Naga

A Naga Warrior

History

10,000 years ago, during the reign of Night Elf Queen Azshara, there was an elite magic-using sect known as the Highborne, who dabbled in magics that many other elves considered heretical by drawing upon the power of the Well of Eternity. When the Well of Eternity imploded, sundering the world many Highborne were trapped in the blast, however as their bodies were so infused with magic they did not die but were twisted by the powers they had released. Influenced through the limited though still quite powerful will of the Old Gods, Azshara and her followers were dragged down beneath the raging sea, cursed – transformed – they took on new shapes and became the hateful, serpentine Naga.

Naga only marginally resemble the noble race they once were. Their proud Kaldorei visages are warped and twisted. The naga are part night elf, part serpent, and some have evolved weird oceanic mutations. In this way, the race has developed an array of genetic variations and defenses, such as ink jets, tentacles, razor fins, venomous fangs, hardened barnacle carapaces and spined fists.

Naga serve their dark empress Azshara without question. Naga society is matriarchal, and the sexes have diverged radically, both mentally and physically, in the millennia of their estrangement. Women are dominant and often train as spellcasters, while men form the brute labor force and serve their women as physical warriors.

Naga are avaricious and sadistic, and their millennia of aquatic banishment has only intensified their evil, power-hungry nature.

When the Naga awakened, they set about building a new life for themselves on the ocean depths, within the abyssal sea trench beneath the swirling waters of the Maelstrom they built their new city, Nazjatar. Azshara herself expanded with hate and rage, becoming a massive monstrosity, reflecting the wickedness and malice that had always hidden within her core.

There in the depths of the ocean for ten thousand years the Naga plotted their revenge against the Night Elves. Most Naga are still content to wait. However, a small group lead by the Naga Sea Witch, Lady Vashj, answered a summons from Illidan Stormrage to aid him in his quest to destroy the Frozen Throne. They made new allies in the form of their Highborne kin the Blood Elves as well as enemies of the Night Elves and the Alliance, they aided him in the recovering of the Eye of Sargeras, and fought with the Blood Elves to take Outland as well as at the Icecrown Glacier against the Scourge. After suffering defeat at the hands of Arthas this group retreated back to Outland with Illidan. More recently Naga have begun to reappear around the coasts of the world, creating settlements of the land most noticeably in the ruins of their old cities in Azshara. They are also no links relating them to 'Fire Naga' And the name is just used by Wowwikiw because they have not yet been given a race name in wow. Fire Naga are most proberly a summoned fire elemental creature or the Naga version of the Dark Iron Dwarves.

See also:

• The Origin of the races
• Naga Clans category

Culture

A female and a male Naga

Males and Females

Naga males and females have different features; in their transformation, males lost some of their intelligence but increased in size and strength. Their faces now appear almost draconic with little resemblence to their Elven heritage. Females kept more of their Elven features and their intelligence. Naga female faces are fair, even beautiful. However, this is offset by the multiple arms that many have, and the heads full of snakes that some have.

Naga society is female dominated; they are considered the intellectual superiors and possess the greater magical power. Males can rise to prominence and even lead communities, but there is a limit to what they can achieve.

Naga Relations

The Naga have very few allies on the land. The ones who left with Illidan consider the Blood Elves their allies and kin, but most Alliance races have formed their opinions of the Naga based on Night Elf views and therefore will find few friends there. The Horde are dismissed as weakling savages, practitioners of Divine Magic, and the Naga will have no part with them.

The Naga have managed to enslave many Mur'gul. This aquatic race fears the Naga's magical abilities.

The Naga's main rival for dominance of the ocean are Sea Giants; these creatures hate Naga and slay them whenever the giants encounter them.

Related Species

In the depths of Blackrock Mountain, there exists a very Naga-like race of creatures. They have a similar serpentine form, though they are adapted to living amongst the heat and flame of their home, rather than the watery places the Naga inhabit.

These beings are not related to the naga, rather they are either elementals, or they are dark iron dwarves who have been altered in a manner similar to that of the highborn who became the naga.

Combat

File:Naga2.jpg

A Naga Siren

The Naga have an army composed of various races. Mur'gul slaves are used as staging troops and cannon fodder, with artillery support from mighty Dragon Turtles.

Naga males serve as shock troops... They deploy as infantry in close formations wielding scimitars, tridents and nets while females stand back hurling spells at the enemy. Males may have command over small numbers of troops but females will always be in overall command of any Naga force.

Units

These Naga units appear in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

• Myrmidon
• Siren
• Snap Dragon
• Mur'gul Slave
• Mur'gul Reaver
• Couatl

Noteable Nagas

• Queen Azshara
• Lady Vashj
• Lady Serpentra
• Serena Scarscale
• Lady Sarevess
• Lord Shalzaru
• Warlord Krellian

Inspiration

The Naga, particularly the females, come right out of Hindu mythology, here on Earth. The legends reference Naga living high atop mountains and deep in caverns, but the majority of them live... in underwater cities, where races of enslaved fish-people serve the Naga, whose prowess in sorcery is surpassed only by the gods themselves. The Naga and their females, the Nagini, took many forms: human-headed serpents, multi-headed serpents, humans with the heads of serpents, and of course, a serpent with the head and torso of a human.