Draenei

Almost 25,000 years ago, a faction of uncorrupted eredar led by Velen fled their home world of Argus, calling themselves the draenei ("the Exiled Ones"). After traveling through the cosmos they finally found a world which they called Draenor ("Exile's Refuge"). They at first shared a peaceful existence with the native orcs and traded with them. They followed the path of the Holy Light of Creation as shown to them by the naaru. Unfortunately, Kil'jaeden eventually discovered the refuge, and found the combat-driven and honor-seeking orcs to be easily manipulated. As a potent act of vengeance and a safety precaution, Kil'jaeden ordered the draenei to be exterminated by the orcs through his student, the warlock Gul'dan.

After the Dark Portal was destroyed, Draenor collapsed in on itself, and what remained was a sundered mass of planetary debris and floating asteroids hovering in stasis within the Twisting Nether. The regions of Draenor that are still habitable are now known as Outland. Draenor was not the only thing to change in this ordeal, as some draenei were altered by the destruction of their world, and became known as the Broken. Some of these corrupted draenei fled through the open portals on draenor and settled in the Swamp of Sorrows on the world of Azeroth. Several of these Lost Ones were driven mad by the absence of their home world, and sank into an even deeper primitive state.

A number of draenei still remain untainted, and it is these that have crashed onto Azeroth in a dimensional traveling ship sabotaged by the malicious blood elves of Outland (not the blood elves that joined the horde). The draenei are the new Alliance race in the Burning Crusade expansion.

[edit] Appearance Male draenei artwork Female draenei artwork Draenei are physically different from the eredar of the Burning Legion. Draenei come in a wide variety of flesh tones, from ivory, aqua blue, dark blue, purple, and ebony[1] They do not however seem to exhibit the red skin of demonic Eredar. Draenei also lack the fangs and horns that demonic eredar have on their faces (this is not noticeable in-game models, only in artwork).

In Rise of the Horde, Draenei are described as being all or overall blue (with the exception of Velen who is described as having white skin later in his life). In World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, draenei skin appears in most shades of color between very pinkish-white to light blue up to dark violet. Their blood, which is blueRotH 136, may use cobalt as its oxygen-binding element, compared to Azeroth (and Earth)-native life, which uses iron. Cobalt oxidizes to a blue color in the same way that iron oxidizes to a red color (for this reason, cobalt is a favored pigment in paints used on outdoor monuments).

Draenei who use the Gift of the Naaru racial ability have a glowing sigil float above their head for the duration of the effect.

Draenei males have tendrils coming out of their chin and a fan-like forehead plate which rises and overlaps other forehead plates behind it. Male draenei have large tails which are held erect by developed muscle structure. The women look very different: Rather than the forehead plates that the men have, they have cranial extensions, vaguely horn-shaped, that extend over the upper cranium and end on either side of the crown. Female cranial tendrils sprout behind the ear and typically are long enough to reach the shoulders. They are thinner than the men's. The women's tails have a lower muscle density. In both genders, the hooves are relatively large, in contrast to the more compacted hooves of their demonic counterparts.

Draenei can choose from a diverse selection of hair colors including gray, white, blue/black, brown, and purple. Similarly, the number of facial tentacles on male draenei can be customized. They can feature zero, one, two, or four tentacles of different shape and size.