The Mechagnomes

And now we arrive at our final Alliance playable race; the mechagnomes. Last is certainly not least though, as the mechagnomes bring a unique identity to the table being cyborg gnomes. Just don’t name your mechagnome Skynet and everything will work out just fine.

400 years ago in Azeroth, the king of the gnomes, Mechagon, set out in search of a fabled land of Titan technology. He was set on reclaiming his peoples’ heritage as mechanical servitors of the Titans. And with that, Mechagon and his expedition faded into history and myth, with gnomekind believing their long lost king had never found what he was looking for.

While Mechagon’s expedition remained a mystery to other gnomes until the Fourth War, Mechagon and his people would settle in Kul Tiras for a time, leaving behind a mechanical scrapyard and settlement. A drust stele monument detailing the wars the drust fought depicts the drust fighting a group of diminutive men, most likely gnomes from King Mechagon’s expedition.

The disappearance of the gnomes of Kul Tiras would garner attention from investigators from the High Tinker, Mekkatorque. If these gnomes were still out there somewhere, the gnomes of the Alliance wanted to find them, or barring that, at least found out what happened to their long-lost brothers and sisters.

They would eventually discover the island of Mechagon, humbly named by Mechagon after himself, where they’d build the wondrous underground mechanical city of...Mechagon, named after himself, Mechagon…

At this point something should be said for Mechagon’s mental state. Mechagon had a reputation for odd rulings. He once banned any organic being smaller than a gnome baby, and ordered the arrest of every squirrel, rabbit, and such in his realm. These critters were either banished, executed, or converted to mechanical versions of themselves.

After founding Mechagon, King Mechagon’s ruling became more and more extreme. Advancement in his new society didn’t rely on merit or achievements, but on how many mechanical enhancements a gnome had. The more machine you were, the higher you were in the hierarchy. Eventually, this led to a rebellion led by his own son, Prince Erazmin, where the rebel mechagnomes founded their own settlement on the surface, called Rustbolt.

It is Erazmin that the Horde and Alliance meet when they land on Mechagon. With the help of our heroes, Erazmin succeeds in overthrowing his father and freeing the mechagnomes from the clutches of a man (or machine?) who would have seen all life on Azeroth mechanized.

Mechagnomes can play as warriors, death knights, hunters, rogues, monks, mages, priests, and warlocks.

Mechagnome racials are, naturally, based upon their semi-mechanical nature.

1. Combat Analysis. Onboard computers allow a mechagnome to analyze his actions and improve upon them in real time. Adds a stacking buff to primary stats (str, agi, int) based upon class.

2. Hyper Organic Light Originator. Every 3 minutes, a mechagnome can summon holographic decoys of himself to taunt and confuse his enemies.

3. Mastercraft. A mechagnome contains within his limbs and torso any tool he would need, meaning there’s no need to profession tools to take up space in your backpack.

4. Emergency Failsafe. A mechagnome, when his life drops to a low level can immediately heal much of his health back up, this effect has an internal cooldown, of course.

5. Skeleton Pinkie. Mechagnomes don’t need keys or rogues to open locked chests, as they can use their little finger to pick locks.

So there you have it, rounding out the Alliance roster are cyborg gnome guerilla fighters. Mechagnomes are great because there’s so many directions you can take their stories. Are they more machine or more gnome? Up to you! Play out your own rise of the machines, just remember no power comes without cost, and sometimes that power costs an arm and a leg...literally.