your argument, as i understand it: alliance will never have a 'true' bestial race; one that's ruthless and savage. Worgen don't count because they aren't savage, pandas don't count because they're neither ruthless nor savage. And which beast races on the horde are? The Tauren are not ruthless, and even 'savage' is debatable, and we've already established that pandas aren't either. Orcs and trolls, while ruhless and savage, aren't 'beast' races, they're humanoid races.
So then it just comes down to aesthetics; i.e. "they don't look the part." If i'm still missing something, please, enlighten me. Maybe i'm just not getting it. feel free to talk down to me and use small words if you want. treat me like an idiot. But i don't feel you're conveying your thoughts as well as you think you are.
Tauren can be, and have been. The main branch of the Tauren Tribes that is chiefly linked to the Horde, however, are not primarily savages. However, it is interred that the other tribes are also linked to the Horde to some degree, if not fully. Tauren are nomadic and heavily spiritual, they seek the guidance of the Spirits and the Elements as their religion. They are also a very brawny bipedal bovine. When the going gets tough, they're quite savage. Who else do you know of that uses totems as baseball bats, hm?
Ruthless, however, the Tauren for all but maybe one Tribe, may not be.
using "brawny bipedal bovine" as a reason to consider them a beast race is focusing on the physical, which goes back to the idea of "looking the part." And as for "when the going gets tough," the same 'savagery' could be said for the worgen. Which, moving on to the next point;
And no, to restate it once freaking more: Worgen do not count because they are CURSED HUMANS. The Worgen are not a race of their own evolution or otherwise. They are freaking. Cursed. Humans. Of which, because of how things work in Warcraft, that curse is entirely remove-able. The option doesn't exist for pretty obvious reasons to players who want to play a Worgen.
"Behind the formidable Greymane Wall, a terrible curse has spread throughout the isolated human nation of Gilneas,
transforming many of its stalwart citizens into nightmarish beasts known as worgen. The origins of this curse have been fiercely debated, but only recently has the startling truth come to light." Taken from the Worgen intro. You may not consider them beasts, but it seems that Blizzard does.
Also, the worgen curse is something that they haven't found a cure for, like the undead plague. I don't recall any instance of anyone being cured from Worgenism, but if you can find an example i'd love to see it. the lore reason for being forced into worgen form in combat also had to do with worgen being unable to concentrate on supressing the curse when angry. Worgen are meant to be savage and brutal, and yet they are still on the Alliance.
Pandaren don't count because they are a NEUTRAL FACTION.... (snip)
i mentioned them only because there are no other beast races on the horde. Saying 'beast races fit better with the horde' doesn't mean much when there's only one example, and the argument itself becomes flimsy when you consider that blizzard has described worgen as 'beasts, ' meaning there's the same number of beast races on each side. And, if vulpera and sethrak were to be added, the balance would again remain the same.
The sethrak are not nomadic.
They don't seem to be sparse (assuming this is what you meant. no criticism, i've been making typos all night too), or maybe you meant parse as in divided, which they admittedly are, but that's not exactly a horde-exclusive trait; pretty much every race has factions that have broken off, or broken in half.
They don't seem vengeful considering Vorrik still wants to reunite his people.
And the Alliance has already provided them aid, and Wyrmbane expressed interest in working with them in the future. That's not to say he has any interest in their plight, but it does prove that he isn't just chalking them up as some savage locals we bumped into and have no interest in ever seeing again.
No, the Sethrak are not Nomadic. Another good reason why they have zero incentive to join up with anybody.
the Nightborne weren't nomadic but they still joined. In fact, the war on their home soil had already been won by the time they became part of the horde. The Sethrak, however, are about to have two armies clashing in their front yard. It seems to me that it would be wise for them to pick a side or else risk losing everything. Or, what if they're dragged into the war by someone trying to claim their temple as a base of operations to assault the opposing force? Again, there are a number of ways the Sethrak could be forced to pick a side.
They are sparse. Their entire species seems to be secluded to a single small area of a continent, and even then, if we're thinking in terms of population, there's a freakishly small amount of them, all things considered, and neither are they confined in total to their major Temple (I personally think sparse fits because of population. There cannot honestly be that many Sethrak around...). Parse does work as well to define them though, as they are actually a divided people with seemingly two goals in mind: Continued servitude for their beloved Loa, or to rise over their Loa.
IAnd sparse isn't necessarily a horde trait, nor does it exclude them as a possibility of being an AR; the void elves are supposed to be a very small group, and yet they're an AR. and as for division in the ranks, i've already mentioned that pretty much every race has groups that are unafiliated, or even hostile to the faction of their race. Until recently, Dark-Iron were one of them.
And you don't think they don't seem vengeful? That entire story arc was about vengeance... He outright sought it out, with your aid--vengeance against his friend for turning away from their beliefs and doing the things he did, and undermining Sethraliss, their Loa, and their entire way of life up to that point.
Not sure if that entire story arc can be seen as anything but vengeance... The dude was pretty brutal in his execution of his friend, and the Sethrak that followed him. I quite remember that awesome display he made turning you in to an Avatar envoked with his power, and running around zapping down droves of Sethrak. And if I remember correctly, but I could be wrong, but he blows up his ex-friend, doesn't he? Could be wrong on that part... Kind of blinded by how awesome being an Avatar was.
Vorrik's words mention nothing of vengeance or justice in their final encounter. in fact, as Korthek is about to die, Vorrik says "No, old friend. Our people are dead. Because of you. And now you may join them. Sethrallis forgive you." And he refers to Korthek in the completion text again as "Old Friend." One seeking vengeance would likely not use those words. Everything about Vorrik's lines feels more like remorse at what must be done, rather than vengeance for what has transpired. Even the voice-acted lines seem sincere (no sarcasm) when he calls him a friend.
And yes, interest was showed after the fact, as the Alliance did seem to prove useful to him, but that could evolve in to absolutely nothing. Yes, yes, there is plenty more story to go along with in BFA. I still don't think that anything will come of it. The Alliance can offer nothing at all to the Sethrak to gain their allegiance, but the Alliance would be benefiting from the Sethrak's aid. The Sethrak are getting the very short-end of the stick in any alliance that forms there.
Yes, I admited that Wyrmbane could easily be looking to use the sethrak without having any real concern for them, but this is a point on which we'll just have to agree to disagree; you don't think anything can come of it, whereas i do. Ultimately we'll just have to wait and see.
I'm also not sure if the Horde could benefit the Sethrak either, but at least they have Loa experience, and Loa worshippers. Any aid as well the Alliance provided, had the Horde been there, the Horde could have easily provided as well. So you see when I say there's very little to no room here as things stand for the Alliance to gain Sethrak? It goes beyond that of just beastial races, but that is still a design goal for how things stand and the Alliance. The beastial races just naturally gravitate to the Horde. "Be lucky you have Worgen". I said that ._. They're not a 'true' beastial race, in the sense they're just cursed Humans, but they're better than nothing.
again, there is currently one 'full' bestial race in the tauren. you could argue highmountain as a second, but they're really the same race, in the same way that KT and humans are the same race. And an argument can easily be made that blizzard feels the worgen are another beast race, as per their own intro for the worgen starting area.
as far as having little to gain, well 'not dying' would be a pretty big reason to join. The example i used earlier for example; what if the horde want to use the Sethrak temple to mount an assault on the Alliance port? If they refuse, how would Sylvanas take that news? Maybe it's not having something to gain so much as preventing loss. And whose to say the entirety of the Sethrak join up? It could be a case like the Mag'har, where the soon-to-be player characters and a few NPCs feel a debt of gratitude to the Alliance for aiding them in a time of need, and offer to join up.
And yes, they are with the Alliance, they are a lost people; they are parse and sparse; they are, at this point, probably nomadic (not by choice), and because of past atrocious grievances, are very vengeful. But what Human isn't? Need I point out Jaina Proudmoore and her constant need to PMS whenever the Horde is involved in... Anything? Her skin color turns from pale to red. She might as well be half Eredar.
So are we starting to agree that certain dispositions are found on both sides of the aisle, and that saying "x type of race definitely belongs over here" is flawed? ;)
If there wasn't the fact that Sylvanas invaded Gilneas with the express intent of wiping them out with the Plague, and by some other design plot, the Gilneans were attacked by some savage beasts or something and Sylvanas happened to be in the area with a helping hand before the Alliance arrived, the Horde would've probably gained Worgen instead, and the Alliance alternatively could've been the ones to get Goblins somehow, idk. It was design intent that allowed all of that to happen (although, we already had contact with Goblins in the Horde, so we already had a tie that linked us together. The Alliance just followed the Horde to Gilneas and recruited them. Actually kind of underhandedly, using their need for vengeance like that. Putting it that way, it is sort of out of the Alliance's character to have recruited them while at the same time, not so much out of character. *Shrug.*) Things played out how they did by design.
And they could just as easily design any race to go wherever they wanted, sethrak included.
Look, lorewise, blizzard could make a case for anything, which is part of the reason there's so much speculation around -how- it would work. But one thing i like to focus on is the -why-.
As mentioned above, giving the horde vulpera and alliance sethrak fits with the interview i posted. it keeps the beast race tally balanced. it gives both the horde and the alliance a brand new race, even if the skeletons are based on preexisting models, and those skeletons are from goblins and worgen, horde and alliance, and fit with where things seem to be pointing.
I could be wrong about all of it. But i really feel that if Blizzard plans to release vulpera, they NEED to have a race that checks off the list of what horde are getting as well;
-a race that has a vastly different silhouette to the normal races of that faction
-a beast race
-a race introduced in 8.0 with a decent amount of backstory and character
-something that might cause people to roll the opposite faction
Sethrak are the only race that do this and have signs of being worked on for possible player models.