Arathi Empire Plot Predictions

Lore Story Forum
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Gonna lay down some heavy plot predictions probably like… 5 years in advance here.

I’ve played this game long enough to know that if, or more likely when, we end up going to the Arathi Empire, we’ll likely find ourselves allying with a dissenting group of Arathi (likely similar in motivation or related to the rebellions that General Steelstrike mentions having helped to defeat before arriving in Hallowfall) when we arrive there.

It also feels like a safe bet to say that unless Blizz wants to turn them into an overarching Xal’atath/Iridikron-type villain, that the Arathi Emperor will probably be the last boss of the first or second raid before they pan the camera back and show that the Light is doing some wacky stuff on a cosmic scale in the area.

If I had to make a prediction on what that “wacky stuff” entails, I’d say that helping the Light win Renilash (possibly in Midnight) is gonna be a MAJOR mistake on our end, as the war between the Light and Void was never supposed to end, and without the Legion or the Void standing in their way, the Light’s forces will turn their conquest onto the rest of the universe.

This’ll probably all include an appearance from the Realm of Light (mentioned in an old Shadowlands Danuser interview), the Scarlet Crusade, Yrel and her army (since Cosmological Forces transcend timelines, as seen with Death, Order, and Chaos), and possibly an appearance from Tirion and Uther’s souls (since the Light wouldn’t let the DKs turn Tirion into a Horseman in Legion, and Uther is literally split between two soul fragments).

And maybe a mention/cameo from Crusader Bridenbrad’s soul if they remember to.

Bonus: We could potentially also see the return of Sire Denathrius in this Arathi Expansion, as Lothraxion (the Light-forged Nathrezim) still exists. Not as likely as everything else that I mentioned, but worth noting.

Bonus 2: Calling it now, Amitus, the Peacekeeper (the Light Titan from Hearthstone) is gonna be canon, and if she doesn’t debut in The Last Titan, then she will here.

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I’m down for throwing hands with Arathi crazy light zealot Empire.

But I have to be honest, I really hope they are not presented as some unstoppable existential threat. I want them to be depicted as a formidable military force, but one that is an 100% equal to the Alliance or the Horde.

I want the Arathi to come in expecting to face some primitives or petty kingdoms they are used to conquering, only to run headfirst into two 100% equivalent super powers.

I want recognition and respect for both the Alliance and the Horde as preeminent superpowers on Azeroth. I want the Alliance and Horde to finally get the respect they deserve as military forces. They have both been depicted as leaning on the “champion” too much.

I want Arathi commanders privately, or even overtly, expressing shock and a bit of fear realizing they have basically pissed off two vast coalitions. Both who could take on the Arathi Empire alone. And here they have just made them both angry.

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Agreed. One of my favourite plot points of C&C 3 is that the Scrin were expecting a mostly desolate world with maybe some small pockets of resistance when they arrived to begin mining operations. Following the liquid Tiberium explosion. Only to of course find that not only are the ‘native populous’ on the planet are still alive and healthy, but also have two high tech superpowers to boot (GDI and NOD). In which one of them (GDI) developed weaponry that shatters Tiberium on the molecular level. So ah, that is bad news for tiberium based life.

They only managed to fully built one of their threshold towers because of NODS interference. After all, that is one of the reason why Kane began the 3rd Tib War. To try and weaken GDI enough that the Scrin had a fighting chance to complete at least one tower. The other was to bait GDI into blowing up the liquid T bomb he had developed with the Ion Cannon. In order to bring the Scrin to Earth in the first place. Thanks Billy Dee Williams :stuck_out_tongue:

If only there was a game that actually finished the Tiberium saga. If only.

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The issue is that the Horde and Alliance are, at least to my recollection, both broken after BFA.

Does any lore state they’ve (either or) rebuilt?

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The Horde and Alliance have fought more diverse wars over many years, not to mention having a far more widespread skillset.

The Arathi should not be able to pull crap.

They should only be lasting 2 hours.

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I’d like em to give the horde and the alliance a bloody nose, and then we get to fight back with everything, they can even do there schtick of wanting to wipe out the monsters in both factions it will be a grand ole time

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I’m honestly thinking they’ll be the primary faction to unify the various antagonistic light factions out there

Definitely think their first move will be to restart and back a resurgent Scarlet Crusade, with the crusaders being their vanguard, while making an accord with the Lightbound for their tech, and then probably landing the majority of their forces on our side of Azeroth and attempting to pacify and annex the light-worshiping nations while annihilating the less faithful ones

Of course there will be a rebel faction out there that we work with, but it’ll mostly be there to say #notalllightusers

I’m guessing the emperor will body Turalyon if he doesn’t join them

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With Metzen back it would be interesting to see the Arathi Empire go full Imperium of Man/WH40K. WC1 was originally supposed to be a Warhammer game until the idea was thrown out the window.

The Elves who travelled with the expedition that founded the Arathi Empire might still be alive, too, which would create an interesting dynamic with visiting Elf PCs.

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I think it’d be fun if some of the first emissaries* to the Arathi were Scarlet Crusaders, who the Arathi trusted because they were suffused with Light, and who told the Arathi a very skewed version of what the factions are.

Mostly because I want to see this “History of Azeroth as told by the Scarlet Crusade” written out or told somewhere in game, because it sounds absolutely hilarious.

*For drama, of course, I’m imagining that we players learn this in a cutscene where our factions’ official emissaries have just been received by the Arathi Emperor or other ranking ambassador, who listens to the emissaries only to call them out as liars and blasphemers because “we have learned the truth already” while some smirking Scarlet steps out from the shadows - and rescuing those emissaries becomes part of the main campaign.

Gameplay-wise, I’d love it if the invasion of the Arathi Empire played out in stages: with the factions starting off with only a beachhead on the Arathi continent and surrounded by hostile towns used for questing, and each week/patch/rep milestone/realm-based progress bar led to a chapter where the player character takes over one town at a time and turns them into quest hubs.

Bonus if there’s heavy involvement by the factions’ Light-using religious groups - not just characters, but a focus on the institutions themselves - who are convincing the Arathi population that we are not in fact evil monsters here to kill them all, so that we don’t have to fight all of them.

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Outside of the Nelves/Forsaken/Zandalari, nobody seems to have taken catastrophic damage to their homelands. Even the “siege” of org was the forces being allowed in, and ended before any real fighting started.

If Rome can rebound after a catastrophic loss to Carthage and whoop them back in a generation, the Horde/Alliance are fine.

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My prediction is that when we get to the Empire, we’ll be treated to a Game of Thrones plotline of civil war. Different ruling noble houses, each vying to put their own candidate on the Gilded Throne, or whatever it’ll be called. I’m sure there’ll be some descendant of the emperor, a girl, off somewhere raising… phoenixes, just to not be a 1-to-1 copy.

The Alliance will ally with the Starks.
The Horde will ally with the Lannisters.

We’ll end the expansion by placing the rightful empress on the throne, assuming Blizzard doesn’t follow the script of the last season of the show.

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The factions suffered massive casualties when it fit the plot. When the plot “cares again” they will be as recovered, or not, as the writer wants them to be.

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I’m wondering if they have some sort of super sunwell that provides the Sacred Fire to them

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Honestly, I can not see any logical or realistic way that the Arathi Empire could actually pose a threat to the Horde/Alliance, not even with Scarlet Crusade aid.

I am not sure what people are actually seeing that makes the Arathi Empire so great. They are light fanatics with hardly more impressive light power than what the Horde and Alliance have access to. The Horde and Alliance also have access to far superior arcane magic, far superior technology, far superior numbers, far superior warfare skills… honestly, the Horde and Alliance, even individually, far exceeds the power that the Arathi could realistically hold… unless you are going to tell me, that the Arathi empire are Space Marines.

The most dramatic thing that could happen, is that the emperor does not like us and want us out, and Horde and Alliance would obviously heed that because the Arathi Empire is not our enemy and have not shown themselves to be a world-ending threat… so… yeah.

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I don’t even see them as fanatic, just religious and I honestly don’t see them being enemies. More like allies from afar.

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Azeroth could use a balkanized style war.

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Given how many people get the impression their fanatics, I could see that route being explored more. I don’t think that read on the empire is coincidental. Even if I don’t quite get it myself.

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We don’t know nearly enough about it to gauge how much of a threat it would be.

All we know is the Empire exists on a continent on the other side of the planet. We have no idea how large that continent is, how populated it is, how settled, etc… We don’t know the full scope of Arathi magical ability as the only Arathi mage we meet in Hollowfall was an apprentice. We don’t even know what the Arathi war machine is like, given the Hollowfall Arathi don’t have access to the empire’s resources and experts.

The Empire is a massive unknown quantity, and we have no way or knowing how much, or how little of a threat it could feasibly pose. I mean, for all we know, their continent is as large as ancient Kalimdor, and there isn’t a bit of land that isn’t settled. Numerically, they’d outnumber the combined Alliance and Horde significantly if that were the case.

I agree that we’re jumping the gun by thinking they’ll be a major threat. Most likely, if they’re antagonists, they’ll be about as dangerous as the Iron Horde, in my opinion. Time will tell for sure.

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They were strong enough to survive a Legion invasion, if nothing else.

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That’s assuming the legion was able to penetrate the magical storm that’s currently protecting the isle that the Arathi Empire is on

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