Nexus, a fanmade expansion idea. Discussion thread

[matrix123mko]

I could make Arakkoa an allied race, but then I'd need a horde one too, and I definitely don't want Sporeggar folk.

I always wanted to have playable Ogres. They aren't really friends with orcs, but Lordaeronians weren't either. Also, ogres have ancestral ties with orcs.

Indeed! Tinkers have race themed abilities, skills and mechs! I used steam/explosions as descriptors for general understanding.

For example, Blood Elves would use mana explosions and bombs, Undead would use plague, Draenei use crystals and light and Lightforged Draenei use holy bombs. There are already FX for such animations, so I don't think it would be very demanding of the art team to produce such effects.

Your personal art team would argue that it would cause some problem with readibility. For example, light bomb would look like healing effect, while blight would look poisonous. The player wouldn't know if it's holy, nature or fire damage. However, I'll try to solve this problem on some concept art. Maybe I'll find a way to make readable, yet different effects.

[Azalar]

I always wanted to have playable Ogres. They aren't really friends with orcs, but Lordaeronians weren't either. Also, ogres have ancestral ties with orcs.

Your personal art team would argue that it would cause some problem with readibility. For example, light bomb would look like healing effect, while blight would look poisonous. The player wouldn't know if it's holy, nature or fire damage. However, I'll try to solve this problem on some concept art. Maybe I'll find a way to make readable, yet different effects.

I'm no friend of playable Ogres personally. Arakkoas are okay, but Ogres are just unappealing and disheartening compared to Arakkoa.

We didn't have many issues understanding that the bombs and beams from Lightforged Warframes deal damage :P

Aaaaaalso! I'm halfway done through the story of Halphas. So far I can only tell that his story is tied to Kamiel and Xoraxis.

I really like how as the lore develops, all characters seem to have some kind of synergy or relationship between them. It's also particularly interesting that I feel like all stories could be massively expanded, even if what I'm trying to write is some sort of somewhat detailed summary of the lore.

[matrix123mko]

I'm no friend of playable Ogres personally. Arakkoas are okay, but Ogres are just unappealing and disheartening compared to Arakkoa

I personally love them both. I really like Ogre corpulence and their roman aesthetics. Also, they have interesting dualism between arcane affinity and physical strength.

We didn't have many issues understanding that the bombs and beams from Lightforged Warframes deal damage :P

It would be hard to understand that they are exactly same abillity. I think that is the reason why we still don't have blue spells for night elf priest. Of course, as a player, I would love to have different animations for every class that is divided in lore. That's why I will work on black mist for monk soon.

Aaaaaalso! I'm halfway done through the story of Halphas. So far I can only tell that his story is tied to Kamiel and Xoraxis.

I really like how as the lore develops, all characters seem to have some kind of synergy or relationship between them. It's also particularly interesting that I feel like all stories could be massively expanded, even if what I'm trying to write is some sort of somewhat detailed summary of the lore.

I am looking forward to read it soon.

[Azalar]

I am looking forward to read it soon.

I pity having so little time to write :c

I hope I can get stories done soon.

[Azalar]

Quick trivia.

Some of you asked why there are now 6 Thalaz'ir instead of 7. Here's why.



I love coincidences.

[matrix123mko]

Quick trivia.

Some of you asked why there are now 6 Thalaz'ir instead of 7. Here's why.



I love coincidences.

Do I have to redraw Ethereal crest?

[Azalar]

Do I have to redraw Ethereal crest?

Proceed as you wish

[Azalar]

New lore is up!

This time it's about Halphas, Kamiel and the Dark Arbiters.

Please feel free to ask any questions or comments on the story! <3

Halphas and the Dark Arbiters
Halphas chose the last, and was to journey where no one would. His party was also the smallest, for it was him alone. He traveled to the northwest, climbing silent and jagged mountains and treading dark sandy ridges until he found a massive hollow crater of ice. The vista of Val made Halphas feel lonely, cold and very small. He wanted to continue, but his legs would not. He refuged himself in a nearby safe grotto and surrendered to weariness.

A young Vyr'aat sorceress named Kamiel followed Halphas from a safe distance. She found him laying on the rocky floor, covered in ragged and shaggy clothes that once were richly embroidered weave. When he woke up, Kamiel was sat beside him. She told him that she heard of the mysteries of a cold crater of ice to that direction and was immensely curious. Halphas was old and shunned, but he was a benevolent man, and he welcomed the girl's company. Man and girl were very different. Halphas was a weary hermit, and Kamiel an enthusiastic vibrant arcanist apprentice. She warmed his old heart in the vast cold with her sympathy.

Both descended the frozen cliffs of the unexplored Crater of Val. They found twisted shapes within the huge walls of ice that belonged to ancient architecture of a race they had never met before. They encountered frozen demonic creatures trapped in icy tombs, some of which thawed and attacked them. The recently learnt arcane spells of Kamiel froze in the air, transforming into crystallized icy blasts that tore their foes apart. The mage soon mastered her new frozen powers.

They spent what could be days trapped in a massive blizzard that concealed their vision and thwarted their advance through the crater. Kamiel attempted to put away the curtain of flurrying snow. In a magnificent exhibition of power the Vyr'aat delighted, she encased the whole blizzard inside a pendant she carried. The amount of power involved in the incantation transformed Kamiel's pendant into a frozen star that glowed and hummed intensely. The icy star swirled and orbited around the sorceress as if she were the eye of a storm. She was marvelled.

Having had the blizzard dispelled, the old acolyte and the mage resumed the journey. They traversed a cold passage of ice which was no less than an ancient sanctum. They learned from inscriptions on walls and stones that those belonged to a race called Nathrezim, which they did not know about. They discovered that the frozen crater was not originary to K'aresh, and that a very powerful Nathrezim necromancer named Xoraxis caused the planet's doom.

The frost cavern grew darker and the ice turned blacker as they advanced. Halphas and Kamiel knew they were to find something soon, and they did. In the furthest room, Halphas found a grimoire covered in black sleet signed by Xoraxis himself atop a twisted atrium where was what seemed to be a frozen Nathrezim statue, according to the descriptions learned. When the old man removed the thawed frost off the tome and opened it he discovered a thorough compendium of ancient runic magic and the many discoveries of the demonlord. Halphas' knowledge on the mystic and the divide allowed him to quickly go through the contents of the grimoire, learning the secrets of necromancy and insight of death and beyond. Kamiel was curious, but she had to spend a lot of focus on keeping the power contained within the starlight stable.

Halphas meddling with necromantic spells had immediate effects. His body rejuvenated and grew younger. Flesh and bone strengthened. He could feel life surging inside him again. It was unnatural life, but life nonetheless. Halphas saw many uses of this for the good. Kamiel was scared, shocked in awe. Where once was the old crooked husk of a man now was a young Firstborn, fit in body and refreshed in mind.

However, there was but one being who did not agree with trespassers unraveling his secrets. The statue on the wall thawed, releasing Xoraxis from an ancient frozen slumber. He confronted Halphas and Kamiel with a myriad death spells that badly hurt the two of them. In a rush of adrenaline, Kamiel used the power of her starlight and unleashed an immensely powerful starblast against Xoraxis, which directly hit him. This bought Halphas enough time to rush through the tome looking for any kind of offensive sortilege. He summoned unholy waves of carrion swarmers, jagged magical bonespears, spirit bolts, blood missiles... but then, he reached the last page and uttered the forgotten and forbidden runeword:

Xor'vorath.

The three runes shaping the word materialized in the air, glowed intensely in deep blue until it was unbearable for the eye. A massive blast of ice shrieked and howled outward from the very core of Val, putting Xoraxis into a frozen slumber a second time. Halphas and Kamiel ran as fast as they could. The howling black ice blasts nearly reached them. When they got out of the sanctum, the crater trembled, and a surge of frost sleet rushed out from the grotto the two of them just escaped of.

Determined to put necromancy to good use, he journeyed far away, where he knew he would find plenty of bodies. Halphas soon found he no longer had the need to eat, drink or rest. He could sustain himself with magic. The necromancer was often stopped by Kamiel, who needed refreshment. She followed Halphas along the journey, but left him once she found clues on where to find Vyr.

He traveled to a place where the Firstborn claimed Na'karat died, far to the south. It was an arid expanse filled with tombstones close to a mountain. It took Halphas little time to build an underground mausoleum beneath the sands. A secret ossuary where Halphas could experiment and test the contents of the Codex of Xoraxis. Firstborn pilgrims always encountered Halphas dwelling there. He offered them assistance with burial ceremonies and the undertaking procedures. The necromancer performed dark rituals to ensure eternal rest, keep bodies safe, soothe the mournful and respect death. Halphas grew a reputation among all nomad gatherings except his own, whom at this point had probably been forgotten.

Extending his life artificially with no water, food or sleep made Halphas' body gradually consume itself to the bone over the course of time. Many a curious approached the grounds of Narouun’asar intrigued by Halphas’ doings. Indeed, he welcomed some of them as apprentices to instruct them in the dark arts.

A Firstborn man named Abdalzim brought his wife Sarika’s remains to Narouun’asar for burial with his son Zalazim. When the rites were over, the mournful Abdalzim and the weeping child remained beside the resting place of his wife for many days. The necromancer approached the widower, upon which he asked if there was anything left for him or his son in life. Halphas extended his dusty hand. The necromancer offered the man and the boy shelter and the ability to take care of the wife and mother in her death.

Abdalzim and Zalazim became some of Halphas’ best practitioners of dark magic. When Abdalzim passed away, Zalazim took over his father’s legacy in taking care of Sarika.
In exchange for Halphas’ good will over the years, the seasoned warriors of the close town of Farath instructed the necromancers instruction on arms and weaponry. In time, Halphas and his necromancers developed into the Dark Arbiters, guardians of death and the endless peaceful final repose. The Dark Arbiters ultimately received the blessing of Aztalah, consolidating their commitment to the Firstborn and becoming figures of deep respect among their race.

Halphas lived a long life devoted to the well being of the dead. When the artificial link extending his life wore off, his dark acolytes gave him proper burial in Narouun’asar and continued their endless vigil on the dead.

[Choppersan]

Late to comment here,but wow i'm really impressed by how you're managing to connect the dots so far,i especially liked how you're adding references to the Cyphers there and there.

Too bad you can't make an image like those in the Chronicles for the fight between Halphas and Xoraxis,that would be a truly epic image to see.

I guess you will continue Kamiel's history later? I'm curious to see where it will lead.

[Azalar]

Late to comment here,but wow i'm really impressed by how you're managing to connect the dots so far,i especially liked how you're adding references to the Cyphers there and there.

Too bad you can't make an image like those in the Chronicles for the fight between Halphas and Xoraxis,that would be a truly epic image to see.

I guess you will continue Kamiel's history later? I'm curious to see where it will lead.

I'm humbly surprised too by how everything seems connected lmao

And yeah, I thought exactly the same! Halphas and Kamiel versus Xoraxis would make a nice art piece!

Yes! I want cyphers to be in there. Like Artifacts, we should feel we are using devices of power. Cyphers are no random tokens.

Kamiel's story will surely continue <3

[Nomads]

Some people have a little too much time on their hands lol. Also cmon, enough with the Tinker crap. It's been talked to death for nearly a decade. Bad enough we have to deal with emo tryhards running around as Demon Hunters now.

You do realize the more people ask for it, the more likely it will happen right? You're on the losing side

[Nomads]

Did you seriously just necro a post from over a year ago? Miss me with that nonsense lol.

Nope, someone else necro'd... they just brought your nonsense to the front page for all to see.

[Deleted]

Nope, someone else necro'd... they just brought your nonsense to the front page for all to see.

And you thought a throwaway comment made a year and a half ago was worthy of rebuke. You sure showed him.

[Nomads]

And you thought a throwaway comment made a year and a half ago was worthy of rebuke. You sure showed him.

Yes, I did, didn't I?

[Azalar]

Heya!

I just wanted to let you know that Zaathir's lore chapter is coming soon, as well as Dunes of Na'karat map <3

Here's a sneak peek. It's still a wip!

[matrix123mko]

Heya!

I just wanted to let you know that Zaathir's lore chapter is coming soon, as well as Dunes of Na'karat map <3

Here's a sneak peek. It's still a wip!

I like that it has mountains. I don't like flat zones. Also, these floating islands seem interesting.

[Azalar]

At long last it is finished! Here's the result <3

I would've never expected such a nice map lol

[matrix123mko]

Looks nice, It could be ported to WoW now. Maybe the Atrium raid has some weird perspective, but it can be barely seen. Caravanserai is an interesting new place, is this an Efreet "capital"?

[Golden Yak]

Looks good, Azalar! Real good! The Bloom looks lovely.

[ravenmoon]

Very good effort

Interesting, I looked at your Eye of Azshara idea, and what blizzard came up with in Legion for 7.0 was hands down better and more exciting.

However I look at your 8.0 the Twofold Light - and it seems more interesting than BFA.


I am struggling to be interested in anything for that expansion.