Greetings,
Yes, I’m back, and yes, with yet another vampire topic. Now is the time to make suggestions, however, and I’m proposing this after a decent amount of thought. Despite the inevitable pushback I’ll get for making this thread, I wanted to share the ideas and see if there were some people that were a fan of the idea. I’ve seen forsaken fans request Nathanos-style undead here and there, and currently, there is no way to accomplish that.
Why can’t we have Nathanos undead?
Explanation
From Source: https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Nathanos_Blightcaller ;
“As the Legion began invading Azeroth, Sylvanas called Nathanos to partake in a ritual meant to make him stronger. He agreed to take part, though not before attempting to provoke her. When he discovered that the ritual would involve the Val’kyr sacrificing his cousin Stephon Marris, he felt no regret, only the duty-bound oath he had made towards Sylvanas. The Val’kyr proceeded to place herself between the human and the undead and began chanting guttural words in an ancient tongue, flashes of blue and gold pulsing from her hands. Nathanos lost his senses for a time, his world exploding in fire and pain. When the Blightcaller’s wits returned, he found that he had been transformed to become stronger than before and not be as decayed and withered as he had been. However, upon looking into a mirror, he noticed that his new face was not entirely his own. He then noticed that the second ritual table was empty save for a bit of ash and oily residue stains.”
Nathanos undead require a ritual, which is very expensive. This is because they need a relative of the forsaken in order to take this stronger form that has less or even no decay (as we don’t see Nathanos decay at all. Nor Sylvanas throughout the years). This means that it is not lore friendly, and therefore unlikely to get Nathanos-style undead this way. Also, I’m pretty sure we need a lot of energy from a Valkyr, something we do not have an abundance of and nearly kills them.
Vampirates: A solution to this problem.
Explanation
Back in the era of the Legion expansion, we were introduced to a new concept that explored the vampire curse more. This was a short quest chain that explained the lore behind the daily quest “Vampirates”. However, this tidbit of lore does unlock a much easier way to get “Nathanos undead”.
Here is some context:
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/What_the_Bonespeakers_Buried
“Most Fascinating! It would appear that we’re dealing with our very own vrykul vampyr! All we have encountered have been of blood elven descent, but it has long been theorized that the vrykul have suffered the curse as well. It’s too bad he’s awake - I would dearly like a subject to study. Oh well, guess there’s nothing for it. Take this stake and put it through the old chap’s heart. I’m pretty sure that should do the trick.”
The resolution of that quest is the death of Lucard, the Vry’kul that had ended up turning those vampirates. We actually have no idea whether or not he is truly dead, for Mrrgleton says:
" My apologies, I must’ve had my immortal evil undead mixed up… Vampyr can die, can’t they?"
This implies there could be much more to the issue, and that like many other undead (as we’ve seen with the Death Knight order hall), they can constantly be ressurected.
As we know, the San’layn made a return in Battle for Azeroth, seemingly out of nowhere. Quite like how the vampirates appeared. After all that…we still have no idea where they originated from. We do know that Vry’kul are heavily involved. In fact, Vry’kul had extremely powerful blood magic on Island Expeditions.
Possible Implementation Ideas: Lore
Ideas
These are just some suggestions from my end that are lore related. They are NOT canon.
- Lucard makes his return, as implied by the end of the quest that he was not truly slain. He raises more vampires from humans, of whom then proceed to lose control. Our quest is to help them get to their senses again. If they can manage that, they are recruited to the forsaken, as they would be rejected by the Alliance.
- The origin of Lucard, and possibly the San’layn in BfA, creates more human vampires. Several humans go missing, only to turn up as monsters, rejected by the alliance, naturally. They are taken in by the Forsaken, taught by them to control their bloodlust.
- A group of vampirates that have learned to control themselves try to join the Alliance, only to be rejected for being monsters. Sort of a reverse void-elf idea, but one that does have prior backing in lore, as the vampyr curse has existed since Wrath of the Lich King. We did just see humans enter the fray in BfA, but we do not know the nature of the curse.
Customization Ideas
Ideas
This list will be added to as people make their suggestions.
- Human model toggle on the Forsaken, or their own Allied Race, the Vampyr. Regardless, it would utilize the human model.
- Red eyes & jet black eyes.
- Fang variations. Two fangs, four fangs, entire jaw full of fangs.
- Claws, quite like forsaken. Possibly longer! Different colors, as well. Maybe blood-tipped.
- Features that lean toward bat-like. Humans do not have elf ears, so that would be harder to do with their ears, however possibly backwards legs and clawed feet could work. Maybe even tails, like on the Stoneborn.
- Bat Wings.
Model Examples:
(I’m not an artist, so not great at this.)
These models are: https://www.wowhead.com/npc=108030/blood-crazed-swashbuckler#models
(this one was modified briefly and badly by me just as a fang example. Obviously it would be way better with actual artists working on it!)
Claws, this is from the forsaken male model.
Teeth Variation Ideas
Ideas
This art is credited to a super neat artist from Twitter. Below are just ideas for variations on teeth this theoretical customization idea or AR could have.
Credit to: https://twitter.com/feyspeaker/status/1223425216933552129
Note: These are teeth ideas for vampires from the tabletop “Vampire the Masquerade”, but I figured I’d bring the ideas up here.
Here is some Personal Art for possible ideas.
The Art
This is art of some of my OCs. I figured I’d share it here for idea sharing in general, potentially for possible customization for this theoretical customization or Allied Race.
(Art credit: https://twitter.com/eldrtchmoon)
Specifically, his hand. The claws there could be emphasized on the human model for vampyr claws, and like the forsaken claws.
(Art credit: https://twitter.com/dearHadrian)
Specifically, his teeth. Ignore his ears. Humans wouldn’t have pointed ears. But if you look at his teeth, they are blade-like. This could be a potential option.
My Questions for you.
- What are some of your lore-friendly implementation ideas? Could a Night-Warrior-like questline work for forsaken, or would you rather have this as an Allied Race?
- What are some other customization suggestions you have for this general idea?
- What lore do you want to learn when it comes to the vampyr curse? Whether it’s from Revendreth or someplace else, perhaps Vry’kul in origin, or even more ancient?
- Do you think this is a viable option for Nathanos-style undead?
- Are there any major characters you’d want to see involved with this? Why or why not?
- Do you have any art you’d like to share that could give ideas for customization?
- If you are a forsaken player, is this something you want to see available?
- If you are not a forsaken player, would you be more likely to play a forsaken/undead (either AR or customization option) if these were an option?
- Would this work better as an Allied Race or customization option for Forsaken (toggle?) Would the Forsaken racial/animation be too odd, or just right for this idea?
- Would you rather this be an avenue for playable Vry’kul, or would you rather Vry’kul be non-vampiric?
Those are some questions for people to potentially consider!
DISCLAIMER: As always, I am not demanding anything, for this to happen right away, or for this to happen at all. I wanted to propose the idea for parties that might be interested. Considering I’ve done quite a bit of research on the vampyr curse, and have tons of ideas on vampyr in general, I figured it’d be a good idea for me to start this thread. No worries if you hate this idea, feel free to express that, but please do so politely. Insult the ideas, not the player!
Ideas from those sharing in the thread:
- “Vampire Aspect” similarity from ESO, which would be earnable and available to all races. It’d unlock some abilities and customization, possibly abilities that would just be for flavor as to not clash with WoW systems.
- Earnable Covenant customization, where vampire customization would be granted from Revendreth. This would give more lore on the curse, theoretically, as well. This might be quite a bit to implement, and there would need to be ideas for the other three covenants as well in order to be fair.
- A vampire class idea, either restricted or unrestricted based on race.
To be honest, I’ve been thinking this over for a long time, ever since we saw those vampirates, and wondering if they’d go further with that entire ordeal.
Figured I might as well make them their own thread for the benefit of other people more than anything. I’m not entirely sure how much this is wanted, or if it is at all, but I was like… “Eh, I might as well bring my ideas to light and if it makes people happy, so be it. I love vampires, so it works.”