Explorers' League

The Explorers' League, also known as Explorers' Guild,   Explorer's League or simply the League, is an organization dedicated to researching the origin of the dwarven race. They have many archaeological dig-sites in all corners of the world, from Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms to Outland. The League's main base of operations is located in the Hall of Explorers in Ironforge. King Magni Bronzebeard was a founding member of the League. Brann Bronzebeard was another.

While predominantly a dwarven organization, the League also has members of other races among its ranks. Clopper Wizbang was, according to himself and Prospector Nachlan, the first gnome to become a member of the Explorers' League.

The League also has an excellent, and unofficial, relationship with 7 that few people are familiar with. The two organizations traveling through Azeroth, sometimes hold and share information by codes and secret means.

History
The dwarves unearthed a series of ruins that held the key to the secrets of their lost heritage. Driven to discover the truth about his people's fabled origins, King Magni Bronzebeard ordered that the dwarves shift their industry from mining and engineering to that of archaeology. Magni helped to create the famed Explorers' Guild of Ironforge, a group utterly devoted to plumbing the secrets of the ancient world and delving out the truth of the dwarves' fabled existence.

A branch of the League, the Dwarven Expedition led by Muradin Bronzebeard was sent to scout Northrend shortly before the Third War.

At some point, the League discovered Uldaman. The father of the wildhammer clan's Gryphon Master Talonaxe was among them.

World of Warcraft
The League has its presence in Khaz Modan's areas such as Gol'Bolar Quarry and Thelsamar. Moreover, they spread across the world, including Darkshore and were interested in the Temple of Atal'Hakkar in Swamp of Sorrows.

The Explorers' League's use of explosives on the land has led to conflict with the tauren in Mulgore and especially in the southern Barrens. In the southern Barrens conflict, the Stonespire tribe of tauren were mostly killed off by the League's sub-group called Bael'dun led by Prospector Khazgorm. The Explorers' League's treatment of the land in Mulgore led to them being killed by Agitated Earth Spirits.

The League was interested in Eldarath in Azshara and its ancient runes.

The League continued excavating Badlands and Uldaman and entered into an open conflict with the Shadowforge clan.

They believe there are artifacts in Alterac Valley.

The Burning Crusade
Several members of the League were spotted on the Azuremyst Isles. They also had a presence in Zangarmarsh on Outland.

Wrath of the Lich King
During the war against the Lich King, the Explorers' League ventured to Northrend and established a base of operations in the Howling Fjord to the east. There they discovered the Iron dwarf race and uncovered more links to their evolution from the Earthen.

Members of the League are highly involved with the titan city of Ulduar.

Cataclysm
Since the Cataclysm, the Explorers' League has appeared again in the areas of Azeroth, constantly rivaling with their Horde counterpart, the blood elven Reliquary, to the point where overt hostilities erupt.

It was initially believed that the Explorer's League would hold a major presence in the titan-related zone of Uldum, but so far only Brann Bronzebeard has had any visible involvement.

The League has since expanded, accepting worgen into their ranks and entering areas like Stranglethorn.

In Badlands, they discovered new titan ruins near Dustwind Dig.

A group of the explorers established themselves at the Unearthed Grounds in the Stonetalon Mountains, but majority was killed by the Horde.

Mists of Pandaria
The Explorers' League serves as a survey team for Operation: Shieldwall while also excavating historical treasures from Pandaria. This puts them in conflict with the Reliquary, who, like the Explorers' League, are also researching Pandarian artifacts and ruins in order to learn more about the mogu and the sha.

Warlords of Draenor
Some members of the league are found in Ashran.

Legion
Members of the League can be found across the Broken Isles, with Brann going to a new camp every two weeks for archaeology. Sir Finley Mrrgglton is at Dreyrgrot in Stormheim, investigating the vampyr there.

Before the Storm
A team of the Explorers' League was sent to Silithus. Captain Cordressa Briarbow's unit of the Sentinels was sent to act as their guards. The team and the Sentinels were attacked by Bilgewater Cartel goblins in order to kidnap Sapphronetta Flivvers.

Battle for Azeroth
The Explorer's League is present at Xibala in Zandalar, with Dark Iron dwarves joining them. They come into conflict with the nightborne and Reliquary. They also uncovered a devilsaur skeleton in Seekers' Expedition.

In Tiragarde Sound, the league is digging through Drust ruins at Gol Thovas.

When the Assaults have started, members of the League appeared at Uldum to help Uldum Accord against the forces of N'Zoth, and they can be found in Ramkahen and at Maker's Ascent.

Exploring Azeroth
Following the Fourth War, the league is still present and active on an excavation site of the Stranglethorn Vale, but also in the Badlands, more precisely in Uldaman, where they continue to unearth the ruins in search of ancient treasures. The league still has a good relationship with the 7, which leads the High Explorer Muninn Magellas to hide precious missives in a cache under the carpet at the entrance of the Hall of Explorers for the agents of the SI:7.

Discoveries and beliefs
Some of the dwarves believe that birds are descended from dinosaurs such as an extinct type of raptor that had feathered arms. The feathers suggest some kind of missing link between the two different kinds of animals.

Organization
The League has an academy in Ironforge and holds annual conferences.

Unnamed

 * Explorers' League Researcher
 * Explorers' League Archaeologist
 * Explorers' League Excavator
 * Explorer's League Digger
 * Explorer's League Researcher
 * Explorers' League Surveyor
 * Explorer's League Surveyor
 * Explorer's League Scout
 * Dwarven Excavator
 * Deranged Explorer
 * Steel Gate Chief Archaeologist
 * Steel Gate Archaeologist
 * Steel Gate Excavator
 * Shieldwall Explorer
 * Stabled Explorers' League Pack Mule
 * Explorers' League Pack Mule
 * Hired Engineer

Camps and digsites
Note: This list may be incomplete.

Eastern Kingdoms

 * Alterac Valley (unknown exactly where, but apparently to the north) --- At war with the Horde
 * Whelgar's Excavation Site, south-west in Wetlands --- Overrun with raptors
 * Ironband's Excavation Site, south-east in Loch Modan --- Overrun with troggs
 * Gol'Bolar Quarry, eastern Dun Morogh --- Overrun with troggs
 * Uldaman (both inside and outside the instance), northern Badlands --- Overrun with troggs, various beasts, remaining earthen and assaulted by Dark Iron dwarves
 * Grimesilt Dig Site, eastern Searing Gorge --- Assaulted by Dark Irons

Kalimdor

 * Remtravel's Excavation, southern Darkshore --- Overrun with stone golems
 * Dun Mandarr, middle Winterspring --- Overrun with angry wildkins
 * Bael'dun Digsite, western Mulgore --- Abandoned, the Bael'dun Diggers ignored the warnings about respecting earth from of Baine Bloodhoof and were killed by the [Agitated Earth Spirit|Angry spirits of the earth]] in retalation.
 * Bael Modan, southern Barrens --- Populated, killed the Stonespire Tauren tribe to get the spot and now feud with the survivors of the tribe, eventually resulting in the destruction of Bael'dun Keep.
 * Rustmaul Dig Site, south-west in the Shimmering Flats, Thousand Needles --- Overrun with silithid after being attacked by the Horde
 * Valley of the Watchers, southern Tanaris --- Populated
 * Terror Run, south-eastern Un'Goro --- Abandoned, possibly after being attacked by dinosaurs
 * Close to Ironstone Plateau, north-western Un'Goro --- Abandoned, possibly after being attacked by dinosaurs
 * Bronzebeard Encampment, southern Silithus --- Populated

Northrend

 * Baelgun's Excavation Site, south-east, Howling Fjord --- Overrun with Iron Dwarves
 * Explorers' League Outpost, south-east, Howling Fjord --- Populated
 * Steel Gate, western Howling Fjord --- Populated, but regularly suffering attacks from the Scourge
 * Ivald's Ruin, eastern Howling Fjord --- Overrun with Iron Dwarves
 * Prospector's Point, south-east in Grizzly Hills --- Populated
 * Brann's Base-Camp, middle Storm Peaks --- Abandoned

Items

 * Explorers' League Commendation
 * Explorers' League Lodestar

Some NPCs are seen sporting an Explorers' League tabard, such as the Expedition Commander and his crew or Surveyor Daltry, but the tabard isn't accessible to adventurers.

Reputation description
''This organization seeks to find the origin of the dwarven race by collecting Titan artifacts. Their most recent research has led them to various archeological sites in Northrend.''

Guide
Prior to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the Explorers' League existed as a pseudo-faction in that there were many NPCs related by quest chains tagged as , but there was no reputation unique to them (if their quests rewarded reputation, it was for another faction, typically Ironforge and/or Alliance).

Since the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, it is now finally possible to earn reputation for the Explorers' League. However, as for all Alliance Vanguard subfactions except The Silver Covenant, there is no quartermaster and no other gain for hitting exalted (except maybe for achievement purposes).

As of patch 3.3, all Alliance Vanguard factions receive spillover rep from quests and 5-man dungeons. This negates the need for solely doing Explorer's League dailies to reach exalted.

Players start with 0/3000 and can gain reputation by completing quests in Howling Fjord and Storm Peaks and by doing one daily quest at Steel Gate. All non-repeatable quests together give 7850 reputation. To hit exalted, one needs to complete the daily quest at least 137 times (122 times for humans).

In Hearthstone
The Explorer's League, here syntactically rendered the "League of Explorers," is the main focus of the Hearthstone adventure of the same name. The adventure follows four members of the League, Brann Bronzebeard, Elise Starseeker, Reno Jackson and Sir Finley Mrrgglton, as they collect the pieces of a titan artifact known as the Staff of Origination.

Introduction
In the RPG books, this faction is known as Explorer's Guild, The Guild, Explorer's League, or Explorers' League.

Exploring nearly every corner of the world. Searching for titan artifacts. Amassing one of the world's largest libraries of information on Azeroth's history, people and cultures. When it was first discovered that the origins of the dwarven people might be tied to the ancient and mysterious titans, expeditions were quickly organized to search for artifacts and information that might confirm the theory. The first of these expeditions were led by hardy dwarven prospectors accustomed to long treks in unforgiving territory. As they taught their skills to the new generation of journeymen, a new breed of dwarven traveler emerged. These travelers appointed themselves the task of gathering as much information as possible about the world, its history, and its cultures in hopes of finding the scraps of information the titans might have left behind to lead their progeny to the truth. Though they often still called themselves "prospectors", they gathered together under the banner of their true calling: the Explorers' Guild.

In less than a decade, the Explorers' Guild has already amassed an incredible archive of information and artifacts in their guildhall close to the dwarven throne in Ironforge. The tales brought back by the members of the Guild have ignited the imaginations of the dwarven nation, and children who once dreamed of carrying a blunderbuss into battle or piloting a gyrocopter now play at exploring in the caverns near their home. Though many of them think the dwarves' obsession with the titans verges on the ridiculous, the soldiers and diplomats of the Alliance are happy to support the efforts of the Explorers' Guild so long as it continues to provide useful news from distant and unexplored places. In addition to the cultural and geographic intelligence it gathers, information provided by the Guild has allowed the Alliance to produce a map of more than 400 untapped gold mines across Khaz Modan and Lordaeron in preparation for an eventual move north to battle the Scourge.

Organization
New members of the Explorers' Guild spend their early days honing their skills close to home, guiding travelers through the peaks and passes of Khaz Modan and leading supply expeditions for the dwarven kingdoms. Once they've proved themselves, these "prospectors" are upgraded to "journeyman" status and given their first field missions by the Guild. Often, these missions involve traveling to remote but previously visited locales in order to update the Guild's library with news of current events in the area. Eventually, the journeymen are upgraded to full Explorer status and given carte blanche to travel where they will with full Guild support, provided that they produce regular reports on their excursions.

The dwarven king is the official head of the Explorer's Guild, though the title is mostly honorary — only once in Guild history has the king filed a report in the Archives. The daily operation of the Guild is overseen by the Excursion Council, made up of several dozen of the oldest and most experienced members of the Guild. The younger members of the Guild have nicknamed this group the “Excuse Me Council,” as many of the Council are constantly leaving behind their duties to set off on their own self-assigned journeys. Yet so long as a small fraction of the Council remains in Ironforge to coordinate outgoing and incoming Guild expeditions, the organization continues to run smoothly.

Locations
For many years, members of the Guild met in the Weary Boots Tavern in Ironforge, storing their reports and retrieved artifacts on sagging wooden shelves in a disused warehouse. Several years ago, treasure gathered by the Guild was combined with a bequest from the throne to pay for a new block of chambers to be carved out of the rock of the dwarven capital. The newly completed Guildhall provides members with offices and meeting rooms, workshops to repair gear and equipment, warehouses and libraries, private quarters for higher-ranking members and group bunkrooms for newer initiates. A large museum open to the public shows exhibits of relics collected by the Guild; when titan artifacts are on display, the line to get into the museum often snakes out the entrance of the Guildhall and across the public square in front of the building. Smaller guildhalls, called “way stations”, are being established in far-flung corners of Azeroth, usually in the back rooms of inns or taverns along well-traveled routes to distant parts of the continent. Though they still vary in the level of service they can offer, some way stations can provide detailed maps of the local area while others stockpile supplies of dried foods and basic traveling necessities that can be drawn upon by Guild members (who are expected to pay for their withdrawals of Guild property whenever possible).

Membership


The overwhelming majority of members in the Explorer's Guild are dwarves. Fewer than a dozen members of other races are inducted into the ranks each year, usually after providing exemplary service to the Guild on several official expeditions. A green torch burning at the entrance to the Guildhall in Ironforge marks the rare occasions when the Guild is accepting new applicants, a call usually answered by hundreds of young dwarves who can demonstrate the requisite skill with languages and a broad base of geographic and historical knowledge. For each opening, twenty top potentials are selected and taken into the mountains of Khaz Modan by one of the Excursion Council. What follows is an intensive three-week trial that tests not only the potentials' physical ability and stamina but also a wide range of skills from map making and tracking to herbalism and mineral location. At the end of the test period, the applicants who come out on top are inducted into the Guild and officially allowed to call themselves prospectors.

Membership in the Guild is selective, as each member receives a stipend from the Guild of two gold pieces per day, rising to five gold pieces when on a sanctioned expedition. In addition, the Guild stores will completely outfit any official expedition with supplies and equipment — though the quartermasters are notoriously stingy when arguing the definition of "completely outfit". All Guild members can also make their home at the Guildhall in Ironforge, though when all the private quarters are taken up by higher-ranking members of the Guild (as during the annual Convocation, when the Guild gathers to share stories and plan expeditions for the coming year), even full-fledged explorers can find themselves sleeping in the fifth slot up in the bunkhouse. Guild members come from all walks of life, their skills contributing to the goals of the Guild and the dwarven people. For some, however, exploration becomes more than a profession — it becomes an avocation and a passion. The members of the Explorers' League are spread across the globe at various key digsites and expeditions.

Leaders
was the Grand Explorer of the Guild, a position of honorary leadership.

Samul Strangehands, Ryona Blondbeard, Hona Stonefall, Yulanini Hammersmith.