(Repost) Quick and dirty lore facts

[Feralan]

(Originally posted by the guild's founder, Syren, on our old website. I just reformatted it, fixed a few typos and added some comments.)

Here's a timeline per the date of the Alliance:
www.planetwarcraft.com/wow/community/guilds/silverhand/guildhistory/index2.shtml#early

A general listing of lore facts and racial history of World of Warcraft.
faq.wow-europe.com/en/category.php?id=46 [Broken]

Quick Family Tree of Night Elves:
wow.ogaming.com/data/1542~Hierarchy-NightElves.php [Broken]


Also, a few pointers I picked up from a thread, basically started by one of the creators of World of Warcraft:

• The Night Elves are actually descendants of the trolls. They evolved due to exposure to the Well of Eternity into the Kaldorei, though no Night Elf would ever admit this openly.
  (This is one theory, but a few months ago Blizzard made it clear it is not official lore but simply unproven IC speculation.)
  
  
• Interspecies love is impossible. The species ingame are incapable of reproducing, and just would. Not. Ever. Happen. So enough with the pregnant Forsaken already ... seriously.
  If it happens from a generally "higher love and pining" sort of way, it would be rare. As in very very rare, resulting in the outcast and exile of the parties involved, and possibly being hunted all over Azeroth for their heresy. As in, not every other couple you see with people smiling away and being supportive about it. Will this change anything? No ... people will probably play it anyway.
  (The pen & paper RPG does have half-elves but like the "every race can be every class" thing that's probably a watering-down of the setting to pander to the d20 ruleset. In-game, there are no halfbreeds. The only halfbreed mentioned in the lore was Garona, a half-orc from WC1.)
  (TBC update: There is one half-High Elf on the Hellfire Peninsula on Outland.)
  
  
• Night Elves mature at about 150 years, and live up to 8000-10,000 years. So think carefully about the age of your characters when roleplaying them.
  (To be precise, the exact lifespan of the Kaldorei is still unknown since they were immortal for ten thousand years and only started to age again after the sacrifice of Nordrassil's power.)
  
  
• Blood Elves, Naga, Satyr and demons are the sworn enemies of the Night Elves, thanks to the tampering with magic of the Highborne. This isn't just a "let bygones be bygones" sort of thing. Night Elves will NOT be happy that Blood Elves have made their way back into the world. And as Illidan is still alive -- well -- MOVING, and well, the Night Elves will very actively go back to war.
  
  
• Teldrassil has only existed for about four years. Thus, your character who is several hundred years old could not have been born on Teldrassil.
  
  
• Elune is a goddess of benevolence and anti-conflict. If your character is a devout follower of Elune, your character is probably rather pacifist, and not pro-war.
  (Note: as shown by Tyrande's actions and mannerism in WarCraft 3, not all followers or even priests of Elune have to be pacifists. Demons and other enemies of the world cannot be fought with kind words or corner time, after all, and the Priestesses of the Moon lead the Sentinel Army which means they are exposed to violence. But I do think that, if possible, a devoted believer should show compassion, attempt to mediate conflicts and seek non-violent solutions. So, fighting enemies like the Warsong, the Venture Co., the Burning Legion, the undead and the silithid with relentless ferocity would be a matter of course for a "proper" Kaldorei. But seeking out battle for the sheer thrill of bathing in blood would be abhorrent to a devout follower of Elune.)
  
  
• Due to the fight with the Burning Legion, demons and anyone who uses them are no friends of the Kaldorei. Anyone who even remotely shows any empathy towards warlocks would be viewed with suspicion at best, and downright hostility at most. Please keep this in mind when dealing with other races.
  
  
• Kaldorei are nocturnal -- they don't particularly care for sunlight as a result, and often doze through the day. Play that up as much as you like!
  
  
• The Kaldorei revere Elune but may also have some reverence for the Earthmother. As the Tauren have some connection to the Cenarion Circle, it is feasible to play Kaldorei as looking at Tauren with a sense of regret that they're on the other side of the "fence" -- but don't expect all Tauren to play things with the same benevolence back at you!
  
  
• There is no nobility in the Kaldorei civilisation; your family could be well off or suchlike monetarily, but there are no princes or nobles, so playing a young prince or such is impossible.
  (Note: One quest in Desolace mentions a "noble family" but that is the only reference to Kaldorei "nobility" I have ever seen. Could well have been a brainfart on the part of whover wrote that quest. In the old days, the Highborne were the nobility, and after their fall the priesthood of Elune assumed the mantle of leadership. There is no real room for remnants of Highborne or other "nobles" in Kaldorei society as we know it.)
  

[Feralan]

Here are some others pointers that spring to mind, feel free to add your own.

• Except for druidism, many important aspects of Kaldorei life were/are predominantly the domain of the females of the race: hunting, the priesthood and the Sentinel Army in particular. This means the "traditional" family setup of a male warrior-provider and his meek, helpless housewife does not suit the race ... in fact, it might be amusing to reverse those roles for a change. But there is no indication that either gender is looked down upon or oppressed, so a female Kaldorei who claims that a man's place is in the house because he is too week or dumb for any important tasks would be about as improbable as a male making the same statement about women.
  
  
• Due to the pact with Ysera, the druids went into the Emerald Dream a little over seven thousand years ago and remained in hibernation until the events in WC3. As a result, a druid would either belong to that group of ancient Dreamers, or was trained during the past five years. It's good to remember this when your character is a druid, and/or has a druid for a parent. Still, if you really need a little more freedom regarding druid ages for your backstory, I think that it is not inconceivable that Cenarius might have picked up a few other gifted students during those seven millennia, trained them, and then sent them to join the others in the Dream.
  
  
• The exception to the above: Blizzards introduction of the "War of the Shifting Sands" storyline about Ahn'Qiraj reveals that a certain number of druids were awake during that time, roughly a thousand years ago. It is a bit odd that the storyline doesn't mention Malfurion (or Tyrande!) at all but features Fandral Staghelm as the leader. At any rate, it gives an official "window of opportunity" for a druidic parent or other ancestor to continue the family line.
  
  
• Kaldorei respect and commune with the spirits, and their strong bond with nature is one of the things that sets the race apart from the Alliance (and many other races). A Kaldorei does not kill plants or animals needlessly, and if she does need to kill, she shows respect to her prey and use as many of its parts as possible so the death will not be wasted.
  
  
• Because of the above, the Kaldorei are vehemently (and violently) opposed to the ruthless exploitation of nature that many other races and organizations practice. They would never see a forest as merely a handy source of lumber waiting to be cut down, or label a wolf "evil" and deserving of a torturous death because it killed a farmer's sheep. Characters who express such opinions would likely be viewed with shock or suspicion, maybe pity for their inability to understand nature and the spirit world, but probably also active hostility.
  
  
• Kaldorei society is led by the priestesses of Elune in peace and in war, a true though benevolent theocracy. On a local level, town elders need not be priests, but overall the priesthood is in charge and commands the highest respect.
  
  
• The druids are technically not a part of normal society but an autonomous organization (especially, I suspect, since the Circle was opened to Tauren druids). Both groups work together closely of course and under normal circumstances would not refuse a request from the members of the other group, but a druid does not have formal authority over the Sentinel guards, just a priestess does not command formal authority over a druid. The exception would be druids serving as local community elders, I think, like in Auberdine.
  
  
• After the exile of the remaining Highborne around 7,200 years ago, Kalimdor was shrouded in mist and faded from the memory of the outside world until the events of WC3. During this time there was no contact between the Kaldorei and any of the races on the eastern continent. Even the high elves forgot their origins -- maybe because the exiles did not want to remember them, or for their descendants to learn of them.
  
  
• Kaldorei take lifelong mates but they do not marry. This brief statement from the Alliance Player's Guide is not elaborated on, so my interpretation is that the concept of relationships as legal contracts that require the endorsement of a religious, civil or military authority is unknown (and probably baffling) to the night elves. If two Kaldorei declare themselves mated, they are a couple in the eyes of their society, simple as that.
  
  
• Nuclear families are also an alien concept to the night elves. Their families are loose-knit instead, with children being raised within and with the help of the entire community. The whole culture is quite tribal in nature, with close bonds between members of a community -- are all "related in spirit".
  
  
• According to the Alliance Player's Guide, Kaldorei buildings are living, growing things created by druidic magic. A nice idea though the architecture we see in the games hardly looks like it.
  
  
• Alcohol is not unknown to the Kaldorei. Ursol and Ursoc (two of the Ancients) were masterful brewers, moonglow is a beverage for the Lunar Festival (and other special occasions maybe) that makes the imbiber glow for a while, and moonberry juice is (again according to the APG) actually a very strong wine which gives those who drink it a sort of "spiritual kick". So while the night elves are no heavy drinkers like the dwarves, they need not be teetotallers either.
  

[shemuil]

admin said:

Interspecies love is impossible. The species ingame are incapable of reproducing, and just would. Not. Ever. Happen. So enough with the pregnant Forsaken already ... seriously. If it happens from a generally "higher love and pining" sort of way, it would be rare. As in very very rare, resulting in the outcast and exile of the parties involved, and possibly being hunted all over Azeroth for their heresy. As in, not every other couple you see with people smiling away and being supportive about it. Will this change anything? No ... people will probably play it anyway.

Hmm... a small comment on this. Some time back, I looked the subject up on wowwiki. Don't have the links when I write this, but I found three references to Blood Elven/human couplings resulting in offspring. One would be Jaina Proudmoore's sister. The other two were more obscure.

It seems as if it might be biologically possible for an elf and a human to sire children. It has only happened once, or perhaps at most three times. And only ever with Blood Elves and humans, never Night Elves. Calling interspecies love extremely rare would be an understatement.

Still possible, though. In theory.

I see the elves as alien in mind and soul, if not as much so in body. Realistically, neither elves nor humans would want to pair up, so the biological incompatibilities would never really need to be tested.

Just a few thoughts...

Edit: Found the "daughter" on wowwiki. Seems to be an excerpt from the pen & paper RPG, thus highly doubtable:

www.wowwiki.com/Finnall

[Lana]

Read those articles too, Shemuil. One being how Sylvanas Windrunner's sister was not only married, but pregnant with some human wizard's child. Need I say that it has been written in a novel?

I have a friend IRL who plays WoW too and has a... very D&D perspective on interspecies breeding. Along with her human friend who's also their "slave-master" and got her...*shrugs* pregnant. RP, of course. I discussed that with both of them in a chatroom and he (the human mage) kept on saying that it was possible in fantasy.
Seriosuly, it's as impossible as Cenarius having kids with a succubus.

[shemuil]

kawatche said:

Need I say that it has been written in a novel?

Nooo! Argh! Those novelists are the bane of any WoW-player...

And yeah, just because it might be possible doesn't mean it's a good idea to play it out. Using "it's fantasy" to excuse any weird idea popping into your head is just... weak. Tolkien is only fantasy, so I can play a Teletubby in LoTR Online if I want to!

[Feralan]

shemuil said:

I see the elves as alien in mind and soul, if not as much so in body. Realistically, neither elves nor humans would want to pair up, so the biological incompatibilities would never really need to be tested.

Well put, this is the crucial point. Elves are NOT just "tall pretty humans in funny suits". In fact, I daresay most humans would not even consider them to be pretty but, as you said, alien. And vice versa, of course. The other species -- not "race", if we'd use biologically correct terms -- just wouldn't send the proper mental or physical signals.

The problem here is, of course, that female elves have been used as oversexed pinups from the days of WC3, and the predominance of babyfaces during character creation as well as the "ditzy babyteen groupie" emotes sort of seal their fate as vapid little toy-girlies in the minds of many. Both men and women.

Which given the lore is just painfully ridiculous.

[Lana]

shemuil said:

kawatche said:

Need I say that it has been written in a novel?

Nooo! Argh! Those novelists are the bane of any WoW-player...

And yeah, just because it might be possible doesn't mean it's a good idea to play it out. Using "it's fantasy" to excuse any weird idea popping into your head is just... weak. Tolkien is only fantasy, so I can play a Teletubby in LoTR Online if I want to!

*Gasps* Tolkien is only fantasy? Heracy, heracy! *Moonfire spam*
No seriosuly, Teletubbies have crappy stats.
...
No, Tolkien isn't "Fantasy" in the same meaning as WoW or Robert *coughs* Jordan's endless book series... Tolkien is different. His work is forever, as it is something holding a piece of him in it. I would never call Tolkien fantasy. More real then some days in the real world:)

[shemuil]

Well... ehrm... as the subgenres of fantasy are defined, the works of both authors would qualify as "High" or maybe "Heroic" fantasy. I work in a sci-fi bookstore so I know these things. *nods wisely* Robert Jordan just happens to be a copycatting, talentless hack...

In my not so humble opinion, of course.

[Feralan]

Slight reformatting of the original post, and an update to my additions (see second entry, above).

[Kanderil]

Haven't you seen Star Trek? Shatner was crackin' onto the aliens all the time.. =P

Rexxar is a half breed too, but between ogres and orcs. Can't think of the term for the resulting species - it's on WowWiki somewhere.

Anyways, any offspring would ( probably ) be sterile anyway, like asses are as the result of horse / donkey coupling.

EDIT: Also, the part about Kaldorei having no contact with any of the races before WC3 kinda knackers Kanderil's backstory about having spent time with the Dwarves to learn more about LW. I thought that it was the Humans who had no contact - the Dwarves were still running around, and knew about the NE's since they're also an ancient race?

[Feralan]

Halfbreeds should be sterile if they exist at all, but in fantasy they rarely are -- the only exception I know of are the half-dwarven "muls" from the "Dark Sun" AD&D setting. Half-elves in particular are always the perfect, beautiful amalgam of their parent races.

And yes, there was no contact between the Kaldorei and any of the races from the eastern kingdoms, who likely weren't even aware of the existance of the night elves. The "shroud of mist" seems to have been designed (by Elune?) to specifically shield Kalimdor from the outside world. Back in the old days, the Earthen apparently participated in the War of the Ancients (?) and the defeat of Omen but as they "degenrated" into dwarves their past was forgotten (and is only rediscovered by the Uldaman expedition). Bit of a dilemma, there. Is having spent time with the dwarves over the past five years not far enough in the past to make it work the way you want for the character?

[Kanderil]

Not really, seeing as he's only recently returned from the forests to rejoin society - if he'd been with the Dwarves for the last five years he wouldn't be out of touch, really. There's quite a large portion of his backstory tied to the decades he spent in Ironforge afer the civil war between the three Dwarven clans.

Balls, heh. Erm. Can only think of two solutions - re-write his history ( Which I really don't wanna do ), or come up with some lame-arse excuse about him being an 'exception' to the rule ( Which is also a really cheap way out and something I don't want to touch ).

[Feralan]

Made some small overdue additions. If anyone's interested in a more detailed thread about aspects of Kaldorei society and brainstorming about fleshing it out, gimme a poke.

[Aeslin]

I'd like to point out that the link to the family trees doesn't work.

If you ever want to brainstorm the Kaldorei society, give me a buzz.
It would be a good anthropological exercise for me (yes I take those classes, they make me do it ).

[Feralan]

I'm going tidy this thread up a bit to make the information more accessible. So if posts are flying around madly, or if the thread gets locked and re-started elsewhere, it's just the web elf going nuts.

EDIT: Locked and restarted here:
shadowsentinels.proboards78.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=lore&thread=379