Highborne Ruins: -Aran Cities
Note: While -Aran has no official translation, it has been associated with words such as “home” and “well”, and may even denominate a certain type of elven city (in contrast to -Naar, for example, which is seen in town names such as Faronaar, Falanaar, Dolanaar, and Astranaar, or -Thalas, which refers to kingdoms like Quel’Thalas, Eldre’Thalas, and Nar’Thalas). The widespread usage of -Aran in the names of elven towns might suggest that it is a word for “city”. The towns listed appear to have no connection to one another other than that they are all ancient, presumably Highborne living places. However, because they share these qualities with a plethora of other settlements, it’s difficult to determine what distinguishes them in particular from other Highborne cities as places deserving of the -Aran demarcation.
Although -Aran is used almost exclusively in the names of ancient Highborne ruins and -Naar typically signifies contemporary Kaldorei towns, there is some overlap in their usage which makes it difficult to determine whether or not -Aran actually refers exclusively to ancient Highborne cities. For example, the city of Faronaar was at one point considered a “majestic city” [Item: Scroll of Town Portal: Faronaar], which means that -Naar does not necessarily indicate small or non-Highborne towns. Furthermore, Dalaran, although it is a Thalassian term, is a relatively “new” city of human origins, which similarly debunks any assumptions about -Aran being used only for ancient Highborne cities, provided that it is not an exception to the rule or that it is not translated differently in Thalassian, which it may well be. It is also worth noting that while Dalaran is considered a kingdom, it is not named as such in Thalassian.
This thread, which pieces together Thalassian and Darnassian translations, suggests that -Aran may mean “well”. Given speculative translations, then, Dalaran might mean “Starwell” and Shal’Aran might mean “Nightwell”. If this is the case, while it is a great stretch to assume so, then the -Aran cities may have been home to “wells” of sorts, perhaps even primitive moonwells.
In reality, because Darnassian and various elven languages do not operate as fully functioning languages in-game, it’s more realistic than not to assume that -Aran has no specific meaning and was just added randomly to the names of elven towns.
Ruins of Ordil’Aran (Ashenvale)
Ruins of Loreth’Aran (Bloodmyst Isle)
Biel’Aran Ridge (Vashj’ir)
The Twin Cities of Ameth’Aran and Bashal’Aran
“… Though there were many towns and places of habitation constructed upon the lakeshore, Ameth’Aran and Bashal’Aran villages were the foremost. Having the touch of Azshara, the Kaldorei’s beloved Queen, in their creation. Her favored servitors, those of the Highborne, she brought to the twin towns to reside, and to govern them she placed Athrikus Narassin (who was likely from Suramar). Though it would be that he would spend most of his days in his Tower of Althalaxx, some ways removed of the towns.
His second, a mage known of his prowess in the arcane arts as much as with his physical abilities was Asterion, who lived among the people of Bashal’Aran, and went many times to Ameth’Aran to see to the needs and wants of its people.
And so it was upon the shores of the Well of Eternity, the twin towns grew and prospered …” [Quest: The Fall of Ameth’Aran]
The pre-Sundering location of some Highborne cities has long remained unclear and even contradictory to their current positions, regardless of supposed continental shift. The cities that supposedly lined the Well’s shores included the twin cities of Ameth’Aran and Bashal’Aran, Zin-Azshari, Azshara, Galhara [The Well of Eternity, Chapter Seventeen], and even Suramar where some of its districts intersected with Zin-Azshari’s [RPG]. Bashal-Aran and Ameth’Aran are both too far and on the complete opposite side of Kalimdor to have been near the Well of Eternity. Although it is possible that Darkshore could have drifted as an island that eventually joined with western Kalimdor, according to the pre-Sundering map, Darkshore has not moved from its current location.
Ordil’Aran is home to three massive moonstones [Quest: The Reason Why]. While the specific properties of the ones in Ordil’Aran are unknown, moonstones are known to possess a wide variety of abilities from creating artificial eclipses and curing illnesses to acting as keys, among other functions [Page: Moonstone].
Ordil’Aran is also the site of the Heartswood tree, which was created during a battle between the Kaldorei and demons during the War of the Ancients [Quest: Heartswood]. Supposedly, as two lovers were fighting demons in the city, the female was stricken down in combat. The male Kaldorei disregarded his life in favor of his lover because he believed that he could not face the eons without her by his side. As a result, the Heartswood tree, a symbol of their undying love, grew from their last breath together.
Very little is known about this ancient ruin.
Very little is known about this ancient ruin.
The green dragon aspect, Ysera, gifted the kingdom of Loreth’Aran and its ruler, Prince Toreth, with dragons of her brood. The citizens of Loreth’Aran rode, lived, and fought alongside the dragons, earning them the title Dragonriders of Loreth’Aran. Supposedly, the inhabitants of the city had been riding dragons as early as centuries before the Sundering occurred [NPC: Prince Toreth dialogue].
Unlike the other cities indicated here, Biel’Aran is not a town, but a subzone in the ruins of Vashj’ir. Given that it is somewhat removed from the main city, one could conjecture that it may have been a neighborhood for a particularly esteemed class of Highborne.
For more about Vashj’ir, see here.
Shal’Aran was most likely a subsection of the Arcway and not an autonomous Highborne city in the pre-Sundering era. The city, like the entirety of the Arcway, is located underground and acts as a receptacle for leyline energy. It may only have become known as Shal’Aran once First Arcanist Thalyssra inhabited and transformed it into a sanctuary for the Nightfallen rebellion.
Shal’Aran may have once housed an Arcan’dor pre-Sundering. One of the members belonging to the organization of proto-druids who created the Arcan’dor trees, Keeper Selentia, is initially found guarding a dead tree stump in Shal’Aran [Quest: Arcane Thirst]. Moreover, Thalyssra surmises that the massive amount of leyline energy fed into the chamber was for whatever the Keeper was guarding [Quest: Shal’Aran]. Since the current Arcan’dor subsists off of the leyline feeds flowing into Shal’Aran, it may not be too much of a stretch to assume that an ancient Arcan’dor did much the same thing, and that Shal’Aran was built to hold an Arcan’dor. For more about speculation regarding this, see here.
It is not clear what happened to this Arcan’dor, if there was indeed one there. However, because it does not resemble Falanaar’s fallen Arcan’dor, it may not have failed in the same spectacular manner. In fact, it is more likely that the Arcan’dor was abandoned (except by the Keepers, who were charged with maintaining and keeping watch over it, hence why Keeper Selentia has guarded it into her undeath) or destroyed during battles across Suramar in the War of the Ancients.
The area is also equipped with a teleportation system and a lower chamber decorated with a floor fresco of a map of Suramar and its leyline points [Quest: Shal’Aran]. Leyline energy from the rest of the Arcway can be fed into Shal’Aran through this point.
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