ast week was the celebration of one year of the Trade Nights in Dalaran. Many events took place during the week, like the Feast of Scribes the 26th and a fashion show and party by TK-Studios the 28th, those events are the topics of this article.

Feast of Scribes

Dalaran is, without a doubt, a cultural centre for magic, but also literature, and in the spirit of celebrating that each year they host the Feast of Scribes, a magnificent place to showcase the result of months of research and writing. During this edition we had the chance to see the work of two research and two literary works. This article will offer a short summary and I would like to encourage anyone interested to find a copy of this research and books to read them with more calm. Herbalism research Starting with the hostess herself, Magus Jendrock presented a research proposal about herbalism in Azeroth. As we all know we have had many magical incidents happening in different places where different types of magic were involved, and this might have affected the local flora changing its proprieties. Magus Kelly Jendrock: ”The bombing of Theramore as well as the void occurrences in Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms respectively raise questions whether or not the local flora may be at risk of adaptation, evolution or outright corruption. This brings into question their suitability as components for a variety of standardised alchemical recipes, as this could be dangerous. Taking it a step further, local fauna could also be affected. Therefore, I would like to end this talk with a call for further investigation, examination and extensive research into the evolution of the flora in Uldum, The Vale of Eternal Blossoms, and Dustwallow Marsh.“ A more in-depth article about this proposal can be found in the Kirin Tor Monthly, titled “The Revolution of Azeroth Flora”. Divination research As mages, and some readers might know from previous articles, Divination is a dangerous school, even more when forces like fel or void get involved. But that precisely means it requires more research to know how to deal with it, prevent it from being used against Kingdoms. In a joint effort the Office of Magical Affairs and the Kirin Tor have presented a research about this. Magus Cassandra Hawk: ”Umbral Divination is a category of Divination which is specially tailored for targeting fel and void magic, while strictly relying on Arcane magic. The publication features Divination spell augmentations as well as test results indicative of their efficiency. These spells show a considerably higher success rate when targeting void and fel, however, they are also considerably more complicated and straining to use. An example is the Umbral Tracing spell, which was our first spell. This was the result of experimentation with the purpose of testing if the Law of Sympathy could be applied to void magic. With this first publication we hope to inspire future research in this field, so that our world as a whole becomes a more formidable target for any lingering threats. Information saves lives in such dire times. We also hope that this publication will show that one does not need to rely on dangerous magic in order to deal with it reliably. After all... Arcane Magic can do anything, as long as we know how to ask for it.” Poetic recital Some may already know Bertel Wobblespring from the Poetry Appreciation Society who meets every month alternating between Stormwind and Dalaran. For those who do not, maybe you will want to start attending those nights after reading some of the poems Bertel read during the night.
His first poem, “Purple Poem – A poetic purple suit to the color purple”: I got purple pants and purple gloves on my hands I got a purple mind, of a different kind I would have a purple hat, if it was not black I got a purple soul, or so I was told.' Purple, purple, purple... Pour the purple, purple stream, waterfall of purple dreams, Gleams of purple haze when smoking, Don't you think I'd just been joking! Purple is the color purple, sometimes hue in red or blue, most of times it's simply purple, purple, purple time, purple rhyme, this is it:! A purple sign! Nothing purple left behind, purple as a violet, violet, nothing purple is a hurdle, shining red and blue as true, mix it up or differentiate it, purple is what purple made it, understand! don't misconceive, simply make it make believe, purple is the greatest color, everything else is just a tad more duller I think I here have made my point: Not pink, not grey, nor green or yellow Purple is the color of this fella'!
A fun poem about the hard life of some bards, “The Bardles”: Once there was a band of bards The Bardles was their name They never finished any songs Which kind of was a shame They made five hundred only half No start and no beginning They just kept playing on and on To no avail or winning Their show and songs were never done And neither were they all that fun Yet never would they stop, Nor start The band of bards, The Bardles People frowned and aksed: "That's art"? Their manager would startle Proclaim they were just warming up And rightful never started That caused the audience to leave The band seemed not to care Or might've not even been aware The pause between their sets was brief The spotlight stolen by a thief Who didn't seem to mind To pick the pocket of the beat The drummer took not kind And way too late, behind beat, mind He threw a fit, And then his sticks He left the band behind for good Never was he seen again The band played on a half refrain, forsooth And never stopped since then.
This is just a small taste, if you want more you can find the Poetry Appreciation Society the 11th of February in Stormwind and the 11th of March in Dalaran. A piece of history To end the night Archmage Moonblaze presented his next book, his memoirs, who for many could also be a history book. Of course, from the perspective of an individual, but it is this type of books and stories that serve historians to know so much about the past. Here is an extract of his presentation: Archmage Moonblaze: ”I was there when Azshara was crowned Queen of the Kaldorei, and when Elun’dris became Zin-Azshari. I was there when the Kaldorei Resistance was nearly wiped out by the betrayal of Neltharion, colloquially known as Deathwing, in the raging battle above the Well of Eternity. I was there when the continents fractured, when the War of the Satyr drenched our woods in blood, when the Highborne sailed to Quel’thalas, when our race descended into an ages-long vigil that isolated Kalimdor from the world. I have scoured the depths of Northrend and the halls of Ulduar, infiltrated the Nexus, witnessed the brutal end of Shandaral, seen the Spell of Conjuration tear Draenor apart. I have meddled with forces beyond my understanding, travelled the stars, conversed with servants of the gods and seen the ravages of their failings, studied and bent time for as long as I can remember, and I have only one meaningful lesson to teach you.” The lesson? Well, one must read the book to know it, and I will admit I have already ordered a copy from the Know-Lodge bookshop in Dalaran. And so ended a night that hopefully served as a break for researchers and writers alike, but also as inspiration. Maybe, with some luck, next year we will see even more presentations this night, some of people that started a project inspired by this, but remember that writing and researching is marathon, not a fast race.

1st Anniversary of T-K Studios

Many will know this shop, either for the shows they organise or for buying clothes in there, whatever the case is, it has been a year filled with fashion and T-K Studios organised a show and party for it. Khari: ”First off, I vant to zank all of you for comink out zis evenink to celebrate a -whole year- of T-K Studios tradink here in Dalaran! Since relocatink ze store over to Dalaran... It vasn't lonk before I realised vhat a great decision zat vas! In doink so ve extended our vorkforse and have gained a great community around us... And zat in itself is vorth celebratink! And so... zis is not only a celebration of T-K Studios itself, but also to zhose of you who have collaborated vith us, purchased from us, or even if you have just popped in zat one time for a browse... T-K Studios vould not be vhat it is today vithout all of you! And so, ve zank you! Now zhen! To kick off ze entertainment for zis evenink our models vill show off our new anniversary clothink range, made in celebration of zis occasion! Durink zis first part of ze show, contest contestants can relax in ze audience! And for ze second part of ze show ve have a fashion contest! Our contestants will be judged on how vell zhey meet ze theme... our company colours! Blue, purple, white, silver, and gold! (…) Myself, ze fabulous Tristian and one and only Kazia vill be your contest judges tonight!” I have seen various fashion shows during the years, but none like this, and it is always a pleasure to see how someone evolves in their ideas, how they try things, until they get it working. Every show had some sort of hard start, but the performance Khari offered with a rap was simply stellar. Add to that the music, a great selection too, playing as models walked by and you have much more than clothes, you get a real proper fashion show. And we hope to see more in that line this next year, may it serve for other events as inspiration to find new way to make something spectacular. Many people participated in the show, on the first part before the contest, like Barovar Sunwhisper who commented after how nice the experience was for him. We even saw a couple walking together with matching outfits, Nireva Ku'zhar and Soirane Summerdawn, who explained they are engaged and wanted to participate together. Then the contest took place and ended with Deedi in third place, Fyre’radell in second and Kesego Silverhide as the winner, even if all contestants showed great styles, only one can win. I had the chance to ask Fyre’radell for some words about the experience and the result: Fyre'radell: ”Oh it was great! The hype and the feeling you get on stage dressed all wondrous and fancy is great! I'm happy with second place, everyone else looked so incredible too! And to be quite honest? My outfit was missing the silver colour! (…) Rather fantastical, I enjoyed it thoroughly, I look forward to the next.” Finally, the party moved to the shop of T-K Studios where I asked the owner, Khari, about the year which has passed: Khari: “Oh vell... for ze most part T-K Studios has had a lot of success! Since re-locatink ze shop here business has been on ze up! Ve had a few unfortunate incidents alonk ze vay, but for ze most part everyzink has gone rather vell!” Let’s hope it continues going well and we can also enjoy a great show next year.