Something that I really need to do more often, but my headcanon is that Gnomes are acutely aware of how technologically ignorant many of their allies (and enemies!) are, and often resort to just making up technobabble to explain how things work, because an actual explanation is longer and more difficult to follow. Over time, this led to many various overly-precise descriptions of mundane tasks, to the general ambivalence of everyone, and more commonly, dramatic exaggeration for their own amusement, knowing that theyâll never be called out on it.
Many of them simply take this joke and run away with it, leading to a common statement that prior to the cityâs fall, Gnomeregan was moments away from rising up on hydraulic legs, and waging war on the surface-dwellers.
That was a passing thought of mine today; how the gnomes must be agonisingly conscious of just how less developed their allies really are. Gnomes have robotic walkers, counting machines and directed energy weapons while humans have swords and horses. Even if their allies could adapt, theyâd still be vastly intellectually inferior and reliant on gnomish efforts to dumb down methods and technology to their level.
Draenei and elves are similarly (supposedly) brilliant but gnomes have this tragic role of being the smart people surrounded by comparitive savages. For some at least, it must add up to intense frustration mixed in with the tragic loss of most of their species. Being outwardly chipper and silly is how some of them cope.
The Wetlands should be dried up at this stage but blizzard is too lazy.
Most of the damages done by the Cataclysm have been fixed at this point, the Wetlands is dry and the Dam is restored.
There have been dwarves (both Wildhammer and Bronzebeard) who have tried to recapture Grim Batol for the united Dwarves, but the presence of Twilight Dragons ensures almost all of these expeditions fail.
The Forstborn dwarves are closely allied with the dwarves of Ironforge, and by extension the Dark Iron and Wildhammer Clans, and many dwarves consider them a fourth clan, who also keep an constant presence in the form of a Ambassador in Ironforge.
(I accidently put the word wh0p in, which is not allowed to be posted, what does it mean?)
Since weâre on the topic of headcanon.
The Cenarion Circle has fully rejoined the Grand Alliance, as a result the New Horde has conquered the northern Kalimdor realms almost entirelly, with only Nighthaven and the World Tree being in Cenarion/Alliance hands. (Take note we do see druids wearing Cenarion banners fighting for the Alliance!).
The Earthen Ring has fully rejoined the New Horde, and are trying to assist the Horde druids in maintaining the balance of nature now that the vast majority of chose too side with the Alliance. (We see Shaman NPCâs wearing Earthen Ring banners fighting with/for the Horde).
The Harvest-Witches of Gilneas consider themselves seperate from the Cenarion Circle, while some have joined the Cenarion Circle proper, most did not and maintain their own customs, traditions and philosophy, same with the Thornspeakers keeping themselves different.
With the Zandalari joining the Horde, many Darkspear druids fear theyâll be replaced by Zandalari druids because of their bigger numbers and easier, less balance caring philosophy.
Also, many races are slowly changing how they look at the Pandaren martial arts, with trolls and night elves notably experimenting with taking out the Pandaren Wild-Gods/Loa for their own.
The Silver hand has kicked out all the Horde paladin and priests and has once again become an Alliance regiment. However, they struggle to find a new Highlord after the mix reception from kicking out the Horde.
Also, it cost them the fabled Ashbringer, now a iconic Horde weapon weilded by Lady âDarkness can not abide in the Light unless itâs the Horde and Sylvanasâ Liadrin.
Undead/Forsaken Dwarves canât really be âcreatedâ anymore, Sylvanas is nowhere near as strong as the Lich King or Darion Mograine when he wielded the Corrupted Ashbringer.
One of few named Dwarves that were raised into undeath was Thane Korthâazz, and considering Dwarves are descended from rocks, and are reistant to magic, disease, etc. I donât really fancy believing the whole Undead/Forsaken dwarves tale, unless Bolvar decided to make another appearanceâŠ
This post saddens me because it reminds me just how apathetic to lore and continuity Blizzard has become.
Dwarves and Gnomes are one of the most or the most powerful race duo in all of Azeroth from them benefiting off each other immensely.
After the destruction of Gnomeragan, the Dwarf forces shelter the Gnomes in the halls of Ironforge within Tinker town, in return the Gnomes gave they powerful devices and blueprints to use, which greatly helped the Dwarves.
With the fact that Dwarves are great explorers and miners, they can easily find the rare minerals they need for the devices.
After the Dwarves gave the Gnomes good armour and weapons, they would they take back Gnomeragan and have it has another Alliance city for them.
The Dwarves have the Numbers, warriors and blacksmithing while the Gnomes have the Intellect and engineering, making them make up for each others flaws and teaching each other skills.
A small SPOILER ALERT for those that havenât seen the new volâjin questline part involving Bwonsamdi & you going out to see the LK & Eyir.
Bwonsamdi mentions that Eyir and him havenât been on good terms for a while (800 years or so?), but is reluctant to talk to you about the specific reasons as to why thatâs the case. Equally, Eyir, sensing your presence, is quick to react like a woman in scorn when she notices you come from Bwonsamdi to meet her.
Now, we know that Olâ Bwonsamdi has been around probably since the dawn of time in Azeroth, and Eyir is also a several thousands of years old, meaning that the two didnât just spawn into existance and start disliking one another.
More importantly, this scorn/dislike seems to be stemming mainly from her side- Which begs the question, what happened between the two?
My headcanon is that the two had a fling, until Olâ Bwonsamdi gone and did something she got really angry with him for (such as hooking up with a spirit healer).
https://www.deviantart.com/ammatice/art/Bwonsamdi-and-spirit-healer-760876312
What if they got in a fight over Bwomsandi maybe having taken some worthy Vrykul souls?
Some thoughts about Azerothâs climate, returning to this fan map https://orig00.deviantart.net/5559/f/2014/199/e/a/the_world_of_azeroth_by_kuusinen-d7r9lk0.png.
Iâd actually shift Pandaria a bit south, or shift everything a bit south so that the equator would pass through the southern tips of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.
Generally speaking, Azerothâs climate zones are most evident in Kalimdor, where it consistently gets hotter the farther south we go. Aside from some anomalies that Iâll address later, itâs not that bad:
- Darkshore and Winterspring: taiga
- Ashenvale, Azshara and Stonetalon: temperate mixed forest
- Mulgore, Desolace (lush areas): temperate grassland
- Feralas, Dustwallow, Thousand Needles: subtropics
- Tanaris, UnâGoro, Uldum, Silithus: tropics
Northrend changes from subarctic (think Scandinavia and northern Siberia) to arctic going farther north, no big surprises here.
The big outlier is the Eastern Kingdoms â probably a consequence of the haphazard design of its lore, starting from the Generic Fantasy Kingdom of Stormwind in WC1 and continuing north in WC2.
- The bulk of Lordaeron is in the temperate zone, most of it forested, except for the grasslands of Arathi. So far so good.
- Khaz Modan, especially Dun Morogh, is cold by the standards of its latitude, but I rationalize it as most of the country being high in the mountains, with Dun Morogh being the highest (same as Winterspring compared to its surroundings). The Badlands, which are almost at sea level, have latitude-appropriate climate.
- The biggest outlier of them all are the lands of Stormwind: Elwynn, Westfall and Duskwood. They are somehow depicted as temperate, not much hotter than Lordaeron, despite being located in the subtropics.
Pandaria, the only continent in the southern hemisphere, is mostly subtropical, with elevation-dependent variations (the Vale of Eternal Blossoms is higher in the mountains, and Kun-Lai is higher still, ending in the snowy peaks of the north). Nothing too immersion-breaking here.
The Broken Isles are another outlier. Azsuna and Suramar are too warm for their supposed location at roughly the same latitude as Gilneas, and northwest of Kul Tiras.
So here comes the real headcanon part (and yes, I know that the real answer is âBlizzard didnât careâ, but itâs fun to try to make at least some sense out of this). If you look at the part of Kalimdor diametrically opposite to Elwynn, you will see the Barrens and Durotar â savannah zones due south of the temperate Ashenvale, seemingly too warm for their latitude.
But we know the Barrens werenât always like this. Itâs canon, actually. Chronicle 1 mentions that there were lush wilds there, in the heart of ancient Kalimdor, housing the Kaldorei Empire outpost of ThenâRalore. The climate change to the Barrens came after the Sundering. Could the Sundering also be the culprit for the unusual climate of the southwestern coast of the Eastern Kingdoms?
https://d1u5p3l4wpay3k.cloudfront.net/wowpedia/4/4e/Chron3_map_of_Azeroth_after_the_Cataclysm.jpg?version=5a2fa3e33fb835687112eeacc55f42cb
Well, what is located between Durotar and Elwynn? The Maelstrom.
My headcanon theory is that the Maelstrom gives rise to clockwise ocean currents, which has, among others, these effects:
- A warm current flows north along the east coast of Kalimdor, heating up Durotar and the Barrens and to a lesser extent Azshara. (Bonus: this current was responsible for separating Thrall and Gromâs fleets during the Exodus of the Horde, thus making Gromâs ships make landfall farther north than Thrall anticipated.)
- A cold current flows south along the west coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, cooling down Elwynn and Westfall. The protruding shape of Westfall also shields Stranglethorn from this effect.
- A circular warm current flowing around the Maelstrom itself awashes the southern coast of the Broken Isles with warm waters from the South Sea.
(One hole in this theory is that the Maelstrom is depicted as churning counterclockwise on both the Cataclysm map and the Chronicle 3 map. Ah well. Could the counterclockwise rotation of the Maelstrom itself be causing clockwise rotation of currents farther from it? In the real world, we have pairs of clockwise and counterclockwise currents adjacent to each other â North Pacific Gyre and South Pacific Gyre, North Atlantic Gyre and South Atlantic Gyre. But Iâm not at all an expert here.)
The remaining âtoo warm for its locationâ are Sholazar Basin, which is canonically kept warm by Titan technology, as well as Moonglade and Mount Hyjal. The latter two, I think, are best explained by magicâą; both places are inundated in the energies of the Emerald Dream, and Moonglade is additionally completely enclosed by mountains that protect it from the harsh winds of nearby Darkshore and Winterspring.
Also QuelâThalas, which, if anything, seems warmer than Lordaeron, despite being even farther north than Darkshore and Winterspring. And Iâm honestly at a loss here. I canât rationalize it in any way other than âclimatology was definitely not a concern for the WC2 developersâ.
QuelâThalas is permanently enchanted to remain at a comfortable temperature and to appear in eternally frozen in one season. This is actually canon.
Both Suramar and QuelâThalas were terraformed magically to be locked in their current climate we see in game, making them in-universe climate anomalies.
Ah, fair enough. So the canon answer is magicâą.
Whatâs the source in case of Suramar?
Iâm assuming that the climate of whatâs now the Broken Isles was different pre-Sundering because they were deep inland, near the middle of ancient Kalimdor, and thus should have had a continental climate. Itâs not what we see in cutscenes, but the answer to that can easily be: 1) graphical limitations and 2) Blizzard didnât care.
The plaques at the zoo mention the region getting the same magical treatment. Itâs a real blink and youâll miss detail, but one that Iâll always remember after exploring Suramar endlessly during Legion. I can go grab a screenshot if youâll give me a few minutes.
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Beasts_of_Barren_Savannas
This one from the looks of it. Iâd say Suramarâs enchantment is/was limited to the city itself. Not sure if they still do it now that the shield is gone.
On the subject of climate, Kul Tiras is rather cold and wet due to the geographic features of its terrain with tall, snow capped peaks and glaciers terminating into valleys. The winds become fierce. While less of a concern to tidesage blessed ships they do make for a chillier climate as cold winds blow from the sea as well as the peaks all the way through tiragarde sound. This is why the locals seem so fond of thicker clothing and longcoats.
In addition, the seawall blocking the flooding of the region surrounding Deadwash is an active, long term project of draining a former lake for more farmland, fed via canals from Brennadam. The combination of the Stormsong cultists, the horde aggression (the presence of the latter exacerbating the former as shown in the war campaign) and the treasure craze put the project on indefinite hiatus to the relief of surrounding communities unable to compete with a growing agricultural sector.