Lessons in Lore - General Vezax

There's not a lot we know about this guy. The one thing we do know is that he's a General, and he is a Faceless One. The fact that he is a general seems irrelevant, however it may be worth mentioning that another General served an old god as well. That was General Rajaax who served C'thun in Ahn'Qiraj. The names are actually very similar as well.

Faceless ones are ancient evil beings in the service of Yogg-Saron. They were first encountered in Azjol-Nerub by the Nerubians, who dug too deep while fighting the scourge, and contributed to the near extinction of the nerubianswhen they were confronted from two sides by the enemy. There are many locales around Icecrown where we find evidence of the faceless ones, including in the mines and underneath Icecrown citadel. The name faceless one comes from the indistinguishable looks of the monsters. Though they resemble elephants, there's really know evidence of eyes or ears or mouths. Just a lot of appendages.

General Vezax looks more bug like than elephant like and has massive claws for hands, as well as a somewhat discernible face. There is no explanation for this, but he does seem to command the faceless ones that surround him.

The only other tidbit of information is more recent, and comes from a blue post in the forums, which is kind of abnormal from a lore standpoint. However, it has been suggested that General Vezax is in reality the corrupted form of the Watcher Tyr, who we have no current knowledge of his whereabouts. All of the other watchers showed up in Ulduar, so it would make sense that Tyr would as well. But there is a difference noted in that all of the temples of the watchers were destroyed or violated, except for Tyr's Temple of Order, which is simply vacated.

So is General Vezax the corrupted form of the Watcher Tyr? Being that close to Yogg-Saron's prison is bound to have it's consequences. But there is another room that isn't explored on the Ulduar map, opposite of Hodir's room. We may never know. What do you think?



Just one more boss left to do. The old god himself. Stay tuned!

Yogg-Saron. Finally Defeated.

We did it! We finally killed that over weight sack of brains. Using a raid lock out from over four weeks ago, we went inside Ulduar and after nearly an hour and a half, brought the big bad brain down. I'm so proud of everyone in my guild. We all had to pull together to get him down and we did it! Much screaming and rejoicing was had. Then we went and cleared out Iron Council, Razorscale, and Ignis just for kicks. So much fun to have it finally put behind us.

Now we're going to take it easy and do some Ulduar hard modes. It will probably be some time before we come back for Yogg again. And I'm okay with that. Before Ulduar, we completed a Trial of the Crusader run normal and netted the Upper Back Pain and 360 Pain Spike achievements in the process. As far as I know, we may be the first on our server to get that back pain one, but that's only going on what Guild Ox says.

Kind of on a gaming high right now.

Trial of the Crusader Completed!

Due to the weekend being a holiday weekend and wanting a shot at being one of the first guilds on the server to complete the Trial of the Crusader, we did our raid Tuesday night in the Coliseum. The Faction Champions gave us a bit of a headache as they most always do, but we had it after 4 tries. We one shotted the Twin Val'kyr, again, even though I still don't feel like I understand the fight. And then we tackled Anub'arak!

I only knew the basic strategy as no real information other than what was from the PTR was available. We tried to keep him on the permafrost so he wouldn't burrow, but we never seemed to be able to completely keep him from doing so. It may be that you can't keep him from burrowing and that the permafrost is more for avoiding the spikes in the second phase and slowing down adds.

Whatever the case, after 4 or 5 trial and error shots, we got him! We went on to attempt the heroic Northrend Beast fight and had a good laugh when the Jormungar entered the arena BEFORE we had killed Gormok.

We ended the night by taking down Koralon, the newest boss in the Vault of Archavon. Two shot, and a lot of fun for some Emblems and Tier 9 gear!

Lessons in Lore - Hodir and Freya

Hodir is a watcher of Ulduar, just like Thorim, Freya, and Mimiron. He had resided in the Temple of Winter in the Storm Peaks, but by the time we get there, he is gone, his servants are dead and the place smells of sulfur. This would indicate that Fire Giants, the mortal enemies of the Ice Giants, had something to do with Hodir's disappearance. The only known Fire giants exist as bosses in various instances/raids. Ignis is a Fire Giant. Whether they were actually involved is not known. What is known is that Hodir is now in Ulduar, under the control of Yogg-Saron, via Loken who betrayed all of the watchers. Hodir is found in the Halls of Winter in Ulduar.

Prior to that, Hodir had been a guardian over the Ice Giants, who themselves had taken on the name "Sons of Hodir" to identify with their patron. The Sons of Hodir play heavily into the Thorim quest line as I mentioned before, so it's interesting to me that the Sons of Hodir seem to have more connections to Thorim in game than Hodir.

There has been some speculation that Hodir is the inspiration for Greatfather Winter of the dwarves and Winter's Veil.. He makes mention to the "Veil of Winter" when you request his help against Yogg-Saron.

Other than that, there's not much else to say about him, which is surprising since there's a whole faction named for him in the game.



Freya

Freya is the last watcher of Ulduar. She is known mostly for being in tune with nature, and watcher of all things living. Our first encounter is with her is actually the Avatar of Freya, an aspect of Freya that she separated from herself and left in charge of watching over the life in Sholozar Basin. We interact with the Avatar via several quests in the basin centered around repelling the scourge that are spilling into the basin from Icecrown.

Freya had resided in the Temple of Life in Storm Peaks. Currently all life there is dead, including the plants. There is evidence of a battle that took place there between Freya and a being of similar size. I assume this to be Loken, but it could have been any of the beings within Loken and Yogg-Saron's control.

Within Ulduar, Freya is found in the Conservatory of Life with her three guardians. The area is still lush and vibrant, despite it's watcher being corrupted. However, all of the animals and plant life are now hostile towards players.

The last thing I'll say about Freya is that she is referred to as a "Daughter of the Titans." There is some speculation on whether or not the watchers are actually Titans. Is the daughter of a Titan, a Titan? Maybe, but it could just be a title instead of an actual family link. I maintain that the watchers are not actual Titans, but creations of the Titans for specific purposes. There is a quest in Storm Peaks that implies the watchers are Titans though, so there is that to consider.

Lessons in Lore - Thorim and Razorscale

Anyone who has quested in the Storm Peaks should be familiar with the story of Thorim, his wife, Loken, the Sons of Hodir, and Veranus. You, the player, actually have a hand in getting Thorim from where he is at the Temple of Storms, into Ulduar under the control of Loken and Yogg-Saron. Need a refresher? Allow me to paraphrase. Beware that if you have not done the quest chain, the following is a spoiler.

The quest chain starts from a Goblin in K3 about the large blue women (aka the Hyldnir) who took the Goblin men prisoner. You go off to save them and in the process get involved with the Vry'kul ladies and their war with the Sons of Hodir. Disguised as a big blue woman yourself, you proceed to take part in their games to see who will be the champion and rule by Thorim's side.

After jumping around on the backs of dragons flying around the Temple of Storms, you prove yourself and end up in front of Thorim himself. Oddly enough he seems a bit coo coo. At first he thinks your his wife, Sif, but then recognizes you for the in disguise that you are. Through a short conversation you find out what has happened.

Thorim was originally one of the chief watchers over Ulduar, the Terrace of the Makers, and the races of frost. Loken, Thorim's brother, killed Sif, Thorim's wife, and blamed it on Amgrim, the king of the Frost Giants. Thorim, in his rage, through his hammer at Arngrim, killing him, but before Arngim died, he was able to put a rune on the hammer, preventing anyone, including Thorim, from using it. Thorim then retreated to the Temple of Storms in a stupor of despair.

Taking your arrival as a sign, Thorim wakes from his stupor and begins to plot against the real villain, Loken. First you mend the relationship with the Sons of Hodir and Thorim by working for them some. In return you manage to get Thorim his armor and hammer back from the spirit of Arngrim. Once things are all patched up with them, you then set out to get Thorim his epic mount back. This is Veranus, the brood mother of the local proto-drakes who Thorim had released into the wild before he went into his stupor.

Armor, check, hammer, check, proto-drake mount, check. Okay! Off you and Thorim go to Loken's throne at the Temple of Wisdom. Thorim and Loken exchange some trash talk and a little fisticuffs, but Loken cheats and a strange tentacle gasps Thorim and Veranus. Thorim and his drake are taken off to Ulduar. Loken laughs at you and reveals that he was the blue woman inside the mine who got you started on this whole quest chain to begin with. In thanks, he doesn't kill you.

Loken has Ignis fuse some metal plates onto Veranus, creating Razorscale. Razorscale flies around Razorscale's Aerie in Ulduar, causing problems for some of the Explorer's League members who are there. A sad end to a noble beast.

Thorim resides in the Halls of Lightning where he is still plagued by visions of Sif, his long dead wife, presumably thanks to Yogg-Saron.

A lot of the mythology of Thor lines up with Thorim. They both had wives named Sif, were betrayed by their brothers and had named hammers. Apparently Thor was defeated by a Jormungar as well, and we see one of these when we enter the arena where Thorim is standing in the Halls of Lightning.

A Closer Look at Ulduar - Ignis, Kologarn, and the Assembly of Iron

Ignis the Furnace Master

Ignis is a Titan creation. As per his title, he is in charge of forging weapons and armies in his Colossal Forge. Prior to being influenced by Loken and Yogg-Saron, it is not clear what he was creating, but it seems reasonable to assume he had a hand in building much of the Titan structures and objects that exist today.

Now that he is corrupted though, Ignis has been commissioned to do a few other things. The most notable of which are Kologarn, and the iron plating on Razorscale. And you may not have realized it, but all throughout Northrend you've been fighting against Ignis' handy work, the iron dwarf armies. Once created, these armies of iron constructions are organized and sent out by the three ruling generals of the Assembly of Iron.

Ignis has a fascination with fire and things burning. He repeatedly refers to the Maker's Fire, which is the large pit of flame that can be seen behind him and is the forge where he molds all of his creations. He has many examples of his craft standing around his work area and can call them to life at will. In addition to this, Ignis seems to be very keen on recycling, muttering often that he will use the bones of adventurers as kindling, and the rest as scrap for the scrapheap.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention the large cauldron that Ignis keeps on his belt. I don't know what it's for, other than dunking adventurers in. It has earned Ignis the name, Crotch Pocket, due to the placement of the cauldron, and the achievement associated with being put in it, [Hot Pocket].

Kologarn

Kolo was created by Ignis for one purpose, and one purpose only. To guard the shattered walkway to the inner chamber of Ulduar where Yogg-Saron is imprisoned. So in relation to the other beings in Ulduar, Kologarn is a recent addition to the group. He is a giant stone man with extremely large arms to swat away any intruders who approach him.

What we see of Kologarn is just his upper body, but he does in fact have feet and is standing up when we fight him. If you've ever had the misfortune of running off the edge of the platform, you'd be able to see the feet, though you'd be dead from the fall. Here's a piece of advice, if you do fall, don't look up.

When defeated, Kologarn becomes a bridge for the shattered section of the walkway, allowing access to the rest of Ulduar. Poor planning by Loken if you ask me. It would have been more formidable to just leave a broken bridge with no way to get across rather than a large ambidextrous giant with delusions of grandeur.

Assembly of Iron

Three generals make up the Iron Council: Steelbreaker, the iron giant; Runemaster Molgeim, an iron Vrykul, and Stormcaller Brundir. the iron Dwarf general. These three generals are orchestrating the iron armies that plague Northrend under the influence of Yogg-Saron.

Other than that, we don't know much about them individually. However, their placement within Ulduar is worth noting, and the treasure of information that they hold. Defeating the assembly on hard mode will drop the [Archivum Data Disc]. This can then be used to access the Archivum Console behind where the Assembly of Iron is meeting. It starts the quest to reach Algalon the Observer, so we'll talk about that later, but you now know that the Iron Council is guarding the key to keeping Azeroth safe from destruction!

Argent Confessor Paletress

For those of you that have been doing Argent Tournament dailies, you may have noticed the NPC, Argent Confessor Paletress, in the Argent Crusade tent. She stands off in the corner and gives a sermon to people sitting on the benches.

I had just finished up dailies on Salthier and sat down on a bench while I was chatting on my guild channel or something when she started her sermon. I had heard it before, but I read the whole thing and caught something at the end that I had not before. She invites people who have heard her sermon to speak with her behind the "confessional screen" when she is done. Curious, I went behind the screen where she was standing.

After a few moments, the Stormwind Champion NPC got up and came behind the screen to talk with her. Not wanting to intrude, I went into cat form and stealthed. Their conversation was very interesting. Basically the Champion says, "Jousting is silly, we should be assaulting Icecrown!" and the Confessor says that all attempts have been futile so far, and that the tournament is actually a means to an end in which they will select a chosen few to take on the Lich King.

After that he gave her the human thumbs up, "Sounds fine!" and went and sat down. She returned to her position outside the confessional screen and presumably prepared to sermonize again. I left after that.

Apparently any one of the NPC's sitting there can get up and talk to her when she goes behind the screen. I don't know if it's in sequence or if it's random. The full text of the sermon and each confession is in the wow wiki article linked above. Some of them are silly, but the human and orc ones are fairly meaningful.

More than anything, this gave me answers to some things I've been thinking of in terms of Elionene's reason to do Argent Tournament dailies. She is a hunter, and seeks the hunt. She does not play games. She has been at the forefront of all the battles in Northrend and intends to take on Arthas, so she thinks the Crusade a little loony for throwing a big jousting tourney in the cold north. These confessions give a lot of insight for reasons that would allow her to participate knowing that the ends will justify the means in a sense.

Anyway, in case you didn't know about the confessions, now you do. I thought it was pretty cool.

Lessons in Lore - Mimiron and His Inventions

Mimiron is a brilliant inventor. His form is that of a mechanical gnome, though larger than normal gnomes. He is responsible for most of the mechanical creations in Ulduar and throughout Azeroth. Prior to his corruption by Yogg-Saron, Mimiron was a keeper of Ulduar and watched over the prison from his Temple of Invention in the Storm Peaks. The temple is now in disarray, with many of the mechanical beings there destroyed or malfunctioning. This is likely due to Loken's interference, and ultimately controlled by the Old God within Ulduar. Before his corruption, Mimiron created all sorts of things. Afterward he has worked solely on machines built for war.

Miimiron is currently located in the Spark of Imagination, a large workshop of sorts deep within the mountains behind Ulduar. In order to access it, adventurers must ride the LMS Mark II, a large tram created by Mimiron. Within the workshop, Mimiron is putting the final touches on his latest war machine. the V-07-TR-0N. No, I'm not kidding, that's what it's called.

V-07-TR-0N consists of 3 different machines. The base is battle tank called the Leviathan MKII and is similar to the Flame Leviathan that guards Ulduar's front gates. The body of the machine is the VX-001, an anti-personnel assault cannon that resembles two arms. The head of the machine is the Aerial Command Unit.

From quests in the Borean Tundra, it is speculated that gnomes were once mechanical beings created by a titan called "The Grand Architect" and that they evolved into beings of flesh through a natural process. Mmiron is not a titan, just a being empowered by them, so it is not known if he played a part in the creation of the race of gnomes. But it seems likely he did.



Flame Leviathan


The Flame Leviathan was created by Mimiron to defend the outer gates of Ulduar, or perhaps to dissuade and protect treasure hunters from what is in side. However, with the prisoner now free, it is an obstacle that must be overcome if anyone is to get inside and free the keepers and put Yogg-Saron back in his place. The large tank is powered by four orbital towers that increase it's power when active. The four towers correspond the the four watchers within Ulduar.

XT-002 Deconstructor


XT resides in the scrapyard of Ulduar, and is presumably in charge of the dismantling of Mimiron's experiment's that have not worked. This is speculation based on his name, and his ability to pound the ground with his two large arms, deconstructing anything in between. Unlike the Flame Leviathan which is wholly a machine with standard programming, XT has been given the ability of self awareness. He considers himself the child of Mimiron, his creator, and thus talks and behaves as a young boy. He imagines the adventurers he comes across as his toys. He's bad about breaking them. And he's prone to throwing tantrums.

It's not clear what Mimiron had created before being influenced by Yogg-Saron, but logically it would seem that XT-002, and the Flame Leviathan have more basic purposes, and were created before the release of the Old God. The V-07-TR-0N however appears to be a new invention, it's sole purpose being destruction, and most likely made after Mimiron's primary directives where corrupted.

Lessons in Lore - Auriaya

Auriaya


Auriaya is the Ulduar Archavist. Although, I'm not entirely sure what she is archiving. I haven't seen any books or anything, though the Titans tended to store things on discs anyway. She is called the Crazy Cat Lady because of her two cat adds that patrol the central area of the Antechamber in Ulduar with her, as well as the third cat that spawns during the boss fight.

She is a Titan construct, so it would stand to reason that she was created for the singular purpose of being the Archavist and keeping tabs on the information stored in Ulduar. Her patrol just happens to be around where Yogg-Saron is imprisoned, so it wouldn't surprise me if she was one of the first beings to succumb to Yogg's corruption. When offing a raid member, she will exclaim, "The secret dies with you!" My best guess is that the secret is Yogg-Saron breaking free of his prison.

Auriaya is similar in both name and model to Ironaya who you may remember seeing in Uldaman. Their names are both metals. Aureo is Latin for gold, and Iron is...well, it's Iron. Ironaya also guarded a chamber of sorts with treasures, further supporting these construct's roles as guardians and lore keepers. They are further connected through [Ironaya's Discarded Mantle] which drops from Auriaya. Hunter loot, naturally. I suppose at one time, Ironaya resided in Ulduar, and was later placed in Uldaman before the Titan's left Azeroth.

There are two other bosses that share the same model, the Maiden of Virtue in Karazhan, and the Maiden of Grief in Halls of Stone. The Maiden of Grief appears to be just another Titan construct in a Titan instance, though the Halls of Stone is yet another stronghold of Titan lore as evidenced by the quest line involving Brann Bronzebeard that takes place there, further associating these types of constructs with Archives. The Maiden of Virtue on the other hand makes less sense in terms of game lore. We don't know why she is in Kara, or if she was there before Medivh had left. The one interesting point of note, is that upon defeat, the Maiden of Virtue says, "Death comes. Will your conscience be clear?" which some people have now taken to be foreshadowing of the coming of the death god, Yogg-Saron.

And the cats? Well, if you were a lonely old archivist stuck in a prison guarding a brooding brain with a million maws, you'd probably want something soft and cuddly to keep you company too.

A Closer Look At Ulduar

ULDUAR

Ulduar is a Titan base. The Titans need their own post, but for now just think of them as the creators. They essentially seeded the world with life and built a lot of things where they did their work and whatever else it is that world creators do.

Other bases of the Titans can be found on Azeroth with Uldaman and Uldum. Uldaman is a fully fleshed out instance in the Badlands. It is probably a Titan vault where they stored artifacts such as the Discs of Norgannon. Apparently it is also where the Titans stored their failed living creations, Troggs, which were released on Azeroth when Uldaman was excavated. Uldum has not been put into the game yet in any explorable form, but the entrance is located in Tanaris, and there is a quest line that informs us it is a research facility for the Titans.

So Uldaman is a vault, and Uldum is a Titan lab, what does that make Ulduar? First of all, Ulduar is huge. Much much bigger than the other places. In game terms it encompasses Halls of Stone, Halls of Lightning, and the raid, Ulduar. Because of this, many consider Ulduar to be a Titan CITY. A place where the Titans lived while on Azeroth. Quests in the game seem to confirm this. However, the official Blizzard release on Ulduar puts it pretty plainly.

Ulduar is a prison.

Yep, the central purpose of Ulduar, at least the raid section, is to house Yogg-Saron, the Old God of Death. I'll talk more about who Yogg-Saron is and why he's imprisoned here later. The short story is that the Titans couldn't kill him, because that would have lasting effects on Azeroth, so they imprisoned him instead, and placed watchers, or keepers over him to make sure things stayed that way. This is where Freya, Mimiron, Thorim, and Hodir come into it. They are stationed by the Titans to keep Yogg-Saron where he is. But something has gone wrong.

And what went wrong, is Loken. You may have heard of this guy if you've done anything in the Storm Peaks zone. Essentially, the Titans placed him in charge of everything that was going on in Ulduar when they left. Somehow, Yogg-Saron found a way from within his prison to corrupt Loken. Loken then went on to bring all of the other keepers within Yogg-Saron's control, and set the stage for us as adventurers to go in and clean things up. Now Loken is the end boss of the Halls of Lightning. When you kill him, he announces that the end of the world is heralded by his death, and he's right.

This plays into the hard mode of Ulduar. With Loken's Death, Algalon the Observer is sent to Ulduar to determine if all is well. If it is, no harm done, if it isn't, bye bye Azeroth. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

So what do we know? We know Ulduar was a prison build for Yogg-Saron. We know that the keepers and other bosses in Ulduar were originally there to watch over the old god's prison and maintain it so that the world would never have to deal with him. We know they failed and that Yogg-Saron has become unchained and is seeking to do what he does best. Kill everything. Now it's our job to go in there, free the keepers from the corruption and put an end to Yogg-Saron's wanton destruction of Azeroth. But even after that's all done, we still have to convince Algalon that this world is worth saving. That yeah, Loken screwed up, buy hey, we're here now and it's all okay.

I'll expound more on each of the bosses in a later post and flesh out a lot of the things that are going on in Ulduar. Like why are there so many Iron Dwarves? Does Kologarn have feet? (Hint: Yes) And why is there a crazy cat lady walking around an open pit with a female Vry-kul hovering in the middle? And then I'll talk about the really crazy stuff.