Late reply, I think the issue of âare Nightborne Highborne?â Is a tricky one, to me it depends what you mean by highborne.
If you mean âa cut above the rest of their ilk, the highest of them allâ, yes
If you mean âthe specific named caste that was synonymous with Azsharaâ no.
The Nightborne do not refer to themselves as Quelâdorei at all. Their use of terms like lowborn and highborn is largely descriptive.
Yes, they continue the arcane heritage of the highborne, but that doesnât meant they consider themselves Highborne in respect of identity.
Iâd go as far as to suggest they consider themselves better than any Highborne, and that they refined and perfected the culture the Highborne began. The Highborne had the errors of Azshara associated with them, with the residents of Suramar rejected. Whilst Azshara and her Highborne fell into the sea, they survived. Their naming of themselves Nightborne, to me, isnât just because âthe wellâ rather itâs a rejection of the old label of Highborne.
But, as Nightborne they consider themselves the true perfectors of kaldorei heritage and culture, so their new identity occupies a very similar niche to them as the Highborne were, but they consider themselves different in some respect (as least in identity).
So when they refer to themselves as of high birth etc, they mean it only descriptively to me, they do not mean they believe they are literally Highborne as named in kaldorei days of yore, as they have rejected that label and consider themselves superior to it. Theyâve taken that legacy and done more with it than Azsharas lot could, but made it their own identity in shaldorei.
This is my opinion on the matter anyway. What is evident is that Nightborne occupy many of the cultural trends of Highborne, but I do not believe they identify with the Highborne namesake in particular. There is no reverence of such history in their culture, more the tools said culture wielded, and emphasis is how they perfected what they already had themselves to survive where the other kaldorei failed.
I also think they consider themselves different regarding their orientation towards their culture.
In ancient Highborne culture much of their behaviour and refinement and pursuit of magic was oriented around Azshara and her court. It was a means of identifying who was who. Magic was a luxury, encouraged, but a luxury nonetheless. The education students received in the Art was formative but was still under Azsharas thumb (we see this was the academy in Azsuna).
With the Nightborne their pursuit of continuation of these elements is simply their due factor culture, there is no longer a dynamic of âthe wild kaldorei brethrenâ to set themselves against, so it becomes simply a pursuit for its own gain rather than politicking for the queen and over the others. This is perhaps why we see such advancement of various arcane sciences under the shaldorei such as arcane botany and astromancy as well as Telemancy. Their magic became their way of life rather than their medal of honour. In doing so they took it to heights the old Highborne never could thus their claims to high birth became evident by this fact rather than through association with the queen. Thus itâs a superior identity they embrace.
Itâs an interesting topic of discussion and speculation for sure.