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Ask a Lore Nerd: Of Nerubians, Dwarves and Titans
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition. I'm going to get this out of the way right off the bat since I know I'll get a dozen people asking again this week: Yes, Know Your Lore will be coming back, it is not gone forever. I promise. I will pinkie swear on it, even. Come on, who wants to pinkie swear? Anybody? Anybody?Aler asked..."On the topic of the Nerubians and the Qiraji, is there any relation in the lore between the two? Or are two insect civilizations coincidental?"There's absolutely a relation between the two. They hold a common ancestry. Both the Qiraji and the Nerubians are offshoots of an even more ancient race, the Aqir. Way back when Azeroth was still very primal, and Trolls were the top dogs. There were three major players in the world: The Amani Trolls, the Gurubashi Trolls, and the Aqir. They warred for thousands of years. Thousands. It was a war of attrition on the grandest scale possible, and all involved more or less broke under the weight of their losses.
West Karana on roleplaying in the World of Warcraft
For those of you longing for days past in your roleplaying adventures --or if you're just curious about what all this roleplaying stuff is about -- West Karana has a great post up about some past experiences on the Kirin Tor server. We're especially entertained by the story of a high-level troll who traveled into Alliance areas and let mass amounts of lowbies battle her down slowly but surely while putting up a valiant fight. Another intriguing character was a gnome who started a guild called, "Snacks for the Horde" a guild with a mission to bring peace to Azeroth by bringing lots of food to the Horde. It's stuff like this that make massively games so very interesting -- people in the communities who sometimes stop grinding and go looking for their own brand of fun. We certainly love it when people go out of their way to bring a bit more to their world of choice, whether it be through webcomics, machinima or straight-up roleplaying.
MMOGology: Roleplaying is dead
A red sun set over the ashen wastelands of Searing Gorge. Three shadows crept up a snaking path toward the encampment on Firewatch Ridge. The first shadow struck her victim hard in the back. The second pounced in cat form, lacerating and stunning her prey. The third finished off his hapless victim with a combination of quick stabs to the chest. The Twilight Idolater dropped silently to the ground. The trio continued to their next target, but this time their prey called for backup. The druid morphed into a vicious bear, drawing her enemies' attention to herself to take the brunt of the attack. The rogues tried to sap the reinforcements into submission or cut them down from behind. Despite their efforts the added numbers of the enemy overwhelmed the heroes and they fell. "Hey Silvanna," said the cute, brunette rogue named Mystletoe. "Do you mind if I get my friend Barbi to help us. She's a 70 priest.""Uh, OK." agreed the druid. It wasn't long before a beautiful, blonde priestess arrived. She revived her allies from the brink of death and with a few simple flicks of her supple wrist, slew the band of Twilight cultists without chipping a nail."Sweet, lets turn this quest in," said the rogue named Twojoints."So have you guys tried out the new voice chat?" asked Mystletoe. The druid began to sweat noticeably."Uh, no, no. I don't think mine's working quite right yet," replied Silvanna. Suddenly there was audible giggling from somewhere near the party. It was as if the air around them had come to life and was laughing at the group."So let's hear your beautiful voice Barbi," giggled the very feminine voice of Mystletoe."Hey guys," belted a baritone. Barbi was a man!"Oh-my-God, Barbi's a dude!" laughed Mystletoe with an air of false surprise.The druid sighed, somewhat relieved."That's OK Barbi," Silvanna replied. "So am I."
Shifting Perspectives: If you were a druid, what would your life be like?
Druids have some of the best lore in the Warcraft universe. Unlike any other class, this lore is often a binding area of common ground between Alliance and Horde druids, and many druids say that they will help each other regardless of their faction. Certainly this is partly because the Cenarion Circle is the official druid organization in which both tauren and night elves work together peacefully, but also this has to do with the spirit of loving nature -- a sense we bring from our real life experience that nature requires her champions to put aside other differences in order to keep the balance. Many of us who play druids in the game share a genuine concern for the environment of the earth, and the symbols used for druids in the game have a real meaning to us. I'm a roleplayer, so learning background information about druid lore and visualizing what my character's life might have been life is useful to me. But for any player, whether you roleplay or not, it can help you get a more immersive feeling out of your game if you can really imagine yourself in your character's skin,... or fur, as the case may be. So, if you were a druid in Azeroth, what would your life be like? The one certainty would be that a strong connection to nature would have been your primary concern from a very young age, whether as a night elf or as a tauren, but your path to becoming a druid would have been very different depending on which race you were, with great changes coming to you and your people in the very recent past.
Hostage crisis: Orgimmar
On the Ravenholdt (US) realm mayhem is afoot. A member of the Alliance guild Colossus posted on the realm forums that they have taken the Orgimmar Wind Rider Master hostage. "We have your Flight Master for ransom," the ominous message reads, "There is a Mining Pick up for 100 gold on the neutral Auction House. Buy it and Doras will be freed." Although this has been done before, it still is a novel way to bring role play into the world of Azeroth. I am always fascinated with what players can do within the framework of the game.Can no one help poor Doras? Until something is done, all transportation for the Horde has come to a screeching halt. Please, for the love of Thrall, do something! Do we expect retaliation, or will the Horde give in and buy that blasted mining pick? Oh the humanity!
Breakfast Topic: Hidden gems
From an out-of-the-way inn my guild uses for meetings, to the time I finally managed to watch a race in the Shimmering Flats, Azeroth has many well-kept secrets. How many times have you stumbled across a location or piece of scenery and wondered what on earth it was there for? Aside from the game's easter eggs, which are fun to track down, some places seem to hold unfulfilled potential.I've found that RP gives me a whole new outlook on these places; every one suddenly suggests several possible storylines, although I've acquired the habit of dismissing a lot of the empty-looking content by saying "oh, that's only for RPers". Do you think this is true? Are the deserted buildings and empty locations there for RP enjoyment alone, or to lighten the hearts of the players who love running around into every nook and cranny? Have you found a particular spot that surprised or delighted you?
