Ardenweald would be improved if at least ONE (1) Tirna was a jungle and ONE (1) Tirna was a desert with a beach.
And shadowlands would be improved if there was a Shamanistic zone that was grasslands with some jungle, with a litany of temples ruled over by Bwonsamdi. The Other Side should’ve been one of the core realms of the Shadowlands.
Imagine a giant zone with a spooky copy of Ataldazar and a giant tipi looking temple with Cairne, etc. Would’ve slapped. One realm with all ancestor worship. Dwarves included, draenei included.
The only Alliance nations that fit that the Gothic horses and carriages feel at all are Gilneas and Kul Tiras, which are already similar to each other because of their shared heritage. I don’t deny that Revendreth fits them, I deny the idea that nothing about the zone fits the Horde. The Forsaken have a bit of that Gothic feel as well, but it doesn’t fit Revendreth as much due to the different color schemes. The Blood Elves have a history of being vampire-like with their mana tapping, while the San’layn are actual vampires who would not look out of place amongst the Venthyr.
None of the traits I called out have any aesthetic connection to Alliance High Elves, who rejected the vampire-like practice of mana tapping living creatures, the abuse and exploitation of M’uru, Kael’thas’ leadership, and the red and gold color scheme. There isn’t anything “aesthetically Alliance” there.
I was referring to Alexandros’ personal history specifically, not any random Lordaeron human. He lived entirely in Lordaeron post-Second War, first raising his sons alone and then, after the Scourge came, leading a small group of surviving members of the Silver Hand who were all also from Lordaeron. None of the people he spent much time with during that period have any association now with Stormwind or the Alliance. There’s no old friends who fought the Scourge with him to be found in Cathedral Square, no living relatives fighting in Stormwind’s army or living there as civilians. He wasn’t as closely associated with the Alliance leadership or Silver Hand leadership post-Second War as, for example, Uther was, because he was busy raising his kids alone and, lets not forget, also didn’t have full use of one hand until right before the Ashbringer was made. There’s a chance he might know Turalyon as more than an acquaintance from his fighting in the Second War, but that’s about it. Alexandros wasn’t important enough before the Third War to have personally known royalty like Uther did. I don’t discount that he’s important to Alliance history, but I don’t think he’d have a strong emotional attachment to the modern Alliance, and certainly not a stronger one than his connections to Darion and Tyrosus, who are two of the most neutral “human” characters in Warcraft.
Unless they specifically think about something to jam the Horde into, like another Horde Civil War, everything defaults to being Alliance coded. Because they are basic b!7ch of Warcraft lol.
Which, as per pre launch interviews, Revendreth is supposed to be the origin of vampirism. Both the Sanlayn and Vrykul Vampyr are supposed to be basically discount Venthyr.
You’d think we’d see Blood Queen Lanathel somewhere, especially given Kael is there, but alas! We are an afterthought.
I’m just not putting more effort into thinking of the why the Horde is so are “underused”. I mean Blizzard sure ain’t thinking about it so I’m not either lol
Horde = Actual effort. When they do put in effort, you get Horde Civil Wars.
When zero effort is put in = Alliance coded. Because they are basic and can slot in damn near anything lol.
And what would Bwomsandi be in charge of in the Death machine? The bastion transports souls, Maldraxus protects, Revendreth makes defective souls fit for safe work, Maw keeps dangerous souls, Ardenveld restrains Maw.
What will Bwomsandi do?
Keeping lines of communication between the living and the dead open. That’s one of the core fundamental sides of Shamanism. Having it be revealed it’s due to Bwonsamdi maintaining some magical network like Ardenweald or Bastion would’ve been cool.
That is, maintaining the portals for Maldraxus and Ardenweald?
Edit.
Okay. Now break this portal and give a “story” that will not boil down to “We need more anima” … So, Bastion strengthens the Altar, Maldraxus understands himself, Revendreth confronts Denatrius, Ardenveld gathers the anima for himself (right?).
And why are new souls flowing there?
Stop. Do you want to pick up the Oribos portal function?
Oh… It will not be Bastion to blame for the growth of the Maw, but the Covenant Bwomsandi! Oh yeah…
@Baalsamael , or is your idea not to denigrate all shamanism?
Easy, Bwonsamdi has had to close the lines of communication because Maw Shades are getting through, as we see with the Tauren heritage questline, the Voljin questline, and the Zandalari allied race questline (Talanji coronation).
Bwon’s network uses magic from Ardenweald, same as Bastion’s Crest of Ascension.
I dunno, my Void Elf feels like an alien in the Night Fae sanctum, but sadly I have to pick them because they have ridiculously OP bonuses and are the automatic go-to for most DPS classes.
Because it’s the realm for Shamanistic cultures with ancestor worship.
It doesn’t.
New realms of the Shadowlands are new afterlives and have nothing to do with my idea. I did not say portals, I said network for communication between Ancestors and the Living.
My biggest problem with Ardenweald is that it was sold to us as the Autumn/Winter equivalent of the Emerald Dream but I don’t really get that seasonal feeling from the zone? Looks more like an ED that is constantly basked in nighttime.
Probably the only areas that look rather autumn are the ones the Drust have attacked and taken over, and well that’s told to us that’s a bad thing because decay is bad in what is supposed to be a death realm. Winter Queen is also weird to me since she doesn’t really look wintery to me and there’s no clear winter aesthetics in the zone either.
To be perfectly honest, I can’t see how shamanism (WoW shamanism) could be part of the cosmology chart, unless you throw in the elementals hard.
Because dead people who’s purpose is just chilling out and giving mortals advice doesn’t seem like it well…matters at all to the machine of death. A nice bonus for the mortals I guess, not one of the fundamentals that keep’ll keep the Shadowlands going.
Now if the elementals had a real purpose in the machine of death that’d be another story.
They could be the ones who talk to the callers. It could be the realm for people who want to continue to watch over and guide their descendants from beyond the veil.
And maybe they wouldn’t have to do it forever. It could be like Revendreth, where souls can eventually move on to other afterlives if they choose/are ready.
How does helping the living compare to helping the Darklands function? Surely you don’t want to take the portal network?
Hmm … Ardenweald is not that important to the Darklands. Probably.
Wow Shamanism is Ancestor worship too. It’s not just elements. It’s about the ancestors and communing with them regularly.
Having a core element of the Shadowlands be keeping this going, because helping the living is part of the duty of Bwonsamdi the Eternal One (having replaced Mueh’zala the Eternal One) would’ve been cool to see.
Have the method of communication be magical pools, thereby explaining the “spirit pools” of almost all the Shaman races.
Easily fixed if “the veil” is sustained and protected by the Anima that the ancestors gain each time one of their people wants to communicate with them.
So Shamanism becomes core to the Shadowlands.
Shamanism isn’t just elements. It’s 50% ancestor stuff.
So you have Ardenweald, whose portal sends Wild Gods back through the veil, Kyrians whose Watchers watch the veil, and Gehdeh (based on IRL guede) protect the veil from the other cosmic forces and serve as intermediaries between living and ancestors
With Maldraxxus protecting the Shadowlands proper, while Ghedeh protect the Veil.
But again, Horde themes and cultural elements, and IRL non-western cultural inspiration, is secondary for Blizzard and an afterthought if thought of at all
