Orc Paladin Proposal

This topic is meant to spur discussion. Given the fact that we have Mag’har priests, this opened up a door for me to think. Usually the Shadowmoon have been represented as shaman*, so the inclusion of making Mag’har be able to be priests offers a couple of intriguing ideas. Though one of them is that the Shadowmoon continued studying Void magic long after the Dark Star was stopped in their Valley, the idea I’m particularly latched to is the idea that in the 35 years that passed on Draenor, the Draenei trained some orcs to be able to call upon the Light.
(*The reason I say this is because Ner’zhul is considered the greatest shaman of his time and represents the Shadowmoon Clan.)

With the potential of orcs learning the ways of the Light, I would almost expect them to become Paladins before they have practicing clergymen. The reasoning behind this is that orcs trend towards warfare, even during periods of peacetime. Draenor is a wild and untamed place, no doubt made more dangerous by the events of Warlords of Draenor. Rogue demons, destroyed infrastructure, Iron Horde remnants, the fungal approach, and other potential Azerothian created problems. Trustworthy Frostwolves or Shadowmoon Exiles might be the first to seek this path, perhaps chosen by High Exarch Yrel.

Though never widespread, a population of orcs are put into training to become potential vindicators. Most of them are incapable of dedicating themselves to the path, both due to pressure from their clans, as well as just the lack of faith to do it. But those who managed, they’d be the first holy warriors of their entire species, both MU and AU. Of that small group, most of them would join the Lightbound when it came to war, a small few choosing to try to bring peace. Their mission failed, the surviving orcish vindicators choosing to hide their powers and reluctantly flee Draenor.

Of the few who remained, they began seeing faults in the methods of the Draenei vindicator. What path might an orcish paladin take? What would they call themselves? Would they follow the path of Aggramar, possibly even pre-downfall Sargeras? Is is possible they’d still adopt some methods of the Naaru but add them to new Titanic teachings? Could these Mag’har stand opposed to their people as the return to the ways of the Iron Horde? What would the Mag’har think of the Vindicators among them?

I like the name of “Vadnod’rogahn”. (Really roughly translated as Heroes of Will.) My thoughts on these orcish paladins is that they’d definitely eventually take Aggramar’s path, taking a much more vengeful and aggressive path of the paladin than any paladin we’ve seen. Their foes are numerous, and the Light has blessed them with the power to destroy them all.

So what are your thoughts, WrA forums?

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I think you’re overthinking it.

Paladins operate off both Light, but also conviction. The less a Paladin doubts, the stronger a Paladin is, hence why the Light serves objectively evil organizations as much as the good ones.

And who spends less thoughts about the morality of their actions than Orcs?

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I like the idea. I feel like orc paladins would be very rare, maybe so rare that only a few should appear as NPCs first as a hint to a class later. Because the facts that priests exists makes sense that they should paladins. Or at least light wielding warriors!
To be honest, I feel like orc warriors of the light make more sense then priests due to their fighting ancestry, but it could of been a balance issue (since Zandalari).

But it’d be really cool to see a whole seperate warband dedicated to light warrior orcs. They could possibly create their own belief system, system and so forth! Their own clothing, banner and armor. Body paint blessed by the light to glow or shimmer with the Light’s holy aura that helps empower them with others getting sacred tattoos (that dont glow that would look too light forged.)

As much as Gotosh does not like seeing orcs go that way, it is definitely a very cool thing to think about!

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Yeah, the reason I was considering this was because I’m leveling a Lightforged Paladin to get the feel of the game again, and thought about Paladins while making up her character. I was thinking about the potential of making an RP character who is one of the “Vadnod’rogahn”, but is keeping it a secret from others. At a glance, they just appear to be a simple warrior. But through inspection of their actions and storyline, someone might be able to draw upon the fact they’re hiding something.

That’s where this whole line of thinkin’ popped up from.

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I dont much about lore in this area, but isn’t a paladin just a priest with a sword? Wouldnt any race that has priests be able to be a paladin?

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It goes a lot deeper than priests in armor. Paladins have some pretty developed differences between the clergy they come from.

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Orc paladins make more sense than orc priests

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And no, I will not offer any evidence for my opinion

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is still mildly shocked Sint changed their look

They do?

I’m not trying to be flippant. There just doesn’t feel like much of a divide.

Yeah! At least, I think so. It’s often implied that becoming a paladin is a lot harder than becoming a priest, there’s very specific rituals and training that has to be done to actually be a paladin. The paladin, unlike the priest, doesn’t just use the Light. They embody the Light, in a sense.

Consider them akin to the divide between a Death Knight and a Necromancer. At face value, a Death Knight just looks like a Necromancer in armor, but the Death Knight has a lot of different skills to the Necromancer. They may draw upon the same power, but their methods and abilities do eventually wildly differ.

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No, their methods are pretty much the same as everyone’s: hurl the Light/swords/ice/fire at a thing until it stops moving.

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Paladins literally have a ritual where they have the Light put into them, making them basically Light-powered shocktroopers. They’re not just Priests with swords, otherwise being a Paladin would just be… Easy, for any priest.

Arthas has the ritual done and there’s a searing pain as he’s like, infused with Light in the Rise of the Lich King novel, and it’s a whole big event that 4 of the original Paladins and multiple other Kings show up for, Daelin, Genn and Thoras.

If there wasn’t a distinct difference, I don’t think they’d put so much effort into making a difference clear.

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Wait, where?

Arthas: Rise of the Lich King.

Well, no need to trouble yourself with the page number, just tell me where in the game the ritual happens.

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the paladin order hall. you induct a night elf paladin. the highlord of the silver hand casts a powerful spell on delas moonfang to officiate her as a paladin, as she sits before a massive crowd of other paladins.

the player character does the ritual.

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Well, Paladins can’t be that virtuous if they’re just going around naming deranged adventurers as the conductor of their most sacred rites.

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The player character is the Highlord of the Silver Hand, Enekie.

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Thought for MU orcs: they learn to use the light from their light-wielding allies because at this point why not? Communication of ideas happens a lot so perhaps the horde really becomes unified or something.

Overall I’d be leery on orc paladins because class-race lore no longer really matters, and that really disappoints me. Tauren and Zandalari paladins offer no interesting alternatives to alliance paladins, in any sense of the word, and playing other MMOs reminds me of how much I miss class-based quests and how much I wish individual races’ takes on those classes mattered.

But it’d be fine, I suppose. How good do they look in paladin tier?