I was reading a discussion where people were making a point between “allied races” and “core races”. I guess, per the question, canonically, is there any difference between an allied race and a “core” race to the factions?
Yes in many of them, as Void elves we are a prime example. another one would be that normal dwarves don’t have magma blood and that normal Draenei don’t explode with the light when killed. These are anatomical and physiological differences.
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Not really.
Even the concept of a race in the game isn’t very defined.
We have 4 different human “races” that are playable.
4 elven “races”. That all come from the same elven race, just different cultures and physical changes developed over time.
Initially, the idea of the Allied Race was make a playable race reusing assets from a previous race of the game, see void elves, lfd, nightborne and HMT.
But then we get to Kultiran Humans that are a completely new race by those standards, since they are entirely made from scratch.
Lorewise, there is no real definition of races or core races or allied races, just different groups (some are entire nations, some are just a group), that decide to join under a group based on what they want to achieve.
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Allied races and core races are no longer separated in Shadowlands. The only difference at this point, is the level you start at, lvl 10, or lvl 1. The term “Allied Race” doesn’t even appear anymore.
But even before that, no. THere was no lore difference- it was just a term used gameplay-wise to separate them.
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Technically all the races in the Alliance, barring normal humans, are Allied races. Each playable race is from an independent group that agreed to lend its forces to a specific commander in a mutual defense pact. I left out the normal humans because they are the “core” when it comes to dictating the direction that the Alliance takes. One can say they are a first among equals.
The Horde only has one allied race, which is the Zandalari. The Zandas made it a point that they were allying with the Horde, not joining it. The Horde is a singular nation comprised of a hella diverse group of peoples. One might point to the Orcs as the “core” Horde race. However, the Horde is very liberal when it comes to representation of the top brass.
The Horde, unlike the Alliance, can comfortably place non-Orcs in leadership positions. Even in past conflicts like the Northrend conflict, the Horde placed both Orc and Forsaken commanders on the continent. Meanwhile, Valiance Keep and Valgarde, settlements that are meant to mirror the Horde’s, are run by human men. The recent incursion into Nazjatar further cements this. The Horde’s forces were lead by Old One Eye, a belf. In contrast, the Alliance were lead by Elsa, a human frost mage with family issues.
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Lorewise, not really. You could maybe make an argument for a distinction based on overall group size or race origins (are they a unique race, or a preexisting race that just modifies its members, like velfs, LFD, and mechagnomes) but even that runs into issues.
Not really.
Lorewise, I’d say the other real difference would be in the population of the people. This doesn’t really count for some of the major ones, like Zanda/KT/NB/DID, but the rest of them are pretty underpopulated. There are only like 25 void elves, Thunder Totem isn’t a big place, vulpera aren’t too numerous, Mag’har orcs are a small number of refugees, etc.
Other than that? No. No difference.
As others have said, Lorewise there was no difference, it was just a term used to seperate the races that started at levvel one and did not need a rep grind to unlock. Which is now no longer the case as they’re removing starting zones and the rep grind in shadowlands.
Basically, whenever you had someone say something like “Ogres should be a core race” they meant Ogres should be unlocked from the start of an expansion with their own unique zone.
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Lightforged Draenei and Mechagnomes aren’t a great example since it isn’t so much a race than a process to achieve.
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At least two aren’t even a biological species (Worgens cannot biologically reproduce and are considered genetically human.).
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My understanding is that all of the core races are primary political powers in their home factions.
All of the allied races are too small (most of them) or somewhat independent of their faction (Zandalar, Kul Tiras, Dark Iron) to have the same pull. Note Talanji specifically joins the Horde as an equal and in SL I believe they’ve mentioned Baine and Lorthemar are trying to convince her to be a full member of the Council.
KT is the biggest iffy one here for my understanding as it is led by Jaina, who has been functionally more loyal to the Alliance than almost anyone else.
Well, politically speaking, the Zandalari never submitted to the Horde. They actually allied with them. Sylvanas was not the Zandalari “Warchief.”
Also, the Vulpera didn’t join the Horde until after the Warchief position was abolished. So they’re the first allied race in the Horde to join when all races are actually allied and have separate leadership.
Mag’har, Highmountain, and Nightborne all joined and submitted to the Warchief position.
There should be no distinction between the Alliance core and allied races.
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The Allied Races are races that were recruited through active drives on both factions. Other than that, no common definer at all.
Other than having to buy the expansion to play them.
There isn’t really beyond a retail purchase required… The rep grind to gain them goes away in Shadowlands.
I was of the impression you had to get to revered instead of exalted?
Edit: I love being able to post links now. So convenient
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You still need to do the story quest chains though.
You will still need to do all of Kul Tiras + Find Jaina chain to start the Kul Tiran unlock chain for example
The starting zones of worgens, goblins and pandaria are basically the “unlock quest” of those races, as in through those zones you see how those races joined their factions.
With Allied races you’re just doing that with another character.
Allied races tend to be fewer in number. The Nightborne for instance are literally just the population of a single city, while void elves where a small group of researchers.
If an allied race has cities at all, they’re likely to be only one or two.
The only exception is Zandalari and Kul Tirans, because those should have been core races.
Which is just absurd in the present form. If Kul Tirans had launched as intended with having two pairs of models/riggings, then it’d be sellable maybe. But it’s even more effort than that necessary for Zandalar. I enjoy the KTs and I enjoy Mechagnomes but (when you throw on the requirements to use heritage armor for Mechagnomes, which is very high priority for such a visually restrictive race) they’re not really worth the effort to put in even if you buy the Alliance Race conceit, which I am not sure I do.