Draenor Questions

After having a little Lore discussion about Outland yesterday with Tiaana, there are actually a few things that I started to wonder about myself.. I must admit I never read any of the books or RP sourcebooks, and bneitehr played the older Warcraft games, so I might be missing something.

It's commonly known that Draenors sundering was caused by Ner'zhul opening the portals, which energies ripped the planet apart.
However what I couldn't find out - how was that actually perceived by the creatures living on Draenor, among them the Draenei? It is said that many creatures were wiped out when the world fell apart and into the Twisting Nether.
Are there any background infos on how example the surviving Draenei in the now still existing parts of Draenor experienced this horrible event? I'm just wondering wether there are any book references about that
Also, how long ago was actually the sundering of Draenor?
Are there actually any information on the rest of Draenor before it fell apart?
Have the Draenei as well inhabited other continents, or just clustered in the now present parts arund the Oshgun?

Its actually funny - most people, including myself, mainly focussed on the orc genocide when it comes to terrible happenings in the past - but the tearing apart of the world causing countless deaths must have been more terrifying than anything else..

Anyway, hope for some opinions / sources here!

Hi Nataari,

That is a very interesting lore hole indeed.. I'll try and use my lore knowledge and answer what I can.

However what I couldn't find out - how was that actually perceived by the creatures living on Draenor, among them the Draenei? It is said that many creatures were wiped out when the world fell apart and into the Twisting Nether

This is indeed something that doesn't get a lot of details in the current lore. It just happened, and the Draenei were still living in Zangarmash at the time, which also lost parts of it during the Sundering.

The only real clear thing is, that the Sundering caused the Ogres of Blade's Edge Mountain to become more dominant. They used to be a group of savages with little to no ties and some were saved by the Orcs from the hand of the Gronn. But after the Sundering, Gruul and his Sons came to power in the area and together with High King Maulgar united the Ogres under one banner. (source: Gronn
That is the only real known effect on the creatures on Draenor.

Are there any background infos on how example the surviving Draenei in the now still existing parts of Draenor experienced this horrible event? I'm just wondering wether there are any book references about that

All that is known about the Draenei during the Sundering, is that they were all in hiding in Zangarmash at the time. In several camps around the are and the, then settled, city of Telredor (which was built on top of a giant mushroom to be a good hiding place from the Orcs). The Broken and later Lost Ones made their own camps in the areas as well, far away from the Draenei. Some moved to the 'quarantine' zone of the Orcs, Nagrand, where Orcs bearing a strange disease were kept away from the rest (this is why those Orcs are still brown skinned instead of green or red skinned like their corrupted kin)
( source Mag'har History )

Zangarmash was hardly hit by the Sundering, only loosing a portion on the west edge of the area to it. So many Draenei might have felt the Sundering, but not many lives would have been lost in the process of it.

Also, how long ago was actually the sundering of Draenor?

The official timeline says it happens during the time of 'Beyond the Dark Portal' the Warcraft II expansion. Which is 8 years after Warcraft I, Warcraft I happens 25 years before World of Warcraft, so 27 years before TBC and 29 years before present time. So that makes it about 21 years ago. According to the same timeline, the corrupting of the Orcs happened 40 years before Warcraft I, so that makes that event almost 70 years before the present day. This explains how Draenei who were still adolescent children during the fall of Shattrath could be adult heroes during the present day.
source: http://www.wowwiki.com/Timeline_(World_of_Warcraft_Official_Strategy_Guide) (link isn't working, better copy paste)

Are there actually any information on the rest of Draenor before it fell apart?
Have the Draenei as well inhabited other continents, or just clustered in the now present parts arund the Oshgun?

There is no information about this, but I would think not. The main continent where the Orcs and Draenei lived was not even fully settled yet. The Draenei had enough room living in Terrokar Forest, Shadowmoon Valley and Nagrand at the time of the fall of Shattrath. Zangarmash and Hellfire had two small settlements as well, Orebar Harborage and the Temple of Telhamat. But the small size of these settlements shows that the Draenei were probably only recently settling new areas beyond where they lived before.

This is all speculation and logical conclusion though, some Draenei could have settled other continents that are now destroyed.

That is all I know though, hope it was a bit of help!

Thanks for the insight, Perforad.

Haven't really thought deeply about the matter - only as far as my own background was concerned. Still I hold on to my theory that there have been a few small settlements and forests with wildlife, which ended up in the Twisting Nether and from one of those settlements Ishtár hails.

Amazing how many aspects of the Draenei past are left open for speculation. Which proves that RPers who roll a Draenei are people with imagination, having to make up large parts of their race's history.

Ishtár wrote:Still I hold on to my theory that there have been a few small settlements and forests with wildlife, which ended up in the Twisting Nether and from one of those settlements Ishtár hails.

I also believe there were settlements lost to the Nether, the question is: Were they filled with Draenei when the Sundering happened? I believe, and lore supports that as well, that all Draenei and Broken/Lost Ones hid from the Orcs in Zangarmash and later Nagrand. There were probably many more settlements in parts lost to the Nether, but I also think those settlements would have probably been raised to the ground by Orcs before the Sundering ever took place.

That is my 2 copper though. And just opinion as there is no lore to support either theory.

Hmm. That would mean most Draenei have met each other since they had been hiding together at the same places. I still prefer to be an outsider, hiding in the wilderness. Only occasionally visiting settlements. Guess, that would work... although it is rather unsocial and thus not really Draenei-like. Well, I can live with that, hehe...

Whoa, thanks a million for the detailed answer, Perforad.
It opens some of my questions fully, and even about the rest it is very nice to hsare ones opnion about. At least it relieves me a lot that it is indeed a common lore gap, and not a quite large part I have missed so far due to my lack of source books

I have a few things I'd like to highlight further

I also believe there were settlements lost to the Nether, the question is: Were they filled with Draenei when the Sundering happened? I believe, and lore supports that as well, that all Draenei and Broken/Lost Ones hid from the Orcs in Zangarmash and later Nagrand. There were probably many more settlements in parts lost to the Nether, but I also think those settlements would have probably been raised to the ground by Orcs before the Sundering ever took place.

Is it actually proven that ALL Draenei went into hiding in the marshes? Most sources speak about the Zangarmarshes being the refuges for the survivors of the genocide, however I find it a bit hard t believe that the entire race clustered together in one region..

After all, they have not recently arrived on Draenor, but lived there for many hundreds/ thousands of years (depending on which source you're orientating after); eventhough I take your point that the Draenei didn't settle on other continents and stayed within proximity of the lands where they once landed (aka - near Oshgun), I believe the Draenei spread out, settled, founded families and saw their children raising their own families..
Where I'm getting at is.. there were probably also other hiding places possible, or entire communities who did not follow their bethren into the marshes but made a stand / went into hiding in other regions..

But thats just my thoughts, and not founded by any lore to back it up. Fact is though - I deem it very logical that many refugees gathered around the marshes, most likely in small, hidden communities - after all the word spread among the survivors that this is where the others are, so the marshes became a gathering place for other small refugee groups all over the other regions, be it for the reason of being with others of their race, or for finding lost families and village members..
(this is at least how I viewed their years in hiding, thus I built up my characters background on that - Nataari was a scout, supplier and messenger for the Draenei hiding all across the Zangarmarshes)

Zangarmash was hardly hit by the Sundering, only loosing a portion on the west edge of the area to it. So many Draenei might have felt the Sundering, but not many lives would have been lost in the process of it.

'Might have felt the Sundering'.. Haha, I give you credit for the understatement of the year
Agreed.. by sheer fortune the areas where most Draenei gathered (if not all - depends wether the above is possible or not) is spared, thus not many lives lost, but however..
I'm just trying to imagine what such a horrendous atrocity would actually mean to any race that experiences it (not to talk about a race which just almost has been annihilated by demon-crazed orcs and driven into exile for the 50 previous years..).. Seeing your world being ripped to shreds, leaving only few chunks of lands drifting over the Twisting Nether - not knowing when those last patches of land will actually crumble away under your very hooves.. With Draenor breaking apart 21 years ago, that makes 21 years of uncertainity wether their race will survive this after all, before a large part of the survivors managed to storm Tempest Keep, reoccupy the Exodar and flee in haste.

It gives the statement from the game intro, 'their Unshakable faith in the Light' completely new dimensions if you really try to visualize what that meant to the individuals who went through all this..


Okay okay, rant over. Thanks Perforad and Ishtar, was very much enjoying this

Admin wrote:Is it actually proven that ALL Draenei went into hiding in the marshes? Most sources speak about the Zangarmarshes being the refuges for the survivors of the genocide, however I find it a bit hard t believe that the entire race clustered together in one region.

As with all civilizations, there are deviations from the larger groups. Garona for instance is half-draenei, as a result of an orcish and Draenei parent There are always rogues and people and groups going their own paths.

I am starting to immagine strange things when someone says half orc half draenei..
I mean, why on earth would a draenei mate with an orc? Orcs are just.. eww!

Why would any one person mate with another? Sexual interaction is so messy and vulgar. I blame affection myself. Besides, Medivh mated with Garona who looks more like an Orc than a Draenei and they had a son together. Well, not technically together, but Medivh was his father. The son was quite the looker though, even though he ended up a crossroad of races (Draenei, Orc, Human)

What I am more curious about, and not particularly well-read on, is how someone is half-Ogre half-Orc. That just seems messed up in every angle. I mean, they are not exactly of modest size.

Isiz wrote:

What I am more curious about, and not particularly well-read on, is how someone is half-Ogre half-Orc. That just seems messed up in every angle. I mean, they are not exactly of modest size.

<blunt> If they don't give it to you voluntarily, you take it by force. </blunt>

How perfectly crude

Not really wishing to intensify the topic further, but I remember having read somewhere that half orcs / half ogres on Draenor are often actually result of a union on purpose - 'to combine the ogres strength with the cunning and intelligence of the orcs' or something like that. Theres even a clan in the Blade's Edges Mountains, the Mokh'Nathal, which consists to big parts of half-ogre orcs and who seem to take great pride in that fact.

Either way, nothing I really like to think about further on this beautiful tuesday morning.... /coffee

Admin wrote:intelligence of the orcs

The what

Gul'Dan for one is anything but an idiot. The Orcs has a history of being quite intelligent, actually

I am starting to immagine strange things when someone says half orc half draenei..
I mean, why on earth would a draenei mate with an orc? Orcs are just.. eww!

Gul'dan enforced the Draenei females/Males into experiments enforced by Gul'dan. Such results are Garona.
I'd rather not go into detail though..

I can not seem to remember that part. Was it RotH?

I am not entirely sure Isiz, it props up on wowwiki a few times but I think it is speculation on the side of how the history of Garona was retconned for TBC. It may have been described in the latest mangas about Me'dan but I am not 100% sure.

The speculation, and mostly accepted lore I think, is that Garona was the result of experiments done by Gul'dan in mixing Draenei and Orcs combined with experiments in increasing aging speed to create an army faster than regular conception of children would allow.

The exact details Ado does not want to go into are actually not at all clear and 100% speculations. It could have been forced mixing of genes, or magic for all we know. Heck.. it could have even been a chosen situation by captured Draenei who were convinced they were the last of their kind left and had to somehow try and save their bloodlines. As said: the exact means of the creation of Half-Draenei/Half-Orcs is completely speculation.

And yes.. the Orcs were the most cunning race on Draenor. They had an intelligence far above any other creature on the planet that made them the top of the food chain well before the Draenei arrived. So yes, mixing Orcs with Ogres would have been a logical way to go to create a more powerful Orc, or a more cunning Ogre.
The greatest example in lore of these kinds of characters is, of course, Rexxar.

Well, I am not sure about how the retcon look, but I know that in "The Last Guardian", Garona describe her nature as shameful. According to her, the Orcs treated her as a freak. Judging by her discussions revolving her nature, it seemed to me as if her "existence" was an accident, and that she was one or one of few half-Orcs.