Conquest of the Horde

HOW TO PLAY

Blood Elves

The blood elves, like other races, have shared experience that binds them together as a people: that of the Scourge invasion, and the almost total decimation of Quel'thalas. However, the blood elves are different to the other races in respect to their bond, which makes them much closer as a race. The only other race that is closer as a collective people are their night elven cousins.

This is for strong reasons. Firstly, The scourge invasion happened only nine years ago. No matter what the age of your character is, it will still be extremely fresh in their mind.

Secondly, around 90% of the population died. The survivors faced two grueling tasks - scorching their homeland to convince the scourge to leave, and fighting a heroic last stand on Sunstrider isle.

What does this mean for your characters general personality? Well, unless they have a very good reason to be, they are not going to be a very happy elf. Chances are very high that they would have lost a massive number of friends and family in the invasion, and the high elven seclusion and long life spans leave this quite a difficult thing to deal with. Imagine you having known a friend closely for eighty years in real life, and they were to die. You'd be likely devastated. This attachment would have been incredibly common with the elves. This means that any overtly joyous elves are likely to be regarded as either mentally unstable, or was a fanatical devotee of Kael'thas Sunstrider. This is a key point to remember: by being a blood elf, you have to have taken part in the scourge conflict, and so you will bear the scars. There isn't a lot of scope for developing a blood elf without including reference to the scourge invasion.



The blood elf society is largely run by the Magisters, who are overwhelmingly autocratic and arguably totalitarian. Their Arcane Guardians keep the peace by unthinking force, and any dissenters are forced into fitting in. This has several key ramifications, especially when role playing within Silvermoon City and other large Sin'dorei settlements.
First, you are unlikely to criticize the City or the Government brazenly in public, such as inns or outdoors. Nor are you likely to declare that this is a 'free country' and that you can have as much freedom of speech as you wish. You live in an oppressed nation and will have to express any dissenting opinions outside of Silvermoon or in secluded places, away from the paths of Arcane Guardians, magisters and guards.

Secondly, unless you are a mage, you are unlikely to hold much power. This is something that role players with stories of aristocracy should bear in mind; if you are not a mage, you are unlikely to hold power in a city that defines class by profession. Since the recapture of the Sunwell and Lor'Themar's reign, Politics has changed somewhat for the Blood Elves. The magisters, who previously kept the majority of the power, have been losing favor with both the people and others in the political ladder, and the blood knights have been gaining in power since the recapture of the sunwell.

Thirdly, there are two different leaders to which a blood elf holds allegiance. Rarely, they may have held allegiance to Kael'thas Sunstrider, but more commonly, Lor'themar Theron. These are two very different people. Kael'thas had gone insane, and betrayed his city and the people by allying with the Burning Legion. Many players profess knowledge of this openly in Silvermoon. In the past, this didn't fit, as the common man now knows of Kael's betrayal since his attack on Silvermoon and the kidnapping of Mu'ru, the Naaru.

Lorthemar is more complicated. He has become the official leader of the blood elves of Quel'Thalas, and there is little acknowledged about his reign as a leader.


This is an issue that Blood Elf role players make a lot of mistakes with.
You do not automatically like the rest of the horde, but it is down to you. Blood Elves lead long lives, and one can assume it takes time to build trust. The Blood Elves haven't been long with the horde.

Remember, you are a cultured, scholarly race, and every other race in the horde is ostensibly completely unlike this - not even similar. There are also ancient conflicts between other races and your own; You've been fighting trolls for centuries. While your enemies have never been the Darkspears, you are unlikely to trust them, nor likely to be happy to see them. After all, if you were attacked constantly by a vicious pack of dogs, would you be willing to simply open your arms to a dog in the near future?

Forsaken are different, and a bit more open to individual preference. Some role players will prefer a hatred for them, due an unclean and higher-than-thou mentality when dealing with forsaken and the fact they are suffering the same affliction that killed the majority of their race and caused Silvermoon's downfall; others will see them as valuable allies against the Scourge, and facing a similar plight to the blood elves. It's up to your character's personality. Plus they, while violent, have a deep scholarly past within the apothecaries.

Orcs and Tauren will probably be regarded as savage and crude; they are not the traditional allies of the blood elves and their societies, especially orcish ones, consider physical rather than mental strength to be the greatest merit. They will most likely have to earn your characters trust and approval. Tauren, however, are relatively peaceful. The orcs are no longer brutal monsters they once were but have reformed under Thrall and his diplomacy.

Humans are a mixed bag - (apparently) their racism caused the Alliance to betray your people, but on the other hand you may have had good human friends whilst in the Alliance, or perhaps in Dalaran. You will likely be indifferent or distasteful of Dwarves and Gnomes; react to them in a similar way as you react to humans. It's pretty much the same on your side but gnomes don't often bear grudges, and they delve into the arcane and knowledge as well.

Draenei are confusing and uncertain. It is difficult to say how a blood elf would react to them. The rivalry between the Aldor and the Scryers could be a good way for you to show your choice or make your choice on trusting them through personal contact or not.

Night Elves are unusual. Most night elves strongly distrust blood elves because in the past, the Highborne (now blood/high elves, mostly blood elves) caused the Sundering. Your character may choose to return the distrust or not. If you don't distrust the night elves, you are likely to be upset with them or even disgusted, thinking them uncultured or savage (though this is quite incorrect).


Death Knights
Death Knights will likely be the most hated of all blood elves. In the Third War, Arthas Menethil tore through Quel'thalas with the scourge, destroying most of the land and Silvermoon City before tainting the Sunwell, leading to its capture and destruction. The Dead Scar stands as a permanent reminder of this. You may not have personally defiled the Sunwell, but very few blood elves will trust you because of this. You're very unlikely to have friends amongst your own race. The few blood elves who don't despise you will be very cautious with you. The other races of the Horde wont be fond of you either, other death knights aside.

Mages
Mages are the elite, and are mostly dealt with earlier in the guide. They could well be reclusive and weary due to their extensive passion for studies. Their magical addiction could be furthered or somewhat coped with (though never fully), depending on how you want your elf. The blood elves are known for their fearlessness with the arcane, so you are likely to be confident, bold and reckless compared to other more conservative humans, Draenei and gnomes. You are generally an elite caster and often consider yourself above other classes, however as mentioned throughout much of WoW, Sin'dorei must work together.

Warlocks
Warlocks are arcanist following a darker path. Like the warlocks of all races, you will be incredibly distrusted by most, but this is less likely with blood elves than other races. It is not condoned, but depending on the elf, the severity of your dark arts are dramatically lessened due to their majority acceptance of fel as their races replacement for the Sunwell (until it's recapture). Orcs have a supreme distrust of warlocks and shun them, mostly. Blood elves are known for their experiments and the warlocks are often intrigued by this.

Priests
Priests are three things - They can either be true follower of the light, dedicated to restoring hope into their people, they can be manipulators of the light via the Sunwell with little motivation towards the wellbeing of others, Or they are akin to Shadow mages. Shadow priests, especially in shadow form, would be regarded with a mixture of both fear and interest in blood elven culture. Often, their type can be about controlling and manipulating others, similar to the succubus, but that is rare (and also a touchy subject). Shadow Priests are not so much as 'evil' as warlocks and rogues, and are less reckless and addicted than mages. You would generally, as a shadow priest, be a scholarly and intelligent blood elf, rather than an addicted, reckless and confident one.

Rogues
Rogues in Blood Elf society are either usually criminals, or the chosen class for 'average Joes'. Usually, they will be very low down in society due to a lack of affinity for any kind of magic. They will likely be distasteful of spell casters, and may suffer more from their addiction than the magical classes. You don't need to focus on a criminal or angry path as a rogue.

Paladins
Paladins are a very new addition to Society; some will shun you either as a betrayer of the light or criminal. Faith based priests, most likely, would show disdain for Paladins right up until the reclaiming of the Sunwell, and some will welcome your power with open arms. You are likely to have a complex personality due to a wish for the ways of the light, yet an acceptance for the imprisonment of one of the most benevolent creatures in the world, but will share the quality of wanting to protect your people, or further your own gains. The Blood Knights would obviously welcome you. Many Paladins may tend to preserve traditions of the high elves rather than going into the mentality of addicted blood elves.

Hunters
Hunters have the option of being a member of the Fastriders, who are a part of the Silvermoon government, who, while not holding anywhere near the amount of power magisters do, are still a military style power base in Silvermoon.

Warriors
To sum up warriors, Blood Elven warriors can, if trained properly, have an amazing sense of swordsmanship, and fight in a work of at which can earn the respect of others, placing Blood Elven warriors anywhere from Military members, Farstriders, mercenaries or even commoners if a player truly wants. Although non-magical, Blood Elven Warriors would typically be wearing enchanting equipment and still be magically inclined, yet lack or dont want the ability to use magic in sacrifice - possibly for more focus on warrior-like traits and to truly master the art of the blade and war.

I cant tell whether or not that gif is a bad thing. 90% sure it's not positive. :C

I know this is off-topic but... WHY IS YOUR AVATAR SO ADDICTING TO WATCH, FORTWIT?!

Popcorn.gif is probably about how (possibly) upset plenty of Elf players will get for being called out on their shenanigans and forgetting how the race is.

Also, you forgot to mention how the Orcs set fire to the forests of Quel'thalas during the second war. How's that for the Horde, eh?

I haven't had much time to do more than a quick scan, but I did notice some capitalization errors (Sunwell and Farstriders come to mind, as well as the incorrect capitalization of words immediately following a semicolon) as well as some problems differentiating between "its" and "it's."

Also, you appear to reference an earlier guide specifically about mages, but I don't see it. It may be good to link this if it's already on the forums or -- if not -- edit it so that it's not like that. In fact, cross-linking would be awesome in general; part of the appeal of sites like Wikipedia and TV Tropes is that you not only have a lot of information available to you at once, but can also easily find related information by clicking on links within the articles.

Mage was in reference to the description of magisters. I'll begin linking too and fixing errors. This sounds selfish but I can't be bothered to deal with the punctuation errors today. I'll take extra care when I release Night Elves.

(03-30-2012, 08:07 PM)Fortwit Wrote: [ -> ]The blood elves are known for their fearlessness with the arcane, so you are likely to be confident, bold and reckless compared to other more conservative humans, Draenei and gnomes.

Just something I noticed a bit ago. Actually I think it would be the elves that are conservative in this case, having somewhat learned from past mistakes and warning their human pupils about the dangers...who chose to be reckless instead.

(03-30-2012, 10:59 PM)Kaghuros Wrote: [ -> ]Popcorn.gif is probably about how (possibly) upset plenty of Elf players will get for being called out on their shenanigans and forgetting how the race is.)

Yeah well those people need to, in one way of putting it, get over it. They need to stop RPing Sin'dorei as an excuse to RP a teenager styled character, because that's not how they are.

And BElven political power isn't concentrated largely in the hands of the Magisters. Not Post-TBC, at the very least.

Blood Elven society stands on a stratified tripod, with the mass of commoners as a base, its pillars being the Magisters (Who have been recently losing favor, especially due to the events at the Sunwell), the Blood Knights(Who've been growing in power due to the events at the Sunwell. They effectively 1-upped everyone else in BElven society by helping save the world) and the Farstriders(Who don't give a pike for your political shenanigans).

On top of that come artisans, nobility and the assassins the latter employ, and after that royalty. Which, in our current situation is Lor'themar. Who's been a surprisingly Good-aligned leader, compared to... previous rulers. He even tried to make amends(and succeeded, up to a point) with the HElves.

Also... Blood Elves can have very good reasons to be happy and hopeful, should they choose to allow it.

Editness:

(04-01-2012, 10:23 AM)Aadora Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah well those people need to, in one way of putting it, get over it. They need to stop RPing Sin'dorei as an excuse to RP a teenager styled character, because that's not how they are.

That's a very harsh way to put it. I would rather people simply be educated as to what's generally Blood Elven and what is not, in hopes that they will choose a path that better represents the race as a whole. No one can force another to do something, so we can but provide guidelines for people, and hope they take advice and constructive criticism well.

Sorry Flam, but that's just my opinion.

When we are getting to the point that we sit on a ship and a Blood Elf is sitting on top of boxes, apparently listening to headphones, then jumps onto the front of the ship and yells "Yo, we got land ahead dawg!"

It is getting ridiculous.

Aadora, if that is actually happening, report it.

I did, but I mean...

People are trying to act like that. Or even close to that. I'm not saying everyone but the personality of Elves seems to have become horny teenagers for most that I have seen other than groups.

---

Not to try and resurrect an older thread but...

http://www.conquestofthehorde.com/Thread-Gansta-Elves

I really appreciate guides like this, even if people seldom read them.


What irks me though, is how suddenly when something like this pops up, everyone has an opinion on how others should RP their characters... in this case, namely elves. This is a trend I've noticed for, well, years. The most played race in Warcraft is always a topic of debate because everyone has an opinion to what is "right", when right is actually something that's always up for interpretation. I know people feel strongly about this topic, and will most likely argue my point...

But why is it, that every time something like this is brought up, we have to go and niggle every little detail down to the floor? The "I saw someone doing this" ICly thing gets to me, if it's very bad RP, and it's not fitting of CoTH, tell a GM. But in all honesty, there is -always- going to be an imbalance between "Proper elves" and "Not-so-proper elves". Why is this? Because again, it's the most played race along with humans in the game. Telling people not to roll them, or that they are doing it is counter productive, as you can't really fight something that isn't actually wrong.

What am I saying? Guides like this are -guides-. They guide you along. People will put their own embellishments on their characters how they see fit, and as long as it's not something like, "They were born brother to Heir of the throne", or something equally ridiculous, we shouldn't start to worry then.

If an elf swears or acts like a spoiled brat, roll with it ICly. Make your elf offended, if you view yourself as playing the character the correct way.

Roll with the flow. Don't fight it, because it will always be there. GMs do handle situations, and if it's something really crappy it doesn't go unnoticed. I know that for a fact.



Edit: Popcorn comment came off to me as "Oh look, a post about elves. LET THE OPINIONS FLOW WHILE I WATCH!"

(04-01-2012, 06:56 PM)Rensin Wrote: [ -> ]Edit: Popcorn comment came off to me as "Oh look, a post about elves. LET THE OPINIONS FLOW WHILE I WATCH!"

(04-01-2012, 05:09 PM)Aadora Wrote: [ -> ]When we are getting to the point that we sit on a ship and a Blood Elf is sitting on top of boxes, apparently listening to headphones, then jumps onto the front of the ship and yells "Yo, we got land ahead dawg!"

It is getting ridiculous.

What Rensin posted above basically sums up with most of the casual blood elf and/or human RP I've seen, but sadly this is something which will never end seeing as they're one of the most "appealing" race to most.

What can you do about it? Nothing, other than reporting a GM to deal with it if things go out of hand.

For the races which get often played, you'll mostly get the best or the worst out of players, and this logically applies to anything else which is heavily populated, be it guild, community, etc.


Edit: And that popcorn.gif isn't directed to you Fortwit, I like your guide.