[SPOILERS: TWW] Earthen Lore Repository

Lore Story Forum
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I noticed an odd absence of people discussing anything about the upcoming playable race. I suppose it’s because people figure they already know Earthen, but there’s more to these ones than what we already know.

SPOILERS BELOW.

You know the drill. I will edit as more stuff comes up.
Text in italics is my commentary and not may not be thoughts/headcanon shared by everyone.

What we know from the 2023 Blizzcon panels:

  • Earthen are an Allied Race, so we will experience their story that culminates in giving them the ability to create new Earthen. As such, playable Earthen are implied to be brand new constructs, not the ancient ones who have existed in Khaz Algar for millenia. (This ties into their “Wide-Eyed Wonder” racial feature.)
  • We will encounter several factions of Earthen in Khaz Algar. The Unbound, the Oathsworn, and the Machine Speakers were named. The Unbound and Oathsworn will be focused on the Isle of Dorn, with the Machine Speakers in the Ringing Deeps.
  • The Oathsworn: They follow the edicts of the Titans despite the gulf of time between when they were sent to Khaz Algar to investigate a fissure in that area. City-dwellers. (i.e. Bronzebeard equivalent)
  • The Unbound: The Earthen who abandoned the Titans’ edicts after millenia of isolation. Rebellious. (i.e. Wildhammer equivalent)
  • The Machine Speakers: The Earthen who live apart from the others and have no time for those who do not understand/care for the workings below the earth. Heavily industrialized. (i.e. Dark iron equivalent, somewhat)
  • Earthen can be every class but Druid, Demon Hunter, and Evoker. (Death Knight: Undead rocks? No idea how that one works.)
  • Earthen ladies have beards. It’s unclear if they have a notion of gender at all, given the fact they’re all made of rocks and reproduce like machines.
  • Earthen drink molten mead made from the honey of fiery, elemental-infused bees.
  • Oathsworn have a position known as Stormrider, the “guardian-warriors” who ride the elemental-infused gryphons on the surface on the Isle of Dorn.

The New Stuff:

  • Earthen do not need to sleep or eat. They do, however, have food and beds (presumed to be for guests by Anduin after they call him “Arathi”), and can consume minerals to enhance themselves.

  • Oathsworn speak in a more machine-like and manner akin to other Titanic creations while the Unbound speak more naturally. Neither have obvious “Dwarven” accents (at least in text form), compared to Moira and Dagran II who do.

  • Earthen do not die of old age, but they do periodically need to “recharge”, during which their memories are uploaded to “the Archive” and then erased from the Earthen themselves. If they are unable to recharge, they enter stasis (i.e. become inactive).

  • Earthen presumably have some need to dump their memories after a certain point, given that in the current quests there are Earthen who have been overwriting their existing memories despite being unable to upload them to the currently-defunct Archive.

  • The Machine Speakers have taken on a superstitious angle to their maintenance of the great Titanic machines, contrary to the very “by the books” attitude of the traditionalist Earthen. (Praise be to the blessed machine.)

  • Earthen are about a head taller than dwarves in a side-by-side comparison. (Apologies for the link in this form, but it won’t let me post actual images anymore.)
    https://i.imgur.com/BmLKBR5.jpeg

  • They’re better dancers than base dwarves. (This isn’t said anywhere, but just LOOK at their /dances.)

  • Upon seeing him, the Earthen call Magni a Thraegar (There is also a place in Dornagal called Thraegar’s Rest)
  • Additionally, the Oracles in the Exploring Northrend book also called Magni a Thraegar.

Thanks for those last tidbits, Throren.

  • Player character Earthen leave behind piles of rubble (with hints of things like hands/feet) when they die rather than the standard skeleton. (No bones about it.)
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Guess I’m playing an Earthen that dance is worth the new slot and he shall be named RASPUTIN!

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Paradise for me. :robot::desert_island:

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Adding to this.

"Their Archive was catastrophically damaged by an event that they believe was the Sundering.

Because of this, the Earthen have not been able to archive their memories - forcing them to overwrite memories instead. The Earthen also are unable to recharge, which will eventually result in their stasis. Some are closer to this than others - but all of them will stop working within the next thousand years."

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Honestly wasn’t very excited for them at first, like I think most people feel. But after seeing more of them in the Alpha and getting a look at their capital I’m feeling pretty hyped for them. I don’t know if I’ll actually play one, but they’re sounding more an more interesting as a race.

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I think it’s indicative of the general lack of interest in a third playable dwarf. I blame their flacid Blizzcon debut. However, as pointed out above, seeing them in setting has me more interested in them then I thought I would be.

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Gonna play either a warrior or mage. Those mogs seem to look the best for them.

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didnt read sorry
funny dance video so ill upvote

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I think something people are slowly realizing is they are not dwarves. The lifestyle and cultural priorities of a multi-millennia old stone construct shaped like a dwarf and a soft fleshy actual dwarf are going to be pretty distinct. From what I have seen of their dialog their orderly mindset is more that of a titanforged. Lots of tiny things like they count time in cycles instead of days like other titanforged constructs. They also seem to be exceedingly logical and do not allow emotions to sway their adherence to their titanic edicts in the long run.

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I am more hyped for them then I was for Dracthyr to be honest.

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I feel like people will be more inclined to play as them after going through the questing zones and playing alongside them. I certainly know I’m more excited for them than vulpera or dracthyr (and I really hope they don’t add those harronir things), though my overall excitement for stuff like playable WoW races has dwindled dramatically since SL took the wind out of its sails.

Before, it felt like a world to get invested in. Now it’s just kind of like a theme park. Show up, ride some of the rides, don’t think too hard about what’s in that corndog you just ate, go home.

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I am curious about the timeline of these earthen. They must have been brought to Khaz Algar directly from Ulduar, since I think most of the earthen that Archaedas led to Uldaman had all been afflicted to some degree by the curse of flesh.

From the Observational Report: Earthen book in new Uldaman dungeon, we know that these earthen were “dispatched to investigate the fissure detected in Sector AR-938 (for further details, search records related to geological anomalies).” What is the nature of this fissure, and what is the purpose of the machines that they maintain?

Also from the Observational Report: Earthen book, we learn the following information and are set up with a mystery as to why these earthen are the way they are:

"In the course of their duties, these earthen began to manifest behaviors analogous to those which would one day be apparent in the self-styled dwarves, despite the two groups being separated by vast swaths of time and distance.

In fact, based on their origin dates, I could identify no corollary at all between these populations.

Yet while their behaviors, language, and demeanor show many similarities (for example, assigning Sector AR-938 the colloquial name “Khaz Algar”), physiologically the two groups remain distinct.

Is this distinctiveness due to exposure to the unique qualities of the anomaly, or is there another reason? We require more data before a conclusion can be reached."

Potentially, if some scenario strings are implemented, we learn that Archaedas at some point installed Dorn as a Watcher over Khaz Algar. Dorn was a tyrant, and the earthen rebelled against him and banished him through a portal with Archaedas’ blessing. There is a readable object called Galan’s Edict, for which screenshots have shown the following text:

"I, Keeper Galan, erect this monument to forever be a warning. The earthen shall know the wrath of the titans if they defy their will again.

From this day forward, they will be bound more tightly to my will and that of our titan overlords. If they again defy us or the titans no longer require their aid, they will be forcefully deactivated with extreme prejudice.

Such is my will.

Such is the will of the titans."

If I had to guess, this was a hardline response to the earthen overthrowing Dorn. However, since Galan is no longer around, either he left or something happened to him. Perhaps he fell during the Sundering, which was the calamity that the earthen suspect damaged their machines. Perhaps the earthen were abandoned following the treachery of Loken and the flight of Tyr, Archaedas, and other titan-forged races away from Ulduar.

As per the stay awhile and listen dialogue between Dagran and Brinthe, the earthen cannot access their stored memories in the non-functional Archive, which was last accessed 5000 years ago. Also, they cannot recharge and will all go dormant within 1000 years if they cannot repair the machines. I suspect that we will eventually repair these machines and find some answers to the early history of this group of earthen.

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Part of me reckons Dorn will be TWW’s secondary antagonist or the final boss of TWW’s mega dungeon.

Hell, maybe he allies with Xal’atath to get revenge on those pesky Earthen.

Either that or he somehow returns and cries to daddy Odyn. Probably setting up Odyn is an antagonist in The Last Titan.

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The Machine Speakers are increasingly like the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Honestly, cool.

Also, they are friendly with some groups of kobolds, which is altogether new for any playable race-- though it’s not clear if that is a new development during the expansion or something preexisting.

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I should hope there are Censers filled with Incense and Cross Staves to wave over the Machinery as the Machine Speakers make Sermons to the Machines of the last time the Machine Speakers preformed a grand feat concerning Machines which of course involves them making Sermons at them(the amount of Sermons a Machine Speaker gives to the Machines of Machine Speakers making Sermons of Machine Speakers making Sermons of Machine Speakers making Sermons would be ridiculous)!

The Machines should also be regularly anointed in Oil.

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If that Dance goes on Regular Dwarves and Dark Irons. I’ll be happy.

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The Earthen keep getting cooler honestly.

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Oh yeah, I do like the Earthen. Wasn’t at all upset when they were announced as an allied race. Actually, wanted to play as one long ago.

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How are we already finishing the first raid but still don’t know if the sides they join have their own leaders? This is insane.

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Likely slower for the special models for these characters. Kinda neat the amount of effort we’re seeing for the trliogy, hope they’re important. :8ball::robot:

Funny enough, this exiled Machine Speaker possibly represents the horde Earthen. :crystal_ball::robot: