Interested to hear your personal thoughts on Nightborne priests. Can they call on Elune? What would the implications be for choosing a faction that opposes Tyrande?
This is always an interesting question to answer. I will preface by stating my interpretations of Blizzard’s lore differ from my opinion of what can successfully be role-played within the World of Warcraft community.
For the purpose of this question, I will provide an answer based solely on my interpretation of Blizzard’s lore.
I am very doubtful that the shal’dorei, or nightborne, have retained their faith in Elune at all. Ten-thousand years ago, during the War of the Ancients, the ancient nightborne (then kaldorei/highborne) abandoned their brethren to shield themselves from the onslaught of the Legion.
For 10,000 years, they lived without moonlight (Elune’s light) and sunlight in a society predominantly sustained by magic and the energies of the Nightwell. See Suramar Cinematic below:
It is very possible that in the absence of moonlight, the ancient people of Suramar felt abandoned by Elune and the faith died off as a result. Of course, Suramar was once “the jewel” of the night elf empire, and the heart of the Elunarian faith.
There is a limited number of references in-game and in the lore where nightborne discuss Elune. Of the few that exist, they strongly indicate contempt and disinterest in the Goddess and her followers.
Below is a video from [Quest: Gates of the Nighthold]. In it, Elisande (leader of the nightborne, for the last 10,000 years) claims that the kaldorei (the primary followers of Elune) disgrace their glorious past by hiding in trees and cloaking themselves in “false piety”. Piety is the quality of being religious, or reverent. And there is nothing more the kaldorei revere than Elune. This statement alone seems to indicate that the nightborne believe their magical culture is superior to the religion of their ‘savage’ cousins.
Elisande is not the only nightborne leader who seems to share this view. During the quests, [Quest: Thalyssra’s Estate] (Horde) & [Quest: Take Me To Your Leader] (Alliance), Thalyssra seems to openly mock Elune and the kaldorei when speaking with Liadrin. The dialog flows as follows:
Thalyssra turns and summons a vision of herself and Tyrande Whisperwind.
Tyrande Whisperwind says: Arcanist Thalyssra. I remember where your order stood in the War of the Ancients. How do we know you won’t betray us and become the next Elisande… the next Azshara?
First Arcanist Thalyssra says: We do not intend to be slaves to the Nightwell. We seek to drive the Legion from Suramar and put an end to Elisande’s oppression.
Tyrande Whisperwind says: The kaldorei will fight to see the Legion defeated and the Nightwell destroyed. Beyond that… we shall see where Elune’s wisdom guides us.
Thalyssra ends the vision and turns back to Liadrin.
First Arcanist Thalyssra says: It would seem “Elune’s wisdom” guided her away from the bond we once shared. So be it.
It is the use of quotes and the inflection of Thalyssra’s voice during the brief cinematic that implies she is openly “mocking” Elune as an entity worth seeking wisdom in.
You can watch the cinematic of that at the video here as well:
The Tomb of Sargeras on the Broken Isles was once the most prominent Temple of Elune in ancient times. When the Highborne of Suramar shielded themselves during the War of the Ancients, they were cut off from that temple and it sank to the bottom of the ocean until Gul’dan raised it during the Second War.
This means they were sealed in their city without their primary center of worship and with no moonlight to rely upon. And thus, they turned to the Nightwell. The willingness of the nightorne to turn away from Elune for the promise of a new well of power to preserve their arcane culture is what makes their culture run almost parallel to the Quel’dorei/Sin’dorei. It was, at least until they joined the Horde, an areligious society.
It is also important to note that, until they were made player races, there were no references, either mechanically with NPC spells, titles or dialog or in the lore in-game that suggested nightborne priests existed at all. It is more likely that the existence of nightborne priests is a product of their close alliance with the Blood Elves, and Liadrin’s devout followers of the Holy Light in particular.
The above information is primarily why I believe the nightborne do not worship Elune, or have the ability to call upon her - even as priests. Of course, that does not mean roleplayers cannot or should not play nightborne who do worship Elune. Since their return to the world, the nightborne are being exposed to a number of fascinating things. Most notably are probably the ruins outside their own city. The ruins of Suramar (zone) contain a ton of tiny bits about Elune and the Elunarian faith, and I see no reason the nightborne wouldn’t begin exploring this again in the future.
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