Argent Dawn

Before the war against the Lich King, the Argent Dawn was a lawful good organization focused on protecting Azeroth from agencies that seek to destroy it, such as the Burning Legion and the Scourge. Base camps of the Argent Dawn could be found in the Eastern and Western Plaguelands as well as in Tirisfal Glades.

After the Battle for Light's Hope Chapel, Tirion Fordring merged the Argent Dawn with the Knights of the Silver Hand, creating the Argent Crusade. Following the Shattering, the Argent Crusade took over the now-defunct Argent Dawn's outposts in the Plaguelands, effectively swallowing it.

History
After the death of the Scarlet Highlord Alexandros Mograine, the corruption of the Scarlet Crusade became apparent to some of its members through High Inquisitor Fairbanks, who spoke of the corruption (for which he was later murdered). Those who paid him heed left the ranks of the Scarlet Crusade and established the Argent Dawn, to protect Azeroth from the threat of the Scourge without subscribing to the blind zealotry of the older faction.

While they shared the same goals as the Crusade, the Argent Dawn opened its ranks to not only other Alliance races besides Humans, but also members of the Horde and even some of the Forsaken (but only if they proved themselves to be good, and were no longer members of the previous organization). They cautioned discretion and introspection, and put a lot of emphasis on researching the Scourge and how to combat them.

With time, the Argent Dawn grew diversified. A subfaction of the Argent Dawn, the Brotherhood of the Light, worked to keep relations between Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade from growing violent.

Despite their influence, the Argent Dawn did not have the manpower of the Scarlet Crusade, and could not stand alone against the Scourge. As such, the Argent Dawn and the Scarlet Crusade formed an uneasy alliance in order to focus their combined strength against Kel'Thuzad's forces in the Plaguelands.

However, corruption loomed within the ranks of the Brotherhood: when adventurers recovered The Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad from Naxxramas, they turned it in to Father Inigo Montoy, a member of the Brotherhood, in Light's Hope Chapel, who then promised to deliver it to the Argent Dawn in order to ensure the final death of the Lich Lord. As it later turned out, the phylactery nevered reached its destination. Inigo Montoy's true agenda only became clear later during the Northrend campaign, when the Alliance fought back the Scourge assault on Wintergarde Keep.

With the formation of the Argent Crusade by Tirion Fordring, the Argent Dawn ceased to exist as a separate organization.

Historical information
As the Argent Dawn no longer exists as a separate faction, the information below is preserved purely out of historical interest.

Organization
The Argent Dawn is divided into branches based on location, each of which has its own ranking and structure. Non-members are not permitted to know the ranking of members of the organization, since that would make obvious targets of leadership figures, and the leader is not known to the public. This has sometimes resulted in the Argent Dawn being called a secret society. However, it seems their ranking structure is surprisingly simple; specific regions have a "Commander", who directly leads day-to-day activities, a council of officers, a group of elite templars, and then the body of membership. Templars have no real authority over standard members, but they are highly respected. Branches include the Brotherhood of the Light.

The Argent Dawn has no official headquarters, but small branches exist in several major cities — including Stormwind and Darnassus. The majority of their members in the Plaguelands work out of the Light's Hope Chapel on the far east side of the Eastern Plaguelands, but a good number of them inhabit a camp at Chillwind Camp on the border of the Western Plaguelands and the Alterac Mountains as well. The templars at Chillwind have plenty of work to do. The courageous templars and knights have to contend with ogres to the south and an undead infested graveyard right on their borders.

Through its actions, the Argent Dawn has created several powerful enemies, notably the Burning Legion, the Scourge, and the Twilight's Hammer. Despite common interests (and an alliance at Light's Hope Chapel), there is also a great deal of mistrust, and even open ire, between the Argent Dawn and the Scarlet Crusade — particularly because the Scarlet Crusade views all non-members as potentially evil.

Military tactics
In the Plaguelands and other parts of the world that the Alliance and Horde alike have abandoned, the Argent Dawn stands as a last shining bastion of hope against the Scourge, the Burning Legion and other threats. Contrary to what one might expect, the Argent Dawn rarely defends any given location; rather it remains mobile, attempting to strike where it is least expected. This is clearly a strong contrast to the more straightforward Knights of the Silver Hand.

The knights and freedom fighters of the Argent Dawn rely on hit and run tactics, using their magic and knowledge of the terrain to compensate for the disadvantage of their small numbers. Each group is assigned an officer, who chooses when to engage enemies in combat or avoid them; if there is any major risk to the group, the officer avoids the conflict unless there is an impending threat that must be stopped. The Argent Dawn is unwilling to risk even a single member if it can be avoided, for every sword lost could be another to join the Scourge. The Argent Dawn is not a group of cowards; far from it. They willingly risk their lives each day.

If an Argent Dawn force is attacked while guarding a specific person or location, the members form a defensive circle around the target and attempt to repulse their enemies with ranged attacks. If any attackers make it to melee range, paladins and templar move to eliminate the target, then return to their positions in the circle if possible. If the Argent Dawn has multiple locations to defend, it prioritizes and potentially abandons one location completely, depending on the situation; if there are living people to defend in both locations, the Argent Dawn sends just enough people to the less important locations to evacuate anyone who may need help.

Before entering combat, Argent Dawn units prepare with as many beneficial spells as possible. Priests cast spell resistance, holy word shield, and bear’s endurance on everyone they can to increase their chances of survival. Paladins and Argent Dawn templar enhance their weapons with holy sword if they can cast it; and if not, they focus on other spells to increase their damage-dealing abilities, such as bull’s strength.

Once in combat, each spellcaster powerful enough to incapacitate a target with hooks of binding or another spell uses it to thin the enemy group’s numbers. After that point, the group focuses its firepower on enemy spell casters (if applicable), moving from what appears to be the strongest target to the weakest. One priest maintains a healing rain if the group fights undead. When fighting intelligent enemies, Argent Dawn groups focus on enemy leadership first, expending their powerful abilities (holy strikes and high-level spells) to destroy that target swiftly, then retreat if necessary.

Membership
The Argent Dawn admits members of any race and profession, so long as they are dedicated to the opposition of evil in the world. The organization draws members from both Alliance and the Horde, but not equally. Though independent they favor the Alliance. The focus on the Holy Light makes the organization more appealing to the Alliance, especially to people with a background with the Church or Silver hand. Magi also support and sometimes join the Argent Dawn, since they have similar goals. The Horde has a healthy relationship with the Argent Dawn as well, but it does not actually serve as a sponsor for the faction’s activities. Rather, the Horde (mainly the Forsaken) reinforces the Argent Dawn's troops, and works with them only when it seems beneficial (which is often the case).

They screen their members carefully, however, so this seemingly open-ended recruitment policy can be misleading. Most potential members are required to use minor magic items to gather “scourgestones” from defeated undead creatures to prove the combat ability of the applicant. Others have to fight demons in order to prove themselves. Members are also expected to uphold the virtues of the Light, even if they are not followers of Light themselves. They can be strict about what their members do or say, especially in public.

Members of the Argent Dawn often have differing strategies in furthering the group's aims: some make alliances against the undead; others fight directly; some study new forms of magic or alchemy to combat demons and undead with greater effectiveness. The Argent Dawn is noted for unusual ways of utilizing the Holy Light for new spells, but this draws ire from the most traditional members of the Church of the Holy Light.

Younger members of the Church and the Knights of the Silver Hand find the youthful Argent Dawn appealing, since the organization seems to be less burdened by older (and perhaps outdated) traditions. The Argent Dawn as a whole seems unusually youthful, some leaders appear much younger than they should be.

Apart from the Knights, Argent Dawn membership also numbers some former (and current) members of the Kirin Tor. Since their home city of Dalaran was hit by the Scourge, many of the Kirin Tor wish to strike back. Both groups also find common ground in their interest in magical research.

Presence in Azeroth
Prior to their merging with the Argent Crusade, one could find the Argent Dawn in many places across Azeroth. They were primarily centered in the northern parts of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, addressing the specific threats of the Scourge and the Burning Legion, respectively. In the Eastern Kingdoms was their foremost stronghold: Light's Hope Chapel in the Eastern Plaguelands. Their influence in the southern part of the Western Plaguelands was also significant, as they attempted to rout the undead from near Uther’s Tomb, Caer Darrow, and Andorhal. They also maintained a less active but more stable headquarters in Darnassus.



At this time, the most of the former Argent Dawn outposts are now held by the Argent Crusade. Nevertheless, a small handful of individuals at Light's Hope Chapel still consider themselves members of the old Argent Dawn, and are marked as such in World of Warcraft.

Reputation
Prior to patch 4.0.3a you could gain reputation from a large number of methods, including repeatable quests and instances. Many of these methods involved the use of an Argent Dawn Commission, which allowed players to obtain Scourgestones from any level 40+ undead scourge enemies in Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.

While Scourgestones are still obtainable by players who have the Argent Dawn Commission equipped, they can no longer be turned in for reputation, and in fact no longer have any use at all. All of the other old repeatable quests have also been removed, and defeating enemies in Stratholme and Scholomance no longer grants Argent Dawn reputation either.

Players can obtain Revered reputation with the Argent Dawn by completing the Fiona's Caravan quests in the Eastern Plaguelands up through and including. Completing this quest will bring the player to exactly 0/21000 Revered, unless they are already Revered (from performing Argent Dawn quests before the release of Cataclysm). After this point, the only way to continue obtaining Argent Dawn reputation is by performing the two repeatable quests and  given by Lord Raymond George in the crypt behind Light's Hope Chapel. As of patch 4.1, these two quests reward 2200 reputation each.

Argent Dawn Exalted reputation is a requisite for the achievement and title The Argent Champion.

Rewards
The shoulder enchantments are only sold to players who performed certain quests before Cataclysm. The quest Mantles of the Dawn must be completed to purchase the single-resistance enchantments, and Chromatic Mantle of the Dawn must be done for the multi-resist enchantment. Both quests are now unobtainable, but players who performed them before they were removed can still buy the shoulder enchantments.

Trivia

 * "Argent" is French for Silver, as is "Argentum" in Latin and "Argjend" in Albanian, hence the Argent Dawn tabard icon of a silver sun rising.
 * Argent is also the name of the white or silver color used in heraldry. Interestingly, the tincture of Argent is commonly used to represent the moon in heraldry as opposed to the sun as it is used by the Argent Dawn.