Story Forum Community Lounge (Part 1)

Lore Story Forum
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Yeah I lost count of how many people decried the loss of the Kaldorei’s millenia old home only to learn there are house cats older than Teldrassil.

But a lot of WoW Nelf writing is bizarre. Seriously it seems like the writers confused immortality with invincibility at one point. As the Nelves in Darkshore react to their death with resigned stoic acceptance.

“Ah but we sacrificed our immortality to save Azeroth. So this was always an inevitably”

But they’re talking about being drowned or stabbed to death by Trolls. A thing that could very much kill them at any point.

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12141

gd

i’m imagining how much more I would have liked Ardenweald if they’d gone in with the winter look, made their spell color yellow, and made it a cold, frigid place, the winter of life, with a melting edge where incubating eggs sleep under blankets of snow and rays of the eternal solstice – for those souls which will survive the winter and go on to the next season.

That would not have felt like “latest magical nelf druid zone 37” to me

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12142

The drust storyline is what really made Ardenweald interesting to me. It’s a real shame blizz never did much else with them in a expac dedicated to the afterlife. We could’ve learned more about Thros and why the Drust wanted to take over Ardenweald

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I wound up liking Ardenweald a lot after really hating it at first.

I washy thrilled about bringing my Undead Lock there but the Cov spells were far to tasty in PvP to not take. Then we start with WoW’s recent writing in a nutshell out the gate with Shandris;

“Vile Horde! I would sooner trust demons than you!”

“Alright I trust you enough to follow you through the literal gates of Hell”

Then we get that stage play quest which could’ve been funny. But as SL’s story was crap even compared to BFA it’s more like someone joking about their drinking problem as they swerve through 2 lanes of traffic.

Plus it pisses me off that’s the only place outside Karazhan are the only places we see theater. Both GoT and the new Dragon House thingy very efficently use theater and crowd reaction to show how the masses are reacting to big story events. It’s a really great, naturalistic way to give a sense of public opinion on these events you don’t see from that perspective.

So naturally WoW uses that to let us see what ghosts think. Twice.

But from then on it gets a lot better. Those sugar plumb faires are more ruthless than the damn Black Harvest. Plus I love how their curses actually require weird regents like an unspoken secret and a token of lost love. I’m a sucker for stuff like that.

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12144

Also you know what bothers me about the Nelf lack of immortality reaction?

Well for starters it’s baffling that their reaction to finite time is complete recklessness. But a story where they had to come to grips with entropy could be really interesting. Maybe even poignant and moving.

This is a race that does not know of sickness or age. How do they as a society cope with that? Even minor stuff like their eyesight not being as reliable or their reflexes slowing a bit reminding them of their morality could’ve been interesting to see.

Instead though they just react pretty philosophically about having their stomach tore open by a Shatterspear Berserker. Which is the opposite of being relatable. I get everyone reacts to bad news differently but this is like someone getting 6 months to live and deciding they’ll take a stroll through an active war zone.

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Have you read Wolfheart? Jarod Shadowsong’s wife died of an illness.

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I’ve not but that sounds interesting.

It’d also be interesting to see the flipside of that with the Forsaken. Who were regular humans who now have not just functional immortality but resistance or outright immunity to injury, hunger, fatigue and non magical disease.

I think Voss would make an excellent case study for that. As we’ve a character who was raised as a living weapon by the mostly strictly dogmatic society on Azeroth. So it’s quite possible she only knew any semblance of freedom in undeath. And immediately went on a one woman crusade that took her to the edges of Azeroth and even beyond into entire different worlds.

Ya know using the lens of fantasy to explore the extraordinary through the lens of the ordinary and vice versa while still having an exciting adventure narrative.

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Yeah, Wolfheart goes into Night Elves dealing with old age. One of the POV characters is an old sentinel who feels the consequences of not being immortal, one of her problems is failing eyesight IIRC. Good concept though I think in the book it could’ve been done better. There’s another character that’s an old Orc who goes through similar problems but I think Knaak failed at giving both a satisfying conclusion. Knowing the continued problems that have happened with Night Elves to present day, I find the ending to that plotline to be repulsive.

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12148

How I handle the color thing is that I keep in mind that Ardenweald was originally a section of Bastion which got made its own zone. So it was originally just Blue, Green, Red. With the zone splintering off to become its own, it was given a different shade of blue. In that way, it can be looked at as an extension instead of being separate. The color thing mildly bothers me too, I think it’s an OCD thing.

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12149

Honestly, that it was originally designed as part of Bastion (I had forgotten that tidbit) also explains why both zones seem to be very empty metaphysically

Like on the surface level, Bastion and Ardenweald are the two parts of the afterlife that at some level we knew had to have existed before SL: spirit healers we see every time we screw up and the mechanism responsible for returning things that reincarnate.

They’re also … both psychopomps responsible for guiding of souls that seem to have a very vague idea of what people do while they are actually in their realm and they seem very one-note in that role.

I’m not sure the split was ultimately beneficial lore-wise.

Maldraxxus posits the most boring yet wacky afterlife I can think of but it doesn’t feel half baked in that mission statement. I may hate the mission statement, but it delivers.

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Tbh necro Valhalla was kinda a brilliant idea as it took on the logistical problem of everybody being hacked to pieces daily head on.

Maldraxxus sounds like the pitch to an unrelated roguelike mmo of it’s own. There’s 5 factions to pick from ranging from the usual stealth, martial or magic but with the Plagues and Constructs thrown in to spice things up.

And the goal is to win glory for your team in the big arena or through schemes outside it. And if you’re killed you’re not gone for good but you do have to start from square one, stuffing your spirit into whatever weak pile of bones or flesh you can find.

The afterlife of a video game itself behaving like a video game made quite a lot of sense.

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12151

Sigh, I’m in a bad mood. I know my attitude has been awful lately. I’m sorry, for those who will listen.

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12152

The Backrooms has interesting areas:

Level 9 an Infinite Dark and Scary Suburbs leads into Level 11 an Infinite Bright and Cheerful Skyscraper City which in turn leads into Level 11.2 an Infinite Dark and Scary Skyscraper City…

Its like Level 11 is merely a rest stop between two branches of the Darkest and most terrifying City of the Backrooms. Most places that Level 11 leads into are terrifying and nightmarish including the Mall Level(which starts off fresh yet barren only to decay and become a nightmare), the Mansion Level(same as the Mall Level) and the Hotel Level(same as the Mall and Mansion Level).

Level 9 forks into 2 distinct paths: Level 11(which leads into a Modern Era set of Levels) and Level 10(which leads into an 80s to Medieval Era set of Levels).

From Level 10 one can reach Levels 1, 2 and 3 of the Old Backrooms via Bunkers and Levels 0, 5 and 7.

The fact you have to No-Clip from the Infinite Cave to enter Level 9 suggests that Level 9 may be the starting point of the Backrooms’ Planes of Existence.

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What’s up? Something eating you?

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Looks like a huge leak for GTA 6 has happened. Game looks great, hopefully this isn’t too much of a setback.

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So according to HK-47 the Sith generally don’t feel Fear.

In the Darth Vader Comics Darth Vader makes it clear that he abandons Fear for Anger & Hate with Sidious making it clear that Suffering is the final step.

In otherwords the Sith’s weakness is falling to Anger, Hatred and Pain while ignoring Fear.

Fear contains(as per Yin and Yang) the White Flare(as Star Wars Visions calls it) and Black Current(also as Star Wars Visions calls it) of the Force and is infact the Speck of Darkness within the White Flare of the Dark Side just as Compassion is the Speck of Light within the Black Current of the Light Side.

The Sith mostly ignore the Core of their Darkness in favor of the Light surrounding it while the Jedi mostly ignore the Core of their Light in favor of the Darkness surrounding it. Ironic isn’t it?

The Jedi at the least had Fear to balance out the lack of Compassion whether they knew it or not so they had a Core of Light to give them Balance while the Sith had mostly Light with barely any Core of Darkness.

The Light of Wrath, Passion, Hatred and Pain flooded the Sith purging them of Fear making them into a Cancer in the Force.

Incidentally the Sith Emperor being an Avatar of the Black Current is filled with Apathy & Fear with spikes of Anger and thus is more balanced than the other Sith which allowed him to notice the imbalance in his Sith Empire. His children fell to the same imbalance as the Sith did which led to their downfall.

Vowrawn seems to lack Anger and thus is imbalanced in the opposite manner from the Sith being completely apathetic and thus a true embodiment of the Black Current.
Acina has some Anger but not enough of it to Balance out the Black Current emanating from her so she has the same Imbalance as Vowrawn.

If any proper Sith Saga were to be made where Anakin’s Force Ghost destroys the last remnants of the Sith as per the Chosen One Prophecy were to be made Vowrawn and Acina would be the Final Villains representing the final Cancer in the Force representing the Sith.

The First Sith Emperor while not an Imbalance would be a threat to the Galaxy needing all the great heroes(including possibly Traya who would preferably be a Night Sister in Canon) working together to defeat him but Vowrawn and Acina would be a threat to the Force’s own Balance and thus need to be taken out by Anakin’s Force Ghost at the end of the Sith Saga.

The possibility of the Sith still existing despite Sidious/Bane’s defeat(and yes Sidious is clearly Darth Bane considering he makes it clear that he is all the Sith and that killing him in Anger or Hatred results in him possessing the killer) is implied by the Canon Aftermath Novels that state that a Dark Side Wellspring distinct from Exegol was calling to Sidious from the Unknown Regions.

So for a Sith Saga would you want the Villains to be Vitiate, Acina, Vowrawn, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Zorba the Hutt and Supreme Prophet Kadann(with a Starry Robe and Gul’dan-like Face complete with Glowing Red Eyes but with Human Skin Color) with hints to the 5 Gods of Iokath lurking beyond the horizon?

Would you want the Heroes of the Sith Saga to be Ashoka, Yaddle, Oppo Rancisis, Force Ghost Yoda, Force Ghost Anakin, Darth Traya(who would be a Night Sister instead of a Sith in Canon), G0-T0, Chewbacca, HK-47, R2-D2(who would turn out to be Darth Nihilus who would be a Night Brother instead of a Sith in Canon) and C3PO?

INB4 someone tells me I should have added Rey(✲shudders✲) or some completely new Protagonist to the above list.

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Yeah. Lots of things. Sorry, I used to fill this lounge with depression before you showed up. I’ll try not to do it again.

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12157

Phlegethos just from reading the description of it’s capital(Crystal Palaces) not to mention the fact that Inanna(who is Venus) sounds more and more like a fraud by Aphrodite AKA Venus.

With how it connects to Minauros via the Dark Moon Queen Hecate’s Palace I suspect that it is infact the Dark Side of Venya the Celestial Plane of Venus.

The Infinitely Large Minauros therefore would be one of the Islands of Lunia the Celestial Plane of the Moon.

It’s access point by Mortals is via Portals entering via the Infinite Staircase so it is likely that Mammon’s Realm is what the City of Chains is dangling from despite the guy having a sinking City named after himself in the swamp below.

Malagard mistaken for Malbolge despite Malbolge’s Mountain True Form still existing is merely the White Moon Island turned into a Maldraxxus-Ripoff due to Ravel Puzzlewell’s demise killing all of her fragments including the Hag Countess Malagard herself.

This all means that the 4th Circle of the 9 Hells where Belial rules is unseen at the moment!

The 3rd Circle is seen past the Iron Tower of Dis and from it’s incursion into the Dark Moon’s Realm but the 4th Circle refuses to show itself.

Incidentally despite being Lawful Evil the 2nd Circle of Hell Dis shifts randomly. It seems that Lawful Evil does not mean Orderly Evil and Chaotic Evil does not mean Chaotic but Evil.

Lawful Evil demands one follows Laws and in the Nine Hells the Law demands Evil Chaos reigns supreme and that you follow your agreements(probably because they cause Chaos)! Joker(who honors his deals and follows his own code to the latter) would love such a place!

Chaotic Evil therefore should be renamed Lawless Evil. Tanar’ri are all about Might Makes Right and do whatever comes to their mind. They are Bandits led by the most powerful Bandit and always seek to backstab the higher ranked Bandit when given the chance. They care little for Laws or Chaos and do whatever they want.

OCD is Chaotic/Lawless Neutral by the way so a Neat Freak obsessed with Order where it goes against any personal Code would be Chaotic. If they take it regularly to Evil extents it is Chaotic Evil.

Ah! Now I see why Zovaal and Sauron would be considered Chaotic Evil! They desire Order but have no Code that they follow! They are Lawless Tyrants obsessed with Order!

We clearly need a 3 Dimensional Axis for D&D Alignment: Order-Chaos Alignment, Law-Lawless Alignment and Good-Evil Alignment.

12158

God I love Kotor 2. Masterpiece of Star Wars story telling and Dialogue.

Chef’s kiss

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It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it.

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