I’ve not played for a long time and I’m new to RP so I’m not sure how shadow priests are viewed in the RP world. The last expansion seemed to focus a lot on an old god; I’m not sure what happened but would it mean that someone tapping into that magic would. . . let’s just say not go down well? I feel like I shouldn’t be popping shadow form in heavily populated areas.
PS. If there are any guilds for being in-character, don’t mind doing PvE and PvP content and have room for a lowbie blood elf then give me a buzz. It doesn’t have to be an elven guild; to be honest I’ve always had a fascination with orcs and tauren. . .
In the lore books it’ll be very confusing at times telling the difference between Shadow and Void, because as far as I can see, the writers can’t decide if they’re the same thing or not.
The Cult of Forgotten Shadows was founded based on the principles of manifesting our negative emotions into a form of corrosive magic that had withering-like qualities and was capable of mental manipulation. This is what the Forsaken worship, or worshipped (since we aren’t entirely sure atm what Shadow’s place is in the lore).
Void, in comparison, is fuelled by Old God worship and seems to lead heavily into a Lovecraftian form of calling upon otherwordly energies that target an enemy’s mind directly, but also take a toll on the user.
Whilst Shadow is shown to be used by even righteous priests (Anduin, for example), the Void is mostly used by fanatics and evil-doers. What’s the difference? I don’t know; they might be the same thing, if we judge it by in-game abilities used by Shadow Priests, but then also this would imply that the Forsaken have always been unknowingly worshipping the Old Gods and calling upon their forces.
Where does this leave Affliction warlocks, Rogues, and Death Knights? Again, it’s unclear - but, perhaps Shadow is a lesser form of Void that multiple classes can draw upon, whilst Void is channelled only by the most devout Void Lord worshippers. If anyone has any sources, definitely drop them.
Well, there might not be. Legion was the expansion that retconned a lot of the lore regarding Shadow to make it Old God-based; but, in the very same expansion, we resurrect the founder of The Cult of Forgotten Shadows (Natalie Seline), showing that such a form of reverence is still canon.
So, it’s up to you as a roleplayer, really. https://wow.gamepedia.com/Shadow_(magic)
As you can see, the wowpedia page on the subject is incredibly short and vague.
EDIT: Fun fact, looks like they updated Natalie Seline’s model in Shadowlands. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/9/9d/NatalieShadowlands.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/671?cb=20201118172052
Lookin’ good.
With the Alliance it’s in a weird spot with the church of the Holy Light having such influence but at the same time void elves are okay, soo…
Horde never seemed to have any problem with dark magic. Especially not the forsaken. Blood elves are probably pretty uptight about it these days, though.
The cult of forgotten shadow(s) is an odd duck since it’s philosophically more a Discipline spec theme of mastery over self, Light and Shadow but very shadow/void magic themed, distinct from the Cult of the Tentacle.
Bare with me here. But, do you by chance practice a little thing called, ‘‘Moral Relativism’’?
See, when I did my research way back when on the Void, I learned something — the Void isn’t corruptive in the same way Fel is. Yes, in most cases of NPCs and bosses, very corrupted people used the Void for their own ends, and were attracted to it because of the power it held. But did it corrupt them in and of itself? No.
At least that’s the impression I got when I did my research. Surely, someone’ll come here and debunk me in an instant. But the impression I got was Light and Shadow exist in tandem, and one can’t exist without the other — they’re two ends of the same stick. Both can be used for good. It’s just one’s more commonly used for good than the other. But that doesn’t mean the shadow can’t be used for a good purpose.
So here’s where it gets really interesting. What if you make your character so removed, so ego-less, so pragmatic that you create a disciplined man who can wield the Void without seeing it as a power struggle? What if he sees it as a means to an end, and nothing more, and his true passion lies elsewhere? E.g. Arcane Engineering.
This is just me rifting. But I never, ever saw the Void as a, ‘‘black and white open and shut case,’’ (coincidentally!) And I think there’s a reason for that: there’s a lot of nuance to how it can be interpreted. I wish I was more up to date with my sources, but anyway — good luck.
Speaking of sources: The Void is not necessarily “evil”, it is a primal force with its morality characterised by how it is wielded.[[4]]
It is unclear to which extent Blizzard’s narrative embraces this viewpoint however, as it often switches depending on the writer’s perspective. Some are more closer to a relativist side, others aren’t.
More importantly, the void being a neutral force doesn’t imply moral relativism.
In-lore, there are multiple examples of characters that wield the shadows and are not considered pariah or anything. Anduin Wrynn is one.
As for going full-out shadow priest, it greatly depends on your character’s race. Certain races have an “excuse” for full or partial shadow-wielding characters.
Elves can get away with some involvement in the shadows by taking the “Astromancer” angle. EG, similar to High Astromancer Solarian. Astromancer mobs present amongst the Sunfury / other elven groups is an “example” of how they are tolerated and used.
This is the same angle you can take with a Shadowmoon orc. Draenei have a different choice, roleplaying an Auchenai. But I abandoned that this year because while it was compatible and fine pre-BfA, the influx of Lightforged and the shift in the direction of Draenei roleplay has made it largely impossible. Especially so, as even amongst the Auchenai my character was the shadier / more corrupt kind.
One of the fun things about RPing a ren’dorei, or really any shadow-following race, is the paranoia it brings about IC. You have this power within you as a shadow priest, but it comes at the cost of needing to control your emotions. The pressure to control emotions can be a source of fear, which would be leverage for the whispers your character recieves, as can being someone who follows an opposing path to the Light which is a crucial cornerstone in a lot of Azeroth’s races.
It can lead to some really fun and nuanced roleplay, with a whole bunch of different paths and ideas to take; is your character selfish and gaining power for the good of themselves? Are they selfless and willing to carry this burden and be potenitally shunned by friends and family all in the name of protection? Or are they just some absolute madlad who just wants to give in to this overwhelming power without care for themselves or anyone else? It’s all valid IMO.
These replies are golden, thank you. The line between shadow and void aren’t clear but that’s more fun to work with. I won’t be parading myself around as a shadow user and certainly not a void user when those magics come.
I’m a blood elf; anything I do is excusable if it’s for a good purpose. And all my purposes are good. Relatively.
I played a Belf for the most part of my WoW career. Don’t forget about their feats of engineering. If you need inspo for your character, go to Netherstorm and check out the vibe. There are lots of crazy devices there that will add a lot of flavour to your role-play, imho.
Yeah in general shadowmagic isn’t viewed that positively in the eyes of common folk. Probably because light, even when it is used to harm someone is somehow warm and enticing, whereas the shadow/void is always angsty and otherwordly.
One thing to note though is that you can use a lot of shadow/void powers very subtly in public places. Many of them (e.g. mind blast, mind soothe, mind control) affect the persons mind, and you can get away with doing a lot of jedi-mind trick esque rp. Perhaps not outright mind control, but certainly like you can command somebody to calm down or to let you pass or give you a better deal.
Of course this only really works so long as the people in public do not know you can tap into the shadow. When I first Rp’d with Atahalni and people were less familiar with him, I got a lot more effects out without suffering repercussions for it, but as his skills became more and more known people started to always think he was using mind control on folk.
Isn’t that a weird take on Horde side right now? For most but the blood elves.
If anything, Mag’har should have flipped opinions. To them, shadow is the rare, traditional magic of the Shadowmoon while the light is an evil and encroaching, manipulating force.
My take regarding shadow priests in Silvermoon right now is that as long as they are not corrupted by the void like the Void Elves were, it is fine but viewed with scorn. Like similarly to how Nightborne or Orcs would view Fel Users.
Otherwise we would not have Warlocks in Silvermoon either.
I believe rommath exiled Umbric and his friends mainly for delving into Darkhan’s research and only protested against the usage of the void.
TL:DR
If you are a void user and uncorrupted one at that, you can expect to be just barely be tolerated in Silvermoon imo. Not sure about the rest of the Horde.
