Sapphire, Ambassador of the Alliance
Despite being of draenei ancestry I find there are benefits to have been brought to Azeroth. Whilst our Elekk mounts are big and powerful creatures they are not as elegant as I would like, so it was exciting to see that the night elves nearby had trained sabre cats as mounts. I moved on from Bloodmyst Isle early to work more closely with the elves, learning about their culture and helping their citizens and military alike. My work paid off, earning exalted reputation with Darnassus and being able to ride a big cat.
My adventuring subsequently took me to the Plaguelands, through the Dark Portal and then to the cold land of Northrend, although my relationship with the night elves was not forgotten. However, I was surprised to find out that all of my later adventures had improved relations significantly with the other Alliance factions, putting me half-way through revered for humans, gnomes and dwarfs alike. It seems that only a bit more effort would see my reputation be raised to exalted with the Alliance as a whole, which must be worth attempting.
There is one task that might dissuade me from achieving my goal, so I take it on first to see if it would stop me, thinking it would be better to find out sooner rather than later. I agree with the King of the Gnomes to enter his capital to displace the leper gnome colony with which it is now infected. Gnomeregan always seemed sprawling and dangerous in the past but at 78th level, where I can run through mobs without attracting hostile repercussions, it is much smaller than I remember and the usurper boss is despatched efficiently. I am off to a good start.
With Gnomeregan behind me I turn my attention towards the humans of Stormwind. Knifey was happy with getting exalted with Stormwind for his pony and the areas of Westfall and Duskwood are gloriously full of interesting quests, making it an enjoyable romp at any level. I even turn my attention to the starter zone, early in the morning to avoid interfering with new heroes, and the wealth of opportunities available makes reaching exalted with the humans swift.
I head towards Dun Morogh for reputation with the dwarfs next, becoming exalted with Ironforge being another goal Knifey managed. It must be somewhat more fulfilling to achieve exalted reputations whilst levelling at the same time but it is still a rewarding goal at any level. Another quick visit to the starting zone and working through Dun Morogh and most of the somewhat tedious Wetlands content is enough to increase my Ironforge reputation to exalted, not needing to enter Uldaman this time thanks to plenty of reputation gains from the past thirty levels.
Working on my reputation with the dwarfs also helps my standings with the gomes, as they share the same starting region, although not enough to earn me exalted repuation with Gnomeregan, something even Knifey didn't achieve, and he's a gnome. Rather than attempt to find further gnomish quests I instead turn my attention back to my heritage and return to Bloodmyst Isle to finish what I started many months ago. There are plentiful quests to keep me occupied whilst working for my people and it is good to be 'home' for a while, after spending so long away in a violent world. With so many tasks to complete reaching exalted reputation with the Exodar is simple if a little time-consuming, leaving only Gnomeregan reputation to increase.
I now realise another side-effect of gaining so much reputation. Whilst questing on Bloodmyst Isle with three other Alliance factions at their maximum exalted level the sympathetic reputation gains are being applied more strongly towards Gnomeregan, as diplomatic relations between the Alliance races mean reputation gains with one faction cause a smaller increase with the other factions. Instead of having to return to the Eastern Kingdoms to work for the gnomes it looks like completing a few more quests with the draenei will be enough to achieve my objective and, sure enough, without having to work with the cloth quartermasters throughout my endeavour, I reach exalted status with Gnomeregan ere long.
With reaching the exalted reputation level with all five Alliance factions—Darnassus, Stormwind, Ironforge, Exodar and Gnomeregan—comes a special distinction. I am bestowed with the 'Ambassador of the Alliance' achievement, which also comes with the title of 'Ambassador'. I feel duly proud of my accomplishment and I am happy for the world to see me as Ambassador Sapphire.
14th November 2009 at 2.01 am
Well written =)