Recovery, Repentance and Revenge
The Morning sunlight lit the streets of Stormwind, the Cathedral of Light becoming a glowing white beacon while the streets came to life with a near glow encouraging all the residents of the city to set about their day. The stone, painted wattle, and white brick of the city watching over the peoples of fourteen nearly distinct races all going about their business with a warmth and indiference. Draenei of all walks worked to trade goods, preach of the light, or sought aid in cleaning their homeland of the last lingering remains of the Undead blight that had been brougbt upon it. Dwarves of each clan sold finely crafted armors, weapons and simple contraptions, while others bought food to carry to Iron Forge or sought out new engineering projects that required their skills.
Night Elf and Gilnean refugees sought to bide their time or any work to make themselves useful each uncertain of how long they would still be unable to return to and rebuild their lost homes, some with far more hope than others. Pandarens traded unique foods, alcohols and tools with others thriving in Stormwind's familiar and overfilled markets. Hidden away in the city High Elves and Void Elves each rejecting the ways of the Horde but finding their welcome in the Alliance cold lamented the past and planned to find a new way to redeem their people. And Gnomes made a show of themselves displaying their newest ideas or creations or working in the background to make the grand displays of others actually function.
And as the dominant race of the city humans filled every street, worked countless stalls, tended to animals, enagged with each of the other races from the most petty of theives running off with a unfortunate Gnome's purse for the sake of a unknown small time crimeboss, to the nobles of the city and kingdom negotiating trade deals that would significantly impact the lives of hundreds, thousands, if not tens of thousands or debate military manouvers that could determine the lives or deaths of untold numbers of soldiers all in the name of the High King.
In the middle of all this, and yet ss distant as one could be, Volkmar walked while surrounded by those Knights that followed him and the Imperial Captain, Günther Kottmann, who had more or less been inadvertently caught in the middle of the now named 'War of Thorns' and brought to this other world similarly to himself. All this escort was both to shield himself from the unknowns of the Alliance's capital city, to lend some presence to himself and his coming talk with the Royal crown of Stormwind, and to help divide himself from the Church of the Light's ever so infuriating High Priestess and some twisted undead abomination who stood alongside her they dared to even refer to as a Princess.
It took all of Volkmar's self control not to lash out at the walking desecration, and even with all the assurances from the high priestess that Sigmar's light flowed through the walking corpse making her some sort of blessed, yet failed, resurrection. He still had exchanged some choice barbs with the High Priestess leaving both himself and clearly her bitter, particularly when he as the head of a entire Cult, the Grand Theoginist demanded to speak with the head of the Church of the Holy Light to only be rejected by the High Priestess and instead directed to 'take his opinions to Anduin'. At that moment he had unleashed a tirade against the woman even smacking her for her impudence.
That she would conflate a mortal King with a divine position to such a extent honestly boiled the blood, did they really think that the good-yet-ignorant, young King Anduin was some form of God? Such a blaspheme against the Gods and the woman called her self a Priestess? Still the amount of reverence the woman directed towards Anduin, did lead Volkmar to some amusing idle thoughts as he, his eacort, and those following alongside them walked. A God-King Anduin, the boy layered in far too much gold sat atop a golden throne while half naked guards watched over idiot worshippers who foamed at the mouth by merely looking in his general direction. The thought was so absurd that Volkmar allowed himself a amused and very rude snort as he walked.
Across from him, seperated by a layer of Knights amd Paladins the High Priestess snapped a glare to the Grand Theogonist, at her side the Abomination attempted a kind smile. And towering over most her companions following behind the High Priestess the Draenei, Sister Avenah a follower of the Church who had met even with Emperor Karl Franz's own court attempted her own empathetic smile, as always trying to bridge the gap between the groups while just barely missing the mark as always.
With the tension between the Imperials and the Church of the Light at a low simmer as they walked they finally reached Stormwind Keep and passed by the statue of Varien. While from what he heard of the man, Volkmar could respect Varien Wrynn, though the city statues always reminded the Sigmaritte that the people of Stormwind were prone to such vanity building diefic statues of living men and women while leaving the past to be forgotten.
Then they were crossing the main hall of the keep and approached the Throne Room. Then the entered the Chamber with a herald announcing their arrivals. "Now announcing the High Priest of the Cult of Simgar,..." Volkmar winced at the slight by the herald "... Volkmar von Hindenstern and his escort. And announcing the High Priestess of the Church of the Holy Light, Laurena. Also announcing the princess of Lordaeron, and representative of the Conclave, Calia Menethil."
As the herald proclaimed their arrival Anduin patiently waited before finally speaking himself. At the High King's sides stood Genn Graame, Mathias Shaw, and General Hammond Clay. Then once the everyone was arrayed Anduin spoke up in a formal voice. "Thankyou for coming. I figured that after our rather disasterous first council meetings, that it would be best to meet with various groups to collect their opinions and advice for the coming war."
Volkmar clenched his fist and bit his tounge, struggling not to first demand that the undead be removed before any strategy was discussed. And instead the Undead was the first to speak, "Thank you King Anduin. As the once Princess of fallen Lordearon, the lands we shall be fighting for were once those of my family, and the people residing within, both those resisting the Forsaken and those among their armies were once destined to become my own subjects. It's time, that as the rightful heir to Lordearon, I petition you to help me reestablish my father's kingdom where i shall serve as steward until my daughter comes of age and is willing to accept the crown. Lordearon has been cursed by death, I hope to make it into a land where both the subjects of our past among the Undead, and where life and the future will flurish. But I can only do this with your and others help, and by bringing acceptance to the land. While of course I hope for our victory I will state now that I seek to limit the destruction the war shall cause."
Volkmar fumed, proposals lile this always were part of a long term plan by the dead to subjugate the living, and surely Anduin either already knew this, or needed to be reminded as this lifeless thing clearly was able to sway these Azerotheans. However before he could voice his opposition, Volkmar was stymied by High Priestess Laurena speaking up herself.
"Her proposal is unrealistic. To make the living of Lordearon live alongside the Forsaken. The Forsaken have already fought eagerly under both the banner of the Banshee Queen and the Horde, they've made it clear that their loyalties lay with them. And the Forsaken have used Plague, Chemical weapons, and worse against not just our soldiers but innocents just trying to survive. Even if we can win against the Banshee Queen without destroying all of Lordearon, or all the Forsaken, then we'd be making Horde loyalists stand for a Alliance appointed Steward who wishes to have a living human Queen take her place. If we don't have them fighting to the death to oppose this, they'll certainly launch a campaign of resistance themselves, and unlike the citizens of Lordearon, the Gilnean resistance, they'll have the means and heartlessness to unleash waves of terror and mass death. The death toll by the end of the year would match that of what estimates we have for the war entire war! No, we can not allow any Forsaken Loyalists the chance to lash out, if they wish to rejoin Lordaeron then they will have to do it after renouncing the Horde and swearing fealty to the new state and to the Alliance, we can not trust old loyalties and old kinship they have clearly discarded already."
Volkmar rolled his eyes, as if such petty concerns were somehow such a decisive issue. While he appreciated the High Priestess' argumentation, she missed the crux of the matter entirely. And while Celia realed back as struck by the High Priestess' words Volkmar lashed out himself. "You can not trust the Undead. Even if you find individuals who are somehow exceptional among them like this Celia corpse walking among us. The truth is that among them there will always be an arrogance that they think they can rule the living better than any other. They will plot and scheme, and even if they fail to conquer in the open skies with their banners waving to bring terror to the hearts of the living, then they will try to take over from the shadows. Noble houses will die off without people noticing, new nobles who generation after generation look the same will move in, and eventually the living are nothing but slaves and food for the twisted appetites of the Undead. Purge them all, and if your not willing to take that advice, then levy the strictest possible restrictions on the abominations. If Lordearon is in need of peasents, the Empire has malcontents, pilgrims, settlers and various others who for a good favor or with a treaty would be more than happy to send to you on mass once we recinnect with his majesty Emperor Karl Franz."
Calia looked clearly taken aback and stepped forward clearly intent on questioning Volkmar and what authority he can make such claims, but the High Priestess moved first. "Volkmar such a extreme proposal will guantee that we have to fight a war of extermination and you want to treat citizens as a commodity?! The living survivors of Lordaeron deserve better than to have..."
Celia snapped in cutting the High Priestess off. "Everyone in Lordaeron deserves our best, as a sign of..."
"Enough!" Now Anduin's voice cut off both women and stalled the remark Volkmar was preparing. Now the High King stood from his throne, the young man's form, reinforced by the presence of Genn Greymane, and General Hammond behind him was enough to stop the brewing argument on the chamber floor and break the tension between the Rieksguard and the, now Volkmar realized, two seperate groups of paladins.
"I invited you all here to hear your input and take your advice, not have you bicker over your own intentions trying to dictate to me what I should do as you assume our victory!" Anduin's voice was not powerful, instead his every word felt soft, yet it still carried over all other sounds within the room and even Volkmar couldn't deny the King of Stormwind's authority and point in this, after all the Grand Theogonist was a guest staying in Stormwind by Anduin's invitation.
Now the High King of the Alliance took his seat, and after several seconds spoke. "Celia, what do you know about the Horde held portal in Lordaeron?"
"Unfortunately very little, since it first opened the Forsaken had been intent on securing the surrounding area, and since rhe Skaven had come through what survivors living in the region had been forced to flee. The rats have been,... malicious and ravenous, devouring anything and anyone they can get their claws into." Celia admitted to the High King with some limited reluctance.
Anduin looked slightly taken aback and then looked to Shaw who only nodded confirming the report. After that Anduin sighed, clearly accepting the weight of knowing the newest atrocities of thes Skaven on Azeroth. Atrocities that Shaw was withholding from Anduin to spare the High King.
"Alright, then what do your people know of what is happening in Lordaeron?" Anduin then asked of Celia folding his hands infront of himself.
Calia Menethil paused to mull over the information she had. "Most of the Skaven movement has been gradual, but they're slowly gravitating southwards, also a lot of mysterious shipments have been traveling west."
At this Shaw almost seemed to become as pale as the Undead in the room with them. "Shipments? Shipments of what?"
"We don't know, it's more been like a ghost story among the resistance and villages that I've been able to get into contact with through my charity work." The corpse of the Lordaeron princess confessed, her obscurity further rising Volkmar's suspicion and making him clench his staff of office ever tighter.
Then Anduin turned to the next in his line of questioning. "High Priestess Laurena, has the Light given you any visions? Warnings, potents, anything I can use to help the soldiers or motivate them?"
The High Priestess of course shook her head no before speaking. "No the Light's guidance has been confusing as of late, I have received countless portants, yet none of them seem to relate to our current affairs. This I've looked through our tomes on other worlds and what information we could retrieve from the conclave conscerning the myths of Azeroth's other faiths, and even what reports Shaw was willing to share from this other world yet nothing is clear."
Anduin contemplated the statement. "Have you spoken with Volkmar, perhaps he could provide some insight."
The High Priestess' sideways glance to Volkmar told the Grand Theoganist everything he needed to know about what that deluded woman thought of him. "No my King, there isn't anything more that he could provide. His grasp on his own world already seems limited enough as it is.
Volkmar was now readying his thoughts, while Laurena waa proving useless, the Grand Theoganist had plenty to provide for this King im exchange for favor and future promises for the benefit of thr Empire of Man. But before Anduin could speak a Draenei woman stepped forward from among the crowd of paladins and priestess attendants around the High Priestess.
"Please forgive the impudence King Anduin, but I have insights that might help explain the portents." As she spoke the Draenei woman kneeled before Anduin, and for a brief moment Volkmar questioned why Sister Avenah thought she had such insight before he slowly remembered his first time encountering the alien creature in Karl Franz's court.
"Some of the visions, I've encountered them before already, I have a point of reference for these portants. On Mallus, I was shown a Demonic creature that invaded my mind where it lay claim to Azeroth in the name of its master. While it tried to twist my memories tinging them with it's dark nature I also saw images, either realms it had been to before, or what it desired to bring to Azeroth." The female devotee of the light confessed from where her head bowed before the King of Stormwind.
"I'm sorry you were attacked by a demon mentally while on Mallus? Was this after the mana bomb?" Anduin asked the Dreanei a genuine concern in hos voice.
"I was, though the encounter took place much..."
Volkmar stepped forward. "It was because of me. We had reason to suspect her of being a Daemonkin trying to pretend to be a ally of Sigmar. Allies of the Cult had recently captured Daemonmancer inside of Altdorf and put him to death. At the same time one pf hos creations remained but Karl Franz had recently become aware of this Draenei entertaining our city. She quite matched the description of a Daemonkin, but was announcing herself openly as being otherwise. So the Emperor and I conspired to publicly test her if found to be as we suspected then we would execute her and the possessed, if she was everything she claimed, then she might be able to destroy the Daemon, or at least it's presence would reveal much more that we could then understand." Volkmar didn't quite like exposing one of Franz's conspiracies like this, but it should serve better than the version of events the sister was likely to lay out first.
Still Anduin looked slightly taken aback by the confession by Volkmar. "Sister, maybe later you can confirm this and share that. But please what omens might you know?"
Sister Avenah's eyes slowly became distant as her mind returned to what she had witnessed and the dark omens she had recieved. Meanwhile the High Priestess while upset with Avenah was clearly readying herself to support the other woman should she ask for it. Volkmar on the other hand watched for signs of corruption, while certainly not well versed on this Church of the Holy Light, he knew enough now that he had been in the city, their last leader had fallen to corruption, meaning these people were far from the uncorruptable front they put forward.
"When I encountered the possessed on Mallus he spoke to me in the Draenei tounge and he proclaimed his master's dominion over the souls of the Eradar and over Azeroth. At first I thought he might have been a part of the Legion, yet during his claims he had denounced Sargeras making claims as though he and his master predated Sargeras. When the being assaulted my mind, I saw some of what it's own reality possessed. Lakes of fire and Blood, endless Bronze weapons laying about. The Portants warn of armies of Bronze with flaming blades and flames." The Draenei woman explained while Anduin contemplated what was being said.
Volkmar listened and eventually stepped forth. "These are rather common portants in the Empire, the Enemy's Blood God has his eyes on Azeroth if your Gods are the ones warning you then his fury can already be felt from within their realms."
A scoff filled the momentary silence following Volkmar's revelation. "Grand Theogonist the Alliance has defeated our share of Blood Gods, while this one may be of note, so long as we have this forewarning it will not be any different from the rest. My King distracting ourselves from the issue at hand would be far more of a loss for the Alliance, if the Horde is allowed to weaken us before whatever Blood God schemes to invade us, then that Blood God may be successful, but as we are now, before any hostilities between us and the Horde break out, there is no chance it might be victorious." General Hammond dismissed the Draenei.
"You dare question the Light, this woman has been given warning and insight into a threat aiming for Azeroth itself and you dare...?" The High Priestess began, taking to Avenah's defense though clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation.
However Volkmar cut her off. "General, do not dismiss the great enemy so readily. However the overall weakness of these portants and the lack of any specific detail, true or false, suggests that while the Blood God's rage is aimed towards your world, he as of yet does not have his armies on the march. We should watch these portants and omens, but we have months maybe years for the Empire to prepare for whatever stirs in the Chaos wastes."
The General seemed dissatisfied but held back from saying anything further instead bowing to Anduin and returning to his place behind the King. With his General back in his place Anduin focused on the three before him. "Volkmar, I doubt you have any additional insight to provide conscerning Lordaeron. So before I call this meeting to a close is there anything you wish to ask or might think to add?"
Nodding the Grand Theogonist looked to the map for several moments before speaking. "The portal seems to be situated to the North of the Kingdom and with the numbers of support the Horde is receiving, we might want to seal the portal, or at least their movements to and from the portal. Particularly with the location of that portal, worse things that what Skaven you've reported can appear. Particularly with what dark forces the Horde have been willing to parlay with. Defeating the Horde quickly while sealing their portal should be your priority."
General Hammond seemed satisfied with Volkmar's statement and smiled nodding to the Imperial while Shaw seemed to frown behind Abduin. Then Genn Greymane spoke for the first time since the meeting began, "Thankyou for the concerns Volkmar. Though there is something thats bothering me. Before your offered the Empire's citizens up as though they were commodities."
At this Volkmar raised a eyebrow at the other man. "No, I propsed trade between the Empire and Alliance to encourage sending Imperial citizens to immigrate to this newly remade Lordaeron you're thinking of. Why should the Empire send its citizens, even colonists and immigrants, to lands we have poor relations with, particularly at what might be our own expense?.But again this is all by the will of Emperor Karl Franz, so you should take up your negotiations with him."
Genn's scowl deepened but Anduin cut the other man off. "Thankyou Volkmar, Laurena, Celia. I will take all your advice under consideration and you will soon hear of my decisions, though i may first have to recall you for your expertise as we finalize the plans to retake Lordaeron from the Horde once and for all."
With that both the devoted of the Light and the servants of the Man-God Sigmar gave polite bows and began to file from the chamber. As this happened Volkmar watched his opposites closely and mentally processed and analyzed everything he witnessed in the chamber. It was clear enough, Anduin was thinking of striking Lordaeron from the North somehow, and the Young King was either about to be denied, or perhaps the Alliance could manage to transport an army to the north without being intercepted at sea by the enemy. Things were getting interesting and he was intrigued to witness more to bring back to the Empire.
Half a world away from the Morning meeting between Anduin and Volkmar with the light of only a slowly setting pair of moons illuminating the late night meeting of a pair of siblings both locked into a war neither expected to occure as it had. On one side Maiev Shadowsong, leader of the Watchers and chief Warden of the Kaldorei race paced angrily. Across from his sister sat Jarod Shadowsong the more even tempered of the siblings, though now both siblings, each a legendary figure in their own right, sat feeling insignificant and in some ways abandoned while left with the task of preserving a nation on the verge of collapse.
"She left us! She left us here while everything is burning! And you want me NOT to search for her!?" Maiev shouted while slamming her hands on a table that contained various peices that showed Jarod where the Horde and Kaldorei forces were arrayed throughout northern Kalimdor and across Mount Hyjal.
"Maiev, think of everything she's lost.I can understand wanting time away after suffering so much." Jarod stated with some sympathy.
"She should be furious! Not everyone abandons the Kaldorei on a whim, and those who don't often build up real obligations, real duties!" Maiev shouted at her younger sibling.
"I am here now, I am always here when our people actually need me, rather than staying and trying to force my views on others. And I AM furious, and there is no doubt that that rage burns in her heart as well. But we can't let that dictate our actions." Jarod retorted to his sister, while replacing the pieces on the map.
"Maybe you should let that rage move you for once! At this rate our entite people may as well roll over and allow the Horde to kill us! You keep pulling back allowing them to claim more of our homes. If Tyrande could see what your doing now she'd banish you, giving you that chance to mope all alone you always wanted!" Maiev's words were bitter, angry, and driven by a lust for vengeful justice but Jarod could also sense the hurt deep within his sister. Tyrande had once again disappeared on her leaving her again partially in charge of a people at war, and now the pair were made to do so while the greatest tragedy to befall their people since the Great Sundering had only just occured and their lands remained besiged by a merciless, technology obsessed Rat, and the Horde's own malicious and victory drunk forces.
"We wont do anyone good by lashing out only to get ourselves killed. The Horde are getting sloppy if their supply lines extend any further we can start cutting them off and we can then start picking their armies apart." Jarod explained, though he knew his sister could understand his logic he was almost certain she would reject it outright.
"And meanwhile Ikit gets to continue to rampage through our homes along with Mastok in Ashenvale and the Dark Rangers. We can't afford to wait, to be passive, heads need to rolll, or we won't have anything to claim back from the Horde!" And there was the crux of the debate in many ways. Both siblings could easily function without Tyrande or Malfurion despite how bitter a loss having neither of them currently was. But now between Jarod and Maiev the question lingered, 'just how much of their people's kingdom remained, how much more could they sacrifice to spare the lives of their people, and was attacking worth the risks imvolved.'
For Jarod the Kingdom was the people and the spirits, sacrificing them for any victory at this stage was more harm than good. While for Maiev the spirits and people would die without their forests and sacred sites so fighting to protect those places was crucial. Jarod could appreciate his sister's sentiments but he feared that this war, for how large it was shaping up to be, was going to grow to be far larger than he or his sister could possibly predict.
Jarod looked over his map once more. Maiev was certainly well positioned for launching offensives against the Horde, while the Sentinels following him were gradually luring the Horde deeper into the forests. He didn't agree with his sister on a lot of things, infact the pair had been estranged and practically rivals for most of their lives now. Ironically despite their relationship both siblings had also in their own ways, always supported the other even when they didn't want to. Perhaps now Jarod figured, they, or he, should be like that.
Jarod sighed then turned his attention from the map to Maiev. "Listen, I can't change my tactics, we won't last if we take your approach." As expected Maiev bristled and was already about to explode but Jarod continued swiftly to stay ahead of her outburst of rage.
"However, in many reapects you are correct as well. Everything I do will be pointless if we our allow Ikit Claw to live to destroy more of forests." Jarod could still see a burning rage in his sister's eyes, and he was sure that if he was someone else, she probably would still be at very least verbally attacking him. At least she seemed to relax slightly watching him with a wrathful curiosity.
"The Sentinels will continue my strategy of drawing the Horde towards prepared battlefields. But we need to decapitate the Horde's leadership, particularly at the crucial moment. If you're willing to compromise with me I'll do the same for you. I'll move up my time table for my counterattack, and support some preemptive probing attacks to prepare us for the assassination of the Horde leadership, starting with the Skaven."
Maiev's frown deepened, but she was clearly considering her brother's proposal. Sure more land and more shrines would certainly be destroyed, more groves chopped down or maliciously burned in the time the Kaldorei were conceding over to the Horde to ensure the success of Jarod's plan. But, as Jarod watched the realization crossing his sister's face, now her offensives would do far more than avenge a few sites and maybe buy time for the Kaldorei. Now she could land the critical blows, soften targets, and leave the Horde leaderless at the same time they would be over extended and facing off against the Kaldorei's speed within the forest.
Maiev then smirked and planted her hand firmly on the table. "Fine, we'll do things this way. But should your plan fail, and the Horde continues to come despite all the time you wasted on this, just know this, I'll hold you personally responsible, even though you're my Brother."
Jarod just looked his sister in the eye. "or rather because I'm your brother, you can't allow yourself to show me any leniency."
Maiev Shadowsong then frowned, and turned away from her brother. "We'll need adventurers willing to slip behind Horde lines to do this, I'll see who I can find." And thus the eldest Shadowsong sibling left, leaving the unspoken truth between the siblings still unspoken.
Reviews:
Guest: Also mulling over if the Estallians might cause trouble again by bringing those accuraed Bretonnians and Empire knights to blight his lands... particularly those frog tea obsessed Bretonnians.
Dragon King of the West: Sylvanas is smart, but desperation and illusions of grandure. And i mean, if Blizzaed sucks Alliance D any harder well, we already have the Gods themselves worshipping the Alliance...and by the End of Legion...well the Alliance was going to get a unknown number of maga ultra awesome special super soldiers who most likely outnumber the entire population of the Eradar species ever had...(much like the Night Elves)...all complete with experience in defeating undefeatable ultra mega enemies who you can never ever hope to defeat...unless your a member of the Alliance, or these guys. So says fanbois and Space Battles and they're the most reliable source ever... but seriously even on an objective balanced take the Horde's situation at the end of the Legion expansion was pretty fucked.
And besides it's the Horde they made an army of Brain eating undead, fart sniffing greenskins and their self hating racist leader, plus a bucnch of stoned so hard they can't even remember where their best friends who will 'certainly' protect them live (*cough* night elves jerks turned their backs on the Tauren *cough*), a race of absolute losers, and selfcest enthusiasts somehow work together and in a way that didn't immediately fall apart.
rollynolly: The Skaven didn't ally with chaos until the End Times, aka the setting for the Vermintide games...and even then it was forced as hell. They are chaos adjacent but no more chaos adjacent than Nagash himself... until GW decided that Chaos didn't have enough allies in a war where they auto won by default and major characters and their entire plotlines were absolutely forgotten. Also they have ONE god that they will slaughter you for even thinking of another God. Their God is the Great Horned Rat, who spawned the Verminlords and in a single day ate a large portion of the Skaven population. But it's also the Skaven society. unity? Do you believe they can unify?
I'm a Skaven fan, knowing their weaknesses culturally and literally is basically a core aspect of enjoying them. Where Chaos serves the Chaos gods out of hope to achieve something be it Daemonhood, revenge etcetera, the Skaven serve the Horned Rat out of Fear and in hopes of social benefit. And the Skaven's core natural traits are Paranoia, Self interest (sadly there isn't a morally neutral version of the term as being self interested isn't inherently morally wrong, much like drinking alcohol doesn't make you an alcoholic, being self interested doesn't automatically make you selfish and infact most world leaders are self interested people by nature, heck most grand conquerers we virtually worship today even verge on being outright selfish), and hyperactivity/industriusness. traits that can be said to be shared by the WoW Goblins, and at a stretch even the Gnomes. But these traits, plus the outside influences of Mallus, and their own society in general, Skaven struggle to even be as unified as chaos is. If not for their reproduction rates and absurdly short childhoods Skaven wouldn't stand a chance of surviving their own world let alone thrive as they had. and again they thrived while opposing Chaos and more often than not fighting against chaos until the End Times, where basically everyone with a grudge against them showed up at once and they totally followed lore, no breaking of lore established by the book right before or anything, and joined chaos no GW just trying to make factions fit into their AoS molds and giving less than a quarter of the damn about their setting and lore than Blizzard did in Shadowlands.
Ravenguard0009: Thus Sylvanas hiding and downplaying a lot of shit, sort of like with the fanbois and anything ganky with either game's setting. But for a in universe example...her entire faction being the antithesis of the Tauren, Trolls, and Thrall's secret desire to see his entire species permanently die due to his shitty leadership skills. (Best Warchief my ass, fucker got carried, despite having the easiest ever scape goat in 'Demon mind control', which has allowed people to get away with anything in Blizzard's book, and having fought along side them with his entire race, oh and adopting ideals that closely align with their own and that made the Tauren a already member race of the Horde into supposedly close friends of the Kaldorei, still lost out to a bunch of industrialists, and a city whose workers were rioting due to poor pay and conditions and didn't even know the Night Elves exist)
Sylvanas coalition isn't the most stable. but hey, Vlad was just the best looking Vampire humans would want to work for, i can think of a certain Border Prince whose got plenty of humans flocking to his territory willingly but who are all terrified to see his face because how ugly he is.
"Settra does not Raid Boss, Settra RULES!"
Sylvanas has multiple contingencies in place as she stated, the real problem is that such a state of readiness is hard to sustain and the arrangement might have a few weaknesses, that considering the "unbeatable strategies" and overall layout of forces and approach to warfare...its certain both Alliance and Horde are highly dependent on a variation of Defense in Depth...and both have shown themselves to be actually incapable of adapting to the strategies and creatures who defeat such a strategy. But yes Sylvanas could have worded it better, but at the same time would her new allies appreciate her not just being upfront about baiting the enemy?, or worse playing word games?
As for Anduin and Volkmar's relationship, maybe, maybe. But yeah Volkmar be rolling into them Emperor elections like California's electoral college rolling in on all them 4-7 vote states.
Hakuryuu: Skaven just blindly trying to play politics to cover up their blatantly obvious master plan that is so brilliant and masterful, because they said so.
As for Sourfang's fears, lets not forget that the men under Anduin might have their own free will, and that's also what the old veteran fears more than Anduin approving some dark shit.
Well for the Stormfiend question, i point you to GoTEG: Drums of War Chapter 47.
Jak23: Which faction's gunships? Alliance, they're going to need plenty of time, Horde Thunderbarges made by the Dawi are already a vastly superior design, like people who think otherwise are probably the type that think that the T-34 was anything other than the worst tank of WW2, even thinking the Factory N.183 models were great. (Hint, the on paper stats for the T-34 never made it onto the actual tanks...let alone sights and scopes that would allow the tanks to see where they were going and maybe stop before driving straight into a river... and some analysists actually think that Russia would have been better served by not cancelling 100% of their Truck production and by just having trucks with AT guns.)
BloodRedRoses11: Certainly Blizzard's and early 2000's writing's fault for that... seriously Yugioh, all the other shows, most the villains who tired to hide the fact they were a villain almost always turned to the camera to announce they were the villain. Haddihl has had his day...thousands of years ago, and it might come again if he's patient.
JiggyliFAP: Let the blodies hit the floor then.
On the planes, propeller plane's don't need much lift to take off and are able to withstand bouncing around on a bad runway, there are areas where blasting a runway is bad for them, but the usual areas to put a runway blasting a few holes wont mean shit...so of course we can Assume thar Aserotheans explicitly choose the worst spots without fail.
yes Neferata's elixer was sabotaged and the only people who know how to make a more perfected version hate the vampires. And Abhorash right out the gate rejected the idea of drinking blood and sustains himself off magic and a minimal amount of blood, which has had consequences, namely he looks like a walking corpse.
"But, but you're lying, there aren't enough houses in Stormwind, they only take 35 seconds to build, and gameplay is cannon so says a interview I'll incessantly misquote, your a liars Jiggalyjerk and fuckwit author!" Thankyou stawman i pulled out of my ass for pointing that out, seems like either way, these build times break a number of claims made by fanbois on SB and YT comment sections and other chat threads (particularly the Deathbattle threads).
The often ignored, poor War campaign lore bits, definitely worthy of reading and already planned to tap it for details.
Tarei is anything but a unbiased source. Meanwhile the truest dread of all Azerotheans, the level 58 Skaven DK.
Lol, yeah those make more sense than the BS of why she is so powerful I most often hear. "she studies hard and reads lots of books". WoW really she reads books -_-,
Actually neither, nah, the Goblins did something that will of course have no consequences whatsoever...just nuclear bombs because of course they have those. (and people question why i call out the inconsistent nature of Azeroth while they try to hard stat it against anything else, I still have one strong argument against that logic in my back pocket, but it'll rustle a lot of jimmies)
Beware the Begger King, for not even with his Kaiju movie Kenny powers inherent of all WoW entities can Shaw hope to match the domination of a begger network within a city for nothing escapes the lowest dregs who sit, listen, and watch all day especially when they know what to look for, and worse have "friends" who take pitty on them and tell them things... i really wish i could play 4th but with how chaotic my work has been, plus my family, i probably wont be able to give it a shot until much later, still love the lore bits, and well I'm just praying it gets its own equivalent of the Inquisitors handbook (best asset any 40k GM can ever use especially if they want to imrpovise shit...had a PC make a fire bomb so powerful that it glassed 300 meters of beachfront property and delayed an Orkish D-Day landing just as his side was being overrun...the glorious bastard and his glorious sacrifice)
Currently this story has space where characters can be introduced to play roles, and give us that mid rank view.
As for the past/mind reading...so a spell by a woman more powerful than demi-Gods and not replicated or originated from the Blue Dragonflight, and Panda brew as ordered by Baine...implimented entirely in a 80's use then forget by next episode method...which leads to strong fans and fans who watched last episode with a memory longer than a goldfish wondering "well why don't they just"?
Deadliestfan: Long time no see, glad to hear form you again. So yeah while i doubt old world will have anything even outside centeal old world (continent) for quite some time, i think Creative Assembly will need to tease or put out their own varients sooner rather than later, but even then i still have the fan content to use, aaaand they wont be for a while longer.
As for the "Why does Stormwind's civilian infrastructure suck when its military logistics are accomplishing what no fantasy faction should", to use the USA example, the USA had anything but a capable military going into WW1 and WW2, they at the startingnyears of those wars had less than everyone involved, example both Russia and Germany were arming for war for five years before the start while British and French Egos had them destroying their surplus war supplies. The success of the USA and whats lead to them dropping so much more on military than anything is the success of their infrastructure and industrial development, as a microcasm example the California water works projects that started their completion in 1940 and consistent of some of the most ingenious and complete water infrastructure projects of the last 100 years (primarily funded by the state of California)...and all of which have failed due to neglect right around the same time the state started to nosedive where everyone openly admits California is a undesirable place to live, rather than being the utopia on earth it once was thought of by everyone to be. and as all those neglected infrastructures fail or reach a demand that significantly exceeds their capacity, the US has been gradually failing, too caught up in playing word games with itself.
and this ties into my view on Stormwind, because they can't even get stomemasons to work for them to do basic projects which would be the backbone of their industry, food production etc, meaning hungry men who can't forge swords, too few anvels and furaces, nothing to preserve their magic books meaning mana and time has to be spent casting preservation spells, so on and so forth...but we know Ironforge has the industry, we can assume Gnomeregan has incredibly good infrastructure, and even Dalaran either by magic or by basic infrastructureal development would even while floating in the air have a better foundation than Stormwind. Thus why really I think Stormwind would easily fall without Ironforge and all the provide the Alliance are bodies ready to die for the cause, a good spy network on virtue of being the only spy network Blizzard gives any attention to, and leaders so good all the other kings wish they could be their subjects instead of being a stupid king with their own nation. And I mean Cataclysm, Ironforge Deathwing targetted Infrastructure, Stormwind, he targetted docks (which technically are infrastructure but for trade not local development) and the gate with the ego statues. (yet another point of trade infrastructure yet they do nothing to expand the development of their own land meaning either its there for stuff going out, IE soldiers, or for trade from other nations via land)
Yay Ironforge basically carrying the Eastern Kingdoms Alliance on it's back solo, you go you fucking Dwarven Chads! ¶~Brothers of the mine rejoice! (Swing, swing, swing with me!) Raise your pick and raise your voice! (Sing, sing, sing with me!) Down and down into the deep ~~Who knows what we'll find beneath?~~ Diamonds, rubies, gold, and more~~ Hidden in the mountains store~~~~ Born underground~~Suckled from a teat of stone~~Raised in the dark~~The safety of our mountain home~~Skin made of iron~~Steel in our bones~~To dig and dig makes us free~~Come on, brothers, sing with me!~I am a dwarf, and I'm digging a hole. Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole. I am a dwarf, and I'm digging a hole, Diggy diggy hole, digging a hole~
On the story bit, yup cant wait to get on with the rest...though honestly at this rate I'm expecting Blizzard to go "and heres the 'new' head of the church, they totally have been in charge since the moment the other guy whoever that was left, and they have been just so vital since...oh and were thinking of this unique and new plot were teasing, a totally new idea where the guy is actually a traitor, i know so unique and original am i right players?"
But we do get the joy of seeing some better politicking and hopefully more adventerer type events, as this story will hopefully pull us back from the battle field and put us on a wider variety of stages (and with closer events less of a split focus and more again on multiple PoV of single events) maybe just maybe I might even be able to bring back lady Gertrude, her gossiping nature was fun to write.
MadFrog2000: Never even considered TCG I'll have to look it up and see who/what i can find. So off to look up Parvink, and others soon. But it's good to have some of the adventurers back, get to use a PoV that i felt i neglected in the last story... hopefully some habits are hard to break. And yes Skaven done well are probably one of the most entertaining races in most catagories, they can be terrifying, hilarious, and even that blatant evil you get from Megatron/Galvatron in the OG Transformers movie.