Help with a character profile?

[Adam255]

I have a Draenei "Paladin" (Gave up her powers and is now a warrioress) and I want to get a character profile ready for her once my other one gets accepted.

My problems are:
I don't have much knowledge of Draenei history.
I have no clue how one would describe a life of a Draenei from birth to current state, Seeing as it's 20,000+ years old.

I've read most of the Draenei related topics on the forums but I still don't have much of a clue where, Or how, to start.

Any information about Draenei cultures, Raising and general life style, -before- running from Argus, would be great!

To specify, My Draenei is pretty old, About 20,300 years old to be exact, So if you can give me a little information that would fit to her story according to her age, It would be grand.

Thanks in advance!

[Roxas65]

Oh god. -Nobody- knows what Draenei were up to in Argus. Hell, I don't think even Blizzard themselves know. As for the history, the trick is to only write about the significant, life changing events. Writing about every kinda important even from a 20k year span is gonna result in an extremely long profile.

I'd give you some pointers on Draenei history, but truth is that I've been up for almost 24 hours and I'll probably mess up a whole lot because of it. I'll let somebody else fill that in.

[Adam255]

Thanks anyways mate, I'll keep that in mind!

[rodentjoe]

viewtopic.php?f=78&t=26828

TADAH!!! Problem solved. BountyHunter knows -everything- so just look at this topic on race related stuffs and you'll find some important events and such.

[Dae]

To explain the nature of the Draenei, you have to look at their history. "Draenei" isn't actually a race in itself, instead being a name for this specific group of Eredar.

The Eredar were going along doing their own thing, being all scientifically/magically advanced 'n all, and being ruled jointly by three people: Kil'jaeden, Archimonde, and Velen. Sargaras, (that big bad Burning Legion guy) plays Satan and offers the Eredar unlimited powah in exchange for their loyalty. (Read: Free will)
Velen gets a magic vision telling him that Sargeras is bad news, and when Sargeras starts turning everyone into creepy fel monsters, he gets contacted by the Naaru. The Naaru talk about how they don't like the burning legion, and will help anyone who will help them.
So Velen and the Naaru took all the draenei who weren't tempted by the offer of fel power to Draenor on their giant crystal dimension boats. (No, its not a space ship. It goes through dimensions, supposedly to make the Draenei seem more magic and less scifi. Even though they go around the cosmos into them... Yeah, be prepared for a lot of Draenei lore inconsistencies)

This event is very important in the identity of a Draenei, especially an old one like you want to roll. From what I take of this is that the Eredar played host to people with as varied a moral fiber as, say, the other races or real life humanity. What happened here is that only those who not only chose to heed the warning of Velen, but who were able to resist the temptation of power and social pressures that most Eredar succumbed to.
Think of it this way: If some guy from space came to Earth and said, "Hey, what yall're doing is cool and all, but if you help me out, I'll give you superpowers!" and shared this power in a devious drug dealer type manner, and two of the three most revered world leaders were going with it and everyone was doing it and the only reason not to go with it was because the remaining leader simply had a vision...

Think of the kinds of people who wouldn't take the free super powers. This is the mindset of the people who would become the Draenei. They could tell that the Burning Legion was bad news long before the Naaru got involved and stood their ground.

But then the Naaru do come along and rescue these few, untainted Eredar, going on a galactic road trip (while being chased by the legion) until they find a nice little planet, inhabited by the generally indifferent Orcs.
During the exodus to this planet and their early arrival is when these refugees became the Draenei proper, being granted the abilities and adopting the lifestyle of those who follow the Light.

Here's another big point for Draenei characters: The light isn't some sort of faith-based thing like it is for humans, the draenei's Light has a clear identity in the Naaru, and because of their long/indefinite lifespan, many Draenei were right there to witness the Light being integrated into their culture. The Light has saved their lives again and again, so they have every reason to feel unyielding faith to the light.
When they became disciples of the Naaru, they gained an intimate connection with the Light that, for them, could be described as feeling like a part of their soul. It completes them, and they all bear physical evidence of this by the mark on their forehead. While they say they're the "remaining uncurrupted Eredar," I find it more accurate to think of them more as Eredar altered by light.

When the Legion caught up with them and currupted the Orcs with the same promise of power, the Fel that eminated from the Legion's presence messed with some Draenei. Those effected are called the Broken, or Krokrul. (Or the Lost Ones, further currupted Draenei who could be liked to neanderthals) Some, joined the Legion for the sake of protection from the orcs, but many of the Draenic victims of the Fel's effect were unwilling. They were mutated to varying degrees, altered both physically and mentally, but the biggest issue is they lose their innate connection with the light. This messes with their heads, (Often manifesting as cultural abandonment issues) and makes them scary for the uncorrupted Draenei.
(I mean, if in reality, there were people "devolved" into ape men whose minds may or may not be altered and they lacked the inherent force that made them human, wouldn't you be afraid to interact with these people, especially when many worked for Satan?)

So, then some Draenei refugees crashland In Azeroth, get mugged by the Blood elves while new to the planet (thus being very vulnerable) and make friends with the Alliance.
And yet, the Naaru and Draenei helped restore the Belves' Sunwell. Because that's the kind of people they are. (And they also did this after the Blood Elves kidnapped a Naaru, too.)

So, if you're going to play a Draenei old enough to have seen all this happen, you ought to have a really, really good reason as to why a Draenei paladin would give up their light powers.
Not having the light is really uncharacteristic of the Draenei.

(Please, anyone, spot me on any problems here, lore or otherwise. I'm not feeling so great at the moment and would likely confuse the "H" key for an exotic bird from my current weariness.)

[Adam255]

Thanks a lot for your post Dae! It helped a lot with my profile!
But I have an (Sort of) unrelated question... Can I post a character profile if I already have one approved, But awaiting gruntship?

[FlyingSquirrel]

Yup. You just have to wait one week after approval.

[Adam255]

Thanks mate! I'll look into it now.

[ImagenAshyun]

Given the fact that Blizzard has been scant on Draenei history, I think at this point of time the culture is up for grabs on fan speculation. The only problem one would have is making up something that would clash with what is considered canon. All we know is that:

--Draenei live very long lives
--Children take a long time to develop to adulthood (the orcs in "Rise of the Horde" noted that children would still be children even after living for centuries)
--Their language is vaguely Middle Eastern-ish with double vowels
--Their accents are Eastern European inspired (I have heard speculations they were based off of Romanian and Russian)
--They have "Magitek" technology
--They are piously religious to the Light regardless of class--even Shamans still pray to the Light

It's not much to go by, but it's better than nothing.

I have my own fan speculations which I apply in RP while avoiding clashes in canon and any consistency lore has. I just slapped my draenei on my own little village separate from the major cities, so their behavorial culture is its own without risk of clashing with cities like Shattrath and Telenaar. Though I know little of any Middle Eastern languages, the fact that many names use double vowels, are pronounced as they are spelled, and certain sounds are pronounced "flatly" and with slight rolls of the tongue made me think of Filipino, so my character names are based off Filipino words or mythological creatures (Kapre, Diawata, Mahaala, Tapaan, Saya) and have customs that Filipinos follow that are compatible with Draenei culture as well (religious piousness, respect for elders, beliefs in spirits, etc).

Again, this is fan speculation, and I have seen many fanmade attempts of creating a more defined Draenic culture. There was one fanfic writer who wrote Draenei as communists where they attempt a social utopia, and another I think where they made Draenei sorta closer to that of a Muslim community than any other recognized religious group. I'm not sure what this server allows, but granted there isn't anything well defined in canon lore, I think in general, just about anything goes.