Personal Canon Geography
This vault uses the following personal-canon hierarchy:
- Azeroth - the planet and its world-soul.
- Arath - the eastern supercontinent, officially and commonly called the Eastern Kingdoms in modern Warcraft material.
- Lordaeron - the northern subcontinent of Arath.
- Khaz Modan - the central subcontinent of Arath.
- Elwynn - the southern subcontinent of Arath.
Rationale
Eastern Kingdoms is retained as an official or colloquial designation, but Arath is the continent’s proper name in this vault’s personal canon.
The old use of Azeroth for the southern subcontinent is eliminated to avoid duplicating the name of the planet and world-soul. That southern subcontinent is Elwynn.
Elwynn Forest is interpreted as a regional feature within the broader subcontinent of Elwynn, literally the forest of Elwynn.
The name Arath is connected to the surviving terms Arathor, Arathi, and Arathi Highlands. The ancient empire of Arathor is understood as having taken its name from the continent rather than giving the whole continent its name.
In personal-canon etymology, Arath means something like “the land,” Arathi means something like “the people of the land,” and Arathor means something like “the union of the people of the land” or “the unification in this land.”
Usage
- Use Azeroth for the planet, world-soul, world, setting, or civilization-wide context.
- Use Arath for the eastern supercontinent in project geography.
- Use Eastern Kingdoms when documenting Blizzard terminology, game interfaces, quoted canon, or the official/common label itself.
- Use Elwynn for the old southern subcontinental meaning.