About the Guild
A living history of Harbingers of Light — from EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot through World of Warcraft, Warhammer, Guild Wars 2, Elder Scrolls Online, ArcheAge, and the Discord era that carries the guild forward today.
From Harbingers of Ire to Harbingers of Light
The Harbingers of Light guild was founded by Golyn (Golin) in the early days of EverQuest I, prior to Ruins of Kunark, on the E’ci server. It was originally established as the Harbingers of Ire.
The guild migrated shortly after the Shadows of Luclin expansion to Mythic’s Dark Age of Camelot on the Percival server, where it was renamed Harbingers of Light. The Dark Age of Camelot guild, originally led by Lady Katriona, eventually adopted a leadership-team organizational structure with founding members each serving in the capacity of guild master. While there, the guild thrived, with its yellow and green battle standard becoming a regular fixture in the frontier lands of Hibernia for the next three years.
Guild history through the MMO years
The first campfires
HoL’s earliest roots began in EverQuest, where Golyn founded the guild on E’ci as Harbingers of Ire before the move that would eventually give the guild its enduring name.
Hibernia, Percival, and the name Harbingers of Light
After moving to Dark Age of Camelot, the guild became Harbingers of Light. The Hibernian years helped establish both the guild’s name and its culture: a leadership team, a recognizable yellow-and-green standard, and a strong presence in the frontier lands.
Cenarion Circle, Sisters of Elune, and the Light Council
Upon the release of World of Warcraft, many guild members moved to that game. Golyn founded Harbingers of Light on the Cenarion Circle server shortly after release. Though game mechanics did not allow for multiple leaders, the guild maintained its leadership-team philosophy through the Light Council.
Later, the majority of HoL’s World of Warcraft community migrated from Cenarion Circle to the Sisters of Elune server, prompted partly by education-related projects between Golyn, Munchausen (Ghutz), and players on that server. HoL continued there through the Cataclysm expansion before setting its eyes on Star Wars: The Old Republic.
LotRO, CoH, EQ2, Horizons, SWG, and beyond
Over the years, guild members explored a wide range of MMOs including Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, EverQuest II, Horizons, and Star Wars Galaxies. As the guild grew, it also branched into games and platforms like Xbox Live, World of Tanks, Battlefield, and League of Legends.
Phoenix Throne and the Order standard
Following World of Warcraft, HoL moved into Warhammer Online: The Age of Reckoning. The Phoenix Throne server became the guild’s new home, and HoL was the first Order guild formed on that server and the third guild formed across all servers at launch.
The population of HoL grew substantially as many veterans and newcomers alike flocked to Warhammer Online. As Warhammer began to decline, a number returned to World of Warcraft for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Eventually, due to the game’s dwindling population, HoL–Warhammer merged with Dawn Eternal shortly after servers were clustered, finally closing shop in EA Mythic’s Warhammer Online.
Jung Ma and a short-lived chapter
In December of 2011, HoL entered the Jung Ma server in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The guild’s time there was short-lived, as the game failed to hold many players after they reached max level. After leaving SWTOR, guild activity began to dwindle for a time.
Gaiscioch, Tuatha, Sanctum of Rall, and WvW
Shortly thereafter, Guild Wars 2 launched, bringing together old allies and new faces. Upon moving to GW2, HoL joined the Gaiscioch Family as members of the Tuatha, an alliance of guilds, on the Sanctum of Rall server.
The guild remained active in GW2 for just over a year and gained quite a few members. During this time, Pookha (Nidircc) emerged as a well-known leader in the realm, especially in world-vs-world warfare, and took on the primary active leadership role of the Harbingers in GW2. Activity began to dwindle due to the lack of high-quality endgame PvE content and because WvW became increasingly repetitive and less meaningful as the same server groups faced each other week after week.
Ebonheart Pact and Stormtalon
Pookha led the guild through its migration to Elder Scrolls Online, following the Gaiscioch alliance to the Ebonheart Pact faction. In parallel, a number of guild members gathered to explore WildStar. On May 31, 2014, Harbingers of Light launched a new chapter in the Dominion faction on the Stormtalon server.
Tahyang and the eastern continent
Near the end of summer 2014, activity in WildStar and Elder Scrolls Online was dwindling. Some members introduced the guild to ArcheAge, a game they had been testing over the previous few months. After HoL participated in the open beta on August 4, 2014, the majority of the guild decided to give the game a try at launch.
On August 16, 2014, Harbingers of Light launched a new gaming chapter on the eastern continent of the Tahyang server.
Still gathering, still returning, still carrying the light
After the ArcheAge era, Harbingers of Light continued less as a single-game guild locked to one MMO and more as a long-running community of friends moving between worlds. Members have returned to older homes like World of Warcraft for new expansions and content cycles, sampled new MMOs and online worlds for shorter stretches, and gathered around survival games, strategy nights, shooters, and member-hosted servers whenever a game brought people together.
The center of gravity eventually shifted from traditional guild forums and single-game rosters to Discord: a shared hall where old Harbingers, returning friends, and new companions can stay connected even when no one title holds everyone for long. The games have changed many times. The reason for gathering has not.
— The Historian