I say they could have both. And bring back Varian, too.
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That would be the ideal solution 
What ever did happen to Rodgers? And have we seen a canonical appearance of an alliance airship since Legion?
She shows up in Before the Storm.
When trying to assess the Azerite situation, Rogers suggested using the mineral to make weapons against the Horde. And later, when Anduin was trying to get the Gathering off the ground, she was one of the advisers who opposed the idea.
She has not been seen from since, so it’s not known if she survived the Fourth War or the Shadowlands crisis.
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One other aspect I’d also like to incorporate is seeing the Scarlet Risen absorbed by the Forsaken.
It still bothers me most of the Scarlets become PC undead, and there isn’t one Forsaken on hand to comment. It’s also weird to me the Forsaken don’t take any action. Sure they were the enemy, perhaps the most hated one, but they are now grave brethren none the less, enslaved by a Dreadlord. The Forsaken should do something about that.
We’ve Voss, an ex Scarlet undead herself and Calia, the now undead rightful heir of Lordaeron, rolling with the Forsaken now. So both a leader who might be able to reach them, and a leader they might be interested in following.
That’s where any nuance for the Scarlets from the Horde would come from. People formerly in their ranks who know well the high of righteous indignation. Obviously for the Blues just have some humans who saw the light, no pun intended, and ditched the organization.
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The Scarlets dying out because of their fanaticism is what’s unrealistic, to me. They’re not an ethnicity, but a hate group, one that would draw in anyone emotionally racist enough to take up its name.
You could kill off literally every last one of them and a new one will always appear.
Plus let’s be real here. Populations do not matter in this setting. There’s never been a straight answer on how large or small a citizenry is, and it seems to change on the whims of the author.
Like seriously they said Stormwind was down to sending conscripted farmers. Suggesting this war of attrition all but wiped out their professional armies. And then the Scourge attacked. So you’d think that’d be game over. But nah everything’s fine.
There’s always just enough.
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The Alliance sits on its hunches; a vacant throne, while the undead fiends slither back into the sacred ruins of Capitol City. The vile barbarian mongrels of Horde have propped up a new banshee queen, the revenant sister of Arthas himself! They fly the banner of Menethil!
A war launched and won for nothing. The streets are choked with war orphans and refugees. The recruitment line woule be out the door.
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I do want the Alliance to have a named seedy extremist side, but I think that the story should have a paper-thin but legally relevant difference maintained between the recruiters in Stormwind and the official Scarlet Crusade - so that everyone knows this is just the new Scarlet Crusade, but they have enough legal defense to wriggle out of any culpability for things the official Scarlets have done (since the Alliance has directly opposed them before).
It’d show some of the thematic differences between the factions - where the Horde may challenge their seedy elements to a Mak’gora and slay them on the spot, the Alliance has to run a thorough investigation first and compile legal evidence before bringing their seedy elements to trial.
On another note, now I kinda want Rogers to have been punished by Anduin by being reassigned to a desk through the Fourth War, but then released by Turalyon to help fight back the Scourge attacks during Shadowlands, so now she’s a war hero and folk hero in the regions around Stormwind and grants that credibility to the new extremist organization.
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the like 5-10 of them that are left are holed up in some crumbling fort or monastery, seething over undead Lorderon’s victory under the Horde and writing fanfiction of Anduin and Sylvanas
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And they apparently did. The Scarlet Brotherhood seem to be an example of “a new one appearing” as you said.
The Scarlet Crusade were wiped out in Legion by the Knights of the Ebon Blade (speaking as DK main, you’re welcome).
The Scarlet Onslaught headed to Northrend and their numbers have been dwindling ever since due to purging the “disloyal” (re: the non-fanatical), adherents defecting/converting to other groups, attrition of battle and environment and a lack of children (we never see any, and those who survived wouldn’t be adults themselves by the time of Dragonflight).
The thing is I’d classify the Scarlets as a pure evil badguy group. And while I certainly want a more nuanced faction conflict, I don’t think the Alliance being basically N@ZIs would be a good idea.
I actually think little about the Alliance’s behavior has to change. They just need to stop absolving them of wrongdoing while villainizing the living crap out’ve the Horde.
Like Stormwind straight up attacks Andorhal in Cata. And the Forsaken are depicted as monstrous for raising their fallen dead.
While they’re commanded by a death knight.
The Alliance are launching an invasion into territory that isn’t there’s, with an ex Scourge Champion at the helm using mindless undead slaves, and the Forsaken are the depraved ones for also using necromancy.
That’s kinda why I find the Alliance exasperating. No matter what they’re doing, it’s somehow okay.
I liked Godfrey. He was an interesting character living and dead.
Imagine several Godfreys getting together around the globe (all from relatively high levels of society), to form a secret cabal with the goal of world domination. They reignite interest in the scarlet crusade which becomes their unwitting tool. This is just the beginning of their nefarious schemes.
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The Alliance and Horde were at war, of course the Alliance was going to push the offensive, especially since they know what happens if the Forsaken are given the advantage. Plus, Andorhal wasn’t controlled by either faction in Vanilla, only during Cata when the war breaks out do both factions establish bases there, presumably around the same time. And they even put aside their differences to fight the Scourge left in the town until Sylvanas kidnapped Koltira.
The Alliance as a whole isn’t condoning raising the dead, it just so happens that Thassarian is gonna do what a Death Knight does. But does he even count? Because I don’t remember him ever raising anyone except the skeleton he had since Wrath.
This is compared to the Forsaken, who’s leader and upper management are actively looking for new ways to raise the dead and actively want to slaughter and raise as many as possible. Even Garrosh admits there’s little difference between her and the Lich King now.
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They kinda have the same issue as the Defias. Like I get they are iconic, I get Vanessa was still hanging around but I actually dont see any narrative change except for both these groups to be the villain of the day and be wiped out again.
This is almost the complete opposite of the Uncrowned and I love this idea.
Uh. No he says that to deliberately insult her. The very next line was redacted for being too spicy. He was not admiting things he was disrespecting the Banshee Queen.
The difference between the Forsaken and Scourge is the Forsaken have free will. It can be bent by necromancers or broken the old fashion way, but fundamentally it’s just a goth makeover. That’s why they’re ya know, a PC race.
And skeletons aren’t. They’re meat with an enslaved soul inside it. So the Forsaken are villainous for unkilling the enemy. But the KotEB is jake because they… what exactly? They’re pretty much just playable Scourge but get a pass because they can be on the Alliance. Which absolves you of all wrongdoing.
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I swear people won’t be happy unless they get their head canon where the Alliance is erased as a playable faction and replace by Warhammer 40k Space Marines so they can fulfill their underdog hero role.
Every time I see faction discourse it always comes down to the headcanon and grasping for straws to make Humanity or the Alliance into some totalitarian state that it has never been in the lore to rationalize and push away the Horde’s overt and repeated crimes.
Guess what, the Alliance isn’t a facist state. Guess what, the Horde aren’t barbaric war mongers either - but they aren’t scrappy underdogs.
The Horde cannot be what people think they are because they really haven’t been such in 15 years, and the Scarlet Crusade and people’s obsession over them - especially from Horde Aligned folk - always comes down from personal headcanon fulfillment about wanting THE ALLIANCE AS A WHOLE to be something they are not and to make them feel better about [Insert Horde War Crime Here].
I swear, every time a piece of datamined lore comes out that is even one iota referencing the Alliance being at all vigilant or even Scarlet armor existing it’s Horde aligned people going crazy at the thought of getting to fight against, for some reason, something the Alliance has never truly been as a whole.
But hey really hoping you guys get Red Space Marine Scarlets back soon so you guys can feel you’re playing that underdog role against a few random Humans in one eight of one zone on a map.
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I’ll never understand how people can walk away from that Garrosh/Sylvanas exchange and think Garrosh is meant to be “the one in the right”. Both being shifty, sure. But one blatantly uses a gendered insult and he’s heralded as the good one. Or him disallowing the use of the blight as being honorable when it’s his fault the forsaken are in a war at all.
Eh, personally I think it’s kinda the best the horde story can hope for at this point. The story slanted so hard that I don’t know if I’d ever enjoy a plot of fighting against the actual alliance, so strawmen like the Scarlet Crusade’s all that’s really left.
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I mean, the Chaos Space Marine Legion known as the Word Bearers Legion is pretty dope, so I would totally be down for that 