Project Lore

Proverb is a twice-weekly column discussing the lore of Warcraft. It is spoiler heavy for all Warcraft games, novels, and other media. Comment on this post or send a tweet to @Heartbourne and let us know what you would like to see in future columns!

Fan rendering of Ysera, night elf and dragon forms

Of all the dragonflights, the green and red dragonflights are considered to be the most peaceful. Alexstrasza, the aspect of the red dragons, the Life-Binder, rules over Wyrmrest Temple and has long been a protagonist of many perilous adventures. Ysera has not gotten nearly as much attention as Alexstrasza, but with Neltharion as the main antagonist of Cataclysm, Malygos killed in the Nexus War, and Nozdormu likely involved in the Infinite Dragonflight (see previous Proverb columns), Ysera and the green dragonflight may be one of our last remaining draconic allies. Ysera, like all dragons, was created by the Titans from the great proto-dragon Galakrond. The titan Eonar gifted her with the powers of nature. Eonar also imparted some of her power to Alexstrasza, but the form it took was more specifically in life energy. Ysera was tasked with safeguarding the natural world and the Emerald Dream, an alternate realm that exists parallel to the mortal realm where all mortals dreams take place, among other things. The Emerald Dream exists much as the world was at its shaping, a lush, green paradise. It is what the world would be like if sentient beings were not to exist. Even those who can walk the Dream, including its master, Ysera, cannot alter the Dream; it will always quickly revert to its unaltered state. Many powerful beings, especially those skilled in the ways of natural magic, can exist in both realms at once, or move their spirit through the Emerald Dream while their physical forms remain in the mortal realm. Novice spellcasters can easily become overwhelmed by the serenity of the Dream and never return to their bodies. Their physical forms slowly die of starvation, destroying their spirit as well.  Ysera, known as The Dreamer, nearly always has her eyes shut, wandering the Emerald Dream in spirit while she freely roams the mortal realm. Ysera often takes the form of a female night elf with green robes, hair, and eyes, especially in the Emerald Dream.

Ysera's current (temporary?) model in her night elf form in WoW

Cenarius, the patron of the Druids, was "adopted" by Ysera. Cenarius' actual parents are Elune and Malorne (known to the Tauren as Mu'sha and Apa'ro), but as Cenarius was much more mortal than Elune, she entrusted him to Malorne for his upbringing. Malorne was very close friends with Ysera, and Ysera seemed a more proper mother figure for Cenarius' life. Cenarius learned much about natural magic from Ysera's teaching and became a master of the wistful Emerald Dream. Perhaps 55,000 years after these events, Cenarius imparted this information to the night elves, training Malfurion Stormrage as the first druid. Many druids maintain a very close relationship with the green dragonflight, as they both spend much of their time tending to the natural world and the Emerald Dream. Many druids even become dragonsworn. Soon after Cenarius began training Malfurion, the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth. The night elves fought a difficult war and many of the Ancients, including Cenarius, ultimately helped decide the outcome. Neltharion, later known as Deathwing, tricked the other four dragon Aspects, including Ysera, into sacrificing much of their power into an artifact known as the Dragon Soul, later called the Demon Soul. He did not impart any of his power to the artifact, and as such remained much more powerful than the other dragons. Malfurion and Krasus attempted to travel to the lair of the Aspects so that Krasus could commune, but Neltharion had erected a strong barrier, making it impossible for them to enter. Malfurion entered the Emerald Dream to seek out Ysera to grant them an audience with Ysera. After repeatedly mentioning that he was a student of Cenarius, Ysera allowed his spirit passage to the meeting of the Aspects. While the Aspects discussed the demon soul, Malfurion investigated it silently with his mind. Neltharion noticed his meddling, and attacked him with silent spells. Malfurion attempted to escape to the Emerald Dream, and Neltharion surprisingly was able to follow, and follow undetected to Ysera. Neltharion took on an even more fearsome form in the Dream, but appearances in the dream world mean little. The implications of this event are many; the fact that powerful spellcasters such as Neltharion can enter the realm without communing with nature is interesting, as is the possibility of such beings entering the Dream without Ysera taking note.

Creature of the Dream

Neltharion's madness drove him to use it against anyone not of his flight. This caused a desperate struggle that resulted in the vast majority of dragons perishing, including practically all of the blue dragonflight. After a long battle, the demon soul was taken from Neltharion and sealed far beneath the earth, with an enchantment that prevented it from ever being wielded by dragonkind again. The War of the Ancients, as it later became known, ended with great losses, such as the death of most night elves and the exile of the highborne. Illidan Stormrage recreated the Well of Eternity using the Vials of Eternity, which caused his imprisonment at the hands of the remaining night elves. Ysera rewarded the night elves by planting a great tree in the Well of Eternity using an acorn from the Mother Tree G'Hanir, which perished with the death of its master Aviana during the War of the Ancients. This new tree became known as Nordrassil, the first World Tree, which greatly aided druids with natural powers, including the entry into the Emerald Dream. This direct endorsement from Ysera of the druids may have been one of the reasons druidism grew. This tree was blessed by the remaining Aspects. Nozdormu's blessing made the tree timeless, and the night elves inherited from it the power of immortality, causing them to never age (until the tree's eventual destruction). Look for part 2 tomorrow!

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Ahh, yes. With a new (old) encounter comes new achievements to earn, or fail spectacularly trying to do so. The 5th anniversary version of Onyxia is no exception, and the latest build of 3.2.2 on the test realms brings with it news on just what we can expect in this regard. Deep Breath in all its fearsome glory! The achievements are as follows:

• Onyxia's Lair (10-man) - Defeat Onyxia in 10-player mode.
• More Dots! (10-man) - Defeat Onyxia in less than 5 minutes in 10-player mode.
• Many Whelps! Handle It! (10-man) - Cause 50 Onyxia Whelplings to hatch within 10 seconds of Onyxia's liftoff, and then defeat her in 10-player mode.
• She Deep Breaths More (10-man) - Defeat Onyxia without anyone taking damage from a Deep Breath in 10-player mode.
• Onyxia's Lair (25-man) - Defeat Onyxia in 25-player mode.
• More Dots! (25-man) - Defeat Onyxia in less than 5 minutes in 25-player mode.
• Many Whelps! Handle It! (25-man) - Cause 50 Onyxia Whelplings to hatch within 10 seconds of Onyxia's liftoff, and then defeat her in 25-player mode.
• She Deep Breaths More - (25-man) - Defeat Onyxia without anyone taking damage from a Deep Breath in 25-player mode.

You might recognize a few of those phrases from the famous Onyxia Wipe Animation (WARNING: Not to be viewed at work!):

And really, how could Blizzard not reference the video? Not only is it still funny after all these years, it represents all of the memories players have from when Onyxia's Lair was the pinnacle of Vanilla raid content. The flames, the whelps, the wipes! There truly is a little angry raid leader in all of us. Likewise, "She Deep Breaths More" is a nod at the oft-maligned attack she uses when in flight during Phase 2. Players swore that she did it more often (and more randomly) in later patches. The dev team even poked fun at this reaction at the Dungeons and Raids Panel last weekend. When they showed off the tools used to tune boss encounters, the randomization for Onyxia's Deep Breath skill was set a little higher than usual. Some of you might be wondering what's going to happen to the old Level 60 Onyxia's Lair achievement. Well, it's going to be turned into a Feat of Strength once the patch hits, so if you want that particular notch in your belt, I'd get on that as soon as possible. So, what do you readers think of these achievements? Will they be hard to obtain? I think it'll be hard to say until the patch hits and the rest of us have an opportunity to experience the re-tun first hand!

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In the past few weeks here at Project Lore, we've had the pleasure of watching the crew battle their way through Naxxramas, until finally reaching the powerful "Kel' Thud." And while they've been busy up in the necropolis in the sky, I've also been busy leveling down below in Dragonblight. This zone has got to be one of my favorites in the game. The fantasy elements of WoW are a big draw for me, so a zone dedicated to the lore around dragons sucked me in. The valley wasteland known as the Great Dragonblight is a somewhat mysterious land littered with the corpses of all different kinds of dragons who have come for their final rest. But the Lich King and his Scourge legions have found use in the remaining skeletons, many which have been reanimated into undead frost wyrms such as the tragic Sindragosa and the very Sapphiron who now resides within Naxx. As for quests, the Dragonblight's offerings range from level 72 to 75 in the long grind to level 80, with a good few group quests, some giant elites to battle in the north and also several dailies. Both factions can pick up some sizable XP rewards (especially if you take advantage of rested XP when killing mobs) through questlines messing with the Scarlet Onslaught. Yes, the same baddies formerly in the Scarlet Crusade now have moved into Dragonblight in hopes of destroying the Lich King - and anyone else who stands in their way. I'm still trying to find a PUG to finish up Do Unto Others and the end of the Horde line. Another good line with some fun dragon lore lies in the Ruby Dragonshrine. And again both factions can partake, which is a plus in my book. But for me, the real fun came with visiting the holy Wyrmrest Temple, riding a dragon to the top and taking on missions from Alexstrasza, the queen of the dragons and guardian of all life on Azeroth. Plus, her character model looks really damn cool. She and Lord Afrasastrasz are involved with Horde, Alliance and neutral quests alike. And if you just can't get enough of her majesty, there's always the Defending Wyrmrest Temple daily that opens up after completing the Rifle the Bodies questline. You'll get to shoot down dragons while earning a little money, some xp and a bit of rep with the Wyrmrest Accord all at once. And as an added bonus, if you can manage to complete the quest in under two minutes, you'll earn the Rapid Defense achievement. That's my kind of quest. There's actually a ton more about Dragonblight that has really made me love this zone. I just have a couple more group quests to finish up before dinging 74 and moving on, probably to the dreaded Zul'Drak zone. I'm going to miss it. Has anyone else felt a kind of attachment to Dragonblight? How about any other zones? I'll admit it, I also still get nostalgic thinking about the many, many hours I've spent leveling in the Barrens.

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