So this cropped up as I was making a paladin, and it got me thinking.
Its been 34 years since folks got stranded on Draenor after Ner’zhul blew it up by opening too many tabs Gates at once, and we had a significant population of Men, High Elves and Dwarves over there, plus a large amount of Orcs, Mag’har, Mok’nathal, Draenei and Ogres.
Suddenly, we’re told from Battle for Azeroth (6 years ago) that Outland cannot support life anymore. Whole fields of grain where the seeds crumble into dust, empty and lifeless. Everything looks fine, but the land is inherently dying without a natural biosphere to support itself, and most of its latent arcane and spirit energies either consumed by the explosion that tore it apart, or spent recklessly by the survivors to fight over territory, resources or old grudges.
Yet there’s a massive population in and around Shattrath, where apparently the Light is sustaining and supporting life capable of allowing the city to continue. Orcs, Humans, Dwarves, Ogres, Draenei, High and Blood Elves, they’re all there in relative peace, with no violence tolerated within the city limits.
So I had a bit of a brain blast, and I’m gonna divide it up into 3 parts.
The Stranger in the Strange Land
Now this one is fairly simple, but what about the kids that grew up in Outland? There are green-skinned Orcs in Shattrath who probably grew up there, not really welcome in Nagrand because of what their parents did but still aware of the traditions of their people.
Humans and Dwarves whose parents probably left them in the care of the Draenei in Shattrath while, as soldiers, the parents went out to push back Legion Cults, mutated beasts and worse.
High Elves who grew up never knowing the Sunwell but suffused with the free-flowing arcane energy of Outland and then are introduced to the Blood Elves and are left going “… the hell?” after their own parents’ stories of a noble and proud people and instead getting embittered and addicted survivors.
The Mag’har of Outland probably makes for an interesting take on the concept because while a lot of them did join the Horde and a sizeable chunk of that ended up fighting for Garrosh, a lot more stayed in Nagrand because they refused to join any Horde, but now with their homeland literally decaying under their feet, they may not have a choice.
The Draenei of Outland who might not be down with Velen or the Light after being ‘abandoned’ to the Fel Horde and decades spent rebuilding from left-over scraps and burnt-out ruins but find themselves wondering if, now that there is peace on Azeroth, they might move their families to this new world and actually be able to settle down and not have to keep one eye open at all times.
We know that Nether Drakes and Black Dragons alike could assume Humanoid form, aka the Visage, and that Netherdrakes were quite common in Shattrath’s slums. The concept of a Nether Drake desperate to find both reliable food sources and a sustainable form of arcane energy to prevent their diffusion into unstable molecules as they grow older could be a fascinating concept, especially with what we’re learning about the Flights and a possible 6th Flight that was scrubbed from history.
And that brings us to the next topic:
Allied Races from Outland
We saw in the Battle for Azeroth that the biosphere of Outland is collapsing in on itself. We’ve seen Thrall and the Orcs make overtures towards the Orcs and Mag’har Orcs of Outland, and the Mok’nathal as well, inviting them to the new Kosh’harg Festival.
We know from Sabellian that his Black Flight dominated and took over the Bladespire Mountains of Outland, killing off all the Gronn and, supposedly, most of the Ogres that worshipped and fought for these primordial giants. But what about Ogri’la? Several of the Black Dragons from that era/region wanted Ogri’la leveled simply because the population was Ogres, but the Ogre Magi of Ogri’la were peaceful and friendly and wished only to enlighten and uplift the Ogre Clans to civilisation and peace. We also don’t know how Sabellian supposedly ‘cured’ his Flight of their Old God corruption, so perhaps the Ogri’la Ogre Mages bargained a peace-treaty by trading their knowledge and magical skills to Sabellian in exchange for him taking Ogri’la under his wing as a protectorate, a dominion relatively free but still owning fealty and tithe to their overlord?
It would be a very interesting thing to go back and figure out the how Sabellian cured his brood, considering Wrathion had to jump through hoop after flaming hoop and enlist the aid of the Guardian, Dalaran, and the shrieking flaming kleptomaniac mass-murdering hobos of Azeroth Champion to get the resources to make one single potion for Ebonhorn, and that was with the research of the Guardian and Dalaran backing him up.
Somehow, magical singing crystals were able to cure Old God corruption. Sabellian as a Aural Healing guru fills me with sadistic glee, now we know why he’s so grumpy and dismissive, imagine having to go through that nonsense to save your people!
So, from what we’ve seen, there’s a few options:
Mok’Nathal and/or Ogres from Ogri’la would be a shoe-in and an easy win for the Horde since we’ve been gagging for them since Vanilla. Mok’nathal at the Kosh’harg also mentioned it was becoming harder and harder to find food for their people, and their territory was being encroached upon by outsiders seeking shelter and supplies. The Ogri’la Ogres could simply come to Azeroth after Sabellian and his brood abandoned the Bladesedge Mountains and, with their crystals, set about uplifting the Stonemaul Tribe, allowing Horde players to play both your usual “Me smash!” Ogre and the far more erudite and civilised Ogri’la/Gorian Empire Ogres (although there’s a difference between civilised and good, I will point out, when it comes to the Gorian Empire …).
Broken and Ethereals for the Alliance because, again, been a fan-favourite demand and given their posture, a modified Worgen model would work well enough. Broken work for the same reason as Mok’Nathal and Ogres, the land is dying and their people are starving, but the Ethereals work because we helped out a friendly faction, and the Alliance have the Ren’dorei, who have connections with Alleria Windrunner and her tutor, the mysterious Locus-Walker, who is both admired and envied by many Ethereals and Void Ethereals for his rare ability to wield the powers of the Void and not fall to its corruption. Having one of the Ethereal Consortiums shack up with the Alliance to aid and help train the Ren’dorei and become a playable race would be fun, especially since they’re energy beings wrapped in magical bandages, they could easily use Blood/Void elf models with unique skins rather than flesh and blood.
Finally, it occurs to me, the Nether Flight.
We are the Last, we are the First
We know there’s signs that the Dragonflights were originally more numerous, and that the caveat against intermingling between the Flights was established sometime well after their creation.
Furthermore, we know that the Dragonflights were established well over 20,000 years ago, meaning that the Aspects, at least, are significantly old and are still in the prime of their lives. There’s also several purple dragons in murals around the Dragon Isles, and there is no ‘Purple’ Flight.
Possibly a mingling of a Red and a Blue, or a mutation of either Flight? We’ve also seen on some Drake/Dragon Mounts, namely the Violet Proto-Drake, that there are rumors of ‘even one more flight’. And the exact phrasing doesn’t exclude there being a 6th flight, only that 'had there been one more Flight."
I’d love to see the Blues argue that the Netherdrakes also deserve to ‘come home’, and with access to the knowledge of Sindragosa, simulacrum or not, and the unknown energies sealed beneath the Azure Span along with the dangerous ‘Wild Magic’ of the region, could end up being a cure for the Nether Drakes and allow them to not dissipate into unstable energy as they grow older and can no longer sustain the magical bonds that bind their bodies together. That Deathwing hadn’t just set out Black Dragon eggs, but pilfered eggs of this lost Flight, and while the Black Dragons in the Blade’s Edge mountains matured, the other eggs, without guardians and awash in the greatest burst of energy, were altered from their natural state to become the Nether Flight.
If Reds are Life, Green are the Dream, Blues are Magic, Blacks are Earth and Bronze is Temporal, then given the nature of the Nether Flight, transient and insubstantial, they could very well be Spirit, Dragons made to control and watch over the natural Spirit Energies of Azeroth, before being cut down by the Black Flight and even before that, being so reclusive that all but the Aspects and their closest advisors did not know they existed.
There’s also the Elemental Drakes, the aerial ones that lair in the domain of Skywall and presumably have fallen in line with Thunderaan, Elemental Prince of that Plane, and the earth drakes that are a constant thorn in the voluminous sides of the Elemental Prince of Deepholme, her vastness Therazane the Stonemother. It would be interesting to see if these Elemental Drakes also owe their existence to Tyr’s meddling and were ‘banished’ before the Aspects could learn of their friend’s ruthless experimentation, or are the result of Draconic Spirits returning to the Planes that most resonate with them, since we can see Green Dragons always return to the Dream, and we don’t know where Dragon Spirits go as a rule, since Ysera’s existence in the Emerald Dream was regarded as an aberration, and a dangerous threat to the ‘system’ of the Shadowlands before the Winter Queen stepped in.
That’s all, just more rogue and dumb thoughts circling my head that I needed to get out. What’re your thoughts?