Allied Races: Eredar

So a few days ago I made a poll on Twitter, asking for what allied races I should write about next. Foolishly, I thought it would be a good idea to include some races that are really popular right now – like vulpera and sethrak. Predictably (and yet I did not predict it) that one particular vote option skyrocketed. And you see, I’d love to write about them, but there’s just one problem. We know nothing about them. All we know about the sethrak is that they’re related to a loa called Sethralis, spread desert wherever they go, and use magical gems to call down lightning. As for vulpera, we know… they live in Voldun. That’s it. So I’m very sorry, but there is pretty much no material to base a post on. I could make up almost literally everything about them, but that would hardly do justice to the actual race we end up meeting.

Thankfully, the next set I had the strongest ideas for was also the second one most voted for. This set also represents two races I wanted to be included among the playable for some time now – (man’ari) eredar and satyrs. While I imagined the eredar as simply trainers behind draenei warlocks (much in the way of broken training draenei shamans), the new allied race system is a perfect way to include them. And since they no longer have to be bound to the actual draenei, we can deviate from their example even more. As for satyrs, you will see soon.

General Information

Faction: Horde

Twisted and corrupted so thoroughly, they became the epitome of corruption among the cosmos, the eredar are one of the oldest and most powerful races in the universe. And yet, they have met a grizzly fate when Sargeras’s Burning Legion was defeated and their supremacy in all the Twisting Nether was overthrown. Once masters of creations, now forced to live on scraps of their former power, they could use a new ally. And we could use an ally who knows how to fight the darkness, no matter how far we must go.

Classes: warrior, rogue, hunter, mage, warlock, priest, death knight

Mount: Man’ari Felhound (a different variant of the Argus felhound model)

Requirements: Future content (Argus could be seen as a potential prerequisite but since they feature only as antagonists there, it could not be enough)

Introduction

Before the man’ari eredar could be recruited, it would require us meeting them on grounds other than eternally fighting against them. A future patch sees Sylvanas working with warlocks to find a way back to Argus to find weapons that could help her fight against the Alliance’s powerful recent recruits, the lightforged and the void elves. When the Horde returns to Mac’Aree, they find that the Seat of the Triumvirate has been broken into and cleansed of the Void influence. What you find inside instead are the remnants of the eredar leadership who secluded themselves away in the old ruin to bide their time. Unfortunately, for them, the Vindicaar arrives and the draenei – both lightforged and regular – emerge to reconquer the place. Sylvanas decides that as members of the Alliance they are your enemies now, and you engage the attack, to the dismay of Prophet Velen.

Once you fight off the attack, the eredar are strangely cordial and invite you inside.

Rakeeshi Sorcerer: Our master is… grateful for your assistance. He wishes to see you now and reward you for it.

Sylvanas: I do not know how Kil’jaeden or Archimonde returned, but let them know even I will not stoop to seeking their assistance, demon.

Rakeeshi Sorcerer: They are not our master. Their spirits have been obliterated by the Dark Titan after their recent failures.

Sylvanas: Then who is it?

Rakeeshi Sorcerer: Come and see, Dark Lady. We believe you will make a perfect… alliance.

Sylvanas is led into the Seat, where she meets the eredar leader, still recovering after he had to prematurely take a corporeal form with the looming destruction of Antorus. The leader turns out to be Rakeesh.

Sylvanas: Rakeesh. Son of the prophet Velen. I heard you died.

Rakeesh: slowly walking, clutching his sides You must know demons are very hard to kill, especially outside the Twisting Nether.

Sylvanas: I assumed once your role in Kil’jaeden’s ploy was done, he got rid of you, as he did of any other of his playthings.

Rakeesh: It is true, he was in no hurry to bring me back, but once I saw Antorus was collapsing, I took a body for myself before it could be gone completely and before I’d be forced to wait centuries to regenerate. Because of that, I am now weak… but my loyal soldiers know that once I grow to my full power… there are few demons left powerful enough to challenge me.

Sylvanas: Can you truly believe they are loyal to you?

Rakeesh: More than you can imagine. Kil’jaeden had no idea about the force he allowed me to create when I recruited the Rakeeshi. Did you ever stop to think why we are our own force? Why we are a separate and unique force among the Legion? We all share the same bond… we all were those the cowardly draenei abandoned on Argus when they fled for their lives. We are the spouses and children of those traitors. No demons ever had a stronger bond than we do.

Sylvanas: If you are so dangerous, why shouldn’t I just kill you now, while you are still weak?

Rakeesh: Because we both know we seek the same things. Power, vengeance, immortality. And we both share the same enemies in the Alliance and their Army of the Light.

Sylvanas: I must admit… you have me… intrigued.

Over the ensuing storyline and reputation faction, you quest in an updated and extended version of Mac’Aree, helping the Rakeeshi establish their foothold. All while the draenei are attempting to stop them and purify the area. Rakeesh slowly recovers his power and explains his plan. He believes that the Legion failed in the end because they broke the Triumvirate. They would have been truly unstoppable if only all three leaders joined Sargeras. But since once left and the remaining two made no attempts to replace him, they were doomed to fail. Rakeesh seeks to establish a new Triumvirate, one complete and fully embracing the fel, but one not bound to the now imprisoned Sargeras. A triumvirate that will fight… for the Horde.

Rakeesh ends up claiming Archimonde’s title of Defiler, and ventures to Krokuun to find a doommaiden called Daaitya, the queen of the winged doommaidens. Smitten by her power, and charmed by her magic, he pursues her for a while, until he learns that much like him and the Rakeeshi, Daaitya was once a mate of Othaar, and daughter of Archimonde. While he would later embrace the fel and become Socrethar, at the time of escaping Argus, he literally pushed her away into the arms of the Legion. She would end up embracing her father’s corruption and became the queen of the doommaidens. Together, she and Rakeesh venture to the place where Kil’jaeden’s ship fell and reclaim the last piece of his power, leading to her becoming Daaitya the Deceiver.

At the end of the storyline, Rakeesh says he has to reclaim the last piece of his triumvirate, a dark prophet, this one a powerful man’ari spirit called Ashjira. She was a Rakeeshi, but her spirit could not escape Antorus in time. Now, with its powers gone after the death of Argus the Unmaker, she is trapped in a state of half-life, unable to escape to the Twisting Nether to regenerate normally, return with the powers of Antorus, or even perish like a disgraced agent of the Legion. Rakeesh and Daaitya mount a rescue, and together you go into the crumbling halls. Deep inside, you find agents of Mal’Ganis and his new Dread Legion, seeking to overthrow the “lesser demons” that were once mortals, like eredar. Fighting through them, you reach the Halls of Return, a previously closed off section of Antorus, where many demons were regenerating and are now trapped like Ashjira. While Rakeesh works to free her, you and Ashjira are forced to stand your ground and defend yourself from the half-formed, crazed demon souls and the Dread Legion. In the end, Ashjira takes a corporeal form again and reveals her state of half-existence for so long has opened her eyes and she is now able to perceive visions of the future similar to Velen’s. In the end, Rakeesh drops the biggest revelation:

Rakeesh: And now, our triumvirate is complete. Now, we will truly be unstopabble. Welcome to the fold… mother.

Turns out, Ashjira is Nuuri, Velen’s mate, and she was turned after she witnessed her son’s corruption.

Storyline

However, like with the other allied races, completion of this storyline is not enough to recruit them for your faction. While the new Triumvirate is formed and now reigns from the Seat of the Triumvirate, they did not fully commit to the Horde. Once you’re level 120 and fulfill all the requirements, you are invited back to the Seat to talk about their final pledge of allegiance. However, once you arrive there, you find it under siege by the lightforged once again, this time in full swing with the Vindicaar, Velen and Turalyon all present.

Once you break through the initial force, you hear a familiar call. Turalyon arrives with a legion of lightforged soldiers. But before you can engage, he yells to stop.

Turalyon: Halt! Everyone, cease hostilities! Sylvanas Windrunner! Come out and talk to me.

Sylvanas comes out and approaches, with her soldiers close behind – much like Turalyon has his own entourage.

Sylvanas: I have nothing to say to you, human. The Alliance came to destroy our allies. We will not allow you to do that.

Turalyon: Have you really fallen so far, Sylvanas? Although to me it’s been centuries, I still remember you in the Second War. We fought side by side. For the Alliance. Look at yourself now. Undead, and fully embracing the death and corruption it means. And now, you’re trafficking with demons? Sylvanas… it is not too late. Turn back now and rejoin your sister… and your former comrades.

Sylvanas: No, Turalyon, it is too late for me now. If I do nothing, I will finally perish and see only darkness before me. I will stop at nothing to avoid this fate.

Turalyon: There is a different way. Embrace the Light. There is no corruption lightforging cannot undo…

Sylvanas: No! I have chosen my path, for better or for forse. My fate has been decided.

Turalyon: The Light can forge you a new one.

Sylvanas: I thought you learned something from Illidan. My destiny… is my own.

She attacks Turalyon, and your new objective is to defeat him. Once you do, Sylvanas cocks an arrow and is prepared to execute him, when he is suddenly encased in a bubble of light.

Velen: No, Turalyon, it is not your time yet.

Turalyon disappears in a flash of a lightforged beacon and Sylvanas yells in anger. She orders you to go inside the Seat and eliminate this incursion at once.

You fight through more draenei, lighforged and regular, and end up rescuing the other two members of the Triumvirate. They teleport away in order to help Rakeesh. While on your way inside, you begin hearing Velen talk to him. He apparently reached his son and is attempting to redeem him, which Rakeesh is resisting. When you finally get to the actual throne of Rakeesh, you see him bound by the lighforged chains that Xe’ra once used to bind Illidan.

Velen: My son… you must resist it. I know it has been a very long time, but no one is beyond redemption. Cast down your broken form…

Rakeesh: That is the problem, father. My form is not broken. Only you see it as broken. I am now more complete than ever. You are the one binding me.

Velen: I am doing this for your own good, my son. You must remember the boy you once were. Remember who you were… Shadaar. I named you Shadaar… gift of the light. Because that is what you were to me. After long years of loneliness, together with your mother we were blessed with you. And I saw great future for you… but not this… corruption.

Rakeesh: Then your visions failed you. Because after you abandoned me, there was nothing that Kil’jaeden and the Inquisition wouldn’t do to me in order to break me. All the suffering, all the things they told me…

Velen: Shadaar…

Rakeesh: Do not call me that!

Velen: My son… you know I wanted to rescue you. I sent Talgath to get you and mother… but he betrayed us.

Rakeesh: And yet in the 25 000 years since then, you never thought to look back. You never thought to return.

Velen: I thought you were dead!

Rakeesh: Aren’t you supposed to be the prophet? Aren’t you supposed to know everything? No, you closed your eyes. You decided to never look back and forget about the life you once had. You sentenced me to this… and I found fulfillment in your failure.

Velen: If only your mother could see you now…

Ashjira: Funny you mention that… Ashjira and Daaitya teleport in Hello again… “my love”.

Velen: Nuuri! It cannot be! You too?

Ashjira: I was actually the first to turn when I saw what has been done to our son. And when he embraced his path, I followed him suit. You see, you seek to change what our child has become. I choose to embrace him, no matter what he is.

Velen: He is a murderer! But I can make him better! I can make you all better!

Ashjira: It is time you understood we do not want your “better”. Turn and flee now… like you always did when faced with difficult decisions… even before Sargeras. Daaitya, sweetheart, let us free my son, and your mate.

Velen: Never again. I will fight for my family, even if you do not want it.

Together, the two eredar break Rakeesh’s chains and you engage Velen. After a difficult fight, you defeat him. Bloodied and broken, he kneels in prayer.

Rakeesh: Do you see it now? I am no longer the little boy you abandoned. I am no longer the child tortured by Kil’jaeden. I am on my own path now, and I love what I’ve become. And now you… become ash.

Velen: I did all I could to save you. May the Light embrace me now in this final hour.

Turalyon: Not yet, Prophet! He speaks from the Vindicaar You saved my life today. Now it is time for me to return the favor.

Velen is beamed out in the last moment and the Triumvirate is furious, but they thank you for your assistance nevertheless. Rakeesh promises to join the Horde, if only so he could hunt down his father and the traitorous draenei.

Soon afterwards, you join Rakeesh in Orgrimmar, as he swears before Sylvanas so that he and the Rakeeshi join the Horde. Your allied race and mount are now unlocked.

Playable Race

The new eredar start at level 20 in the Seat of the Triumvirate, and are immediately introduced to Rakeesh who sends you off to fight for the Horde.

Eredar hunters start with an Argus felhound as pet and the unique ability to tame them.

Eredar death knights, much like the mogu before, are not actual death knights, and start at level 58 with all the other eredar. They’re demonic knights, similar to the ones that could be found, among others, in the Broken Shore.

Eredar priests are the ones trying to harness the Void and use it against itself, like many eredar we’ve seen before.