I’m not sure if this has been talked about before on the forums, but I’m interested in a bit of a lore discussion about this matter, on which I always see two perspectives. As the title indicates, I’m curious if people think that the power-brokers in Quel’thalas are Aristocrats, or people appointed on the basis of their skills?
My immediate instinct would be a meritocracy - the Farstriders, Magisters and Blood Knights all seem to have significant military and civil influence in the quests, and certainly pop up a lot more often than the nobility. Additionally, Lor’themar’s two closest advisors appear to be his Grand Magister and Ranger-General - not a council of nobles or anything like that.
But then, on the flipside, there’s Lord Saltheril in Eversong, who seems able to give orders to the local Magistrix (Magistrix Landra) who seems to have a role in the defence of Fairbreeze Village. She appears to disregard them, or at least respond in frustration and send the adventurer to deal with the problem. Even so, it could be implied that Saltheril has at least enough influence to evoke a response from local administrative authorities.
In the RP community there’s definitely a divide on this issue, from what I’ve seen. I’ve seen nobles in Silvermoon attempting to lord it over everyone else, and I’ve seen Magisters and Farstriders refusing vehemently any attempts to be lorded over. There’s House Guilds that have great influence, and people who think that the nobles have no influence whatsoever.
My personal take is that Blood Elven nobility doesn’t have any true civil or administrative power, unless they are directly involved in a civil or administrative role, which doesn’t seem limited to the nobility. I suppose I’d contend that nobility on its own is similar to the modern British aristocracy, with a lot of formal respect, but not a lot of actual power.
So what’s your take on this one, WRA? I’m curious what Thalassian RPers think!
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I like your takes, personally, and I think I agree with the idea that it’s perhaps closer to a meritocracy- but on the other hand perhaps one of those where whatever titles you have gives your merit a bit more oomph. So the opinion of a regular dude, while it may be of value, would ‘mean more’ if said dude had more social power or influence.
This does make me think of a headcanon I’ve been toying with lately, though! I like to think, especially in the wake of the Third War and Arthas annihilating 90% of the population, that titles and prestige mattered a lot less than what people did and what they offered to help rebuild society. When you’ve lost that much that quickly, I don’t think it matters too much if your neighbor next door says they’re a magister or a merchant, but rather how they helps his people get back on their feet in the ways they can.
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I like the idea that there might be conflict between the nobility and the meritocratic parts of Quel’thalas.
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I have a lot of headcanon on this, but I haven’t had a lot of coffee yet so I’m going to try to do the short version.
I interpret/headcanon that prior to the Third War and the Fall of Silvermoon, the nobility and the Magisters were balanced as separate “branches” of Quel’thalas’s government. In that sense, Quel’thalas was both an aristocracy and a meritocracy, with the two systems acting as checks for one another.
I further interpret/headcanon that, in the wake of the Fall, the nobility have lost a vast amount of their previous sway and the Magisters have taken up most of the power vacuum. A lot of the most powerful individual nobles are probably dead – I recall that many nobility were with Kael’thas in Icecrown, and didn’t make it back out, I think? – and I would expect a lot of houses had their feet knocked out from under them by losing whatever land assets they had to the Scourge’s destruction, much of which apparently hasn’t been restored yet.
So basically, my answer is “yes.” They have meritocratic institutions, and aristocratic ones. The meritocratic ones appear to be on top right now, but I think it probably wasn’t always that one-sided between them and the nobility.
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I never thought about meritocracy as the comparative option B, but it’s a great pck. Warcraft’s a lot better at telling us how the big heroes got where they were rather than how they govern.
It’s more of a general impression than a researched conclusion, but I figure a Blood Elf has to know some combination of the right stuff and the right people to get where they are. The emphasis might have been more on the latter in the post-Troll Wars pre-Scourge era, but things don’t look outright egalitarian at present day.
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Man I love some of these headcanons that the dwindling of the aristocracy began with the fall of Quel’thalas - making the less practically useful roles pretty obsolete.
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I see it as being partly because they’re less practically useful, but largely because, while they were useful in the past, the things that made them useful are things they no longer have. For example, land – if a given house’s former holdings are part of the Ghostlands now, and you can’t use that place for food or housing anymore, then congratulations, your house has extremely little to offer.
Meanwhile, the Magistry is over here providing the magical means for your civilization’s continued existence – first by using arcane sanctums and fel to sustain everyone without the Sunwell, and then by having the actual Sunwell again, because it appears to me that the Magisters are the people who know the most about the Sunwell, facilitate the use of the Sunwell, and have major say in decisions related to the Sunwell.
If the nobility could still fulfill their purpose (and I have more headcanons about that related to military strength and organization of resources), Quel’Thalas would probably be stronger for it. But if they can’t, then the Magisters, Blood Knights, and Farstriders are indeed objectively more “useful” than them.