Introduction: The reclusive Night Elves were the first race to awaken in the Azeroth. These shadowy, immortal beings were the first to study magic and let it loose throughout the world nearly ten thousand years before the First War. The Night Elves’ reckless use of magic drew the Burning Legion into the world and led to a catastrophic war between the two titanic races. The Night Elves barely managed to banish the Legion from the world, but their wondrous homeland was shattered and drowned by the sea. Until recently, the Night Elves closed themselves off from the rest of the world and remained hidden atop their holy mountain of Hyjal for many thousands of years. The Legion’s invasion brought the Night Elves out of their long period of slumber. They now have renewed interest in shaping the world, and for the first time are allying themselves with other races to insure the continued survival of Azeroth. As a race, Night Elves are typically honorable and just, but they are very distrusting of the ‘lesser races’ of the world. They are nocturnal by nature and their shadowy powers often elicit the same distrust that they have for their mortal neighbors.

Night Elf (Kal’dorei) Information

Affiliation: Alliance
http://www.wowwiki.com/Alliance

Additional Intro: Ten thousand years ago, the Night Elves founded a vast empire, but their reckless use of primal magic brought them to ruin. In grief, they withdrew to the forests and remained isolated there until the return of their ancient enemy, the Burning Legion. With no other choice, the Night Elves emerged at last from their seclusion to fight for their place in the new world.

Leader: Tyrande Whisperwind
http://www.wowwiki.com/Tyrande_Whisperwind

Capitol: Darnassus
http://www.wowwiki.com/Darnassus

Main Language: Darnassian
http://www.wowwiki.com/Darnassian
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/encyclopedia/361.xml

IC RP "Speak”: "English”, from crude to (mostly) proper – some variable asian influence.

Main Groups: The Sisters of Elune, Cenarion Circle, Sentinels
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/encyclopedia/554.xml
http://www.wowwiki.com/Sisters_of_Elune
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/encyclopedia/349.xml
http://www.wowwiki.com/Cenarion_Circle
http://www.wowwiki.com/Sentinel

Main Faith/Philosophy: Elune (Goddess), Druidism (via Elune or Cenarius)
http://www.wowwiki.com/Elune
http://www.wowwiki.com/Cenarius

Allies: Humans, Dwarves*, Draenei, Gnomes
*some conflict/predjudice possibly

Racial Enemy: Burning Legion (Also shaky truce – enemies with Horde forces)

Male Height: 6′8″-7′6″
Female Height: 6′4″-7′2″

Male Weight: 184-324 lb.
Female Weight: 174-314 lb.

Adulthood: 300 years.
Middle Age: 500 years.
Old: 650 years.
Venerable: 700 years.
Life Expectancy: 705-1200 years.

NOTE: Until recently, night elves were immortal, ageless by the magics of Nordrassil. The sacrifice they made in the Third War ended this enchantment, but the night elves did not accelerate to their natural age, but rather have begun to age normally. Thus, many night elves thousands of years old are still, physically, in their 300s yet.

OOC Culture Reference: Some reference to Asian, Nordic and a nod from Drow (Dark Elf) cultures.

The night elves are probably the most difficult race to roleplay well in all the World of Warcraft, which is particularly ironic considering how very popular they are. Many a roleplayer has been disappointed by seeing player character night elves who are 21 years old, who were born in Darnassus or Teldrassil, or whose mother or father is human -- all of which would be next to impossible according to the actual lore of the game. The only way to make things like this is to change the lore to suit your own preferences, or to rely on cliche devices such as time travel and special magics which really go too far into the realm of the abominably self-centered Mary Sue.

Night elves can also be difficult to understand, and full of contradictions: they can be over 10,000 years old, and yet they often do not possess the vast wisdom that would seem to come with such an age; they are deeply connected to nature, and yet they sometimes act without the blessings of nature; their women are supposed to be very fierce warriors, and yet their animation in the game has them bouncing up and down like teenage girls at their favorite boy-band concert.

And yet much of this is just the sort of thing that draws people to the night elves. There's a youthful passion combined with ancient grace and sadness that many roleplayers just love to get into. Also, for those who love to develop long and complex background stories for their characters, there is a great deal of history about the night elves' ancient past which can serve as good inspiration for many of your own character's life events. We won't go into every detail of ancient history today, however; instead we'll cover the basics that you'll need to know in order to start out with a night elf that fits in the Warcraft story, and direct you to some more resources if you'd like to make one with a really deep and complicated background.

On Immortality

The most important thing to understand about the night elves is that they are old. They are the only player race native to Azeroth with a lifespan greater than five hundred years.

Many eons ago, they were merely a race of nocturnal humanoids, presumably short-lived and savage just like everyone else, who just happened upon the most powerful magical spot in Azeroth, called the "Well of Eternity." At that time, the world now known as Azeroth was just a single continent called Kalimdor, and the Well of Eternity was at its center, pulsating with magical power so fierce that no one who entered it could hope to survive. These energies transformed the creatures who came to live nearby, granting them power, long-life, and eventually immortality, changing them into the "kaldorei," or "children of the stars."

This beginning is in many ways the cultural foundation that still defines the night elves, even after the Well of Eternity had been destroyed and their immortality lost forever. Even now, they retain an air of mystery, and view themselves on the scale of eternity rather than the mere lifetimes of mortal races. For them, the loss of this immortality has been a bitter pill to swallow, and many still do not view themselves as equals to the other races, thinking of "old age" as something that happens to other species.

On Magic

The second most defining characteristic of the night elves is their distain of all arcane magic. They view this magic as a dangerous and corrupting power, ultimately evil in its essence, and shun its use completely. They tend to look upon humans, orcs, and other people who attempt to manipulate this power as fools who do not realize the danger they are playing with.

The irony that they themselves became who they are through their association with the most powerful source of arcane magic in the world is surely not lost on them, as this made them uniquely poised to witness the ultimate effect such power can have on people.

Ten thousand years prior to the setting of World of Warcraft, the demons of the Burning Legion saw the magical energy of the Well of Eternity radiating across the vast expanse of the magical universe, and immediately developed plans to seize it for themselves. They corrupted the ruler of the kaldorei, Queen Azshara, seducing her with promises of power and convincing her to open a gateway for the demons to come and destroy everything in ancient Kalimdor.

This "War of the Ancients" that ensued between the demons and those elves who resisted this invasion culminated in the destruction of the Well of Eternity, and the sundering of the world into two separate continents: the western one, which retained the name of Kalimdor for the night elves, and the eastern continent, which they left to the other races of the world. Between these two continents raged a perpetual vortex of energy called the Maelstrom, where the Well of Eternity had once been.

Although night elves were not completely destroyed, the leadership of the night elves was shattered, and many conflicts and difficulties arose as they tried to rebuild their society. In addition, it soon became clear that not all of the magic of the Well of Eternity had been lost. Some of its waters had been saved and used to create a new fountain of power at the top of Mount Hyjal, but this time they built a gigantic "World Tree" called "Nordrassil," which grew out of it, absorbing and purifying its power so that it could no longer be tainted by the demons. With the help of the dragons, the enchantments and blessings of the World Tree became strong enough to stave off another invasion by the burning legion for ten millennia until the events of the Third War, just five years before our game begins.

On Nature

As far as nature is concerned, while tauren are very much connected to the earth, the night elves are more connected to the sky. The tauren are a plains people, while the elves are forest-dwellers, who look up to the sky and worship Elune, the goddess of the moon, as the protector of their people. In fact, the demigod known as Cenarius was actually born to her and lived among the kaldorei for many millenia, guiding them and teaching them the ways of druidism.

Men in particular were drawn to follow Cenarius' teachings, and revering all the spirits of nature, and taking on their forms to protect the natural system. The green dragon Ysera was the protector of nature, and she called upon these druids to abide with her in Azeroth's parallel world of nature energy, the Emerald Dream, in order to help maintain the natural balance of life.

Women were largely left to run the society of night elves as priestesses, or defend it as warriors and hunters. The arts of prayer, scholarship, and martial defense were the primary pursuits of the night elves, since presumably all their material needs were provided for by the druidic magic of nature, the World Tree, and the surrounding forests that had become so central to their existence.

On War

The effect of the War of the Ancients upon night elf society was so severe that they never lost their constant vigilance in protecting their precious World Tree, and kept their source of power secret for all these millennia by sealing off their borders to the rest of the world. But although the other races of Azeroth had largely forgotten their existence, the demons remembered, constantly coveting the power they once came so close to taking for themselves.

Ages of planning came to fruition for the demons when the events of the Third War began to unfold in the lands of the humans and the orcs. When the orcs came to the western lands of Kalimdor, the demons' successful attempt to control them once again made them into a deadly threat to the night elves. Imbued with demonic energy, the orcs rampaged into the night elves' forests in search of lumber, and destroyed anyone and anything that stood in their way. The demigod Cenarius was one of the casualties of this conflict, and his death made the orcs into permanent enemies of the night elves.

As events unfolded, however, it became clear that there were greater demonic powers at work than just the corruption of the orcs, and this time the night elves could not hold off the demonic attacks by themselves. Although the different races of Azeroth banded together in one great battle against the demons, it seemed that the forces of evil would succeed at last in taking the remaining energies of the Well of Eternity, until the night elves made the final sacrifice and destroyed their World Tree and all the magical energies it contained, burning up the leader of the demons with it.

On Mortality

Since those deeply traumatizing events, the night elves have been a bit confused about who they are and what they want. The new leader of the druids insisted that they plant another tree, called Teldrassil, in an attempt to regain the immortality that they had lost in the war against the demons. This, in spite of the fact that the dragons would not agree and it could not be enchanted with the true blessings of nature.

For the first time, the night elves must now find a place for themselves in a global society. They no longer have such a dire secret to protect, nor do they have many of the benefits and special status that came with being the protectors of the world's most magical spot. Their most cherished demigod is dead, and other races do not seem to appreciate the cherished way of life he had taught them. They are at once ancient and wise, yet temperamental and as yet unable to fully adjust to the new state of the world. And finally, they must begin to accept that after all these ages of superiority and deathlessness, the specter of old age and "natural" death, must eventually come to them as well.

A side note on lifespan and maturity

The night elves have this really tricky problem which I personally find hard to deal with. Even their youngest adults are supposed to be about 300 years old, 3 times as old as the most ancient of humans. To some, this means that there's really no space among night elves for the "average joe" type of character -- they say that every single one of them has to be ancient and brooding about all this serious stuff I've just been going on about.

Well I say "Phatooey!" to that. In my opinion, Blizzard gave night elf women that cutesy bounce animation for a reason, and that's so that we wouldn't take anything in the game tooooooo seriously. Granted, I don't like that particular animation much, but that's beside the point. Some night elves can and should have a rich life full of all the things that make life livable for any sentient being, and it makes sense that some of them will deal with their loss and tragedy through humor, the same way that humans do -- even if they're 15,000 years old, maybe even moreso then.

However you play a night elf, though, keep in mind that they are pretty old, even for young people. Just about all elves over the age of 300 look to be all about the same age (the equivalent of a human in their 20s) and are only now starting to age. (Technically none of them should know this yet, I think, but in about 4 or 5 hundred years they're going to start getting old and dying -- but that doesn't really matter to us as far as our roleplaying is concerned -- just don't try and make an old and wirey night elf character, as such a one does not exist.)

Your character may have spend most of the last 300 years playing games, digging in gardens, and studying books like any kids you might know about, but they still spent three-hundred years doing all that, and they're not going to be just like any old 18 year-old human you might come across.

Again, don't take this too seriously though -- go ahead and try to imagine what several hundred (or even several thousand) years of life might be like as far as your imagination can take you, but don't feel ashamed if you can't really go all that far. Nobody has a clue what such an age would feel like, so I say pick whatever conclusion about it seems to make the most sense to you and run with it. After all, who out there has the experience to prove you wrong?


For more information about night elves, check out WoWWiki's information about them, as well as Dramatis-Personae's quick-start night elf page. If you're interested in novels, then consider reading the War of the Ancients stories, as well as other books about night elves.

Night Elf Views

The Alliance

Before I even begin speaking, it’s worth making a bit of a detour here: The night elves are regarded by pretty much every other Alliance race as standoffish, as aloof and half-hearted in their support to the Alliance. This is actually correct, but the reasons are more complex than they might imagine.

The night elves see themselves as custodians of the world. They maintain it and keep it running, doing their best to be its shepherds and keepers. As far as they can see, the best bet the world has is to maintain that delicate harmony and balance as it always has been. Yet the Alliance, a massive grouping of forces into a single, potentially world-changing union is one of the most dangerous things they can imagine. They would normally have never agreed to join such a group, had not the Horde been evolving into exactly the same thing.

Of course the night elves don’t entirely trust the Alliance. It’s entire reason for being is against their most cherished beliefs… but the alternative is worse. As such, the night elves are highly loyal to the Alliance despite themselves. It’s not an attitude that wins them many friends.

Draenei: The draenei are probably at this point a cause for supreme consternation amongst the night elves – They represent a completely new entry into the world. The last time that one of those emerged, the results were not pretty. The night elves, ergo, are taking a tremendous interest in these newcomers. It seems likely that a there’s a split emerging: Those who want to tell the draenei to go back where they came from before they muck everything up, and those who think they need to manage the draenei very, very carefully. That they landed so close to Teldrassil likely increases the emotive power there. Given the draenei’s tremendous success in helping the sin’dorei, whom are one of the greatest threats to balance in the world, it’s likely the ‘manage’ school is winning. (Ironically, one could argue this victory proves they don’t need to be managed at all, but a lot of night elves probably don’t see that.)

"No no no. This won’t do, it won’t do at all! This … ‘society’ is founded on magic, mere miles from our most sacred place. We must tell them to leave, and now, by whatever means we can. Then we will HELP them repair their ship and send them off. No, we will do it without magic!”

Dwarves: The night elves do not like to publicly endorse the dwarves. They are in all superficial respects their opposites; the dwarves dig into the ground, the elves are the children of the stars. Yet if your average elf had to entrust a task to any other race within the Alliance, they’d pick the dwarf every time. Dwarves are cautious, conservative types, traits the night elves have a great deal of time for. They don’t agree with the where the dwarves want to go (in particular, their newfound interest in the Titans worries them) but they trust they’ve doing it the right way, if nothing else.

"That a dwarf will move a mountain in his way is remarkable; all the more remarkable is that he’ll do it in the quickest, most efficient way possible short of leaving the mountain in its place and walking around it. We might advocate the best solution, but at least they choose the best of the bad ones.”

Gnomes: Oh, good grief. If the gnomes think the night elves are insane, then the feeling is surely returned and in spades. The night elves are in many ways mystics in the true sense of the term: they believe that mystery is often a good thing, that much of nature cannot be understood, but must merely be appreciated. Gnomes, though, scoff at the very notion. This is very much my own personal opinion (isn’t all of these Play Files… heck, isn’t all of my work here?) but I think the pedomorphic effect might just kick in double to the Kal’dorei. The gnomes mean well, even the night elves would admit that, but they need to be handled and managed like small children who don’t understand what you’re meant not to do.

"Elune bless her, Fizzlecrank has blown up her workshop again. None of us would ever have expected it. Can we please now remove her chemistry set before she kills herself?”

Humans: But there’s only one race on Azeroth that scares the night elves more than the humans, and thankfully for the Alliance, that’s the orcs. The humans are terrifying. They’re ludicrously short lived and thus live in a frenzy of trying to do everything at once. They have an uncanny knack for forging alliances, which makes the odds of natural orders being subverted exceptionally high. (Nothing, to a night elf mind, is quite as stable as constantly fighting groups who make no ground on each other; politics is savagely dangerous by comparison.) Their only good point is that they at least seem to have some sense that their actions matter to the next day; the densely forested Elwynn forest has been sensibly left mostly untouched (despite several large farms) and this calms the night elves a little bit to the humans’ intentions.

"When an action causes us to think thrice, a dwarf will think thrice, and a human but once. At least they’re not gnomes; those things don’t even think until after the action.”

The Horde

Blood Elves: The odd thing is that the night elves despise the blood elves because of their shared history, and yet aren’t quite as concerned by the blood elves for the same reason. The Kal’dorei know that the Sin’dorei are a group of power-obsessed, ruthless elitists. But they’re elvish power-obsessed, ruthless elitists, and believe it or not, that makes a lot of difference. Their actions are horrifying; they seek to elevate themselves from their natural position into an unnatural position of dominion. Yet, and this is important, Azeroth still stands, despite centuries of their foolishness. And they’re elves. They think in long terms. They’re not going to risk everything in a mad dash for power. (Kael’thas aside; the night elves know these kind of people can come from anywhere.) In short, the blood elves are a stable, despicable evil that the night elves hate yet don’t fret too strongly about.

"Ah, I recognise the handiwork. Hm? Oh, it’s Regitiris. I knew him an eon ago, before everything. And everything about this, the red glow left over, the preponderance of men among the dead.. the women will be alive and well somewhere, in captivity. How very noble of him. Let’s go finish the bastard.”

Orcs & Trolls: And not one sentiment about the blood elves applies to the orcs. No other race probably scares the night elves quite so much. Let’s go over the history: The orcs are first encountered by the night elves in the act of desecrating a forest. They attack, and in response, the orcs willingly drank the blood of Mannoroth and slew one of their most revered deities, Cenarius. (It is this fact, more than any other, that sent the night elves to the Alliance rather than the Horde.) To this day, the Warsong Clan continue to defile their forests. Orcs are, to the night elves, every evil the humans are; political, short lived and reckless, combined with active malevolence. There is probably no race the night elves despise more. (And, given the short history between them, few night elves likely distinguish heavily between the orcs and the trolls.)

"Let me make my orders plain, then. The orcs do not touch one leaf, one branch. As they approach the trees, cut every last one of them down. And if any survive the initial onslaught, keep shooting. Let’s send their ‘warchief’ a lesson: This is what it costs to anger the Sentinels.”

Tauren: Of all the horde races, the night elves have the longest history with the tauren, going back to the War of Ancients. The relationship then remains almost unchanged today; the first night elf commander saw them as bloodthirsty, uncontrolled brutes. The second saw them as a worthy race, and made use of them. Today, this remains the split. Most night elves probably see the tauren as almost a mirror of themselves; certainly they are equally spiritual, if differently focused, and the bonds of the druids provide a link between the two. Their alliance with the horde has probably sent some more xenophobic night elves to dismiss them yet again as brute savages, but more probably see the decision as a ‘there but for the grace of Elune go I’ moment.

"Hold your fire. Those are gatherers. We’ve observed them before; they don’t pose us a threat. Curious… why are they moving ever further north? Sisters, keep your eye on them.”

Undead: And then there are the undead, almost on a par with the orcs as far as the night elves are concerned. Horrifying atrocity against nature that they are, the elves hate them on principle and only hate them more once they learn that a blood elf leads them and that they’re trying to start a new plague. So far, however, they’ve yet to quite achieve the disruptive levels the orcs have, and so they’re only number two on the night elves hit list. This may, however, change…

"Do not stop attacking, sisters! Call down moonfire and and arrows, bring them down by any means and watch out, these things don’t stay down. Do not use fire; we cannot risk the forest for these monsters!”

Viewing the Classes

Death Knight: Twice damned. To be undead is to slip out of tune with the world, to deny ones rightful place in the circle of life. But to do so willingly, in the search for power? There is no way faster to demonstrate your contempt for the wisdom of Elune.
Druid: Ancient counsels and protectors, the druids are to the night elves what the paladins are to the humans and dwarves; a legendary order. But it’s not something you aspire to: It’s something you’re born to. The decision recently to allow women into the orders of druids was almost certainly not a decision of politics, but of theology. (Well, OK. Not purely of politics.) As such, any women who are druids now may well be feeling awed and shocked by the revelation; for most of their lives they genuinely felt women couldn’t be druids, now they’re revealed to be one. You could get a lot of milage out of this.
Hunter : Hunters come in two classes for the night elves. Those who focus themselves on animals and their maintenance (Beast Mastery spec, most likely, possibly Survival) see themselves less as fighters and more as custodians, they hunt because the world needs to be managed. If a species overpopulates, they cull it. If one looks in trouble, they protect it and revive it. On the flipside, a hunter with a more martial viewpoint (Marksmanship, maybe Survival) probably views herself as a Sentinel. There may very well be very little cultural ground between this Hunter and a warrior; both are Sentinels who merely prefer different styles of combat.
Mages & Warlocks: Here’s a night elf joke: What’s the difference between a mage and a warlock? The warlock knows he’s a damned fool. OK, not really. But seriously, that’s the only difference the night elves are likely to see between the two. Both mages and warlocks are wielding power they have no right to, but at least the warlock admits this. The pretension of the mage, by contrast, is insufferable.
Paladin: Paladins are likely a very intriguing order to the night elves, and perhaps a sign of hope for the humans. Like the night elves, they seem less concerned with conquest than conservation; they were born to fight the Scourge, a worthy goal, and admirably have not much shifted from it. They defend rather than deny, keep safe rather than endanger. As such, if any night elf will truly trust a human, it’s probably the paladins they trust. (And this goes double for dwarves.
Priest: The difference between a priest and a druid, to the night elves, is the relationship between themselves and their deities; and their relationships between themselves and their people. The druids are very clearly a cloistered discipline; they don’t evangelise, are exclusivist, and in fact traditionally more concerned with the Emerald Dream than being active in Azeroth. A priest, however, is a long-time activist role. Unlike the druid, you can aspire to the priesthood, and many do. It is a deeply respected profession, but a demanding one. Night elves have tremendous respect for priests of any race.
Rogue: As SI:7 is to humans, so to are the Wardens to night elves. Much like humans, night elves know there are watchful eyes upon them, and fear the wardens. However, the night elves are likely somewhat more reassured given the Wardens are primarily seen as bounty-hunters and marshals. This is true, and a nice cover-story for their less honest activities. However, a Warden declaring themselves a Warden would not earn the same horrified looks an SI:7 operative would earn for revealing themselves similarly.
Shaman: The shamanic traditions of the tauren are what night elves most likely think of first whenever they hear the word ‘shaman’, and as such, night elves are not part of the tradition, yet respect it. To them, it’s simply a bit circuitous; why honour the spirits when you can honour those the spirits obey?
Warrior: As noted above, most warriors in Kal’dorei society either are or were Sentinels at some point. I strongly suspect that the ranks of the Sentinels cross boundaries between Hunters and Warriors, with Hunters being long-ranged specialists and Warriors close-combat specialists. As those warriors who favour close combat tend to be (shall we say) more reckless than long-ranged ones, they are likely either the most daring, the most foolish, or the most fervent of the Sentinels.