JoBildo: Let’s get the courtesies out of the way first. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview with us. It’s always great to get to know one of the game's clans a bit more.

VARANGIAN ORDER: No, thank you, we certainly appreciate you taking the time to do this. My name is Vadim, or Jarl Vadim of Rus to give my full in game title. I’m on a long leash today as my King, Valthunaer and my Queen, Glinelril are busy oversighting the building of our clan city, Varanburg.

JoBildo: Long leash? You're not anything like the gimp from Pulp Fiction, are you? Because that guy is creepy as all... anyway, tell us a little bit about the VARANGIAN ORDER.

VARANGIAN ORDER: In 5000 words or less? Well, we’re playing on Wiccana and we’re having a great time! I think as a clan we’re a bit of a contradiction. We’re well organized, there’s plenty of structure and planned events, but we’re also quite casual and our number one goal is to have fun. And what better way to have fun than to rip down the walls of another clan’s battlekeep?




One of the things that makes us different is an incredibly deep and complex clan lore which drives how we are structured and our ceremonies, awards and role-play. We lean heavily on R.E. Howard’s chronology of the world and its peoples. Essentially we’ve established the Varangian Order as a proto-Nordic clan – one might see us as the missing link between the peoples of Nordhiem and the Vikings or Vendels of the real world. There’s a whole lot of stuff about religious persecution and the Asgardian Gods, and while I’m sure you’d love a quick lesson in Norse theology, I’ll let people read about that on our website.




Apart from a fairly inventive heritage, one of the other keys to our guild, which you need if you are a non-Cimmerian/Aquilonian/Stygian based guild, is that we are not going to restrict ourselves to the races and classes selected by Funcom. The Varangian Order only sees the races and classes as a tag, and it is a back-story that determines who you are. As long as that character fits within Conan lore, that’s okay.

JoBildo: How would you guys classify yourselves? Are you a tight-knit role-play clan, a PvP clan, a casual clan?

VARANGIAN ORDER: Tight-knit is probably the wrong word, although we have a pretty good camaraderie going and we have a lot of fun in each others’ company. For a relatively small clan we have an active forum and we have a Teamspeak server which we use in-game and to hold regular meetings, so we know or are getting to know each other pretty well.




We already have, and want to keep, a diverse mix of people – some who want to create a magnificent city and produce the finest armour and weapons in the land; those who want to explore and take in all the wonders that Hyboria has to offer; those who relish PvP and will form the Vanguard of our Order; those who want to immerse themselves in lore or be the ambassadors for our guild; and, of course, those who want to be a part of all that and more.




We advertise ourselves as a light RP clan. When we say that, we don’t mean that you can go to a corner and RP by yourself and we won’t laugh too much. The Varangian Order is an RP clan, but we are not an elitist clan. We aren’t looking for people who can speak fluent Shemish and recite their in-character family tree back 20 generations. We are looking for both experienced role-players and those who are interested in or curious about role-play and want to learn more about it in a casual atmosphere. We want to bring people to role-play, not scare them away. The best way for this to work is to create an environment rich in lore, ceremonies and awards and have a group of leaders who are helpful and willing to give up their time for others – which of course we have!




I have probably overplayed the role-play – it’s my bent, but I should also mention that PvP will be a big thing for our guild. Why aren’t we on a PvP server? Well we thought about it, but decided that we wanted the quality PvP that came from siege-warfare, which we think is going to be about the best thing in this game or any other, but not the constant low quality skirmishes of an FFA server.

JoBildo: I can personally understand that. That's a lot of the reason the TTH guild went with the more relaxed PvE servers. Do you feel like sharing how the Clan’s run? What’s the leadership like, and how do you guys delegate authority? Basically, are you more Hitler or more Gandhi?

VARANGIAN ORDER: Probably a little more Gandhi than Hitler, although there’s no peaceful civil disobedience in our clan, any disobedience is bloody and violent!




The term ‘benevolent feudalism’ springs to mind, but really its just a case of Valthunaer and Glinelril being people who have had lots of experience running guilds over the last 15 years (UO, DAOC, Shadowbane and LOTRO) and they know how to listen, compromise and delegate, but also how to make difficult decisions and be firm about it when that’s required.




So, we are a diarchy. At the next level we have the Jarls/Grafins of the Order (officers). Sorry, I’m just going to sidetrack a little here. Amongst the officers we have US, Australian and Danish representation, so there is always higher level leadership on the server at any given time, which allows us to better co-ordinate our Oceanic/Asian and European players and get things going at all times. We then have our Thanes/Dames (senior members), Huskarls (full members) and, last, our Vassals (recruits).




Within that mix, we have some additional memberships and hierarchies. We have the Priesthood, which, not surprisingly, looks after our spiritual needs and runs our ceremonies; we have the Vanguard, which is our main fighting force; and rumour has it that there is an arm of our Order that undertakes political/strategic assassinations and information gathering.

JoBildo: Okay... that last bit sounds pretty awesome. I can imagine that being a lot of fun when the time comes for it in the siege warfare. Anyway, how many members are there currently in your Clan?

VARANGIAN ORDER: Thirty-four at present and looking to recruit to 50 active members. Once we reach that point we’ll discuss as a clan whether we wish to expand further or consolidate. As I mentioned, we have a pretty good camaraderie going and we want to be careful not to lose that.

JoBildo: Understandable, it's a pretty delicate balance between too few and too many members in a guild, especially in AoC where a guild of 24 is needed to even build a city. Now, it’s a pretty popular thing in terms of guilds and clans to host events on their respective servers. Is that something VARANGIAN ORDER ever does?

VARANGIAN ORDER: We sure hope to hold events, but at this stage we’re fairly focused on what’s happening in our clan. We have a very elaborate awards system and a lot of ceremonies, each of which is scripted, for the granting of those awards and for promotions. We have our regular mead hall (tavern) events. Raid, siege and dungeon events (using Teamspeak) will be a big thing as our members get to higher level.

JoBildo: Well since you guys are recruiting for new members, can you tell us what exactly it takes to become one of the Clan? What’s required of a future member?

VARANGIAN ORDER: That’s real simple – mature, fun people! And a willingness to role-play or at least acceptance that others in the clan role-play. Although we have turned people away, our recruitment policy is hardly draconian, so if people are interested they should send us a line, but sooner rather than later.

JoBildo: Alright, and with that the interview comes to a close. Thanks so much guys for taking the time to answer these questions and letting the community know everything they could want to know about VARANGIAN ORDER. It’s been a pleasure.

VARANGIAN ORDER: No, no, thank you. Love your work.