What Zephras Isle is
Zephras Isle is a floating island high above Azeroth and the new starting zone for the Skyborne. Blizzard described it on stage as wooden docks in the clouds, with ships moored to stone spires by chains - architecture that visibly borrows from Skywall, the elemental plane of air.
The island covers levels 1 through 12. Every Skyborne character starts here, regardless of whether the faction choice landed on Horde or Alliance. From there the journey continues into the familiar zones of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.
Where the Skyborne come from
Blizzard has since put a date on their origin: their history begins with "rebels who fled Eldre'Thalas after the War of the Ancients and eventually found refuge in Skywall, where wind spirits anchored their island home in the elemental plane." That places the Skyborne on the same lore thread as Shen'dralas, the Kalimdor zone built around Eldre'Thalas - two new regions, one shared origin.
Where the Skyborne come from, what the pact with Skywall actually cost them and who the third group on the island is: see the Skyborne and Skywall and the Al'Aketh.
The pact with Skywall
The pact is not background flavour, it is the conflict of the zone, and it is breaking down: "Their elemental benefactors have vanished, the pylons that hold Zephras together are failing, and portions of the island have begun falling into ruin and darkness."
Part of the people holds to the elemental tradition, another considers the arcane legacy of the ancestors - or something darker - the better path. This is exactly what the faction choice at character creation hangs on. The Windshaper side joins the Horde and unlocks Shaman, the High Order joins the Alliance and unlocks Mage. Both share an ancestry but, in Blizzard's words, "no longer share a common vision for the future."
There is a third group. The Al'Aketh contest the island alongside the Windshapers and the High Order, but they are not a faction choice at character creation - Blizzard has said nothing beyond the name so far.
What makes the starting zone notable
Zephras Isle is the first entirely new starting experience in years and the first one that is not on the ground. The Skyborne bring their own racials, voices, dances and customization options; druids get dedicated Skyborne forms.
The four racials
Blizzard has named them, with numbers. Three apply to both factions, one differs - the same split as the classes:
- Walk on Air - glide downward through the air for 10 seconds. Both factions.
- Wind Blessed (passive) - 3% increased melee, ranged and spellcasting Haste (1% until the build of 15 October). Both factions.
- Elemental Insight (passive) - damage to Elementals increased by 5%. Both factions.
- Skysight - draw on a convergence of the elements: 10% more movement and mounted speed. Windshaper only, so Horde.
- Read Leyline - tap a nearby leyline: 100% more health and mana regeneration. High Order only, so Alliance.
That is five lines but four racials per character: two active, two passive - exactly the pattern Forever states for every race.
For both faction-specific abilities the duration depends on whether something is actually nearby: with no convergence in range Skysight lasts 30 seconds instead of 15 minutes, and Read Leyline without a leyline 30 seconds as well (15 until the build of 15 October). Both are tied to places, not just to a cooldown. Since that build both can be cast while moving, Walk on Air has a 90-second cooldown instead of two minutes, and most zones in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor have more spawn points for convergences and leylines.
One line is more notable than it looks. Elemental Insight stays with the High Order too, the side that turned away from the elemental pact to pursue the arcane legacy. Breaking with the wind spirits is a matter of conviction; the bonus against elementals is untouched by it.
How that compares with the other eight races is on the racial abilities page - all ten sets side by side, split by Horde and Alliance.
The Horde gets something here the Alliance does not
From the beta: a quest on Zephras Isle hands druids an idol and shamans a totem, both at level 5 - and both on the Horde side only.
The reason sits in the race itself: only a Windshaper Skyborne can be a shaman, and they go to the Horde. The Alliance side gets mages instead of shamans, and with them no such quest.
In practice a Horde druid and a Horde shaman leave the starting zone with a piece of gear their Alliance counterparts do not have. The values are in the beta client, down to how much mana the totem saves per rank of Lightning Bolt. Blizzard has announced none of it.
What to know before you plan
The race and its starting zone are not part of the plain subscription. They require at least the Skyborne Heroic Pack - a point that drew considerable criticism after the announcement, since WoW: Forever is otherwise explicitly included with a subscription.
Still open
Blizzard has not given a quest count for the island, nor said whether Zephras Isle keeps a role past level 12. Nothing official exists yet on reputations, professions or a possible endgame connection.
