Know Your Lore

World of Warcraft Calendar

A while back I bought this daily World of Warcraft calendar. Its pretty sweet! besides the basic things you would expect on a calendar, this boasts a daily "lore" question dealing with the back story of the game. Each day I try to guess at the answer, and more often than not I will get the answer wrong. I'm just not that big of a lore guy!

So this calendar really got me thinking. I have no clue as to "Who is Garona's uncle?", but I might be able to figure out my lore and back story in real life. It would probably be a whole lot easier figuring out who I am related to than finding a fictional space goat's uncle.

World of Warcraft Lore

"Well Elder Cabral, could you give us some pro tips to find people in our family?"

Of course I could!

How do I start my Family History?

For starters you might want to print out a pedigree chart, or you could request one (for free of course) with all the rest of the pro-tips I'll give you written on the back. Once you have something to write your lore on you can follow these four simple steps.

1. Write down what you already know about your family.

• Start with yourself, and write down all the lore that you already know.

2. Review what is missing.

• If you're not a Loremaster IRL you will probably be missing something. You'll probably want to think about what would be most important for you to find next.

3. Find out which information already exists.

• Gather Your Records- Got some death/ birth/ marriage certificates? Maybe a family Bible or a pedigree chart your Mom helped you make back in the first grade? Gather and organize it. 
• Talk To Your Family- Old people (at least the ones your related to) have a bunch of stories, and they probably wouldn't mind you visiting. Ask them who their mama is and who their daddy worked for (if you need or are interested in that). Record what they have to say, and see if they have additional records. You might be interested in obtaining copies or snatching them up when the loot drops.
• Search Other Sources- If your reading this you probably have the internet. Go to www.familysearch.org (it's free, don't worry) and search for MOAR INFOS! Or you could look up a family history center near you and get help from RL Loremasters (I'd recommend it).

4. Share what you have and decide what you want to do next.

• Make more copies of what you have and share it with your family.This will be a safeguard if you were to lose anything, or if your dog decides to eat your lore. Not to mention all these noob family members of yours might take interest and help you in your search.

So now that you know what to do you can start researching your lore. Stay tuned for Know Your Lore (Part 2) and learn a bit why family history and genealogy work are important.