"World of Warcraft: Exploring Azeroth - Kalimdor" Lore and Updates [Spoilers]

[DatToffer]

The tree was said to be a whole nation with multiple towns and villages out side of darnassus, it’s the equivalent out wiping out silvermoon pretty much.

Silvermoon, but not Quel'thalas then ?

[Mehrunes]

I loved the first Exploring Azeroth book. Cannot wait to see the Kalimdor one.

Hope we get an Outland and Northrend one. Outland especially I would love to know its current state since TBC ended.

Judging by this one, the state of Outland is exactly as it was when TBC started.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Silvermoon, but not Quel'thalas then ?

Ah you beat my edit, it would be Quel'thalas not just silver moon.

They are pretty much in the same boat the blood elfs were after arthas passed through Maybe a bit better off given that there military was away.

[Aucald]

I loved the first Exploring Azeroth book. Cannot wait to see the Kalimdor one.

Hope we get an Outland and Northrend one. Outland especially I would love to know its current state since TBC ended.

We did get a bit of an update on Outland in the Safe Haven cinematic, at least insofar as Nagrand is confirmed. It's basically unchanged - due to the nature of its creation Outland is basically in death-spiral that can be slowed down but not truly stopped. As Saurfang bluntly puts it: "This world... it looks good... but it's... wrong. Broken. Falling apart." That pretty much sums it up.

[DatToffer]

Ah you beat my edit, it would be Quel'thalas not just silver moon.

They are pretty much in the same boat the blood elfs were after arthas passed through Maybe a bit better off given that there military was away.

I find it hard to believe that Teldrassil was equivalent to Quel'thalas. But to be fair, if you include the trail of bodies in Ashenvale and Darkshore, you have pretty much it. Perhaps even more.

Who exactly complained in 2004 that the Nelves were too strong to be in the Alliance? Their military was getting beaten on their own turf by ONE orc clan.

In 2004 ? Nobody, for the sake of being able to play them and have a male priest and a female druid.

Years after, let's say... 2012 and MoP it was really looking like they were losing ground to the rest of the Alliance, in narrative. And aside from a few quest moments, they were striped of all their cool units in Warcraft 3. To the point that in a QA, players felt the need to ask "Where the fuck are those allies ? The mountain giants, the fey drake, etc ?"

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Lol it's like the writers had a chance to push the Warcraft narrative forward but just said 'nah'

As if they would be even allowed to do that on a supplementary book. Yet even in those terms Exploring Kalimdor feels like a big bag of nothing. It really adds nothing new of worth to the narrative, nor characterization.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I find it hard to believe that Teldrassil was equivalent to Quel'thalas. But to be fair, if you include the trail of bodies in Ashenvale and Darkshore, you have pretty much it. Perhaps even more.

I’d say it’s a problem with game scale ingame the tree isn’t much but lore wise it’s supposedly huge on par with other multie zone nations and most of the night elfs moved there post WC3 apparently.

[florclorbromiod]

I mean, the curse of knowledge makes it nearly impossible to see the game from the perspective from someone in 2003 but I get your point. I suppose my answer would be that it was never shown that way at the time. Yes, their forests got invaded and destroyed but for the most part it seemed like they didn't just throw their ranks at the Legion but rather evaded them until they were forced to fight at Hyjal. The whole devastated from the Legion part came after the fact as highlighted in their racial intro.

And yes, people definitely complained about Night Elves being an OP addition. Just like they argued undead would never be a race because they were too mindless. Or that people literally raged that Gnomes were the last Alliance race to be announced. The b.net forums were fun times back then.

Also that one orc clan was getting beat until they decided to drink demon juice. Not really a great example to make your point.

They were forced to be mortal for the first time in their entire existence. They now had to deal with stuff they've never experienced in their whole life: aging, disease, having to build a new home from scratch. Not to mention the Teldrassil corruption. The Night Elf story is one of an empire that was once proud and mighty but has stagnated for 10,000 years due to its isolationism and conservative society and is now being rapidly overtaken by the younger races.

It's not an original story, they're basically the Protoss or Eldar of Warcraft, but they were never going to be major players. Their arc kind of ended in Warcraft 3, when they gave up their immortality and left the world to the young races.

Also that one orc clan was getting beat until they decided to drink demon juice. Not really a great example to make your point.

That one orc clan destroyed the elves until an immortal demigod who shrugged off mortal weapons showed up. They were handling the elves themselves just fine.

[StationaryHawk]

So the Alliance now have two space ships with Death Star lasers on them and still not use them for anything

Tempest Keep and its satellites have never been portrayed as having any weapons. It's possible the draenei could modify the Exodar, but even the Vindicaar at its best hardly had "Death Star lasers".

[DatToffer]

I’d say it’s a problem with game scale ingame the tree isn’t much but lore wise it’s supposedly huge on par with other multie zone nations and most of the night elfs moved there post WC3 apparently.

Oh that is a lot less hard to believe, yeah. I remember some fan arts of Teldrassil and you could really stack some population on and inside that.

[Dellis0991]

Any info about the Furbolgs in Ashzara, Darkshore and Ashenvale?

If they were smart they should seek help from the Earthen ring or the Cenarion Circle and get relocated to the Moonglade or somewhere safer than been in the way of all the damn fighting.

[Mehrunes]

Sure. BEs also lost 90% of their population (which is already a cataclysm no civilization would survive), then got bullied by people like Garithos, fought the Scourge some more, fought in Outland, fought in Northrend, were splintered into several sub-factions, and yet are still around for whatever reason. Orcs arrived in a single fleet of ships and still bred like rabbits and became their own superpower afterwards despite constant warfare, harsh upbringings and having difficulty even feeding themselves. Gnomes outright nuked themselves. The most prominent Tauren tribe was almost wiped out by Centaurs. So on and so forth.

I don't view this through a factional lens. It all makes no sense.

Obviously Stormwind isn't the only one, but I find it to be by far the worst offender. Blood Elves at least have the saving grace of, most of the time, fucking around with either High Elves or Dalaran, where neither is numerous either. And where the elephant in the room becomes the High Elves rather than Blood Elves, because they went through the same shit as Blood Elves yet are just a tenth of their numbers and so should logically not be able to counter Blood Elven forces.

And internment camps' Orcs alone were numerous enough that Blackmoore planned to overthrow the entire Alliance, while the massive Lordaeron was still leading it, with Orcs as his personal army. And achieved just that in the AU where he stopped drinking and got off his ass to actually do it instead of just talking about it. And that's not even all the Orcs, because multiple clans evaded capture and then the New Horde accepted certain other groups that hadn't been its initial members. If anything, the problem with feeding the Orcs was that they had too many mouths to feed, especially given the part where Thrall decided to be an utter dipshit and settled them in a wasteland just to atone for his green guilt.

Stormwind has nothing like that going for them. They could be trying to rebuild their failed state because there's no significant other force in southern EK to fill the void left by Stormwind all the way into Elwynn, but they should have massive "last stand of humanity" theme to them, while the Dwarves should call the shots in the Alliance.

[Krowth]

I don't get it, why are the Horde representatives welcomed in Darkshore while the Horde and the nelves are still killing each other in Ashenvale and Azshara? Is the war over or not?

[Soon-TM]

Derp, there go my hopes for a world (or at least a Kalimdor/EK) revamp. They went out of their way to ensure that everything is almost the same than during Cata.

[OwenBurton]

I don't get it, why are the Horde representatives welcomed in Darkshore while the Horde and the nelves are still killing each other in Ashenvale and Azshara? Is the war over or not?

They weren't exactly welcome in night elf lands - they literally had to avoid the main roads in Darkshore (patrolled by Tyrande's Sentinels but only sporadically, as they seem to have moved to other places) just so they could reach the northern shore and see Teldrassil with their own eyes. But most of Darkshore (except for Grove of the Ancients) seem largely "dead" or abandoned in any case.

[geco]

The night elves:
- The Alliance has retaken (most of) Darkshore, except for Shatterspear Vale, but has abandoned Bashal'Aran, its base of operations after the Battle of Darkshore. Ameth'Aran, the other Highborne city in Darkshore, is also in ruins. The Night Warrior, or the “Avatar of the New Moon" empowered the Kaldorei Empire against the trolls in pre-Sundering times, and there are other avatars also, but undescribed, for each different phase of Mu'sha. The night elves still somewhat patrol Darkshore's roads, but seem to have their forces and attentions diverted elsewhere (perhaps other parts of Kalimdor). However, post-Battle of Darkshore, most life in Darkshore is seemingly gone, or essentially dead, and much of the land seems abandoned or uninhabitable. Onu, the Ancient of Lore in Darkshore, welcomed the Horde representatives to the Grove of the Ancients, and even shared some of his ancient wisdom with them.

- Ashenvale remains heavily contested between the Alliance and the Horde, or rather the night elves and the Horde. The night elves control Astranaar, Stardust Spire, the Howling Vale, and the Shrine of Mel'Thrandis, and successfully reclaimed the Mor'shan Ramparts (the Horde outpost entrance into southern Ashenvale). The night elves and Horde are still fighting fiercely over other bases, such as the Splintertree Post and the Warsong Lumber Camp.

- Azshara, or at least some parts, is also a point of perpetual conflict - with the night elves of Talrendis Point constantly attacking the Horde base of Valormok, and it is feared by some in the Horde that they might seize control of the base, the Horde Council is to be contacted for reinforcements.

- Mount Hyjal and Nordrassil are not really mentioned (other than an ancient owl creature Ban'thalas being Malorne's ally and having stood together in the War of the Ancients) but the Cenarion Circle is confirmed to still accept druids from both factions. No new capital of the night elves is discussed.

- The Cenarion Hold has been re-established in Silithus, Staghelm Point is also restored, with a new Sentinel Tree planted by the druids like they did against Ragnaros in the Cataclysm.

Then correct me if I'm wrong.
* The Kaldorei lost teldrazzil forever.
* Dark Coast is unusable.
* Ashenvale and Azshara are in dispute and are not safe.
* Mount Hyjal and Nordrassil still belong to the Cenarius circle and are therefore Neutral

So the Kaldorei now officially don't have any territory of their own.

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On the other hand, it is confirmed that all that about "the last war", "peace", "The horde has now changed (3vez)" or "whatever Anduin said" is a lie.
Basically the Book contributes to the Lore that the whole story of Varock and Baien in BFA was useless


PS: It is very funny that by giving Azshara to the Horde I contaminate it and now they have neither water nor wood. It's almost like the story calls for the Alliance to run things for the Horde. (Which sucks)


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No universe of WoW's size does. Warhammer 40K doesn't either. But they clearly said the Night Elves are 'very few' and then they get genocided so even if we don't think about numbers, the words 'very few', 'genocide' and 'fighting the whole Horde on their own' do not make sense in the same sentence.

If what I ask above is true, you are missing a word in your sentence.
"For lack of resources is fight or die."
Then you have something like that.

"The Kaldorei were very few, they suffered a genocide and due to lack of resources they fight or die, so they have no choice but to fight alone against the Horde."


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No surprise right here. How can there even be talks about an armistice if the Horde keeps invading Ashenvale?

It would be great if the Alliance could openly say that they betrayed the Kaldorei. In the same way that the Horde openly says that the Genomes polluted their rivers.

[Khaza-R]

They weren't exactly welcome in night elf lands - they literally had to avoid the main roads in Darkshore (patrolled by Tyrande's Sentinels but only sporadically, as they seem to have moved to other places) just so they could reach the northern shore and see Teldrassil with their own eyes. But most of Darkshore (except for Grove of the Ancients) seem largely "dead" or abandoned in any case.

Kind of weird they don't mention Auberdine? Seeing at the Night Elves went out of their way to rebuild it in the Battle for Darkshore.

[Hellspawn]

They weren't exactly welcome in night elf lands - they literally had to avoid the main roads in Darkshore (patrolled by Tyrande's Sentinels but only sporadically, as they seem to have moved to other places) just so they could reach the northern shore and see Teldrassil with their own eyes. But most of Darkshore (except for Grove of the Ancients) seem largely "dead" or abandoned in any case.

If I remember it correctly that was Ashenvale since then entry from barrens is now occupied by the Alliance. So it was the mainroads of Ashenvale.

[Palapop]

Pathetic.

I really dislike this new, "World of Wokecraft"...
I miss epic stories about killing dragons, armies, battlegrounds, honor, danger, mystery....

[geco]

That one orc clan destroyed the elves until an immortal demigod who shrugged off mortal weapons showed up. They were handling the elves themselves just fine.

This leads me to ask. Are we ever going to be able to see the opposite image to this one in lore?
Or similar. Like a great image of the enslaved Orcs. Or an image of elves with orc skins hanging from the trees as mentioned in the books. Or an image of some hero alliance on piles and piles of orcs.

Because the ones who are supposed to fear for their survival and fight to survive is the Horde not the Alliance.