Maybe Horde Earthen can RP as shaman’s earth elementals.
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Or elemental ascendants that don’t look like twilight cultists.
I’m not asking them to be gung-ho Horde lovers before they even meet the Horde, I just hope that the earthen who join the Horde have values and an attitude that align with the Horde more than the Alliance, and that they don’t come across as too culturally dwarven.
And of the three groups:
- The Oathsworn are diehard Titanic adherents who look down on the other earthen for deviating from the edicts. Their civilised nature and behaviour makes them seem like a much better fit for the Alliance than the Horde, but it also seems like they might be a villainous group who won’t end up with either faction.
- The Unbound have abandoned the edicts and their original purpose and care a lot more about their own survival, in rural regions where they can live off of the land. They seem like they could be the most Horde-aligned, but I also worry that they might be aesthetically very close to the Wildhammers.
- The Machine Speakers are deep-dwelling earthen who still carry out their duties in their own ways, though they deviate from the laws of the Oathsworn. Aesthetically, they seem like an earthen version of the Dark Iron Clan, though their way of life could lead to them go in either direction in terms of faction alignment.
Without knowing in detail how these groups will be handled, because they haven’t gone deeply into it, it’s hard to say how they’ll handle the earthen as an allied race.
Best case scenario, the Unbound end up siding with the Horde and they aren’t just a fancy new clone of the Wildhammer Clan but instead have a unique culture of their own.
But considering how a lot of the new races are basically old races with a new coat of paint, I won’t be holding my breath.
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Unshackled 
Unbound
synonym factions joining the Horde
Speaking of the Unshackled, when will the Horde get gilgoblins customisation for goblins?!???!
Man, feels to me like you just described the three Alliance dwarf factions.
Also, dwarves are really popular, one of the most played races, so its good to see we get a third playable dwarf race that is even able to join the Horde /s
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Honestly, how much else is there to say? What can they add will feel meaningful beyond “new race” (like the vulpera) and something that won’t disrupt a pretty decent cornerstone in the lore (like the dragon isles centaur)?
You crazy genius!
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Well as Highlighted in a post above there the three primary groups of the Earthern which mirror the three clans to a degree.
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The Oathsworn being the Bronzebeard and Stewards of Ironforge.
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The Unbound mirroring the then Wildhammers of old who lived atop of Ironforge, presumably took on the jobs of farming and found ways to live off and with the land itself.
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The Machine Speakers who are the Dark Iron whose original role within Ironforge was to take care of the forge(s) and live the deepest within the Earth.
This alone gives us, and our characters a unique insight into what Ironforge might of been like prior to the War of the Clans, how they functioned off one another and how their differences could lead to strife.
This is especially interesting if Blizzard remembers a certain heir to 2/3’ds of the Clans, who could stand to learn a lot through this unique view into the dwarfdom’s past as well as possibly have him learn a lesson that allows him to bridge the gap between himself and the Wildhammer clan, possibly in taking a sympathetic view to the Unbound who takes on a lot of the similarities as the Wildhammer clan.
This could be a good way of introducing his character, it’d be even greater if maybe he isn’t entirely successful and despite his efforts, the Unbound is still swayed toward the Horde as opposed to the Alliance, which is a loss that could define his character further depending on how he takes it. - That is if they do take the Unbound to be the most horde-leaning folk, this is all speculation after all…
But something to that effect is at least something I’m hoping to see.
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I think the story of the earthen separating organically over the millennia, slowly abandoning and forgetting the titan edicts only to later try and rediscover them after having formed into clans is a neat backdrop for their race that doesn’t need much more explaining; the how and the why doesn’t boggle the readers’ mind.
I don’t feel very excited about the prospect of exploring “Sector AR-938” if it’s mainly about more earthen that mirror everything we already know about them and dwarves. I kind of wish they instead were a yet unknown weird titan invention with some more outlandish flair to them like the mogu or tol’vir. I feel similarily towards the Arathi, but at least they have some sort of zany “let’s put the holy light in oil barrels and power zeppelins” thing going on that kind of breaks away from the mold.
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For you and me I’d agree, but a lot of people don’t follow the lore as closely as Roleplayers might do I could see them sticking to familiar grounds to tread whilst keeping the vibe of “This is new and exciting right??”
If I had my way we wouldn’t see Earthern either, or at the very least not to the capacity of becoming an allied race as I’d rather they stay a neutral force who is mostly just loyal to the Earth/Azeroth. - But sadly it is what it is and one can only hope for the best.
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Eh, I don’t mind the Earthen or Arathi too much, I’m sick of discovering new races in new lands while so many exisiting non-playable races could do with an upgrade in lore and afterwards we’ll hear nothing of those races again.
What I do mind however, is Earthen becoming an Allied Race to both the Horde and Alliance, especially as they could serve as customisation options for playable races. That’d be like making gilgoblins or void elves an Alliance race when they could be customisation options for goblins or blood elves.
If they really wanted to stick with the subterrenean stuff, they should’ve have the dwarves/gnomes and goblins be the spearhead for their respective factions into the new zones, they’re the already exisiting subterrenean races that could do with some more non-zany lore (esp gnomes and goblins).
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I don’t play FF14 at all, but I do think there’s certain aspects worth borrowing, namely the ‘same species but different races/clans’ selector thing in CC.
Probably a hot take this late in the game, but I do think Thallasian Elves, Goblins, Pandaren and others should be ‘Neutral’ races that can flip either way. Even ‘con yellow’ (not mechanically per se) and travel across the lines (this woulda worked very well post Legion I feel, before BFA and SL absolutely 
the bed…)
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I’ve felt this way for years. How many sentient species with separate territories, biologies, and dietary needs all exist within this small planet known as Azeroth? How do they survive all this time with such (ostensibly) low breeding populations?
Why can’t there just be something as simple as “southern gnolls” or “Zandalari island kobolds”? The devs have done great with different varieties of trolls, dwarves, and goblins; the same can be done with other races, as you said, without adding an endless list of zoomorphic “animal head on human body” creatures.
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Bring out all your cannibal hillbilly stereotypes.
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season of discovery is getting a 2h weapon that is a totem
when the hell are we finally getting this for retail. please blizzard i beg you
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There’s been one in the game since 10.0.7.
my life has changed forever
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Get with the times old man.
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I suppose his heyday is quite distant from the present.
I will find you.
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