Werdna’s Lore Corner: The Old Gods and the Curse of Flesh
July 1st, 2010 at 18:41My plans for now is a do a weekly lore post, talking about the lore of character, race, or event. For my first post I decided to go with talking about the Old Gods. I love the lore behind the Old Gods mostly because we know so little about them, so it is very interesting to me to try and find out as much as I can about them.
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The Old Gods
The Old Gods are mysterious, godlike entities that once ruled over the world of Azeroth. These evil entities are foreign to the planet, coming from the far depths of the Great Dark Beyond. Some sources claim the Old Gods predates the arrival of the Titans on Azeroth, while others claim the Old Gods predate the arrival of the Titans
Parasitic in nature, the Old Gods began to feed on the world of Azeroth, enslaving the Elementals and other forms of primitive life on the world. It wasn’t long before they came in conflict with the Titans, who embodied order in opposition to the Old Gods’ embodiment of chaos. After a long and violent conflict, the Old Gods were struck down and imprisoned beneath the world. It is not known why the Old Gods were imprisoned instead of killed outright. Perhaps they proved too powerful for the Titans to kill, or it is possible that there is a even darker reason for their imprisonment.
While imprisoned, the Old Gods retained the ability to influence and corrupt life on the world. Above all goals the Old Gods wish to be free, and have set all of their schemes to further their release. Using their ability to corrupt and influence almost any life-form, the Old Gods began to set in motion events that would help bring about their freedom. Of the events influenced by the Old Gods the most shocking is the possibility that the Old Gods orchestrated the initial corruption of the Highborn Night Elves, setting in motion the Burning Legion’s first invasion of Azeroth.
Of the Old Gods, the number imprisoned is unknown, though most sources point to Five. Of the Old Gods entombed by the Titans only two are known by name. C’thun, the Old God of madness was imprisoned in the Southwestern corner of Kalimdor. He influenced the evolution of the insectiod race known the Qiraji to be his servants. Yogg-saron, the Old God of Death, was imprisoned in the northern reaches of the world; and has begun to corrupt the Titan creations in the city of Ulduar.
Of the locations of the other Old Gods, there to go on but speculation. A few of the more notable theories that I think may be credible are as follows.
- In Dark Shore there is the Masters Glave, which contains a petrified body of a “Old God’. Whether this is the body of a slain Old God, or one of it’s servants is yet to be seen.
- The High Elves originally settled in the area known as the Tirisfal Glades after their exile, but soon left due when many started going insane due to whisperings. Many theorized that a “Dark Evil” lived under that land
Curse of Flesh
After the defeat of the Old Gods; the Titans set about creating sentient life on Azeroth. Their first experiment was the Earthen; which at first seemed to be successful. The Titans continued to create other forms of artificial life, such as the Giants, the predecessors to the Vrykul, and the Mecha-Gnomes. After awhile the Titans began to notice a corruption of their first form of life, the Earthen. Many earthen had began to degrade and transform into Troggs. After experimentation the Titans discovered this corruption, dubbed “The Curse of Flesh”, stemmed from the imprisoned Old Gods.
The Titans put the Troggs into stasis and entombed them under Uldaman and began work on a second wave of Earthen that would be resistant to the “Curse of Flesh”. While these new Earthen were more resistant to the Curse, eventually they would succumb to it, but unlike the original Earthen, would retain much of their original forum. The Titans considered this to be a adequate solution, with these new forms (Which later became known as Dwarves) a worthy genesis of their own right.
Over time the other Titan creations slowly began to be effected by the Curse of Flesh. The Mecha-Gnomes became the Gnomes seen today, and the Vrykul at first became creatures of flesh. Centuries later the Vrykul once again became effected by the Curse of Flesh. Many of their children were born much smaller and weaker. The leader of the Vrykul, King Ymiron, ordered these “malformed” children to be killed. Many Vrykul parents disobeyed the order and instead hid their children until they could survive on their own. Eventually these effected Vrykul became their own separate race, and became known as Humans.
-Werdna
Tags: Old Gods
