One of the best WoW novels, not for plot or anything, but simply for the great worldbuilding. It seems like the second book in the series completely slipped under my radar and I'll probably have to order it on Amazon and give it a read, but for now, has anyone read it and willing to share any new lore? As a roleplayer I definitely like learning about the more minute lore.
Summary of the lore from the first book, credit to Cannibal for posting about it on the official forums and for the copypasta.
Locations
Gadgetzan is described as a bustling city, with the motto "All roads lead to Gadgetzan." Maybe a tiny bit of confirmation that Mean Streets of Gadgetzan may be canonical? The next book in the series should touch on this heavily.
Feralas is described as a trackless wilderness of uncharted rain forest with every inch controlled by ogres. It has hummingbird-sized mosquitoes, takes about 14 days to hike from one end to the other, and has a tall mountain peak to the southeast (near the border of Thousand Needles) called Skypeak in which some wyverns (notably an incredibly large one, Old One-Eye) roost.
Desolace has a few new locations as well. Flayer's Point is a trade center there, presumably along the shore south of Shadowprey, with a small port. It contains tauren, quilboar, centaur and gnolls alike. It's an aggressive place as it's nicknamed "Slayer's Point". Fights erupt frequently, about every five minutes. It used to be an old skinning camp, and it doesn't reside on any known map. Near here as well is a place called "The Last Forest", which is home to the Grimtail clan of gnolls.
Thousand Needles, interestingly enough, is described as having small camps and even entire towns on most of the spires. Keep in mind that this takes place after the Cataclysm, so the zone has been busy, apparently.
Eastvale Logging Camp is actually a series of logging camps, with large living areas in between. A small thing to note, but I feel it's important as it's treated as essentially another town and not just a camp.
Dire Maul is still under strict Gordunni control. The location is filled to the brim with ogres, who kidnap murlocs and other outsiders to do battle in their arena to please King Gordok.Races
Gnolls reach adulthood at the age of 4. Males and females stand at an average of 5 feet. You can't trade with a gnoll or their clan until you earn their respect, usually through fighting. It's gnoll tradition that when a friend dies, you eat them. They are known to leap to great heights and run on all fours when sprinting. Their favorite food is hardboiled chicken eggs pickled in brine. Their meat is sometimes smoked and consumed.
Centaur are described as all having bony protrusions and growths around their head. They're known to cover themselves with body paint of henna and thick dried mud. A sign of respect to a centaur is hitting your chest with your fist, like the orc's /salute.
Dwarven males stand at an average of 5 ft. tall and weigh an average of 13 stone (182 pounds).
Forsaken can sometimes have no blood or ichor in them at all, and they cannot die by being decapitated or torn to pieces. One character, the Whisper-Man, was shredded to bits and was still cackling from his dismembered head. He then began reattaching himself with his other body parts. Makasa suggested burning his body to truly kill him.
Humans are known to live in Stranglethorn. This seems to be where they get their black skintones, as well as African-styled names. They have their own deep-rooted traditions and customs, and suffered the assault of the Horde during the First War just like Stormwind. Most seem to live in or around Booty Bay these days. It's Stranglethorn tradition to remove the wounding items (such as arrows) from a deceased friend, "For how could a soul rest if he must carry the cause of his death with him forever?" Also, for all humans, ogres tend to prefer eating you alive since you're fresher, but if they had to cook you, they'd keep the blood inside your carcass for more flavor.
Murlocs stand at just a few feet tall, but the females are slightly larger than the males. They have claws on their fingers and toes that let them scale cliffs with ease. They don't measure time like the other sentient races do, making pinpointing historical events through their oral history very difficult. They also taste like chicken.
Night elven druids can develop antlers just like Malfurion, seemingly with little druidic power needed; although time practicing seems to play a role. Also, night elven meat tastes horrible.
Ogre males stand at an average of 8 ft. tall, while the females stand at an average of 7 ft. And, yes, there are females. Lots. Aram notes that there are just as many as there are males around Dire Maul, and King Gordok's "servant" is a young female herself. The smallest of ogre children stand at around 5 ft. tall. They can grow beards. Ogres also practice mak'gora, though only an ogre may challenge another ogre, however the challenger can pick another person of another race as their champion.
Quilboar have a complex language of squeeling, grumbling and grunting, and are noted to fart and belch with little care. They decorate their tusks with intricate war paint and patterns. A sign of respect is emitting a loud snort. Some consume boar jerky.
Tauren consume both gnoll jerky and quilboar meat. A gesture of respect among tauren is touching one's own chest and then forehead, which is also used to solidify deals (equivalent to a handshake).
Sand troll females stand at an average of 6 ft tall.Creatures
Kodos being used as pack animals and mounts are actually just juveniles. The adults are simply too large, being an average of 3 centaurs wide (about 12 ft. wide).
Kraken juveniles have tentacles around 20 ft. long.
Scorpids tend to be about 3 ft. long. Their venom causes suffocation, followed by violent seizures and then death. They have their own complex language of clicking and chittering, which can be learned by sentient races and communicated with.
Wyvern can understand Taur-ahe, but cannot understand Common. They are usually about as large as a horse, but some can get up to three times that size. Wyvern cubs of the larger breed are about as large as bears. Their tails have two venom sacs under the stinger which are very sensitive and soft.Culture
Trolls prefer to have their humans drained of blood, their stringy meat stripped of bone and then turned to jerky.
The Grimtail clan of gnolls live in the shoreline-forests of Desolace, notably, The Last Forest. They're a friendly, trade-loving tribe of gnolls led by Matriarch Cackle, a large female gnoll.
The Gordunni ogres call all their kings (whenever one is killed and another takes their place) King Gordok. Gordok seems to be a name the new King takes on and not an actual title. Only an ogre is allowed to be Gordok, seemingly retconning the dungeon's lore.
Pirates operate under standard five-year contracts when signing on with a new crew.
The Shattered Hand clan of the New Horde includes ogres among its rank, of which also remove a hand and replace it with a blade or mace.
Stromic humans have an old custom, where if one saves another's life, they owe them a life-debt.Other
Druids need a short while to shapeshift, and very rarely can it be done in a few seconds. A character in the book, Thalyss, transforms into a bear form while running towards an ogre, and the Whisper-Man remarks at how surprised he is and how talented the druid must be.
Fadeleaf, the herb, had a pea-colored vine that grows near it. Touching it will make you very sick.
Twenty gold can buy a person nineteen pallets filled with jerky and twenty codfish.
Hearthstone is a very popular tavern board game.
There are many different dialects of Taur-ahe.