03.09.07

Castiza

Posted in Warcraft at 9:09 am by k0

“Castiza” is taken from the Jacobean play The Revenger’s Tragedy by way of Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin. The core characters of the play aren’t characters so much as archetypes, and Castiza is chastity. She’s a World of Warcraft character, an undead priest on Steamwheedle Cartel. Most undead recall their former lives with vivid clarity, if with emotional disconnect. Cas is no exception, but she’s trying to revive the emotional connections. Where many others of her kind revel in being monsters, she struggles against the dark urges instilled by the plague to remain humane (if not human).

World of Warcraft isn’t a very good medium for role-playing, but it’s pretty good for inspiring fanfiction. A very dear friend made me a rag doll of her, complete with a crescent-topped staff and glow-in-the-dark eyes. Read the rest of this entry »

Warcraft Ghost Story

Posted in Warcraft at 8:49 am by k0

Written in 2006 for a Hallow’s End (the in-game holiday corresponding to Hallowe’en) story-writing contest on the Steamwheedle Cartel realm forum on the official World of Warcraft site. I didn’t win, but I liked how the story came out. Writing it was fun, trying to stay under the 1,000 word limit. It ended up being about 970 words.

It’s a horror story — our protagonist is dead, a zombie raised by the plague that had killed her — but it’s not gory. Our Castiza’s tale is more a personal horror than an external one. Read the rest of this entry »