I am not willing to say realistically the wild gods wouldn’t help and Elune simply was AWOL. I think that came down to Blizzard decided Teldrassil was going to be a site of mass murder of genocidal proportions and were willing to bench anything that would say otherwise. Just like how the Vindicaar has conveniently ran out of gas.
Had the Wild Gods been there Sylvanas would of just killed them, so… yeaaah.
I like to think there’s reasons why all of that happened, but yeah, I’m afraid you’re right.
“Hey, let’s make the Horde unrepentant monsters again!”
“But what about the Wild Gods? The Vindicaar? Won’t any one of them be a dire challenge to the Banshee Queen? Can’t the Vindicaar just vaporize the Horde’s army at the cost of a small chunk of Ashenvale?”
“Who? What?”
“The … Wild Gods? The beings in the Emerald Nightmare raid? The Vindicaar? The ship our players spent a good third of the last Expansion inside of?”
Coughs, clears throat “WHO? WHAT?”
“…Message received, sir.”
Blood Elves follow Peafowl in terms of their gender roles. The dudes are pressured to being pretty, intimidatingly handsome, and otherwise. The ladies are expected to be more forward and martial. It’s a distant hold over from Night elven/Highborne tradition, in a different form,
It’s considered a virtue to have long hair and impractical ornaments to look nice while you beat someone in combat.
This also applies to the Zandalari, even if that aesthetic is different (Seriously, have you seen those crowns and ornaments? And they fight still like it’s nothing)
I feel like we were cheated out of a 1v1 between Gonk and Cenarius in Darkshore.
That gives me an idea…
Despite a deep-seated hatred for the Horde and desire to avenge their homeland, some night elves were actually a bit squeamish about invading Zuldazar.
This is because of the presence of the Loa, Wild Gods worshipped by the trolls. This is especially true of Gonk, a voice that has echoed through the Emerald Dream. This has lead some kaldorei druids to believe that Zandalar is a land blessed by nature, and to launch an attack on such a land would make the Alliance no better than the Horde.
Needless to say, this has done nothing to ease the bitter divisions among the kaldorei.
So, this is something that came to mind because I recall a post saying the Draenei were Doomsday preppers and think this would be fitting.
The Draenei are the only Alliance race currently that have War Plans with the purpose of not only being directed at the horde, but directed at their own current allies (Much in the sense the Pre-WW2 USA had War Plans laid out for conflict with the British Empire and France).
While the Exarchs in charge have no intent to even entertain the ideas of using said War Plans, they exist as a contingency plan should the worst come to pass. Using recent posts above, they likely initially considered the Night Elves to be the ‘biggest existential threat allied currently’ because of their similarities with the Botani. Now that Sylvanas had devasted the Night Elves, the ‘Biggest Existential Threat Allied Currently’ falls to the humans.
Inspired by a post I made in the gender thread.
Much like Victorian England, on which the two human nations are based, Gilneas and Kul Tiras have more rigid gender roles in comparison to their Stormwind cousins. Until very recently, they were both patriarchal societies where men made the vast majority of major decisions, while women are relegated to homekeeping and raising children. Scholarly pursuits were often allowed, but that was about it for Kul Tiran Woman’s career options.
This is especially true among Kul Tiran nobility, where arranged marriages are the norm (Melly here is a runaway bride as part of her backstory). Recent events, however, have challenged this long-held view - mainly in the form of Jaina Proudmoore.
The Lord-Admiralship functions like a traditional patriarchal monarchy, with Daelin at its head and his oldest son, Derek, set to inherit the throne. With Derek’s death in the Second War, however, his younger brother Tandred was next in line for the throne. Jaina was never an option - she was sent to Dalaran to study magic, yes, but scholarly pursuits among women were permitted by the Kul Tiran nobility, and most nobles looking to court the Lord-Admiral’s daughter weren’t expecting more than a traditional house wife capable of a few magic tricks to delight her children.
Needless to say, the nobility was dumbfounded by not only Jaina’s talent with magic, but also her raw, terrifying power with it.
Then came Daelin’s death and Jaina’s subsequent banishment from Kul Tiras. This left the nobility in a bind, as the only male heir left to the title was Tandred, who was only a teenager at the time. He had only been a swabbie, and he would suddenly become the youngest Lord-Admiral the nation’s ever had. Recognizing that her son was far from ready for such responsibility, Katherine took over the throne from her husband, much to the nobility’s shock. They ruffled, but given their only other option was a mere boy, they reluctantly agreed to coronate the nation’s first woman Lord-Admiral.
Fast-forward to Battle for Azeroth, and Jaina Proudmoore is now set to be the second woman to hold the title, as Katherine names her her successor in recognition of her heroic leadership during the Siege of Boralus. Given how she had saved the fleet, few nobles dared to object (out loud, at least).
Gilneas’s journey to gender equality was much more cut and dry - when your society is afflicted with a curse that allows both genders capable of ripping their enemies to shreds with their bare hands, gender roles kinda go out the window.
Careful, Blizzard might remember that the NElves haven’t done anything horrendous in ages and might become the new bad guys in WoW. Then that’ll open the way to dealing with AU Draenor again where Yrel is the real big bad, having converted the Botani to Light worship.
Sad thing is given the supposed ‘Division in the Alliance’ they talked about, I could see Blizzard doing something like that to throw Tyrande and the nelves under the bus.
There’s no much left of the Kaldorei to throw under anything right now, but I am predicting the Night Warrior ‘blessing’ is going to come back and bite the Kaldorei super-hard sometime in the next expansion or so.
Anyone else seeing a blood-starved Tyrande driven nearly feral by the bloodlust of the Night Warrior, caged in living tree-roots and druidic magic, while a hollow-eyed Malfurion talks about keeping her confined and safe, even if it takes another ten thousand years to remove this parasite from her soul? Because gorram ow, I can see that happening all too easily.
Void Elves canonically feel pain like the undead when exposed to the Light, and their mood can differ entirely when exposed to it. While Alleria is vastly different to the other void elves; those like Umbric should feel on edge if not hostile to Lightforged and light-radiant objects and people.
Oh, so this is actually one that should have been put into place to actually cause ‘Division’ within the Alliance.
The Allied races that the Horde welcome into their ranks are, overall, far easier for them to integrate than the Alliance with their own Allied races. Highmountain-Tauren, Mag’har-Orcs, Nightborne-Sindorei and Zandalari-Darkspear are each groups who would make it easy for the respective groups to gradually gel
The Alliance, however, with the exception of the Dark Irons and Kul Tirans have much less in that regards. Lightforged while Draenei are considerably more militaristic than than non-Lightforged kin and this likely makes integration tedious. Void Elves, however, have absolutely no one that can help them integrate easier and from the get go are likely to be leery of the militaristic DUES VULT group called the Lightforged.
The Dark Iron ‘attacks’ on Brewfest are something between a historical reenactment and an organized sport, certainly rowdy and bruising as dwarves sometimes are, but nonetheless regarded as a good time by everyone except for local healers, who are obliged to remain sober in order to perform medical attention for semi-frequent broken noses.
Per the flavor text of a depreciated AP token: [Eredar Tail-Cuff]
“The more decorative the cuff, the more prestigious the individual.”
What very likely began as a fashion trend, tail ornaments among the Eredar actually became something of a cultural phenomenon on Argus of old. During their heyday such items were worn like any other piece of jewelry, and well within the means of most to procure.
However, as their popularity grew and spread to the higher echelons of Argussian society, tail-cuffs and related ornaments took on a brand new life. Suddenly one’s wealth, station, and social status could all be discerned solely from the quality and quantity of said accessories. Archmagi of the Conservatory would gleefully spend exorbitant amounts commissioning master jewelcrafters for such extravagance.
Even after the arrival of Sargeras and the bloody schism that followed, the trend continued among both the Fel Eredar and the Draenei who escaped the slaughter. For the former, tail jewelry presented an opportunity to indulge in heedless “flexing” of Legion rank.
For the latter, many such displays of vanity were discarded in favor of something simpler, if not more meaningful. Today tail rings are worn for multifarious reasons. Some are purely ornamental, some are exchanged between loved ones as tokens of affection, and still others are kept as mementos of those who have passed on.
It’s yet unknown whether the gilded and bejeweled tails of the Lightforged are in any way comparable aside from their elegance.
So, this was something I did not even notice until I watched a Nobbel video recently about story for Belf heritage armor.
Lor’themar doesn’t say lines like “We are a nation on the Rise” Simply out of hubris and pride.
Since the Sunwell was restored, I imagine that the blood elves have, more or less, been seeing their lives improve to being even better than prior to Arthas’s destruction of the Sunwell. While the devastation laid them low, it also put them in a position where reforms and cultural changes were required for survival. This only saw a renewed nudge with their Prince’s betrayal and Lor’themar further being forced to realize he has to continue reforms because he wont be getting to opt out of being Regent Lord in the near future.
One result of this; Blood Elves have been seeing their population rising at a significantly faster rate (because being near extinction but in a highly defensible region has benefits) as the constant ‘War mindset’ has led to Soldiers ‘making the most’ of their visits home to be with spouses. That and Lor’themar more than likely applies civil benefits for his people since… well, not that many needing to be paid for at the very moment.
Aside from that, because Lor’themar was a Farstrider (and it is hinted at that he and Liadrin are ‘fond’ of each other) that the military Organizations such as the Farstriders and Blood Knights have found themselves on equal term with the magisters. As a result, this has turned the Sindorei culture into a meritocracy where you now need actual skill to succeed. For all intents and purposes, Lor’themar is the benevolent military dictator of Silvermoon (and yes, lets look at his ‘peers’ in the horde. We can more or less confirm that statement) who has dramatically increased the standard of living for the average Sindorei and (thanks to multiple successful military campaigns led by the Sindorei) has been seeing his people rake in prestige that makes orcs jealous.
So jealous, in fact, these things actually agitate the orcs since being in the same faction, orcs regularly see the Sindorei live better lives on average and aren’t actually soft since they claim major military victories with considerably less manpower. It is a contributing factor to the ongoing ‘stigma’ orcs have for “Soft Pompous Elves”
Now, if we could please update Silvermoon City and the Exodar, that would be great.
I’d actually argue that seeing the Sin’dorei flourishing so much would inspire the Orcs.
The grudging ones would look and think if a ‘soft’ race like the Elves could prosper so much, why can’t the rest of the Horde, and look to mimic, but never admit to doing so, Lor’themar’s methods.
The rest of the Orcs, the larger population, would simply be happy that their allies are prospering given how the rest of the world probably wants to put the Horde as a whole on a pike right now, and strong, happy allies are good allies to have at any time, but especially so right now.
I think any of the “Hurr durr no pretties” left in the Horde are either leftovers nobody had the heart to kill after the Siege of Orgrimmar because they were too pathetic to kill, or they’re just out and out racists in need of a good hammerin’ to the back of the head.
Probably been said, but I like to think Gilneas and its accents are as diverse as England’s are, rather than just having Mary Poppins cockney and BBC.
Leveling in Northrend reminded me of a headcanon I’ve had for a long time.
Among the first peoples dominated and completely absorbed into the Scourge, Nerubian architecture and aesthetics have more or less become adopted as the Scourge’s as well.
That’s why we see ziggurats and pointed spires that look so similar to our spidery friends beneath our feet in Scourge bases. It required little tweaking as well since they also worshiped death and had skulls and bones in their designs.
That is actually canon and referenced on pg. 35 of the WarCraft III manual.
As a testament to their tenacity and fearlessness, Ner’zhul adopted the Nerubians’ distinctive architectural style for his own fortresses and structures.
This is how good my headcanons are.
That means the Nightborne wanderlust is canon too. It is WRITTEN!