The shallowness of Human Lore in Warcraft--Why?

Lore Story Forum
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The problem with Warcraft humans is that the majority of the kingdoms aren’t expanded upon. Humans have multiple different empires with the only ones that bleed together being Stormwind, Lordaeron, Alterac, and Stromgarde.

The issue with these four is that they are old. What I mean by this is that Lordaeron, Alterac, and Stromgarde have been prevalent since the old Warcraft games; outside of their gimmicks, they end up being pretty similar to Stormwind in terms of culture and lore because they mostly serve the role of being a “human kingdom”.

Lordaeron: Forsaken
Alterac: Syndicate
Stromgarde: Literally just the color red

This kinda makes them all look very similar to eachother since their story relevance died before Blizzard cared about elaborating on the human kingdoms beyond the fact that they are kingdoms ruled by humans. Not to say they don’t have defining features, but compare any of these to the other three kingdoms: Kul Tiras, Gilneas, and Dalaran.

These three are actually pretty interesting and they have some unique aesthetics. Additionally, you can see how Kul Tiras was developed past the previous problem, as they started out as the “human kingdom with boats and the color green” and later became the second most developed human settlement on Azeroth. The issue with these kingdoms is the last two, Kul Tiras was actually good on this point.

Gilneas was basically dropped by Blizzard post starting zone, and at this point the Gilneans gimmick is moreso that they are dog people 85% of the time instead of their British inspiration.

Dalaran has become such a neutral ground that its more of a hybrid between Hogwarts and the Avengers rather than a human kingdom. If you didn’t know that it originally was one of the human kingdoms before seeing it in-game, you likely wouldn’t even realize that it was one.

tl;dr: most human kingdoms are either irrelevant to the story blizz wants to tell, meaning no story development to differentiate them from SW, or they are so consumed by their gimmick that it supersedes the “human kingdom” part of their lore.

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286

Was Dalaran an actual Kingdom or a domain where wizards gathered? Maybe there were several simplistic clans of rustic sheepherders who’s identity got lost after the opening of a university and subsequent influx of wizards from around Azeroth.

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It started as the latter, but after a while it grew to become a kingdom proper that not only included wizards and other magic users, but also common folk that felt that the ideals of the founders, suited them.

It was something similar as to what happened with Gilneas and Kul Tiras, where a segment of the population with a particular interest in a specific aspect of their society (maritime exploration) ended up founding a new place for likeminded people, that grew to become what today we know as Kul Tiras.

Dalaran had the same sort of pattern, only they were former Strom citizens, and instead of having maritime inclinations, they leaned towards the study of the arcane.

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Of course they are. Blizzard set it that way. The PoC are Horde. And the Horde got treated to be in the wrong ever since Warcraft 2. And if the white humans are the saviors of the world the undertones of that concept are very ugly. It needs to be dismantled. And that can only happen when Stormwind finally falls.

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289

So was Kezan and the Goblin leader is a communist. Your point being?

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All humans come from titan robots and then migrated south after being banished by their own parents. There is no reason to make them distinct beyond physical appearence because they never went to Kalimdor or Pandaria. Chinaland is for the Pandaren and the egyptians from Uldum are Tol’vir. And that is okay. That is racial diversity at peak. What you want is to have an excuse for the racists to reflect their IRL prejudice.

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I don’t think you have any right to accuse someone of wanting an excuse to be prejudiced when you outright told a poster on these very forums that Muslims have no place in the west.

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292

You want me to snap but I won’t give you that satisfaction.

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That does not mean that people can’t ask for more variety beyond the stereotypical medieval fantasy trope.

And even if the European based cultures are indeed rich enough to cover a wide range of fantasies, I do not see the problem of introducing other cultures alongside them for as long as doing such doesn’t clash with the established background of the ingame race.

Considering the Human kingdoms expanded across an entire continent (EK), that would give writers more than enough reasons to cover far more cultures than just the european ones.

No reason to held creativity hostage to these random restrictions.

I’d personally love to have more themes around Middle Eastern cultures beyond the Egyptian ones already covered in Uldum. Like D&Ds Calimshan does with their mix of Turkish/SA themes:

Or interesting combinations such as the one Warhammer does with Kislev by presenting a human kingdom with themes of both Mongolian and Russian fantasies.

And regarding the European ones, I’d personally love to have these religious Spanish themes be more present for any kingdom:

Even if many have already been used for the Scarlet Crusade.

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What do you mean? They have so much development!

Stormwind: blue roof
Dalaran: purple roof
Stromgarde: red roof
Gilneas: wolf on the roof
Alterac: skinny
Kul’Tiran: thicc

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295

I would say they are likely Americans, yes. In a lot of ways I often feel as if America has no real culture of its own, it is more like an ankle deep mixed bowl of everyone else’s, propped up by an unrealistic sense of self importance. So, we tend to presume that everyone else is also ankle deep. For most americans, Italy, for example, is the place spaghetti comes from, where the pope lives, and where the roman empire once was. Perhaps toss in the Mafia. That’s about it.

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To be fair here, the US barely has 300 years of history.
On average, European countries have 5 times that amount. If not more.

But I don’t think that America has no culture of its own. And people shouldn’t assume such either.
The only thing difference with the rest, is that its a lot younger.

And i think the issue, is that people often equate culture = ancient heritage.
So they feel like the traits that define most of the country’s culture, do not really “count” simply because they still largely defining for the modern-day western culture.

Oof.

I had a similar experience last time i went to NY for work, and overheard some girls chatting at the airport, that with all those rumours about some Gladiator 2 movie in the works, they would love to go to Greece and visit the Coliseum.
That was…rough.

But again, i don’t think that on itself is an issue. There is always time to educate oneself.

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297

In what way is the Goblin leader (assuming you are referring to Gallywix, though his role of Trade Prince is a reoccurring position in Goblin cartels) communistic?

If anything, Goblin society in the form of Trade Cartels is like a corporatocracy where the region is run by the most successful business in the area, with these Trade Cartels being a larger part of a greater Trade Coalition (though this has been barely elaborated on aside from it being mentioned that it exists in game).

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I have no words, what the diddly damn is going on in this thread :skull::skull::skull::sob::sob::sob:

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Gazlowe is the communist. Gallywix was the embodiement of what makes Goblin culture great. It was a shame he got deposed.

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Just because i feel like entertaining this off-topic:

That bit is right.

I honestly do not know what the hell are you talking about regarding the rest.

Gazlowe? A communist? lmao

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Yes. If you had followed his arc during bfa and his comments in Shadow’s Rising then you would know how he is everything a workers right’s movement strives for.

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Gazlowe was the pro-union head of the Greasemonkies in Zuldazar in BfA. Cool dude in my book.

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Now in days there’s actually Black, Asian, and other types of Humans that isn’t White now in days for the Human Race in Warcraft now.

It’s only now Blizzard is realizing that there’s more than just white humans.

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Giving people a salary and time off is communist???

Umm…