Rogue Thought: The Maw, and why it was necessary?

Wyrmrest Accord
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So I’ve just done the SL storyline on a Kaldorei just because I wanted them to have closure, and something occurs to me.

We know that Zovaal was once the Arbiter. He didn’t design the Shadowlands, he was just put in place to judge the souls and send them to their final destinations.

So the First Ones made the Maw. These supposedly enlightened and benevolent beings … expressly made the Maw.

Now we know they could see forwards in time, and unlike the current crop of Primal Force leaders, had perfected this skill to the point they made the Waystones that would specifically react to Mortals from a very specific world, of a very specific point in time, from a incredibly specific series of events that would lead them to be physically in the Shadowlands as living beings, a thing supposedly impossible to perform, according to all the Shadowlands natives we spoke to.

And the Maw couldn’t possibly be built purely to shackle Zovaal alone, that would be simply stupid, hey, there’s this big pit in the afterlife perfectly suited to containing this one guy for eons, don’t peek behind the curtains, big guy.

So the Maw was custom-built to contain the most abhorrent of Mortal souls, entities and individuals so actively malevolent and wicked that not even the Void or the Fel wanted them, and was getting some serious use to the point the torment down there was making even somebody as noble-hearted and kind as Zovaal was before his rebellion and banishment into the Super Extra Bondage Hell Dimension go “That’s messed up.”.

And he’s the Arbiter. He sees every moment of a soul’s life, from birth to death, and judges you accordingly. You don’t go to the Maw because he’s bored and wants to go home early that day. Back in the old system, you went where the Shadowlands needed you to go to power the system and feed the other Primal Powers, averting a cosmic war between all six Forces.

So it begs the question … just how feral were the Mortals of that era, that the Maw had to be specifically constructed to hold them? A theoretically infinite prison that could not be escaped from, not even if you were a member of the Pantheon of Death.

I’m beginning to wonder if the Titans are so terrified of flesh beings because they’re beings of Order and biology is literally just a string of randomly successful mutations and adaptations, or the Mortals created at the start of the universe were so completely out of control they gave PTSD that has lasted for eons.

Was the Void always insane japanese tentacle cartoon land or was it the infusion of Mortal souls who twisted everything up from the exploration of limitless potential to lets see if we can turn this individual inside out and and make them be able to taste sound and hear colors?

I’m beginning to wonder if Mortals are the problem in the Warcraft Universe, and not these cracked-out ultra-powerful primordial forces who want to either eat us or convert us so badly …

2 Likes
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the Maw? Never heard of it. No idea what you’re talking about.

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They needed a reason to call us Maw Walker for an entire expansion.

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I think the Maw was really only made for people who have committed cosmic crimes that will last forever such as erasing souls (which in itself is stupid to have to be able to happen because it negates the whole point of having an afterlife). The whole thing falls apart however as soon as someone can accetently get sent to the Maw. If someone good has a chance of being misplaced to the Maw (all of SL) then the entire system was flawed for that being able to happen and the Maw should have never been a thing.

WoW has probably one of the worst “afterlives” of any fictional media. Afterlives being in quotes because its not even really a afterlife if you can just “die” while there.

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I still plan on going to The West. Where the sun sets and my ancestors welcome me home to feasts of bountiful harvest. Where the Light warms hearts and stirs souls. The final resting place.

That or Goldrinn will grab me up and take me to the land of eternal hunts. The eternal torment and prison of critters. For all the crimes they committed on the steppes of Mulgore. To be one of the lucky worgen to hunt forever in his name.

That is all assuming i dont just become a banshee after dying a horrible agonizing death because of mistakes i made in my youth culminating into one righteous end.

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I dont think they made the Maw. If you turn off the Arbiter, all souls default to it

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Orc Child: “Where do we go when we die, elder?”

Orc Elder: “Our souls that are claimed in valorous feats of strength are guided by the ancestors to their final rest. Their spirits linger, in both deed and word, to guide us to a wiser and happier future.”

Level 70 Blood Elf Rogue: “Actually, we just discovered that’s not true. You end up getting drafted into the Skeleton Army to fight the Skeleton War with some Frankensteins.”

Orc Elder: “…oh. That’s…that’s nice. That’s real…yeah.”

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I will remain unconvinced that the entire expansion wasn’t just a mistake because some dev was sitting at a dinner table with their grandparents in Yonkers and thought they heard Maw Walker, when what they really heard was Mall Walker.

I might actually have taken interest in Torghast if Z Cavariccis dropped.

1 Like
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I’ll live a happier life if I never have to twisted my brain sideways again to understand Shadowlands.

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What, are you saying that there are more kinds of people than Vampire, Skeleton, Angel and Tree?

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Here, let me make up a cosmology real quick.

Material Plane, basic planets with Life’n’stuff. The origin of Arcane Magic, specifically magic that can produce raw force or material objects, and alter or reshape creatures or objects.

Astral Plane, functions as the whites around the ‘yolk’ that is the Material Plane, also the place where souls go when they die, eventually join the Soulstream that flows throughout the Astral Plane unless claimed by other entities and are reincarnated after being washed of their previous memories, sins and such. Origin of Spirit Magic, specifically healing magic or magic that allows one to scry, possess or banish.

Elemental Plane, functions as the ‘shell’ around the Astral Plane and Material Plane, a chaotic, constantly shifting Plane that mimics the ecology of the Material Plane but made strange and bizarre by the influence of the Astral Plane to create realms made of both ‘pure’ examples of the various states of being (solid, liquid, vapor, energy) and hybrid or gestalt states. Prevents outright invasion of the Material and Astral Plane by the Outer Planes barring a few places where the Gods are permitted to send agents to recover the souls of their Faithful from the Soulstream. Origin of Elemental Magic and magic that can conjure forth items or creatures.

Then we get to the Outer Planes.

The ‘Heavens’ is a plane where the strongest will reshapes reality within reach of that will, and the ‘Gods’, Good, Evil and Otherwise, dwell here in Pantheons. Its a constant state of ‘War in the Heavens’ due to the various Pantheons all wanting to claim the Mortal souls for their own reasons. Belief equates power, and the more worshippers, and the more feverently they believe in you, the more power you gain, and in death, that also marks them as yours, so it is easier for your agents within the Astral Plane to fish them out of the Soulstream. Origin of Divine Magic and magic that can raise the dead or create the Undead.

The Fae Realm is a network of shifting tunnels, dimensional folds and pocket planes all linked together that runs through all of creation and is the native home of the Fae, and the adopted home of several other species, namely the Demons, who use it to bypass the Elemental Plane’s defences and invade the Material Plane, but due to the unstable nature of the Fae Realm and the constant shifting of both its passages and the movements of the Elemental Planes, no passageway is safe or guaranteed to remain open for long. Origin of Teleportation and Charm magic.

The Hells is a Plane outside of normal reality where those that overtly threaten the balance of the cosmos, for whatever reason, are cast out by the cosmos itself, be they Gods, Mortal souls or otherwise. The origin of the Demons and the intrusion point where the Great Old Ones (Cthulhu-ian entities) have begun to spread their influence, desiring to use this nightmarish realm of half-melted and distorted terrain and equally terrifying inhabitants as a stronghold by which to invade this reality and consume it like their last ‘host’. Home of the ‘Dark Magics’, twisted version of the other forms of magic that produce similar effects buth with corrupting or insanity-inducing side-effects.

There, done, written in less than 3 minutes.

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I enjoyed reading this OP.

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Deadception: Yo Dawg, I herd you like afterlife, so I put a death in your deadlands so you can die while you’re dead.

1 Like