Azeroth: The Silent War and the Illusion of Peace [Warcraft AU Worldbuilding]

[Kylia Quilor]

this map, using a baseline the ones provided here by reddit user Searrard: Link


(click the thumbnail to see full size, note that it's large)

Link you can fully zoom in with

A couple things to bear in mind - every faction on this map has their own color, though given the limits of MS Paint, some of the colors are very similar. This is also a very rough map - for one, the actual geography of the Eastern kingdoms is less compressed than the one provided in WoW (no, Zul'Aman is not actually that big, for instance, and the Amani Empire has more stuff than just a giant city), and the Eastern Kingdoms, geographically, look closer to their-Pre WoW versions... somewhat. I have this mental image in my head combining what I like from both maps, but I have trouble articulating it, and certainly couldn't draw it or anything like that. For reference, here's my primary go-to pre-WoW map of the Eastern Kingdoms: DeviantArt Link (All credit to creator Kuusinen and the Warcraft Map Project)

The placement of Kul Tiras was meant to be more akin to it's WCII-era placement, as that makes a hell of a lot more sense (to me) than where WoW decided to shove it, same with Tol Barad, but accomadating for the much smaller size of Baradin Bay in WoW. Exactly where in the big green circle Kul Tiras and the two smaller islands are is an open question to me for now. Mechagon Isle is where it is right now in canon WoW, still, for the record.

Those solid circles of one faction's color within another faction's territory is meant to signify a tenuously held outpost or fortified holding, something that is either present entirely on sufferance or is under regular attack, and may even be captured and lost repeatedly over fairly short spans of time (as is especially the case with the Forsaken and Thalassian outposts in the Western Plaguelands, which exist to give a very tenuous land route linking Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas, but it's neither safe nor reliable for large scale movement)

Just because a nation has hold of a given territory does not mean that it's hold on that territory is very secure, as would be the case with Stormwind with much of it's territory (due to Defias Brotherhood and other small scale threats) and the Forsaken (in the section of the Western Plaguelands they hold, which are still a heavily militarized area) or Alterac (where Southshore would much rather not be ruled by the Perrenholdes, thank you very much). Those are just illustrative examples.

As a final note, this map does not represent a 100% finalized version of what the EK look like politically. It may be subject to some change in terms of where the various borders and such are, but it gets you the general idea, at least.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Click here for a link to the Kalimdor Map

Alright. I am not totally happy with this map, but it is probably about the best I'm going to be able to do. I tried not to reuse any colors, but due to the limits of MS Paint and the sheer number of factions to include, I might very well have done so by accident.
As before, the circles/dots represent footholds, outposts, and the like. Kalimdor has more empty and unclaimed space than the EK, due to the nature of the inhabitants, but they are slowly being eaten up - as I've said before, geopolitics abhors a vaccuum. So in a few years, more of it will probably be claimed by one faction or another.

Even more so than in the Eastern Kingdoms, the borders in Kalimdor, especially central Kalimdor, can be very theoretical and imprecise - the Bloodfury, Razormane and Bristleback Tribes, for instance, only own the territory they have on the map in a very nominal sense. And of course, there's all sorts of internal threats to the various nominal claims - satyrs, hostile harpy tribes, etc, but they don't get marked on the map by virtue of being too small, disorganized or scattered to be worth marking.

Giving the borders for the Wormwing, Barkskin and Shadowtooth (especially the latter two) was incredibly difficult given the limited information I had to work with, but I tried to do something that I felt worked.

The Azuremyst Isles were not on this map of Kalimdor (and I am not a good enough image editor to drop them into place where they should be), but just bear in mind that they're there too, and that the Stillpine are on Azuremyst Isle.

As always, bear in mind that in WoW, space compression and stretching is a thing and so the real map of the continent would look similar, but probably not exactly, like the one in the game. Also, as a note, the Echo Isles are bigger than provided for in game, because I feel like they're comically small in the game.
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There is one correction on the map itself I realized too late that I am frankly not willing to fight with my image editor and imagebb (It was a fight to get the image uploaded to the hosting site at all) to re-do and then re-upload it. Those pink dots in Silithus are meant to be Twilight's Hammer outposts, rather than Stonemaul. There was a point as I made the map that I had Twilight's Hammer be pink, before I realized that on the EK Map they were Light Grey, so they should probably be the same color in Kalimdor. But I must have missed the ones in Silithus - there, we have Staghelm and his guys engaged in a pretty fierce little war with Twilight's Hammer.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

So taking a step back from the kind of IC nature of the last five posts, let's talk about the four major powers in a bit of a meta sense.

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The Ghostlands Pact is where I started with this idea - while I do like the Horde as a concept, I don't like it when my Blood Elf or Forsaken characters are in it. Aesthetically and thematically, I've never really felt like those two belonged in the Horde, and it always bugs me that, for instance, Sylvanas has to take the title Warchief, that she relocates to Orgrimmar (why does the Orcish capital have to be the heart of the Horde if the orcs aren't the ones in charge?) and the ranking titles and so on for the Horde don't fit for the Blood Elves or the Forsaken. And, to my eyes, Blizzard really goes out of their way to define the Alliance and Horde conflict as humans vs orcs, as if this is Warcraft I all over again.

I do get, in a step back and look at it from Blizzard's POV, why they did it - the Horde since WC3 anyway, was cast, initially, as all the maligned and 'mook' 'evil' races of fantasy being presented as good, or at least, goodish - orcs, trolls, minotaurs, undead, later goblins, and while the Blood Elves on the surface don't seem to fit, between their name, their red aesthetic, their revenge-driven mentality and the whole siphoning magic thing, they do fit. (Of course, then Blizzard decided to nerf that, so wtf). The Worgen joining the Alliance kind of ruined that theme as well, but by then they'd already decided to undermine their own ideas with the Horde anyway, so...

But I was, as others have, thinking, what if the Forsaken and Blood Elves had decided to go off and form their own faction, with blackjack, and hookers. Of course, those two alone can't stand up to the Alliance, so then I needed to find them friends. I debated going so far as having the Amani Empire sign onto their alliance of convenience, or be forced to, but I just couldn't see the Amani going for it - the Reventusk alliance alone is making racist blood elves explode, so Amani would be several bridges too far. Alterac was picked because they're a wasted opportunity in the canon, IMO, reduced to the Syndicate, who are just mooks, and a battleground we don't need.

As a faction, the Ghostlands Pact consists of groups and peoples that were all brought low, and refuse to be brought low again. There's very much a vibe of 'we've been hurt, and we will not be hurt again, whatever we have to do', and they are the faction that is willing to cross just about every line except Scourge-style necromancy (the Forsaken do ensure all undead who join them choose freely, no enslavement). But beyond that, there's little they're unwilling to do if it will help them survive and get them revenge on those who hurt them.

The Blood Elves are embracing fel magic. They're not stupid enough to eat it, though some have started quietly advocating it. But they are using bound demons and fel-powered constructs to support their tiny military and warlocks are nearly as common a sight as magisters. They're feeding on M'uru and anything else they can, to help them manage their addictions, and they treat those who go overboard with varying levels of callous brutality.

The Forsaken are not embracing any sort 'new plague', because honestly, the idea of a plague that kills living and undead just... makes no sense. How does that even work? Also, its more of that cartoonish evil I want to set aside. What they are doing is chemical weaponry - airborne toxins akin to Chlorine Gas or Mustard Gas, powerful acids, that sort of thing. Attacks to destroy morale by whatever means possible - when they're done in a smart, targeted way (or at least, intended to be done so, no plan survives contact with the enemy and all).

For the Alteraci, after years of asymmetric warfare, they're very good at it - they're terrorists that have become an army. They're the kinds of people that will sneak killers into your camp and butcher your officers and leave their bodies, flayed or otherwise done up in horrifying and gruesome ways, on full display before they leave. They poison wells and burn supply depots and target civilian support staff - not killing entire towns or villages, or at least not without very good reason, but if you're on or even near the battlefield, you're a combatant. Years of this have taken quite a toll on the leaders of Alterac's military, and they are harsh and cruel to their enemies. They work quite closely with Sylvanas's Dark Rangers - Halduron Brightwing and his Farstriders too, but Halduron has the most 'lines left uncrossed' of all the GP military leaders, so he's always a bit 'ehhhhh' about the Alteraci and the Dark Rangers.

For Jintha'alor, they were cast aside by the Amani Empire, then preyed on by the Vilebranch and attacked by the Wildhammer for old hatreds and old wars. They are, as I said, skilled diplomats and convincers - they have connections and friends with criminals and dissidents across the Eastern Kingdoms, they make friends easily. They're arguably the most approachable of the Ghostlands Pact, but if they need to, they will just keep you close while they line up your best friend to stab you in the back. They are willing to make use some of the darker, less moral Loa (though not Hakkar) if they must, especially Dambala, the loa of Treachery. They have no qualms about poison, and have worked up poisons more powerful than even the Forsaken Apothecaries (though the Forsaken are the ones who managed to make them airborne) and they use charms and potions and elixirs on volunteers among their best warriors to make them into killing machines - but the experience is incredibly painful and can go wrong quite disastrously if not done exactly right.

The Ghostlands Pact is, in other words, the 'edgy' faction, though I do hate that word for being too reductive. They fight hard, fight dirty, and will do whatever it takes to win. They may not be as large in population as other factions, but their advantage is their brutality.

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Selecting the factions for the Alliance was pretty easy, because they already exist. With Daelin alive, there's no reason for Kul Tiras to sulk in silence for 10 years, and Theramore should already be a distinct entity anyway rather than tied to Stormwind. Stromgarde being included is another part of that - humanity has many nations, let's use as many as we can.

The Alliance, in contrast to the Pact or the Horde (in this and most universes), is fantasy tropes played mostly straight - they're the stereotypical good kingdoms, they have the Light's blessing, they have a long history of established realms, they have the largest standing professional armies, and so on.

They're also the faction that has the most racists in positions of power (the other three have racists, yes, but not running the show) and they're the most self-righteous faction. They are, after all, the good guys of the story, right? So they can't actually do anything that's questionable, because if they do it, it's right! And everyone else - well, they're the villains. They deserve what's coming for them.

This is not universal, of course, but it is the big flaw they have, apart from disunity - because the Alliance is pulled in many directions. Stromgarde doesn't really care about the Grand Confederation (at least not for now), being monotasked on reclaiming their land and punishing Alterac; Ironforge is distracted by Magni's missing daughter and questions of succession if she isn't found; Varian and Daelin are belligerent (while Varian is being played like a fiddle on most things by his 'highly capable' advisor Katrana Prestor) while Jaina is nearly, but not quite, a pacifist. The gnomes want their homeland back, and the Wildhammer really don't care much about Alterac, Quel'Thalas or Lordaeron (not enough to fight them if they don't have to) but do hate the Revantusk and Dragonmaw.

In a purely defensive war, or at least one there's no ambiguity who started it, the Alliance will hold together - Varian is smarting too much over his failures in the 'Third War' to be convinced to not help his allies if attacked again, though Katrana's influence could screw up a lot of things on the back end. But if there's ambiguity in who started it, or if it is outright started by the Alliance? Theramore is probably likely to declare neutrality, depending, and so too might Stromegarde if it's against the GC (Galen doesn't like the GC, they're barbarian savage monsters, but he's got much bigger fish to fry at home), and if Alliance - GP war happened, the Wildhammer would be divided by needing watch the Dragonmaw and probably focus entirely on the Revantusk. Plus, there's the endless brushfire frontier border wars with the Gurubashi and the Defias Brotherhood's terrorist attacks.

The Alliance also has the greenest rank and file troops, with the exception of Theramore and much of the Kul Tiras Marines (and some elements of Ironforge's armies). Their command staff and officer corps consists of first and second war veterans, and they have the most experience and expertise with the logistics needed for a modern, conventional war between nations. In a straight war against any one other power, they probably win. They're weak on magic, to a limited extent. They don't have the same depth of arcane magic the Pact has, nor the depth of shamanism and druids of the GC or the Hyjal, but they do have plenty to work with in magic. The Kirin Tor is a shell of itself, but has largely aligned with the Alliance. There are plenty of mages in Theramore, tidesages in Kul Tiras, the gnomes and their magic, including the gnomes willingness to accept warlocks. And they have the largest pool of priests and paladins, giving them plenty of healing power.

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The Grand Confederation's name actually proved to be the hardest part - I wanted to include a bunch of the 'creeps' of Kalimdor, but I didn't see them joining the Horde outright as the superstate led by the Warchief. But equally, I couldn't suite see the orcs, Darkspear and tauren splitting up entirely just yet - not with the people who are in charge of them. So I figured some sort of supra-organization the Horde was in, and I cycled through several names, like the Orgrimmar League, the Kalimdor Union, etc, but none sounded good until I came up with the Grand Confederation and a good explanation for where the name came from in-universe. Namely, that in the past, when tribes of multiple races would make oaths of friendship and peace between themselves, the resulting collective would be called a 'Confederation'.

The Grand Confederation's great strength, overall, is the tight bonds of friendship between the three leaders of the Horde, and the overall sense of unity and common defense they have. There are certainly issues and rifts, like between the Dragonmaw and the Horde proper, and within the Tauren about how to handle the Centaurs pushed back to Desolace, the Razormane and Bristleback not liking each other, etc but overall, they're pretty tight. But that's for common defense - anything else, and they'd probably have a lot less closeness. Thankfully, warmongers don't run the show, at the moment.

Shamanism is the great magical strength of the GC, and they can call on the spirits to do some pretty fantastic things. They also have a lot of reserved resources under the earth - Southern and Central Kalimdor didn't have a lot of mining done in the last 10,000 years. They don't have a large standing army, but pretty much every able-bodied citizen can be a soldier if they're needed, and fairly quickly too. The GC does fall much closer to the 'warrior' side of that whole 'warrior vs soldier' dispute, especially among the Tauren, Quillboars and Harpies, but even the Orcs and Darkspear have tinges of that. Still, that fierceness can pay off in battle. The GC is tenacious and will not surrender until they've made their enemies pay for every inch of ground, and they will go on the offensive if you give them an opening, no matter how slight. They fight quickly, which can cost them if they act too recklessly, but it can also knock their enemy back on their asses if they're not prepared for the pace.

Overall, the GC's hat is finding meaning and purpose and new identities - the orcs of Durotar and the Darkspear are refugees twice over, and have to forge new senses of who and what they are in this new, shared homeland. The Tauren have reclaimed Mulgore, but they're transitioning to a settled people now that their friends and allies can help assure them that they won't need to pack up and run at an instant if the centaurs come back in force. The harpies and Quillboars and Stonemaul are all moving in the direction of a more 'civilized' (for lack of a better word) system, but slowly. Distant memories of the Gorian Empire are at least helping the Stonemaul rethink their life and society. Ogre Magi and Harpies are the primary source of arcane magic for the GC, and it's not on the same level as the Alliance, let alone the Pact. There are a few troll arcanists too, but the Darkspear Tribe doesn't have many, but contact with other trolls that do do it is rebuilding the notion. Trolls were once skilled with arcane magic, but the Darkspear lost most of that transition during their flight from Stranglethorn.

They're slowly building or rebuilding institutions, they're dealing with the ghosts of their past (in the case of the orcs especially), they still need to build a ton of the physical infrastructure of nations, and there's the question of if the friendships will last in the long run - who succeeds Thrall as Warchief? Carine leads the Tauren because almost all the tribes respect him and it was his friendship with Thrall that got them Mulgore. But it's not like every Tauren loves the Horde. Vol'jin has the same problem - his people follow him because he's Sen'jin's son and has their respect, but again, not every Darkspear loves the Horde.

In some ways, the GC as a defensive alliance could serve as a backup if the Horde proper unravels - if after the death of Thrall or Cairne or Vol'jin, one or more of the three members decided to leave, they could go from 'Horde' to 'Grand Confederation' and still enjoy the common defense. That was something Thrall had in mind when he created it - Thrall doesn't want the Horde to fracture, but he saw the Alliance fracturing after the Second War and knows it could happen. He's training a new generation of shamans and far seers with the help of people like Drek'thar, but who succeeds him if he dies is a question he has no clear answer to. He has ideas, but finding someone who could lead of all the orcs, let alone the Tauren and Darkspear Trolls is easier said than done.

The GC, as a whole, and in each part, are in a constant state of transition right now, and the needs of change, of traditions lost and traditions found again, of traditions needing to be made from whole cloth to begin new futures - all that defines them right now.

In war, the GC would make deals with spirits and use them against the enemy first, to soften them up, before charge and counter-charge, with orcs and tauren in the lead, Harpies attacking supply lines and picking off commanders, and trolls and Quillboar on the flanks. Largely, though circumstances varry. They are not possessed of a great depth of logistics, but they make for tenacious defenders, very good at using the terrain of Kalimdor to their advantage - they don't build one mighty fortress to defend a point, but a series of smaller fortifications that emesh you in a network of attacks before you realize you're caught. They are constantly mobile, not wanting to get pinned down during open battle, and they will surprise you when they attack you from an unexpected flank or you find your supply depots destroyed by Harpy raids.

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The Hyjal Covenant actually was called the Teldrassil Covenant at first, but I swapped it out when I needed a better name for the Night Elf nation. It was always going to look like it does right now, with Furbolgs and Dark Trolls and the Wormwing Harpies, pretty much from the start, given the dearth of other available allies for them at the start.

Now, several people in the thread, and elsewhere, have pointed out that it seems off that the NElves are their own equivalent power in WC3, and yet are reduced to being just another member of the Alliance by WoW. There's a lot of truth there, but not entirely. Just because the NElves were one of four playable groups in WC3 doesn't mean they're necessarily 100% equal in power to the other three - after all, in Age of Empires II, you have the Mayans, the Vietnamese, the Mongols, the Ethiopians, the Berbers, the Chinese, the Franks and the Teutons, but the various nations those playable peoples represent, and more, weren't necessarily equal in power to each other during the span of history AoEII covers.

BUT, it is true that it's weird the Night Elves joined the Alliance, since even if they weren't necessarily 100% equal in power to the Undead, Horde and Alliance of WC3-era on a macro-scale, they certainly would have been powerful enough to defend themselves against Horde aggression in Kalimdor without needing to tie themselves to the Eastern Kingdoms (also, Horde aggression at that point seemed really unlikely, at least in terms of a whole scale assault)

The Hyjal Covenant, of the four alliances, is a bit of an odd man out. They are, unlike the other three powers, not really a collection of equals. While the GC may have the Horde as their largest and most powerful member, Thrall, Cairne and Vol'jin really do see it as a coalition of equals, and even within the Horde itself, Thrall does consider Cairne and Vol'jin to be equals, even if they are nominally under the Warchief's authority. By contrast, even at their best, Tyrande and Malfurion could be said to have something of a patronizing attitude to the Furbolgs, Dark Trolls and Harpies that they have allied with - they certainly regard their relationship to the Furbolgs and Harpies as one of teacher and student, which is largely returned. And that patronizing view is more common among the mid-ranked leadership of Teldrassil, and represented most by Staghelm, who, as we'll see, is something of a 'leader of the opposition' within Teldrassil.

Their goals are to not lose themselves in ignorance in their forests again, and to watch the world for any threat of the Burning Legion returning, the Old Gods rising, or the Scourge leaving Northrend. They'd love to go to Northrend and put an end to the unnatural evil that is the Lich King and his undead, but they can't do it right now, given their losses in the legion's second invasion. They are, however, prepared to be very proactive, and preparing for more than that. They wouldn't declare war, if they saw a threat - they'd just attack. Lightning raids with the Sentinels if that will do, to destroy cults or demonic threats (they have deployed a few teams to the frontiers of the Eastern Kingdoms when they've located Burning Legion cults doing anything more dangerous than summoning like, imps, and slaughtered them to a man) or threats to nature. They see history repeating itself in Quel'Thalas, but Tyrande understands what she'd be getting into if she ordered an attack, so she hasn't attacked yet.

So for now, she's watching closely - if she has to, she'll make the attack and accept the consequences. The Night Elves were the ones who, in her eyes, saved the world from the Burning Legion twice, and they'll do it again, whatever else. While she'll grant that in the Second Invasion Jaina and Thrall's forces were vital to victory, it was still ultimately the Night Elves who won the day by making the essential sacrifice.

They're the preservers of the balance, the natural order and they are quite convinced that they know the best way for everyone to live their lives. There absolutely are some Night Elves that think they should go a-conquering to make everyone else abandon the Arcane and live in total harmony with nature, like they do. Those people don't run the show, and even without immortality it will be a good long while until Tyrande dies of old age and gives them even a chance to make for a leadership position, but they're there, advocating their views to the rest of the kin, and they have a small but growing following.

The Dark Trolls are in a bit of a... catch-22. They do actually agree with the Night Elves a lot, they don't use arcane magic unlike some other trolls, and they are pretty in touch with nature, but they don't feel the same deep respect for the NE that the Furbolgs and Wormwing Harpies do, and some do look to the Horde and their Darkspear Kin, or to Zandalar or other Troll Empires. They're less interested in the being aggressively proactive about people playing with the Arcane or even Fel unless the Burning Legion/scourge/old gods are actively involved, whereas the Night Elves would be far willing to act on suspicion and possibility.

The HC as an alliance is dominated by the NElves and their agenda, which is 'protect the world' but... well, Tyrande and Malfurion and a mindset 10,000 years old gets to define what the world needs protecting from. They got a lot of the arrogance knocked out of them in the Second Invasion, but they both still have some - after all, they have the only true deity in the universe on their side, and nature lives in true harmony with them. Their way really is the Right Way.

Militarily, the HC has pretty damn good hit and run raiding, and pretty fast raiding at that, able to get in and out faster than any other faction - and they have harpies and the trolls to help with that. The Druids and the Furbolgs can come in as heavy infantry to exploit an enemy in disarray, with treants and nature's wrath acting on the enemy and so forth.

The HC does have a weakness in logistics - even more than the other three factions, they are not equipped or prepared for a prolonged campaign. The Second Invasion was a fairly quick thing, even quicker the parts the Night Elves were involved in, and it was the first truly existential war the Kal'dorei had been involved in for millennia. The War of Shifting Sands was practically a game, compared. They aren't a glass cannon, but they don't really have the stamina or experience for anything prolonged that isn't a guerilla war, and are so used to putting everything into their first blow - they can do a single mighty blow, and they can do guerilla defensive tactics, but right now, they can't do much else. That inflexibility has cost them before, and it will again, but changing when you're that old isn't easy - it's remarkable Tyrande and Malfurion have been as flexible in their thinking as they've been, in some ways.