04-24-2013, 08:01 AM
Howdy everyone. With Worgen obviously being an extremely popular addition to CotH, I figured I'd do a write up on what I've learned about Gilneas and its people through both in-game WoW, playing Warcraft I and II, and reading some books. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of what they are like as a people, and help you create interesting characters.
As a disclaimer, this is largely my own speculation, and is not 'THE LOOOORE'.
As much as we might hate to admit it, stereotypes exist for a reason.
Gilneans are generally a dour folk, burly and gruff, more concerned with their own affairs than those of others. That's not to say they're selfish like Goblins are. It's just they're not prone to taking great sacrifices in order to provide charity to others who could never return the favor. You could even say that Gilnean 'honor' would prevent them from accepting gifts that they know they could never properly return. Taking this to an extreme, you could even have one be insulted by being given an exceptionally lavish gift. Perhaps nobles attempt to insult the status of other nobility by giving them expensive gifts that would cripple the other house to try and return equally.
Speaking of nobles. Unlike the other countries, it seems they have significantly more power in Gilneas, which operates in a more feudal society than the others. All lords adhere to the King, and all serfs adhere to a lord. It's likely that King Greymane is the one who directly oversaw Gilneas City, while other lords had their own territories/towns that they watched over, providing a tariff to the crown. Taking this to the extreme, it's likely that each noble family had a small standing military force of their own. And it's likely that minor conflicts have erupted between noble houses, fights taking place over 'who owns that river' or 'who owns this fertile land'. The crown would probably intervene if things got out of hand, but otherwise nobles would be left to their own devices so long as they didn't harm the country and maintained loyalty to the Greymane family.
From the quest chain, you'll note something about fashion. Everyone seems to dress to impress, commonly wearing 'casual suits' and dresses while out and about. Even commoners do. I didn't really see any 'poor folk' or something, but that's probably time constraints on Blizzard's end. Take it as you will.
As made evident from the large chapel in Gilneas City, Gilneans worship the Light. They have/had paladins just like everyone else, so don't take the fact that Worgen can't be paladins to mean there aren't any Gilnean paladins. It's just paladins are immune to the Worgen infection. So by all means, play a Gilnean paladin! Otherwise their church structure likely is the same as every other human city's, though probably doesn't have a 'figurehead' they can follow. The closest thing the church would probably have to a leader is whoever runs the main chapel in Gilneas City, probably their Bishop.
Independence is likely valued by the Gilneans. Note how even the women (don't strangle me I'll explain that later) can fire a gun effectively and fight off the Worgen/Forsaken invaders. It's probably extremely common for men to become minutemen, practically expected of you if you're of age for it. Dependence is frowned upon, though they probably tend to their children/elderly rather well, considering their 'honor'.
The favored Gilnean animal appears to be the mastiff, almost only available in Gilneas. Thus we can infer that it's a creature almost exclusive to the Gilneans, with the only other ones being found north of the Wetlands. There's no such thing as a dog in Elwynn, it's not their natural habitat. Gilneas and the nearby regions are. With how strong they are in a fight compared to 'pet cats' in Warcraft, it's likely that most dogs are raised to participate in hunts, which are likely a fairly common activity in Gilneas, considering how many damn foxes there are. In-fact, fox stew is probably a relatively common meal, because you can find the bloody things everywhere in Gilneas.
Gilneas has a lot of rifles, and there's probably no stigma of 'cowardice' attached to the weapon. Most families probably own at least one rifle. And hunting is, as mentioned, probably a well-regarded event for people to engage in. People hunt all the time in Gilneas. Though the hunt eventually changed to 'try and take in as many Worgen as possible alive' come the plague, hunting was still important, perhaps even more-so now that catching a Worgen meant bringing back a Gilnean to sanity.
There are no women in the Gilneas military. There weren't any in Warcraft I, there weren't any in Warcraft II, and there weren't any in the opening of Worgen in Cataclysm. It's likely they were explicitly forbidden from taking combat roles, if they were even allowed to hold a rifle at all. Miss Crowley makes it clear that women can indeed fight, but as a rebel, it's unclear as to whether or not this is common in Gilneas society. Most questgivers during the Gilneas questline are women. Most women are not on the front-line fighting until the actual retaking of Gilneas City. It's likely that was the first time most Gilnean women actually participated in real combat. Female Gilneans in armor seemed to only start appearing at the tail end of the Gilneas quest chain.
Blizzard might not have explicitly stated there was sexism in Gilneas, but in a surprisingly subtle way for them, they've inferred that there is. With the destruction of Gilneas, women and men are likely experiencing the concept of equality among the genders for the first time as they meet the people of Stormwind (who have a mixed gender military). Do note that the other human nations only had men in the military prior to WoW as well, so no Gilnean would have known about this until just now.
I suppose you don't have to rolplay this sexism. But it does make for interesting developments in characters, as women become accustomed to new rights, and men getting used to women being their equals.
Seriously, I spawned like, 100 city guards of various different IDs. There's only like, 8 women in there. They're very rare, and the 'lower number ones' (IE: Ones appearing earlier in the quest chain) are exclusively men.
While the Greymane Wall is often seen as the cause of the Northgate Rebellion, it is not. It merely set the stage.
The Greymane Wall, as we know, cut off Pyrewood and Ambermill from the rest of Gilneas. Both these provinces were owned by a relatively new noble, Darius Crowley, a known supporter of the Alliance. While its construction did make things tense between Crowley and Greymane, it did not set off the rebellion.
When the Scourge began its ravaging of Azeroth, the Greymane Wall remained sealed even while people were banging on the doors to be let in. It did not. Genn Greymane allowed one of his senior mages, Archmage Arugal, to summon Worgen to combat the Scourge at his wall, with Darius Crowley's territories being caught in the crossfire. Even then, this did not start the Northgate Rebellion.
Eventually, Jaina Proudmore called for aid from any humans who would join her. Darius sent the Gilnean Brigade out to assist in the Battle for Mount Hyjal. Genn Greymane called him a traitor who would tarry with the Alliance. Darius replied that there was no reason for Genn's isolation, and thus the Northgate Rebellion began.
Rebels were led by Darius. Loyalists led by Genn. The civil war ravaged the countryside until it eventually reached the city. Do note that Genn was highly concerned about the well-being of his people, unwilling to sacrifice them for what he believed was the pointless cause which was the post-Second War Alliance. Though he was willing to sacrifice Pyrewood and Ambermill to build a wall at the best possible position (the 'neck' of the Gilneas peninsula), it's likely he still provided aid for the isolated territories somehow. He thought his isolationism would protect his people. The people inside the wall were probably INCREDIBLY THANKFUL for the fact the wall prevented the undead horde from getting to them. It's just that things sucked for Crowley's lands.
When it reached the city, Crowley had gathered enough explosives to destroy half of it and cripple the Scourge. Fortunately for the sake of Gilneas, he was captured, and his rebels went into hiding shortly afterwards.
The Worgen only really became a problem after the rebellion. At first there were just a few of them, and many nobles would go on hunts to kill the wolfmen. It wasn't until Ralaar Fangfire, a Night Elf Druid of the Pack who sought the Scythe of Elune, came to Gilneas that things really started to go bad. He started the Wolf Cult, which allied with the Forsaken, and began to quickly spread the curse throughout Gilneas, weakening it significantly. While he did eventually die which caused the dispersal of the Wolf Cult, it did a great amount of damage to Gilneas.
The wolfman menace led to what is likely considered an unexpected alliance in Gilneas. Greymane saw his need for aid, and thus freed Darius Crowley from his imprisonment, the two capable of overcoming their past quarrels for the greater good of their people. The Northgate Rebels came out of hiding at the news of this, and played a crucial role in the saving of what remained of Gilneas in the coming battles with the Worgen. Without Darius Crowley's aid, Gilneas would likely be completely eradicated. His last stand in the Light's Dawn Cathedral drew the attention of the Worgen, allowing for those inside Gilneas City to evacuate relatively safety, at the sacrifice of himself, his men, and volunteers that went with him. Every single person in the cathedral became Worgen or died.
Shortly after this, Cataclysm hit, and the natural reefs that protected Gilneas from a sea-borne invasion were shattered, allowing for the Forsaken/Horde invasion.
Some people accepted the Worgen infestation better than others. While Darius Crowley seemed to embrace it, Genn Greymane only did so that he would share the same fate as his people. And of course, Lord Godfrey flipped out over the idea of one so impure leading Gilneas, separating himself from Gilneas and having his own little rebellion in Shadowfang Keep.
Turning into a Worgen is probably painful. Just look at that animation. It doesn't look pleasant.
Do note your Gilneans are only just now making contact with things outside of Gilneas. You've been isolationists for the better part of a decade. The world has changed significantly if you even left Gilneas prior to the wall being erected. Tauren/Draenei/Night Elves/Forsaken are new experiences to you. You've probably enjoyed being isolationists. This is not something that should be comfortable. You're being ripped out of your homes and forced to interact with the rest of Azeroth. You believe you can do things on your own most of the time. You're probably ashamed/irritated that your people require aid from non-Gilneans at the moment.
As a disclaimer, this is largely my own speculation, and is not 'THE LOOOORE'.
The Gilnean Citizen
As much as we might hate to admit it, stereotypes exist for a reason.
Gilneans are generally a dour folk, burly and gruff, more concerned with their own affairs than those of others. That's not to say they're selfish like Goblins are. It's just they're not prone to taking great sacrifices in order to provide charity to others who could never return the favor. You could even say that Gilnean 'honor' would prevent them from accepting gifts that they know they could never properly return. Taking this to an extreme, you could even have one be insulted by being given an exceptionally lavish gift. Perhaps nobles attempt to insult the status of other nobility by giving them expensive gifts that would cripple the other house to try and return equally.
Speaking of nobles. Unlike the other countries, it seems they have significantly more power in Gilneas, which operates in a more feudal society than the others. All lords adhere to the King, and all serfs adhere to a lord. It's likely that King Greymane is the one who directly oversaw Gilneas City, while other lords had their own territories/towns that they watched over, providing a tariff to the crown. Taking this to the extreme, it's likely that each noble family had a small standing military force of their own. And it's likely that minor conflicts have erupted between noble houses, fights taking place over 'who owns that river' or 'who owns this fertile land'. The crown would probably intervene if things got out of hand, but otherwise nobles would be left to their own devices so long as they didn't harm the country and maintained loyalty to the Greymane family.
From the quest chain, you'll note something about fashion. Everyone seems to dress to impress, commonly wearing 'casual suits' and dresses while out and about. Even commoners do. I didn't really see any 'poor folk' or something, but that's probably time constraints on Blizzard's end. Take it as you will.
As made evident from the large chapel in Gilneas City, Gilneans worship the Light. They have/had paladins just like everyone else, so don't take the fact that Worgen can't be paladins to mean there aren't any Gilnean paladins. It's just paladins are immune to the Worgen infection. So by all means, play a Gilnean paladin! Otherwise their church structure likely is the same as every other human city's, though probably doesn't have a 'figurehead' they can follow. The closest thing the church would probably have to a leader is whoever runs the main chapel in Gilneas City, probably their Bishop.
Independence is likely valued by the Gilneans. Note how even the women (don't strangle me I'll explain that later) can fire a gun effectively and fight off the Worgen/Forsaken invaders. It's probably extremely common for men to become minutemen, practically expected of you if you're of age for it. Dependence is frowned upon, though they probably tend to their children/elderly rather well, considering their 'honor'.
The favored Gilnean animal appears to be the mastiff, almost only available in Gilneas. Thus we can infer that it's a creature almost exclusive to the Gilneans, with the only other ones being found north of the Wetlands. There's no such thing as a dog in Elwynn, it's not their natural habitat. Gilneas and the nearby regions are. With how strong they are in a fight compared to 'pet cats' in Warcraft, it's likely that most dogs are raised to participate in hunts, which are likely a fairly common activity in Gilneas, considering how many damn foxes there are. In-fact, fox stew is probably a relatively common meal, because you can find the bloody things everywhere in Gilneas.
Gilneas has a lot of rifles, and there's probably no stigma of 'cowardice' attached to the weapon. Most families probably own at least one rifle. And hunting is, as mentioned, probably a well-regarded event for people to engage in. People hunt all the time in Gilneas. Though the hunt eventually changed to 'try and take in as many Worgen as possible alive' come the plague, hunting was still important, perhaps even more-so now that catching a Worgen meant bringing back a Gilnean to sanity.
Sexism
There are no women in the Gilneas military. There weren't any in Warcraft I, there weren't any in Warcraft II, and there weren't any in the opening of Worgen in Cataclysm. It's likely they were explicitly forbidden from taking combat roles, if they were even allowed to hold a rifle at all. Miss Crowley makes it clear that women can indeed fight, but as a rebel, it's unclear as to whether or not this is common in Gilneas society. Most questgivers during the Gilneas questline are women. Most women are not on the front-line fighting until the actual retaking of Gilneas City. It's likely that was the first time most Gilnean women actually participated in real combat. Female Gilneans in armor seemed to only start appearing at the tail end of the Gilneas quest chain.
Blizzard might not have explicitly stated there was sexism in Gilneas, but in a surprisingly subtle way for them, they've inferred that there is. With the destruction of Gilneas, women and men are likely experiencing the concept of equality among the genders for the first time as they meet the people of Stormwind (who have a mixed gender military). Do note that the other human nations only had men in the military prior to WoW as well, so no Gilnean would have known about this until just now.
I suppose you don't have to rolplay this sexism. But it does make for interesting developments in characters, as women become accustomed to new rights, and men getting used to women being their equals.
Seriously, I spawned like, 100 city guards of various different IDs. There's only like, 8 women in there. They're very rare, and the 'lower number ones' (IE: Ones appearing earlier in the quest chain) are exclusively men.
Spoiler:
![[Image: wowscrnshot042413120947.jpg]](http://imageshack.us/a/img69/5094/wowscrnshot042413120947.jpg)
The Rebellion
While the Greymane Wall is often seen as the cause of the Northgate Rebellion, it is not. It merely set the stage.
The Greymane Wall, as we know, cut off Pyrewood and Ambermill from the rest of Gilneas. Both these provinces were owned by a relatively new noble, Darius Crowley, a known supporter of the Alliance. While its construction did make things tense between Crowley and Greymane, it did not set off the rebellion.
When the Scourge began its ravaging of Azeroth, the Greymane Wall remained sealed even while people were banging on the doors to be let in. It did not. Genn Greymane allowed one of his senior mages, Archmage Arugal, to summon Worgen to combat the Scourge at his wall, with Darius Crowley's territories being caught in the crossfire. Even then, this did not start the Northgate Rebellion.
Eventually, Jaina Proudmore called for aid from any humans who would join her. Darius sent the Gilnean Brigade out to assist in the Battle for Mount Hyjal. Genn Greymane called him a traitor who would tarry with the Alliance. Darius replied that there was no reason for Genn's isolation, and thus the Northgate Rebellion began.
Rebels were led by Darius. Loyalists led by Genn. The civil war ravaged the countryside until it eventually reached the city. Do note that Genn was highly concerned about the well-being of his people, unwilling to sacrifice them for what he believed was the pointless cause which was the post-Second War Alliance. Though he was willing to sacrifice Pyrewood and Ambermill to build a wall at the best possible position (the 'neck' of the Gilneas peninsula), it's likely he still provided aid for the isolated territories somehow. He thought his isolationism would protect his people. The people inside the wall were probably INCREDIBLY THANKFUL for the fact the wall prevented the undead horde from getting to them. It's just that things sucked for Crowley's lands.
When it reached the city, Crowley had gathered enough explosives to destroy half of it and cripple the Scourge. Fortunately for the sake of Gilneas, he was captured, and his rebels went into hiding shortly afterwards.
The Worgen
The Worgen only really became a problem after the rebellion. At first there were just a few of them, and many nobles would go on hunts to kill the wolfmen. It wasn't until Ralaar Fangfire, a Night Elf Druid of the Pack who sought the Scythe of Elune, came to Gilneas that things really started to go bad. He started the Wolf Cult, which allied with the Forsaken, and began to quickly spread the curse throughout Gilneas, weakening it significantly. While he did eventually die which caused the dispersal of the Wolf Cult, it did a great amount of damage to Gilneas.
The wolfman menace led to what is likely considered an unexpected alliance in Gilneas. Greymane saw his need for aid, and thus freed Darius Crowley from his imprisonment, the two capable of overcoming their past quarrels for the greater good of their people. The Northgate Rebels came out of hiding at the news of this, and played a crucial role in the saving of what remained of Gilneas in the coming battles with the Worgen. Without Darius Crowley's aid, Gilneas would likely be completely eradicated. His last stand in the Light's Dawn Cathedral drew the attention of the Worgen, allowing for those inside Gilneas City to evacuate relatively safety, at the sacrifice of himself, his men, and volunteers that went with him. Every single person in the cathedral became Worgen or died.
Shortly after this, Cataclysm hit, and the natural reefs that protected Gilneas from a sea-borne invasion were shattered, allowing for the Forsaken/Horde invasion.
Some people accepted the Worgen infestation better than others. While Darius Crowley seemed to embrace it, Genn Greymane only did so that he would share the same fate as his people. And of course, Lord Godfrey flipped out over the idea of one so impure leading Gilneas, separating himself from Gilneas and having his own little rebellion in Shadowfang Keep.
Turning into a Worgen is probably painful. Just look at that animation. It doesn't look pleasant.
Breaking from Isolationism
Do note your Gilneans are only just now making contact with things outside of Gilneas. You've been isolationists for the better part of a decade. The world has changed significantly if you even left Gilneas prior to the wall being erected. Tauren/Draenei/Night Elves/Forsaken are new experiences to you. You've probably enjoyed being isolationists. This is not something that should be comfortable. You're being ripped out of your homes and forced to interact with the rest of Azeroth. You believe you can do things on your own most of the time. You're probably ashamed/irritated that your people require aid from non-Gilneans at the moment.