Prolog
Author Notes
As the author I've spent plenty of time as a Fan of both Warhammer and Warcraft, specifically the Vampire Counts and Warcraft 3. Now despite entering into various debates, spending plenty of time on various wikis, audio books, regular books, and omnibus' there is still quite a bit I'll admit I'm missing from both settings. I more or less quit WoW at frozen throne as my hopes for a Warcraft 4 were dashed and the story started seeming repetitive following a theme that felt it actually undermined the threat of the villains, while warhammer fantasy a personal hyper focus on one faction and general life i feel i have a book lore gap. With both series, so if you feel based on a good series of books I've entirely misrepresented a character please link a good audiobook series or book PDF, otherwise I'm using YouTube lore vids, Wiki, what books i have or remember to try as well as simple logic to put every character as best represented as possible while addressing the differences between the two settings and the gaps in eithers writings to both create as "real" a series of events as possible while taking some liberties to ensure the story both works and of course is aa entertaining as possible.So before our prolog begins i will cover some minor details that will be crucial to avoid basic fanboy conflict and to help set the framework for everything to come.
Humanity
Humanity between Warcraft and Warhammer is vastly different with some ironic similarities.
First Warcraft humans are at least slightly superior to normal humans, as they are descended, essentially from robots cursed with flesh, they have a innate toughness to them, and with that Toughness also comes a very slightly better muscle structure allowing them to endure carrying inefficient poorly distributed plates of heavy metals. They also being from Azeroth have more access to magics, and are innately influenced by the cultures of Azeroth which shapes their politics and very noticeably their approach to warfare. While a shared history and even a shared prehistory allows the Warcraft humans to keep drawing closer to their friends who are currently in the Alliance.
Warhammer humans on the other hand are by "Word of God" little different from real world humans. However, unlike real world humans they can naturally achive nearly 200 year lifespans for their nobles, are very susectable to "blessings" from Gods of all pantheons, and originate from a form of humanity who were all jacked body builders with well oiled abs, and were bio-engineered to be a ultimate anti-chaos gods weapon...a weapon that was never completed. As such Warhammer humans very a bit more wildly with most humans living in a state comparable to a real human but with many outlier groups achieving various types of "super human" states. examples being the Bretonnian Knights, some of the City States of now long dead Khemri, the Norscans and other chaos followers of the North, and even many of the nobles and champions of the Empire. Though for the Men of the South their super human status could still be seen as on par with the basics of the Warcraft humans.
Overall this puts the Warcraft humans, in general as tougher than the Warhammer humans with some particular groups, such as the Norscans being tougher and stronger than even the Warcraft humans. Certain Warhammer Individuals will also be Stronger than your average Warcraft human by a significant amount, but with the outliers of both worlds champions it would be more common to see a Azeroth Human with far beyond normal strength.
Gods and Magic
Both Azeroth and Warhammer use their own unique systems for magic, based around their original games and the divide between a Turn based and real time game. These magic systems have varying impact on the Gods of the respective universes and further influence the entire faith systems of both universes.
In the Warhammer Universe Magic is primarily dependent on the winds of magic, with only a few divine exceptions and even then most of the Gods blessings follow along the lines of the Winds of Magic. While magic and faith are not one and the same it is possible and frequent enough that gods bless magic practitioners who display great devotion, and likewise magic-less Priests are granted abilities like magic, and gods can grant blessings that even mutate or change a entire population. One decent example is the old nation of Nehekhara, where before a project known as the Black Pyramid brought the Winds of Magic into the magic deprived land, the city state of Ka-Sabar at the time was blessed by a smithing god with skin of bronze making their skin so tough it could deflect the arrows of the other human city states.
Otherwise magic without the Gods is more dependent and tied to the winds with each wind serving as a basic energy source but favoring a particular element or school of magic over another. This magic ability is further influenced by Warpstone, a tainted condensed form of magic that's taken the solid form of green stone, and the Chaos moon, Morrslieb, a green moon made of warpstone and with a slightly erratic orbital cycle around the world. All of these are the source that magic users, particularly those not being blessed by a patron God, draw as their source of power for their spells. Which by nature of their setting are grand and often extremely potent spells ranging from summoning a "purple sun" in the ranks of massed enemies allowing it to roam slaughtering all those who draw near, to giving life to a forest under people's feet, or even creating a sheild of light which protects an entire company of soldiers from harm. The grand nature of magic in the Warhammer World also makes it rare, with a single caster, of varying quality, present for every few thousand human equivalent individuals. Without the Winds of Magic, Warpstone, Divine Blessings, or other similar sources Warhammer Fantasy spellcaster's are left bereft of their magic which would mean unless the Winds were to flow through a portal to another world, any Warhammer spellcaster would quickly find themselves weakened if not powerless in this new world.
On Azeroth magic is far more common, but it is dispersed over several fundamental forces being one part that covers the vast majority of magics on Azeroth. Comparatively the fundamental forces much more readily grants their magical power, refered to as divine magic, than the vast majority of Gods in the Warhammer World. Outside the Divine magic is a form of magic more recognizable to Warhammer's Magic users in the form of the Arcane Magics, which relies more on Mana and magical laylines, which occasionally have ties to Divine magic users of Nature's various holy places, but these magic users also bend reality in manners that on the surface would be familiar to how a Warhammer Magic Caster might use their own magic.
Because how readily accessible Magic is on Azeroth, it's casters, the Divine and Arcane have had a noticeable impact both in the societies and particularly the battlefield tactics. However the scale of Azeroth's magic casting is different from Warhammer's as i will compare in a moment. The forces of magic on Azeroth are widely varied, from students who cast a magical fireball the size of a pingpong ball, to veteran cabals creating army devouring firestorms. In practice typically there are several magic casters of varying types, melee combat casters, magic artillery, buffers, healers, etc, and these casters combine their magics and skills to get more varied magic or to improve the magic cast.
Because the differences in quantities and Qualities of the magic casters and the function of both systems. The use and perspective power of casters in the lores as well as their ranges of power are extremely different between the two universes. For Warcraft the Ratio for magic casters would be roughly within the realm of 1/10 to 1/100 based off unit compositions for the various armies (playable and not) from Warcraft 3 as well as some stories and cinimatics. Where Warhammer's Casters are more in a ratio of one for every several hundred to one in every several thousand.
As for the powers of each, a Warhammer Bright (fire) Wizard who would not be considered skilled with the right magics to be employed by the Empire of Man's military is still a living flamethrower either firing beams of heat or actual waves of fire over shorter distances, or even a near unceasing tide of smaller fireballs over longer ranges, at least until the wizards connection to the winds of magic is cut or inevitably backfires on them, often times with a terrifying explosion, meanwhile those more readily employed by the Empire's armies, those battle Wizards instead if they are Bright Wizards will summon formation destroying flame cages likely to kill any who move away from the burning heat they are trapped in, or giant flaming skulls which will run over rank after rank of soldiers. the big seperation between the two magic sets are scale, with even simple Warhammer Wizards and hedge Shamons able to serve as one man forces of devastation likely surpassing if just barely a level 60 warlock or priest in their respective fields, and a Warhammer Battle-Wizard or Sorceror casting spells that would alone shape entire grand battles. Where on Azeroth one would be likely to find likely two "level 60" equivalent casters and a half dozen weaker spell casters for every Warhammer Wizard, and more obvious displays of the magic, such as domed cities, and floating mountains permiating the worlds.
Lastly the Magics and the Gods of each setting have vastly different impacts on each setting. Warhammer's magic is rare, and the majority of magic like experiences for the average man comes from foul creatures, the divine, or from sources with ill intent. As such anything magical is typically viewed with a great deal of superstition one way or another. Likewise vast majority of divine beings, Daemon or otherwise in Warhammer are a incredibly uncommon encounter with the Gods, even ones who walk(ed) in mortal form, being even more rare as even Ariel the Avatar of Isha, a major Elf goddess, among the Wood Elves whose "nation", for lack of a more fitting term, is landlocked with nations of many other races has been barely seen by outsiders and has never met Alarielle who is said to be the mortal embodiment of the very same goddess. Contrary to this is the magic and divine of Warcraft, magic is a daily given, seen with very little superstition and casually studied by even the more common folk. Likewise the Divine, such as the Wild Gods for example, can be seen and potentially even interacted with by a great many of their followers. Aspects of the core pantheons of Azeroth can be found commonly, either spirits and elementals can be coaxed into giving first hand accounts, and post Wow:Legion physical evidence of the Titans can be readily found on Azeroth's surface. This leads Azeroth's divine to be treated with respect but a far less reverent and more casual attitude, particularly as Old Gods and similar beings have now been slain by the defenders of Azeroth.
Technology
One of the Elephants in the room when comparing the Warhammer World with Azeroth is the level, or lack therein, of technology. Azeroth is home to Cyborg Gnomes, motorcycles, robot ostriches, and mad science labs suitable for the 80's, and even flying ships. Yet despite this rifling doesn't seem to yet properly exist, nor proper mass production particularly a lack of anything resembling a military factory. My best estimateas to why these particular technologiesdon't exist, besides author enfirced technological stasis, is because Azeroth's reliance on magic and general magical augmentation on either the ammunition or guns used as well as severe amounts of experimentation and customization. Meanwhile The Empire in Warhammer was before the End Times on verge of making the still somewhat long transition from early handgun technology to mass produced muskets with the biggest hinderences to this comming from the constant dangers and attacks frequently seen even within the Empire's Borders.
However typically it would be Azeroth that enjoys its technical advantage as the Empire is one of the more advanced nations of the World with Bretonnia still living as though they were centuries behind, and the Elves not caring about black-powder weapons instead using their natural skill, greater access to magic, and decades to centuries of training to simply out preform the weapons the denizens of the rest of the world depend on. And Chaos dependent on Blessings and magics which even makes the Fel seem like the light of the Naaru.
Population
A odd but keynote for both settings is the narratively, statistically, and world building sense of Population. While this segment will be quick since overall the topic is somewhat vague, both worlds have a very different scale in population and density.
In Warcraft the populus races are a odd note with Humanity, Elves, and Dwarves having similar populations, though divided among several factions. Overall Azeroth holds a massive diversity of life on and under it's surface, however the populations of each race either requires or due to various dangers a buffer of space is usually reserved for each species, but most species, with some very unique exceptions, of Azeroth in practice have lower populations than tlthose species are typically presented with in fiction. this remains true even when adding territory and unseen villages and townships which would have been overlooked or skipped by World Of Warcraft.
To contrast in the Warhammer world many of the various species are presented as possessing a presence almost immediately outside any of humanity's walled settlements, and/or multiple continent spanning Empires. Meanwhile the Empire of Man, just one of many Human Empires, is presented with a population that is in the hundreds of millions. All while the Dwarves and Elves once held multi-continental Empires and while their numbers are relatively dwindling there are still a significant number of each race across the world. The density of the Warhammer World's population ensures that conflict is guaranteed to always take place, even without the threat of Chaos.
Military Methodology
Both settings approach warfare in very different manners and while their magic systems may play a part in this, their populations and the natural abilities of their peoples also have played a role in the development of their styles of warfare. Each World apprroaches Warfare in a very seperate manner with some variations in between their respective factions.
For Warcraft, with an abundance of smaller magic, effectively magic bullets, and with less population density warfare opened up for looser more "skirmish" like formations more comprable to those used by pre-world war one Outrider units and World War Two squads with mixed weapons. While no where near an absolute after some study a decent range that I've found on average for the Alliance you will have a single dedicated combat spellcaster, as a healer or DPS, for every four to ten soldiers which could include militia, the elite Lion's Guard, or Riflemen. For the Hoard this ratio favors even more Spellcasters as the Hoard relies less on technology, at least until the inclusion of the Goblins, and more on the Shamons and similar in their ranks.
Both overall factions of Warcraft rely primarily on small detachments which will then gradually escalate into larger battles, or will launch sudden larger attacks to surprise their foes. But will generally seek to wear down eachother through skirmishes and "small battles". These battles are intended to drain the enemy of resources, cost the foe valuable lives, and force the enemy off important positions that would allow for easier victories in future battles.
Towards that end the main factions of Azeroth will often hire Adventures to conduct their skirmish battles over resources for them, sending in troops after the Adventurers battle, or for a larger battle they will often have their aligned Adventures supplement their forces working as a force multiplier. As Adventurers on Azeroth typically comprise champion combatants or skilled spell casters whose abilities typically surpass the main troops of each faction.
To contrast the Azerothean approach to warfare is the main styles of warfare frequented in the Warhammer World. As large monsters and unnatural beings typically beyond the means of a single man to battle are often encountered in the woods, close formation fighting is more commonly found, a Warhammer Troll with it's regeneration and toughness can withstand repeated hits from a handgun, and even perhaps a Canonball or two, but a line of pikes all striking it at once stands a chance at stalling the massive brute and allowing a unit of men to bring it down. Likewise a mass group of grudge bearing dwaves is able to force their way through nearly any grouping of foes, and a mob of Ork Boyz will fell most foes under their relentless tide of crude weapon blows.
For Warhammer armies a battle will focus more around lines or troops or formations of soldiers and the elements supporting or taking advantage of each. A Skirmish for the Empire for example would ideally consisist of ten to fourty speamen, Halbreds, or swordsmen holding the enemy in place, while Handgunners or Crossbowmen typicallyin groups of close to ten or more, defended by the State Troop line, unload into the sides of the foe, and then either a small group of either Knights or mounted pistoliers take to the enemy's other flank or run down any foes not part of the main group. However with the constant dangers of the Warhammer world even this small Skirmishing arrangement might not last against the probable constant assaults by Beastmen, Goblins, Orks, brigands, undead, and Skaven that a Patrol or Convoy might encounter traveling from City to City, depending on the era, location, and local populations of the foes of course.
While the Azeroth approach to warfare at the surface level should outpreform the necessarily slower and more manpower intensive formations of the Warhammer World, particularly when their, reliability depending on plot and the will of the authors/instance/raid makers, portal and teleport magic is working. However in Warcraft's lore and as seen in gameplay, the soldiery and Champions of Azeroth are very susectable to being swarmed by foes, and even a leaderless and directionless Scourge by virtue of their numbers alone would pose a world wide threat. Meanwhile there are many races in the Warhammer world famed for the sheer numbers of warriors they can bring to the fields of battle, and likely even a Champion Adventurer serving as a "tank" for his party would find himself overwhelmed when faced with a small formation of halbreds.
It's at this point of distinction where then the question of the leadership, and the uses of magic for each respective faction across both universes plays the pivotal role in determining how any conflict would end.
Well enough of this, onto the story, we can go more into depth and comparison later.
Prolog
Astalor Bloodsworn briskly walked down the halls of Sunfury Spire the Light radiating off the building as the Magister carefully avoided the unnecessary attentions of Adventures and fellow Magisters. The Legion had been defeated, though their leader had left a permanent wound against the entire world itself, some even claim Azeroth itseof is dying. Astalor knew however despite everything the Hoard and Alliance wouldn't likely last the rest of the year without some catastrophic event taking place. The frequency was like some uncaring, and likely cruel and abusive Gods were intentionally putting Azeroth though increasingly frequently and increasingly foreboding strife.
Thus Astalor's urgency, if he could head off Azeroth's next threat it would buy them time, and if he could do so in a way that benefits the Hoard, all the better. An adventurer ran up to and stopped infront of Astalor. "Hey watch this new dance." The Adventurer requested and started dancing, Astalor didn't have time to waste, however he still clapped politely while side stepping the Vulpera, a new race to join the Hoard, and returning to his task. If only those cruel gods were anything like the Adventurers maybe Azeroth would be safe for once.
Finally Astalor left the publicly accessible areas and went deeper into the Spire until he finally reached the Grand Magister's study. There he knocked on the door and waited.
It was several moments before Astalor heard a reply. "Hurry up and come in. We don't have all day to wait for formalities." Steeling himself Astalor opened up the door and walked into Rommath's chamber, inside the Grand Magister stood waiting with Lady Liadrin behind him. The pair clearly were discussing matters of state, and likely taking advantage of Lor'Themar's absence to try to plot for the benefit of Quel'Thalas. In the office was all the research and information Rommath was willing to let others see, including a Map of Azeroth's continents with tokens and indicators for all the factions and even a few of Rommath's own plans involving both supporting Sylvanas and her ambitions for the Hoard as well as a few plots to oppose her and the Forsaken.
"Astalor, your missive stated that you had made a crucial discovery that must be shared in person. And besides your rather strange requests that i make inquiries and probes that even put some of my own plans at risk, I've been left with little idea as to what you're after. Unless you've finally lost your mind, I expect a reasonable answer as to why."
As Waning Glacier, Zul'mashar, Zul'drak, Scarlet Monestary, Gnomericon, Silvermoon city, Shrine if Goldrinn, talor smiled at his superior, quietly dismissing the attitude Rommath typically showed and confident in his findings. "I've done research concerning the Dark Portal following the events with the imvasion of the Iron Hoard. in particular I've been trying to study it's energies, see if we could create a better portal, or control the Dark Portal. What I found instead was rather astonishing and something that is either a warning of what is to come, or a coincidence that we might be able to use to benefit the Hoard greatly." As he spoke Astalor pulled out a map of Azeroth, one on his own supply of paper. On this paper was a simple map of Azeroth, likely one many adventures would use. On it Waning Glacier, Zul'mashar, Zul'drak, Scarlet Monestary Gnomericon, Silvermoon city itself, and the Shrine of Goldrinn were all circled.
"As I was trying to understand the magical forces of the Dark Portal, I came across an Arcane...tide, in this tide of magic I was able to discern several potential pools. These Arcane pools have a very similar magic to the Dark Portal, and could potentially be used to, or even independently, open a portal to another world." Astalor explaned while sharing his notes with the other two Blood Elves and pointing to each location on his map. Astalor continued "It's my beleif that we can cause these portals to open prematurely, both to secure the magical essence around them to prevent a disaster, and to potentially head off another dimensional invasion."
The other two leaders contemplated the briefing presented to them, Rommath looking over the details of the Arcane magic carefully, while Loadrin pondered the military need to secure such new portals. It was Liadrin who spoke first, "Which of these portals is the closest to opening?"
"Umm, the one closest to emerging is in the Scarlet Monestary."
Rommath then rejoined the conversation, "I'll see about convincing the Warchief to support your endeavor, I demand we secure this portal. Our Sunreavers already are reporting that The Silver Covenant is moving to block our actions within Dalaran, likely they will soon discover what you have, if they haven't already discovered it"
Kalec, steward of magic and Kirin Tor archmage seated on the Council of Six, looked down from his seat with a heavy heart. Before him stood Jaina Proudmore, a hero of Dalaran, of humanity, and a former member of the Council whose spot he had taken. He had and still loves her, but mounting division between her and the Kirin Tor, particularly with Khadgar's influence pushing all of Dalaran towards neutrality with the Hoard whom she's grown to despise, had left her with few allies in her own nation so she had stepped down.
Jaina stood defiant her hard gaze locked on the man responsible for her leaving Dalaran, Khadgar. "This isn't a 'pun'ishment Jaina. It's a simple request with the possibility of reward for your service to our Council. And you might be preventing yet another invasion, making you a hero yet again. And if it makes you..." the smirk on Khadgar 's face told Kalec another bad pun was coming. "'more proud, to know the recent actions of the Sunreavers suggests that the Hoard already is aware and so you'd be saving the Alliance from falling behind the Hoard in this affair."
"Behind in what, inadvertently causing yet another invasion of Azeroth? Let them, and maybe you will all understand that allowing them access to our resources will only ever lead to disaster." Jaina countered bitterly, it stung Kalec's heart to hear her speaking like that.
"You don't mean that Jaina, I know you dislike the idea of us cooperating with the Hoard but I know even you wouldn't wish the fate of yet more needless death on Azeroth. And it's like Khadgar said, you'd be giving the Alliance an lead they'd otherwise not have." Kalec started to plead with Jaina. "Just go to the Shrine of Goldrinn, we will provide the necessary materials, but see what you can find and maybe you can give Anduin the advantage he need to maintain peace."
Jaina gave a hard glare to Kalec which quickly softened and then switched to one of regret. "The peace of what? Watching Sylvanas kill our allies one by one? I'll do this, but only in hope that i can undo the evil that is yet to come."
Khadgar obviously had lost paitence with this arguing. "Good you agree, so take whoever you need, and we'll provide whatever you need as well. Just find out what is causing these portals before they start opening." Jaina responded simply by turning and walking away.
Kalec waited several moments after Jaina walked from the chamber, allowing the other council members to distract themselves or engage in conversation, and when Khadgar made a show of taking all the other members attention and deliberately turned to look away from him, Kalec gratefully slipped away and followed after Jaina. It still took the former Aspect of Magic several minutes to find her but eventually Kalec found Jaina, a bundle of papers in her arms, walking towards one of Dalaran's portal to Stormwind.
"Jaina, wait!" She stopped and Kalec both feared a harsh rebuttal but was thankful to see her face, even with the hard, well practiced expression on her face.
"Please, I look forward to working with you in this. I hope we can fix what's been broken between us. You and the Kirin Tor, and you and me. I also hope we can help all the Alliance with this." Kalec rambled out quickly and with a short breath.
Jaina forced a smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes, but it was clear she wished to comfort Kalec.
"I really hope so too."
Far away from both meetings away in a immense throneroom filled with jade statues, gold trimming, marble and red mahogany wood. A massive three dimensional compass span out of its masters control, forcing itself westward for a moment before the force of will and magic from a truly ancient entity slowly brought it back under control and forced the compass back to where they needed it, but the momentary slip certainly killed more than a dozen of its descents, and forebode of worse yet to come.