their late 30's, players may encounter a member of the Scarlet Crusade seemingly hidden in the cellars of the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind. This individual claims to be recruiting for the Crusade, and offers the player a chance to prove themselves. If the player accepts, they are sent to Desolace for the test.

This test, given by another Scarlet Crusade representative at Nijel's Point, the Alliance base in Desolace, is a fairly simple seek and destroy mission. Kill a number of the skeletal creations of centaur necromancers in south-east Desolace. It should be noted that if a player fails this quest by dying, their body will not be reanimated in service to the Scourge. Keep this in mind.

If the player succeeds, they are sent on to another individual who will then direct them to the Scarlet Monastery, where they will official join the Crusade. Of course, when players encounter this individual, Raleigh the Devout, it turns out he is no longer a friend of the Scarlet Crusade.

Raleigh informs the player that the Crusade is corrupt and must be destroyed. As such, he tasks the player with killing the four leaders of the Scarlet Monastary, including the new Highlord Mograine, son of the man who wielded Ashbringer.

As proof that adventurers will do anything for experience points, this quest is second to none. On no more than the word of one man, Alliance members charge the Scarlet Monastery, killing everything in their path and stealing anything that might have the smallest value. From this point on, it is ludicrous to accuse the Crusade of attacking people who mean them no harm.

This quest gives great insight into how the Crusade has stayed active, despite being cut off from the rest of the world both physically, via Argent Dawn encampments at the Bulwark and Chillwind Camp, as well as politically. Much like the Polish or French undergrounds of the second World War, or the Underground Railroad in the Antebellum United States.

This method is one in which a potential recruit's contact with members of the organization is kept to a minimum until they are sure of the individual's intentions and loyalty. With a group like the Scarlet Crusade, it is eminently understandable why they would not risk bringing just anyone into their ranks. They've been betrayed before, both before and during the initial Scourge invasion, when the Cult of the Damned cleared the way for Arthas' undead armies; and later when some Crusade members left and began to work for outside interests.

Initial contact with any recruit is made in innocuous settings. Perhaps the recruit is overheard bemoaning the fate of Lordaeron and wondering why the other human nations haven't done something about the Scourge. Maybe the recruit has made friends with resettled refugees from Lordaeron. Somehow, a Scarlet Crusade agent recognizes the recruit as an individual more likely to seek entrance into the Crusade than to try to curry favor with local authorities by revealing the presence of a Crusade recruiter.

The recruit is then sent along their way to individuals who can keep them on the right track. For players in World of Warcraft this initial contact is made in Stormwind. Players are then sent to Desolace for testing and to Southshore in order to receive final instructions and likely some sort of badge or medallion which would grant safe conduct to the Scarlet Monastery.

In a post-9/11 world, it is unsurprising that another group will be called to mind when thinking about this method of recruitment. That group being Al'Qeada. It is this same association that makes so many players automatically hate the Scarlet Crusade and prevents the same sort of sympathy which exists for the Defias.

Several times within this essay, members of the Crusade have been referred to as "relgious zealots;" a phrase which comes up at an alarming frequency. These words are almost always tied together. Rarely is someone accused of simply being a zealot. And while there are people who dislike religion of any kind, it is exceedingly uncommon for the word religious to be used as a free standing insult. This is another accusation leveled at the Crusade. They are no more than simple religious zealots.

Saddeningly, many players in World of Warcraft substitute the phrase religious zealots for any sort of understanding of the Scarlet Crusade. It is as though anything that is both religious and zealous must assuredly be evil, irregardless of what it has actually done or not done.

Of course this could only be true if religion itself were an evil thing. Being a Christian, this is not an idea I can accept as valid. Keep this bias in mind, for this essay does not consider religion an evil thing in its essence.

Leaving aside the word religion, we are left with zealot. The word itself was first applied to a group of Jews in first century Israel who advocated the violent and immediate overthrow of Roman rule. For obvious reasons, the Romans were not fond of these people. The word zealot has come to mean anyone who uses violent means to enforce a religious mandate, although the Zealots' aims were as much political as religious.

The Scarlet Crusade is not a religious organization. However, amongst its founders were many members of the Silver Hand, an order of holy knights in service to the Church of the Light. But these paladins prayed to no god. Their "light" was no more worshiped than the "force" is worshiped by Jedi Knights in the Stars Wars universe. Nor were the paladins of the Silver Hand, or the priests of the Church of the Light any more religious than Anakin Skywalker.

Oh, they had the trappings of Catholicism. The cathedral in Stormwind. Its pontiff, Archbishop Benedictus (a Latin word), priests in robes, alters and silver candlesticks. Paladins in the order of the Silver Hand are often depicted carrying a large book, gilded in gold. It is not hard to make the connection between such a book and a copy of the Christian Bible. All very religious in appearance.

But, only in appearance. There is no real religion in the Silver Hand. For all their attempts to make the Light look like an organized religion, Blizzard did not wish to actually put forth any religion as being true within their game; a wise decision on their part. And so the Light lacks any real substance.

As such, the word religious simply cannot be applied to the Scarlet Crusade. Nor can the word zealot, for that matter. As previously established, the Crusade's core are people fighting for their land and their families in a nation overrun by hostile forces. They have been cut off and isolated from the rest of the world, like a quarantined city. The only new faces are those are looters and thieves come to profit off their misfortune.

Ah, the Argent Dawn; heralded as the force which will defeat the Scourge and comes without any of the nasty fanaticism of the Scarlet Crusade. Unsurprisingly, the Argent Dawn does rather little of any note. They rely entirely on free lance adventurers to do any work for them.

While the Crusade maintains patrols throughout the Plaguelands, pushes the plague itself back, and continues the fight for Stratholme to this day, the Argent Dawn simply sits on the sidelines. They have only four bases near or in Lordaeron. Chillwind Camp just south of Andorhal, the Bulwark just west of Andorhal, Light's Hope chapel along the mountains which form Lordaeron's eastern coast, and a small camp at Blackwind Lake.

In some ways the Argent Dawn looks like an idealized Crusade. They're friendly, make a distintion between the mindless undead of the Scourge and those of the Forsaken and actively take a role in some of Azeroth's other woes.

However, the Argent Dawn is far from ideal. They are supported, and controlled, by what have been previously referred to in this essay as outside interests. This is something of an accusation in itself and requires an explanation.

The Argent Dawn mix equally well with soldiers from the nation of Azeroth and warriors of the Horde. Their support is cross-factional. Something that no other group can claim. While some other groups, such as the Cenarion Circle or the Dark Iron Brotherhood, are friendly to both factions, they have their own internal support structure. As such, they do not rely on either faction for their continued existence. Unlike these other groups, the Argent Dawn seems to dance to the tune of Azeroth's rulers.

The first clue is the location of the Argent Dawn's forces. They block the only publicly known access routes into the Plaguelands. The only route not protected by them is Plaguewind Ravine, which leads into the territory of the Wildhammer dwarves, who would not countenance foreign soldiers, Alliance or Horde, on their land. The Bulwark, though ultimately ineffective, is intended to be a barricade, separating the Plaguelands from the comparatively calm and safe Tirisfal Glades. Similarly, Chillwind camp prevents anything from escaping south into uninfected territory. The other two Argent Dawn encampments remain off the beaten path, safely away from both Scourge units and Scarlet Crusade patrols. In being placed where they are, these encampments give the illusion of strength while risking as little as possible. Even the outriders at Light's Hope chapel stick to the southern side of the chapel itself; preventing them from ever accidentally running into a Scourge from Bowman's Mill, the nearest scourge base.

The second clue comes in the form of burial practices. The Argent Dawn's "graveyard" at Light's Hope chapel, it's head quarters within the Plaguelands, is nothing more than an open pit. The Scourge might as well put up a "recruitment line starts here" sign. Anything tossed into the pit can easily be retrieved by an interested party, say a necromancer within the Scourge army.

The third clue is the condition of Argent Dawn camps. Scarlet Crusade fortresses are exactly that, fortresses. Hearthglen and Tyr's Hand both boast massive walls and inner keeps. Regular patrols make sure that the Crusade is well aware of any movement near their bases.

On the other hand, The Bulwark is nothing but trash thrown together and appears too flimsy to even bear a man's weight. Its defenses are nothing but sharpened wooden stakes. Useful perhaps if the Scourge employ vampires, but relatively useless when faced with other forms of undead. Chillwind Camp doesn't even have that. It's just tents and a ruined cottage. Blackwind Lake has the wooden stakes and some tents. Only Light's Hope Chapel even has a permanent, stone building. However, it lacks any sort of defenses whatsoever. This is evidence of bureaucracy working over long distances.

The last clue doesn't even involve Lordaeron. Rather, when the Dark Portal re-opened, the first soldiers on the scene were Argent Dawn. Apparently, someone thought it would be better to send soldiers from the far north to the far southern end of the Eastern Kingdoms instead of asking the soldiers in Nethergarde, a keep supposedly built as a first line of defense against anything that came through the Dark portal, to actually do their duty.

And so, the Argent Dawn is revealed to be nothing more than lackeys of one kingdom or another. They are throwaway soldiers for whatever problem is most likely scaring the peasants. Is it the Scourge? Tell the Argent Dawn to camp out and pretend to fight them. When the Dark Portal trumps the Scourge in terms of fright factor, send the Argent Dawn! Certainly the Plaguelands would be little more dangerous without the Argent Dawn. Possibly they would even be safer without this organization which openly encourages small groups and even single adventurers to test themselves against the Scourge. The same organization which dumps its dead into an open pit where any necromancer can easily retrieve them.

This is not a group dedicated to the destruction of the Scourge. It is a group meant to keep the war confined to the Plaguelands until both Scourge and Scarlet Crusade are too exhausted to continue fighting, and the land can be peaceably resettled with a minimum of bloodshed.

The last major accusation leveled against the Scarlet Crusade centers around the first Highlord Mograine and his son. It is said that Mograine Jr. worked with the Scourge to ambush his father. The story goes that Mograine Jr thought to claim his father's sword, the Ashbringer, for himself, and lead the Scarlet Crusade.

The source of this accusation is not anything in World of Warcraft. Rather, it is letters written by the late Brann Bronzebeard. Letters that are found if one plays the World of Warcraft pen and paper RPG.

As to the legitimacy of such claims, these are letters supposedly written by a dwarf who is supposedly exploring some uncharted land. They are, like with Relaigh the Devout's claims of corruption, a single individual making a claim without backing up this claim in any way, shape, or form.

It must further be noted that such accusations would play right into the hands of the Scourge. If such an accusation was taken seriously it would cause a notable rift within the hierarchy of the Scarlet Crusade. This could potentially weaken the Crusade and its war against the Scourge.

Of course, some evidence of betrayal does exist in-game. If a player manages to claim the Corrupted Ashbringer from the citadel of Naxxramas, they are treated to an experience most people will never share in. Namely, they walk into the Scarlet Cathedral, where members of the Crusade hail them as the new Ashbringer, which the Highlord Mograine was once called. When the player finds Mograine Jr, the spirit of his father comes out of the sword and kills his supposedly traitorous son.

Once again, this claim of betrayal proves shallow. The sword, now a cursed weapon, holds within it a spirit which blames its son for its death. This spirit has spent years in a stronghold of the Liche King. The same Liche King who corrupted many good men, including Prince Arthas of Lordaeron himself.

So Kel'thuzad spent years torturing the spirit of a man who had single-handedly slain hundreds if not thousands of undead. What could possibly be a better way to deal with the soul of a man who was such a hated foe. Convince him that his son was responsible for his death. Bind his soul to the corrupted sword which he had wielded for so many years. Then promise him freedom if and only if he killed his own son. Guarantee of course that anyone who managed to take the Ashbringer away from Naxxramas would hear the whole sordid, and completely made up story before hand. To make the story even more convincing, forge papers claiming to be written by a dwarf that no one can find; telling the entire story from an apparently outside point of view.

And so it's done. Whether this essay has done its job, or fallen on deaf ears does not matter. The Scarlet Crusade is defended from those who would see it distrusted and destroyed for their own personal gain. People who seek truth will always find it, regardless of what rumors and stories are told.

I have more to add to this essay now. The responses on the CC forum included things like "how can you ignore Taelaen Fordring" and "Dalaran is in Lordaeron"

So amongst the sections I need to add:

1. Short description of Silverpine as politically Lordaeron and Dalaran's presence there.

2. Taelaen Fordring, the deserter

3. Tirion Fordring, the non-voting coward

4. Kel'thuzad's "lost" phylactery


So I've got some more work to be doing yet.