Revisiting: Eastern Plaguelands

Lore Story Forum
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What a lovely little treat this zone is.

I’ve actually revisited this zone in Classic more recently I have in it’s post Cata state, and while I do think the Racoon City levels of gnashing teeth the original had is nice I actually very much love this as well.

There are pockets if civilization scattered about but the zone is still mostly overwhelmed with not just Scourge and plagued ecology but a withering curse to the whole area. An Argent officer named Argus (presumably not related to the planet) mentions how maintaining the tower outpost that dot the land is a Sysphean task. Something about the region causes even masonry to wither with preternatutal speed. It’s simply hostile not just to life but the very concept of construction or growth. An aura of entropy simply surrounds it.

The hostility of the zone is best shown by the Caravan questline. Which imho is one of the better in the game. If you haven’t played it yet you simply must. You help start a stalled journey being undertaken by a Worgen merchant and a Dwarf and Belf Paladin. The two Paladins hope to make it to Light’s Hope to become proper members of the Argent Dawn.

You’ll jump from tower to tower collecting a party of travelers. The Plaguelands aren’t safe and there’s safety in numbers. You can recruit everyone from Argent staff to a Goblin engineer to even a free willed undead forest troll.

A side note on that, it seems there’s just a forest troll answer to the Forsaken/The Scourge hanging out. Some are lorded over by necromancers but troll necromancers and they bare no obvious connection to the Scourge. I’m just saying if Blizz is handing out undead skins to non undead races I’d take those guys over the Darkfallen.

You also relieve the fall of Darrowshire in a legitimately challenging and fun little quest where you’ve to relieve history. Helping the ghosts of the defenders fend off the spirirs of the Scourge. It’s quite fun and you even get to befriend the ghost of a little girl. Who’s only benefit is haunting you so, guess you sign up for this;

Don’t want to spoil the caravan quest much because seriously play it if you haven’t. I really wish there were more quests like that. Gives you a sense of how big and dangerous these regions are supposed to be and how diverse it’s residents are.

One bit I will spoil though is the business in Tyr’s Hand. If you were wondering why the Scarlets living there all became undead then you will likely go to your grave wondering that. It’s not much of a quest, you help the Brotherhood of the Light and Argent Crusade retake the place by icing commanders, opening portals behind enemy lines and recovering artifacts so they don’t get destroyed in the story. They are however overflowing with undead Paladins.

I’m still kinda agog Tauren got Paladins before the Forsaken did and now somehow the Sin’Dorei got undead Paladins before as well. Because there’s a real interesting story here.

If we wanna keep with the idea the Light hurts the undead to wield then the Scarlets are a great excuse - seems like theyd be into magical flagelation. And if not them finding a home in the Forsaken would be an interesting close to their arc. With both Voss and Calia now in the Forsaken it’s criminal we haven’t revisited them.

I’d also chage absolutely nothing about them. I’d keep them completely deranged Lux Vult maniacs. Only now their palettes a bit darker and theyre covered into Momento Moris.

Idk I think it’d be funny if the Forsaken had a sub faction they considered weirdos who were constantly crusading around and accusing eachother of heresy;

Idk I think it’d be fun if the guy making stitched monstrosities and cackling like a maniac was considered the well balanced one.

At any rate though this might be my favorite zone to quest in. There’s a real sense of danger and dread and I love how the Scourge are still 100% active. I like how it says that just because the Lich King is dead doesn’t mean the Scourge is no longer a threat. And with the Helm of Domination broken and turned into a level 36 Uncommon mail helm these enclaves should turn into genuine, albeit localized threats.

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…I like how the video has a shout-out to one of the most screamingly stupid bits of WH40K lore where when the Grey Knight appears he’s already planning to kill the Sister of Battle so he can harvest her blood before he realizes that she’s reading heretical material.

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I’m honestly surprised druids haven’t done something to the mushroom forests growing all over the place. You could turn that into something beneficial. Begin healing the blighted land.
The Forsaken could help. Incorporate the undead trolls into their ranks too. Drive out the scourge. I fear we’ll never get old world updates though.

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EPL was a great remake post-Cata, the zone really got an awesome overhaul and remains one of my favorite places to quest when I level one of my many inevitable alts. I especially liked Fiona and crew, mainly because it was a heartwarming friendship/rivalry and I also really liked how they showcased a Worgen outside of the tortured human trope. I’d really love to see more of Fiona in general, cool witchy alchemist wolf lady ticks all the boxes of a cool character for me.

I especially love how you can really get a feel for the zone now, whereas in Classic it is/was everything in your power to not just get slaughtered trying to run through the place, now it’s a lot easier to explore and soak in the story and the visuals of it all.

I wish there had been more to this, anything with Scarlets has always been awesome. I assume the Tyr’s Hand undead are the leftover from the devastation of Acherus during the DK introductory storyline? I could be wrong, that was just my assumption.

This would be a really cool concept. My UD Priest has always been RP’d as an ex-Scarlet but it’d be cool to have a reason to just be some flagellant maniac still hellbent on eradicating the Scourge despite current circumstances. This would be an ideal way to have UD paladins while still preserving the grit of the Forsaken instead of ‘oh we wield the light now for… reasons.’ (Which is the direction I feel like they’re going to go with Calia.)

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It’s presumed Balnazaar is somehow involved as he’s responsible for the undeadifcation of the Scarlet Enclave in Stratholme but they don’t give a firm answer.

Personally I think it’s weird there’s no undead on hand to at least remark on the irony. Could’ve had Bartholomew or Judkins on hand on in particular Voss as she’s also a now undead ex Scarlet.

Idk the Forsaken’s greatest domestic enemy become the very thing they swore to destroy and none of them are on hand to comment on it. It’s a bit weird.

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Definitely a missed opportunity, especially from a Forsaken PoV.

Having them snarkily comment on it like ‘sigh… these IDIOTS. Anyway, let’s see if any of them are willing to serve the Dark Lady.’ and give you a quest in relation to such. Would’ve been kinda neat and also ties into your idea of having them join the Forsaken in some capacity.

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The EPL is probably my favorite zone. It has this overwhelming sense of dread and hopelessness but at the same time you have these small pockets of good, the Argents, refusing to give up on the region. I remember this one quest where a night elf instructs you to plant a seed in deep within the Eastern Plagueland’s soil in the hopes that something may grow from that cursed land. When you talk to one of her associates, you learn that this attempt at restoration is nothing new and she’s been at this for years----with him expressing doubt about whether regrowth is even possible, yet she is resolute in her hope for the land. I always thought that was such a solid sidequest.

I wish Blizz did more with the Brotherhood of Light. For all of their quests and involvement in retaking Stratholme, not to mention being the closest in ideology to that of the Scarlets, we haven’t seen anything else of them.

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I’ve said before it might be interesting to see the BotL get a ground swell of support in Stormwind.

The lore about the living’s reaction to the undead is just all over the place. In the Sylvanas novel the diplomats sent to Stormwind are presumed dead and even the more rough and tumble races of the Horde are a bit uneasy about it.

Then by WotLK the Alliance are more barely tolerant than accepting of DKs. Though weirdly a lot wind up having command positions which is bizarre for a faction that still largely outlaws warlocks. Idk a magically chained demon seems less controversial to me than using the mutated remains of somebody’s grandma as your personal attack dog but what do I know.

BtS flirted with being interesting on that note. I liked the idea of Anduin’s generation being more open minded. Because while the undead had always existed the Scourge had organized them on a scale never seen before. There was the real possibility that the world would be consumed by gnashing, ghoulish teeth. Obviously that’s going to inflict some lasting trauma on people like Varian and Genn.

But to Anduin, the undead are simply another threat in a world already crawling with them. The idea some are basically just spooky people who are open to coexistence comes off not as a devious scheme but welcome news.

But with the Scourge rising again in the SL prepatch you could have a return of blind hatred toward them. We know at least Lakeshire was nearly run off the map by a zombie apocalypse. And I loved that quest because it really showed just how terrifying ish like this is when youre not basically a wandering super hero.

I could picture Tyrande’s acceptance of the Darkfallen as a particularly tender political flashpoint. And you could have Gilnean hardliners like the Bloodfang initially being supportive of the BotL. Until it becomes clear that their opinion on Worgen isn’t much better.

That’s the thing about ideologies like what the Scarlets have. They’re destined to go full ouroboros as they rely on having an enemy out-group, meaning the in-group will become smaller and smaller.

Granted I wouldn’t hold my breath for that sort of thing. I’d require them to both make the Alliance villainous and an understanding of ideology and history. So, not very likely.

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Mine, too.

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