So a couple of things cropped up while I’m laying here waiting out the cramps from work making me stand for nine hours on a partially-detached achilles tendon.
- If all descendants of the Aqir are creatures born of the Void via the flesh of the Old Gods, and Light and Void can turn into each other given enough soul energy/anima/macguffinite juice, does that mean the Mantid, Nerubians, Neruwubians and Silithid may be uniquely vulnerable to the Light if exposed in a certain way? Does this also apply to the Lightforged Draenei and the Ren’dorei Elves?
- Mr Smite says that Tauren feel offended being referred to as ‘Humanoid Cows’ during a questline where you have to infiltrate a rival Pirate crew, and you use a Cow’s head, decently roughed up, to fool them into thinking you’ve killed and beheaded Mr Smite. By this, are there certain things other races consider offensive to be compared to? Goats certainly seem to be easy option for Draenei, given their hooves and the horns of the women of the race. Pigs might apply to Orcs, and Dwarves probably get offended by being compared to moles and similar burrowing creatures.
- The rise of Bel’ameth as the only safe harbour on the Dragon Isles is about to make the Kaldorei both incredibly wealthy, and have some significant political leverage that they haven’t had since the early days of their joining the Alliance. With the only two available ports on the Island(?)Continent being either infested with feral Proto-Drakes and Djaradin, or floating icebergs and Rot-worshipping Gnolls, Merchants looking to make successful deals with the renewed Dragonflights are going to have to go to Bel’ameth, and either make their deals there, or navigate their way across the island to Valdrakken itself, which is almost impossible without a flying mount. This means the only way Merchants will be able to get bulk items to the capital of the Dragons is via zeppelins or other flying machines, magical portals which might be unsuitable for some magical items or reagents, or convoys of flying creatures, all of which would be ridiculously expensive to maintain. Bel’ameth becoming the ‘trading port’ of the Dragon Isles, where bulk items are delivered and stored, seems the most likely outcome of the new Kaldorei homeland, and that is going to give them immense leverage over both the Alliance and Horde, considering that even after years of peace and tentative co-operation, both Mega-Factions are only just now starting to claw their way back from the edge of financial and economic oblivion.
- Is there a AU Azeroth that went in the direction of Helldivers? We know there’s one where the Alliance and Horde refused to co-operate, even in their darkest hours, but what about one where they did … and it stuck? United, they trampled the Old Gods back into stasis, toppled Titan Watchers and Keepers, broke the backs of Legion invasions and took their generals captive, shackled rogue Wild Gods and Loa and brought even Deathwing and his brood down. Unified, given a clear purpose and directive, the combined might of the Alliance and Horde quickly proved impossible to truly stop with no in-fighting or cold wars to distract them and turn them against each other, and it wouldn’t be too long before the Sovereign Confederation of Azerothians, under the shadowy control of a Bi-Lateral Symposium of politicians, religious leaders and mercantile interests, came to a rather daunting realisation. Without an external force to fight against, sooner or later the unified army would begin to fight against itself as old grudges began to assert themselves over the bonding that had occurred during decades of fighting side by side against all the horrors lurking in the dark corners of Azeroth. They needed a new threat to keep this train going, and ‘inventive interrogation techniques’ applied to the captured Demons quickly gave the S.C.A.B.S. access to warships capable of traversing not only the Twisting Nether safely, but even the void of space itself. The Legion was confronted directly on their own ground. The Army of Light labeled an enemy of the state after they refused to join. Whole worlds designated to be ‘liberated’ because they held valuable resources for the continuing war-effort. Titan forge-worlds invaded for access to more technology and knowledge, and whole planetary systems converted into manufactorums to produce the weapons, vehicles and automatons required to help the S.C.A.B.S. keep their unity. Even with only an echo of the true might of a World Soul to empower their weapons and war-machines, the S.C.A.B.S. would go on to become the greatest threat known to their universe … until a strange portal appeared in one of the provinces of their very own homeworld, a bizarre mockery of their unity and undivided comradeship, a world where the Alliance and the Horde existed in a fragile truce, a world healing from endless, needless conflicts, a world rich with the very same miracle substance that was so profoundly rare and hard to find on their own Azeroth, that these backward savages kept putting back into the planet rather than exploiting it for the greater good of their people. A world that needed the steady, controlling hand of the S.C.A.B.S. to bring order and stability to its people, and prosperity to all…
- Nether Drakes have apparently found a home on Azeroth, but their entire Flight is still afflicted with a dreadful curse, that they are entirely dependant upon magic to sustain themselves, and as they age rapidly compared to ‘normal’ Dragons, or at least their first generation(s?) did, the need for magic dramatically increases depending upon their size, with the ‘Wyrm’ sized Nether Drakes requiring so much magic that even the easily accessible energies of the Twisting Nether were not enough to sustain them, with them becoming translucent and intangible enough they may not even be able to touch each other. This might mean Netherdrakes either rely upon their ‘Drake’ age to reproduce, or that, since the first generation had to find out everything themselves, their first leaders had no way other than blind experimentation to figure out what they had to do to to not dissipate into nothingness, and now they’re on the Dragon Isles, with access to both the Bronze Dragon Flight right next door to ‘freeze’ them if they start to dissipate, and just to the south of them, the abandoned Blue Dragon Flight complex where there’s ‘wild magic’ for them to feed off of to stave off said dissipation and possibly reduce the risk of whatever disaster caused the permanent ice explosion that happened there, plus there’s access to the Archives where there’s a massive leyline right near the surface to feed off of.
- Proto-Drakes, Storm Drakes and Nether Drakes all now have an Aspect, sort of, who speaks for them on the Valdrakken Council, who also has a small army of Primalists who may or may not be exactly okay with us just vibing right now, especially with the Titans not ‘paying’ for whatever mysterious crime that’s so riled them up. That’s a rather impressive amount of leverage for one Dragon to be able to fling about at will, especially with so much bad blood between her, Alexstraza and Nozdormu, and with three of the other Aspect, all too young to have been a part of the Scale War and having no idea what actually went down and which side they really should be on if war does break out again. And even if there is a lasting peace, all those Primalists are still going to need someplace to live and support themselves, and I can hardly see that being a comfortable fit in Valdrakken, meaning the Waking Shores might end up being the new ‘home’ of the Primalists and a sanctuary for Proto-Drakes, which leads us to the next point …
- Proto-Drakes aren’t just intelligent animals, some of them are actually sapient on the same level as an Elf, Human or Troll, and that’s going to put a lot of would-be Dragonslayers and Adventurers out of business because if Vyrannoth hears you’re out and about hunting down her kin, she’s going to come sort you out really damn quickly, either by sending out her Primalists or her Talons, or maybe even coming herself if you’ve been that much of a monster, and since she’s the Aspect of the Storm and speaks for the ‘natural’ Dragons of Azeroth, there’s not really much the other Aspects can do other than try to convince her to talk first and give you the T-1000 treatment second.
- Fyrakk may not be gone forever, since it was mentioned his spirit, freed from the Shadowflame, was whisked away to the Elemental Plane of Fire here he may at last know some measure of peace. We know Smolderon got that spear we Shamans gave him shoved someplace uncomfortable during the Ameredrizzle raid, and Fyrakk ate his essence, much like Ragnaros once ate most of the essence of Thunderaan. And since the wash of power that renewed the ‘Aspecthood’ of the Aspects and Vyrannoth also wiped out the remaining Shadowflame in the Temple, it also stands to reason it purified Fyrakk’s spirit too. This could lead us to getting involved in a war between Fyrakk attempting to become the new Fire Lord, and one of the Princes or Princesses spawned from or by Ragnaros trying to lay claim to the newly vacated seat for themselves. It would certainly make for a very awkward and tenuous alliance, either siding with Fyrakk trying to prove our good intentions or siding against him and earning the ire of his sister, Vyrannoth.