Do you feel a racial bias for certain covenants?

Wyrmrest Accord
1

I have a feeling that the covenants regardless of “my RP reason” really give the feeling that certain races should or should not be sent there upon death, by their very nature and cultural norms. (And here I do not distinguish between subraces, humans = all human options, et cetera)

Night Fae: Night Elves, Tauren, and maybe Blood Elves

Kyrian: Humans, Dwarves, Draenei, Blood Elves, Tauren, Vulpera, and maybe Gnomes & Zandalari-specific Trolls.

Necrolords: Humans, Dwarves, Orcs, Trolls, Forsaken, Blood Elves, maybe Gnomes & Goblins

Venthyr: Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Void Elves, Orcs, Trolls, Forsaken, Nightborne, Blood Elves, Goblins, and maybe Vulpera.

As much as I personally like Night Fae pets and aesthetics, it wouldn’t be natural for a human, gnome, goblin, orc or forsaken to be sent there because races like those don’t generally have any sort of value to the Night Fae’s purpose.

On the flip side, I doubt you’d find many Night Elves, Tauren or Draenei in Revendreth because they are people who value a life without sins and regrets, and they usually repent of their transgressions in some way, shape or form.

SO, that said, what are your thoughts? I know your immediate answer is “anyone can do anything” but in WoW we generally gauge a race by it’s tropes and stereotypes and that’s what I’m doing here. Why would an Orc be welcomed into Ardenweald? Why would you find a Night Elf in Maldraxxus? What really would have caused a Tauren to be deemed so vile as to warrant a trip to Revendreth?

2

I do think that’s a little narrow. The Loa go to Ardenweld, and it’s where Da Other Side, the troll specific afterlife, is located. I can also see basically any shamanistic culture going there. Given their nature, I can see literally anybody going to the other three. If it’s an aesthetic thing, nine of them has an aesthetic that perfectly matches a specific Azerothian culture.

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Magatha Grimtotem would absolutely be an “old reliable” in Revendreth.

I feel like the races are varied enough that they could end up in any section, even a Goblin with the Night Fae. I don’t see why one couldn’t be making a profit while also protecting the environment because they think it’s pretty.

And they make a profit by exploiting everyone else instead of nature.

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The covenants are more like Harry Potter houses where you get sorted based on personality and your affinities in life rather than what culture or people you belonged to. Some race cultures are more in tune to some things than others, but think of it this way. For example, Night Elf culture might scream “Ardenweald” at first glance, but what about a Priestess of Elune? I could see a few priestess who are devoted to helping others going to Bastion. What about Sentinels? You can make a case that many of them would go to Maldraxxus. What about a former Druid of the Flame, who went to follow Ragnaros in the Hour of Twilight? They did some pretty bad stuff, maybe they go to Revendreth to atone.

Everyone is an individual who is supposed to be judged by the Arbiter as an individual.

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Anyone who chooses to be Kyrian and isn’t a human just annoys me. Kyrian’s afterlife just irritates that you erase who you were to serve some spiritual purpose. Maybe it’s just my extreme anti-human bias and seeing this stereotypical blue human heaven annoys me in this lore.

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I kind of feel the same way about Night Elves for Night Fae.

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This is something that should be discouraged whenever possible, since that way of thinking is largely a byproduct of some…less than stellar influences on many early fantasy authors.

Our current understanding (at least as far as I know) is that the afterlife someone goes to is way more dependent on their personal conduct and thoughts than any kind of worldview or cultural pressure. Tauren are supposed to be peaceful and just, but they’re more than capable of throwing their lot in with criminals (Mr. Smite), cheating at honor duels, and lighting innocent peoples’ homes on fire basically for the lulz. Draenei are supposed to be unimpeachably virtuous, but some of them still torture their prisoners and harbor murderous rage. A night elf ended up waging an entire war because he couldn’t get with the girl that he liked.

It’s always possible to have a culture that values virtue and compassion and have individuals who come from that culture decide to be petty, cruel, and evil anyway. Honestly, from a certain point of view, that reality is one of the themes of Shadowlands.

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since that way of thinking is largely a byproduct of some…less than stellar influences on many early fantasy authors.

Not sure what you mean by this, since all modern fantasy stems from great creative minds like Tolkien, H.P. Lovecraft and Gene Roddenberry, even if some don’t like or agree with them personally.

I see some of your points with the Tauren and regular Draenei but I find it silly to think about a Lightforged Draenei, who underwent a ritual that’s basically like something out of the Shadowlands to purge themselves of their fear and doubt, to find him or herself stuck in transylvania-land being tortured for egregious sins.

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Everyone forgets the Pandas :slightly_frowning_face:

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I did yes. But then again, Pandaren are like Demon Hunters and allied races. They ceased to be relevant after their expansion. :stuck_out_tongue: Blizz just forgot that the Alliance has a floating mage-city, a space ship with an orbital cannon, and armies of 10,000 year veterans when the Horde attacked Darkshore. and the battle for lordaeron. :stuck_out_tongue:

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which is sad, cause Nelf DHs would’ve been cool to see as a sort of elite NPC in the DS warfront.

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The who? :wink:

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Trolls are super connected to nature, they should definitely go to Ardenweld. Their whole spiritual belief system is basically worshipping nature via avatar (Loa).

However, I think being so narrow kind of stifles creativity. Anyone can go anywhere despite the stereotypes related to their race.

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14

Some of his work in LOTR was… pretty racist. He came to regret it and, to my understanding, became better about it - but that doesn’t mean that “Orc’s = all evil” isn’t gross.

Turbo bigot and terrified of the world.

Just wanted to point these both out as a reminder. Influential minds though they may be when it comes to writing, they were very flawed and that’s exactly what Ursuola is getting at.

Being purged of fear and doubt and whatever else the ritual gets rid of doesn’t mean they can’t commit atrocities. There’s a Lightforged in Kul’tiras that comments specifically on a desire to torture and convert Horde prisoners using the Light - and in the most recent book, well… I’ll say no more.

As to whether they would or not… it’s hard to say. Blizzard themselves said there are other afterlives, and obviously the Light is going to want to claim the souls of its champions, but then why would Uther be in with the Kyrian’s, who while having similar themes, are most certainly not related to the Light?

Ultimately,

Blizzard’s writing style isn’t one that is worth thinking about… too deeply, because they rely a little overmuch on pretending races are hiveminds, while constantly trying to remind us they aren’t in the next breath. People go where they go, things happen that happen, trying to justify it is often just a confusing headache.

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15

From the first look at them and even to now, I feel they lean more thematically towards the available classes than they do races, which honestly I find a little disappointing given that the playable races have diverse ideologies and faiths, but given the scope of the usual expansion pack it doesn’t surprise me that we’re getting a very different look at what the afterlives look like.

That said though? Super hyped about the venthyr and I am hurling this guy towards some vampires as soon as we hit live.

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Would Fandral Staghelm fit neatly with the Night Fae? Yes, an archdruid but one deeply affected by the neutrality of the order who took matters into his own hands. One who would rather see the world burn for taking his family away. Or would Maldraxxus fit better?

17

Covenant? me and my boys are going STRAIGHT TO THE MAW BABY

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18

Venthyr seem good for belfs and velfs
Bastion seems good for Humans
Ardenweld is pretty much nelf
Maldraxxus seems good for Forsaken, orcs and Worgen.

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How’s that?

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I’m going to need to really stretch the reasons why my characters will join a certain Covenant. And I still haven’t decided, Bleh.