Dey see me trollin...

Trolls.

In most fantasy genres trolls are large, stupid creatures that live a savage lifestyle. In fact, there is a trend in these genres that all non-humans (trolls, goblins, ogres, orcs, gnolls, kobolds, etc) are stupid, savage minions. Warcraft has always gone against the grain on this - even relatively stupid races like Ogres and Kobolds have some feral cunning and magical ability, and more human-like races such as Trolls and Goblins can be as intelligent or even more intelligent then humans and elves.

Trolls in Warcraft has always fascinated me. Ever since their introduction in Warcraft II as a replacement for the Orcish spearthrower, I've loved the idea of the trolls. Vicious, fiercely territorial, xenophobic (as many great species tend to be) and possessing unusual skills with thrown weapons and the ability to regenerate from grievous wounds. My interest only deepened as the lore of the trolls expanded to describe the ancient empires of Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub, the many MANY different species of trolls, and their strange symbiotic/parasytic connection with their Loa Gods.

As the lore has expanded, it's become more and more likely that Trolls, specifically Zandalari Trolls, were the original civilized race on Azeroth, possibly even pre-dating the Titans. While other races such as Gnolls, Kobolds and Tauren may have existed at this time, they were largely in the tribe-based hunter-gatherer stage of development, while Trolls were building their first Empire. The trolls may have worshiped the Old Gods, but it is much more likely that even then they worshiped the Loa, or Animal Gods of their current faith, since it is made clear in the War of the Ancients trilogy that the animal Gods are quite old. The trolls built a mighty empire, and conquered a large swath of Kalimdor.

The fall and eventual split of the troll Empire in to the Amani Troll (forest troll) Empire and the Gurubashi Troll (jungle troll) Empire was brought on by their conflicts with the Aqir, the progenitors of the Qiraji and Nerubians (and possibly the Silithids as well). It's unclear if this was the first split in the troll power structure, some lore suggests that the Drakkari Trolls (ice trolls) may have been exiled at an earlier time for their violent tendencies. Regardless, a small segment of the original Zandalari trolls remained, granted a position of respect and leadership over the other trollish people, and the remaining trolls split in to their respective empires and began to genetically diverge.

Of all of the creatures of Azeroth, Trolls show the greatest propensity for genetic divergence. Trolls rapidly evolve in to separate subspecies to best suite their surroundings. Amani trolls evolved in to Forest Trolls, Gurubashi in to Jungle Trolls, Drakkari in to Ice Trolls, Farraki (who may have been isolated on Kalimdor during the Sundering) in to Sand Trolls, and so on and so forth. It has further been hinted that the Night Elves were originally a group of Trolls who settled on the banks of the Well of Eternity and were enhanced by it's power. An initial transformation in to the theoretical Dark Trolls may have occurred as those on the Well's shore became nocturnal, and then the power of the well may have finalized the process in those that remained, stripping them of their trollish regeneration but evolving them in to the graceful, civilized, powerful beings they were to become.

If that is the case, it would certainly explain the Night Elves own genetic mutability, their split in to the races of the High Elves (and later the Blood Elves and Felblood Elves) and Naga due to environmental changes. It is also notable that Goblins have many trollish attributes and a high level of intelligence, and may have been the result of Trolls venturing underground and evolving in to a short, inventive race suitable for the environment beneath the world. Certainly Goblins predate the Sundering as they served Neltharion the Earthwarder (later to be known as Deathwing the Destroyer) during his madness.

If the above conjecture is true, this means that all of the native civilized races at the time of the Second Invasion of the Burning Legion were of trollish decent. Trolls, Goblins, High Elves and Night Elves would all be Trollish. Dwarves, Gnomes and Humans are now all confirmed to be the descendants of Titan seed races corrupted with the curse of the flesh. Orcs, obviously, were descended from the First Horde that came through the Dark Portal from Draenor. At the time of the Second Invasion Tauren were still nomadic hunter-gatherers and settled in Thunder Bluff after this - it's arguable whether they were civilized or not, and I would not be surprised if we one day learned more about the origins of the animal hybrid races such as Tauren, Gnolls, Quillboar, etc.

There's a lot more to write about Trolls, their beliefs, their culture, and how their actions have shaped the world and the lore, but this is a good starting point to understanding how interesting and complicated their history (and biology) truly is.

*Shivers*

Not really a lore post but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Pht3iRq8Y

I can't WAIT to see the content in Ulduar.

More thoughts on Fel Magic

I've been thinking more about Fel Magic lately and how it related to Arcane magic and the other sources of energy.

Arcane magic seems to be the power of sentient life, of organization and creation. Arcane magic seems to be ambient to Azeroth and many other shaped worlds, and it can be harnessed, solidified, trapped, and used. The single largest physical embodiment of Arcane magic in the current lore is the Well of Eternity. Several sentient races such as the Aqir and the Night Elves can trace their ascension from primitive races back to close proximity to the Well of Eternity. If, as implied in the Warcraft III manual, the well was created by the Titans then it surely embodied the principles of balance and order which they so valued.

If Arcane magic is the power of organization, balance, creation, life and order, then Fel magic is its polar and eternal opposite. Fel magic seems to embody the forces of destruction, chaos, savagery and madness. Just as Arcane energy seems to empower and improve, making Aqir from Silithids (probably) and Night Elves from Trolls (probably), Fel energy corrupts, turning (Arcane) Eredar in to Man'ari Eredar, (Arcane) Night Elves in to Satyr, Orcs in to Fel Orcs, etc etc. Whats more is that it appears that Fel energy is more potent then Arcane energy and more addictive, because one of the downfalls of Arcane magic is that it tempts its practitioners to turn to even greater sources of power - Fel power.

So where does Fel magic come from? Let us assume that Arcane energy comes from the natural forces that make up a world, the elements, the minds of sentient beings and other such sources. Previous source material suggests that some Arcane energy comes naturally from the Great Dark Beyond (Space(?)) - it may even be the very force that holds the cosmos together and forms shaped reality. Where then does Fel energy come from? Here are some possibilities:

- Fel energy comes from the Twisting Nether, the strange interdimensional subspace that links worlds and enables travel between those worlds. Fel energy is often associatted with demons and many demons choose to live within the Twisting Nether, so this is a possibility.

- Fel energy comes from Sargeras' corrupted desires. As a Titan who previously worked towards the forces of Order and Balance, in his fall Sargeras desires only Corrupted, Destruction and Chaos - the forces that Fel energy embodies. Sargeras' own considerable power as a Titan may be the origin of all Fel Energy.

The only real point for the first option is that it is still official lore that Sargeras encountered the Nathrezim (and possibly other demonic races) before his fall (unlike the Eredar). Presumably these races ued Fel Magic, although it may be that they merely wielded Arcane magic in unwise or evil ways, or that they relied on a force more akin to shadow divine energy. Regardless, if the first option is the truth it may be that Sargeras' exposure to the demonic realm during these initial battles is what led to his madness and fall.

Points for the second possibility abound. First of all there is the fact that Fel energy is infectous. All demons seem to have Fel energy innate to their body and can pass it on to other people. Demons also hunger for Arcane energy (which presumably increases their power based on Archimonde's actions during WC III) and this seems to be converted in to Fel energy as part of its consumption/absorption. Additionally Fel energy seems to be able to corrupt fonts of Arcane energy, as the natural magic of many places and objects remain corrupted indefinitely until they are purified or destroyed (and serve as a source of corruption for Arcane users). It may be that significant proportions of Arcane to Fel energy are needed since the demons during the War of the Ancients seemed to be unable to consume or corrupt the vast powers of the Well of Eternity without Sargeras' direct intervention.

Whatever the case, Fel energy channeled through Sargeras was able to corrupt most of the Eredar race from peaceful and advanced Arcane users in to ravening, spiteful Man'ari Eredar bound to the service of Sargeras. Fel energy was able to corrupt the Night Elves and the Blood Elves and several other races, and severe forms of corruption seem to supress the ability to use Arcane magic at all. Fel energy is mutative and seems to be a force of unraveling all on it's own, and this leads to a third interpretation:

- Assume that the proto-Nathrezim and other proto-Legion races used something akin to Shadow type divine energy. This same energy seems to be the source of power for the Old Gods of Azeroth, allowing for compulsion (mind control, infiltration, etc) but not Corruption (servants of the Old Gods, even Elementals, remain true to their essential nature). If that is the case it may be that Fel Energy IS Sargeras in some way. It has already been made clear in the lore that Sargeras is able to manifest Avatars with some or all of his power, that he is able to inhabit and corrupt a powerful arcane being from within, and that at this time the "being" of Sargeras is missing, presumably weakened by being within Medivh at the time of his "Death".

If all Fel energy IS the essence of Sargeras then he may still be controlling the Burning Legion, albeit without their knowledge. If this is the case then the actions of Archimonde (considerbly more powerful since the War of the Ancients) in trying to absorb the power of the Well of Eternity to become more powerful then Sargeras may have been the jolt his master needed to return to his Prime physical body, wherever it is. Kil'Jaeden's recent bids to re-enter Azeroth through the Dark Portal and then again through the Sunwell and begin a new legion invasion may have been the same. Sargeras may be secretly controlling his in-fighting, back-biting, rebellious chaotic Legion to return him to the world and finally allow him to claim the power of the Well.

Thoughts on WarCraft Magic

I suspect that some of my frustration and fascination with WoW and the Warcraft Universe comes from my desire to understand their (admittedly) convoluted set of Arcane and Divine power subtypes. There is something in me, the part of me that makes my own games and own worlds in my head, that desires some form of sensible order, even if that sensible order is "We just don't know". Right now it seems like there's a lot of overlap, a lot of confusion, and so this post is a first run at my thoughts on the subject.

Divine is split in to Light (put hope and good thoughts in to the universe and be empowered by the innate link between all things) and Shadow (force your will on the world and increase your mastery over it). Discipline is not specifically discussed in the Lore, but seems to ride the line between acceptance and domination, drawing power from both within and without by sheer force of will.

Arcane is split in to Elemental spells which control those forces through arcane spell work, Arcane which seems to be elemental agnostic (or perhaps inclusive if Arcane is a conglomeration of Elemental energies), some Shadow abilities that mimic limited subsets of the Shadow Divine set, and then Fel which seems to be Arcane energy filtered, augmented and corrupted by demonic intervention. This last bit makes me a little curious - demons are hungry and ravening and seek to consume worlds and arcane power to increase their own numbers and might, thus unmaking the universe as they go. Is Fel energy an expression of that goal, that will? If a small amount of Fel energy was cast in to a reservoir of Arcane energy, would that be enough to corrupt it? This may be the source of corrupted moonwells - Demons introduce a small amount of their energy through blood or magic and it corrupts the Arcane energy therein, making all of it available for demonic use and augmenting its power (although limiting its areas of effect to summoning, fire, chaos, etc etc)

Shamnism is a combination of ancestor spirit communication and elemental manipulation combined with rare aspects of druidic abilities through the difficult to control Wild Elemental force, but involves no actual magic but instead acting as a channel for the elemental forces. Elementals work with Shamans because doing so gives them balance and purpose beyond their mindless and eternal conflict with one another. Powerful shamans learn enough about the spiritual nature of the world to linger for ages afterwards, not as a necromantic ghost (an "Arcane" or "Divine" expression of Shadow?) but as a natural ancestor spirit.

Finally Druidism is a connection to natural spirits (the animal totems for example as opposed to
ancestors) and direct connection to the greater world of the wild, acting again as a channel with perhaps minor arcane augmentation as opposed to a controller mindset. Shamanism and Druidism each have limited connections to each other - Shamans have some access to the spirit of the wild and Druids have some understanding of the forces of the elements, but the mindset of one precludes true understanding of the other.

There is more to write on this subject, but this is a first shot at making sense of it.

Being a WoW LoreNerd

I am an avid player of World of Warcraft.

Warcraft : Orcs and Humans was probably the first game I ever owned for a windows machine, and to this day it holds a special place in my heart. Warcraft II was the game of choice when I got to high school, and it was not uncommon for me to spend happy afternoons playing against friends in direct-connect sessions which would invariably be disconnected when one of our family members picked up the phone to make a call. When Warcraft III was announced I quite literally did a happy little dance around my college room and called every person I knew to tell them how thrilled I was. Finally, World of Warcraft was released and tempted me to break my personal ban on MMORPGs forever.

One of the reasons that I love WoW is because I've always felt like the Lore of that world was excellent. Even the first struggling steps of the Lore way back in WC:O&H was great compared to what was available for most other games. With each iteration of the franchise, the Lore has expanded and deepend and occasionally rewritten itself, and each time I found myself more and more committed. I bore my friends, family and even sometimes total strangers with esoteric details and analytical conversations about the Lore, and my knowledge and love of it is both a source of pride and of shame. It is my contention that the reason WoW is so popular compared to many other MMO games is that WoW is not, in fact, a game. WoW is a story and a world and a group of people that lives in the hearts and minds of it's creative team, and their love and dedication to the game world is what makes their players care about it. WoW is a labor of love, and that love shines through the mere mechanics of an online multiplayer game and involves even the most oblivious player on a deeper level then they realize.

More then ever I felt the need to have a seperate and unique location from my personal "Out-of-Game" thoughts about the Lore. I am a casual player of WoW (usually only weeknights, and even then I make an effort to be realistic and balanced in my approach to this hobby) and I think that allowing these discussions too much leverage in my life would be a mistake. So this blog is a place for me to dump my thoughts about WoW and then link them to friends, family, and sometimes total strangers to bore them without having to actually watch them nod off. Maybe someone who reads this will be interested or have their own comments, but even if that never happens I will be happy just to get my thoughts out on paper.