Religion in WoW universe

[Duraza]

I didn't mean to say that you couldn't do so. I meant to say that if you did you need to keep in mind that an Organization like The Church of Light might be very wary of you. For example, if you mixed in a bit of Forgotten Shadow concepts into your normal Light worship and spoke to a Church Priest about it, they'd probably think you were crazy.

Players get to choose their personal philosophy for their character yes... But that doesn't mean that philosophy will be accepted or isn't illegal.

[Evaszion]

I'm no expert on WoW Lore, Religion even more so. Anyways, here's my input.

The Church of the Holy Light does not demand a life of great poverty from looking at High Priestess Laurena, Archbishop What's His Face's gear, they are amazingly rich which brings us back to The Reformation and Martin Luther's Thesus(sp?). It's safe to assume the Church of the Holy Light collects money on loads one way or another. Now let's look at the simpler lives of Monks, Acolytes, and Everday Priests. If you look at some models, they have light and poor clothing (see Monks and Priests of SM). Which makes it seem safe to assume the church pays their priests and holymen based on seniority and possibly class. If you compare the clothing of a Scarlet Diviner to that of a Scarlet Monk, the Diviners are obviously gathering more gold.

So TL;DR I see the Church of the Holy Light as decently similar to Roman Catholic prior-Reformation

[Karunzo]

The Church of Holy Light is uncomparable to the christian religion. It is centered around a faith not based on the passive worship of a god and advocating sins or the like. No they actively work towards a better cause by doing good deeds. I believe that the Cathedral is mostly reliant on donations it receives from the common folk so that their priests and paladins can continue to do their good work.

They also do what they can to help people with more practical matters, from building homes to settling family disputes to scaring off enemies. It is all very noble, of course, but that fits with the Holy Light's teachings of making the world a better place and making oneself better by helping other people. The Church has everyone's best interests at heart, and they really do their best to help everyone. It is a religion that is all about making people happy, not to mention a religion whose practitioners show clear evidence of divine blessing.

I highly doubt that the priests of the Church are "filthy rich" as they actually have everyone's best intention in mind rather then personal gain. I think that the church takes what it needs for clothing, and maintenance and spends the rest of their earnings on doing good.

[Kaghuros]

Also consider that some monks might take on a vow of poverty or asceticism because they feel the money they might have for clothing is worth more in the hands of the poor, or they want to prove their faith. Also, priests in parishes like Northshire have a lot less gold because their parish is less populated and wouldn't have much money to give.

[Dragonbeard]

Again, the Light is more akin to the Force than any other religion/philosophy.

[Hexproof]

The Light isn't really like the Force. The Force is neutral "force" that sort of permeates everything. The Light is something like Jedi-ism, though. (I can get into this but I really, really don't want to. Star Wars lore fights on CotH forums is just silly.)

It needs to be said, however, that Draenei do not worship the Naaru. They do not pray to the Naaru, they pray to the Light. The Naaru are respected figures but not exactly even "revered" in the same sense one might revere, say, the Pope.

The naaru are a dimension-traveling race of sentient energy beings, with a deep affinity for the Holy Light of Creation that empowers the paladins of Azeroth. The naaru blessed the draenei with this power in an effort to help them in their struggle. They are bent on stopping the Burning Legion.

The Draenei see the Naaru as a very wise, mentor-like species who are more or less the de facto source of information and wisdom in relation to their philosophy (which is the Light). The first Naaru that the Draenei ever came in contact with, K'ure, was and is viewed by Velen as a personal friend, not a deity or other religious pinnacle.

A'dal is another story all together, because he (it) is also the military leader in charge of what the Draenei hope will become the "Army of the Light" in order to fight the Burning Legion. A'dal is the single most powerful Naaru that has been presented in lore thus far, but he's still respected as one respects their superior, not revered or worshiped.

[Aphetoros]

Q: Are there long-term effects on an undead who is in regular contact with the Holy Light in a positive way?

A: It is difficult to say, as there are no known records of undead wielding the Holy Light before the Third War. There are reports, however, that some Forsaken have slowly experienced a sharpening of their dulled senses of touch, smell, etc., as well as an increase in the flashes of positive emotions that have otherwise become so rare since their fall into undeath. Unfortunately, this may be the cause of the Forsaken priesthood's increased attempts at self-destruction; regaining these senses would force the priests to smell their own rotting flesh, taste the decay in their mouths and throats, and even feel the maggots burrowing within their bodies.

[Grakor456]

(unless you go Shadow spec but thats a whole nother story altogether)

Aside: Do not fall into this trap. There are Shadow-spec priests that follow the Holy Light, and there are likely Holy-spec priests that follow the Forgotten Shadow. Spec and religion are unrelated, save for trends based on the resulting mentality.

[Herastean]

I'd like to thanks everybody that took part in this, it will help me to build my main character RP.

Also concerning the "shadow-priest", are they using the Light too or are the spells more likely "Destruction-demonists" ones?

[Duraza]

I think a good rule to follow for spells is that whatever you can gain in your spellbook is available to you. That means spells you get from the trainers/quests + whatever you can gain from those 71 talent points (dual -spec is OOC). So, that includes whatever light and shadow spells you want to use, though generally 'shadow priests' means your character is going to use mainly, if not all shadow.

And just a note I'd like to throw in. I know that despite religion/philosophy you can use all the different spells. However, take some time to think about how your character's personal ambition and philosophy effects them. What are they trying to do? If you're a Shadow Priest than really the power of your spells is in imposing your own will on another (mind control, fear spells, etc). That's why the Forsaken cult likes it to begin with, the power resembles their belief in divine humanism. Likewise a Church of Light priest who, while still keeping faith in the Church doctrine, needs to impose their will on others for some reason may choose to know/use shadow.

The greater goal of the l person sort of takes the driver's seat and the greater goal of the religion (if your character follows one) takes a back seat. That's how I make logic of the ability to use both categories of spells and to use them regardless of 'faith.' Thought it might be a helpful tidbit.

[Aphetoros]

Wait so Blizzard says that if you heal an undead on a troll priest with light, their all like; K thx, and if an undead heals themself with holy magic, their like; AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

?

This brings me to a question: firstly, a troll priest following the Holy Light is rare if not unheard of, and so it begs me to ask...

Upon healing with magic not specifically the Holy Light, but still divine and intended to heal, would it still cause the undead pain?

[LostStranger]

Upon healing with magic not specifically the Holy Light, but still divine and intended to heal, would it still cause the undead pain?

Even more, does the sort of healing used by druids and shaman invoke the same agony?

[Duraza]

Upon healing with magic not specifically the Holy Light, but still divine and intended to heal, would it still cause the undead pain?

Even more, does the sort of healing used by druids and shaman invoke the same agony?

I don't think there's any specific mention of this in regards to druids and shaman. At least I've never seen anything specifically said. I tend to treat druids and shaman like a heal without pain but like I said, I don't have lore backing that up so no real comment.

As for healing with magic not specifically Holy Light but divine...

http://www.wowpedia.org/Divine

Even Shadow is considered divine magic. So no, the general category of 'divine magic' will not harm Undead. Instead, its more or less specifically -Light- based magic. This can be Elune's Light, Holy Light, or even the light paladin's use (I believe the source for that is the naaru). However, all who draw magic on the basis of some faith are considered divine practitioners.