A BRIEF INTRODUCTION : READ BEFORE VOTING.
Before we delve deeper into the suggestion we have to take a step back and have a brief overview of the Naga race. The naga race appeared in Warcraft3 as un unplayable race of serpentine humanoids, they had pretty much everything a playable race had : from workers and basic buildings to high tier units and even upgrades. the Naga were the former the highborne of Zin'Azshari that became twisted and mutated into their current form as result of Queen Azshara's pact with the old god Nzoth, which was quickly struck when her capital sank deep beneath the ocean. The naga were brooding under the ocean for 10k years now, and have only resurfaced after the third war in alarming numbers.
Each warcraft playable race has their own theme and backstory, some were well-established like Blood Elves and some were heavily retconned to their current state (Draenei, Worgen) and some just appeared out of nowhere (Pandaren, though they were a hero-race in W3 they looked more like an easter-egg/extra flavor rather than a serious thing)
Now, the Naga have a lot of potential to become a playable race. and if you delve into their lore you realize that Blizzard can easily make them playable without having to do a lot of brainstorming. They have unique, untapped theme that is not used by any other race and it makes them a great candidate for a future playable race.
Racial mount? Check.
Racial flying mount? Check.
Unique Theme and racial language? Check and Check.
Well established lore and place in warcraft universe? Check.
What can they bring to the table :
No-one knows the sea better than a Naga, if a sea-based expansion ever comes out the Naga can be valuable assets. Alliance and Horde both made few underwater adventures, take Vash’jir for example, and lore-wise they ended in disaster because surface dwellers are just not built for the challenges of the world below. The Naga are very formidable in their natural habitat and bear in mind that it’s gonna take more than just Gnomish technology and Earthen Ring’s elemental magic to beat them in their capital city of Nazjatar.
Issues sorrounding playable Naga and how to fix it :
But the Naga face one serious issue : They’re not bipedal. It’s gonna cause a few problems most notable of them is mounting, now many players threw around suggestions regarding their gear, and their possible mounting animation.
Some ideas have been thrown around and though many of them offered a good solution to the gear problem (legs, feet) and mounting problem (pic below) I've chosen to offer an alternate solution of mine : make naga bipedal.
the mounting issue can be either resolved by making Naga wrap their tails beneath them, or by making them ride side-saddle.
side saddling can also fix the mounting issue, though I'm not sure if it's gonna look solid on all mounts. one solution is to have 2 different mounting animations for different mounts, if it's possible.
legs + feet armor slots can be turned to tail covers and tail rings, similar action was done in the past regarding troll/worgen/draenei and pandaren feet armor slots. so having the related armor models to appear different on the naga is a viable solution.
The Alternate Solution : Bipedal Naga
why bipedal? The idea may sound far fetched to some people and many consider Naga's lack of legs as their iconic trait to the point that they may not feel comfortable playing just another bipedal race. but consider this : the playable Naga are clearly not aligned with Azshara and old gods right? So, the very same hand that gave them their power can take it away when it wills it.
But... should we turn them into 100% bipedal creatures? no, if anyone has seen a few mermaid movies/stories they're familiar with the concept of mermaids developing legs on land...and shapeshift into their true form either at will or when exposed to water. it can be integrated into the Naga race as a racial shapeshift ability similar to Worgen, except it won't be "purely cosmetic", more detail in the racial section.
Backstory : The drowned Kaldorei.
Venna Seastar was one of the captains of Kaldorei resistance during the war of ancients, She was known for her unwavering loyalty and courage against all odds. When the time came for the final assault on Zin'Azshari Venna was tasked with fighting the highborne and their demonic minions while Malfurion could sneak into Azshara's palace with a handful of his followers. when the Night Elf capital of Zin-Azshari was swallowed whole during the sundering Venna and her men, numbering about 500, became trapped within the city ruins along with the highborne they were fighting. as the capital plunged deep into the sea the night elf commander was assured of their doom. unbeknownst to them, Azshara's quick thinking lead to a pact between her and the old god N'zoth.
N'zoth saved Azshara's kin who saw their death as an absolution : as the waves devoured the night elves of Zin Azshari thousands of hoghborne and kaldorei alike were mutated into the serpentine naga instead of drowning and Azshara herself turned into a monstrosity and a creature filled with hate.
Venna and her men woke up from their slumber a decade later, only to find themselves forever changed by this mysterious curse. hunted by Azshara's henchmen, Venna's followers were finally found by Neptulon who offered them protection in return of their servitude. under Neptulon's protection Venna's men grew in in strength as they learned about the underwater world, their numbers increased as they took in more of their kin (either by finding more of Kaldorei survivors or by taking in Azshara's exiled opponents from Naz'jatar). Venna became known as Venna seastorm by the Naga: an experienced sea witch with great leadership skills and an unbreakable will. The renegade nagas became the Seastorm tribe and found their capital deep beneath the ocean, hidden from Azshara's sight.
During the cataclysm and the nearly successful attack on Neptulon's base and his apparent defeat, the seastorm Naga found themselves exposed and without the elemental lord's protection. Feeling that the time is ripe to get rid of the renegade naga tribe for good, Azshara devised a plan to kill all of the seastorm with one swift strike.
with N'zoths guidance Azshara recovered an ancient titan artifact, one with the power to cleanse old god corruption, and planned to use it on the Seastorm capital to turn them all into their origional Kaldorei form, which would drown and kill them instantly.
The capital of the Seastorm naga was quickly besieged by Azshara, Who brought the artifact close to the renegade city to unleash it's power upon them. Venna, upon learning about Azshara's true intention, quickly assembles an elite strike force and leads them behind enemy lines to disable the device and save her kin from imminent death, while the battle is still commencing the device is activated prematurely as the result of the sabotage. The device explodes, and sends a shockwave through out the entire zone which causes “partial” transformation of all the nagas who were within the blast radius. Azshara herself gets only weakened by the blast but half of her strike force, along with most of the rebels, turn into a cross between night elves and Naga.
The renegades, still outnumbered by Azshara’s naga, use the confusion among Azshara's ranks and evacuate the city and make their way into the surface knowing that the sea is no longer a safe place for them.
But Azshara, bitter about the defeat, quickly realizes that she’s been given a serendipity : by sabotaging her device the renegades have accidentally created a very formidable army for Azshara, an army of Naga crossbreeds that can perform well both underwater and on the surface. Thus, Azshara sends in the mutated section of her army to the surface to try to hunt the Seastorm naga down and establish outposts on the surface. This action, along with a couple of other provoking behaviours, gives both Alliance and Horde enough reason to invade the south seas.
Race Description :
FACTION : ALLIANCE.
Racial Mount : Snap Dragons, these beasts were part of the Naga units in Warcraft 3 but are surprisingly absent in WoW.
Snapdragons can act as the racial naga mount.
Spoken Language : Common, Nazja
Appearance :
The bipedal Naga are not very different than normal Naga except that they are well…bipedal, plus their females only have ONE pair of hands as result of their transformation. I’m still looking to find a good name for them but for now I’ll just refer to them as renegades or seastorms.
[center]
outdated: a possible female Naga affected with bipedalism.
New : addressed some issue with the "angry face", the lack of iconic siren fin (on the head), and added a tail.
(update 2016) : now with exxagerated tail :}
(update 2017) : a new, improved face that looks more dangerous but still keeps the general feel of a Siren intact. :}
Females : Standing straight, naga females are slim, tall and appear very feminine, female naga in Warcraft have kept a lot of their “elven” features… so it shouldn’t be much different when they’ve turned bipedal.
As for head, the current female naga have… problematic heads especially if they want to become playable. The fin is just too big and it stretches from the back of their head to their lower body. It makes it clip with many gear pieces. So it would make sense if, for the sake of gameplay, female renegades lose most of this fin and only have it in place of ears or other parts of their head.
Naga females, as is customary with all WoW races, should also have have some sort of hair, in shape of “spikes” like SC2’s Kerrigan.
How a potential bipedal male Naga can look like. Males : Now naga males are more muscular and have more reptilian features similar to the saurok, I don’t know why but Blizzard has taken this approach and playable naga also should stay true to this formula. Male renegades are muscular, serpentish, haunched and appear more savage and rough looking as opposed to the graceful appearance of females.
Class Section :
Nagas should be quite flexible in their choice of class, they're strong, sneaky, and clever at the same time and have shown to have good knowledge of taming beasts, enslaving elementals and using their natural habitat to their advantage. they're also descendants of highborne which makes them formidable mages.
Classes : Warrior, Death Knight, Shaman, Hunter, Monk, Druid, Rogue, Priest, Mage
* Death Knight : Renegade Death Knights are a possibility, These renegades were origionally Naga who were captured and turned into Death Knights by the scourge, the Lich King managed to remove some of the old god’s influence from the Naga to make them more obedient and useful, which resulted in a partial reversion into their original Night Elf form. They’re not exactly the same as the seastorm naga and they may even look slightly different in lore, But they share the same model with the renegades in game for gameplay purposes.
* Shaman : As creatures of the sea it would be very important to them to be able to communicate and take control of the elements that dwell under the sea. Naga shamans were taught by Neptulon's minions the ways of the elements, as result these shamans regard Neptulon highly and they do their best to respect him and the elements.
Renegade shamans use totems made out of corals and seashells.
* Monk: Renegade monks are not exactly an old class but rather a new one. Renegade monks have no martial art background prior to their life on the surface but are taught the ways of monks when they start the game. Just like how other non-pandaren races become monks : from traveling monks who have agreed to teach others the powers of chi.
* Druid: A rather cool class to have especially for Naga, Naga druids can be unique and exotic because unlike previous Druids their art can be unique and underwater themed, an aqua-themed druid is a fresh change from the traditional druid theme imo. Naga Druids were former Night Elf druids who were turned to Naga when Zin Azshai drowned, these powerful naturists managed to keep their knowledge in their cursed form and use them to overcome the obstacles of their new habitat.
Bear Form : a giant bear with visual characteristics of sea creatures. (eel head, scales, etc.)
Cat Form : a cat with visual characteristics of sea creatures, they can be a cross between lions and komodo dragons.
their catform can look something like this :
Moonkin form : a creature with similar stature to moonkin but with fins on legs, arms and around the head instead of feathers. Their head resembles a saurok more than a bird, as a result the creature lacks the iconic moonkin beak and instead possesses a serpentish mouth.
Travel Form : Same with NE Travel Form.
Flight Form : a small Cauatl, These beasts served as Naga flying units in W3 but just like Snap Dragons they are absent in WoW. Their appearance is a cross between sea serpents and nether rays.
Sea form : Leatherback Sea Turtle.
Tree form : A giant treant made of different corals.
*Priest : Seastorm Naga are firm believers in Elune, they believe that even in the darkest place of the world the light of Elune can still pierce the shadow and make it's way into her children's hearts and minds.
*Mage : Naga mages were former followers of Azshara who were exiled/chased away from Azshara's domain because of their disobedience and joined the renegade ranks in order to be safe from Azshara's wrath. the renegades themselves are wary of these Naga due to their highborne past.
Racials :
Shapeshift (active): The renegades can shapeshift into their origional Naga form after doing a series of quests in the starting zones.
This way players who prefer to play as leg-less Naga will also be satisfied.
Call Murloc labourer (active): Calls for a murloc ally to harvest the selected herb/skin selected animal/mine selected node. Player has to have the related profession, and have sufficent skill to harvest the related resource. Harvested resource will be automatically sent to your bag.
*murloc will have random name/color.
Cold Blooded (passive): resource regeneration is increased by 25% while below 15%.
Ocean Dweller (passive): swim speed increased by 20%, infinite breath while underwater.
Siren's presence (female) / Myrmidon's presence (male) Passive): increases resource regeneration rate by 5%. Affects the entire party/raid. Does not stack.
Starting Zone : Ships Bane Cove (1-12)
Ships Bane cove is a bay situated on the coastline between Stormwind and Dun Morogh, it is known by sailors as a naturally created killzone for ships due its shallow rocky seabeds, dangerous cliff islands and near invisible shoals. the Stormwind navy avoids sending large patrols to the area for fears of losing them to the rocky bay, as result the coastal area is roamed by pirates and criminals who use their small boats to navigate the dangerous coast.
there are scattered small villages of fishermen on various places of the bay and evidently, the life in the bay is quite tough for these fishermen : if the pirates and the rocky coast does not harm you, the constant stormy weather is dangerous enough to sink your boat if you're not careful enough.
small bands of murlocs live inside the dwellings and caves near the coastline, scavenging whatever they can find from their sorroundings. though these murlocs are fiercely territorial they rarely go out of their territory and into areas inhabitated by humans, as such the locals do their best to avoid them.
moving further inland several packs of gnolls live in the foggy forests of Northern Stormwind, though their numbers are growing dangerously their infighting has prevented them from causing any real threat to the alliance garrison in the south. though the pirates seem to count gnolls as their #1 threat.
the entrance to Stormwind is blocked off by a human garrison situated on top of a narrow mountain pass in the south, it proves to be an impenetrable line of defense against the unorganized gnoll bands and thieves that roam the northern area. the garrison itself, coupled with the dangerous coastline and the pirate presence serves as a deterring force against any conventional army.
------quest overview------
The story of your PC is quite different compared to other races: while PCs of other races are considered “zeroes” and inexperienced characters who are rising to becoming a great hero, you character WAS a Naga champion and among the elite soldiers who participated in the sabotage of Azshara’s device. But your character still starts the game as a level 1.
Your PC is washed ashore somewhere along the coastline, with no memory of who they are or how they got there. Struck with amnesia, you befriend the local humans of that area and, upon finding more of your kin you aid them against the Naga forces that are pursuing them. During the 1-10 quest zone you recover artifacts that cause some of the memory to return, and you get to visit your past life as a level 100 elite Naga. You witness how you fought and saved a lot of your kin, and what led to your memory loss.
the theme of these "memory flash backs" are similar to the battlemaiden questline in Vash'jir where you experience the world as a kickass naga battlemaiden. you possess power abilities that lets you overcome challenges with ease and throughout the quest zone you realize that the renegades regard you highly despite you having no memory of who you were.
Sub zones :
Tricksters Reef : (1-2)
Tricksters reef was named so after a folklore story, it is said that long ago a group of human thieves tricked unsuspecting ships into getting beached at the reef. True or not, alot of ship captains found their ships stuck in the shallow shoals of tricksters reef. Your PC is washed ashore at tricksters reef, with no recollection of who you are. You are found by the local fishermen who live at tricksters reef.
Hatescale frontier (3-4) :
the hatescale naga have built a frontline base at the borthern part of tricksters reef, their job is to enslave the local population and kill the renegade refugees. Upon encountering the base your pc frees some of the renegade prisoners and assists them with freeing the renegade leaders who are being held captive at the base.
Tider rider's wreckage (5-5) :
Tide rider is a zandalari ship bound for siltburg for unknown purposes. It was ambushed by the naga and its crew abandoned the ship for the nearby ice troll village of frostmane overlook. Your pc ventures into the wreckage to find out more about the ships mission.
Veeras retreat (6-7) :
The main refuge camp of your race, half of the camp is built underwater and the other half is built on the shoreline. Your pc is tasked with assisting the renegade with defeating the naga forces who are dominant in the underwater areas of the zone.
Marge's barge (8-9) :
the only pirate ship able to move through the zone with ease. The hydrofoil is commanded by a former black-fuse admiral Marge blastknuckles, the goblin lady has no love for alliance forces due to their past hostilities even though she is no longer serving the horde and has taken a more pirate-like lifestyle. From the evindence gathered inside the Tide Rider it seems that Marge has found some powerful naga artifact that the zandalari, along with the horde and the naga, are racing to acquire. Your character is tasked by SI:7 with snatching the artifact for the alliance, in return for their aid to your refugee camp.
Stormwind Forest (10-12) :
The forest is controlled by various Gnoll bands, all of them locked in a turf war with one another. you're tasked with clearing the woods out by playing the Gnolls against one another, and taking them out one by one while they're busy fighting each other.
Wrynn Manor : (dungeon)
The old abandoned manor of the Wrynns served as a resort for the family for generations. When stormwind was besieged by the horde king Llane sheltered his family in the remote manor, and was making preperations for their departure to Lordaeron. But the King was killed at the very same manor by the hands of Garona Halforcen. after the destruction of Stormwind the manor was left abandoned. And due to the haunting memories King Varian never went to the manor again. Recently however something sinister is rumored to be happening there. And adventurers are tasked with finding out more about it.
Siltburg : (12-13)
A town full of thieves, pirates and other lowlife scum. Siltburg has come under naga attack and the townsfolk are taken as slaves. It is up to the renegades to save the not-so-honorable denizens of Siltburg from a fate worse than death.
Stormwind Siege : (13)
After saving the villagers of Siltburg you're informed of a Naga siege on Stormwind, your racial leader uses the artifact you recovered earlier to break the siege and save the human city from an onslaught. from here on your race is accepted into the Alliance and your people are allowed into the Alliance lands.
I’m still working on the details of the quests + the zone map.