Posts with tag wow-lore-questions

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Deathwing's explosive eruption into Azeroth from his lair in Deepholm began the Cataclysm we are all enduring and opposing now. The former Aspect of Earth has upset the balance of the world, and through his machinations, he brought both Ragnaros the Firelord and Al'akir the Windlord to an alliance with him. These alliances were chosen poorly. Both the wind and the fire have been, for the moment, stilled. New lords may well be chosen, but for now, the power of the fire and air elementals has been broken. Therazane of Earth remains, although it is as yet unknown how secure she can possibly feel, with two of her greatest rivals destroyed.

What, then, of the Tidehunter? What fate has been made for him who is the lord of water? Alone among the lords of the elements, the whereabouts of Neptulon are unknown. It is clear, however, that he has suffered for his refusal to ally with Deathwing, and through the Destroyer, the Old Gods.

You guys know the tinfoil hat drill. Our own Anne Stickney pioneered it on our site, but I've been known to spin a crazy theory or two myself. This week, I had to ask the question of what exactly is going on with Neptulon following the end of the Throne of the Tides dungeon? As is the case with all other TFH posts, I'm speculating hardcore on what might be the case here.

As a huge fan of the lore in Warcraft as well as a huge fan of community interaction from the creative development team, there are few times I get more excited than Ask Creative Development time. Being able to pitch questions at the guys and gals in charge of the storylines we anxiously await to be unfolded lets us die-hards express our biggest hopes and concerns for the future story of World of Warcraft. Last time the creative development team took questions, we got some pretty good answers on topics such as what happened to Frostmourne after it shattered, the tol'vir actually being the Obsidian Destroyer unit and Moam, and the final word on where the blood elves get their new power.

A lot of us lore nerds have been wanting it for a long time, and now we have it: An official place to discuss the lore of the Warcraft universe. Of course, it's technically called the Story Forum, and one of the blue stickies on the forum suggests that this forum is meant to focus on "the publishing division" of Blizzard's creative development (i.e., the novels and manga). Then again, the forum's main welcome sticky states that the forum is for discussing the stories of Warcraft "as told in-game and through the novels, manga, comics, and short stories that Blizzard publishes." So in theory the exact nature of the forum could be considered a bit iffy.

Still, I'm going to go ahead and go by the welcome message and declare it a lore forum. No longer will we have to go searching through pages and pages of flames, rants, and class balance whines to find the lore-based flames, rants, and Garrosh vs. Varian debate threads. Nethaera also revealed that the publishing division plans to look at the Forum discussions to get an idea of what people like and don't like about Warcraft's stories, so if you've been writing an epic rant about Med'an or Rhonin, you may finally have the outlet you've always wanted. You can find the forum here.

If you need extra ammunition before jumping into the discussion yourself, be sure to check out our lore guide, as well as past entries of our Know Your Lore column.

After the jump, you can check out the forum welcome message, as well as some additional words from Nethaera on Blizzard's Creative Development Team and lore resources.

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.