WoW Forever lore for roleplayers

Who your character is, where they come from and what they would know in WoW Forever's Azeroth. Every page is built from the beta client's own texts and Blizzard's posts about Forever, written in our own words, with the short quotes marked and linked.

Start here

• When WoW Forever is set: When WoW Forever's story takes place, in Blizzard's own words: after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core, in Azeroth's Year 1. What has happened by then, what hasn't yet, and what we can only infer.
• Roleplaying in WoW Forever: Roleplaying in WoW Forever: the Roleplaying ruleset, two-part names for RP, which languages each race speaks (and the Skyborne's shared Darnassian), the emotes and commands you'll use, and what your character would know in Forever's Year 1.
• Factions and organisations: Lore for every faction in WoW Forever: who they are and what they want, from the client's own descriptions. Forever's new Kirin Tor, Earthen Ring, Guardians of Hyjal, Nightclaw Druids, The Watchers, High Order, Windshapers, Theramore Expeditionary Force and Darkspear Raiders, and the classic ones.
• Places of Forever's Azeroth: Lore for WoW Forever's places: the new Zephras Isle, Riverglades, Shen'dralas, Mount Hyjal, Darkspear Islands and City of Dalaran, Gilneas (Speculation), and a note on each capital, with links to the maps and dungeons.

Races

• Humans: Human lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: Stormwind under its child king, the survivors of Lordaeron, allies and enemies, Common, naming ideas, racials as flavour, the new Human Hunter and character ideas.
• Orcs: Orc lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: a people from Draenor freed from demonic corruption, Thrall's Horde and Orgrimmar, the clans, Orcish, naming ideas, racials as flavour, the new Orc Mage and character ideas.
• Dwarves: Dwarf lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: Ironforge under King Magni, the search for their titan origins, the Wildhammer and the Hall of Thanes, Dwarven, naming ideas, racials as flavour, the new Dwarf Shaman and character ideas.
• Night elves: Night elf lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: the kaldorei of Teldrassil, Tyrande and Elune, the Sentinels, druids and The Watchers, Mount Hyjal after Archimonde, Darnassian and the Skyborne cousins, names, racials and character ideas.
• The Forsaken: Forsaken lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: the undead who broke from the Lich King, Sylvanas and the Undercity, the Ruins of Lordaeron, Forever's new Forsaken paladins of Bandarion Keep, Gutterspeak, names, racials and character ideas.
• Tauren: Tauren lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: the shu'halo of Mulgore, the Earth Mother, Cairne Bloodhoof and Thunder Bluff, their debt to the orcs, the Earthen Ring and Cenarion Circle, Taurahe, names, racials and character ideas.
• Gnomes: Gnome lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: the exiles of fallen Gnomeregan living in Ironforge, their inventions and the trogg invasion, allies and enemies, Gnomish, names, racials, the new Gnome Priest and character ideas.
• Darkspear trolls: Troll lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: the Darkspear tribe, exiled from Stranglethorn and sworn to Thrall, Sen'jin and the Echo Isles, the new Darkspear Islands battleground, voodoo and the loa, languages, names, the new Troll Warlock and character ideas.
• The Skyborne: Skyborne lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: the shen'dorei of Zephras Isle, their Highborne ancestry, the High Order (Alliance) and Windshapers (Horde), Skywall and the missing wind spirits, their languages, names, racials and character ideas.

Classes

• Warriors: Warrior lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: soldiers, mercenaries and champions of every race, the armies and orders they serve in Forever's Year 1, where they train, their class quests and character ideas.
• Paladins: Paladin lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: holy warriors of the Light, from the human and dwarven orders to Forever's new Forsaken paladins of Bandarion Keep, their Redemption and Retribution, where they train, class quests and character ideas.
• Hunters: Hunter lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: trackers and beast masters of every race, their bond with their pets, Forever's new Human Hunter and the dwarven hunter of the cinematic, where they train, class quests and character ideas.
• Rogues: Rogue lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: thieves, spies and assassins of every race, SI:7, Ravenholdt, the Syndicate and the Defias, contracts and loyalties, where they train and character ideas.
• Priests: Priest lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: the Holy Light, Elune, the Forsaken's shadow and the trolls' loa, race-only priest spells and their class quests, Forever's new Gnome Priest, where they train and character ideas.
• Shaman: Shaman lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: speakers for the elements among orcs, trolls and tauren, Forever's new Dwarf Shaman and Windshaper Skyborne, the Earthen Ring, totem quests of earth, fire and water, where they train and character ideas.
• Mages: Mage lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: wielders of the arcane, the Kirin Tor and troubled Dalaran, Forever's new Orc Mage and the High Order Skyborne's search for lost arcane knowledge, where they train and character ideas.
• Warlocks: Warlock lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: demon summoners feared by every people, the Burning Blade and the orcs' past, Forever's new Troll Warlock, their demon-binding class quests, where they train and character ideas.
• Druids: Druid lore for roleplayers in WoW Forever: shapeshifters of the night elves and tauren, the Cenarion Circle and Moonglade, Forever's Guardians of Hyjal, Nightclaw Druids and Skyborne druid forms, their animal-spirit class quests and character ideas.

Places

• Zephras Isle: Zephras Isle lore for WoW Forever: the Skyborne's island in Skywall, held up by failing pylons after the wind spirits vanished, its villages and factions (High Order, Windshapers, Nightclaw Druids, Al'Aketh) and what it means for roleplayers.
• The Riverglades: Riverglades lore for WoW Forever: a new mid-level frontier of rivers and grasslands east of the Burning Steppes, Powderfuse Port and the Steamwheedle route, the Brotherhood of the Horse, the Bolder'ok ogres, gnolls and the Twilight's Hammer.
• Shen'dralas: Shen'dralas lore for WoW Forever: a long-hidden valley between Desolace, Feralas and Mulgore, reached through the Valley of Bones, tied to the Shen'dralar, Eldre'Thalas, Dire Maul and the centaur tribes. What the client's map shows and what's still a mystery.
• Mount Hyjal: Mount Hyjal lore for WoW Forever: the World Tree's mountain after the Battle of Mount Hyjal, opened to players for the first time, with the Guardians of Hyjal, the Barkskin furbolgs, Darkwhisper Gorge and the Hyjal Summit raid.
• The Darkspear Islands: Darkspear Islands lore for WoW Forever: the new 15 vs 15 battleground off Kalimdor where the Darkspear Raiders fight the Theramore Expeditionary Force for the trolls' ancestral islands, and its Call to Arms week.
• Dalaran: Dalaran lore for WoW Forever: the mages' city on the ground in the Alterac Mountains, the Kirin Tor as an Alliance faction, and the new City of Dalaran dungeon with its strange magical trouble, from the client and Blizzard's posts.
• Gilneas: Gilneas in WoW Forever: the walled human kingdom south of Silverpine Forest, what the Forever client already contains (Ruins of Gilneas, Gilneas City and a Battle for Gilneas map) and why everything about its future is Speculation.

How to read these pages

Forever is set in its own version of original Azeroth, so a roleplayer needs to know two things: what the game itself says, and what Warcraft's wider history adds. We keep them apart. Every page uses the same labels:

• Client quotes come from the WoW Forever beta client's own text: the character-creation descriptions of each race and class, the faction descriptions on the reputation screen, holiday descriptions, zone and area names, titles and languages.
• Blizzard quotes come from Blizzard's own posts about Forever (the BlizzCon panel recaps, the Skyborne and naming articles and the beta notes), each linked to the post on our blue tracker.
• Warcraft background is well-known history from the earlier games that neither the client nor Blizzard's Forever posts spell out. We keep it short and factual.
• In WoW Forever marks what Forever adds or changes: new races and class combinations, new factions, places and stories.
• Speculation marks anything unannounced or unreleased, such as Gilneas, with the reason we think it.

Nothing here is copied from a wiki. When the client or Blizzard is quoted, it's a short passage in a quote box with its source. Everything else is ours.

Start with the basics

New to roleplaying in Forever? Read when Forever is set first: it decides what your character can know. Then pick a race and a class, and see the RP guide for the Roleplaying ruleset, two-part names, languages and the emotes you'll use every evening.