Do we know who leads the Windshapers (Horde) and the High Order (Alliance) Skyborne elves?
Are there any named npc characters in the starter questline that show signs of leadership or importance?
Does the starting quests show a nasty divide between the two Skyborne cultures that would cause them to want to fight each other in PvP situations alongside their new alliance and horde allies?
Not sure if there are any official racial leaders but there are named NPCs who are members of each faction within the starting zone and give you a bit of context to their opposing ideals.
I’m fairly low level on the beta and discovering things organically so far but what I’ve discovered is that the High Order and the Windshapers have clashing ideals to the point of animosity/bloodshed. (There are mobs/kill quests for the opposing factions of Skyborne.)
Without divulging too much for those wishing to make their own story discoveries, it seems very similar to the “Highborne vs Lowborne” sort of rift that we’ve seen as a story beat between elves throughout WoWs story.
Grand Skyseer Ayessa Dawnsinger (Windshapers, Horde) and Supreme Magister Elaadrin Evengale (High Order, Alliance) seem to be their leaders. They’re boss-level NPCs in the skyborne capital, Valanaar. They have little faction enclaves near the airship docks to Mulgore and Dalaran, respectively.
The race as a whole is led by a group of democratically elected representatives, but those two are the player group leaders, I think.
Overall, I’ve liked the Skyborne story so far. Very well thought out background. The only thing that makes me roll my eyes is their inner faction conflict.
This feud between Mages and Shamans feels so superfluous and immature. They are basically little kids fighting over nothing.
They both want to help their society thrive but they don’t want the other group do it their way.
I mean, both of you shut up and work for the improvement of your people.
The Skyborne appear to be led by a Council of Elders. Taalanis Shadowsong is the High Elder of Zephras, and so is probably as close as one gets to a definitive leader for the race.
Probably related to Jared Shadowsong.
Is there any sort of competition or scarcity in-setting that makes them have to oppose the other, or is it ‘there’s infinite sand to build sandcastles, but I want to kick theirs over anyway because they’re stinky and I hate them’?
For example: There was another setting whose handling of two-faction content I fairly well enjoyed, where a big reason they were in conflict was because there was only so much ‘magic’ to go around - so when one side wanted to build their apocalypse-prevention machine (and they can’t just not build it, because apocalypse), they had to raid the other side’s bases/stockpiles/own anti-apocalypse machines (that they’re sure wouldn’t actually work, anyway) just to get the resources to build. The characters on each side could be earnestly good people, could be rational people who’ve considered the options, and still fight each other.
To me, that’s a big element that’s missing in Retail stories and I’m hoping to see more in Forever: scarcity as a story element. In retail, the factions are dominant superpowers - they need nothing to survive, nothing to thrive, and so any conflict is/looks like it’s violence for violence’s sake. Or hate’s sake. I can definitely see why people don’t like those kinds of faction conflict (or full-on faction war) stories. But when the setting imposes a scarcity, so there’s no third option of ‘let’s just not fight and do our own things’ - that’s when conflicts can be interesting. I was hoping the Skyborne story would play into that.
…you say that as if it makes it less plausible, and not more…
Basically (anyone please correct me if I’m wrong) their land is failing because their Air Elemental Benefactors vanished.
One group (Shamans) want to find a way to reconnect with Elementals and fix things to go back to how it was.
The other group (Mages) are grateful for what the Elementals did for them but feel like it’s time to find a way (via magic) to start taking care of themselves on their own.
I still have a lot of quests and lore to catch up on so take what I said with a grain of salt.
Closer to the second.
From the quests, the general idea is that the Windshapers were basically in vogue forever because they were best buds with the air elementals, and the air elementals were the Skyborne’s major benefactors. Then that all changed when the fire nation attacked the air elementals all up and vanished. With the elementals gone, the powers of the shamans began to wane, and the wards and anchors that kept the isles safe, hidden, and airborne began to fail.
At around the same time, leylines across the isle began to surface. The Windshapers view them as scars, but the High Order see’s them as a valuable resource. While the Windshapers try to get rid of them, the High Order protects them to draw on as a source of power to try and save the isles. There’s also some undertones that the High Order are treating all this as their chance to shine. The hour of the Windshapers is over, move aside and make room so that the Skyborne can be independent from the elementals and thus masters of their own destiny.
This animosity between the two groups is furthered by the fact that neither has a very reliable plan to address the fact that their home is essentially doomed. The High Order mean to research ways to keep the isles afloat and safe, but there’s no real direction there. Kind of like the Highborne back in Cata, it’s implied that their arcane knowledge is very outdated, but in their case also incomplete because magic ceased to be a strong focus of their society in Skywall.
By contrast the Windshapers believe all they have to do is wait. Either the air elementals will come back, OR, a shaman will appear among them strong enough to contact the air elementals and find out what’s going on.
Meanwhile you’ve got the High Order gathering data on Windshaper Sacred Sites, with the Windshapers defending those places with force. The High Order blame the Windshapers for violence and bloodshed, and the Windshapers blame the High Order for violating sacred spaces and possibly furthering the collapse of the isles (and also killing their people in self-defense).
EVERYONE ELSE on Zephras treats them like two bickering six year olds.
So… the two groups have opposing ideas how to safe their isle, while the others have nothing productive to add, and just disapprove of fighting? Not sure that sounds more adult or reasonable to me. That’s just fence-sitting. And enabling the fighting in the first place, if they could have decided the issue with authority and numbers.
Nope.
While the Windshapers and High Order are feuding, everyone else is proactively addressing the island’s issues, such as the Al’Aketh Cult, refugees turned bandit from other isles, stockpiling resources such as windstones for emergency situations (which are cropping up all over the place), and training/guiding young Skyborne.
In fact the Windshapers and High Order specifically have turned a blind eye to the Al’Aketh UNTIL it becomes their problem (I know the High Order sent one of their own to open diplomatic talks and got the guy’s tongue sent back in answer, at which point the High Order decide they can’t ignore the cult anymore). They’re so focused on their own ideas on how to save the isles being right and proving themselves right to actually do much to address the Skyborne’s domestic concerns.
…So is there a third plan to save the isles? Because you didn’t mention it. Still sounds like an issue that legitimaterly is in need of a solution to me. Doing other important stuff is nice, but doesn’t necessarily delegitimate the conflict on this particular problem, nor the need for someone to put their foot down on it.
Nope. Everyone else has their hands busy keeping their society in tact.
I don’t disagree. The issue is, for all their posturing neither the High Order or Windshapers HAVE a plan. There are a grand total of ZERO actual plans to save the island.
Thanks for the clarification. To be honest… I like it. Two sides irrationally commited to their unproven and vague ideas of solving a vital problem, with the majority trying to look away and do the stuff that keeps their daily life running, sounds quite plausible to me. Not exactly glorious, but hey, as a gnome player my background is “Yes, we nuked our own city. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”, so that works out.
Oh absolutely. It’s all very well written and portrayed. The zones have the classic/vanilla feel, the quests are written with a mature undertone with only a light dusting of whimsy here or there, and much of it is believable.
The Windshapers and High Order come off as two politicians during an election debate; all talk, no action.
Prompter: “Our next question: If elected, what will you do about the failing anchors and wards that threaten to collapse Zephras? Candidates have one minute each. We’ll start with Ayessa, representing the Windshapers.”
Ayessa: “As everyone knows, the very fate of Zephras hangs in the balance. Our people have shared a deep, abiding connection to the Air Elementals for millennia. The only solution to this predicament is to place our faith in them.”
Prompter: “Time. Mr. Elaadrin of the High Order?”
Elaadrin: “While my opponent believes we should sit and wait for the elementals to solve all our problems for us, I believe we Skyborne must act ourselves. With the arts of our ancestors, we built an empire that spanned the old world! Together, we can surely save our island.”
Prompter: “Time. This next question: How will you save Zephras?”
Ayessa: “Our people have shared a strong bond with the Air Elementals for generations.”
Elaadrin: “Through magic, we can seize our own destiny and save ourselves.”
Prompter: “Okay but… what specifically will you do? Is there some sort of ritual, or device?”
Ayessa: “The Air Elementals will share with us their wisdom in time.”
Elaadrin: “The depth and scope of the arcane arts is as vast as Skywall itself, if not vaster.”
Both have been in contact with Azeroth.
Ayessa made contact with Huln Muln from the Earthen Ring (thanks for the correction, Adelia!). Elaadrin made contact with Ansirem Runeweaver of the Kirin Tor. Both groups discuss helping the Skyborne and a mutual exchange of knowledge. This was all kept extremely quiet, though. Even High Elder Shadowsong had no idea until the Kirin Tor and Earthen Ring show up at the last second of the last quest to scare off whatever elemental is the Lord of the East Wind (can’t remember his name).
After that the Windshapers and High Order begin to send their own people to Azeroth, to either Dalaran or Thunderbluff. Both factions then help them join the Alliance/Horde.
Minor correction, it’s Muln not Huln.
He’s actually at the new combination Earthen Ring/Windshapers camp on Mulgore’s northwest plateau (the one that has a bunch of prairie dogs fighting each other on retail).
Likewise Ansirem and Modera are in the Violet Citadel. And someone else I didn’t recognize and can’t remember the name of now.
When you first go to the skyborne city and meet your faction leader they tell you about how they contacted the Earthen Ring/Kirin Tor.
There’s a “book” (actually audio-recording crystal) you can read in the druid cave in the northeast part of the zone discussing where the animosity between the High Order and Windshapers started. It’s called “On the Windlord” and discusses how the skyborne’s benefactors were very cagey about ever discussing Al’Akir, as if they were scared of even saying his name. They always assured the skyborne not to worry about it and they were safe on their islands. Some of the elves aren’t even sure he exists, and others think the elementals are hiding something from the skyborne.
The book then goes on to say that the High Order have recently grown extremely suspicious of the elementals’ motives. They want to learn everything they can about Skywall beyond their islands’ borders so they can survive anything that might come for them. The Windshapers in contrast see any questioning of the elementals as a grave insult against them, and that if there is something they need to know to stay safe, the elementals will tell them when the time comes.
The zone story ends with one of Al’Akir’s generals from the Cata raid appearing on the island and revealing that they didn’t even know the skyborne existed, but now that they do Al’Akir could wipe them out at any moment based on his whim.
I think their conflict is pretty well-written; I’m currently leveling up a Skyborne mage and got a quest where the High Order tasks me with stopping the Windshapers from ‘fixing’ the ley lines—something the Order considers crucial for saving the Isles. So Shaman will probably get something similar; both groups share the same mindset: kill the group to save everyone. Which will likely end in open hatred and hostility.
That was the only instance where I wondered if I was the bad guy.