The path leading to the Scarlet Monastery is surrounded by trees with corpses hung from their limbs. The Scarlet Crusade’s bases of operation include the Scarlet Monastery in the Tirisfal Glades and the town of Tyr’s Hand. It consists of Paladins and Priests, worshippers of light, who kill first and ask questions later. The Scarlet Crusade seeks to eliminate all Undead, Forsaken (Undead with consciousness), and Scourge (zombies) sympathizers from Azeroth.

I am perplexed, in particular, by the architectural style of the tyrannical religious organization the Scarlet Crusade in World of Warcraft. It’s not unusual to see familiar buildings in videogames: Eternal Darkness features Amiens cathedral, and the Assassin’s Creed series features many real structures from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The cathedral in the center of the Alliance Human capital of Stormwind resembles a gothic cathedral. The Highborne ruins that litter the shores of Azshara and the forests of Feralas resemble ancient Greek temples with their columns and Roman temples with their domes.

In my wanderings around the world of Azeroth in World of Warcraft I am struck by how similar the virtual buildings are to real ones.

At war with the scarlet crusade