Stormwind City, Sunday night. Whiskey Company has ended its seven years of guard duty and withdrawn most of its members from military service, according to Jane Black and Tintin Tinwhistle, who said the unit will continue as an independent company taking smaller assignments from the public.
Black estimated that about 90 per cent of the company had left the military, while Tinwhistle said some members had chosen to remain on the payroll. Whiskey Company itself has not disbanded, but its days as a guard unit are over.
The change was discussed at the city cemetery on Sunday night, where healers were tending the injured following a fight involving guards, civilians and suspected Defias attackers. Black said she had seen only about five guards present and that civilians had entered the fighting in the absence of a perimeter. Tinwhistle dryly observed that Whiskey Company’s departure from guard work “might have reduced the overall capacity of law enforcement”.
Black said the company had grown frustrated with restrictions on its work and hostility towards its uniform. “Truthfully, it isn’t worth it,” she said. “We are roadblocked on every side, we are hated by anyone who so much as breathes near us, and we can do so much more in this world than be called tin cans and told no by someone who does far less.”
Tinwhistle agreed that “the animosity you get for wearing a uniform is palpable”. Neither offered specific examples of the restrictions or hostility during the conversation, but as a journalist who has been around the block for awhile I am not surprised to hear them express this. Animosity - often with no good reason - towards the guards has been a favourite past time hobby of the citizens of Stormwind for decades.
According to Black, the breaking point was the death of Eleanor Morgan during an operation. She said Whiskey Company was denied a military funeral for Morgan because the operation in which she died had been classified as an accident rather than a death in the line of action.
“We used up what was left of our budget to give her the funeral she deserved,” Black said. The decision meant that “Whiskey Company as a military force would be no more”. Tinwhistle described it as a good funeral.
The company’s new work will be smaller in scale and directed principally towards civilians. Black said its present list included requests from an elderly woman, an orphan, a sailor, a farmer and concerned travellers. Tinwhistle offered a still more concise summary: “We rescue cats from trees now, and teddy bears that are missing.” No cat had yet made the necessary error, although Black said one in Elwynn still needed finding.
Black said the company would accept work that helps people and does not harm innocents. “We are not out for personal gain,” she said. “We seek to make a difference.” The company had formally taken its new shape only the previous day and had not completed an assignment at the time of the interview, though several were being arranged.
Asked what would govern an armed company no longer working from a guard lawbook, Black recited its code of conduct from memory. The rules require obedience to a chain of command unless an order endangers members or innocent third parties, mutual protection among members, discretion concerning clients and operations, proper care of equipment, and professional conduct both on and off duty.
The code also prohibits intimidation of civilians, excessive force, theft, harassment, abuse, criminal behaviour, bribery and extortion. It requires accepted contracts to be completed unless they violate the company’s principles. Black said personal politics, prejudices and opinions must not obstruct the work.
Tinwhistle insisted that the company’s values had not vanished with its uniform. “We still have morals,” he said. “That doesn’t just disappear with taking off a tabard.” He added that he trusted Black, correcting her old title of captain to commander as he spoke. More vitally for those concerned about institutional continuity, he said the company had managed to bring its coffee machine.
Whiskey Company is recruiting for its new civilian work. Black said previous experience was not required because training would be provided, but applicants must be willing to work and to do something with their lives. She described the offer as a chance “to do some good, fight some bad guys, earn some coins, and have a drink with a family at the end of the night”.
Seven years of guard service leave a sizeable record behind, whatever readers thought of the company’s methods or its uniforms. Black said some people would miss Whiskey Company, some might now decide it had been more competent than they believed, and others might never think of it again.
The old guard unit is finished, but the organisation carrying its name is already seeking work. “One way or another,” Black said, “Whiskey Company, Black Label Edition, is a go.”