Fair it just seemed kinda iffy the way you worded it.
If you guys make a separate thread and want to link it, go ahead.
If you want to continue talking about Venthyr here and the lore because people think it might be connected, that’s also fine.
I can’t edit the first thread to encompass all vampire stuff though since it’s been over a year. (And you can tell a lot of info is outdated)
Kael’thas most elite followers became San’layn. kael’thas died and it is shown San’layn have great personalities and they serve different people. The lich king brought them back as Scourge… but we already have former scourge as playable (THE FORSAKEN) which hello are pretty chaotic evil. Some are chaotic good (evil is a point of view - remember that paladin talent?)
Anyway Players desire different types of races. We do not all want goody-goody races. Vampires appeal to people who are not exactly into the good type of catergories of people. Similar to the forsaken.
Yeah but… the Forsaken are still loyal to Lordaeron, some of them at least. Just because they died didn’t mean they all changed. In the Before the Storm novel many Forsaken died because they wished to return to their old lives with their human families.
I’d watch this. The following is a video of obtaining Quel’derar and has an appearance from Blood-Queen Lana’thel.
She says ALOT of stuff to suggest that she still cares for Quel’thelas in the same sense as Sylvanas. It’s their home. Notice how she says OUR and MY people. She doesn’t say Sin’dorei like she said Kaldorei. She put herself in that group.
And most importantly, she says she went to Northrend in the service of “MY” prince. Not Prince Kael’thas. She didn’t even say MY king. She said “the king”. She could have said my king, but held off on that. Language is very important to show where a person’s feelings lie. Through this language, Lana’thel still appears very loyal to her prince Kael’thas Sunstrider.
I have done that quest chain. They do show alot of emotion relating to there old lives. But they have also accepted there new lives… she takes away the sword for unworthy opponents. She serves the lich key through necromancy. She has a daughter who we also fight in Legion in the Violet Hold. I think she is also present in the blood elf heritage armor quest. San’layn is a blood elf name as well which means Darkfallen. This thread speaks about the Darkfallen and there story continued in Battle for Azeroth wanting to join the horde and Slyvanas has them prove there worthiness. They gave up there lives to defend the secrets we had. They played a chaotic evil to alliance/ chaotic nuetral to bystanders/ chaotic good for the horde in which they sacrificed weaker forsaken to boister there power (much like the warlock abilities where we sacrifice imps). There story is very appealing to many. We love that they are extension of blood elves story. They have great models/casting animations/ voice actors/ themes. They feel very wotlk. And have similarities to both forsaken and blood elves a perfect candidate for allied races. We understand they do not behave like a hive mind. WoW often shows individuals that think differently from there race… such as Alonsus Faol, or the friendly Naga in the summerfestival, or the Illadari naga or broken ashtongue that serve Lord Illidan.
Kae’lthas also had served Illidan but he deviated. The story may progress that those we killed in TBC may become allies in shadowlands. Lady Vashj is present (spoilers) Kael’thas is present. If we go by these story themes we can probably guess Illidan may come back later in the expansion to hint at the next expansion and more demon hunters which was promised when Legion launched (more demonhunter race/class comboes will be eventually added). So there is alot to look forward too.
Darkfallen are in a simliar position to forsaken/dark iron/ Zandalari/ Lightforged Dranei in which they may favor to a good or bad side generically. Lightforged can be seen as evil shown by maghar orcs or good if you feel the army of light did always good. That’s the good thing about wow and the 2 factions. The alliance is shown the savagery of the San’layn in the war campaign. If they become playable we can see there more civil and gentle interactions in society.
I wonder if a potential San’layn heritage armor would have the blood spheres that Shadowlands Kael’thas has. Would the spheres be tied to the shoulder piece or would they be a unique back piece like the covenant “wings”?
I’m not saying they cannot be bad… you replied to my question of asking if they were still loyal to Kael’thas. To which you said they’re free to follow whom they please.
But typically there is a majority consensus of how the race operates. They have shared values. “Are they still loyal to Kael’thas” is a question about their values.
I’d like them to still be loyal to Kael because they started off as his most loyal followers. In a similar vain to how some of the Forsaken in BTS reacted upon seeing Calia. They still called her “My Princess”.
I don’t care about one San’layn prince who may have went rogue to join with Sylvanas. Because there was one Night Elf who became a paladin. One isn’t enough to justify, normally, the inclusion of something. It’s normally an outlier.
I’m for the inclusion of this allied race because I’d rather play this than a Blood Elf because I can play a Blood Elf, who is a vampire yes, but they are the loyal fanatics who are the most devouted to Kael’thas. That’s why I am enjoying a Lightforged Draenei. They can be played as absolute zealots of the Light because of their trial.
I think they’d be a great race with an even greater story to tell and awesome RP backgrounds. You wouldn’t even be loyal to Lorthemar but the Quel’thelas and the concept of the Sin’dorei itself, since they left to go avenge their people.
I just want them to have an established background. That is why I am asking these questions which don’t seem to have clear answers.
I don’t care if you play your San’layn as a only a vampire or whatever. I just want lore justification for me to play mine how I want.
You want lore guidelines? Okay that is blizzard’s thing to deliver. If you want to use context - clues of there lore and how an npc would react sure do your research. But I like to think my character’s think differently and can be freely go to whatever group they want. For example I may play my shaman as a Slyvanas follower. And my mage as a garrosh follower. I am a fan of unique combinations as well. So I do not like limiting myself to npc direction or motivations. As the hero is often doing things that he may or may not want to do to keep the campaign going. Do I want to do that quest to help that demon out to get this achievement? Even though I know dealing with demons is wrong. Should I follow my npc lore guides to not do this quest or do I just do it for the experience so I can level?
I like to think as intelligent beings each san’layn has it’s own motivation. Maybe different factions are more conservative and still follow Kael’thas. Other factions just want to make a new life and prosper in this new society of vampires. Other factions that grasp for power, other healer factions that want to use there vampirism to help others such as magical research for causes like reversing fel toxicity in orcs. The story can go wherever they want and I don’t like binding it to old stereotypes established.
Lightforged are one of my least favorite races because they don’t have access to monk or shaman. 2 classes I enjoy playing and are very niche. But you seem to like it.
Lot of Shirtless Vampire Kael’thas art going around…
But really, his (re)appearance has brought the request for San’layn into light and I’m hoping it keeps growing.
But normally a playable race has a core thought process and motivation. Sure your playable character can go out on their own. But like the NPCs.
That’s fine. But what’s the thing that binds them together? Whats their core philosophy?
Like people say Void Elves are bad for an allied race due to low numbers. But… they all have a shared interest in studying the void. That’s what led them to become Void Elves. Sure, they can live individual lives, no one cares about that. But Void Elves, generally are interested in the mysteries of the Void.
So what is the thing that binds all of these Sanlayn together? It started off as Kael’thas. Then they became under the service of the Lich King. If they’re all now just random princes doing their own thing, that’s a bad allied race because they can’t even agree with each other.
I’d opt them be like the Forsaken and still have a sense of pride for their homeland, like Lana’thel. Lana’thel can still love Quel’thelas and Prince Kael’thas while being forced to serve the Lich King. Prince Dreven can still be interested in pursuing his own interest. But if they all mimic Lana’thel and still claim the Sindorei as their people and Kael’thas as their Prince, that’s something that gives them a common belief.
That’s what I want fleshed out.
https://aminoapps.com/c/hearthstone/page/blog/sanlayn-kaelthas/KW5S_Mu023Kg5QVzKMxab0Q8g4rMgo8 hopefully
(fan-made Hearthstone card for vampire Kael’thas)
Hey guys, just found a zone preview of Revendreth up on Youtube. Figured i would share it for those who haven’t seen it yet.
This place might honestly become my new favorite zone in the game. It looks soooo good! I love the huge castle! 
Faints in Castlevania
The aesthetic is very nice and will probably tie with Maldraxxas (out of nostalgia mostly) for my favorite.
That would be cool if they added that link. Main reason my Dh’s inner demon is a Nathrezim was for that vampire like angle. So a wow version of a Dhampir I guess lol. In any case I do want to see playable San’layn and playable versions of those Venthyr coats especially the sleeveless open one. Oh and DH’s as a race for San’layn from the start for my personal gameplay reasons. I just can’t give up double jump and glide.
Yeah it would make a lot of sense if the vampyr curse (the one afflicting both Vry’kul and Thalassian elves) originated in Revendreth of which somehow touched the living realm prior to Arthas gaining hold of it. I hope they explore that, now is a more perfect time than ever.
Also yeah the gear/zone/clothing does look awesome, perhaps the clothing options of the Venthyr will be makeable via Tailors? Would be a good way to bring some life into that profession at least.
Considering demon hunters gain their power from slaying demons, I’m sure they’ve killed more than a few nathrezim in their hunts. The entire reason I see demon hunters as analogous to WoW vampires is because they are evocative of the nathrezim aesthetic.
As far as the San’layn are concerned, I think the current datamining leaves room for a pretty solid link between the two races. It looks like the narrative arc of Revendreth is going to involve us installing Kael’thas as the new leader of the venthyr. Despite this, there is no model that features him turning into a venthyr the same way Uther has become a kyrian. Despite everything he’s gone through, Kael’thas is still pretty firmly a blood elf.
So here’s a likely scenario; Kael’thas becomes leader of the venthyr, the venthyr join the Horde, Kael’thas takes the opportunity to become a Horde racial leader that was despicably wasted back in BC. All of a sudden Sylvanas’s absence is no longer a blockade keeping San’layn from the Horde. Now, how they get represented in-game, either as customization options for blood elves or an alternative appearance for venthyr, remains up in the air.
But overall I’m pretty optimistic for future story beats in Shadowlands at this point, and just about anything related to venthyr/Revendreth has got the lion’s share of my attention.
Or perhaps he becomes blood king of the San’layn and joins the horde after a redemption arc. Which makes the most sense since he is the reason the San’layn were in northrend and became enslaved by arthas. Then arthas comes in 9.2 or 9.3 and Kael can get some revenge xD
Many have proposed a “Vampire” Race would consist of both Venthyr now and San’layn, which is an intriguing idea. I don’t think thought that’s ever been seen on an Allied Race, but then you look at a) the customization all coming out, and b) the straight back orcs + the hunched orcs, and I suppose models with huge variation might be a thing?
And yeah a Night-Warrior like questline for the vampyr curse is an interesting idea, which (we don’t talk about this much but I enjoy bringing it up) could open up vampires for the ALLIANCE (though some don’t like that idea) via HUMAN vampyr–I really liked the Stormheim questline with Lucard, as short as it was, so I’d love to see that touched upon more.
I would love this. In case it’s not already evident, I am and always have been super salty over the way Kael’thas was treated in BC. If Shadowlands can do for Kael’thas what Legion did for Illidan, I would be one happy camper (provided Kael’thas sticks around afterwards, which sadly Illidan did not do).
I’m still a bit undecided over whether or not Arthas should come back. Kael’thas, I believe, needs to have his character arc fixed due to BC’s abysmal storytelling, but Arthas’s arc was rather solid from beginning to end. Bringing him back as a punching bag for Kael’thas would not only be fanservice, it would probably only serve to damage Arthas’s character.