Allied Races: Anubisaths

Here comes by far my boldest proposition yet – anubisaths. So far, there is very little to this race, if it can even be called that. We first met anubisaths at Ahn’Qiraj, serving the Old God C’Thun, and we were originally told they were constructed by qiraji. Which was strange, as they were giant stone constructs that looked just like most Titan constructs, except with a dog head. Only recently, the Chronicle confirmed our long suspicions that anubisaths were in fact one of the original Titan seed races and served in Uldum and the Titan facility that became Ahn’Qiraj. Still, they were the least known of all the Titanic races. Which on one hand gives us little material to work with… and on the other hand, gives us a lot of space to make up stuff.

The idea originally came from looking for an Alliance counterpart to mogu. I deliberately left out jinyu and hozen because I think they should be their own set of allied races. I didn’t want sauroks, because between them and drakonids/dragonmen, I’d rather we had the latter as a reptilian race with worgen-like animations. The list of races on Pandaria was running thin, but I decided we don’t have to look for a counterpart to mogu on Pandaria. Then, the most obvious choice was the tol’vir – another Titan seed race, one who also served under Highkeeper Ra at one point. There’s only one problem – they’re quadrupeds. Their body plan has too many logistical issues that just won’t be solved for an allied race, and changing their body plan just makes them no longer look like a tol’vir. This is when my mind wandered to another animalistic Titan race from the same general area and it felt immediately felt like a no brainer.

I think anubisaths would be another hit, much like void elves. They’re very new, but still based in the existing lore. They hit some popular themes – they’re dog like, look badass, and could have some things worgen players always wanted. Less hunched, tails, new class options. All we need is to make them fit a player race a little more, like making them smaller and made of flesh, and they become an instant hit. I loved this random idea so much I decided to stick by it for these posts. So here it is, anubisaths for the Alliance.

General Information

First issue we run into is that for the purpose of these posts, I can’t show you even a mockup of what they’d look like. The player model would be very different from the very, very old current anubisath models, and would probably be an adaptation of the player worgen model. The best I can do is this:

Imagine a mix of these two

Faction: Alliance

Anubisaths are a race of forgotten ancient Titan constructs. For countless ages, they were thought to have been all under the control of the Old God C’Thun but as we unearth more about their origins, we learn about the noble heritage and their service with Highkeeper Ra. Perhaps all is not lost for this ancient race. Sands of Uldum still hide many secrets and the recent upheavals of the Cataclysm and the the damage Sargeras did to nearby Silithus could uncover something we might need to recruit these powerful allies for the Alliance.

Classes: warrior, rogue, hunter, priest, paladin, shaman, monk, druid.

Mount: Obsidian Destroyer

Requirements: Future content (no fitting content or storyline exists – if we tie them to tol’vir, Uldum storyline and Ramkahen reputation could be related – but are at this point to severely out of date, requiring players to go back to do it would be a little much)

Introduction

Coming up with a fitting and relevant storyline that could introduce anubisaths before their actual recruitment questline is one of the hardest parts of this exercise. Since they came out of the idea that we can’t have tol’vir, perhaps the relevant storyline will actually focus on the tol’vir themselves. With the war coming back into swing, and the Old God threat looming once again, perhaps the Alliance returns to Uldum to uncover more of its treasures and secrets. But as Harrison Jones and Brann Bronzebeard delve into forbidden vaults, the Ramkahen finally stop them and warn them they will have to stop their meddling if they continue. So you are sent to gain favor with the tol’vir to be allowed to enter the ancient temples freely.

It turns out that since Cataclysm, the tol’vir repopulated most of the old ruins. Orsis was dug out of the sand, Lost City was reconquered and is no longer lost, and Halls of Origination have been sealed to prevent further meddling. Furthermore, the blood of Azeroth is revitalizing Uldum and parts of the deserts are slowly being reclaimed by life. Unfortunately, with most of Silithus now taken up by a giant friggin’ sword, silithids and qiraji are escaping it – straight into Uldum.

Over the course of the questline, you help defend Uldum from the bug hordes and the new qiraji generals who seek to use the blood of Azeroth to awaken C’Thun. They do not live, they do not die, they are outside of the cycle – they say, as they plunder the old temples. In the process, you learn more about the tol’vir culture and history, as Harrison and Brann are allowed a limited and reverent access to some sites. Throughout the storyline, you meet a couple of anubisaths the qiraji have dug up and the tol’vir attempt to save them, but to no avail. In the end, you defeat the qiraji generals, stop them from summoning C’Thun in the middle of the Lost City, but at the cost of ruining the settlement once again.

Storyline

After the storyline is completed and your reputation with the tol’vir is finalized, you are called back to Uldum, to Ramkahen. Once there, King Phaoris tells you in their attempts at rebuilding the city they dug up a tunnel leading towards Halls of Origination, but a part of the complex unknown to them. Since you are one of their best fighters and Brann Bronzebeard is best at opening locked ancient mechanisms, you two were called in. You are to join a tol’vir scribe, Menrim, in the Lost City’s markets.

The markets are ruined and qiraji corpses are being packed into large piles and burned, as tol’vir corpses are still being carried out in coffins. You meet Menrim by a large hole in the ground, where he’s accompanied by his old friends – Chen and Li Li Stormstouts, the latter now looking more grown up. Brann calls them Horde, and they take offense to it. Chen says he has important friends in the Horde and true, once fought against Proudmoores on Rexxar’s side, but he is not part of the faction. Li Li meanwhile has never taken any part in any of those adventures. Menrim invites Brann to follow him into the hole to find their closed door. Chen wants to leave now to avoid Brann, but Li Li decides to go with you, despite Chen specifically forbidding her to.

You, Menrim and Li Li go underground, as Li Li keeps asking Menrim about how his life went since they parted ways. “I buried myself in research. Found employ on a far away planet. Found a boyfriend. Broke up. Took part in a coup and barely escaped with my life. You know, ordinary business.” Li Li thinks Menrim is joking, but he’s not. Soon, you approach a giant Titan door.

Brann: Aah, a locked ancient door. I do love me some locked ancient doors.

Menrim: Can you open it?

Brann: Can I open it? Is that a question, lad? There’s no door Brann Bronzebeard cannae open!

After fiddling with the controls, something breaks and a metallic voice answers.

Titan Voice: Matrix identification mismatch. Matrix error. No entries found. Proceeding to purge.

Li LI: “Purge”? I don’t like the sound of that.

Two giant anubisaths animate to the sides of the door and attack.

Menrim: I’m not a fighter, can you help me?

Li Li takes a barrel of beer starts drinking and using brewmaster abilites in the fight.

Brann: Oy, lassie, are ye even old enough to drink?

Li LI: I’m pandaren, I’m always old enough to drink. Besides, I’m sixteen, no one is going to tell me what I can or can’t do.

You defeat the two anubisaths who crumble into pieces as the door slowly creaks open, to the sound of the Titan Voice saying only “error, error, error”. You’re in.

You find the hall inside is in a state of… disrepair to say the least. The machines are broken open and has been gnawed on by something large and vicious, and there are silithids running amok everywhere. Turns out that when they invaded Uldum, they also found their way into this vault. You make your way to another Titan archive and Brann prepares you to fight while he unlocks it but to everyone’s surprise, it unlocks immediately and nothing attacks you. The repository explains the purpose of this place – Ra-Den’s anubisath army was originally made and stored here. When C’Thun and the qiraji took over Ahn’Qiraj and Ra-Den was nowhere to be found, this was the last bastion of free anubisaths.

Centuries later, when the tol’vir returned from Pandaria with tales of a mogu empire that enslaved other races, the anubisaths recoiled in terror. When Lei Shen’s armies arrived to claim the Halls of Origination, anubisaths were opposed to the tol’vir plan of using the Halls against the invaders, but outvoted, they had little choice but hide as many of their people in their last basion. And so, the last anubisath closed the hall to wait it out until the tol’vir can help them out. Help never arrived… but the Curse of Flesh did. The anubisath army devolved into a horde of mad dog-men the size of regular humanoids and they started fighting each other, and breeding. Kept alive only by Highkeeper Ra’s garden full of fruits, birds and other prey animals, they went completely crazy in this closed ecosystem. Brann thinks they must be destroyed to spare them the suffering, but Menrim refuses. “No,” he says, “we owe them to try and save them.”

You go in deeper, fighting both invading silithids and the crazed anubisaths. You find there an obsidian destroyer that is somehow still intact, guarding the original forge that created the anubisaths. While it’s broken beyond being able to create new ones, Brann discovers it is still capable of affecting all the anubisaths in here and imprint a more rational mindset onto them, but it lacks a template. Luckily, you have two sane descendants of Titan creations right there – Brann and Menrim. Menrim offers to become the template, but the machine warns him, taking it upon himself alone would kill him. Therefore, Brann volunteers to share the burden. Together, they go into the machine while you and Li Li are left to protect them.

Of course, as soon as they go under, the whole chamber shakes. The remaining Old God minions felt you discovered something important and begin an attack. You have to fight back a few waves of silithids, as well as an occasional qiraji commanding them. Finally, General Randsavajj bursts from the ground and threatens to take this forge for C’Thun and invaded Uldum once again, with a new army of anubisaths. After you kill him, the forge is ready. Brann and Menrim emerge, weakened, and the anubisaths are visibly calmed down. Brann needs a moment to recover and Li Li goes to take care of him, while you and Menrim go down to the anubisaths to check up on them.

One anubisath especially stands out.

Input: You there, strange creatures, you’re different from all of us. Perhaps you can explain what happened. Who are you? Who are we?

Menrim: Yes, you see… you are anubisaths. You were once guardians of this facility but… something went wrong. You have forgotten your purpose. We, meaning me and my friend dwarf over there, had to save you by giving us a piece of ourselves.

Input: Piece of yourselves? I see. I… I think I can remember my life before this, but it’s a faint recollection. I remember this room, I remember a garden… But little else. And you call it “this facility”. There are others?

Menrim: There’s much more out there in the world. So much more you never got to see because your ancestors trapped you here.

Input: We will be slaves to their ancient fears no longer. I feel the urge… to see more of this world. To protect it and it’s people from these… monsters I see strewn around us. Is this what you gave us?

Li Li: Oh, I know what happened! The template the machine gave them. It gave them Brann’s insatiable curiosity and your devotion to a worthy cause. You two literally became their… forefathers.

Menrim: Interesting. I never thought I would have any children… but now I will have thousands.

Brann: Makes me a wee bit uneasy to have been given children with another man without me knowledge… but let it not said ol’ Brann never sacrificed for tha greater good.

Input: I remember one more thing… ‘mogu’. I remember they were… invading our land. They were about to enslave our ancestors. What happened to them.

Brann: So much happened! But first of all, they have now joined tha Horde.

Input: The… Horde?

Brann: Aye, a collection of various… invasive species and corrupted races that banded together to conquer the Alliance.

Input: I see. I must know more about this Alliance and Horde.

Brann: Ohohoh… ye got so much to learn. Come with me, lass.

Menrim gives you a portal to the Lost City, where you find the newly emerged anubisaths taking upon tol’vir-style armaments (meaning ancient Egyptian style, but made for bideps) and training, and learning about the world out there. Brann tells you the newly appointed leaders of this new race agreed to join the Alliance and you should meet Input in the Alliance embassy.

Upon returning to Stormwind, you find Input and a few of her soldiers swearing their loyalty to Anduin, who congratulates on a job well done. Although he expected to get the tol’vir on their side, these are an unexpected boon. The race is unlocked, and you get your mount.

Playable Race

Your new anubisath starts at level 20 in the same phased Lost City of the Tol’vir you just witnessed, only now it’s become the Anubisath City. Warriors and paladins are training together. Their new priests are receiving their blessings from the tol’vir. Rogues are jumping around rooftops with the worgen. Hunters are actually taming the silithids left around the city. Monks are training with Li Li and Mojo Stormstouts. Menrim can be found in the library, where shamans and druids are uncovering their schools of magic with the help of night elves and dwarves.

Anubisath hunters start with silithid pets and the ability to tame new ones from the start, without the need to specialize in beast mastery.

Anubisath druids are newly taught by the night elves. Their bear form is a hippopotamus. Their cat form is based on these. The travel form is a black camel. Their caster (“moonkin”) form is a tol’vir that switches to running or flying when mounted (without displaying the actual mount). Their aquatic form is a crocodile. Their flight form is a Horus-style hawk.

Input welcomes you and explains what the Alliance is about, and sends you off to discover the world and fight for your allies.