Neat, then this just proves humans are predisposed to be holy fire wielding fanatics even without the Horde or the Scourge devastating them
The Arathi are the Iron Horde of the human kingdoms
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I mean, in this case, theyâve been fighting the Nerubians for centuries! I am sure their reason for being there is religiously themed, but that alone has probably ramped up their fanaticism by a few notches.
It gives me a vibe of how a Human faction would look like if it wasnât turned into a Team Rocket meme or bastardized by the storytelling of the last 6 expansions.
IC this will be something akin to a combination of the Holy Land and Atlantis for Alysanne - given that sheâs a former member of the Scarlet Crusade who still remains within the grips of religious zeal, this is (in her mind) a kingdom of humans untouched by both the corruption of magic and the influence of the inhuman, guided by the Light itself to find a land of purity. That view will probably be shattered quickly, however.
OOC Iâm cautiously optimistic because this story has a lot of potential, and Iâm finally glad Blizzard officially made away with the notion that the bloodline of the Arathi had gone extinct - there was a whole kingdom of them in Stormwind!
Even more feasible for the kingdom that is home to the descendants of the people too stubborn to abandon the dwindling Strom and its empire where so many others left for greener pastures. But there is a big difference between a horned helmet, burly shoulders and a big axe and being tribal / barbarian, those RPers would have you believe Stromgarde is just Norway from Vikings. Complete with Jarls and blood eagles and all that.
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Seeing as my human main is a Kul Tiran whose primary exposure to the Light has been RPers who really want to RP the Scarlet Crusade but are afraid of the consequences of that so they end up being as close to Scarlets as they can still get away with?
sheâs not thrilled
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Oh boy now i need to start working on insults to use for this lot if it ever comes to itâŠ
Though you tell me these are humans, Who hail from the northâŠAre clad in redâŠAre zealous about the lightâŠand they live under a literal rock? I think Blizzard is trying to tell us somethingâŠ
That the Scarlet Crusade in-universe are actual âtake back Jerusalemâ LARPers and that the setting has treated them with just as much respect as the people they LARP as would have treated them.
I take this as a âwait and seeâ. Personally, if people already start RPing this Arthai stuff before we find them, they should be discarded.
The Underground Arthai are isolated, so anything related to them will be new and should be RPâd as people discover them. Though we all know that isnât going to happen and we will see fire priests in red walking the North.
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Desartin, upon finding out about the Arathi, will be very interested in seeking them out. To him, itâs not just another lost chapter of human history, but of Light-worship aswell. Heâd be interested to see how much they differ from his own and if they can find common ground. Will meeting the Arathi change his own perception of the Light, or will it simply harden him to cling to the ways he knows best? At the very least, he will want to aid them against the Nerubians.
( Though I doubt there will be -that- much difference given they named their capital after the woman that first taught the humans the Light and laid the groundwork for the Church of Holy Light and Three Virtues that Des knows).
I must admit, these are interesting times not just for Human Paladins but also for Human Priests , first with the potential return of Tyr, and now meeting these Arathi.
I suppose weâll indeed wait and see. I am not around the North that much anyhow, but yeah, I hope not too many people will jump the gun.
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https://www.wowhead.com/news/wowheads-exclusive-blizzcon-2023-interview-with-anne-stickney-and-tina-wang-335929
Seems like I was right about the vision thing.
We havenât heard of the Arathi humans in so long. Why now?
Anne Stickney: These guys are a splintered tribe of the original Arathi Empire from back in the day, before they split into the seven kingdoms that we know of. It was a massive - all of humanity came together in this Empire. And there was a group of them who left and they spawned their own kingdom across the sea. These guys are a splintered group from that kingdom that received a vision about a falling star, and it took them to Harrowfall. And when they found it - you guys saw the key art for it, itâs huge, gigantic - these guys are super devoted to the Light. Theyâre like uber Paladins, and it just made sense that if we were going to bring in a group devoted to the Light, to that degree, why not bring in those ancient tribes of humanity that maybe we havenât seen in a hot minute, or heard of in forever? The Arathi have a very interesting history because, like I said, theyâre kinda like the first Empire of humanity, and it splintered itself in different directions. This is a direction that weâre not familiar with.
Tina Wang: On the art side, in World of Warcraft weâre always trying to create variety in terms of what we encounter, and we havenât really done a very human-focused one in a while. We were really excited to touch up on their culture and history over the eons, that weâre excited for players to check out as well - in terms of their animal companions, things like that.
Anne Stickney: Just how they are a branch of humanity that kind of evolved and grew and built a culture outside of the kingdoms weâre familiar with. So itâs like, who are these guys, what are they all about? Weâre going to find out.
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Itâs early days, but going by what weâve seen on the cover?
Sheâs going to be thrilled.
Seeing a society of isolationist humans rise up and combat the darkness within the world, and their survival being owed to zealous faith? Itâll basically reaffirm some long-held convictions of hers. Whether or not thatâs a good thing is another matter entirely.
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âYes. The airships that they have actually are run on Holy Flame.â
This intrigues me.
I fully expect Hallowfall to become a major pilgrimage site for light worshippers as well as a major centre for mercenaries, after all as long as there are bugs to kill, then there is money to be earned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_7FaWnlhS4
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funny funny
His reaction would be a complicated one.
On one hand, they are fanatically devoted to the light humans descended from an empire he thinks never had any right to exist in the first place.
On another hand, he does sympathize with the idea of holing yourself up in a fortress-city underground full of the descendants of a nation that doesnât exist anymore while fighting tooth and nail against an empire that will remind him too much of the Scourge.
Even if the Forsaken and the Arathi become enemies in the distant or not so distant future, he will see them with a degree of respect, somewhat. The human paladins he knew of cowered before the Scourge, were killed, escaped down to Stormwind, or became a part of the Scarlet Crusade, which is its own can of worms. A group of human light-worshipers that have put their money where their mouth is for several centuries?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R610XnTVwIo
On that note, I wonder how their paladins came to be. The humans only really started having paladins in the aftermath of the First War, so, I can only guess that the Arathiâs paladins have a severely different code, if not an outright entirely alien vibe.
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I was waiting for a Starship Troopers reference!
This really. As I stated earlier in the thread, while Des will happily help out nuking nerubians, he is also interested in figuring out just how much their Light-worship differs from one another. Will it challenge and change his own views on the Light, or will it simply strengthen his resolve to cling to his own traditions?
Iâm definetly looking forward to exploring Hallowfall.
And then they meet my death knightâŠ
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ICâly Ghormisa will have a field day and spend time reading their texts, listening to their stories and generally just enjoy it. As will my Human BoL Paladin.
OOCâly with ADâs predisposition to some weirdos I see many RP communities setup on the theme initially being a Deus Vult autocratic style Religious Military.
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but thats literally all we know them to be lmfao
Are they though? They have a dungeon, but, if weâre gonna be grinding renown with them, that doesnât really scream âhostileâ right? And I sincerely doubt weâd end up aiding a Scarlet 2.0 but older.
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