Lore Additions: Wretched

[SachikoMaeda]

I shall try my hand at composing some custom lore for us here. I'll expand on Wretched as a whole, lay out things that are not covered in Blizzard lore, and dig around with some research to find out what little there is in lore.

Actual Lore Behind Wretched

• There are a few named Wretched. Aldaron the Reckless, Felendren the Banished, and Thaelis the Hungerer. Before his defeat, Kael'thas Sunstrider had turned Wretched.
  
• They are the result of either a High Elf or a Blood Elf caving in to their magic addiction. Overindulgence can cause an Elf to turn Wretched.
  
• "Felblood Initiates use the wretched model when emaciated, indicating a connection between the two."- Wowpedia page on Wretched.
  
• "The Wretched are considered to be little more than lowly parasites to blood elven society, and serve as a reminder of the dangers of allowing their magical addiciton to control them."- Wowpedia page on Wretched.
  

There's a nice section for speculation on Wretched on Wowpedia.

Custom Lore Proposals

• Wretched clearly work in gangs. This seems to give them an advantage when ambushing travelers or raiding a location for artifacts or magic sources to fuel their addiction.
  
• They are shells of who they once were. Who they were before does not matter. Only more magic. Because of this, the longer they are in a Wretched state, the easier it is for them to forget who they were.
  
• A cure for the Wretched would more than likely have to be handled like once would treat an addict. Extensive therapy would be required. Other methods may be developed in character by players. An event chain for Blood Elves and Forsaken, for example, could be a joint effort to find a more effective cure.
  
• They will never gain back their original appearance just like a Blood Elf cannot go back to having blue eyes.
  
• Those who were once Wretched will never be fully welcomed back into Silvermoon. They would be subject to extreme prejudice.
  
• If pulled into the Blood Elven army or any army of the Horde, they would more than likely be front-line "meat shields".
  
• Wretched are neither Blood Elf or High Elf. They are their own race that is viewed as lesser.
  
• A "town" for the Wretched that are cured could be placed in the Ghostlands. Here they can attempt to gain redemption in their society by reclaiming the Ghostlands and clearing the remaining Scourge or Trolls.
  
• Cured Wretched will more than likely try to cure other Wretched to increase their numbers.
  
• Alone, a Wretched is likely to fall back into their addiction. To avoid this, they usually stay around those who know how to control it or with other Wretched for some form of support.
  
• Wretched can hold no position of power within Blood Elf society. They can, however, hold power within their own established towns. These positions are not acknowledged in Silvermoon.
  
• Wretched may have more support from the Forsaken than they do the Blood Elves out of sympathy. If this is to be true, then a small colony of Wretched may locate themselves in the Undercity to research a more effective cure.
  
• Wretched in Alliance territories are exceedingly rare.
  
• If a Wretched is murdered, Silvermoon officials will not care. Only other Wretched and Wretched sympathizers will.
  
• Wretched "society" is rather disorganized with no official leader. Leaders of towns or colonies may be player characters. A town may consist of around 20 Wretched, a colony being only about five Wretched.
  
• They are not patient and are prone to violent outbursts.
  
• A cured Wretched is not cured of the same addiction a Blood Elf or High Elf has to magic. They have regained access to the Sunwell.
  
• Views on mages and warlocks vary on town to town. They'll more than likely be more lenient with it if they have a non-Wretched with them that uses magic.
  
• Cured Wretched do not call themselves Wretched, rather they refer to themselves as Redeemed.
  

[Vooz]

Only the powers of Alchemy can save them!

Wretched actually kind of remind me of the Broken/Lost Ones in Outland, just without their Kurenai equivalent (in retail lore, anyway). So just as many of the Broken were 'saved' by Shamanism, perhaps the Wretched could benefit from a connection to the Light. The idea of an uber-devout priesthood of Wretched trying to save their brethren from mindlessness and evil sounds pretty appealing to me. And perhaps on the other side, the Forsaken try to pull them in the opposite direction, attempting to convert them into Forsaken loyalists.

[Aphetoros]

I could see it go both ways. I WOULD LOVE TO EXPLORE THIS!! Imagine getting a group of people together and creating a functioning Wretched Outpost in the Ghostlands and creating a whole RP scenario around it. That sounds amazing.

It would be very interesting to see how they would cope-- would any of them still be mages and warlocks? Or would that be too risky with their addiction into falling back into it? Would these Wretched towns forbid other Wretched from being mages specifically to prevent the temptations?

It would be so cool to play a Wretched shadowpriest using the properties of shadow to numb and distance themselves from worldly attachments, or maybe (as Vooz said) a Wretched finding Solace in the Light. Maybe the Light finds them?

[SachikoMaeda]

Views on mages and warlocks vary on town to town. They'll more than likely be more lenient with it if they have a non-Wretched with them that uses magic.

Edit: Gonna add this in with the custom lore proposals.

[Mathias]

This specific forum is for staff-only to comment. If you want to leave any comments for Sachi's idea, please do it in the workshop thread for this idea.

[Loxmardin]

Here's the workshop thread for the proposal, to note. You can post in it even after the proposal's gone live in the submissions.

[Loxmardin]

Right, so. Actual feedback.

What with the Wretched being opened as a mini-CMC "subrace", that means they will be more easily accessible for active play. Since they haven't existed for very long, it's difficult to establish much in the ways of "lore" for their sake. I can definitely see the towns and settlements mentioned in the OP as something to be pursued in-game through player-run storylines to begin a sort of redemption arc for the Wretched in Quel'thalas. It's nothing we're going to establish from the get-go, but if there's enough interest server-wide for this sort of arc (tied in with the Blood Elf race as a whole)... settlements could more than likely be established and built on.

Overall, this proposal has my support.