Outland

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Interactive map on the Official site

File:Outland.jpg

Nagrand over seen by a Mag'har

A map of the region of Draenor around the Dark Portal, before the Cataclysm

Another map of draenor.

Outland's moon

Outland (commonly mistakenly called "the Outlands" or "Outlands") is the name given to the shattered floating remnants of the red world Draenor, the homeworld of the orcs and refuge of the draenei, the current domain of Illidan Stormrage and his followers.

Several thousand years ago, the draenei, a faction of the eredar who opposed the Burning Legion and split from their brethren, found a tranquil planet in the void. Having at last outrun the bloodthirsty forces of the Burning Legion, the draenei settled the planet and named it "Exile's Refuge" in Eredun: "Draenor". The Orcs did not have a name for the place, other than "world"Template:Cite, but eventually adopted the Eredun term.

Draenor was a peaceful world dominated by vast plains and luscious swamps. Originally, there were many intelligent races, the most powerful of which were the orcs. The orcs lived in a quiet, shamanistic society, until power-hungry leaders, led and manipulated by Gul'dan, made a blood pact with Mannoroth, a general of the Burning Legion, turning the orcs into bloodthirsty barbarian conquerors. The warlock magics wielded by the orcs turned Draenor into a dusty wasteland. The orcs, under orders from Kil'jaeden, decimated the Draenei, enslaved the ogres, and gained dark dominion over Draenor. Before the Horde could destroy themselves in their bloodlust, Medivh and Gul'dan opened the Dark Portal, allowing the Horde (Old Horde) access to the world of Azeroth to start a new war and pave the way for the Burning Legion's second invasion of Kalimdor.

What few draenei survived attempted to load their dimensional ships and launched themselves again into the void in search of a new haven.

Eventually the Horde was beaten back, and Draenor became the focus of an attack, via the Dark Portal, of an Alliance expedition aiming to end the orcish threat to Azeroth once and for all. In the midst of the ensuing battle the Elder Shaman Ner'zhul attempted to allow the remaining orcs on Draenor to escape to other worlds by opening other dimensional portals; however the presence of so many portals tore the planet apart, leaving only torn fragments of the former world floating in the Nether, and the barely-hospitable remnants were renamed Outland. In the explosion most of the life on Draenor was wiped out although a number of orcs, ogres and some of the few remaining draenei survived. After the explosion, a Pit Lord named Magtheridon rallied the surviving orcs and took control of Outland. Using the remaining Dimensional Gates, he drew demons from the Twisting Nether to aid him.

The night elf demon Illidan Stormrage and many of the Naga and blood elves fled to Outland and succeeded in defeating Magtheridon and conquering the wasteland. After their defeat in Northrend at the hands of Prince Arthas/The Lich King they returned and established permanent settlements there.

Most draenei that remained in Outland have become horribly mutated, and bear only a passing resemblance to their former selves.

Since then, both the forces of the Light and the Shadow have realized Outland's usefulness. It can serve as a launching pad for the invasions of the Burning Legion, or as the staging ground to the forces who fight against the Legion. In response, both the naaru and the Legion have sent their agents to secure the world for their own purposes.

Now, the Alliance and the Horde must battle the forces of the maddened Illidan and the murderous followers of the Legion to safeguard Azeroth from Kil'jaeden's Burning Crusade.

Druids have magically replanted some locations on the central landmass of Outland that were formerly desolate, describing the areas as "Green Havens", such as Sylvanaar in Blade's Edge Mountains and Cenarion Thicket in Terokkar Forest. The main base of the Cenarion Circle's expedition is from Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh.

Native Draenor Creatures

Concept art - Outland orc dwellings

Outland from Warcraft III, the Frozen Throne

• Arakkoa
• Burrowers
• Colossi
• Draenei (Broken and Lost Ones are considered native, though the original type is not.)
• Draenor Giants
• Elekk
• Ethereals (not technically native, but present according to publicity materials.)
• Fel Boars
• Fel Reavers
• Fungal Giants
• Gronn
• Nether Dragons
• Nether Drakes
• Naaru (not technically native, but present according to publicity materials.)
• Fel Orcs
• Ogres
• Ogre Lords
• Ravagers
• Rock Flayers
• Shivans
• Sporelings
• Spore Walkers
• Spore Bats
• Warp Stalkers
• Wrathguards
• Netherwyrms (RPG)
• Fungal Horrors (RPG)
• Phase Spiders (RPG)
• Swamp Fisher (RPG)
• Swamp Tyrant (RPG)

Geography

Outland at the time of The Frozen Throne.

Before Draenor was torn apart by the portal rifts, it was a vast planet of continents and seas, much like Azeroth. It has a large moon called the Pale Lady by the orcs, and which can still be seen in the sky in [Hellfire], Netherstorm, and Blade's Edge. The moon is now a duller brown color compared to its luminous white hue when Outland was Draenor.

From older maps, several regions could be seen that have since been destroyed or renamed, including the following:

• Zeth'kur (WC2)
• Deathwing's Lair (WC2)
• Skeletal Coast (WC2)
• Fortress Shadowmoon (WC2)
• Devouring Sea (WC2)
• Mountains of Flame (WC3)
• Deadlands (WC3)
• Haven of the Damned (WC3)
• Outland Arena (TFT)

Maps

• Interactive Map of Outland
• Detailed Map of Outland

Zones

Outland currently consists of seven large zones that connect to each other but differ sharply in environment.

• Hellfire Peninsula (58-63)
• Zangarmarsh (60-64)
• Terokkar Forest (62-65)
• Nagrand (64-67)
• Blade's Edge Mountains (65-68)
• Netherstorm (67-70)
• Shadowmoon Valley (67-70)

Official Site Info

File:Official map of outland.jpg

Map of Outland

From Outland from the Burning Crusade section of the Official site: The scattered wastes of Outland are all that remain of Draenor, the once beautiful homeworld of the orcs. Following the Second War, the Alliance invaded Draenor by crossing through the Dark Portal. To their horror, they discovered that Ner'zhul - the dark warlord of Horde - had constructed a series of new gateways that could lead the beaten Horde to newer, unspoiled worlds. As the Alliance forces closed in around him, Ner'zhul opened his gateways as a means of escape. However, the gateways' clashing energies resulted in a catastrophic explosion that ultimately ripped the world of Draenor apart.

Nearly thirteen years later - towards the end of the Third War - the fallen night elf, Illidan, discovered that huge chunks of Draenor still existed - floating upon the astral winds of the Twisting Nether. After his defeat at the hands of the evil Prince Arthas, Illidan fled to the remnants of Draenor and dubbed them Outland. He quickly seized control of the chaotic region and sealed the last of Ner'zhul's cursed gateways.

Though he is the undisputed ruler of the ravaged land, Illidan lives in fear that he will be discovered by his powerful enemies - most notably Arthas, the new Lich King, and the remaining Lords of the Burning Legion. Currently, Outland is home to a number of scattered draenei tribes, primitive orcs and the powerful, arcane creatures of the Nether itself. Agents of the Burning Legion have also targeted the region as a vital strategic location in their unending Burning Crusade to scour all life from the universe.

Outland in the Expansion

Composite Map of Outland

Chris Metzen revealed in the Developer Panels that Illidan closed all the Dark Portals of Outland. Nevertheless, MagusRogue, a World of Warcraft RPG Game Designer from White-Wolf revealed the following:

"The portals were shut down by Illidan, actually. However, some of the quests in the Burning Crusade Expansion have you re-opening these and going to new dimensions, fighting the legion in new worlds. Should be awesome."

Tom Chilton: "[Outland is] going to comprise of several new outdoors zones. In a lot of ways, it'll be like crossing from Azeroth to Kalimdor. You'll go through the portal, get your load screen and there you are: Outland. You'll start off on what we call the Hellfire Peninsula. That's a level 58-63 zone. (Note: Hellfire Peninsula was previously marked as 54-60.) Everything in Outland just kind of goes from there. It'll flow like you'd expect from outdoor world zones in WoW, all the way through to the Level 70 content, dungeons, and so on.

The zones of Outland are bigger than the Eastern Plaguelands -- as will be all new zones in the expansion pack (minus the miniature starting areas for level 1-5 players).

Interactive Map Secret on Official Site

If you click the following areas on the Official Website Interactive Map, the OUTLAND words begin to glow and the elf figure in the upper left does a /dance

Click the areas in this order: Shadowmoon Valley, Blade's Edge Mountains, Nagrand, Netherstorm, Zangarmarsh, Hellfire Peninsula, Terokkar Forest.