(Wall of text incoming. Sorry about that)
The Horde has a notoriously poor connection to the cosmic chart. Which is not a problem in itself ; what makes it a problem is that the game has effectively taken a cosmic turn, to the point where most expansion concepts we can think of right now are based on cosmic narratives (Life vs Void, exploring the Emerald Dream, continuation of the First Ones plotline, etc). But as things stand… Horde players could hardly feel involved in any of those. That’s why this problem needs to be addressed.
I was reflecting on how much both factions relate to the cosmic forces, and so I tried to compile my thoughts on what the Horde lacks on the cosmic level and how things could be fixed.
- Order/Arcane : Titan content is Alliance content. The majority of the Alliance playable races are Titanforged ; the Speaker of Azeroth is Magni Bronzebeard ; Titan aesthetics, devices, culture and philosophy feel completely alien Horde-side. Dragon stuff is equally hard to care about from a Horde perspective and definitely speaks more to Alliance players thematically (and Ebyssian’s new position changes very little to that fact, honestly). Arcane magic is an important aspect of the Sin’dorei and Shal’dorei’s respective cultures, but this is never matched by any sort of true connection to Order as a cosmic force (no relationship with Order beings, no Order-oriented mindset and spirituality).
Solution : Order can (and should) remain almost exclusively an Alliance thing. The thing then is… it needs to be less central. Titans CANNOT be so overwhelmingly important in the setting, they CANNOT be the ones to thank for everything on Azeroth, when Titan narratives are, for the most part, Alliance narratives.
- Light/Holy : Nearly every Alliance race worships the Holy Light to varying extents (including a race that’s literally biologically infused with the Light). The Church of the Holy Light, the Army of the Light, the Knights of the Silver Hand and arguably even the Naaru themselves all range from strongly Alliance-leaning to full-on Alliance members. Horde-side, so far “An’she” is basically just a fancy word and Aponi Brightmane, founder of the Sunwalker, said she was “far from the truth” when it comes to comprehending the Light (lol). As for the Sin’dorei, “Belore” is also just a word, and what little we saw of the post-TBC Blood Knights’ relationship with the Light displays zero substantial difference with the Human tradition. The Zandalari Prelates used their faith in Rezan to channel the Light, but Rezan’s gone now. A handful of Forsaken + Calia still worship the Light, but they’ll always be a small minority (as well as awkward plot device material that should be abandonned but that’s another subject).
Solution : the Light can (and should) remain mostly an Alliance thing. However, An’she must be given some sort of reality. Over time, “Belore” may have evolved from a mere aesthetic motif (aimed at emphasizing the difference between them and the Kaldorei) into a poetic/spiritual concept tied to the Light half of the Sunwell. In other words, make the Tauren worship an actual Sun god (maybe a member of the Pantheon of Light ?), and frame the Blood Knights’ relationship with the Light as rooted in their reverence for the Sunwell, getting rid of most of the Church of the Holy Light flavor. See if the upcoming return of Vol’jin may mean a return of Rezan’s Light as well.
- Life/Nature : Druid content is Kaldorei content, and that’s a problem. Elune is the Kaldorei’s goddess (and she favors them in return) ; the Emerald Dream is conceptually a mix of Titan and Kaldorei content ; the Cenarian Circle specifically embodies the Kaldorei practice of Druidism and obviously feeds on its vibes, motifs and mythology. Damn, because of Shadowlands the entire cycle of Life and Death, a core aspect of Druidism, is in fact Kaldorei-oriented, since Ardenweald (the realm that represents the Death side of that cycle) is basically just Kaldorei Heaven and the Winterqueen is Elune’s sister. Wild Gods are random sentient animals whose fates are in the hands of Ardenweald’s Human Resources Department. This is bad.
Elune, the Emerald Dream and the Cenarion Circle are Kaldorei content. We cannot relate to them. I’ll be brutally honest : playing through the Druid questing experience as a Troll Druid in Legion had me feel awfully out of place.
Solution :
Druids should be the name given to the users of Life magic, nothing more – and that magic may take a great variety of forms (Cenarion Druids, Thornspeakers, Gonk followers, Harvest Witches…). Go back to writing Elune as the Kaldorei’s goddess first and foremost ; firmly establish that a connection to the Emerald Dream isn’t necessary to wield Life magic ; stop centralizing Druidism around the Cenarion Circle and explore the various traditions.
Personally, I picture Troll Druidism as being an aspect of voodoo ; I think voodoo should be framed as the Trolls’ ancestral power of disruption of the cycle of Life and Death (necromancy, regeneration and animated Golems and Tikis are known possible applications of voodoo). Alternatively, of course, Troll druidism can be mostly related to Gonk, but then it needs to be actually fleshed out, because saying “Gonk taught Trolls how to shapeshift” is not enough. The Tauren, on the other hand, have solid lore of having been taught in the Cenarian ways, so I guess they can remain largely aligned with the Cenarian tradition ; HOWEVER they need their own specificities (specific vocabulary, specific Wild Gods, specific rituals…). Why not make them reconnect with their ancient Yaungol Cenarian heritage instead ? That’d be a much more satisfying solution than remaining Kaldorei pupils forever.
Make the Shatterspear a druidic tribe ; either they picked up Druidism at the contact of the nearby Kaldorei and adapted it to their culture and spirituality, or even better, they actually decided to settle Darkshore because they always had a druidic tradition and noticed that these lands were teeming with Life energy.
- Death/Necromantic : The Horde SHOULD have a very strong connection to Death through the Forsaken… and yet this connection has grown deceptively weak. The Forsaken weren’t given any real focus during the freaking Death expansion (arguably even in Maldraxxus). How is that possible ??? Adding to that is the fact that apparently, NECROMANCY isn’t necessarily related to Death, since every single cosmic force can be used to raise the deads. What’s the point and the specificity of Death as a cosmic force then ?.. Undeads aren’t even exclusive to the Horde now, since some undead Kaldorei returned to the Alliance in 9.2.5. As for the Trolls, as it turned out, De Other Side is just a pocket afterlife that exists within the dimensional fabric of Kaldorei Heaven, and Bwonsamdi, the Loa of Death, is a subsidiary of Elune’s robot sister.
Solution : Make the remnants of the Scourge join the Forsaken ; that way the Forsaken may truly become the Death-oriented nation of Azeroth, a haven for undeads of all sorts (which would also give the Forsaken a short/mid-term solution for their population depletion problem lol).
Maybe give the Forsaken some sort of permanent (but still limited) access to the Shadowlands on Azeroth so that they can keep interacting and learning from the Maldraxxi (I mean personally I’d rather leave the entirety of SL behind but hey, here we are).
As for the rest… I actually don’t know how to fix this mess without massive retcons LMAO
- Void/Shadow : The Alliance now has a strong and direct connection to Void through the Ren’dorei and Alleria. The Cult of Forgotten Shadows is irrelevant in the game, with most of its lore coming from the RPG. Troll Shadow hunters could be a wonderful example of culturally-rooted Void wielding but they’re incredibly underused and ill-defined. The remnants of the Shadowmoon clan (AU Shadowmoon, since MU clan is all but dead) use Void magic, but right now the extent of the Shadowmoon presence in the Horde is limited to a handful of unnamed NPCs.
Solution : Restore and develop the Cult of Forgotten Shadows, make Natalie Seline an Undead, maybe even give her a seat on the Desolate Council to represent the Cult. Use the upcoming return of Vol’jin as an opportunity to expand on the nature of Shadow hunters’ ; describe them as individuals who bargain with Void-based Loa (Void-infused Wild Gods ? Powerful Voidwalkers ? What about Xal’atath, or other similar beings ? RPG Loa like Legba ?). Give some screentime to the AU Shadowmoon, and see what can be done with whatever remains of the MU Shadowmoon (Have Relka Bloodfyre spread her teachings and create an order, or even a clan, of Void users ? Try to salvage some of the Shadowmoon Fel Orcs from Outland ?).
Additionally, I think that the Shal’dorei’s keen interest in astral motifs is very interesting and could pave the way for an order of Cosmic Void users. What if the AU Shadowmoon and the Shal’dorei became the Cosmic Void axis of the Horde ?
See if there’s room for Draenor/Outland races (Mag’har, Outland Ogres, Mok’nathal) to have developed Void mastery at the contact of the Arakkoa.
- Disorder/Fel : Similar to Death in that the Horde should have a strong connection to it but it actually doesn’t. Demon Hunters are Illidan’s followers. The only known being that could be somewhat akin to the Fel Pantheon is Sargeras, a Titan. The Burning Legion narrative in Legion revolved around Sargeras, his Eredar generals, Illidan, Argus, Velen and the Draenei, the Army of the Light… nothing for the Horde to be very excited about. The taboo of Fel in the MU Orcish society is a plotline that should’ve LONG been explored, yet it never really was, except for that one time when Garrosh had nearly all the Warlocks of Orgrimmar killed. The Sin’dorei used to have an affinity with Fel as a consequence of delving too deeply into Arcane and through their relation with Outland, but that bit of Blood Elf characterization was largely given up upon – as an example, legit most Sin’dorei NPCs I stumbled upon in DF had blue or green eyes. The concept of Zandalari Demoniacs was scrapped https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Demoniac.
Solution : Revive the MU Burning Blade clan as a Horde-aligned Warlock clan, and use it as a way to tell the story of how MU Orcs must come to terms with Fel. Fel should be part of their legacy by now.
Let the Sin’dorei reconnect with Fel too ; this could be done by properly reintegrating the Sin’dorei Illidari into the Thalassian society, thus reigniting the Blood Elves’ interest in Fel. Also properly resettle Outland !!! Outland could provide Horde Warlocks with an amazing experimental field due to the radiating energies of the Nether.
Implement the concept of Zandalari Demoniacs. See what could be done with the Feltotem/Bloodtotem tribe (at least some Bloodtotem were accepted back in the Highmountain coalition).
- Blood Magic : The Horde has somewhat of a connection to Blood Magic. The Bleeding Hollow (both MU and AU) are well-known users. The Gurubashi have a Blood Magic tradition, so it stands to reason it could also be found to some degree in the Darkspear and Shatterspear societies. A group of San’layn went close to joining the Horde in BfA, and although they eventually betrayed us, it could be established that some of them actually made the cut.
Blood Magic was described as “the old ways” of the Zandalari by Hexlord Raal, suggesting they have an ancient history with it. This may set the ground for a rehabilitation of Blood Magic among the Zandalari, which could be deemed more acceptable and less dangerous now that G’huun is gone ; alternatively, a breakaway group of Blood Trolls could reintegrate the larger Zandalari society, mechanically joining the Horde.
The thing is… Blood Magic is ill-defined to the point where we don’t actually know what it is. It could be based on Death, on Life, on Void… So I say, first define what Blood Magic is, and then, depending on its nature, it could give the Horde a stronger connection to whatever cosmic force it’s tied to.
Those are just random ideas. I’m sure there are many other possibilities I didn’t think of. Wdyt ?