Odyn, the Shadowlands, and the True God of Death

When we came to Howling Fjord in Wrath of the Lich King, the local Vrykul had pledged themselves to the Lich King, swearing fealty to king of the dead, referring to him as the Death God. In addition to fighting on his behalf, the most ambitious of the Vrykul fought in honor duels presided over by the Val'kyr in the hopes of being elevated and allowed to join the ranks of the Ymirjar, who were given a place of honor within Icecrown itself. Those who failed in these contests were raised instead as Var'gul, rotting Vrykul zombies without the great strength of the empowered Ymirjar.

At the time, we had very little point of reference for all these ideas. As far as we knew, the Val'kyr were wholly a creation of the Lich King - a way for him to take a divine place within the Vrykul culture. Ironically, a culture that had vehemently rejected humans as malformed pygmy offspring now looked to an undead human as their god.

When we encountered the Tideskorn Vrykul of Stormheim, we suddenly got a lot of context for this ritual and tradition. Odyn, one of the Titan Keepers, who had originally held the position of Prime Designate, making him the very top of the Titanforged hierarchy, had balked at Tyr's suggestion that they empower the original dragons to protect the world, instead seeking to use Titanforged beings as Azeroth's safeguard.

Odyn sought a way to return the most valorous warriors from death so that they could continue to serve and protect the world. In order to do that, he journeyed to the land of the dead - the Shadowlands. It was there that he sacrificed his eye to "an entity," who taught him how to create the Val'kyr. The first of these was Odyn's adopted daughter Helya, a gifted (titanforged - this was pre-curse of flesh) vrykul sorceress who had aided Ra-Den in creating the Elemental Planes.

The greatest champions among the Vrykul would be retrieved from the Shadowlands by the Val'kyr and within the Halls of Valor, Odyn would create new, perfect metallic "Stormforged" bodies for them, naming them Valarjar. We would likely have seen a lot more of these guys except that Helya had been transformed against her will, and became bitterly (and I'd say justifiably) furious at her "father," and so sealed him and his Stormforged away.

So it would seem that the Lich King had corrupted the Valarjar ritual, exploiting a perhaps dimly remembered Vrykul cultural tradition to supplant Odyn as a figure of reverence among the Winterskorn in Northrend.

But what if it's the other way around?

There's one massive piece of the puzzle that is missing from this whole story, and that is the following: What was the entity in the Shadowlands to whom Odyn sacrificed his eye?

We know very little about the Shadowlands. Unlike, say, the Twisting Nether or the Void, the Shadowlands seem to be just outside of ordinary reality - a kind of dark reflection of the Emerald Dream. It's not the Nightmare, though. The Nightmare existed within the Dream, not as a reflection of it. But where the Dream was a realm of life, the Shadowlands are a place of cold death.

The only class that has any ability that explicitly refers to the Shadowlands is the Death Knight (Wraith Walk, specifically.) Death Knights also visit the Shadowlands during their early quests when they get their Acherus Deathcharger mount.

While I believe pretty strongly that players go to the Shadowlands every time they die and go into "ghost" form, that still hasn't been a great opportunity to explore the lore of that realm.

It's also possible, but never stated explicitly, that Helheim is within the Shadowlands.

Likewise, there are a handful of quests in which players enter a shadowy realm of death that is probably the Shadowlands (specifically, Alliance players go into a spirit realm in Howling Fjord that seems under control of the Lich King, and Horde do something similar in Dragonblight. There's also a couple quests in Azshara and perhaps only the pre-Cataclysm Tanaris.)

But none has answered who that entity might be. Helya could, until we killed her, be considered a major power within the Shadowlands, but this entity would have to have existed before hand, as it was only through the knowledge that Odyn gained from it that he was able to make Helya into a Val'kyr in the first place.

One candidate who stands out is Yogg-Saron. YS has been referred to as the God of Death, and the tentacles that Helya sprouts are very Old-God-esque (to the marine biologists, yes I know that they're technically arms, but you know, octopus-style ones.) And Yogg-Saron would certainly want to corrupt Odyn or his followers.

But why, then, are the other Val'kyr not similarly corrupted in a physical way? We know that Helya teamed up with Loken at some point, which is where you might see Yogg-Saron's influence introduced, and it's also possible that not everything with octopus suckers is necessarily related to the Old Gods.

The possibility that I like to advocate is that this entity would one day become the Lich King - that Kil'jaeden did not create the Lich King, but rather constructed a form for it that was more easily controlled.

This would explain a few things: first of all, that the Lich King as an entity seems to exist independent of which "person" is filling the role. Ner'zhul, Arthas, and Bolvar have all been Lich King at one point or another, but there's a consistency to the entity's behavior. Yes, Bolvar isn't launching a fullscale assault on the world, but Arthas didn't for a while either. Ner'zhul even helped (indirectly) win the Third War for Azeroth. The Scourge is decidedly lawful evil rather than chaotic evil - they want to win in the longterm, not just sow the seeds of destruction at all times.

It could also explain the "there must always be a Lich King" warning we received. The appearance of Uther and later Terenas telling us to preserve the Lich King after we defeated Arthas has always been fairly suspicious. But if it's not just a lie that we swallowed without question, it might be because the "Lich King" entity Kil'jaeden crafted is actually a really useful prison for an entity that would spell certain death to everyone now that it has been loosed upon the material plane.

Imagine, for example, that if the Helm of Domination were destroyed, a vast cloud of darkness would expand outward from it, sweeping across the planet, killing everything it touched until the whole of Azeroth was just dead. If that's the Scourge "running rampant," then you bet your ass I'd want there to still be a Lich King.

The Lich King is such a new thing (the third war was only what, ten or fifteen years ago in-game?) that the notion that there "must always be" one seems odd - unless the act of creating the Lich King was a far more destructive act than we had thought.

If the thing that is now the Lich King was an incredibly powerful entity that had been safely sequestered away in the Shadowlands until Kil'jaeden ripped it out of there, then we really can't be safe from it unless it is returned there.

From a meta-perspective, it would also really help Blizzard to establish new cosmic-level threats. With the Burning Legion truly ended (note that demons can still be a thing, just no Legion,) that puts all the pressure of Warcraft villainy on the Old Gods and the Void (which are two pieces of the same threat.) Having the Death God exist separate from the Void would give them somewhere to go after we kill, say, N'zoth, without immediately sending us to fight the Void.

It would also fit in with the cosmic chart at the beginning of Chronicle, where Death, its associated magic of Necromancy, and its associated entities of "Undead" would truly sit on an even level with the other primal forces.

What we need to do to build up to that, though, is to really explore the Shadowlands as a realm.

Given that we're likely seeing Sylvanas stepping up to a larger role in the next expansion (ask me again tomorrow, after it's announced) the mechanics of undeath and the realm of the Shadowlands seem like an important area for Blizzard to expand on its lore. And as someone who has always loved the Scourge, the Forsaken, and Death Knights, I'm all for it!

Before the Storm Preview

The new tie-in novel for World of Warcraft is called Before the Storm, and it seems that some have gotten their hands on a preview for the book.

Spoilers Ahoy!

The pages we get contain two scenes. In one, a pair of goblins working in Silithus are complaining to each other about working in a bug-filled desert. There's not much more there, but given what we know about the datamined "Wound in the World" thing following Antorus, it seems likely that there's a resource rush for Azeroth's blood (I'm only hoping that the Titan within isn't dead, just wounded.)

The following scene follows Sylvanas as she prepares to go to the celebrations of the end of the war against the Legion. She finds the pageantry pointless, but she's going along with it even as she worries about her new role as Warchief to the whole Horde rather than just her Forsaken.

With Sylvanas as Warchief, the Undercity is apparently led by something called the Desolate Council, and while Sylvanas is all about giving her people immortality via the Val'kyr, there's apparently a lot of dissent among the Forsaken. It seems that giving people free will doesn't mean they're going to follow your every whim. I'm actually pretty excited about this, as I think fleshing out the Forsaken as a bunch of former humans trying to make something of their new lives is more interesting than a 100% loyal and fanatical cult following a tyrannical leader.

The chapter ends with Sylvanas announcing her intention (to Nathanos, her bodyguard and almost explicitly boyfriend-or-what-passes-for-a-boyfriend-among-the-undead) to invade Stormwind.

This actually catches my attention, given the words of Varimathras from the Antorus raid. As a dreadlord he's hardly someone to trust, but on the other hand, Blizzard wouldn't put those warnings in there unless they wanted us to consider them. Varimathras warns the Horde that they're all falling under Sylvanas' sway and giving up more control than they might mean to. Meanwhile, he warns the Alliance that Sylvanas is already plotting their downfall and has traitors planted within, and that the Shattered Mask (Sylvanas' symbol) will hang above Stormwind.

Sylvanas acknowledges that she does not want to go down the same road as Garrosh, and I really hope that Blizzard doesn't want to do that either. We've already seen a new Warchief drum up an anti-Alliance war, leading to his ouster and eventual death. I don't want to see Sylvanas just go through the same steps and I also don't want to see another war in which the Horde is just a bunch of aggressive assholes and the Alliance is purely reactive. If there's going to be a new Alliance/Horde conflict, I want the Alliance to be the aggressors. Give the Horde a chance to be the good guys.

Now, to be fair, all of this could lead to something very different. One could imagine, for example, that in the wake of a shocking but ultimately failed invasion of Stormwind that the Alliance winds up being swept up in militaristic fervor. If we're going to have a "Siege of Stormwind" raid, I could imagine someone (maybe Genn, or perhaps someone else. Please not Jaina though,) maybe corrupted by N'zoth putting Stormwind on lockdown and lashing out in paranoia at anyone not in total lockstep.

Give the Alliance some internal conflict for once!

But we shall see. We find out about the next expansion tomorrow, but I think that this premise does really point to a world-spanning Alliance/Horde fight being a key part of it. Maybe, as with every odd-numbered year, we predict South Seas and we get something else.

For the Record: Expansion Predictions

In less than two days (it's the night of November 1st as I type this,) we're very likely to see the announcement of the next World of Warcraft expansion. This is a bi-annual event that's pretty fun, and I think part of the fun is predicting what is to come.

Given that all is to be revealed very soon, I thought we should put things on the record so that we can compare it with what actually gets announced. Obviously, there's nothing official about this general consensus, and it's possible that in other circles, people have very different ideas of what is coming next. But my sense is that there's a pretty clear indication as to what expansion seven is likely to be like and that most people agree on that version:

The Consensus:

Through datamining, we know that the Antorus raid ends with Sargeras stabbing Azeroth with his massive sword just before he's locked away in the Seat of the Pantheon. The result is an enormous wound that takes up most of Silithus, with Azeroth's blood leaking out over the desert.

While this actually wrinkles the main idea people have, the general thought is that we're going to finally be getting our "South Seas" expansion, with Azshara as a major villain (possibly the final boss) as well as N'zoth finally showing its tentacles (more likely as the final boss if the Old God makes a direct appearance.)

One thought that seems pretty popular is that the Vindicaar system - having a mobile base of operations that follows us from zone to zone - could work very well for an island-hopping expansion, and might help with immersion rather than the somewhat perfunctory Cataclysm portals did for us in expansion three.

Thanks to some other datamining and Jaina's conspicuous absence during most of Legion, it's also generally thought that we'll be heading to Kul Tiras. Whether Kul Tiras is a zone or an entire new continent is unknown.

Extrapolations:

Given a South Seas expansion, a few other potential zones seem likely. We've never been to Zandalar, nor have we encountered King Rastakhan or the Prophet Zul in person. Both seem like interesting figures who would probably work as dungeon or raid bosses (though a more complex interaction with them might be cool.)

The existence of the Wound in Silithus suggests that we might actually not be bound entirely to islands - perhaps exploring parts of the Old World continents in a similar manner to many of the Cataclysm zones.

If N'zoth plays a major role, we could explore the Void and Shadow in greater depth, especially considering Alleria's studies with Locus Walker. It seems that Alleria would be likely to have a big role.

With the Legion defeated, we might find ourselves in a situation like in Mists of Pandaria, where the lack of a world-ending threat (not to say that N'zoth and Azeroth's wound aren't huge threats) could allow the Alliance/Horde conflict to boil over.

Wild Guesses:

With the Deaths of Chromie scenario, we might see the Infinite Dragonflight make a return, and perhaps we'll check in with the various dragonflights to see how they're doing in general.

Given that we only got a brief taste of Sylvanas versus Genn in Legion, we might see that conflict on a larger scale.

The Lich King's actions during Legion (only really seen by Death Knights and perhaps Mages while getting Felo'melorn) suggest that the Scourge is amassing greater power, potentially setting the stage for a new undead threat (though I'd still like to see a Scourge 2.0 led by Kel'thuzad, whose phylactery we notably did not find in Naxxramas during Wrath.)

It's also possible we might get some post-Antorus Legion content. It's very unlikely it would be a raid (how do you do another raid in an expansion where you've literally fought multiple Titans?) but I could imagine some plot-resolving or a Ruby Sanctum-like prologue content (which yes, was a raid. Shut up.)

Datamined Stuff:

The main thing that's getting people excited is datamining that suggested we could get subraces. I caution a big old hunk of salt with this, though, as it requires several steps of logic. In short: assuming that giving Lightforged Draenei, Nightborne, Highmountain Tauren, and "Void Elves" a character-select screen background texture was not just some error, we could get those four as playable in the next expansion. My main reason for skepticism is that generally, they give new playable races or classes a pretty strong connection to the expansion where the feature is introduced, and I really doubt that, for example, Highmountain Tauren are going to be a big thing in expansion seven. The exception here would be if they do these for every race, in which case they'd pull from many different parts of WoW history to come up with the options.

Conclusion:

I've never really seen so many people this confident about the general gist of an expansion, which makes me pretty confident that the South Seas expansion is coming next. On the other hand, I've been expecting this for the last three expansion announcements (even when I heard the name "Mists of Pandaria" I somehow assumed Pandaria would be one of many islands we visited.)

I'm highly confident that we won't see a new class this time around, as they've never done two new classes in a row. I could imagine new races or these subraces being a thing (probably not both, but it's not unthinkable.) If there are new races, I could see Naga (if they can figure out the whole pants, boots, and mounts thing,) or Ethereals.

We've gotten accurate leaks of at least the last two expansions (ones that I saw ahead of time) but this time it's been pretty confusing. I think a big part of that is, because so many people feel confident about the South Seas setting and the resultant major characters, there is an unusual consistency between the many entirely fabricated false leaks. So it's possible that I have actually read a legitimate leak, but it's very hard to know which one is legitimate.

What I Want Out of a Zandalari Storyline

In 4.1, the Zandalari Troll tribe underwent a sudden and confusing change. Since vanilla, these guys had been the faction-neutral friendly Trolls, initially in Stranglethorn Vale, overseeing our invasions of Zul'Gurub, then going with us to Northrend to deal with the Drakkari, and as late as 4.0 aiding us in our new efforts to stop Jindo the Hexxer - now called Jindo the Godbreaker - from siphoning the power of Hakkar the Soulflayer and reigniting the threat of the Atal'ai priesthood.

And in 4.1, they suddenly became bad guys.

Now, as the story has gone on, Blizzard has attempted to paint the Zandalari as always having been threatening - evil, but on a sort of mortal level, as opposed to the inherently evil demons, undead, and Old God monstrosities. So yes, the Trolls were allies of the Mogu while Lei Shen was oppressing the people of Pandaria. But then, the Mogu were also sort of unexpectedly evil, given that most of the Titanforged races have generally skewed toward the good side of things (the Vrykul are complicated.)

At this point, it's pretty firm canon that the Zandalari were not really nice guys, but then again, the rule of Lei Shen (minus his brief return to life while we were in Pandaria) was a very long time ago, and holding the modern Zandalari directly responsible for actions taken then would be like holding modern humans responsible for the depravities of the Winterskorn War.

I, for one, liked the idea of the Zandalari as being a refined and cosmopolitan, intellectual culture, bearing the hallmarks of Troll civilization but with a more nuanced and advanced society that does not resort to the barbarism of their satellite empires. Indeed, it might even be fun to have the Zandalari be sort of haughty to other Trolls.

You might worry that this doesn't play well with the 4.1-and-beyond plot they've given to the Zandalari, but stick with me, because it actually plays into it.

There are two major figures we know about within Zandalari society - King Rastakhan and the Prophet Zul. While Rastakhan has been in charge of their tribe for decades and is presumably part of some established hereditary monarchy, the Prophet Zul came out of nowhere: a peasant who suddenly drew an enormous following.

When the Cataclysm shattered the world, Zandalar began to sink - we don't know if the whole island was lost or if it was just devastated by this natural disaster. But as it sank, Zul began to preach his vision for the Troll empire reunited, beginning their sudden push against the Alliance and Horde.

This is going to be part tin-foil hat and part just "the story I'd write if I were in charge."

When a religious figure arises, the people in power have to be careful. A king who allows a peasant prophet to gain a following is allowing a person to claim a spot of potentially higher power and authority than his own. On the other hand, eliminating a prophet like that is a good way to make a martyr, and thus give that following a united cause to rally around, which could mean that the popular uprising fundamentally changes the society you intended to preserve. You might be able to think of a real-world religion or two that followed that pattern.

So let's play out the scenario.

Rastakhan is a respected ruler, but when the Cataclysm hits, the his peoples' lives are disrupted and the stability of his reign begins to break down. With displaced people struggling to survive, a new figure emerges with a grand vision to restore the Zandalari to glory - inspiring people with the myth of a reunited Troll Empire.

Rastakhan is eager to rid himself of this prophet, whose plan is insane, given that he's currently focused on rescuing his civilization from literally drowning in the ocean. But when he sends his agents to rid him of this upstart preacher, Zul comes to him, revealing that he has incredibly powerful magic at his disposal. Perhaps the agents Rastakhan sent have been converted to Zul's cause.

Realizing that he has made a miscalculation, Rastakhan makes a deal with Zul: supporting his visionary mission if Zul will back up the monarchy and not rock that particular boat. Zul agrees.

So now, Rastakhan is committed to Zul's vision, even if he thinks it's a bad idea. And over time, as the Zandalari lose their best and brightest in this mad quest, Rastakhan is trapped in the deal he has made.

And then we show up.

Once allies of the Zandalari, we now find ourselves fighting against them in and around their home territory. But as we sail the South Seas, Rastakhan clandestinely reaches out to us, explaining that he can't raise a hand against Zul, because the prophet has such a firm grip on his people - an unexplainably powerful grip - but that we are positioned such that we can strike against Zul and Rastakhan can sit back with plausible deniability even as he supports us on the down-low.

We fight our way through Zandalar, finally confronting the Prophet Zul. But while we thought we were dealing with a charismatic preacher, we discover that we're actually dealing with an avatar of N'zoth.

Yes, the reason why the Zandalari turned so quickly is that it was not just some guy, but an Old God manipulating the population and co-opting the imperial hierarchy to spread its influence.

We could then have a 5-player dungeon in which we either have to rescue Rastakhan after this is revealed or we have to fight a mind-controlled Rastakhan (either freeing him of Zul's whammy or having to put him down) and then a raid in which we eventually confront Zul in a multi-phase fight where he starts off looking like an ordinary troll but ends as an Il'gynoth-like mess of tentacles and protoplasm.

Please make it happen, Blizzard!

Rumor Mill Time: Shadowfall

With Blizzard's announcement coming on Friday, we're in an odd state where I think a lot of WoW fans are eager to speculate wildly about expansion seven but also perhaps hesitant to do so, as we're just going to find out at the end of the week.

Well guess what? I'm in that former camp.

While a "South Seas" expansion has been the most commonly heard idea for a new expansion, it's not the only one floating around. One idea that I've been seeing, including a potential leak from a supposed Blizzard employee called Genki, calling it Shadowfall, is actually another old-world expansion that would add zones to the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, similar to what they did in Cataclysm.

The reason I think this has some credence is that the Wound in Silithus is not terribly close to where we'd assume most of the South Seas stuff would take place (on old maps, Kul Tiras is roughly where Vashj'ir is, and I'd assume it has shifted over a bit, but not all the way across the ocean.) A "south seas" expansion would probably involve zone-hopping anyway, so it might not be too crazy to just make it global, perhaps using the ship-style transportation like the Vindicaar as a more evocative means of getting around than the Cataclysm portals were.

The big question is how to make that work. While Cataclysm was probably the biggest expansion they ever did, as it involved re-doing the story for nearly every vanilla zone, updating the continents to allow flight, and adding two new races with starting zones in addition to all the high-level stuff, that high-level content suffered, without a ton of outdoor content to complement the small number of raids (Warlords had no excuses for its lack of content except for a quixotic or greedy - depending on your opinion of Blizzard's business strategy - attempt to do annual expansions that failed miserably.)

While Cataclysm updated the world to account for the big changes that occurred in Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, there have been even more big changes in the game's story that ought to be reflected in the world if they're going for a revamp (for one thing, you'd think most zones would have the remnants of the Legion and fel corruption, as the invasion here is supposed to be a global thing.)

I also hope that they'd do a better job with the timeline, which granted, could get even worse with another revamp. Perhaps it would be best to leave the Cataclysm zones alone, either focusing on just a couple that are relevant to the current story or simply adding new zones with new story and not touching any existing zones.

Anyway, given the datamined words of Khadgar following the Antorus raid, in which the blood of Azeroth is leaking out of Silithus and Khadgar warns of powerful people across the world trying to get as much of that resource as they can, it wouldn't be too crazy to imagine that the faction conflict might re-erupt. In Wrath, we saw tensions explode in a few skirmishes before the Cataclysm made the lack of resources a trigger for a full-scale war. We've seen Sylvanas and Greymane clashing in Legion, and without the Legion holding our attention and a new rush to control this powerful resource, a factional conflict could boil up. This would make familiar locations, or at least familiar environments (such as the Plaguelands or the arid lands of southern Kalimdor) ripe spots for new conflict and story.

Another element that finds its way into several rumors, including this Shadowfall concept, is that we might see racial questlines similar to class ones. Given that I've been wanting to take back Gilneas since Cataclysm, I'd be really happy to see stuff aimed directly at certain races (though it'll make me lament that they didn't allow Demon Hunters to be Worgen, as my Warrior is kind of lower-priority.) It does mean that those players who only play Blood Elves are going to be SOL (as a true altoholic - see the title of the blog - I have characters of every race, though given that I'm a bit lopsided in favor of alliance, my top Troll, Orc, and Goblin are duplicate classes to higher-priority characters I have on Alliance, and I think only the Goblin has even hit level 100.)

While even this concept puts N'zoth as a key player in all of this, the God of the Depths has always liked to be a behind-the-scenes manipulator, and following the massive clash with the Burning Legion (in an expansion that burned through like three or more long-speculated expansion concepts,) it might make a lot of sense to turn the focus inward at the factions again.

If the faction conflict does rear its ugly head again, though, I hope that it's more nuanced. It would be very easy to simply have Sylvanas abuse her power as Warchief and go full on evil until she becomes a raid boss. But we've already seen that story, and I wasn't too crazy about it then. Real people play both factions, and I want to see the Horde have some legitimate justification for believing themselves the good guys. I want to see a bit of ambiguity and fractured loyalties on the Alliance side.

What I Want Out of an Old God Expansion

The consensus on the next expansion is pretty tight this year (meaning we might all look like fools on Friday) but I think the oft-rumored "South Seas" expansion does have some room open for two potential main antagonists. Azshara could carry an expansion on her own, even though I think most might assume that N'zoth would be the true Big Bad - of course, you could also have Azshara take advantage of our killing N'zoth in a middle raid tier (Old Gods have never been final bosses, though with Naxxramas moving to Northrend in Wrath, C'thun retroactively became the final boss of vanilla.)

But let's make the assumption that this is going to be an Old God-themed expansion. What do I want to see in it?

The Old Gods are heavily inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, even borrowing several names C'thun is clearly a reference to Cthulhu, even though the latter is more equivalent to whoever would be the high priest of the N'raqi Faceless Ones. Yogg-Saron is clearly a reference to Yog-Sothoth, and if you squint your eyes, N'zoth might be a reference to Azathoth (I suspect the similarity between this and the name Azeroth is probably coincidental.)

But here's a big difference between the way that the Old Gods have been portrayed versus how similar entities show up in works of classic horror: in WoW, every monster can be confronted eventually. We've fought two of these things, not to mention the Lich King, Deathwing, soon multiple actual Titans.

One of the hallmarks of Lovecraft's works is that these beings are so alien and so far more powerful than we mortals that even catching a glimpse of them is, essentially, a defeat, as no one's mind could survive such a thing.

But another aspect is the idea of cults dedicated to them operating in secret.

And that's an area where I think WoW and Lovecraft could have a better thematic overlap.

One figure I hope plays a prominent role in the theorized South Seas expansion is the Prophet Zul. It was Zul who appeared to the Zandalari - previously a kingdom willing to cooperate and even ally with the Alliance and Horde to preserve Troll history and fight against the depravity of the Gurubashi and their worship of Hakkar as well as the Drakkari's literal blasphemy in slaying their own gods. The Zandalari were literally working with us up to months before their turn - there are Zandalari NPCs in Stranglethorn Vale post-Catacylsm who help us attempt to stop Jin'do.

But very suddenly, the Zandalari turned against us. Why is that? (Meta-narratively, I think they wanted a reason to do their Zul'again remakes, but let's look in-universe.) The story goes that the Prophet Zul showed up, preaching the need to unify the Troll empires after the Cataclysm started Zandalar sinking beneath the waves. Here was a mysterious prophet with a name that is often used as a prefix for proper names. No one knows where he's from.

This would be the perfect chance to have a WoW version of Nyarlathotep.

Nyarlathotep Lovecraft's only human-shaped eldritch abomination (not counting hybrid creatures like those in the Dunwich Horror.) Described as the "Soul of the Outer Gods," Nyarlathotep is the only being of his that engages with humanity on their scale, and thus has actual malevolence rather than a vast indifference.

What if Zul is actually a malicious manifestation of the Old Gods' (or perhaps specifically N'zoth's) desire to spread madness between the humanoid races, using Zandalari culture to force insane ritual and eventually bodily transformation on the people of Azeroth?

I want to see that, but that's the low-hanging fruit.

I also want to see, essentially, the Shadow Over Kul Tiras.

In Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, a young man (I think he's either a recent High Scholl or recent College graduate) is taking a tour of northeastern Massachusetts before he settles down, exploring the homes of his ancestors. On the way between two well-known towns, he is forced to take a detour to the town of Innsmouth, where he quickly discovers that something very, very strange is happening. He finds out that a few generations back, a wealthy sea-captain who lived in Innsmouth made contact with horrific fish/frog-like humanoids living beneath the ocean, and he started breeding with them and spreading their bizarre religion, worshiping a massive undersea entity called Dagon through the town. Thus, Innsmouth has become the home of a murderous cult of people who gradually turn into fish monsters.

I would love to accompany Jaina to Kul Tiras and slowly uncover to her and our horror that the people of Kul Tiras (or at least a powerful faction within) have started worshipping N'zoth and transforming into monsters. Seeing Kul Tiras as a misty seaside civilization, half-ruined by the Cataclysm, and with dark cultists lurking among the citizenry: that would be really cool.

For one thing, I really like urban environments in fantasy RPGs, and fighting cultists on the streets of Kul Tiras' capital seems like a great time to me. It would also give Jaina an opportunity to prove herself to her people by leading the resistance to this madness.

Essentially, I think what you need to do to get that Lovecraftian tone is to have a creeping horror, rather than just straightforward monster fights all the time. Warcraft, given the name, often operates on large-scale warfare than human-scale mystery, and I'm sure that by the end of a zone's quest chain, you'd have to have revealed the monsters for who they are so that a true fight can begin, but with proper art direction and tone, you could help establish the stakes of fighting N'zoth really well.

Leaks and Datamined Stuff for Expansion Seven - One Week Until Blizzcon

With Blizzcon one week away, we WoW fans are looking forward to a nigh-guaranteed expansion announcement.

Many in-game hints suggest an expansion that has us setting sail to fight Azshara and her Naga and the forces of the Old God N'zoth, with a strong emphasis on the Void in patch 7.3 suggesting we might get a clearer picture of just how the Old Gods and the Void fit together.

But none of that is concrete - it's all speculation based on what is already readily visible in-game. So what evidence, then, do we have of actual stuff from expansion seven? And how much should we read into them?

Kul Tiras Textures:

Weeks ago, dataminers discovered a set of textures that were labeled as "Kul Tiras Quest," appearing to be textures for use on cloth armor pieces, and several other textures that seemed appropriate to the "doodads" found decorating a zone. The nomenclature of "Kul Tiras Quest" is consistent with other quest reward items - for example, you might see textures for "Leather Stormheim Quest" stuff. The strong implication here seems to be that Kul Tiras is likely to be a zone in the next expansion.

How Much to Read In? 10/10. Given that the first time we heard "Iron Horde" was on the name of a texture that looked like just a field of vaguely mottled grey, this is a far more concrete piece of evidence. I would be, frankly, shocked if Kul Tiras is not a location for the next expansion.

Subrace Data:

Recently, dataminers discovered files for four races: specifically Lightforged Draenei, Nightborne, Highmountain Tauren, and Void Elves. These sort of files exist for any race - playable or NPC - and it would make sense for Legion to have these as they all show up in-game (though Alleria's Void Elf form only in a cutscene,) but the thing getting people excited is that these seem to have non-zero entries in a category that directs to a background image for a character select screen, which is something most NPC races do not have. Given that players have long speculated about the possibility for sub-races, this could indicate that Blizzard is moving forward with the idea (perhaps in place of a new playable race.)

How Much to Read In? 6/10. This, honestly, could just be an error, or perhaps a half-baked idea in the works. I can't really imagine adding Highmountain Tauren as playable without adding, for example, Dark Iron Dwarves. Now, if this is real, it could also just be incomplete. Still, I could see this as an error, a proof of concept, or some some other thing. It's certainly possible, but I wouldn't stake everything on it.

Tottle Pet:

A battle pet named Tottle who seems to be a Tortollan (as introduced in the Secrets of Un'goro Hearthstone expansion) could suggest the introduction of these turtle-folk to the game (it wouldn't be the first time - Sir Finley Mrrgglton showed up in Stormheim,) which would then imply some kind of jungle zone, which would fit well in an island-hopping expansion.

How Much to Read In? 3/10. Even if this is highly likely to be true, it doesn't really tell us much about any major expansion features, and if Tortollans show up, we really don't know what that means.

Seabraid Stallion Mount:

The name for a mount called a Seabraid Stallion was datamined. The going speculation is that this could easily be a Kul Tiras-affiliated mount, given how it namedrops the sea and is also a horse (the human mount.)

How Much to Read In? 2/10. Like Tottle, this could have a million explanations.