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wowlorecraft · 6 months

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On the evolution of High Elves

"High Elf" as a category no longer applies to the elves of Azeroth. Those who retain the monicker are actively raciating, becoming what we would call Highvale and Light Elves, respectively. These Bel'dorei and Al'dorei practise different arts, eat different foods, adorn their bodies and houses differently, and are beginning to physiologically look different, too. As such, I posit that the term "High Elf" has finally and officially been eclipsed by distinct elven identities and the high elven category has gone entirely dormant as of this writing.

~ Lorekeeper Kalith

No more are the High Elves: In their place stand the Sin'dorei, Blood Elves of the Horde; banished from their ranks are the Ren'dorei, Alliance Void Elves. The Highborn have since become the Night Elves: Alliance Kaldorei, including the Eldorei or Shen'dralar, those who hid in Eldre'Thalas; in Suramar, they have become Nightborne, Shal'dorei, allies with the Horde and cousins of the Nightfallen and Fal'dorei.

Those Kaldorei who were exiled took to the sun and Sunwell instead. The story is well-worn; it is the small, yet fruitful, remnants who maintain their ties with the Alliance that we discuss here:

Quel'dorei, "Children of Noble (lit. high) Birth," made their home in Quel'Thalas at Silvermoon, with their spiritual centre at Quel'Danas, the Sunwell. After the destruction and splintering of their nation, three major splits happened: One sought refuge in their Lodges, the other stayed amongst the Humans and other magi, particularly at Dalaran, and the last went to Draenor.

(Those who made their home in Quel'Lithien have succumbed and become Wretched. Discussion and analysis of the various Wretched and Withered is to come.)

Dalaran, Quel'Danil, and the Allerian Stronghold became centres of High Elven activity within the Alliance. Those of the Kirin Tor and Silver Covenant both distanced themselves from their Blood Elven kin and warmly welcomed back those of the Alliance Expedition. Danassian Elves practise light and arcane magic and are led by Vareesa Windrunner

These Elves have come together and, holding true to their roots when first exiled from the Druidic, moon-worshipping Kaldorei, forged a new name for themselves, one in direct opposition to the Sin'dorei Sunreavers . They have found community in the Human, Gnomish, and other magi of Dalaran and other Alliance cities. Within their ranks are numerous Half-Elven communities, whom they publicly call Shan’are "honoured ones" but privately label Vor'dorei "Children of the Broken."

Danillian Elves, on the other hand, have found community with the Wildhammer Dwarves most especially. In addition, some Draenei have made Quel'Danil their home, and these Highvale Draenei follow the shamanic path first laid by Nobundo, learning to become druids. With Seradane so close, the Wildhammers, Danai,* and Highvale Elves commune with the Kaldorei and Worgen. Thus the Highvale Elves begin to consider themselves a distinct elven nation. In their concordance with the Wildhammers, their bodies (adorned with tattoos) become thicker and more stout, becoming the shortest and widest of elves. Similarly, these Highvale Draenei, or (*) Danai, come to intermix with their neighbours resulting in browner and greener, tattoo'd, and more nature-y space goats

Thus:

Kaldorei - Children of the Stars - Night Elves

Eldorei - Children of Eldre'Thalas - Shan'dralar

Shal'dorei - Children of the Night - Nightborne

Fal'dorei - Children of Falanaar / followers of Aranasi

Sin'dorei - Children of Blood / of the Bloodline - Blood Elves

Quel'dorei - Children of Noble (lit. High) Birth

Some useful Thalassian words:

Quel - High, Noble

Belore - Sun

Alah - Light

Thas - Forest

Danil - ? Peak

(*)For the goats:

-nai = "with / person of a place" e.g., Kurenai, Auchenai)

-dor = settlement (e.g., Talador, Telredor)

Quel'Danil > Danidor (in Draenic, a borrowing) > Danai

(There is no word for mountain in-game in the language, so I did my best with "Danai")

For the Elves...

Highvale Elves: Either keep Quel'dorei for its literal use of "high"/"quel," or transition to Thas'dorei (ew), or Bel'dorei, a shortening of Belore'dorei "Children of the Sun" as both a way to stay true to Sun-worshipping heritage, keep in allied complementary opposition to Kaldorei's Elune worship, and a nod to the new Night Elven home of Bel'Ameth. I convinced myself writing this: Bel'dorei for Highvale Elves

Danassian Elves: These are the elves that still 'shun' nature worship, maintain an arcane practice, and follow the Light. They are spread around, but their capital is Dalaran now. They oppose the Blood Elves but still need to sate their needs and thus still utilize the Sunwell as the font of power it is. They are Children of the Light, or Light Elves, and Alah'dorei or, for short, Al'dorei in Thalassian (now Danassian)

Danai - Those from Danidor (Quel'Danil) - Highvale Draenei

Bel'dorei - Children of the Sun - Highvale Elves

Al'dorei - Children of the Light - Dalarani (&c.) High Elves

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deathbydarkelves · 8 months

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Most nelf RPers and writers have their funky little Kaldorei have a hatred for the Highborne (Shan'dralar, Nightborne, and blood elves and all their Littol subspecies) what's Tarinne and Cathala's opinion on this ancient fude? Would you say it's more an ANCIENT Kaldorei thing, since highborne had been out of the picture and building their societies elsewhere for thousands of years?

Ohh yes good question ty :>

Cathala and Tarinne are both VERY young in the grand scheme of things, only being in their late 130s/early 140s around the time of Dragonflight (which I’ll use as ‘present day’ for simplicity’s sake). Everything they know about the Highborne and Azshara is through the lens of history books or the very rare secondhand account from people who actually lived through the Sundering. So while, yes, they do agree the Highborne and Azshara Fucked Up Really Bad And Generally Sucked, it’s a pretty abstract thing in their minds. It’s only history — only a story — to them. And as such, they don’t harbor that blanket hatred of all Highborne descendants, and think it's a waste of energy.

However, Tarinne is more familiar with the history, being a sort of freelance archaeologist. She did study kaldorei history (and troll history on the side). So yes, actually, after the Third War and after she followed her dad to Stormwind where he wanted to set up a leatherwares shop (one that’s still open today actually :3), she was generally wary of high/blood elves. It was just a societal thing that’d been ingrained in her. The same was true of any magic users she happened to cross paths with. But due to her life as a mercenary, she met and worked with all kinds of people from all kinds of places with with all kinds of histories. She learned firsthand these people today are not their ancient ancestors, as obvious as that might be on paper. Nowadays she generally doesn’t give a shit who you are, as long as you’re pointing your blade or spell at the bad guy and not her. The high/blood elves may have originally come from the Highborne, but so much history separates them it really doesn’t matter to her.

Before getting stranded on Pandaria, Cathala didn’t study at any fancy temples or anything so her kaldorei history knowledge is about average, maybe a little below average. And on top of being relatively young, she’s also very autistic and very ADHD so time is fake and ‘if I do not see it, it does not exist’. She didn’t really care to begin with because it didn’t directly impact her life. Then she got stuck on Pandaria for fifty years where it REALLY wasn’t relevant, and then Mists happened and she got dropped ass-first into this big confusing tangled web of new peoples and factions and loyalties and histories. And she dealt with that by deciding — like Tarinne — if someone is willing to fight her enemies with her, she generally doesn’t give a shit who they are. She also struggles with a general feeling of cultural alienation. She's halfway between her own blood culture, the kaldorei, and the pandaren. She is objectively kaldorei, but she spent so much time on Pandaria in Pandaren culture, and post-Teldrassil doesn't even worship Elune anymore, so the "kaldorei vs. all the other elves" idea falls especially flat when she doesn't even feel like she particularly belongs in the "kaldorei" box. She's just... Cathala. And Cathala has no specific grudge against the Highborne.

So I suppose the short answer is “The only world they've ever known was a sundered one. Since the end of the Long Vigil, what little hatred they had for the Highborne and their descendants has faded. It was always someone else’s hatred anyway.”

And so, yeah, I do think that’s more of an attitude you’ll see with older kaldorei, who may have either witnessed the Sundering or lived through the world’s recovery. They’d have a very different perspective, and grudges, compared to younger people who would have only seen that destruction in books, and then shortly after seen the descendants of the Highborne literally just… vibing and minding their own business for the most part. Not at all the demon fanatics they’d been told about. Cathala and Tarinne had to be open-minded to get by being mercenaries — when their very lives might depend on trusting random strangers — so it was a quick change for them.

#ask box #cathala #tarinne #I thought this would be shorter but I just kept going :skull:#ty for the ask <3

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