Zandalari troll (playable)

The Zandalari trolls are one of the playable Horde allied races in World of Warcraft, introduced in Battle for Azeroth. They are the progenitors of all trollkind, and as such rule an ancient, powerful empire upon the South Seas, after which they name themselves.

Talanji is their queen, and she rules from atop their capital, Dazar'alor. Whilst the Zandalari do ride raptors much like their Darkspear cousins, the preferred racial mount appears to be the Direhorn. As the original trolls, Zandalari speak the language of all their kind, Zandali, which is appropriately named after them. Orcish is also known as a secondary language.

Race preview
''Descended from the first troll tribes, the Zandalari are an ancient kingdom steeped in ritual and superstition. Their warriors ride mighty dinosaurs into battle, and they possess one of the most formidable fleets in the known world. But as enemies encroach upon the borders of Zuldazar, unrest within the king's council threatens to topple the empire. If the heroes of the Horde can return stability to Zandalar, they would gain a powerful new ally.''

Creation screen description
''The Zandalari are a proud people whose origins date back to the early days of Azeroth's history. Their fierce warriors ride dinosaurs into battle, and they possess one of the most formidable naval fleets in the known world.''

Opening cutscene
Queen Talanji: ''De Zandalari have ruled dis land for thousands of years. With de loa's blessing, our sacred blades and mighty ships commanded de seas. But over time, our empire grew stagnant. We stood alone. Threats from without and within rose up to challenge us.. to test our faith. Now, I am queen. And together with de Horde, we take our rightful place among de great kingdoms of Azeroth. Zandalar forever!''

Unlocking
Zandalari trolls can be unlocked by Horde players who have earned the achievement Zandalar Forever! (achievement) and completed the Tides of Vengeance War Campaign. The recruitment quests became available in patch 8.1.5 on 12 March 2019.

Once these requirements are met, players must then complete the following recruitment questline:

Notes and trivia

 * With the exception of some custom animations such as spell casting, the male Zandalari use night elf animations and the females use jungle troll animations.
 * Due to their connection with the dinosaur loa, Zandalari druids use a raptor for Travel Form, a pterrordax for Flight Form, a humanoid pterrordax for Moonkin Form, an ankylodon for Bear Form, and a sabertusk for Cat Form. Their Aquatic Form appears to be a cross between a shark and a mosasaurus.
 * Zandalari hunters begin with a direhorn pet without having to acquire the Ancient Tome of Dinomancy.
 * Zandalari were originally announced as an allied race at BlizzCon 2017, at which point the developers' intention was to make them available alongside Dark Iron dwarves at the release of Battle for Azeroth. At the time, the team did not believe they would be able to make Kul Tiran humans playable due to the art workload involved. However, as the development of the expansion progressed, the developers increasingly felt that since the main story of 8.0 revolved around befriending the Zandalari and Kul Tirans, making both races playable was what the story deserved. They realized they could make Kul Tirans an allied race if they stretched, but it wasn't going to be able to happen until patch 8.1.5. Once this was settled, it made the most sense from a story standpoint to pair the Kul Tirans with Zandalari. Thus, the Zandalari allied race was moved back until 8.1.5 so they could be released alongside Kul Tirans, while Mag'har orcs (the Horde allied race originally planned for 8.1.5) were moved forward to 8.0 as the Horde equivalent to Dark Irons.
 * Although the combination was shown on a presentation during BlizzCon 2018, playable Zandalari troll warlocks are not available because the Zandalari have no connection to fel magic. Despite this, there are several Zandalari trolls that use warlock abilities such as: Apprentice Valin'ini, Atal'zul Zealots, Innkeeper Rakakan, Quartermaster Boonzali, Shadra Betrayers, Witchdoctor Yoksa, Zandalari Overlord and Za'roco the Grifter.
 * In the PTR, their racial description was originally as such: Descended from the first troll tribes, the Zandalari are an ancient kingdom steeped in ritual and superstition. Their warriors ride mighty dinosaurs into battle, and they possess one of the most formidable fleets in the known world. But as enemies encroach upon the borders of Zuldazar, unrest within the king's council threatens to topple the empire. If the heroes of the Horde can return stability to Zandalar, they would gain a powerful new ally.
 * Playable Zandalari Trolls start out at with the Zandalari Empire.