Topic
A Treatise on Draenei Warlocks
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Edited by Irisi on 03/05/12 23:27 (BST)
Firstly, before you all begin, this is just an idea I've been toying around with for the previous week or so. I've been a Draenei Roleplayer myself since 2009, and I've been thinking about, as the title suggests, Draenei Warlocks.
1) Why add another random class/race combo? Well, aside from the fact that this is just for discussion in the lore, but mechanic wise I'll freely admit there's not much requirement for a new race/class combo. The best I can suggest is for symmetry. Horde has 5 out of 6 races able to become Warlocks, and have 41 total C/R combos. Alliance allows 4 out of 6 races and has 40 total C/R. Of course, this asymmetry is minuscule and essentially meaningless, however it does allow a plus. Also, what has changed for the Draenei in general since Sunwell? Not much. This could allow a further continuation of the Draenei storyline, as well as provide a new aspect to an old race. 2) When is a Draenei Warlock not an Eredar? So, people would ask, wouldn't a Draenei that uses Fel magics a) be shunned completely from Draenei society and b) become an Eredar by default? To that I say a) of course, b) certainly not! Fel magic would not automatically turn one into an Eredar. Does Fel Magic turn an Orc Warlock into a Fel Orc? Yes, they might gain the attention of Eredar warlocks who cannot physically enter Azeroth, and might be subject to mental haunting, but isn't that simply a plus for roleplaying one? A Draenei Warlock (in my impression) would be a former Mage or Shaman or other spellcaster who found him/herself in the company of the other Warlocks in the Alliance. They came to realise these warlocks were capable of (somewhat) controlling the very forces of the Legion against itself. Of course, here Draenei pride would come in as the Draenei would say "These races could be hurt. My race has more knowledge of Demons than anyone else. We can be the only ones who can control them safely". And thus the pride of the Draenei could bring them to try to control that which they hate. Following on, any Draenei warlocks would have a mindset somewhat similar to Bolvar Fordragon. "I don't want to do this, and it shall corrupt me horribly, but if I can use this power to save someone somewhere somehow, I must." The needs of the many before the few, etc. 3) So Draenei would do a complete 180 in terms of lore and accept warlocks? Certainly not. Warlocks have a different acceptence between Horde and Alliance. Horde can see them as either a nessecary evil or a wielder of powers which must be taken carefully. However Alliance (from what I can see) has a different tolerance for Warlocks. Publically, they are condemned and forced into hiding, exposure could cause their execution warrants being signed. However, at the front lines, any able warrior is accepted however their methods. Draenei warlocks would work a similar way in the Alliance by large, tolerated anonymously but not liked nor tolerated in society. For Draenei, they would be totally condemned (for example, any new Warlock trainers in Azuremyst should be fairly hidden from sight, and without the usual demons and summoning circles seen by other Trainers. Indeed these trainers could be Broken rather than Draenei, similar to Shaman). 4) But, Draenei CAN'T be Warlocks! Were this TBC, or Wrath, I would have agreed. However, we have seen Night Elf mages accepted reluctantly in terms of lore, and Draenei Warlocks would be accepted only in terms of game mechanics. They aren't fighting for the Legion. They're not Eredar. They're desperate men/woman who feel they must bend their own morals in order to protect their people. They know mentally they will change (ie, a new warlock tended more towards "Affliction" would find herself near sadistic, a Demonology warlock may find themselves changing slowly physically (but not in allegiance) to something like an Eredar, and a Destruction Draenei would be more prone to carnage unlike other Draenei) but they feel they would have to control this side of themselves in order to (again) do some good with evil. Ok, so that's my thoughts. I'm expecting a lot of "Oh this thread again" but I'd sincerely like to hear people's thoughts. Also, it being near midnight, my writing isn't exactly sane so sorry if it seems a little off. EDIT: I'm not too sure if this is the right forum for this, it seemed like it was when I initially started writing. If not I'm sorry. |
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Eredar is the name of the actual race, the Draenei as we know them were once known as Eredar, but once Sargeras took over, and Kil'Jaeden and Archimonde began to serve, the ones who chose this fate were no longer Eredar, they are known as the Man'ari, and yes as you've no doubt seen in TBC. A man'ari could obviously be a felmancer or a warlock.
Draenei in my honest opinion cannot be warlocks, and even if they had the opportunity, they wouldn't take it up. At least not after everything that's happened to them. The burning legion forced them off of Argus, Kil'jaeden twisted and manipulated the orcs into accepting demonic magic and it damn near caused the entire extinction of the Draenei. Although I like the Warlock's as a class and have a very interesting story. No good can ever come of Demonic Magic, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I know that Draenei are stoic and pure of heart, but of course they are susceptible to corruption much like Kil'jaeden and Archimonde are. But after going through such hardships, I doubt the draenei would accept such magic into their society now. Nor could they, without the light they would become broken. |
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Anybody can become Warlocks.
Can Draenei become Warlocks? They certainly can! But is it likely for them to become Warlocks? Not very much. I have no problem with Draenei Warlocks as long as Blizzard acknowledges that they are only a very small number of outcasts/secret plotters. (Consorting with demons is after all the ultimate sin in Draenei society) |
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Sadly, it is not draenei who are missing a "slot," but gnomes. I suspect that if you investigate, what is missing is one gnome-class [gnome paladin? gnome hunter?]. |
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I know a fair bit about the lore and I agree OP. If night elves can be mages, I think blizz could retcon draenei to be able to be warlocks. I'm also assuming that draenei didn't adopt shamanism until they landed on draenor either, so yeah, I don't think it's out of the question, although I guess Velen would be a bit pissed!
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Gnomes are the only race that can't become hunters and if you balance alliance paladins against horde shamans (and vice versa) then the alliance is lacking a paladin slot. I'd personally prefer gnome hunters as gnomes and guns goes really well together. I believe that horde walocks are balanced against alliance mages, as horde has one more warlock race and the alliance has one more mage race. |
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If anything, Draenei Warlocks would take the longest time to fall to the lures of the Burning Legion due to their connection with the light. Every Warlock who practises the arts enough end up a slave of the legion in the end. |
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Man'ari Warlocks yes.
But there will not, won't be, or shouldn't ever be a "Draenei Warlock". Because that's not Draenei. The Death Knight scam was bad enough. |
Except Warlocks were never a part of the draenei society, and there's a difference between "Benign nature magic" and "Working with the guys who've spent the past few thousand years f*cking trying to kill us, and using incredibly corrupting magics, which turned our former brothers into those people trying to kill us". Seriously though, Whereas most of the other races are probably like "well, if you're not going crazy, and you're helping out quite a bit, it shouldn't be too much of a problem", the draenei (and night elves) are probably more active in hunting down warlocks, as in, even if you do it in secret, they'll be tracking you down. And probably have decent enough skills to trach them down. |
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Man'ari Warlocks yes. How's that bad, anyway? Draenei were never immune to necromancy. Just like any other, it's one more corpse for the machine. |
Draenei Death Knight's ended up the exact same as everyone else. They were slain on the battlefield and raised as a Death Knight against their will. So a Draenei DK is very plausible. But when it comes to Draenei Warlocks, they had their chance to serve the legion, and when the Eredar races split, the ones that joined the legion became the Man'ari. Draenei (although they are not above corruption) would take quite a lot of convincing in order to follow the dark path of a warlock. Although it's true that most races who can be mages, could also be warlocks to. Because every warlock, was once a mage/shaman. Who then dabbled in darker magics. Draenei for lore sake are sort of above this now. So many tragedies have happened to them at the hands of demons, it's very unrealistic for them to willingly go for that sort of path. Especially at the risk of losing their touch to the light and become Broken or Forgotten Ones (I believe they're called). |
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[quote="39494707390"] Not all Warlocks were Mages. Many Magically talented individuals have received their training often directly from one of the cults. As for Draenei not wanting to become Warlocks, tragedy does not discourage treason. It does quite often in fact encourage it. And not every Draenei was there to see the fall. Remember, it's a race with many individuals, and some may not always agree that the course and path set before them is the best one. It's an individual choice, altough unlikely due to the racial stigma, but just unlikely, not impossible. And no, they don't run such a rampant risk of being turned into the broken or forgotten ones. Most who practise serious Demonology are far more likely to reach daemonhood long before they are turned into a wretch or anything like that. |
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Edited by Jastalaan on 05/05/12 12:08 (BST)
How's that bad, anyway? Draenei Death Knight's ended up the exact same as everyone else. They were slain on the battlefield and raised as a Death Knight against their will. So a Draenei DK is very plausible. You guys had absolutely no idea how horrible this was to hear back in the end of TBC when it was announced all races would be DK's. It was a f*cking fraud. NO Draenei ever set foot upon Northrend until the Alliance started storming the beaches of Howling Fjord and the Borean Tundra. There is NO data of any Draenei making contact with the Lich King prior to the invasion of Northrend. The Draenei were even rejected to aid the Alliance at the time! They were too "exotic". It only contributed to ruin the what DK lore existed. You all bought Blizzard's "All races can be DK" crap. Then I guess you will enjoy Pandaren DK's? DK image and lore = down the drain. Only Humans, Dwarves, Blood Elves, and Forsaken ought to be DK's since they had the firsthand contact with the Scourge and would be recognized as worthy warriors, unlike Goblins and Gnome or some other alien race. But ofcourse you're a nice pair of "Cool Draenei DK's"... |
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The Argent Crusade had no such policies, with Orcs and Humans working together, there's nothing that's really 'too exotic' for them.
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As far as I recall, there was a world event at the start of Wrath of the Lich King. Ghouls everywhere. I wasn't there, but perhaps some Draenei then were killed and were taken back to Acherus to be ressurected. That could have happened to any race. Also, if there were any Scourge in the Plaguelands after the Draenei arrived, they could have been killed there and, again, taken to Acherus to have been ressurected.
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Edited by Jastalaan on 06/05/12 08:56 (BST)
I don't know guys, the Death Knight class could've just have been very well off by being restricted to two races of each faction, it would keep the class image intact. But we need to cater all these players who goes all like: "omg I wanna be an alien DK the LK never heard of!" and "I want to be a Worgen DK!, screw the fact that Worgen can't be resurrected as undead!".
The Lich King having Goblins and Gnomes championing his cause? What a laugh. The whole thing further belittled the LK and the DK class just because Blizzard felt the need to cater players. Edit: typo |
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Edited by Jastalaan on 05/05/12 12:22 (BST)
But really, add Draenei Warlocks already! I can't get worse anyway can it?
And It's sooo ironic how two Draenei DK's are defending the fact that the Draenei would never align themselves with the forces of shadow.... And you know what would happen if a Draenei would be free of mind and find himself undead/infused with shadow? Suicide. |
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Edited by Skrauhg on 05/05/12 18:15 (BST)
Thta fact applies only to the Gilnean worgen that were attacked behind the wall by those Night Elves that turned into worgen and broke free from their sleep. Thedse are the worgen that Arugal summoned, but they are not the worgen death knights. That is a different group. Worgen Death Knights are those of Arugal's creation, which he created by experimenting on the nearby local humans, and hold no such immunity. There is the answer to that. |
And It's sooo ironic how two Draenei DK's are defending the fact that the Draenei would never align themselves with the forces of shadow....
I stand by this statement, Not the fact that I said "Against there will" |
