Reflections of Eternity: Act II King Sized Special Development Update

[Rommel]

Art by Ulka
Special thanks to Nexis

So it's been a year since the previous Development Update, and some were already wondering if HoS Act II is alive at all (numerous small updates here on Hive and in Discord notwithstanding). Well, as we've already commented, it's not going fast, but it's going well, and there's been some really good progress this year - Act II's main tech data is finalized by now, most old models have been remade from scratch in the Classic++ style, and mapping is going good. Honestly, originally we were going to release this Development Update much sooner, in February, but then decided to finish more stuff before showing it off, and then some, and then some. Namely, with all the terraining and triggering done, it just felt right to prepare a huge number of actual in-game cutscene screenshots to illustrate it - and here they are for your viewing (and a bit of reading) pleasure! Besides, as we moved on to the Shadow Elves and let that race have all the love it deserved, a detailed overview was in order, complete with lore and developers' commentary on its subfactions and various interesting aspects. And last but not the least, what started as a side project evolved into a standalone tie-in novella describing events of Act II that didn't make it to the campaign proper - now known as Twilight over Boralus.

The Shadow Elves have descended from an ancient Kaldorei sect who escaped the Sundering via a portal to Shial's world. Now they're sworn to the Void Eternal and draw power from a dimension of dreams and nightmares. We aimed to make them different from usual Void adepts and emphasize their alluring yet sinister and macabre nature.

Raduloth Rainsong, Dayoma's famed ancestor, may look harmless and act politely, but make no mistake - he is the one and only Harbinger Prime, the non-existence's heart and soul, and every time he appears, everything plummets from bad to much, much worse. Oh, and see that huge lady with three faces and two succubic handmaidens? That's the Avatar of Shial herself. More on her later!


But what's more important, is that Act II will not be a single campaign, but a trilogy of mini-campaigns. This will allow us to deliver varied and exciting gameplay, more immersive and detailed story, and, hopefully, quicker releases! Of course, we're not building it all from the ground up - we're talking about splitting the existing campaign into smaller and more cohesive parts (of course, with additional detailing and extra small missions on top), the process we already mentioned in the previous Development Update.

Stephania Nemo, a Kul Tiran mercenary, and Dayoma Rainsong, a Dalaran sorceress (with her dwarven sidekick Holga Brassbrow), are both the protagonists of Act II - and the most relatable characters, at least compared to ancient dark lords, otherworldly entities and insane cultists. Previously, we were worried their respective storylines would end mixed up, but now each of them gets her own Episode to shine - before their paths converge on a crash course with greater scope evils.

The Damned Dozen is a clandestine group of extraordinary and extraordinarily dangerous ladies and gentlemen, controlled by an enigmatic figure known as Doctor Aedelein, who has a certain interest in everything related to the Titans. Here, we see two members of the Dozen - Isobel and Gaspard - as they are working on a power source for the Hammerhead, Aedelein's vessel. Lightning elementals make great (but non-rechargeable) batteries, after all.

So, this is what it all looks like now:

The Heart of Storms Act II: Heralds of the Abyss

Episode I: Soulborn Fires, Fireborn Souls
The Dying Time has come to Draenor - and those who survive will bring ruin to Azeroth, where even darker powers lie in wait. This Episode wraps up the story of Act I and takes us to the First War in the Kingdom of Stormwind, followed by the nightmarish dreamscapes of Shial's world as barriers between dimensions thin and break. This Episode's main characters include Arnak (possessed by Mizrakh) and Dayoma Rainsong, with Draka as the first missions' canon protagonist. It features the karma and consequence system, and will even include the fallout of choices you made in Act I!*

*While there's no Act I remake for Reforged yet, importing the cache file is possible - and there will be an in-game workaround, too.


Episode II: The Hammerhead Project
As the First War ends with the fall of Stormwind and the Horde becomes a clear and present threat to all of Azeroth, Kul Tiras takes one of the key roles in the newly-formed Alliance. While Admiral Proudmoore prepares to battle on the high seas, Lord Ashvane launches a covert operation involving an experimental ironclad, the Hammerhead, and a crew of very dangerous people... This Episode is centered around Stephania and Doctor Aedelein, and tells their part of the story. It also features the mechanics of controlling the Hammerhead and the Damned Dozen.


Episode III: The Dawning of Darkness
Khaz Modan is all that stands between the Horde and the human kingdoms - and the dwarvenkind is not going down without a good fight. As the orcs press on, putting their new goblin allies' machinery to destructive use, the Void Eternal makes its own move. Shadows thicken and eldritch horrors awaken, darkness floods ancient Titan vaults, and the decisive battle will take place beyond Azeroth, in the very heart of Shial's domain... This Episode features both Stephania and Dayoma, along with their allies, and also introduces several new characters essential to Act II's grand finale.


Twilight over Boralus
A prequel novella dedicated to Dayoma and Holga as they investigate a chain of strange events in Boralus, the capital of Kul Tiras. This story is meant to serve as the Prologue of Act II - and a bridge between two Acts, introducing characters who were not present in Dusk of Draenor (Dayoma, Holga, Stephania and most Voidsworn) and establishing Azeroth-based story arcs, as well as providing additional backstory for Raduloth and the Shadow Elves.

Episode I's second arc is centered around the Horde's invasion of Redridge Mountains, culminating with the siege of Lakeshire. It's only briefly mentioned in the official lore, giving us room to expand and tie it in with events leading to the Twilight's Hammer Clan piercing the veil between worlds. We've also made Lakeshire itself realistically bigger than WoW's version, drawing inspiration from its depiction in the film and its description in Warcraft RPG.

Likewise, the city of Boralus has been remade to a realistic scale, though we did examine the WoW version carefully and based our maps' layout on Blizzard's canon design. From the magnificent and pompous Proudmoore Keep, to the cozy mansions of Upton Borough, to harbor-bordering slums and shady dens, Boralus is a dark and mysterious city, smelling of fish and trouble. It will appear as a playable map in Episode II, but we've included a few cutscenes in Episode I to give it a good preview. Also, it has a large population of Kul Tiran cats - which, like Kul Tiran humans, are bigger and meaner than their common counterparts!

And yes, to clarify something. In our previous Development Update we announced the release of Act II Prologue the following winter, with an emphasis on "if everything goes well". As you may have guessed, it didn't. So what happened, what has been done since then and how did it affect HoS development? TL;DR: in the end, it was all for the better!

First, soon after the announcement, Reforged 2.0 came out of the blue, and with its many, many changes this sudden update led to a significant setback. No offense to Blizzard, it was actually helpful in some respects (like fixing a major model rendering issue we considered unfixable in Reforged), but it also messed up a lot - namely, it ruined the lighting system, introduced a lot of lag and made 800 (vanilla) models nigh-unusable as they were colored black in the game. We fixed that at the cost of almost removing shadows in general, but the game's visuals, where we invested a lot of effort, still took a kick. Ironically, 2.0.3 actually corrected that and now with its default light rendering HoS looks better than it ever did (as you can see on the screenshots) - but that came out much later and initially we didn't count on it.

As if 2.0 was not enough, in December two members of our team (myself included) had major health issues independently of each other, which kicked us out of the saddle for a while. We both got somewhat better eventually but that did affect HoS, though work was never fully paused, and we finished a lot in time. And by "a lot", I mean it. Still, as we did more and more, the abovementioned setbacks actually made us reconsider and alter the whole concept of the Prologue and Act II in general.

The Prologue that we announced a year ago was initially supposed to be a cinematic trailer explaining Act II's backstory and providing lore on Shial and the Shadow Elves. As work on it went on and on, we expanded the script and concept, ending with a whoppin' 20+ minute long quasi-machinima, about 70% of which was done by December. Then we asked ourselves, "would people actually want a video that long, would it be fun?" After discussing matters, we first considered making it a pseudo-campaign instead, with some basic gameplay sections between cutscenes. But then it clicked, "why not actually make it an exciting mini-campaign, incorporating several missions from Act II proper, and release it as the first part of Act II"? And it took only a small step from there for the campaign to finally become a trilogy.

The thing is that Act II, unlike Act I, was based on the campaign we had partially finished in 2006, and also incorporated new plot lines from the 2017 version (namely, the whole thing about the sayaad, and expanded arcs for Mizrakh and Stephania as protagonists). And we also had to tie up loose ends from Act I and add them into the mix. This seemed fine for a while, but as the work went on, we realized we're bordering the dreaded story/character bloat. Another major issue was fitting all that in playable missions - Reforged engine enhancements notwithstanding, we pushed at the maps' limits with reckless abandon (512x512 sized Boralus, and the mission which had Lakeshire, the City of Screams and WotA era Zin-Azshari on one map take the cake) - actually, this already lead us to cutting existing chapters into smaller parts. What we came to in the end was its logical conclusion - to split Act II into three standalone Episodes, each consisting of shorter, more varied and dynamic missions with parts of the Prologue cinematic repurposed and expanded into cutscenes between them.

So how will this decision affect further development of Act II? First and most important, there will not be a dramatic increase in size and production time, as the project's core remains the same, with all the events and missions that were already in Act II's plan. Making one big campaign split into three smaller ones and adding more "meat" on the existing "bones" will allow us to deliver a more cohesive, immersive and engaging campaign that avoids both bloating and cutting of content, and that tells the story as it deserves to be told. It will also let the player explore the unique gameplay of new races and heroes, providing much more diverse setting and style for each mission. Every Episode will consist of three story arcs, and the length of each arc will vary between 2-5 maps. We're not talking about monster sized maps, no - some will be as big as Act I's prologue, but many will be much shorter. In fact, Act I's infamous second mission ("defend Karabor, explore sewers, run for your lives from dark naaru") is equivalent to 3 or maybe even 4 missions of Act II in length. In general, we expect a single Episode to be 60-75% the size of the whole Act I. Episodes will be released one after one. Naturally, they will be compatible with each other, and subsequent ones will include the previous part(s).

The Bleeding Gardens (which get a spotlight in Episode I's final arc) are possibly the most eerie and haunting location on Shial's world we've made thus far. Drawing inspiration not just from cosmic horror stories but from mythological fae and their habitat (more on that later!), the final concept is best described as "Nightmare in Wonderland". Beautiful giant flowers that feed upon rotten corpses. Singing streams of blood. Masked elves merged with trees... It's not a barren hellscape or an ominous eldritch temple infested by tentacle horrors, it's even more disturbing - and we won't have it any other way.

Of course, we also have ominous eldritch temples infested by tentacle horrors - can't go without them! The Nameless City is both a homage to Lovecraftian classics and a reimagining of Blizzard's Black Empire concept. Once again, more on that later!

That said, the Twilight's Hammer Clan is eager to let in some Void horrors into Azeroth as well...

Act I already provided a huge variety to the Horde troops as most orcish clans got unique units. In Act II, we've both reimagined and redone each of them in Classic++, and expanded the rosters even further! Here are the Thunderlord, the Warsong and the Shattered Hand clan previews, but there are many more, and we'll be revealing them soon enough, hopefully with a unit chart.

And now for something completely different! Goblins and gnomes play second fiddle in the plot, but they're too cool to be left out - and thus we included a small glimpse of their affairs in Episode I. And the goblin island city of Kezan will be prominently featured in Episode II!

So when is it all done? Considering the abovementioned Prologue situation, we decided it's better not to announce precise release dates anymore, even followed by "if all goes well" - as there are too many factors outside our control. So we won't say anything about Episode I's timing other than "when it's done", else it's tempting fate. What we can assure you of is that HoS retains the same high priority (in fact, it's one of the things that keep some of us motivated and inspired in general) and work on it is never paused. It may go slow at times, but it goes well, and we're aiming at doing our best and delivering something truly awesome.

Did you think this is all? Oh, it's only Day 1 that has come to its end, and this Development Update is a King Sized Special for a reason. We've prepared an expanded section dedicated to aspects of HoS lore and gameplay that were previously explored only briefly - or were kept in reserve. Now the time is right - and we'll tell you more about the Act I's aftermath and the Twilight's Hammer clan, the Nameless City, and, most importantly, what we promised last year - all that you need to know about the Shadow Elves! We did a huge amount of work on finalizing their visual design, lore and roster concepts (the Paths we announced previously have evolved into more unique and balanced Facets), as well as having it all wrapped up as tie-in short stories complete with developers' commentary! Be sure to check here for Day 2 and Day 3 updates - there's much more to come!

 

[Rommel]

The Dying Time and the Twilight's Hammer

The Rise of the Horde was not a war, for wars have victors. It was not a plague, for plagues eventually subside, making the survivors stronger. It was, perhaps, more akin to a wildfire - a conflagration devoid of purpose, devouring all in its wake before running out of sustenance. Flames died to embers, embers became ash, and the Deceiver's petty vengeance ended with his pawns becoming the deceived. Dusk has fallen upon Draenor. Those who sought to be the conquerors realized they were naught but slaves to alien schemers, and the only reward they earned was the right to writhe in hunger and agony upon their world's cooling corpse. The Dying Time has come.

The verdant forests of Terokkar and the lush jungle of Gorgrond were now graveyards of rotting tree-corpses. Seas of grass turned to cracked, gray wasteland. Sun, a sullen, bloodshot eye, barely peered through a haze of ash and fel-dust. The very air tasted of cinders and despair. The elementals, ancient spirits of storm, rock, river, and flame, had not just renounced the unfaithful orcs, but vanished in final, absolute silence. The world-song was gone, replaced by a hollow, moaning wind, and the laughter of thirsting dae'mons.

Starvation was the new chieftain. It ruled with a skeletal fist. The great clefthoof herds have been long butchered into nothingness. The rivers ran thin and bitter. In their desperation, the clans turned on the only remaining source of sustenance: each other. The bonds of honor, already strained by demonic corruption, snapped completely. Skirmishes over a brackish pond or a patch of mutated fungi became bloody battles of extermination. The strong preyed upon the weak, and "weakness" was a term applied liberally.

It was the Frostwolf Clan that bore the brunt of this savage purging. Branded as cowards for their refusal to drink the blood of Mannoroth, and traitors for their perceived lack of commitment to the Horde's dark cause, they became the scapegoats for the collective rage and shame of their peers. Yet the Frostwolves still had teeth, they fought back, and Durotan's will to live had not yet succumbed to fatalism.

Shadows gathered and thickened, moving with purpose in the dead of night, followed by the screams of orc sentries who vanished without a trace. Some said these were vengeful ghosts of the slaughtered. Others, more terrifyingly, claimed it were the surviving draenei - with nothing to lose and even less mercy in their hearts. These whispers fueled paranoia which, in turn, bred even more violence.

In the shadow of the Black Temple, amidst defiled shrines and charred gardens, Teron'gor surveyed the ruin. The Burning Legion was silent, its interest in Draenor seemingly spent. Worse yet, this turn of events has proven Gul'dan weak in the eyes of those who could see through the warlock's hollow pride and arrogant claims. Teron'gor feigned respect, but his loyalty was gone. Chased by visions of the future where he looked into his dark reflection - a hooded, winged living alien corpse clad in rusted armor, astride a skeletal nightmarish steed - he sought to save not the Horde, but his own life. He began new, frantic experiments with dimensional rifts, seeking a doorway to any world that wasn't this dying wasteland.

His efforts drew attention from strange and unlikely partners. Out of the shadows emerged the accursed few - the Sargerei, fel-corrupted traitor draenei who had gambled on the Legion's victory and lost, and were now as stranded and despised as the orcs. An alliance of pure, cynical necessity was forged in the dark halls beneath the Temple as Teron'gor accepted the offer of the Sargerei's leader, one known as Socrethar. Soon, to this uneasy pact came Cho'gall, the Twilight Lord, his twin minds plagued by whispers from beyond the warlocks' understanding. To him, Draenor was a spent shell, a corpse unworthy of burial, and his insane eyes were set on new worlds to desecrate and consume.

Together, this trio of the damned - the warlock, the heretic, and the mad prophet - resumed Gul'dan's experiments in Gorgrond. Throwing every life they could scavenge - from captive Frostwolves to summoned sayaad and imps - upon the pitch-black stone of the abandoned prototype demonic gate, they succeeded in tearing a hole in reality. Their further experiments, however, were catastrophic failures, resulting in unstable portals that vomited forth chaotic energies or collapsed in on themselves, consuming the prisoners and the warlocks alike. Teron'gor never found an escape route he craved. Yet, in their desperate scrabbling at the walls of the world, he and his allies made enough noise to be heard. Not by the indifferent demons of the Twisting Nether, but by something older, hungrier, and infinitely more patient - the Gods Beyond, the Lords of the Void Eternal.

Years later, when the Twilight's Hammer clan stepped through the Dark Portal onto the rich, living soil of Azeroth, a change began. It was subtle at first. The constant, feverish bickering among the Pale Orcs quieted. Cho'gall's two heads, usually arguing in dissonant cacophony, would sometimes fall into a unified, unsettling silence. His clan, once a disorganized mob of wretches and scavengers, began to move and attack with a predatory cohesion.

What Blackhand never knew (and what Gul'dan only suspected as he eavesdropped on Sargeras' thoughts) was Azeroth's true purpose - a nascent, maturing Worldsoul to be corrupted in her dreams. The Gods Below, ancient and vast, slumbered in their prisons. Their presence saturated the very stone, the water, the air. They acknowledged the invading Horde as a tool of destruction, but as for Cho'gall, they recognized in him a willing vessel who had already been tapping into the fringes of the Void's power on his dying homeworld, and who was destined to become a Harbinger.

The whispers that had been faint echoes in Cho'gall's mind became a clear, commanding chorus. The Pale Orcs, their bodies already attuned to the Void from generations of dwelling in the darkest places of Draenor, were remade. Their sickly pallor gained an oily, iridescent sheen. Their eyes, once weak, now saw the world not as solid matter, but as a tapestry of lies, its true, writhing essence laid bare. Their fanaticism was refined from chaotic rage into a purposeful madness.

Almost overnight, the Twilight's Hammer transformed from a laughingstock into a devastatingly effective strike force. They fought with a terrifying disregard for conventional tactics, their movements seemingly chaotic yet achieving objectives with brutal efficiency. They were fearless, for they knew death would only mean merging with the glorious dark matter that would consume all things.

To Blackhand and Gul'dan, they presented a mask of fawning loyalty. They took the most dangerous missions, bled the human armies, and offered up the spoils to the Warchief. But in the shadows, they pursued a different agenda entirely. They sought out places of ancient power - caverns that hummed with a deep, alien resonance, standing stones arranged in mind-numbing patterns. Sooner rather than later, they found what they were seeking - a door to the city that had no name and no place in the palpable reality. A single word was etched into Cho'gall's dual souls as he was, for a moment, lost in the gaze of a myriad crimson eyes - "Shial". Now, he knew his true purpose.

Developer Notes: As Episode I begins with possibly the darkest era in Warcraft's canon history, the Dying Time, we were adamant about displaying the clans' descent into civil war and madness in all its gruesome detail. But the Warsong, the Shattered Hand and the Thunderlords only get their five minutes of fame in the opening mission before they're left behind, and no matter how deliciously villainous Gul'dan, Blackhand, Hellscream and Bladefist are, it's Cho'gall who steals the spotlight as the main antagonist in Episode I (that is, until the Archdespot and Raduloth appear) - and he's not coming alone. Being both an orc clan and a Voidsworn faction, the Twilight's Hammer fits the plot's needs almost too well, especially considering the Chronicle's details about their endeavours in Azeroth. The canon transformation from a zealous but unruly bunch of outcasts into a disciplined militant cult is a major story point, as they now realize the Void is more than some distant maddening whispers - it's a primal cosmic force served by gods and capable of corrupting or devouring worlds on a whim.

As a part of Blackhand's Horde, the Pale and their two-headed master eagerly fake unquestioning loyalty to the Warchief and the Shadow Council, but their true goal is making the Hour of Twilight happen - and that requires spilling lots and lots of blood... To this end, they are reshaped into warrior-fanatics who no longer draw strength from numbers alone - their very bodies and souls, as well as armor and weapons forged from Dark Iron ore, are tempered by shadow magic and mutated by dark blessings of the Old Gods. This is perhaps best exemplified by their late tier unit, the Void-Blessed. While he was already a pretty creepy big guy in Act I, by now he's grown into something even creeper and bigger, a living, walking flesh-shrine to the Void, twisted into a hideous imitation of a Faceless One - and he's literally faceless to drive the point home. We've actually made a standalone version of his model to represent a Draenor era Void-Blessed in Act I remake first missions of Act II, where these fellows can only dream of growing some extra eyes and tentacles as a gift from N'Zoth.

The rank-and-file Pale, while much more mundane (after all, making an entire faction of fancy Void mutants would have a say with the canon), are no slouches either. Even their most basic and pathetic unit, the Wretch, has become the Hammerite. While he hasn't gained much in terms of clothing or muscle, he's got a hammer, a shield and an unyielding devotion to the Old Gods - and he's not afraid to use them. The Hammerites are among the most combat-capable worker units, and believe us, facing a crowd of angry zealots with heavy blunt objects isn't as easy as it sounds. "Proper" warrior types are even fightier than that, and we had a lot of fun studying WoW: Cataclysm's art book to pick and alter Blizzard's designs to keep the faction's style but center it more about Void imagery and crude orcish craftsmanship rather than elementals and dragons (which canonically aren't involved in that era's Twilight matters).


The Nameless City

Long before the orcs invaded Azeroth, a city devoid of names pulsed like a gargantuan heart at the center of the Black Empire. Y'Shaarj, the greatest and the most terrible of the Gods Below, had not built this place - he had birthed it. His seven-headed body, embedded deep within Azeroth's crust, erupted with rivers of obsidian and pallid gold, their waves rising up to solidify as walls and edifices. Obelisks engraved with runes of madness rose up from throbbing pustules, while crimson membranes crystallized into stained glass. Columns of muscle and bridges of sinew screamed, taking disturbingly symmetrical shapes in mockery of the Makers' architecture.

The city sprawled across the continent beyond the sight of Y'Shaarj's many eyes, a maze of cyclopean pyramids, ooze-weeping monoliths and macabre statues. But below? Below, it descended. Tunnels bored through the planet's mantle like colossal maggot trails, down, down, until the very air curdled into black blood. Billions of arachnoid aqir, dutiful children of the Gods Below, kept gnawing at the world's foundation, making way for Y'Shaarj's tendrils - and where these tendrils clenched, the Void Eternal bled into reality, seeking to corrode the veil shielding Azeroth's nascent soul.

Then came the Makers. They were not pleased with what they saw.

The Makers' wrath was surgical. Phalanxes of Titanforged warriors have been deployed, cutting bloody swaths through swarms of aqir and laying siege to the temple-cities of the Gods Below. Y'Shaarj was the first to perish - by the Aman'thul the All-Father's very hand, he was ripped screaming from the planet's crust, his death-throes splitting the continent. A wound the size of a small sea gaped in his absence, waves of Azeroth's lifeblood - pure arcane flame - scouring the city's upper layers into glass. The Makers were quick to cauterize what remained - searing the hordes of aqir from existence, shattering charred pyramids to dust and melting tunnels shut. Yet they dared not annihilate the city entirely - the wound kept growing, threatening to end Azeroth's very existence. It took the combined efforts of the Pantheon to stabilize it into a fount of arcane energies that would be later called the Well of Eternity. Soon afterwards, the war against the Gods Below came to an end. One by one, Y'Shaarj's brethren have been subdued, their colossal bodies maimed, twisted minds forced into deep, dark sleep. Yet the Makers' work was not yet done.

The Pantheon ordered Highkeeper Ra and Prime Designate Odyn, as well as their Keepers, Watchers and numberless Titanforged armies, to safeguard Azeroth for all the time to come. As they were tasked with building vaults and erecting fortresses upon the ruins of shattered temple-cities, Thalioch the Unblinking, a towering demigod forged of searing brass, was appointed to keep watch at the heart of vanquished corruption. Liquid lightning coursing in Thalioch's veins, his face covered by an emotionless half-mask with a single mechanical eye, he was created for a threefold task: guard the corpse-city, study its corruption, and, should the surviving Gods Below stir, summon the Pantheon. Thalioch answered to none but Aman'thul himself, and neither Odyn, nor Ra had any authority to modify his designation.

For millennia, Thalioch stood vigil. His constructs patrolled the fossilized tunnels, lights of Maker machinery casting long shadows across decaying aqir husks. But while Y'Shaarj's death reduced him to hungering yet powerless echoes, his city never truly died. It was looking for a new master to coil around and feed upon, and soon N'Zoth, the chained and crippled God of the Deep, stirred in his agonized slumber. He dreamt of plans within plans, each of them immediately became reality, eagerly carried out by surviving aqir. A war of silent retaliation has begun. The Void Eternal was no longer content with simply destroying the invaders. Its vengeance demanded meticulous desecration.

When shadows slithered into Titanforged facilities, they did not strike with force. They were seeping tangible distortion, corroding celestial alloys and blanketing logic-driven artificial minds with static. One by one, the Watchers and their creations were consumed by discord. Ra has surrendered to despair, abandoning his unforgiving children whose greatest king later came to butcher him. Odyn was trapped in a gilded paradise, unaware of his treacherous brother Loken pitting the Makers' creations against each other and backstabbing the survivors. Finally, the most insidious of curses was unleashed upon Azeroth, transforming metal and plasma into flesh and blood, turning the Makers' obedient, stalwart construct-soldiers into weak and vulnerable mortals, cruelly "blessed" with free will - only to better understand their suffering at the whim of the Gods Below.

Thalioch was one of the last to remain untainted. For years, he attempted to contact the Pantheon - only to be answered with deathly silence. Finally, his protocols faltered - but not the way the Void intended. The brass colossus dismissed his directives only to choose a glorious ride into oblivion. He stormed out of the corpse-city astride a cyclopean beast of molten metal, leading an army of constructs - gold-winged Titanforged maidens and towering walker-machines followed by countless battle automatons, each of them a warrior of metal unmarred by the Curse of Flesh. He led his host south, intending to reach the halls of Uldum, where the Makers' ultima ratio was waiting to be triggered - the Re-Origination Protocol, an eldritch arcane weapon meant to scour Azeroth of all life, wiping the world clean to prevent a worse fate.

The Gods Below sent everything they had against Thalioch's host. While not as numerous as before, swarms of aqir kept striking relentlessly both from the skies and from under the ground. Monstrous Faceless Ones arose, throwing themselves upon the wall of lightning-charged shields and spears to crush what they could not corrupt. Tribes of primitive mortals joined the fray, roused by maddening whispers and eagerly paying with hundreds of their lives to pause the metal host for an additional moment. Waist-deep in mortal blood and arachnoid ichor, Thalioch's warriors pressed on. The brass giant himself seemed invulnerable, incinerating foes with his very presence.

Yet Thalioch's final charge was as valiant as it was meaningless. The Gods Below had no intention of defeating the Watcher in battle, merely distracting him. Once Y'Shaarj's corpse-city was abandoned by the Titanforged, agents of N'Zoth were quick to claim it. The God of the Deep guided the creatures to a functional Maker communication console. His minions' eyes and tendrils acting as his own, N'Zoth wasted no time searching for a way to sever or corrupt Thalioch's connection to his army. Yet all of sudden, something else happened. A return signal from the Seat of the Pantheon has finally reached Azeroth, bringing the final message - and a terrible vision.

The Makers were dead.

As the wickedest of N'Zoth's dreams seemed to have come true, the collective conscience of the Gods Below rippled with echoes of triumphant glee, sending their slaves into mindless, ecstatic frenzy. Yet what followed was a cold, sober realization - the Pantheon's ender was no ally to them either, in fact, he was their most dire foe. The Fallen Titan, Sargeras, has murdered his kin without regrets - only to remove an obstacle that impeded his Burning Crusade. But Sargeras' true goal was to wipe the Void Eternal from the face of the universe, no matter the cost.

Severing the signal a heartbeat before drawing the Legion's attention, N'Zoth contemplated this new knowledge for a few moments that lasted an eternity for him. The God of the Deep was incapable of feeling fear as mortals knew it, yet his dark, incomprehensible senses screamed of danger - he faced more than a temporary defeat, but a true cessation of existence. What followed was blind, seething rage. N'Zoth was quick to weaponize it, his scheming nature demanding putting even unwanted emotions to a purpose - and this time, it worked perfectly.

The God of the Deep commanded all of his brethren's minions, pawns and slaves on the battlefield to die. Their bodies burst into clouds of gore and bile which hung in the air, churning and twisting as they slowly formed a massive visage woven with crimson streaks. Before Thalioch's sole eye, the end of the Makers was revealed - their thrones empty, shattered bodies piled at the Fallen One's feet. And at the same moment, the Pantheon's final message has been broadcast into Titanforged's minds through a secure channel possessed by N'Zoth.

"Stand down. Nothing matters anymore. The end has come."

This battle had no victors. What remained of the forces of the Gods Below harmlessly rained down upon the defeated metal host. One by one, automatons lowered their weapons, engine-hearts stopping, plasma in their veins dying to embers. Thalioch was broken in a single blink of his eye. He collapsed, giving in to the Curse of Flesh as his mind was devoured by darkest desperation. Soon, in a metal demigod's stead, a scalded, bleeding giant was kneeling, every breath an unbearable torment to his new form. Yet a few drops of Thalioch's lightning essence endured, carried away to become one with the storm clouds.

Far, far away, in the waking corpse-city, N'Zoth's agents feasted on Y'Shaarj's lingering essence, but they did not act further. In the silence that fell upon the vaulted halls, the God of the Deep learned something terrible... and wonderful. With the Makers gone, their machinery could be used for much more than interstellar communication. It was capable of piercing the reality's fabric, opening rifts to other worlds and other times. Driven by pure vindictiveness, N'Zoth guided the oculus' sight into the future, seeking to unravel Thalioch's ultimate fate. What unfolded before his many eyes, was most rewarding - the Watcher's flesh-body, greatly weakened and diminished, was chained and crippled as the spawn of the Gods Below were conducting a ritual to desecrate the Makers' failed servant beyond redemption. Pleased but thirsting for more, N'Zoth dared to press on, following the threads of time, while repelling his brothers' mental assault - in their envy, the God of Swarms and the God of Death demanded a share of the conquered knowledge. Built by the anathema of the Gods Below's kin, the machine-oculus resisted unsanctioned entry, the strain threatening to cripple N'Zoth's mind. Deeming the risks too dire, he soon retreated, pained and sated with stolen visions.

He chose to wait and digest what he learned, dreaming of horrors yet to come.

As he plundered the Makers' data-vaults, the God of the Deep was granted glimpses of the future, vague and tantalizing. He dreamt of a new civilization rising - once-primitive mortals uplifted, transformed and empowered by what they called the Well of Eternity - the world's wound, Y'Shaarj's grave. His many eyes were all but blinded by the Light of Lights - a queen whose beauty and power were matched only by her hubris. But then he realized that this searing radiance would not outlive her empire, both destined to die beneath the dark waves, and that he would personally bring her down into the hungering abyss, twisting the Maker-inspired false perfection of her form into a shape pleasing his resentful gaze.

Azshara.

The God of the Deep dreamt of heretical ceremonies staining moonlit temples with ink-black sigils, he savoured lies to whisper and discord to breed, shivered in anticipation of feeding and absorbing. He knew all too well he was spawned by the Void Eternal to be the bringer of this world's ruin. But he also dreamt of others like him, and not all of them were direct kin to the Gods Below. One, wearing the body of a mortal, would soon become N'Zoth's ally - but never his pawn. His visage was most harmless, but the God of the Deep could see beyond flesh, into what was primordial, starless blackness - the non-existence's heart and soul.

Raduloth.

The God of the Deep dreamt of his dead brother's corpse-city. These dreams were bitter, as N'Zoth knew his dominion over it would not last. In a ritual that not even the Gods Below were supposed to fully comprehend, the nameless city was to be ripped from Azeroth and hurled across the cosmos to be merged with another world. There, it would be resurrected not as it was, but as it should have been. He could see it all in his dreams. Ziggurats of pallid gold rising above mountains of flesh, their summits crowned with eyeballs of false stars. Temples molten into impossible geometries. Chitinous bodies grafted onto the architecture like living mortar. At the city's heart, where Y'Shaarj's tendrils once coiled, a cathedral of pulsating membranes would rise, its hexagonal spires fusing with the bleeding firmament. The air, thick as bile, would thrum with a chorus of half-formed voices, praising non-existence in languages that died long before the Gods Below came to be. On each mural, on every stained-glass window thirty-three eyes, thirteen mouths and three faces would be pictured in crimson to glorify the Neverborn.

Shial.

Developer Notes: The concept of the Nameless City (aka the Forgotten City) comes from the earliest Shadow Elf designs, originally being inspired both by D&D's Menzoberranzan and R.E. Howard's lost cities of ancient decadent races. As the story evolved, we decided to move beyond Azeroth with the Shadow Elves, especially since having another subterranean kingdom of spider-worshippers sounded too similar to Azjol-Nerub. Still, the Nameless City remained, updated to match the Chronicle lore and also provide a new twist - now rewritten as the temple-city of Y'Shaarj that later became the foundation for Azshara's empire. In the Heart of Storms' actual story, it exists as a standalone dimension, linking Azeroth to Shial in more than one way.

Design-wise, we based it off the Black Empire, Nya'lotha and aqir/nerubian cities, but with additional visual cues to Shial's world, and an abundance of gold - we were inspired by Y'Shaarj being the only Old God wearing jewelry, as well as H.P. Lovecraft's descriptions of eerie pale gold used by the Deep Ones, resulting in what we called "pallid gold", an eldritch semi-sentient metal.

As for Thalioch, he evolved from a concept of Cho'gall having a corrupted and enslaved Titanic Watcher as a summoned unit, but toying with various ideas for his story eventually gave this character a lot of relevance in the narrative. Let's just say he's here not just for providing exposition and having his no-longer-metallic butt kicked in a boss fight. If you noticed some similarities to the Stygian Phalanx design, or maybe Dr. Aedelein's big steampunk mitten, you're on the right trail...

 

[Rommel]

The Shadow Elves

Beneath the hateful gaze of dying stars, the Taen'dorei, known to their enemies as the Shadow Elves, carve a path through the Great Dark Beyond. Their history is one of woe, grim irony and paradox: they are a people born from both salvation and betrayal, survivors who willingly traded moonlight for the whispering dark. Ten thousand years ago, as Queen Azshara's empire crumbled in the cataclysmic fires of the War of the Ancients, a desperate sect of heretical Kaldorei tore open a rift to the alien world of Shial. This act of cosmic defiance saved them from annihilation... but bound their souls to a far older, hungrier power. The rift did not merely bridge worlds - it fused them. A part of Azeroth has been absorbed into Shial's very essence, providing the tainted Worldsoul with new memories, new goals... and new servants.

The Taen'dorei deem their homeworld shattered and lost, but neither did they settle upon the new refuge's surface. Instead, they took to the bleeding skies of Shial - and beyond. Now they sail the endless aether-oceans aboard living armadas, each vessel a grotesque masterpiece of pallid gold, obsidian, crystallized gore and petrified web shaped to both honor and mock the proud spires of Zin-Azshari. These are no mere ships; they are nomadic city-states, their hulls fused with the flesh of Shial herself. Ribbed with claws and tendrils, adorned with rows of all-seeing eyes and crowned with spiraling towers of sacrifice, they ride the astral winds and drift between dimensions, their shadow eclipsing suns as they pass.

Note: since the tilesets for the living vessels' interiors aren't finished yet (as they won't appear in Episode I and II), all the Shadow Elves on these screenshots are depicted either in the Bleeding Gardens or in the Nameless City, as per Act II story. They fit there well, but it's not their natural architecture.

As trueblood descendants of the Kaldorei, the Taen'dorei did not forsake their forebears' purpose of bringing beauty into the world - yet their ancestral fairness now is as alluring as it is alien, disturbing and lethal. Veins beneath unnaturally smooth grey skin shimmer with crimson iridescence, hinting at tainted blood and bile coursing within. Their silky hair is often woven with gold filaments, hidden razors and strands of living nerve. Taen'dorei architecture and fashion are a twisted elegy to the lost wonders of the Kaldorei empire. Sweeping, graceful arches end in hooked barbs and blades, every surface crawling with fractal patterns that shift when unobserved. Flowing garments reveal more than they conceal, translucent fabric embroidered with crimson thread that moves on its own to form mind-numbing words of forbidden tongues. Jewelry isn't worn, it's grown: living gold vines clamp around wrists, diadems's petals burrow into skulls. Intricate patterns of metal, silk and flesh inevitably amalgamate into the eight-pointed Sigil of Ruin, the dreaded sign of the Void Eternal.

"Where we are going, we won't need eyes to see", such was the promise, and thus each and every Taen'dorei has sacrificed their sight - meeting the gaze of the Void Eternal just once is enough to have one's eyeballs boil and burst. Some hide their scars, wearing jeweled masks or websilk veils, others let the charred blackness gape for all to see. Yet no Shadow Elf is blind - Shial can be generous when it comes to mending wounds suffered in her name. Tiny but sharp-sighted sparks of primordial Void matter are embedded into empty sockets, and even the lowliest Aetherites are each granted a living third eye in the middle of the forehead. Others receive more elaborate gifts, eventually beginning to resemble visages of the Spider Mother herself - perverse tapestries of blinking eyes and bleeding cuts, razortoothed maws and full-lipped mouths, worm-like tendrils and poisonous mandibles aligned in perfect symmetry.

For all their dread majesty, the Taen'dorei are fundamentally different from most Voidsworn. They believe and serve not out of fanaticism, but logic. To them, Shial's victory is as inevitable as entropy. Unlike the faithful of countless Void cults, they live by a chillingly simple thesis: collaboration with the apocalypse isn't madness, it is the most rational decision ever. As their fleets descend upon unsuspecting worlds, the Taen'dorei broadcast no threats, demand no surrender. Their message is short and honest, whispered directly into the minds below: "She hungers. So do we".

While the Void Eternal's touch eventually dissolves entire civilizations into chaos and savagery, twisting even the most noble of creatures, the Taen'dorei suffered a different fate - perhaps much more horrific. For all their aberrance, one can hardly argue they haven't forsaken their legacy. On the contrary, the Shadow Elves embody the ancient Kaldorei's ideals elevated to absolutes. Above and beyond mortals' envy, they enjoy a perfect, utopian existence, a balance of personal freedom and society's embrace. With an abundance of servant creatures spawned through flesh-engineering and Void thaumaturgy, the Taen'dorei need not sully themselves with menial labor, dedicating their lives to art, science and intrigue. All of their complex and many-faceted emotions are enjoyed to the fullest, in stark and gruesome contrast to Shial's loveless step-children, the sayaad, whose entire lives' purpose is to be one with the Blessed Anguish.

Yet the price of the Shadow Elves' prosperity is steep, although one may believe it isn't for them to pay. Like all of the Void Eternal's servants, they are consumed by madness, but theirs is one of a rare and insidious kind. The Taen'dorei's whole perception is based on complete denial of reality outside their own civilization's existence. They matter. Their peers, betters, family and companions do. Their pets. Even their semi-sentient ships. But absolutely no one else.

From Taen'dorei's viewpoint, outsiders are not enemies - they are inanimate imitations of life, referred to as "untrue ones". It doesn't mean they are not in danger, however, as essential resources are demanded in great quantities - and these resources include nearly everything that can be taken from a mortal.

The Shadow Elves deem sentience but a measure of energy yield. A child's cry of pain can be woven into a melody just like a crystal bell's chime or an insect's chittering. Unmaking a civilization is a logistical triumph, a masterpiece finalized. And the most terrifying part? The Taen'dorei's perfect Void-powered immortality is deceptively contagious and sometimes, unbeknownst to the Shadow Elves themselves, is "gifted" to random untrue ones on board the living vessels as well - breeding the worst of horrors. Even after having their muscles unraveled to be recycled in thaumaturgical vats, liquified neural matter conserved for use in varnish and paint recipes, and souls distilled into wine, even after becoming nothing, dissolved for raw materials, such victims do not die, their suffering feeding nameless shadows nesting in the darkest places aboard. This is a paradox beyond the Taen'dorei's comprehension, never spoken of out loud, and while some consider this a secret tithe demanded by the Void Eternal, others are mildly annoyed at the very fact that immortality is not exclusively theirs to keep.

The haunting beauty of the Taen'dorei's paradise is fed by endless, guilt-free sanctification of non-existence in its most intricate and decadent form. The Shadow Elves consider themselves free of "uncouth" malice and cruelty, they are not alien to concepts of right and wrong, of love, sorrow, loyalty, bliss and pain - but they are incapable of applying them to anyone beyond their kin, nor of conceptualizing suffering outside their own. A flawless species, an epitome of elven perfection and beauty, the Taen'dorei gaze into the insaturable abyss and see only their own reflection.

Developer Notes: Now where do we start... The Shadow Elves were perhaps the greatest challenge that HoS team faced in terms of both story and visual design. As we told you in the previous Development Update, this race, unsurprisingly, was originally based on D&D's drow but went a long way since the basic "evil white-haired, spider-loving elves living underground" premise. While making them loyal servants of Shial and, by extension, the Void, was a given, one pitfall we were adamantly going to avoid was making them simply "cultist elves" or "mutant elves". We studied various interpretations of dark elves in popular culture, going all the way down to 1970's with Michael Moorcock's Melniboneans and ElfQuest's Gliders (whose concept of "evil healing" actually inspired our Void thaumaturgy), and then it was the matter of finding out how deep we can dig.

It paid off the moment we read and discussed the full version of Michael Drayton's "Nymphidia, Or the Court of Faery" which J.R.R. Tolkien bashed in his essay on fairy tales - and that light-hearted 19th century poem (the good Professor's justified criticism notwithstanding) actually made it all click. So, we want scheming elves with invertebrates for pets? Okay, in "Nymphidia", King Oberon has a palace with walls of spider legs, eyes for windows and scalps for ceilings, and his wife rides a chariot made of giant crickets' husks. That's friggin' METAL!

From there, it was actually a self-assembling puzzle - various stories of the "fair folk" provided us with tons and tons of inspiration of what insidious insect-elves should look and act like. Well, the way they looked and acted like centuries before mainstream fantasy RPGs, i.e. like complete, utter horrors under the thin disguise of cute winged humanoids. Long version available here: The Fair Folk - TV Tropes

Of course, no matter how crazy and malevolent, folklore pixies simply lack scale to feel truly dangerous. That's where the other key part of the Shadow Elves' concept kicked in - they're not villains out of nowhere, they've descended from the Kaldorei... and if Azshara held a decadent and magnificent court, now, with Shial, they're up for overshadowing it. This also inspired us to make them a Void-faring race. Rather than hiding somewhere underground on Azeroth, they inhabit great living ships and travel between worlds, taking what they want - in other words, they're the Wild Hunt on Lovecraftian steroids.

It was very easy to make them a carbon copy of, say, the Dark Eldar at this point - but that's where we decided we have enough truly evil antagonist races to make them even eviler. As a playable faction, the Shadow Elves needed to evoke some sympathy or appeal to the rule of cool. Instead of going with, say, "they do bad things to others so that Shial doesn't do bad things to them", we simply asked ourselves, "why would anyone want to serve a Void goddess in the first place", and made the Shadow Elves a "that's why" reply. They are not a bunch of moustache-twirling backstabbers or Hellraiser-esque supersadists (that's the sayaad's role anyway), but, rather, a functional, prosperous society taking most, if not all, Highborne virtues (and vices) to the extreme. Their fundamental monstrous trait is a complete lack of empathy - but instead of personal level, they're taking it to a race-wide scale. The Shadow Elves are capable of perfect chivalry and gallantry between themselves, they're elves doing elven things. They simply don't consider other races their equals - which is also quite an elven thing to do (and the Void only needed to push a little). This is even reflected in the game's dialogue - they won't address "untrue ones" directly, rather they'd comment on these characters in third person or just dismiss the talk as gibberish unworthy of their time.

Act II's development led to lots of internal discussions and gradual clarification of the Shadow Elves' visual concept - we picked themes already present among other Voidsworn, such as human cultists, the Twilight's Hammer or the sayaad, and brainstormed on what the Shadow Elves can have in their stead. For example, we veto-ed out most variations of "cthulhumanoids" (the Faceless Ones were instead made exclusive to Azeroth-based cults), and toned down unstable and chaotic mutations. Elves, even evil and Void-attuned ones, should never look like a mess of tentacles. Another "don't" was using their original boring color scheme with pale blue skin and grey metal. We went through many combinations (some of them quite outlandish) before settling on using abovementioned pallid gold as their main armor color, and going for more nuanced and varied hues of red and purple for crystals and particles. And while their skin and hair still keep mostly true to drow-esque classics, we went for a lot of variety there as well. As for the monstrous mutations, while we originally had rather macabre ideas (such as some Shadow Elves having half-insectoid faces), instead we went with more nuanced but probably even creepier details. Look in their eyes (or lack thereof) to get what we mean. And those fancy pallid gold ornaments? They actually grow out of the Shadow Elves' skin.

Previously, we announced the Paths system for the Shadow Elves. Now it has evolved into the Facets, the first three of which are playable sub-factions and also parts of the main Shadow Elf race.


The Five Facets

Within the living vessels' obsidian spires, a chilling normality reigns. Families exist, children taught the basics of Void thaumaturgy through disassembling sentient puzzles. Partnerships are sealed via contracts signed with token amounts of life essence, romance involves gifting sculptures carved from petrified screams. Crime is negligible, ambition rewarded, art flourishes in macabre galleries. The Shadow Elves' society is a crystal spider's lattice: rigid, interconnected, and lethal to those who strain its threads.

The unity of the Five Facets is the cornerstone of the Taen'dorei civilization, each of them a different reflection of the Shadow Elves' twisted symbiosis with the Void Eternal.


The Aetherite Facet: Poets of Pain

The Aetherites are the closest to what could be considered everymen in Taen'dorei society, yet by mortal races' standards, each of them is a dark genius. Artisans, musicians and sorcerers, these Void-touched visionaries weave magic and art into perverse marvels. Theirs are workshops where tireless loom-spiders unravel agony into voidsilk threads, and forges that burn cold with the black, preternatural flame kept alive by screaming soul-kindling.

Artists and craftsmen whose talent is an alluring hymn to non-existence, their canvas is flayed skin, carefully maintained by Void thaumaturgy to be able to feel each brushstroke. Metals used in their craft are sentient alloys fused with pallid gold - the Seven-Headed God's blood that lived long past his demise. Ashes collected from graves of incinerated kingdoms become pigment and texture. The Aetherites' creations are not mere art, but instruments of Shial's will: statues whose singing liquifies minds, tapestries that induce fanatical devotion, bleeding paintings inspiring soul-shattering despair.

While proper military training is absent from this Facet, each Aetherite is naturally a killer devoid of empathy. When called to war, even as they unleash devastating spells upon the Void Eternal's enemies, the Aetherites seek inspiration and praise their shadowy muses. While these maestros of dart arts may appear fickle and frivolous, embodying the elven spirit of yore, they serve their betters with great zeal and dedication. The Aetherites are the keepers of warped Kaldorei aesthetic, beauty weaponized.

Developer Notes: The Aetherites are more or less "pure" elves, similar to traditional Highborne and Nightborne with all their love for art, magic, intrigue and excessively complex tactics. Their gameplay style, fittingly, resembles both night elves and naga from the classic TFT campaigns - they are fragile, micro-heavy, extremely mobile (their hovering units can move over water, and others can Blink around or use other means of teleportation) and have an abundance of special abilities and spells. Yes, even though the Shadow Elves as a whole are a race of casters, this faction brings it up to eleven. They may be glass cannons, but they dish out not just raw damage but a lot of control and utility. In addition to "high skill, high risk, high reward" playstyle, the Aetherites have their ways of making sure their starter forces don't become obsolete later - like the option to individually upgrade Tier 1 units to Tier 3 ones.


The Spiderkin Facet: Arbiters of Reality

The Spiderkin form both Shial's preaching clergy and the militant arm of her cult. When not fighting in campaigns of extermination or plundering flesh and souls in surgical raids, they serve as inquisitors who police the Taen'dorei society, weeding out "reality deviants" - a thankless job, as very few Shadow Elves stray from Shial's creed. Grim fanatics led by stalwart battle-priestesses, the Spiderkin proudly live up to ancient Kaldorei traditions - yet in their own dark and perverse way. Appointed as guardians and custodians of the Taen'dorei civilization, the Spiderkin refer to wars they wage as preserving their ancestral legacy and expanding the elven empire, each conquest done in the name of Shial who claimed what both Azshara and Elune renounced.

Clad in carapace armor adorned with pallid gold and painted with black ichor, the Spiderkin ride to battle astride nightmarish many-legged mounts - some of whom actually are hideously mutated descendants of ancient sabercats, while others are unspeakable horrors created by soul-alchemy and Void thaumaturgy. It is common for the Spiderkin to become aberrant hybrids of elf and arachnid, riders' minds wired directly into their beasts' nervous systems, bodies fused together as a mockery of Cenarius' children.

Hatcheries and breeding pits below Spiderkin shrines spawn terror made flesh: swarms of chittering grotesques eager to drown enemies in living tides, crawling siege engines whose maws swallow entire regiments whole. Yet not all of the Spiderkin's battle-thralls are mindless monstrosities. Some, like the aqir of Azeroth, the qilrae of Ressa or the sayaad of Shial, are sapient, willing servants assimilated into the Taen'dorei bestiarum. This is a reflection of the Spiderkin's lesser known duty - they are also the Void Eternal's missionaries and diplomats, being the only ones disciplined enough to fake goodwill and pretend treating their mortal Voidsworn allies as nigh-equals when the situation demands cooperation. Rarely, their benevolent inclination is not a complete lie - the Taen'dorei have a semblance of affinity towards slave-races spawned by the Gods Below or reshaped by the Void Eternal's will, acknowledging them as creatures similar to their own pets. Such beings, when subdued and assimilated, are treated like carnivorous orchids - not even remotely sentient, but useful, beautiful and worthy of affection and care - while all others are just lumber for the mill and the pyre.

Developer Notes: The Spiderkin Facet is, naturally, a reflection of the "spider" part, centered around various arachnoid horrors - but they're also a dark mirror of the traditional night elf army of warrior priestesses and woodland beasts as their combat pets. Unlike two other playable Facets, they are tailored for "aggressive turtling" playstyle, utilizing a variety of deployable units to serve as anchors for the mass of cheap frontline attackers. They don't have loads of fancy spells or excessive mobility, but they can very well hold their own and dominate in a war of attrition, relying on synergy between chaff, support and heavy hitters. Their units, more often than not, can switch between modes, making some versatile and useful for a quick change of tactics, and others - a sort of mobile base to serve as the abovementioned anchors on the offensive. Just like the Aetherites, the Spiderkin have a way of making Tier 1 units still meaningful in the endgame - but this is achieved not via personal upgrades but, rather, via new combos with Tier 3 units.


The Fatespeaker Facet: the Shadow's Shadows

Depicted above: some of the Void-Ephemera which can be summoned by the Fatespeakers
Not depicted above: the Fatespeakers themselves whose terrible true forms are beyond comprehension (but we're working on it!)

Coming from the dark corners of reality are the Fatespeakers - messengers of apocalypse, pitch-black silhouettes wrapped in false trappings of mortal form. Once sorcerers and priests of great renown, they are elves no more, their flesh replaced with tenebrous matter that devours light, warmth and hope. In their wake, shadowy frost spreads like a blight, plants blacken and crumble, and even the bravest warriors feel their blood turn to ice - often literally.

The Fatespeakers are everywhere and nowhere - simultaneously aboard the Taen'dorei's living vessels, within the writhing depths of Shial's tormented world, and in the Void Eternal itself. They do not truly exist - they manifest, coalescing from the smallest shadow, slipping through the cracks of reality like blood and pus from under scabs. An ink blot upon a parchment, a tree's shade on a scorching day, a mortal's unwanted thought - any flicker of darkness enough for them to step forth.

True to the Facet's name, their language is fate itself. Prophecies unfold upon being uttered, time fractures, and laws of creation twist into grotesque parodies of themselves. The Fatespeakers' libraries, concealed within the living ships' forbidden towers, hold collections of Doom-Simulacra - horrific visages carefully crafted from dying worlds' memories to drown entire civilizations in madness and despair.

Some Fatespeakers are nothing but living portals disguised as humanoid shadows. When the time is right, they unfold, splitting open to disgorge Taen'dorei reinforcements or unleash the Void-Ephemera - unspeakable horrors from beyond the stars. Some say the Fatespeakers themselves are not individuals, but fragments of a greater darkness, and by summoning eldritch terrors, they are merely calling pieces of themselves to be made whole.

Among the Taen'dorei, the Fatespeakers are either feared and avoided, or commanded with extreme caution and suspicion. Yet they are essential to the Shadow Elves' survival. Without them, the living fleets would be lost in the Void Eternal's labyrinthine depths. They navigate, their minds attuned to the anti-dimensional pathways between dead worlds and doomed worlds, guiding ships through realms where time and space are meaningless.

Developer Notes: The Fatespeakers Facet reflects the "cultist" aspect of the Voidsworn. Gameplay-wise, they are a call-back to Warcraft I (and II) where spellcasters ruled the battlefield with their incredibly powerful summoned creatures (or, in II, deadly AoE). This sub-faction's regular units of flesh and blood are expendable - the player is encouraged not just to use them as fodder to divert enemy attention, but also to convert them into health and mana for the Fatespeakers proper, and sacrifice them to bring forth Void creatures - and there's quite a lot to choose from...

Generally, things summoned by the Fatespeakers are divided into two categories - the Void-Ephemera and the Doom-Simulacra. The former are various eldritch creatures which fill a variety of roles, but mostly serving as frontline attackers or powerful flying support. The latter are technically units as well, but have the immobile forms of Void shards or portals emanating various types of energies, like dealing AoE damage or providing area-based buffs and debuffs, and some also serving as long-range artillery or even more exotic siege weapons. The Fatespeakers themselves (coming in several types) are slow and vulnerable but quite versatile when it comes to evading direct combat. This sub-faction is perhaps the most complex and hard to master, but absolutely devastating when played right.


The Arachnitect Facet: the Ascended Few

The Shadow Elves' ruling caste, forged through ruthless meritocracy, the Arachnitects are the pinnacle of Taen'dorei evolution, beings so powerful that even the mightiest of demon lords would hesitate before challenging them. Way beyond elven shape, their bodies are living, walking cathedrals of chitin and pallid gold, monuments to Shial's glory and beacons of dark hope for her spawn and servants. Only their upper bodies are a vague reminder of what they once were, and their faces, no matter how warped and twisted, keep traces of ancestral beauty.

With inevitably gigantic and spiderlike, no two Arachnitects are the same, and they grow in size and power as long as they live - the weakest are a Pit Lord's match, while the greatest, eldritch ancient ones standing taller than pyramids erected in their name, may challenge entire armies and effortlessly win. Their exoskeletons are etched with markings of apocalypse, each sigil a portal into the Void Eternal. Some Arachnitects have vestigial wings of crystallized shadow, others are fused with parts of profane temples dedicated to the Gods Below. Many are veiled by entrancing grace and beauty, yet some, on the contrary, resemble abominable, many-legged mountains of rot and bile. Their flesh pulses with dark veins, their many hearts drum with the discordant din of ruin made manifest, and their myriad eyes planted into blackened sockets by Shial's own hand are hers to see through.

The Arachnitects hold court from the safety of their Arachnethereal Conclaves, ossified chrysalis-palaces in the living vessels' hearts. Within secure aether-webs spun from tormented souls and maintained by communicator-sorcerers, they debate in a language of telepathic fractals, their thoughts then carried by the Void's breath and manifesting in verdicts imprinted into the minds of their lessers. The Arachnitects' will is adamant, their decisions absolute, yet their judgement is surprisingly sane and practical. The Taen'dorei have no concept of punishment among their own: imprisonment, torture or sacrifice are reserved only for the untrue ones, while the Bloodweepers' very existence is both their penance and reward. Those Shadow Elves who stray are reeducated, and those who defy Shial are unmade, their existence scrubbed from reality by the Fatespeakers' touch.

But for all their might, the Arachnitects are still servants. Shial's will is their command. And when she whispers, even the greatest bow.

Developer Notes: As the Avatar of Shial was redesigned into a less spiderlike, more refined Titan-like figure (see below), we knew that the Shadow Elves still needed a grotesque, arachnoid leader the size of a Town Hall. Or maybe more than just one leader - after all, each living ship needs her captain. As the top dogs (or top spiders) of the Shadow Elf society, the Arachnitects are taking everything associated with this race to the logical extreme and beyond - and this is reflected by their design, too, as we decided there's no such thing as "over the top" when you're dealing with living, walking temples. Give one a priestly tiara bigger than her torso? Embed eyes in that tiara? Wire a portal to it? Yes please.

These big creepy-crawlies appear exclusively as cutscene characters - or as bosses (and then you're screwed). While they can be compared to Zerg Queens or Tyranid Bio-Titans, concept-wise, they also epitomize the mythos- and fae-inspired nature of the Shadow Elves as sophisticated, fickle and malevolent demigod(esse)s. More on that below!


The Bloodweeper Facet: Devoured by Dreams

In myriad gardens, orchards and conservatories aboard the living vessels, the Bloodweepers writhe. Once, they were the Highborne - Queen Azshara's chosen, the Kaldorei empire's regal, proud, pompous elite. And then, following the Taen'dorei exodus, those of them who survived had the gall of making the most arrogant of claims: "We are too beautiful, too important to serve!"

As the epitome of Shial's cruel irony, this demand has been nominally fulfilled. Beautiful like enchanted flowers, important to the whole of the Taen'dorei society, their lives are ones of leisure and dreaming.

Transformed into alluring amalgamations of tree and flesh, their hollow eyesockets weeping crimson, their roots burrowing into corpse-fed soil, and their pollen carrying visions of Azshara's court in its final hours, the Bloodweepers are more than just grotesque reminders of ancestral pride and folly: they have been made sustenance for both their former servants and their new goddess. Cursed pariahs and sacred energy sources, the Bloodweepers are trapped in eternal dreams as they are made relive Azshara's fall or bask in false pleasure. These dreams are not mere torment - they are fuel, they are nourishment, the cornerstone of the living fleets' existence. Oneiromantic energy is drained from their suspended agony and ecstasy, powering the vessels on their voyages. No Shadow Elf food or drink is served without its invigorating touch. Aetherite dream-gardeners tend to Bloodweeper plantations, a sarcastic reflection of obedient lowborn servitors once toiling at the Highborne's palaces and villas. They carefully prune nightmares and nurture delusions of freedom, curating bliss and despair to maximize the energy output.

Yet one may say that the Bloodweepers are indeed free of fears and worries, since they deny reality on a whole different level. Their minds are forever lost in the Reverie Unending - a phantasmal dreamscape woven from the Bloodweepers' collective consciousness over millennia. Here they experience paradises built from memories of ancient Kalimdor, fantasies of worlds beyond, impossible adventures and pleasures. Gardens of eternal starlight, libraries holding arcane knowledge, feasts of unequal splendor, reunions with lost loved ones... Yet their once-lessers, now meticulous jailers, inevitably allow these fantasies to fracture, plunging the hapless dreamers into personalized hellscapes - before permitting hope to blossom anew in another cycle of the Reverie. The Taen'dorei farm their fallen kin's emotional resilience, gorging on each shattering and renewal.

Cast outside the Shadow Elf society, the Bloodweepers are still its essential part, providing more than raw energy, but a rich, complex banquet of emotion for the Void Eternal. Feasts of fleeting dreams, crushing despair, ecstatic madness, vestiges of love and joy - all amplified by innate elven sensitivity - is one of the most intricate and refined forms of sacrifice even known to the Voidsworn, a reason for the Taen'dorei's dark goddess to be nothing but indulgent and generous.

Developer Notes: While always envisioned as a relatively minor non-playable mini-race, the Bloodweepers are a bit more than ordinary creeps - they are essential to the story and illustrate the depths of the former Highborne's downfall. Inspired by living trees from Dante's Inferno, these poor things are meant to reflect the darker, creepier (pun intended) side of treant-like creatures associated with the night elves. Oh, and basic Bloodweepers are technically destructibles and a source of lumber - and we provided additional effects for them. Having your peons harvest trees that bleed when chopped and scream when cut down is not for the faint of heart.

The Reverie Unending is a major part of Act II's plot and that's where several missions take place, allowing us to show "historical" events from a different angle without the usual story crutches such as time travel or alternate realities.


Above and beyond the Five Facets is...

Shial Herself, the Spider Mother

For the Shadow Elves, Shial has seamlessly replaced both the distant moon-mother Elune and the glorious god-queen Azshara. She is the living embodiment of their aesthetic and philosophical ideals. She is not prayed to, rather, she is admired. When she descends to walk among them, it is in an avatar that is a perverse reflection of Titan perfection: a colossal marble-skinned maiden of unearthly grace. With three faces, thirteen mouths and thirty-three eyes, she is beauty and horror intertwined, and her subjects find her flawless.

As a part of their pact with the Spider Mother, Shadow Elves of the present day have their true names guarded like the most precious heirlooms, instead using titles that each embody their feats and masteries as aspects of Shial. A merchant is known as Shial's Avarice, a blademistress - as Shial's Edge, and a devout spider-priestess - as Shial's Voice. These titles are more than simple words: they are psionic signatures, pronounced with a unique psychic resonance that differentiates one "Edge" from another, a tonal name for those above and beyond a tone-deaf universe. Only the most exceptional beings warrant a unique title.

Developer Notes: Another aspect of the classic faerie that we deemed proper for the Shadow Elves was the concept of true names giving others power over them. This blended well with ElfQuest's Soul Names the idea of the Voidsworn sacrificing parts of their own self as a sign of devotion - and while the Shadow Elves are no zealots, it'd make sense for them to honor their god-queen-muse by letting her have what is normally reserved only for the most trusted friends and loved ones. This is also reflected in unit and building names which all follow "Shial's (something)" or "(Something) of Shial" pattern, with only heroes having more unique titles like those listed below. Only "historical" characters like Taramys and Raduloth have conventional names - and, as one may guess, these don't give random strangers any control...

The Avatar of Shial's concept has gone a long way since 2006's Nerubian kitbash. We kept the concept of three merged faces, but not much else - the drider/arachnoid form idea went to the Spiderkin and the Arachnitects instead. As a personification of a Worldsoul, Shial's avatar would naturally be Titan-like - a beautiful giant lady with marble skin, wearing fancy attire. Then you have a good look at her face...s. And count her mouths (13, most of which don't belong there) and eyes (33, none of which belongs there). And have a good view of her exposed brain with tendrils coming out of it to that... thing. And that's not nearly all. Yes, she's also a nod to the classic idea of the faerie queen being human-sized while her subjects are comparable to insects and small animals. Here, rank-and-file Shadow Elves are taller than humans, and their god-queen-muse is of literally titanic proportions.

Speaking of exceptional Shadow Elves who earned exceptional titles - here's a list of those who will appear (or at least get a mention) in Episode I and II. Most of them are also present on the screenshots above, so you may try guessing who's who! Spoiler: the scatidly clad lady with crimson wings is the Whisper of Streams Sanguine.

The Whisper of Streams Sanguine
Once a handmaiden to Queen Azshara, a rival to the famed Lady Vashj in both beauty and cunning, one known only the Whisper of Streams Sanguine had since become an Aetherite sanguimancer of supreme renown, blurring the lines between art and atrocity like few other Taen'dorei ever dared. With naught but a silent gasp or a tune hummed, she is able to flay a creature alive or turn it into crimson mist, to summon scarlet tides that crystallize into walls of screaming razorbloom, or breathe life into constructs of frozen gore - beautiful and terrible statues that weep as they shatter into myriad thirsting blades. Yet it is her body that is the one and only masterpiece unsurpassed. Bathed in the blood of millions over countless centuries, her unblemished skin is a silken living canvas upon which she plays a silent symphony, causing her capillaries to flush with hues of vermillion regret, carmine wrath, or crimson glee. From the intricately charred, Void-filled wounds that once were her eyes, tears of her own lifeblood perpetually flow, tracing wondrous shifting patterns across cheeks and lips. The Whisper of Streams Sanguine pays regular visits to the City of Screams where she is a welcome and respected guest, one that lets the sayaad tormentrices learn from her masterful bloodletting.

The Fairest Among Us
The Arachnitect of Peace and the Supreme Matron of the Spiderkin, this horrendous creature is Shial's favored daughter, a tyrant without rivals, lording over a flotilla of living ships, a host of lesser Arachnitects and all the Spiderkin in existence. Her immense yet mesmerizingly graceful body is encased in a masterwork of metallic fusion - a sarcophagus-armor forged from the idols of fallen gods and the crowns of vanquished kings, all molten with pallid gold. Her carapace is adorned with the flayed skulls of thirteen incubi - the consorts she took as a tithe from the City of Screams, now honored with pleasing her in wordless conversations. Within her deceptively unprotected chest, dozens of still-living hearts - ripped from the flesh of legendary champions and great beasts of myth - beat a slow, syncopated rhythm. A great portal yawns above the Fairest Among Us, linked directly to her brain, as she requires but a thought to bring forth swarms of the Spiderkin, always ready to enforce Shial's Peace in neverending brutal conquest.

The Feaster Upon the Faithless
A being of absolute and terrifying confidence, the Arachnitect of Certainty has gazed into the myriad rivers of time and found every one flowing into the same, dark ocean of the Void Eternal's victory. She bears only three eyes, all set into a tiara of pallid gold fused to her brow. The left eye peers incessantly into the past, trapped in an infinite loop of reliving the elvenkind's history of pride, folly, evolution and ascension. The right eye scans the infinite branches of the future, examining every possible outcome, and inevitably finds the Shadow triumphing upon the Light and the Flame. The center eye is not hers at all, but a separate, maddened entity she subdued and consumed, now forever locked in a state of ecstatic, screaming madness at the glorious inevitability it is forced to witness. The Feaster upon the Faithless is the guarantor of destiny, and the Certainty of her title is both a promise and a threat.

The Thirsting Orchid
Once the proud Arachnitect of Harvest, she was put in charge of the Bleeding Gardens, a sacred site where the Taen'dorei first entered the world of Shial, and one that is home to countless wildgrowing Bloodweepers. Millenia among the dreams of her kin have addled the Thirsting Orchid's mind, drawing it into the depths of the Reverie Unending and making her forsake her earthly duties. For this failure, Shial did not grant her the mercy of true death. She was exiled to the Gore-Swamps of Phlegethon, a bog of bubbling blood and phosphorescent fungi on Shial's surface. There, the planet's flesh actively mutated her, twisting her elegant form into a multi-limbed, floral aberration. Her legs have become roots that drink the sanguine muck, her body was enveloped by thorned vines and petal-like appendages. Yet, her mind remains trapped in the past. She believes herself still a Highborne of Azshara's court, holding imaginary soirees for long-dead nobles, her mad laughter echoing across the swamps as she offers cups of blood to phantom guests. Pitied and scorned by her former peers, the Thirsting Orchid is a beautiful and twisted monument to failure.

The Hand and the Eye
It is said that Taramys, the First Archpriestess, once pierced a veil so profound, learned a secret so fundamental to the Void's nature, that to retain her sanity and her life, she was forced to sever the hand that touched the unseen and rip out the eye that witnessed it. These body parts, infused with the cosmic truth she could not bear, did not die. Instead, they fused into a new form blessed with an otherworldly consciousness: a giant, five-fingered hand that scuttles on its fingertips, crowned by a single, massive central oculus from which a constellation of smaller, weeping eyes constantly bud and part. This entity, The Hand and the Eye, became the Arachnitect of Truth - Shial's ultimate spymaster. It sees through all lies and schemes that were, are and and will be. Its eyes, traversing the mortal realm as easily as the Void itself, serve as windows for a network of hidden agents across a billion worlds.

Raduloth's Ninth Shadow
Raduloth, the Harbinger Prime, is allowed to travel unimpeded in Eight Directions across Eight Dimensions of the Void Eternal. Thus, in the material world, he casts eight shadows. When not folded into one as a part of his masquerade, they writhe, lurk and linger, poised to seek and consume. But his Ninth Shadow is a separate being, serving as the Harbinger's own harbinger. Mirroring Raduloth's visage, it lords over the Fatespeakers, existing aboard all living ships, in every forbidden library and at each Arachnitect's court. Fate is more than this entity's speech, it is the matter to shape and sculpt. With fingers like needles, it etches self-fulfilling prophecies and commands directly into the fabric of reality, leaving behind invisible, humming scars that dictate the flow of events. Those near the Ninth Shadow find their own voices stolen and their thoughts forced into a terrible quiet where only Raduloth's will resonates.

The Unseen Maestro
The most honored of all flesh-smiths, this reclusive creature is revered by the Spiderkin as one who tends to their second birth - for it is said that each of them is born twice, first of womb and then of scalpel. In great sanctums of stretched skin and woven nerve-fiber, the Unseen Maestro works with countless willing living subjects, rearranging their anatomy into intricate, pulsating engines of flesh and bone. Organs are repositioned into pragmatic patterns, circulatory systems are rewired to withstand most severe damage, skeletons are artfully fractured to be reforged with pallid gold into exoskeletons, hearts and eyes are given backup copies, and minds expanded to appreciate the terrible beauty of these new forms. The Unseen Maestro considers itself not a mere flesh-smith but the ultimate beautician, one chosen by the Void Eternal to correct the inevitable mistakes of the Gift - one known in material world as the Curse of Flesh. The Unseen Maestro has no face, nor form or even a singular personality - instead, it manifests within the minds of apprentice surgeons and thaumaturges, guiding their hands and voices, and taking rightful credit for the resulting masterpieces.


And that's it for now! For now.

 

[Rommel]

The promised bonus: Twilight over Boralus: Act II Prequel Novella
Chapter I and a teaser of Chapter II are up, with more to come soon (and we mean soon), including exclusive screenshots, developer notes and more Act II preview snippets!

 

[Galendor an'Kreil]

"We added acts to Act Two so you can play three acts while we work on Act Three." - Rommel, perhaps.

When HoS released its first trailer (that was a little less than 20 years ago, right?), the quality seemed mind-blowing. When I played Act 1, the quality seemed mind-blowing. And now I see the screenshots for Act 2, and... Well, I won't repeat myself. You guys are real wizards when it comes to visuals. It's especially nice to see familiar faces get their HD renditions (I remember you, Dayoma-from-the-sorceress).

By the way, about Dayoma - we probably have to wait for further updates, but it's an interesting idea that she is a relative of Raduloth. Although, if he, the Harbinger, is comparable in rank to Xal'atath, it's not clear how such a being can even have offspring.

P.S. Shial is beautiful.

 

[Rommel]

Thank you! We're doing our best, and it's really inspiring to read comments like this one)
People remembering HoS-2006 bring a tear of happiness to the corner of my eye)

More will be revealed about Raduloth, but let's say he's (possibly) not a blood relative. His earthly spouse, on the other hand...

 

[Yousef]

I'm so excited I dont even want to read this to go in completely blind when it finally comes out.

 

[Rommel]

But we're specifically including stuff that's best be read before playing!

Meanwhile, Day 2 Update is on its way, here are a couple teasers!

 

[Rommel]

The Day 2 Update is here! Reflections of Eternity: Act II King Sized Special Development Update

 

[deepstrasz]

The Day 2 Update is here! Reflections of Eternity: Act II King Sized Special Development Update

No offense but it's kind of lame to write a second message to link to a post made before that was edited in the same thread. Why not simply make the post when you also have the content? If you're worried about the posts being amalgamated with user posts, simply lock the thread (keep it as a news one) and have one main for discussion/feedback/whatever instead.

 

[Rommel]

Huh? This Dev Update was made with three parts in mind, with 2 parts coming after the main part, and separate posts reserved for them (having all in one post would be a mess). What's lame about informing that second part is now up? It's all one Dev Update, no need to make 3 threads and locking any of them.

 

[deepstrasz]

It's all one Dev Update, no need to make 3 threads and locking any of them.

I didn't say you should make three threads but two, one locked with the devups and one where people talk about them (and the project generally?). Don't get me wrong, your approach is fine overall and you can do whatever you want. I just think the suggestion would make things more organized and less spammy.

 

[Galendor an'Kreil]

Virgin Thalioch: My creators are dead? Oh well, nothing to be done, guess I'll die.
Chad Lei'shen: My creators are dead? Then I shall continue their work!

Seriously, Thalioch could have used some good old-fashioned motivation, because the fact that the Titans are dead doesn't devalue their work. I hope to see this big guy on the right side of history yet, hehe.

By the way, the Val'kyr are a curious choice for Thalioch's army, considering the history of those ladies.

 

[puck]

The story spans a considerable time, so will we see both Zin-Azshari from WOTA times and Ny'alotha,The Waking City after the Sundering?

 

[Rommel]

@deepstrasz I see what you mean, and it's a fair point. However, I think it's better to keep everything within one thread - besides, 2024's Dev Update also had small bits added to it via separate posts and it was fine.

@Galendor an'Kreil Well, Thalioch is closer to Ra in most aspects - but yeah, his story is far from being finished (and we've hinted at that in the comments!). As for the Val'kyr, the Watchers love stealing each other's homework - and these are technically not the same Val'kyr as Odyn's. Let's say it has something to do with "angels" depicted with Val'kyr models in both WoW and Reforged.

@puck Yes! WotA, definitely, it will be even featured in one playable mission. Ny'alotha, technically not, but the Nameless City is part of the same Black Empire and close to its concepts as an Old God city outside reality.


Anyway, Day 3 Update is here!

Reflections of Eternity: Act II King Sized Special Development Update

Enjoy!

By the way, something else may be coming up soon...

 

[Uraman]

Damn. The Shadow Elves have come a long way since the first teaser, corrupted elves, nature and body horror, this is definitely better than fancy cosmo-void by "last" Void Lord, Giger would be proud!

I have a question about the orc clans in the first war. Is HOS based on canon, or can we assume that some clans and their warlords will appear (as in the movie)? For example, will we see the Warsong clan and Grommash against the Stormwind army?

 

[Rommel]

Thank you! That's really great to hear)

It's ironic that the Chronicle's description of the Void Lords as the "bigger fish", the equivalent of Lovecraft's Outer Gods (Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath etc who are vastly more powerful than Cthulhu) and the greatest threat to the universe, inspired modern HoS plot in the first place. Then... we get a big voidwalker and he's the last of his kind. Well there's still quite a lot that can be salvaged, looking forward to Midnight!

As for the orcs, while we were tempted to borrow more than visual cues from the film, we keep it true to Chronicle canon. Hellscream and Kargath only appear in the Dying Time mission... until the time comes for Beyond the Dark Portal! However, some Warsong and Shattered Hand units will appear on Azeroth as Orgrim does canonically call for reinforcements. Expect MU versions of some WoD characters to appear, too!

Meanwhile... The promised bonus: Twilight over Boralus: Act II Prequel Novella
Chapter I and a teaser of Chapter II are up, with more to come soon (and we mean soon), including exclusive screenshots, developer notes and more Act II preview snippets!

 

[Galendor an'Kreil]

I really enjoy reading these little notes about how the developers arrived at certain ideas, what served as their source of inspiration, etc. And I can't help but agree that the shadow elves have come a long way - they were perhaps the most questionable idea and a weak point in the plot for me, but now they are a truly horny highlight of the project. I'm very interested to see what kind of architecture you designed for them.
P. S. "the qilrae of Ressa" - some deep lore...

 

[Rommel]

Thank you! We had our doubts, but it worked out well in the end, and we're yet to show some of their more radical (in a SFW way) concepts...

The qilrae are a non-Azeroth/Shial/Draenor race to illustrate that there are worlds beyond the "main" ones. They can be seen on the screenshots - those big ultralisk/mantis types without elven parts. They have a story twist related to them, too! Not to mention a reference or two.

 

[ilidandin]

question! if i didn't play the heart of storms 1
would i lost too much of the lore or history in reflections of eternity?

 

[Rommel]

would i lost too much of the lore or history in reflections of eternity?

We’re adding lore recaps so that should get it covered

But you should try out Act I given that 1.26 is freeware) or at least watch YouTube walkthrough)

 

[ilidandin]

We’re adding lore recaps so that should get it covered

But you should try out Act I given that 1.26 is freeware) or at least watch YouTube walkthrough)

but for that i need to download things no? i very bad with that kind of area....i suck to much..... i would prefer wait if ( you make it the frist act to reforge would be cool)

 

[Superfrycook]

Hope there would be a campaign space limit up to 64 GB or more...

 

[EdgarSIP]

would be cool to see sd version of this not at all

 

[Sellenisko]

So happy for you my friend! I am glad you kept working and released finaly HoS! I still remember our late night talks and intensive works on the old assets. Still my fondly memories of Warcraft <3

 

[Rommel]

Welcome back, my friend!

 

[sergei 23]

Hello Bro, I have a question, when will the second part of new campaign be published?

 

[Rommel]

Well, when it's done) But hopefully not too late.

 

[hondawy]

@Rommel BROOOOOO, I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THE ACT 2 HOS TO BE RELEASED, MAN PLEAZE FINISH THIS QUICK, I AM SOO HYPED

 

[hondawy]

You have put a lot of effort into this , thank you man , pleaze keep it up, thats one of the best campaigns i have read about

 

[hondawy]

@Rommel i sent you private on help installing dusk of dreanor, waiting for your reply

 

[Bro-koly]

How do I play this? Looks fantastic!!!