WOW: Allied Races (Emptylord)

;Overview
* Removed "allied races" that are purely cosmetic.
* Removed "allied races" that are plot-advancements.
* New "Backgrounds" option in character creation that modifies the starting lore/experience.
* New neutral races and neutral options for existing races as part of plot progression.
Remember that Exile's Reach is set before Battle For Azeroth, and that Battle For Azeroth's new Death Knights were created prior to the Helm of Domination being destroyed. Both of these add a time-locked nature to the backgrounds.
== Backgrounds ==
A character's "Background" is new customization option that can be chosen during character creation that affects your starting lore, starting zone and starting level. This is an extension of the new starting experience being introduced in Shadowlands that currently grants new players access to the Exile's Reach background and veteran players the choice of Exile's Reach or the original starting experience of their race/class.
The main motivation for expanding the background selection is a general dissatisfaction with the Alliance allied race options when contrasted to the new character customisation options being introduce in Shadowlands - i.e. there is no real difference. There's no reason for Mechagnomes to be a separate playable race when I could just upgrade my existing gnome - that's kinda the whole point of their lore. We even upgrade the gnome leader into a mechagnome after his "death" in the Battle of Dazar'alor! This is especially true after Night Warriors were added as a customization option for Night Elves. 
Different backgrounds should not provide unique racial bonuses - they would be purely for role playing purposes. Any existing heritage armour, mounts and perks could be re-distributed to quest or achievement rewards in their current form (e.g. sets and mounts) or as toys, heirlooms and character-locked equipment. Character-locked equipment would make some backgrounds closer to "hero classes" than "allied races", but ideally none of these unlocks should be exclusive to new character and should at least be unlockable by existing characters who have complete the quest lines or achievements. Any changes to racials would likely require nameplate support for competitive purposes. 
That said, cosmetics can be background-locked (similar to gender-locked cosmetics).
== Cataclysm 2.0 ==
Ideally, I want the Intermission to go full-Cataclysm and delete all previous content from the game. Well - remove all quests and phases that relate to past content from the current zones. The Caverns of Time could be updated to include newly redundant dungeons/raids and NPC-based flash backs could be used to access old scenarios that would take place in instanced versions of old locations. 
I want to avoid Bronze Dragonflight phasing as much as possible - sticking to quest progression based phasing as much as possible. 
Given the existing time-locked and instanced nature of the Goblin, Worgen, Death Knight and Pandaren starting zones - there's no reason for those to be removed and could remain accessible starting experiences to new characters. They already establish that those events happened in the past. The Party Sync technology could even allow these starter zones to be replayed as-if you were a new player. 
The only special exemption I would advocate for is Azuremyst, as I think the fact the Draenei crash-landed very recently on Azeroth needs to be abundantly clear especially given their importance in lore overall. While I don't want their capital still looking like crash site after the time skip, I feel like creating an instanced version of Azuremyst that contains a heavily condensed and story-driven starting experience comparable to the Worgen or Goblin zones would be appreciated. 
Depending on how Blizzard decides to rebuild the Night Elves - the same could be done for Darnassus. An instanced starting experience could be created that shows us how the zone should have looked before it burned, and allows new players to truly appreciate what happened in the War of Thorns. However - it would be an instance and not a zone. It would not be connected to quest chains outside of the instance. The topography could be reused as an Emerald Dream copy so that the time design the set isn't wasted - but I do not think there should be a new tree post Time Skip.
== List of Backgrounds ==
Remember that the Exile's Reach background involves characters that were shipwrecked on an island off the coast of Northrend prior to the events of Legion, but after the events of Mists of Pandaria. Races that joined the Alliance and Horde after the Pandaren campaign would not be present on the island.
=== Races ===
Race	Faction	Background(s)	Notes
I am aware that High elves and Blood elves are technically the same race, and they could be made playable by making 'High elves' a neutral race and having 'Blood elf' as a background. However - having them as separate playable options allows for each to have separate background choices, as opposed to implementing sub-backgrounds that are not within the scope of this project. 
Unlocking the Covenant races requires the completion of their respective campaigns. In order to create a Covenant Character, you must sacrifice an existing max-level character to be transformed. Any level 50+ character can be transformed into one of your unlocked Covenant races (i.e. post-levelling character). This transition is permanent other than using a Race Change to swap the character back. This replaces your racial abilities with those of your Covenant. This is a transformation and you retain all character progress. A concession can be made for race-exclusives, such as mounts or cosmetics, to work on the Covenant Races - based on the character's "legacy". 
All races and classes can become any Covenant race (except maybe Demon Hunters and Tinkers) - although your customization options could be restricted based on class choice (e.g. your Necrolord might use the Necromancer model for Cloth and Mail classes, and the Gladiator model for Leather and Plate). This transformation cannot change your class, but your gender would be customizable and maybe name.
=== Race Candidates ===
Possible backgrounds/allied race candidates from a lore perspective, although not all of them are play-ready (i.e. their model doesn't support armour):
* Broken /
* Hozen 
* Jinyu 
* Gilblin 
* Ankoan 
Races I want to play for aesthetic reasons:
* Arakkoa 
* Botani (my LARP character is basically a Sylvari/Ivern, so tree-people is my shtick)
* Naga 
* Sethrak 
I wonder what it would take to have the Naga believe the queen has forsaken them. Would learning that she helped the champions and then abandoned this realm be sufficient? I say because I really want playable Naga.
=== Hero classes ===
Hero class 	Background(s)	Race
Death Knight	
*The Dragon Knights (Red Dragonflight)
*The Light-Touched (Naaru)
*The Fourth War (Bolvar)
*Scarlet Enclave (Arthus)	
* All Races
* All Races
* Up to Fourth War races
* Up to Cataclysm races
Demon Hunter	
*The Invasion	
*Night Elf, Blood Elf
;Death Knight variants
With the destruction of the Helm of Domination in the lead-up to Shadowlands, as well as the speculated timeskip during which many of the world leaders and the Champions of Azeroth have been missing for many years - protecting souls from damnation within the Maw falls to the mortal races, with the Red Dragonflight and the Naaru being chief candidates for those with the power and the motivation to create Death Knights of their own. 
The Dragon Knights are inspired by Bolvar himself - how he survived the war against the Lich King and his fire-cragged skin. Death Knights who choose the Dragon Knight background would resembled Bolvar - they would have red eyes, charred skin-tones, and decorations in the form of craggy growths and fire-lit skarring. The Life-Binders might find undeath to be distasteful, but even the dead must be protected from the Maw. Those who choose this background serve the Red Dragonflight. The new Death Knight specialization, Fire, is similarly based on the Red Dragonflight.
The Light-Touched are inspired by Calia. In addition to the Redeemed Forsaken background option, which grants light-based customization options to the forsaken; all races can opt for a more golden-eyed, white-gold undeath via the touch of the Naaru. Light versus Void is speculated to be an upcoming expansion - and it would not be unreasonable to expect that the Naaru would begin to amass an army of their own. In general, I'm more on-the-fence about Light-Touched Deathknights. Light-Touched Undead might be sufficient, and having both might be too visually confusing. 
Fourth War and Dragon Knight Death Knights are both available to new players; choosing Arthus is for Veteran players only; and choosing the Light-Touched should be locked to a campaign.
== Shortlist ==
<tabber>
Reasonable Scope=
Expansion	Alliance 	Horde
 	Human 	Orc
 	Dwarf 	Troll
 	Gnome 	Tauren
 	Draenei 	Blood elf
 	Worgen 	Goblin
 	High elf 	Nightborne
 	??? 	Vulpera
 	Kul Tiran	Zandalari
 	Neutral 	Neutral
 	Night elf	Night elf
 	Undead 	Undead
 	Pandaren 	Pandaren
 	Kyrian 	Kyrian
 	Necrolord	Necrolord
 	Night Fae	Night Fae
 	Venthyr 	Venthyr
|-|
Wishful Thinking=
Expansion	Alliance 	Horde
 	Human 	Orc
 	Dwarf 	Troll
 	Gnome 	Tauren
 	Draenei 	Blood elf
 	Broken 	—
 	Worgen 	Goblin
 	Jinyu 	Hozen
 	Botani 	Arakkoa
 	High elf 	Nightborne
 	— 	Vulpera
 	Kul Tiran	Zandalari
 	Ankoan 	Gilblin
 	Neutral 	Neutral
 	Night elf	Night elf
 	Undead 	Undead
 	Pandaren 	Pandaren
 	Naga 	Naga
 	Mogu 	Mogu
 	Kyrian 	Kyrian
 	Necrolord	Necrolord
 	Night Fae	Night Fae
 	Venthyr 	Venthyr
I notice a significant lack of Wrath of the Lich King. I have the Taunka proposes as a background, above, but perhaps the Tuska and Taunka could be added as playable races. I know Taliesin would be happy.
</tabber>
Category:World of Warcraft
Category:Emptylord