Connected At Last!

Princess Aszune and Maiev Shadowsong the namesakes of our realms

Well OK not actually connected but that days is not far away as this week the announcement that I have been praying for each week finally came. Shadowsong EU is to get connected, To Aszune. Wait what realm? I'd never heard of it during my research into realm pops so this one had slipped through my radar completely, the cynic in me made me suspect that this realm connection was to a Horde biased realm and that wasn't going to help Shadowsong at all. So I got out the old detective kit and went searching for some positive news.

What I found was, thankfully, all good. Firstly I discovered that Aszune has a similar population balance to Shadowsong, both realms have approx 60,000 characters with an Alliance heavy faction bias. This means that it puts the realms into the same character population bracket as Magtheridon.

Of these characters about 20,000 on each realm are 90. So however you look at it there will be double the number of characters around to raid/PVP with which is bloody awesome. However, the physical trip to Aszune (OK it is virtual but I sent atoon there) revealed a realm that felt quiet just like Shadowsong. This isn't what Magtheridon feels like and there the population is 60k per faction. The merged Aszune/Shadowsong will have almost 100k Alliance. I suspect therefore that many of the realms characters are inactive. So while it may be good it won't feel very busy, but it will feel busier..

A look over at WoWProgress and Guild Ox shows that the raiding is very similar on both servers although Aszune is rated marginally higher than Shadowsong, this is good for my raid team even though we will drop in the 10 man (from server 9th to server 21st) and 25 man rankings (from server 5th to server 9th). 

PVP on Aszune is also ranked slightly higher than it is on Shadowsong, this is again good news for my RBG team but will mean that we have more competition. We will still be ranked no 1, but we're only a few points ahead of the top 3 RBGs teams there so we will need to keep focused and work hard for our ranking from now on.

The chatter on Shadowsong is very positive about this and a few Shadowsongsters have made friendly posts on the Aszune realm forum although at the last look the same hasn't happened on the Shadowsong realm forum but at least the two communities are talking to each other which can only be good. I know my guild will be having a recruitment drive on Aszune soon and hopefully this will be the beginning of something great.

And finally, if, like me, you're thinking who/what/where is the realm named after.....

WoWPedia wrote:
Aszune was a night elf princess. Long ago she mocked the Oracle's wisdom. As punishment, she was transformed into living stone. Only the retrieval of her gemstone heart could end the curse.

Thrall happened upon the statue in the caverns of Stonetalon Peak during the Third War. The statue's magic created an impassable barrier, and the voice of Aszune spoke in Thrall's mind. The imprisoned spirit told him that she would not allow passage to the Oracle's domicile until her heart was returned to her.

Thrall found the heart in the possession of a red dragon. The dragon was under attack and nearly killed by harpies that were after its treasure. Thrall retrieved the dragon's magical amulet and gave it to Aszune. With this act, he ended the curse, allowing her spirit rest, and also the barrier that denied him access to the Oracle was lowered.[1]

The essence of Aszune's heart had come, through unknown means, into the hands of the Kirin Tor of Dalaran (after the city was destroyed too, it seems). They locked it away in the dungeons beneath the city, where it was eventually found by Lady Vashj.[2]

The Pillars of Aszune is a series of arcs on the Broken Isles that lead to the open sea. When Maiev Shadowsong was fighting off the Naga forces, her runner got through the Pillars of Aszune to reach Malfurion Stormrage on Kalimdor.[3] The name of the pillars implies that Aszune lived before the Great Sundering and was rather famous.

Nothing is known about Aszune beyond the information revealed in the above missions of Warcraft III. Her title suggests she might be related to Queen Azshara, but no information on this has been established. She makes no appearance in any document pertaining to the War of the Ancients - if she was indeed related to Azshara then she was likely imprisoned some time before the war, as no relations of Azshara would have gone undocumented afterward. However, there are a few obscure highborne princes featured in World of Warcraft, such as Prince Tortheldrin and Prince Toreth (and possibly Lord Talendar in The Frozen Throne), and she could have been their equivolent for the Kelani Magi, who had some connection to the caverns and ruins beneath Stonetalon Peak. She was also cursed for her arrogance, a trait typical of the Highborne. Her name appears to be somewhat similar to Queen Azshara's."