Potential Elven sub-races

[ravenmoon]

I've always maintained, since TBC/WotLK days, that we will see an expansion with sub-races as a major feature. Well I believe that expansion is Game update 7.0, and a bad assumption by most in the community is that the sub-races would be limited to currently known sub-races.

e.g. Mag'har orcs, Dark Iron dwarves, Forest Ravenusk trolls, Taunka etc, already in lore. These players forget that blizzard has almost without fail introduced interesting new sub-races (and races too) with every expansion, and all our known sub-races come from previous expansions they first appeared out of nowhere from.

So, I was thinking of what sub-races for the 2 elf races they could do.. I wish i had the digital expertise to do renditions of my own or I would have done pictures for effect.. but here is a description of the Elven Sub-races I thought might be interesting.



Night Elves
1. Highbourne:
Story:
You already know this, altho it would be a good opportunity for blizzard to continue the arc that started at the end of WotLk that saw Mordant Evenshade, the Highbourne leader audience with Tyrande Whisperwind. The story would also update you on the effect the highbourne have had on night elf society, their progress with reclaiming Dire Maul (Eldre'thalas) their homecity, and their peculiar traits including their ambition to heal elven divisions.

Darnassus: Now has a highbourne section, to the north east of the Temple of Elune on that plateau raised above, it uses Marble buildings with architecture similar to what you see in Vashj'ir and other ruined night elf cities, with structures that hand down over the branches of Teldrassil.

You will notice a few high elves too amongst their number and visits between the Worgen and highbourne. A night elf mage academy with the tall night elf mage tower is also present, one that's not ruined. Starbreeze village becomes a highbourne village after you complete the dreamcatcher quest and find the missing druid that was waylaid, there is a highbourne specific quest any night elf can take that asks you to clear the furbolgs out, so they can save the village and also use it as a home - their excuse is because their presence is still a sensitive issue. once done, the village phases with highbourne NPCs, a few mage like magical stuff, and quests that will send you to darnassus' new highbourne section where you will find out more lore.

Appearance
Have more purpler skin-shade tones, younger more classically good looking faces, sliver hair tones with varied hues, like silver pink, silver-puple, silver-blue, silver light-green, silver light blue, silver light purple -tinged. Could go one step further and instead use the blood elf base model instead of the night elf, grown to night elf height, with night elf ears or could use blood elf ears, night elf skin tone, eye colour etc, but it owuld be the blood elf model and have the blood elf animations.

Another thing that is different is their eyes, they have silver eyes both male and female, altho some could have silver purple tinged eyes that possibly match the hair colour is an option. There default expression is a bit haughty/cheeky similar to the Belves.

2. Cenarian Elf:
Origin:
These could be off spring of Children of Cenarius and night elf that always end up bi-pedal or even have the ability to shapeshift into dryad/keepers as an alternate form out of combat (like worgen do) or they could be the lost link of night elves that were an off shoot from Cenarius or a group of secluded druidic night elves that over time became part tree. Blizzard i'm sure can come up with interesting storyline in how they get drawn into current conflict and give up their Cenarion neutrality - or rather why a group of adventerous finally decide to give up their neutrality and join the night elves.

Storyline arc: will tell you where they've been hiding, why you've not really seen them around till now. They could be a group that got lost when the spirit tree Gehanna, overseen by Avianna disappeared from Azeroth, and returned with the return of the ancients, they could have been a group trapped in the Emerald dream as they were some of the most gifted night elf druids which is why their apperance over time became part Cenarion, (with tree bits)/part night elf. They start with the night elves, and they've come to help wanting to make Teldrassil work, Tarindrella sent a missive out to natures wardens. There could be a larger plot uncovered later on that involves them working on a project to link Teldrassil and Nordrassil through GEhanna to stabilize the dream world. You see a lot more of them in the Emerald dream expansion where this plot is revealed, but for starting at level 1, you basically just join in with helping the night elves remove the vestige of the corruption.

Appearance
They have leaf-like flower hair and moss facial hair/chest hair like the keepers of the grove, one of their arms is clawed gnarled tree like, elbow down, and possibly one of their feet knee down. They have some greener skin tones in addition to the purple ones just like the keeper of the groves and dryads have.

Their faces are young and smooth eternal looking, as their near kin thel dryads/keeper of the groves have. Could have an option for some of them to gain small antler stubs like Brawl Bearmantle has, and even part feathered arms like Malfurion has as alternate features.

All their eyes are gold (male and female), tho you could add green speckles. Their default expression is kinder, peaceful and more smiley.

3. Kabarei or Demon Hunting night elf.

Origin
Could tie in with some spectacular Illidan return story with a whole group of night elf hybrids, trained demon hunting sub-race - staunch defenders of the night elves though shunned by them openly, yet appreciative in secret. THink of the night elf demon hunter you meet in Felwood. They're kinda really badass no nonsense.

The alternate timeline of WoD is ideal for the return of Illidan - how that happens is up to blizzard, maybe Tyrande, or Malfurion, or someone who had faith in him, sees an opportunity to reach out to him and avoid the errors that led to his unfortunate fate in TFT. however they do it, we have had hints in lore that the demon hunters have been a part of the night elves for a long long time, it's a philosophical disagreement on how to fight the legion - but they have been staunch defenders of Ashenvale and the Well of Eternity for a long time, though their methods are very different - they are not exactly friends with the arcane -wary normal night elves, but they aren't enemies either.

Who knows what backstory they will use, maybe the satyr wars would have failed without the demon hunting Karabei, who almost seem to disappear into the darker shadows after that event. WE may also get an explanation why 10,000 year imprisoned Illidan doesn't seem more crazy than he came off in WC3 after been released. Because he had somehow been able to communicate, indoctrinate and train a whole group/race of demon hunting night elves, through some form of magic, even though his body was laregely imprisoned. which explains why he is not so completley rubbishly out of shape when Tyrande frees him.

Alternate Illidan is shown what the trip to full demon did to his sanity by his rescuer on DRaenor who knows the details of his fate. Illidan no knowing that full embrace of the demonic is just as lethal and fatal, finds a new path that can effectively hone is group of demon hunteing fel-wielding Karabei into a formidable group that will most assuredly not succumb to the lure of magic.

Note: The demon-hunter is a possibility for a class, with which the Karabei will feature heavily if that becomes a reality. And whiles you will be able to play a Karabei without the class demon-hunter necessarily being available, the theme amongst them will be evident

Appearance:
They have greyer/blacker/dark purple skin tones, they also have different tattoos and body markings. Demon features - like horns on some, wings on another that could either be permanent or part of a demon form racial ability that comes out. They have black clawed hands and feet, can have face bandana masks like Illidan does covering the eyes only.

They have black glowy eyes, almost smoke like, also black with purple specs almost like the night sky where the stars are purple instead, some can have silver specs like the stars themselves in their eyes. Default expression is grim, angrier, tougher.

Hair colours are also darker - including black, dark brown, dark green, a darker purple. They use the night elf model, but their NPCs have a different poke voice recordings. They can be warlocks but not druids. They could probably swap Shadowmeld for another more race specific trait.

Blood Elf
1. Forsaken Elf -
This i've never been sure if it should be a forsaken sub-race or a blood elf one, it could be both and either could have slight variations - namely origin: all forskaen elves are high elves that became forsaken thanks to Arthas. Blood elf forsaken elves though are those of a new power hungry order obsessed with death as a means to power or those that suffered the fate after the blood elves had arisen.

All that's different is really the story, so the devs don't have to do much work, although they could add some other superficial variations between the two. e.g. the forsaken sub race get the red eyes, the blood elf ones get black eyes.

I always imagined in a scenario where you had Blood elf, High elf, Forsaken elf, San'layan Elf and Wnated Elf as playable, they would all start in Quel'thalas as a neutral elf. This would probably involve the blood elf starting zone updated, after the first 6 level of sunstrider isle quests, a transition chain begins where the one who becomes a forsaken elf, dies and gets brought into undeath. It is a quest that brings the player to a choice, the choice determines whether you end up dying to be brought to undeath as a forsaken elf, or you choose the path of a blood elf remaining unchanged, or you disagree with the new philosophy and harken to the ways of the high elf where you are smuggled off Quel'thalas to Darnassus by the night elves who came to spy on the Elves - to continue your journey with the Humans or night elves - your choice or they could make it a phased zone of Dalaran/crystal song. Or you suffer the fate of Wanted, become a magic addicted druggie that is struck unconshous by his mentor as you're getting out of control and you wake up in the sunwell area, healed of

2. Sanlayan Elf:

Story
The story picks up the fate of the San'layan and turns them into a vampire like elf sub-race that at first is at war with the main blood elf party, until a royal defects with his entourage and joins his former friends to fight the larger San'layan populace bent on ruling the blood elves and turning the sunwell into a bloodwell of magic.

San''layan can start a whole dynamic power play in the north, and even give us vampire humans, a forsaken sub-race of living dead, that use a humanized version of the forsaken model (i.e. what the forsaken would look like if they were upright - they could use the blood elf model humanized or with humanized forsaken faces rather than the human model - these are living dead made from the attempt of the San'layan leader to rule the north, he is stopped thanks to the betrayal of this san'layan blood elf royal who defects and some badass action on Sylvannas' part).

Story starts with the power vaccuum left by the Blood Queen from ICC, not saying you get to experience this story, altho it is explained, either during that level 6 interlude where your character chooses what sort of Elf he will become or they could start you in some phased version of ICC and Icecrown for your level 1-6 where you then join your leader who has approached Lor'themar Theron. San'layan are a result of Lich King/Blood elf magic experiements, turns out not all who became San'layan started of nobly, despite their cruel fate.

A power play though is what you get, as one of the surviving Princes makes a play on the North in Tirisfal as he has found a way to control the human population, sadly it doesn't work on undead, so he becomes the ally of the Tirisfal human population fighting the forsaken, he converts them to vampires, over which he can exercise control over. In a bid to stop him, your leader defects, alerts Lor'theamr, Sylvannas is contacted after the forsaken and worgen alike suffer a series of losses to this new force. they then concentrate their efforts on the Prince, Sylvannas takes him out, gaining freedom for the new vampire humans and loyalty - spawning a new forsaken sub-race and majority of the san'layan followers go to the surivivng most powerful san'layan, your leader. But their are other san'layan princes about bent on controlling everything, and they present another local problem for the blood elves.

Appearance
San'layan blood elves have red eyes, like the forsaken elves, but whiles those have high elf/night elf emotes, and postures, these have full blood elf emotes when poked.

They get vampiric fangs and clawed hands sort of twisted/witch-like which you can customize a bit from slight to really long fanged/clawed,

Skin colour is deathly pale with very white tones, i'm not sure even if they should allow skin colour variation for this sub-race who otherwise they look like blood elves. What could be an additional customisation is their blood run marks. Rather than chest hair you get a number of options for complex face and body rune patterns and words. You can customize the patterns and the colours, which go from red to brown through orange to black, although they can play about with trying fel green and arcane blue too.

The Anode'kei or Wanted Elf:
These guys get a massive story revamp, considered the undersirable dregs of blood elf society, this follows a more junky, ex-addict perspective for blood elves, in a wanted or group of wanted that are in recovery and given a new purpose to fight. Their story invovles overcoming stigma, and is more rogue based than mage based, as they have had to lie, charm, cheat and steal their way to survival. This guy is a loveable guy, he's got a noble heart, not all wanted becamse this way because they were greedy by nature, in some cases, ambitious or vengeful lovers were slipping them extra magic in the hope of getting them over-addicted beyond control so they could get them ex-communicated and take their position.. viscious huh,

Magic being their currency, the change in the sunwell from arcane to divine while it didn't completley heal them, it restored enough sanity and control of mind to function. Now while they are making amends for the madness, they are still an ostracised group bent on proving themselves. Fortunately for you, you have to work your way back proving to blood elf society at large that those recovering Wanted

Appearance:
Ever wandered what the blood elves would be like if they were less pristine more rugged/earthy? Here it is. They offer a more rugged look to the otherwise pristine blood elf. They have normal eyes, like the high elves, but marked with huge irises like you get with druggies.

Their eyebrows are thicker, night elf like, a bit crooked like the female night elf has.

They have messier hair styles too, ruddier, more tanned and darker skin tones some as dark as indian/pakistani skin tone level of tan. They are also marked by facial scars, hard living reminders a feature unique to them.

Also the males have more facial hair variations, like a rough full beared stubble, goatee stubble and also have chest hair. They use high elf/night elf emotes when poked rather than blood elf ones, but otherwise are blood elf based.

[Wildmoon]

It would be weird for Highbourne to look different from the NE physically. Seems forced.