Faith of the Forsaken

Lore Story Forum
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And so I rise again.

Let’s talk religion, folks! Particularly the religion of dead people.
The Forsaken, specifically.
This is a Forsaken thread.

-The Cult of Forgotten Shadow and why it’s the pits now
For the unaware, the Cult of Forgotten Shadow was the Forsaken’s original religion. Less of a faith and more of a philosophy. Based on the writings of a heretical acolyte, Natalie Seline.

The Cult of Forgotten Shadow also got dunked on during Legion. Long story short, it was pretty much severed from the Forsaken and made it’s own organization and Seline was raised as a flesh-and-blood, still-living Human.
Good for her, I guess.

So, for me, the Cult of Forgotten Shadow is dead. Even making Seline an Undead wouldn’t do it for me at this point. I think it’s time for something new.

-The Discipline Spec: Finding Balance

Are you familiar with the Disc spec for Priests? Let me link you part of its tasty description.

Some priests pride themselves on pragmatism. They understand that light casts a shadow, that darkness is defined by light, and that true discipline stems from one’s ability to balance these opposing powers in services of a greater cause.

Bonus question: Are you familiar with the Cult of Forgotten Shadow’s actual philosophy? It can be easy to think of them as just pure Shadowpriests. After all, that’s what they were turned into with Legion.

But it wasn’t always so. I’ll let my boy Dark Cleric Beryl fill you in.

Our power comes from darkness and shadow, , but that is not your only role. You have acknowledged that there is merit in knowing the healing arts. This is wise. But before you can know the dark, you must also know the light. And for this, I have a test for you.

Boy oh boy, don’t that look similar to Disc’s description above?
It’s this philosophy that I’d love to see return.
Particularly because Discipline seems to lack a lot of meaningful representation in the lore.

Can you think of a Priest character who actually balances Light and Shadow? Genuine question. Let me know if you find one.
Even then, do you recall was Disc’s Artifact Weapon was in Legion?
It was Ashbringer 2.0: The Staff Version.
That doesn’t sound very Light/Shadow balancy.

So to me, this is an excellent opportunity to assault two birds with one brick.
To give the Forsaken their faith back, and to give Disc some actual meat.

And as loath as I am to have Calia be relevant, this can actually be a decent spot for her.
Gives her an actual role in Forsaken society beyond just being a dead princess.

Bonus points if using the Shadow has a similar effect on her that using the Light does for regular Undead.

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I thought that the Forsaken society’s beliefs consist of groups among the population who either;

  • Still worship the Light
  • Are part of the Cult of Forgotten Shadow.
  • Follow the cult of personality around Sylvanas
  • The irreligious
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The Cult of Forgotten Shadow was the main faith of the Forsaken in the same way the Holy Light is that of Stormwind.

-You’d be hard-pressed to find any Forsaken who still worship the Light. Especially since using it leads to incredible pain and, most often, self-destruction. I know they exist in the lore, but they are an incredible minority.

-To reiterate, the Cult was the main religion of the Forsaken, but was apparently transformed into a neutral organization in Legion,.

-One can be a member of the Cult of Forgotten Shadow and be a Sylvanas fan.

-Ironically, you can actually be irreligious and a member of the Cult. As detailed above, the OG Cult of Forgotten Shadow wasn’t a faith as much as it was a philosophy.
The Light and Shadow were things to be used, not necessarily worshipped.

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What I love about Forsaken spirituality is it’s less of an organized religion and more of a philosophy centered around the psychology of The Shadow. Jungian philosophy and ego-dystonic complex.

Shadowlands and Sylvanas’s own arc was a perfect example of Shadow work and I think it’s great that even though it’s not apparent, her arc was still staying true to the Forsaken concept of divine humanism and Jungian philospohy. It was a spiritual Shadowlands arc, that no one is talking about.

This cinematic is basically Sylvanas confronting her own Jungian Shadow and merging with it. This is considered Positive disintegration in psycology terms.

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I was just saying what I think are the various belief groups of Forsaken as a whole. I wasn’t just talking about Cult of Forgotten Shadow adherents.

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The Cult of the Forgotten Shadow would have had to be alive at some point to be dead.

There’s practically no lore on it. Your quote from the Dark Cleric is pretty much all there is on the topic. All the actually quite interesting humanist philosophy stuff and things like Lightslayers are from the non canon RPG book. Which is weird as Lilian Voss is one in all but name.

So I don’t think it needs resurrection so much as it needs to be born. Personally I’d go with Shadow Cast By The Light aesthetic. For their churches I’d just rearrange some Venthyr stuff as they already have a lot of crypts covered in stained glass. And for motiffs just go with momento moris and raven wings.

Beyond that I do think the Forsaken should have a miniority that has kept their Light faith. The Argent Dawn has a bunch of undead NPCs so there is precedence.

And also have their allies rub off on them. I could picture a lot of Forsaken worshipping Shadra, Hireek, Jani and Bwomsamdi. And more warrior type Forsaken may take a shine to the Orc’s ancestor worship. Hell even a fringe miniority might have some appreciation for the Earthmother. Clayton Backston would probably pray for her to favor his garden at any rate.

And between all this you’d probably have undead who simply don’t care about the concept of faith. Afterall they’re already living an afterlife.

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