The Arcane Experiments questline left me wondering if it was all for naught-not because the portals failed or because Wenren was murdered, but because trying to make portals wasn’t necessary. In his various dialogues he mentions wondering if his cat still remembers him after being stuck in Hallowfall for ten years, and how they’re so desperate for supplies and reinforcements portals are our only hope…but various Arathi mentioned having had trade networks with the Earthen, and re-establishing this network was another questline, and furthermore, out of curiosity, I took one of their flying boat taxis to Dornogal to see what it was like, and they go straight up the Coreway.
With a civilization of airship builders, why didn’t they just haul the materials to build bigger flying boats to the surface, or have the Earthen build them, and go to Kalimdor or Pandaria, or Darkmoon Island, which, based on all the cards I’ve found, is just downstream, and find help there? The Kul Tiran and Horde navies managed to get to the Isle of Dorn without too much trouble, so why can’t the Arathi?
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Did the Earthen know where other land masses currently are prior to our arrival? I had the impression that they didn’t since they’ve been isolated, so they wouldn’t have been able to give any information to the Hallowfall expedition about where they are or where they could go. I’m not sure that the Arathi even know where they are in relation to the Empire, considering that they got teleported.
Wenren’s efforts were to get back in touch with the Empire, and without portals, they’re still cut off. They’re no longer in as much danger of running out of supplies or being wiped out by conflict since they re-established trade with the Earthen and established trade with us, but they still can’t return home, and we can’t get them there because we don’t know where it is.
My hope is that Wenren’s research won’t be in vain because while his notes were destroyed, he did convey the basic idea behind what he was working on, and he goes into a bit more detail with mage players. I would think that one of the existing experienced mage NPCs, especially someone like Oculeth who is ancient and specifically studies teleportation, might be able to pick up on what Wenren told us and figure out how to replicate what he did, given some time to work on it.
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I have a bad feeling that the Hallowfall arathi will turn on us when they reestablish contact with the empire.
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I could see more of a split. Some would feel the call of loyalty to their Emperor and follow his commands, perhaps tragically like with Nazgrim and his oath to Garrosh, and others could decide they can’t betray the allies that aided them.
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Yeah, I could see them maybe following the Emperor until a breaking point - maybe he orders someone executed and that causes an actual split.
Like maybe the Hallowfall Arathi help set us up to be captured, and apologize while they march us off to jail - but they assumed the Emperor wanted information and an interrogation, not execution. And then they have to make a choice to set us free and break us out.
Something along those lines - maybe initially they are enemies out of duty. But then they change sides.
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seems like the question isn’t if some arathi will be allies, but how many
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I suspect that the loonies up in the priory are more representative of the greater empire than Steelstrike and the Lamplighters, who have been forced to adapt.
As far as getting them home, we do have an orbital space station.
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I don’t really think we’ve gotten the idea that necromancy is really used much in the empire given the importance they seem to place on the Light. It isn’t like the priory is meant to be a place where they make zombies.
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Nah steelstrike would put down rebellions on the mainland now doubt she would join back up with the empire
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Potential family drama, if General Steelstrike sides with the Empire and her daughter sides with us.
I don’t see us seeing the Arathi Empire anytime soon, unless they make it patch content which seems like a wasted opportunity. We have Midnight coming up which takes us to Quel’thalas. Then Last Titan which takes us to Northrend. I don’t see how the Arathi Empire fits in there at all, they would have to be the main focus after the World Soul Saga.
There’s a Fire mage I think I’ve seen on the northeastern part of the zone
I protest the murder of Wenren!! I was really looking forward to a storyline around the fall/discovery of the Arathi Empire that they knew, or the realization that thousands of years have passed and the world they knew has changed, or something cool!! (I have noticed there is disagreement about how long they have been there, some say generations, some say since they were kids. I am assuming some kind of time magic slippage is in play) But no, the writers just murdered him, and all that potential was turned to depression. I am really sad about this loss of awesome story potential, and a double down on depressive, hopelessness. I guess I was too invested in him being able to succeed (or alternatively, him continuing to fail was an expectation as well to limit the scope of the storyline), and now I feel very let down. I need to go do something else for a while 
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I mainly want to know what exactly happened to all of the other magi the expedition had that knew how to do portal spells. They all died but was it just due to griefer RNJesus or was there some foul play at work?
More than a decade before the War Within their emperor had a vision of Renilash (the final battle between the Light and Void) and sent the fleet to serve as expedition to establish the base camp. The Mages would subsequently establish portals to the Empire so that a steady steam of supplies and reinforcements would reinforce them.
However things went sideways when the fleet was transported into Hallowfall, which saw many killed and them forced to establish themselves in the region.
According to Wernen, they all died when the Arathi found themselves transported into Hallowfall. He considers it “a stroke of darkest luck” that it happened, but is rather suspicious that all the other Arathi mages died.
So it could be as the other Arathi think where the rest of the mages were among the causalities of their arrival to Hallowfall or a combination of their arrival and bad actors amongst the Arathi. Though it calls into question who said actors are…
From my understanding, the Order of Night formed after Beledar started shifting into it’s Void state. Since General Steelstrike has mentioned putting rebellions, it’s possible that rebels hid amongst the fleet and took the chance to kill any surviving mages from the crash.
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It’s possible that the mages were all killed because when the fleet crash-landed, they may have all been busily trying to prevent it with their magic instead of seeking shelter in the holds and bracing for impact.
Could even be that those who survived did because the mages remained exposed to the worst of the crash long enough to shield others on the ships, but not themselves.
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ay not for nothing but why can’t a priest or something just rezz this not-elf? he hasn’t been dead for long and we (the pc) bring ppl back from the dead on at least one or two occasions, even just for a quest. this entire chain seemed pretty thin soup, imho
Considering that there’s so much narrative emphasis on how the Hallowfall Arathi keep losing people and how grateful Steelstrike is for assistance, I got the impression that they haven’t ever been able to fully resurrect people, at least not since they arrived in the cavern. The best the Priory can do is bring people back as undead. Also, I’m a mage, and I can’t bring people back, I just make them cookies to feel better.
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