Loremaster Innervate - World of Warcraft - Zone: Tirisfal Glades

Welcome back to Loremaster Innervate where every week we go through a piece of lore inside of the video game world. This week we move over to the Undead starting area of Tirisfal Glades to see what the mischievous walking corpses are up too.

As we learned in the Ghostlands blood elf area the High Elves of Kalimdor first made landfall in Tirisfal Glades after they were exiled by the Night Elves. After making camp they slowly began to go mad after a few months which caused them to move farther North into Eversong Woods. Tirisfal Glades has always been home to extremely powerful magics and before it became the home of the Forsaken it was once was a beautiful scene filled with towns and farmlands. When Arthas, the Lich King, marched on Lorderan and slaughtered the citizens to raise them as Scourge. Shortly after the Third War however, the Lich King began to lose power over the Scourge due to a spell cast by Illidan Stormrage. During this lapse of power, a band of Undead broke free of his control and formed the Forsaken which was eventually able to take back Tirisfal Glades and make it their main base.

You start off as an Undead being raised as by a Valk'yr under the orders of Sylvanas which changed in Cataclysm. There has been some speculation about Sylvanas having taken the shattered pieces of Frostmourne from the Frozen Throne when Arthas died and is using it to control the Val'kyr to raise more Undead since we currently aren't aware where the pieces of Frostmourne are. However, we quickly learn that since the Val'kyr have began to rise the new Forsaken that there are more and more that have left the Forsaken and there are a few reasons for this.

When the Scourge were originally risen and then broke free of the Lich King they had a common goal because they were angry at one person, the Lich King for killing them and the Lich King for raising them to kill others. Now that the Lich King is gone and Sylvanas is the one raising them now they have no one to be angry at except for her. Also, Sylvanas is raising her enemies such as soldiers of the Scarlet Crusade. When Undead that are sentient rise fully they will remember their lives they had before so when Sylvanas rises those of the Scarlet Crusade they instinctively want to rebel against her.

Sylvanas is raising Alliance war casualties from Southshore and other areas near Tirisfal that the Horde took in Cataclysm, even having them shipped in to be raised in Tirisfal and Silverpine Forest. It is not explained why exactly Sylvanas is bolstering her numbers so greatly in Tirisfal but we assume it is for the war against the Alliance. But knowing Sylvanas she most definitely has an ulterior motive. A motive that must matter enough if she is willing to risk having the new resurrected undead rebel against her.

And so begins the story of Lilian Voss whom we meet at the beginning of the area. Lilian Voss was raised and immediately ran from the surroundings, including when you show her her own reflection; screaming that she can't be an Undead. Humans that are raised sometimes rise without enough consciousness, which is when they become ghouls, or they rise and they had a predisposition against undead to not be able to cope with the fact that they are now risen dead. This can either cause them to rebel or go insane, the Forsaken refer to these individuals as sick. Lilian runs off and is not seen again until the end of the zone but she is mentioned when we are told that the Scarlet Crusade has a bounty on her head. We find a camp of dead Scarlet Crusaders and learn that Lilian Voss has been spending her time killing as many as possible after she returned to her father, the leader of the Scarlet Crusade, who then promptly wanted her executed. Lilian asks you to take her back to the hold where you slaughter an army and kill her father and his lieutenants. This ends most of the Scarlet Crusade in Tirisfal once and for all.

The other large plot to cycle through most of Tirisfal is that of the plague. Although we will go into more detail once we get to Northrend, the plague was used to slaughter both the Scourge and the living armies of the Horde and the Alliance by Professor Putress at the battle of Wrathgate (which subsequently allowed Bolvar Fordragon to be captured and tortured by the Scourge). Although it is a mighty weapon, for unknown reasons since this seems right up his alley, Garrosh has banned the production of the Plague. We learn however that the Forsaken are still making it and making it even more deadly than before.

Other Interesting Notes

• Gold is scarce in Lorderan in general and there are very few gold mines in the area to harvest from. Coincidentally, spiders love gold as every mine you come across is generally infested with them.
• You can chase tadpole Murlocs around until they are so scared they pass out.
• The Forsaken believe that they should be in control of all of Azeroth.
• Bolvar Fordragon (the new Lich King) is losing his grip on the Scourge. The Forsaken are theorizing that with enough experimentation it would be possible to completely break the hold of Bolvar.

The story of Tirisfal is not yet over as it continues next week with Silverpine Forest, which also continues the Alliance story of Gilneas oddly enough. And maybe next week I'll actually release it on Friday like I'm supposed too instead of Saturday.

Loremaster Innervate - World of Warcraft - Zone: Ghostlands

Welcome back to Loremaster Innervate where I go over something lore related in World of Warcraft. This week we continue our Horde Monk's adventure through Azeroth with Ghostlands. Back when Burning Crusade first came out I went and did Ghostlands on a baby Blood Elf which was my first alt and I never got it past level 25 until Wrath of the Lich King but I really loved Ghostlands for some reason and it was the only area I finished to completion and got exalted reputation with. Doing it again in current content however, I have no idea why I thought that!

The High Elves originally made landfall and settled in Tirisfal Glades. However, the High Elves started to slowly go mad and it is theorized that there is something evil underneath the ground of Tirisfal however it has never been proven. Is there a possibility that there might be a chained Old God there? We still have three that are missing. High Elves who escaped the madness moved farther north and eventually settled in Quel'thalas which is a joint area of both Eversong Woods and Ghostlands.

The Ghostlands was originally as beautiful as Eversong Woods. However, it was renamed the Blackened Woods when red dragons first burned it down in the Second War. However, I unfortunately couldn't figure out why as it doesn't say that Orgrim Doomhammer was the one who burned it down and specifically that red dragons did it. There is no zone origin in the questing as well. If we read a little bit into the Second War lore we find that Orgrim Doomhammer burned his way through the elven forests and made it to Eversong Woods before any Alliance Reinforcements (the High Elves of Quel'thalas were allies of the Alliance at this time) could arrive to stop them. So, it's kind of miss leading to say the Red Dragons burned down the forest as it was technically Orgrim Doomhammer controlling the enslaved Red Dragons who burned it down. It was later burned down a second time during the Third War by the Blood Elves themselves to stop the Scourge taint from spreading to neighboring areas.

We are first introduced to Ghostlands when we discover an Undead Apothecary attempting to aid a Blood Elf Outrunner who has been infected with the Ghostlands plague. When we reach the capital city to deliver the Outrunner's message we are instantly recruited to help retake the Ghostlands. Only about halfway through the zone do we learn exactly what we're doing there. The Blood Elves have lost the Ghostlands to the Scourge lead by the traiter Dar'Khan Drathir and are currently fighting a three front war. It is your job, as the hero, to free up the Farstriders who are fighting the Amani Trolls and the invading Night Elves so they can join Tranquillian and you can launch a full on assault on Deatholme to the south.

The first thing we are instructed to do is go to a Spire that has been overtaken by High Elf spirits that have been risen by the Scourge. This shows that the Scourge leaders are smart, when your allies are raised from the dead to fight against you that not only free extra troops that your enemy lost but it also makes it harder for the enemy to fight against you since you are making them fight their friends. I believe this is the only place we have High Elf NPCs in abundance and they have a very interesting look. They have the hair styles, attack animations and eyes of Night Elves but the facial structure, body type and hair color of Blood Elves. All other High Elf NPCs I have found look exactly like Blood Elves except for their eye color.

The land is being covered with undead as the Scourge are still controlling most of the land. We learn a few things about the Scourge and Undead as a whole from this area. First, Murlocs retain their free will when raised from death very similar to some of the Foresaken. It is never fully explained why Murlocs are special exemptions to the rule of undeath but we do also learn that Dark Energy of the Reanimated come from the persons (or Murlocs) spine. Amani Trolls are also being raised from the dead, however, we find out that it is not the Scourge that are doing this it's their own Amani Troll Priests. They know that they are fighting Farstrider forces and do not have enough to fight them but they would if they rose their dead to fight them.

A few other pieces of Blood Elf lore learned in this area as well. Windrunner Spire was the original birthplace of Sylvanas Windrunner and was renamed in her honor. One of the undead is holding a necklace that once belong to Sylvanas that was given to her by her sister. This song is played when you give her the necklace. No further explanation is given inside of the game as to what the meaning of the necklace was, but through outside sources we learn that the necklace was originally meant to be given to Sylvanas by her sister Alleria before she went into the Dark Portal but she never received it. The necklace was split into three separate necklaces each one intending to go to one of the Windrunner sisters.

We also learn a little bit more about how the Blood Elves were able to control the elements around Quel'thalas. The Blood Elves would perform enslavement rituals by summoning an Elemental Lord and binding it to their will every year. However, tragedy struck one year when Aquantion, a water elemental, called upon an army of Murlocs and drowned a town of blood elves that were attempting the ritual so he could be free. The spirits of the blood elves now haunt the lake they died in.

Most of the lore comes from one small but important area in the Ghostlands known as Deatholme. Deatholme is the fortress of Dar'Khan Drathir the Blood Elf traitor that sold out his people to the Scourge. Dar'Khan was a very powerful magistre that used the Sunwell to craft cities for his people. However, he was extremely ego-maniacal and was frustrated with not receiving enough credit for helping build Silvermoon. Dar'Khan became obsessed with the Sunwell and wanted to power for himself so he joined forces with Arthas Menethil who he believed wanted to Sunwell for himself as well. However, after Dar'Khan let the Lich Kings forces into Eversong Woods and fought against the Blood Elves for control of the Sunwell, Arthas used it to raise Kel'thazad which corrupted it beyond use. Infurated by this, Dar'Khan attempted to betray the Lich King but was killed in the battle. After he is revivedby Arthas and tracks down what is left of the Sunwell that was destroyed by Kael'thas Sunstrider he is vaporized to dust but magically appears in Ghostlands as the Scourge offensive leader with no real explination as to how he survived or how he got there. Some believe that he is a Lich and can regenerate any wound as long as his soul remains in tact, however, since we kill him and do nothing special with his soul there's no concrete evidence that this is true.

Once we defeat his Lieutenants, free our scouts and kill Dar'Khan (which by the way, is still a bitch of a fight to solo, in full heirlooms at level 24 it took my Monk about 4-6 deaths to kill him on my own due to his obnoxious fear and four add army he keeps in the room with him) we are asked to meet not only the Regent Lord Lor'themar Theron but also Sylvanas Windrunner and Garrosh Hellscream so the Blood Elves can officially become apart of the Horde. Being able to retake the Ghostlands and defeat Dar'khan without any outside help shows the Horde that we are capable of solving our own problems and that we have assets we can provide.

All in all, I really enjoy Ghostlands as a zone because it is extremely pretty and you get lost in what you're doing. However, as it always seems to be in WoW most of your information comes from outside of the game and not the actual quest text itself. Next week, we will be moving to Tirisfal Glades (and randomly jumping several years into the future) to learn the lore of the Forsaken and Sylvanas Windrunner.

Loremaster Innervate - World of Warcraft - Zone Lore: Eversong Woods

Welcome to the first article for Loremaster Innervate. This will be a weekly article where we go over the lore that we learn as we trek our way through Azeroth and beyond. For the Horde side of leveling, we will be following the adventures of Mishta, a Blood Elf Monk. And we begin our story in Eversong Woods as a new recruit eager to help rebuild the race.

Why are the Blood Elves in Eversong Woods? Why is half of their city destroyed? What is their story? Unfortunately, none of this is actually explained in the starting area as the blood elves expect you to know your people's history. So you have to go outside of the game for some background information. Essentially, Blood Elves used to be High Elves that were known as a race with great magical ability. Their source of power comes from the Sunwell which was created from a vial of water from the Well of Eternity. Arthas the Lich King amassed an army of Scourge and marched on Silvermoon so he could use the power of the Sunwell to resurrect Kel'thazad (the final boss in Naxxaramus) which tainted the Sunwell. During this attack, over 90% of the elven population in Quel'thalas was destroyed by the Scourge and those who survived became addicted to mana without the Sunwell. They changed their name to Blood Elves as a reminder of their fallen.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment Concept Art

There isn't a lot of additional information on the Eversong Woods area itself. It has always been the home of High Elves and where their Sunwell originally sat before it was corrupted and destroyed. An interesting fact however is that the region itself is meant to be snowy but the Blood Elves use their magic to leave it in a perpetual season of Autumn. If the Blood Elves ever left it is assumed that it would return to a winter climate. Also, in Tor'Watha there used to be a wooden gateway similar to Zul'Aman that was speculated to have either been the original entrance to the raid or another instance that was never released. It was later removed in Patch 4.0.3 and replaced by mountains.

The questing itself unfortunately is rather dull as the zone was not remade during the overhaul to the 1-60 questing experience in the pre-launch event for Cataclysm. There isn't a very distinguishable story to follow but there are some lore tid-bits that we can learn.

Blood elves, as stated above, are addicted to mana crystals due to their constant use of it. They constantly suffer from withdrawal symptoms since the destruction of the Sunwell. Blood elves that do not learn to curb their addiction and give in are turned into Wretched. Wretched are deformed creatures who only care about getting their next mana fix. They will steal and murder their own for the chance of them having a mana crystal on them. Once you have succumb to your addiction there to no turning back and your only hope is death. Wretched are a huge threat to most as they have no remorse for their actions and will kill any passing Blood Elf.

The first quests in the zone, as in most zones, are kill quests. You are ordered to kill Mana Wyrms and Springpaw Lynx because Blood Elves used the Sunwell magic to control them so everything in Quel'thalas lived in harmony with one another. Once the Sunwell was destroyed they could no longer control the animals and mana creatures throughout the land who then turned on them. This made their training grounds extremely dangerous.

We soon see our first look into faction differences and Blood Elf players are taught early to hate the Alliance. The only Alliance we see are either masked Darnassian spies who hold battle plans to the defenses of the outlying villages of Eversong and Prospector Anvilward who turns out to be a spy who sabotaged the Western Sanctums power conduits. Although you are a brand new recruit to the Horde, they ask you to assassinate the Prospector as it is to dangerous to keep him captive. We also see distinction between troll tribes with the Amani and the Darkspear. Although very minimal, we meet a dying Darkspear troll that explains that he is good and we help avenge his death.

Source: http://www.fanpop.com/fans/Chipettes33

The last creatures that we come across before we leave the area are woodland Treants, sentient trees who live throughout Quel'thalas. Treants in Eversong have been long time allies of the Blood Elves and most of the structures in Eversong Woods were either built by or repaired by Treants. However, the Treants were attempting to heal the burned down woods that border Ghostlands which forced the Blood Elves to begin killing them. This little bit of information intrigued me, although Blood Elves are more in tune with Arcane Magic than Nature based magic, it could be assumed that with the help of Tauren Druids and the Treants in Eversong, could it be possible for a faction of Blood Elves to become Druids? In the Warcraft II manual, it is explained that the Runestone on Caer Darrow in the Western Plaguelands was placed by "Elven Druids" but they were never mentioned again. In the Botanica 5-man instance, High Botanist Freywinn is a blood elf seen wearing Cenarion Vestments (Tier 1 Druid gear) and even transforms into a tree. Many of the other NPCs in the Botanica cast Restoration Druid spells but are not specifically called Druids.

The last, and possibly biggest piece of lore, comes from the Dead Scar and the Scorched Wood. The Dead Scar is a straight line that cuts Eversong Woods and Ghostlands almost evenly in half. This occurred when the Lich King marched on Silvermoon and the Scourge corrupted the land as it marched. After most of the Scourge army left, the corruption of their taint began to spread and the elves were forced to burn the land and the surrounding forest to stop the spread of the corruption. Unfortunately, the mark left behind by the Scourge cannot be reversed and any attempts to heal the land will simply cause the taint to continue spreading. The corruption also draws more stray Scourge to the area so the blood elves must always be on constant guard.

Overall, the zone felt as though there was very little accomplishment that occurred by the player as, again, the story line is behind on the current game lore and the story telling was not as well done. Most of the information had to be found outside of the game. Next week however, we will be covering Ghostlands which is personally one of my favorite areas. Join me next time as we explain the rise, fall and fall again of Dar'khan Drathir!

Loremaster Innervate - World of Warcraft - Initial Reactions to Mists of Pandaria Trailer

I woke up this morning at about 11:00 am (about 2 hours after the trailer was released) and immediately got on to see if like the big nerd that I am. I didn’t get on Twitter, Reddit or any other WoW news site so that I wouldn’t be biased to what anyone’s thoughts were.

I have to say that I like and dislike the trailer for a few reasons. The cinematic was absolutely gorgeous, I like it when Blizzard goes for the more realistic style of the art even though the game has a distinct cartoon style art while playing. It was easy to get immersed and the idea behind the cinematic was easy to follow. Horde v Alliance navel battle, Orc and Human get stranded on desert island, find each other and insue in life or death battle, Pandas stop them and give them a common enemy.

One of the reasons I didn’t like the opening cinematic is because those who don’t necessarily know the details of the opening story line that was given to us at Blizzcon will have more ammo that this expansion is going to be a comedic relief expansion with no dark elements to it at all.  The Horde and the Alliance are finally having their big battle to end all battles and it is once again ruined by an outside force. The introduction to the Pandaren is completely comedic relief in the opening cinematic. He stops the life and death battle, takes back the ornament the Orc broke off of his temple and fixes it, Human and Orc give their best WTF face and the human hands the Orc a weapon so that they can fight the panda together.

The cinematic from there on out no longer has any heavy themes to speak of. They fight for another two minutes, the Pandaren has a quiet monologue, and then it is over. There’s obviously much more to the story that we already know about but all of the heaviness disepated once the Pandaren arrived which makes me worry. I’m sure I’m in the small minority who actually knows the beginning lore to MoP and the heavy themes that surround it but none of that was shown in the trailer for a larger audience to view. Instead of a tranquil view of Pandaria at peace I feel it would have been better if the Pandaren had panned to a group of Pandaren monks fighting a large Sha of Anger that had manifested from the Orc and Human fighting each other. Only a handful of people might have recognized or understood what it was but at least it would have given us something.

I also think it was a bad idea to have the Humans and Orcs both fighting against the Pandaren with no resolution to the battle other than defeat for both of the factions. If no one knew anything about the upcoming expansion, it’s lore, or any over arching story to World of Warcraft in general, they would think that the Horde and the Alliance were going to band together to defeat the Pandaren. No outside enemies were shown in the cinematic (when the opening cinematic generally feature or surround the antagonist of the expansion) other than the Pandaren. Although we are uncertain what exactly the enemy (other than the Sha and a few other woodland critters) is in MoP and who the final boss battle will be, it would have explained much more of the Orc, Human and Pandaren were standing side by side in awe at a Pandaren army taking down a large Sha to show the Pandas are not the enemy.

Although I have a lot of criticism I did like the cinematic overall. I understand that you can’t put everything into the opening cinematic and that some of the story had to be cut out or they want the quests to bring that lore to the eyes of the viewers. I also understand that not everything can be explained in a 5 minute video. I’m just concerned that our fears of a Pokemon and Pandas fluffy childrens expansion may be being realized here. Hopefully, I am proved wrong!