Category:Races

Race is a term used in World of Warcraft to split various unique creatures into separate groups. Numerous races populate Azeroth including elves, trolls, humans, orcs, gnomes, and murlocs, among many others. Many races can interbreed including humans, high elves, night elves, ogres, orcs, and draenei — producing offspring often called half-breeds.

The Warcraft universe is inhabited by many sentient and sapient beings. These races speak many different languages, have different homelands and racial traits, and can pursue different classes. Though most races are native to the world of Azeroth, some have arrived from other worlds, such as Draenor. The armies of the Burning Legion are notably culled from many conquered worlds throughout the Great Dark Beyond.

Definition

Blizzard occasionally interchanges the terms species and race, giving them roughly the same meaning.<ref>The Warcraft Encyclopedia/High Elves and Blood Elves</ref> Though species is usually reserved for non-sapient creatures such as wolves, or non-humanoid creatures like dragons, the term is occasionally used to refer to races like elves, dwarves, humans, orcs, draenei, ogres, goblins, tauren, etc.<ref>The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind</ref><ref>Rise of the Horde, pg. 251</ref> Such uses are rare, however, and entirely absent in newer material such as World of Warcraft: Chronicle.