In the wake of the recent calamities, the Brokers have taken this chance to capitalize on new opportunities for profit and perhaps more. The Brokers are a faction separate from the Covenants and the Maw, sort of soul-traders, that can move freely around the Shadowlands. Along the way in this area, we spot someone who looks decidedly out of place, a sort of Ethereal-looking merchant that’s part of an organization known as the Brokers. Elevators are scattered everywhere, allowing players to move from ward to ward and explore the vertical space of the zone. One of the major dungeons of the expansion, Revendreth Cathedral, is located here.

It’s a mix of interior and exterior space and significantly higher class than the village below. The next stop on the carriage-ride is the Cathedral Ward. The Village Ward is mostly exterior environments, various dilapidated buildings, and a view of the fog-filled forest where the Venthyr schedule hunts on tortured souls, sending them out with a false sense of security and hope they run away, then track them down and “humble” them. Carriages are a frequent sight throughout the castle grounds, and beyond being a cool aesthetic addition, players can hop on and off at will to help speed up travel or get through pockets of aggressive enemies. A famous character from Warcraft that ended up here is Kael’thas Sunstrider. The souls that show up here under normal circumstances are “bad guys,” prideful, and perhaps having justified terrible things, and have a chance at redemption over eons of suffering in the Shadowlands. While the Venthyr may have an important purpose in the Shadowlands, with their task of preparing tainted souls for the afterlife, you can’t help but think these vampiric, bickering aristocrats have a serious streak of sadism. Souls sent here can etch these sins off their stones over time as they prepare for the afterlife, but the Venthyr’s methods are often horrific and torturous. Sin stones, gravestones with the soul’s crimes listed upon it, litter each pathway. The castle proper looms over the zone like an oppressive titan, towering over the Village Ward where players enter and can get the lay of the land. This is a problem that many of the Shadowlands zones have, as no new souls are coming in due to everyone being routed to the Maw. The entryway itself is suffering disrepair, as are the buildings and structures across the castle grounds. The zone is colossal, so my guided tour through the realm of sinners – who can still be redeemed in some form – took me through each of the castle’s five wards. Carriages, floating vampiric aristocracy, gargoyles, and little Igor-style gravedigger minions called dredgers mill about.

For this zone, the team was trying to tackle the question of: “What would WoW Translyvania look like?” It takes the form of a gigantic gothic castle sprawling over a misty forest and a curious pit.

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