#exploring zandalar

[commandershepardvasfuckit]

Character sheet: Daz’ai

Fic: 1, 2

Race: Zandalari Troll

Age: 38-42

Orientation: bisexual, aromantic

Physical description:

tall, at the upper end of the height chart for a Zandalari at a near 10ft.

White hair kept long on top (about to his shoulder blades) but shaved short on the back and sides

Light blue skin, solid light blue-green eyes with the standard Zandalari glow

Tattoos- Zandalar crest in his back, geometric pattern for collarbones, rib age, and arms (pretty much a mix off all character creator options)

Loa: Paku

Personality: Daz’ai is a laid back guy who values exploring, learning new things, meeting new people, and having a good time.

As a kid he was sent to study with Paku’s priests as he showed signs of being blessed by the loa, but he often snuck off from his studies and inadvertently caused a lot of trouble because he’d rather poke around and explore.

Eventually he was dismissed around age 14/15, despite his strong connection with Paku, after the priests had enough of him. He didn’t really show much promise as a warrior either, and eventually ended up joining the Golden Fleet and being a deck hand on a small exploratory ship.

Daz’ai excelled on the ship, quickly learning everything he could and being a bit of a lucky charm with Paku’s blessing. Graal may be lord of the ocean, but ships can’t sail without Paku’s winds.

He learned to be an excellent navigator and slowly worked his way up to being a lead navigator for a ship around age 25 and a captain for a mid sized exploration ship around 30.

At the start of the Fourth War Daz’ai was given command of a warship, and while he’s a charismatic leader, he’s no fighter. He’s big enough to have a lot of raw strength, but outside of a little basic combat training he really can’t fight.

At the end of the Fourth War he requested to go back to his exploration ship and that any of his crew from the warship that wanted to follow him would be allowed to also. Instead he was allowed to remain captain of the warship and keep his crew as long as he patrolled and kept an eye on any threats while exploring and regularly reporting to the queen.

Nowadays he happily spends as much time on the seas as possible, exploring any leads he hears about, keeping an eye on any possible threats, and visiting favorite ports for a drink and checking in on his favorite hook ups.

Daz’ai doesn’t like feeling tied down, he gets squirrelly and antsy after a few days in port but is fine for weeks at a time sailing. He has a genuine love of people and is very affectionate, but no interest in romantic relationships or ever having kids

[kharrisdawndancer]

The allure of exploring somewhere new was always one of the highest temptations for Khaeris. It was hard on her when the overwhelming need to be moving could not be indulged. She did not deny herself that often, and currently, with no major conflicts occupying most of Azeroth, Khaeris had decided to go back to Kul Tiras for a week. She had gone alone, taking the trip to clear her head and quiet her heart. She’d eaten fish on skewers on the pier and walked through the farmlands of the Stormsong Valley. She’d visited one of the tidesinger shrines and a meadery that was linked to the monastery. It had been a satisfying trip for her. She had some presents for Pyraelia, Pollux, Helal, and Ahuatli. She’d found some ski slopes in the south and spent an afternoon with some penguins. A different day fishing on the beach. And yet another day had been devoted to shopping. It had been a lovely trip. Good for her soul and her smiles were wide as her feet danced her through a local festival. So why was she now standing on the docks instead of finding a portal home. Why was she wondering what it would be like to sail toward Zandalar and spend time with Ahuatli and her family? Why was the thought of going home so heavy?

[lorellaishc]

A New Journey

(( DWC February 2024 Day 7, Rumour/Discovery, CW: none, @daily-writing-challenge ))

In the weeks and months that followed the blooming of Amirdrassil, much of the dragonscale expedition found itself winding down. The Dragon Isles was secure and mostly safe now, and while there would doubtless be archaeological efforts for years to come, the expedition had accomplished most of its goals, and that meant it was time for many to return home.

Or, in some cases, seek other new experiences.

Lorellai was up like a flash when the captain's call echoed down into the ship where she and her team had been cooped up for weeks. Knowing they were close washed all that travel fatigue away though, as she and the others gathered their things and climbed up on deck. Ghorren was already up there, holding the rigging and wearing the biggest smile she'd ever seen on his face. He turned as they all came topside.

"Well friends, this is it! Welcome, to Zandalar!" Ghorren exclaimed, dramatically motioning to the great city that rose above them to the north.

"Now remember, stay with the group, and do not wander away from the port quarter. War might be over but the laws are still clear about where non-horde citizens are and aren't allowed to be here in Dazar'alor."

"We're still going to get to visit your family restaurant though, right? You said that was in the zocalo?" Lorellai asked, adjusting her pack and all but vibrating with excitement.

"No such luck, but you're getting the next best thing, my sister will be bringing us a whole meal to share tonight." Ghorren replied, eagerly stepping off the ship onto the docks. "Ah, it is good to be home!"

"And yet you are always in such a hurry to leave!" a woman's voice called out, eliciting a bark of laughter from the troll. Pushing through the crowd were three troll women, each distinctively dressed. The eldest of them still had her apron on over a simple dress, and hugged Ghorren even as she scolded him. "Never willing to just stay and work for a living like the rest of us."

"Ah, you know me sister, I like the good things in life, and foreign gold spends well!" he laughed, hugging her back before turning his gaze to the others. "Anwé! Qirra! My beautiful daughters!" he exclaimed, excitedly running over to hug the others.

The younger laughed as her father embraced her, her rainbow colored mohawk standing out next to her very somberly dressed and tattooed older sister. "Welcome home, Papa!"

"Yes, welcome home, Father," the older of the two echoed. She held herself aloof and proper, her robes and skeletal face paint serving to hide her mood. Lorellai couldn't help but note how she smiled as Ghorren pulled her into a hug, nudging Pinapple with a smile of her own.

Ghorren couldn't seem to stop chuckling in joy. "My daughters, please, meet my friends from the dragon isles!

-----------

Hours later, after the introductions, the tour of the docks, and the incredible dinner, the team and Ghorren's family lounged in their rented space. Lorellai looked over at the closed lavatory door. "Think Edmund's gonna be alright?"

Anwé smirked at the dwarf. "I think he has discovered his limit for Zandalari spices. Auntie -did- warn him about it."

"Yeah, but then your dad dared him, so that was a wasted warning."

"Oh come now, he's a big strong man, should be able to handle his spice!" Ghorren laughed, earning a smack from Ulabi.

"Honestly, bringing outsiders here and feeding them the food I make special for you, you'd think you wanted to start a war. And now he's wasting all my hard work."

"Forgive me sister, it was just a joke between friends!" Ghorren smiled. "So friends, I know you're going to be exploring the city tomorrow, but what's next when you leave here?"

"Oh, we got that all planned out, Ghorren." Lorellai replied, beaming. "When we leave here, we'll be on a ship bound for Pandaria. Rumor has it the lorekeepers there have found an untouched vault and need experienced delvers to help them investigate it!"

"Tch, no rest for you youngin's, hm?"

"There's always room for another, Ghorren!" Lorellai replied, all smiles.

Ghorren shook his head, and took a long sip from his drink. "Some other time, I think I've earned some well deserved rest and family time."

"Papa, you know Auntie's not going to let you rest" Qirra said, giggling. "She's going to have you in the kitchen by the end of the week!"

"Tch, we'll see. But that's then, this is now. And for now, I'm going to get some sleep, because I know none of you are going to permit me a moment's rest during tomorrow's trip around the city."

"Until tomorrow!" Lorellai said, and returned to her maps. There was a whole world to explore, and she suspected she'd never be satisfied staying home for long ever again.

[sekhithefops]

This had to happen. >w< I am NOT sorry.

But yeah, Sekhi is native to the Island of Zandalar, Vol'dun specifically, and until the end of Battle for Azeroth had never even left the desert. She'd never encountered gnolls before now because she simply didn't have enough time to explore Azeroth before everyone went to the Shadowlands.

[helenrira]

Short version with Baine Bloodhoof is that he's used only as a tool to defend Alliance atrocities against the Horde including one case of genocide by Ironforge and the Explorer's League (not that the game calls it that, of course).

He says tauren civilians being firebombed are a military target, Zandalar shoppers being killed is alright, but freaks out when Alliance military bases and soldiers are attacked and has exiled tauren for retaliating against Alliance soldiers trying to invade Mulgore and tried to force Talanji to surrender to the Alliance during her dad's funeral.

He constantly acts subservient to Anduin and Jaina, with the relationship not coming across as a relationship of equals, but rather him submitting to them and preferring them over his own people.

Given the tauren's blatant Native American coding, this is obviously very problematic combined with basically all of Warcraft's humans being super WASP-Y.

Thanks for giving me the details anon! Yeah, that and how Tauren culture is always treated as "wrong" (with the whole Musha/Elune thing), we can tell Blizz is not giving much care in their writing for the race and characters because of real prejudices...

[retrohearts-gaming]

W.O.W Cuties😍

[fitzefitcher]

faction conflict soapbox, pt. 2

school 2: I’m tired of faction conflict, in general

@alldepressednshit​ said: To be honest, it feels overdone. Also, it keeps getting sidelined by *insert world-threatining asspull* BfA could’ve been great if it was an actual civil war. Like a baron zemo type setting out to destroy the horde and alliance from within.

@ashyteg​ said: I wish we could all hang out and play hearthstone

@baenling said: annoying as fuck. should have been over in mists of pandaria. literally zero reason for the faction war to continue

@swampgallows​ said: i just like being a zombie lady with a conscience and an ability to be hugged by huge monster people who are my family and would never hurt me

Anonymous asked: I wish people would stop bickering over which faction is worse, admit both factions are problematic and stop trying to morally high road the other for faction pride.

Anonymous asked: Hi yes I have come to talk about Horde vs Alliance. Honestly I use to be a big fan of it back in the day. Two big factions, warring over resources that would occasionally have to realize there are bigger threats. Thought it was fun, had faction pride in grinding up PVP reps to be like: Yes FOR THE HORDE. I just think things took a big downturn in Mists. Before it felt kind of balanced, sure Garrosh was "bad" but at the time i thought: well Varian started the war back in Wrath. 1/?

Having the war break out across the continents when before it was sort of like a cold war with a few active fighting spots was cool! I didn't think the Horde was being portrayed as 100% evil! But after that... I don't think the Alliance has really been shown ever in the wrong or negative. And that's just fucking boring. Not to mention literally punishes half the player base for preferring one faction. The Horde has so much creative potential but they never use it. So really sours it. 2/2

so I think the core issue with this is probably less that the faction conflict itself is happening, and more that it's happening but without any sense or meaning, and that it's happening in such a way that feels extremely unbalanced on either side. faction conflict, when it's done well, can be an extremely rewarding and memorable experience.

 like, anybody that's played vanilla will tell you how fun an experience the scarab wall event was, and I myself remember how fun the thunder isle event was. and I think what worked for those events was that they were less like. Dark, Gritty War Conflict, and more played like a high school field day. Like there's certainly competition, and faction pride, but it's actually fun because it's more focused on Achievement than it is on Active Conflict. Like, people meme on the Argent Crusade Sponsored Renaissance Faire, but tbh that's some the most fun I've had with wow, and it ended being a really memorable experience for me and many of the people I was playing with at the time, in part because it was so light-hearted and silly and campy. in my opinion, wow is at its best when it leans into the stupid, silly camp, and that's why hearthstone has a better handle on warcraft and its characters than wow does lmao.

But I will acknowledge that this doesn't always work beyond just gameplay mechanics and overall experience- I love the argent tournament, but as a story, it's dumb as fuck, and at the time, felt extremely out of place for the wrath storyline. Like, we did naxx, then ulduar, and we were revving up to do ICC, which was (and still is, for the most part) regarded as one of its most serious story arcs, and it held a lot of gravity to it in terms of buildup, and the sort of consquences it would have afterwards. Whether or not those consequences were actually addressed afterwards are another issue entirely, but the point here is, ICC is an extremely memorable raid, and was very rewarding as an experience and story end (for the most part, let's stay on topic though), and it absolutely would not have worked if they had leaned into the campy silliness that worked for other things in wow. Here, the grim seriousness does work, because there was plenty of setup and payoff for it. like, even well before we get to ICC, or even wrath, there's buildup for the scourge starting in vanilla, and even in w3.

I think the wrath expansion in general was very very memorable, bc it was an expac where the stakes were pretty well-balanced in terms of alliance and horde content. like, the alliance's bone to pick with scourge is fairly obvious, and while the horde's was less so, the forsaken's was even more obvious, and there was planting and payoff of how the horde needed to go, both because the forsaken are their ally and this is their time of need, and that the scourge are a threat to everyone. truthfully, the alliance side of things I don't remember quite as well, but it was more staged as like, the alliance sort of acknowledging that Arthas (and that many aspects of the Scourge including KT and the cult of the damned) are very much problems that stemmed from the Alliance, and that they had a sort of responsibility to take care of it and make things right, even if they weren't necessarily Directly responsible for Arthas himself. So, there's equal setup in place for both factions, and equal stakes, even if they're not the same, and what faction conflict that does happen within the storyline has a setup and payoff. like, let's look at the wrathgate: a rogue faction of forsaken unleash hell on everyone at the battle of the wrathgate, whether they be scourge, alliance, or horde, and there are immediate consequences afterwards for each faction that feel engaging and meaningful. horde-side, you have to drive out the traitors that turned against your ally and retake one of your core cities, and alliance-side, you're taking immediate action against a faction that just completely fucked you over at a really key battle against a mutual enemy, a particular part of that faction that was already on thin fucking ice to begin with in terms of like. doing morally questionable, reprehensible things. and the ending, while daunting and honestly a little emotionally frustrating, neither punishes nor rewards either faction, and amps up the conflict in a way that feels realistic given the circumstances. And I think that this was really memorable as a questline, and as an expansion, because again, there was setup and payoff, but also, the prior two expansions weren't super focused on the faction conflict as much as wrath had started drumming up.

yes, there was conflict, obviously, but it wasn't so all-consuming as to make it tiresome or overwhelming or frustrating, and didn't feel particularly unbalanced or unfair. I think it should also be noted that faction conflict had never taken the spotlight so strongly in this way before, so it was this novel thing still being explored, and again, working off of things that had previous setup, felt like reasonable or realistic consequences, and above all, were balanced in what sort of story beats were being explored for either faction. wrath for the most part felt like a very natural, very organic step forward in the wow storyline overall, and while I don't agree with every decision made with it, particularly towards the end, I cannot deny that it was definitely one of if not my favorite expansion, and was extremely formative for how I engage with wow, and with stories as a whole.

all that being said, I think it's a fairly reasonable conclusion to draw that faction conflict in recent years has been souring the game for a lot of people, and I can't really blame them, as I, too, have a bone to pick with it. bofa in particular was pretty rough for a number of reasons, but I think the number one reason is how unbalanced it felt in terms of storyline for either faction. bofa imo sortof works as a synopsis for why Horde Bias(TM) is such a huge point of contention between horde and alliance, in that the horde faction spent most of the expansion losing characters, whether that be to character death or death of character development, watched their faction tear themselves apart for what feels like dozens of times now, and basically felt as though that the Evil label was being forced on them, and that they had no choice in the matter for any of this. The alliance faction, meanwhile, didn't really get much of anything. Kul Tiras isn't really as rewarding a leveling experience as Zandalar is in terms of the individual zone stories being strung together, the allied race factions they got didn't feel as fun or varied as the ones the horde got, and seemingly had no actions, issues, or consequences with any sort of serious examination. It's hard to have fun or get any sort of emotional satisfaction from a story that doesn't really let you do anything, and doesn't really show that your actions have any consequences at all, whether they be good or bad, and seemingly is spending all of their time and attention on the other faction. Like, the horde is suffering, and that suffering is definitely, wholly unfair, but the alliance seemingly isn't getting any sort of attention, at all. But because they're not constantly getting a bat to the head story-wise, horde players (including myself) just get really frustrated when accused of favoritism, because like. There is literally no benefit whatsoever to having blizzard's attention, when all blizzard does is take away everything you love lmao. This, I would say, is a matter of violence vs. negligence. Both are forms of harm, but they are radically different in terms of how they hurt you, and neither is inherently more hurtful than the other.

I think if I were to propose a solution to this, I think that the first step should be to pull back on faction conflict as a major component to the story, which they have at least partially. But I think the next step is to give a fairer distribution of attention to characters. Like, I complain about the Horde losing characters, and I'm not taking that back because it's True, but it would be remiss of me not to touch on the fact that, for how many dozens of characters the alliance has, the only ones who really get the attention are like. Human Males. In particular, Anduin. And if they're not Anduin, they're usually characters within Anduin's immediate peer circle. And then the characters that aren't human men and do get attention are usually ones that are getting shafted, somehow, or are getting painted as Wrong and Violent and Stupid for Disagreeing With Anduin- i.e., tyrande. And before Anduin, the only character that really got any sort of serious attention was Varian, which is probably why alliance players as a whole took his death so hard. It's hard not to feel some kind of way about losing a favorite toy when that toy is damn near the only one you functionally have lmao.

I know shadowlands as an expac has been pretty polarizing to people in terms of experience, but tbh I think this is a good step forward in resetting the stakes, and making things in either faction feel a little more balanced. I do think that the consequences of the conflict in bofa has to be addressed Eventually, and I'm honestly a little afraid of what they're going to do next, but this is alright for now.

[frutavel]

Not to advertise myself but I am writing a thing

It's not supposed to be too plot heavy or nothing, it's more like.... a character exploration.

The main character is Dazari, and it takes place in my happy AU where Vol'jin didn't die, starting just after the Horde was allowed in Zandalar.

The premise of the Zandalari joining the Horde here is that Talanji and Zul were kidnapped not by the Alliance, but by the Burning Legion - they're saved by the Horde and Talanji plegdes her people to help with the demons, and after the Legion is defeated she takes the Horde to Zandalar so they can negotiate an alliance.

The Alliance eventually seek out Kul'tiras for good measure when they learn of the Horde talking with the Zandalari, but other than that BfA as we had didn't exactly happen. There's a very shaky truce between the factions, so the main focus of the Horde is helping the Zandalari with their problems, same for the Alliance with Kul'tiras, and not try to invade eachother's territories or run around looking for azerite - which is much more a sign of trouble than a resource to fight over.

There's also a lot more focus on trying to get Sargeras' sword out of Azeroth and healing the planet. I haven't gotten to that part yet BUT I will one day maybe

THE THING I'M WRITING THOUGH is about DAZARI. So we'll see where that takes us 👀

[voidsentprinces]

Look, I am not saying we have a way with things or sensing a theme with us. But we got to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, that was prestine and beautiful and then like we fucked it up beyond repair. Then we went into the Tanaan Jungle. Untouched by time and savage and we fucked it up beyond repair. We went to Val’sharah a majestic forest untouched by demons which was proceeded to fuck it up beyond repair with the Nightmare and Fel. Then we went the Zandalar which even after the Cataclysm was getting on well before we fucked it up and dethroned a king. We went into the Shadowlands where we explored Ardenwald which got fucked up beyond all repair by a robot Bruce Willis.

So, I am not going to hold my breath for the Alex place.

[ruki-sama]

fuck dudes I’m crying thinking about just how much of Zandalar sunk during the cataclysm

I just explored the coast behind king’s rest/atal’dazar and there’s a bunch of ruins in the water just like in vol’dun and nazmir.

[trixcuomo]

But because tortollans live longer than trolls do, they were able to get political dirt on the royal family and convince Tezlekhan to let them stay.

Total bitch move. Yikes!!

[just-onyx]

Takes one to know one: DWC Day 2

She didn’t have a reason to be here. Well other than love for trolls, it was a giant golden city, and the portal was just standing there.  So why not?  Why not enjoy a little day vacation to Zandalar.  Explore without rhythm or reason?  

It was the humidity of the rain-forest that hit her first.  Fine black hair soon took on a life of its own as Onyx stepped along the busy paths making her way to the market.  Sweat beaded at temples as she dodged the step of a giant dinosaur nearly toppling into a Zandalarian troll.  How he looked down at her made Onyx both delighted and scared. 

As she stared up at the man whose tusks nearly poked out an eye she felt the tell tale feeling of being pick pocketed.  Behind her a tuskling was attempting to loosen the coined purse tired to Onyx’s belt.  A rich chuckle came from the male troll as he watched the petite elf chase after the orphan to get her purse back. 

“Oh no, that's not something you are old enough for.”  Onyx chased after the orphan to get back her bag of pills.  “Come back!  I will give you gold instead just not.. Not that.”  

While the tuskling knew the city, Onyx had speed on the younger gal.  She tackled the poor orphan grabbing the purse.  As if it was poison she held it out of range.  

“I need that for Jana, she be happy if I be giving her dat”  The young troll pleaded with giant eyes at Onyx.  Hands tried to grab it back only to  miss the chance as the elf was inhumanly quick. 

“I dunno who Jana is but she would come after me if she saw what was in this pouch, now I admire your guts for stealing from me.”  Onyx stood up dusting herself up and offered a hand to the other.  Knowing the rules of the street rats as she was one herself, Onyx pulled out a dagger and placed it in the kids hands.  It was safer than drugs right?

“Dis, dis be good.” The troll nodded.  “Jana be my loa cho be liking her.”  

Before Onyx could get a reply, the young tuskling ran off with a dagger in hand.   “I wonder if an elf can have a Loa?  I need to learn all I can about this Jana.”  Onyx mused as she started her day in the  Zandalar City.

@daily-writing-challenge​

[kharrisdawndancer]

Has Khaeris enjoyed her time in Zandalar? 🌴

"ABSOLUTELY!" Khaeris beamed, eyes dancing merrily as she swept a hand out across the visible vista. "This place is stunning, my company is stunning, the city is adventurous and has all sorts of nooks to explore. I get to see some of Azeroth's finest dancers and I have learned so much. It's been amazing. I'm very lucky for the opportunity."

[gatesofthetroupe]

Gendry Candell, Second Born The Whispering Pen

The Basics ––– –

Name: Gendry Candell Nickname(s): Gen Age: 23 Birthday: Mid Autumn Race: Human Gender:  Male Marital Status: Single

Physical Appearance ––– –

Hair: Dirty Blonde Eyes:  Blue Height: 6'2 Build: Academic Distinguishing Marks:  Dark circles about his eyes Tattoos: None Piercings: None Common Accessories: Heavy Kul Tiran knife, a weather-beaten leather journal and quill set, an iron spyglass of green glass, small corgi named Alonso   Likeness: César Domboy

Personal Information––– –

Profession: Artist; Would be Treasure Hunter Hobbies: Sketch artist, guitar, fishing Languages:  Common, Old Ones (learning) Residence:  Stormwind City Birthplace: Ironforge Religion: Holy Light Patron Deity:  None Fears: Darkness, loneliness, entrapment, small spaces

Relationships ––– -

Spouse: None Children:  None Parents:  Zexx Candell (MIA); Beatrix Gallina (MIA, presumed dead) Siblings:  Xaya Candell (sister), Rey Candell (sister), Gwynn Candell (sister) Other Relatives:  Eldridge Candell (grandfather, Erlain Candell (great grandfather), Arallan Daemir (uncle) Pets: Alonso (corgi)

Sex & Romance ––– -

Sexual Orientation: Uh. Preferred Emotional Role: submissive | dominant | switch Preferred Sexual Role: submissive | dominant | switch Libido: Low Turn ons: N/A Turn offs: N/A Love Language: Kindness   Relationship Tendencies: Gentle, kind, but stumbles on his words

Traits ––– -

* Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted Disorganized / In Between / Organized Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded Calm / In Between / Anxious Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable Cautious / In Between / Reckless Patient / In Between /  Impatient Outspoken / In Between / Reserved Leader / In Between / Follower Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic Traditional / In Between / Modern Hard-working / In Between / Lazy Cultured / In Between / Uncultured Loyal / In Between / Disloyal Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––– –

Smoking Habit: None Drugs: None Alcohol: Hardly

RP Hooks ––– –

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword - Gendry has a gift, a gift that flourishes with paper, ink, and time.  With quick brush strokes or quill dips, a blank slate becomes a tapestry to the imagination.  But who's imagination is the real question?  And where does the fiction end and reality set in?

Wanderers Wander - The young man is as fleet of foot as any of his siblings, keeping to the road to explore and enjoy the wide world about him.  From Stormwind to Boralus to ancient Tanaris, Gendry is a student of the world and ready to record it within his journals.  Ever up for exploration and treasure hunting, a trait well ingrained as a young boy living amongst a dwarf clan of metalsmith and tinkerers.

Gripped by Whispers - Gendry stole something he wasn't supposed to have.  In his travels about the islands of Kul Tiras and Zandalar, a moment lapse in judgement lead into the jungle ruins of a Zandalari death temple.  Creeping amongst the dead and undead, the young man would stumble into an antechamber the pull of an old stone chest would be too great not to open it.  Inside a simple statue of stone would wait, nestled among the dried and cracked remnants of ancient grass.  It was a mistake.  It was even more mistake to take it with him.  To take it home.  To listen to it.  To learn from it.

HOW TO CONTACT:

OoC -  tumblr: @gatesofthetroupe​ Discord: ( Mogwai Kraken#7988) Ingame: (Candell. 22 Disc Priest, Moon Guard)

IC - Stormwind City was more than Gendry could have imagined, coming to the city of his grandfathers and walking the same streets that family he'd never meet.  It was intoxicating for the imaginative artists, to touch the craftsmanship of the builders and saviors of the East.

And then the whispers had grown louder.

Sleep had begun to become a challenge as his nights were plagued with dreams of starless skies and wide plains of dead earth. Despite the lack of familiar heavens above they were hardly empty.  The eyes, so many eyes nestled in the black calling out to him and egging him on to listen to their stories and words.  It was all so overwhelming despite the guilt still thick upon him for the fate of his uncle and their new fugitive life.

He hadn't asked to be rescued from the trolls or planned to bring the trolls revenge down upon his family and home.  And despite his anxious heart, Gen would be damned if he let the death of the man who raised him be in vain.  He would do all he could to get vengeance with his sisters upon the murderers, forfeiting mind, body, or very soul.  He had to make it right.

[katieskarlette]

Shadows Rising: A Reaction Post

Short, mostly non-spoilery version:  I liked it overall.  I give it a solid B, maybe a B+.

I was disappointed in how little Nathanos and/or Sylvanas content there was, but I think proclamations of the ship’s doom are premature.  

I’m intrigued by the first rumblings of new character development for certain characters, especially Anduin, Alleria and Turalyon.

I was rooting for Talanji so much.  She’s great. Zekhan is a cinnamon roll too pure for this world.  Sira was kind of boring. Fairshaw is so darn heartwarming I can’t stand it. I like Bwonsamdi more now. The lack of Wrathion is unsurprising but unfortunate. Nothing new with Tyrande but she’s already poised for major development in Shadowlands.

Much longer, spoilery version below.

This ended up being more of a ramble than an essay, but there’s a lot of disjointed thoughts pinging around in my head, so let’s dive in.

Overall, I enjoyed Shadows Rising.  Was it the best book ever?  No.  Not even the best Warcraft book ever.  But it was an enjoyable read.  It’s always a treat to get into the heads of characters we mostly know in passing from in-game events.  There are internal, emotional beats that cannot easily be explored in the game, and the books are a way to build the world and the characters in a more introspective, slow-paced manner.  I like that.  (That’s not to say there are no action scenes, because there definitely are.)

Talanji, Jaina, Zekhan, and Anduin were all written well and sympathetically.  Maiev’s only in a couple scenes, but she felt off to me.  Nathanos was very in-character, in all his snide, sour glory.   Flynn and Mathias are great together.

The pacing was fine.  The descriptions were good, and it all felt grounded in the game world (i.e. landmarks, ambiance, the ridiculous amount of stairs in Daz’alor...)  Each of the Horde leaders got a moment or two in the spotlight.  Despite a fair amount of chapters about Anduin, Alleria, Turalyon, and Jaina, it still felt like a Horde-centric book to me.  Not that that’s a bad thing.

Prologue:  Gayness detected on page 8!  And it’s even something I kind of inadvertently predicted.  In my reaction post for Before the Storm I wrote, “ In this book alone, it would have been so easy to have that blacksmith bringing a helmet as a gift to his long-lost Forsaken husband instead of friend.”  That’s basically what we have here.  I don’t know if they were married, and neither were blacksmiths, but the Westfall moonshiner describes one of the Forsaken slain in Arathi as “the best man I ever knew and loved.”  Tada!  See how easy it was?  Add Jago x Wilmer to the growing list of LGBT rep in Azeroth.  (Even if they’re super minor characters in the long run, it’s still great to see.)

There might be some kind of parallel to be drawn between Alleria failing Anduin (by not finding/killing Sylvanas) and Nathanos failing Sylvanas (by not killing Bwonsamdi) but my brain is too overloaded from binge-reading to articulate it right now.  Both failed their king or queen, but both were also given nearly impossible tasks. 

Alleria and Turalyon are definitely being set up as antagonists.  We are clearly supposed to side with Jaina on this, and be uncomfortable (if not outright horrified) at their torture methods.  It’s especially disturbing how they use their respective void and light powers to accomplish their goals.  I mean, on one hand it’s great that both sides of the great cosmic divide can work together, and their marriage seems stronger than it was for awhile there, but yeesh...can you not torture people?  I know, ends justify the means, slippery slope, greater evil, blah blah, but still...that’s not okay.  It’s yet another sign that the Light is not necessarily good (or the void necessarily evil).

I welcome conflict within the Alliance, though.  That’s been the Horde’s thing for long enough.  Time to see how the blue side deals with its rifts.

In chapter 2 Nathanos is annoyed when a dreadtick flies by his head.  What, was it too similar to a bird for his liking?  Heh. 

All that time in Nazmir, and we didn’t get to see a single crawg!  Harumph.

It took three chapters and 39 pages to finally get something from Nathanos' perspective, and he was much more scarce going forward than I had hoped.  The bits we did get from his perspective were great and in-character, but I wanted to get into his head more.  Most of his scenes were from the POV of Sira or the troll villain instead, and while Apari was a good character I find Sira to be pretty one-dimensional. 

I kind of got paternal vibes from Nathanos toward Sira, though.  He was like, “I’ve been undead a lot longer than you; I know how to handle the bloodlust and such.  Get it out of your system at appropriate times but learn to control yourself.  There’s more to (un)life than slaughtering people.”  She herself, though, was just “Rawr, I hate everything and want to kill anything that moves.”  I mean, I get that she’s been through some traumatic stuff, but I didn’t find myself invested in her at all.

Page 42, as a bunch of trolls are about to be slaughtered:  "Hungry birds circled, expectant of a big meal, and Nathanos so hated to disappoint."  WHAT?  Nathanos wanted to do something nice for BIRDS?  I know, the phrasing fits with his dry, sarcastic sense of humor, but considering the running joke about him hating birds, it still made me go, “Huh?”

Chapter 5 (and later on, as it turns out):  Zekhan having a soft spot for kids is too precious for this world.

Page 51:  Thalyssra's eyes were "sparkling as she gazed across the room at Lor'themar."  Awwwwwww.   There was a surprising amount of ship fodder in this book overall, with Lor’themar x Thalyssra, Turalyon x Alleria, Fairshaw, and Zehkhan x Talanji all getting a moment or two (or more.) 

Chapter 6:  Anduin says, "Turalyon, take Alleria Windrunner and investigate these deaths."  You know, Alleria...YOUR WIFE?  I don't think you need to say her last name there, genius. 

While I’m being snarky about the editing, there were at least two times where the word “grieves” was used instead of “greaves.”  I spotted a couple other little things that a better editor (or one with more time, maybe it was rushed, I don’t know) would have caught.

Chapter 7:  More matter-of-fact LGBT inclusion for minor characters, this time a lesbian troll couple who want to marry.  Yes, thank you Blizzard, keep it up.

Chapter 8:  If you’re going to make the “Zappy Boy” nickname for Zekhan canon, having Bwonsamdi be the one to wink at the camera and use it was a great decision.  I can totally imagine him saying it.

We learn the name of Varok’s wife/Dranosh’s mother:  Remda.  Although I read elsewhere that the vision Zekhan saw of the Saurfang family in the afterlife was just Bwonsamdi’s B.S., it was still cool.

Chapter 13:  Nathanos wearing cologne?  Love it.  And it’s not even to cover up the rotting smell, because apparently his new body doesn’t stink like some undead; it just doesn’t smell like a living person, either, and some find it unnerving.  So he wears cologne.  That’s such a delightful little detail, and surprisingly considerate of him.

Sira complaining about bugs:  "We'll be eaten alive."  Uh no, you'd have to BE ALIVE for that to happen. Tsk.

Nathanos being called "the pale rider" makes me think of old cowboy movies.  Like, “You greenhorns better clear out; the Pale Rider is comin’ to town and there’s gonna be trouble.  Go wake up the sheriff.”  

Sira says that while on the voyage to Zandalar the dark rangers liked to tell the tale of how Nathanos was promoted to Ranger Lord by Sylvanas.  I'm surprised he lets them gossip like that!  His quests in vanilla made it seem he wanted to keep those parts of his past on the down-low, at least from the player.

Chapter 14:  Thrall's second kid is Rehze.  *blink*  Reh-zee?  Rez?  Ruh-zay?  I guess she’s not named after anyone.  After he named his son Durak (sort of after Durotan) I assumed he’d continue the pattern with kid #2.  Maybe she’s named after one of Aggra’s relatives.  (Later I read on Wowpedia that the author actually said she dislikes the “fan service” trend of naming children after other characters so she just picked a random orcish name.  I don’t think it’s fan service, because lots of real-life people do it, but okay.  Fair enough.)

Speaking of orcish names, there’s an orc page helping out the council named Gunk.  Like, what you clean out from under your fingernails after gardening.  Gunk.  LOL

Aww, that’s no fun...Maiev's wearing a cape trimmed in white fur, not daggers.  What happened to her impeccable/deadly fashion sense?

Chapter 16:  Zekhan starting to clap at Talanji's speech and then stopping and shrinking back when he realized no one else was applauding was so freaking adorable.

Chapter 17:  Fairshaw, full steam ahead!!!  Their chemistry is everything I hoped it would be.  Learning a little about Flynn’s tragic past was both fascinating and heartbreaking.  (We learned his mom’s name: Lyra Fairwind.  R.I.P.)

Chapter 18:  Proodmoore keep has a gallery with floor to ceiling oil paintings of the Proudmoore family, extended family, and beloved friends.  It now includes Anduin.  I can’t help thinking that, in a different timeline, Arthas’ portrait would have been there.

Will wonders never case?  Ji Firepaw actually gets to do stuff!!!  GASP!

"Thrall understood that to other humans Wrynn was said to be pleasing-looking, but to the orc, Anduin simply looked like a small, pink boy swallowed by clunky armor."  So it’s canon that Anduin is good-looking in-universe.  But LMAO at Thrall’s description.

Chapter 22:  From Shaw’s POV, "These odds ranked pretty low...  Maybe just above the time he had relied completely on a shoddy network of spies embedded in a cheese business."  OMG leave Elling Trias alone!  He did his best!  LOL

Shaw wanting to hang out in a mountain meadow and whittle bird calls (perhaps even with a special someone) was so touchingly normal.  That’s the kind of characterization that the books are so much better at than the game.

I actually like Bwonsamdi more after reading this.  Not that I disliked him before, but I didn’t have a strong sense of him due to not playing Horde as much in BFA.  He’s a well-done gray character:  not good, not evil, insightful but a smartass, part of the great cycle, out for himself but also taking his duties seriously (saving troll souls from the Maw.) 

I’m not entirely sure that we needed as much from Thrall’s POV as we got.  I mean, sure, he’s a familiar character with ties to a lot of others, so it was easy to drop him into situations, and his ties to Jaina made cross-faction communication easier, but he didn’t seem as relevant to the lore of Zandalar and the Shadowlands as some other characters.

Maiev seemed OOC, especially in the Stockades scene.  I know one of the themes of the book was “people change,” and I suppose I should be happy that she has a more moderate viewpoint nowadays, dialing back the Lust For Vengeance Meter from eleven to maybe a five or a six, but it didn’t feel like Maiev.  Especially because her message of “maybe don’t go overboard with this vengeance thing” was aimed at Tyrande, of all people, someone who Maiev has had quite legitimate reasons to dislike for a very, very long time.  I could see her maybe mellowing out a little in front of fellow Wardens, but Tyrande?  Eh, it didn’t feel right to me.

No surprises from Tyrande in this.  She’s still steely cold, vengeance-obsessed, consumed by anger.  Not that I blame her, but it’s not healthy.  I know we’ll be exploring her situation more in Shadowlands, so this was more of a reminder/reinforcement of where she is right now.  It was kind of funny how Thrall, Baine and Calia tried to talk to her and she just gave them the stink eye and the silent treatment, though.

I’m fine with Anduin exploring his dark side a bit more, as long as they don’t go overboard with it.  I like him as an earnest, good-hearted character.  It’s only natural to test your limits, though, especially in times of crisis.  Power corrupts, and he’s got plenty of it, both politically and magically, so I can understand Jaina and Mathias being a bit uneasy.  Add to that the increasing themes about the Light not being as benevolent as we originally assumed, and there’s potential for interesting plot there.  In the end I want Anduin to stay firmly on the side of good, empathy, compassion, etc., but a deviation into the shadows along the way isn’t a bad thing for the story.

I imagine every single person who read about Anduin sneaking off to the Lion’s Pride Inn in Goldshire smirked about that place’s reputation on certain RP realms.  I was surprised he didn’t find scantily-clad elves and draenei dancing on the furniture.  And then it turns out Jaina was there, too.  Awkward!

Why, oh why couldn’t we have had a scene with Anduin and Wrathion hanging out (incognito, of course) in a tavern?  That was their thing in MoP, and now with Anduin desperately wanting to get away from his duties for awhile and soak up some tavern ambiance it would have been perfect.  Let Anduin show off the best taverns Stormwind has to offer.  Even though Wrathion was as much a guest at the Tavern in the Mists as Anduin was, he acted like he owned the place and Anduin was his guest, so let them turn the tables and have Anduin play host.  There could be jokes about how he better not punch Wrathion again or they’ll get kicked out for starting a bar fight.  They could have still seen the young recruits, ran into Jaina, etc.  But Anduin really needs a buddy to hang out with right now.  

And you can’t tell me after Nya’lotha fell Wrathion just disappeared again and never at least visited Stormwind to tell grandiose tales about how he stabbed an Old God, it was so heroic, and he wasn’t scared at all, and those mean adventurers were so quick to believe he’d been corrupted, but he hadn’t, and did you know Azshara was there?  And then N’Zoth almost won but KERPOW LAZERS and oh Anduin you should have seen it, etc. etc. etc.

I should be used to being disappointed about Wrathion’s absence by now, but there are SO MANY MISSED OPPORTUNITIES!

Sigh.  Moving on.

Being exposed to spoilers meant I wasn’t fooled by it, but it was still a deft bit of writing to have the dark rangers drink poison when cornered by Horde soldiers, then mention Nathanos having a vial in his coat, which he drinks when defeated--making the unspoiled reader assume he’s killing himself--only for it to be a kind of liquid hearthstone attuned to Sylvanas.  Had I not known that he survived the book I would have freaked out there.

So, like, was Bolvar just sitting there on the ground awkwardly eavesdropping while Sylvanas and Nathanos talked/argued?  Or did he use that time to sneak away unnoticed?  LOL

Which brings us to the epilogue that’s caused so much hand wringing and wailing from my fellow Blightrunner shippers.  It wasn’t the openly sentimental interaction between them that I had hoped for, but I honestly didn’t read it as the doom of the ship.  A bump, at worst.

[If you’re not interested in the relationship between Nathanos and Sylvanas, or if you’re one of those people who simply hate his character, you can skip the rest of this post.]

First of all, Sylvanas had just broken the Helm of Domination.  That was a hugely significant thing to do, both for her personally and in the cosmic scheme of things.  Her state of mind at that moment had to have been in a turmoil.  So if she was a little distracted and tense, I think that’s quite understandable.

Second, I saw other fans being upset that she threatened/wanted to strike him.  That’s not how I read it at all.  “Sylvanas could strike him, scream and hollow out his soul, but it would not correct the failing.”  She’s not saying she wants to do that, just that she could.  The instinct to lash out in violence is ingrained in all the undead; death knights have to do it or they go mad.  So for her mind to go there in a moment of high emotion seems natural to me.  She doesn’t actually attack him or verbally/physically threaten him.  People say things like “I could have killed my brother for eating the last slice of cake” or “I could’ve strangled my co-worker when she spoiled the ending of the movie” and it’s not literal.

Third, she doesn’t say “go away, I never want to see you again.”  She says “Go where you will, Nathanos, but do not be idle” and “I expect you will return to me with means to prevent [Bwonsamdi’s] meddling.”  So essentially she’s saying, “Fine, go home, regroup, come up with Plan B, and if it’s not possible to destroy Bwonsamdi at least concentrate on countering him.”  Also note that she still considers the operation to be theirs, not just hers:  “This was a blow, but one she felt sure they could overcome.”  That tells me she expects to work with him in the future.

Fourth, and granted this is before she learns of his failure, but she’s clearly happy to have him there when he first arrives.  “’My champion,’ Sylvanas purred.  ‘Your timing could not be better.  Tell me of your victory as we take these first steps together.’”  She wanted to cross into the Shadowlands with him at her side.  Hell, that’s bridal imagery...crossing the threshold together, and all that.  The only reason she tells him to go is because his work isn’t done and she still needs him on Azeroth.  But she explicitly says “I expect you will return to me.” 

Fifth, in the line from her POV about how “the unjust ladder of their lives must be dismantled,” the “they” she’s referring to is all of the denizens of Azeroth, true, but I think there’s also a tinge of bitterness there as she looks back on her own life, and her life with Nathanos.  Destiny has not been kind to either of them.

Sixth, she says “My path lies ahead” as she prepares to cross into the Shadowlands.  It’s a reminder of the scale of the forces she is trying to manipulate.  When faced with the potential fates of all the souls in the universe, her own regrets are insignificant.  She can’t stay on Azeroth any longer, even if some part of her does want to just chill out on a beach somewhere with Nathanos and watch his blighthounds chase seagulls.  She thinks “It would not be easy, but then, her mission required great sacrifice.”  Like leaving him behind.

Even this part can be interpreted different ways:  “She heard the note of hope in his voice, fragile as a fledgling dropped from the next.”  Putting aside the humor of comparing bird-hating Nathanos to a fledgling, we don’t get a value judgment about the comparison.  Sylvanas doesn’t think about him sympathetically, wanting to protect him in a vulnerable moment, but she also doesn’t think, “Geez, what a pathetic weakling.”  It goes back to that bit in Warbringers about how she can’t kill hope.  And she can’t.  Here, again, no matter how bleak things are, no matter how displeased she is at his failure, he still has hope.  And she needs that, whether she believes it or not.

When she “flicked her fingers, as if ridding herself of a speck of muck” that can be interpreted as her thinking of him in a derogatory way, but she was also talking about Bwonsamdi in the same breath so I can choose to believe that’s who she was being dismissive of.

I don’t know.  I get that some of the language is discouraging.  She describes him as having “blubbering lips” and she’s definitely not happy with him.  But these two have been through a lot, and their bond has remained strong.  I’m sure this isn’t their first fight, or the first time he’s disappointed her.  This isn’t the end for them.  Just another bump on a very long highway they’ve traveled together.

...

OMG this has turned into a monster of a post, rambling all over the place.  I hope it’s coherent enough to follow.  I’m just in lore overload at the moment (and enjoying every second.)  I know I’m forgetting things I wanted to talk about, too, but I’m going to go ahead and post it as it is.

[newsnerd-ooc]

Moon Guard Latilda

Prompted in part by @mediocre-bladeleaf​ and by @risrielthron​, here’s my rambling take on what Lat on MG would look like.

Timeline mostly the same, with Lat spending her life in Gilneas until Cataclysm, where she escapes with most. Never infected by the Worgen, has still been a pureblood human.

Rather than entering the press like she did during Cata, she found herself building a market as a private investigator. Spends most of Cata hunting down lost relatives and cats

In Pandaria, she registers as a low-ranking scout/scribe and spends most of her time traveling the land. Her vessel does get attacked by Horde, and she spends a good portion of her time stranded in enemy territory. Upon her return, Latilda befriends Kementari there, primarily through appreciation of food and exploration.

She plays a part in the Siege of Orgrimmar as a scout and escort. The events there do help her resolve her growing distrust of the Horde; seeing potential for cooperation.

During Warlords, she inevitably returns to Stormwind but spends a lot of time in Draenor, where she trains under Betera, a former Rangari. 

In Legion, she registers with the Unseen Path and scouts in many operations, all while offering assistance to SI:7 whenever she can, primarily through an unofficial connection to Dallio Morelli. Through a series of odd events, she does become exposed to Nightborne experimentation and develops a stronger affinity for magic than before

In BFA, she cannot support the Alliance in their war, and ends up resigning from her post in the military. She spends the majority of the war training her magic and traveling Kul Tiras and Zandalar as more of an archaeologist/monster hunter. She also finishes her memoir over this time. 

Lat mechanically plays as more of an arcane archer, using her bow as a sort of focus for her spells. 

She still has a high propensity to get into trouble, and enjoys traversing old tombs and weird magical incidents. 

She also does not dye her hair blonde.