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| Roleplaying as a Draenei | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 29 2010, 12:49 AM (492 Views) | |
| Halya | Jun 29 2010, 12:49 AM Post #1 |
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Initiate
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Original thread here: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?t...8046687&sid=1#6 Age: - To start off with, one should really appreciate just how old the draenei are. Not just as a species, but as individuals. Long before any of the sentient races of Azeroth existed, the draenei were an ancient species. The lore 'only' dates back 25,000 years, and at this point, the home planet of the draenei (Argus) was advanced far beyond anything the people of Azeroth (and indeed, of the modern, real world), have seen. Couple this with the fact that many of the draenei currently alive in the lore, are this old, or older. When roleplaying as a draenei, you might well therefore have been alive to witness these great marvels of both technology and magic. Much like the Kaldorei look down on the other races of the Azeroth, many of the draenei will look down on them too, (including the Kaldorei). This is not a matter of rudeness, or a matter of elitism. It is rather, a patronising belief that the draenei know better. In much the same way that a parent may feel they know better than their child what is best for them, many of the draenei will be under the impression that they will know what is best for members of other species, than they do themselves. This does not mean they will interfere in the affairs of others; or be obsessed with their success, but with the wealth of experience that they have, that other races do not, coupled with a very strong sense of faith, a draenei will often feel they know better. Another issue tied to being quite so old, is how you will perceive childbirth, and childhood. When Durotan and Orgrim (Orcish leaders on Draenor), visited Telmar (a Draenei settlement), they did not see a single child over the course of a day. It isn't clear what the time spent maturing is amongst draenei, but I have seen it regularly compared with that of elves. Which means, with a lifespan that stretches beyond 25,000 years, your childhood will seem really quite insignificant. This is not to say your character would not recall any of it, but the older you become, the less significant it will seem, and the less you will remember, with only the most defining events remaining in your memory. Your perception of your childhood will be further skewed by the fact that the draenei do not, out of habit, track their own ages. It becomes quite redundant when your increasing age does little other than increase your experience, which can be demonstrated in other ways. To use a personal example, I roleplay Halya as being quite a young draenei character, at the age of 3,764 (I chose this number quite arbitrarily.) However, when she has been asked by humans in the past how old she is, she has responded with: "Somewhere between three, and four thousand, I imagine." A very young draenei, of but a few hundred years, might be able to pinpoint their age with greater accuracy - but much like a receding memory of youth, a draenei will steadily lose track of how long they have lived, as they grow older. This longevity will also define your character's goals and passions. While a draenei is by no means immune to the "live for the day" mentality a human or an orc might well possess, it is far less likely in a draenei, when a single day is so very insignificant in the scale of your life. In order to occupy themselves, draenei can (and do) take up a cause or a passion, to a much greater extent than many of other species do. This could be something quite menial, such as learning to perfect the art of playing the flute, or it could be something less precise, and more dramatic - perhaps to pushing the invading orcs out of the territories of our people's new allies, the Kaldorei. How realistic and achievable a cause is for a draenei to undertake is essentially a measurement of your character's ambitions, optimism, and confidence. To use a personal example once again, Halya seeks to build the relations between her own people, and those of the alliance. She feels her people owe a debt of gratitude to the races of the alliance - particularly the Kaldorei, for being as hospitable and steadfast as they have been since the unexpected arrival in Azeroth. This is quite a broad goal, but she has pursued it through various means. She constantly strives to learn more of these race's cultures and languages, and will willingly (almost mindlessly) do whatever she can to help any of them in times of need. Without such a goal, a draenei may become restless, uneasy, and temperamental. Imagine the mid-life crisis. Where am I going? What am I doing with my life? Some people suffer from such uncertainties by the time they're 30. What if you were to spend two hundred years without some sense of progression or accomplishment? Consider it, and then consider how your own character may feel about their own history. From another world This may sound obvious, but; the draenei aren't from Azeroth. There will be not a single draenei remotely close to adulthood, or indeed, cognitive thought, who would have been born on Azeroth. When roleplaying as a draenei, just, bear it in mind that you are from an entirely different planet to all of the other races (excluding the orcs, of course, although only their elders will remember another world). Their cultures will be strange, and foreign to you. If you're feeling particularly generous, bear it in mind that common is a language you'll have had to learn to communicate with the races of the alliance. Your common may not be word perfect. It could be, sure. But it doesn't have to be. Occasionally misunderstanding what a human tells you is an elegant way to make your character seem more plausible. My personal method of doing this, is to simply miss the point of any turns of phrase. The cat's out of the bag now! What cat? And what bag? Why did you have a cat in a bag? Thats a horrible thing to do! Don't be afraid to ask a human what they mean when they throw out such a turn of phrase. Feel free to not quite understand a dwarf's jokes. It's the sort of thing that can bring some quiet humour, an awful lot of the time. Another thing for you to consider, is that you probably weren't born on Draenor (Outlands), either. It was one of many planets that the Draenei fled to after leaving Argus, and while it is the only one named, it is by no means the only planet your character will have seen. Sadly none of the other possible planets or places the Draenei may have visited go unmentioned, and thusly, you'll be inclined to draw any sort of references you might make, to Draenor. Incidentally, do so. When you want to refer to something heavy, or something that hits hard, an Elekk is a good thing to refer to. If you're struggling for references, and don't want to backtrack through articles regarding draenei lore... Go to Outlands in-game. Everything you see there is an integral part of your recent history, after all. Don't limit yourself entirely to Draenor necessarily; however. With a history of living on many planets you have at least a limited license to generate turns of phrase yourself as you wish. But you should talk to other Draenei RPers about such things. Consistency is a wonderful thing. All of this summarizes to one essential point. There will be a great wealth of culture to draw upon with your character, and you should resist the urge to play according to your own culture, or the culture according to the in-game lore of other races. The two or three years you've spent on Azeroth are not going to have erased the centuries, or indeed millenia, you have spent immersed in the draenei culture, and history. (Which I will engage in later) Is it just me, or do all of the draenei seem really nice? I'm glad you asked. Or rather, I'm glad you read the title of this section, because it raises an interesting point. Most of the draenei (by which I mean all of the draenei) that you'll see in game who have anything to say, seem to be doing something nice, or helpful, or noble. There's no quest wherein an anchorite asks you to kill a man who's been blackmailing him. (If there is, do tell, it sounds juicy.) You're never asked by a vindicator to put poison in a man's food. You'll have to remember, that most of the draenei alive now, lived to see Argus. And that means they lived to demonstrate their strength of character when they heeded Velen's warnings, and fled from Archimonde and Kil'Jaeden. (Once again, I'll explain later, don't worry.) This, however, doesn't mean you can't be a nasty piece of work. But you should really think about it first. The best way to seperate a 'good' draenei, from a bad 'draenei', is to examine the means to their ends. Where one anchorite may seek to fight the scourge in open battle, and by seeking to cure the living who become infected. Another may, say... Kill everyone in a town... Lets call it... Stretholme, when they all become infected with the plague. A vindicator called Erthas... Anyway; the point is, most draenei will still pursue 'good' goals. However, if you're willing to stretch convention, you can always remember that you share the same blood as the eredar who joined the Legion so long ago. Perhaps the temptations of power could overwhelm you... Next up? The history of our beloved blue friends. Draenei: Origins: - You, my purple/blue/blue-white friends, have a long history behind you. Perhaps it is a personal history, or perhaps not, but there are sufficient numbers of your people old enough to have informed you of this history regardless. Your people hail from the planet of Argus - as I already said, a planet of technological and magical advance and prowess far beyond anything seen in Azeroth, or the real world. A genuine, sci-fi paradise, essentially. The petty technology of the gnomes and goblins is meagre in comparison to the accomplishments of your people, but it has all been lost. It is hard to make quite such a claim, but personally, I think, of all the races now on Azeroth, the Draenei have lost the most. Much like the kaldorei, the draenei are a race divided. They were forced to flee Argus, when their own people turned on them. Back then, a little over 25,000 years ago, the draenei were known as the Eredar. Sargeras came to this world, in his bid to... Remake, the galaxy. He did not come with fiery brimstone, hellfire and fel magics. He came, seemingly alone, a single, glorious being, shrouded in light and majesty. At this time, the draenei had not found the light of the naaru, and they were a people of science, of learning, and of curiosity. Sargeras offered these people power and glory, a chance to advance themselves far further than they already were. And very many of the Eredar saw no possible flaw to this offer. Some of their greatest figures (most notably Archimonde and Kil'Jaeden), accepted this offer, leading their people to join the Legion, accepting the gifts of power that Sargeras bestowed upon them. The prophet Velen, however, foresaw that joining the legion would lead ultimately to his people's destruction, and warned his people of this danger. You are one of those who heeded this warning, or the descendant thereof. You (or your forefathers) exercised caution and care, resisting the hedonistic urge to better themselves. However, the great majority of the Eredar did not exercise such caution. And to complete his conquest of Argus, Sargeras turned his new followers upon their brethren, imbued with his power and outnumbering them. Against such odds, Velen was forced to abandon the planet, if his people were to survive. Velen prayed for help, and this is when the Naaru appeared. The naaru answered Velen's call for aid, and provided a dimensional ship, that enabled Velen and any like-minded Eredar to flee before they could be crushed. Kil'Jaeden perceived this as a betrayal of the Eredar, and vowed to hunt down the self-named draenei (exiled ones) to the ends of the cosmos. Many millenia were then spent by your people, fleeing from planet to planet, before Kil'Jaeden and the legion could catch up destroy them. It was in this time that the naaru blessed the draenei with the power and knowledge of the light, and told Velen that there were other forces in the cosmos who would stand against the legion, and ultimately, as an unstoppable army of the light, destroy it. Eventually, Velen and the draenei reached a planet they deemed to be safe. They cultivated their society once more on this exile's refuge, naming it as such (Draenor). This is where the sense of eternal dread and harrowing would have faded from the draenei, no longer constantly looking over their shoulder for Kil'Jaeden. Though Velen made sure his people kept their magic as well-hidden as possible. Another sentient race lived here - the orcs. There was some peaceful trade, and respect between these two peoples, but they, for the most part, remained seperate from one another. Thousands (or hundreds, this is very unclear) of years passed here, before Kil'Jaeden ultimately found the planet. But he was careful. He did not bring down legions of vengeful Eredar to destroy the draenei immediately. He observed the orcs, a race of honour-bound warriors. And he manipulated them, in much the same way as he and his people had been by Sargeras. This is where the orcs started to become warlocks, and turned on the draenei, lashing out viciously at their once respected neighbours. Kil'Jaeden ordered the warlock Gul'Dan, his favoured orc student, to destroy the draenei completely, and Gul'Dan undertook this task, with fervor. Over many years (eight of them, to be more accurate), the orcs fought a long and bloody war against the draenei, destroying their established towns and cities, and ultimately; their great capital of Shat'trath. Velen foresaw this assault upon their last stronghold, and told his people, but asked most of them to stay. To defend the city with their lives, in the hope that Kil'Jaeden and the orcs would think the draenei utterly destroyed. The vast majority of the draenei asked, did just that. Outnumbered by an extreme margin, they held the city until the draenei there had been slaughtered. By this time, less than a fifth of the draenei still lived. Over the course of the war, draenei were not just killed; many of them were corrupted by the fel energies the orcs wielded so freely. Such draenei devolved, into 'lesser' species of draenei, becoming the broken, and the lost ones. These draenei were largely frowned upon by other draenei, who felt such creatures had lost the light. But of course, not only this, the planet was shattered by the powers wielded, launching its fragments into the twisting nether. You really have to consider just how cataclysmic this war was, to have broken the planet into splinters, and how traumatising this could have been. The remaining uncorrupted draenei hid in Zangarmarsh, desperately hoping Kil'Jaeden thought them all destroyed. And they did so until the blood elves came to Outlands, and took the Tempest Keep from the Naaru. It was now that the draenei came out of hiding, those that remained of their people attacking the tempest keep in a bid to wrest control back. The draenei forced their way into the exodar - one wing of the Tempest Keep, and tried to use it to escape the planet. The blood elves had sabotaged it beforehand, and the resulting journey led to the crash into the azuremyst isles in Azeroth, whereupon hopefully, you'll have learnt the lore in game for yourself. All of this gives your character a lot of potential memories, and is indeed, not the whole picture. If you're now motivated to look deeper into draenei lore, I'd recommend going to WoWwiki, and not just reading the articles, but the discussion pages of these articles, as they discuss some of the more uncertain or unclear elements of draenei lore. All of this history is something to keep in mind, depending on how old your character is, it can indeed be personal memories. Remember also, you were either raised, or brought into, a very religious society. The direct contact the draenei have had with the naaru makes them very strong followers of the holy light, for the most part. Also, a tiny little note. Draenei have hooves, not feet, try to remember that. This means you don't need boots or slippers, and Draenei blood is blue. It is! If you bleed, you will bleed blue blood. Its something that'll really stand out in roleplay. If you flush or blush, you'll turn bluer, not redder! |
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12:25 AM Jul 11