Spider Kingdom fan expansion concept

[Grimsdott]

Nerubians and Qiraij belong to the same species, namely the aqir, which were created by the fallen Old God C'thun (fallen as in fallen in the war of with Titans, he was believed to be dead after these events and thus wasn't imprisoned) out of the image of the silithid (which were bug like creatures born from the magical ether from the well of eternity).
So yeah, Nerubians were created by the Old Gods and thus serve them and their minions (the faceless ones) etc.

Actually it's the other way round. Aqir split into silithid and nerubians after war with troll empire. Nerubians ventured north and silithid south (well, to Silithus). There, C'Thun morphed SOME silithid into Qiraji (those inside AQ are Qiraji, those outside are not). So while all silithid are more or less servants of Old Gods, nerubians aren't.

[Auroro]

Actually it's the other way round. Aqir split into silithid and nerubians after war with troll empire. Nerubians ventured north and silithid south (well, to Silithus). There, C'Thun morphed SOME silithid into Qiraji (those inside AQ are Qiraji, those outside are not). So while all silithid are more or less servants of Old Gods, nerubians aren't.

It is this.

Silithid
___\--->Aqir (Extinct)
_________\--->Qiraji
__________\--->Nerubians

The empire is named Azj'Aqir. Therefore Silithid came first then C'Thun morphed Silithid into Aqir which spilt into two (Nerubians and Qiraji). C'Thun combine Aqir and Faceless to created the Qiraji. The Nerubians evolve into what they are today without any Old Gods' effect on them.


The Evolution of the Aqir

Speculation: The evolution of the Aqir

The aqir were intelligent insectoids that ruled the lands of western Kalimdor during the time of the Amani and Gurubashi empires. They were greatly expansionistic and incredibly evil. They fought against the trolls for thousands of years but were eventually defeated and their empire Azj'Aqir were split into two city-states: Azjol-Nerub and Ahn'Qiraj.

C'Thun created his avatars in his own image from the silithid (Who came from near the Well of Eternity).

The qiraji are the descendants of the aqir that fled to Ahn'Qiraj. The qiraji retained their insectoid forms, but evolved in many different ways resulting in a caste system in their society. The qiraji waged the War of the Shifting Sands against the night elves for many years before the elves, with the aid of the bronze dragonflight, trapped the qiraji behind the Scarab Wall until it was reopened.

The nerubians are the descendants of the Aqir that fled to Azjol-Nerub. They lost their insectoid forms and became spider-like. The spiderlords, which are described mixture of beetle and spider, and the fact they reproduce through queens, are links between the races. These spider-like humanoids reigned on the continent of Northrend until the War of the Spider, when they were tragically defeated by the Scourge and many were turned into undead crypt fiends.

The history behind Aqir is like Eredar splitting into two different group and there is no living Eredar around.

Eredar (Extinct)
___\--->Man'ari
____\_____\--->Wrathguard
_____\--->Draenei
_____________\--->Broken
____________________\--->Lost Ones

[Deleted]

i dunno where to begin with how absurd and truly terrible this idea really is. first and foremost I am glad that I never have to set foot in Northrend again, I for 1 think Wrath was the worst thing to happen to wow since the launch. On top of that you have no real intriguing story plots or anything to keep lore fans interested.

On top of all this think of all the complaints Blizz have recieved for revamping old content in cata? and the content theyve revamped was considered the most fun content in the game, what you're offering is the worst content in the game revamped.

I can't believe that any sane person would have this come to them as an idea yet alone take the thing to another level and just run with it.

This is just terrible and theres no polite way of putting it but I think you should seriously stop writing such nonsense before someone actually gets hurt.

[Deleted]

Wow, you are an amazing writer and artist!
You should see if you can become a concept artist for Blizz ;D

[Xiphan]

This is truly incredible man. I've been checking up on this thread every now and then and love seeing how it's progressed. Great artwork and some fantastic area storylines.
Only issue I'd have with this would be the removal of Ulduar. I understand its reasoning, I just love that raid.

[Golden Yak]

Whew, should respond to comments more often. Anyway...

Wow, I can't believe the amount of thought that went into this. Awesome job, very cool idea.

Thanks!

Sundered Monolith is located under Dragonblight meaning it is found in the Upper Kingdom or Wound of the World by your map. Think Sundered Monolith like Minas Tirith (Lord of the Ring) against the Lich King then the Newbreed.

The maps in the OP are just concept art to give a general idea of location and elements. Don't take them as the be all and end all of the Spider Kingdom's geography.

I just adding some info about the trolls' history. They do have these meeting every six years. Last one was over at the start of WoW. ZG/ZA event just tell us the what happen at the Cata meeting.

If the new troll lore introduces any interesting story elements that warrant changing Zul'Drak's revised storyline, I might consider making changes. At the moment I see no reason to.

I just think that you are killing all the twilight members a little too fast or are you going to create more Twilight members for the underground worlds of the Spider Kingdom.

The Hammer agents led by Velius were always intended to be level 70-80 villains. A few of them might turn up in the Spider Kingdom content, though...

This would be cool as a joint expansion (maybe a double revamp of TBC and WotLK). I'm pretty sure people would get sick of nerubians pretty quick if they were the only ones there. I'd say it should be SK, TBC revamp, azshara/south seas combined. That could work. Especially with phasing. Imagine at lvl 90 you return to lands of old that you saw in earlier levels.

Hethalion's started a thread based on a Burning Crusade revamp and has invited others to post their ideas in it:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ild-of-Draenor

It's already filled with excellent stuff, so I think I'll leave revising Outland to them.

The nerubians are the overall threat, but there will be plenty of villainous factions to face aside from them. I don't think they'll wear out their welcome any more than the Burning Legion, Scourge, or Twilight's Hammer did in previous factions.

I came in thinking "Oh awesome another Drow Forgotten Realms Rip off" but no you pulled it off good job, this could be fun.

Thanks. I hope you still feel that way after I introduce the spider-elves!

Though your main bad guy sounds a lot like
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Krayt

Eh. Maybe a little.

As an expansion ? No (although I enjoyed it very much and have nothing but respect for your artistic talents ) There are thousands of better possibilities for an expansion and I doubt Blizz would consider redoing Northrend anytime soon because its fairly new (according to them ). Would be an awsome content patch though! the biggest one to DATE!

Thousands, eh? Name 584!

In all seriousness, I still hold out hope for a patch or expansion that opens up the Spider Kingdom for exploration, though after doing all this I'm no longer convinced one patch would be enough to hold all the potential awesomeness. The beauty of the Northrend revamp is that it doesn't have to be 'soon'... it can happen anytime post-Cataclysm.

Altoh, I'm not so sure about Velius, looking at his artwork, he doesn't really seem like a representative of Yogg-saron avatar, more like a human wearing warrior T11 like armor. I'd prefer it if he had mouths spread out over his body comparable to yogg-saron, since Cho'gall had the all the eyes over his body.

Remember that Cho'gall's transformation was gradual as C'thun's influence grew within him - this wasn't shown in game, but was represented in the comics. Velius' armor is made of pure saronite, the solidified blood of Yogg-Saron - the armor grows and overtakes his flesh, and the more it does the more powerful Velius becomes.

His transformation is not yet complete. It will be by the time players face him as the final boss of the Halls of Reflection.

Aye, but I guess this fan expansion is to be set after the events currently happening in Catalcysm, correct? And since Deathwing is pretty much guaranteed to die in this expansion, I'd see a big possibility to have the remainder of the flight to come back crawling to Alex after their leader is dead (pretty much what the blue flight did after Malygos was killed). That's because the Flight seem to follow their leader/aspect until he or she dies.

These events are post-Cataclysm - otherwise, I'd have had Deathwing show up in Northrend to cause some havoc. Since we don't know Deathwing's ultimate fate, or that of the black dragonflight, I'm holding off on anything that deals with it.

If necessary, the black dragons causing trouble in Northrend can be considered as under the control of the Twilight's Hammer, similar to how some blue dragons are still a threat due to being controlled by the Malevolence.

Thanks for posting!

I don't know if this has been posted before, but I would like to know if your version of Azjol-Nerub would include the Ulduar Tol'vir.

What's left of them, yes. They will form a faction called the Obsidian Scythe, and they are strongly opposed to the nerubians. Players will encounter them for the first time in Ahn'Saron, the Inner Kingdom.

The only issue I find with this is you quite frankly took out every last Northrend raid but OS and VoA. I mean, while you gave valid points for all of your changes, you cant just go and eliminate the enitre raid content of a past expansion. Lore wise, yes it works out. I liked your ideas for Naxx and I suppose Maly wasnt popular to begin with, but to remove ICC and Ulduar?

I think the easiest way to resolve any issue people might have with removing old raids would be to do the following - make them available through the Caverns of Time. I would do this with the earliest version of Naxxramas and the troll raids as well. That way, Blizzard can move the story of the raids forwards and make the areas available for new development, like quest areas and 5-man dungeons, while preserving the original raid experience for people who want to go back and see stuff they missed.

Other than that it really wouldnt be a half bad expansion, but I'd imagine some QQ over returning to what is technically Northrend.

Well, Uldum and Hyjal are technically returning to Kalimdor, while Twilight Highlands and Vashjir are technically Eastern Kingdoms, but I don't think people are too upset with that. If you're past level 85, you'd only be back in Northrend proper to go to Dragonblight so you could access the underground level 90 zones.

If you look at AQ, there is no titan artifact any where.

Also there was no Tol'Vir at all. Ulduar was a Lab and some titan walk into C'thun path and got himself killed.

Blizzard revealed that Ahn'Qiraj was originally a Titan facility (possibly built to study or contain C'thun's presumed dead body) that was taken over by the qiraji. Presumably the facility was once mainted by Tol'vir, whom the qiraji enslaved to create their Obsidian Destroyers. The lack of usual Titan relics and architecture may be due to 16,000 years of occupation by the qiraji.

If a Titan Archivum somehow survived hidden in Ahn'Qiraj, I wonder what it might have to tell us...

Actually it's the other way round. Aqir split into silithid and nerubians after war with troll empire. Nerubians ventured north and silithid south (well, to Silithus). There, C'Thun morphed SOME silithid into Qiraji (those inside AQ are Qiraji, those outside are not). So while all silithid are more or less servants of Old Gods, nerubians aren't.

Not quite correct, although this is likely due to the hazy in-game lore released early on regarding Silithus and the qiraji. Currently, it has been established that the silithid arose early in Azeroth's history, transformed by the Well of Eternity. A group of silithid were later altered by C'thun, becoming the aqir, and the aqir eventually split into the nerubians and the qiraji.

That's the lore I'm operating under, with the early aqir being fervant worshippers of the Old Gods as a collective pantheon, and passing that on to their nerubian descendants.

i dunno where to begin with how absurd and truly terrible this idea really is.

Oh boy! My first hater!

first and foremost I am glad that I never have to set foot in Northrend again, I for 1 think Wrath was the worst thing to happen to wow since the launch.

That's fine. You never have to set foot in Northrend, beyond a brisk flight across Dragonblight to get into the level 90+ Spider Kingdom zones. If you never level an alt, you'll never have to touch the revised Wrath content.

On top of that you have no real intriguing story plots or anything to keep lore fans interested.

Oh, I don't know. I think the Scourge Remnant and Twilight Hammer of Northrend conflict was pretty nifty, if I say so myself. I've put in a few other story hooks, but they may not become apparent until I get into the Spider Kingdom content proper.

On top of all this think of all the complaints Blizz have recieved for revamping old content in cata?

Meh. I never had any complaints about the revamped content.

and the content theyve revamped was considered the most fun content in the game, what you're offering is the worst content in the game revamped.

What fun stuff did they revamp, exactly? Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman? They were pretty fun, I guess, but there wasn't much point to leaving them untouched. They only other stuff that was revamped were all the outdated quests, which haven't been fun since Burning Crusade.

The questing in Wrath was the best we ever had before Cataclysm came out - questing was Wrath's strong point. The only real downside was that since it was so story driven, it's been left behind while the story everywhere else has advanced. The major complaints about Wrath were easy heroics and lame raids.

I can't be bothered to redo all the heroics (though I've tweaked a few of the more story-driven ones), and I've axed almost all the raids. All I've revised is the storyline for the quests, bringing it in-line with current in-game lore. And if you hated the questing so much, you should be grateful for a chance to have it revised.

I can't believe that any sane person would have this come to them as an idea yet alone take the thing to another level and just run with it.

Me neither.

Hooheeheheheheheee!

This is just terrible and theres no polite way of putting it but I think you should seriously stop writing such nonsense before someone actually gets hurt.

Calm down. What, are you going to kill yourself if you read a little bare-bones fanfic and look at a few drawings of spider monsters?

Frankly, that's not much incentive for me to stop...

Wow, you are an amazing writer and artist!
You should see if you can become a concept artist for Blizz ;D

Wouldn't that be something. Thanks!

This is truly incredible man. I've been checking up on this thread every now and then and love seeing how it's progressed. Great artwork and some fantastic area storylines.
Only issue I'd have with this would be the removal of Ulduar. I understand its reasoning, I just love that raid.

Me too, man, me too. Thanks for posting - more to come!

[Auroro]

Blizzard revealed that Ahn'Qiraj was originally a Titan facility (possibly built to study or contain C'thun's presumed dead body) that was taken over by the qiraji. Presumably the facility was once mainted by Tol'vir, whom the qiraji enslaved to create their Obsidian Destroyers. The lack of usual Titan relics and architecture may be due to 16,000 years of occupation by the qiraji.

If a Titan Archivum somehow survived hidden in Ahn'Qiraj, I wonder what it might have to tell us...

Where is the source of blizzard stating Ahn'Qiraj is an titan facility?

If you said wowwiki, it is not fact.

[Golden Yak]

Where is the source of blizzard stating Ahn'Qiraj is an titan facility?

If you said wowwiki, it is not fact.

Blizzard revealed it as a part of their 'Ask Creative Development' feature. There is a record of it here:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/900710701

It's the answer to the 2nd question, 'What happened to all of the Scourge’s Obsidian Destroyers?'

I use wowpedia.org, it is updated and kept up to date far better than wowwiki nowadays.

[Arrowstormen]

Dunno if it has been mentioned, but what about 70-80? When will the zone phase? And why should we lose Argent Tournament? Some people still run that place for mounts.

Plus, didn't they say they wanted to give us a continent? I doubt they gonna pull us back to Northrend anytime soon.

[Deleted]

Strech the map alittle more so it covers the Argent Tournament part of icecrown. If you did ToC you will understand why

Indeed, he needs to do that. But he clearly does know why, as in the new Icecrown section he said that the Argent Tournament Grounds had collapsed, making a hole into the spider kingdom

[Deleted]

Wow! An insane amount of work and creativity have come together in a positive way here. Artwork is really good and most of the ideas are very interesting. I haven't checked the Wiki out yet, but I think more variety would be needed for it to be a full expansion from what I've seen so far. Like the difference between Vashj'ir and Uldum, rather than Storm Peaks and Icecrown.

Good work, I look forward to seeing more.

[Golden Yak]

Dunno if it has been mentioned, but what about 70-80? When will the zone phase? And why should we lose Argent Tournament? Some people still run that place for mounts.

Plus, didn't they say they wanted to give us a continent? I doubt they gonna pull us back to Northrend anytime soon.

Northrend remains 70-80 content, just as the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor remain 1-60 content.

The Argent Tournament was an unfortunate victim of my desire to nuke the coliseum raid from orbit. Oh well!

Since this expansion concept can fit any level range, it can come anytime after Cataclysm, but does not have to come immediately after.

Wow! An insane amount of work and creativity have come together in a positive way here. Artwork is really good and most of the ideas are very interesting. I haven't checked the Wiki out yet, but I think more variety would be needed for it to be a full expansion from what I've seen so far. Like the difference between Vashj'ir and Uldum, rather than Storm Peaks and Icecrown.

Good work, I look forward to seeing more.

I intend to make the three undergound zones at least as varied and unique as any of the new Cataclysm zones.

Thanks for posting, more to come!

[Deleted]

I look forward to it.

If you don't mind me asking - have you made all of the concept art yourself (apart from the backgrounds for the dungeon concept, I take it, obviously), and what method did you use to alter the old maps of Northrend zones? I have a passion for creating WoW fan work myself and find those particular aspects really cool.

[DeltrusDisc]

I look forward to it.

If you don't mind me asking - have you made all of the concept art yourself (apart from the backgrounds for the dungeon concept, I take it, obviously), and what method did you use to alter the old maps of Northrend zones? I have a passion for creating WoW fan work myself and find those particular aspects really cool.

I second this question, if it's photoshop then that is some DAMN pro photoshopping!

[Deleted]

Amazing work, seriously, very well done.
I guess you have a lot of free time in your hands :P

I like the idea, keep it up!

[Deleted]

I second this question, if it's photoshop then that is some DAMN pro photoshopping!

It's probably a mixture of stuff he did himself and photoshopping. Both of them would be pretty pro, I wonder how much time this guy's put into all this badassery (is that even a word).

Anyway, keep up the good work, Golden Yak, and may your fur keep shining golden (but a golden yak's fur is brown!)

[Chrno]

holy crap, this must've been an insane amount of work !
i must say, i love the idea !

[Golden Yak]

Update! Took a while, but I did pages for the reworked Halls of Reflection:

Halls of Reflection

The re-vamped Halls of Reflection contains two boss encounters:

Xarosan

Twilight Lord Xarosan is the first boss in the Halls of Reflection in Icecrown Citadel. One of the Highborne of ancient Kalimdor, Xarosan has been growing in knowledge and power for over ten thousand years, mastering arcane magicks, summoning the elements, and the demonic powers of darkness. Having come to believe that mastering death is the truest path to everlasting life under the dominion of the Old Gods, in recent years Xarosan has begun studying necromancy extensively. In Dragonblight he attempted to continue the former Scourge's efforts there to raise slain dragons as undead wyrms. Since his defeat, he has remained close to his master, Velius, waiting for an opportunity to exact his revenge. He has followed Velius into the Halls of Reflection, where the true goals of the Twilight's Hammer are about to be revealed.

Twilight Master Velius

Twilight Master Velius is the final boss in the Halls of Reflection in Icecrown Citadel. Ever since awakening after the defeat of Yogg-Saron at Ulduar, Velius has been driven to gain access to the innermost chambers of the Lich King's mighty fortress. His armor, forged of saronite, has become a part of his body, a living metallic flesh that grows and transforms him into an instrument of the Old Gods. The voices in his mind whisper to him of the great treasures that the Lich King has left behind, weapons that will be used to usher in a new era of darkness.

In the Shadow Throne, Velius awaits.

These dungeons wrap up the revised Northrend storyline and a set the stage for the Spider Kingdom story.

This is concept art of Velius during the final phase of the boss encounter:


Next - dungeon maps! Real ones this time!

******

I look forward to it.

If you don't mind me asking - have you made all of the concept art yourself (apart from the backgrounds for the dungeon concept, I take it, obviously), and what method did you use to alter the old maps of Northrend zones? I have a passion for creating WoW fan work myself and find those particular aspects really cool.

I second this question, if it's photoshop then that is some DAMN pro photoshopping!

All the creature and character stuff is mine. For the maps, I'm obviously using Blizzard's stuff and tweaking it a little. For any changes I make, I used adobe Photoshop - mainly using different layer filters and especially the Clone Tool in order to blend the changes I make into the original art. I also use photoshop to scan, color, and touch up any of my original art.

Amazing work, seriously, very well done.
I guess you have a lot of free time in your hands :P

*sigh* not so much these days. That's why I haven't so much as sketched a spider-beastie lately - totally swamped at work. Hopefully I'll be able to put together the next update soon... but probably not ><

Anyway, keep up the good work, Golden Yak, and may your fur keep shining golden (but a golden yak's fur is brown!)

It's always gold... in my heart.

holy crap, this must've been an insane amount of work !
i must say, i love the idea !

Thanks!

[Explosion_Rex]

Ah dude.... I'm glad you're still updating but that was such a small update.

NEED MOAR!

[Golden Yak]

Hopefully the next one will be sooner.