Orc Quest; or, A Critical Examination of Agency Through in Interactive Fiction (Warcraft)

Danrothan seems unhappy but Grok was just doing what he was going to do in the first place, extract concessions in exchange for Scarlet dominance. Technically Grok has helped him with that.
of course danrothan is upset he didn't get the concessions he wanted cause grok came along Dathrohan's advances and wooing, the Greymanes had refused to commit to his policies
and as such dathrohan didn't get what he wanted granted with godfrey as laims second who knows how long that will last the mans a snake
 
of course danrothan is upset he didn't get the concessions he wanted cause grok came along Dathrohan's advances and wooing, the Greymanes had refused to commit to his policies
and as such dathrohan didn't get what he wanted granted with godfrey as laims second who knows how long that will last the mans a snake
Considering they're spent they're not worth much. He should be glad we pulled the bad cop, good cop routine so they'll take the deal Grok did.
 
I saw exploding spears, and boy howdy do we need to be shipping that idea back to the clans in durotar. Or at least Vark's clan.

I think I have a sort of ... Not end state because end states are poor planning in this sort of thing, but I think the next transition here is essentially to set up the horde as a series of miniature Konohas, the settlements are allied, and build infrastructure, have histories, records, do R and D, all that good stuff. However within the settlements there are clans, and the clans have special roles and responsibilities based on their historical talents and specific lore/training.

Maybe steal a few pages from rokugan to let clans have a specific primary seat that they entirely manage if they wish, but aim new settlements as being multi-clan affairs.
 
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I saw exploding spears, and boy howdy do we need to be shipping that idea back to the clans in durotar. Or at least Vark's clan.

I think I have a sort of ... Not end state because end states are poor planning in this sort of thing, but I think the next transition here is essentially to set up the horde as a series of miniature Konohas, the settlements are allied, and build infrastructure, have histories, records, do R and D, all that good stuff. However within the settlements there are clans, and the clans have special roles and responsibilities based on their historical talents and specific lore/training.

Maybe steal a few pages from rokugan to let clans have a specific primary seat that they entirely manage if they wish, but aim new settlements as being multi-clan affairs.
Like these?

Fire Lance

A spear of southern design with an explosive charge that will spew fire over two tiles when ignited. The charge is only usable once per battle, but automatically refilled after battle. Can be bought at a Marketplace in southern city states. Can be bought from an Alchemist. Can be looted from...
 
So many new people to take in. Orcs, trolls, humans and some ogres.

The poor steward will have a heart attack only to feel relief by the gold and resources sent to his coffers with a message saying here's the people and the resources. Deal with it.
You were quite curious about what would happen, you had to admit, but not curious enough to risk a warrior's life over it. Instead any wounds that couldn't be healed by your shaman and herbalists, you tended to yourself, burning the sickness out with Purefire. To your sorrow it almost killed more than one orc, the competing energies of the disease and of your magic proving too much for them, but you'd exerted yourself almost to fainting, baring your soul to heal them.

The results were strange. You'd slept a whole day after one particularly bad battle where you'd healed more than a dozen warriors. They greeted you upon waking, their eyes shining gold.

Your legend grew.

A healer you were, a shaman and blademaster, but the orcs who'd been so changed looked upon their marks with wonder.

"Magic leaves it's sign on the soul." Zaruk the Warlock had said sagely. "It is the case with the Fel, why should it not be so with other magics?"

As it turned out, the colouring had faded after a few days, but that didn't stop those healed by you from speaking of it, telling of how they felt engulfed by a sea of sacred fire, their souls floating for a moment before you'd grasped them and drawn them back.
Hello converts to the light.
 
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Think more syncretism than conversion. The monomania regarding the light that a lot of human kingdoms go in for is concerning at best, let's not emulate them.
 
Think more syncretism than conversion. The monomania regarding the light that a lot of human kingdoms go in for is concerning at best, let's not emulate them.
I have no doubts that's what Grok and those who follow him do. Use orc logic to interpret and use the light akin to their shamans or warlocks.

Switch one form of magic to another so to speak.
 
I dunno, we seem to be doing fine with just wielding both. We certainly haven't stopped bullying Myazel or setting our sword on fire.
 
Yeah I know, and that's part of the problem. Gul'dan didn't just introduce fell and shadow magic, he tried to get rid of other orcish magic user traditions entirely, and may have succeeded in a few cases given how deep in the hole fire callers are.
 
Yeah I know, and that's part of the problem. Gul'dan didn't just introduce fell and shadow magic, he tried to get rid of other orcish magic user traditions entirely, and may have succeeded in a few cases given how deep in the hole fire callers are.
In Grok's case he needs them all. Provides more perspectives towards magic application.
 
That might be excessive, and an action sink, arcane for example would take too damned long, though we could certainly sponsor or encourage others to take them up. Frankly the only magic that would be of major utility to us would be fel.
 
That might be excessive, and an action sink, arcane for example would take too damned long, though we could certainly sponsor or encourage others to take them up. Frankly the only magic that would be of major utility to us would be fel.
Well as you said more like he finds other experts as in the action not taken.

It's one of those things that I would rather not use but it's still an option all the same to keep just in case.

Feldad used it well at Orgimmar when Thrall failed.

If only those blasted warlocks stayed with us he wouldn't have to chase them and make sure they're out of trouble but the trails probably cold by now.

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Oh now that I thought of it the merc missions can easily sub in for getting magic assistance rather than rely on a standard action.

Quite an interesting way to do it. Instead of relying on a dice roll you rely on a bunch of them to see if you get your reward or not at the end. Gonna be difficult as well when it's against demons or Violet Hold prisoners.
Admiral Westwind's Proposition
Admiral Westwind presents an intriguing opportunity: the chance to lead an elite strike force on a perilous mission to cleanse the magical prison on Tol Barad of escaped demons. In return for this formidable task, Westwind offers invaluable connections, magical assistance, and the prospect of unraveling ancient arcane secrets that could tip the balance of power.

Dalaran's Magical Bounty
The Mages of Dalaran entice the Constable with a tempting bounty of rare and potent magical artifacts. Their request: specialized magical assistance to quell the growing threat posed by the prisoners of the Violet Hold, who are on the brink of becoming uncontrollable. In aiding Dalaran, the Constable can acquire potent artifacts to strengthen Alterac's arsenal.
 
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Something we need to be aware of is that every civ on Azeroth that goes too hard on a single magic type inevitably crashes and burns.
 
Ideally yes, everyone would be educated in using all of them, but the time investment is terrifying. We should definitely be looking for advisors/friends who know the other three big magics though.
 
Ideally yes, everyone would be educated in using all of them, but the time investment is terrifying. We should definitely be looking for advisors/friends who know the other three big magics though.
You just simply take an action toward it and see what happens should the votes for that win. Grok isn't taking an action learn it he's finding experts to do the alternative magic for him.
 
[...] Gilneans had mounted riflemen and regiments of musketeers which they'd used to great effect in their battles against the worgen. Your own style of warfare was hardly static, you'd made great use of manoeuvre and shock in your tactics and you knew you'd be able to adapt some of what the Gilneans had used in their warfare too for the same purposes.
While muskets and rifles would not be that much use to orcs who are physically strong and can utilize melee weapons to greater effect, I think Vark may come with ideas to adapt human warfare to orc phisique. My bet is on handheld cannons, which would be too heavy and unwieldy for frailer races, but would add some extra penetrative oomph and range in orcish hands.

Small arms would be great for peons and goblins, but we don't have the latter and I don't think a force made of the former would be culturally acceptable.

So give the rifles to train Alterac militia, and have Vark think of something better suited for the orcs.

Interestingly, orcs would probably make great grenadiers, lobbing high-explosive charges at distances that would be impossible for weaker humans. A short-range mortar without the headache of mechanical maintenance.
 
While muskets and rifles would not be that much use to orcs who are physically strong and can utilize melee weapons to greater effect, I think Vark may come with ideas to adapt human warfare to orc phisique. My bet is on handheld cannons, which would be too heavy and unwieldy for frailer races, but would add some extra penetrative oomph and range in orcish hands.

Small arms would be great for peons and goblins, but we don't have the latter and I don't think a force made of the former would be culturally acceptable.

So give the rifles to train Alterac militia, and have Vark think of something better suited for the orcs.

Interestingly, orcs would probably make great grenadiers, lobbing high-explosive charges at distances that would be impossible for weaker humans. A short-range mortar without the headache of mechanical maintenance.
Just like the RL grenadiers which needed the strongest and largest men to do that. They're excellent for such a shock assault role. Protection is also no issue once things get hashed out.

What about the trolls we rescued? Their physique seems like it makes them well suited to be sharpshooters.
 
I guess Balnazzar hoped to get the Gilneans hooked on Raven Priest / Darkweaver branch of Dreadlord-corrupted Scarlets in their desperation, and Grok's true and honest skullsmashing ended up good enough for them. What's funny is that, as far as I understand, we didn't really do anything, the Scythe seeker simply achieved his goals behind the scenes, and needed the human Worgen no longer. Some sad luck in the mad, mad world (of Warcraft)...
 
Like these?

Fire Lance

A spear of southern design with an explosive charge that will spew fire over two tiles when ignited. The charge is only usable once per battle, but automatically refilled after battle. Can be bought at a Marketplace in southern city states. Can be bought from an Alchemist. Can be looted from...
The way I'd described them previously was that they're crude satchel charges of gunpowder and nails etc, tied to a spear. Vark was originally using them to take down big undead before he started using a bow instead. I would probably say that's he's not an overly skillful guy in that he's not practiced lots of things, but he's innovative and comes up with lots of things to meet the needs of a task.
Oh now that I thought of it the merc missions can easily sub in for getting magic assistance rather than rely on a standard action.
Depends what you want really. You could buy the services of the some of the Scarlet mages if you wanted, or you could get the Kirin Tor to work for you more. It really depends and what you wanted would define the required actions or resources.
Something we need to be aware of is that every civ on Azeroth that goes too hard on a single magic type inevitably crashes and burns.

Ideally yes, everyone would be educated in using all of them, but the time investment is terrifyin
I would modify that to 'every civ inevitably crashes and burns'. After all, 'No king rules forever'. Naturally some people pursue single types of magic and they invest time and create the infrastcuture for such things. Some of that infrastructure is mutually exclusive. You can't put a druadic world tree next to your Fel Dark Portal or your complex arrangemnet of ley lines around your Sunwell. They'd all be problematic, just like you can't have a coal mine or a fracking station next to a nuclear power plant because you might get earthquakes or whatever.

However, there's a big thematic thing around civs building up and considering themselves so beyond others that they specialise a lot in a certain area and that then all comes crashing down.

It's also entirely understanable. If you're the Highborn you would indeed look down on druids or on some random other tradition. Why would you care about the trolls and their Loa? Your queen just went and wrecked them and what did the wild gods do?

I also really like the ideas in some fics that the magics are mentally mutually exclusive. For example there was one fic where you couldn't use Light and Arcane because Light requires you to have self confidence and clarity of purpose, whereas Arcane requires you to be constantly breaking things down in an academic fashion.
While muskets and rifles would not be that much use to orcs who are physically strong and can utilize melee weapons to greater effect, I think Vark may come with ideas to adapt human warfare to orc phisique.
I've had a quick google around this and there's no standout benefits to guns. Sure, you can have a bigger gun with more range or a deadlier bullet, but that would seem a waste of the Orc's inherent physical strength and abilities in close combat, which are probably second to none (as a race anyway).

It's similar to the Orc longbowmen thing. They would indeed be extremely scary if they consistently tried to use things that weren't just runnign up adn attacking. They're still scary when they do that, but at least they're consistent at it.
While typical that our actions did not find or stop the meta plot

What's funny is that, as far as I understand, we didn't really do anything, the Scythe seeker simply achieved his goals behind the scenes, and needed the human Worgen no longer. Some sad luck in the mad, mad world (of Warcraft)...
You still had a significant effect on the saftey and security of Gilneas and it's people. In the background there's this elf thing going on sure, which Grok is unaware of and is resolved utterly without him, but as a coutnerfactual you might say for example that if Grok hadn't been there and Alpha Prime had still got the Scythe and left, he might have left the worgen Grok killed there. I dont think he'd have hung about and rallied all the worgen? He was just interested in the Scythe so I think he would have gone into the Emerald Dream as soon as he could perhaps. In any case, you retook Gilneas city, saved lives in teh villages, and then subsequently were very helpful in providing a place for all the refugees to go afterward.

I'm open to feedback on such things btw. I can get it might be frustrating to turn up and have hte matter seemingly resolved without your input, but equally I want the world to feel alive with people adn factions doing their own thing in the background. For example, Grok was indeed instrumental in the attack on Naxxramas, however he only took 1 wing whereas Dathrohan and friends attacked Kel'thuzad and you could say were more influential in the long term.
 
Depends what you want really. You could buy the services of the some of the Scarlet mages if you wanted, or you could get the Kirin Tor to work for you more. It really depends and what you wanted would define the required actions or resources.
There is now more money to chuck around saying hey I got shinies come work for me. Can try and get it from either though as Grok did work with Castillian even if he's an agent he might still get him again.
 
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