Headcanon 2: Electric Boogaloo

Argent Dawn
3050

And the Waycrest falcon, of course. I headcanon that gryphons and falcons are the most common heraldric animals in Drustvar. Drustvar is home to the Dusky Waycrest Gryphon known for its silent glide and ambush tactics among the dark forest canopy. I headcanon that this particular breed of gryphon is locally known as the Duskwing.

In heraldry, the griffin’s amalgamation of lion and eagle gains in courage and boldness, and it is always drawn to powerful fierce monsters. It is used to denote strength and military courage and leadership. Griffins are portrayed with the rear body of a lion, an eagle’s head with erect ears, a feathered breast, and the forelegs of an eagle, including claws. These features indicate a combination of intelligence and strength.

Seems on brand with their eternal vigil against the Drust, as per Talia’s recount of Drustvar, the region is home to the finest warriors (and ore) of Kul Tiras.

Rest of Kul Tiras sees sea-themed iconography in their heraldry with kraken, anchors, and other sea animals and mythical sea monsters being the most common. Those most loyal to their regional liege (Waycrest, Proudmoore, Stormsong) adopt elements from their crest as an homage and add upon it.

My Kul Tiran mage’s estate opened a silver mine recently in the mountains of Drustvar. Business is booming :money_with_wings:

Follow up because I’m on a roll:

We know that Boralan is the correct demonym for something originating from Boralus per the cooking trainer in Boralus introducing you to “Boralan cuisine”. I vaguely remember Drustvari being used somewhere (though I’d prefer Drustvaren, personally), and pre-BFA Tirasian was the go-to demonym for Kul Tiras until it got retconned to Kul Tiran, but even then I spotted Tirasian used in relation to food in BFA.

My headcanon is that Tirasian refers to something specific to Tiragarde Sound, which to the outside world is considered synonymous with Kul Tiras as a whole the same way many people conflate Holland with the Netherlands. I’d also then propose that the demonym for Stormsong Valley is Stormsinger, because nothing else works well with that name.

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3051

It was used in the alpha and beta, but all instances of it seems to have been cut by the time BfA went live.

I have always used Stormsonger, but it’s a tricky thing to work with.

It’s because the House of Proudmoore have ruled Kul Tiras for generations now, Tirasian as well as their anchor as become synonymous with the nation of Kul Tiras itself, which does not have ‘national’ colours and heraldries like the other human kingdoms do. Instead they fly the heraldry of the ruling house.

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That must be the vague memory I had lodged in my brain. I couldn’t find the source on live, but I specifically remember reading Drustvari once upon a time.

It’s an awkward word to work with. Stormsinger/songer, or derivatives are the best alternative in lack of a better one.

Which does give more flavour to the nation of Kul Tiras in my opinion! It’s why I love the nation, because the world building has so much on offer and it gives room for more with the creative headcanons people are pumping out. It’s not [Another human kingdom, but they paint their roof a different colour], but a lived-in world with its regional cultures.

just love Kul Tiras, I do

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It’s a shame that Blizzard didn’t make the Eastern Kingdoms at the same time as they did Kul Tiras, because you could plainly see the same being the case for all human kingdoms but Stromgarde and Dalaran - and the Dalarani are all wannabe elves.

Lordaeron could and should have regional cultures and differences between Tirisfal, the Eastweald; more so if divided into the Eastweald and the West weald, as well as Silverpine.
In Gilneas there’s a clear difference between the people who lived in coastal towns such as Keel Harbour and north of the Greymane Wall, with the people being far more pro-Alliance than their isolationist countrymen around the capital.
In Stormwind you have Westfall, Redridge and Dusk / Brightwood, three vastly different regions that would have given rise to regional cultures.
In Alterac you have the people who dwelt up in the Alteraci Mountains and the ‘lowlanders’ who lived in Alterac’s territory in Hillsbrad.

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I imagine they already do, we just haven’t seen them elaborated in depth beyond Westfall being poverty stricken, Duskwood is cursed, and Elwynn is the golden child.

Since we’re in the headcanon thread, what would you attribute to the different regions of Lordaeron - and on that note, the other regional divisions you listed for the other nations?

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Lordaeron
Tirisfalite - a pious and dedicated people; in and of itself a trait shared with their fellow Lordaeronians as Lordaeron itself was the most pious of the human kingdoms, friendly and welcoming strangers and friends alike. They are in many ways the archetypical human that we think of when we see their racials in game. A regional adherence to the ideals of Lordain, regarded as the first knight, and by extension Tyr, has seen Tirisfal give rise to some of humanity’s finest knights and paladins - amongst them both Turalyon and Uther the Lightbringer.

Westwealder - a hard working, honest people. They pride themselves on their region’s status as the kingdom’s bread basket. Where Tirisfal is the home of the knight and the Eastweald the home of the huntsman, the Westweald is the home of the humble farmer, a figure no less honoured for his trade.

Eastwealder - a gruff people that come off naturally as being distrusting of anyone outside of their local community; in spite of that, they are Lordaeron’s most pious people, with the seat of the Church of the Holy Light being in Tyr’s Hand, and so more than most people in Lordaeron they live by the three virtues. I see them as almost a mixture of Stromic and Drustvari - hardy and superstitious. They are a people who ply the great forests of the Eastweald as huntsmen, but due to frequent troll raids from the remnants of the Amani Empire to the north, they produce Lordaeron’s finest fighters if not soldiers. The 7th Legion originated as a regiment of soldiers recruited from the Eastweald.

Gilneas
Arevassite - the denizens of Arevass, named after the once great river that flowed through southern Silverpine that has since turned into a marshland, are the stark opposite of their insular kinsmen from the Gilnean peninsula. They have for generations fostered good relations with the peoples of Lordaeron, Alterac and Dalaran for purposes of trade and mutual defence. During the Second War they eagerly answered the Alliance’s call to arms; they were the bulk of the token force led by Godfrey. When Gilneas left the Alliance they protested, when the Greymane Wall was constructed they were in uproar, when Darius Crowley, their liege, asked for volunteers to fill the ranks of a Gilnean Brigade sent to aid Jaina, they answered the call. When Darius was declared a traitor and subsequently rose in revolt, they rallied to his cause. They have a rather odd kinship with the people of Keel Harbour, who by virtue of being Gilneas’ only large harbour / port town, are of a much more open mind due to the many non-Gilneans and non-humans who lived amongst them as a result of nautical trade and travel.

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3056

The Gilnean Blackwald is one of many places once held by kaldorei druids, leaving traces of their ancient power. Partly to blame for inspiring the Old Ways, they also brought the Nightmare to the region, explaining the thorny and sinister shape of the woods.

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The curse of the vampyr, i.e. the branch of bloodthirsty undead the san’layn belong to as well, predates the Scourge. It’s even possible the Scourge did not have a hand in this curse at all, as vampyr is (I think) the real life Scandinavian word for vampire. Scandinavian old timey culture being the bedrock of the vrykul as we know them.

Coupled with the crimson rune-sages we met in Stormheim and a lot of their concept art*, my theory is that the vampyr curse originated with vrykul runemasters who took a bad turn somewhere down the line. Later to be repurposed by the Lich King.

This guys lends some credence to the theory as well.

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Yes. Yes it is.

Wow, the guy’s name is really just Dracul backwards. Gotta love Warcraft’s goofy/lazy naming conventions.

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The fine art of piercing one’s ears was of course pioneered by the trolls in ancient times, though it was their elven cousins that took it to a true art and these days it’s widely regarded as a particularly elfish thing to do. As such, it’s socially a mark of refinement by stereotypical definition but also particularly popular in Dalaran as the sorcerous human citizens consciously or unwittingly emulate all things elven in their pursuits of the arcane.

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Weekdays on Azeroth, like so much else, have their origin in the works of the titans and their keepers. The basic calendar was laid down when they codified the passage of time according to design and named their measurements accordingly.

Modifications have been made over the years and names have been lost and replaced by upstart cultures looking to elevate their standing and language drifting but consistent features remain of the original Tyrsday, Odynsday, Thorimsday and Freyday.

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Look at Levinator keeping this thread alive :smiling_face_with_tear:

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Furthermore, Tyrsday was once sacred to the church for obvious reasons but since the Light encourages active work to improve the world, it never caught on as a holiday. Particularly devout people still pray a little extra hard around midday when the sun is at its peak.

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One of the earliest mortal iterations of the Titan calendar also shows clear influence from two of Azeroth’s most ancient populations; the Kaldorei and the Tauren, thus giving us the following names:

Luneday - in honor of the moon goddess Elune.
Tyrsday - after the Keeper Tyr.
Odynsday - after the Keeper Odyn.
Thorimsday - after the Keeper Thorim.
Freysday - after the Keeper Freya.
Hodirsday - after the Keeper Hodir.
Anshday - in honor of the sun god An’she.

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I was pondering how to properly integrate a sun-day and moon-day but my brain wouldn’t let me make anything proper out of it besides the idea of a common conception of the beginning and end of the week.

I imagine the kaldorei operate on their own system of a lunar calendar owing to the use of the chinese new year as part of the culture, divorced from the titanborne human-ish weekdays. Like a lot of other things, it’s something they use less and less since the third war in favour of the more universal measurements.

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I wrote some headcanon on the calendars of Azeroth before:

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3066

Wearing the cowl of an animal may possibly bring the blessings of a deity or wild god associated with that animal upon one; either willingly by the wild god or the lingering energy in the cowl may do it.

Such may be the case especially about Frostwolf Orcs and their wolf cowls too, bearing Goldrinn’s blessing and perhaps somewhat empowering the Orcs as well.

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This belief, valid or not has emerged independently in different cultures, from kaldorei druidism to zandalari wild god worship. In the latter case, it branched off into collecting the skulls of broken foes or ancestors in the hopes of gaining their power and blessings. Adorning them with precious gems is thought to empower the connection as gifts to the associated spirit.

In some cases, with proper reverence, it actually works. In other cases, the wild god in question is quite miffed at you for wearing his children.

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The alliance economy suffered more during the aftermath of BFA and during the shadowlands than the hordes did.

Since the horde is largely made up of races who regularly fight for survival, hunt for a living or soldier for the faction as a whole, their larger more non-combative forces are usually centered in the hearts of their capitals.

This meant when conscripted soldiers returned they could easily translate their training to what they were already doing.
This also meant when the scourge attacked in shadowlands, most of their non-combatant population were already inside fortified cities.

The alliance on the other hand, especially bronzebeards, stormwind and kul’tirans, relay on farming and their usual non-combatant population are therefore spread out over a wider area, open and easily reached by rampaging scourge forces.
Also when the conscripted soldiers from the 4th war returned to tend to their farms, they couldn’t as easily translate their military training to the comparable more peaceful life of farming.
not to mention with so many of them dying in the war, Stormwind would have suffered a food shortage, if not for the druids help in speeding up the growth of their crops.

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In general, the great struggle against the feral scourge is the Forgotten War and will go into history as such, largely overshadowed by the events of the shadowlands and its multi-dimensional implications.

Many died in a hopeless struggle in muddy ditches, fending off wild ghouls without the eyes of the world on their struggle, and the wicked undead being a faceless force of nature rather than a strictly defined foe with leaders to target and blame, the tragedies of the “rout at redridge” and dozens of other military disasters, as well as inspiring victories as the undead were pushed back get lumped into the wider problem of what the Wound in the Sky had wrought.

The weary veterans of this long, thankless struggle know much resentment as most of the praise for ending this threat is given freely to the leaders of the Horde and Alliance who stayed on Azeroth, not the soldiers who fought the battles. Turalyon in particular is now proven capable and beloved as the golden regent.

The struggle of the forsaken was long and bitter, facing down their greatest foe with poor resources across ravaged lands, largely leaderless for most of the war but relentless in their cause even as the sin’dorei and argent crusade turned their eyes away from Western Lordaeron.

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