Because I’ve dug into Druid lore and my answer is still;
It would seem to be specifically Elunite but obviously every non Nelf Druid uses it too, and presumably Nelf Priests use an Elunite Light that’s just identical to Holy Light due to damned magical corporate branding.
But seriously what is it?
I think it’s a multi-school of magic combining Arcane with Nature magic, like Shadowfrost or Shadowflame.
It’d be nice if it were also related to the Light in some way to explain the powers wielded by the Sisterhood of Elune but I’ve recently kind’ve felt like Night Elf Priests were sort of soft retconned over time to be more of a Balance Druid/Hunter hybrid rather than traditional Priests that we know in-game. My theory was only reinforced when I stumbled upon Priestesses of the Moon in Amirdrassil decked out in full Druid tier.
Titanic stuff has stars and space as a motiff.
So astral magic could be arcane in nature, it normally deals arcane damage, no?
But being associated with Elune, that seems to be from the “life realm”, maybe not so much?
I’ve always felt like they were Disc Priests mixed with MM/Survival Hunters. Just with Purge The Wicked replaced with Moonbeam.
Yeah, that was my original take as well. The OG Disc talent tree had Night Elven architecture in the backdrop too, which was a subtle nod to that I think.
If any class could stand to have custom glyphs for spell visuals, it would be Priest hands down. There’s so many racial differences that have kind’ve been lost since they stripped the Priest specific abilities from the days of yore, the NE one is actually a Druid ability now which further adds fuel to that theory.
I think the overhaul from Legion was good in some ways, but also kind’ve sucked the ambiguity out of what made it a unique class for each race. Priest especially.
Astral is just arcane magic, with maybe a bit of Nature in there.
One could guess it likely has to do with Elune, especially with Nelves being the original druids.
I’ve never been a fan of it because of that interpretation, but others have different interpretations and that’s fine.
I’ve always viewed ‘astral magic’ as a hand wavey way of addressing the fact that despite banning arcane magic for so long, nelf moon magic was still arcane magic.
Furthermore it seems judging from Shadowlands that Bastion Death Magic and Broker Death Magic are both classified as Arcane Magic despite clearly not being Order Magic.
Ardenweald has Nature Magic despite it being Death Magic as well so Arcane means what it’s name literally means: Secret.
Arcane Magic is Secret Magic. Any Secret Magic in any Cosmic Force is Arcane by definition.
Astral Magic thus is Secret Nature Magic not Secret Order Magic mixed with Nature Life Magic.
Astral Magic is still of the Cosmic Force of Life just a combination of Life’s Arcane and Life’s Nature while Lunar Magic is just Life’s Arcane.
Who knows
Too many types of magic in this game
I have generally viewed Astral Magic as a form of druidic arcane magic which generally works within the natural patterns of nature unlike Order magic, which forces Arcane energy to flow in patterns that defy the natural order.
I liked that it seemed to be all cosmic with different spell damage types. That it isn’t purely Nature or of a planet - it has the powers of stars and the sun and moon. It isn’t entirely Arcane, either. I always wanted more lore on the cosmic / astral side of the Balance spec.
The Lunalai seemed like a great way to go into that aspect of Druidism, but they haven’t been mentioned much. I am always happy to see a little bit of that lore, whenever it pops up.
The idea of channeling the powers of stars and moons and the sun through Astral Cosmic stuff seems interesting, but they don’t touch on it much.
It’s the kind found in spellbooks sold in places like Star Magic on the same shelf with the Pleiadean materials.
Does it need another explanation beyond Elune?
We need at least one more to argue about.
Pondering it a bit more, Perhaps it is a creation of Elune and Eonar’s—At some point they realized if they balanced the powers of Order and Life it would harmonize into something new.
Imagine it in terms of colors. If Nature magic is Green, and Arcane is Blue, then Astral magic is Teal. It is not really either of them, but has some properties of both.
Seems like while it was a curiosity for Eonar, Elune might of wholesale adopted astral magic for whatever her goals are, leading to it being associated with her alone.
From that new lore about the tree, it sounds like Elune and Eonar were teaming up. Or at least had shared goals.
imo that’s what we need more of. Interactions between different cosmic beings. Like we got with Titans and Wild Gods. Or at least Naaru and Venthyr.