Backstory for my Draenei...help?

[Teigan]

Well, I have this Draenei huntress named Dayva. She used to be a troll named Grushdeva. I had a nice little backstory for her when she was a troll, to explain her spirit beasts and "elemental" pets. I was gonna try to write it up story-style but, I'm just going to give you the Cliff's Notes version.

Her mother and father lived in Senjin Village and would often go out to gather herbs and hunt small game. One day they were attacked by centaurs. Her mother was fatally wounded and her father not much better. By the time he crawled back to the village for help, she was already dead. She was in the last days of her pregnancy with the child that would be Grushdeva. The village healer cut her out of her mothers body and they thought at first it was too late. Finally, she drew breath and came back to the living. Her father, crippled in body and spirit, named her Grushdeva, which meant "revenge." He taught her the ways of the land, to hunt and hide, hoping she would one day avenge her mother. However, she had no interest in revenge and little interest in the ways of her people or her father's anger. The time she spent in limbo between life and death, before she was even born, turned her spirit in strange ways. Her people seemed alien to her, with their angers and passions. She also had a gift of sight, to see spirits of the land and times past. The more her father pushed for revenge, the more time she spent alone in the wilderness. There, the spirits of the land came to her and she finally felt at home with something. She learned in time to call them to her, forming them out of the rocks, plants, air and water they inhabited.

So....how do I adapt this to her being a draeni now? Ideas?

[Ket Shi]

Keep in mind that draenei have a pretty unusual backstory:

1. They can live for incredibly long times, but no one knows the rate at which they age (whether, say, they're mature at 20, or still just a child at that point)
2. They used to live in Draenor until just a few years ago. There's draenei settlements in every Outland zone but Blade's Edge Mountains, some ruined, some not. Functional draenei settlements in the modern day are in Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, and Nagrand. And I guess Shattrath, but that was only recently refurbished after years of being abandoned.
3. They spent many generations living a wary coexistence with orcs, until about 30 years ago, when the orcs drank demon blood and turned violent. Most draenei became refugees, and I'm assuming that this is when many of their settlements were ruined or abandoned.
4. They stayed on Draenor when it got ripped apart roughly 20 years ago and warped into Outland.
5. The Exodar is a new thing -- they've only had it for about 5 years, and been in Azeroth/the Alliance for that same time.
6. Shamanism is a new art for the draenei. Though, they are naturally good hunters, so that will not be difficult to integrate in.
7. I'd suggest reading the short story, Unbroken, to get a feel for how draenei deal with shamanism and what happened to them in recent years.

[Serendipity82]

Since I've started RPing Myriana, I've become a wee bit obsessed with Draenei. Just a tad XD. I have literally spent hours hashing out her backstory and only in the last couple of days have I become happy with it thanks to some help from some friends.

Draenei back stories can be difficult, if only because there is literally no lore from time the Draenei left Argus to the time they crashed on Draenor except "They were running from the Burning Legion". So, this gives you a lot of creative freedom but it can be hard to fill. I think the best place for you to start is looking and reading up on as much Draenei lore as possible. Seriously. I have been obsessed with it for Myriana's backstory. There isn't much out there but what you do find is every interesting. I also highly recommend you read Unbroken and Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden. Also, WoW Insider's All the World's a Stage column has helped me a lot. http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/07/24/all-t ... #continued Granted it's really guidlines but it did give me stuff to think about as I develop Myri.

I think once you figure out a timeline for your character you'll better be able to organize those key events in her life. Replace centaur with ogres/gronn etc. The only thing that can be tricky is the element thing. Anything to do with the elements is very new to the Draenei. Probably maybe the last 20 years (give or take a few years), and Shamanism was shown to Nobundo and the other broken before anyone else. They in turn brought it to the Draenei. So your draenei developing something with nature on her own would be a bit far fetched me thinks. Most draenei RPers I've seen say they have learned it from Nobundo or from someone who learned it from him. Hence why Unbroken is a very important read if you're going to have your character do anything with the elements.

Anyway, I am not sure if I was much help to you or not, but hopefully it gives you some stuff to think about.

XD Ket Shi made it much more coherent than me XD And she knows how to do Links right

[Teigan]

Ok. Those are useful pointers. Thank you
PS....she's a hunter I read that again and yeah, I made her sound like a shaman. Truthfully her relationship with her pets, given what they are, is rather shamanistic.

[Teigan]

Wow, that was an amazing story! Maybe I could use the fall of Shattrath....and, that red mist, is that what made the Broken what they are?