If you look at the cosmic map, it appears to be that Emerald Dream, Azeroth, and Shadowlands are in a closed loop system. Did the titans make this happen?
How can there be a region of the shadowlands that has deep connections to the Emerald Dream like Ardenweld if there wasn’t any titanic influence?
Oribos looks Titan made. Nothing about it seems natural at all. It is clear that the “Maw” was not always called the Maw or had the reputation as an inescapable h3llscape.
While most of the cosmology map remains true, the status of the Emerald Dream and the Shadowlands have changed a bit. The former is still a bit hazy, with some unanswered questions as to its origin and how much of it was Titan-influenced and how much of it exists independently of them. The latter is now the plane of Death itself, and no longer a separate thing: it should be in the big Death circle, not outside it.
EDIT: and this is still open to discussion, nobody knows. I suspect it’s ripe for some retconning, and the Emerald Dream will be retconned to be entirely Life-related, with the Titans only using it. Then Ardenweald and the Emerald Dream are probably connected due to some kind of deal/relationship between The Winter Queen and Elune (the latter of which is could be either First One related or entirely Life-related, still unknown).
The point is: this is a very hot topic specifically, and we don’t know.
Make it a system? Maybe yes, maybe no. Depends on the role of the 1st Ones.
The overall “framework” was layed out by the 1st Ones afaia.
What is the role of the pantheon of Order in all of this - hard to say so far.
Some machinery there are the relics of the 1st Ones (Waystones, and the Vault at the very least, possibly other similar things).
Torghast is a mystery. The Maw - less so. Some parts of the place were dragged in just like Korthia. Some parts are made out of the leftovers of the souls brought there.
The Winter Queen said at the end of the main Ardenweald campaign that they made it inescapable after Zovaal was banished.
According to voices of Afterlives, Death is not a solo thing, but it’s a Life-Death system in general. Which is odd, because mortal souls do not leave the Shadowlands afaia.
like the Emerald Dream?
Emerald Dream was for sure modified by the Pantheon, but Azeroth dreaming was mentioned in Chronicles prior to the arrival of the pantheon of Order.
references:
1st Ones laying down the “framework” of the universe:
waystone being a relic of the 1st Ones mentioned when we encounter the Jailer for the 1st time, Stand as One quest.
the Vault - in the The Great Vault quest in Oribos
things being dragged in:
So the bits of land and such that we see in the Maw are actually pieces of things that he’s been able to successfully grasp onto and then tie together and make use of.
turning souls into terrain: Dust to Dust weekly from Ve’nari
“inescapable Maw”: The Court of Winter quest.
Death-Life cycle (said “Ardenweald” “Revendreth”, but was talking about Ardenweald):
A bit about the Dream from Chronicles vol. 1:
THE DREAMING WORLD
Some believe that Freya wove the Emerald Dream into being from nothing. Others claim that this strange place had always existed in some form, a dream born from Azeroth’s slumbering world-soul. It is said that Freya tapped into this realm and molded what would become known as the Emerald Dream as a way to commune with the nascent titan.
Azeroth dreaming before the pantheon arrival, same source:
It was during his long and lonely journeys that Aggramar sensed something extraordinary: the tranquil dreams of a slumbering world-soul, billowing across the cosmos. The song of life led him to a world that the Pantheon had not yet discovered, a world they would later name “Azeroth.”
Nestled within the world’s core was one of Aggramar’s kin—one far more powerful than any yet encountered. The spirit was so mighty that Aggramar sensed its dreams even through the din of activity that rattled across the world’s surface.
Yet as Aggramar drew closer to Azeroth and beheld the world, horror seized him. Void energies shrouded the world’s surface like a layer of diseased flesh. From the ruined landscape rose the Old Gods and their Black Empire. Miraculously, the nascent titan’s spirit remained uncorrupted, but Aggramar knew it was only a matter of time before it succumbed to the Void.
Taken from an interview between Bellular and Steve Danuser:
Steve Danuser: They were these mysterious and very powerful beings that sort of architect-ed the framework of the universe of which the Titans, the Pantheon of Death, pantheons of all these different influences are kind of the next layer down from the First Ones, these progenitors of the universe.
The First Ones are the architects of the Shadowlands, and given this interview, it seems as though the Titanic Pantheon are a tier down from them (possibly even their creations as well). So no, the Shadowlands are not a creation of the Titans - the Shadowlands are a creation of the First Ones.
How exactly? It resembles Stormheim’s architecture but that is no surprise considering Odyn was ripping off the Shadowlands’ architecture when he made the place!
Proper Titan Architecture does not resemble Oribos or Stormheim! Proper Titan Architecture resembles Ulduar!
As for whom Ra-Den was ripping off when he created Uldum and Ahn’Qiraj: most likely the Old Gods…
Titan Keepers when not under strict directions from the Titans seem to have a habit of ripping other Races off(I wonder who copied off Mueh’zala when building Uldir?)!
The Chronicle outright states that no one knows how Freya created the Emerald Dream. No one knows if she made it from nothing, from Azeroth’s Dreams or what! No one knows! Current implications are that the Emerald Dream is the Feyweald to mirror the Ardenweald.
Incidentally in D&D the Feyweald is the Realm of Dreams so the Emerald Dream being forged from the Feyweald is not hard to imagine!
