Draenor ( lore ) Draenor was the homeworld of the orc ish race and the last refuge of the draenei before their arrival on Azeroth . When the orc shaman Ner ' zhul recklessly opened dimensional portals to find new worlds to conquer , Draenor was torn apart and believed completely lost . However , a large fragment of the world remained intact . That fragment is known today as Outland . Background . Several thousand years ago , the draenei , a faction of the eredar who opposed the Burning Legion , split from their brethren . They moved from world to world , remaining one step ahead of the Burning Legion . About two hundred and fifty years before the present , the draenei found a tranquil planet in the void . Having at last outrun the bloodthirsty forces of the Burning Legion , the draenei settled the planet and named it " Exile ' s Refuge " in Eredun : " " Draenor " " . The orcs did not have a name for the place , other than " world " , but eventually adopted the Eredun term . Draenor was a peaceful world dominated by vast plains and lush swamps . Originally , there were many intelligent races , the most powerful of which were the orcs . The orcs lived in a quiet , shamanistic society , until power - hungry leaders , led and manipulated by Gul ' dan , made a blood pact with Mannoroth , a general of the Burning Legion , turning the orcs into bloodthirsty barbarian conquerors . The warlock magics wielded by the orcs turned Draenor into a dusty wasteland . The orcs , under orders from Kil ' jaeden , devastated the draenei , enslaved the ogre s , and gained dark dominion over Draenor . Before the Horde could destroy themselves in their bloodlust , Medivh and Gul ' dan opened the Dark Portal , allowing the Horde access to the world of Azeroth to start a new war and pave the way for the Burning Legion ' s second invasion of Kalimdor . What few draenei survived attempted to load their dimensional ships and launched themselves again into the deep void in search of a new haven . Eventually the Horde was beaten back by the numerous Alliance forces , and Draenor became the focus of an attack , via the Dark Portal , by an Alliance Expedition aiming to end the orcish threat to Azeroth once and for all . In the midst of the ensuing battle the elder shaman Ner ' zhul attempted to allow the remaining orcs on Draenor to escape to other worlds by opening other dimensional portals ; however the presence of so many portals tore the planet apart , leaving only torn fragments of the former world floating in the Nether . It ceased to be a material world , and the barely - hospitable remnants were renamed Outland . Known information and speculation . In the Human Campaign of " Warcraft : Beyond the Dark Portal " , the humans close the Dark Portal and save Azeroth , but must escape a crumbling Draenor by entering one of the various rifts that have been opened by Ner ' zhul , who with his followers have escaped into one of these rifts . In the Orc Campaign , the orcs are victorious and Ner ' zhul with his followers travel to Draenor , where they enter a rift into the Twisting Nether to gain new glory . " Warcraft III : Reign of Chaos " does not follow either outcome directly but instead continues the story in Azeroth . It takes a bit more from the human conclusion though as the Horde were not totally victorious on Azeroth , and instead were mostly scattered or taken to internment camps .