Jolikmc wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 1:20 am
So. According to some post-
WoW lore, the Draenei apparently crash-landed on what would later become "Outland" 200 years before The First War. They were the ones who named the then-unnamed planet "Draenor". Apparently, they became acquainted with the orcs, exchanging shamanistic rituals, but mostly kept to themselves. Then after a bit, Gul'Dan corrupted the orcs into bloodthirsty savages, and those savages decided to slaughter the Draenei.
Thanks to the tainted magics surrounding the newly-made "green orcs", most of the Draenei survivors of the slaughter mutated into the Broken and Lost Ones, but a small band of them hid on the outskirts of Draenor, led by Prophet Velen. And then, uh, I guess nothing of consequence happened until the Alliance stepped through The Dark Portal and Ner'Zhul, in a fit of panic, tore open many more portals and accidentally ripped the planet apart. After that, though? The Blood Elves arrived, freed Illidan, met Akama, took over Tempest Keep, and even had time to sabotage the Exodar's trans-dimension warp drive… apparently. And that led to, you know, the Exodar crash-landing on Azuremyst Isle and permanently ruining it.
If we're talking strictly about pre-
WoW lore – as in no ret-cons or re-writes – then there are no "space goat" Draenei. There is simply Akama and his ilk – the "Lost Ones" – whom have pledged loyalty to Illidan.
According to in-game lore, the Draenei and the Fel Orcs have been battling for "centuries", which was ret-conned with what I mentioned above. There's no mention whatsoever of the "uncorrupted" Draenei, or that such a thing even exists. As far as the
Frozen Throne lore is concerned, but as pointed out by someone else here,
Warcraft II stated that the draenei "had been present on Draenor since nearly five thousand years."
In that vein, according to the
Warcraft RPG Manual of Monsters – which pre-dates
The Burning Crusade by 5 years – Draenei lived with orcs on Draenor for "countless generations", but most of them died in the Dark Portal explosion. Some survivors wandered through the Dark Portal after that and called themselves "Lost Ones", and most of those eventually settled in the Swamp of Sorrows. It also mentions they mostly keep to themselves and mourn their former world, but also hate and
kill orcs "whenever the opportunity arises", though no real reason is given in this context.
Now, all that being said… I don't think there's really any place in this game for
either "version" of the Draenei to become playable. The lore-rending "space goat" version could be re-written to fit simply by focusing less on the "Draenei" angle and more on the "exiled ones" plot point, but they would have to either keep to themselves or become an Alliance race due to the deep hatred for the Fel Orcs and Blood Elves. Meanwhile, the pre-
WoW version only served Illidan out of necessity and teamed up with Kael'thas and Lady Vashj for the same reason, but once they were able to settle their score with the orcs, Akama and his clan seemingly disappeared. (They were optional in "Curse of the Blood Elves" anyway…) But if that's not enough, here's a practical reason: there is no female model for the "Broken" Draenei. There was a model being worked on in the retail game, but it was just half of an untextured, modified female Tauren.
So, yeah. I guess if this were a vote, I'd say
no to any form of Draenei becoming playable.