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jadedmusingsWhen 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 Azerothwhere 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?
All this theorizing brings me to my new character Aridhana. She's a few millenia old (I'm thinking somewhere between five and ten thousand, but she herself has lost count; I mean, I figure after a few centuries I'd get tired of keeping up with birthdays too) and, being a Paladin, she's wholly devoted to the Light. Her life has been one of rigid discipline and millenia-old ironclad traditions. She is expected to, if not marry, form a bond with someone long enough to produce offspring (their race was nearly decimated after all). I've wondered whether her parents have tried steering her toward one suitor or another, or if mentors and teachers have gently prodded her to find a mate.
For a long time, Aridhana tried to live up to her people's expectations of her. She put off finding a mate with the excuse that she feared leaving orphans behind should she fall in battle. In truth, she never wanted to have children of her own, nor did she ever feel drawn to the males of her species. Still, it never occurred to her she had any other option. Again, her entire life had been following the Light while trusting her leader Velen to keep leading them to safety (and the "Army of Light" promised by the naaru). Between training and preparing for battle/war, there wasn't time to question the expectations placed on her. She followed and obeyed while asking few, if any, questions.
And then she fell in love with precisely the wrong person: another woman.
Now, I could argue all day about the absence of non-straight characters in WoW. Blizzard hasn't exactly been progressive in this area. Then again, they haven't ever established any canon that paints any of the in-game races as really giving a damn about sexuality one way or another. However, in this case I'm thinking that if you spend a few thousand years expecting your child to go on and make more babies to rebuild your population, you might balk at least a little when she doesn't turn out quite like you expected. Even if everyone is fine with it, there's still the fact that Aridhana has been told her duties to Light and her people should be foremost in her thoughts and her decisions. Being with a woman would have a huge impact on her ability to follow all those other traditions that include having children.
Torn between her heart and her sense of duty, she ultimately chose to end the relationship. It broke her heart and she spent a long time feeling confused, resentful, and riddled with guilt, anger too. Mostly anger at herself for not having the courage to love without caring about what others thought, not to mention for breaking her lover's heart.
With the Legion gone, the draenei finally have a permanent home. For the first time in 25,000 years they don't have to think about skipping town at some point. That means they finally have a reason, if not a need, to learn about the world they're in and its races. For Aridhana it means she has an opportunity to, not exactly abandon the other draenei, but to take a journey of self discovery. Under the guise of studying the other cultures of Azeroth, their history and traditions, she's setting out to quest and explore Azeroth in its entirety. Along the way she plans to do some serious introspection and learn who she really is regardless of what's expected of her. So I'm going to be playing her as someone who is going to have to learn how to give herself permission to be different, to break away from tradition. Someone who is going to learn it's okay to question your leaders and the status quo. Most of all, she is going to learn how to follow her heart.
Overall, not a terribly complicated idea, and some aspects of it might be viewed as unoriginal. Also, I'll probably do some padding here and there. Still, I couldn't resist poking at the draenei lore (what little there is) and seeing what came of it.
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
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?
All this theorizing brings me to my new character Aridhana. She's a few millenia old (I'm thinking somewhere between five and ten thousand, but she herself has lost count; I mean, I figure after a few centuries I'd get tired of keeping up with birthdays too) and, being a Paladin, she's wholly devoted to the Light. Her life has been one of rigid discipline and millenia-old ironclad traditions. She is expected to, if not marry, form a bond with someone long enough to produce offspring (their race was nearly decimated after all). I've wondered whether her parents have tried steering her toward one suitor or another, or if mentors and teachers have gently prodded her to find a mate.
For a long time, Aridhana tried to live up to her people's expectations of her. She put off finding a mate with the excuse that she feared leaving orphans behind should she fall in battle. In truth, she never wanted to have children of her own, nor did she ever feel drawn to the males of her species. Still, it never occurred to her she had any other option. Again, her entire life had been following the Light while trusting her leader Velen to keep leading them to safety (and the "Army of Light" promised by the naaru). Between training and preparing for battle/war, there wasn't time to question the expectations placed on her. She followed and obeyed while asking few, if any, questions.
And then she fell in love with precisely the wrong person: another woman.
Now, I could argue all day about the absence of non-straight characters in WoW. Blizzard hasn't exactly been progressive in this area. Then again, they haven't ever established any canon that paints any of the in-game races as really giving a damn about sexuality one way or another. However, in this case I'm thinking that if you spend a few thousand years expecting your child to go on and make more babies to rebuild your population, you might balk at least a little when she doesn't turn out quite like you expected. Even if everyone is fine with it, there's still the fact that Aridhana has been told her duties to Light and her people should be foremost in her thoughts and her decisions. Being with a woman would have a huge impact on her ability to follow all those other traditions that include having children.
Torn between her heart and her sense of duty, she ultimately chose to end the relationship. It broke her heart and she spent a long time feeling confused, resentful, and riddled with guilt, anger too. Mostly anger at herself for not having the courage to love without caring about what others thought, not to mention for breaking her lover's heart.
With the Legion gone, the draenei finally have a permanent home. For the first time in 25,000 years they don't have to think about skipping town at some point. That means they finally have a reason, if not a need, to learn about the world they're in and its races. For Aridhana it means she has an opportunity to, not exactly abandon the other draenei, but to take a journey of self discovery. Under the guise of studying the other cultures of Azeroth, their history and traditions, she's setting out to quest and explore Azeroth in its entirety. Along the way she plans to do some serious introspection and learn who she really is regardless of what's expected of her. So I'm going to be playing her as someone who is going to have to learn how to give herself permission to be different, to break away from tradition. Someone who is going to learn it's okay to question your leaders and the status quo. Most of all, she is going to learn how to follow her heart.
Overall, not a terribly complicated idea, and some aspects of it might be viewed as unoriginal. Also, I'll probably do some padding here and there. Still, I couldn't resist poking at the draenei lore (what little there is) and seeing what came of it.
