Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Super Dickmann]

they are, and the trolls don’t care. There focus is on the elfs there actual historical enemy humans are all but completely ignored to the point where they were willing to ignore the threat arthas posed for a chance to attack the elfs again in WC3.

they aren’t on troll lands because the Amani lost Arthai to the night elfs over 10 thousand years ago as we can see form chronicles maps and never retook it.

The reason they don't fight the humans as much on-screen is because they already lost to the humans ages ago and barely border each other, unlike the rump Amani state which prioritizes the closest and more lasting opponent, i.e the elves. That and because the humans did actually sucessfully drive the trolls out of every holding and there's no polity to contest it, unlike the case with the elves in Zul'Aman. When humanity is weak enough to attack, ala Stromgarde, the trolls do move back in, hence why oges and trolls occupied half the city, with the now-undead ruler of Stromgarde flat-out calling them their oldest enemy as he sends you to kill the trolls. He didn't pick up this attitude while undead, it's the position and view of his kingdom.

The map itself shows you that what's now basically all of Lordaeron (which later turned to be the dominant culture there) was Amani, and that's notwithstanding that the map is inaccurate too, as we know in-game that the Witherbark occupy the parts dyed blue of the Highlands, as well as that in Strom'kar's background, it's mentioned that the king contested, was ambushed and killed trolls as his primary non-human opposition before the Troll Wars.

if we could go back in time to prior to TBC I’d agree with you, but blood elfs have existed on the horde for years and even dominate there population, a ignoring its enemy’s not fitting and the main faction shouldn’t actually want isn’t something new.

True, but a) they aren't the majority in-story and b) the Amani grudge has zero to do with the elves' current political affiliation and color scheme and everything to do with them as elves. As said, no one's disputing that elves are public enemy #1 and that any peace is nonsensical, but the reason the elves beat them and the ones holding the vast majority of their formerly-held land are humans, and humans aided elves in pretty much every war, including arranging Zul'jin's death via said redneck. What you say about most of the closest humans being undead is right, as is that Stormwind isn't actually threatened by the Amani, as far away as it is. A reversal where humans support them against now blood elves and Forsaken, ala the TFT/TBC reversal with high elves would be fun, but this isn't what they wrote and they've done no effort to leapfrog this. Hell, the opposite, their passive aggressive descriptive blurb going on about colonists explicitly mentions humans too.

When it comes to them being playable, the Earthen should've been Alliance and the Amani Horde, but failing that, while Blizzard obviously won't do it, I struggle to believe that Alliance mains wouldn't be happier to get another pretty elf-reskin (see the popularity of void elves, a nothing race, solely for this reason) than they would be to get green muscle trolls.

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I think they were forming up in an earlier-abandoned Atal'Aman (the new name for the citycomplex of the old Zul'Aman raid), slowly gathering support and warriors for a future campaign. But with the city being so close to the border, an easy target for the Blood Elves if they deem the threat too great. Daakara may have been nipped in the bud before he became too much of a threat. With only some of the Amani warbands joining up with the Zandalari for the Pandaria campaign. I makes sense to me, it's basically the only logical explanation and not even a real handwave.

Daakara is explicitly called the Amani leader, and the one who filled the vacuum after Zul'jin. At the time of writing, Zul'Aman was meant to be the center, with further land past it mostly implied rather than confirmed:

To fill the power vacuum left from the death of their warlord, Zul'jin, the remaining trolls of the Amani tribe chose their favored champion, Daakara the Invincible, to reclaim their lost glory.

Vol'jin also mentions in his quest text the assumption that they'd fall into disunity after he died and while Vol'jin isn't an Amani guru, the writing at the time intended for him to be right. This isn't so much an issue because of Daakara, who seriously gives a shit about him, man has no story or lore, but rather because it and the rest of the story disregard what the Amani did between TBC and BFA, both in ways that threaten the logic of it in more minor ways (the loa disciples) but also ones that disconnect them from it.

Someone posted a tablet a while back and now @JDBlou about the Amani breaking away from Zandalar, which was cool, historically, but the Zandalari uniting the disparate and weakened tribes, who did need the hand, was a sensible story beat and the new story having them ignore the Zandalari offer, while simultaneously having them leap into bed with elves ten minutes after another border skirmish strains the sense of the story, especially if Blizzard (predictably) don't include the Horde trolls later on either.

Re: said tablets, Kith'ix being under Zul'Aman was already really heavily implied in Chronicle and it checks out, as does him being what Malacrass's one line about 'the darkest power' way back in TBC related to. If Ula'tek is not an alias for Kith'ix and instead helped the Amani, then this is basically just a straight repeat of the Vol'dun story, just with the names changed and the desert replaced with a forest. Which given that Mythrax's model is called Kith'ix and there was a Silvermoon warfront datamined at one point may well have been the idea in some long-abandoned BFA draft.

[JDBlou]

Someone posted a tablet a while back and now @JDBlou about the Amani breaking away from Zandalar, which was cool, historically, but the Zandalari uniting the disparate and weakened tribes, who did need the hand, was a sensible story beat and the new story having them ignore the Zandalari offer, while simultaneously having them leap into bed with elves ten minutes after another border skirmish strains the sense of the story, especially if Blizzard (predictably) don't include the Horde trolls later on either.

Re: said tablets, Kith'ix being under Zul'Aman was already really heavily implied in Chronicle and it checks out, as does him being what Malacrass's one line about 'the darkest power' way back in TBC related to. If Ula'tek is not an alias for Kith'ix and instead helped the Amani, then this is basically just a straight repeat of the Vol'dun story, just with the names changed and the desert replaced with a forest. Which given that Mythrax's model is called Kith'ix and there was a Silvermoon warfront datamined at one point may well have been the idea in some long-abandoned BFA draft.

It's more implying Kith'ix is under Atal'utek proper, it wasn't just heavily implied in chronicle it was that he was buried somewhere beneath Zul'aman, this just gives us a more precise location.

I mean they did rejoin the Zandalari in Cata, in service of Zul only to have it blow up in their faces, betraying their gods and leading to their current theological crisis so their hesitancy to rely on the Zandalari again is well-founded. The way the tablets frame their branching out and puppet ruler situation is that their ancestors were sent east to hunt down Kith'ix, they struck up some form of bargain with Ula'tek, won, found some new territory free from the command of the Zandalari Empire. In simple terms they declared themselves sovereign, only to have the Zandalari repeatedly try to re-exert dominion over them, trying to install puppet rulers (image 3) or offering aid in eventual exchange for return to serfdom (image 5).

1.

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4.

5.

And regarding your concern about Horde trolls not featuring, I have a very strong feeling we will see Talanji at the very least in 12.1, the repeated references to Zandalar writ large feel equally like historical context and foreshadowing, so much so I'd put money on it actually. The narrative is pointing to the sins of the past looming large, and what better way to address that head on than by having Talanji take accountability for millenia of subversive attempts at influencing the Amani tribe's leadership. The deliberate framing of the blood elves as colonisers of a living Amani city, defiling burial grounds and destroy marketplaces (image 4) which drove the troll wars. The whole shape of it feels deliberately post-colonial. I don't think the armistice is easy as surface reading sells it, they're only aligning with us because Xal'atath's cult is the clear and present danger, driving their need to reconnect with their Loa. Whether the armistice sticks or not entirely depends on how 12.1 plays out.

[Nymrohd]

https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Tablet..._Ruling_Family has everything together.
It is disappointing that they effectively deleted three troll tribes simply because they don't work with the simple matrix of zone storyline flow; they needed a villain, a main tribe and 2-3 other tribes. Firetree, Mossflayer and Smolderthorn, the Dark Horde and Zul'Mashar tribes are just ignored. Why? Probably because they are just not needed and because the priority is not organic world building but simply building a formulaic zone quest storyline.

Shadra is suddenly a Zandalari loa, while Shadra'alor is in the Hinterlands since vanilla.

Also Silvermoon seems to be the resting place of the first hash'ey

I kind of doubt Daakara had the tribes united behind him to the extend Zul'jin or even Zul'jarra do. He probably just had his own forces only (with Kazra'jin probably a part of those forces).

[JDBlou]

https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Tablet..._Ruling_Family has everything together.
It is disappointing that they effectively deleted three troll tribes simply because they don't work with the simple matrix of zone storyline flow; they needed a villain, a main tribe and 2-3 other tribes. Firetree, Mossflayer and Smolderthorn, the Dark Horde and Zul'Mashar tribes are just ignored. Why? Probably because they are just not needed and because the priority is not organic world building but simply building a formulaic zone quest storyline.

Shadra is suddenly a Zandalari loa, while Shadra'alor is in the Hinterlands since vanilla.

Also Silvermoon seems to be the resting place of the first hash'ey

Also I kind of doubt Daakara had the tribes united behind him to the extend Zul'jin or even Zul'jarra do. He probably just had his own forces only (with Kazra'jin probably a part of those forces).

Shadra is a Zandalari loa, given how well established her worship was in BFA and to be fair this is clearly a retcon/recontextualisation situation (entirely depending on if the word retcon is personal anathema), positioning her as a primarily Zandalari loa, but it's just shifting the frame in that she's just one of the loa whose faith they brought with them leaving Zandalar all those millenia ago.

"At first, we worshiped many, some worshiping still the loa of the Zandalari like Shadra and Hir'eek but, due to the distance, not often not receiving their blessing. Others worshiped minor loa."

Regarding the tribes mentioned:
This accounts for the mossflayer
"The Mossflayer tribe split off from the Amani empire after the Troll Wars and decided to abandon that section of Lordaeron altogether."

There is an consistent internal logic in believing the other two are also more recent splinter groups vs the big five being framed as there from the start.

"IN THE BEGINNING, the five (the Amani, the Witherbark, the Revantusk, the Shadowpine, and even the Vilebranch) tribes were one: THE AMANI--one family. And at the head was our patriarch MANZAJIN. He fought against the Zandalari, their greed, and their subjugation, to carve out borders of a new, free land. "

[Super Dickmann]

It's more implying Kith'ix is under Atal'utek proper, it wasn't just heavily implied in chronicle it was that he was buried somewhere beneath Zul'aman, this just gives us a more precise location.

I mean they did rejoin the Zandalari in Cata, in service of Zul only to have it blow up in their faces, betraying their gods and leading to their current theological crisis so their hesitancy to rely on the Zandalari again is well-founded. The way the tablets frame their branching out and puppet ruler situation is that their ancestors were sent east to hunt down Kith'ix, they struck up some form of bargain with Ula'tek, won, found some new territory free from the command of the Zandalari Empire. In simple terms they declared themselves sovereign, only to have the Zandalari repeatedly try to re-exert dominion over them, trying to install puppet rulers (image 3) or offering aid in eventual exchange for return to serfdom (image 5).
...
And regarding your concern about Horde trolls not featuring, I have a very strong feeling we will see Talanji at the very least in 12.1, the repeated references to Zandalar writ large feel equally like historical context and foreshadowing, so much so I'd put money on it actually. The narrative is pointing to the sins of the past looming large, and what better way to address that head on than by having Talanji take accountability for millenia of subversive attempts at influencing the Amani tribe's leadership. The deliberate framing of the blood elves as colonisers of a living Amani city (image 4) which drove the troll wars. The whole shape of it feels deliberately post-colonial.

This tablet is pretty much the best thing to come out of this zone thus far, but the Zandalari didn't lead to a theological crisis. Zul'jin was the guy who (in this telling, ignoring BFA), broke the link with the loa with Malacrass. The account that @Nymrohd posted in full doesn't contradict Chronicle's take on the Troll Wars, wherein Amani and Zandalari fought together. The attempt for the Zandalari to reassert control over their outlying former client kingdom via subversion is an interesting beat that makes historical sense and considering it's directly pointed out that their previous strategy had limited success with heavy losses, whereas the Troll Wars were a near victory before human involvement means it's pretty clear there was a clear benefit to both parties involved, and so does the Amani dislike for the Zandalari cutting and running at the end stretch.

I do like the dynastic element too, both in the ruling dynasty's presumed historiographers not skipping a chance to tar a previous ruler because of his Zandalari styling, while emphasizing his own continuity with Jintha and treating Daakara and Kazra'jin not from the standpoint of the Zandalari, but because they aren't in the direct line of succession.

As regards Talanji apologizing, while given Blizzard, this is likely the route it will take, it's an extraordinarily weak beat. While for their own purposes, the Zandalari assisted the Amani. The primary enemy of the Amani remains the blood elves, which, both from the elf and the troll end the narrative seems to skip over. Notwithstanding how weak any colonial analogy is in a setting where every single state exist via zero-sum race wars of conquest, it's simply a weak plot beat itself to frame Zandalari involvement as absent or exclusively negative in the face of the long-eared elephant in the room still sat over their biggest temple.

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https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Tablet..._Ruling_Family has everything together.
It is disappointing that they effectively deleted three troll tribes simply because they don't work with the simple matrix of zone storyline flow; they needed a villain, a main tribe and 2-3 other tribes. Firetree, Mossflayer and Smolderthorn, the Dark Horde and Zul'Mashar tribes are just ignored. Why? Probably because they are just not needed and because the priority is not organic world building but simply building a formulaic zone quest storyline.

Shadra is suddenly a Zandalari loa, while Shadra'alor is in the Hinterlands since vanilla.

Also Silvermoon seems to be the resting place of the first hash'ey

I kind of doubt Daakara had the tribes united behind him to the extend Zul'jin or even Zul'jarra do. He probably just had his own forces only (with Kazra'jin probably a part of those forces).

Thanks for the link. Of course Shadra is (also) a Zandalari loa, as well as a Gurubashi one too, like Gonk is also a Darkspear one. Her shrine and Zul's priest ally eating Shadra was a major plot beat in Zuldazar.

[Nymrohd]

Shadra is a Zandalari loa, given how well established her worship was in BFA and to be fair this is clearly a retcon situation, positioning her as a primarily Zandalari loa, but it's just shifting the frame in that she's just one of the loa whose faith they brought with them leaving Zandalar all those millenia ago.

" At first, we worshiped many, some worshiping still the loa of the Zandalari like Shadra and Hir'eek but, due to the distance, not often not receiving their blessing. Others worshiped minor loa. "

Yeah, it is a pointless retcon. Shadra is worshipped by almost every troll tribe, she is probably the most universal of the loa; Vol'jin calls to her, she is part of Zul'gurub, she is worshipped by the Farakki and has her temple in the Hinterlands. And that's the one they choose to make "foreign" just to make it clear the Vilebranch are the evil tribe that doesn't fit with the rest? I mean they are called VILEbranch, hello?

[Super Dickmann]

Yeah, it is a pointless retcon. Shadra is worshipped by almost every troll tribe, she is probably the most universal of the loa; Vol'jin calls to her, she is part of Zul'gurub, she is worshipped by the Farakki and has her temple in the Hinterlands. And that's the one they choose to make "foreign" just to make it clear the Vilebranch are the evil tribe that doesn't fit with the rest? I mean they are called VILEbranch, hello?

I mean, as far as retcons go, this is a weak one, considering there's no worship of Shadra by the main (i.e Eversong/Ghostlands/raid) Amani, and all focus until this expanson has been on their four gods.

[Nymrohd]

Thanks for the link. Of course Shadra is (also) a Zandalari loa, as well as a Gurubashi one too, like Gonk is also a Darkspear one. Her shrine and Zul's priest ally eating Shadra was a major plot beat in Zuldazar.

The point there is to make her foreign, a Zandalari influence instead of someone worshipped by all so as to help other the Vilebranch tribe. It is a meaningless retcon because they only use the existing lore to tell whatever story they need to tell at the moment, not because they want to elaborate and expand the lore.

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I mean, as far as retcons go, this is a weak one, considering there's no worship of Shadra by the main (i.e Eversong/Ghostlands/raid) Amani, and all focus until this expanson has been on their four gods.

Which is intentional. They build the Amani based on the raid and everything else is either OCs or cut out. I'd get cutting the Firetree and Smolderthorn, maybe the entire tribes just joined the Horde and are now extinct. But they didn't even bother to use the Mossflayer who are just there. It feels like it was is to make just the Zul'aman raid required reading for their writers and everything else was shoved aside.

[Super Dickmann]

The point there is to make her foreign, a Zandalari influence instead of someone worshipped by all so as to help other the Vilebranch tribe. It is a meaningless retcon because they only use the existing lore to tell whatever story they need to tell at the moment, not because they want to elaborate and expand the lore.

We know the Vilebranch worshiped Shadra since Vanilla, where they as well as in every subsequent appearance were hostile. We know also that Shadra's high priestess was in Zandalar and that she was actively worshiped there and even physically resided there in a non-avatar way that allowed Yazma to sacrifice her in the first place. We also have never seen a main Amani worship Shadra. It makes sense.

Which is intentional. They build the Amani based on the raid and everything else is either OCs or cut out.

They've brought in Chronicle and even the RPG. Of course they are primarily based upon the raid, the raid and the TBC zones are where the bulk of their lore comes from.

As regards the Firetree and Smolderthorn, that's for the same reason the Revantusk are nondenominational. Can't have Horde tainting our neutral experience (with Liadrin and featuring the original Horde troll race) or bringing up that Zul'jin was allied with the Horde primarily to reclaim their land, given that he's getting scapegoated for our new elf-troll world peace. In respect to the Mossflayer, considering a non-entity tribe like the Shadowpine appear, purely because they were in Eversong questing, there I fully believe that you're right and they didn't bother checking EPL.

[Nymrohd]

I just feel that the designated evil tribe is such poor writing and we don't even see any room for nuance with the Vilebranch like e.g. with the Grimtotem

[Super Dickmann]

I just feel that the designated evil tribe is such poor writing and we don't even see any room for nuance with the Vilebranch like e.g. with the Grimtotem

As you pointed out, that'd detract from the Highmountain formula and Zul'jarra's Mayla trip. Then again, considering the approach to nuance is to entirely skip the human sacrifice/cannibalism/torture business while also, sans Zul'jan, mostly skipping over the elf topic, I'm not sure we'd really want them to get it. BFA's take on the Zandalari is pretty much the last and, given the shambles that the Darkspear have always been, only time that playable trolls were allowed to be both sympathetic and brutal enough to be distinct.

[JDBlou]

The point there is to make her foreign, a Zandalari influence instead of someone worshipped by all so as to help other the Vilebranch tribe. It is a meaningless retcon because they only use the existing lore to tell whatever story they need to tell at the moment, not because they want to elaborate and expand the lore.

Is it a "foreign" influence? The Amani tribes did originate in the Zandalari Empire before heading east. Anthropologically it explains any Zandalari loa being worshipped by any other tribe, Gonk and Bwonsamdi by the Darkspear, Shadra, Mueh'zalah, Kimbul by the Farraki. It's a religious belief carried out into the wider world by tribal colonies who then in isolation from the larger theological framework found new things to worship. Is it not analogous to any diaspora bringing their god with them where they travel? Syncretism is a feature of every religion, Christmas starting as pagan winter festival becoming birthday of Christ or Greco-buddhism delivering buddhist iconography through hellenic aesthetic, maybe I'm being myopic but I fail to see the difference.

In addition, in a setting where beseeching a god maybe actually draw intervention, a god failing to act because of vast distance from the home base of worship. It's understandable why worship of some gods fall out of practice.

This tablet is pretty much the best thing to come out of this zone thus far, but the Zandalari didn't lead to a theological crisis. Zul'jin was the guy who (in this telling, ignoring BFA), broke the link with the loa with Malacrass. The account that @Nymrohd posted in full doesn't contradict Chronicle's take on the Troll Wars, wherein Amani and Zandalari fought together. The attempt for the Zandalari to reassert control over their outlying former client kingdom via subversion is an interesting beat that makes historical sense and considering it's directly pointed out that their previous strategy had limited success with heavy losses, whereas the Troll Wars were a near victory before human involvement means it's pretty clear there was a clear benefit to both parties involved, and so does the Amani dislike for the Zandalari cutting and running at the end stretch.

I do like the dynastic element too, both in the ruling dynasty's presumed historiographers not skipping a chance to tar a previous ruler because of his Zandalari styling, while emphasizing his own continuity with Jintha and treating Daakara and Kazra'jin not from the standpoint of the Zandalari, but because they aren't in the direct line of succession.

As regards Talanji apologizing, while given Blizzard, this is likely the route it should take, it's an extraordinarily weak beat. While for their own purposes, the Zandalari assisted the Amani. The primary enemy of the Amani remains the blood elves, which, both from the elf and the troll end the narrative seems to skip over. Notwithstanding how weak any colonial analogy is in a setting where every single state exist via zero-sum race wars of conquest, it's simply a weak plot beat itself to frame Zandalari involvement as absent or exclusively negative in the face of the long-eared elephant in the room still sat over their biggest temple.

What's the bet that if Malacrass returns, there will be a revelation that he was always working at Zul's behest; not just in Cata? It feels probable, it cleans up the timeline and paints a giant target on his back for every troll including the Horde's. Not saying it's not hamfisted but it's damn well efficient.

And I agree a Talanji Apology Tour (TM) would be weak. It depends entirely on the framing. If she shows up and does a performative mea culpa that magically resolves centuries of tension, that's cheap. But if she acknowledges the historical pattern: Zandalari using client kingdoms as buffers and resources, then discarding them when things don't pan out (pretty much Zul's MO.), while also asserting that she's trying to build something different post-BFA, that's a more interesting beat. She's already dealt with her own Rastakhan's legacy and the costs of Zandalari pride.

But to say the elephant in the room isn't being addressed as of yet feels shortsighted, given that we've yet to see how 12.1 plays out and how that portrays blood elf- amani relations, I don't think the game gives any indication that the armistice at large is anything more than pragmatic, granted I haven't played the zone story at all but I think only Liadrin's in the Amani good book by zone end.

[Lady Atia]

I may have to re-read the legion lore but isn't that referencing one of the hidden artifact skins?

Edit:

Yep, they actually remembered that one. Also confirmes kinda for the first time that the hidden artifacts seem to be actually canon and seperatly from the actual legion artifacts themselves. Which prolly goes for most mage tower ones aswell.

[Auxis]

Is there any commentary ingame about haranir and how they observe the astrological aspect of druidism, or do they pretty much just focus entirely on the beastial and nature aspects of it?

I would at first thought assume they don't really interact much with the heavens like the druids of the overworld, but they do live in a... pocket dimension inside of Azeroth/the Dream/the Lifelands (?) so that may add another layer of questioning whether they interpret/interact with the heavens.

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Man, imagine they ship Midnight with entirely different story beats to what we see in beta and they are letting people run wild with anger over things that won't be in the release.

That would be a wild step up from just encrypting spoiler heavy content so it doesn't leak.

[SaintBigfoot]

Yeah, it is a pointless retcon. Shadra is worshipped by almost every troll tribe, she is probably the most universal of the loa; Vol'jin calls to her, she is part of Zul'gurub, she is worshipped by the Farakki and has her temple in the Hinterlands. And that's the one they choose to make "foreign" just to make it clear the Vilebranch are the evil tribe that doesn't fit with the rest? I mean they are called VILEbranch, hello?

Pretty sure it’s meant to be read as her worship *originated* in Zandalar just as all Trolls did, and they came across “Wild Gods” local to the region they shifted to and those became *their* Loa.

What I’m curious about is this “power” that predated them worshipping the local Loa *staring at Atal’Utek being covered in “Fel”.

[Nymrohd]

Pretty sure it’s meant to be read as her worship *originated* in Zandalar just as all Trolls did, and they came across “Wild Gods” local to the region they shifted to and those became *their* Loa.

What I’m curious about is this “power” that predated them worshipping the local Loa *staring at Atal’Utek being covered in “Fel”.

Would be really interesting if we could find something Fel that predates the Legion

[Mecheon]

Pretty sure it’s meant to be read as her worship *originated* in Zandalar just as all Trolls did, and they came across “Wild Gods” local to the region they shifted to and those became *their* Loa.

What I’m curious about is this “power” that predated them worshipping the local Loa *staring at Atal’Utek being covered in “Fel”.

Yeah, I suspect we'll see what that 'power' was in the eventual raid down that way. Seems a pretty clear "Something's been going on over there"

Plus the lack of a certain longstanding snake loa being mentioned at all

[Nymrohd]

Yeah, I suspect we'll see what that 'power' was in the eventual raid down that way. Seems a pretty clear "Something's been going on over there"

Plus the lack of a certain longstanding snake loa being mentioned at all

Making it some form of Holy Light power would help tie it to the rest of the expac. Maybe what we need before we got after Xal is a Naaru on our side. And maybe when everyone got flushed down the Voidwell, we lost people like Velen and the Lightforged who could arrange this for us.

[JDBlou]

Plus the lack of a certain longstanding snake loa being mentioned at all

I'm having difficulty parsing this statement, are you suggesting it's like whatever is at Atal'utek isn't some form of snake loa despite the architecture of the main temple literally being a snake head? At the very least pointing towards something serpentine lurking below?

Whether it's a Wild God or not is another debate entirely, given G'huun was also called a Loa and is demonstrably not a Wild God taxonomically. So the more tantalising question is if she's not a Wild God... What is she?

The facts revealed by the tablets is that before allying with the traditional Amani Loa, the newly arrived trolls received the aid of a mysterious great power, specifically gendered as she. With her aid, and her "military" forces, they defeated the aqir and built Atal'utek to memorialise the battle.

"Even so, Amarajin learned how to summon a great power (from a source lost to us), and her great army dispatched Kith'ix.. The Amani cleansed the aqir from the land and created the vast Atal'Utek in memory of the battle. The temple there and tombs are so sacred, only warlords and hash'ey are allowed entrance."

A mysterious power that seems to have drawn the attention of Zul'jan...



Not to mention the debuff that prevents exploration of Atal'utek in the Midnight base game being called:Coiling Suffocation (https://www.wowhead.com/spell=125941...ng-suffocation)

And most damning of all, the raid set datamined mentioned her by name: RaidWarlockUlatek eg. INV_Robe_Cloth_RaidWarlockUlatek_D_01

At the very least and bear with me here, sure, there's glowing acid green pools and streams. They might be fel rivers again or they are rivers of poison, of venom given the preponderance of other context clues. Not opposed to it being fel but beyond visual similarity, it's not well evidenced.

What's more curious to me is the Bwonsamdi iconography going on here in this image, which certainly suggests we will see him, if not the Zandalari by and large come 12.1.

[TheProphetLord]

It is for all of the above reasons why the Amani Trolls should be a playable race.