Loremaster Innervate - World of Warcraft - Zone Lore: Eversong Woods

Welcome to the first article for Loremaster Innervate. This will be a weekly article where we go over the lore that we learn as we trek our way through Azeroth and beyond. For the Horde side of leveling, we will be following the adventures of Mishta, a Blood Elf Monk. And we begin our story in Eversong Woods as a new recruit eager to help rebuild the race.

Why are the Blood Elves in Eversong Woods? Why is half of their city destroyed? What is their story? Unfortunately, none of this is actually explained in the starting area as the blood elves expect you to know your people's history. So you have to go outside of the game for some background information. Essentially, Blood Elves used to be High Elves that were known as a race with great magical ability. Their source of power comes from the Sunwell which was created from a vial of water from the Well of Eternity. Arthas the Lich King amassed an army of Scourge and marched on Silvermoon so he could use the power of the Sunwell to resurrect Kel'thazad (the final boss in Naxxaramus) which tainted the Sunwell. During this attack, over 90% of the elven population in Quel'thalas was destroyed by the Scourge and those who survived became addicted to mana without the Sunwell. They changed their name to Blood Elves as a reminder of their fallen.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment Concept Art

There isn't a lot of additional information on the Eversong Woods area itself. It has always been the home of High Elves and where their Sunwell originally sat before it was corrupted and destroyed. An interesting fact however is that the region itself is meant to be snowy but the Blood Elves use their magic to leave it in a perpetual season of Autumn. If the Blood Elves ever left it is assumed that it would return to a winter climate. Also, in Tor'Watha there used to be a wooden gateway similar to Zul'Aman that was speculated to have either been the original entrance to the raid or another instance that was never released. It was later removed in Patch 4.0.3 and replaced by mountains.

The questing itself unfortunately is rather dull as the zone was not remade during the overhaul to the 1-60 questing experience in the pre-launch event for Cataclysm. There isn't a very distinguishable story to follow but there are some lore tid-bits that we can learn.

Blood elves, as stated above, are addicted to mana crystals due to their constant use of it. They constantly suffer from withdrawal symptoms since the destruction of the Sunwell. Blood elves that do not learn to curb their addiction and give in are turned into Wretched. Wretched are deformed creatures who only care about getting their next mana fix. They will steal and murder their own for the chance of them having a mana crystal on them. Once you have succumb to your addiction there to no turning back and your only hope is death. Wretched are a huge threat to most as they have no remorse for their actions and will kill any passing Blood Elf.

The first quests in the zone, as in most zones, are kill quests. You are ordered to kill Mana Wyrms and Springpaw Lynx because Blood Elves used the Sunwell magic to control them so everything in Quel'thalas lived in harmony with one another. Once the Sunwell was destroyed they could no longer control the animals and mana creatures throughout the land who then turned on them. This made their training grounds extremely dangerous.

We soon see our first look into faction differences and Blood Elf players are taught early to hate the Alliance. The only Alliance we see are either masked Darnassian spies who hold battle plans to the defenses of the outlying villages of Eversong and Prospector Anvilward who turns out to be a spy who sabotaged the Western Sanctums power conduits. Although you are a brand new recruit to the Horde, they ask you to assassinate the Prospector as it is to dangerous to keep him captive. We also see distinction between troll tribes with the Amani and the Darkspear. Although very minimal, we meet a dying Darkspear troll that explains that he is good and we help avenge his death.

Source: http://www.fanpop.com/fans/Chipettes33

The last creatures that we come across before we leave the area are woodland Treants, sentient trees who live throughout Quel'thalas. Treants in Eversong have been long time allies of the Blood Elves and most of the structures in Eversong Woods were either built by or repaired by Treants. However, the Treants were attempting to heal the burned down woods that border Ghostlands which forced the Blood Elves to begin killing them. This little bit of information intrigued me, although Blood Elves are more in tune with Arcane Magic than Nature based magic, it could be assumed that with the help of Tauren Druids and the Treants in Eversong, could it be possible for a faction of Blood Elves to become Druids? In the Warcraft II manual, it is explained that the Runestone on Caer Darrow in the Western Plaguelands was placed by "Elven Druids" but they were never mentioned again. In the Botanica 5-man instance, High Botanist Freywinn is a blood elf seen wearing Cenarion Vestments (Tier 1 Druid gear) and even transforms into a tree. Many of the other NPCs in the Botanica cast Restoration Druid spells but are not specifically called Druids.

The last, and possibly biggest piece of lore, comes from the Dead Scar and the Scorched Wood. The Dead Scar is a straight line that cuts Eversong Woods and Ghostlands almost evenly in half. This occurred when the Lich King marched on Silvermoon and the Scourge corrupted the land as it marched. After most of the Scourge army left, the corruption of their taint began to spread and the elves were forced to burn the land and the surrounding forest to stop the spread of the corruption. Unfortunately, the mark left behind by the Scourge cannot be reversed and any attempts to heal the land will simply cause the taint to continue spreading. The corruption also draws more stray Scourge to the area so the blood elves must always be on constant guard.

Overall, the zone felt as though there was very little accomplishment that occurred by the player as, again, the story line is behind on the current game lore and the story telling was not as well done. Most of the information had to be found outside of the game. Next week however, we will be covering Ghostlands which is personally one of my favorite areas. Join me next time as we explain the rise, fall and fall again of Dar'khan Drathir!