Thoughts on WarCraft Magic

I suspect that some of my frustration and fascination with WoW and the Warcraft Universe comes from my desire to understand their (admittedly) convoluted set of Arcane and Divine power subtypes. There is something in me, the part of me that makes my own games and own worlds in my head, that desires some form of sensible order, even if that sensible order is "We just don't know". Right now it seems like there's a lot of overlap, a lot of confusion, and so this post is a first run at my thoughts on the subject.

Divine is split in to Light (put hope and good thoughts in to the universe and be empowered by the innate link between all things) and Shadow (force your will on the world and increase your mastery over it). Discipline is not specifically discussed in the Lore, but seems to ride the line between acceptance and domination, drawing power from both within and without by sheer force of will.

Arcane is split in to Elemental spells which control those forces through arcane spell work, Arcane which seems to be elemental agnostic (or perhaps inclusive if Arcane is a conglomeration of Elemental energies), some Shadow abilities that mimic limited subsets of the Shadow Divine set, and then Fel which seems to be Arcane energy filtered, augmented and corrupted by demonic intervention. This last bit makes me a little curious - demons are hungry and ravening and seek to consume worlds and arcane power to increase their own numbers and might, thus unmaking the universe as they go. Is Fel energy an expression of that goal, that will? If a small amount of Fel energy was cast in to a reservoir of Arcane energy, would that be enough to corrupt it? This may be the source of corrupted moonwells - Demons introduce a small amount of their energy through blood or magic and it corrupts the Arcane energy therein, making all of it available for demonic use and augmenting its power (although limiting its areas of effect to summoning, fire, chaos, etc etc)

Shamnism is a combination of ancestor spirit communication and elemental manipulation combined with rare aspects of druidic abilities through the difficult to control Wild Elemental force, but involves no actual magic but instead acting as a channel for the elemental forces. Elementals work with Shamans because doing so gives them balance and purpose beyond their mindless and eternal conflict with one another. Powerful shamans learn enough about the spiritual nature of the world to linger for ages afterwards, not as a necromantic ghost (an "Arcane" or "Divine" expression of Shadow?) but as a natural ancestor spirit.

Finally Druidism is a connection to natural spirits (the animal totems for example as opposed to
ancestors) and direct connection to the greater world of the wild, acting again as a channel with perhaps minor arcane augmentation as opposed to a controller mindset. Shamanism and Druidism each have limited connections to each other - Shamans have some access to the spirit of the wild and Druids have some understanding of the forces of the elements, but the mindset of one precludes true understanding of the other.

There is more to write on this subject, but this is a first shot at making sense of it.

Being a WoW LoreNerd

I am an avid player of World of Warcraft.

Warcraft : Orcs and Humans was probably the first game I ever owned for a windows machine, and to this day it holds a special place in my heart. Warcraft II was the game of choice when I got to high school, and it was not uncommon for me to spend happy afternoons playing against friends in direct-connect sessions which would invariably be disconnected when one of our family members picked up the phone to make a call. When Warcraft III was announced I quite literally did a happy little dance around my college room and called every person I knew to tell them how thrilled I was. Finally, World of Warcraft was released and tempted me to break my personal ban on MMORPGs forever.

One of the reasons that I love WoW is because I've always felt like the Lore of that world was excellent. Even the first struggling steps of the Lore way back in WC:O&H was great compared to what was available for most other games. With each iteration of the franchise, the Lore has expanded and deepend and occasionally rewritten itself, and each time I found myself more and more committed. I bore my friends, family and even sometimes total strangers with esoteric details and analytical conversations about the Lore, and my knowledge and love of it is both a source of pride and of shame. It is my contention that the reason WoW is so popular compared to many other MMO games is that WoW is not, in fact, a game. WoW is a story and a world and a group of people that lives in the hearts and minds of it's creative team, and their love and dedication to the game world is what makes their players care about it. WoW is a labor of love, and that love shines through the mere mechanics of an online multiplayer game and involves even the most oblivious player on a deeper level then they realize.

More then ever I felt the need to have a seperate and unique location from my personal "Out-of-Game" thoughts about the Lore. I am a casual player of WoW (usually only weeknights, and even then I make an effort to be realistic and balanced in my approach to this hobby) and I think that allowing these discussions too much leverage in my life would be a mistake. So this blog is a place for me to dump my thoughts about WoW and then link them to friends, family, and sometimes total strangers to bore them without having to actually watch them nod off. Maybe someone who reads this will be interested or have their own comments, but even if that never happens I will be happy just to get my thoughts out on paper.