Religion in WoW universe

[Herastean]

Hello, as my main character is a "priest in training", I would like to know a few different things that I never ended up to figure.

I know that humans have mostly the same religion : Holy Light, even though the forsakens are not priests in the same way than "alive" humans, but what with the Night Elves and other races priests? Are they based on the same religion? Are the draneïs Light the same than the Human and Elves one?

Also, I was wondering how the Holy Light (and so, humans priests) servants would have to RP? Are they based on a catholic basis : Celibacy, poverty, ...
On a protestant system : Possibly married priest and so on.
On a totally fictive system that basicly have no rule?

Every contribution is welcome and I thanks everybody that would help me!

[CappnRob]

Basically, this:

-Humans, Dwarfs and Blood Elf priests follow the Light (unless you go Shadow spec but thats a whole nother story altogether). Draenei also follow the Light, but they do so through the Naaru.
-Night Elf priests follow the teachings of Elune
-Undead do not follow the Light, because the Light physically harms anything undead. To heal themselves, the Forsaken use the Shadow to imitate the effects of the Light. They also follow their own faith: The Cult of Forgotten Shadow.
-Troll priests use the power of the Loa, for both their "holy" spells as well as their shadow ones. Troll priests are likely practitioners of voodoo.

EDIT: Ok, some Forsaken DO use the Holy Light, as it doesn't actually "harm" them, it just causes immense pain. These are few and far between, though, and the ones that do use the Light have amazing willpower.

[Lendri]

http://www.wowpedia.org/Religion
If that helps at all. =}

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-Undead do not follow the Light, because the Light physically harms anything undead.

Wrong! My character Lendri, and another forsaken I know, Endling, we use the Holy Light in RP to heal others. It harms us, which is why it is rare amongst forsaken priests, but doable!

[CappnRob]

http://www.wowpedia.org/Religion
If that helps at all. =}

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-Undead do not follow the Light, because the Light physically harms anything undead.

Wrong! My character Lendri, and another forsaken I know, Endling, we use the Holy Light in RP to heal others. It harms us, which is why it is rare amongst forsaken priests, but doable!

And hence why I edited my post :V

[Ural]

Hey Herastean, I had to pretty much research the whole thing myself when writing a profile for my Paladin. All I can suggest is a good pot of coffee and the following links...

A general overview of the Light.
The have an organized Church.
^--- I would focus on The Three Virtues. They can sort of be your 'guide' on their general RP, though all humans make mistakes.

For for the night elves I would also suggest the Night Elf wiki page.
A more specific and less rambling page on their Goddess.

As for the Draenei, I would point to the Naaru page, though my knowledge is on them is quite limited. I would offer my opinion that Draenei see the Humans as children and would suggest the Naaru as being THE Light. Whereas the humans would probably see the Naaru as Light-favored.

There was no replies when I started this, but I'mma post it anyway.

[kindle135]

Fun Fact: Extended use of the Light by Undead causes them to feel again, which is what is painful.

Also note, priest magic comes from belief in something, not necessarily any divine or diabolic entity, though it has been hinted that Elune is a Naaru. I don't know where it is but Grak made a post quoting some lore that said Velen went to Darnassus, asked about Elune, said her powers are like that of a Naaru, and Tyrande was like "gtfo".
Dunno if that helps any.
Last thing; For the Light religious practices can vary. It could be as simple as paying alms and praying or as severe as smiting, purging, and punishing your self for enjoying something unholy.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Fun Fact: Extended use of the Light by Undead causes them to feel again, which is what is painful.

Also note, priest magic comes from belief in something, not necessarily any divine or diabolic entity, though it has been hinted that Elune is a Naaru. I don't know where it is but Grak made a post quoting some lore that said Velen went to Darnassus, asked about Elune, said her powers are like that of a Naaru, and Tyrande was like "gtfo".
Dunno if that helps any.
Last thing; For the Light religious practices can vary. It could be as simple as paying alms and praying or as severe as smiting, purging, and punishing your self for enjoying something unholy.

It just hurts because the Light is painful to Undead in general. That just happens if they use the Light a lot more.

Also, clearing about Elune and the Naaru.

On a visit to Darnassus, Velen commented that Elune's powers reminded him of those he had seen in powerful Na'aru. She said not to make some an outlandish comment in the presence of Elune, or one of her disciples again.

[Lendri]

I never knew Undead could start to feel after awhile of using light magic. Interesting! =}

[Kaghuros]

Actually people RPing the light harming Undead are now wrong. There was a recent lore post by Blizzard, that answered many questions regarding little lore bits. One was the fact that the Light heals Undead just like Humans, but that Undead Light find it painful.

To quote the post in question:

Q: When undead use or are healed by the Holy Light, does it cause them any actual damage or harm, or does it only cause them pain (in addition to the intended effects of the spell)?

A: Channeling the Light in any way, or receiving healing from the Light, only causes pain. Forsaken priests do not disintegrate or explode from channeling the Light for an extended period of time… though they may wish they would.

However, Necromancy still heals Undead.

On the topic of Priests and their religions, faith is the only quality necessary for the use of Priest magic, since it is drawn entirely from the user's "soul" and willpower (Paladins, however, actually channel the Light from some magical and benevolent source outside reality). Every race has their own religion for the most part, with Humans and Dwarves and High/Blood Elves sharing a common faith due to their cultural similarities.

[Lendri]

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!!!!!!!!!!

?

[Kaghuros]

All Priests cause pain to undead by healing them with the Light. However, none of that pain is actually damaging.

Edit: Also all Priests who channel the Light as Undead cause themselves pain by doing so.

[Dragonbeard]

It is also interesting to take note of the evolution of the "Church" in Blizzard's lore. Whether it be on purpose or not, Humans especially have moved from worshiping a "god" (as evidenced in WC1) to simply, the "Light" which is akin to the Force from Star Wars.

Though some still do hang on to the "old ways" and refer to a higher power (with Humans, they are definitely NOT talking about Naaru, but some sort of "Maker"), the great portion of Light worshipers have moved on from worshiping a deity.

The "Maker" aforementioned is generally recognized by most races, however different their manifestation of said creator may be.

[CappnRob]

It is also interesting to take note of the evolution of the "Church" in Blizzard's lore. Whether it be on purpose or not, Humans especially have moved from worshiping a "god" (as evidenced in WC1) to simply, the "Light" which is akin to the Force from Star Wars.

Though some still do hang on to the "old ways" and refer to a higher power (with Humans, they are definitely NOT talking about Naaru, but some sort of "Maker"), the great portion of Light worshipers have moved on from worshiping a deity.

The "Maker" aforementioned is generally recognized by most races, however different their manifestation of said creator may be.

Its fun to mix and match these beliefs as well. My paladin, Cristovao, believes in a "Light God" like the old ways, but believes the makers to be the Titan pantheon.

And then you have my shaman, Madguo, who worships the Loa but believes them to be connected in some way to the elemental gods.

[Duraza]

Fun but also dangerous. Another important thing to remember about Religion in WoW is that the different organization's take their faith very seriously and aren't kind to separate beliefs all the time. There are actually places where the beliefs do sort of mix and places where its dangerous to mix them.

Example, Tauren think of Elune as the eye of their Earthmother (Mu'sha). Or many priests of Light will accept Night Elven beliefs in Elune as well. What might not be so smart and may be insulting or get you accused as a heretic (as mentioned earlier) is comparing Elune to a Naaru.

Same with the whole Light and Shadow opposition (note, I'm not talking about the practice of the actual magic, just beliefs). In Night elven culture you may be able to mix in some 'shadowy ideals' because they have this whole thing with blending into the shadows and such. You'd have to be careful not to let that overpower Elune faith but you could layer in levels. On the other hand, try that with a Human and you'd probably be condemned by the Church of Light for heresy if you were too public about it.

My point is, know how different sorts of beliefs would make you look in different places. Politics and religion go somewhat hand and hand very often in WoW and it may be very unwise and potentially dangerous to your health if you choose to speak openly about certain beliefs that are unwelcome.

[Karunzo]

The Holy Light is as much a philosophy as it is as a religion to be honest. The basic idea behind following the Light as a human is; Through doing good deeds, you better both yourself and the world.

The people that follow the Holy Light can actually have very seperate interpretations of it. There are a few individuals that believe that the Light is a godlike deity, which they worship. But for most the Holy Light is all about actively doing good rather then passive worship of a faceless entity.

So it is very much possible to mix in shadowy ideals in a person's own faith as long as it doesn't affect the "Do good and good things will happen" mindset of a follower of the Holy Light.