Exploring Kalimdor Lore Points

Lore Story Forum
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There are serious concerns about how Zekhan and Rexxar were handled as characters in Exploring Azeroth II: Kalimdor, but I believe there are posters that can suit that analysis more justice than I can (preferably in a separate thread), but here I will do my best to summarize the lore points brought up by the book and the standing of the setting between BfA and Shadowlands, as this travel takes place before Thrall is abducted by Mawsworn. I will leave out information that isn’t new to the setting, as much of the book is a recap of what we already know from Classic, Cataclysm, or other sources like Chronicle.

Durotar:
  • Tiragarde Keep was restored during the mission table missions by Keep Watcher Kerry and it is currently staffed by Alliance Nortwatch Expedition guards.
  • Durotar relies on water shipments from Mulgore to sustain itself due to the pollution from Azshara contaminating the Southfury River and Watershed.
  • One of the Echo Isles is named The Isle of Night, which homes a large tree and a shrine to Hir’eek.
  • There is a new dock at the Echo Isles that supports travel to and from Zuldazar.
The Barrens:
  • The Alliance still holds and is fortifying Honor’s Stand.
Azshara:
  • Gallywix’s Pleasure Palace remains even with Gallywix gone.
  • Bears (or at least Misha) like riding the cars on the rocket tracks.
  • Ruins of Eldarath are once again held by the Naga.
  • Talrendis Point is still held by the Night Elves and are attacking Valormok, with Zekhan worried the Night Elves will take control one day.
Mount Hyjal:
  • Spirit Beasts (the Beast Mastery tamable creatures) are bound to Aessina.
  • Angering Spirit Beasts on Hyjal will lead to one appearing and tearing the offender to bits and then the Spirit Beast will vanish out of sight again, shifting between Azeroth and the spirit realm (I am assuming this being the Emerald Dream).
  • The great owl spirit Ban’thalos is Malorne’s ally, and they fight together against the Legion in the War of the Ancients.
      Not mentioned: Current state of Night Elves on Mount Hyjal.
Earthen Ring:
  • Still made up of Horde and Alliance working together to heal Azeroth.
Darkshore:
  • Tablets from Bashal’Aran mention multiple types of Avatars of Elune, one avatar type for each phase of the moon, with the Night Warrior specifically being the Avatar of the New Moon (names for the other avatar types not mentioned).
  • Before the formation of the Kaldorei Empire, the Night Elves invoked Elune’s wrath against the Trolls (with this Night Warrior likely having died from the power after).
  • Before the Catalysm the Shatterspear had a bargain with the Night Elves to not expand further into Darkshore and the Night Elves would leave them in peace - though also would not come to their aid if they were in danger. After the Cataclysm they joined the Horde, but now after the Fourth War, while still maintaining peaceful ties with the Horde, the Shatterspear have also resumed their peace bargain with the Night Elves.
  • The Ancient of Lore Onu was not killed in the Horde world quest at Darkshore, and while Onu acknowledges the war with the Horde, even after that he is still friendly with anyone who is an ally of nature.
  • The Army of the Black Moon has moved on from Darkshore to focus their wrath elsewhere (likely Ashenvale and Azshara).
Teldrassil:
  • Rexxar had traveled around Teldrassil after the Catalysm.
  • Denalan discovered how to cure the Timberlings on Teldrassil, and developed enchanted soil that could purge corruption, but he died in the burning of Teldrassil and the knowledge was seemingly lost with him (luckily the Night Fae player saved Denalan’s soul from the Maw and he now resides in the Heart of the Forest in Ardenweald, so his knowledge is not actually lost).
  • After joining the Alliance the Night Elves opened their homes to the other races of Azeroth, obviously most notably the Gilneans.
Azurmyst and Bloodmyst Isles:
  • Also known as Nar’valas, before the Sundering these had been mountains that had been intentionally left uninhabited by the Night Elves to be used as hunting grounds for wild game.
  • The Exodar is fully operational again and ready to travel, but rather than leave during Legion the Draenei decided to unite Azeroth and take the fight to Argus by the Vindicaar.
  • The Night Elves had settled Silvermyst Isle because it was so close to Teldrassil.
Ashenvale:
  • The Night Elves took Astranaar back after the War of the Thorns and fortified it.
  • The Night Elves have a new Alliance camp by the entrance of the ruins of Zoram Strand.
  • Splintertree Post and the Warsong Lumber Camp are still being attacked by the Night Elves.
  • Priestess of Elune are now tending to the Howling Vale and the Shrine of Mel’Thandris and singing prayers to the Worgen spirits there.
  • Stardust Spire still stands, and Huntress Jalin and her Sentinels destroyed every single siege weapon the Horde tries to bring through Stonetalon.
  • Mor’shan Ramparts are once again held by the Alliance.
      Not mentioned: Maestra's Post, Zoram'gar Post, the Shrine of Aessina and Big Baobob, Silverwing Refuge, or Forest Song.
Silithus:
  • The Cenarion Circle has reestablished Cenarion Hold and has repaired Staghelm Point and planted a Sentinel Tree (like the one in the Firelands).
  • One of C’Thun’s eyes was presented to Saurfang by the Alliance forces that killed the Old God.
Cenarion Circle:
  • Still welcomes druids regardless of where they hail from.
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So did Rexxar grab a time machine before exploring Kalimdor?
Barely anything has changed.

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Alliance bias strikes again. Alliance is allowed to hold a fortress in core Horde territory without consequences. This is ludacrous. Baine and Thrall are weak if they let the Alliance do this. Pathetic.

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And even more Alliance bias. Bfa was a huge loss for the Horde. The Alliance expanded everywhere while the Horde was left with nothing. THe bias from the writers could not been more ovious.

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My favorite part was when the Horde is still occupying parts of Ashenvale and describing the Night Elves as the aggressors… after having commited a genocide against them.

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Any mention of those horde shaman that were zapping ancients with lightening and setting them on fire during the WoT? How about the shaman that help torch Teldrassil? Have we officially hit BFF status?

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This is the sort of lore I come to this forum to find.

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No. What I can find is Zekhan’s reflection on the matter:

    The husk of the tree still smolders from the fire the Horde rained down on it that day. What was destroyed may never be regrown—what we did, never forgiven. Though it be a harsh thing to say, maybe we shouldn’t be forgiven. Some soldiers lean on their duty, their pride, their faith in the Horde . . . like that could make sense of what happened here. Seems to be a brave face to hide behind.

    …

    Even in its ruin, I can still see how Teldrassil was easily tall enough to reach the sky. The clouds that caressed its crown now cling to the charred bark of the hollowed-out tree, as if wrapping arms around a friend to grieve its passing. The Horde broke the crown of the heavens and replaced it with one of cinders. Time and the elements’ll reclaim the tree, but I hope they take their time.

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Thanks! I understand the Earthen Ring’s neutrality as well, your reply is really what I was looking for.

Any word on Rexxar’s reflection about himself? He was slaughtering Alliance by the boat load and was gong ho about it to say the least. Has he forgiven Jaina?

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The Horde has a foothold still in Ashenvale.

The Horde was suppose to give it back. This does lead to a big question of how far the treaty was in SoO. Seems to me the Horde kept that portion of Ashenvale but everything else was taken by the Alliance.

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Zekhan was the one writing the report, but Rexxar did add this note in bold:

    We sat, said nothing for a long time. There be a weight here—one I only knew the half of, having never seen the tree before its ruin. After a while, Rexxar filled the quiet, told me of the times he traveled to the World Tree.

    …

    I made a quick offering to Akunda for the night elves. I hope that one day they can find new beginnings again.*

    *Hope hurts. He’ll learn.

As for Rexxar and Jaina, this was already cleared up at the end of BfA:

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The Horde did abandon the Mor’shan Ramparts after the Siege of Orgrimmar, as per A Good War, but Horde Rogues took them back at the start of the War of the Thorns. The Horde did not give them back again after according to Zekhan, but rather the Horde’s defenders lost them again.

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Its surreal that these characters are depicted to behave in a way like the Night Elves got struck by a Tornado… or the Horde slipped and dropped their catapults on Teldrassil.
Am I getting the wrong impression here or is that the impression you got as well?

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Thanks,

basically “sorry for the one time I killed your people by the boat load, and tried taking your head. See what had happened waaaaaass…our leader had her soul twisted and manipulated and we were more than inspired to follow her, my bad. Can we go back to being friends?”

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Different impression. See the earlier post #8.

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It’s fine the night elves retook Warsong gulch/mogushar rampart. However, it is the rest of the zone that I am interested in. Im just going to copy paste what i said in the other thread:

There are three possibilities, 1) Blizzard is lazy and does not want to change any territory since Cata.(with the exception of Mogushan apperently) 2) the peace deal back in SoO didnt fall though either because there are still Alliance in Aszhara and Horde in Ashenvale 3) not all of Ashenvale proper was given to the Night elves in the same vein not all of Aszhara was given to the Horde back in SoO.

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Thats the only Horde self-reflection in the entire book?

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The deal after Siege of Orgrimmar was the Horde would stay out of Ashenvale in return for getting to use Azshara’s lumber. The Night Elves never left Azshara (as they were present during the Legion pre-patch events), but the Horde did leave Ashenvale between the end of Mists of Pandaria until the War of the Thorns, as per A Good War.

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Maybe you are right. Still I interpreted the end of SoO as more of the night elves leaving the zone especially after Tyrande whole dramatic pebbles representing Aszhara scene back in Warcrimes.

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So where exactly is the new Cenarion Hold, since the last one was destroyed by the Sword still sticking out of Azeroth.

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