Oribos

Oribos
Type	City
Races	Attendant; Broker
Ruler(s)	Arbiter Pelagos; Tal-Inara;
Former ruler(s)	The Arbiter †; Zovaal the Arbiter
Faiths	The Purpose
Affiliation	Independent
Location	Heart of the Shadowlands
PvP status	Sanctuary

Stormwind City • Ironforge • Darnassus
The Exodar • Shrine of Seven Stars
Stormshield • Boralus (Boralus Harbor)

Shattrath City
Dalaran
Oribos
Valdrakken

Orgrimmar • Thunder Bluff • Undercity
Silvermoon City • Shrine of Two Moons
Warspear • Dazar'alor (Great Seal)

Oribos, the Eternal City (pronounced oh-ree-bus^[2] and also known as the Undying City)^[3] is a very ancient city located at the heart of the Shadowlands. All souls who enter the Shadowlands are first sent here to be judged by the Arbiter before being sent off to their appropriate afterlives.^[3] Constructed by the First Ones^[4]^[5] and predating all memory,^[1] the Eternal City serves as a nexus between the various domains of the Shadowlands and is a gathering point for power brokers, wheelers, dealers, and anima traders. Oribos is the central player hub of the Shadowlands.^[1]^[6]

Oribos is the first destination of the departed.^[7] Oribos is the gateway to the afterlives of the Shadowlands, where souls begin their journey in the thereafter and the first sight a soul beholds with their newly unliving eyes after their arrival is the eternal city.^[8]

With the Arbiter having gone mysteriously dormant and with all incoming mortal souls being damned to the Maw, Oribos and its Attendant and Broker inhabitants welcome members of both the Alliance and the Horde to the citadel, but force them to set aside their differences while inside its walls^[9] as the city is considered sacred neutral ground.^[10]

Getting there[]

Oribos can be reached through portals in the Pathfinder's Den in Orgrimmar and the Wizard's Sanctum (mage tower) in Stormwind, as well as portals located in the various Shadowlands zones:^[9]

Geography[]

Grimoire - Oribos map — Cross-sectional map of Oribos in the *Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond*

Flowing through the very center of Oribos is the Soul Pillar. This is made up of all the mortal souls entering the Shadowlands, which are now all flowing into the Maw. Brokers offer their wares in the Hall of Curiosities, while profession trainers can be found in the Hall of Shapes and a bank can be accessed in the Hall of Holding. From the Ring of Transference, travelers can use portals and flight master's services to reach the other Shadowlands zones, while portals back to Orgrimmar and Stormwind City in the land of the living are available at the city's entrance. The Arbiter herself resides in a sacred chamber atop the very crown of Oribos, where she has judged every mortal soul crossing into the Shadowlands since the dawn of time.^[9]

Maps and subregions[]

VZ-Oribos — Map of the main level of Oribos (Ring of Fates)

Map of the Ring of Transference
Map of the Broker's Den
Map of the Crucible

The Enclave
Hall of Curiosities
Hall of Holding
Hall of Shapes
Idyllia
Ring of Fates
Ring of Transference

Notable characters[]

Koltira and Thassarian looking at the Maw

Main article: Oribos NPCs

Various notable characters from Warcraft history show up in Oribos, incuding:

Bolvar Fordragon, Calia Menethil, and Taelia Fordragon (at the Enclave)
Baine Bloodhoof, Thrall, and Jaina Proudmoore (after freeing them from Torghast)
Highlord Darion Mograine (patrols)
Thassarian and Koltira Deathweaver (^{[34.6, 24.0]} looking at the Maw)
Admiral Taylor ^{[75.3, 63.3]}
Sunwalker Dezco ^{[64.0, 79.0]}
Ol' Emma and Philia Fintallas ^{[56.2, 24.3]} in the Hall of Holding
Griftah ^{[50.2, 43.2]} in the Broker's Den

Notes and trivia[]

If a player dies in Oribos, they will automatically resurrect at the touchstone next to Fatescribe Roh-Tahl^{[78.1, 50.3]} as soon as they Release Spirit.
Prior to patch 9.0.5, jumping off the edge of the city would cause the player to be magically halted in mid-air and teleported back to up to the nearest ledge after a few seconds. After 9.0.5, players who jump out of the city will simply fall to their deaths.
Emissary Ba'silk refers to the city as an "ancient engine".
Oribos is constructed of a strange ore that the brokers have not found anywhere else but which is also found in a [Ring of Otherworldly Metal] held by Mordretha, a champion of Maldraxxus' Theater of Pain.^[11] In addition, some [Unusual Automaton Parts] found within the belly of the gorm queen Tred'ova appear similar in design to the walls of Oribos, but the brokers claim to have never seen anything like it moving around the city.^[12]
The coiled single serpent is a symbol of the First Ones.^[13]

Inspiration[]

There are various Greek and Norse motifs within Oribos, among general references to death that are largely universal.
- For Arbiter specific inspiration, see Arbiter#Notes and trivia.
- The name "Oribos", as well as the serpent symbols seen throughout the city, are inspired by the real-life ouroboros symbol, depicting a snake or dragon eating its own tail as a representation of the cycle of life and death. There are two kinds seen:
  - 1) a double snake ouroboros, usually sealed in by four swords of a similar style to the First Ones waystone swords. If you look down the center from the topmost floor of Oribos (as if you were going to enter the Maw), the same snake-like pattern is seen from the interior to descend all the way to the bottom of Oribos. This is similar to the double ouroboros motif throughout the city.
  - 2) a singular snake facing the viewer whose head appears to be bisecting either an hourglass motif or the hilts of two waystone swords. If you stand at the southwestern corner of the topmost floor of Oribos, you will notice that there are two snake-like scaled motifs starting from the top and descending both clockwise and counterclockwise, continuing down to the first floor of Oribos.
- The pronunciation of Oribos is also similar to the correct pronunciation of Erebos, the region of the Greek underworld where the dead first arrive immediately upon death.
  - It could be derived from Latin urbs, which means 'city'.
- A lot of the recurring designs of Oribos strongly resemble the odal rune which means heritage or inheritance.
- Another recurring design is what appears to be an hourglass-like symbol, referencing the sands of time motif or possibly the dagaz rune.
- Another design element seen, such as with the First One's waystone's central object, is possibly referring to the Yngvi rune.
- Flanking the western entrance of Oribos, and along the exterior of the bottom-most segment of Oribos only visible when flying into and out of the city, there is a motif of a golden rod with two blue stones at each end and another pair of snake-like motifs coiling around it. This may be referring to the caduceus of the Greek god Hermes, which historically may have been based upon the symbol for the Sumerian god Ningishzida.
- The recurring use of snake motifs in Oribos gestures to the general recurring use of snakes in mythology within both creation myths and death myths.
- The shape of Oribos from above resembles as octagram, whose use includes as a symbol for the Khatam an-Nabiyyin (the star being a symbol for the Muhammad as the "Seal of Prophets"), the star of Lakshmi (one of the primary goddesses of Hinduism that creates the universe), the star of Ishtar (part of a trinity of motifs, next to a crescent moon for Nannar and a sun for Shamash, mythology used in other parts of the Shadowlands like the Archon), and the symbol of Chaos (incorporated into many franchises, including ones Warcraft is inspired from).