The Kingdom of Alterac

Lore Story Forum
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Its really the only one left that hasnt returned in some way shape or form to the point it even moved backwards, no longer being its own zone. Stromgarde was reformed in BFA, from its shadow in the form of the League of Arathor, then short stint as a ‘Forsaken’ kingdom, Kul’Tiras came back as well during the same time, Gilneas came in Cata, Dalaran popped back up in Wrath and continues to be its floating city for the Kirin’tor, Stormwind is, well, Stormwind, and Lordearon belongs to the Forsaken (bite me). Alterac indirectly had some development during BFA, simply being stated that the Forsaken control the area and use it to sustain Hillsbrad.

The TLDR background is it betrayed the Alliance of Lordearon to allow the Horde through their territory due to a mix of disdain for Stromgarde and seeing the, perceived, writing on the wall for their defeat. Obviously then found out and defeated by the Alliance, the kingdom was brought to ruin, presumed and various corrupt nobles started the Syndicate and struck out against the then almost equally ruined kingdom of Stromgarde - though also ultimately and mostly defeated by the Alliance and Horde.

So what do we do with it? It was a sparse zone in Classic, and an even sparser zone when they redid it in Cata. However, like many zones in Warcraft that are criminally under developed, its fairly critical when you actually look at it. Alterac remains the only major land route, and most direct, to the Plaguelands without going through Forsaken territory. Whoever controls that pass controls a lot of travel, or lack thereof if thats the direction they choose.

In general I’ve been a huge supporter of supersizing the zones, Suramar has been my go to example and really shows how Warcraft can do a zone well from ruins and wildlife to urban expanse. Becoming an independent, better/well designed, zone is definitely the starting point.

Clearly potential for a Forsaken and Frostwolf zone - both rebuilding the old Alterac Ruins/City into a shared hub, if not a real city again even if just in redevelopment with a mix of architecture. In this deep dive I did, there is a Death Knight in WC3 named Baron Peranolde - and personally would love to bring him into WoW as the old Aiden Peranolde, the king that betrayed the Alliance to the Horde, now serving the Horde as Forsaken. It offers great parity/a point of friction against Danath Trollbane given the two kingdoms’ history and is a nice little shoutout to the fan idea (regardless of agreement on it) of trying to make the skinny humans a Horde allied race through Alterac/The Syndicate.

On the Alliance side we still of course have the Stormpike, as far as Im aware AV is still going on so might as well keep them around and make them a little city/Dwarf fort in the outer ring/fingers of Alterac near Hillsbrad. Beyond the Dark Portal lists Isiden Peranolde, Aiden’s nephew, as the successor to the Kingdom that Genn supported. Throw him in there with some Alliance attempts to reclaim that kingdom as well coming from Stromgarde as a launching point. I personally wouldnt go for a full on assault bulldozing through Tarren Mill, rather a guerilla war in the Uplands to starve out the Horde through, what we can call, loyal Syndicate forces to the human Kingdom of Alterac (presuming they get like a pardon from Genn).

If we really want to get messy, throw in Lord Ravenholt and potentially some random Scarlet, Valea Twinblades probably best as both a named champion of the Crusade and from Alterac, at various points and we have a good ol’ fashioned succession crisis that we kinda missed out on in Stromgarde.

Others? I’d just hate to see a zone with such potential be wasted. Speaking of zones with wasted potential, the hell should we do with Deadwind Pass and Karazhan down the road?

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As an Alliance fan I say let it fall into oblivion. The world is better off without it and its traitorous rulers.

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It’d be nice to see Alterac be brought into relevance again, personally, I’ve always considered it to be one of the more underrated human nations. It’d be cool to see the Alliance try to restore it, an redemption arc for the kingdom would be nice.

Though I will say that I do prefer the Alliance potentially reclaiming it; I’m not entirely opposed to the Horde controlling it, however. And as for Karazhan and Deadwind Pass? Not sure.

Could have the kingdom of Stormwind expand into the Pass if only to secure the region by driving out the ogres in it. Either that or have the Kirin Tor take it over.

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If the Alliance wanted to redeem/rebuild a kingdom go with Theramore and NOT Alterac.

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How would they rebuild Theramore? It’s a literal crater. Redeeming it? Theramore’s legacy was a good one, from beginning to end.

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I like this idea very much. Give it to me. NOW

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The same way the Park District was rebuilt.


Hence why I used a /.It needs a redemption arc for its loss to the Horde.

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The same way the Park District was rebuilt.

They put a monument over a crater. There’s a difference between the aftermath of a mana bomb nuke where the crater is quite literally glowing and the land falling apart with fire spewing out.

Hence why I used a /.It needs a redemption arc for its loss to the Horde.

No it doesn’t.

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Alterac could just be a Human Allied race for the Horde. They broke bread with the Horde in WC2 and they have been infested with Old Horde garbage ever since. You could have an arch similar to the Dark Iron, where the Syndicate outs their more corrupt Leaders, and then allies themselves with the most convenient faction, aka their neighbors.

Alliance could get… Lightbound Forsaken and the Night Elves from Darkshore, lead by Calia.

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Don’t we have Isiden Perenholde still MIA? If we can have him back. Then a claim can be made. Ideally as a neutral area, but honestly idk how we would make that story work. Half forsaken/Worgen? Half Syndicate?

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Maybe they could be the allies of the forsaken.

Part of their partnership could be supplying their dead to the forsaken. It will be a nation of the forsaken’s own little cult of the damned.

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The problem I ran into, and I’ve thought about this way too much, as far as it stands the Forsaken control Andorhol, the ruins of Alterac, and Tarren Mill. Not that Tarren Mill is an impenetrable fortress, but it kinda sandwiches Alterac in and doesn’t give a real logistical out for the Alliance to swoop in unless we do a full reversal of Hillsbrand and essentially make it an Alliance zone - which is why I suggested the human re-establishment of Alterac an aspiration rather than a potential reality.

I teased the idea, but personally just found it way too jarring. I could imagine or roll with Death Knight Aiden pardoning those remaining Syndicate who lay down their weapons against the Horde and giving them a little hamlet in the uplands, guaranteed protection by the Horde, but thats really it.

As it stands, yeah. Last mention was Genn trying to get him on the throne. Technically Deathwing was named to the throne by King Teranas but seeing how they’re both dead, you got either Isiden, my presumed/hopeful Death Knight Aiden, or just random noble like Ravenholt who has claim if we’re playing by feudal rules.

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I’ve long been waiting for Isiden Perenolde to emerge, potentially in some storyline involving Gilneas (since that’s supposedly where he was last seen or heard from). Considering the fact that the lead creative developers thought Falstad Wildhammer was dead, I doubt the current writers will remember an obscure character that was mentioned off-hand in a RPG manual. One can hope, though.

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Oh barf, I wouldn’t want a horde allied race that are just humans. I can’t pass on that any harder.

I’m currently in the “let Alterac rot” camp; I don’t see any point in bringing it back as yet another human kingdom. Then again, I felt the same way about Arathi, but that’s being resurrected for some pointless reason too.

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Even if the Alliance can’t materially stretch into Alterac, I’d love to see Isiden Perenolde show up in the lore as a figurehead used to maintain Alliance claims over the land to keep the legal contest open.

I think it’d be a great opportunity for future Cold War-style PvP justifications: the Alliance and Horde aren’t at war over the region, but an undead Aiden Perenolde and a worgen Isiden Perenolde are happy to hire “mercenaries” to fight for their claims.

I’d like to see Isiden be active in Stormwind politics, too - perhaps trading on his ‘living key to the claim on Alterac/northern EK staging ground’ status to get himself some local funds and quality-of-life perks from displaced Lordaeronians and Alliance revanchists.

Ah, I miss the days of House of Nobles intrigue plots.

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I didnt even consider the possibility of Worgen Isiden, which could add a whole new level of interest to it. I like it!

The Cold War styled PvP could be even more fun when you think of how Hillsbrad can really be that meeting ground in the middle too. If Stromgarde became a new, real, largely Alliance questing zone that moves into Hillsbrad north, and a largely Forsaken controlled Alterac questing zone moves you south into Hillsbrad, we got a good ol’ fashioned Tarren Mill vs Southshore all over again.

Oh! And both Worgen and Forsaken come from the west through a redrawn Silverpine and Gilneas. Just funnel every every surrounding zone back into Hillsbrad at this point.

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Alterac thread, nice.

Gonna use it to shill my man General Hath, he’s one of my favorite minor characters from back then when I still read WarCraft books.

" General Hath was the commander of the forces of the Kingdom of Alterac during the Second War. While shocked by the traitorous actions of his king, he nontheless obeyed and stationed his forces as to not obstruct the Horde’s passage through the Alterac Mountains. Thoras Trollbane, lord of Stromgarde, sent his forces to block the Horde from passing through, and after doing so spoke with Hath, convincing the general to break his oath and remain loyal to the Alliance."

Could work as a connection between Stromgarde and the Alliance-alligned Alterac faction. Maybe make him into Danath’s old friend, considering his relationship with Thoras.

I disagree, to be honest. Redemption is possible - hell, it has already happened with Gilneas to a degree and I think that storyline worked well, except the place not being reclaimed when it should be three times over.

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The whole reason that Gilneas even joined the Alliance rather than seek an agreement with the Horde was because Daelin Proudmoore and Thoras Trollbane called Genn Greymane a coward during the Summit where they learned of the Horde’s existence.

If Genn Greymane was informed of the Horde before the meeting and struck a bargain with Aiden Perenolde before the summit then the Horde might have received an ally ahead of time via sending messages via birds to arrange a parlay.

Of course the existence of Mak’gora would have gotten Greymane into the position of Warchief very quickly.

Thoras’s defense would not hold for long against such a front as his Son Galen would be eyeing his throne.

The Horde even divided as it were by Gul’dan’s treachery was still close to bringing down Lordaeron so if Gilneas and Alterac had joined the Horde early on Lordaeron would fall. Then would come the assault on Quel’Thalas which Gilnean Magi would work on breaching in Gul’dan’s absence using the method that Doomhammer suggested.

Of course if Doomhammer was Mak’gora’d early on by Greymane(who may have no problem permitting Gul’dan’s expedition to the Broken Isles) the Horde might find itself grabbing the Eye of Sargeras which Gul’dan would discover as being relatively weak outside of Leyline Nexuses making him discard it and the Scepter which would be handed off to Gilneas Archmagi while Gul’dan turns his gaze towards greater sources of power in the Broken Isles.

What would be of value? The Tidestone and the Hammer naturally. The Hammer would be the easiest to grab followed by the Tidestone(accessed with the Hammer preferably).

The Tidestone breached a Magical Barrier so “Goodbye Magical Barrier!” to Quel’Thalas while Gul’dan(who has no desire to take over the Horde as Warchief in his own words but instead be the most powerful sorcerer) flaunts it and the Hammer’s magnificence to the world. Genn Greymane would care little for Gul’dan’s desire to show off magical prowess.

Gul’dan would become to the Horde as Medivh was to the Eastern Kingdoms was before the Horde’s coming: the most powerful being in existence studying the secrets of the Cosmos and constantly flattered by people asking favors of him. His “tower” would naturally be hammered into shape by the Hammer of Khaz’goroth.

In time he might attain the Eye of Aman’Thul allowing him to shape Time according to his whim.

His interest in the Legion’s artifacts would fail as soon as he saw how weak the Eye of Sargeras is without Leyline Nexuses and the Magi of Gilneas would quickly learn how the Portal to Draenor is burning the Life Energy with Disorder to fuel it’s Fel. In the end the Horde would purge itself of Fel Corruption and embrace the power of the Arcane due to Fel’s failure.

Warchief King Greymane would learn that the Orcs who didn’t drink of the Chalice of Unity don’t have bloodlust that must be slacked and thus keep them to help Gilneas run the Eastern Kingdoms under his reign while sending the rest to fight Wars until they die off as all they are good for is being a blunt weapon.

Gilneas learning the true threat of the Horde early on and deciding to strike a bargain with it as a result would result in a victorious Horde ruled by Gilneas. A shocking fact. We really should have Blizzard show us an AU Azeroth ruled by Gilneas just as they showed us Azmerloth.

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Correct me if I am wrong but I was thinking for a long time Stormpike Dwarves and Frostwolf Orcs were fighting in the Alterac Valley to claim all of the alterac area and the ownership has not resolved yet. (otherwise Blizzard may had to put an end to that battleground(lore-logic wise) .

However I am also in favor of revisiting classic territories for a better gameplay.

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As far as I know, AV is still on going but its not like an active hard push for one side oust the other at this moment. Its still kinda this back and forth tenuous thing they got going on. Now the Forsaken did claim the Alterac Ruins, but that is not all of Alterac. Perhaps that is where some confusion lies?

Cause I dont intend it to be Horde or Alliance controlled. I think the Horde will and should have a more commanding presence, especially in the upper mountains where the Alterac Ruins currently lay, but were not ousting the Stormpike - I got alts that need to farm honor still.