The Silver Rose

The Silver Rose was a Roleplaying guild formed on 25/03/2006 and closed in august 2011.

Formation
On 25/03/2006, two Gnomes by the names of Jesan and Xantippe have gathered ten (yes, it was that many at the time!) signatures in a completely Roleplayed fashion in Stormwind and surrounding areas. They hand in the signed Charter, thus founding  with the promise to become a familiar, friendly place where all those who thought they were alone and lost can stand united, find a home and seek as well as offer aid.

Leadership
On the 29th of april 2007, Jesan passes full leadership of the guild on to Xantippe and he is never seen again.

Xantippe on the other hand, would lead with unmatched tenacity and enthusiasm as Lady of The Silver Rose. Alas, eventually she would also involuntarily lead the order to its own demise.

Notable officers to have been instated in the guild are the humans Ralthur the Rogue and Ardelle the Warlock, who were two of the original founding members and have never ever left.

Most well-known officer and right-hand of the Lady, was Karvas. A human Paladin usually seen wearing a red suit and matching drinking hat.

Notable Members
Aside from Xantippe, Ralthur, Ardelle and Karvas, there were many characters that joined their ranks, some came and went and some stayed until the end.

Such names include the mage Sygidl, the brothers Edward and Thards, the greedy Gnome Quadron and the dreamy Wërdòr, the Draenei Caia and Draxorius, Moetta/Moe Nimblepod who moved on to start up the guild QBB, the Dwarves Okhar and Thoromir, and clever midget Malidor Mindtongue.

Friend
The Silver Rose was allied and tied trongly to other guilds, especially as their size decreased over time. Such guilds include but are not limited to;

The Blue Rose (under leadership of Wërdòr this guild merged with their Silver sibling), Vindication, Rhyme and Punishment, The Glaciel Order, The Glitterclink Co, Quill and Broken Bottles and briefly the Ironforge Theatre Company.

Foe
During the Rose's early days, they knew an arch-nemesis in the band by the name of The Purple Lotus - a defias-like brotherhood of scoundrels. Later an utterly devout Paladin by the name of Akmadan opposed the Roses on many an occasion, the reasons why are left to speculation.

A non-player character that is Xantippe's own arch-enemy, by many believed to be her mother though unconfirmed, would cause the guild all sorts of trouble as well.

HQ
The Silver Rose never stayed in one place as they travelled to fulfill their mission: offer aid to those in need and bring joy to a world of war. Yet still they had made a promise to their members as well; a home.

Homes start out with people, and that they had at last, but those people needed a roof over their heads. A place to store their belongings, to rest their weary feet and heads. But foremost, a place to gather in peace and discuss their missions.

Theramore offered such a home, unexpectantly, when Xantippe was able to buy a docked ship for cheap - it was cheap because it was unfit for sailing. And so this ship became their headquarters!

It lay moored on the docks of Theramore up until shortly after the Cataclysm, when it became clear the city would soon be safe no more for the Alliance! The Roses that were left by then had fixed up the boat and made it able to sail, and they endeavoured to reach Stormwind's port as was Xantippe's plan. But they never made it.

Events
The Silver Rose participated in many RP events thrown Alliance-side in their day. But they were not shy of hosting and organising them themselves, either!

Some were guild events such as the visit to Eversong Woods when it was new to discover, a story evening at Challe's Home for Little Tykes up in the hills of Nagrand and many many storylines about or involving the characters of their crew.

The guild was most reknowned for...

Help desk
In its early days, The Silver Rose set up shop in differing areas and made public that they were offering their aid, whether it be verbal or with their wepaonry and spells, to any who had a need of it - and for free as well!

Sunday Meetings
First every Sunday, then every first Sunday of the month, an RP guild meeting was held in their Headquarters.

Theatre plays
Being a writer and actress, Xantippe provided short scripts for enactments played out by herself, Karvas and others during events such as the Hallow's End play "The Scalding Scythe", the WoW interpretation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol "Scrooge" or "Scroogetta" upon the time the lead actor was a woman, the original play by Xantippe "Willing To Sell" brought to life by herself and Pepple of Rhyme and Punishment, and two more Hallow's End one-acters "The Girl and the Ghoul" and "The Plague".

Lakeshire
A Roleplay Project to bring Roleplay and Roleplayers to the town of Lakeshire, some of the theatrical plays discribed above took place here to stimulate the flow of people toward the then-ideal town. Lakeshire Markets with races were also organised around this time by other guilds and individuals.

Gnomish Ice Skating Event
The Silver Rose invited the Alliance to a round of ice-skating upon the perpetually frozen lake in Dun Morogh.

Saving Xantippe
A storyline where the Rose's leader had gone missing and its members as well as Pepple set out to save her!

A malevolent entity had stolen her necklace, without which she was gradually losing control of her fel magics, whilst being trapped on an altar in the Blasted Lands. The group was sent on a quest-line and eventually succeeded in bringing back the necklace, allowing Xantippe to free herself.

Alas, in her absence, many had left the ranks.

And many more adventures...
Involving characters from within and without the guild, many storylines were tapped and exploited, many areas explored and many mysteries left unsolved.

The End
You can read the story of the Ending of The Silver Rose on the forum for now. Hoping to add it to the wiki some time.

In brief, shortly after the Cataclysm it became clear that the guild's home base of Theramore would soon be safe no more for the Alliance! Lady of the Silver Rose, Xantippe, had a plan to set sail for Stormwind's port and throw out the anchor there, starting a new chapter for the order and hoping to reconnect them to the members of the Alliance, possibly boosting their own numbers and regaining their old glory once again. The plan appealed to all remaining members, which were only a handful, and they fixed up the boat and ventured out.

Caught by a storm, which some say was a byproduct of the Cataclysm but is revealed to be sabotage by the evil entity that has haunted Xantippe for all her life. The entity now, finally, succeeds in cursing The Silver Rose's name and so long as they would stay together and operate in its name, their actions would turn against them. (e.g. Their attempts to put out the fire on the ship and save its sinking crew would only feed the flames and speed up the ship's doom.)

Therefore, Xantippe makes one final decision as its leader, and says they must do one final good deed to aid themselves, the Alliance and those they care about: they must disband. Seeing it is the only way to counter the Incurable Curse, they reluctantly and sadly parted ways.

Other sources
The old guild site: http://thesilverrose.wordpress.com

The now closed guild forum: http://thesilverrosehq.proboards.com

On the Armory you will find that the guild still exists, its name is preserved as it has never been disbanded in-game but it is completely dormant and does not recruit any longer.