World of Warcraft: Shadowlands - Ardenweald Preview
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The Ardenweald location and the Night Fae Covenant you will encounter while playing the upcoming Shadowlands expansion for World of Warcraft are the subjects of this preview article on the game’s official website. If you’d like to know what to expect from this particular corner of Azeroth’s afterlife and what you’ll gain by aligning yourself with the Night Fae, you should check it out.
Here's an excerpt:
A twilight-tinged afterlife for those closely connected to the wild, Ardenweald is a domain of restoration tended by the mystic night fae. Within this eternal forest, massive dream trees draw in precious anima—the essence of souls that flows through the Shadowlands—to feed the spirits of nature awaiting rebirth into the cycle.
WELCOME TO ARDENWEALD
The ethereal umbral forests of Ardenweald are where wild spirits return after their time on the mortal plane come to an end so that they can again be reborn. However, this lush afterlife paradise has suffered greatly from the mysterious anima drought plaguing the Shadowlands. Everything that grows here has begun to wither, and the cycle of reincarnation is in peril unless things change—and swiftly.
First things first, you must seek out the Winter Queen—ruler of Ardenweald and the Night Fae Covenant—to deliver urgent news.
Deep within Ardenweald, wildseeds nurturing slumbering nature spirits are restored until they are ready to be awakened.
ARDENWEALD’S INHABITANTS
Meet the denizens of Ardenweald.
FAERIES
Mischievous tricksters of the woods, the mercurial faeries of Ardenweald use a mix of theatrical talents and cunning to care for rejuvenating spirits. Faeries use song to soothe away the pain of the great, resting spirits and snatch up lesser creatures lured by their eerie melodies, grinding them up into poultices. Faeries are just as easy to appease as they are to offend, so be wary of your actions.
VORKAI
The fierce and daring vorkai are the protectors and guardians of Ardenweald.
Vorkai make up the bulk of the Winter Queen’s Wild Hunt, who safeguard the domain against those seeking to bring imbalance. During the anima drought, it has fallen on them to enact the Winter Queen’s decrees of which groves flourish or are left to wither.
SYLVAR
Loyal, polite, and graceful, the sylvar are crafters and enchanters who create tools, foci, and magical objects to maintain the ebb and flow of existence in Ardenweald.
Recently, some groves in Ardenweald have been decreed to let their nurtured souls perish, so that others may survive the drought.
TIRNENN
Calm, patient, and enigmatic even to others in the Shadowlands, the tirnenn are slow to action as well as anger. They are the eldest of the Fae Court—quiet and thoughtful, and generally friendly unless you threaten their groves.
While slow to enrage, they are terrible to behold in battle, capable of shaping the land and flora around their enemies with frightening speed.
WINTER QUEEN
Leader of Ardenweald, the ethereal Winter Queen is charged with the sacred task of maintaining the great cycle of rebirth: restoring perished loa, Wild Gods, Ancients, and other nature spirits and returning them to the mortal plane.
She and the land are one; as the land thrives, so does she. But recently the land has grown sick, and this has taken a bitter toll on her. The anima drought has forced her to make hard choices over which groves to save and which to let go—losing beloved nature spirits in the process.
DRUST
With the drought weakening the guardians of Ardenweald, the ancient Drust have seized the opportunity to invade from their nightmarish realm of Thros. Using their twisted form of druidism to feed upon the dying groves, the Drust grow stronger with every wildseed that perishes. Though relatively few in number, the Drust are using dark rituals to pull the native fae into their forces.
SPRIGGAN
Spriggan are small, malicious creatures native to Ardenweald who live to create chaos. Some have heard the whispers of the death loa Mueh'zala, and gleefully carry out his plans. Others follow no ruler, simply reveling in the wanton mischief and destruction they unleash upon the inhabitants of Ardenweald.
MORTAL SOULS
In addition to the native fae creatures that the forest calls forth to nurture the wildseeds, Ardenweald serves as an afterlife for mortal souls who shared a special bond with the natural cycle. Druids, hunters, and others who tended the land may be judged worthy of an eternity spent caring for the wilds. Upon arrival, these souls can choose an animal form infused with the celestial magic of Ardenweald.
These are but a few of the entities you’ll encounter in Ardenweald. While adventuring, it's best to stay vigilant—you might even cross paths with long-passed heroes of Azeroth who now wander this world.
