Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, the column that answers your questions about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. Click the Comments link below, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment! Travis asks...
What can you tell me about the other portals around Outlands (the only one that springs to mind right now is the one in Zangarmarsh)? They look just like the one you get to Outlands through, but are just standing there doing nothing.
Answer: Those portals were once used by the Burning Legion and their lackies to travel between Outland and various other worlds. Those portals were also used to send Legion reinforcements to Outland. Before Illidan and his posse usurped Magtheridon, they went around shutting down these portals to prevent Magtheridon from being reinforced. Further, they've been kept closed so Kil'jaeden can't come stomping back into Outland to punish Illidan for not being able to kill the Lich King.
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, WoW Insider's newest weekly feature column. Have a question about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe? Click the Comments link below, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!
Thanks to the overwhelming popularity of Ask a Lore Nerd's first installment, we are now a weekly feature! I hope you enjoy it, because it's here to stay. This week we're fielding a large number of questions from a few contributors. A number of you have taken full advantage of this opportunity and posted an avalanche of questions. Good! That's what I like to see! Let's jump right into it, shall we?
Matt said: Not a lore question, but lore speculation. Blizzard hinted at a major event would cause the uneasy-peace of Horde and Alliance become not on uneasy. What could cause tensions to rise? Also in the real world alliances crumble, and are reformed. What races of the Horde and Alliance do you see possibly switching sides?
Answer: From what I understand, Garrosh Hellscream will be following in his father's footsteps and the good ol' Orcish bloodlust will color his actions in Northrend. Additionally, I'd be willing to bet the Alliance is mighty nervous about the Forsaken's new plagues, considering they had been thoroughly tested on Alliance citizens in the past. The Lich King may also play a substantial role in the rising tensions, playing the two factions off of one another. As far as switching sides, I don't see it happening. If anything, factions would splinter further but not switch sides. The Forsaken and Blood Elves might go off on their own. The Night Elves might go off on their own. Pretty unlikely in both cases.
It's a relatively painless Tuesday Morning this time around for those who play in what are the early morning hours at Blizzard HQ. This time, most US servers will just recieve a quick rolling restart at 5 AM PDT, about half an hour from now, which should result in no more than 15 minutes of downtime. However, there are some servers that will get 2 hours of downtime: Agamaggan, Azshara, Baelgun, Dark Iron, Detheroc, Emerald Dream, Greymane, Kalecgos, Lightninghoof, Maelstrom, Malfurion, Moonrunner, Nazjatar, Sargeras, Staghelm, Twisting Nether, Ursin, and Wildhammer.
Also, here's something that should please a lot of Australian players: Their realms won't get the rolling restarts until 5AM AEST -- which translates to noon PDT. That should translate to lots of time for night owls to finish their raids before the restarts kick them off.
So in that 15 minutes to 2 hours of down time you'll have to go through, or if you're stuck at school or work, here's a few WoW Insider articles from the last week that are worth checking out. First, last week's major news and views:
The WoTLK Friends and Family Alpha is underway, and we have the leaked patch notes.
Death and Taxes, the premiere US WoW raiding guild, disbanded. That set a few of us to pontificating on the problems of raid guild drama here and here.
The upcoming patch, patch 2.4, now known as The Fury of the Sunwell, revolves around... well, the Sunwell! I guess there's something in there about a huge demon by the name of Kil'jaeden, but I'm sure he's not important. Like my previous installments of Know Your Lore, I'll give a little bit of background information on our subject, so you understand the foundation of it. This bit isn't quite as exciting as my last installment or two, but this took a lot more research, and a lot more piecing together half-told bits of story from multiple authors. It's a bit like playing Connect the Dots, but instead of getting a flower or a sailboat, I get Richard Knaak flipping me off. Sorry it's so dry, but on with the show!
A little over 10,000 years ago, the Night Elves lived under the rule of Queen Azshara and the upper class of society, the Highborne. Their culture was rich in magic and the arcane, very different from the down to earth, nature-centric society of the Night Elves today. Queen Azshara and her Highborne were extremely hedonistic, using the nearby Well of Eternity for personal power and gain. At some point during all of this, Azshara heard a dark whisper, promising power beyond her imagination.
Does this sound familiar? Yes, Sargeras was up to his old tricks again. Like he lured Kil'jaeden and Archimonde to the Legion's cause, he did the same with Queen Azshara. Whereas Kil'jaeden and Archimonde seemed to have needed a little trickery from the Destroyer, Azshara was far more welcoming. She was pretty okay with hanging out with demons, and rather enjoyed the whole fire and brimstone thing.
Dramatized has a simple but intriguing question on the forums: "Is Azeroth flat or round?" It's got to be round, right? You can prove that the world is round a number of different ways, but do they actually work? I don't ever remember seeing ships disappearing beyond the horizon (in fact, Tydeus confirms that ships don't drop below the horizon, so either Azeroth is flat or just really, really big), and in most places on Azeroth, the horizon is actually a mountain range. And I've never seen an eclipse on Azeroth, so we have no idea what shape the world really is. The ingame map between Azeroth and Outland hints that it may be a globe, but really it's just the map overlaid into a circle -- no hints there.
Neth hints in the thread that maybe even the Explorers' League doesn't really know if the world is round or not. But whether it's round or flat, it's a pretty good guess that there's a lot to this world we haven't yet seen -- if it is flat, neither the Horde or Alliance have reached the edge yet, and if it's round, you'd wonder why someone hasn't sailed from Darnassus across to Azshara (and if Northrend is what's north of the two main continents, what's south?). Remember this the next time someone asks just what else Blizzard can visit in future expansions -- there's a whole world out there we haven't been able to see yet.
Reader Spirittamer, at level 63, has been attempting to do all of the old-world Azeroth quests -- an ambitious goal! (After all, quests get lonely too, don't they?) He was sent to Azshara in order to aid a fallen hero of the Horde and discovered this lovely sunny picnic spot. Spirittamer tells us, "Of course, you have to convince the previous occupants to let you use the gazebo..."
Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!
We've had some moves recently for Oceanic and European realms, but these are the first North American free character transfers I've seen in a while. As of noon PST today, and until 12:01 PM PST a week from today, December 28th, players can make the following transfers free of charge:
From: Arthas, Illidan, Mal'Ganis, Warsong
To: Azshara
As always, players are urged to make the transfer as soon as possible if they intend to, since the transfers do sometimes close early if desired population levels are reached. Drysc promises that the realms they choose for transfers are based on exact population statistics, which seems to imply that, out of the North American reals, the source realms are the most overpopulated and Azshara is the most underpopulated. Those of you on these realms, does that ring true? Do you plan on taking advantage of the transfers? Azshara folks, do you welcome the newcomers?
Intrepid reader Mike submits this shot for our perusal. If you travel along the river that runs between Ashenvale and Azshara, you will encounter this lonely boat (of Night Elf design, unless I miss my guess). What is it doing here and where might its owners have gone to? The sight of the little boat raises a number of questions that we may never find answers to! (Though am I the only one who looks at it and thinks Lord of the Rings?)
Do you have a screenshot that captures an Azerothian mystery? We'd like to puzzle over it here on Around Azeroth! All you have to do is e-mail aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your screenshot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could find your pictures and story featured next!
Queen Azshara might be one of the best-hidden characters in WoW lore. Her time of action came long before Warcraft I, she's never been seen in any of the games, and the only reference to her lies in the nearly abandoned wasteland that used to be her palace -- Azshara.
But she's still out there, and one of these days Blizzard's going to run out of ideas and make that underwater instance that everyone but warlocks is dreading, and we'll have to fight her. And her tentacles. So on that future day, between the endless chain pulls of level 92 elite murlocs, you can read this and know who you're getting ready to wipe to.
And by the way, the censored picture is from an official Warcraft RPG manual. Apparently octupi don't like wearing tops, even while posing for portraits. The pic links to the uncensored image.
Who: Queen Azshara of the Kal'dorei, Empress of Nazjatar, the Light of Lights, Vision of Perfection, Glory of Our People, Daughter of the Moon, Flower of Life ... and it goes on like this. As you might have guessed, Azshara was not lacking in the ego department.
What: Formerly a night elf, now a naga-like thing.
History: Thousands and thousands of years before Medivh opened the Dark Portal and let in hundreds of arguments about whether the Horde is really evil, the most advanced civilization on Azeroth was that of the Kal'dorei, or night elves. They were split into two social classes: the common Kal'dorei, and the elite, magic-using Highborne, or Quel'dorei. The Kal'dorei were deeply jealous of the Quel'dorei, envying their social status and magical powers. But the one uniting factor between the Kal'dorei and Quel'dorei was their love of their queen, Azshara.
If you have been keeping up with the latest patch news (and who hasn't?), then I'm sure you've noticed that despite some grievances, everyone has something that they are greatly anticipating. If you happen to be a fan of pets of the non-combat variety, then 2.3 is turning out to be the patch for you!
Hot on the heels of the latest seasonal pets, the elusive Wolpertinger and the Sinister Squashling, those who obtain exalted status with Sporeggar will be able to purchase the Tiny Spore Bat for the reasonable fee of 30 glowcaps. While Elizabeth did mention the little tike briefly in a recent update on the patch notes, I wanted to give him his own spotlight. As if these two weren't enough, there's also Mojo, the adorable blue frog who is not afraid to show you some love.
If you collected the Tiny Crimson Whelpling, Dark Whelpling, and Tiny Emerald Whelpling, then you'll love the new Azure Whelpling! Based on the original whelpling models, this new pet has a bluer outlook on life. If you want to snag one for yourself, you'll have to hit up Azshara after the patch drops. Park yourself in amongst a group of level 51+ elite Blue Dragonspawns, and prepare to farm for the long haul, as there is no current data regarding this little guy's drop rate.
Whether you enjoy non-combat pets or not, one thing is for sure; Breanni is absolutely right. Azshara might actually get busy! In much the same way that Mr. Pinchy has helped to revitalize fishing, maybe this whelpling will add a little pizazz to the zone - or at least kick its tourism scene up a notch.
Will you be spotted in Azshara post-patch farming 'til you drop? If so, will he be your new pal, another notch in your belt, or a nice addition to your AH-for-mount fund?
Alex sends us this lovely shot taken in the zone of Azshara, showing off the purple twilight sky and red trees. Of course the zone in general looks quite pleasant in a shot like this, which shows off the zone's scenery without highlighting the many naga, furbolg, demons, and dragonkin that roam freely throughout the area.
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth.
So you leveled your main into the late 50s and are ready to jump into the time-sucking goodness that is the Outlands. But before you head in, you want to experience any good pre-BC quest chains you may have missed. One player on the official forums is in this exact situation and wants to know: what quest chain should she do that has good XP and an interesting storyline before heading into the Burning Crusade content?
Many players have chimed in so far with their fondly remembered misadventures. Tirion Fordring's Redemption chain out of the Eastern Plaguelands gets many recommendations. As does the Marauders of Darrowshire chain in which you have to find a little girl ghost's missing dolly and along the way relive a critical moment in the history of the lands.
There are many places that lie empty within Azeroth, those interesting nooks and crannies that get our imaginations going.While exploring Stormwind I came across Cut-throat Alley, a little cul-de-sac hidden away in the Canal District.This is exactly the sort of place that makes me curious.I can see in my mind's eye a thoroughfare bustling with shady dealers and rogues, tucked away and out of site from the rest of the city, their dealings too dark to go on under the public eye.One of my favorite empty spaces is now filled:I used to camp all my characters out in what is now the Stormwind Auction House, since I enjoyed pretending it was my own private home within the city.
Or the courthouse in the Dwarven District.Here the great magistrates of Stormwind might have sat, dealing out justice to those who break the realm's laws. There are all sorts of stories that we can build out of these empty spaces. I once found an empty cave in Azshara without mob or mining node, the sort of place you might expect a hermit to hang out in, or a mountain troll, hungering for the flesh of wayward travelers.
Perhaps these are the places that originally had content but somehow it changed over the course of the development cycle.In the case of Cut-throat Alley, it looks to me like it was the original home for the rogues of Stormwind, but somehow seemed too difficult to find.Now, being that I play mostly Alliance characters, I don't know the empty spaces that might be found in Orgrimmar or Undercity.But these places get me wondering.
Are there any empty spaces in the game that you wonder about?
Raven sent in this shot of the Ruins of Eldarath in Azshara. If WoWWiki is to be trusted, very little is known of this ancient city, the remaining ruins of which are inhabited by Naga. Oddly enough, the Naga do not seem terribly fond of visitors...
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.
If you have been keeping up with the 
So you leveled your main into the late 50s and are ready to jump into the time-sucking goodness that is the Outlands. But before you head in, you want to experience any good pre-BC quest chains you may have missed. One player on the official forums is in this exact situation and wants to know: 
There are many places that lie empty within Azeroth, those interesting nooks and crannies that get our imaginations going.
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