Talk:A Guide to Roleplaying a Night Elf character

Hi Celegil! I had some thoughts to add on this topic, and thought it would make more sense to put them here rather than starting a separate page. But rather than just going ahead wiki-style, since the page has "Celegil's" written all over it, I thought I'd ask before wading in. If you want to keep your authorship "intact" I can put "Aleithia adds:" with my comments in each relevant section, rather than doing a straight edit. Is that ok with you? Aleithia (SWC) 08:52, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Hello there Aleitha.

That sounds like a nice idea. What we could is make it like 'Celegil and Aleitha's guide to Night Elf Roleplaying'. Then you just say 'Aleitha adds:...'. We could also completely rebuild the whole thing but that's a lot of work and I don't think that's really needed, unless you insist ofcourse ^^.

--Celegil Moonwatcher 08:38, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I've made a start with the first section; I still have some more thoughts to add later on. I do think the text could benefit from a friendly rewrite; as it stands, it feels a little long. But I don't insist.

Aleithia flutters her eyelashes innocently, hiding the scissors behind her back.

I could always try a rewrite and post it here for your approval first. May I? Aleithia (SWC) 14:44, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

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A few comments, if there's going to be a reworking:


 * Age. This section has now been settled in Blizzard lore as "all elves living thousands of years". The point about being adult enough at 16 to have a love affair is good, is suggests they mature physically at a "human rate". The point of being "adults" at 110-300 years is also good, it suggests that just like humans, they grow up very fast physically but in terms of experience and maturity, they still have craploads of growing up to do before they're taken seriously as adults. I do think both lore references, 110 and 300 are reasonable: the variance is minimal compared to Night Elf lifespan, and roughly matches humans being physically mature at 14-18 but adults at 18-28, depending on culture and personality. The "old at 600" bit is IMO a relic of when Blizz was saying Night Elves die at 700-800, and should be ignored in the light of retconned lore


 * Attitudes re. dwarves: Is there lore or ingame reference to suggest night elves actually resent drinking? I haven't found any. Their overall culture would suggest they resent overindulgence, as in drinking till you fall down and throw up and become generally useless, but drinking when you can still hold your liquor? WoW festivals are shaky reference, but the arguably Night Elf Moon Festival has an alcoholic drink of it's own -- I think that suggests Night Elves not being tea-totalitarian on a species level.


 * Attitudes re. High/Blood Elves: The hate here is only partially because Quel'dorei looked down on other elves. It's also because the Quel'dorei invited demons into the world, realised they screwed up because of their greed for magic, and still to this day refuse to give up magic, even though arcane magic (in traditional Night Elf opinion) is the root of everything bad that's happened over the last 10,000 years. It's partially an old grudge, but it's also anger that the children stupidly refuse to learn from the most obvious mistake of their ancestors. Even worse, Blood Elves condone warlocks and actively subsist off demonic magics, effectively embracing those mistakes.


 * Female druids: Cenarius taught Tyrande as well as the brothers, Tyrande just chose Elune instead. Supports the "it's a gender bias, not a gender rule" note already recorded. :)

Auburn(SWC) 17:46, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

I agree with the things you say. What you said about the Dwarves is probably closer to the lore then I pointed out about a year ago. At that time, I hadn't experienced the Lunar festival yet so I wasn't sure about that one. So, at the time of writing the original guide (August 2008), I decided to stick with Celegil's personal view on drinking.

I both totally agree with the age and the view on female Druids. I think Blizzard only changed those view details recently so go ahead and add them ;).

Finally, I sometimes forget to check this Wiki daily, perhaps its a good idea to talk further on MSN. My WoW MSN account is celegilmoonwatcher@hotmail.com. --Celegil Moonwatcher 10:40, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Delay is okay, this doesn't need to be finished right now, and I think it's good that people can see what has been changed, when and why. :)

I fixed the bits you said to, I also added the lore about the Highborne. While doing that I noticed the bit about Draenei, which I missed before. It got me thinking. Draenei are peaceful now, but they're also descendants of the Eredar, who basically did what the Highborne did except worse -- they actually destroyed Argus when they meddled with magic and let demons in. The Draenei are the faction that were rescued by the Naaru, much like the Night Elves were rescued by Cenarius and the green, red and bronze Dragonflights - the major difference is that the Draenei never gave up their dangerous arcane magic. Presumably they can use it without the corruption arcane magi are otherwise subject to, because they are directly protected by the Naaru (while the Night Elves only follow the teachings of their saviors).

...I'm not sure what I'm getting at. Maybe even traditional Night Elves would respect the Draenei for their similar history, but at the same time be wary of Draenei magic use tempting others who don't share the Naaru's protection. Or of the possibility that the Naaru's protection isn't as good as the Draenei think, and the Draenei might still become twisted by magic like the Blood Elves eventually were. After all -- Cenarius was killed by lousy orcs, who says the Naaru can't be lost too?

Auburn(SWC) 19:45, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

An interesting debate that is for sure. Most of the sources where I got my point of view from is Azuremyst Isle. I'll try to describe what I mean.

In one of the villages, you will see that a wounded Night Elf priestess is looked after by some Draenei. I think the Night Elves would appreciate that kind of treatment. My second source is the dock near the Exodar. Two Night Elves are there. They play a role in one of the Draenei starting quests as a way point towards the Darkshore quests.

My final source is the end of the main Draenei starting quest. When you finish that quest, Prophet Velen pops up and people cheer before him. One of the people that cheer before him is the wounded Night Elf priestess I mentioned earlier.

Though these things could be seen as game mechanics, I do think Blizzard wanted to point out there is a peaceful relation between the Night Elves and the Draenei nowadays.

Anyway, I like what your doing :)

--Celegil Moonwatcher 12:03, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, I've started the big rewrite. I've tried to keep all the content, but I've slightly reorganised the information, tried to remove any repeated information, and rewritten quite heavily. I hope you like the result! Feel free to edit, add, correct... or just roll back if you really hate it. Enjoy! --Aleithia (SWC) 19:11, 11 April 2009 (UTC)