What we know about Alani so far (update 03.11.12)

Colour match

 Current quick information

• Shards drop from mobs killed for dailies, and regular (lvl 90 mobs, normal and elite)
• Shards drop in different zones but from player reports, a lot drop in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. 
• Shards can be found in the dailies reward bag (would like screenshot proof of it) Thanks to Highlanddevil for the screenshot.
• Alani drops the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent (thank you Esinar)
• You need to be exalted both with the Order of the Cloud Serpent, and the August Celestials to learn the mount.
• Horde players can kill Alani from the safety of the horde shrine. If you're on a PVP realm and horde, it might be a good idea to pull Alani from there (thanks to Blueprint for the info)

 

Careful: Bug or not, using the crystal doesn't automatically tag Alani to you!

I've been stubborn and levelled to 90 in the Beta... I really wanted to be able to fly and search for these rares, but as far as we know, there's only Galleon, the Sha of Anger, which both are the rare elite world bosses, and the mysterious Alani, a normal rare up to this day.
A fellow Petopian, TheDoomcookie found an npc sitting tucked away on a mountain, that tells us more about Alani.

Loh-Ki watching as Alani glides past

Loh-Ki, the Storm Watcher

Hmm, so we need to harness the very essence of the sky...

TheDoomcookie also found some more information on this on WOWDB:

For once, we need to find Skyshards and collect ten of them, which we then fuse together to form a Sky Crystal. 

But exactly where we get the shards from, and what happens when we remove the shroud that keeps Alani safe so far, noone knows yet. Will she be the new time-lost? Will we have to collect the crystals and wait till she spawns? Will we have to mount her and fight her like Aeonaxx ?

I'm looking forward to finding the answer!

Edit:

On the Beta, a game master has given the crystal that removes Alani's shroud to a player.
The following video shows the fight, but no loot has been implemented yet.

Edit 2:

Survar, a beta player, looted a Skyshard off a questmob in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. You can find his post about it here with a screenshot: http://mop.wowhead.com/item=86547#comments:id=1693079.

What we need to find out now: Is this a zone drop? A lucky world drop? Does it drop off specific quest mobs, any mobs, in any zone? Maybe more players will come across a sky shard as they quest in the newest beta build. However, so far, the shards are bind-on-pickup, so if you want to get ten to forge the sky crystal, it might take a while!

Edit 3:

 

Pockethealer, a player on the beta, told me that he's in possession of two skyshards as I write this. One shard dropped from an elite hozen near Major Nanners in Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
The other dropped from 'tiny men" during brew dailies in the Valley of the Four Winds.


Another skyshard dropping during dailies. The screenshot belongs to Highlanddevil (Petopia Forums)

by Highlanddevil

This screenshot shows the skyshard being looted from a dailies reward bag, also by Highlanddevil (Petopia forums)

Himmelssplitter = Skyshard

So far, we can assume that skyshards only drop from level 90 dailies- and regular mobs (like the elite hozen), but they're not zone specific.With mobs, I mean those that are meant to be killed by level 90 players.

Edit 4 (25.08.2012)

Thanks to Esinar and his dedication of farming the ten sky shards, we have a confirmation that Alani in fact drops the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent as we thought he would.

Esinar's excellent kill video is below:

 

Future questions:

• If the crystal is consumed upon removing the shroud, what happens if Alani kills you?
• What happens if you get disconnected during the fight?