Angling for shellfish: Lord Angler

Today we dive deep beneath the waves to take a look at an aquatic rarespawn. There's a few rares in the World of Warcraft that you will find almost exclusively underwater, and depending on their location these may be very hard to find for a casual searcher. Most likely these will only be found by someone doing a quest in the area, or collecting crafting materials. Today's rare lives in such a remote part of a zone.

This entry is about Lord Angler.



(I have to apologize for the quality of the nameplate screenshot here. It wasn't until now that I realized I never got a screen taken from above-water, and thus the stupid breath meter is right there, clipping into the frame. My apologies for this.)

Who is Lord Angler, and where can I find him?

Lord Angler is a rarespawn makrura found in Dustwallow Marsh, on Kalimdor.



Lord Angler is always found in a specific area of Dustwallow, namely around the shipwreck just west of Nat's Landing in the Dustwallow Bay. He is usually found wandering around the area underwater among the other makrura, and can be distinguished visually from the rest by his green/yellow carapace. The other makrura in that area are dull-colored.



The curse of deliciousness

The Warcraft RPG notes that the makrura have the extreme misfortune of tasting delicious to most predators, even intelligent ones. As a result these creatures are wary of most other races, preferring to keep to themselves.



In a setting stuffed to the brim with large, dangerous carnivores, this seems like utterly sensible behavior. Makrura are a relatively minor race as a result, primarily found in Kalimdor. Similar creatures called bogstrok exist in Outland, but it is unknown if these are in any way related, or a convergent evolution of form. If they are related I find it plausible that the naga, upon moving to Outland with Illidan, brought makrura with them as slaves or food, and that these unfortunate creatures ended up being mutated into the bogstrok. Certainly, bogstrok seem to exist only in Zangarmarsh, the base of operations of the Outland naga.



The angler's tale

What about Lord Angler? Well, we don't know anything about him, really. There are to my knowledge three named makrura total in the game, with two of them being rarespawns, so we don't really know anything about their naming conventions (and very little about their soceity). The title "lord" could either signify his standing as a leader among the makrura, or be a whimsical epithet given to the creature by the other intelligent races in the marsh. Maybe Nat Pagle saw the makrura and chose to name it for his favorite pastime?



At any rate, there's not much to distinguish this makrura from the rest. He has no special abilities or drops, and no real signifying traits. He is merely an odd-colored crayfish-man wandering a lost ship in a remote corner of a marsh. As the makrura hate and fear the naga, it is likely the Muckshell clan who dwell here have fled to these filthy, coastal water to escape them and other predators. It might not have worked entirely, as one of Nat's quests has you lure out a shark from the wreck itself. Maybe this beast now feeds on the hapless makrura?

At most, Lord Angler is an unusual discovery when doing a quest or some exploration, there's not an awful lot to him.

Until next time, don't smear yourself with that fish paste.

~Dragonshade