Penguins as the Next Playable Race

This is just a speculation of mine, but I feel that Penguins, or some form of super-intelligent penguin at least, has potential as a playable race for a Northrend expansion. Just for kicks, I decided to put it through the rigors of the wowiki race test ( http://www.wowwiki.com/Rumored_Races_Test ). Here are the results:

Part 1: Logistics
*Classified as "Humanoid"?: They stand on two feet, which is more than the Naga can do.
*Wear gear?: They manage fine with tuxedos; chainmail isn't much more of a stretch from there.
*Wield Weapons?: Okay, no thumbs could be trouble.
*Ride the flying creatures: I've seen Moonkin do it. Pretty much the same build.

Part 2: Lore
Penguins have played a prominant role as generic critters since Warcraft 3.

Several WC:3 and WC:3 TFT Easter Eggs involve Penguins, including a Penguin King which offers Arthas tribute (signs of a highly organized Monarchy), as well as a mysterious clockerwerk penguin figurine which the Centaur worship in the Rexxar campaign. It is possible that the figurine was crafted by intelligent penguins and ended up washing onto Kalimdor's shores. Such a theory is supported by the fact that Rexxar makes use of a variety of treasures with similar origins.

Part 3:Location
Northrend is remote enough that an entire civilization of sentient Penguins could still be hidden away from the other races. Or, like the Gnomes, they could merely have been busy fighting off invading forces, like the Scourge and the Forgotten Ones.

Part 4: Leverage
There are many Northrend species that could counterbalance the Peguins. Tuskarr, for example, could be their traditional "enemies" - this would explain the Penguin concentration camp being run by the Tuskarr hermit that Arthas runs into in TFT campaigns.

As for a new visual style, an ornithopoid-based humanoid race is relatively rare in MMOs, and so far as I know no other MMO has released a playable penguin race.

Business sense wise, people request penguin non-combat pets pretty often on these forums, so if being popular on the official forums means it will be popular in game, then Blizzard won't go wrong with Penguins.

Would I play a Penguin based race? Absolutely!

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Now for part 2: Horde or Alliance?!

Horde
+If the clockwerk penguin is in fact a trinket from a lost Penguin civilization, then it is safe to assume that these super penguins are masters at the engineering arts. This would make them good counterparts to Gnomes, and redundant if given to the Alliance.

+Unless Horde is given Goblins, they still lack a short race. Blizzard spoke of giving Draenei to the Alliance for a similar disparity - they felt that the Alliance needed a tall race to match the Tauren.

-Penguins don't give out the savage or struggling with some inner angst vibe. Very un-Hordlike.

Alliance
+Penguins are cute, a quality common to Alliance races.

-Penguins are cute in a "Small and cuddly" sort of way...a seat already occupied by the Gnomes.

-Penguins would likely have innate frost resistance, a racial already taken by the Dwarves.

-Arthas might make the Penguins afraid of Humans, since he could be the first time that they saw a human and they could assume that the rest of them are equally evil/cruel.