I’ve been wondering about long-distance communication in Azeroth. Mail, portals, holograms(?), gnomecorders, we’ve got a few. The RP community has a few ideas as well, sending stones and gobo-phones being two I’ve heard of. But I’m wondering what would be a good main option, for things like RP or the story-connection between my own characters.
My question is, is there a form of communication in Azeroth that’s popular or well-known, atleast among RPers? Likely something accessible that would allow for easy communication via voice. Technology has come a long way since classic; motorcycles, goblin cars with radios, music players, atomic recalibrators even! Surely there’s something that could fill the role of cellphones and the like? Any Ideas?
Some thoughts…
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Khadgar’s floating head method. You shouldn’t be alarmed when floating heads pop up out of nowhere and start talking to you. There’s one to the left of this post as we write-speak.
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A druid leaf-like charm that taps into the mycorrhizal network. Touch grass and hug trees to finally call your mom and let her know you’re not lying in a ditch somewhere!
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Warlocks talk to each other via specialized imps (netherboard operators).
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Gnome buzzbox tech has come a long way since Darkshore questing. They now have hand-held portable devices, both advanced and crude. You can also play Hearthstone on it. Not sure what to call it, but I wouldn’t use iBox, as that name appears to be trademarked.
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Shaman totems that allow spirit-walking and spirit-talking in a sing-gull-blo.
As far as I’m aware, there isn’t really anything presently established in lore that’s been shown to be in use by the public that could fill the role of cellphones. If there’re any speculates devices universally (or close enough) accepted and utilized, I don’t know about them. Typically, I’ve seen things like this amongst guilds and communities; peculiar ic devices usually unique to that group. There are a few examples from my personal experience that come to mind:
A Death Knight community I’m part of utilizes scourgestones as a communication method. From what I recall, they function like a sort of psychic communicator. While in your possession you can hear what’s being said through them internally and are able to contribute the same.
Several of my Mages (plus my Druid) are part of the same scholarly group and each possess specially enchanted lexicons which allow a variety of functions. One of these entails the ability to send messages written in one to another instantly, in other words an arcane I.M system. Such messages could also be dictated and sent with an emulation of that dictation, kind of a slightly more roundabout voice messaging system.
I have this clan of shamanic assassins with a technique to send messages through wind.
Monks (and as somewhat mentioned in the post above, Shamans) have also been shown with the ability to project their spirits long distances and interact with others in that state, so there’s that as well.
Nothing that’s accessible to John Q Public. Long distance communication in Lore is rare, and presumably fairly resource intensive given that its not in common use even among the elite. The baseline for tech is mostly early rennaissance with exceptions that are shoved in with little or no context.
Sending stones? Please, chérie, that’s straight out of D&D. Pearl shells? Final Fantasy XI beat you to it. But you know what would really spice things up? Integrating some of that real-world tech with a touch of magic. Imagine one-sided portals in every tavern broadcasting the latest gossip or even sports, ‘Orcball’ anyone? And why not throw an isekai twist into the mix? Some hapless hero from our world shows up, confused as hell but armed with modern ideas, giving us a fresh lens on this blood-soaked fantasy. It would be the comic relief we never knew we needed and maybe a chance to bridge those ‘demon blood highway’ gaps with a bit of humor and some real-world tech hacks.