Questions regarding Blood Knights

Argent Dawn
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Hello everyone,

I’ve recently gotten introduced to RP by a few friends. After some pondering regarding what I wanted to play, I have a few questions regarding the lore.
I’ve already done some research regarding them, but the answers didn’t particularly satisfy me, so I wonder if anyone of you could help me.

I currently have following concept in mind: A Blood Knight, however due to past experiences, having the possibility of the light forsaking them is naive, so she still has an older mindset regarding it: E.g. Does not believe in the light itself, prefers accessing the powers without having to pray and devote herself to this mysterious energy.

  1. Since the Sunwell serves as the source of the Blood Knight’s power now, do Blood Knights still have to believe in the light in order to call upon their powers?

  2. Does it make sense, from a lore PoV, that a Blood Knight would refuse to pursue the “mistakes” of the past -> Believe in the light just for it to forsake them.

  3. Are these thoughts tolerated within Blood Elven society/The Order of Blood

  4. Are there Blood Knights who since been discharged/quit/deserted the military but still have access to their powers granted to them by the Sunwell/M’uru/etc.?

I wish to thank you in advance and hope that some of you might be able to help me.

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As far as I understand: no. Paladins have faith, Blood Knights have a Sunwell.

Jaded blood elves are the best blood elves. It makes perfect sense for a Blood Knight to rely entirely on the Sunwell, and not want to give any credit to the Light beyond its use to smite and heal.

I gather Lady Liadrin is leaning towards genuine faith these days (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong), but as a whole I believe the order is still a far cry from Paladins in matters of faith and philosophy.

I don’t think any high- or blood elf is ever cut off. At least not while on Azeroth. So if they still have their training in mind, I don’t see why leaving the order would diminish their might.

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Hey, since Vervaina already answered the majority of the questions - I will just link a segment from Blood Knight guide written by Aerilen re. faith and belief in Light.

Guide: Useful threads: setting, story & roleplay 📖 - #3 by Rogmasha-argent-dawn

Faith in the Light certainly wasn’t dead in Silvermoon or Eversong, if a paladin character clicked on a priest they would dismiss them with “I don’t have the time for a sermon now”. Not to mention the priests were actively working -with- the Light to help Silvermoon rather than using it to help Silvermoon.

“Already the rangers speak of your blessings with awe and respect. Now you can see how the Light serves us, allowing us to help others, but only after we have helped ourselves.” - Ponaris, Quest: Cleansing the Scar.

While there may certainly have been a minority of knight which may have followed the Light still, the majority were disillusioned and disenfranchised like Lady Liadrin.

However, since the renewal of the Sunwell the reverse seems to slowly be coming true; the revised quest texts for example lack a lot of the open hostility towards other Paladin orders who revere the Light, and towards the Light in general. However, due to the Sunwell radiating holy as well as arcane magic now, you don’t need faith to channel it.

Edit/Big Update: A faithless Blood Knight concept is just as valid as one with faith, though one who still clings to the mindset which was apparent in TBC may turn a few heads, not only that but they still suffer the same headaches and emotional instability that was caused from leeching from M’uru:

https://twitter.com/MickyNeilson/status/669361548582739968

Hi, question! Are there side-effects to drawing from the Sunwell like we saw with M’uru in TBC?

Yep! Side effects were described in Blood of the Highborne.

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I would say that because the sunwell radiates light now faith is not needed OR supplemented with the faith in the sunwell rather then faith in the light

IIRC there is still not a real lore explanation as to why the Light left with the destruction of the sunwell because the two weren’t tied to it, I can imagine there are BK’s who, knowing that, are unable to restore their own faiths in the light. (I’d gladly find out if there was lore on it.) It’s my approach to this character and no one’s called me out on it yet so I assume it’s fine.

I’d imagine its a potential source for internal conflict, yet nothing that would get people kicked out. The Blood Knights still exist for Quel’thalas first IIRC.

The sunwell cannot be turned off for someone iirc, as long as they’re close enough to receive it’s boon they should still have access.

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Thank you so much for your responses, I greatly appreciate it!

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I think the explanation was the despair of everyone after the destruction and the general “the Light could not protect/save us from those atrocities, what good is it?” In the people following it like Liadrin.

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Ah fair, I’m glad it fits seamlessly without needing to make a lot of changes atleast!

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Yeah it was generally a loss of faith over the Light abandoning them. And even then as mentioned above that wasn’t every Blood Knight, off the top of my head Mehlar Dawnblade (one of the ‘first generation’ of blood knights) is one such elf.

I don’t think there’s any distance limitations on it, elves were still tethered to it in “Beyond the Dark Portal” despite being on Outland.

Anyway, OP. Keep in mind a faithless knight who forcefully uses the Sunwell will suffer from an array of issues; they become emotionally and mentally unstable. This drove one character mad and was a major contribution to him becoming wretched further down the line (Galell).

As per Mr. Neilson’s tweet in one of the posts above me.

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I always figured that that was due to a link through portals between the world’s, but yeah you’re probably right
I am curious if it can still reach them in the shadowlands, then…

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If you want to add a little nuance to your role-play, I might humbly suggest having the Light judge your Elf via karmic events for his/her wielding of it. (Corruption, whispering thoughts, doubt, spells going wrong, healing doing the opposite.)

If, for example, your Elf used to devote herself to the Light in Lordaeron (before the Third War), but now taps the Sunwell for her power, maybe the Light crops up eventually and has something to say about that. Especially if your Elf still totes an old libram, or a false idol, (or carries other pre-war relics on her person.)

… I’m a sucker for the old days and miss having my BK channel tainted Light, I gotta admit.

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Gets the sweats

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One thing worth mentioning is that although it’s possible to drain from the Sunwell forcefully (and suffer the negative side effects the Knights received from draining from M’uru), the Order as a whole moved away from that practice. And in an order where your advancement is based on politics and getting “in” with the higher ups to sponsor you, your career advancement options might be limited if you actively go against the new MO of the order Liadrin’s laid out.

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This confuses me.

Isn’t he saying the opposite?

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He is, I stand corrected!

I -really- need to get around to updating that Blood Knight guide, it’s quite outdated (by 24 hours in this case :cold_sweat:) in some parts. The down-side to twitter being an absolute black hole.

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Your character might still get a social headache, though. Most blood elves still have faith in the Light, and many of the Blood Knights’ faith has been restored. Being and acting the opposite may raise some eyebrows IC.

That said many of the blood elf rpers I have met still portray their characters as indifferent, or sometimes even distrustful towards the Light, so you may not even notice it.

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We actually don’t know if most Blood Elves still have faith in the Light. Our only evidence right now is mainly Lady Liadrin, correct me if I am wrong, which seems to be exceptionally zealous and faithful to the Light. I think that a lot of Belves wouldn’t forget how the Light has ‘forsakened’ them during the scourging of Quel’thalas, and you can see it being the most commonly depiction being RPd in the belf community as you said.

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Not entirely true, as golden eyes that elves have, are based in part on the individual’s degree of devotion to the Light. So if you do have them - it makes you a believer one way or another.

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This and a novel about the blood knights formation mentioned how commoners still have respect for and faith in the Light, if I recall correctly.

I should try and find the quote. But I believe the majority of the blood elves who lost their faith are the ones who actually wielded it in the first place. They linked their own failings to the Light (which is understandable mind you), but the general populace likely wouldn’t have felt the same way.

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Liadrin’s friend Gallel, as an example off the top of my head, so it is understandable that they had to fight both their religious struggle and the arcane addiction.

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together we will enslave more naaru my friends

we can return to the golden era

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