Thalassian Elves
General
- Classification
- Humanoid
- Faction/Affiliation
- Alliance
- Homeworld
- Azeroth
- Area(s)
- Quel'Thalas, Dalaran
- Languages
- Common, Thalassian
Thalassian elves were the descendants of the highborne exiled from Darnassus following the War of the Ancients. They eventually came to the landmass that would be called the Eastern Kingdoms, and established their own kingdom away from their kaldorei brethren under the leadership of Dath'remar Sunstrider.
History
The story of the thalassian elves, known both as high elves and blood elves depending on their personal affiliation, began with the exile of the highborne from the continent of Kalimdor. The trauma of the great war that led to the Sundering had caused the kaldorei to distrust the arcane, and they sought to ban its use amongst their people. The highborne under Dath'remar Sunstrider found such a movement to be unjust given their own aid against Azshara and the Burning Legion. An attempt to prove themselves to their kaldorei kin by cloaking their lands in a protective barrier of eternal night called the Gate of Elune, sped up by pressure and necessity, went awry, which resulted in an ultimatum: abandon the arcane and stay with the kaldorei, or refuse and be exiled, forgoing the gift of immortality bestowed upon them by the dragonflights through Nordrassil in the process.
Those that would become quel'dorei were the latter, and they were exiled in the year -869.
The Birth of Quel'Thalas
The elves under Dath'remar voyaged across the sea and eventually landed on the continent that would be called the Eastern Kingdoms. Their pilgrimage was fraught with challenges as they pursued a new home, and the journey brought them to a renewed conflict with the trolls that had settled there. Fueled by old hatreds on both sides due to the ongoing conflict between their people before the Sundering, the trolls were the first to attack to defend their new homeland, but the elves did not blink at carving out a new home just their empire had always done.
Throughout the conflict, Dath'remar had set his sights on the leylines and the nexus of power they led his people to. Eventually, they arrived at the top of the land they would call Quel'Thalas, and it was there that they made the decision to create their new capital. Dath'remar conjured a vial from the Well of Eternity that he had kept, and he used it to create the font of power known as the Sunwell on the isle known as Quel'Danas.
The powerful mages of the highborne used the power of the Sunwell and the leylines to conjure the building blocks of their capital of Silvermoon—named as an homage to the life they left behind—in the year -764. However, they were not oblivious to the dangers of the arcane magics they had practiced for so long, and they understood that the Sunwell would serve as a beacon to demons of the Burning Legion that had been ousted from their world. Thus, for the sake of additional protection, they conjured a great mythal based on the very shield they had hoped to gift to their prior people: a barrier known as the Ban'dinoriel.
For a time, the new nation Dath'remar had created was an idyllic hope and fruit of all they had sacrificed. He became the first king of the Sunstrider dynasty, and his queen was a woman named Lather'i Summerreach, who he immortalized with a statue that eventually was known as the Huntress of the Sun. Unlike the moon worship that their kaldorei kin favored, the new quel'dorei favored the veneration of the sun, Belore, which was reflected in their home and their habits as they turned fully to the day.
The Purging of History
Near the end of Dath'remar's life, he was met with a new fear as the years wore on. Some amongst his people, now removed from the immediate trauma of the Sundering, had started to revert to the ways of their highborne predecessors: dark bargains to regain the immortality they lost. Whispers that, perhaps, they could do better than Azshara did and they would not fall from grace. He was filled unease that he had made the wrong decision, and instead had led his people into ruin.
His close confidante, Amaranthea Dawnweaver, offered another idea. She proposed that the history of the highborne be purged so that there was no memory to idolize or romanticize. Instead, they could create retellings of the history that further hammered the lessons they had learned from the kaldorei empire, in hopes that their people wouldn't return to the same pattern. Dath'remar agreed, and Amaranthea, who had not lost her immortality due to an allegiance she made with the kaldorei to monitor the actions of the exile highborne fed the same idea to Tyrande Whisperwind. Through her own efforts, and the efforts of the Unseen Path, memories of the War of the Ancients, over centuries, were steadily removed from the the quel'dorei zeitgeist in favor of the curated histories that had been written.
First Troll Wars
In the year 32 the elves of Quel'Thalas became embroiled in a particularly bloody conflict against the Amani trolls they had been feuding with for centuries. Following the surprise resurgence of a new Zul'jin, their queen, Salaria Sunstrider, was killed on the field of battle, which thrust her son, Anasterian Sunstrider, into a seat of rulership he had not anticipated for some time to the relatively young age of his mother. Anasterian, along with his close confidantes Belo'vir Salonar and Vandellor Everpost, realized that they needed help if they were to emerge triumphant, and they found allies in the united human tribes under king Thoradin of Arathi. In exchange for their aid, they promised to teach 100 promising humans the secrets of arcane magic. These humans, hand-picked by their elven mentors, eventually formed the Council of Tirisfal, and these same mages founded the city of Dalaran, where they could share the secrets they had mastered with future generations.
The successful alliance between the elves and the humans was marked by the creation of a holiday called Pilgrim's Bounty, and this event also became the first instance of elves and humans truly mingling amongst each other as genuine allies. Some elves chose to leave Quel'Thalas and instead settled in Dalaran, where they created new ties with the humans and became part of a joint society, while Quel'Thalas itself remained largely isolated.
Orchestration of the Alliance
As time wore on, Anasterian saw the downfalls of the short lives of humans. While he had always been a pragmatic man, he had not anticipated the Empire of Arathor to crumble when barely a generation of his own kin had passed. The humans his people had taught magic too were well dead and gone, and the their teachings had been adapted over the generations to suit the lifestyles of the people that wielded them: magic that the first humans were carefully taught over decades became introductory learning for new mages, and the very real threat of the crumbling empire that had started to fight each other was at the doorstep of the elven people.
Using the Council of Tirisfal, a largely secret organization that had a great deal of elven influence due to their ties to the first mages and elves connected to them, the seeds of the Alliance of Seven Kingdoms were planted, and eventually the Alliance was formed in the year 472. It had been Anasterian's hope that the Alliance would protect Quel'Thalas from the threat of the human kingdoms, as ultimately their numbers far surpassed their own and, with the gift of magic bequeathed upon them, the main advantage of the elves had disappeared.
Second Troll Wars
The time of peace stopped in year 611 when Anasterian and the rest of the Sunstrider dynasty was slain by another resurgence of Zul'jin. The troll warlord had managed to assassinate them in the heart of Silvermoon, along with several other kings of the Alliance in their respective capitals, which caused chaos to be unleashed upon the allied kingdoms. Anasterian's youngest son, Kael'thas Sunstrider, was the only member of the family to be spared as he had been in Dalaran as a member of the leading Council of Six. Like his father before, he was thrust into the role of leadership far sooner than he ever anticipated, though in Kael'thas's case, he had never expected to rule at all as his elder brother had already had an heir and grandchildren by the time of his birth.
The war fully erupted in year 612, and it was a bloody but relatively swift war as a group of Atal'hakkari blood cultists used the bloodshed as a means to summon their dread god Hakkar. The manifestation of the loa was vanquished in Zul'Gurub, but the Eastern Kingdoms was left battered and bruised.
Sacking of Silvermoon
Ten years later, Silvermoon would finally be sacked, though it was not by the trolls they had fought for so long. Instead, it was their own people that had turned against them, despite the safeguards Dath'remar and Amaranthea had hoped to put in place long ago. Warlocks under the machinations of Kael'thas's friend and confidant Dar'Khan Drathir orchestrated the opening of the Dark Portal in the heart of the Sunwell, and the orcish Horde under the command of the Burning Legion poured through it in a green wave. Another war broke loose, and the Ban'dinoriel was strengthened to contain the orcs within Silvermoon to give the rest of the kingdom time to escape, but the elves were once more cast into exile. Eventually, the protective barrier was broken, and the orcs were unleashed on the countryside.
Many quel'dorei died in the sacking and the conflicts that followed, and they became reliant on their human neighbors for succor.
Birth of the Sin'dorei
With the arrival of the Horde other changes over the elven people also came to pass. Many of their leadership were slain, but not all stayed dead. After claiming the dread blade Frostmourne that had been cast through the unstable Dark Portal as it opened and thrust through the heart tree of Quel'Thalas, Lana'thel Dawnseeker, who would later become Duskseeker, revived those who had been slain at the heart tree into undead. Kael'thas Sunstrider was among those who had been killed, and he became the first San'layn—the herald of a new lineage of vampyrs.
A strike team was launched on Quel'Danas after heavy consideration, and the Sunwell—along with the Dark Portal—was destroyed, which halted the true invasion of the Legion. However, the elves of Quel'Thalas had become almost symbiotic with the energies of the Sunwell, and the very young and very old had started to succumb to its absence. It was decided a supplement was needed, and the elves, now dubbed Sin'dorei for those that had been lost, started to seek one.
Rumors of the presence of undead amongst the refugees from Quel'Thalas began to spread, however, and it instilled fear amongst the humans of Lordaeron. This fear was weaponized by some members of the Church of the Holy Light, and it was forged into the Scarlet Crusade, who claimed to be enemies of the orcish invaders, the demons, and anything that threatened Lordaeron. However, this claim was directed toward the elven refugees as well, and a witch hunt commenced. Many innocent elves, both undead and living, were executed by the Crusade before it was stopped, which shook the foundations of the unity the elves and humans once had.
Description
Thalassian elves were taller than humans, with male heights being around 5 foot 11 inches and female heights being around 5 foot 7 inches. However, they were significantly shorter than their kaldorei brethren and highborne ancestors, as the magic of the Sunwell continued to mutate them over the time. Proportionally, they typically had longer legs than humans did. They also aged at a similar rate as humans and reached physical maturity at around 18 years old, though their lives were much longer and could span centuries. A thalassian elf was considered venerable at around 750 years, though some could live to be closer to 900.
Reproduction amongst elves was very slow due to their long lives, and the female menstrual cycle typically only occurred once a year versus every month. However, gestation was typically around nine months as it was for humans.
Ears
While they resembled humans in their general shape and range of skin tones, thalassian elves possessed very large, upward-tilted ears that allowed them to have incredibly acute hearing. The elongated shape of the ears acted as a sound “funnel” which allowed the elves to pick up faint or otherwise imperceptible noises. Due to the additional musculature and structure needed to keep the ears erect, they were slightly more flexible than humans and as a result they served a natural role in elven body language. While they did not have the full mobility of an animal like a cat, they could “flatten” against the side of the head or faintly “prick up” to hone in on a specific noise.
The cartilage of the ears was flexible and could bend. Newborn elves were born with smaller, “floppy” ears to allow them easier passage through the birth canal, until the cartilage ultimately strengthened and allowed the ears to be held erect, usually by age 1 or 2. While severe bending later in life could be uncomfortable (such as if an ear was folded in half) it was typically not explicitly painful unless a great deal of pressure was applied. Folding or bending ears sometimes became a nervous tick for some.
Eyebrows
Thalassian elves also had very pronounced, elongated eyebrows. The primary structure of their eyebrows was more similar to whiskers than normal hair, thus it was surprisingly coarse, though they softened at the tips and toward the middle of the brow, where the hair was shorter. Styling eyebrows into different shapes was not uncommon as a fashion statement.
The purpose of elven eyebrows was not particularly well-documented, though they were believed to be a rudimentary evolution to help sense movements and shifts in the air currents, which could be useful both in tracking and fighting. Some also suspected that they may have doubled as a sensor for magical energy and acted as an extension of the body that keyed into an innate sense. Like their eyes, the expressive nature of elven eyebrows contributed heavily to body language, and subtle changes to expression could betray a lot about an elf’s mood even if the rest of their face did not.
Eyes
Thalassian elves had enhanced night vision that remained from their kaldorei ancestors despite their transition into a diurnal species. Unlike humans, their pupils were not dark, but instead had a luminescent glow that carried through the rest of the iris via reflective lining at the back of their eyes. As a result, elven eyes in dim light were particularly prominent.
The natural glow of the eye was linked to their natural connection to magic, which made them a “window to the soul” in a more literal sense. The color of this glow could shift depending on what magic the elf was most attuned to, though the majority had a blue sheen due to their connection to the arcane.
Memory
Elves were naturally long-lived, and as a result their brains were adapted to possess memory recall well beyond expected normalcy for a typical mortal. In addition to short and long term memory, a third, archival, form of memory existed that effectively “catalogued” long-irrelevant memories in deep storage. While not a perfect recall, these memories could be restored through prompting, either through questions, or items and locations that would trigger the memory.
Particularly elderly elves nearing the end of their lives sometimes lost the ability to truly “catalogue” ancient memories effectively, and thus instead it became difficult to pull apart recent, current memories from ancient ones. Similar to dementia, these elves sometimes became lost in a reverie of their lengthy pasts and recalled people that had been long dead as if they were recent acquaintances as the memories instead bleed together without the division of time.
Magical Sensitivity
While not elves were intensely learned in the theories of magic, they all had a natural talent for it due to their natural connection. They were typically capable of small magical tricks and were naturally resistant to magical influences on the mind, which made them predisposed to becoming some sort of mage, even if it was not explicitly practiced wizardry of the arcane variety.
However, this predisposition also made them incredibly vulnerable to addictive tendencies, and it was not uncommon for elves to become heavily addicted to magical sources and corruption.
Culture
Thalassian elves native to Quel'Thalas were known to be somewhat isolationist and largely kept to their own homelands outside of scouting missions afar or other assignments such as trading and otherwise. Many of them were considered to be prideful and haughty, and they had a deep focus on an artisanal culture that centered around their mastery of magic. Magic was so deeply entrenched into their lives that very little escaped being touched by it, which largely created a feeling of opulence and excess in their city centers.
They prided themselves on their independence and resilience, and their religion of Belore worship also emphasized these traits. Unlike their kaldorei descendants, they revered Belore and the sun instead of Elune and the moon, though their religion was much loose and casual with the belief that the strength was in the individual instead of their connection to a deity. The sun was believed to be a source of life and creativity, and Belore provided for them through his light and what it created versus magical miracles, as the thalassian elves were capable of creating those in their own way.
Education
Early Education
Thalassian elves did not have generalized public schools and education of young elves was done within the home. The burden of this responsibility normally fell upon relatives, with some of the most common educators being the parents themselves or grandparents, though given the expansive life spans older siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins could also be just as readily involved.
Noble or otherwise wealthy families were more apt to employ a specialized tutor for their children, and such lessons were also normally accompanied with more specialized learning, such as how they should behave in high society, or a prelude to arcane spellcasting so that they had an upper hand when they entered formal training with the Magistrate. It was not uncommon for tutors from the Magistrate to eventually take on a young elf as a formal apprentice once they got to the age where they would start exploring such formal education.
Later Education
Due to the lengthy lifespans of elves, cultural “adolescence” lasted a great deal longer than shorter-lived races. While elves reached physical maturity at the same rate of a human, they could exist in a state of flux and experimentation for their first century as they explored different skills and avenues and otherwise decided what they may wanted to do with their adult life.
Due to the wide range of ages this resulted in for further education, most thalassian elves that opted to pursue a trade or other occupation entered into apprenticeships with an experienced master where they could learn the skills needed to perform it on their own. Because of the sheer breadth of skill elves could acquire over the centuries, highly experienced masters could be in high demand and being taken on as an apprentice by a popular tradesman came with both prestige and high expectation. Impressing such a master tradesman was normally a focus of competition amongst admiring elves.
The Magistrate
Due to the deep relationship the thalassian elves had with the arcane, the Magistrate was one of the only organizations that has organized schools. There were several such schools scattered around Quel'Thalas, and they were normally arranged like colleges, where students would live on the school grounds in dorms and attend classes based on their interests and desired specialization. Most Magisterial schools had a predetermined introduction series of courses, though they could be bypassed if the student had proven themselves to have suitable aptitude, and some students bypassed organized schooling entirely if they happened to secure an apprenticeship with an experienced magister.
Magisterial schools served as an introductory point into the formal Magistrate, and also as a means to ensure all that entered the Magistrate had a base understanding of the magics they would be studying. Graduating from one of the schools normally necessitated acquiring an apprenticeship with a seasoned magister, from whom more in-depth education and learning would be acquired.
Being recognized as a full magister of Silvermoon required successfully passing a complex and difficult series of tests given by the Grand Magister or a designated tester. One could not become a magister without passing this series of trials, and an apprentice incapable of doing so normally returned to their apprenticeship until they were successful, or they opted to take their magical education into other trades without acquiring the title of magister.
Once an elf achieved the magister title, further learning was self-guided and reputation and notoriety within the magistrate was based on merit, knowledge, and personal skill.
This in-depth method of magical instruction often caused magisters to look down on the Kirin Tor of Dalaran due to their perceptions of the education being "rushed".
Mounts and Companions
The primary mounts of elven homelands were hawkstriders—large, brightly plumed flightless birds that the elves had come to domesticate in a manner similar to horses. They served a great many different purposes, from pulling carriages, to personal mounts, to food sources through their eggs, and specialized breeders also were known for propagating fanciful show variants for nobility.
Some particularly renowned military leaders and heroes were sometimes gifted sunrunners as a show of prestige, which were much rarer. The symbol of the dreamrunner sometimes appeared on family motifs, such as for the Windrunners, though the domesticated breeding populations were quite small.
For aerial transportation dragonhawks were normally used, though sometimes large tamed mana wyrms were substituted depending on availability. Following the invasion of the orcish Horde, dragonhawk populations had been drastically reduced, which had resulted in them being a much rarer sight until populations could stabilize.
Thalassian elves had perfected the art of mana wyrm silk farming, and it was one of their main exports due to the shimmering, magical qualities of the cloth created from mana silk. Smaller mana wyrms were also kept as pets and as pest control for important magical sights.
In addition, thalassian elves enjoyed the company of larger cats like lynxes—similar to their kaldorei ancestors—as well as more domesticated house cats and they had also bred a specific, small breed of dog called an elfhound.
Dalarani Elves
Thalassian elves that lived and grew up in Dalaran and never knew Quel'Thalas much directly were typically referred to as dalarani elves. Notably, these elves normally prescribed much more closely to the culture of Dalaran, which had a decidedly human influence. There was sometimes some tension between dalarani elves and full thalassian elves just because of the differences in cultural expectations, as dalarani elves typically acted much faster on big decisions and were less prone to take several decades to a century to decide on their course in life.
Given the majoriy of dalarani elven arcanists also learned directly from the Kirin Tor, they sometimes also butt heads with educational priorities and methodologies of the magistrate.
Political Structure
The thalassian people were a monarchy though the rule was ultimately made be a collection of leaders known as the Convocation of Silvermoon. The monarch of the nation was determined by bloodline, but it did not prioritize a male or female child over the other. Instead, the heir was simply whoever was the firstborn.
Ancestry Features
Thalassian elves for the purpose of Dungeons & Dragons used the High Elf ancestry with an exception that the Trance feature was instead replaced with the following:
Their Fey Ancestry feature was also instead referred to as Arcane Mind but otherwise operated the same.
| Warcraft Creature Types |
|---|
| Aberration • Beast • Celestial • Construct • Demon • Dragonkin • Elemental • Fey • Giant • Humanoid • Monstrosity • Ooze • Plant • Undead |
| Humanoid Creatures | ||
|---|---|---|
| Azerothian | Native | Elf (High Elf (Waned) • Night Elf • Nightborne (Nightfallen)) • Troll (Dark • Forest • Ice • Jungle • Sand • Zandalari) |
| Wildborn | Gnoll • Hozen • Jalgar (Furbolg) • Pandaren • Quilboar • Tuskarr • Wolvar | |
| Titanic Creations | Dwarf • Gnome • Human • Trogg (Grummle • Kobold) | |
| Alien to Azeroth | Draenei • Orc | |
