Ok, so this is a good example of why I take issue with conditional support of San’layn, (e.g. people who say things such as “I support the addition of San’layn for Horde if Alliance gets high elves,”) as well as people who theorize what their counterpart on the other faction might be. You spent a good chunk of your post examining the arguments behind what might be the equivalent for the Alliance, presuming it would take the form of a worgen allied race. However, because you could not find a suitable argument for a decent worgen allied race, you instead shifted the possibility towards both factions getting one that is based on the undead, with Lightforged Undead and San’layn being the diametrically opposed components here.
This, I feel, is a wildly unproductive line of thinking. Support for San’layn should not be dependent on “well if Horde gets X, then this means Alliance gets Y,” or “because Horde already has Y, this means it’s impossible for them to have Z.”
For instance, you talk about how there is no physiological distinction between night elf worgen and gilnean worgen. But before BFA there was no distinction between the appearance of Kul Tirans and those of Stormwind. Before BFA Void Elves didn’t exist, and we had no indication that they would ever make their entrance into the lore.
But the lore evolves in wild and unpredictable ways. I don’t feel it’s necessarily helpful to characterize the possibility of San’layn inclusion based on what seems to currently be on the table for the other faction. If patch 8.3 added a bunch of night elf worgen with purple fur, and retconned the appearance of those in Val’sharah, would that suddenly make San’layn a more likely candidate for inclusion? It might make for some healthy speculation on a future worgen allied race, but I don’t really see how this affects discussion on a totally separate concept altogether.
That being said, and while speculation is fine, I feel like you’re grasping a bit at straws here;
First off, the idea of “Lightforged Forsaken” doesn’t have any basis in lore. What happens to a single individual does not necessarily mean a replication across an entire population of people. We don’t have any indication that it’s even possible to replicate the process; Derek Proudmoore has had “discussions” with Calia since Jaina sent him to meet her, but he doesn’t seem to be “Lightforged” because of it.
Secondly, what do you mean by it gives the Alliance leeway to get a “good” Allied race? Define good? There are four Horde races that are historically more innocent than any of the others; Jungle Trolls, Tauren, Blood Elves, and Pandaren. And of those four only one of them have made the light a cultural staple, with a second only casually maintaining a paladin order. I don’t think the Alliance would snub their noses at the tauren, for instance, if they made the request to join the Alliance. The reason they stay in the Horde is not because they’re “evil,” it’s because they value the blood oaths they have sworn with the other races, such as the orcs. Cultural differences, more than anything else, are what defines the factions. Lightforging the forsaken isn’t going to magically fix the resentment they feel for their abandonment by the Alliance. Calia might serve as a mediator to help heal those divisions, but right now she’s not looking to be the replacement for Sylvanas; she’s looking to be an analogue of Malfurion’s role in the Cenarion Circle.
Which brings us to the final problem; why would the Alliance only be amenable to the forsaken if they lightforged themselves? This has never been a standard for any other culture. Void Elves actively threatened one of the holiest sources of magic in the Eastern Kingdoms, blessed by both the Blood Knights and Prophet Velen himself, and yet they’re allowed in the Alliance so long as they can control their urges. Worgen are deformed beat creatures that are naturally inclined to murderous intentions, and have caused great trouble in Darkshire and Gilneas, and yet there was never any push to “lightforge” them. The Dark Iron Dwarves waged war against their dwarven brethren and unleashed terrible horrors into the world whilst doing so, and yet they were allowed to join without the reconditioning offered by the light. Not even humans are required to be servants of the church of the Holy Light, as seen by the prevalence of Si:7 (their leader, Matthias Shaw, is faithless, as seen from his conversations with Halford Wyrmbane), the existence of the death knights, and the allowance of Stormwind humans to practice warlock arts.
As much as the culture of Stormwind worships the holy light I do not believe them to consider it the great be-all and end-all of what defines “goodness,” and they certainly don’t maintain it to be a mandatory part of every citizen’s life.
I really don’t think they do. Some might support it out of spite, some might genuinely want this but their numbers are small, but I really don’t think there’s much of an argument to be made here. High elf supporters at least point to WC2 and WC3 as precedent for High Elf presence in the Alliance, but there’s absolutely no precedent for undead being in the Alliance at all.
I suppose you could say that, as the former people of Lordaeron, every member of the forsaken was once a member of the Alliance, and therefore lightforged forsaken would just be giving the Alliance back the kingdom of Lordaeron just as Kul Tiras was returned. But, if that were the case, I would want the “lightforged forsaken” to, first, not be called lightforged forsaken because that’s a stupid name, and second to be more of a variation on the human model than a variation on the undead model. I suppose it’s “fortunate,” if you can even use that word, that Calia leans more human than undead from a visual standpoint.
I’d still probably hate it, but at the very least it isn’t stealing a race from the Horde.
But really.