Auchenai

The Auchenai, pronounced "AW-ken-eye" were the original guardians of the draenei grave-city of Auchindoun in Terokkar Forest.

They were called "death priests" and "soulpriests" and their duty for over two hundred years was to take care of the spirits and dead of Auchindoun using the Light. However, all changed following the genocide of the draenei who led Exarch Maladaar to madness, leading him to ordain his death priests to begin practicing necromancy and bring back the dead to serve them.

On Azeroth, part of the organization is still present and active in the draenei society.

The Auchenai were a later addition to organizations under the Council of Exarchs, after Maladaar - at the time a member of the Sha'tari - discovered that D'ore's remains had drifted deeper into a Void state, and that they were attracting the souls of draenei who died in the Genedar's crash, which allowed the living draenei to commune with their fallen brethren. As nothing like this had ever happened before in the history of eredar society, the Prophet Velen immediately directed Maladaar and a group of Sha'tari to move D'ore's remains to a secluded place. They found a location on the outskirts of Terokkar Forest that was a safe distance from all other civilizations, and then built an immense mausoleum to house the naaru that the draenei spirits were following. The site became known as Auchindoun, "a Home for the Honored Dead", and Maladaar was named as the fifth exarch on the draenei council as the leader of an order called the Auchenai, responsible for communing with the draenei dead and protecting their souls from harm.

During the Orcish campaign against their kin, the Auchenai fled into the tunnels of Auchindoun. Many vindicators, priests, and Rangari joined them later with civilians who escaped Shattrath, seeking refuge from the Horde's onslaught and to protect their holiest site in Draenor, as they could not bear the thought of the orcs desecrating their ancestors or the naaru housed within. Exarch Maladaar organized the military forces and fortified the tomb city's catacombs, waiting for the inevitable attack. When Teron'gor and his followers stormed Auchindoun on the orders of Gul'dan, they met fierce resistance from the tomb's defenders with their Light-given abilities, while Maladaar and the Auchenai also received aid from Auchindoun's spirits, slaughtering many of the Shadow Council's agents.

As Maladaar and his forces closed in, Teron'gor called on his remaining allies to summon a powerful demon, but in their wild desperation they summoned an otherwordly elemental creature known as Murmur who materialized within Auchindoun. The shockwave of its arrival ripped the earth asunder, killing many of the draenei and blasting apart the tomb city. Exarch Maladaar and a handful of his followers used their magics to shield themselves from the blast. Though they survived, they no longer had the numbers to resist the Shadow Council who overwhelmed the draenei and bound them in chains.

The Auchenai anchorite Nemuraan, one of the survivors of the genocide who took refuge in the halls of Auchindoun with a group of surviving draenei, helped the Alliance Expedition by guiding them inside the ruined mausoleum. Before the battle, he appealed the spirit of Boulestraan the Blinding Light alongside an army of spectral draenei warriors, in order to rescue Kurdran Wildhammer from the hands of the Horde. He revealed to Danath Trollbane that only a handful of Auchenai remained in the grave-city and that they would stay in Draenor as long as their dead lied there, for they would be tended.

Sadly, the Void energies emanating from D'ore turned mad this priory, they no longer believing that the dead should be left alone to rest. The Auchenai leader Exarch Maladaar has been driven mad by the loss of everyone and everything he had ever loved. His lunatic dedication to the preservation of their memory drove him to a mastery of the dark arts, Once he turned to necromancy, he created Shirrak the Dead Watcher to guard over the fallen draenei spirits who wander the Auchenai Crypts. Many unsavory experiments were then undertaken in the Auchenai Crypts in the pursuit of a greater understanding of the necromantic arts. Many spirits were tortured or destroyed therein.

In the month before the fall of the Black Temple, a force of Shadowmoon clan fel orcs led by Grimbak Shadowrage accompanied Illidan Stormrage when he ventured to Auchindoun to gather souls for a portal to Argus. All of the fel orcs, including Grimbak, were slain during the subsequent battle by the Auchenai defending the area.

Later, Commander Ra'vaj and his soldiers came into conflict with the Auchenai and fought them for days in the Bone Wastes. As the souls from both camps were lifted and taken to parts unknown, the commander asks adventurers to burn the bodies of his soldiers and the Auchenai on the battlefield, then to keep occupied the Auchenai who continue to grow in number as his scouts get behind their lines. They discovered that the Auchenai were feeding the souls they steal to a coffin, that they have dragged out from the Auchenai Crypts, in order to resurrect the first exarch of the crypt inside to defeat the Sha'tar.

However, their attempt was unsuccessful as the adventurers destroyed the coffin and the undead exarch.

Eventually, adventurers were sent by Greatfather Aldrimus to destroy Exarch Maladaar and his abominations, so that the spirits trapped in the Auchenai Crypts can finally rest in peace. After his death, the naaru D'ore appeared and redeemed the spirit of the Auchenai leader, which eventually appeared to Greatfather Aldrimus, kneeling in front of his master to thank him for releasing him from the dark ones' hold.

Following the Cataclysm, a Tormented Soulpriest appeared in the Auchenai Crypts, furious that the Auchenai have turned their backs on everything they used to stand for, as they continue to raise the dead as unholy minions. She asked adventurers to put the spirits back to rest, and to massacre those responsible for raising them into undeath.

During the Burning Legion's third invasion of Azeroth, the Auchenai were still active in the ruined halls of Auchindoun. At the request of the naaru Saa'ra, in order to fill the Spark of Light (item) and reveal its full potential with pure Light, the Auchenai were attacked by the champions of the Conclave who entered the halls and fought against Idra the Crazed and some Auchenai zealots, and managed to get to the regenerating D'ore and its holy shrine.

During the Fourth War, Auchenai ballistae were present at the Battle for Lordaeron, indicating that part of the organization still exists as part of Azeroth's draenei society, and fought alongside the Alliance against the Horde.

Even before their fall into madness, the "death priests" were allowed to see the world of the dead after drinking a potion during a rite of initiation. Many did go mad from it, though.

They were able to summon their fallen kin using the Light, but this was later replaced by enslaving the soul with necromancy.

The death priest Nemuraan showed Danath Trollbane that he was able to use his magic to learn their language and speak it perfectly.

In Outland, their main base is the Auchenai Crypts in the ruins of Auchindoun, where their leader, Exarch Maladaar resided. Others can be found in the Bone Wastes outside of Auchindoun, where they fight fierce battles against the soldiers of the Sha'tar and the Lower City of Shattrath.

In Azeroth, the part of the organization that still exists in the draenei society is most certainly based in the Exodar with the rest of their people.

• Auchenai Death-Speaker
• Auchenai Doomsayer
• Auchenai Initiate
• Auchenai Monk
• Auchenai Necromancer
• Auchenai Soulpriest
• Auchenai Vindicator
• Auchenai Warrior
• Auchenai Zealot
• Slain Auchenai Warrior
• Auchenai Ballista (Ruins of Lordaeron)

• Auchenai Anchorite's Robe
• Auchenai Boots
• Auchenai Bracers
• Auchenai Death Shroud
• Auchenai Healing Potion
• Auchenai Mana Potion
• Auchenai Monk's Tunic
• Auchenai Staff
• Auchenai Tracker's Hauberk

• Exarch Maladaar's Dungeon Journal entry implies that none of them are alive, despite not being marked as undead.

Auchenai Auchenaïs