Rancora

**Rancora** is the homeworld of the aranasi species, referred to as a 'landscape of skittering pools and festering death.'

## History

At some point after the Burning Legion's founding, Rancora was visited by the demonic army. With no written record of these events, none can say what exactly happened at that time, other than the aranasi were allowed to continue their existence and were elevated with greater demonic forms as well as a place among the ranks of the Legion.

Shortly after this induction, the skies darkened above Rancora as a colossus of flesh and tentacles slammed into the planet's surface, decimating a sizable chunk of the surrounding broods' populations. As the creature began to root itself into the ground, chitinous beings quickly erupted from its mass and poured forth to meet the aranasi head-on. The aranasi were soon to learn that the creatures were touched by the Void.

What the living, grotesque mountain and its beings (eventually termed Hivers by the aranasi, in reference to their lairs) did not account for was the newfound hatred and hunger that burned through the arachnid demons' bodies. Before the Void forces could advance much further beyond the initial impact crater, the entirety of Rancora's aranasi broods rallied, falling upon the Hivers and their god in a fel-fueled frenzy.

In the bloody aftermath, the god and its Hivers were nearly entirely consumed. Only few Hivers were permitted to live in the days ahead, their lives utterly controlled by the broodmothers who were interested in utilizing them for servitude.

Having gleefully proven themselves worthy of their new fel gift, the aranasi gained a permanent place within the Legion, as well as Sargeras' trust. Despite this, Rancora was largely left alone, and many demons to this day are less than interested in being stationed on the fetid planet.

## Leadership

Rancora is controlled by three major brood families, their coexistence guaranteed only for the fact that each brood generally prefers to occupy specific biomes. Each major brood boasts an incredible amount of lesser groups.

#### Dreadlurk

The Dreadlurk brood is the oldest group of aranasi upon Rancora, yet has maintained the smallest population. Its queen, Brood Queen Veraki, hails from the bloodline that originally accepted the fel gift. Sticking to tradition, she keeps the Dreadlurk close to the Burning Legion, and outfits her territory with Legion structures and technology that allow other demons a slightly more comfortable foothold upon the planet.

#### Blightweb

The Blightweb, led by the mad Brood Queen Lazai, are obsessed with the spread of their territory over the surface world with only shallow caverns for spawning. The air around their territory is insufferable, stagnant with the fetid stench of great felslag pools overflowing beneath their nests - hence the name Blightweb.

#### Deepterror

The Deepterror brood, led by Brood Queen Setath, keeps itself largely out of major aranasi affairs by burrowing deep underground. Setath's brood digs the deepest tunnels within Rancora, and have become light-sensitive over generations of expanding deeper into the planet's crust. Due to this developed weakness and distance away from the Legion and other aranasi, the Deepterror are apathetic to goings-on outside their territory.