Haha I feel like Dreven would get beaten up hardcore, but laugh while it happened. Like… this.
I want to organize our thoughts so far, so I can bookmark this post for use if it comes up again at any point in time. I know it will. I’ve repeated myself a lot, but having a full post for my reference will help.
San’layn FAQ:
Were all the San’layn killed off by the Alliance?
The answer to this is objectively, NO. They were not all killed off by the Alliance. We saw a bunch of San’layn, including Dreven, get killed on the boat in the Alliance war campaign. It was never confirmed that this race was killed off entirely in this one action, people just assume it to be so. Which is an incorrect assumption. Why? This link right here to Blood Prince Theraldis and Atherann. BOTH OF THEM are currently missing and have been since Wrath. That is, hands down, a fact. Let’s go into some common sense assumptions we should be looking into that people are not.
The following list is not confirmed, it is questions to be mindful of:
- Why would every single member of a race be on one single boat in the middle of the ocean?
- Was there ever any point in time where the quests said all San’layn were on that boat? (No)
- Look at the definition of Neophyte. New convert… this means more San’layn were being created, and we saw other ranks such as Marquis and Marquess. Do you really…really… really think that the entire army of San’layn being created would be on one boat? Really?
- Where did Dreven come from? Flat out, he had to come from somewhere. Are we really assuming he just poof!'ed into existence with no origin? Either he existed in Wrath…and we have no idea if there are more Blood Princes running about from Wrath aside from the two missing… or he was created. And if he was created? His creator is still out there.
- Where’s the body? The body is nowhere to be seen if you go exploring on Horde side. Shandris did not take it, you flee as the Alliance hero, leaving the body behind. In fact… where are any San’layn bodies when you go look for yourself on the completion of the Hordeside war campaign? Go look at my album I posted in the first post. Mystery of the San’layn. I show you what you would see on Hordeside after the ship is burned. There are still friendly San’layn casting there, after the Alliance has fled, with some griffins a’circling. Why show us this, why not just give us some bodies and show they were all killed, including Dreven?
Are there more San’layn or less San’layn than “x” race?
We have no idea, actually. The number of San’layn has NEVER BEEN STATED. People assume they’re in very low numbers, but that has, legit, never been confirmed. No one has been able to provide even one lore source with the numbers. We simply do not know.
Was Blood Princess Thal’ena the last Blood Princess?
Again–we don’t know. It’s stated that she’s Lana’thel’s daughter, but no further information is given. She very well could be, or she could not be. She could never be mentioned again. There are many possibilities.
How do you think San’layn could fit into the Horde? Are they just evil?
Well, are Forsaken or DK just evil? No, they have different ways of dealing with undeath. They have wills. So do San’layn. In no instance has it been said that San’layn are strictly mindless or evil. They would connect a lot to their Forsaken and DK cousins. I personally would love to see an arc where it’s shown that like Forsaken and DK, they can have personalities, empathy, and what have you while still being monstrous. It’s all about how you direct your power, and San’layn could easily take down and feed upon enemies of the Horde.
Dreven betrayed the Horde, that means ALL San’layn are evil.
False. Dreven made his own decision, and personally I assume it was out of desperation. It also could not have been–we don’t know. We have no idea what he was ordered to do, we have no idea what Sylv expected of him. She could have told him to distract the Alliance at all costs, including her forsaken. We simply do not know. Even if he showed incompetence by that betrayal, should it purely be on him and not out of desperation, this does not mean every San’layn follows in his footsteps.
Dreven had listened to Rhokan and Talanji in that conversation to go “move rocks”. He obeyed and it was explicitly stated that the San’layn have no home. If these people had no care, and had no emotion or will, why would they bother trying to work with the other races at all?
Wait, so what are the origins of San’layn?
San’layn followed Illidan to try and defeat Arthas. They were Silvermoon city loyalists that wanted to do well for their people, falling in battle only to be turned against them. They are Blood Elves cursed with a “blood” or “vampyr” curse.
What is the origin of the Blood Curse?
We don’t know, not entirely, at least. This quest gives some good insight as to a start of looking into it. This goes back before Arthas and to Vry’kul meddling in dark magics.
What are the instances of blood or vampire themes in BfA?
- Blood Trolls, which likely have no link to San’layn.
- San’layn in the war campaign.
- Inscription: Tools of the Trade, Sanguine Feather Quill of Lana’thel (no San’layn lore here, the name just refers to Blood Queen.)
- Blood elves casting blood magic in the Nazmir incursions
- Vry’kul using powerful blood magic on Island Expeditions
What sets San’layn apart?
- Vampire theme, a true one. Not void, not fel, but blood. Actual playable vampires.
- We see with both Lana’thel (wings, eyes) and the Blood Princes (claws, bat-like ears, strange model) that the blood curse mutates. We don’t know the full extent of it, either. I want to see some black/red eye options, serrated or jagged jaws of teeth, bat-like ears, claws, even wings. They can definitely be made to look different and it would make sense in the context of a blood curse mutagen.
- Unique past. San’layn lore goes all the way back to the start of Wrath. That’s more than can be said for races like Void Elves (no offense!). Not to mention, there’s big, BIG gaps. What have they been doing for all these years, where are the missing blood princes?
- Hierarchy structure. We saw that briefly in BfA, too. Blood Queen… Blood Princess and Princes (Same rank? different?)…Blood Marquis/Marquess…Neophyte. What could all of this mean? There’s so much of a chance to expand upon it.
Aren’t San’layn too powerful? Getting them as playable would be a bit OP.
Well, no, actually, because as we saw, there’s different ranks of San’layn at different power levels. We easily dispose of the Marquis/Marquess in the Alliance war campaign. Who’s to say we can’t get lower ranked San’layn? We have extremely powerful racial leaders, yes, of which would benefit the Horde to have another. Us as players, though, could get the less powerful San’layn.
The San’layn should go to the Alliance.
No…they shouldn’t. There are several posters arguing this to be petty, as proven by them saying “We should have a Horde request”. On the off chance there’s 1-2 Alliance players that actually believe this, however, I will explain why it makes no sense in lore.
The San’layn tried joining the HORDE in Battle for Azeroth. We do not know if they accomplished their mission, for it could have been ‘delay the Alliance from intervening with our mission (getting the corpse) at all costs’. In which case, the forsaken-munching would be justified, because it could have been ordered, and we know the San’layn were desperate for a home.
What did the Alliance do in Battle for Azeroth? Oh yes…
The Alliance slaughtered the San’layn in Battle for Azeroth to the point where many still (wrongly) claim they were made to be extinct (see my points above as to why that’s ridiculous). It makes no reasonable sense for the San’layn to ever join the faction that prevented them from getting the home they needed in BfA and sees them as bloodthirsty monsters.
Closing thoughts?
To me, San’layn are not “just another elf”. I put this entire megathread together because I feel there is so much rich lore to be explored with this race. They’ve been changed due to the Blood Curse. Ever since I saw them, I’ve wanted to play them. Playable vampires sound so cool. And no, I don’t want people to think of the trash “Twilight” when I talk about vampires. To me, the only “Twilight” worth mentioning is the dragonflight. I want them to think of Castlevania vampires, from the new Netflix series. Or Underworld, or Hellsing Ultamite. Dracula Untold, even… something that gives vampires a terrifying but regal name.
We can have a monstrous race that also looks good. I know I’m not going to convince anyone with this post, or my megathread. But getting all of my thoughts on one post right now is beneficial.