drawingformonkeys

That is quite the cat collection, Lulain! So does erik-a-viking get to be the one that cleans the letterbox or…?

This is the rough sketch I did - now hoping to reproduce it in my watercolour/pen & ink style!  Feel free to stop by for as long or as little as you like. (This process can take a while!)  :)

{Loremaster Challenge} First Place Winner: The Arm of Zul’jin

Submitted by drawingformonkeys

 "Vol’jin, I t’ink da Revantusk be up to Somet’ing…"

The Arm of Zul’jin - a.k.a. the complete and utter headcanon of DrawingforMonkeys, feat. the missing limb of the Former Glorious Warlord (and Chieftain) of the Amani!

Known Lore, upon which the Headcanon is built:

Zul’jin severed his own arm during the mission to rescue him from the elves that held him. 

Among his loyal followers, is one Mystic Yayo’jin, resident of Revantusk Village. The Revantusks were loyal supporters of Zul’jin, although reference to this was redacted in patch 4.0.3a (Cata).

As part of a former quest called Cannibalistic Cousins, Yayo said:

"… If Zul’jin were here, he would have destroyed the whole lot of them with a flick of his wrist - alas, Zul’jin has not yet returned and we are left to our own devices."

Huntsman Markhor, of the same village, is also quoted as saying:  "Zul’jin shall return one day. Mark my words. Until then, we all hold our positions and do what we can to keep the forest troll population intact."  (both of these quotes have been sourced from wowpedia.org.)

Body parts have been used to summon troll spirits. (Even if these are usually skulls!)

There is speculation about whether or not the spirit of a particularly exceptional troll may become “among the Loa” (While not official Lore it is mentioned on wowpedia as: speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. - See Sen’jin, father of Vol’jin, on this site.)

The Zul’aman trailer shows an arm left lying on the ground, still in the shackle. Was it coincidentally seared at the same time by the same blade? It looks a bit burnt at the end. And as its living owner had quite a fair amount of sway with all of the Amani Loa, who knows what blood magic and spiritual powers might have helped keep it relatively well preserved for some amount of time?

Here entereth the Headcanon!

So… let us speculate that the severed arm may have been carried away by one of the trolls from the rescuing Warband, who returned at great personal risk to retrieve this greatly symbolic limb from the ruins!  And also say that it was taken to Revantusk and given to the safe keeping of one Mystic Yayo’jin… (Possibly with the same spearblade that was used to sever it in the first place).

In the tiny village of Revantusk, a secret cult has grown around the arm, with Yayo’jin as the high priestess. I envisage her holding it aloft before sacred fires on certain days, as dancing and shouting and other trollish reverences take place.

In the picture, the fetish bound around the wrist is made from tufts of fur, feather, tooth, bone, and sinew, from animals representing Akil’zon (eagle), Jan’alai (dragonhawk), Halazzi (lynx), and Nalorakk (the bear) - the four Amani Loa whose power was wielded by Zul’jin (as the final boss of the original Zul’Aman raid).

It is worthy of note that the Amani never abused the Loa that they worshipped (primal beings that they called the “Forest Gods), and were never chained (such as the Gurubashi were, to the will of Hakkar).

News of Zul’jin’s physical demise, after a period of despair, has served only to heighten the fervour of this worship. If we assume that the previously mentioned NPCs stilll believe what they used to say, and perhaps still do say… (just not to us!), then their words have an entirely new context. The arm is still carefully tended to and revered, and while it has atrophied somewhat, it is being preserved by the blood of Zul’jin (which was once an in-game element!), and the continued mystical practices of Yayo’jin (who is a reagent vendor, by the way). She’s probably got all manner of crazy voodoo stuff there, that we don’t know about!

Most importantly it is believed that the arm still bears some of the E’ko (spiritual essence) of its former owner.

Futuristic extension of the Headcanon

In which the Arm is rejoined to a living Host…

Unbeknownst to the outside world, the secret Revantusk cult of “The Arm of Zul’jin” also includes a select group of trolls who have been vigorous in their training, and the rigorous purification of their body and spirit, in the hopes of being chosen as “the One”.

In the ultimate ceremony, the warrior of greatest worth will be chosen to sacrifice their own arm via the original spearblade, and be made whole again with the arm of Zul’jin. At which point the spirit of Zul’jin, is called upon to take possession of the warrior - who has literally sacrificed his “self” for the ‘greater good’ - bringing about the prophesied Return. As an additional consideration, I thought that instead of “renaming” the warrior to Zul’jin  outright, that whoever took up the arm might be granted ‘Zul after their name instead, as an honour and rememberance of their sacrifice. e.g. If the warrior’s name was Shaka, he  would subsequently be refered to as “Shaka’Zul.”

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If you have any questions, feel free to ask! About NZ, my dinner, the media being used, useful stuff like that! Art will look slightly blurry on screen, thanks to the cheapie version of livestream vs my otherwise lovely camera!