#WoW30 Challenge: Day Three – Favorite Racial Leader (Horde)

Meat-Vendor’s prompt for Day 3 of the 30 Day Challenge is:

Favorite Racial Leader (Horde)

Yes, yes, so I like tails and hooves, but that is not the only reason the Tauren are my favorite Horde race, nor the only reason I like Baine Bloodhoof.

I like the Tauren because they have such a gentle nature (usually) and a society similar to that of the Native Americans.  I also love Sunwalkers, despite the negative press they often receive for apparently breaking lore.  I happen to think they work well.  I even wrote a story that I aimed to tell in the oral tradition of the Native Americans called the Firebird and the Sunwalker.

But anyways, about Baine.  I have a great deal of respect for Baine as a leader, both because of his stoicism after the death of his father and his unflagging devotion to his morals and his people.  He is fiercely dedicated to the Horde, but would not bow to Garrosh on decisions he did not agree with.

Interested in Baine lore?

Definitely read the Know Your Lore piece on WoW Insider by Matthew Rossi about Baine as well as the leader short story about Baine on the Warcraft page, As Our Fathers Before Us.

See you tomorrow for the continuation of the #WoW30 Challenge!

~ Effy

#WoW30 Challenge: Day Two – Favorite Racial Leader (Alliance)

Meat-Vendor’s prompt for Day 2 of the 30 Day Challenge is:

Favorite Racial Leader (Alliance)

I suppose it will come as no surprise that my favorite racial leader for either side is Velen the Prophet.  I consider myself a Draenei through and through, and I have always found the stories surrounding the Draenei fascinating (perhaps even moreso because much of it is so vague).

It is part of why I write my stories of Effy, to fill in little pieces here and there.  Specifically, the flashback portion of As the Sun Sets gives a bit of made-up lore, as it takes place on an unknown planet before Draenor at some point while the Draenei are fleeing the Burning Legion.

Velen has led the Draenei for thousands of years.  He and his followers denied the Burning Legion and sided with the Naaru, and though it was the right thing to do, it has led them to be exiled, hunted, and nearly exterminated.  Velen has stuck to his path, even though he has prophesied that a greater battle between light and darkness is still to come.  The sacrifices of the Draenei are not over, but at least they have the Naaru and their Alliance allies to stand beside them.

Interested in Velen lore?

Check out Nobbel87’s video about Velen:

There is also the Know Your Lore article from WoW Insider where Anne Stickney discusses Velen, as well as the Leader Short Story on the Warcraft page, Prophet’s Lesson.

And for a last bit of interesting Draenei knowledge, I give you @Loreology:

~ Effy

Catch-up Lore: Warlords of Draenor

Outlands

Draenor

After a good deal more reading and watching of videos, I wanted to make a quick update post.

First of all, some questions answered…  Garrosh is going to escape his punishment and flee (possibly with the help of Kairoz from the Timeless Isle) into an alternate dimension/time line of Draenor.  His goal?  To cultivate the “real” Horde, the original Horde, and keep them from drinking the blood of Mannoroth, which Garrosh sees as the source of all the Orcs’ failures.

The Black Temple (Fallen Karabor)

Karabor

But more questions arise…  The Alliance city on Draenor will be Karabor (better known to us Azerothians now as the Black Temple).  Why not Shattrath?  Has Shattrath already fallen?

EDIT: Shattrath is occupied by the Iron Horde.  I hope to find out more regarding this, since this is already outside the “normal” known history of our timeline.

Fallen Shattrath

Shattrath

There are so many places I cannot wait to see on Draenor.  I cannot wait to personally compare them to the places I am more familiar with in Outland.  (I see a picture series in my future, similar to the few in this post.)

Fallen Auchindoun

Auchindoun

I happen to have a lot of interest in lore, but I know there may be many who may be less versed.  There may be those new to WoW or just unfamiliar with the storylines of the Orcs, Draenei, and Draenor.

Interested in how we went from point A to point B?  I came across an interesting couple of videos good to catch-up or even just to recap.

The story behind the Warlords of Draenor, by TheDDGuides

History of Draenor, by BellularGaming

Orc Warlords Lore, by BellularGaming

Warlords of Draenor Lore and Story (per Blizzcon), by BellularGaming

This last one is not “lore” but more speculation.  It was released by BellularGaming about a week ago, and I found it quite interesting.  Some of it ended up fairly spot on.

Warlords of Draenor Story Speculation – Time Travel, by BellularGaming

Trust I will be doing more research as I can.  For me, as a loyal Draenei, I see this is a kind of ancestry research.  It is like learning more about where Laz and Effy came from.

I hope you enjoy the information I found as much as I did.  🙂

~ Effy

Update! (Twin Moons)

While I am posting, and thinking about it as I look through screenshots, I wanted to mention I finally got to see both White Lady and Blue Child in the sky at the same time.  Here are both of them over Stormwind!

~ Effy

The White Lady

The Blue Child

EDIT: For those who may have missed the comments to the post leading up to this one, I wanted to add some background information.

Azeroth has two moons – the White Lady and the Blue Child.  The White Lady has a great deal of lore connection, as it symbolizes both Elune to the Night Elves and Mu’sha to the Tauren.  The Blue Child less so.  The two moons are mentioned in the World of Warcraft books sparsely.  I do not recall seeing mention of the moons specifically in-game (feel free to correct me, if there is a quest somewhere!), but they both appeared in the sky in-game throughout Vanilla.

Back at the beginning of the Burning Crusade expansion, there was some sort of glitch (perhaps weather effect related?) which caused Blizzard to remove Blue Child from the Azeroth sky.  It appears whatever this issue was, it was not fixed until sometime during the Mists of Pandaria beta, which fortunately carried over to live.

Therefore, it is now possible to see both moons in the sky, though, their paths and speeds differ.  So sometimes there may only one visible.

I add this edit because Ranico mentioned liking these pics, but in all his time hanging out in Stormwind, either pre-raid or just chatting it up, he could not recall the second, blue moon ever being there.  That is because, up until a few months ago, it was not.  🙂