Headcanon 2: Electric Boogaloo

The higher levels of Sunfury Spire consist of vast libraries with corridors of offices around them.

Blood trolls have a matriarchal society because they consider bearing offspring extremely important and have a big focus on expanding their numbers and reach, this is why one of their titles is ma’da, too.

This also means that bearing a lot of offspring is considered a good thing, and would be very much promoted

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Trolls are just another titan construct turned into flesh, not Azeroth’s vaunted native species. The heart of their civilization is made of titan tech pyramids like Uldum, actually designed to contain the Old Gods & Pals like Mythrax and G’huun and just like the Blackrock orcs, the Zandalari still bear the marks of their elemental construct origins as stoney scales about the shoulders.

They needn’t be constructs of the likes of Aggramar but rather awakened by Azeroth itself as a sort of reflexive response, beginning as primitive entities much like the Gronn of Draenor before slowly becoming fleshy over the ages, growing individual agency and treating the beasts of Freya’s garden as Wild Gods. “Loa” as such is probably shorthand for some elaborate long lost titan designation just like how dark trolls learned of Elune via titan rubble.

Almost everything is a titan cargo cult as their creations gain self awareness and falsely attribute the sufficiently advanced technology of the Makers as aspects of the divine.

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To complement this the underground of the Sunfury Spire has a massive labyrinthine prison/containment complex that sprawls under Silvermoon where everything from SCP-tier entities to political dissidents and experimentation take place.

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The Lightforged Draenei joining the Alliance are cosplayers.

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Some of my personal “Gnome” headcanon that I employ regularly in roleplay:

• The fall of Gnomeregan was so devastating in terms of population because a series of failed evacuations preceded the Gnomes turning to that infamous irradiated solution.
• Gnomeregan suffered a series of power failures, which rendered escape to the surface difficult as doors and consoles didn’t work.
• Some Gnomes actually suffer from a form of PTSD that particularly focuses on underground environments and claustrophobic spaces due to Gnomeregan.
• Gnomes are acutely aware that most of their “best” designs are made in concert with Dwarves, who simplify their overengineered ideas into something workable on a massed scale.
• Meritocratic society can be very exclusionary. Gnomes who aren’t great engineers are viewed poorly and ostracized socially. It can also impact their career chances.
• The Gnomish equivalent of a Marshall in terms of military rank is a Mekgineer. This has been largely retired as a rank because of Themaplugg.
• Officers in the Gnomish military are typically poor leaders, this is because they gain positions thanks to their engineering ability, not their tactical prowess or leadership qualities.
• Gnomish dissidents exist. Not everyone agrees with Mekkatorque; some Gnomes believe it’s been too long since the Tinker’s Court voted on a new leader.
• The lack of a Gnomish historiography is due largely to a preoccupation with “progress”. Some believe that the Bronzebeard fascination with the Titans is archaic.
• Gnomes share a great affinity with the Bronzebeard Dwarves but they do not see Dark Irons or Wildhammer Dwarves in the same light. The presence of Dark Iron Dwarves in Gnomeregan causes a great level of distrust.
• Gnomes are reliant on Humans and Dwarves for their agrarian needs, given that they don’t put a great emphasis on farming.
• The Gnomish tendency towards overt optimism is a reflex given the relative hopelessness they sometimes find themselves in.
• Gnomish fertility rates are incredibly low due to the irradiation of Gnomeregan. This is why the race has struggled to regain pre-WoW population levels.
• Leprosy in Gnomes can cause psychological issues and brain damage, even when surface symptoms aren’t obvious.

I probably got more tbh, but I can’t think of it atm.

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Love it in 10 letters.

That there’s a point to this faction war.

Also that the reason there’s such a clear difference between MU and Iron Horde Blademasters is that the heavy industrialisation of Draenor under Grommash lead the Burning Blade clan down a more fiery, hard-hitting route that polluted their traditions.

WC3 and WoD Blademasters are night and day, it always irritated me.

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Given the Wandering Isle Pandaren tendency to destroy knowledge that is not applicable to their present, their society was locked in cycles of stagnation and reinvention, reiterating lost ideas and philosophies every other generation as it all stood on living memory, never truly progressing for centuries.

More than a few incidents have occured where both Tushui and Houjin have been apprehended and punished for trying to burn the books of their allies. Especially Houjin as inaction is immoral and they’d “help” their friends by liberating them from old, “useless” thinking.

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You mean the Hozen? That wasn’t knowledge, that was vandalism. Hozen doing philosophy is fine, but only when they do not destroy anything in the process.

Pearl of Pandaria does show that the Wandering Isle Pandaren regressed a lot and the whole wanderlust thing that started them out vanished, resulting to them stagnating. The idea of wandering out there and learning new things was heavily frowned upon when Chen left, and it continued to be frowned upon when Li Li wanted to elave because all Chen’s adventures did was “bring trouble”.

They tried real hard to suppress knowledge of the Pearl of Pandaria, and the fact that Pandaria still existed out there, because the Elders decreed that the island provides all they need.

come to think of it that’s the plot of moana

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I can’t post links for some reason but google the The Lesson of the Burning Scroll. Destroying knowledge and burning books is some of the first stuff you do in your adventuring career as a pandaren.

The Edict of Temperance is a scroll of wisdom passed down from my elder’s elders. Wisdom from a more peaceful time.

Every lesson has it’s time and place, and with darkness on the horizon, the time for this particular wisdom has passed.

The burning of the scroll is an acceptance of tidings to come and a promise to action.

Ironic since the Mogu actively obliterated the old pandaren ways.

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You do not ‘destroy knowledge and burn books’.

You symbolically burn down an outdated scroll set up specifically for that purpose. Extrapolating that into a book-burning culture seems like total insanity.

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I don’t consider it far fetched that houjin would take the lesson to heart and try to liberate their fellows from outdated, stifling thinking. They seem the sort to want you to think for yourself with a wise old master slappin’ a disciple upside the head for daring to write down his musings. Hence why it’s headcanon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars

Sometimes Blizzard hits it right on the nail, perfectly.

Orcs, by virtue of their semi-elemental titan construct nature have a highly resilient physique as we know; a dense bone structure and naturally bulky frame.

Less known is their ability to ingest and digest things that humans and others cannot. Like their distant cousins, the goren, the orcs have tough stomachs that typically kill bacteria and parasites which explains why they are capable of eating such quanities of raw meat as mentioned in the novels.

In the end, as children of the Breakers, orcs are built to destroy and consume their surroundings, leaving a desert unless the impulse is tempered or redirected.

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Why is it always Titan constructs with you, first Trolls are Titan constructs, now Orcs.

Woman, you crazy.

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It’s not even headcanon.
Orcs are descendants of Grond, which makes them semi-titan constructs like humans.

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For once I subscribe to your headcanon

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Well their durability is canonical, and likely why they wear less armour than other races - they don’t need it, their skin is pretty tough.

I’ve always envisioned Orcs in a pseudo-Spartan lense- they are usually laconic in speech, prefer direct action - have little use for philosophy outside of a martial nature. They are grouped into clans (much like the Spartans) and have a crude, tribalistic “democracy” based on strength (Warchief/Chieftain is meant to be the most suited role - as were the Spartan Kings)

The similarities don’t stop there - Spartan women were far more egalitarian than their other counterparts in the Hellenic world, they had most if not the same rights to property and were usually trained to fight (to defend themselves). Strong women were preferred since they were expected to have strong Children, which is something the Orcs emphasised - at least pre-Thrall did.

In addition - like the Spartans and the Orcs, they always felt - and often were - foreign conquerors even in their own land. This mindset was engrained in Spartan citizens, as they were heavily outnumbered by the non-Spartans and the Helots - the slaves (Peons for Orcs I suppose).

I think Horde RP would greatly benefit from people roleplaying their Orcs more like Spartans spiced with a bit of nomadic steppe folk (Like the Mongolians) rather than “RAAAGH ME SMASH ME BIG ORC” chest thumping ape style.

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