WoW: Amateur Theorycrafting Concerning Draenei and New Character Rambling

When it comes to draenei lore, it looks like Blizzard formed only half of an idea and just ran with it. Draenei have been on Draenor/Outland for roughly 1,000 years (or only 200 depending on who you ask), but they initially left their home planet of Argus 25,000 years ago. That's 24,000 years of planet hopping for which there's pretty much zero information except that the Burning Legion continued to chase them through the cosmos. (In fact, the draenei are, at best, indirectly responsible for the orcs becoming corrupted by the Legion, turning them from relatively peaceful shamanic people into the blood thirsty, violent creatures we've come to know. There's also the fact that Draenor/Outland has been all but entirely destroyed at the hands of the Legion. And that's all I say lest I go into rant mode about the so-called heroic actions of the Alliance races. Ahem.)

Anyway, since first fleeing Argus 25,000 years ago, the draenei have had the same leader, Velen. In that time they've been through several different planets and at least one dimensional shift that brought them to Azeroth where they crashed landed and did some serious environmental damage. Though Blizzard hasn't outright said the draenei are immortal, all the evidence seems to suggest that of all the ways draenei can die, old age is not among them. In fact, the draenei (aside from Velen's long white beard) don't appear to age much at all after reaching adulthood. Even so, 25,000 years is a long time for one person to be in charge of your entire race, especially one that is having to constantly move from planet to planet and encountering new races and cultures along the way. During all that time, there's been no real significant changes to draenei culture itself (aside from the constant changes in real estate). Sure, we don't know much of anything that happened after Argus and before landing on Draenor/Outland, but we do at least know enough about Velen and the naaru to see that, spiritually and culturally speaking, the draenei are much the same as they ever were. They have at least learned shamanism, but that only happened after Nobundo became a Krokul/Broken (thus losing his connection the Light/naaru) and established a relationship with the elemental spirts of Draenor. So my theory is that, apart from the addition of shamanic practices to their repetoire, the draenei have remained virtually the same for over 25,000 years in spite of likely encoutering multiple new races and cultures in all that time.

It makes sense in some ways. If you arrive on a planet knowing you're going to have to leave at some point anyway to escape a relentless pursuer, why would you work to establish a relationship with the inhabitants of said planet? There's also the egotistical side-effect of being immortal. If you can live for pretty much forever, what knowledge could you possibly glean from a mortal race whose lives wink out of existence faster than you can blink? Plus, the draenei have the Na'aru, all powerful sentient beings of the Light who have told Velen the draenei will be part of their "Army of Light" in the coming battle against darkness. Perhaps draenei believed all those little races they encountered along the way were ultimately unimportant and that the naaru would save them and enlighten them. This, of course, raises some disturbing questions about why the draenei are worthy of saving from the Legion's corruption, but the naaru neither warned nor helped the orcs or the other possible planets the draenei fled. (As an aside: Does the naaru strike anyone else as suspicious? On the surface their motives seem pure, but I get almost a cult like vibe while reading about them. But that's not relevant here.) Finally, when you're always on the run and under threat from a powerful enemy, who has the time to truly explore new ideas and care about keeping more than just you're own people safe? What's happened now that the Legion has been put in its place?

( And here's where I stop theorycrafting and delve into rambling about my character ideas. )