Revendreth's crucial role?

[Mace]

I suspect the 4 covenants supposedly 4 of thousands in teh shadowlands were designed because they played very crucial roles.

Maldraxxus were the defends of the shadowlands
Kyrians ferried souls from life to death
Night fae - were responsible for the rebirth cycle of death to life


The Maw was obviously the prison

But what is Revendreth's crucial role? Afterlife rehab for the most sinful?

[Myradin]

It sees like its goal was to be a filter on what actually got sent to the maw.

[Rendark]

But what is Revendreth's crucial role? Afterlife rehab for the most sinful?

That's about it.

[Aucald]

I tend to think of Oribos and the 4 Covenant realms as what is essentially the "engine" of the Shadowlands as a whole. Oribos houses the Arbiter and acts as the hub through which every realm of the Shadowlands is accessible. Bastion acts as the training grounds of the Kyrians, who perform essential roles as psychopomps, stewards, and observers in other realms. Maldraxxus and the Necrolords defend the Shadowlands from threats internal and external. The Night Fae and Ardenweald provide the service that essentially recycles Ancients and Wild Gods, facilitating their cycles of rebirth and/or reincarnation. Revendreth and its Venthyr function as the Shadowlands' version of purgatory, rehabilitating malicious souls and providing them a means to eventually be redeemed and assigned to a suitable afterlife by the Arbiter. Revendreth also stores excess anima and tends to be the Shadowlands' biggest energy producer, and serves as the powerhouse of the other cardinal realms. The Maw is essentially a dumping ground for souls that can't be redeemed and serves as the prison of the Shadowlands (although the new Arbiter has now deemed it obsolete).

Together, the five cardinal realms work in tandem to provide the key functionalities of the Shadowlands.

[Lochton]

I always saw Revendreth as the processing area.

Looked at Shadowlands as a machine.

Kyrian 'fuels' the machine, Revendreth processes the more problematic resources, and Ardenweald is packaging and deployment. Maldraxxus is the protectors of the machine, and the Maw is where they deposit unwanted refuse.

[Progenitor Aquarius]

It's more like a purgatory for sinners who can still be redeemed. The most problematic souls go there. The Maw is a damned place for lost causes.

[Mace]

@Aucald what makes you think Revendreth is the biggest energy producer?

I wonder what others think of the design. For a fictitious afterlife, how well was it designed?

I’m still not sold on the cardinal value of Revendreth - however in the absence of a Maw, it serves dually as prison and rehab.

If you feel redemption is very important then Revendreth serves a vital function. Hakar should have been sent there or the maw.

And if Ardenweald only sends back wild gods, how important is it? How important are wild gods that a mechanism exists to facilitate them exclusively ? Unless Ardenweald is the only place available for animals in the afterlife.

Wild gods must serve a very vital function in maintaining or facilitating the life of the living realm.

When we examine them they serve all sorts of functions from animals, to people, mastery over all forms of magics. Like guardians or conveyors of the natural order. They make life sustainable or possible for us.

However they are clearly different from us, as powerful as they are.

I see where elements are needed, order is needed too.

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Perhaps we are going about it the wrong way. Thinking there is a deep meaning behind.

The zones were probably created because they wanted a pretty night elf forest, a proper Dracula type zone. Bastion or where the spirit resets come from was what most of us thought was basically shadowlands.

Promos makes sense as a place to connect everything.

Maldraxxus was because they wanted an undead vibe zone. Afterwards they then started trying to give them meaning. They definitely make sense this way round

[Aucald]

Aucald what makes you think Revendreth is the biggest energy producer?

Both the giant reservoirs of anima that Denathrius had, the ones he empties into the Maw at the close of the Revendreth leveling story arc, and the notion that the Winter Queen sent an envoy to Sire Denathrius requesting aid in the form of Revendreth's excess anima to stave off the effects of the drought that were decimating Ardenweald and causing massive swathes of the region decay and crumble into the In-Between.

As for Revendreth's purpose, well, that really depends on how one views the moral modeling of Warcraft as a fictional universe. Warcraft, as a setting, has an axiomatic model of morality where good and evil are empirical qualities that can and are judged (by the Arbiter) when a soul arrives in the Shadowlands, and based on said model a soul is deemed fit for either a specialized afterlife of the Arbiter's choosing or they're deposited in Revendreth for rehabilitation for their "sins" in life, using a rough analog of the "Seven Deadly Sins" for how sinful souls are determined and ultimately judged, with Denathrius' appointed Harvesters being named for these roles: Dominion, Wrath, Pride, Desire, Avarice, Envy, and Dread.

Wild Gods, by virtue of their seeming covenant with the Winter Queen and Ardenweald, are exempt from judgment by the Arbiter and instead subject to a process of rebirth and/or reincarnation. I assume the Winter Queen or the Arbiter can, in extremis, put the kibosh on the process if a Wild God proves to be a danger to the Shadowlands or the cycle of Death itself (e.g. like Mueh'zala proved to be) - but that's not really known. Similarly, the Maw exists as a prison on which Death's immediate threats like Zovaal can be secured for eons at a stretch, and also the ultimate destination of souls that cannot be rehabilitated in Revendreth, though this is supposed to be a rarity.

Wild Gods exemplify and incarnate a number of natural processes across many worlds, and also generally serve as those worlds' protectors and last line of defense against planetary threats.

[Mace]

What happens to a wild god when his world dies ? I wonder if that was ever addressed.

I thought Densthrius had been over taxing his denizens and stealing anima from other realms. Those cats were so vast because he had caused the anima drought by his theft. Didn’t the Winter Queen send messages to other covenants?


However if Revendreth is the only place you can go to if you don’t qualify for a good after life or need rehab to qualify, then it has a very important function. It could conceivably be one of the largest covenants.

I guess it’s a good thing that once rehab is done, those souls get to go to a new destination.

[Calfredd]

What happens to a wild god when his world dies ? I wonder if that was ever addressed.

I feel like you skipped over all of Ardenweald if you are asking that question. Those without a home to be reborn into stay in Ardenweald (Ysera being an exception) like Droman Aliothe.

[Aucald]

What happens to a wild god when his world dies ? I wonder if that was ever addressed.

I thought Densthrius had been over taxing his denizens and stealing anima from other realms. Those cats were so vast because he had caused the anima drought by his theft. Didn’t the Winter Queen send messages to other covenants?


However if Revendreth is the only place you can go to if you don’t qualify for a good after life or need rehab to qualify, then it has a very important function. It could conceivably be one of the largest covenants.

I guess it’s a good thing that once rehab is done, those souls get to go to a new destination.

As previously mentioned, Aliothe is an example of a Wild God whose world was destroyed by the Legion but nonetheless opted to remain in Ardenweald and serve the Winter Queen as Droman (or leader) of one of its core principalities. Presumably, other Wild Gods and Ancients whose worlds have been decimated by outside forces make similar choices, or perhaps are reborn on other worlds, depending on the whims of the Winter Queen or the Arbiter.

Denathrius was overtaxing his denizens and stockpiling much more anima than normal, and even withholding from the other realms who were suffering during the anima drought, all so it could aid the Jailer later on. But the fact that the Winter Queen sent a missive directly to Revendreth and Denathrius for aid strongly implies that providing anima is one of Revendreth's services to the Covenants. Revendreth is one of the Shadowlands primary energy producers as the castigation of souls produces anima directly, whereas the other realms tend to be energy eaters: the Kyrians using it to power Ascension, the Necrolords to create their soldiers and power their Necromancy, and Ardenweald to gestate and safeguard Wildseeds to ensure the rebirth of Wild Gods.

When Revendreth is functioning normally, I would wager it doesn't produce nearly as much anima as we see in Denathrius' stockpiles, but probably still has a healthier buffer than the other three Covenant realms. This excess is used for the creation of new Venthyr, as well as maintaining the realm itself, with the rest stored in case it is needed. It's also noteworthy that of all the realms suffering the drought, Revendreth was the least hit overall - with Ardenweald falling apart, Bastion remaining at a standstill with acolytes unable to move forward to become full-fledged Kyrians, and Maldraxxus forced to essentially cannibalize itself as its great Houses fell into barbarism. Revendreth's people were oppressed and brutally taxed, but the realm itself continued to function, despite Denathrius extorting more and more anima for his own designs.

[cparle87]

I suspect the 4 covenants supposedly 4 of thousands in teh shadowlands were designed because they played very crucial roles.

Maldraxxus were the defends of the shadowlands
Kyrians ferried souls from life to death
Night fae - were responsible for the rebirth cycle of death to life


The Maw was obviously the prison

But what is Revendreth's crucial role? Afterlife rehab for the most sinful?

Yeah. It's the court of last appeal. Either you shape up here or off to the Maw with you. They have things set up to break people depending on what sin they did. If they enjoyed inflicting pain and fear on people they're sent to the woods where they're made the prey and hunted down. If they're prideful, boastful, and arroant they're locked away all alone for millenia until the "great deeds" they thought they'd be immortalized for are forgotten and what tiny, insignificant specks they are is rammed home. If you're greedy and selfish you live in squalor in the shadow of Castle Nathria knowing all that wealth, comfort, and power is eternally out of your reach.

[Nymrohd]

Revendreth was Anima production central. Sinners seemed to be capable of producing overwhelming amounts of anima and whatever ethics the First Ones obeyed, they did not want to extract from non-sinners. While every other realm was in drought, Revendreth had MASSIVE reserves accumulated. It was all about the utility of sin. You can get away with doing anything to those who "deserve" it.

[Mace]

Revendreth was Anima production central. Sinners seemed to be capable of producing overwhelming amounts of anima and whatever ethics the First Ones obeyed, they did not want to extract from non-sinners. While every other realm was in drought, Revendreth had MASSIVE reserves accumulated. It was all about the utility of sin. You can get away with doing anything to those who "deserve" it.

So it seems. But I hadn’t picked up on the extracting anima from them in particular. But it’s an important point. No other covenant extracts anima from sentient beings. Bastion did from creatures, at great need. But not from their aspirants/acolytes.

I suppose there is a logic to it. I ask why 4? And it is interesting they didn’t do something like a island expeditions where you visit other shadowrealm worlds or zones

[Nymrohd]

So it seems. But I hadn’t picked up on the extracting anima from them in particular. But it’s an important point. No other covenant extracts anima from sentient beings. Bastion did from creatures, at great need. But not from their aspirants/acolytes.

I suppose there is a logic to it. I ask why 4? And it is interesting they didn’t do something like a island expeditions where you visit other shadowrealm worlds or zones

I would not call it interesting. I'd call it lazy. We DID see another SHadowrealm zone; Tazavesh. Korthia also is a different zone; it was dragged in the Maw but supposedly it was a realm hidden somewhere in the beyond or whatever the area between the realms is called. I'd guess that the Other Side is also a different realm that just has a portal to Ardenweald. Heck Zereth Mortis also physically exists in the same Void and not in a different plane; the Jailer managed to anchor a piece of it after all where the Guardian was; it just broke off.

[Venziir]

I suspect the 4 covenants supposedly 4 of thousands in teh shadowlands were designed because they played very crucial roles.

Maldraxxus were the defends of the shadowlands
Kyrians ferried souls from life to death
Night fae - were responsible for the rebirth cycle of death to life


The Maw was obviously the prison

But what is Revendreth's crucial role? Afterlife rehab for the most sinful?

Revendreth was purgaroty.

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I would not call it interesting. I'd call it lazy. We DID see another SHadowrealm zone; Tazavesh. Korthia also is a different zone; it was dragged in the Maw but supposedly it was a realm hidden somewhere in the beyond or whatever the area between the realms is called. I'd guess that the Other Side is also a different realm that just has a portal to Ardenweald. Heck Zereth Mortis also physically exists in the same Void and not in a different plane; the Jailer managed to anchor a piece of it after all where the Guardian was; it just broke off.

"Best" part of Korthia was, that it was called 'The CITY(!) of Secrets'. Wow, such a city it was!

[Nymrohd]

"Best" part of Korthia was, that it was called 'The CITY(!) of Secrets'. Wow, such a city it was!

I am not gonna comment further on the quality of the other realms. I am just saying, they were there.

[Pregnant Orc]

* Oribos was input handling. Ferrying souls to the Shadowlands. They got refilled only to be able to keep the stream going.
* Ardenweald was the processing center. Turning death into rebirth and fulfilling the objective of the Shadowlands.
* Maldraxxus was defense. Plain and simple
* The Maw was the landfill for toxic waste.
* Korthia was the manual, discarded as all manuals are.
* Revendreth was maintenance. It took the toxic, but not overly so, elements and turned them into anima, the lubrication of the Shadowlands machine. Needed to keep everything going without grinding to a halt.
So in a sense we can call him Sire Denathrius <Lord of the lube>.

[Aucald]

"Best" part of Korthia was, that it was called 'The CITY(!) of Secrets'. Wow, such a city it was!

I think the implication was that Korthia was once a lot more vast than what we see in-game, as the Jailer was only interested in the vault we retrieve the sigil from and essentially destroyed the rest of Korthia when he dragged that area into the Maw to invade it.

[Mace]

I think the implication was that Korthia was once a lot more vast than what we see in-game, as the Jailer was only interested in the vault we retrieve the sigil from and essentially destroyed the rest of Korthia when he dragged that area into the Maw to invade it.

Indeed, but I hate when they do that, but then it is much easier to do a ruined zone than a complete city.. something that combined Oribos with Tazavesh but on a grander scale woudl have looked awesome.


Nazjatar and Mechagon, with the ruins of Zin'Azsashiri and Argus were much better attempts.. although the functional land was pretty much the same - ruins.. they at least did a pretty city background