History Fanfic / TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland

* ThreeAmigos: Destron was part of one of these while a living student in Dalaran, along with Danner and Emette.

* ProudMerchantRaceGuy: Much like in the source material, goblins and ethereals both fulfill this trope. Travels explores the idea a bit further, with the goblins actually having an elaborate ethical system (albeit one that has greatly declined in influence and stature) that is still a source of pride for the more conservative. The etherals, meanwhile, consider cosmopolitanism a prime virtue.

* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The draenei come off as this (the RedScare variety, specifically) ''and'' as LawfulGood {{Stepford Smiler}}s. But this being a work as involved as ''Travels'', twists get put on it. (For example, Anchorite Kastoor doesn't really "get" humans, and is frustrated by the fact.)

* {{Asexuality}}: Pretty much all Forsaken, including Destron. And thank goodness for that. Sporelings and ethereals may also count.

* AncientKeeper: Arkkoroc, a lonely sea giant in Azshara, is an example. He appears in-game, but Travels offers its own spin, [[spoiler:in which Arkkoroc, who once controlled the tides but no longer does so, desperately wishes to be remembered by others, though he knows his time is long past. Destron agrees to tell others about him. One wonders what happened to Arkkoroc after Cataclysm…]]

* AntiAir: The Burning Legion’s failure to have this is one of the reasons they haven’t conquered Azeroth… yet.

* ArtificialIntelligence: Destron learns about this concept from a gnome in the Borean Tundra, though it’s called Created Intelligence. The gnome concludes that, if a free-willed created intelligence equal to a sapient mind were ever created, it would have to be considered a legal equal to its living peers.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Both Orgrim’s Hammer and Skybreaker end up like this. [[spoiler:While powerful, they’re such huge investments for their respective owners that they are basically forbidden from engaging each other in combat.]]

* AWizardDidIt: Though Destron usually explains said wizard’s motivations. For example, Queen Azshara used magic to put her namesake realm in a state of endless autumn, explaining its appearance in-game. This is also why it looks autumnal despite being a coniferous forest.
** The high elves did something similar to Quel’thalas, as a way of recalling the glory of their former home.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Niddy and her brother, Yezz. They survived debt slavery under a brutal owner with each others’ help. Niddy came through okay, but Yezz lost his sense of self-preservation. Like most mentally disturbed goblins in this fanfic, he was encouraged to become a sapper. Niddy followed her brother wherever he went, to keep him from blowing himself up.

** In dwarven society, those kicked out of their families for any reason become the Unwanted, which means most respectable people will have nothing to do with them. Most can’t get hired, so resort to begging or crime. The Unwanted are allowed to have children—but those children are taken from them by the state and given to a normal family, who won’t ever tell the child its true origins. Needless to say, some Unwanted try to move out of Khaz Modan proper and start new lives elsewhere.
** Gnomes are supposed to earn surnames that reflect their accomplishments. Those who fail to do so end up keeping their family names well into adulthood. Being “So-and-so the Second” is a mark of shame, not one of a proud lineage.
** Omokee are tauren who’ve been kicked out of the tribe. Getting expelled from one’s tribe is hard to do, but when it happens it’s pretty much a death sentence. Tauren will attack omokee on sight, and the outcasts almost invariably go insane.
** The draenic ashem are those who’ve suffered to the point that they can no longer participate in the communal happiness of their society. Ashem are encouraged to keep their distance so that their misery will not spread. However, the draenei do their best to rehabilitate them, and recognize that the ashem are not at fault for their state.

* BodyHorror: Zandalari priests undergo extensive mutilation and scarification. Merun’khet, the nerubian forced into a Forsaken body, as an even more visceral example. Not to mention that poor orc kept by Lady Tsravash…
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: More like a giant tiger of divine retribution. [[spoiler:Surrounded by the god-killing priests of Zul’drak, the Zandalari priestess, Mumbwe, calls down an avatar of her god. In minutes, the sanctuary is drenched with the blood and shredded flesh of her enemies.]]
* {{Bookworm}}: Destron and Daj’yah are the most notable, though there are many others.

* CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: Encountered on Orgrim’s Hammer. A more primitive version (a guy on a wagon shouting to people) is seen in Westfall).

* CliffHanger: The Blade's Edge Mountains (Part 1), the Howling Fjord (Part 2), Dalaran (Part 1), and—most recently—Icecrown (Part 2).

** A surprising example occurs in the Grizzly Hills, when gnomes and dwarves argue about how to handle some unwelcome information about their racial origins. An iron dwarf prisoner says that the regular gnomes and dwarves suffer from the Curse of Flesh, and have gone astray from the Titans’ intent. The dwarves regard this as blasphemy, but the gnomes want to do more research to find out if this claim is true. They reach a sort of compromise, in which the gnomes will study iron dwarf “myths.”
* CursedWithAwesome: Arguably, Destron’s undeath. Travel is a lot easier when you don’t have to worry so much about exhaustion or finding clean food and water (in this interpretation, it seems like undead still need to eat, but only very little and the quality of the food doesn’t matter).

* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler:Destron’s younger sister, Nadina, drowned. This frayed his family and caused them to become even more distant from each other.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Daj’yah. Destron has his moments, though usually as asides to the reader and not in actual conversation.

%%* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Arguably, Destron’s motivation. (Examples are not arguable)

* DramaticIrony: Used a few times when Destron gets something wrong. Generally, these are things that someone in his position wouldn’t have any realistic way of knowing, but that the players know because they, well, played the game! Now for some (very minor) spoilers for [=WoW=] and [=WC3=].

** He recounts the official story of Arthas’ mercenaries destroying the human fleet during the Third War.

** The Cabal, in Terokkar Forest and the Bone Waste. Though cultists of the Burning Legion, they are quick to kill anyone who summons a demon without their permission, knowing full well the dangers uncontrolled summoning can bring. They’ve created a ruthless but organized state that is able to provide for its citizens. They also seek to develop their economy and infrastructure by importing experts from Azeroth.
** Some of Kael’thas followers also apply, at least the lower-ranking ones.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Apparently common in night elf novels. One extremely lengthy novel is described as taking place across a single second! These books are devoted to exploring a character’s psyche, rather than narrating events.

* FacialHorror: The Forsaken are practically made from this trope, though some (like Destron) haven’t rotted much and can pass for human with some help.

* FictionalHoliday: Bounty Day, which is celebrated by coastal human towns. There’s also the Festival of Nature’s Song, honored in Moonglade, which has the night elves return a piece of nature to the Emerald Dream. In Outland, Destron sees the Phoenix of Victory Rising from the Ashes of War, a high/blood elven holiday commemorating a victory over the trolls.

* FriendshipMoment: Destron and Daj’yah get one after he gets back from his first trip to Northrend.

* GlorySeeker: Common enough in such a violent setting, but the partisans (independent warriors and mercenaries… in other words, the players’ in-game characters) of the Horde and Alliance are the worst examples.

* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Emperor Dan’jo. Much like his RL inspiration, however, his madness may have kept him sane…

** Kastoor, a draenic anchorite who is the only one protecting the human inhabitants of Farshire. He doesn’t quite understand humans, however.

* TheHeretic: Theka the Martyr, in Zul’farrak. Heretics from the early history of the Holy Light are also mentioned from time to time. There’s also the Order of the Mandible, a druidic sect that sided with the silithids, and the tauren shamans who followed the Stonemother (Therazane).

* HumanResources: [[spoiler:Iron dwarves are melted down upon death and recycled into new soldiers. The dead iron dwarf’s memories are scanned by their leaders, and those deemed useful are implanted into newly forged bodies.]]

* HyperspaceArsenal: Destron doesn’t usually carry weapons, but he never seems to have trouble storing his writing materials (which must be considerable). Likewise, his photo-recorder (camera) doesn’t get in the way or even suffer damage.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Several examples. [[spoiler:A significant one occurs in the Badlands. Destron sees a group of Dark Iron refugees turned away from the Horde outpost of Kargath. Vaska, the soldier who turned them away, explains that if he sheltered them, the Dark Irons would wipe Kargath off the map, which is against the Horde’s strategic interests. Vaska is deeply conflicted about this, however, and wonders if he should disobey his orders and lead his warriors to an honorable death against the Dark Irons.]]
* InHarmonyWithNature: The story examines this trope a bit. While the night elves claim to be in harmony with nature, their attitude towards it is presented as paternalistic. Also, because of their special relationship with the natural world (like [[WillOTheWisp the wisps]] harvesting wood without damaging trees), one can argue that the night elves actually live apart from true nature, even though these benefits are given with nature’s consent. The tauren are closer to the actual ideal, and the mok’nathal closer still.

* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Daj’yah, sort of. [[spoiler:An as-of-yet unfinished short story with Daj’yah as the protagonist shows that her pride, itself a defense mechanism coming from the trope in question, plays a big role in her isolation, along with the fact that most trolls consider her ugly, and see her talents as being of questionable use.]]
* ItsAlwaysSpring: Lampshaded. The static nature of Azeroth’s seasons is explained by way of the planet having only a very slight axial tilt. Granted, this probably has some other implications as well…
* KnightErrant: Lentz Averlome, a crusading Forsaken knight dreaming of a new Lordaeron in which the undead act as gallant protectors for the living. No one really takes him seriously, though he’s at least strong enough to survive on his own in the Western Plaguelands.

* LargeHam: Destron, when he’s disguising himself as a lich.

* MadScientist: Plenty of Forsaken apothecaries fall into this category, but a special place has to be given to Narotta Casca, who transplanted a nerubian brain into a Forsaken body. She is weirdly reverent of her own creation, and seems to think that the nerubians would want the Forsaken as allies. The nerubian in question, Merun’khet, does not seem to agree.
* MagicVersusScience: Averted. They’re presented as complementary, arcane advances spurring scientific ones, and vice versa. Magic is generally approached in a scientific fashion, being the study of arcane energies.
* MamaBear: Irianne Hollisworth is a peculiar, undead example. Don’t get between her and the sporeling infants she’s chosen to protect.

* MilitaryMoonshiner: Drin Bessard, who distills a foul-tasting liquor in the Westfall Brigade Encampment. Though it’s against the rules, the officers let it happen so long as it doesn’t get out of hand. Drin’s also an unrepentant former Defias.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Plenty of people think this way. [[spoiler:A bit surprisingly, so does Destron. He states that he will take the Horde’s side in a war against the Alliance, even if the Horde is at fault. His reasoning is that the Horde was the only nation to give the Forsaken a chance. This does not extend to Sylvanas and the Forsaken, however; in a hypothetical war between Undercity and the rest of the Horde, Destron would side with the Warchief.]]

* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Destron is pretty much an unknown in Undercity. While he has connections to important people in Orgrimmar, he’s still pretty far from the limelight (and to some extent prefers it that way). But he’s considered a hero in Stormwind for the good deeds he did traveling through there, especially in Redridge where he helped save the town of Lakeshire. Of course, none of them know he’s actually undead…

* PatchworkMap: Attempts are made to explain Azeroth’s odd geographical arrangement. For instance, Un’goro Crater has ancient Titan machinery that attracts storms, explaining why a jungle lowland is surrounded by deserts. The Titans did this because they presumably wanted to study a jungle rather than a rocky waste.

* {{Pirate}}: They’re definitely the nasty, Type 1 variety. [[spoiler:They lead short and violent lives, and take pleasure in cruelty. The Bloodsail Buccaneers even go so far as to splatter their sails with the blood of victims. The Southsea Freebooters are more professional, but just as vicious.]]

* PulpMagazine: Because of their busy lives, most goblins don’t have the time for lengthy or introspective literature. Instead, they enjoy serialized stories that are described as often being in the style of the pulps. Destron considers some of the serials to be quite thought-provoking.

* ReformedCriminal: The biggest example is the [[spoiler:Westfall Brigade encountered in the Grizzly Hills. Most of them are former Defias (who very often served the Defias as child soldiers) who were unable to fit into Westfall’s post-rebellion society. As a result, Stormwind sent them north to die or at least stay out of the way.]]

* TheRemnant: In addition to the dozens of remnants described from the source material, the orcish town of Stonard is shown as one of these. Orcish fugitives resettled the abandoned town (which the Alliance had originally intended to preserve as a sort of museum, but eventually forgot about) after the Second War. Much later, they joined Thrall’s Horde.

* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Generally on the enlightenment side. While mages (like Destron) are typically on the “romantic” end of things in media, the story treats magic as being essentially scientific. Destron even describes one poor and ramshackle area as looking “medieval,” suggesting a more modern mindset. Organized religion tends to come across relatively favorably, however, so long as it’s for one of the good-aligned faiths.

* ScienceFiction: The fanfic has ScienceFiction as a literary genre invented by goblins that’s referred to as speculative fiction (which is what sci-fi in RL is sometimes called). Azerothian speculative fiction even inspires the development of in-world technological and arcane advances (much as sometimes happens in RL). Dwarves, gnomes, humans, and Forsaken also write in the genre.

* SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVsFate: Type 4. Prophecies are basically predictions that look at probable outcomes. If Monkormi the Bronze Dragon is to be believed, the universe is arranged like a layman’s version of M-Theory.
* TheSociopath: Gul’dan comes across as one of these in survivors’ descriptions. [[spoiler:So does Destron’s older brother, Torilun, though he died in a knife fight before he could really start doing harm.]] Other characters may also qualify.

* SurrealHorror: For some reason, this appears a lot in the Stormwind zones. Sometimes it’s effective, like the Morbent Fel encounter and the Shadowsworn, but other times it feels more like weird for weirdness’ sake like the night spent at the Slaughtered Lamb tavern in Stormwind City. YMMV, as always.
* SwampsAreEvil: Averted. Destron’s relieved to reach the biologically rich Swamp of Sorrows after hiking through Deadwind Pass. Zangarmarsh also sounds fairly pleasant coming after Hellfire Peninsula.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Destron admires the Alliance (at least in the Eastern Kingdoms; he seems a bit wary about night elves and draenei) a great deal, and wishes the Horde would be more like it. Partial example, since the Alliance isn’t particularly devilish.
* TechnoBabble: The attempts to explain the Exodar’s mechanics fall into this, as do some of the discussions revolving around magic.

* TortureTechnician: The naga, Lady Tsravash, claims that her society is full of these, and is very proud of this. The horribly mutilated orc she uses as her mouthpiece suggests she’s telling the truth.

* TragicMonster: [[spoiler:Believe it or not, the ogre-magi. Blessed with high intelligence, their creator (Gul’dan) also gave each of them two heads. The result? Two aggressive and combative personalities trapped in a single body. Most ogre-magi completely broke down after the Second War and Gul’dan’s death. The few who survived did so by one of the personalities achieving a decisive victory over the other. How was victory achieved? By driving the loser insane, which still means the winner has to share a body with a lunatic. Whatever chance the ogre-magi had to lead their race to something better is long gone. Only the ogre-magi in Ogri’la avoided this fate, but they had to pay a price of their own…]]
* TragicVillain: [[spoiler:Eteria Dawnwalker is a loyal minion of Kael’thas, and participated in the sabotage of the Exodar, which led to many draenic deaths. However, she feels great sympathy to humans, and risked her life to aid Lordaeronian refugees during the Third War. Despite this, mana addiction drove her into the ranks of the Sun King.]]
* TranslatorMicrobes: A pretty much literal case in Sporeggar, where visitors must consume special spores in order to communicate with the natives. A weirder example occurs in Zul’drak, in the form of an invisible snake spirit that translates the Zandali spoken by the trolls.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Destron when he’s disguised as a human is a partial example. People in the Alliance are surprised that someone who looks so sickly is able to keep up with the strongest and healthiest of their number. Then again, it has less to do with badassery and more to do with the fact that Destron’s undead, and thus doesn’t get tired easily.
* UndyingLoyalty: A sad case is seen in the Storm Peaks. [[spoiler:Tock, a mechagnome, is fulfilling the duties assigned to him by the Titan Watchers, fully expecting them to return. He’s been waiting for tens of thousands of years, continuing to toil as his companions broke down, leaving him totally alone.]]

* UnwantedRescue: Corboran, the son of important Dalaranese mages, is believed kidnapped and brainwashed by the Blue Dragonflight. Because of his familial connections, the Kirin Tor send a partisan group called Dawn’s Grace (who are accompanied by Destron) to rescue him. Turns out that Corboran was never brainwashed, and joined the Blue Dragonflight willingly.
* {{Utopia}}: The society of the draenei is just as utopian as they claim. But you still wouldn’t want to live there.

* WalletOfHolding: Coins are heavy, but Destron always seems to have just enough. It’s also a mystery as to how he gets the money (admittedly, he’s far from a lavish spender, but you figure the costs would add up over time).

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: For all of Destron’s curiosity and compassion, he doesn’t seem to care very much about mook races like the gnolls and murlocs. Granted, a few complex examples of the above do appear, but for the most part they come across as expendable.

* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Destron gets this a lot. It doesn’t seem to bother him very much.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Stormwind used to be this.

** Several human ethnic groups are introduced to flesh out the setting. Kirovi have a distinct Slavic/Russian flavor, particularly in their naming conventions. The Ralmanni are [[UsefulNotes/{{Roma}} Romany]] in origin. There are also the Dromascoi, who were conquered by Lordaeron, and are loosely based off of Romania. However, very little information is given about the Dromascoi.

* BizarreAlienBiology: Frequently seen in Outland, especially with the sporelings and ethereals (to the extent that ethereals can be considered biological). While this is true in the baseline WoW setting as well, Travels goes into a lot more detail.

* DramaticIrony: Used a few times when Destron gets something wrong. Generally, these are things that someone in his position wouldn’t have any realistic way of knowing, but that the players know because they, well, played the game! Now for some (very minor) spoilers for WoW and WC3.

* DyingTown: The Alliance base of Honor Hold becomes one of these. Its defenders are aging and cut off from the rest of the Alliance in Outland, after failing to maintain control over the expeditionary force. While actually playing WoW, players can see that the NPC guards in Honor Hold do look old.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: As we all know from WoW, Azeroth and Outland are both full of loot-crazed adventurers killing each other and stealing powerful magical items. This fanfic examines some of the (mostly negative) consequences of these actions.

In this WorldOfWarcraft FanFiction epic, begun in March of 2006 and completed in April of 2011 (and resumed in August 2012, then ended once more in June 2013), Destron (a [[TheUndead Forsaken]] mage who can still pass for a living human) sets out to explore. As he does so, he keeps a journal, offering wryly insightful commentary on each region and culture that he happens upon. The author attempts to stick with the setting's established lore as much as possible, while at the same time expanding and embellishing upon it.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft itself uses this trope a great deal, though Travels expands on the concept and sometimes invents its own;

%%* LittleHeroBigWar

* AcePilot: Llane Osrick.
* ActionGirl: Vyldra above all, but there are too many to list.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: The narrator, occasionally, as well as nearly every archaeologist and a great number of adventurers in the story.
* AFatherToHisMen: Dallard Corwyn.

** The Storm Peaks has plenty more examples.

* AnyoneCanDie: Aside from the narrator.
* {{Arcadia}}: Elwynn Forest and Loch Modan.

* BenevolentDictator: Discussed at great length, with Thrall as the primary example. Destron believes that Thrall is a genuinely good leader, but that the orcs cannot realistically expect to get anyone else like him. Thus, for Thrall to be truly great, he must relinquish power and create a more democratic state. Probably counts as an AuthorFilibuster as well.
** But Destron arguably has a point, considering that Thrall was succeeded by Garrosh Hellscream, who took a much more tyrannical and powermongering approach to leading the Horde. He also proved horrendously inept at working with non-orcs, and eventually this led to most of the Horde openly rebelling and teaming up with the Alliance to depose Garrosh at the conclusion of the ''Mists of Pandaria'' expansion.
* [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]]: Niddy and her brother, Yezz. They survived debt slavery under a brutal owner with each others’ help. Niddy came through okay, but Yezz lost his sense of self-preservation. Like most mentally disturbed goblins in this fanfic, he was encouraged to become a sapper. Niddy followed her brother wherever he went, to keep him from blowing himself up.

*** [[EvenEvilHasStandards Not even the warlocks]] like orcish magi.
* BlindSeer: Velni, the Ralmanni Seeress

* Bookworm: Destron and Daj’yah are the most notable, though there are many others.

* BrokenBird: Balaa.

* [[spoiler:CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds: An arguable case. In life, Destron was romantically involved with a Dalaranese woman named Emette. Throughout most of the travelogue, he has no idea whether she survived the Third War, and makes some attempt to find her during her travels. However, being undead, he is no longer romantically interested. Destron finally meets Emette (who has since married), and they have one last conversation before going their separate ways. This scene was a TearJerker for some readers.]]

* CloudCuckooLander: Dan'jo, (self-proclaimed) Emperor of the Eastern Sea! WordOfGod says that he's based off of the real life CloudCuckooLander Emperor Joshua Norton.

* ContemplateOurNavels: Destron does this on occasion.

** People who know and have read Destron's other works can confirm that use of this trope is a case of AuthorAppeal (or perhaps only CreatorThumbprint).

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Arguably, Destron’s motivation.
* DesolationShot: The writer of [[FanFic/TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland Travels through Azeroth and Outland]] loves describing these.

* [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding: In Northrend Destron sees the Horde returning to its savage past, confronts the Scourge, loses his left hand, and suffers through a serious period of self-doubt. In the end, he returns to Orgrimmar, able to feel contentment in his life as a translator in the Valley of Spirits, though he is still troubled by the Horde's behavior.]]

* [[HumansAreFlawed Everyone Is Flawed]]: A big theme in the story.

* EvilVirtues: The Cabal, in Terokkar Forest and the Bone Waste. Though cultists of the Burning Legion, they are quick to kill anyone who summons a demon without their permission, knowing full well the dangers uncontrolled summoning can bring. They’ve created a ruthless but organized state that is able to provide for its citizens. They also seek to develop their economy and infrastructure by importing experts from Azeroth.

* FakeMemories: [[spoiler:Prewitt Hartley has these.]]

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: WorldOfWarcraft itself uses this trope a great deal, though Travels expands on the concept and sometimes invents its own;

* GlamourFailure: This happens in Silvermoon City. [[spoiler:Destron bumps into a bystander during a parade. Before he can apologize, he stumbles [i]through[/i] the bystander, revealing her to be an illusion. It turns out that the blood elves use illusory citizens to make their city seem less empty after the decimation of the Third War.]]

* HonorBeforeReason: Vyldra.

* [[spoiler:HumansAreCthulhu: This is how the iron dwarves see regular dwarves, humans, and other living entities. The poor iron dwarf prisoner is positively horrified by his captors.]]

* InHarmonyWithNature: [[FanFic/TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland Travels through Azeroth and Outland]] examines this trope a bit. While the night elves claim to be in harmony with nature, their attitude towards it is presented as paternalistic. Also, because of their special relationship with the natural world (like [[WillOTheWisp the wisps]] harvesting wood without damaging trees), one can argue that the night elves actually live apart from true nature, even though these benefits are given with nature’s consent. The tauren are closer to the actual ideal, and the mok’nathal closer still.

* AgreeToDisagree: Destron and an old tutor end up doing this after debating the merits of draconic elitism.

* LittleHeroBigWar

* MartyrdomCulture: The vrykul are this in spades.

* MayContainEvil: Anything involving Saronite.

* NobleSavage: Played partly straight with the tauren, though they are shown to be quite ruthless to their ancestral enemies. [[spoiler:For instance, one tauren is shown helping the centaurs fight each other to extinction]]. The tauren are also shown as being too conservative for their own good. Averted in most other cases.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Netherwing Flight.

* {{Pirate}}: In [[FanFic/TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland Travels through Azeroth and Outland]], they’re definitely the nasty, Type 1 variety. [[spoiler:They lead short and violent lives, and take pleasure in cruelty. The Bloodsail Buccaneers even go so far as to splatter their sails with the blood of victims. The Southsea Freebooters are more professional, but just as vicious.]]

* ThePowerOfBlood: Trolls, especially the Zandali, love this trope.

* ProudScholarRaceGuy: Pazshe comes across like this.

* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Generally on the enlightenment side. While mages (like Destron) are typically on the “romantic” end of things in media, [[FanFic/TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland Travels through Azeroth and Outland]] treats magic as being essentially scientific. Destron even describes one poor and ramshackle area as looking “medieval,” suggesting a more modern mindset. Organized religion tends to come across relatively favorably, however, so long as it’s for one of the good-aligned faiths.
* SaintlyChurch: The Church of the Light sometimes comes across like this, which feels a little out of place with the general tone of the story, through YMMV.

* SchizoTech: A big part of the Warcraft universe, ''[[Fanfic/TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland Travels through Azeroth and Outland]]'' tries to explore the inner workings of this with varying success. In general, Travels tends to skew much more to the modern than medieval aspects.

* TownWithADarkSecret: Arguably Dalaran, what with the sleazy goings-on in the Underbelly, not to mention the conspiratorial and deeply nepotistic attitudes of the ruling magocracy.

* TravelogueShow: The purpose of the story.

* UndefeatableLittleVillage: Lakeshire.

* WhamEpisode: Dalaran, Part 2.

* WhatMightHaveBeen: The writer very nearly had Daj’yah accompany Destron on his second trip to Northrend.

* InHarmonyWithNature: [[FanFic/TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland Travels through Azeroth and Outland]] examines this trope a bit. While the night elves claim to be in harmony with nature, their attitude towards it is presented as paternalistic. Also, because of their special relationship with the natural world (like the wisps harvesting wood without damaging trees), one can argue that the night elves actually live apart from true nature, even though these benefits are given with nature’s consent. The tauren are closer to the actual ideal, and the mok’nathal closer still.

* {{Expy}}: The blind scholar Belgrano is an obvious expy of Argentine writer Creator/JorgeLuisBorges. Goblin science-fiction writer Artz Cyklurk in Area 52 is clearly meant to be Arthur C. Clarke, while Fil Kaydik (referred to but never actually encountered) is obviously Philip K. Dick. The crazy troll, Dan'jo, is a reference to Emperor Joshua Norton. Niharalath is presumably an expy of Nyarlathotep.

* StepfordSmiler: The author's take on the draenei is reminiscent of [[GreenSkyTrilogy Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Kindar]].

** But Destron arguably has a point, considering that Thrall was succeeded by Garrosh Hellscream, who took a much more tyrannical and powermongering approach to leading the Horde. He also proved horrendously inept at working with non-orcs, and eventually this led to most of the Horde openly rebelling and teaming up with the Alliance to depose Garrosh.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler:Daj'yah killed an orc in Orgrimmar in self defense. Hellscream's Horde is notoriously racist however, and after fleeing the city she joins Destron on his travels through the post-Cataclysm Azeroth.]]

** Several human ethnic groups are introduced to flesh out the setting. Kirovi have a distinct Slavic/Russian flavor, particularly in their naming conventions. The Ralmanni are Romany (Gypsy) in origin. There are also the Dromascoi, who were conquered by Lordaeron, and are loosely based off of Romania. However, very little information is given about the Dromascoi.

* {{Jossed}}: Given the nature of the story, this was probably inevitable.

* OldShame: The writer has expressed regret at writing a section involving pseudo-beatnik night elves in Stormwind City. That said, he doesn't consider it bad enough to warrant a retcon.

In this WorldOfWarcraft FanFiction epic, begun in March of 2006 and completed in April of 2011 (and resumed in August 2012), Destron (a [[TheUndead Forsaken]] mage who can still pass for a living human) sets out to explore. As he does so, he keeps a journal, offering wryly insightful commentary on each region and culture that he happens upon. The author attempts to stick with the setting's established lore as much as possible, while at the same time expanding and embellishing upon it.

* DeadLittleSister: [[spoiler:Destron’s younger sister, Nadina, drowned. This frayed his family and caused them to become even more distant from each other.]]

In this WorldOfWarcraft FanFiction epic, begun in March of 2006 and completed in April of 2011, Destron (a [[TheUndead Forsaken]] mage who can still pass for a living human) sets out to explore. As he does so, he keeps a journal, offering wryly insightful commentary on each region and culture that he happens upon. The author attempts to stick with the setting's established lore as much as possible, while at the same time expanding and embellishing upon it.

* CosmicHorror: The Twilight's Hammer Cult believes this is the true state of things, but they're quite happy about it. [[spoiler:The arakkoa also think that they live in a CosmicHorror world, and it scares them to the point of insanity]].

* GrimUpNorth: The continent of Northrend is a pretty grim place, and gets even grimmer the farther north one travels on the continent. This culminates in the northernmost point of land, Ulduar, home to a CosmicHorror. The dismal Plaguelands are located in what was previously the northernmost traversable regions of the eastern world. In the West, the northern regions are Night Elf territory, which are rather grim in their own unique ways.

!!This work provides examples of:

* NobleSavage: Played partly straight with the tauren, though they are shown to be quite ruthless to their ancestral enemies. [[spoiler:For instance, one tauren is shown helping the centaurs fight each other to extinction]]. The tauren are also shown as being too conservative for their own good. Brutally averted in most other cases.

It's a very lengthy work, but is constructed in such a way that you don't have to read the whole thing, or even read it in order. If you do decide to read it in order, take care to pace yourself.

''Travels Through Azeroth and Outland'' is on our list of [[{{FanficRecs/Warcraft}} fan fiction recommendations]]. But it's actually hosted [[http://destron.blogspot.com here.]] There's also a [[http://s4.zetaboards.com/Destron/ discussion forum]].

Here there be spoilers. While some of the bigger ones have been blanked out, keep in mind that [[FanFic/TravelsThroughAzerothAndOutland Travels through Azeroth and Outland]] is a case where the journey is more important than the destination.

* AncientKeeper: Arkkoroc, a lonely sea giant in Azshara, is an example. He appears in-game, but Travels offers its own spin, [[spoiler:in which Arkkoroc, who once controlled the tides but no longer does so, desperately wishes to be remembered by others, though he knows his time is long past. Destron agrees to tell others about him. One wonders what happened to Arkkoroc after Cataclysm…]]

* AristocratsAreEvil: Most of the human nations suffered from this at varying point, though Destron says that (in many nations) the nobility had lost much of its power by the time of the First War.

* {{Asexuality}}: Pretty much all Forsaken, including Destron. And thank goodness for that. Sporelings and ethereals may also count.
* TheAtoner: In the Swamp of Sorrows, Destron meets an orcish shaman named Thok'dan, who tries to help the mutated draenei living in the north. Back in the day, Thok'dan had been one of the first orcs through the Dark Portal. He feels great shame for the genocide that the orcs inflicted on the draenei, and wonders if his own actions against humans and draenic slaves in the past have put him beyond redemption.

** Warlocks are treated as BlackSheep in orcish society, and are hated even by peons.

* BizarreAlienBiology: Frequently seen in Outland, especially with the sporelings and ethereals (to the extent that ethereals can be considered biological). While this is true in the baseline WoW setting as well, Travels goes into a lot more detail.

* CulturalRebel: At one point, Destron meets a dwarf who chose to abstain from alcohol. [[spoiler:When he announced this to his family, they disowned him. Alcohol is SeriousBusiness to the dwarves.]]

* CursedWithAwesome: Arguably, Destron’s undeath. Travel is a lot easier when you don’t have to worry so much about exhaustion or finding clean food and water (in this interpretation, it seems like undead still need to eat, but only very little and the quality of the food doesn’t matter).

* DeathWorld: The Plaguelands, Silithus, Hellfire Peninsula, the Netherstorm, and most of all, Shadowmoon Valley.

* DystopiaIsHard: Many of the nastiest societies have a tough time of it.

* {{Expy}}: The blind scholar Belgrano is an obvious expy of Argentine writer JorgeLuisBorges. Goblin science-fiction writer Artz Cyklurk in Area 52 is clearly meant to be Arthur C. Clarke, while Fil Kaydik (referred to but never actually encountered) is obviously Philip K. Dick. The crazy troll, Dan'jo, is a reference to Emperor Joshua Norton. Niharalath is presumably an expy of Nyarlathotep.

** Shadowprey Village has a Hawaiian feel, surfing and all.

* {{Jossed}}: Given the nature of the story, this was probably inevitable.

* LaResistance: The Returners, a militia in Lakeshire that took to the hills after the First War and waged a guerrilla campaign against the Horde until the end of the Second War.

* MasterOfDisguise: Destron is able to effectively disguise himself as a human named Talus Corestiam. The disguise was purchased from another Forsaken, known as The Masquerade, who makes a living selling human disguises.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: As we all know from WoW, Azeroth and Outland are both full of loot-crazed adventurers killing each other and stealing powerful magical items. This fanfic examines some of the (mostly negative) consequences of these actions.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The writer adds a lot of strange details to the {{Mooks}} of the Burning Legion, perhaps to make them stand out. To give some examples, felguards are described as being sown into their armor with threads of pure gold, and the one dreadlord encountered by the narrator speaks through mouths in his hands in a voice that sounds like a full angelic choir.

* PlanetOfHats: Sometimes averted, as the races are presented as having far more variety than outsiders might initially notice.

** Human and dwarven cultures vary from nation to nation, though this is true in-game as well.
** Regional differences also play a part. The blood elves in the Ghost Lands (more specifically, Tranquilien) tended to be more accepting of humans. Humans in Silverpine were more reclusive than other Lordaeronians.

* TheRemnant: In addition to the dozens of remnants described from the source material, the orcish town of Stonard is shown as one of these. Orcish fugitives resettled the abandoned town (which the Alliance had originally intended to preserve as a sort of museum, but eventually forgot about) after the Second War. Much later, they joined Thrall’s Horde.

* WhatMightHaveBeen: The writer very nearly had Daj’yah accompany Destron on his second trip to Northrend.

* WretchedHive: Destron seems to run into a lot of these during his travels.

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* [=~Mr. Exposition~=]: Occasionally, one will show up to give the narrator the rundown.