What each race is about.
Humans:
-
The Alliance - humans in both their history and showing in the Warcraft series have been about leading an alliance. Their earliest recorded period talks about them making an alliance with the high elves to fight the Trolls, before the wizards of Dalaran worked to unite the raes of the world to fight the invading orcs
-
Enemies of the orcs : Humans main antagonists have been the orcs, it seems their primary focus has been in opposition and conflict to the orcs. The orcs invaded the humans of the south, then waged a destructive campaign against the humans of the north in order to conquer the world. Humans had to fight the majority of this because they were the most numerous peoples on Azeroth.
-
Humans are like us - much of humanity in warcraft is modelled on medieval fantasy human kingdoms - so there is no one direct thing, but a host of things. Humans excel at everything although on average they are pretty ordinary, yet they seem to be the only race that can truly shine in every area - this is compensated by their weak average.
Dwarves:
-
Archaeology and exploration: In wow, we first delved into dwarves, previous to that they were just human sidekicks of the alliance providing artillery and mortar, based on the Tolkien/DnD/Warhammer base - but in wow they gained personality. They were about archaeology and finding their roots. Much of their history is aimed at discovering their titan roots and drawing strength from that
-
Titans: Dwarves on their obsession on their origins leading to the discovery of their titan heritage, have been very much into the titans and Azeroth herself. So much of what they do is focused and about that.
-
The Earth: The earth, mining, minerals, metals appear to be the functional heart of the dwarves, they are evolved from Earthen, titan construct intelligent beings whose functions were in shaping the earth and the work of the massive titan constructs built to help Azeroth.
Night elves
After reading their story and playing their campaigns from WC3 onwards these are the main things the night elves are about
-
Legion : They have been the big bane of the night elves - both a defining and introductory element the race hat has been about fighting, stopping and opposing the legion. Ever since their introduction, in both Wc3 and their main story in the War of the ancients trilogy (their biggest lore exposition) was the titanic struggle against this enemy. Night elves were the race introduced to be the counter and opposers of the legion, the Draenei however are the race of the legion. However much of the draeneiâs action and lore available to us is focused on Draenor and the orcs, itâs the night elves that have had lore primarily centred on the legion. Magic, nature, life the way theyâve lived, their different factions all stem out off and from conflict with this group. They were handled very poorly in Legion expansion - the destruction of the legion is the most profound thing that happened to the night elves, and the Illidari shouldnât be the only ones left looking out for them. The heritage questline struck true by making it about the legion.
-
Magic: This deals with the core of the night elves, without the legion, magic is their biggest thing. Itâs what theyâre made from and they know it. Night elves are deeply into and concerned about magic. Itâs magic that evolved them and developed them to thier greatest heights, and also the means through which they were undone. They built an entire civilization on it, then he largest group of them spent 10,000 years in a vigil protecting their magic from the Legion. They became even more in reverence of it, but forbade themselves to use it to stop the legion returning. Magic, itâs addiction, itâs responsible use and itâs connection to them is at the core of the race - though it sometimes doesnât look it - but itâs laregely because of the large role night elves play in druidism
You can say magic has been the centre of the night elves existence. Elune the night elf goddess has also been portrayed as a magical goddess , magic and faith form the main part of that religion. She is believed to have formed them from the arcane energies of the Well of Eternity, and is a major part of their civilization and their belief system. The Moonwells and Well of Eternity are considered sacred of the goddess by her followers. Not all night elves share that sentiment - the mage users view it more as a source of power they study intesnely and greatly admire, while the demon hunters utilise it to keep the demon inside in check as a counter to chaos so they can use more chaotic fel power to destroy demons.
- Nature: Night elves love nature a lot, after the Legion and magic - the forests cover most of their lands and they protect what remains of the original natural beauty of the world not destroyed by the sundering - this is in part due to druidism playing a large role in the largest groups lives in a period where they werenât using arcane magic for spells. But night elves have also loved nature I would say nearly as much as theyâve loved magic. And the creatures of the forest are dear to them and theyâve always enjoyed the natural beauty. Night elvesâ long vigil period of trees started with Nordrassil which was empowered by the arcane energies of the well of eternity, once the trees powers were used, the night elves were impatient to wait for the tree to reabsorb enough magical energy from the well that nurtures it and recharge, so they grew a new tree to tap into the eternal energies in the hopes that the dragons will bless it and their immortality would be restored. It was a disaster. But a new tree has formed the centre of a home for them. While ot all night elves do trees, all have found Amirdarssil a place of tranquillity
Gnomes:
-
Gnomeagan - Gnomes have been primarily about reclaiming their techno city of Gnoemragan, Unlike night elves, they were not introduced with a massive body of lore and showcased, nor have they been at the centre of every episode of warcraft like humans have been. When they were added, this was the primary focus of them for a long time, and until Mechagon in 8.2 , gnome matters were always about this.
-
Engineering: Gnomes are about technology and engineering- itâs their prime function and purpose. Itâs all they seem to do and care about. Although we have seen mage gnomes and hunter gnomes when those classes were introduced for them, we got priest gnomes without much lore, itâs been technology. The gnomes do tend to help out more with alliance technology provision than the draenei do, but like the draenei they are the ones that mostly use their technology, not their allies. In Warcraft, every race uses their own âthingsâ - you donât really see them sharing their magics or things with others. Iâm fine with this, keeps them unique and mysterious - I wouldnât like the secrets of the kaldorie empire or thbeing wielded by humans or humans using trees and wood like night elves. or wielding the void like void elves⊠let the night elves and void elves use their own things, if you want them, call for more of the race.
-
Comic relief - Gnomes are mainly a comic relief race. Theyâre hilarious.
Draenei:
-
Demons: THe current version of the draenei are the race of the demon leaders of the Legion. Although the draenei are the version of that race that didnât become demons, they are first met as demons, and then the local inhabitants of Draenor, originally called Draenei have their name given to these, and then made to be a twisted devolved version of these. And is why I have put demons first.
-
The Light: The light is at the core of the Draenei. The Eredar were elevated by the light, much the same way the night elves were elevated by the arcane , the Naaru took special interest in them before Sargeras co-opted the race, and it is the light that the survivors who fled the conversion of their race to demons clung to. The light seems to be the centre of their knowledge and power and their technology
-
Technology and Magic: While blizzard doesnât spend much time explaining this when it comes to the draenei, with their orc, legion and light past and history claiming most of this, technology is a major thing of the Draenei - they are an advanced space fearing race, and therefore have a level of technology infused with magic that is sci-fi futuristic rather than medieval. The Draenei donât seem to be sharing this advanced knowledge, in a very similar way the advanced magical of the night elves isnât made a part of the regular world either, and seems to be largely kept to these races - perhaps they are wary of the knowledge being weaponised destructively or both lack the technolgoical and magical power to do the greater works they are capable of. Draenor and the orcs also play a major role with the draenei , but more recently their focus has shifted back to their demonic kin and the light.
Blood Elves:
-
Quelâthalas - since we met them for themselves, blood elves, as high elves originally have been about Quelâthtalas, most of their history is based on defending and glorifying Quelâthalas. They entered an alliance with humans to protect it from trolls, they entered the Alliance of Lordaeron in Wc2 to protect it from the orcs, then as blood elves, they joined the horde to help rebuild it after its destruction
-
The Sunwell: The Sunwell has been the beating hart of the high elves, but as blood elves, after losing it, it became their obsession to restore it. They eventually did, and it has been the source of their power - and the means they feel will protect them
-
Magic: As high elves, the blood elves came to be because they wanted the elves to start rebuilding what was lost, which required arcane magic, the rest of the elves (all night elves at this point), felt this was still to risky and necessary to prevent the Legion returning. The Sunstriders tried to force the point, and prove to the others it could be done safely and was needed, but it went horribly wrong, killing a lot of elves, for the breach on the ban, they were exiled instead of executed, and when they found QuelâThalas, they had transitioned into high elves and vowed to create a new elven society based around the day where magic would be freely and responsibly studied and practised. The hunt for magic to replace the lost Sunwell in WC3, became the primary focus for these high elves that became blood elves⊠therefore the existence of the blood elves is also primarily centred around magic.
Trolls:
Trolls are one of the main antagonist races in Warcraft, though the Darkspears are the friendly ones, who were later joined by the Zandalari.
- Trolls seem to be mainly about the Loa. Nature spirits they worship but also love to take power from to conquer and win.
- Voodoo and witch doctors - seems the cultural and magical means of utilising their skills and power - shamanism and shadow magic is the at the heart of this
- Strength and conquest: The lust for power of the loa, the manipulation of voodoo through shamanism and shadow magic seems to be primarily about conquest. The troll tribes split from the Zandalari for conquest reasons, and always seem to chase a fight.
Tauren:
-
The Earthmother - the spirit of the Earth, is the patron deity and mother figure of the Tauren. Tauren seem to be all about the Earthmother, while cultural depth about them isnât really explored specifically in wow - just mentioned a lot. All tauren tribes and sub-races follow the Earthmother and believe in her, although the Mulgore Tauren are the most into the mythos extending to Anâshe (source of the priests and palas) and Muâshe (druids)
-
Warrior, the Hunter and the shaman - are by far the biggest traditions of the Tauren, all Tauren everywhere are either warriors, hunters or shaman. Shaman are the spiritual leaders of all the tauren peoples - Highmountain and Mulgore alike, though it is often warriors and sometimes hunters that lead them. Most of our lore and experience with tauren is based on them. Most players though think Tauren are about druids - this isnât the case, while Tauren are druids , it seems more because most of the times they see tauren they are involved with druid things - but that is because the druid class for a very long time only had night elves and tauren. But the actual Tauren race are mostly warriors, hunters and shaman
-
The Centaur and the Orcs - the Centaur have been a bane of the Tauren, for much of their existence, by the time we meet them in WC3, they are nearly extinct. But their time is divided into pre -centaur and post orcs. The Orcs arrived and rescued the Centaur and help them, forming what they called a blood bond/oath of friendship and have partnered with them since. They also led/helped restore the spiritual root of shamanism to the orcs
The Orcs:
-
Aggressor/Invaders: These are the conquerors who conquered their world and then went to Azeroth to conquer theirs. Well they were being duped by the Legion, but the Legion funnily enough is not the main thing about the orcs, most of our activity with them is actually centred around conquering Azeroth and opposing humans.
-
Leading the Horde: THe ORcs are the leader of the group that opposes humanity, while this has shifted from arch enemies to more of rivals , they have always stood on the opposite side to humans and led the coalition to either conquer the humans or remain free of the humans. I t has been the primary role of the orcs after being would be conquerors.
-
Honour - the warrior/shaman/warlock : Honour has been the underlying principle that has fuelled the orcs, honour was used to manipulate them to do the bidding of the legion, and their code of honour now put right also directs them. The Warrior is strength of the orc, and the orc values strength and physical prowess above all. Passionate and cunning, they are also led by their recently restored shamanistic roots which led this race of hunters turned warriors and now leaders. The leaders of the horcs dark era were Warlocks, and turns out the orcs make very good warlocks. Although that has more recently been frouwned upon because of itâs legion roots and the evil it caused, it was still a huge part of the orcs, leading to the fel and massive cahnges to them and thier society.
Goblins:
-
Explosions and bombs: When we first met Goblins, they were destructive little things primarily focused on blowing things up, like a lot of races introduced in the RTS they had no real backstory, so unlike a race like say the night elves, they were created without ta backstory and then one was added later on in time. But their most primary role seemed to be blowing things up
-
Money and Profit: When they fleshed the goblins out , their main personality seemed to be based on making money and profit, goblins were traders , swindlers, dealers, , their god was profit, still is, and they were a merchant race, still are. Kajaa juice enhanced intellect, and from the same origin as gnomes, goblins continue in this role
-
Alchemy and Engineering: Seems to be the larger root behind the explosions and bombs and their biggest trading commodity. While not quite as much time is spent on the goblins alchemical and technological creations it is still a major part of the reason for or the means of the racesâ proliferation
Undead
1, Death - this seems to be the main focus. Exploring death, and the pop fiction zombie version for wow. Death is a large focus in warcraft, and this race embodies it, just like the elves embody magic and the gnomes engineering.
2. The Lich King - the reason for this undeath plays a major role with this group. Although the legion is also the source of their origin, like the orcs, the Legion isnât the main focus for this group
3. Sylvanas - The forsaken branch of the undead, the main playable race seems to be almost entirely focused on her and her story.
