Draenei

Core races
Human Dwarf Night elf Gnome Draenei Worgen	Pandaren Dracthyr		Orc Undead Tauren Troll Blood elf Goblin
Allied races
Void elf Lightforged draenei Dark Iron dwarf Kul Tiran Mechagnome		Nightborne Highmountain tauren Mag'har orc Zandalari troll Vulpera

Template:Wikipedia Template:Racebox

For the article on the draenei language, see Draenei (language). For articles on the draenei racial offshoots, see Broken, Kurenai, Murkblood, Daggerfen and Lost Ones.

The draenei (pronounced as DRAN-eye) are a faction of uncorrupted eredar who fled their home world of Argus. They are based on the Azuremyst Isles, near the west coast of Kalimdor, and have joined the Alliance in the Burning Crusade expansion. Their capital is the Exodar.

Introduction

Almost 25,000 years ago, a faction of uncorrupted eredar led by Velen fled their home world of Argus, calling themselves the draenei ("the Exiled Ones"). After traveling through the cosmos they finally found a world which they called Draenor ("Exile's Refuge"). They at first shared a peaceful existence with the native orcs and traded with them. They followed the path of the Holy Light of Creation as shown to them by the naaru. Unfortunately, Kil'jaeden eventually discovered the refuge, and found the combat-driven and honor-seeking orcs to be easily manipulated. As a potent act of vengeance and a safety precaution, Kil'jaeden ordered the draenei to be exterminated by the orcs through his student, the warlock Gul'dan.

After the Dark Portal was destroyed, Draenor collapsed in on itself, and what remained was a sundered mass of planetary debris and floating asteroids hovering in stasis within the Twisting Nether. The regions of Draenor that are still habitable are now known as Outland. Draenor was not the only thing to change in this ordeal, as some draenei were altered by the destruction of their world, and became known as the Broken. Some of these corrupted draenei fled through the open portals on Draenor and settled in the Swamp of Sorrows on the world of Azeroth. Several of these Lost Ones were driven mad by the absence of their home world, and sank into an even deeper primitive state.

A number of draenei still remain untainted, and it is these that have crashed onto Azeroth in a dimensional traveling ship sabotaged by the malicious blood elves of Outland (not the blood elves that joined the horde). The draenei are the new Alliance race in the Burning Crusade expansion.

History

A draenei priest and paladin near the Exodar's crash site

On the Planet of Argus, nearly 25,000 years ago, the eredar race arose. They were extremely intelligent and had a natural affinity for magic in all its myriad forms. Using their gifts, they developed a vast and wondrous society. Soon, at the height of their society, the eredar's three most prominent leaders, Kil'jaeden, Archimonde, and Velen, were approached by Sargeras, the Fallen Titan. Sargeras claimed he was impressed by the work of the eredar, he wanted to supply them with even more power and knowledge, in exchange for their loyalty. But while Kil'jaeden and Archimonde readily accepted the deal, Velen had a vision of the future that filled him with sick dread. He saw the dark future his people were heading towards: siding with the dark titan Sargeras and transformed into demons. Velen saw the Legion in all its terrible might and witnessed the destruction it would wreak upon all of creation. He hastened to warn Kil'jaeden and Archimonde, but they dismissed his concerns and proceeded to profess loyalty to the Destroyer of Worlds. Together, they transformed a majority of their people into an insidious race of warlocks and later allied themselves with the Burning Legion.

Velen nearly despaired, but his prayer for help was overheard. A being came to Velen and explained that it was one of the naaru, a race of sapient energy beings bent on stopping the Burning Legion. The naaru offered to take Velen and any other like-minded eredar to safety. Deeply relieved, Velen gathered the other eredar loyal to him. Naming themselves the 'draenei', or "exiled ones" in the Eredun language, the renegades barely escaped from Argus in the naaru ship Oshu'gun, with the Burning Legion only moments behind. Kil'jaeden was furious with what he felt was Velen's betrayal, and the demon vowed to hunt Velen and the rest of the draenei to the ends of the cosmos if need be.

The Legion chased the draenei for many thousands of years. The draenei visited many worlds and explored much of the known cosmos in their quest to find safe harbor. Still the Legion, under the guidance of a hell-bent Kil'jaeden, would not give up its pursuit. Meanwhile, the enigmatic naaru race blessed the draenei with Light-given knowledge and power. The naaru explained that there were other forces in the cosmos that would stand against the Burning Legion. One day the naaru would forge them into a single unstoppable army of the Light. Deeply affected by the naaru's words, the draenei vowed to honor the Light and uphold the naaru's altruistic ideals.

At last Velen and his draenei settled upon a remote and peaceful world that seemed an ideal refuge. They named it Draenor, or "Exiles' Refuge", and there they quietly cultivated their society once again. Ever wary of being discovered again by Kil'jaeden's forces, Velen and his mystics kept their magics hidden for generations.

In time the draenei met and befriended the shamanic orc clans that already lived in the tranquil southern grasslands (later called Nagrand). Aside from engaging in some limited trade, the draenei and orcs regarded one another with respect but kept mostly to themselves.

However, no amount of preparation could keep the draenei hidden forever; eventually Kil'jaeden, in his quest to find more minions of the Legion, stumbled upon the planet and found the draenei. But, his attention was soon fixed on the neighboring orcs. Intrigued, Kil'jaeden realized that they were exactly the race of warriors he was looking for and soon succeeded in corrupting the orcs through his protégé Gul'dan. Smoothly manipulated from a state of wary acceptance into blind rage and blood lust, the orcs attacked the draenei. This bloody conflict lasted nearly eight years, but the orcs' triumph was inevitable. The orcs killed over eighty percent of the draenei race and sent the rest fleeing for safety to the remote corners of the world. Afterward, draenei who had fought the Horde and survived found that they had been affected by the fel energies wielded so freely by the orc warlocks. These draenei have since mutated into lesser forms, resulting in a series of subspecies.

Kil'jaeden's revenge was complete, or so he thought - Velen and a handful of untransformed draenei have survived the destruction of their cities by the orcs and fled into Zangarmarsh. There they have been hiding until recently.

File:Naru Crash Site.jpg

The Exodar crash site

After coming to Draenor, the blood elves discovered the power of Tempest Keep and successfully seized it. To escape, the draenei came out of hiding and managed to wrestle control of a wing of the keep, the Exodar, and tried to use it to flee and find aid in retaking their home. Before they could, however, the blood elves managed to sabotage what is essentially the 'engine' of the draenei's transdimensional travel. The remainder of the Keep lies in Outland in the Netherstorm area and is now the home of Prince Kael'thas.

When the draenei tried to planeshift, the engine went haywire, and the Exodar ended up hurtling out of control through the Twisting Nether, crash-landing on a chain of islands called Azuremyst Isles, off the western coast of Kalimdor. As the surviving draenei salvaged what they could of their ship and try to help what's left of their people, they began exploring this new world; contact with the night elves of Darkshore was to be imminent.

Culture

File:Draenei-totem.jpg

A draenei shaman's totem

Blessing of the Naaru

The Draenei culture is centered around two things: the Holy Light of Creation, and magic. The first is the result of their unique relationship with the naaru, and the second is the path that the eredar have always followed. As a result, draenei usually choose religious professions, such as priests or paladins, or magical ones, such as the mage. A few have started to follow the path of the shaman under the guidance of Farseer Nobundo.

As a people, the draenei have devoted themselves to preparing for the day when they will join the Army of the Light, when they will finally take the fight back to the Burning Legion and atone for the sins of their Man'ari brethren. In spite of this overarching goal, the draenei still lead personal lives and pursue their own interests, just as other races do.

As far as interracial relations go, the draenei still distrust or in some cases hate the orcs after having suffered so heavily when the orcs turned on them. Certain things about modern orcs, such as their still-green skin and the fact that some still practice warlock magic (though their new allies, the humans and the gnomes, are also guilty of this), as well as personal grudges on both sides, make the road to forgiveness difficult at best, regardless of whatever peace initiatives Velen or Thrall are willing to launch. Nevertheless there still are cases of acceptance between the two; for instance, the Horde aligned Earthen Ring has accepted draenei and Broken shaman to heal Outland. The draenei are also coming to loathe the blood elves, due to the unprovoked assault on Tempest Keep by the blood elves under Kael'thas and their new methods of feeding their magical addiction.

File:Draebanner.jpg

The draenei banner with a kama like they used in Warcraft III

The early overtures to the Alliance have been met with varying degrees of success. There are a number of people from all the Alliance races who have trouble distinguishing the draenei from the man'ari eredar who nearly brought about their destruction. The night elves in particular have suffered heavily at the hands of Archimonde twice. However, the draenei are quickly being accepted by most races, and ambassadors from the Exodar have been welcomed into the Alliance's halls of power- even those of the night elves, where a draenei emissary stands at the right of Tyrande herself.

Racial offshoots and factions

Main article: Draenei Factions

Some draenei mutated into lesser forms, resulting in a number of subspecies, of which the Lost Ones draenei and the Broken draenei are examples.

Scattered tribes of draenei are rumored to wander still the devastated fields of Outland, the last remnants of Draenor that still float within the Twisting Nether.Template:Cite Members of some of these tribes were at odds with Akama's tribe. See, Kurenai, Murkblood, Daggerfen Village.

Akama's tribe is known as the Ashtongue Deathsworn.

Another of these tribes left Outland after the destruction of their world and call themselves the Lost Ones.

Language

In the RPG currently, Draenei have only been said to speak Draenei, with no other primary or secondary languages listed. In World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade they also speak Common. Many high-ranking draenei who have been in contact with orcs before their corruption also know Orcish.

Architecture

This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

Draenei structures appear to attempt to copy the style of the Naaru, namely those found in the Exodar.

(The following is a possible construction scenario based upon observation from in-game evidence and is up for dispute – supporting evidence can be found in the discussion section of the page, under architecture. All information is subject to change.)

-To facilitate the gentle curves, compartments, and symmetry found in Naaru design, sky-blue crystals are carved into support beams or nets, which are then covered in a black mixture that could be equated to concrete. (for larger structures, metals can be used instead of crystal).

-Then, another mix, this time Brown, is layered on to specific parts of the pre-made black base. The brown mix is not as tough as the black, and is lighter, allowing it to bridge off of the base and form shelves and juts, as well as making it easier to carve complex designs into. Once the Brown layer is added, it is dried, carved into the desired shape, and then carved into as to create the desired designs. This Technique is backed by the Draenei’s skill in Jewel crafting, a craft of carving and cutting metals, stones, and crystals.

-Once multiple sections of curved wall are made, they are lifted into position and put together, forming the oval-like compartments of the Draenei buildings. The compartments are then “stacked” together, often causing sections of buildings to sick out, or be larger than other parts of the same building. This stacking of symmetrical and asymmetrical building sections gives Draenei architecture its unique look.

-This building style takes a long time to fabricate, and is meant to be permanent. Although naturally very sturdy, when damaged, it is not easily repaired. Staples of the style include: large open rooms, symmetry, ramps, Gaps in the ceiling where the wall sections don’t touch, and an equal variation between enclosed (private), and open (public) structures.

Appearance

Male draenei artwork

Female draenei artwork

Draenei are physically different from the eredar of the Burning Legion. Draenei come in a wide variety of flesh tones, from ivory, aqua blue, dark blue, purple, and ebony[1] They do not however seem to exhibit the red skin of demonic Eredar. Draenei also lack the horns that demonic eredar have on their faces (this is not noticeable in-game models, only in artwork). They do have fangs[2] .

In Rise of the Horde, Draenei are described as being all or overall blue (with the exception of Velen who is described as having white skin later in his life). In World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, draenei skin appears in most shades of color between very pinkish-white to light blue up to dark violet. Their blood, which is blueTemplate:Cite, may use cobalt as its oxygen-binding element, compared to Azeroth (and Earth)-native life, which uses iron. Cobalt oxidizes to a blue color in the same way that iron oxidizes to a red color (for this reason, cobalt is a favored pigment in paints used on outdoor monuments).

Draenei who use the Gift of the Naaru racial ability have a glowing sigil float above their head for the duration of the effect.

Draenei males have tendrils coming out of their chin and a fan-like forehead plate which rises and overlaps other forehead plates behind it. Male draenei have large tails which are held erect by developed muscle structure. The women look very different: Rather than the forehead plates that the men have, they have cranial extensions, vaguely horn-shaped, that extend over the upper cranium and end on either side of the crown. Female cranial tendrils sprout behind the ear and typically are long enough to reach the shoulders. They are thinner than the men's. The women's tails have a lower muscle density. In both genders, the hooves are relatively large, in contrast to the more compacted hooves of their demonic counterparts.

Draenei can choose from a diverse selection of hair colors including gray, white, blue/black, brown, and purple. Similarly, the number of facial tentacles on male draenei can be customized. They can feature zero, one, two, or four tentacles of different shape and size.

Notable Draenei

• Template:Race Icon Draenei Male Small Prophet Velen: Ruler and spiritual leader of the Draenei
• Template:Race Icon Draenei Female Small High Priestess Ishanah: Leader of the Aldor Priesthood
• Template:Race Icon Broken Male Small Farseer Nobundo: First Shaman of the Draenei
• Template:Race Icon Broken Male Small Akama: The Draenei that helped Illidan become ruler of Outland but now plans to dethrone him.

Playable race

The draenei start in Ammen Vale, situated on Azuremyst Isle, a landmass belonging to a cluster of islands called the Azuremyst Isles, located off the northwestern coast of Kalimdor. The main base with civilization in Ammen Vale is called Azure Watch. Bloodmyst Isle can be found as the adjacent zone, a level 10-20 area.

Their capital city is the Exodar, which overseen by their leader, Velen. The draenei's choice of mount is the elekk, a creature similar in appearance to a war elephant. Their chosen language is Draenei, while they are also able to speak Common.

Classes

Those who play as draenei can choose from the following classes:

• Warrior
• Priest
• Mage
• Hunter
• Paladin
• Shaman

Draenei are the only Alliance race that can play as Shaman, and they are the only Alliance race that cannot be Rogues.

Reasons for the classes

Warrior and Mage - Some draenei were dedicated to war and some were dedicated to magic but their focus makes them quite skillful in either. Their numerous battles on Draenor have helped them perfect these arts.

Priest and Paladin - The draenei began to follow the way of the naaru and in doing so they became warriors of light and promised to help them fight against the Burning Legion.

Shaman - Shamanism and worshipping nature was once an alien tradition to the draenei, but the Broken spiritual seeker Nobundo heard the voice of the wind element while wandering in the wilderness. Since that time Nobundo became a shaman, and under the encouragement of Velen himself, some draenei have followed in his footsteps.

Hunter - It has only been since the draenei's time living on Draenor that they have embraced the art of hunting. Hunting was the primary source of the draenei's sustenance during thier time on Draenor, since their arrival on Azeroth they have continued this practice.

Starting attributes

File:Draenei Paladin.jpg

A draenei Paladin with Tier 4 and Hammer of the Naaru

Draenei Shaman with Gift of the Naaru activated

	Base	Hunter	Mage	Paladin	Priest	Shaman	Warrior
Strength	21	21	21	23	21	22	24
Agility	17	20	17	17	17	17	17
Stamina	19	20	19	21	19	20	21
Intellect	21	21	24	21	23	22	21
Spirit	22	23	24	23	25	24	22

Racial abilities

[Gift of the Naaru]

Activate to heal your target for 35 + 15 per Level over 15 sec - 40 yd range - 1.5 sec cast - 3 min cooldown. (At level 1 it heals 50 health, and 1085 at level 70)

Heroic Presence

Increases chance to hit by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards. (Warriors, Paladins, and Hunters)

Inspiring Presence

Increases chance to hit with spells by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards. (Priests, Mages, and Shaman)

[Gemcutting]

5 point skill bonus to Jewelcrafting (note, this also raises the cap by 5 at each level of jewelcrafting).

Shadow Resistance

Increase Shadow Resistance by 10.

Draenei priests also receive the racial abilities [Symbol of Hope] and [Chastise]. Symbol of Hope is an instant cast spell with a 5 minute cooldown. It gives all party members 33 mana every 5 seconds for 15 seconds. Chastise causes holy damage to the target and incapacitates them for 2 seconds, on 0.5 second cast with a 30 second cooldown.

Reasons for racial abilities

The Naaru have taught Draenei a great deal of things.With the help of the Naaru every Draenei has learned a basic spell for healing in the form of [Gift of the Naaru].Everyone who has fought alongside a Draenei will know that they have both a Heroic Presence and a Inspiring Presence which motivates all of the Draenei's allies in close range. Draenei have worked with gems for centuries in a many of ways such as jewelry or power sources, so they have more skill in [Gemcutting] than any other race. The Draenei are so devoted to the holy light and the ways of the Naaru that all Draenei have a slight Shadow Resistance.

Trivia

• The Male Draenei dance comes from the dance in the song "Tunak Tunak Tun" by Daler Mehndi.

• The draenei NPCs are the only Alliance race that do not 'verbally' call for help when they are attacked by an enemy player. However, like most other town and major city NPCs, getting too close to them or attacking them will still cause the summoning of allied guards to defend them.

See also

• List of draenei in Azeroth
• Draenei (Warcraft III) for unit statistics from Warcraft III (these draenei are actually Broken, though their models in fact resemble Lost Ones)
• Garona Halforcen, who may be half-draenei
• Eredar
• Draenei controversy for controversy, confusion, and retcons.
• Draenei Village

External links

• Official page (US) for further information about the draenei, who are the new Alliance race in The Burning Crusade
• Official page (EU)
• [3] Burning Crusade FAQ @ Gameamp.com
• [4] E3 coverage from the New York Times confirming the draenei as the fifth Alliance race.
• [5] E3 coverage from the New York Times, interview with Jeff Kaplan.