Defias Brotherhood

The Defias Brotherhood is a neutral group of assassins, thieves and pirates that are hostile to the Alliance. dwelling in the rural areas of the Kingdom of Stormwind, mostly that of Elwynn and Westfall - both of them are areas not easily protected by the Army.

Razed by the Horde in the First War, the city of Stormwind required a small army of engineers and artisans in order to begin a massive program of reconstruction. After restoring the city to its former glory, the workers gathered outside Stormwind Keep to collect payment for their services. This came as a surprise to the nobility of the city, who had assumed that the work was being done as a matter of civic pride. Whether they were unable or simply unwilling to proffer payment, they immediately ordered the workers exiled from the city. With only the tools in their hands and the clothes on their backs, the workers were forced out of Stormwind and into Elwynn Forest.

The shocked and forlorn workers were rallied by engineer Edwin VanCleef and became bandits, collecting their payment one traveler at a time. Marking themselves with a tattoo of a cog on their right hand, the bandits declared that “the machine will not run smoothly if the parts go renegade” to each waylaid traveler. Banditry and thievery quickly became a way of life for the exiles, banding together under VanCleef’s leadership as the Defias Brotherhood. Over the years, the ranks of the Brotherhood have been bolstered by the skilled, the desperate and the outcast, and now those marked with the cog tattoo signifying membership number in the hundreds. In Elwynn Forest and the area around Stormwind, the Brotherhood has mastered the art of the ambush, and despite protection by the Stormwind City Guard, few caravans get through the woods unhindered. The Guard’s inability and unwillingness to pursue the Brotherhood into Westfall has led the farmers and villagers in the area to form The People's Militia in an attempt to stave off the Brotherhood’s constant looting.

Lacking any formal military training, the outcasts who formed the Defias Brotherhood might have been forcibly disbanded long ago were it not for the skilled craftsmen and tinkers who made up its founding membership. These founders have worked together to give members of the Brotherhood access to an array of mechanical devices and weapons ranging from climbing equipment and smoke bombs to automatic crossbows and wagon traps (clamps buried in the ground that seize heavy wheels passing overhead and stop wagons on the spot). When the Defias Brotherhood advanced into Westfall, the goblins of the area were upset both by the Brotherhood’s raids on the merchant trains that supplied their shops and by the Brotherhood’s refusal to sell their inventions at goblin merchant outposts. After repeated attempts by the goblins at negotiation were met by increased attacks on their suppliers by the Brotherhood, the merchants hired a group of mercenaries to hunt the bandits. This hunt resulted in the only major battle fought by the Brotherhood — and led to the capture of all goblins in Westfall by the renegade bandits. Chained together, they were marched south into the Dead Mines and put under the command of Edwin VanCleef. What has happened to them since is unknown, until recently.

See also: Record of Defias Activity

History
The Alliance recaptured Stormwind after the Second War, finding the city in ruins. King Terenas ordered a massive reconstruction of the city with the assistance of the Alliance human nations and member races. Many of the exiles and refugees from the first war started to return to their old homeland.

The construction was overseen by the House of Nobles, who accepted the help of many artisans and specialists from across the Eastern Kingdoms. The spirit of rebuilding, hope, and prosperity struck many who decided to volunteer for the great work. However, other less altruistic laborers considered the opportunity of rebuilding as a lucrative government contract; a chance to prove their craftsmanship and start anew. Eager to forge new lives, these craftsmen traveled to Stormwind, many bringing their families at great expense.

When the rebuilding was completed, many craftsmen rightly demanded payment for their labor. Engineers, laborers, stonewrights, and blacksmiths marched together to the new keep to request just payment for their services. But there was nothing left to pay with, the remainder of the funds having been spent in order to expand Stormwind's military presence into the surrounding regions. To "solve" the problem, the nobles expelled the "greedy" laborers and artisans from the rebuilt kingdom. The nobles had their new city -- and those that built it were left broken and empty-handed.

Alone, betrayed, and disillusioned with the Alliance, the group turned to the head of the Stonemasons, Edwin VanCleef, for leadership. VanCleef -- master engineer, former assassin under Master Mathias Shaw -- then founded the "Defias Brotherhood". Ostensibly standing for freedom and justice, they built a base of operations in the Deadmines of Westfall -- and VanCleef began plotting his revenge against the kingdom that had betrayed him.

Organization
Anyone with a sword and a cog tattoo can declare himself part of the Defias Brotherhood and begin robbing traveling merchants. Yet the Brotherhood hears of such activity quickly, long before even the Stormwind Guard, and new self-initiates soon find themselves visited by a member who instructs them in the ways of the Brotherhood. If the initiate agrees, he is officially allowed to join the Defias Brotherhood. If an initiate proves disagreeable, he is paid a second, quieter visit shortly thereafter by a shadowy form wielding a pneumatic crossbow. Most initiates quickly join one of the Brotherhood’s many established raiding parties. These groups are generally known as “bands,” though they often adopt more colorful nicknames, from the “Southpath Raiders” to the “Roadspirits.” In some cases, as with “Rillo’s Leafwalkers,” a band is named after its leader, called a “captain” in the Brotherhood. Captains lead and control their bands with force and cunning, and most experienced captains bear scars demonstrating their ability to withstand challenges by young upstarts. Captains plan the raids of their bands, and they are responsible for supplying their bands with not only food and shelter but also training in the art of the ambush and the technology that gives the Brotherhood an edge. Initiates interested in becoming full Defias renegades quickly become familiar with the requirements described for the prestige class, as their instructors put them through a grueling training regimen until they qualify.

Captains and their bands are given free reign by the Brotherhood’s leadership to steal, pillage, harass and harry as often as they like and as long as they can avoid open conflict with the troops of the Stormwind Guard and the People’s Militia. Occasionally, however, higher-ranking members of the Brotherhood are sent out with “knife squads” to warn bands who go too far; in the words of Edwin VanCleef, “a dead traveler carries no treasure, and a ruined village has no plunder.” The Brotherhood requires that captains bring a quarter of all loot to Moonbrook, where it helps fund the research and activities of VanCleef and the Brotherhood’s leadership. In return, the Brotherhood gives captains access to the technological advances made in the labs within their hidden headquarters.

They are known for attacking caravans and travelers across central and western Azeroth. In Westfall, they are known for brazenly and openly looting farms and village merchants. Bands of the Defias Brotherhood are found mainly in Westfall and Elwynn Forest, though they occasionally range into Duskwood and other parts of northern Azeroth. The few who have managed to track them so far believe that the Brotherhood works out of the remote town of Moonbrook in southern Westfall. Yet its true headquarters is actually nearby in an underground fortress constructed in the labyrinthine Dead Mines.

Membership
Renegades of the Defias Brotherhood tend to be exceptionally skilled, swift of foot and mind, and mechanically adept. They also tend to feel alienated from society at large and are often looking for some sort of revenge, even if they don’t know how or against whom. As well, they need to be able to show enough initiative to seek out and join the Brotherhood of their own free will, though once inside they are expected to follow orders within the wide borders of freebooting and banditry. The majority of the renegades are human, with a small portion of dwarves come south out of Khaz Modan and a few high elves upset at the army of Stormwind for refusing to march north and retake all of Quel’Thalas. Half-elves, half-orcs and others who feel outcast from their own races have also bonded with Defias bands and become renegades.

The Defias Today
Having long forsaken those noble virtues on which their brotherhood was founded, the mysterious Defias faction is now composed of thieves, bandits, and vicious mercenaries. This vile group is determined to wreak havoc upon, and ultimately destroy, the House of Nobles in Stormwind City. Convinced that the nobles are corrupt and villainous, the Defias Brotherhood has waged an underground war in a quest to rid the land of their hated enemies.

It is also known that groups of gnolls, kobolds and even goblins each help the Defias Brotherhood in their own particular ways. For example, goblins built Harvest Golems at the behest of the Defias Brotherhood to scare off the local inhabitants of Westfall, allowing the Defias to run their smuggling operations with greater impunity. The Harvest Golems have done that job well -- eliciting terror in anyone foolish enough to roam alone in the fallow fields of Westfall. Now, in Westfall, only The People's Militia stand in the way of Defias operations, which seemingly become more brazen by the day.

The Defias have taken over parts of Elwynn Forest, Duskwood, Westfall, and have recently caused significant problems in the Stormwind Stockade. They are a dangerous group, with infiltrators in the highest circles of Stormwind Nobles and a sinister single-mindedness in the execution of their illegal trading. Wiley the Black in Lakeshire rumors that the Defias have even begun work on a "weapon of mass destruction"...a hypothetical weapon of unknown origins and power. However the existence or non-existence of such a weapon is not expected to effect any unilateral action that may be taken against the Defias by bands of adventurers. That weapon is probably a reference to the huge juggernaut battleship that is in construction in the Deadmines. After all, the entire Deadmines are a huge construction yard for the ship. It is also revealed in some lower mid-level quests, such as, that the Defias have staged a worldwide plot related to the 10-year old king of Stormwind, Anduin Wrynn.

Allies and Leadership
Several clues exist in-game about other hostile factions in Azeroth that may be helping the Defias. The most obvious of these are of course the Riverpaw Gnolls of Westfall and the Kobolds of Elwynn Forest; according to the note sent by Wiley the Black to Gryan Stoutmantle, these groups are actively working for the Defias to help secure the mines they've captured.

While completing quests against the Bloodsail Buccaneers near Booty Bay, it is possible read a short message written by one pirate intended for his crew. The note references "our project in the Deadmines," suggesting that the Defias Pirates and Goblin Shipwrights responsible for building and crewing VanCleef's juggernaut ship might actually be Bloodsails who are cooperating in the endeavor for their own reasons...

In addition, the quest chain alludes to the Defias possibly having some kind of partnership with the Strashaz Naga near Dustwallow Swamp. One of the Defias operatives interrogated during the quest has documents that mention "our new allies" being of help in the plot. These allies might quite possible be the Naga, since (until he was moved) the missing diplomat himself was guarded by Naga on Alcaz Island...

As for the true leaders of the Defias, it is intriguing to note that the organization endures--and indeed, proceeds to some of its more dangerous plots--well after the death of VanCleef, who was supposed to be in charge. While it is possible some of his underlings might have merely stepped up to fill his role (such as Bazil Thredd), another possibility is that VanCleef was never totally in control even while alive, and that he was in fact being manipulated by a higher power. It is clear that the Defias, for all their hatred of the Stormwind House of Nobles, nonetheless have considerable ties to certain nobles (the operative example being Lord Gregor Lescovar). Perhaps someone with influence in the House of Nobles is directing the Defias... someone who already manipulates much of Stormwind on her own...