#idra'kess naga

[fromtheempress]

Fish Fridays feature: Naga of Cataclysm: The Blackscale and Idra'kess tribes

The Blackscale naga, along with their deadly siren, the sea witch Ophelia, occupy the reefs known as the Obsidian Breakers, a subzone in the Twilight Highlands where many Alliance ships have crashed, their crews mesmerized by Ophelia's song and destroyed by her power.

In the quest "Sirens' Song", the dwarven quest giver Ephraim Hardstone tells the player that Ophelia lures sailors in with her song, appears to them as a beautiful Night Elf, and then obliterates them while she has them entranced. The hero is tasked with slaying the siren, who is later revealed to be a sea witch, thus saving future crewmen from her wrath.

"We'll lash ourselves to the mast, we will. We'll shour our eyes. We'll stuff our ears with wax. And when her beautiful illusion drops.. we'll strike"! -Ephraim Hardstone

The Blackscale naga are as follows:

 Blackscale Mistress

 Blackscale Myrmidon

 Blackscale Raider

 Blackscale Seacaller

(Source: Wowpedia)

The Blackscale Seacallers and Myrmidons haunt the wreckage of the ships Ophelia leaves behind, appearing as the killable objective in the quest: "Naga Reinforcements", given to the hero by the human, Simon Chandler (Alliance). The Blackscale Raiders and Mistresses themselves appear in the quest "Blood on the Surf", in which the hero is asked to  "rip off their fish heads and pull out their spines" by the Dragonmaw orc quest-giver Gralok (Horde).

The Blackscale also have a leader, Fathom-Lord Heth'Jatar,  who appears in the Twilight Highlands near Dragonmaw Port, and who is spearheading an attack against the Horde in the quest "Blast him!" Given to the hero by the goblin Fergus Gearchum, the quest entails the hero luring the naga leader in with the Heth'Jatari conch, calling the Fathom-Lord from the sea and destroying him with mortar blasts.

Fathom-Lord Heth'jatar. (source: Wowpedia)

The Idra'kess tribe of naga are found in Vashj'ir, in an area known as the Shimmering Expanse. They, along with their leader Overseer Idra'kess, are overseeing the mining of an Ancient (also referred to as a "Wild God") of the sea, "Nespirah", for powerful pearls, with the eventual aim of controlling her mind and using her for war. Both Allied and Horde forces have been enslaved to further this end, which leads to the eventual revolt of the slaves against the naga. Both Admiral Dvorek (Alliance) and Captain Vilethorn (Horde) look to the hero for weapons and gear to stage their revolts, respectively.

Once the revolt has begun, the hero then turns to Overseer Idra'kess. Once his two Mistresses are dealt with, the hero is free to kill the Overseer, thus ending his control over Nespirah, who proceeds to treat the naga as if they were viruses inside her body. It is unknown what exactly happens to the Idra'kess naga, as the hero must leave the Ancient quickly after freeing Nespirah and the slaves, but one assumes that they meet a terrible fate.

Overseer Idra'kess. (Image source: Wowpedia) The Idra'kess naga are as follows:

Idra'kess Ambusher

Idra'kess Enchantress

Idra'kess Harpooner

Deepseeker Crab

Idra'kess Mistress

Idra'kess Prophet

Idra'kess Sentinel

Idra'kess Warlord

Fun Facts and Speculation:

In the "Blast Him!" quest, it is made known to the hero that Fathom-Lord Heth'jatar rules over the Blackscale Warrior caste. There appears to be different castes within the different naga tribes, and warriors themselves are held in high regard.

According to the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne game manual, sea witches "have often been associated with the coming of prodigious storms, but few have actually seen them rise from the sea and lived to tell the tale".

In Wowpedia, in reference to the quest "By Her Ladys' Word", it is speculated that there are three caste systems within the Idra'kess, and that the caste that controls Nespirah is associated with enslaving and overseeing.

“Fish Fridays” is a look into the various Naga personalities that populate the waters of  Azeroth and Draenor,to give our worthy readers a greater sense of the Naga world and the creatures Vashj often interacts with.

Lore sources, photos and links are all from Wowwiki, Wowpedia, and Wikipedia.