Clan:Wilderness Guardians



"We are the Shield of the Innocent"

=Introduction= thumb|left|400px

The Wilderness Guardians, formerly known as the "PK PKs", is a clan founded by His Lordship in 2003. In the 6 years of it's existence, WG (or WildGuard) has become one of the most famous RuneScape clans for their revolutionary and impressive feats and accomplishments. WG has hosted four real-life meetings, have for sale a clan t-shirt, own the best website of any clan in any game online, and much more which has changed the face of RuneScape and it's clan world over the years.

History


WildGuard was formed by His Lordship on December 6th, 2003, following his post on the Rune Village fansite's forums entitled "Read This If You Hate PKers". The clan, originally known as the "PK PKs" was based around the concept of Anti-Random Player Killing, or ARPKing. It received an incredible response from the community, with at least 30 members joining within 2 days of opening. Along with a name change to the Wilderness Guardians, they gained the support of The Sabres (One of only two surviving pre-RuneScape clans and the strongest ARPKing clan at the time) and joined the Federation on December 19th - a syndicate of clans who shared principles of honour and ARPKing.

Over the years, WG has caused, shared and experienced far too much to be written as briefly as is required here. However, three accounts of WildGuard's history have been written and are constantly updated - a basic, a condensed and an extended version. All three of these accounts appear on WG's official website.

WildGuard Today
As of June 2010, WG remains one of the oldest surviving clans active in RuneScape to date. His Lordship is recognised as the oldest clan leader serving a consecutive term in the rank. The clan's community is thriving, and the fifth Real Life meeting has been planned to take place around the date of the Jagex-organised RuneFest event. WG hosts at least two official PKing trips (Known as "raids") per week, and are still a strong force in the P2P PvP aspect of the game, constantly taking on forces such as the Jaja, Welfarers and Mlp Maku teams. The clan is known to be one of the last honour-based clans in the game, and are restrengthening their code of honour and ARPKing concept even despite the changes to the game's PvP system.

Future
Despite WG's present force being a distance away from what they once were at their peak, a close ending seems unlikely. Even though the Great War in January 2010 was a defeat in terms of RuneScape, His Lordship and many other members consider it a victory otherwise, and are continuing to focus on working on restoring the clan. Plans for WG events such as the Real Life meetings extend up until the end of 2010. WG is returning to active warring, and are still a force to be reckoned with in P2P PvP, with weekly raids being re-introduced. Many members believe that WG will survive about as long as clans like The Sabres or THE Clan, or until RuneScape closes.

=RuneScape PvP= In the six years it has existed, WG has hosted many clan wars, and taken on forces such as Damage Incorporated, Dark Slayers, Violent Resolution, Reign of Terror, and many more. WG's rules and codes, as well as our most famous and noteable wars, are listed below.

Wilderness Guardians vs Rune Outlaws vs Knights of Death
thumb|left|300px WG's first war, held on November 27th, 2004. Previously, the Rune Outlaws had greatly insulted WG, and so WG declared war in a battle for pride. However, shortly before the battle, His Lordship unknowingly released war details to a member of the Knights of Death. KoD then thought WG was hosting a war against them, and prepared to fight on the same day.

WG, led by His Lordship, made their way up to the Demonic Ruins and charged from the west, but found only looters and spies. With RO nowhere in sight, the WG members lowered their guard. Only seconds later, Knights of Death entered from the south-east and rushed the unprepared WildGuard. It is unclear when RO became involved. An intense three-way fight ensured, and the battle spread halfway across the Wilderness. All sides suffered heavy casualties, and no final victor was decided.

Very little was known about the WG vs RO vs KoD war except for the clan's history's account. On November 2nd, 2009, surviving footage of the war (Recorded by Wildflame110 of WG) was edited and released as a video entitled WG - First Blood (Left) to YouTube. The video shows WG walking to the Demonic Ruins and the start of the fight; however, the footage ends only a few minutes after the fight began, as Wildflame accidentaly backspace-logged out. Another WG member, Maxrobinsun, is noted to have said that he also was recording the war in PMs seen in screenshots, although what happened to this recording of the war is currently unknown.

Wilderness Guardians vs Dead on Arrival
thumb|right|300px Hosted on July 9th, 2005, the Wilderness Guardians vs Dead on Arrival (Two of the top clans at the time) war and video have become famous throughout the clan world. Noted for it's methods and tactics, it was the first P2P war to incorporate the use of Ancient Magics (A standard almost always used in P2P PvP today). WildGuard was the projected victor, with a turnout of around 120 members (~360 "opts" or Options), while DoA pulled around 100 members (300 opts).

WG was the attacking clan, and the fight took place at the Demonic Ruins (Also known as the Greater Demons or shortened to "Gdz"). Within 30 seconds of the start of the battle, over 3,500 damage was struck. The war itself, unfortunately, was crashed by the clan Followers of Malkov (About 10 minutes after the death of the cameraman, with many WG and DoA still fighting), and the victor was unresolved.

The WG vs DoA was WG's first P2P war, and His Lordship says that it was the best war he has ever attended in over 5 years of wars. The RuneScape fansite Zybez (RuneScape Community) continuously votes the video of the war (Right) as the most enjoyable clan video to watch, and it has been described as having obtained "classic" status in WG and the clan world of RuneScape. WG vs DoA began WG's domination of P2P PvP for the following year.

It is also noteable that this was the first time WG's massing location was at Juliet's house in Varrock. This has become a historical location for the clan, and many more of the important wars in WildGuard's history have been massed for here.

X vs Dark Slayers + FA
thumb|300px|left| The war, known as "X vs DS" was hosted on July 23rd, 2006. Group "X" was composed of the Wilderness Guardians, their junior clan Descendant Guardians, Chivalry Legions, Rune Raiders, and RR Juniors. "DS" was a combination of Dark Slayers and their Future Applicants. A source from 2008 suggests that WG/DG and RR/RR Juniors had ~200 members present each, while CL had ~170, totalling around the 570-member mark. X had multiple fall-ins. His Lordship's fall-in had 372 opts as is shown from the video prior to the start of the war. A click on DS's fall-in showed they had at least 110 members, although someone is noted to have said "Omg ds have 600 opts", so it is likely that there were more.

The deathmarch of X starts at Juliet's house in Varrock, and follows the course of through the Barbarian Village to the Monastery (To recharge prayer and gain the +1 bonus), then into the wild, and ends at the Demonic Ruins. With an estimated 500+ people involved, it is the single largest deathmarch in RuneScape history.

The battle itself started at the typical war location - the large, open area of flat land west of the Demonic Ruins and south of the Members' Gate. His Lordship was one of the first piles, and was KOed instantly, with time only to say "Go". Despite DS being drastically outnumbered, X lost the war, as the vast majority of the clan fell victim to KOs from DS's unchallenged organization and skill.

The video was filmed by Jrm_04 of X, and uploaded to YouTube on February 3rd, 2007. Despite it containing legendary and historical footage from one of the greatest wars in RuneScape, it has gained only around 400 views.

Wilderness Guardians vs The British Crusaders
Also known as "The Great War", one of the most important wars in WG's history. After events which happened in 2008/2009, WG had begun to lose the strength and effort to progress forwards. On January 23rd, His Lordship addressed the issues and WG's plans for the future in a video known as the Great Announcement. The video, which included an address from Council/Warlord Stokenut, also outlined an upcoming war against Dragonwood on the 31st.

With only a week's preparation given, it was intense. His Lordship followed up the announcement with three war-prep videos and a Flash banner, although he himself could not attend (Due to the real-life meeting #3 taking place). Only hours before the war, Dragonwood pulled out, so WG declared on The British Crusaders for the same day and time.

WG massed 47 members at Juliet's house in Varrock (An amazing turnout for only a 1-week prep - something WG could not have achieved 6 months previously), each with over 2,000,000 coins worth of gear. Several WG members even changed their RuneScape names for the war (To variations of "WE GOT TEA", a WG reference joke). Despite the incredible amount of work and effort put in by everyone, TBC outpulled with 54 and won the war. However, a large amount of respect from the clan community was paid to both clans, and the war is considered by WG as a morale victory.

=Non-PvP Elements= WG is recognised for having a huge impact in-game, as well as in the clan world. WG's constant involvement in the clan community, especially by His Lordship, has even been recognised by the Jagex staff.

Flash Movies
Four Flash Movies have been created by His Lordship, based on the Wilderness Guardians. In total, these movies have gathered over 140,000 views, and are renowned throughout the clan world.

The Wilderness Guardians (2004)
Watch the video on Newgrounds.com

The first Flash movie was created during the AvidGamers era of WG, in 2004. It was also the first Flash movie that His Lordship did not scrap, and took 3 days to create. The plot tells an interpretation of the creation of RuneScape, and describes how the race of mankind has become corrupt and self-destructive. No major interpretation of the clan itself was made, although a short worded description was provided, and a link to the clan's AvidGamers website.

The movie was uploaded to Newgrounds on January 5th, 2004. It has since gained a score of 3.85/5 and has over 21,000 views.

RuneScape Guardians (2005)
Watch the video on Newgrounds.com

The second movie was created and released in the late S4 days in mid-2005. The storyline was similar to the original, but was more accurate in terms of the RuneScape game itself. The Wilderness Guardians are now shown in the battle scenes, fighting for concepts such as freedom and peace. The term "We are the Shield of the Innocent" is used. The video's text commentary is also directed more at the viewer, rather than detailing the storyline.

The movie was uploaded to Newgrounds on April 18th, 2005. With a score of 4.06/5 and over 58,000 views, it is the most-viewed of all of the Flash movies.

The Wilderness Guardians (2007)
Watch the video on Newgrounds.com

Watch the video on YouTube.com

Production for the third movie began in the early Z6 days, and is considered to be the greatest fictional movie ever created about RuneScape. The storyline was co-created by Wildflame110 and His Lordship. With the animation dramatically increased, the movie featured a scene selection, and for the first time, a spoken commentary by Mark Pilkenroth. The story is told from the first-person point of view of a villager, whose wife and child were slaughtered by plundering soldiers. The villager then proceeds to join the forces of the Wilderness Guardians. As a Guardian, a battle in which he fights ensures. He slays two of his enemies, but is then killed by a mage. The film ends with the three graves of himself, his wife and child, before a final worded address to the viewer and the credits.

After a long production, the movie was uploaded to Newgrounds on May 17th, 2007. It has gained a score of 4.12/5 and over 55,000 views. The movie was uploaded to YouTube in 2010.

The Wilderness Guardians (Machinima) (2010)
thumb|400px|left|The Wilderness Guardians (2010) While not truly a movie in the typical sense, the fourth Flash release is still considered as part of WildGuard's Flash series. After confirming with Jagex, His Lordship decided Flash was appropriate for the RuneScape Machinima Contest 2010, and set to work on February 3rd. The movie itself was released on February 19th.

Because of the 30-second time limit, it almost instantly opens into a battle involving the Wilderness Guardians. Very little is spoken, with the only voice (of the leader) done by His Lordship. The battle is then halted, as the fighters become aware of the appearance of the Corporeal Beast. The beast then roars with incredible force. A fighter turns to the narrator and leader of the Guardians, who responds simply with "Kill it." The video ends with a battle cry and the title/end credits.

The Machinima compeition guidelines were for an "advert". In the video description, His Lordship explains:

"This IS an advert for the clan, and it takes the form of a teaser trailer, rather than a "here's-my-product-now-buy-it" approach."

The battle scene is incredibly detailed and fast-paced, and arguably of much higher quality than previous movies. Even so, upon it's release controversy arose due to the fact that there was no actual RuneScape footage. His Lordship argued that Flash animation had been confirmed by Jagex, and most of the objects involved were real in-game items drawn over. Despite the support of many WildGuard and non-WildGuard viewers, the entry did not make it into the finals. Even so, it has received over 4,000 views on YouTube, and a 19:1 like to dislike ratio for ratings.

Trivia
This is the first Flash movie in which the battle scene that takes place is P2P. Previously, the characters would be wearing and wielding what would be percieved as F2P armour and weapons for their respective styles. However, in the 2007 movie, a mage casts a spell which may be interpereted as a version of a Barrage spell - only useable with the members-only Ancients spellbook.

The volcano in the background erupts exactly halfway through, at 15 seconds in.

The characters in the film are based on the following celebrities:
 * Brad Pitt/Ryan Reynolds as the narrator/leader
 * Elisha Cuthbert as the Ancient mage
 * Edward Norton as the ranger with crossbow
 * Brad Pitt (back) as the fighter shot by the ranger
 * Christopher Reeve (Acting as Superman) as the fighter drinking a potion
 * Vergil (Devil May Cry charater) as the man who turns around towards the Corporeal Beast
 * Zooey Deschanel as the girl staring at the Corporeal Beast
 * Paris Hilton (back) as the girl with the accumulator
 * The villager/Guardian from the third movie as the fighter who looks to the narrator/leader at the end

The music to the film is a composition by His Lordship, performed and recorded live by an orchestra in 2009.

Recognition by Jagex
In the Clan Submissions Page of April 30th, 2010, Jagex's Mod Mat K specified Wilderness Guardians and THE clan as two clans which he found especially unique. WildGuard was recognised mainly for His Lordship's contribution to the clan community (The section of the interview is pictured left). The Wilderness Guardians were also recignised as one of the oldest surviving clans in the game, alongside Noobs Inc and Dark Slayers (The latter of which is now deceased) in the same article.

The Clan Submissions page can be found here. The quotation was incorporated into a banner which is displayed occasionally on the WildGuard forum.

=Outside the Game=

One of the other renowned aspects of WG is the fact that they constantly take the clan further than the game itself. The clan has hosted four real life meetings, manufactured a t-shirt, and much more which emphasizes the incredibly powerful community aspect.

T-shirt
Another noteable fact about the Wilderness Guardians is that they were the first clan to have manufactured and distributed an item of clothing in real life. The WG t-shirt is made of 100% Australian cotton, and four sizes (Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large) are available. Unlike other items of clothing such as Jagex's RuneScape merchandise, it features a fashion-smart design, and is wearable in public without fear of judgement. It is available to clan members for a non-profit price, and sold otherwise to anyone at a cost of $30.50, the excess of which is put towards funding for WG's server.

The official page for the shirt on the WG website can be found HERE

Shortly after the clan's second Real Life meeting in Paris, His Lordship returned to full leadership of WG. On August 22nd, 2008, following a suggestion from a WG member, His Lordship posted a topic in the Important Announcements forum discussing possible merchandise such as coffee mugs, and rough designs for clothing - including a t-shirt. The original colour was grey (White was considered at one point), and the design was slightly different to the present render.

The shirt became a reality on August 23rd, but modifications and changes were made several weeks following. Despite the controversy of the move at the time, over 40 shirts were sold within a month of release, and dozens more over the following months.

Real Life Meetings
WG was only the third clan to host a real-life meeting. However, this was followed up by another three subsequent meetings across the globe, with a fifth and sixth in preparation - so WG holds the title of the most real-life events. So far, the four meetings have taken place in: London, England; Paris, France; Washington DC, USA and Singapore, Singapore. The fifth will be hosted around RuneFest 2010 in London, and the sixth will be in Australia at the end of the year.



London, England
The first Real Life meeting took place on January 12th, 2008, and had 7 WG members present: Jaxx456, Holykier, Snowzak, Stokenut, His Lordship, Cameronm123 and Groedius. Two of Jaxx's friends also attended, making a total of 9.

The group organised at Admiral Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square. Three main events took place - RuneScape pranks, finding Jagex HQ and getting stoned. RuneScape pranks involved the clan doing game emotes and the home teleport. Members were also given party hats, and attempted to sell them. They then found Jagex's London headquaters, and entered the offices (which were closed on the Saturday, so the entrance was illegal). In the evening, Snowzak attempted to obtain drugs for the clan's use, but accidentally purchased tea (Thus starting the common WG saying "Got tea?"). After unsuccessfully attempting to smoke the tea, real substance was obtained. The members proceeded to a Burger King restaurant, where Stokenut was escorted off the premises, became ill upon a reaction to the drugs and vodka, and had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance.

A video of the Real Life meeting was made by His Lordship and released on February 24th. Due to the YouTube restriction of a 100MB file size at the time, a lot of the footage had been cut out. The video became incredibly popular in the clan world, although Jagex eventually requested His Lordship to remove the video, due to it encouraging other players to meet up unsafely in real life. The video has since been removed as per this request.



Paris, France
The second Real Life meeting in Paris was hosted in early August 2008 (Either the 2nd, 3rd or 4th, according to His Lordship). He had organised the meeting as part of his personal holiday to the Bayreuth festival in Germany. There were four attendees: His Lordship, Snowzak, Dhboy123 (Of the clan Divine Forces) and Bassism. Bassism is noted as the only member with direct relations to WG (His Lordship was Primary Leader and Snowzak was Council), but it is still classed as a WG meeting. The group played some pranks on the RuneScape community, and then spent the rest of the night pub-crawling.

It was confirmed that video footage from the meeting did exist, although no official video was produced for the event.



Washington DC, USA
The third Real Life meeting was during a visit by His Lordship across the USA in late 2009 to early 2010. Two meetings were originally planned - one for the West Coast (San Fransisco on November 21st) and one for the East Coast (Washington DC on December 19th). However, due to lack of interest, the West Coast meeting was cancelled. Three members attended the East Coast meeting: His Lordship, Quikdrawjoe and Mmangler. The projected meeting point was at the Washington Monument.

Due to heavy snowfall in Washington, there was very little worthy of mentioning which took place at the meeting. However, all 3 of the members did attend the WG war taking place at the time. Fighting against Gladz, the P2P war resulted in a defeat for WG. In a response to the clan, the three attendees posted a "triple facepalm" picture of themselves as a topic in the Important Announcements forum. During the time of the war, the only known video footage of the meeting itself was shot. This footage has yet to be released, if it is still available.

After the meeting, His Lordship continued on his holiday across America to locations such as New York City, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Due to the clan's anniversary being post-poned to later into 2010, (Normally hosted at the end of the year), he organised a "birthday present" for the clan. This was announced on January 8th, 2010 (Right). After buying a product from the retailer Nivea, the picture of His Lordship with the caption "WILDERNESS GUARDIANS", subcaptioned "-HIS LORDSHIP, FALADOR", was displayed on an electronic billboard for a considerable amount of time to thousands of people in Times Square, New York. A RuneScape Community/Zybez topic posted by His Lordship concerning the clan's 6th birthday and the meeting gained 12 pages of responses. Despite accusations of the image being fake, overall the feat obtained an overall positive reception.

Singapore, Singapore
The fourth Real Life meeting held by WildGuard was not as well publicized as the previous three, so very little is known about it. It was held on February 13th (The day before Chinese New Year) in Singapore, Singapore. This was directly after the third Real Life meeting in the USA, as part of His Lordship's holiday to Singapore and Malaysia. There were three attendees: His Lordship, Karlfischer and Valdremia (Ex-members, but who spent a considerable amount of time in WG).

London, England (RuneFest)
The fifth Real Life meeting is currently being organised around the Jagex-hosted RuneFest on the 28th of August, 2010. WG members are encouraged to focus on attending RuneFest itself on the Saturday. Details of the clan-only events have not yet been released to the public.

His Lordship has said that he is hoping to exceed the turnout of the 2008 London meeting (7 WildGuard and 2 friends), and is looking for a minimum of 10 people. On April 30th, he spoke to Mod Timbo about organising clan-related activities. The main suggestion was to give each clan a desk and a power socket, and allow them to decorate it as best as they could to portray the clan.

Around early May 2010, His Lordship organised a spur-of-the-moment event when he collected his Flagstaff of Festivities: an in-game item which is accessable only by members who have purchased a RuneFest ticket. Four WG members attended, and the event was recorded and uploaded by Council/Warlord Stokenut (Screen cap left). It has gained over 3,000 views on YouTube.

Australia
His Lordship has said that the sixth Real Life meeting will be held in west coast-Australia, at the end of 2010. However, he notes this as unconfirmed as many further plans have yet to be made.

=Relationships=

Alliances
WG has had alliances with the following clans:
 * The Sabres (Federation), December 7th, 2003 - ?, ? - ?, November 13th, 2010 - Present
 * The Royal Kingdom of Asgarnia (Federation)
 * The Council of Dragons (Federation), January 3rd, 2004 - ?
 * RuneScape Warriors, August 5th, 2004 - ?
 * The Synergy (Federation)
 * Ghostknights
 * The Scorpions
 * Fear
 * Legends Legion
 * 3v0lution_X
 * Zero Tolerance
 * The British Elites, ? - June 21st, 2010
 * The Death Monkeighs, April 22nd, 2008 - June 21st, 2010

The Sabres
The Sabres are one of only two pre-game clans (alongside THE clan) which still exist today. Only a few hours after WildGuard's opening, Mortus Sabre posted a reply to WildGuard's recuitment topic on Rune Village. His Lordship remembers it similar to:

"Finally, a clan with morals. You have the support of the Sabres."

Unsure what the post implied, WildGuard took the opportunity to request an alliance with the clan. TS became the first ally of the Wilderness Guardians on December 7th, 2003. The alliance lasted until the S4 era, when a crisis in The Sabres led to the clan ending all alliances, including WildGuard's. TS did take part in a bronze war with WildGuard and The Synergy prior to WG's anniversary during the mid-S4 days. They also took part in the 5-way steel war for the 7th day of the anniversary itself, alongside The Synergy, WildGuard, Fear and the Legends Legion.

In early 2005, WG approached TS again requesting an alliance, which was accepted. Around mid-2005, the Federation was restarted by the 6 major Anti-RPK clans, including TS and WG. However, in the mid-S10 days, WG left the Federation, but retained The Synergy and The Sabres as allies. Not much else is recorded in WildGuard's history concerning The Sabres. It is known, however, that the alliance was broken for a second time in 2006. According to His Lordship, Kira Sabre ended the alliance for the second time, after months of trying to do so. Kira denies this.

On November 10th, 2009, Sabre Chilli re-proposed an alliance, and the third WG/TS alliance was accepted on November 13th by Darth Magul of WG. On November 22nd, The Sabres asked WildGuard to Anti-crash for a PvP war they were hosting. The war was crashed by Noobs Incorporated. Several days later on December 6th, WG and TS sought out NI on an allied raid. The two Anti-RPKing powers cleared NI twice in one night, and sustained no casualties in the battles at all. The allied raids, now known as "WS" are frequently hosted in both F2P and P2P. They are arguably the most successful raids that WG host at present. Many teams and clans have been cleared repeatedly by WS, and the group has shed blood with Reign of Terror, Gladz and Blacknights within 2010.

The Federation
The Federation was a syndicate of clans which shared advocates such as honour, anti-scamming and Anti-RPKing. Clans known to have been involved in the Federation are:
 * The Sabres - Previously allied with WildGuard, invited WG to join
 * Wilderness Guardians
 * Knights of Death - Did not accept alliance request
 * The Royal Kingdom of Asgarnia - Allied with WildGuard, no further record
 * The Council of Dragons - Allied, alliance dropped after a year due to lack of communication
 * The Synergy (Formed from WG) - Previously allied with WildGuard
 * Sleeping Dragons (Formed from The Synergy)
 * Death Jesters (Formed from The Synergy)
 * Retribution

WildGuard originally joined the Federation after an invite from The Sabres on December 19th, 2003, and was also one of six clans to help reform it in 2005. However, after a fight broke out during a Federation raid in late 2005, WG left the Federation entirely on September 28th, 2005 (But retained alliances with the Sabres and Synergy). Prospects for rejoining were considered, but ultimately denied.

Noobs Incorporated
=Website and Forums=

Over the years, the clan has changed forums several times, starting with the original AvidGamers site, to the present WildernessGuardians.com. In the clan's history, the forums are used as a method of time, eg. "AvidGamer days" or "WG.com days". The website and complete list of forums are as follows.

Website
The Wilderness Guardians website was designed in Flash by His Lordship, and is constantly updated. For several years, it has been repeatedly voted the best clan website out of all RuneScape clans, the most recent being in the RuneScape Community/Zybez official 2009 Clan Awards, which were announced on January 2nd, 2010. The runner-up was Damage Incorporated (now deceased), although vote counts were not released for the 2009 awards. In 2008, WG had 115 votes for Best Clan Website, while Adelais - the runner-up - had only 9 votes.

The website, known for short as "WG.com" was created on February 4th, 2004. The earliest archive (July 8th, 2004) shows that it was generated with Microsoft FrontPage. It contained history, clan policies, photo gallery, ranks, FAQs, relations and application pages. The flash website today contains a vast amount of information, ranging from three versions of the clan's history to full galleries of WildGuard screenshots and videos over the years. The site also has a latest news feature, and a page for the clan's Member of the Month feature. The soundtracks played on the website are also available for download.

As of June 2010, His Lordship is in the process of implicating a major update to the site, including a newly-created Flash video gallery, and completley re-worked image galleries.

AvidGamers
December 6th, 2003 - April 27th (Or 17th?), 2004

The AvidGamers website was the first home for WildGuard, and primarily used from the start of the clan to April of the following year. Only one archive of the website exists. Entitled "The Great Wilderness Guardian Realm", it shows a message board, of which two public forums are available, and history, rules and beliefs and members login pages. The history consists of a semi-accurate, semi-fictional account of His Lordship's voyages in the wilderness of RuneScape and the first few months of WildGuard. The rules and beliefs list 7 of the clan's rules, the first of which emphasises the Anti-Random Player Killing/ARPKing aspect.

Following a suggestion from WG member Rick Hamm, the clan left the AvidGamers website to newly-created InvisionFree forums in April 2004. The exact date is unknown, as historical accounts at the time say the change was April 17th, although a news announcement at the time suggests the transition was on the 27th.

S7
April 27th (Or 17th?), 2004 - July 20th (Or 30th?), 2004

The second clan forums after AvidGamers which WG based upon are known as "S7", in reference to the varying URLs of InvisionFree boards - a referencing which applies to all of the following InvisionFree boards. There are no archives of the S7 forums, so very little is known about them. In terms of the clan's history, it is known that The Synergy clan broke off from WG, Lord Xin and Rick Hamm's ceremonial promotions to Co-Leaders, Falco307 and Jedi Rin's bans and the clan's application form creation happened during the S7 era.

After only a few months, the forums had become full of many inactive members and spam, so a forum switch was authorised in July 2004.

S4
July 20th (Or 30th?), 2004 - April 25th, 2005

The S4 forums are the oldest surviving forums of WildGuard. Once again, it is unsure when the forum switch actually took place, as historical accounts say July 20th while news accounts note the 30th (A 10-day gap, the same as references for the AvidGamers to S7 switch). As of today, the board has 64,397 posts with 276 registered members, the peak of activity being 46 members on April 10th, 2005 (Shortly before the forum switch).

The S4 days are described as the "most colourful and hectic days of WG", as of January 2006. During the S4 era, WG hosted their first war (WG vs RO vs KoD), Brendan (Write2Brandy) was reported dead from Leukemia and his funeral was held, His Lordship temporarily resigned from leadership after a controversial post on Rune Village discussing the USA, and The Revolution (Founded by Noricle and Rick Hamm) was the second Anti-RPKing clan to branch out from WG.

In early 2005, a hacker entered the ranks of WG and began taking the banks of members. In fear that it was a forum issue, WildGuard switched forums again. The S10 transition is noted as April 25th, 2005. However, this switch was only announced on the public S4 forum on May 10th.

S10
April 25th, 2005 - April 2006

Like the S7 forums, the S10 forums no longer exist and there are no archived versions. The official WG history cites the S10 era as the longest era in WG history. However, this is incorrect, as the Z6 and present WG.com eras outlast the S10 duration of around 1 year. During the S10 era, the WG vs DoA war was held, the Descendant Guardians opened for the first time, the Federation was restarted (Although WG left on September 28th, 2005), His Lordship was banned for the first time, the TeamSpeak Rant and D-Day took place and DG later closed for the first time.

WG.com
April 2006 - August ~6th, 2006

The first WG.com era began directly after WG's war against Valor in the Clan Tourney of 2006, although only a few archives of the forums exist. The first record from July 5th, 2006 shows 195 members and 267 guests (Totalling 462) who were active on the board within the previous 24 hours, and a total of 874 registered members and 37,488 forum topics. This was well into WG's era of P2P domination in RuneScape. During the WG.com days, the Construction skill was released and His Lordship built the first clan house in RuneScape history, the X vs DS war took place, DG re-opened and WG fought EOS for the second time.

However, around late July/early August 2006, the forums were still filled with glitches and a switch back to Invisionfree was authorised. The first WG.com era is noted as the shortest in the clan's history, although it comes very close to the duration of the AvidGamers era.

Z6
August ~6th, 2006 - January 22nd, 2007

The Z6 board is the only InvisionFree forum WildGuard has used which is shortened to the "z#" rather than "s#". Still in existence, the Z6 forum is the longest historical era in the history of the clan, at around 1 year and 5 months in duration. The first topic was created on August 6th, 2006, and as of today, the board has 264,979 posts with 1,069 registered members, the peak of activity being 126 members on September 30th, 2006.

The forum switch was well-received, and four new council members were elected. WG warred Rune Raiders with RuneScape Dinasty anti-crashing against Reign of Terror, DG closed once again, D-Day, OPH, OBH, His Lordship's 3rd permenant ban and the Sectors all occured during the era.

WG.com
January 22nd, 2007 - Present

After a council meeting, the final forum switch was organised between His Lordship and the present-day Forum Technician RobbieThe2nd. The new WG.com forums would use an older version of the Invision Power Board (IPB) and had installed new anti-spy mechanisms, more organisation, new features and a better look.

The first accessable topic (#6) was made on December 29th, 2007, although His Lordship states that the transition occured over the entire month of January 2008. Ex-council Gorgemaster has confirmed that the official transition day was January 22nd. Since then, WG.com has been the current home for WildGuard and is by far the longest era in the clan's history, which at the time of writing is reaching 2 and a half years. The forums have undergone many updates and changes, including a server upgrade in early 2010 and further size and header modifications in June 2010. The peak of activity was 78 members on April 4th, 2009

=Descendant Guardians=

=His Lordship=

The TeamSpeak Rant
=References=