So I’ve noticed there’s a fair amount of posters here who, like myself, would love the next expansion to focus on rebuilding Azeroth proper.
It seems fitting. Legion was a BC sequel, BFA was a prequel to SL which is very much a Wrath sequel. So why not a Cataclysm sequel but one more about setting Azeroth back to a nice, comfy status quo?
But of course we’ll need new content to justify returning to Azeroth. I’d love if others with different lore experises ventured ideas for different zones, but for now I’m going to focus on just a few zones I know well.
Specifically Tirisfal, Silverpine and Gilneas.
Prolgue
The Forsaken, given newfound legal legitimacy with Queen Menethil returning to the throne, have brokered a tense ceasefire with Greymane. The Worgen remain wary however, as it is an open secret the ‘Bright Lady’ as some call her is but a figurehead disinterested in power. Currently her time is spent in the Plaguelands helping to rehabilitate the lingering forces of the Scarlet Risen and bring them into the Forsaken’s fold. There she is aided by the Bishop of Secrets Alonsos Faol and unlikely allies in the form of two horsemen, Sir Zelik and Lady Whitemane, who feel they might yet atone for past sins by helping a people they feel uniquely connected to.
The Forsaken are governed by a reformed Desolate Council, and many Forsaken still wanted for war crimes have worrying influence over it. Governor Gray remains adamant the head transplant incident was merely a social experiment.
Meanwhile in Northrend, the Scarlet Onslaught has seen popularity and recruitment higher than even after the Third War. With Alliance leadership crippled after the abduction of High King Anduin, the Scarlets arrived unsolicited on the shores of Elywyn to provide critical aid in putting down the rampaging, feral Scourge that had begun to run rampant and unchecked in the last continental kingdom of man.
Although Emergency Commander Turalyon was made aware of the Scarlets troubled past, he was in no position to turn away the aid. Even if he were, the Scarlets quickly gained popularity amongst the human and Lightforged population as Knights in crimson armor. Though the Scarlets sneering contempt for all inhumans (save for the Lightforged Draenei) was well known savier Preachers pivoted to militant support of aiding the inhumans in resettlement. Even going so far as to lend ships to the Gilneans to expedite their return home.
While Greymane was suspicious of the Scarlets newfound empathy for cursed humans, he too was unable to argue with the aid, and merely attempted to frusturate any larger Scarlet influence on Gilnean resettlement.
Where We Start
“Curse their sudden but inevitable betrayal!” says local Worgen.
“How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, hu-man?!” says local Forsaken.
Yup the Scarlet Onslaught, and let’s just for fun say they’ve rebranded as the Crimson Imperium, have launched a new Crusade against Lordaeron and Gilneas to reclaim the northern kingdoms of man from the detestable mutants that have made it their home.
I figure Tirisfal more or less looks the same with the Scarlets retaking the same places they always hung out. We of course have a revamped Monastery where I think Voss and Whitemane could have a fun if awkward reunion.
In Silverpine I’d say the Scarlets have taken over Shadowfang Keep and the surrounding area. They brand the castle Redwing Redoubt, and it is the base of one Grand Evangelist Leopold Brimstone. He claims to have once been one of the heroes who stepped into the shattered sky and saw the souls of Scarlets suffering in the dark places. He of course concludes this was because they weren’t zealous enough. And spoiler - isn’t a Dreadlord. Seriously let’s just have a crazed human who was driven mad by delusion, not the devil or Cthulu. Figure we can have his propaganda sermons booming from the once haunted, now falsely hallowed castle.
In Gilneas I’d have the Scarlets covering the docks and what remains of Greymane’s Wall. Cutting off all reinforcements and forcing the Worgen into Hillsbrad where they have a mutually begrudging alliance with the Forsaken.
I’d also throw in a dungeon in Gilneas where the lead villain is a ‘sanctified’ undead Houndmaster Loksey, who’s using torture techniques picked up from his soul’s time in Revendreth to turn Worgen into personal attack dogs.
And I’d do a fun quest where as a Worgen you use your human form to infiltrate the Scarlets and sneak behind enemy lines to liberate some captured Bloodfangs.
The Forsaken will have a similar one rescuing Deathstalkers but it’ll be prefaced by a quest where you’ve to ‘freshen yourself up’ by collecting Scarlet flesh and body parts for a convincing disguise. You cover your eyes and masquerades as one of the self mutilated Scarlet flagelants. Bonus points if your character can ask how they’ll navigate with no eye sight and the Forsaken Apothecary sewing up your skin suit will just point at his own empty eye sockets and say we just seem to manage.
Quest ends at a Scarlet camp where they’re essentially bear baiting but with worgen and the Forsaken. And you arrive in time to stop Bloodfang and Belmont from ripping eachother apart. Pointing out we’re both regarded as monstrous filth here so their priorities are pretty skewed.
Questline ends with a joint assault on SFK. Some Forsaken and Worgen walk away with a newfound respect for eachother. Others can’t let the past die. The road to peace isn’t there, yet. But the directions to it are. Either way it has become clear, the north no longer belongs to man. It belongs to the nightbreed.