I just rolled a Shaman, My first time playing a Shaman, and my first time RPing one. Thus I have some questions I thought some of you out there may have some Insight into. So here we go
1) Is Shamanism in Warcraft consistent through all races? Or is there variance based on the culture of the races, or even individually? For instance would one Shaman smoke some herbs and Divine the will of the spirits while in a trace-like state while another divines the will of the spirits by tossing rocks or bones on a Symbol drawn in the ground?
2) is there a Shamanistic God or Goddess? or is Shamanism simply the worship of ancestor spirits and the spirit of Nature through the elements?
3) if the answer to question 1 is yes there are variables in Lore and practices for different races, what Flavor would the Draenei Exhibit in their Shamanistic practices? Would a Troll Shaman and a Draenei shaman be able to collaborate, for example?
I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future but this is a good start, and if anyone else has other questions this may be a good place to discuss them. Thank you for your time and insight
given that different races learned of shamanism later that others, and that the ones which knew it previously didn't necessarily have any deep ties in the past(only recently), it is probably very culturally different. a tauren shaman and a troll shaman, for instance... think of the difference between a witch doctor and a sioux tribe shaman.
religion and shamanism are separate i believe, shamans are deeply affected by ancestry and the spirits, though obviously they may also believe in the god of their respective race or class. i haven't read anything about a shaman god before, though don't take that for absolute truth.
funnily enough i have RPed a draenei shaman with a troll shaman. i consider my draenei to be something of a novice. she obviously learnt the art from the orcs on draenor, so i suppose her style of shamanism would most closely resemble the orcs', which would put her on a similar stead to their variation of the art, but similarly i think it would be different, since draenei are the only alliance race capable of practicing shamanism. in short, i don't have a clue. presumably, the spirits are the same spirits any way you look at it, so probably.
1) Different races do have different types of shamanism and focus on different things.
For example orcs focus on controlling the elements, while tauren tend to focus on the ancestors. Trolls on the other hand worship their gods known as the Loa and believe that they draw their powers from them.
2) The troll part answers this question.
3) I don't know, Delta made a good point, so draenei could be similar to orcs in their practices.
I've always thought about it like this:
Each race has their own way of getting the elements and wild to heed them, which is, of course, according to their race.
Orc -> Ancestors
Troll -> Loa
Tauren -> Earthmother
Draenei -> ???
Now, of course, they all also worship the Elements, as well, but those are what I think give them leverage, or the pure ability, to call upon the Elements. Well, they're also good for the Wild part (Spirit Wolf, Ancestral Spirit).
Danalthar Wrote:I've always thought about it like this:
Each race has their own way of getting the elements and wild to heed them, which is, of course, according to their race.
Orc -> Ancestors
Troll -> Loa
Tauren -> Earthmother
Draenei -> Ancestors
Now, of course, they all also worship the Elements, as well, but those are what I think give them leverage, or the pure ability, to call upon the Elements. Well, they're also good for the Wild part (Spirit Wolf, Ancestral Spirit).
They learned shamanism from the orcs.
Danalthar Wrote:I've always thought about it like this:
Each race has their own way of getting the elements and wild to heed them, which is, of course, according to their race.
Orc -> Ancestors
Troll -> Loa
Tauren -> Earthmother
Draenei -> ???
Now, of course, they all also worship the Elements, as well, but those are what I think give them leverage, or the pure ability, to call upon the Elements. Well, they're also good for the Wild part (Spirit Wolf, Ancestral Spirit).
[Also as a response to the last post;]
A few changes need to be made to that list of yours.
The Orcs aren't the ones honoring the ancestors to gain insight in Shamanism - however, the tauren are. True, they also honor the Earthmother, but I believe they seek her guidance in some circumstances, and the ancestors in other. In any case, Orcs actually gain insight through asking the elements directly, and hence your list should look like this:
• Orc -> Elements
• Troll -> Lo'a
• Tauren -> Earthmother/Ancestors
• Draenei - Elements
Source.
Also, Draenei shamans only re-emerged when that one Broken was spoken to by the spirits of the air. I'd think that the Draenei would have a more powerful focus on the elements than even the Orcs (Who also revere their ancestors and ask their council in concert with the spirits of the elements).
This should be a great source of information for you... Helped me a lot when I was researching Shamanism for Kaz.
Wow, Thank you all for your insight, It's helped alot!
Kaghuros Wrote:Also, Draenei shamans only re-emerged when that one Broken was spoken to by the spirits of the air. I'd think that the Draenei would have a more powerful focus on the elements than even the Orcs (Who also revere their ancestors and ask their council in concert with the spirits of the elements).
Kaghuros is definitely right on this one. A great deal of orc culture is involved in venerating the elder or deceased, such as the strongest of a family always taking the surname of their forebear, in the cases of the Deadeyes, etc. Orcs and Tauren both believing in the practice of paying tribute to and asking for guidance from their ancestors was one of the things that bridged their cultures so well.
AM180 Wrote:Danalthar Wrote:I've always thought about it like this:
Each race has their own way of getting the elements and wild to heed them, which is, of course, according to their race.
Orc -> Ancestors
Troll -> Loa
Tauren -> Earthmother
Draenei -> Ancestors
Now, of course, they all also worship the Elements, as well, but those are what I think give them leverage, or the pure ability, to call upon the Elements. Well, they're also good for the Wild part (Spirit Wolf, Ancestral Spirit).
They learned shamanism from the orcs.
Draenei shaman did not learn from the orcs. They learned from Nobundo (sp.) the Broken who could no longer use the Light after he became a feltainted broken. He heard the Wind whisper to him and thats how he learned of shamanism.
As for worship...pretty much all Tauren worship the Earthmother, but shaman don't worship the elements or their ancestors. Its not worship, but profound respect and honor for them. The shaman only ask the elements to give what they will, so a shaman's skills aren't truly reliable unless their duty (basically tending to the needs of and giving offerings to etc) to their ancestors and the elements is extremely...epic for lack of better words. I wouldn't go as far to say that NO shaman worship the elements/their ancestors, but I'm 100% sure that not all shaman worship them, simply hold them with great honor, respect, and reverence.