Jump to content
Fraenir

Nidafjoll

Recommended Posts

Nidafjoll

Phase 1093
 

Warning: Custom Lore Ahead

Huge wall of text

TL;DR? Don't respond
Don't worry, I will attempt to condense this as much as possible, this is a rough draft to get the idea out

 

New: Interest Check

I've been rethinking the idea as a whole and may scrap much of what I have thus far, in favor of a setting that is truly dedicated to dwarves mostly; that is, using the aethetics of various races to elaborate upon other dwarven cultures, rather than the pigeonholed cliche that Warcraft dwarves have been put into.
For example, using the Scourge aethetics of WotLK for a dwarven kingdom centered around a deathly nature, akin to Old Norse belief that dwarves were deathly spirits who guarded gates to the afterlife deep beneath the earth. Maybe even using Draenei aesthetics (WoD, maybe BC) to suggest a more magitek spacefaring kingdom of dwarves. Iron Horde components for a more grim industrialist kingdom. Maybe even some night elf ones for a naturalist kingdom.
Any thoughts? Keep with the more diverse theme which merely alters existing elements of Warcraft, or go full tilt with dwarven dominance of the setting.

 

Summary

A dwarf-oriented phase which aims to put some fun into RPing dwarves, who are sadly neglected by both writers and players alike despite the grand amount of wealth they bring to the setting. It does operate largely under custom lore and below I will illustrate a brief account of various alterations made to the Warcraft setting, although some Warcraft-unique concepts will still persist in this new setting.


 

Races

I've taken the effort of giving brief descriptions of each race; by and large they remain the same in tone and themes, but there are some nuanced changes, particularly in the changing of some names. NPC races, or Exotics, are not necessarily described herein, although a few have been altered and may be mentioned on this thread. If you have any questions or ideas pertaining to reimagining certain NPC races not mentioned in the interest of joining in on the RP, I'm all ears.

The most notable change is of course the erasing much of Warcraft's fictional history, allowing for a more distinct backstories relating to each race to be established, namely because Warcraft's own fictional history is so full of continuity errors, inconsistencies, retcons, contradictions, etc. Here, things will be kept simpler and less melodramatic than the canon.

A basic gauge to evaluate the races is by their affinity for the four main roles; warrior, agent, sorcerer, mystic, as well as their level of technology.

This serves simply as a general overview of the various races, with more information regarding them to come over time. If there are any questions, feel free to ask, even in a PM.
 

Not all Racial Benefits and Detriments are listed yet; more will be added and existing ones may be modified as ideas progress. If you have any ideas as to what certain races ought to have as benefits and downsides, don't hesitate to share via PM.

 

Dwarves

Spoiler

Hailing from the northern lands of Nidafjoll, some might say they are masters of all trades, never settling for less. The forefront of technological advances, among the most learned loremasters of the world, endowed with great attunement to natural forces, equipped with specialized combat techniques; they are indeed a force to be reckoned with. Contrary to the age-old corruption of the word “dwarf”, those of this setting are not small, but instead are about human height, noted for their disproportionate girth compared to their human neighbors.

If you are wondering if dwarves in this setting receive a certain level of biased favoritism over other races, you would be correct, however that notion should not be considered pertinent in the interest of RP; the real world is not balanced, so there's no need for a fictional world to be, either. Someone will always come out on top.

 

Minor Edit: They're not short. Egads! Surprising, I know, but abiding by Old Norse mythology, dwarves were not rendered as being short, and the original word - Dvergar - loosely translated to "Dreamers", not literally meaning something small.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Firearm Specialization: A gun in the hands of a dwarf is like a bow in the  hands of an elf, only guns do a lot more damage.

    • Rifles and Blunderbuss: Decrease recoil; increase reload speed, accuracy, maintenance skill, critical hit ratio

    • Cannons and Mortars: Increase accuracy, reload speed, maintenance skill, critical hit ratio

    •  

  • Heavy Weapon Specialization: Given their prodigious strength as beings conceived as having been hewn from stone, they can wield larger weapons with as much speed and dexterity as a human could with conventional armaments.

    • Maces, Axes, Polearms, Staves: Increase dexterity, speed, parry, critical hit ratio, accuracy

    • Heavy Shields: Increase block, bash damage

    •  

  • Heavy Armor Specialization: While anyone can wear armor and even condition their bodies to support it with little encumbrance, dwarves are able to don suits of armor derived from heavier metals, or add more substance to lighter metals, even layering different materials for greater protection. Even their leather and cloth attire contains some extent of splint plating.

    • Armor: Decrease encumbrance; increase mobility

    •  

  • Master Crafters: Whether it be magic, textile, leather, timber, stone or metal, dwarves were exceptionally skilled in the making of the finest things in the world. If it’s dwarven quality, it’s the best there is.

    • Tailoring: Increase durability of cloth attire, storage of cloth bags; decrease craft time

    • Leathercraft: Increase durability of leather gear, storage of leather pouches and quivers, durability of item fittings; decrease craft time

    • Smithing: Increase damage for all metallic weapon types, defense for all metallic armor, storage for metal crates, durability of metal tools; decrease craft time

    • Masonry: Increase defense for all stone structures, damage for stone weapons, durability of stone tools; decrease craft time

    • Engineering: Increase damage for all siege weapons, defense for all structures

    • Woodcarving: Increase damage for all wooden weapons, durability of wooden tools; decrease craft time

    • Enchanting: Increase potency of all enchantments; decrease craft time

    •  

  • Earthen Constitution: Dwarven anatomy is known for its excessively tough tissues, with bones stronger than many metals and skin tougher than leather, they are quite naturally protected. They also possess much greater strength as a result and are not impeded in regards to speed.

    • Strength, Agility, Resilience, Dexterity, Speed: Begin at higher values

    • Health: Decrease chances of illness, duration of illnesses

    • Weapons: Increase damage, critical hit damage

    •  

  • Mountain Folk: A culture of mountain people lends to a love of the wilderness, delving in deep places, and learning of the mysteries of the earth itself.

    • Herbalism: Increase skill with natural remedies, natural toxins

    • Tracking: Increase skill in tracking various beings

    • Mountaineering: Increase hiking, climbing

    • Dungeoneering: Increase skill in detecting traps and natural hazards, disarming traps

    • Prospecting: Increase chances of finding more ores, gems and other earthly materials

    •  

  • Loremastery: A people very devoted to higher learning, all dwarves are taught as children various fundamental information, from basic magic use, to zoology and even the biology of the various known races.

    • Evocation: Increase damage and healing of all personal spells

    • Archaeology: Increase skill in land surveillance, artifact identification

    • Biology: Increase critical hit ratio against indigenous races

    •  

  • Piety: Their faith in their gods is strong, and ever a humble and modest people, they don’t allow their faith to blind them into zeal.

    • Invocation: Increase damage and healing of all divine spells.

 

Racial Detriments

  • Hamhands: Male or female, dwarven hands were quite large, fingers included. While they had the nimbleness to make small and delicate crafts, it still impeded their capacity to wield some conventional weapons. Weapons made for most races would likely be too small in the hands of a dwarf, and their strength may in turn easily break them.

    • Small-Hilted Weaponry: Decrease dexterity, increase chance to break

    • Non-Compound Bows: Increase chance to break

    •  

  • Girthy: While at the same height as humans, they are considerably larger, looking more like disproportionately far more muscular humans; thus they were easier targets and diminished the likelihood that an opponent might miss with a slash or shot.

    • Increase chances of being hit and critically hit

    •  

  • Sword Shunning: Dwarves generally dislike the usage of swords; many ascribe this to swords being purely a symbol of war, and that while dwarves are experts in warfare, they have a considerable disdain for it, being a people who prefer to create rather than destroy; their weapons are the result of advancing their tools for necessity’s sake.

    • Swords: Willful lack of use

 

 

Humans

Spoiler

As previously mentioned in the general summary, humans are quite generic here, truly the jack of all trades but masters of none. They do not excel too much in magic, their technology is quite limited, most have a general irreverence regarding the natural world, and their military tactics are quite dated. They survive off the bonds they establish with the other races, though their general arrogance, ignorance, zeal and chauvinism tends to test those bonds more often than not, which has generally been the source of their myriad downfalls. The intent of humans within this setting is to serve as the generic base from which all other things are compared and contrasted to, thus humans here cannot be truly masters in any manner compared to other races who do truly excel in those regards. If you elect to play a human here, you will abide by this simple rule.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Sword Specialization: While much could be said of humanity’s lackluster quality, they do excel at the use of their signature types of swords and the techniques in their usage. While they’re proficient at using swords in conjunction with sword-breaker daggers and conventional shields, they are not necessarily excellent at the usage of those items alone.

    • Swords: Increase dexterity, parry, speed, critical hit ratio

    •  

  • Expert Swordsmiths: While any sword made by a dwarf would be better, they eschew the crafting of them, and as humans still utilized swords primarily above virtually all other armaments, it lead to their own smiths advancing their capacity in making such weapons

    • Swordsmithing: Increase quality of crafted swords

 

Racial Detriments

  • Generalists: Human culture rarely emphasizes on one thing for too long, thus lending to a people who never develop defining traits.

    • Axes, Maces, Polearms, Firearms, Bow, Crossbow, Siege Weapons: Lower skill capacity

    •  

  • Moderate Physiology: Easily overpowered by the stronger of races, their only saving grace was simply not being the weakest of all those in the world. Needless to say, their plate armor is slim with thin plating.

    • Strength, Agility, Resilience, Dexterity, Speed, Mobility: Lower stat capacity

    •  

  • Avarice: A notion which plagues humanity like nothing else is the impulse to consume; a trait often associated with goblins, humans are no less guilty of many less-than-chivalrous qualities. However whereas goblins are quite honest with their hedonism, humans attempt to hide their debauchery behind a thin veil.

 

 

Orcs

Spoiler

While I would say these orcs are more the traditional sort as opposed to Blizzard’s apparent unique brand, a little thought and it’s quite obvious that Warcraft orcs are generally no different than other fantasies’ renditions, except here they received much more favoritism. Some would argue that Warcraft orcs are good natured, noble savages, who aren’t just cannon fodder blindly following an unstable war machine for some dark lord figure, even though that’s actually still quite an accurate description of Warcraft orcs. Even the “New Horde” are just mindless brutes following one vile “Warchief” after another; whether it was the hypocritical and enabling Thrall, the more aggressive and expansionist Garrosh, the uninvolved and passive Vol’jin, or the blatantly evil Sylvannas, the only “Good orcs” of Warcraft are still quite despicable. So within this setting, they retain much of that.

Where they differ is quite simply in their lack of bias, in regards to how they’re conveyed. Here, orcs are simply savage, industrialist mongrels who fight for the sake of it; even the more noble ones will kill good people as a testament to their primitive and backwards sense of “Courage” and “Honor”. They do have mystics as well as machinists, they do have totemic warriors and profane spellcasters, but they are not so cut up into gimmick-driven clans. Each clan may have engineers, shaman, sorcerers, warriors and so forth; the distinctive feature of each clan should be more symbolic than a rigid adherence to some bland monotonous concept. Generally considered to be second to dwarves in many ways, although that would be a grievous oversimplification as they are still quite a few pegs down from the mountain lords.

Abiding by typical orcish behavior, many clans have been broken up, with plenty of orcs finding work under other some races, some even being enslaved by the more aggressive ones, or outright hunted by those who have no tolerance for them. It should be noted that here, “Draenor” does not exist as a separate world, but merely a separate continent on the same world.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Axe Specialization: While other armaments are used by orcs, they have a greater love of hacking and slashing, and with their strength, they can often wield larger axes with the swiftness and dexterity that a human would use a hatchet.

    • Axes: Increase dexterity, parry, critical hit ratio, accuracy

    •  

  • Crossbow Specialization: While they do make use of firearms, they have yet to truly grasp the full complexity of the devices and their designs are noted for being quite faulty, thus lending to more orcs opting for the more simple crossbows instead.

    • Crossbows: Increase accuracy, critical hit ratio, reload speed, maintenance skill

    •  

  • Brute Physique: Able to don heavier armor and wield larger weapons, they’d almost be more of a threat if their craftsmanship were something to fear, not to mention most of their armor is more ceremonial or prestigious than truly pragmatic.

    • Armor: Decrease encumbrance; increase mobility

    • Weapons: Increase damage, critical hit damage

    •  

  • Survialists: Having lacked a proper civilization, they live off the land more easily than other peoples, able to forgo certain necessities other races may require.

    • Herbalism: Increase skill with herbal remedies, natural toxins

    • Health: Decrease chances of illness, decrease illness duration

    • Tracking: Increase skill in tracking various beings

 

Racial Detriments

  • Primal Mentality: Even the more intelligent orcs were bound by a primitive sense of honor and courage, thus lending to orcs making critical errors in judgment to uphold an impractical cultural mindset.

    • Wild Frenzy: Decrease accuracy, critical hit ratio with all attacks; increase damage and critical hit damage of melee weapons

    •  

  • Girth: Like dwarves, they stood about human height with noticeably larger musculature, allowing enemies greater access in their attacks.

    • Increase chances of being hit and critically hit

    •  

  • Hamhands: Male or female, orc hands were quite large, fingers included. Weapons made for most races would likely be too small in the hands of an orc, and their strength may in turn easily break them.

    • Small-Hilted Weaponry: Decrease dexterity, increase chance to break

    • Non-Compound Bows: Increase chance to break

 

 

Wood Elves (Night Elves)

Spoiler

While the more technologially inept of races, they still boast a considerable amount of mystics and sorcerers, with proficient warriors of swift blades no less. Unlike those of the main canon, these wood elves are evenly balanced among sorcerers and naturalists, lacking a duality gimmick behind the notion of “destructive arcane” and “serene nature”; as arcane can be peaceful and nature can itself be destructive. While this may not be a notion many roleplayers follow, these wood elves are not vegetarian like is commonly depicted (there’s even hints that night elves abstain from meat due to their flowery aspect), as that would not be consistent with a race known for their mastery in archery; quite the reverse, they are staunch meat eaters, though not quite so much to the extent of TES’ Bosmer.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Bow Specialization: A long history of hunting game has lent to the wood elves a near unparalleled skill in using bows and arrows, even their capacity with ballistae was greater than the other peoples.

    • Decrease arm fatigue; increase accuracy, critical hit ratio, reload speed

    •  

  • Arcanistry Specialization: To wood elves, arcane magic is as much a basic form of cosmic nature as anything green and growing, thus prompting an affinity of magic use among them.

    • Invocation: Increase damage and healing from all divine spells

    • Evocation: Increase damage and healing from all personal spells

    • Enchanting: Increase potency of all enchantments; decrease craft time

    •  

  • Naturalists: At one with the untamed primeval forests of the world, they are attuned spiritually and acclimated physically with these environments, prompting a considerable freerunning expertise and able to read the land quickly.

    • Herbalism: Increase skill with natural remedies, natural toxins

    • Health: Decrease chances of illness, duration of illnesses

    • Tracking: Increase skill in tracking various beings

    • Nature Communion: Begin with a basic set of nature abilities

    •  

  • Longevity: While not immortal by any means, they still lived quite a few hundred years, allowing them to perfect a wide variety of cultural skills.

    • Increase skill development with wood elf skills

    •  

  • Woodcarving: While they do possess masonry, they truly relied on their skill in shaping wood, through magic or tools.

    • Fletching: Increase damage of bows, arrows, quiver capacity

 

Racial Detriments

  • Woodland Life: While they may still commune with nature in all its forms throughout the world, they as a species are physically acclimated to their temperate forests, and thus suffer various effects in foreign climates.

    • Deserts: Increase hyperthermia rate, dehydration, sunburning

    • Arctic: Increase hypothermia rate, shivering, immobility

    •  

  • Mechanically Inept: While they acknowledge that many forms of technology can be beneficial, they themselves simply prefer not to bother with such devices, relying on their magic and mysticism.

    • Diminished effectiveness of all mechanical weapons and devices

    •  

  • Isolationist: Often avoiding interaction with other races, though not out of malicious xenophobia, they may find themselves overwhelmed by powerful enemies without the ability to call for aid.

    • Reduce reputation among other races

 

 

High Elves (Blood Elves)

Spoiler

The other brand of elves more closely following typical fantasy renditions of elf tropes, these elves are more prone to profane magic, wielding it almost carelessly; both their technology and affinity for mystic naturalism suffers, though they more than make up for it in arcanistry and warriors similar to their kin. Within this setting, they are regarded simply as high elves, regardless of the skin tone/eye color you choose.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Bow Specialization: As an offshoot of wood elves, they have retained their capacity for bows, matching their relative race in skill.

    • Decrease arm fatigue; increase accuracy, critical hit ratio, reload speed

    •  

  • Arcanistry Specialization: Moreso than even their forebears, high elves have shrugged off the naturalist mysticism in favor of arcane magic purely, making them among the most excelling arcanists in the world.

    • Evocation: Increase damage and healing of personal spells

    • Enchanting: Increase effectiveness of enchantments

    •  

  • Longevity: While not immortal by any means, they still lived quite a few hundred years, allowing them to perfect a wide variety of cultural skills.

    • Increase skill development with high elf skills

    •  

  • Woodcarving: While they do possess masonry and metallurgy, they truly relied on their skill in shaping wood, through magic or tools.

    • Fletching: Increase damage of bows, arrows, quiver capacity

 

Racial Detriments

  • Controlled Environment: Having completely altered their woodland realm with magic, it remains in a perpetually idyllic state for them, and thus leaving it into more natural environments can adversely influence them.

    • Desert: Increase hyperthermia rate, dehydration, sunburning

    • Arctic: Arctic: Increase hypothermia rate, shivering, immobility

    •  

  • Haughty: A typical behavior of high elven psychology and culture, they often felt superior to other races, which could often lead to alienating potential assistance in dire matters; whether as an individual or a whole.

    • Decrease reputation among other races

    •  

  • Mechanically Inept: Like their forebears, they refuse to work with complex machinery, believing that their magic outweighs any benefits of physical mechanics.

    • Decrease effectiveness with mechanical weapons and devices

 

 

Shu'halo (Tauren)

Spoiler

While Shu’halo is the endonym of the tauren within canon lore, it is exclusively used here with the word “Tauren” not existing at all. A highly naturalist people of simple technology and virtually no arcanist endeavors, their warriors are swift and strong, relying on their prodigious natural might. They are reclusive and prefer to remain away from the other peoples, willing to viciously fight those who they see as imposing upon them or threatening their way of life; only rarely will any of them attempt to interact with those beyond their borders.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Hulking Strength: As the bulkiest of the playable races, it is uncontested that they do possess tremendous strength paralleled only by larger beasts.

    • Strength, Resilience, Speed: Begin at higher values

    •  

  • Piety: Relying on their medicine men and wise women, they commune with the spirits of the world, above and below, and hold fast to their religious faith with true harmony.

    • Increase damage and healing of divine spells

 

Racial Detriments

  • Large Size: Both tall and bulky, it would take a severely inept fighter and horrible weaponry not to hit them, and while they aren’t slow for their size, they aren’t exactly agile.

    • Increase chances of being hit and critically hit

    •  

  • Xenophobia: Often viewing other races as destructive or infringing upon their lands, they generally refuse to work with any other peoples, no matter who they are; it isn’t impossible for individuals to interact with other beings, but it is often considered taboo.

    • Decrease reputation among other races

 

 

Gnomes

Spoiler

The biggest contrast from main canon is that these gnomes are not as technologically inclined (heresy, I know), but instead make up one of the greatest arcanist races in the setting; Dalaran is to be utilized by them, it will not serve as a human nation. Abiding by their stature, they are not warriors but do engage arcane agents for subterfuge and rely on constructs to manage melee, and do not rely on technology due to their almost exclusively magical society. Their mystics are more of a cosmic sense, rather than the green of the world.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Arcanistry Specialization: Perhaps the most skilled in arcane magic of the world, few could match the acumen of gnomes.

    • Increase damage and healing of personal spells

 

Racial Detriments

  • Diminutive: Physically, they were at a severe disadvantage, unable to truly fight in melee situations.

    • Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Speed, Mobility, Resilience, Stamina: Begin a lower values

 

 

Goblins

Spoiler

Very little is different about them, although like gnomes they lack true warriors due to the stature and proportions. Greedy, conniving, backstacking, etc. Warcraft goblins hardly deviated from typical notions, so very little about them needs to be altered. However, they do elect to use more profane magic over typical arcane notions and lack true mystics given their obsession with extracting natural resources, having some twisted sense of it just to read the land for prospective goods.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Demolitionist Specialization: Goblin technology was hardly innovative in any regard, but they certainly took pride in making the biggest explosions and knew how to use explosive devices with considerable brilliance.

    • Increase explosives skill

    •  

  • Firearm Specialization: While not particularly fond of rifles, they certainly more than made enough usage of a blunderbuss.

    • Blunderbuss: Increase skill

    •  

  • Bartering: Shrewd business folk, goblins dominated the waters through their trade empire, striking financial deals with virtually all the races throughout the world; somehow despite their notorious reputation, they were still very lucrative.

    • Trading: Sell items for more money, buy for less

 

Racial Detriments

  • Diminutive: Like gnomes, goblins would find it more than trying to wield melee armaments, thus their warriors simply relied on scattershot to blades.

    • Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Speed, Mobility, Resilience, Stamina: Begin a lower values

    •  

  • Mentally Unstable: A basic quality of goblin brain chemistry, they were a very wily and rambunctious lot, prone to fits of extreme outburst at the slightest provocation.

    • Wild Frenzy: Decrease accuracy, critical hit ratio with all attacks; increase damage and critical hit damage of melee weapons

    •  

  • Greed: While gold was the closest thing to a God to goblins, they certainly loved to acquire anything of value; once they knew something was worth a lot, they felt they needed as much of it as they could get.

    • Klepto: Increase likelihood to steal from all sources

 

 

Zandali (Trolls)

Spoiler

Perhaps the only real change to them is their name, as they are trolls in name only, having virtually nothing to do with those of mythology whatsoever. Technologically primitive, they do excel in the other areas, even brandishing a primal sense of arcane magic, but also profane sorts. They are endowed with a variety of mystics, communing with strange sources of power throughout the world. They come in two main physiological options: Lithe and Large, which alters their physical qualities.

 

Racial Benefits:

  • Spear Specialization: A highly primal people, despite their long history, they have used spears as polearms and javelins for millennia while other races have moved onto other weapons technologies; no one could use a spear like zandali could.

    • Polearm: Increase dexterity, speed, parry, critical hit ratio, accuracy

    •  

  • Reptilian Communion: Reptiles small and large seemed to have a close connection with zandali, allowing them to befriend and tame them for usage in everyday life and in war.

    • Beast Taming: Increase success rate of taming reptilian creatures

 

Racial Detriments:

  • Zealotry: While an individual zandali might be a pious follower of their faith, by and large they were consumed by an absolute observation of it, rigidly adhering to whatever backwards or outdated customs that any other race would abandon out of pragmatism.

    • Religious Intolerance: Chance to insult and even assault those of other faiths if witnessing other rites in progress

    •  

  • Cannibal: A culturally religious notion, zandali were prone to eating the flesh of the dead; sometimes even the flesh of the living. Should a devoured body contain horrific ailments of some form, this would thus infect them, potentially spreading it among their fellows through either its natural spread or by others eating the infected dead.

    • Social Custom: Must consume the flesh of those killed, increase chance to attempt bite enemy

    •  

  • Ritual Sacrifice: While not unto itself a true detriment, it becomes difficult to trust a zandali, as they have no qualms about sacrificing even close friends and family of any age group if they feel it is necessary; few could stomach the thought of allying with those who would offer up their own infants if a priest demanded of it.

    • Ritual: Must perform known rituals no matter the cost to self or others

    •  

  • Large Size: While there were two main groups of zandali, even the lithe were quite tall, allowing enemy attacks to make their mark quite easily.

    • Increase chance of being hit and critically hit

 

 

 

Sha’tari Eredar (Draenei)

Spoiler

A space-faring arcanist-driven species. A considerable difference from their main continuity is the lack of true technology; even within the main canon, their “tech” is truly magic that could hardly even count as magitek most often. They illustrate that what can be done with technology could be done instead with magic, thus making them quite similar to gnomes in all but bodily form. Some might consider them to be where gnomes may end up developing to one day.

 

Racial Benefits

  • Piety: A people of intense faith, they were careful not to breach upon into zealotry, upholding a statute of gentle kindness above all else.

    • Increase damage and healing with divine spells

    •  

  • Arcanistry: With floating vessels and fortresses, it took considerable magical understanding to achieve such, lending to a people who wielded arcane magic perhaps greater than those of the worlds they visit.

    • Increase damage and healing with personal spells

    • Enchanting: Increase effectiveness of all enchantment effects

 

Racial Detriments

  • Large Size: Both genders were quite tall, but while the women were lean, the men were quite bulky, affording enemies considerable easy in striking.

    • Increase chance of being hit and critically hit

 

 

 

Xiongmao (Pandaren)

Spoiler

While I’d much rather Blizz had come up with a more inspired race to convey Chinese culture and mythology, these are what we’re left with. While a fleshed out history has yet to be developed, these panda people should be treated as having a history more in line with the series of wars and revolutions that real China actually has gone through, as opposed to the idiotic ten millennia long peaceful notion Blizz thinks could actually exist even in a fantasy setting. Due to the lack of a proper city in Pandaria, the Vale of Eternal Blossoms as a whole is their city, with the shrines and palace being the actual urban areas. (Hopefully I’ll be able to alter the phases of Pandaria to revert the Vale and other locations to a pre-Sha ruined state; the Shrines of the Sun and Two Moons are likely to be blocked off, as I’m not overfond of the Horde and Alliance objects ruining the Pandaren atmosphere)

 

Racial Benefits

  • Piety: Following what they called “The Way”, they embodied a sense of detachment and strove towards harmony above all else.

    • Increase damage and healing with divine spells

    •  

  • Ursine Strength: As a people who were little more than intelligent upright bears, they possessed powerful bodies well above the standards of most races.

    • Strength, Resilience, Agility, Mobility, speed: Begin at higher values

 

Racial Detriments

  • Girth: While not particularly tall, they were quite rotund, though they possessed surprising agility, which did help against their easily struck bodies.

    • Increase chance to be hit and critically hit

 

 

 

Undead

Spoiler

A common trope in any fantasy are the reanimated and this setting is no different. No true backstory has yet been developed for Nidafjoll’s undead human population, leaving that up to any interested players of the phase. In most regards, they are akin to humans, being generalists, but of a more vile sort. Their emotions are more muted, lacking any angst or even evil giddiness, but are not completely without some semblance of feelings. Along with NPC races and alternate PC skins depicting undead beings of other races, they do share conditional similarities of undeath, even if they are not a proper race. This applied to corporeal undead, as incorporeal undead are considered Specters and are treated differently.

 

Condition Benefits

  • Numb: While not advisable, undead beings were able to exceed typical acts of strength compared to their living counterparts, affording them limited greater strength. They are also capable of sprinting almost indefinitely without exhaustion. It also allowed them to fight unhindered by attacks against them, as pain from wounds wouldn’t slow them.

    • Immune to disorienting effects

 

Condition Detriments

  • Numb: Due to the lack of pain felt, they were often unable to tell when they should withdraw from a fight or stop exerting themselves beyond injury. They also could not feel many other tactile sensations, potentially prompting a sense of frustration as many physical aspirations of life were hollow to them now.

    • Increase chance to injure oneself through overexertion in combat, decrease chance to acknowledge wounds

    •  

  • Decaying: If unassisted by alchemical or mechanical means, their bodies continued to fall apart and wither away, impeding physical capacity and even brain rot could adversely influence their critical thinking skill; due to their undead nature, their bodies finally giving way and releasing their spirit would not grant death, they would just become intangible and disembodied spirits.

    • Long-Term gradual reduction of personal stats

 

 

 

Ulfhednar (Worgen)

Spoiler

Given the very niche and forced nature of the worgen PC race into the game lore, this race was almost omitted entirely from the setting, but I will permit them on one condition: They are to be used as a werewolf-like form for virtually any race, not just humans and elves (much like the “werebear” Guardian Druid models will serve as an actual werebear/berserkr form for anyone who has acquired it within this setting) and it is NOT a curse or disease, neither would it become their true form.
Thus, Worgen are not a proper race in terms of culture, but do have defined physical characteristics. Unlike the enormous amount of misconceptions surrounding wolves, particularly those supported by Blizz through their lore, these are not abnormally vicious and neither are they unbelievably powerful like the general imagery of rabid-like wolves would suggest; wolves are quite intelligent animals who’d rather avoid unnecessary conflict and are not necessarily a very physically powerful animal in contrast to others, which is why they rely on packs to take down young prey, as they could not otherwise even take down fully grown beasts even as a group unless said prey were old or ailing. If you play one, treat them with an appropriate amount of realism regarding actual wolves, not bad werewolf cliches.

 

Transformed Benefits

  • Enhanced senses (Some races): While not the most endowed of animals, most races would experience a noticeable boon to their various senses.

    • Increase skill in tracking various beings

    •  

  • Pack Mentality: As if by instinct, werewolves/ulfhednar, worked exceptionally well in groups, able to take down powerful foes by working in unison.

    • Increase threat mitigation, decrease threat output

 

Transformed Detriments

  • Diminished senses (Some races): Races like the Xiongmao, who already possess the superior senses of a bear to that of a wolf, would not truly benefit from such a transformation.

    • Decrease skill in tracking various beings

    •  

  • Diminished Strength (Some races): Races like the Shu’halo and Xiongmao may lose a significant amount of physical power, although Shu’halo are noted for assuming this form for spiritual reasons.

    • Strength, Resilience, Mobility: Diminished values

    •  

  • Lone Wolf: Wolves are pack animals and benefit greatly from group effort; a lone ulfhedinn is a vulnerable one and should spend their time trying to find a pack.

    • Decrease threat mitigation, increase threat output



 

Classes

 

By and large, classes are rather flexible and very open to interpretation and inception; you may invent your own class so long as it is a valid concept. Specific classes to Warcraft lore may not necessarily exist, such as Demon Hunters, but the class and its visuals can still be utilized to some extent or another.


 

The World

 

There are many names for the world within this setting, varying from culture and language, so I’ll not waste time on one term; refer to it however you please depending on your character.

 

 

Leadership Roles

 

Spoiler

 

Racial Leaders: To keep things simple and consistent, each race will have one political leader each, and no player may fill more than one leadership role. The player selected will be able to elaborate upon their selected race’s history and culture so long as it remains consistent with the setting itself, and may select areas of the in-game world to serve as their sovereign territory, so long as they are not already chosen by others.

 

Dwarven Konungr: Taken; obviously, I will be assuming this role with my character, Einbjorn, ruling from the kingdom of Gimle.

  • Ironforge serves as the main city tier

  • Deepholm serves as the Deep Mines below the city

  • Tol Barad’s various locales serving as the city’s prisons

  • Blackwing Descent serving as the city’s palace

  • Blackrock Foundry serving as the city’s lower industrial tier

  • Iron Docks serving as the city’s shipyard and port.

 

Human King/Queen: Open

 

Orc Khan: Open

 

Wood Elf Brenin: Open

 

High Elf Ri: Open

 

Shu’halo Naat’aanii: Open

 

Gnome Premier: Open

 

Goblin Chief Executive: Open

 

Zandali Olori: Open

 

Sha’tari Sultan: Open

 

Xiongmao Huangdi: Open

 

 

Religious Leaders: Unless a player selected to act as a racial leader opts for Sacral Sovereignty, which would make them both the political and religious leader, the secondary post of religious leader is open to other players; players with Racial Leader characters may not also submit another character as a Religious Leader. Each race’s faith will be listed, although one need not strictly adhere to the real world counterpart; religious leaders can determine how the faith should be reflected within the setting.
Not all races will have a singular head of faith, some faiths being governed separately by location.

 

Dwarven Godi/Gydja (Head Mystic): Open; Norse paganism

 

Human Pope/Mome: Open; Catholism

 

Orc Saman (Shaman): No singular religious leader; each clan has their own head saman; Mongol shamanism

 

Wood Elf Derwydd (Druid): No singular religious leader; each group has their own derwydd; Welsh paganism

 

High Elf Ceann Asarlai (Head Sorcerer): No singular religious leader; headed by a group of ceann asarlai; Irish paganism

 

Shu’halo Hataalii: No singular religious leader; each tribe has their own Hataalii; Dine Bahane

 

Gnome Father/Mother of Understanding: Open; New Thought movement

 

Goblin Chief Pastor: No singular religious leader; each church has their own chief pastor; Protestant

 

Zandali Nabii (Prophet): Open; Voodoo

 

Sha’tari Peygamber (Prophet): Open; Eastern Orthodox Christianity

 

Xiongmao Lao-Tzu: Open; Taoism

 

 

 

Military Leadership: Each race possesses their own uniform military, although each may structure them differently and thus the head of each varies from one to the next. Like Racial and Religious Leaders, any player occupying the position of either of the former may not portray a Military Leader.

 

Dwarven Hersir: Open

 

Human Grand Marshal: Open

 

Orc Yeronkhii: Open

 

Wood Elf Rhyfelwr-pen: Open

 

High Elf Ceannasai: Open

 

Shu’halo: Bihkehhe: Open

 

Gnome Defense Secretary: Open

 

Goblin Generalissimo: Open

 

Zandali Balogun: Open

 

Sha’tari Pasha: Open

 

Xiongmao Da Yuan Shuai: Open



 

Other Leadership Roles: Within each race may exist various groups; from businesses, to religious sects, to cults, to paramilitary groups, and more. Aspiring players may submit their ideas as to what they would like to depict within each of the races.

 

Technology

Spoiler

Barring magical supplements to actual physical technology, dwarves are the most advanced in this regard, however even they are not quite on par with modern times in every way. Yet even with physical mechanics, magic is an integral part of the setting and naturally it is used variously, such specialized munitions or even enchantments to augment. Any race not listed does not manufacture the type of item in question and is thereby far less likely to use them.

 

Guns: Due to a true lack of presence (despite a few NPC spells and the custom items), pistols are not available, although most people would rely on quick, small spells anyway; this restriction may be rescinded if given good reason.

 

  • Dwarven: Lever action rifle and break action blunderbuss; slugs and scattershot

  • Orcish: Break action blunderbuss (crossbows are used instead of rifles); slugs and scattershot

  • Goblin: Break action blunderbuss (no true rifle analog, they prefer only the boomiest of weapons); slugs and scattershot

  • Human: Flintlock rifle and blunderbuss; gunpowder and round

  • Xiongmao: Flintlock rifle and blunderbuss; gunpowder and round

 

Ships: Submarines are prohibited

 

  • Dwarven: Dreadnaught (Iron Horde ship 01 model), Cargo Ship (Iron Horde ship 02 model), Landing craft (Iron Horde troop boat model); mortar cannons (Iron Horde and Garrison cannon models)

  • Human: Battleship (MoP Alliance ship model), Steamship (Icebreaker model), Cargo Ship (Cargoship model), Rowboat (Gilnean rowboat model); standard cannons (Brass cannon model)

  • Goblin: Steamship (Goblin yacht model); Merchant Barge (Racer barge model), Riverboat (Goblin river boat models)

  • Orc: Sailship (WotLK Horde ship model); standard cannons (Orc cannon model) and ballistae (Thunderlord ballista model)

  • Wood elves: Sailship (Night elf ship model), Rowboat (Night elf rowboat model); ballistae (Blackrook ballista model)

  • High elves: Sailship (Blood elf ship model), Rowboat (Blood elf rowboat model); ballistae (Blood elf ballista model)

  • Zandali: Outrigger ship (Zandalari ship), Outrigger canoe (Troll canoe model), Canoe (Troll rowboat model); ballistae (On the Zandalari ship)

  • Shu’halo: Turtle Boat (Tuskarr ship model), Canoe (Legion Tauren canoe model)

 

Aircraft: Gunships, Zeppelins, Airplanes and Gyrocopters are prohibited; flying overall is largely restricted due to the actual complexities of flight, if anyone wishes to possess a means of flying, it should be requested with a logical reason.

While many impressive feats of engineering have been achieved, aerodynamics either eludes or generally disinterests many engineers and arcanists, finding the danger of gravity alone too much a detriment to be worthwhile; few beings are capable of flight, such as animal shapeshifting or controlled levitation.

 

  • Goblin: Hot Air Balloon (Goblin balloon model); explosive drops and ranged weaponry

  • Xiongmao: Hot Air Balloon (Pandaren balloon model); explosive drops and ranged weaponry

  • Gnome: City (Dalaran); city defenses

  • Sha’tari Eredar: Fortress (Tempest Keep); fortress defenses

 

Constructs: Nearly all cultures have artificial living beings working for them, commonly referred to as “golems”

  •  

  • Dwarves

    • Standard golems (Dwarf golem models)

    • Stone guardians (WotLK Earthen models)

    • Stone Colossi (WotLK Stone Giant models)

    • Steel Guardians (Iron Dwarf models)

    • Steel Colossi (Iron Giant models)

    • Steel Wyverns (Iron Proto-drake models); currently not in use, may be included ICly later

 

  • Xiongmao

    • Shi Juntuan - Stone Legion (Mogu models)

    • Shi Shizi - Stone Lions (Qilin models)

    • Shi Yiban - Stone Generals (Lei Shen)

 

  • Wood Elves

    • Treants (Treant models)

    • Treant Giants (Treant Ancient models)

    • Treant Guardians (Genesaur models)

    • Spriggans (Botani models)

    • Stray Sods (Podling models)

    • Sprites (Sprite models)

    • Swampthings (Bog beast and Mistlurker models)

    • Mandragora (Mandragora models)

 

  • High Elves

    • Arcane Guardians (Arcane golem models)

    • Aether Eels (Manawyrm models)

    • Aether Adder (Arcane wyrm models)

 

  • Zandali

    • Standard golems (Troll golem models)

    • Living Mojo (Sha models)

 

  • Goblins

    • Bomblings (Bomb bot and crawling mine models)

    • Alarms (Alarm-o-bot models)

    • Robots (Clockwork robot models)

    • Crowd Suppressor (Crowd pummeler models)

    • Spider bots (Spider-tank and mechanical spider models)

    • Mecha-moas (Mechanostrider models)

    • Harvesters (Harvest golem models)

    • Loggers (Shredder models)

    • Siege Titan (Fel Reaver models)

    • Mechanical Pets (Mechanical Chicken, Gorilla, Rabbit, Sheep, Squirrel, Dragonling models)

 

  • Gnomes

    • Custodians (Mechagnome models)

    • Constables (XT-002 Deconstructor model; scaled down)

    • City Watch (Arcane elemental models)

    • Lexicon (Titan Orb model)

 

  • Sha’tari Eredar

    • Vigilants (Vigiant models)


 

Weapon Types

Spoiler

All types of weapons may be used as magical foci, as all beings within this setting use magic to one extent or another; no weapons are truly regarded as “thrown weapons” as within this all weapons may be thrown, some are just better suited to the job than others.

 

  • Swords: Typically come in three lengths, which determines the effective melee range and come either in a single or double edge; while not the most powerful of melee weaponry, they are the most diverse in their usage.

    •  

       

      Shortswords: Suitable for lighter geared fighters who prefer to get in close and avoid most of their opponents assaults; lighter and smaller, yet provide the least amount of damage yield, they move faster and can be carried along with more armaments, even on the back.
      • Broadswords

      • Sabers

      • Rapiers

      • Dao

      • Cutlass

      • Scimitar

      •  

    • Longsword: Otherwise known as a “hand-and-a-half” sword; they work at medium range while doing moderate damage output, and may be used in similar fashions as certain shortswords with greater reach and damage, and even greatswords, albeit at a shorter range with less damage, though their length forces them to be sheathed at the hip as one could not draw them from the back.

      • Bastard sword

      • Tachi

      •  

    • Greatsword: The biggest of the swords, these are notably heavier and cannot be sheathed at all, as they are too heavy for the hip and too long for the back (contrary to the inaccurate mechanic found in most games), thus preventing a wielder from switching to another weapon without abandoning this one, they can deal the most damage and achieve the greatest range, if at the cost of speed.

      • Zweihander

      • Claymore

      • Odachi

      •  

  • Axes: More powerful in some respects than swords, but lacking certain diversity in their usage, they may slash at foes and even bite into them, while some designs may even provide the capacity to pierce and stab.

    •  

       

      Small: Small axes are hung at the hip and do damage comparable to longswords.
      • Hatchet

      • Skeggox

      •  

    • Large: Large axes, like greatswords, cannot be stored at all, preventing the switching of weapons without abandoning it, and does greater damage than greatswords

      • Battleaxe

      • Mining Pick

      •  

  • Maces: The most daunting of weapons, but at the cost of speed and versatility with some designs, dependent on their design to dictate what sort of damage they do, although all do perform crushing as standard; one-handed maces do more damage than small axes, two-handed maces do more damage than large axes.

    •  

       

      Flanged
    • Hammer

    • Bludgeon

    • Scepter

    •  

  • Polearms: Ultimately two-handed weapons which provide the greatest of melee range, these make for exceptionally diverse weaponry, most acting like elongated axes, and in the right hands, one might never need any other armaments on their person; does the same damage as large axes

    •  

       

      Glaive
    • Halberd

    • Spear

    •  

  • Staff: While often used as a basic form of magical conduit, staves are more utilized akin to polearms, albeit without a head featuring blades and the like and are more notably lighter to use and may be shorter or longer than a polearm, depending on the type of staff.

  •  

  • Knives: Close quarters knife combat is truly an art which must be mastered, otherwise these weapons serve little more as a last ditch defense for the martially inexperienced.

  •  

  • Fist Weapons: Why go just unarmed when your fists can have more power per punch? While reliant on getting as close as one can, these may be even fitted into gaunlets or other gloves, allowing them to be utilized in conjunction with other armaments without ever actually needing to swap out.

  •  

  • Bows: One of the oldest weapons behind the spear, they can be quite simple to make and use, though some races have developed designs with greater power and range.

  •  

  • Crossbows: The missing link to bows and firearms; attaching a bow to a stock, one can avoid arm fatigue as they need only draw back the string without needing to hold it in place; more advanced designs might provide a lever mechanism to ease the drawback and allow for faster reload.

  •  

  • Firearms: The pinnacle of destructive weaponry in the palms of your hands; what’s more, their wooden and metallic components can allow them to be used as blunt weapons (or bladed with bayonets) if an enemy gets too close for comfort.

    •  

       

      Rifles: Long range, these can achieve the same distance as the best bows and crossbows but with more power to its damage, although less advanced designs are very inaccurate and faulty.
      • Flintlock: Requires the application of powder packs and round bearings with a ram rod while firing only one per reload; less accurate at long distances with considerably slow reload times.

      • Lever-action: Fires off cartridge rounds and can hold up to nine rounds before needing to reload; lever cocking action allows for faster fire rate and easy port access diminishes reload times.

      •  

    • Blunderbuss: Moderate range, these can fire off heavy slugs at a fair distance for enormous amounts of damage or burst off with scattershot at a shorter range with wider spray, allowing one to do a great deal of damage to a close enemy, or fair amounts of damage to a further group.

      • Flintlock: Like rifles of the same nature, these must be applied with powder packets and shot which gives them slow reload times, although they possess the benefit of being able to fire off virtually anything which can fit down the barrel.

      • Break-action: Fires off cartridges of slugs or scattershot, the amount of barrels determining how many cartridges it can hold at a time (the max amount of barrels also depending on the racial schematic); typically made with two settings, to fire all barrels at once or one at a time; able to “break open” for ease of access to further diminish reload times.

      •  

  • Shields: While not just for protection, shields of all sorts may be used offensively as well.

  •  

    • Small: Lightweight and best for protecting against smaller armaments by bashing away incoming attacks, these may also be used akin to a fist weapon due to their size and weight.

    • Targe

    • Buckler

    •  

    • Medium: Moderately weighted and able to protect against larger weapons, these may be used not only to bash with the full face of it but able to strike with the side edge for serious blunt damage.

      • Heater

      • Skjoldr

      • Tribal

      •  

    • Large: The heaviest and largest overall, these will protect against most anything but require greater strength to wield as a weapon, though those with the strength can easily use them to throw their enemy around.

      • Kite

      • Tower


 

RP Combat Stats

Spoiler

Given this is roleplaying and thus not bound to the shoddy logic behind game mechanics, we can take a more dynamic approach to how our characters function for RP combat; here’s the rationalized stats of this setting.
Gear does not provide “+X Strength, +X Defense” and so on; personal stats are based on the individual, equipment stats are based on the item composition; enchantments will be elaborated upon later.

 

Personal Stats

  • Health: This doesn’t merely refer to health points (aka blood loss), but also how well you resist ailments derived from weather conditions, toxins, diseases, etc.

  •  

  • Strength: Quite straightforward, this determines the amount of physical power your character can put behind their weapons.

  •  

  • Resilience: This refers to your character’s basic capacity to resist injury with and without protection.

  •  

  • Agility: This defines unencumbered mobility; greater agility permits acrobatic feats.

  •  

  • Dexterity: This refers to your character’s usage of weaponry; lower dexterity diminishes strength, critical hit ratio, critical damage damage, reload speed and arm fatigue.

  •  

  • Stamina: This determines the amount of energy your character may expend before tiring out; lessening stamina diminishes mobility, agility, dexterity, strength, parry, block, speed and critical damage.

  •  

  • Mobility: This refers to your character’s capacity to move; heavier gear and storage weight will diminish mobility.

  •  

  • Accuracy: This refers to your character’s likelihood of hitting their target, whether with melee, ranged or spell assaults.

  •  

  • Parry: This determines your character’s ability to turn aside incoming attacks; determined by Dexterity, ineffective against heavy, ranged and spell attacks

  •  

  • Block: This determines your character ability to utilize shields or other protective measures to reduce incoming damage

  •  

  • Critical Hit Ratio (Melee): This refers to your character’s likelihood of striking at weaker spots on their target, which can be augmented with greater accuracy, weapon expertise and knowledge of a given enemy’s anatomy.

  •  

  • Critical Damage (Melee): This refers to the amount of power your character puts behind their critical hits; it is solely dependent on strength and weapon quality.

  •  

  • Arm Fatigue: Bows; this determines how many arrows your character may fire before their arm begins to tire out; greater arm fatigue diminishes weapon damage due to a weakened arm drawing less on the string; greater strength and stamina diminishes arm fatigue; considered separate from stamina as it does not affect the whole body, just the firing arm.

  •  

  • Reload Speed: Firearms, Crossbows, Siege Weapons; this determines how fast your character may reload their weapon; greater weapon expertise and dexterity allows for faster reloading.

  •  

  • Maintenance Skill: This is dependent on weapon expertise; greater skill with a weapon often comes with a greater understanding of its functions, thus allowing a user to understand when their weapon needs to be cleaned and repaired and the ability to do so; only applies to Minor Damage, as Major Damage and Broken weapons require an actual crafter to create new components and whole weapons.

 

Equipment Stats

  • Quality: This defines both the damage output that a weapon can achieve on its own through average character strength as well as defining its durability; this stat is capped depending on the materials of the components used.

  •  

  • Defense: This defines the damage absorption of attire, gear and armor and acts as the armor’s durability as well; damaged armor means lower defense.

  •  

  • Speed: Determines how fast one can strike, parry, and block with their weapon.

  •  

  • Critical Hit Ratio (Ranged): This stat combines character accuracy with weapon quality to define the likelihood of striking key points.

  •  

  • Critical Damage (Ranged): This stat combines the power a ranged weapon can exert with the quality of the missile being fired.

  •  

  • Durability: Dependent on the quality, this stat determines how much use and abuse weapons and armor can endure before breaking, based on three tiers: Minor Damage, components have been lightly but noticeably impaired and can be mended; Major Damage, components have been sundered or otherwise irreparably damaged and must be replaced; Broken, the item as a whole must be replaced.

  •  

  • Recoil: Firearms; this determines the amount of pushback a fired gun produces, which momentary offsets accuracy; quick repeated usage of recoiling firearms diminishes the accuracy gradually with each shot; less recoil allows for more accurate repeated shots; Strength and Quality diminishes recoil.

  •  

  • Draw Weight: Bow, Crossbow; Refers to the amount of force which can be applied to an arrow or quarrel.

  •  

  • Slashing: Bladed weapons; determines how well a weapon such as an axe or sword may cut through an enemy; dependent on strength and quality, weak against armor.

  •  

  • Piercing: Missile, tipped, spiked weapons; determines how well a pointed tip can puncture armor and the enemy; dependent on strength and quality.

  •  

  • Crushing: Heavy weapons; determines how well a large weapon may crush through armor and the enemy; dependent on strength and quality.

  •  

  • Cleaving: Heavy blade weapons; determines how well weapons such as an axe, sword or flanged mace may hack into armor and the enemy.

 

 

 

 

Quick Overview of Beasts Classifications

Spoiler

Normal: Virtually all animals fall under this category, but this will list animals which some might see as being “special” but truly are not, at least within this setting.

  • Dinosaurs: No, there is no such thing as "dinomancy" in this setting; such is a stupid concept by lazy writers dependent on a zealous audience who won't question bad ideas. While the overusage of any word relating to "-mancy" has gotten out of hand, anyone with a basic understanding of the root elements knows that "dinomancy" actually has nothing to do with controlling giant lizards; "dino" means fearfully great (dinosaur = fearfully great lizard), and -mancy stems from a root meaning divination; thus "dinomancy" would be to divine via something fearfully great. Nevertheless, these are extant - not extinct - creatures found throughout the world, so they hold no prevalence in being a separate caste of beasts, and neither would they truly be referred to as "dinosaurs" within the continuity.

    • Devilsaurs

    • Stegadons (Thunder Lizards)

    • Dimetradons

    • Thresadons

    • Direhorns

    • Ravasaurs (Raptor)

      • Falcosaurs

      • Compy

    • Skyscreamers

    • Pterrordax

  • Basilisks

  • Kodos

  • Mushan

  • Wyverns (Proto-Drakes)

  • Rocs

    • Dread Ravens

    • Fire Hawks (WoD firehawks)

  • Teroclaw

  • Fenghuang (Pandaren Phoenixes)

  • Kraken

  • Ravagers

  • Silithid

  • Clefthooves

  • Shoveltusks

  • Helsquids

  • Leviathans

  • Wind Serpents

  • Long (Cloud Serpents)

  • Giant Turtles (Shen-zin Su & turtle boats)

 

Chimera: Any creature which may seem like a hodgepodge of multiple animals, or perhaps even a merging of the same beast into one, or otherwise creatures altered from normal beasts are often associated as being the experiments of mad alchemists whose projects have since procreated and entered into the natural ecosystems of the world.

  • Rylaks

  • Hydras

  • Gryphons

    • Hippogryphs

  • Owlbeasts

    • Owlcats

    • Wolfhawks

  • Manticores (Wyverns/Wind Riders)

  • Ruishi (Quilen)

  • Dragonhawks

  • Helhounds (Guarm & Nian)


 

Manifestations: Unlike chimera, these creatures are composed of materials other than true flesh, but nevertheless behave with the autonomy of real creatures, although their origins vary greatly. I refrain from the usage of "elemental" as that term itself has become corrupted from its original meaning; initially there were four types of beings reflecting the four elements; gnomes = earth, undine = water, sylph = air, salamanders = fire. Following D&D, the term has become genericized to refer to any being composed out of basic elements. While this may not necessarily be observed within the setting, I still prefer to avoid using such a generic RPG term.

  • Corehounds

  • Phoenixes (including Fire Hawks)

  • Stone Giants

  • Flamewakers

  • Hell Hounds

  • Lava Worms

  • Gyreworms

  • Fire Spiders

  • Stone Spiders (Shale spiders)

  • Fire Turtles

  • Aether Eels (Mana Wyrms)

  • Aether Adders (Arcane Wyrms)

 

Certain Restrictions May Apply

Spoiler

Normally I wouldn’t want to impose too many rules, but to better convey a world where each race has an appropriate amount of racial identity and homogenization is kept low, certain things must be considered and observed.

 

Character Strength: Naturally in a setting which doesn’t commonly abide by simple logic and reason, people let themselves believe in a lot of ridiculous notions. Apply a bit of logic, and you’ll start seeing the lines clearly drawn. Within this setting, races will be divided into two groups regarding basic physical strength, each with their own spectrum, from least to greatest. This refers to their basic, unaltered capacity.

 

Lesser: Gnomes < Goblins < Elves = Humans < lithe Zandali < Ulfhednar

Greater: Sha’tari Eredar = Orcs < Xiongmao = Dwarves = large Zandali < Shu’halo
 

 

Why are dwarves above orcs and sha’tari?
Consistently throughout fantasy settings, dwarves are portrayed as having some unreal strength, most incarnations having hulking physicalities. Considering dwarves were literally hewn from the best stone in almost all incarnations, it’s safe to assume that their transition into beings of flesh maintain a considerable amount of power among other fleshy mortals.

  • Orcs, on the other hand, range greatly from one setting to the next; their early incarnations in Tolkien’s writings had them weaker than humans, but over time their later incarnations’ strength has grown to make them more intense enemies to other races. While I would say it is fair to put them above humans, especially given the cartoonish proportions presented in WoW, I’ll admit that my personal bias regarding dwarves keeps my favored people just above. In a fight between an orc and a dwarf, I always bet on the child of stone to best a pig-ape.

  • Eredar: Draenei in the main canon are large people with animal attributes, but we haven’t really seen a solid act of strength from them. The women on the other hand are also notoriously skinny, which may suggest a drastic difference in strength resulting from such sexual dimorphism. So while I’ll easily accept that they could overpower a human, I find it difficult to put them higher up on the scale of stronger races; the women themselves could be seen as being a stronger member of the weaker races, at that.

 

Why are Zandali separated into two groups?

Well, for anyone who pays attention to trolls in the main canon, they come in two main sizes. Originally all trolls looked skinny like the PC model, but later Blizz made the Amani and Drakkari larger. “Large Zandali” does not apply to dire troll models; dire options would be listed very differently. Thus the typical skinny troll model would imply a “lithe Zandali” while the Amani/Drakkari types would imply “large Zandali”


Why aren’t undead listed?

Many people generally believe that undead humans, who lack a tactile sense, at least mostly, are much stronger than their living counterparts because their pain doesn’t inhibit them. While this is partly true, there are other factors to consider; not to mention that “undead” can apply to more than just undead humans, so not all undead would have the same stats. What most people don’t take into consideration are a few very important things.

 

  • They’re still the same race as they were while alive: The body is only capable of so much power; being without pain doesn’t suddenly increase your body’s power, it just allows you to go the extra mile you otherwise would not, but no further.

  •  

  • Pain is important: Pain isn’t just there for no reason than to purely annoy you, it’s there to tell you that your body is being injured. The reason people typically don’t go beyond their pain threshold to perform an amazing act of strength on a regular basis is because any further and you injure your body. That’s not something a rotting corpse who doesn’t heal naturally can afford.

  •  

  • They’re decaying: At least within this setting, the undead are in a perpetual state of decay. Many of the soft tissues are long gone, prompting magical or alchemical means to compensate. While initially the lack of pain can allow an undead person to perform slightly greater feats of strength, over time those very muscles are going away, thus nullifying their immunity to pain as the body becomes physically incapable of even basic human strength. Thus the undead can begin as barely stronger or equal to their living counterparts, but over time will become weaker.

 

Why are ulfhednar listed if they aren’t a true race in this setting?
As mentioned in their section above, while the ulfhednar within this setting are not a true race, but rather an assumed form purely, the form is definite in its physical capacity and thus prompts a variety of notions as to what this would imply for their altered physicality.

The shortened answer is: they’re still just wolves. At least, wolves with a humanoid posture and opposable thumbs. While wolves may have considerable bite strength, that doesn’t mean a swipe from their paws will disembowel you in one go.
In regards to whether this strength would change from race-to-race: taking into consideration that anyone turning into a regular animal would have all the attributes of that animal regardless of their natural species, one would lose strength in turning into a weaker animal. This is the case with a stronger race turning into a humanoid wolf. Even despite being an anthropomorphic wolf, they have a very clear cut and defined appearance. So in the end, one should not choose to become an ulfhedinn just for the sake of bad, edgy werewolf tropes as a pathetic grab at having the strongest character possible (especially if you’re thinking of making some sort of shu’halo wolf warrior in the belief that bull+werewolf=strongest character ever); you should choose it because you find the actual qualities of a wolf appealing enough to counter the potential lost attributes; you can revert to normal if the form is lacking compared to your normal state, so you never really lose that capacity, it’s just temporarily suspended while in form.
Now, I could list the berserkir stats, but I felt that since Worgen are a PC race and the Guardian Druid form isn’t, it was more appropriate to clarify in this regard. Berserkir stats will come later.

 

Armor and Weapons: Some people jump at the bit to deck out their character in impressively looking armor while wielding phallically symbolic weaponry; while this may work for some of the powerful less human races, it tends to look gauche with certain other races. A good rule of thumb is simply to consider the physicality of your race.
 

Lesser: These races are incapable of wearing larger sets of armor as it would quickly encumber them. Even lighter metals only reduce weight by so much, so in choosing any of these peoples do not attempt to go full out with larger pauldrons, helms and the like, and do not use oversized weapons and shields unless you have a valid reason of sound logic to do so.

 

Greater: More likely to garb themselves in larger pieces of gear, either through having the capacity of donning more complex protective armor or merely ornate pieces for prestige, and are capable of handling larger and heavier weapons with the ease the other races would handle conventional ones.

 

 

 

 

Keep in mind that there is more information to be added, this is simply the basic concept laid out to get the gist across, and all information provided thus far is still subject to change. Any inquiries about further information should be regarded to me personally through a PM, as I would prefer comments to this thread to consist of any prospective players' character concepts and statements made by me; in other words, after speaking with me about what's possible, please post the basis of your character's information here.

Edited by Fraenir

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i feel like it would work better as its own lore outside of wow, not custom lore in wow


9e3d9243b100235406bd182b7b6f2ba9.png

9ce7aadb04f6fe22373c29eb3bfb0db9.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wood Elf Derwydd (Druid): No singular religious leader; each group has their own derwydd; Welsh paganism

bruh wood elves are my THANG yo

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
31 minutes ago, Traius said:

i feel like it would work better as its own lore outside of wow, not custom lore in wow

It effectively is custom lore outside of Warcraft, but contains certain distinctive elements of Warcraft, like Draenei and Tauren, which here are given slightly new names.

The geography, for example, would be entirely different, with completely different names.

If I could remold the terrain as I would want, it would be completely devoid of Warcraft components, but I have to work with what I'm given.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Romeo said:

Wood Elf Derwydd (Druid): No singular religious leader; each group has their own derwydd; Welsh paganism

bruh wood elves are my THANG yo

Well, if you wish to make one, by all means. I've yet to really have anyone join in.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Fraenir said:

Well, if you wish to make one, by all means. I've yet to really have anyone join in.

:o I might! add me on my character Glaeweth and once I am in-game we can discuss this thing bruh!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

All right, so I've added an inquiry at the top above the summary title as "New: Interest Check"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I feel like it -could- be cool.  But maybe down the road?  The community still needs to be stabalized in a way that there is WoW RP.  Though don't let me alone stop you, do what you think is right m'dude.  


fdfgsdfgs.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 hours ago, Insomnia said:

I feel like it -could- be cool.  But maybe down the road?  The community still needs to be stabalized in a way that there is WoW RP.  Though don't let me alone stop you, do what you think is right m'dude.  

I had this thought myself; the server is so new that most custom lore settings aren't going to be very popular. Namely due to having to scrap much of WC lore to learn new concepts drummed up by a faceless individual.
Not to mention a dwarf-centric setting probably won't be too appealing for most, at least within this environment with WC dwarves, who Blizz has allowed to become quite bland, generic and insignificant to the overall story. Dwarf content to use within WoW is woefully limited, and even despite the recent popularity of Norse mythology within the past few years, Blizz has yet again neglected dwarves in that regard for Vrykul. Most folks like the overused pretty/edgy races, whereas dwarves are understated. And many of those who like dwarves portray them as little more than boisterous memes with butchered Scottish accents and the overusage of cinematic Gimli dialogue where everyone is "lad/lass".

 

4 hours ago, Traius said:

I'm doing a D&D custom made lore thing, otherwise I might've joined in

Well, good luck with your phase. I certainly encourage pvt RP servers to go more a personal route with RP; why most people really care to RP WC lore at this point when it's become so genericized and homogenized is beyond me. Not to mention all the bad soap operatic/anime melodrama and cliches.

Edited by Fraenir

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×