One of my earliest roleplaying memories from way back when I first started playing WoW and wound up on a little server called Silver Hand, was a paladin named Sorox. He was a heavy roleplayer and a nice guy who developed an intense, strictly in-character rivalry with one of my fellow guildies and officers. That really stuck to me at the time. I was a new player and a new roleplayer, and here was this crazy rivalry that continued to manifest itself through the months. That, I thought, was pretty awesome, and certainly inspired me to start tentatively roleplaying myself. He had other characters, too, and while I never knew him as well as many others, to say that I knew of him and respected him as a fellow roleplayer and a good person would be an understatement.

Today, I heard some horrible news. By way of a fluke accident, he had wound up in the hospital, in a coma. The entire server had him in their collective thoughts and prayers… but it was not to be, and he passed away.

So when I learned of a memorial walk to be held in his honor, I went.

We all did.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
across Northrend’s bright and shining snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
on Westfall’s fields of golden grain.
I am in the morning hush,
of Stranglethorn’s jungle, green and lush.
I am in the drums loud and grand,
the thunderous hooves across Nagrand.
I am the stars warmly gleaming,
over Darnassus softly dreaming.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.
-Alicia’s Poem

My fellow Silver Handers who I have linked this to, I did not know Ryan as well as I would have liked. But the seeing the community get together like this was simply amazing. And for that, I thank you.

This is Silver Hand, and this is WoW.

-Tawyn