We had all pretty much accepted that MU Orcs clan identity was doomed and that the somewhat autonomous subfactions that remained here and there were a lost cause.
Now the Orc Heritage questline just kicked in, and all of sudden the situation changed radically. The Dragonmaw are officially being accepted back into the Horde under the leadership of Gorfax Angerfang. Jorin Deadeye firmly intends to properly rebuild the Bleeding Hollow and move them to Azeroth. The Mok’nathal are officially joining the Horde as full-time members. The Shattered Hand and Warsong are getting new leaders. The scattered Burning Blade are being brought back together, seemingly with a new Warlock-oriented identity. Cromush, Thura and Ariok are being reintroduced under the banner of the Blackrock clan, led by Eitrigg. Damn even the Shadowmoon knowledge and traditions are being passed down by their last uncorrupted representative, Relka Bloodfyre.
This is just amazing. I wonder what that implies for the “regular Durotar Orcs”. My guess is, the Orcs who have lost their clan identity for good could gather under the banner of the Nation of Durotar, which would be sort of a pan-Orcish nation, coexisting with the other Orc nations (meaning, the MU clans) ? Also, wouldn’t it be great if these rebuilt clans were given capitals or headquarters ? Say, if the Bleeding Hollow set up a base in Un’goro for example ?
I can hardly imagine the entire Orc population of Durotar (many of whom were born on Azeroth) feeling like joining a clan just for the sake of it. Hence why I think a nation of Durotar coexisting with the various clans would make sense.
There isn’t a reason why the Nation of Durotar and the clans have to be separate at all, I think.
Like there’s nothing stopping a Durotar orc from just remaining a Durotar orc or deciding to join a clan in whatever method that clan sees fit.
Now as for each clan deciding to build a new home for themselves, I also don’t see why not. Frostwolves already did that in Alterac. for example.
Now if they all end up as “separate nations”, I honestly can’t imagine. Ignoring the gameplay systems involved, I would imagine they would all still on the grand scale of things, be part of the Orgrimmar orcs of the Horde, just ya know…able to live up their own cultures.
There’s a village of Shadowmoon orcs in MU Outland. She’s the last Shadowmoon Mag’har of Outland. There’s a bunch of them in MU who are fel corrupted and there are AU Shadowmoon orcs.
I think that has to do with the fact that we effectively destroy the Mag’har Shadowmoon clan during WoD. I know there’s the Shadowmoon Exiles but I do not know if they “count” as the true Shadowmoon clan because of the whole…exile part.
Yeah apparently AU Shadowmoon still exist since they’re very identifiable within the ranks of the AU Mag’har who joined the Horde. When it comes to uncorrupted MU Shadowmoon, this character is the first we ever met ingame afaik ; by all accounts the Orcs stationed at Shadowmoon Village in Outland weren’t Shadowmoon Orcs but regular Horde troopers.
So currently, the Horde has AU Shadowmoon, and, well, this one MU Shadowmoon lady.
I agree, when I said “autonomous” I didn’t mean that they should be completely separate factions. For example I could see them being represented by a single racial leader (currently, Thrall) on the Horde council and have Orgrimmar as common general headquarters.
option 1: everyone is either given the choice of a clan or if they don’t want to choose, their ancestors summoned via magic to ask what clan their ancestors belonged to, so they join by birthright
Option 2: have Guldan’s dead clan appear and let their clan name represent the Clanless Orcs as a Clan as a sort of act of penitence for their failure to accept an outcast that led to everything
Regarding AU Orcs, I am partial to having a total unification of all Orcs and opening up the Still Present AU Clans to the MU Orcs
Ah so that lady is part of the MU Shadowmoon clan? That’s interesting.
I’d rather she had been green (makes it easier to identify who is MU and who is AU) but I really need to get over that because Outland Mag’har exists too lol
That’s kinda how I was envisioning the concept yea. I like both of the options you presented though.
I’m not really in favor of merging AU and MU clans together however, mostly because I figure the years of history they do not have in common (meaning : the Old Horde experience, the shattering of Draenor and the events of Azeroth for MU Orcs, the Iron Horde and Lightbound oppression for AU Orcs) should be pivotal in their modern-day culture and make their identities diverge in some ways. For example the MU Burning Blade and Shattered Hand definitely had their identities undergo radical changes compared to their AU counterparts whose cultures are a direct continuity of what they used to be
Why the cynicism ? In the span of one questline the writers basically just gave us 10 years of Orc development.
Of course, but at the same time both survived traumatic events
MU Orcs had to deal with the loss of their homeland due to self destruction
AU Orcs had to deal with the loss of their homeland due to destruction from Another (Draenei Crusaders)
Ethnic unity despite separate histories where both clans learn the lessons from the other due to their separate histories into one singular politically stable federation would be a good development
There could and should formally be an Orcish Federation led by a Warchief and Farseer, where the Warchief is elected by the Chieftains (first among equals) and Farseer is elected by the Shaman (first among equals)
Which is sort of what we have, where Thrall is the leader of all Orcs regardless of Clan and Aggra is The Farseer of everyone while each clan retains their specific rituals and shaman
The Shadowmoon Clan was present in BFA when Mag’har orcs of Draenor came over. We destroyed Ner’zhul and his devotees, but even during WoD we didn’t defeat most of them. Just culled a large part of the clan and beyond them, there was the Shadowmoon exiles. I’d argue of the AU Shadowmoon orcs they have plenty of them around.
MU Shadowmoon Mag’har Orcs are few in number and per her. She is the last true MU Shadowmoon orc. The AU orcs are very much around. The MU Shadowmoon orcs still exist in a village in MU Shadowmoon Valley.
