#arator: brings an orc friend home

[diguerra-moved]

Arator brings home an orc friend, how does Alleria respond?

WELL THAT WOULD BE FUN

Except not really, not at all. Not for her, anyways. Alleria would be extremely uncomfortable, and definitely visibly tense the entire time. The thing is, the orc friend being Arator’s friend, I’m sure they’re not bad, and that they are Arator’s friend would be enough to make her show much more restraint than she would in a different situation. It isn’t even that she trusts Arator’s judgment no matter what, because quite honestly I think she would find it naive of him to make friends with orcs, but that she would do everything possible not to hurt him in any way, so treating his friend with due respect is of course included on this. Alleria would not be openly aggressive or rude towards his friend, but I think it’d be really easy to see through the politeness she’d offer, because it would be stiff, it would be only in the surface, and yet it would still demand a tremendous effort from her because her first instinct towards orcs might no longer be open aggression, but it’s still to see them as enemies. 

If possible, she’d avoid the meeting happening at all. Alleria won’t prevent Arator from making friends wherever he thinks he can find them, but truth is she is not invested on letting go of her prejudices. She doesn’t want to make the effort. Orcs killed her family and invaded her homeland and her world, and while I think it would be possible, if extremely difficult, that she eventually let go of her antagonism towards them, Alleria doesn’t want to try — she sees no reason to. She thinks it is enough that she won’t attack them unprovoked; more than that would be too much. And people around her are surely free to do as they will, but she’ll always be doubtful when they choose to trust or befriend orcs, as she’s still unable to see them as worthy of trust and much less friendship, and does believe they will eventually show their true nature — which Alleria doesn’t believe to be about honor, as much as the orcs might like to claim it, but that it is about violence and destruction. 

‘But there are orcs that have actively tried to change that! They try to be honorable! Thrall worked to make a better Horde!’ someone might say. Well, none of that matters to her. For all Saurfang might have done right, there are a bunch of things she’d point out he did wrong; for all Thrall might have acted better and certainly actively acted to do what was better for Azeroth, she’d take issue with the fact he still saw Orgrim Doomhammer as a hero-like figure, someone worthy of tribute, someone they should name their capital after. For all the talk about the Horde being different, she’s been back on Azeroth for what? Two? Years? And since then they have committed attempted genocide against the kaldorei and open war against the Alliance; Saurfang switching sides does not change that, and that he challenged Sylvanas not when the honorless act happened, but only much later on, it truly doesn’t make her see him or his race with any more favorable eyes. In the end of the day, Alleria might have come a long way from her ‘all orcs have to die and I’ll kill every single one of them even the ones that cannot fight even the ones who are defeated children if I have to’ but she’s still deeply prejudiced against them, and her hatred hasn’t gone away completely, and that might never happen. 

So yeah, Alleria still hates orcs, plain and simple, and she is not making any effort to change that, because she sees no reason why she should. So if Arator brought home an orc friend, she wouldn’t be openly disrespectful or aggressive, but she’d be visibly uncomfortable and tense, and any politeness she offered would sound hollow and not meant because, well, that’s what it would be. I don’t think she’d actively see the orc as a threat, even if she’s always distrustful of them, which is why I think what she’s most likely to do is to try to leave as soon as she could without it being offensive/disrespectful — not because she cares for the feelings of his friend, because she really doesn’t, but because Alleria cares for Arator’s feelings. Avoiding them altogether is what she’d think is best for everyone, because she wouldn’t be able to keep the polite act; it’d either become ignoring them or acting antagonistic and she wouldn’t want to do that to someone Arator considers a friend, so she’d try to just. Not have to be there. 

[warwaged-archive]

If Alleria had remained on Azeroth and had been present for the Fall of Silvermoon and its aftermath... would she have stayed as quel'dorei or become sin'dorei? How might other events have changed?

I believe that if she had stayed and survived she would have become sin’dorei. Alleria’s problem with the Blood Elves when she returns isn’t at all what they decided to do to survive in this case; her problem with them is their bond to the Horde. She is very much the kind of person that wouldn’t be beyond doing what needed be done for her people’s survival.

She was a High Elf who wasn’t particularly connected to magic, if at all — of course, she was still connected to the Sunwell, as they all are, but she also had a deep connection with nature and the land (seeing the forest of Quel’Thalas burning hurts her very deeply, back in the Second War, and even when they go to Draenor, the lack of life in the land itself is something that bothers her). And the wiki says the Farstriders were less affected by the magic addiction and withdrawal (which I believe to be connected to what I just said, though a canonical reason isn’t given).

I think she would have been able to follow the High Elves’ path, even if it is harder, precisely because of that. But while she could do it, Alleria would see clearly enough that it was a longer, more arduous path, and that not everyone would be able to follow. If they had time to recover, than she would certainly advocate for this path instead — but they needed to survive, and there was no time to do the noble thing if it would end up with her people extinct. It isn’t the best choice, and she would know it, but it is also the only one that would give them a chance to fight back, reclaim their land and survive; to Alleria, there isn’t really a choice to be made in that context. The survival of their people and reclaiming of their lands is more important than doing the ‘right’ thing — in fact, to her, that which would ensure they’d have a chance would be the right thing to do.

From an individual point of view, Alleria would have been wary of the magisters and the teachings they brought from Kael’thas, but she would put her people before herself and what she considered right. She wouldn’t look at it individually, but from the point of view that this was about her entire race.

That said, when it comes to the Horde it is a different matter. I mean, she’s fought demons for a thousand years and when she returns she still has no love or respect for the Horde, even though they were also fighting the Legion when she returns. And I don’t think that’s really hard to understand, because their attack on Quel’Thalas in the Second War hit her hard enough that she wasn’t only devastated, she was suicidal. She delighted in watching the orcs suffer because she thought they had to suffer like her family had — and even when they were in pain, it was not enough. She threw herself in battle, wanting to bring down as many orcs as she could, but part of her did this because she hoped to die as well. Her hatred and resent run way too deeply for her to ever be willing to work with them. To Alleria, that would be the same as someone suggesting they allied themselves with the Scourge: absurd, unthinkable and repulsive. Even after she’s finally grieved those she lost and let go of some of her hatred, the resent would always be there. She can’t forgive or forget, not completely.

(I do think she would have overcome it eventually, only in a different way from what Beyond the Dark Portal shows. If she stayed, it may have been harder because she’d be both falling apart and intent on keeping it together to be there for her sisters; but I think Sylvanas and Vereesa, as well as being home and with her friends, would have led her to healing with time. No, we don’t need Turalyon for that to happen. To be very honest, I don’t even agree with the drastic change the book portrays on that regard, but that’s a topic for another time.)

So that would leave her in a complicated position. On the one hand, she would be supportive of her people doing what they needed to do to survive. She would support Lor’themar’s decision in favor of the magisters, though she wouldn’t support his banishing the Farstriders that voiced their disagreement. On the other hand, when they need allies and the Horde offers them help everyone else has denied, she’d be conflicted — because well, they do need allies, but they shouldn’t ally themselves with the Horde. It isn’t the same Horde she fought, I know, but Alleria’s trauma would blind her to it.

At the same time, the Alliance turning their backs on them would be a hard blow for her to take. She’s fought with them, yes, as have many others of her people — but in their time of need, when her own king didn’t really believe their plight, Alleria brought them her rangers to help. No one sent her. She went because there was a real threat and she would honor their bond to the Arathi, called upon through Lothar. Yes, it was Anasterian who left the Alliance in the first place, so yes, she would be able to see how this was relevant in the Alliance not being willing to help, but she would be wounded by their denial all the same. I think she would have sought to go after them herself, though I don’t think it would have changed the outcome — she would be denied help for her people in their time of greatest need, and if it wouldn’t make a difference in the end, to Alleria personally it would have made a world of difference in how she views the Alliance.

So she wouldn’t look at the Alliance with good eyes, but neither would she be eager to accept the Horde’s aid. Honestly, I don’t know how that would have gone, because she isn’t the kind to shut up and accept things she disagrees with, no matter who she’s talking to, but Alleria herself wouldn’t really know what to do. Her disagreement may lead her to be banished all the same, since Lor’themar didn’t want his people divided and she may have caused division. What I believe more likely is that seeing that they needed help and wouldn’t get it elsewhere, Alleria would have ended up biting back her hatred and keeping it to herself, even if she would be hating every moment of having to work with the Horde. But it would be a means to an end, and she can submit to orders is she sees they are necessary, regardless of how unwilling, and that would have been the case.

 So, what changes? I’m not sure, but I don’t think much changes as far as world state goes (minus Legion stuff, of course, and her role in it as well as in saving the ren’dorei). If she stays and survives, she’ll be fighting her damned hardest to save Quel’Thalas; but legendary skill and legendary weapon don’t make her more than just one ranger. If she survived, and she could easily fall alongside Sylvanas, Alleria would become Ranger-General after her sister’s death; she never wanted to, but she would have felt she had to, then. She would feel guilty for not taking on the mantle after her mother’s death, for it not being her who fought and died as General. It would be a heavy burden for her to carry, but I don’t think she’d be able to refuse it again because of how guilty she would feel. Not only that, she would want to do what needed to be done and honor Sylvanas’ sacrifice. It would hit her very hard, to the point I think the only thing that would prevent her from becoming suicidal again would be precisely that she would try her best not to let her sister have died in vain, and would fight very hard for the survival of the few who are left.

The world state is vastly the same, but Alleria herself would be heavily changed by everything. She would resent the Alliance and the humans in a way she doesn’t do now, and she would have been more willing to act beside the Horde than she is. There’s a good chance she would have grown closed off, harsher and even bitter, resenting of many things but mostly of herself — because she wasn’t able to save her home for a second time, because she wasn’t able to save her people for a second time, because she wasn’t able to save her family for a second time. It would be losing everything all over again; and this time, I’m uncertain she would be able to truly recover.

I do think there is one thing that might affect the world state somewhat, and that is that Alleria would not outright shun Sylvanas when she tries to come back. I do think she would have supported Lor’themar being cautious, as they didn’t know for sure Sylvanas was in control of herself, but Alleria wouldn’t ever simply refuse her like it happens in canon. What she would do is try to be sure her sister was still herself, and I’m pretty sure she would decide that she is --- and Alleria would not abandon her then.

The most amusing thing, to me, is that in this situation as much as in canon, I think Arator would be the one thing she would cling to that would keep her sane, and prevent that she fell to darkness completely.

[diguerra-moved]

AU where Arator is never born lets see how that shakes things up

UNPROMPTED ASKS // always accepting.

alleria vc: thanks I hate it

1. Alleria still spends the night with Turalyon by the end of the war. She just doesn’t get pregnant. She also still regrets it immediately afterwards and pushes him away and never answers his letters and is determined to never see him again until they have to work together again because of Alliance business.

2. I feel she’d be? somewhat? less antagonistic towards him by then, if she wasn’t hiding that they had a baby she never told him about aksdjnfjkasdnf but not by much tbh. Turalyon would still be there trying to hold her back from getting herself killed and insisting vEnGeAnCe Is BaD and she’s not there for it.

3. It is so much worse, the time between the end of the war and the Alliance Expedition. Thinking about it, Alleria might not even have lived long enough to be a part of the Expedition at all, because revenge would be ALL she’d focus in, and she would have nothing good she’d dedicate herself to, nothing that would give her world a little bit of light again. 

4. She’d push everyone away, even her sisters, and would probably avoid going back home for very lengthy periods of time, hunting orcs instead. Alleria would probably nearly abandon Quel’thalas and Farstriders altogether.

5. IF the Alliance found her and IF she still went to talk to them and IF she chose to work with them again — she might be deemed too unstable to join the fate because…. yeah. Then again, they let her go to Draenor in canon so.

6. I feel like it would take a lot more to break through to her than canon has it, because I feel she would reach the point where they’d be like ‘you’re trying to get yourself killed!’ and alleria would be like ‘yes I am all the while trying to bring down as many orcs as I can so what’ which is considerably worse compared to her denial of it in canon.

7. It would take even longer than I headcanon it already does for her to truly be in a relationship with Turalyon because even in canon it happens? too fast, and I don’t subscribe to it, but I can see it going faster considering circumstances and Arator existing. If he doesn’t, and Alleria is worse, then it would be a hell of a long time, if it happened at all.

8. Xe’Ra: it’s your destiny to show us the weakness of the Legion     Alleria: well that sounds like a you problemshe still loves her sisters and her friends and her land and her people and her world even if she pushed everyone away though, so she’d still end up fighting

9. probably doesn’t go well? she wouldn’t even try to be respectful

10. if she still found her way to the Void, it would be a lot more difficult to master, and she would have a hard time finding something to anchor herself with; I can see her love for her sisters replacing her love for her son (which is BAD considering she comes back to one of them dead and undead but anyways)

11. the entire world is a worse place because there is no arator in it

[diguerra-moved]

SEND ME QUESTIONS ABOUT MY CHARACTER // accepting all day everyday

        I believe that if she had stayed and survived she would have become sin’dorei. Alleria’s problem with the Blood Elves when she returns isn’t at all what they decided to do to survive in this case; her problem with them is their bond to the Horde. She is very much the kind of person that wouldn’t be beyond doing what needed be done for her people’s survival.

        She was a High Elf who wasn’t particularly connected to magic, if at all --- of course, she was still connected to the Sunwell, as they all are, but she also had a deep connection with nature and the land (seeing the forest of Quel’Thalas burning hurts her very deeply, back in the Second War, and even when they go to Draenor, the lack of life in the land itself is something that bothers her). And the wiki says the Farstriders were less affected by the magic addiction and withdrawal (which I believe to be connected to what I just said, though a canonical reason isn’t given).

         I think she would have been able to follow the High Elves’ path, even if it is harder, precisely because of that. But while she could do it, Alleria would see clear enough that it was a longer, more arduous path, and that not everyone would be able to follow. If they had time to recover, than she would certainly advocate for this path instead --- but they needed to survive, and there was no time to do the noble thing if it would end up with her people extinct. It isn’t the best choice, and she would know it, but it is also the only one that would give them a chance to fight back, reclaim their land and survive; to Alleria, there isn’t really a choice to be made in that context. The survival of their people and reclaiming of their lands is more important than doing the ‘right’ thing --- in fact, to her, that which would ensure they’d have a chance would be the right thing to do.

         From an individual point of view, Alleria would have been wary of the magisters and the teachings they brought from Kael’thas, but she would put her people before herself and what she considered right. She wouldn’t look at it individually, but from the point of view that this was about her entire race.

         That said, when it comes to the Horde it is a different matter. I mean, she’s fought demons for a thousand years and when she returns she still has no love or respect for the Horde, even though they were also fighting the Legion when she returns. And I don’t think that’s really hard to understand, because their attack on Quel’Thalas in the Second War hit her hard enough that she wasn’t only devastated, she was suicidal. She delighted in watching the orcs suffer because she thought they had to suffer like her family had --- and even when they were in pain, it was not enough. She threw herself in battle, wanting to bring down as many orcs as she could, but part of her did this because she hoped to die as well. Her hatred and resent run way too deeply for her to ever be willing to work with them. To Alleria, that would be the same as someone suggesting they allied themselves with the Scourge: absurd, unthinkable and repulsive. Even after she’s finally grieved those she lost and let go of some of her hatred, the resent would always be there. She can’t forgive or forget, not completely.

          (I do think she would have overcome it eventually, only in a different way than Beyond the Dark Portal shows. If she stayed, it may have been harder because she’d be both falling apart and intent on keeping it together to be there for her sisters; but I think Sylvanas and Vereesa, as well as being home and with her friends, would have led her to healing with time. No, we don’t need Turalyon for that to happen. To be very honest, I don’t even agree with the drastic change the book portrays on that regard, but that’s a topic for another time.)

        So that would leave her in a complicated position. On the one hand, she would be supportive of her people doing what they needed to do to survive. She would support Lor’themar’s decision in favor of the magisters, though she wouldn’t support his banishing the Farstriders that voiced their disagreement. On the other hand, when they need allies and the Horde offers them help everyone else has denied, she’d be conflicted --- because well, they do need allies, but they shouldn’t ally themselves with the Horde. It isn’t the same Horde she fought, I know, but Alleria’s trauma would blind her to it.

        At the same time, the Alliance turning their backs on them would be a hard blow for her to take. She’s fought with them, yes, as have many others of her people --- but in their time of need, when her own king didn’t really believe their plight, Alleria brought them her rangers to help. No one sent her. She went because there was a real threat and she would honor their bond to the Arathi, called upon through Lothar. Yes, it was Anasterian who left the Alliance in the first place, so yes, she would be able to see how this was relevant in the Alliance not being willing to help, but she would be wounded by their denial all the same. I think she would have sought to go after them herself, though I don’t think it would have changed the outcome --- she would be denied help for her people in their time of greatest need, and if it wouldn’t make a difference in the end, to Alleria personally it would have made a world of difference in how she views the Alliance.

        So she wouldn’t look at the Alliance with good eyes, but neither would she be willing to accept the Horde’s aid. Honestly, I don’t know how that would have gone, because she isn’t the kind to shut up and accept things she disagrees with, no matter who she’s talking to, but Alleria herself wouldn’t really know what to do. Her disagreement may lead her to be banished all the same, since Lor’themar didn’t want his people divided and she may have caused division. What I believe more likely is that seeing that they needed help and wouldn’t get it elsewhere, Alleria would have ended up biting back her hatred and keeping it to herself, even hating it. She can submit to orders is she sees they are necessary, regardless of how unwilling, and that would have been the case.

        So, what changes? I’m not sure, but I don’t think much changes. If she stays and survives, she’ll be fighting her damned hardest to save Quel’Thalas; but legendary skill and legendary weapon don’t make her more than just one ranger. She could have become Ranger-General after Sylvanas’ fall, but I don’t think she would want to --- this time not only because of thinking her skills better used as just a ranger, but also because assuming the mantle that belonged to her mother and to Sylvanas, while an honor, would also be a heavy burden for her to carry (and she was close friends with Halduron, so he being Ranger-General instead is something she would be okay with). Sylvanas’ sacrifice would hit her very hard, to the point I think the only thing that would prevent her from becoming suicidal again would be her will to fight for the survival of the few who are left.

        The world state is vastly the same, I think. But Alleria herself would be heavily changed by everything. She would resent the Alliance and the humans in a way she doesn’t do now, and she would have been more willing to act beside the Horde than she is. There’s a good chance she would have grown closed off, harsher and even bitter, resenting of many things but mostly of herself --- because she wasn’t able to save her home for a second time, because she wasn’t able to save her people for a second time, because she wasn’t able to save her family for a second time. It would be losing everything all over again; and this time, I’m uncertain she would be able to recover.

         The amusing thing, to me, is that in this situation as much as in canon, I think Arator would be the one thing she would cling to that would keep her sane.

[warwaged-archive]

@redeeming-sun // ARATOR.

So lost in his worries was Arator that he did not notice her waking at first. With one ear on her and the other on the entrance of the cave, he was supposed to be on lookout. But here he was with his mind on Theramore and completely distracted. Theramore, where his family was. His friends.

It wasn’t until she spoke that he was pulled from his fears and (thankfully, perhaps) given something else to think about for the time being.

“Name’s Arator.” He said it in Thalassian, albeit with an accent other elves might find unseemly. Though it was his first language, common was so prevalent among the Alliance that he rarely had a chance to use it. Arator moved closer, bringing with him some water. Like her eyes, his also glowed golden from the restored Sunwell, albeit with less luminosity. Not as though it mattered in this cave.

“Oh, please, don’t try to move. I did what I could to keep you from bleeding out but, admittedly, it wasn’t a lot. You should try to stay still, lay down.”

His concern for her reopening her injury was well founded. When he had found her, Kelantir had been a mess of injuries. Her ribs cracked and bruised from blunt force, numerous shrapnel entry points, and even some burns.

Arator did not have the skills or abilities to fix it all, and instead had to play at triage to keep her alive. The most severe injuries tended to first, including a large opening in her abdomen. He did not have the tools to stitch her up, but he could pray. They were answered which resulted in a thin layer of skin over a renewed abdominal wall. The amount of blood he had found her laying in suggested something vital had been nicked, but her being awake was proof enough to him that that, too, was now mended. Even if thin.

“I’m sorry. What you really need is a priest. Someone with proper experience.”

Arator passed her the water skin and wondered Why did he help?

“They would have killed you.” It seemed pretty simple to him. He saw a death he could prevent. “And I figured…I had more in common with an injured elf than a laughing orc.” It really had been stupid of him to act impulsively on instinct and bias but his only other option had been to abandon her. His mind was already a mass of conflicted and confused emotions. Deciding to help her had just been…his need to help his family yet being unable to get to Theramore. He could get to her, though. And she was someones family.

“I don’t…there’s nothing I want from you other than maybe knowing why they were trying to kill you.” It was confusing to him that many had gathered to celebrate their victory in Orgrimmar but during all of the fireworks, down the road, there were soldiers assassinating their own people.

For a moment all she does is listening, watching, judging what she deems to be truth; but he seems to not be lying, and that he questions why were they trying to kill her is enough indication he knows very little of situation he had stumbled on, as is his description being merely injured elf and laughing orc, as is odd accent she can’t quite place but knows not to be one of her homeland. Anyone with the Horde would have known Malkorok to not only be one of Garrosh’s Kor’kron but their leader. Alliance so close to Orgrimmar seemed odd a thing, specially after Theramore, and she has to wonder if he is Alliance in truth, to care so for Horde blood.

She takes the water, then, only then realizing how thirsty she had been. Perhaps she trusts own judgment too much, not to suspect poison of any sort, yet Kelantir is certain there would be very little point in going through such great lengths to save her life only to kill her. 

What she needed was Silvermoon, where Liadrin would have taken care of her injuries, where Halduron would be able to perhaps rightfully say an I told you so; what she needed was home. That, of course, could not be; home was far away across the sea, and if she was lucky enough to reach it alive, she may as well damn they all should the Warchief learn they had aided a traitor. Heart aches further at that, at being kept from those she loves so, from having failed her duty, too, for it was her place as commander to endure and keep her forces from suffering at Garrosh’s hands, and now there is naught she can do about any of it. Breaks further still as realization dawns on her that neither Liadrin nor Halduron expected her to go home ever again. They would believe her dead. 

For now, the best she could do was let them.

The sin’dorei does as suggested and lays down again, another generalized round of pain as she does, but laying still alleviates some of it. Convinced he was not Horde, there should be no harm in speaking the truth, either. Besides, he had rescued her.  “I owe you much. My life, in fact. So thank you, Arator --- answering that is the least I can do.”

She does not try to look at Arator then, content to watch the uneven stone ceiling. “To put a complicated situation simply, they tried to murder us because we are traitors.” No shame in claiming to be so, for once; she would rather death a thousand times over than to be supportive of that monster. Frandis had seldom spoken so bluntly, but she thinks he would not have minded that she named him so as much as she did herself; in some form, it was the smallest of ways to honor his memory, and the only one Kelantir was able to. For now, she thought; but justice will be his yet. “--- There was someone else with me. A friend. He... didn’t make it. I would not, if not for the Light.”

“And your intervention afterwards, that is.” When she faced Arator again, she did so frowning. “We spoke against Garrosh, so his dogs were sicked on us.”