Silkroad Online Forums

So I'm thinking alot about Cataclysm lately. I'm rather excited about this, and it's made me want to start RP'ing again. Both casually and grander, as in events and deeper plotlines.

Up until Varian's return to Stormwind, the majority of the alliance's resources and military power was controlled from Theramore and Darnassus - with emphasis on the latter. Of all the races in the Alliance, the Night Elves were the oldest, most experienced and most powerful race when it came to warfare and combatting demons. Coupled with their empathy and self-righteous positions as wardens of the world, that made them natural leaders.

The Night Elves directed the war against the Silithid as the Horde championed Saurfang. They are also the supporting pillar and often the leaders of the druidic expansions into new territory. They have been instrumental in bringing the Draenai and the Worgen into the fold of the alliance, aswell as supporting the Human, Gnome and Dwarf settlements in Kalimdor. With the exception of the human kingdom of Azeroth and it's capital city of Stormwind, the Night Elves are probably the backbone of the modern day alliance.

Fastforward to the Cataclysm.

Kalimdor lies in ruins. Ragnaros lays siege to Hyjal, and Malfurion himself awakens to protect it.
Meanwhile, Darkshore is ravaged by the Cataclysm, wrecking Auberdeen and forcing the elves to retreat northward. The Horde capitalizes and expands closer to Teldrassil.

Meanwhile, in Ashenvale, the Sentinels have lost the war against the Warsong clan. Their fortress of Silverwing Hold is overrun and has fallen to the Horde. The Horde is expanding through Ashenvale, deforesting the entire area.

At the same time, Azshara is wrought asunder as the Goblins use dynamite and mining industry to create their own city - linking it directly with Orgrimmar. The Highbourn are driven out and re-join the Night Elven host.

The Night Elves lose their ancestral lands in Stonetalon to the Cataclysm, and try to establish new power in the Barrens and Desolace, with mixed success.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Kingdoms, ALL of the human kingdoms save Gilneas and Azeroth have fallen to the Forsaken - and those who haven't are now under siege. Gilneas is not safe enough for the Worgen to remain in due to the siege, and so they shall be gaining their own district in Stormwind. The Forsaken expansion continues southwards, even as the Night Elves arrive to support the Worgen.

It seems to me that all the Night Elves have left is their accursed tree, which is slowly decaying and has given birth to some dark corruption amidst its roots. Couple that with their diminished power and influence in the world, aswell as the return of King Wrynn shifts the control of the alliance back into the hands of humans, and it kinda makes you think about the Night Elves situation a bit.

I, for one, shall be quite happy to see the Moonlight capital in flames.

In all seriousness, I think the Night Elves situation ( and to a lesser extent, the Draenei's ) is going to turn to one of desperation. With the return of the Highbourne and Deathwing treating the planet like a chewtoy, the Kaldorei are going to go through massive, shocking changes to their way of life and culture.

With the Kingdoms of Stormwind, Gilneas and Kul'Tiras being the only major human Kingdoms left standing ( in some form, Gilneas is a dark and furry shadow of it's past self ), I think King Varian will look to solidify the Alliance's hold on the territories south of the Wetlands and offer greater concessions/incentives to the Kaldorei and Draenei to relocate SOME of their non-combatant population to his lands. Can't say I'll see King Greymane extending the same offer though, haughty and arrogant to a fault he is. And we've not heard a peep from Proudmoore in Kul'Tiras.

Notice how I'm not mentioning Theramore? Jaina Orchumper can go burn for all I care. Her constant jockying for peace, while admirable and an ideal situation, has led indirectly to our current situation politics wise, with King Varian declaring war upon the Horde ( For quite understandable reasons if you look at the big picture ), the Cataclysm just makes it less of a political move and more of a nesscesity, due to the reduced resources available due to the aforementioned Deathwing + Azeroth = Chewtoy analogy.

In the eventuality of a renewed Alliance offensive into the northen segment of the Eastern Kingdoms, I can see Gilneas being the springboard for this effort. Gilneas has, historicly, had the best trained troops of all the human kingdoms, and it -has- survived over twenty years of self-imposed exile. It takes a diciplined people, or an insane one, to follow a King into that situation. The addition of the Worgen curse to the populace would make your average Gilnean soldier that much more deadly. I'd even go so far as to say a Gilnean Worgen with a millitary background post-Curse could match a Tauren Warrior on roughly equal footing.

*has rambled off into non-Nelf stuff, re-attaches himself to the topic*

By the Kaldorei and Draenei resorting to somewhat desperate moves, I would they either they move wholesale to the Eastern Kingdoms, or larger proportions of Kaldorei and Draenei immigrants settle under Stormwind's flag. Kalimdor is, from what I've seen of the Cataclysm, untenable from a millitary standpoint. You can maintain outposts and scattered guard posts, but it would take a -long- time for the Alliance to mount a succesful millitary operation to retake Ashenvale

The Night Elves have undoubtedly lost, in more sense than one. They sacrificed their immortality for a world that is now slipping out of their grasp, their self engineered attempt at immortality failed and has resulted in a wide spread corruption of the lands they see themselves as wardens of, and now they have lost a territorial conflict against the Warsong Clan (how a bunch of snot nosed grunts could win over warriors with thousands of years of experience is still a bit hard to digest but anyway...) .

A few things could happen. Cultures that have been slapped around by an unfortunate fate often experience an intensification of their spiritual customs, in this case the worship of Elune. Many disheartened sentinels might very well join the temple in search of solace and new meaning. The worship of Elune might become (even) more orthodox and religious practices more prevalent throughout the Night Elven society.

The Druids will be more adaptable I think. They still have their agenda, and nature will certainly be in need of some tending. There is however one dilemma. The events of Cataclysm, while certainly having dire consequences for the natural world, are closely related to the domain of the shamans. The Horde is the bastion of shamanism and where the real experince in dealing with the elements lie. The fragile peace between the Horde and the Alliance has been shattered and on top of that the Tauren Druids have found a new source of inspiration in An'she, which probably will further distance them from the influence of Moonglade. So where will the Night Elven Druids find allies in their battle against the Cataclysm? Among the Draenei certainly, but they are still learning the ways of the elements and are not as powerful allies as the Taurens could have been.

The future does look bleak for the Night Elves. Of course, they still have that old ace up their sleve and it will be interesting to finally see him in action.

I think Nelf and Belf are gay, sorry