Using Mag'har to make a Mok'Nathal?

Wyrmrest Accord
1

What’re your thoughts on the concept? A good use of enlargement potions to make a stoic mountain or am I just asking for abuse for having an Orc running around and being side-eyed for it?

Seeing Rexxar again got me thinking about a potential Allied Race that could quite easily be brought to bear. With Outland theoretically ‘lost’ when the Dark Portal was slaved to Draenor and then no word on if the Dark Portal was re-linked to Outland or not, and the entire … planetoid? Demi-plane? Let’s just call it ‘area’ for expedience.

With all of Outland being subject to a lack of water and constant need for Shamans to beseech the Elements to maintain the balance and much of the area wracked with the Fel or succumbing to the malaise of the Twisting Nether, slowly fusing into the chaotic home of demon-kind, Outland will inevitably become uninhabitable, either through drought or what territory remains becoming incapable of supporting life as the last of the Elementals either die or starve without the planet’s natural ability to generate said spirit energy and the mortals will pass soon after.

Ideally, this is where Mag’har SHOULD have come from, but eh, shoulda coulda woulda, we have what we have and have to make the best of it.

But with the Mok’Nathal trapped in a small corner of the Blade’s Edge mountains and already starved for resources, and with Rexxar being something of an outcast ‘hero’ amongst his people for sending Horde heroes to aid the Mok’Nathal during the Burning Crusade, Leoroxx might have lost control of some of the Mok’Nathal Clan, as we’ve seen in Feralas where a Mok’Nathal has taken control of the Horde-aligned Ogres who live there, and small numbers of the Clan might have slipped away to pursue lives less spartan or full of more adventure than what they could find in their remote mountain home.

In the stories I write off-forums, one of the characters befriended a young Mok’Nathal girl who, while mute, could communicate with a ‘hunter’s language’, a sort of sign-language Orcs and Mok’Nathal developed to communicate while hunting prey, limited in scope but functionally effective for crude communication, and midway through the, hmmm, I’d say Mists campaign, would have been of age to go exploring.

Would it be looked askew to have a big, mute Mok’Nathal running around? And what class? As much as I love my tech-dependant Goblin and her M.E.C.H. pets, a Mok’Nathal Hunter seems inevitably fun, but a Warrior would also be quite fun to play with and to play against being a Rexxar clone. Alternatively, could make her a Shaman which could be VERY interesting for a variety of reasons, or maybe even a Rogue just for something of a running gag of ‘how can something that big be that stealthy?’.

2

“How can something that big be that stealthy?”

The same way a cougar can sneak up on you, by being very meticulous and patient. I don’t think the muteness or even the size would be too off-putting, but I will say that people will probably give you the hairy eyeball due to preconceived notions from all the other growth-potters. You can totally do it.

3

I was honestly a touch surprised that Mag’har didn’t have a more yellow skin tone as a wink wink nudge nudge from Blizzard to players in terms of Mok’Nathal.

4

If you’re going to do it and want to be taken more seriously (by a slightly higher number of players at face value), skip the gags and Rexxar clone shenanigans and play it straight.

I honestly think the mute part will be harder to pull off. It’s easier in literature, where internal monologue is the order of the day. Also in shorter works like film. When it comes to serialized stories that don’t rely on action, it can get tough. Not everyone will want to learn sign language just to have simple conversation and many types of other complex exchanges are right out. Hard to make it work for a central protagonist.

I say go for it though. Just dont expect nearly the breadth/depth of RP options.

5

I see no problem with it.

6

I always love people who RP as non-playable races. As someone who does a lot of walk-up RP, nothing makes it easier than seeing a race that is not normally found in the Horde/Alliance and having your character go “WTF?”. Walk-up gold, I tell you.

I’ve seen Mok’Nathal before, and since Rexxar’s original model was a lightly colored Mag’har orc, it works as an orc. And the growth potion thing shouldn’t see toooo much disapproval from the general populace since it’s more than just a “my orc bigger than your orc” thing.

Being mute may have a few challenges in its own right, as Tamanii said, but if you’re willing to put in the effort, I think it would create something unique and fun. The level of connection the character would have to those who put in the effort to understand them would be incredibly powerful.

7

I suppose the question is now if I bring the Warrior back to Team Horde to make it a Mag’har, or if I break Gen’tarn here back to a ‘Spirit Hunter’ using two Spirit Beasts and blessed weapons to hunt Dark Shamans and other blights on the Shamanistic faith.

I did always enjoy having my ‘Sokka’ main character, that one person with no super-powers, or at least abilities far below that of the others in the group, who had to train harder, push farther and risk more just to keep up with everyone else, and it’s also where Gen’s ‘Only Sane Man’ schtick came from.

And let’s be honest, my keeping him ‘out’ of the War of Thorns was having him trapped on Argus for, what was for him, nearly a year while for his friends back on Azeroth, just shy of a month. That’s got to have some side-effects to a Shaman who has had his powers ripped out, returned, ripped out a second time and then replaced. Deciding to stop relying on Pacts and Bindings and just go with what remains of his native abilities and some good old fashions steel and skill could bring me back to the ‘old’ Gen without him having to go through literal Kentaro Miura-levels of hell again.

But we’ve also seen Mok’Nathal are quite peaceful and stoic by nature, so seeing a young Shaman who embodies those traits finding themselves in the middle of Sylvanas’s little omnicidal crusade could be a very fun train to ride all the way to the end of this expansion.

I kind of do love the concept of a Mok’Nathal Rogue, but that means I have to break my cross-faction Pandaren, and that’s been a barrel of fun. Still, that could also mean I get to make a Kul’tiran ‘Privateer’ with a Outlaw Rogue, and that’s always a fun concept to pursue. Also the hilarity of two huge, chunky people trying to sneak around puts a smile on my face.

A hunter could work quite well, especially if running around with two massive animals like a pair of Clefthooves or similar, or maybe a single massive creature (I think ‘saddled’ Clefthooves are tameable still in certain unique cases) and a smaller ‘companion’ pet for scouting or just straight up comfort. And being mute, communicating through a whistle could be an interesting twist on getting the beasts to do their jobs. Take away the whistle, the mute Mok’Nathal has to improvise and the animals might not understand exactly what order they’re supposed to be executing.

8
  1. Make brown orc
  2. Consume growth potion
  3. Buy biggest mount from garrison vendor
  4. ???
  5. Be coolest ogreorc
9

I’d definitely say go for it. Ogres and their ilk are really fun to explore, in my opinion (Blizzard pls Ogre allied race) and it’s not like it wouldn’t be feasible in lore. Even with the stigma some people have towards things like growth pots, in this scenario I think it would make perfect sense.

I admittedly have a lot of predilections about what I consider “bad” in RP that I mostly keep to myself out of a sense of politeness and community, but this definitely wouldn’t set off any alarms for me personally. Go for it. Do it well. Have fun!

1 Like
10

I’d say as long as you’re not trying to be a straight up Rexxar clone, there’s no problem. :slight_smile: There’ll always be people who complain about everything and there’s no point in trying to please them, that’s what the ignore list is for.

As to being mute, that’s always tricky. Besides the problems listed above, prepare for the horde of people who want to fix you and can’t leave well enough alone. I had a friend Horde-side who RPed a blind character for, like, a day - by the end of it, the character was ruined for them because of all the harassment they had from people trying to ‘fix’ her, and because someone tried forcing the issue.

11

Exactly this, go with what makes you happy. We have wonderful tools like TRP, MRP, etc to help convey your character and their story beyond what you actually RP. There is no reason for you to worry about what a few people might think. I myself would be interested to meet such a character.

1 Like
12

If anyone complains, crush them with your mighty biceps.

13

It’s been a while since I’ve actually checked orc character creation but you used to be able to give them a more yellow-tinged skin that was closer to Rexxar’s classic model.