question about Draenei

[Lylithiann]

Okay here is the deal, I just got my undead warrior approved but above all I like variety so I was planning on working towards having three chars of each respective faction.
So I decided to post an alliance toon in the workshop and leave it there until it is pretty much solid.
My race of choice was Draenei and my class of choice was mage, why? because they are awesome xD

But...there was one thing I overlooked/underestimated, history just plain old draenei history.
What a fool I was for thinking that wouldn't prove too much of a problem xD
So what I wanna ask is the following;

"besides the regular age limits you guys already set for Draenei do we have any chonological reference as in timelines here at CoTH?"

Because I would hate to see that I am walking around with a 2000 years old Draenei and find out that someone else his char which is around 3000 years old has been trough the same events as my char.
Don't get me wrong I can improvise my way trough the history but that won't make an accurate nor a solid bio.
So I thought "ah what the hay" and I asked.

((with time lines I specifically mean estimated years of certain happenings, with a focus on the arrival on draenor))

[Hawk]

To be honest, the only thing what would be any different if your character was older was how many times you had to flee from planet to planet from the Legion.

Here's Draenic history summed up:

- Draenei live on Argus in peace.
- Sargeras comes and offers the 3 leaders (Kil'jaedan, Velen and Archimonde) lots of power.
- Velen forsees that Sargeras will turn them into demons of the Legion, the others don't listen.
- Draenei run from Argus because Kil'jadan and Archimonde go all RAGE on Velen and something about a whole load o' demons.
- Draenei flee from planet to planet because they keep getting found by the Legion.
- The eventually settle on Draenor for 200 years and form a neutral Alliance with the Orcs, who are then manipulated into believing the Draenei are the enemy. Draenei run away again!
- They take control of a Blood Elven ship-thing (The Exodar) and run away. Blood Elves screw up their engine, they crash on Azeroth.

[Sol]

Birdbrain's got it nailed, apart from the fact that the Exodar was their's to begin with. So was the rest of Tempest Keep, and Oshu'gun, as well. I'm pretty sure Kael's Blood Elves just occupied it after it'd been abandoned when the Draenei were driven from their homes by the Orcs, and they later snuck into the Exodar and stole it back, getting sabotaged and blown up in the process.

[Lylithiann]

yup bloodelves took tempest keep the draenei just made off with it's wing section "the exodar"
But okay with the number of 200 years I can pretty much form a decent history thnq ^^

[Lylithiann]

just a thought, but....if Draenei life for ten thousands of years, then.....how long would a draenei would be pregnant?
must suck carrying a baby around for years in your belly.

[Sheppard]

I think it depends on the size of the race, and not the actual lifespan. Mammals who are bigger in size, carry their children longer than we humans do, and the reverse could be said about the mammals who are smaller than us. The same could be said about the Tauren who are also quite bit taller and buffer than we are.

I believe the pregnancy could fairy from 40 weeks to, let's say, 57 weeks.

[Hawk]

Actually, I believe Troll pregnancies are quite a lot quicker than a Human's, and they're quite bigger.

But I really don't know. I do think a Draenei's pregnancy is long since birth is a rare occasion amongst the Draenei.

[Sheppard]

Actually, I believe Troll pregnancies are quite a lot quicker than a Human's, and they're quite bigger.

Do they now? Oh well, we can't really be certain about these matters anyhow.

Correct me if I'm wrong of course.

[DrinkArizona]

I've found somewhere online that the troll gestation period is around five months, whereas the draenei one is seven years.

[Lylithiann]

yeah erm...this pregnancy thing wasn't a serious question but....I am glad you gave it a little thought xD

[Lylithiann]

I've found somewhere online that the troll gestation period is around five months, whereas the draenei one is seven years.

ouch, really dude?! damn...a cranky vomiting wife for 7 years...I suddenly feel sorry draenei males,
they are still lame though, their torso is waaaaaaaay to large

[Sheppard]

I've found somewhere online that the troll gestation period is around five months, whereas the draenei one is seven years.

Where exactly did you find this information? *curious Sheppard is curious*

[DrinkArizona]

Hold that thought, I may be wrong. I have no idea where I heard this theory from..I think it was Bnet from one of my old clan mates or so. But...hum. I don't know, don't have to take my word for it. Just telling you guys what I heard (with no real proof D: )

Edit: Found something that MIGHT help = http://www.earthenring.eu/phpBB3/viewto ... ac7bcd5897

[garrett]

But I really don't know. I do think a Draenei's pregnancy is long since birth is a rare occasion amongst the Draenei.

A low birth rate doesn't really imply that the pregnancy would take a longer time. It just means that the race as a whole is less fertile, meaning it takes more times at bat to hit that home run.

Of course, this is a fantasy game, so the entire thing can be thrown out the window. I'm just going on what I've seen with other long lived races.

Here's a couple posts on the subject I found through Google.

Going by the only examples of mammalian gestation periods we have (terrestrial), gestation periods do not correlate to lifespan at all.

The strongest correlation to gestation period is body mass (i.e. Elephants - 22 months, Possums 12 days).

I wouldn't expect elves of any variety to differ from 9 months +/- 2 months.

This really makes the most sense to me. The bigger you are, the longer it would take to form. There are also factors that affect stuff, based on the lifestyle of the species. Predators tend to have a quicker pregnancy period, due to feeding their young meat, where herd animals tend to have longer pregnancies.

My best guess is to play it as a month or two longer than humans, and leave it at that. Seven years is just a ridiculous amount of time, and I can't see that as being accurate, unless the developers just threw it in to be wildly unusual.

Edit: I've read through the post linked above, over on EarthenRing. This quoted post seems to me to be the most well thought out of all the posts in that thread.

by Vireon Goldenward on Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:49 pm
***WARNING: PURE SPECULATION BELOW***

I think the best way to answer this is with reference to the evolutionary lineages (clades in the lingo) of the sentient races in WoW - of which there are about five:

1) The Titanic Lineage: Descended from the earthen, the favored creations of the titants. Dwarves, Gnomes and (possibly) humans (including Foresaken) are members of this lineage.

2) The Trollish Lineage: Descended from Dark Trolls. The default sentient lineage* of Azeroth (the equivalent of the Eredar from Argus and the Orcs from Draenor). Includes Blood Elves, Night Elves and Trolls.

3) The Draenic Lineage: Descended from the default race of Argus. Includes the Draenei.

4) The Orcish Lineage: Descended from the default race of Draenor. Includes orcs.

5) The Tauren Lineage: (possibly) Descended from a titanically ordained mix of their own natures and beasts. Includes the Tauren.

By "default lineage" I mean a lineage that was not created for any expressed purpose by the titans. It seems there is only one such lineage per planet.

Now, because the life-history is something that is very, very, very difficult to change (evolutionarily speaking, it took our own ancestors several million years to extend our childhood from six to eighteen years) it stands to reason that all these lineages will have ball-park similar gestation periods, unless magic gets involved.

If you assume this (though its completely speculative), then you can conclude that dwarves and gnomes will have roughly the same gestation period as humans - 9 months. The other lineages however, may well have something different.

The trolls, I would argue, due to their short lifespans would most likely have a very short gestation, perhaps as low as six months. Elves therefore, unless magically extended, will have similarly shortened gestation periods.

The Draenei, due to the large physical size, intelligence and powerful physiologies, would most likely spend much longer in the womb in order to grow at a neotenous rate (thus gain sufficient size, both cerebral and physical), and so I would suspect they would spend 10 months to a year in the womb. Tauren would have a similar gestation period for similar reasons.

The Orcs, due to their similarities with humans, would most likely have a very similar period of gestation. I would give a tentative estimate of 9 months for these guys too.

This is sorta informed by my anthropology course, so it's not complete bullshitting.

Here's a page from WoWWiki that might also some useful info, though it's spread across a myriad of racial groups.
http://www.wowpedia.org/Sexuality