I like your knowledge of astronomy, but real-world science doesn't apply to Warcraft's idea of space. Outland is drifting in the Twisting Nether, a magical intergalactic highway. Outland simply drifted close enough to Azeroth to be seen, it also drifts close to those massive gas giants visible in Hellfire and Netherstorm.
Basically, think of the Twisting Nether as Rainbow Road from the Mario Kart games (If you get the reference)
Last edited by Al Gorefiend; 2013-03-29 at 08:45 PM.
I have an issue with the whole "it was there the whole time!" premise of exploration...
We knew Northrend was there, we just didn't go there. We even knew Pandaria was... somewhere, we just didn't know exactly where. And it was protected by magical mists.
But to say there's an entire separate continent, or group of continents that "no one happened to notice for the past entirety of Azeroth's existence" is kinda... silly. And"shrouded by mists" shouldn't really be used more than once as a plot device.
Plus, the Titan Globe is fairly definitive. There's just ocean there. Unless it's some giant, protected titan landmass (which is technically possible, I guess...) it should show up...
“Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
Words to live by.
no one happened to notice kalimdor before WC3
I was just about to say this.
Warcraft III introduced Kalimdor and Northrend completely out of the blue. They even went so far as to treat them like lost continents.
I personally don't think it's so strange that portions of Azeroth remain undiscovered, especially if efforts to chart them have ended in failure with the explorers never returning. However, if there are lands on the other hemisphere of Azeroth, I'd like them to be seeded a bit before we venture there.
Outland has it's own moons like Pale Lady
I figure Elune has something to do with the big moon of Azeroth from the night elves
wasn't there a section in the shattering (might be wrong) where while Thrall was channeling he saw in a vision a land mass rise from the sea? and someone was laughing or am i just nuts? could it be Azshara.
"Outland is floating in the Twisting Nether, which is a separate dimension, so I don't think they'd be considered within the same system in the sense that normal planets are. Most likely you can see through the Twisting Nether to other worlds (even ones in the Great Dark), hence why Azeroth appears in the sky above Black Temple along with many other planets/moons in its skies."
There is, obviously, something in the Veiled/Forbidding Sea. All records indicate that anyone who has sailed east of the Eastern Kingdoms or west of Kalimdor have never returned. Whatever is on that side of Azeroth is obviously dangerous. To all the people saying they're sick of "magical plot device hiding hidden land", well...too damn bad. It's happened three times already: in Warcraft III with all of Kalimdor, in Cataclysm with Uldum, and again with Pandaria. I'd place money on there being a hidden landmass in the Veiled/Forbidding Sea.
Now, I don't think we'll go there anytime soon, as I believe we'll deal with the second act of the Burning Legion first (Kil'jaeden at full power, the return of Sargeras as a seed to the final confrontation with him) and Azshara and the Naga first, specifically Azshara raising a portion of Old Kalimdor from the bottom of the ocean using the power of the Trident of the Tides. I imagine we'll probably go to Argus and, perhaps, Xoroth when dealing with the Burning Legion while we'll get to see the sunken portion of Old Kalimdor, Zandalar, the Broken Isle along with the Tomb of Sargeras, Kul'Tiras, and the Ruins of Kezan, complete with the Undermine, when we deal with Azshara. I also believe we'll see the original layer of the Emerald Dream before going into the Veiled/Forbidding Sea. After that, though, seems like a good time to show us what's on "The Other Side of Azeroth" before leading into the final act of the Burning Legion, the Great Dark Old Gods, and the return of the Titans.
Professor of History at Dalaran University
http://www.wowpedia.org/Kalimdor_(landmass)
^peoples maps of what Old Kalimdor might look like
http://www.wowpedia.org/Quest:Marshfin_Madness
Foreshadowing.You have to wonder just what's out there. This is the coast of the Forbidding Sea, with nothing beyond its reaches... but all these fishy folk just stomped right out of it.
What's more, I saw where they've been going...
Twas brillig
The War of the Ancients and Sundering were only 10,000 years ago. Also, considering the zone Azshara is where the old Kaldorei capital was, on the shores of the Well of Eternity, I would say the land masses of now used to be much closer together, and they drifted apart, rather than just having the central part of Ancient Kalimdor sink.
If there's one thing World of Warcraft players hate more than people who don't play, it's people that do play but not as much as them.