Hey everyone! I’ve been wanting to learn more about the Draenei in general, I’m leveling one and he can kinda become my main, but unlike Nelves, you don’t have a bunch of questlines and books about draenei.
So i was looking to sources to learn more, in game (zones, questing in general) and outside the game (books, audio dramas, comics?).
So far, I have what i learned from the first few missions in WoD, all the Argus storyline and every legion content, I read the Nobundo short story (really made me have a different vision on shamans in general).
Questing in Argus, Outland, and Draenor, and Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles.
The Rise of the Horde book is about the orc vs draenei conflict before WC1 and also the time period of peace between them before the war.
The “Lords of War: Maraad” video on WoW’s official youtube channel shows the draenei fighting the Horde in Shattrath City (this fight was also in the beginning of the Nobundo short story that you read).
The short story Unbroken on this website is about the aftermath of Rise of the Horde from the draenei point of view. Though you said you read that.
Technically there is a Velen short story on the website too but it seems to have been retconned since it ends with the Exodar being repaired, but then Legion said the Exodar is still broken and the draenei had been building the Vindicaar instead of repairing it.
The Illidan book has a fair bit of Broken draenei stuff with Akama, but it’s not the main part of the story.
The Legion Priest class hall is in a draenei temple and Velen is a major character in the Priest order campaign.
All three Chronicle volumes also cover draenei stuff among all the other things they do. Volume 2 has the most draenei focus since it’s got a lot about Draenor.
I’d say start in Outland. Azuremyst Isle, Bloodmyst Isle. Telador in Zangarmarsh, Shattrath city. That’s the story of the draenei.
Read Rise of The Horde.
Read Unbroken. A short story that follows the farseer Nobundo.
Watch The Black Temple release trailer. You get a little insight into the character of Akama.
The material in Warlords of Dreanor is great supplemental stuff, and it really adds some meat to the bones of dreanei lore. But it also represents an alternate timeline, and so requires context provided by the lore that preceded it. It does play around with a few ideas and re-conceptualizes and re-characterizes some characters.
Legion’s argus lore is your last stop. I believe there’s an audio play that goes through Turalyon’s time in Outland and his earliest interactions with The Army of Light and the Lightforge. So give that a listen.
I think they did a soft retcon where it was repaired until the Cataclysm and Legion invasion damaged it further. They then simply created the Vindicaar. I think the story can be true and also have it later be broken by outside forces.
To narrow things a bit further:
Azuremyst and Bloodmyst isles, Outland (Specifically Shadowmoon and Nagrand, maybe Terrokar), WoD Shadowmoon and Talador, and finally, Legion’s Priest campagn, Exodar Invasion scenario, and the Argus campaign are your best bets for ingame stuff.
In the books and the like, we have Rise of the Horde (Also Velen’s testimony in War Crimes), Unbroken (Which you said you read), Velen’s story (Even with the soft retcon), and of course the Chronicles books. There’s also the Lords of War: Maraad video.
I don’t know if it was really a retcon, or if the Draenei PC merely fixed the Exodar enough to keep the radiation leaking out of it in the OG questline. Surely, the Exodar was nowhere complete enough to actually move, given that not only was it a Naaru ship (which means that the Draenei artificers likely didn’t know how to fix it.), but there likely wasn’t any real way to fix it enough to have the whole city-ship move again.
So, I guess, it was “fixed” enough to not be a threat to the environment, but not “fixed” enough to actually restore its prior function. That, and losing Or’dos in Legion likely didn’t help matters…
Archaeology also has some fun little lore snippets. Allow me to recite some.
Ahem.
Dignified Painting
This is a very serious oil painting of a very serious draenei gentleman. While the artwork overall is flattering, you get the sense that the artist thought his subject was quite the jerk, because you can see at the very bottom edge of the frame that the gentleman was not painted wearing pants.
Carved Harp of Exotic Wood
This small harp was held in one hand, like a lyre. It has a deep wooden sounding box with seven strings knotted around a tuning bar. It is capable of playing music, but seems to only produce sad, melancholy notes.
Fine Crystal Candelabra
This piece once held a full dozen candles. It is virtually dripping with blue and purple crystals connected by fine chains and ornate scrollwork. The artisan’s initials are engraved on the bottom: ‘V. T.’
Anklet with Golden Bells
This slim loop of purple metal is adorned with seventeen tiny bells and larger yellow beads of blown glass. It might have been worn by a dancer or a young socialite.
Okay, none of these offer any particularly tantalizing bits of information, but it’s fun to imagine draenei day-to-day life before everything went to hell, one with more time for art and celebration.
Possibly the limits was how extensive the damage was. The city sized ship split too pieces and I doubt anyone even the Naaru couldn’t repair that, but I believe Draenei possess technology to repair the ship and remember they traveled in the Genedar for thousands of years so they have experience living on these ships and likely maintaining these ships. Give a super advanced species 25,000 years on a dimensional space ship and they likely know how to fix the Exodar and create their own version which we see in the Vindicaar.
It’s a shame Exarch Hataaru died a long time ago, because he was a genius artificer on Argus and unequaled in his skills, Romuul for all his genius is not the draenei that Hataaru was. I wish the Draenei show case their tech more now that they’ve visited on Draenor in WoD and Argus in Legion. If I was a Draenei, I’d pick up tech wherever and whenever I could. I think in Legion assault of the Exodar we see Ankorite crystal defense matrix which was previously lost tech from before Draenor became Outland being used there. Showing they had opportunity to collect lost technology.
I’m glad you mentioned the 25,000-year thing as I believe that was “retconned” by the Bringer of the Light quest in Legion, where Khadgar claims Kil’jaeden had been waiting 13,000 years to exact revenge on Velen for defying Sargeras.
The reason I used scare quotes on the 25,000 number is I don’t think there was ever a source that stated the draenei fled Argus that long ago, although it was widely believed within the community since pretty much forever. The misconception originated from an article posted by Blizzard around the time of TBC that stated the draenei “arose on the world of Argus” 25,000 years ago, not fled.
Personally I believed in the 25,000-year thing and it took me by huge surprise when I first heard about the 13,000-year change. Even now I’m not 100% comfortable with accepting it as it was so out of left field, but it seems it’s about all we have right now. Honestly, moral of the story is: the draenei are an awesome race once you get to know them, but be ready to run into a lot of lore things that haven’t been properly explained yet.
There are other in game sources about the 25 thousand years.
So. I’ve been leveling an alt through Draenor, did the Shadowmoon Valley zone entirely and I have to say, Draenei lore is awesome, and seeing Yrel character developing is great, makes me sad for the maghar recruitment scenario though
I think that was error in writing. We have several sources saying, “25,000” the Khadgar quote could be him not realizing how freaking old the average Draenei is or can be. For a human who lives at most 100 years. How could he imagine what you a Draenei can potentially live let alone the desire for vengeance the Eredar lord would have against Velen. I think we should take his quote with a grain of salt on this issue.
In Velen’s short story it was completely repaired and ready to leave. That was part of the story, because the human refugees that were living with the draenei started freaking out when the Exodar powered up. Afterwards Maraad advocated leaving Azeroth and taking the fight to the Legion, but Velen decided they would stay and help their allies deal with the Shattering.
Then in Legion, they say that the Exodar has been crippled ever since the crash that brought them to Azeroth, and that they’ve used all their resources since then building a new vessel, the Vindicaar. It’s quite clearly a massive retcon.
I’m sure you can see why I’ve had a hard time accepting it. However, I don’t know about there being in-game sources about the 25,000 years, I’ve tried looking and haven’t been able to find anything, nor has anyone else I’ve seen. I made a whole thread about this months ago and no one knew anything.
If you or literally anyone reading this can find these supposed sources and link them, that would be great, but from my current understanding, the 13,000-year claim by Khadgar is the only real number we have.
Also, while it could have been a mistake on the quest writer’s part, I find it unlikely. 13,000 is a very specific number and it’s hard to see how they could have mistaken it. If their intention was to have Khadgar not know the actual number, then I’m sure he would have just said “thousands of years” or “millennia”, etc.
I looked around for any lore on it, and the only thing that is consistent is it says At the height of their society,13,000 years ago the eredar were approached by Sargeras yadda yadda, draenei flee, eventually land on Draenor.
There’s no mention of them having been on the run for 25,000 years. It’s clear to me it was miscommunication between the various writers.
I see. I’m already aware of that source and mentioned it earlier, in fact, it’s the whole cause of the confusion. I think this is proof enough though that the quote from Khadgar is currently the only real information we have on the time of the exile. Still not sure how I feel about it. Hoping Blizzard someday gives us a more solid source.