Peace in the Light Wow/WHF

[Doomed Wombat]

@Alex pears Here are some ideas for now and later?

Martial:
1: Begin searching for the missing prisoner
2: Start training the Broken and Dragons for scouting and potential combat?
3: Start patrols around our claimed areas
4: Scout the surrounding lands, look for specific locations for follow up actions?
5: Start setting up basic walls made of earth to contain our future expansions/fight on?

Diplomacy:
1: Set up some assistant diplomats that specialise in learning languages, cultures and other such?
(Have them learn the local speech)
2: Set up a school for the Broken and Dragons? Cultural integration. Combine with learning options?

Stewardship:
1:Start mapping out the land around us
2: Look for resources in the surrounding areas
Learning:
1:Ask the Dragons and Broken for any Lore they possess
2: Start teaching/learning about the elements and help the Broken in their quest to not be so useless?
3: Start an academy for teaching children basic knowledge and eventually magic
4: Begin studying the artifacts
Piety:
1: Start a Magic academy
2: Begin looking into why we start glowing when the green moon comes out?
3: Try to find out if it is possible transfer our ability to purify magic to others?

I'm not sure if its all in the right spots, and i didn't bother coming up with more than ideas... most because i suck at writing. Hope it helps

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Don't worry any idea is a good idea... for the most part. Some of those I can't do either you are not organised enough or there is no need and some are in the wrong section, but thanks I got several good ideas from that . And don't say that, I thought that and look where I am. If need be write a few omakes, I promise its very fun .

Oh joy. I get the feeling it's going to be this sort of situation.

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Something like that perhaps.

The Naaru are dead aren't they?

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No not quite that large

 

[Doomed Wombat]

And we've lost him.

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Who me?

NEVA

 

[EVA-Saiyajin]

Another one bites the dust.

 

[Chronic]

I wonder if there is a connection between Chaos and the Old Gods. Both seem to be creatures of organic disorder, and both are unkillable since their essence is fundamentally connected to the world they exist on.

Both of them also like tentacly hell spawn and are really good at corrupting stuff.

 

[Doomed Wombat]

I wonder if there is a connection between Chaos and the Old Gods. Both seem to be creatures of organic disorder, and both are unkillable since their essence is fundamentally connected to the world they exist on.

Both of them also like tentacly hell spawn and are really good at corrupting stuff.

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Getting warmer, but still not quite.

Tell you what, if you lot can figure this out without anymore of my help I may reward you

 

[LokiTheDarkGod]

Omake: Titan and Old One meet.

Two beings met the heavens shook from their meeting.

The larger figure spoke his voice shaking the heavens.
"Greetings Old One how goes he development of the world your group was teraforming?"

The shorter snapped voice echoing to eternity.
"Shut up! I hate you! Everything went wrong! They cheated!"

The larger spoke again planets trembling from every word.
"Who cheated?"

The shorter mumbled shades of infinity encircling it's voice.
"Demons."

The larger sighed elevating entire worlds of mortals to enlightenment.
"Why didn't any of you come get us? We could have dealt with them and you could have got back to your, experiments."

The shorter snarled and species on a hundred worlds quivered in terror as it spoke.
"No way we can handle our own problems."

The larger questioned with the intensity of a trillion students.
"Have you handled the problem?"

The smaller ground out with a tone that reduced mountains to sand.
"No."

The larger spoke with a voice that could convince fanatics that their beliefs were all old wives tales.
"Do you think that perhaps not coming to get us was a poor decision in retrospect."

The smaller replied with a single word so ambiguous that a dozen worlds forgot simple mathematics.
"Maybe."

The Larger asked innumerable scholars had the solution to the question they most wanted to know just come to them as it spoke.
"So what have you learned from this mess?"

The shorter cut back as a million small children started throwing a tantrum.
"Demons cheat."
The shorter left knocking several worlds out of orbit.

The larger spoke once more summing up the exasperation of innumerable parents in a single word.
"Teenagers."

 

[Doomed Wombat]

Omake: Titan and Old One meet.

Two beings met the heavens shook from their meeting.

The larger figure spoke his voice shaking the heavens.
"Greetings Old One how goes he development of the world your group was teraforming?"

The shorter snapped voice echoing to eternity.
"Shut up! I hate you! Everything went wrong! They cheated!"

The larger spoke again planets trembling from every word.
"Who cheated?"

The shorter mumbled shades of infinity encircling it's voice.
"Demons."

The larger sighed elevating entire worlds of mortals to enlightenment.
"Why didn't any of you come get us? We could have dealt with them and you could have got back to your, experiments."

The shorter snarled and species on a hundred worlds quivered in terror as it spoke.
"No way we can handle our own problems."

The larger questioned with the intensity of a trillion students.
"Have you handled the problem?"

The smaller ground out with a tone that reduced mountains to sand.
"No."

The larger spoke with a voice hat could convince fanatics that their beliefs were all old wives tales.
"Do you think that perhaps not coming to get us was a poor decision in retrospect."

The smaller replied with a single word so ambiguous that a dozen worlds forgot simple mathematics.
"Maybe."

The Larger asked innumerable scholars had the solution to the question they most wanted to know just come to them as it spoke.
"So what have you learned from this mess?"

The shorter cut back as a million small children started throwing a tantrum.
"Demons cheat."
The shorter left knocking several worlds out of orbit.

The larger spoke once more summing up the exasperation of innumerable parents in a single word.
"Teenagers."

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HAHA nice try, but no, still more Nuanced than that

Still great omake but only +5 cause of shortness

 

[GhostKing 666]

I wonder if there is a connection between Chaos and the Old Gods. Both seem to be creatures of organic disorder, and both are unkillable since their essence is fundamentally connected to the world they exist on.

Both of them also like tentacly hell spawn and are really good at corrupting stuff.

Click to shrink...

Old Gods are killable, it's just that if you kill one their corpse will curse the land they are on to a degree that not even the Titans could get rid of it.

 

[Doomed Wombat]

Old Gods are killable, it's just that if you kill one their corpse will curse the land they are on to a degree that not even the Titans could get rid of it.

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They are kill able in the sense that their consciousness can be destroyed temporarily, they can, by my head cannon, pull themselves back together and the ones you face in game are but mere flickers of their former abilities. The if they were at the strength where they fought the Titans then everything would be dead.

 

[jwolfe_beta]

And related to my learning suggestion:

Preliminary Testing

Recording begins: Initial analysis of of suspected Necromantic-energy tainted water. Mage-scholar Moiraha Vahleni speaking.

As much as I would normally disregard the the 'knowledge' granted by such a superstitious practice such as shamanism, even from Nobundo who has earned our Prophet's trust in the past; in this case he was more right than any could have imagined.

Normally even supposedly non-living material in a planetary biome has a faint signature of life energy, where Nobundo reported upon retrieving the sample the water felt 'dead'. Indeed the water does not show the expected energies, and instead a combination of the Fel-like magics detected previously coming from the second moon of the planet and necromantic power. More worrying is that this toxic spellweave appears to be contagious, spreading from the water to organic material immersed in it, and remaining even after removal.

Also disturbing is that when I performed this test using some organic detritus collected from the Botanica facility, the necromatic energy levels in the test chamber sharply increased. This positive net gain and contagious spread of the effect leads me to hypothesize that not only is this 'plague' artificial in nature, it is designed to........generate excessive amounts of death energies for someone to collect and store for an unknown purpose. Given the potential populations based on the Netherwings scout report of the plagued cities the sheer amount of power a necromancer may have collected from this contagion is.......worrying.

Based on the slight but directed movements of the death energy in the sealed and warded chamber, we can presume that a 'collection beacon' had been previously constructed within the region. However it will take time and expertise to construct a means of tracking the energy flows to their ultimate destination.

In a similar matter, initial tests via arcane magic to dispell the toxin indicate that enchantments can potentially prevent 'infection' but might not be able to cleanse an individual or substance already afflicted. Should project support be approved I will be acquiring the aid of an Anchorite to help determine the extent to which Light can affect this poison.

I should warn that these methods will merely treat the symptoms of the plague. In order to truly effect a cure, the source of the contagion must be discovered and neutralized.

Regards,
Mage-scholar Moiraha Vahleni.

End Recording.

"May the Light guard us from whatever diseased mind has fashioned this horror."

Words: 398
AN: Cookie to anyone who can guess which scientist I butchered/copied the name and general report style from.

 

[Random Member]

Been playing XCOM, huh?

 

[Doomed Wombat]

And related to my learning suggestion:

Preliminary Testing

Recording begins: Initial analysis of of suspected Necromantic-energy tainted water. Mage-scholar Moiraha Vahleni speaking.

As much as I would normally disregard the the 'knowledge' granted by such a superstitious practice such as shamanism, even from Nobundo who has earned our Prophet's trust in the past; in this case he was more right than any could have imagined.

Normally even supposedly non-living material in a planetary biome has a faint signature of life energy, where Nobundo reported upon retrieving the sample the water felt 'dead'. Indeed the water does not show the expected energies, and instead a combination of the Fel-like magics detected previously coming from the second moon of the planet and necromantic power. More worrying is that this toxic spellweave appears to be contagious, spreading from the water to organic material immersed in it, and remaining even after removal.

Also disturbing is that when I performed this test using some organic detritus collected from the Botanica facility, the necromatic energy levels in the test chamber sharply increased. This positive net gain and contagious spread of the effect leads me to hypothesize that not only is this 'plague' artificial in nature, it is designed to........generate excessive amount of death energies for someone to collect and store for an unknown purpose. Given the potential populations based on the Netherwings scout report of the plagued cities the sheer amount of power a necromancer may have collected from this contagion is.......worrying.

Based on the slight but directed movements of the death energy in the sealed and warded chamber, we can presume that a 'collection beacon' had been previously constructed within the region. However it will take time and expertise to construct a means of tracking the energy flows to their ultimate destination.

In a similar matter, initial tests via arcane magic to dispell the toxin indicate that enchantments can potentially prevent 'infection' but might not be able to cleanse an individual or substance already afflicted. Should project support be approved I will be acquiring the aid of an Anchorite to help determine the extent to which Light can affect this poison.

I should warn that these methods will merely treat the symptoms of the plague. In order to truly effect a cure, the source of the contagion must be discovered and neutralized.

Regards,
Mage-scholar Moiraha Vahleni.

End Recording.

"May the Light guard us from whatever diseased mind has fashioned this horror."

Words: 398
AN: Cookie to anyone who can guess which scientist I butchered/copied the name and general report style from.

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Excellent Omake adding a plus 15 to the roll for quality and specific direction unless you want to keep it for putting it on another point

 

[jwolfe_beta]

Been playing XCOM, huh?

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Bingo.

Excellent Omake adding a plus 15 to the roll for quality and specific direction unless you want to keep it for putting it on another point

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Nah, I'm good. Figuring out WTF is up with the water is probably something we'll be doing at some point.

 

[GhostKing 666]

They are kill able in the sense that their consciousness can be destroyed temporarily, they can, by my head cannon, pull themselves back together and the ones you face in game are but mere flickers of their former abilities. The if they were at the strength where they fought the Titans then everything would be dead.

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When I say dead I mean that. The old god the Titans killed in pandaria is gone and he ain't coming back. His remains still exist and there is still some of his power in them but the god himself is gone. As for the others, after seeing what happens when an old god dies the Titans realized that if they killed all the ones on Azeroth the whole planet would be permanently tainted so they imprisoned the rest. The ones fought in the game are imprisoned old gods that over tens of thousands of years managed to subvert some of their bindings and jailers but have not yet managed full freedom. That's the actual lore.

 

[Doomed Wombat]

When I say dead I mean that. The old god the Titans killed in pandaria is gone and he ain't coming back. His remains still exist and there is still some of his power in them but the god himself is gone. As for the others, after seeing what happens when an old god dies the Titans realized that if they killed all the ones on Azeroth the whole planet would be permanently tainted so they imprisoned the rest. The ones fought in the game are imprisoned old gods that over tens of thousands of years managed to subvert some of their bindings and jailers but have not yet managed full freedom. That's the actual lore.

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Yep, but his influence still remains even with the heart and Sha dead, it can never truely be clensed.

That being said I am surprised no one has caught the link yet, the corruptive power, the Old Gods and the Titans, order and chaos... come on I know its cliche, but it does make sense when you think about it

 

[LokiTheDarkGod]

Yep, but his influence still remains even with the heart and Sha dead, it can never truely be clensed.

That being said I am surprised no one has caught the link yet, the corruptive power, the Old Gods and the Titans, order and chaos... come on I know its cliche, but it does make sense when you think about it

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Wait, The old gods are Warcrafts version of the gods of Order?

 

[Doomed Wombat]

Wait, The old gods are Warcrafts version of the gods of Order?

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where on earth did you get that idea?

 

[jwolfe_beta]

Wait, The old gods are Warcrafts version of the gods of Order?

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The Old Gods are very similar to the entities in Lovercraft`s stories.

In no way are they benevolent.

 

[Shadow-86]

Question is it possible for us to have monks, cause I'm sure some people like that class, also do we have plans for airships cause I'm sure were not gonna be needing a navy for a few turns

 

[Doomed Wombat]

Question is it possible for us to have monks, cause I'm sure some people like that class, also do we have plans for airships cause I'm sure were not gonna be needing a navy for a few turns

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You could make an air ship or rather you have the principles behind both them and air craft. The differnce is why would you when you can build a better magitech one... that will be better, but require more work

The Old Gods are very similar to the entities in Lovercraft`s stories.

In no way are they benevolent.

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Yes in no context are they benevolent.

 

[Shadow-86]

That didn't answer my question on the monk class

 

[LokiTheDarkGod]

The Old Gods are very similar to the entities in Lovercraft`s stories.

In no way are they benevolent.

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where on earth did you get that idea?

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I meant the gods of Law aka stagnation, just as bad as Chaos in their own way.
Got the names mixed up but I got the wrong ed of the stick. I blame being tired.

 

[Doomed Wombat]

That didn't answer my question on the monk class

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maybe, it would take a lot of research.

I meant the gods of Law aka stagnation, just as bad as Chaos in their own way.
Got the names mixed up but I got the wrong ed of the stick. I blame being tired.

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I know what you mean, but no the Old Gods want to keep the world in Chaos... seriously the connection is obvious ...

 

[GhostKing 666]

Yep, but his influence still remains even with the heart and Sha dead, it can never truely be clensed.

Click to shrink...

I said that. Right there in the posts where I talked about the Old Gods. Killing an Old God causes the land the Old God died in to be tainted but that doesn't mean the Old God could one day come back. You could gather the heart, the Sha's and all of the taint and at best you would have the most powerful shadow of Y'Shaarj that's possible to form, greater then any single Sha could ever be, but it would still just be a shadow of Y'Shaarj and could never match the power of the true Old God. It's not the dispersed consciousness of Y'Shaarj, or anything like that, it's just a curse the old bastard casted with its last breath. It's the fact that the Old Gods could deliver final Fuck You's like that, that even the Titans couldn't cleans, that convinced the Titans to imprison the remaining Old Gods when they finally defeated the Black Empire* rather then kill them like they did Y'Shaarj(who was actually the most evil and powerful of the Old Gods).

*Yeah Blizzard has finally given a name of the Old Gods empire when they reigned on Azeroth, its very imaginably named the Black Empire. Also they have given a name for the Faceless Ones species, the N'raqi.

Spoiler: Early History of the Old Gods

Long ago, the world of Azeroth became threatened by a group of malignant beings of unfathomable evil. Known as the Old Gods, these entities of chaos and destruction wreaked havoc on the world. Plummeting down from the Great Dark Beyond, a group of Old Gods slammed into Azeroth's surface, embedding themselves in various locations of the world. A miasma of despair soon enveloped everything that lay in their writhing shadows as they spread their corruptive influence across the land, all the while sending their tendrils down through the world's crust, towards the planet's defenseless core. Two races, the N'raqi (or "faceless ones") and the Aqir, arose from the organic matter that seeped from the Old Gods' massive bodies, becoming fanatically loyal servants that built great citadels and temple cities around the colossal forms of their masters. The greatest of these structures was built around Y'Shaarj, the most powerful of the Old Gods, and the holdings of the Old Ones would soon spread over Azeroth, eventually forming the Black Empire. When they arrived, the Old Gods enslaved the elementals that had once raged freely on primordial Azeroth, though not before a brutal war in which the four Elemental Lords, who had previously been bitter rivals of one another, banded together in an attempt to fight the Old Gods' fledgling empire.

Ragnaros, Neptulon, Al'Akir, and Therazane, all servants of the Old Gods at the time, led their respective armies in an eternal conflict that ravaged the world to no end. Meanwhile, the faceless ones of the Old God N'Zoth raged war with the combined forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron.

During their journey across the cosmos, the titans made their way to Azeroth and encountered the elementals, who vowed to drive the Pantheon back in the name of their dark masters. Upon discovering the deep and insatiable hunger for destruction in the Old Gods and seeing them as immensely evil, the titans initiated a war with them. The four mighty Elemental Lords fell to the titans, who wielded godlike power. The titans then created the Mogu and used them as a weapon to assault the Old God Y'Shaarj, who was slain, but managed to use its power to curse the land around him. C'Thun was fought by a titan in the land that would eventually be called Silithus, but while it was presumed to be slain, it simply slumbered beneath the desert sands, feigning death, buying time.

When the titans encountered Yogg-Saron and N'Zoth, they realized that killing them at the time would have destroyed Azeroth. After destroying their fortresses and defeating them, they bound them each in their own prisons: Yogg-Saron was bound beneath the titan city of Ulduar under the watch of six Titanic Watchers, and N'Zoth may have been imprisoned deep below Azeroth's oceans. In order to contain the never-ending wars between the Elemental Lords, the titans created the Elemental Plane to seal them off from Azeroth proper, and it may be presumed that the faceless ones and forgotten ones were contained underground, because it would later be those regions of the world from which they would emerge.

While details about the other Old God(s) have not yet been revealed, it is clear that all were either killed by the titans or imprisoned. However, once the Makers turned to their creations following their victory, they observed first-hand that the Old Gods began to exert their influence again.

Spoiler: Early Imprisonment

Due to the influence of Yogg-Saron and the other Old Gods, the Earthen, one of the many races created by the titans, began to succumb to the Curse of Flesh. The same thing happened to the Mechagnomes, Tol'vir, Mogu and Vrykul, eventually resulting in their fleshy bodies, as opposed to their original stone composition or metal design. The vrykul, likely already fleshly beings, began producing a smaller and weaker mutation of themselves. The Old Gods had presumably intended to subvert the titans' work from within, and to a great extent they succeeded; the titans were loath to unmake the world except as a last resort. Thus, many of the mortal races of Azeroth had their nature suspended between order and chaos, between their titanic birth and their Old God-originating corruption.

Knowing that they would soon depart a world full of deep corruption, the titans took several measures to contain it as much as possible, including creating new armies of Earthen to inhabit specific areas they had sealed off, and the Watcher Loken was made Prime Designate of Azeroth. Using the power of the gigantic, winged proto-drake known as Galakrond, they imbued the the five Dragon Aspects designed to watch over and protect the world in their absence.

Nozdormu, the Bronze Aspect, was given power over time, charged with guarding the proper flow of history and policing the webs of fate and destiny. Alextrasza the Life-Binder became the guardian of all life, an essential role left by the titans in the wake of Azeroth's corruption. Neltharion the Earth-Warder became the caretaker of the planet itself, guarding the deep places of the world and creating mountains and rivers to aid the mortal races. Ysera the Awakened was tasked with the protection of the Emerald Dream. Finally, Malygos the Spell-Weaver became the guardian of arcane magic, an extremely dangerous force if placed in the wrong hands.

Though the Aspects were usually vital allies of the mortal races, the titans made one fatal mistake: they gave one Aspect, Neltharion, power over the depths of the world, the very same depths in which they had imprisoned the Old Gods.

Spoiler: War of the Ancients

10,000 years ago Queen Azshara and her highborne wanted to open a portal for Sargeras powerful enough for him to manifest in his full glory. In turn, Alexstraza contacted each of her fellow aspects. It was one of the most respected of these dragons, the Black Dragonflight's leader Neltharion the Earth-Warder who proposed a plan should the worst truly be coming to pass. Alongside his old friend Malygos, Neltharion proposed that a simple golden disc, imbued with the power of each of the aspects in turn, could be created that would be so powerful that no force on Azeroth or indeed even from outside could possibly stand against it. Should all these strange portents really be true, dragonkind would be ready. Convinced by Neltharion's arguments, the other aspects agreed and the Dragon Soul was created.

Unknown by the other Aspects Neltharion had found himself intrigued by the whispers of the Old Gods pinned within the very earth he was assigned to watch over for an untold time. These entities knew full well who Sargeras was and what his appearance signified for Azeroth. Having worked over the course of thousands of years to suborn Neltharion, they now sought to make use of their newest and most powerful weapon. The Old Ones wanted to divert the power of Sargaras' portal to themselves and crack Azeroth open and after eons of imprisonment, they would be free. However, Illidan Stormrage gained the Dragon Soul and used it to close the portal, unwittingly preventing the release of the Old Gods and thereby averting a cosmic catastrophe that would have even paled the Legion's arrival or the Sundering.

10,000 years later the Old Gods invaded Nozformu's realm and managed to open a rift in time, that, as they had planned, tossed some beings back through time, beings that would change the way the War of the Ancients took place, and give Sargeras a new chance to enter the world, and therefore give them a new chance to set themselves free. Their plans were although crushed again by Krasus, Rhonin and Broxigar, who were sent back by Nozdormu in time. This was a back-up plan from the Old Gods' initial attempt to rip time apart and change history so they were never imprisoned in the first place, which was blocked by Nozdormu with great effort.

Spoiler: War of the Shifting Sands

Over vast stretches of time, C'Thun sought to subvert and corrupt. Its qiraji would come to C'Thun and conquer for it the titan complex that lies today in the sands of Silithus, the fortress temple of Ahn'Qiraj. C'Thun waited, until at last its forces had grown strong enough to contest the hated kaldorei for dominion over Kalimdor itself. Thus began the War of the Shifting Sands, which would see corrupted titan creations like the tol'vir battle side by side with silithid hordes and qiraji leaders to push the night elves out of Kalimdor. C'Thun's plan nearly succeeded. At first, the night elves held fast and defeated the qiraji in several battles, thanks to the brilliant leadership of the archdruid Fandral Staghelm. Following his son's death, the kaldorei were driven out of Silithus by the qiraji, and victory for C'Thun seemed nigh. But the combined forces of night elves and the bronze, green, red and blue dragonflight drove the frenzied qiraji back. But neither could those forces hope to win out against the Old God itself in its den. Rather than risk such an apocalyptic conflict, a solution was enacted that sealed the qiraji and C'Thun up inside their very fortress, the city complex of Ahn'Qiraj itself. Fandral Staghelm, entrusted with the Scepter of the Shifting Sands used to seal Ahn'Qiraj, shattered it out of bitterness over the death of his son.

Spoiler: Recent History

C'Thun recently awakened, freed itself, and reemerged from Azeroth's depths. It now lairs in the ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, until it was slain by adventurers. At some point during Loken's stewardship of Ulduar, he came under the sway of Yogg-Saron imprisoned within and eventually betrayed both the Pantheon and his own brother, Thorim. Loken resided in Ulduar's Halls of Lightning, seeking to free Yogg-Saron completely. According to Malfurion Stormrage, the Old Gods are behind the Nightmare corrupting the Emerald Dream. Although the Nightmare Lord in the dream turned out to be the Satyr Lord Xavius, it is suspected that he acted on behalf of a power even greater and darker than Sargeras. It has been confirmed that N'Zoth is responsible for the spark of the Emerald Nightmare.

Spoiler: Power and Strength

Krasus speculated that should the Old Gods open the gates of their prison, even Sargeras would find himself pleading for the peace of death. Krasus further thought that the Aspects were the most powerful creatures on all the mortal plane. So if anyone had a chance against the Old Gods, it was them. Combined all five of the Aspects represented a force capable of defeating the elder beings. Nozdormu later revealed that all of the suffering the Aspects have had to deal with like the madness of Malygos and Deathwing, the Emerald Dream turned to a nightmare, the altering of the timeways, the attack of the twilight dragonflight, the construction of a monster out of Blackmoore, and the Twilight Cult, is intertwined into a dreadful conspiracy of the Old Gods to destroy the Aspects and the flights forever and with it all chance of order and stability. The aspects were shocked by this.

Nevertheless the Old Gods are neither omniscient nor omnipotent. The benevolent titans, though not gods themselves, cast a magical slumber upon the Old Gods and imprisoned them far below the surface of the world. It is possible for an Old God to exert influence over several locations simultaneously. Yet the power of a god is limited. Otherwise, of course, the Old Gods could not have been imprisoned. Nonetheless, an imprisoned, sleeping, or otherwise enfeebled god may still have an effect—conscious or not—on the god's surroundings. The development of the qiraji is said to be the result of just such an incidental influence. Can one ever truly destroy a god, putting a lasting end to its existence? Unfortunately that question has departed the realm of philosophy and become a matter of vital concern.

Spoiler: Void

The Old Gods are closely intertwined with the Void, even being said to control it directly. The ritual dagger known as Xal'atath, which was used by dark priests during the height of the Black Empire, uses powerful Void energies and mind magics to warp everything around it for some nefarious purpose. Many mortal followers of the eldritch horrors make frequent use of shadow magic, and shadow priests who derive their power from the Void stray dangerously close to the domain of the Old Gods.

Also a bit of a Lore question but how does the Warp fit in with WoW's mystical cosmic background of the Light, the Void and the Twisting Nether(which is formed from the interaction of the Light and Void and has a similar connection to the Great Dark(outer space, entire physical universe) that the Emerald Dream has for Azeroth), is the Warp just a different name for the Twisting Nether or is it a separate plane all together?

 

[Doomed Wombat]

I said that. Right there in the posts where I talked about the Old Gods. Killing an Old God causes the land the Old God died in to be tainted but that doesn't mean the Old God could one day come back. You could gather the heart, the Sha's and all of the taint and at best you would have the most powerful shadow of Y'Shaarj that's possible to form, greater then any single Sha could ever be, but it would still just be a shadow of Y'Shaarj and could never match the power of the true Old God. It's not the dispersed consciousness of Y'Shaarj, or anything like that, it's just a curse the old bastard casted with its last breath. It's the fact that the Old Gods could deliver final Fuck You's like that, that even the Titans couldn't cleans, that convinced the Titans to imprison the remaining Old Gods when they finally defeated the Black Empire* rather then kill them like they did Y'Shaarj(who was actually the most evil and powerful of the Old Gods).

*Yeah Blizzard has finally given a name of the Old Gods empire when they reigned on Azeroth, its very imaginably named the Black Empire. Also they have given a name for the Faceless Ones species, the N'raqi.

Spoiler: Early History of the Old Gods

Long ago, the world of Azeroth became threatened by a group of malignant beings of unfathomable evil. Known as the Old Gods, these entities of chaos and destruction wreaked havoc on the world. Plummeting down from the Great Dark Beyond, a group of Old Gods slammed into Azeroth's surface, embedding themselves in various locations of the world. A miasma of despair soon enveloped everything that lay in their writhing shadows as they spread their corruptive influence across the land, all the while sending their tendrils down through the world's crust, towards the planet's defenseless core. Two races, the N'raqi (or "faceless ones") and the Aqir, arose from the organic matter that seeped from the Old Gods' massive bodies, becoming fanatically loyal servants that built great citadels and temple cities around the colossal forms of their masters. The greatest of these structures was built around Y'Shaarj, the most powerful of the Old Gods, and the holdings of the Old Ones would soon spread over Azeroth, eventually forming the Black Empire. When they arrived, the Old Gods enslaved the elementals that had once raged freely on primordial Azeroth, though not before a brutal war in which the four Elemental Lords, who had previously been bitter rivals of one another, banded together in an attempt to fight the Old Gods' fledgling empire.

Ragnaros, Neptulon, Al'Akir, and Therazane, all servants of the Old Gods at the time, led their respective armies in an eternal conflict that ravaged the world to no end. Meanwhile, the faceless ones of the Old God N'Zoth raged war with the combined forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron.

During their journey across the cosmos, the titans made their way to Azeroth and encountered the elementals, who vowed to drive the Pantheon back in the name of their dark masters. Upon discovering the deep and insatiable hunger for destruction in the Old Gods and seeing them as immensely evil, the titans initiated a war with them. The four mighty Elemental Lords fell to the titans, who wielded godlike power. The titans then created the Mogu and used them as a weapon to assault the Old God Y'Shaarj, who was slain, but managed to use its power to curse the land around him. C'Thun was fought by a titan in the land that would eventually be called Silithus, but while it was presumed to be slain, it simply slumbered beneath the desert sands, feigning death, buying time.

When the titans encountered Yogg-Saron and N'Zoth, they realized that killing them at the time would have destroyed Azeroth. After destroying their fortresses and defeating them, they bound them each in their own prisons: Yogg-Saron was bound beneath the titan city of Ulduar under the watch of six Titanic Watchers, and N'Zoth may have been imprisoned deep below Azeroth's oceans. In order to contain the never-ending wars between the Elemental Lords, the titans created the Elemental Plane to seal them off from Azeroth proper, and it may be presumed that the faceless ones and forgotten ones were contained underground, because it would later be those regions of the world from which they would emerge.

While details about the other Old God(s) have not yet been revealed, it is clear that all were either killed by the titans or imprisoned. However, once the Makers turned to their creations following their victory, they observed first-hand that the Old Gods began to exert their influence again.

Spoiler: Early Imprisonment

Due to the influence of Yogg-Saron and the other Old Gods, the Earthen, one of the many races created by the titans, began to succumb to the Curse of Flesh. The same thing happened to the Mechagnomes, Tol'vir, Mogu and Vrykul, eventually resulting in their fleshy bodies, as opposed to their original stone composition or metal design. The vrykul, likely already fleshly beings, began producing a smaller and weaker mutation of themselves. The Old Gods had presumably intended to subvert the titans' work from within, and to a great extent they succeeded; the titans were loath to unmake the world except as a last resort. Thus, many of the mortal races of Azeroth had their nature suspended between order and chaos, between their titanic birth and their Old God-originating corruption.

Knowing that they would soon depart a world full of deep corruption, the titans took several measures to contain it as much as possible, including creating new armies of Earthen to inhabit specific areas they had sealed off, and the Watcher Loken was made Prime Designate of Azeroth. Using the power of the gigantic, winged proto-drake known as Galakrond, they imbued the the five Dragon Aspects designed to watch over and protect the world in their absence.

Nozdormu, the Bronze Aspect, was given power over time, charged with guarding the proper flow of history and policing the webs of fate and destiny. Alextrasza the Life-Binder became the guardian of all life, an essential role left by the titans in the wake of Azeroth's corruption. Neltharion the Earth-Warder became the caretaker of the planet itself, guarding the deep places of the world and creating mountains and rivers to aid the mortal races. Ysera the Awakened was tasked with the protection of the Emerald Dream. Finally, Malygos the Spell-Weaver became the guardian of arcane magic, an extremely dangerous force if placed in the wrong hands.

Though the Aspects were usually vital allies of the mortal races, the titans made one fatal mistake: they gave one Aspect, Neltharion, power over the depths of the world, the very same depths in which they had imprisoned the Old Gods.

Spoiler: War of the Ancients

10,000 years ago Queen Azshara and her highborne wanted to open a portal for Sargeras powerful enough for him to manifest in his full glory. In turn, Alexstraza contacted each of her fellow aspects. It was one of the most respected of these dragons, the Black Dragonflight's leader Neltharion the Earth-Warder who proposed a plan should the worst truly be coming to pass. Alongside his old friend Malygos, Neltharion proposed that a simple golden disc, imbued with the power of each of the aspects in turn, could be created that would be so powerful that no force on Azeroth or indeed even from outside could possibly stand against it. Should all these strange portents really be true, dragonkind would be ready. Convinced by Neltharion's arguments, the other aspects agreed and the Dragon Soul was created.

Unknown by the other Aspects Neltharion had found himself intrigued by the whispers of the Old Gods pinned within the very earth he was assigned to watch over for an untold time. These entities knew full well who Sargeras was and what his appearance signified for Azeroth. Having worked over the course of thousands of years to suborn Neltharion, they now sought to make use of their newest and most powerful weapon. The Old Ones wanted to divert the power of Sargaras' portal to themselves and crack Azeroth open and after eons of imprisonment, they would be free. However, Illidan Stormrage gained the Dragon Soul and used it to close the portal, unwittingly preventing the release of the Old Gods and thereby averting a cosmic catastrophe that would have even paled the Legion's arrival or the Sundering.

10,000 years later the Old Gods invaded Nozformu's realm and managed to open a rift in time, that, as they had planned, tossed some beings back through time, beings that would change the way the War of the Ancients took place, and give Sargeras a new chance to enter the world, and therefore give them a new chance to set themselves free. Their plans were although crushed again by Krasus, Rhonin and Broxigar, who were sent back by Nozdormu in time. This was a back-up plan from the Old Gods' initial attempt to rip time apart and change history so they were never imprisoned in the first place, which was blocked by Nozdormu with great effort.

Spoiler: War of the Shifting Sands

Over vast stretches of time, C'Thun sought to subvert and corrupt. Its qiraji would come to C'Thun and conquer for it the titan complex that lies today in the sands of Silithus, the fortress temple of Ahn'Qiraj. C'Thun waited, until at last its forces had grown strong enough to contest the hated kaldorei for dominion over Kalimdor itself. Thus began the War of the Shifting Sands, which would see corrupted titan creations like the tol'vir battle side by side with silithid hordes and qiraji leaders to push the night elves out of Kalimdor. C'Thun's plan nearly succeeded. At first, the night elves held fast and defeated the qiraji in several battles, thanks to the brilliant leadership of the archdruid Fandral Staghelm. Following his son's death, the kaldorei were driven out of Silithus by the qiraji, and victory for C'Thun seemed nigh. But the combined forces of night elves and the bronze, green, red and blue dragonflight drove the frenzied qiraji back. But neither could those forces hope to win out against the Old God itself in its den. Rather than risk such an apocalyptic conflict, a solution was enacted that sealed the qiraji and C'Thun up inside their very fortress, the city complex of Ahn'Qiraj itself. Fandral Staghelm, entrusted with the Scepter of the Shifting Sands used to seal Ahn'Qiraj, shattered it out of bitterness over the death of his son.

Spoiler: Recent History

C'Thun recently awakened, freed itself, and reemerged from Azeroth's depths. It now lairs in the ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, until it was slain by adventurers. At some point during Loken's stewardship of Ulduar, he came under the sway of Yogg-Saron imprisoned within and eventually betrayed both the Pantheon and his own brother, Thorim. Loken resided in Ulduar's Halls of Lightning, seeking to free Yogg-Saron completely. According to Malfurion Stormrage, the Old Gods are behind the Nightmare corrupting the Emerald Dream. Although the Nightmare Lord in the dream turned out to be the Satyr Lord Xavius, it is suspected that he acted on behalf of a power even greater and darker than Sargeras. It has been confirmed that N'Zoth is responsible for the spark of the Emerald Nightmare.

Spoiler: Power and Strength

Krasus speculated that should the Old Gods open the gates of their prison, even Sargeras would find himself pleading for the peace of death. Krasus further thought that the Aspects were the most powerful creatures on all the mortal plane. So if anyone had a chance against the Old Gods, it was them. Combined all five of the Aspects represented a force capable of defeating the elder beings. Nozdormu later revealed that all of the suffering the Aspects have had to deal with like the madness of Malygos and Deathwing, the Emerald Dream turned to a nightmare, the altering of the timeways, the attack of the twilight dragonflight, the construction of a monster out of Blackmoore, and the Twilight Cult, is intertwined into a dreadful conspiracy of the Old Gods to destroy the Aspects and the flights forever and with it all chance of order and stability. The aspects were shocked by this.

Nevertheless the Old Gods are neither omniscient nor omnipotent. The benevolent titans, though not gods themselves, cast a magical slumber upon the Old Gods and imprisoned them far below the surface of the world. It is possible for an Old God to exert influence over several locations simultaneously. Yet the power of a god is limited. Otherwise, of course, the Old Gods could not have been imprisoned. Nonetheless, an imprisoned, sleeping, or otherwise enfeebled god may still have an effect—conscious or not—on the god's surroundings. The development of the qiraji is said to be the result of just such an incidental influence. Can one ever truly destroy a god, putting a lasting end to its existence? Unfortunately that question has departed the realm of philosophy and become a matter of vital concern.

Spoiler: Void

The Old Gods are closely intertwined with the Void, even being said to control it directly. The ritual dagger known as Xal'atath, which was used by dark priests during the height of the Black Empire, uses powerful Void energies and mind magics to warp everything around it for some nefarious purpose. Many mortal followers of the eldritch horrors make frequent use of shadow magic, and shadow priests who derive their power from the Void stray dangerously close to the domain of the Old Gods.

Also a bit of a Lore question but how does the Warp fit in with WoW's mystical cosmic background of the Light, the Void and the Twisting Nether(which is formed from the interaction of the Light and Void and has a similar connection to the Great Dark(outer space, entire physical universe) that the Emerald Dream has for Azeroth), is the Warp just a different name for the Twisting Nether or is it a separate plane all together?

Click to shrink...

seriously the black empire... Wow blizzard must have spent ALL night coming up with that one.

In any case, yes there a connection between the warp and the nether, they are both very different, but have a strong connection.