Shadowlands Persistency

[Skytotem]

Alright so normally there's not easy travel between Shadowlands and the "Living" worlds, so do you think we're going to see any meaningful impact from Shadowlands beyond what we learn about Tyrande, Elune, and Talanji/Vol'jin and Bwom?

WoD ran into a similar issue where they had to toss in Botani and Saberon escaping Draenor alongside the Mag'har in a Horde only quest to explain why we'd ever see any of those creatures again.

Do you think we'll just see more things summoned from the Shadowlands? Portals and whatnot in later expansions?

Or do you think the end of the expansion will have a whole mess of people from each of the covenants tossed into Azeroth or anything like that?

[Aucald]

I don't think we'll see a lot of population transfer, as it were; as it doesn't seem like the native denizens of the Shadowlands can exist in the physical universe under normal circumstances. Insofar as a more permanent footprint goes, I think you'll see one or more of the following possibilities:

1.) One or more of the Covenant races will likely become Allied races of the Alliance and Horde, which means a thing will likely happen to facilitate this (some strange goings-on with the Arbiter, Jailer, or some other greater power that facilitates it).

2.) The Brokers have some conspiracy cooked up which hinges on living beings showing up in the Shadowlands. This will likely have an impact on Azeroth of some kind.

3.) Some of the dead of the Fourth War are likely to be returned to life, although to what degree or in what capacity is up in the air.

I think most of the ramifications of Shadowlands will be the changes it makes in those who traveled to the Maw to deal with the Jailer/Sylvanas and not lingering artifacts of the expansion, so to speak. There will likely be a handful, though.

[shoc]

I'll bet my left nut that the Kyrians and Sylvar will come back to Azeroth to fight for the Alliance, for some reason. And likewise the Venthyr and Maldraxxi joining the Horde.

We know the Void is a threat to the Shadowlands just the same as it is to Azeroth, so that's probably going to be the impetus for all of that.

[Feanoro]

1.) One or more of the Covenant races will likely become Allied races of the Alliance and Horde, which means a thing will likely happen to facilitate this (some strange goings-on with the Arbiter, Jailer, or some other greater power that facilitates it).

"Hi, I'm from the realm of death, which should in no way give a damn about meaningless politics of the living. Let me join your faction and fight for those meaningless politics!"

Sadly, I have no doubt you're right and the factions will be even further polluted. The only ones who will benefit are the Goldshire... ahem, RPers who routinely are vampire half-gnome/half-octopus disinherited sons of Dark Lords, out to prove their worth by... er, meeting as many people as possible.

[Aucald]

"Hi, I'm from the realm of death, which should in no way give a damn about meaningless politics of the living. Let me join your faction and fight for those meaningless politics!"

Sadly, I have no doubt you're right and the factions will be even further polluted. The only ones who will benefit are the Goldshire... ahem, RPers who routinely are vampire half-gnome/half-octopus disinherited sons of Dark Lords, out to prove their worth by... er, meeting as many people as possible.

My working speculation is that Shadowlands is building up to a metacosmic threat - something that threatens both the Shadowlands and the physical universe all at once. A conflict between Void and Light is a probable one, but it could also be a powerful being like the Jailer actually tearing himself out of the realm of Death and becoming a threat on the same level as (or even greater than) Sargeras. This would make for an easy reason for the Convenants and the Horde and Alliance to join forces to contend with said threat.

[Thage]

For the Allied Races, the Arbiter may offer them a means to exist within the living world as part of returning the favor to the Alliance and Horde heroes who help fix the enormous mess the Shadowlands are currently in.

As for why the Allied Races would pick a faction, I don't think they will. I think Blizzard will be allowing them on both factions, as they're greatly relaxing cosmetic barriers with the Allied Races already (and doubling down on this by giving void elves access to blood elf skin tones and eye colors), and the main reason they were dissatisfied with pandaren in the first place was because of the impact on 'silhouette recognition,' which is obviously no longer such an issue with existing Allied Races. They'll just be working with the Alliance and Horde so they have a support network while exploring Azeroth and learning or re-learning about the world and cultures of the living. That's my guess, at any rate.

[Super Dickmann]

I'm massively against Allied Races from Shadowlands. In fact, I'm entirely in favor of at the end of this having the realm sealed and keeping the consequences for the denizens somewhat ambiguous. Knowing too much about the afterlife is always a problem because it lessens the stakes of death as a concept.

What I do suspect will stick around is the cosmic fare and knowledge of the Void Lords and their Light equivalent. We already know that both forces, which operate outside the cycle of Death, have tried to invade the Shadowlands, and that the Legion's absence has thrown a wrench at this. I expect a direct connection in that vein.

The Brokers are an odd one since they should be ethereals seem to subvert the system of division of souls by being able to cross realms freely and more than that, being able to trade with souls and anima.

[Hellspawn]

I'll bet my left nut that the Kyrians and Sylvar will come back to Azeroth to fight for the Alliance, for some reason. And likewise the Venthyr and Maldraxxi joining the Horde.

We know the Void is a threat to the Shadowlands just the same as it is to Azeroth, so that's probably going to be the impetus for all of that.

I really hope not, we don't need more humans... we already got 3 flavours of it and the Sylvar idk I would prefer a savage furry race like the Saberon.

Everything from the Shadowlands should stay in the Shadowlands.

[Skytotem]

Everyone's fixated on allied races but I'm also wondering how they'd reuse a lot of the models, like the Revendreth-Gargoyles and whatnot. I suppose they could just reuse the skeletons but still...

[Feanoro]

@Aucald I see where you're coming from and would agree they'll likely use some premise along those lines. What you quoted was intended to point out the absurdity of such beings joining mortal factions who will inevitably fight each other again. Dividing the entirety of reality into blue flag/red flag has already gotten ridiculous, and explicitly adding SL entities to that only makes it worse. Sure, the SL entities join WITH Alliance and Horde to combat Lord Chaos PeanutButterSandwich, but they should NOT join the Alliance or Horde as members.

@Super Dickmann Agreed, I think SL is a massive mistake, particularly if any old characters return as a result. At that point, death is meaningless. It destroys heroic sacrifices, last stands, tragic losses, and further lowers things beyond cheap comic book level. Warcraft has never been and will never be great literature, but this is even worse than the time travel/AU Orc to the Future.