Hello. It’s me. Kalimdor disappoints me more as time goes on, as the rushed nature of the continent is felt more strongly as additional context (and content) is added to Azeroth. While the Eastern Kingdoms will always have mass intrigue in locations like Lordaeron, Khaz Modan, etc…
Kalimdor’s kind of got nothing. I know a lot of people might disagree with that, and it seems hyperbolic at a first pass, but… once you leave the areas I lovingly refer to as the “Elflands” (basically anything night elf), the continent becomes really shallow. And let’s face it: really racist. Looking at you, old world centaur. Looking at you. Tanaris, Un’goro, Desolace, Silithus, Feralas, Dustwallow (actually forgot this zone even existed), etc are all kind of nothingburger zones. Some of them getting worse thanks to Cata.
Which is a shame because… honestly? It has a lot of room to be interesting. The Bronze Dragonflight is housed in Tanaris. We know just how crazy the Bronze Dragonflight can get with plotting. Everything surrounding the Titan stuff in Un’goro. Ahn’Qiraj, Zul’Farrak, Eldre’thalas, and so on and so forth.
So, instead of committing myself to a whole scale revamp project (which takes a lot of time and effort), I’ll just share some bits and pieces as the ideas come to me.
Primordial Azeroth (Age of the Elemental Lords)
I’m rapid firing this. None of the typical Sint prose.
Azeroth has non-elemental and civilized life on it prior to the arrival of the Old Gods and Titans. These races are: Trolls, Silithid, Yaungol, Goblins, and Dragons.
Trolls and Silithid are particularly resilient and are able to survive in harsh conditions born by Elemental infighting.
Yaungol migrate fast enough to ensure that their populations avoid Elemental Wars.
Goblins are good at hiding, and thus avoid much of the ire of the Elements.
Dragons are descended from the elements, and given their great power, they are threatening even to the Primal Dragons.
Many of these peoples interacted. Troll and yaungol joint warbands. Silithid swarms safeguarding the wings of the higher dragons. Goblins found just about anywhere you could find them.
The Dragons, themselves, were Elemental. The trolls, yaungol, and goblins learned to tame and to treat with the Elements. And the Silithid? They nullified, purged, and destroyed their Elemental foes.
The Black Empire
Things changed when the Black Empire came about.
Yaungol clans splintered, as the new Lords of Azeroth spread madness and sowed division wherever they deigned it should go.
The Trolls largely became subservient, though they planned at each stage to overthrow their dark masters and restore the spirits they venerated before the Darkness.
The Silithid became subservient, though they genuinely came to worship their new masters. Those who were chosen became the “Aqir” (“One” in Aj’Silthis). Their minds and bodies were altered to serve their masters.
Galakrond fended the Old Gods off, though Dragonkind dwindled during this era. His great strength was nothing compared to that of the Old Gods, and though he could fend off their armies, he could not fly to all corners of the world to save his children. This feverish defense laid the seeds of his downfall.
The Goblins, of course, kept to places the Old Gods did not bother to look. Aqir became problematic in their subterranean homes, and so they eventually were forced out of hiding. Goblin tunnels and goblin strategies, alongside troll resolve and troll cunning, created one of Azeroth’s true first unions.
Rebellion came eventually, as the Zandalari (High Lords) Trolls betrayed their masters. Having grown under the yoke of the Old Gods (something the Elemental Lords never allowed), the Zandalari were able to use their newfound strength to unshackle the Elemental Lords and war against the Old Gods.
This war was doomed from the start, but then came the Travelers. The leader of the Zandalari, Dazar, was one day greeted by the projection of a powerful being. Dazar treated with him, and though he did not know it, he met a Titan that fateful day. He met Sargeras, who warned the Troll King that an army of steel and arcane was about to enter his world. To crush the Old Gods. To restore the natural order.
The Ordering of Azeroth
Zandalar rallied to the Titanforged when they arrived. Using the same magic they used to free the Elemental Lords, they helped the Keepers bind the Elementals, as they had become deeply corrupted by the Black Empire’s malefic power.
Zandalari dragon riders created an early version of something that would later be replicated by the Kaldorei, as Dragon and Troll battled Aqir swarms to cover for the armies of the Keepers.
And in time, mortal and forged defeated the Black Empire.
In the aftermath, many things happened. The Emerald Dream was created. Troll spirits were granted places of honor in the Dream, empowering the Loa and empowering trollkind. The Yaungol awoke Theradras and led to the birth of the Centaur. Many animalistic races were spawned from the powers of the Dream, the Well of Eternity, and the Wild Gods.
Certain things remain the same, but some things will change from here on out.
I wanna do some more. I think I’ll do a small scale revamp, similar to the scale of my original EK revamp posts. Unlike those zones, however, I am redoing them from the ground up, so I won’t be doing as many as I find that a fair few Kalimdor zones are just fine as they are. Just need new stories, quests, etc.
Keep Tanaris, Un’goro, Desolace, Silithus, Feralas, and Dustwallow in your thoughts. Heehee.
Also keep the Silithid/Aqir in your thoughts. They’ll get some more sauce later, for sure.
