[Guide] Night Elf Roleplay

Lore World's End Tavern: Role-play and Fan Fiction
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I believe the Ravencrests were a Patriarchal House as well.

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Updated the guide with new forum features. It should now contain in-article links from the Table of Contents and the formatting should appear more cleaned up.

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In a new lore, Zul’jin, is shown as being alive during the troll wars. That would be what Drahliana is referring to.

Has it been decided whether night elves are matriarchal or not? I see everyone’s seemingly wanting it that way but I’m not convinced. Sure Azshara was their queen, but she lorded over many male leaders or princes. Lord Xavius was the main guy for the highborne, as was Farondis and many others! In fact the only other female leader during the ancient night elf empire is now nightborne. If somehow Azshara were to have been assassinated, who becomes the new ruler? Azshara herself has no hier.

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I believe the new content falls under “speculation” currently, as it has not yet been confirmed. The confirmed lore sources still indicate that Rhastakhan is around /or/ a bit more than 200 years old. Again, this is only Rhastakhan. Previous discussions above suggested “trolls”, possibly all trolls, live longer than night elves. That still does not seem to be the case according to multiple resources, as indicated in my previous post. I understand the speculation, but there’s no citation yet for proof that it is confirmed, or if it’s another on of Blizzard’s lore inconsistencies.

Again, if there is more information about it I’d love to have it shared here - even though this thread is not about trolls.

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I never said they might live longer than elves just that with this lore Zul’jin is seen in the troll wars, making him nearly 2800 years old or more.

https://

wow.gamepedia.

com/Troll_Wars

It’s under the notes area.

I am not saying whether she is right or wrong, but if Zul’jin was alive during the troll wars we do have sources to tell us how long ago that was.

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This may be a mistake on your part but the Pandaren and Nelf interaction in the past is wrong. The pandaren and night elf empires knew each other but the pandaren pulled away from the night elves when they started showing addiction and reckless use of arcane. My favorite story is of the time the wise pandaren empire gave Azshara and the highborne a box with all the arcane magic they would ever need!

The highborne took the box, and lorded over their prize before opening it and discovering the box was empty. A lesson from the pandaren, you don’t need arcane.

If I recall the source is from Pearl of Pandaria.

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I think the section is primarily describing the fact the two empires were technically neighbors to each other. And they must have had “ties” to each other for the Pandaren to sever them in the first place. But you’re right, it would be good to see the empty box referenced in this section and the other canon resources that describe some living among each other for a time.

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Thank you for your response, Fushan. I’m really grateful you questioned this, because this section is in dire need of references and a bit of a face-lift. Below is an updated version to that specific portion of the guide. I’d love you to let me know what you think.

Pandaren
More than 12,000 years ago, when the Kaldorei were still settling around the Well of Eternity the Mogu had already conquered a swath of territory and enslaved the ancient Pandaren in it. Despite their best attempts to prevent an uprising, the Mogu were eventually overthrown by a Pandaren rebellion.[167] Between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, before the night elves addiction to arcane magic, the ancient elves and Ancient pandaren were were close allies.[168] Presently there is no canon evidence in-game or in novels to illustrate their relations during that time, but it is speculated that they were closer to one another over other neighboring empires such as the troll empires (which sided with the mogu and were sometimes openly hostile to the night elf empire).[169]

After the night elves grew too obsessed with the Eternal Well, the pandaren decided to sever their ties and close their border in Pandaria.[168] Before their departure, they offered a gift in the form of a chest to the highborne said to contain all the arcane magic they would ever need. However, when the chest was opened, it was found empty. The gift was actually a message of advice and wisdom, which the Highborne did not heed. [170]

In present times the Night Elves seem accepting of Pandaren. There was no evidence of Night Elf monks until the coming of the Tushui Pandaren from the Wandering Isle in recent times. Under modern Pandaren tutelage, the monks craft spread to the various races of Azeroth, including the Night Elves. [132]

Updated citations include:
[167] Chronicle Volume I, page 87, 88, 89
[168] Ask the Devs (China Edition) April 5th 2012
[169] Chronicle Volume I, page 98
[170] Pearls of Pandaria (Comic)

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I might change this to minimal evidence. We have the box and if I recall there is a flavor text from a night elf in the vale saying how his father once talked of Bear men from the south.

As for speculation on why the minimal interaction? The pandaren as evidence by the arcane box were weary of the night elf addiction to the Well of Eternity. Azshara had been drilling into the night elves feelings of pride and arrogance as well as distaste for the lesser races which the pandaren might be included within. This also might include geography, Zandalar was located right inbetween the two, and although Azshara had pacified the Zandalari by saying she would not conquer Zandalar it would still be unlikely they could just walk through troll territory unabated. But again this is just speculation.

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Edited.

Do you recall if this was random NPC flavor text or part of a quest? I’d love to do some digging for the source and see if we can apply it. Thank you much for the feed back again!

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https://

wow.gamepedia.

com/Elloric

Since wow won’t let me post links, you just gotta copy/paste and delete spaces.

I am Smuggs, now you know why I was asking about nelves.

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Smuggs! You’re so tall all of a sudden! :joy:

Thank you for the resource, I’m surprised I missed this! I will add it to the guide as well. Shaha lor’ma :+1:

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It’s why I was spying on this thread, I was curious about the highborne. I kept seeing people claim matriarchy for night elves yet people like the Shen’dralar were lead by their prince when Queen Azshara vanished.

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There is a lot of room for debate on this because of how unique the government is and how it has changed over the course of kaldorei history.

First, “kaldorei” was once used as a broader term for both night elves and highborne. It was not until castes began to form in ancient kaldorei society that there was a variation between the two cultures.

In ancient times, the Kaldorei Empire was ruled by a monarchy. There was a single monarch, the only one we know of being Queen Azshara. There is plenty of supporting evidence in the lore that male nobility existed, and it’s more likely that in ancient times the empire was not a matriarchal society.

The night elven government post-sundering is a theocracy, meaning the Sisterhood is the primary ruling body. The Sisterhood was originally comprised exclusively of women, and it was not until after the Battle for Mount Hyjal that men were permitted to study at the Temples. For a 10,000 year period of time, female priestesses from the Sisterhood of Elune served as the defacto leaders of the society. This makes the night elven government matriarchal, at least during that period of time.

Today, the gender roles in night elf society have shifted again. Since the Battle for Mount Hyjal, men and women have been permitted to join any night elven order, from the Sisterhood and Sentinel Army (both formerly exclusive to females) to the Cenarion Circle (formerly exclusive to males). Also, the High Priestess and Sisterhood is not ruling alone. The Cenarion Circle has had a hand in co-leading the night elf people, being that it is one of the most ancient kaldorei orders still in existence. Before Malfurion Stormrage’s return, Tyrande Whisperwind and Fandral Staghelm worked together to watch over the Darnassian faction and its lands; albeit with a very strained relationship.

The return of Highborne unrelated to the mistakes of Dath’Remar Sunstrider did seem to shift things again after the Cataclysm. As of the War of the Thorns pre-patch, we have seen Darnassian Mages among the rank and file of the Sentinel Army (as NPCs). Mordent Evenshade still appears to be leading the Shen’dralar as well, and he and his highborne people are very much a part of the night elf efforts to reclaim Darkshore and Northern Kalimdor.

At this point, I would argue that we’re seeing a reunification of a once-great ancient society. Night elves and highborne are working together as the kaldorei of old once did. As for whether the society is matriarchal or patriarchal? I would say it’s neither at this point. There have been many male and female leaders throughout kaldorei history and today many of them work together. The society is simply theocratic, one that values two religions with long histories of male (druidism) /or/ female (priesthood) dominion.

Female Leaders Male Leaders
High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind (Sisterhood) Archdruid Maldurion Stormrage (Cenarion Circle)
General Shandris Feathermoon (Sentinel Army) Jarod Shadowsong (The Watchers/Sentinel Army)
Maiev Shadowsong (The Watchers) Mordent Evenshade (Shen’dralar)
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There’s less evidence for the ancient Night Elf empire to have been a matriarchal society than there is to have been a fairly caste based one, and most likely a caste system based on magical ability imposed by the eponymous Queen Azshara.

The ruins off the waters of the East Kingdom include figures which surprisingly model those of the Sin’dorei and Quel’dorei which may indicate that their change from their Night Elf forms may have been more of a throwback effect. or that the Kal’dorei may have had more than one form during the Empire phase.

Since the Quel’dorei type forms seem to be of individuals in noble dress, perhaps there was another overlapping caste structure based on physiogonny. with most of what are known as Night Elves today being based on commoner or lower caste stock.

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As this character(his new name is Senedar, whenever that updates) is a Shen’dralar, he would never have had to deal with the matriarchal night elf government at that time since they joined during cataclysm.

There is one more question I must figure out. In the new war of thorns short stories a blood elf named Lorash has one of his main reasons to kill the night elves be that he remembers the exile of the highborne. Since we know when that time happened in chronicles volume one, that theoretically makes Lorash a 7000 or so old blood elf? What the heck is going on here?

Lastly, you may notice Senedar is a hunter, and as this is a rp forum, do you feel a magic(mostly arcane) archer is to far fetched for a highborne from Shen’dralar? Instead of shooting regular arrows the arrows themselves would be conjured items, liken it to the conjured bow from Skyrim. In some of the earlier Warcraft games mages could summon scorpions, could that same kinds spells be used to summon “hunter pets?” Thoughts?

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Recent lore indicates High/Blood Elves are longer lived than previously assumed. Before the oldest known example was Anasterian, who was described as something like ‘frail and sickly’ in his age at around 3,000 or so. This vaguely lined up with the fact we knew there were several generations of monarchs.

However, quite a time ago as well, it was mentioned either Alleria or Vereesa fought in the Troll Wars, putting them around the same age while not being old and frail. It was kind of brushed off.

And now, in the recent audio drama A Thousand Years of War, Alleria mentions the Sunwell gives High Elves ‘a sort of immortality’. And now we have Lorash claiming to be around 7,000 years old. So apparently High/Blood Elves are near immortal and technically some could be pre-Sundering, though that would be extremely unlikely.

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England has had 3 powerful female queens, two of them so powerful and influential that ages were named after them. Yet that did not change the fact that even during the rule of those queens the society remained and is still today a Patriarchy where women still have a secondary place in society compared to men.

You have no evidence of the essential requirement of a matriarchy, a systematic gender bias against men that relegates them to a secondary or subordinate role in society.

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Shen’dralar are very unique in that they have their own history that is independent of night elves post-sundering. Of course, their own history does predate the War of the Ancients, as illustrated in Chronicle Volume 1.

Once Queen Azshara’s most revered arcanists, the Shen’dralar (“Those Who Remain Hidden”) were a secretive society charged with the storage and safekeeping of Azshara’s most precious tomes. The order inhabited the ancient city of Eldre’thalas, and only a part of them were accepted back into society after the Cataclysm.

Eldre’thalas was an ancient Highborne city, where the Queen’s most important demands were processed - often in secret [Shen’dralar Ancient Gossip Text, link below]. So, even in ancient times they were a caste apart from the rest of the Empire. The Queen’s favored, and most trusted.

When the Great Sundering occurred, the city barely escaped destruction. Much like the nightborne, Prince Tortheldrin and his followers conjured a spell that shielded the city from the destructive forces of the Sundering [Chronicle Vol. 1].

In the wake of that cataclysmic event, the Shen’dralar and Highborne of Eldre’thalas soon discovered that the Well of Eternity had been consumed. Without the fount of power to draw on, their immortality was diminished. The people fell into a deep lethargy and languished in their isolated “sanctuary” until Prince Tortheldrin formulated a plan to revitalize their power. That power came from a demon named Immol’thar, which Prince Tortheldrin had covertly summoned and bound in a series of pylons that would siphon the demonic energy. Though Tortheldrin’s followers were initially shocked, their objections were settled once they experienced the demon’s energy. “Though dark and volatile, Immol’thar’s power was invigorating and addictive, more so than the Well of Eternity had been” [Chronicle Vol. 1]. This all happened around 7,300 BDP (Before the Dark Portal), and around the same time Dath’Remar Sunstrider and his followers in the north were exiled from Kalimdor by the night elves.

The Shen’dralar lived in relative peace and seclusion in this way up until about 1,200 BDP, when the power required to keep Immol’thar imprisoned began to shift. The cost to keep the demon bound overshadowed the rate at which energy could be siphoned and distributed. Almost overnight, the Prince’s plan unraveled, and the Shen’dralar’s access to the demon’s magic was gone. Desperate to regain power the Prince and his most trusted loyalists turned on their fellow people in Eldre’thalas by culling the population…

This part of Shen’dralar history is by far and away darker than we see in other elven sources. Again, the story of the Nightborne is similar. The leader made use of demonic magic for power, and then there was a shortage. Instead of banishing his people to wither as Magistrix Elisande did, Prince Tortheldrin took a very brutal approach and deliberately murdered/massacred his people.

In various roleplay communities, I have seen many adaptions of his lore and there are a number of highborne roleplayers who are Shen’dralar that embrace the concept of a “civil war” that took place in response to Tortheldrin’s “Cull”. Of course, there’s very little history for them beyond that outside the fact that once the Shen’dralar’s numbers diminished the “Mad Prince” and his followers sealed themselves in a smaller part of Eldre’thalas. Hence the various wings of Dire Maul (Ruins of Eldre’thalas) being overrun.

About Senedar being a hunter? It’s very feasible that he would be one and there is a bit of inspiration to draw upon in the canon lore as well.

Illyanna Ravenoak and her companion, a bear named Ferra, were once Prince Tortheldrin’s most valued hunters. You can read about her lore in the Dire Maul Dungeon Journal in-game, but here is the blurb for you for a quicker reference.

Illyanna Ravenoak, along with her faithful companion Ferra, was once Prince Tortheldrin’s most valued hunter, until she refused to carry out her leader’s order to execute her friends. As punishment, he killed Illyanna and her bear, but he used his demonic power to bind their spirits to their bodies, condemning them to remain in Dire Maul as undead protectors. (Dungeon Journal)

It’s fairly likely, as with the high elves and blood elves and nightborne, that the Shen’dralar were comprised of people with various skill sets because not all highborne are exclusively arcanists. At least, not in such a way that society could function without crafters, tradesmen, politicians and educators - etc.

Another interesting thing to note about Shen’dralar history is the fact that the Ghost Wolf and Wild God, “The Spirit of the Hunter”, Goldrinn came to their aid to help them defend the city against the Burning Legion [Warcraft Encyclopedia/Highborne]. So you might speculate or headcanon that the hunter path became a bit special to the Shen’dralar in the wake of the War of the Ancients.

As far as spells for archery? Go for it. No reason you cannot incorporate “arcane shot” in-character. Plus, we see nightborne hunters with a few interesting tricks up their sleeves as well. If you enjoy it, do it.

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Those would be your standard lesser Kal’dorei, same caste as say Malfurion and Illidan. The Highborne are, or rather "were’ noble caste. Some who fall out of favor, might have been decasted and relegated to the lower servant caste.

It’s also possible that magical servitors were used to do daily work which would have increased the magic drain from their pet demon.