Originally written December 10, 2011.
It is clear to me now that the Templars can settle nearly anywhere. War as a profession has lead us to being experts on setting up outposts in lands otherwise unfit for living. It has also lead to other habits, such as smuggling liquor to every war front the Templars can manage. It is a blessing that the Templars can both hold their liquor and a sword. Perhaps that skill is also part of waging war as a profession.
But veterans as we are, a few Templars were shaken still after returning from an expedition for the Aspect of Time. The stalwart Jamus, whom I have come to rely on for his life experience and shaman wisdom, has taken to wandering again. Nyres seemed to recover after a day, but says little about the encounter. Halonan Orebender appeared affected most, and reportedly seemed lost when he returned. Anarial was the fourth Templar to take up the mission, and the only change I see in her is a new quickness to anger.
It makes me question the intent of the dragons as they call on mortals to aid in their war. While we can fight in Northrend, engage the Twilight's Hammer on the ground, disrupt their portals, severe their communications, attack supply lines, we have little place among the dragons. Instead of traversing the timelines in a desperate gambit, I am far more fond of more conventional war tactics, ones that do not result and men and women returning home so oddly broken.
The Aspect of Time seeks more Alliance and Horde soldiers in his quest, and I question whether the Templars have a place in it. His mission left four Templars beside themselves, even the most long-lived and experienced of us. I do not know what they witnessed when they traveled through time, but I am less trusting of the dragons than before. They cannot win the war if they use Azeroth's mortal races as pawns, used in plenty then tossed aside en masse. It may be a sound strategy for the dragons, but I am not fond of the loss of life or sanity.
Nyres reported that the task was incomplete, and more mortal soldiers are being requested to travel the timelines, and aid the dragons in their quest. If more Templars must take part, then whatever horrors their fellows saw will need to be made known. It is careless to send soldiers in unprepared, when the horrors that await are fully known. Perhaps knowledge of what may come will better steel the Templars for what lies ahead.
We will see.
Comments
No Comments