by Blizzard
But traveling through the cosmos required incredible amounts of energy. The naaru’s spirits had to bear the burden of this extended journey, and over time, they weakened. As their radiant energies flagged, the Genedar threatened to fall apart.
The naaru knew that the time for running had come to an end. They found a world the Legion had not yet touched, and they called on their dwindling powers in a desperate attempt to reach it.
Velen and his renegades would name this world Draenor, or “Exiles’ Refuge.”
The final journey to Draenor was catastrophic. One of the naaru, K’ara, lost touch with its connection to the Light, and Void energies began to consume it. Such was the fate that awaited many of these holy beings. Though Light and Void were opposing forces, they were inexorably linked together. When a naaru was weakened or pushed to the verge of death, its radiant energies would dim. The fading Light would then give way to its polar opposite: the Void.
K’ara’s final act was to convince the draenei to eject it from the Genedar. This was not easily done. Void energy now coursed through K’ara’s body, and instinctively, the being went to war against the other weakening naaru. Their energies clashed within the Genedar, and the chaos of the battle threatened to kill anyone who interfered. Velen stepped in anyway, using the Light to shield the two naaru from their corrupted kin and cast K’ara away from the vessel. For centuries to come, the darkened being would drift in the skies above Shadowmoon Valley.
Velen’s heroics had saved the draenei, but there were consequences. The battle had injured him and sapped much of his strength, both physically and mentally. His ability to foresee future events became unreliable, and it would take him centuries to fully recover.
The other two naaru were too weak to land the Genedar on Draenor safely. The vessel plummeted to the ground, killing D’ore and many of the draenei aboard. When the smoke cleared from the crash site, all that remained of the ship was a crystal mountain.
The draenei who survived emerged from the Genedar into a strange new world. The naaru K’ure told them to leave the wrecked ship immediately. The being knew it was decaying much as K’ara had, and it did not want them to be exposed to the Void. Velen and his draenei were truly alone, and as far as they knew, this would be the last world they would ever see.
Velen, injured but unwavering, led his people onward. Their surroundings were vibrant but dangerous, a world filled with many mysteries and wonders. Velen’s first act was to create an order called the Rangari, survivalist scouts who would explore their unfamiliar home in search of resources—and threats—that might impact the draenei’s future.
In time, they found plenty of both.
THE GENEDAR CRASH-LANDS ON DRAENOR
Since leaving Argus, Velen had received constant visions of the future from the naaru and the Holy Light, earning him the name “Prophet.” Countless threats had been avoided because he’d seen them coming and guided his people away from the danger. Now the naaru could no longer lead the draenei, and Velen’s injuries made his foresight unfocused, drifting between possibilities and certainties.
His visions had also grown frightening. When he touched the darkened K’ara, he had seen into the mindset of the chaotic, evil creatures that lurked within the Void. Not only could Velen see possible futures, but now he could see the Void’s desired futures. It was difficult to distinguish the visions of true calamity from glimpses into the Void’s dreams of a corrupted universe.
Velen decided that it would be disastrous if he were the only leader among his people. His judgment was no longer without fault.
Velen formed a council of sages that would oversee different aspects of draenei culture. The first of these “exarchs” was Naielle, the leader of the newly forged Rangari. She led her followers by example, spending most of her time in the wilds with the other scouts.
The second exarch was charged with guiding draenei engineers—the Artificers—in building armor, weapons, and settlements. Hataaru was tremendously skilled, and he had already learned how to shape Draenor’s raw materials. Among his first creations were arkonite crystals. They served as conduits of arcane energy, which brought light and power to draenei society and also allowed them to build constructs to protect their homes from danger.
The third exarch, Akama, was placed in charge of the draenei Vindicators. As warriors of the Light, Vindicators defended the draenei from the dark forces that lurked in their new home.
The fourth and final exarch was Othaar. The Genedar’s naaru were either dead or slowly decaying, but some of their holy energies lingered. The draenei had also recovered D’ore’s remains. They did not yet know whether the fallen naaru was dangerous, or exactly how much of it had been consumed in Void energy. It fell to Othaar to study D’ore and its kin, analyze them, and hopefully learn enough to communicate with the other naaru and draenei beyond Draenor. Othaar became the leader of the Sha’tari, an order dedicated to this cause.
The Rangari scoured Draenor for a place to build a permanent settlement. They discovered a prime location that no other creature had settled, a site protected by mountains and with access to the sea.
Unbeknownst to the Rangari, this had once been the ogre city of Goria. Draenor’s other societies remembered the elemental rage that had consumed it, and none had any desire to resettle that land. The draenei had no such memories, and thus, no such reluctance. Velen led his people there and established the city of Shattrath, a word meaning “Dwelling of Light” in the draenei’s tongue. Artificers labored day and night to erect buildings, crystals, and roadways, laying the foundation for the draenei civilization to grow and expand.
As the draenei worked, a strange phenomenon caught their attention. One of the Sha’tari, Maladaar, sensed that something was happening to the souls of draenei who had died in the Genedar’s crash. The remains of the naaru D’ore had drifted deeper into a Void state, and they were attracting these spirits. Most shocking of all, once the souls arrived at the naaru, living draenei found that they could communicate with their fallen brethren.
Nothing like this had ever happened before in the history of eredar society. Velen immediately directed Maladaar and a group of Sha’tari to move D’ore’s remains to a secluded place. They found a location on the outskirts of Terokkar Forest that was a safe distance from all other civilizations. The Sha’tari then built an immense mausoleum to house D’ore. After they had moved the naaru’s remains within the tomb city, the draenei spirits followed.
The site became known as Auchindoun, “a Home for the Honored Dead,” and Maladaar was named as the fifth exarch on the draenei council. He would lead an order called the Auchenai. Maladaar and his followers would be responsible for communing with the draenei dead and protecting their souls from harm.
As Shattrath City flourished, Velen urged the draenei to avoid settling too far outside the stronghold. He did not want to disturb the orc and ogre civilizations in the region.
Within a few years, he changed his mind. As the Rangari explored Draenor, they discovered more and more signs that the crash of the Genedar had caused serious harm to the world. The impact had unleashed a mix of arcane, Light, and Void energies that were warping the local flora and fauna. Primals and breakers were emerging from their enclaves, fighting openly with whatever creatures they could find. The plant life on Draenor was far more aggressive than on any world Velen and his people had ever visited, and it seemed dangerous to ignore it.
Velen decided that it was the draenei’s responsibility to fix what they had broken. Groups of Artificers, Rangari, and Vindicators established outposts and cities across Draenor, linking them to the world’s arcane ley lines. The greatest of these new settlements was the Temple of Karabor. Tucked away at the eastern edge of Shadowmoon Valley, it would soon become one of the draenei’s holiest and most beautiful sites.
Over time, by using arcane and Light energies, the draenei were able to repair the damage done to Draenor. The primals and the breakers quieted within a few decades, a
nd the harm seemed to be contained.
This expansion brought the draenei into contact with other races. Velen made it clear to the exarchs that he expected his people to avoid conflict with native creatures. But his hopes of keeping the orcs and the ogres free of any ill effects from the draenei’s arrival were quickly dashed.
The Shadowmoon orcs had always been sensitive to signs of divine power, and they saw meaning in the movements of celestial bodies. When K’ara’s remains appeared in the sky, the clan’s mystics called the manifestation the “Dark Star” and worshipped it as a deity.
A few bold shaman tried to access K’ara’s shadowy power. Touching the fallen naaru’s Void energies shattered their minds. The Shadowmoon soon decided that the Dark Star’s power was not meant to be wielded by mortals. Anyone who tried was sharply rebuked, and if they continued, they would be immediately exiled far from Shadowmoon Valley.
The decaying naaru trapped within the Genedar’s crystal wreckage also had an effect on orc society. Just as D’ore’s remains had begun attracting the souls of fallen draenei, K’ure began attracting the souls of dead orcs. Once the clans discovered this, shaman made frequent pilgrimages to the crystal mountain, which they named Oshu’gun, to speak with their ancestors.
Some of the orc spirits, suffused with Light energies that lingered in the Genedar, now had wisdom far beyond what they had known in life. Advice from these ancestors often proved prescient, and clans that obeyed the spirits’ words were usually overjoyed at the results.
This turn of events deeply troubled the draenei. Though D’ore’s remains were emitting Void energies, all that was left of the naaru was a small part of its original form. Yet K’ure was fully intact, and the dark powers bleeding from it seemed incredibly potent. The draenei did not know what the long-term effects of this would mean for the world or the orcs, and the Sha’tari order’s quiet missions to study the Genedar yielded no answers.
Every action they could think to take would potentially cause disaster. If the orcs were cut off from their ancestors, they might go to war; if K’ure were to suddenly fall deeper into the Void, there was no telling what horror might result. In the end, the draenei did nothing.
As they feared, K’ure’s Void energies would later have detrimental effects on the orcs. When the draenei had crash-landed on the world, a small society of orcs who dwelled under Nagrand had taken notice. This society was composed of exiles who’d been banished from their clans because they had tapped into the Void and lost themselves to madness during their shamanic rites of passage. For generations, these outcasts had gathered in caves below Nagrand, their faces tattooed with the white skull that marked them as pariahs.
The exiles expanded their tunnels under Oshu’gun to investigate the strange newcomers. In time, they tapped into the Void energies that bled from K’ure and seeped into the ground.
Through the study of this power, the outcasts began communing with the void lords. These monstrous entities responded to the orcs, bombarding them with visions of apocalypse and revealing the secrets of using shadow magic. The influx of Void energies would gradually turn the exiles’ skin a sickly white, and they would call themselves the Pale.
Apart from creating the Pale, K’ure’s dark energies had little immediate effect on the orcs. In the decades that followed, some clans engaged in trade with the draenei, but most kept their distance. It was not uncommon for orc scouts—particularly young and curious ones—to survey draenei settlements from afar.
Some orcs believed the draenei were divine creatures; others did not. No one considered them to be a real threat. As far as the orcs were concerned, the reclusive draenei were not much more than a passing curiosity.
The ogres, however, saw the draenei’s isolation as a sign of weakness.
The ogres had been aware of the draenei since the first day they arrived. The blazing ball of fire slamming into the ground had attracted considerable interest, and scouts from Highmaul had kept a close watch on the draenei’s expansion across Terokkar Forest.
When Shattrath was first built, there was an explosion of anger within Highmaul. The draenei were newcomers, smaller and weaker than ogres, and yet they were bold enough to build a city on the bones of the Gorian Empire’s great capital? It was seen as an unforgivable insult.
And yet Shattrath’s sleek construction and otherworldly defenses gave the ogres pause. Nothing like the draenei’s technology had ever been seen on this world. Their weakest apprentices had more refined and effective magical techniques than even the most advanced ogre sorcerers.
When a new leader seized control of Highmaul, he declared that he would conquer Shattrath. Imperator Hok’lon, a gifted arcanist himself, believed that the draenei had stolen their power. Perhaps they’d had some skill before, but they had built their city atop Goria. Who knew how much hidden knowledge was left beneath the old capital? It had been the greatest center of Gorian power, the place where all apprentice sorcerers had trained.
Hok’lon incited his people to wage war by publicly sneering at the draenei, calling them “usurpers.” He promised that Highmaul would become the center of a new, enlightened Gorian Empire once the draenei were slaughtered. The ogres would not even need to rebuild their city. The draenei had already taken care of that. Highmaul’s aristocracy threw their support behind Hok’lon, eager to claim the extraordinary new city for themselves.
Though the ogre army that marched on Shattrath vastly outnumbered the draenei, it did not matter. The city’s defenses easily repelled Highmaul’s first attack. There was never an opportunity for a second.
As the ogres regrouped, Rangari and Vindicators launched surprise attacks from multiple directions, stabbing deep into the ogres’ ranks. Akama led an elite force of holy warriors that included two of his greatest followers: Maraad and Nobundo. They found and killed Hok’lon and his generals, leaving Highmaul’s forces in disarray. Rather than slaughter the rest of the ogres, the draenei immediately called off their attack and returned to Shattrath.
Velen then appeared on Shattrath’s ramparts, wreathed in the scintillating Light. He issued a single statement, his voice rumbling through the heavens: “Go home, and you will not be harmed.”
The ogres needed little encouragement. They fled. The grandiose war that was meant to revive the Gorian Empire had fallen after one attack, with an unexpectedly small death toll. The Highmaul ogres never tried a frontal assault on the draenei again.
Before the ogres’ attack on Shattrath, the orcs had seen the draenei as mostly harmless. That was no longer the case.
Word of the swift resolution to the Highmaul aggression spread quickly. The draenei’s command of arcane and holy magics was unlike anything the orcs had ever seen, and that unfamiliarity resulted in suspicion. The gathering of the orc clans at one of that year’s Kosh’harg festivals was quite tense. Some clans resolved to avoid all contact with the draenei. Others decided to treat them as enemies, vowing to attack the strangers if they ever strayed into orcish territory. The fact that the draenei had taken care to minimize ogre casualties was seen as a weakness. A few orc chieftains speculated that the draenei hated fighting and would shrink away from a worthy opponent.
The Kosh’harg ended with no consensus, just unease. The draenei had never shown aggression toward the orcs, after all. Most clans were content to keep their distance.
Yet the Bladewind clan took a different approach. Since they inhabited the area between Terokkar Forest and Nagrand, they knew of the draenei’s favorite trade routes and caravan schedules.
When a number of caravans went missing on a single day, Velen and the exarchs took notice. The burning remains of the traders were soon discovered. Among the draenei dead were orc corpses bearing Bladewind clan tattoos. It was obvious who had launched these raids. Most distressingly, some of the draenei traders were missing; the orcs had taken prisoners.
Many draenei wanted to retaliate. Forcefully. Velen forbade it. He allowed the Rangari to launch covert missions to resc
ue prisoners, but an offensive campaign against the Bladewind orcs would only lead to calamity. The clan was not large. It would be relatively easy to defeat, but orcs were not known to surrender. The war would not end until nearly all the Bladewinds had died— and then what? Would the other orc clans be cowed? That was not in their nature.
Velen did not want war, but he also knew that the orcs respected bravery in combat. Future caravans were well guarded, often by squads of Vindicators openly displaying weapons that glimmered with the Holy Light. Any orc raiders who confronted the traders were usually defeated. Sometimes caravans fell, and sometimes more prisoners were taken.
The Rangari managed to save a number of draenei prisoners, but not all. These few poor souls were forced into slavery for the rest of their lives. Some of them bore children for their masters. Their half-breed offspring were reviled and scorned by both draenei and orc cultures.
The Bladewinds soon developed a respect for the Rangari and the Vindicators. Raids only took place on lightly guarded caravans or when the orcs were led by the particularly bold (or foolish).
As the years wore on, a new balance took hold on Draenor between the orcs and the draenei.
Blood would be shed on both sides in occasional skirmishes. Yet not all encounters between the two races were violent. An example of this was when two young orcs named Orgrim Doomhammer and Durotan crossed paths with the draenei.
One day, both of these youths would become great leaders. One day, both would change the destiny of the orc race in their own ways.
Orgrim hailed from the Blackrock clan, and Durotan from the Frostwolf clan. They had met at one of the Kosh’harg festivals. As the clan chieftains had discussed current events and trade agreements, Orgrim and Durotan had challenged each other in feats of strength and willpower. Their rivalry had blossomed into a friendship that would last for many years to come.