An Examination and Extrapolation on the Nature of Sentience andtheTitans

An Examination and Extrapolation on the Nature of Sentience and the Titans - Aenthera Sunward, Paladin of Silvermoon, Third Year of the Fourth Dark Portal Invasion

~~~

It is, at this point, well known amongst scholars that the Titans laid a heavy hand on Azeroth in its infancy.  The discoveries of Brann Bronzebeard at Ulduar, Uldum, and Uldaman gave tremendous insight into the ways in which the Titans formed a number of the races of Azeroth.

We also know, from firsthand account, that the Dragon Aspects were given their charge by the Titans.  Similarly, Pandaren vision and myth give insight into further development of sentient races.  The Old Gods, perhaps in mockery of the Titans, created yet more sentient races to add to the diversity of Azeroth.  And finally, but not least importantly, the Dark Portal has allowed at least four more sentient races access to Azeroth, which has greatly impacted the progress of our world.

It is perhaps best to examine first those races which we know were not originally native to Azeroth.  We know that the Titans brought with them a series of servitor races, each suited to a task within the Titans' efforts to bring order to the worlds they touch.  These are the Watchers (such as Algalon, Thorim, Freya and others), Mechagnomes, Earthen, Vrykul (presumably in their iron forms), Giants, Mogu, and Tol'vir.

Each of these races, save perhaps the Watchers, was struck with the Curse of Flesh and transformed.  The Mechagnomes became Gomes (and perhaps one other race I shall conjecture on in a moment).  The Earthen became first the Troggs, and then after attempted repairs by the Titans, Dwarves.   The Iron Vrykul became the Vrykul of flesh, who begat the first Humans.  Similarly, the Giants of iron became the several races of Giant scattered across Azeroth.  The Mogu and Tol'vir stand apart, it seems, as the Curse has not laid as heavily upon them, causing only one apparent transformation in their line.

The Mogu are of special note because they appear to be responsible for the creation of at least one other sentient race, if not more.  It is unquestionable that the Mogu created the Saurok, who are primitive but clearly intelligent.  It may stand to reason that the Mogu created, or at least influenced the creation, of the other sentient races of Pandaria, including the Virmen, Jinyu, Hozen, and Pandaren.  The Yangol, by all accounts, arrived in Pandaren regions after the Mogu Empire's dissolution and, like the Taunka of Northrend, seem more apt to be a variation of Tauren than a new race altogether.

I also posit that Goblins are among the Children of the Titans.  It is my belief that most, if not all, of the races struck by the Curse of Flesh had multiple manifestations of that affliction.  In particular, there seems to be a pattern of a first, chaotic (more Old God influenced) manifestation of the Curse such as the Troggs, corrected by the Titans (as is recorded at Uldaman), and then a second, more orderly manifestation as in the case of Dwarves.  It is possible that the Mogu and Tol'vir, militaristic as they are, purged their first generation struck by the Curse.  Not so the Mechagnomes, who very likely would have been unable to resist the chance to study the transformation.  In this way, I believe, Goblins were examined and then locked away in an attempt to understand the work of the Old Gods upon the Children of the Titans, thus being from the same progenitor race as the Gnomes but in a more chaotic or Old God-touched form.

Next are the children of the Old Gods.  The most well-known of these are perhaps the Nerubians, who played a pivotal role in the rise of the Lich King and the campaigns in Northrend.  Their cousins the Qiraji and Mantid reside in Southern Kalimdor and Eastern Pandaria, respectively.  In each of these locations, it appears the Titans placed defenders.  The Nerubians were opposed by the Vrykul.  The Qiraji were warded by the Tol'vir.  And the Mantid faced the Mogu.  Over time, however, these defenses were scattered to other pursuits.  A fourth race of the Old Gods' creation are the Faceless Ones, who may be a corruption of either Vrykul or Giant, much as Naga are a corruption of Elves.

Then come the races of the Dark Portal.  Orcs are clearly chief among these, well known for their origins.  Similarly, Draenai are heavily associated with the Orcish world through the portal, lending it their name as Draenor.  Two other sentient races now relatively well known in Azeroth hail from Draenor: the Ogres and the Arakkoa.  But there are other, lesser known sentient races on Draenor, now Outland.  The Sporelocs of Zangarmarsh.  The Orge progenitors, the Gronn.  The mysterious Saberon, thought lost to the cataclysmic events of Draenor's second severing from Azeroth. And the Ethereals, from another world altogether, but now heavily settled in Outland.  A final race should be noted here: the Undead.  As a race, they did not exist on Azeroth before the opening of the Dark Portal.  It was only through the magics of Gul'dan and Ner'zhul, and later the Lich King, that their race was formed.  The Naruu, on the other hand, must be excluded as they appear to be more deities than sentient mortal race.

This brings us to a series of sentient races which bare no clear mark of a foreign hand.  They are the Trolls, Elves, Tauren, Quillboar, Raptors, Furbolgs, Wolvar, Tuskarr, Dragons (and their kin the Gryphons, Hippogryphs, and Wyverns), and Murlocs.  Centaurs are excluded here as they appear to be the children of a Demigod and an Elemental Lady.  There is reason to suspect, distasteful as it is, that Trolls may be the progenitors, through interaction with the well of eternity, of Elves.  This would likely imply that Trolls arose independently of Titan influence and that Elves may have been a Titan-influenced offshoot of that race.  Tauren, though represented in some Titan artifacts, also appear to be a natural evolution of Azeroth given the lack of an obvious progenitor race.  As prior stated, we know this is the case for dragons and their kin, as the Aspects have stated a memory of a time before their empowerment by the Titans.  Quillboar, Furbolgs, Wolvar, Tuskarr, and Raptors appear to be more recent evolutions, sentient but not terribly advanced.  It is possible that all of these races may have been exposed to waters like those at the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (or Well of Eternity and Sunwell in the case of Trolls and Elves), with those less advanced having been most recently exposed, though records show some indication that Furbolgs and Quillboar may have been active as far back as the Sundering.

Murlocs have been held slightly apart here as they are a curious case.  Moreso than any other race, Murlocs seem adapted to every nook and cranny of Azeroth.  From the Murlocs well known on the coast of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, to the Oracles and Gorlocs of Sholazar, to the deep sea Murlocs of Vash'ir, to the Mur'gul servants of the Naga, and even the Jinyu, should stories be believed.  What is more, the Murlocs, through their various subraces, show meddling by the Titans in the Oracles, the Old Gods in the Mur'gul, the necromantic in the Murghoul, magical waters (like Trolls and Elves) in the Jinyu, and a series of natural adaptations in the other tribes and subraces.  This makes it nearly impossible to be certain of their intelligence level (though many hints point at it potentially rivaling the most civilized races on Azeroth) or their precise origins.

This document, it should be noted, excludes elementals (as they are from another plane) and gods/demigods (as we cannot be sure how to classify their development).  Similarly, beings purely of the Emerald Dream, such as Faerie Dragons and Grell, as they cannot have been subjected to direct influences of terrestrial Azeroth.  Demons are also excluded, as they are not directly relevant to the planet's evolution as guided by the Titans, despite Satyr's clear links to Elves and the corrupted versions of Orcs and Draenai.

It should also be acknowledged that the Titans may have had influence over the development of both Draenor and Argus, but the loss of Argus and the immense damage to Draenor make it difficult to determine what influence there may have been on those worlds.

A few bits of logical patterns do stand out.  It seems highly likely that even races which were not brought to Azeroth by the Titans may have been exposed to magically enhanced waters such as at the Sunwell, Well of Eternity, and Vale of Eternal Blossoms.  This water seems to have increased the adaptability of these races in addition to increasing their intelligence.  Certainly the sentient races of Azeroth show more subspecial variation than many of the non-sentient races, especially in those less clearly seeded by the Titans.  

Key examples of this are the Elves, Tauren, and Murlocs.  Elves show a great propensity for adaptation, having at least six subspecial variations (Night Elves, High Elves, Blood Elves, Naga, and Satyr) which heavily reflect the exposure of each subspecies to various forms of magic.  This number more than doubles if Trolls are considered a progenitor race of Elves.  Tauren have three known subspecies in mainline Tauren, Yaungol, and Taunka, each of which appears to have been heavily influenced by the natural environments of their home regions.  Murlocs show hints of both variations (magical and environmental), which may account for their wide variation.  It may be helpful at this point to note that Orcs seem to have a similar variational pattern, with dark skinned Orcs originating from one lifestyle, progenital brown Orcs another, green skinned Orcs from demonic blood, red skinned and horned Orcs from fel magics, and ashy skinned Orcs from necromantic magics.

Secondly, it appears that most of the races afflicted by the Curse of Flesh were struck twice.  In the first instance, the Titans were still present and addressed the issue, purging most of the compromised creations and reinforcing the design of their seed races.  Given tales that the Earthen fought alongside the Elves and Tauren during the Sundering, it seems possible and even likely that the second occurrence of the Curse of Flesh began after the Sundering.  If we accept that the Goblins may have been Mechagnomes affected by the first Curse, and consider the Curse to be similar to a virus in action, it is possible and even likely that if Goblins were locked away for study of the Curse, they were freed by the Sundering and reintroduced the Curse at that time, reinfecting the other seed races.

Of course, none of this may matter if Khadgar's council cannot complete their ritual and the forces from beyond the Dark Portal crush Azeroth.