Kayneverse TL;DR the second: culture and timeline

[moonshadows]

 

CULTURE

The modern night elf view of life starts out as fast as mortal races: infancy to five, child to ten, early teen to fifteen and late teen to twenty. By the age of twenty, a night elf is expected to know which path they want to follow – but they have the rest of their first century in which to settle in to that path. A night elf isn’t expected to really be an adult until they reach a hundred, and it will take another two centuries before society expects them to be mature enough to have a child of their own. To have a child before the second century is to a night elf what being a parent before twenty is to a human in this world. By the age of five hundred or so, age difference no longer really matters to a night elf. The immortality granted by the World Tree arrests ageing after about twenty years – those who were forty when it was planted look roughly sixty, while those born afterward will look about twenty for thousands of years. Age is estimated less by how a night elf looks and more by how the night elf carries him or herself. Although Illidan looks about forty, he carries himself in a much less mature fashion. After a night elf’s first century, they tend to start measuring time in decades rather than years. If a night elf hasn’t visited his or her parents in half a century, that’s about the same as a human going six months between parental visits.

Culture shifted to female-dominant after the Sundering, with women generally held to be the wise and strong ones and men generally held to be the clever and creative ones. Men think it; women do it. Artistry in all its forms, including architecture and cooking, is considered to be the male domain and while there are plenty of men who make their living doing manual labor, they are pitied slightly for not having a creative spark strong enough to do anything with. Women are revered for bringing forth life from their bodies, but men are also revered for providing the seed of that life.

One Highborne man who remained caused the entire legal precedent for child custody. He wooed a young woman, who had his child. Seeing that the child was female where he wanted a boy, he raped her sister. That sister bore a son. The case came before Tyrande thusly: the father and younger sister both desired custody of the boy, while the father and older sister both wanted nothing to do with the girl. The decision had three parts. First, a child born belongs absolutely to its mother for its first two decades. Second, once a child has been weaned, ONLY if the mother does not want to raise the child to its second decade will father take sole custody and responsibility for it. Third, if the child is female and enters the novicehood purely to get away from her parent(s), the parent(s) are required to pay a hefty tithe to the Temple representing the cost of raising a child through its first twenty years. In other words, the mother has sole custody unless she decides the father has sole custody. Combined with a simple spell that could determine paternity, this effectively eliminated rape.

Although not widespread, same-gender pairings among night elves are not unheard of and carry no stigma. Female couples often raise children, but male couples find it more difficult. It’s socially acceptable for a woman to ask a man to sire a child on her, but much less so for a man to ask a woman to bear his child. Even if she agrees, he will be expected to provide for her every need until the baby is weaned, and there is still a strong chance she will be unwilling to give up the baby after that. What is more common, although generally frowned upon, is the male couple asking around to find a man raising a child he does not want, and adopting that child. While no one tries to argue this is not better for the child in the long run, it lets the unwilling father off the hook.

Night elf women do not menstruate; their bodies produce a fully-prepared womb which remains prepared until conception. The entire lining is shed after the birth of the child, and takes a year to replace, ensuring that the body does not have to supply nourishment for a growing fetus and a nursing babe at the same time. During the two-year period of pregnancy and breastfeeding, the woman requires regular infusions of life energy, either from the baby’s father or from another willing male. During the first year this is mostly expressed as increased sexual appetite, with the man’s seed going directly to the fetus, although consuming the seed is also acceptable as it will allow the mother to replace the life energy provided by her body in the absence of an outside source. During the second year, while the womb is replenishing itself, the woman typically takes the seed orally. “I’m pregnant” is the single most effective pick-up line in the entirety of Azeroth, communicating with two words that the woman desires sexual intercourse and nothing else. Night elf men who are otherwise looked down on for doing manual labor are typically favored by the average woman who is pregnant and single.

Surnames are either passed from parent to child, or earned through deed or demeanor. Celyre’s surname is Nightwhisper, which comes from being a Night Blade rather than from either of her parents. A night elf who does not use a surname is usually treated warily because it usually, means they have something to hide. Either they have been disowned or do not want to be associated with their family for some reason, or they do not want to be identified by their actions. Ellekayne gave one of her surnames, depending on the situation, until she was well-known enough to be recognized on her own – and then stopped giving either of them. The ones who she’d originally given a surname to, accepted her because they remembered that she was acceptable even after they forgot the surname they’d been told. Ones who hadn’t heard the surname just accepted her because their elders did. After a thousand or so years, she had enough of a reputation that she was known most everywhere by first name. By the time Illidan began travelling with her, she had enough of a reputation that no one dared ask his surname.

Night elf currency is a joint product of the Temple and the Canarion Circle. Small discs of Living Wood are shaped by druids, then blessed by priestesses. Instead of representing a valuable substance, as the currency of other races does, these shimmering tokens represent time and effort and can be cashed in directly to the Circle or the Temple for aid. For example, a farmer wishing to branch out into an exotic crop might ‘buy’ the aid of several druids to get the plants to sprout and grow to maturity. The currency is considered impossible to counterfeit, since it would require either a dishonest druid to shape the tokens, or a dishonest priestess to bless them. Ellekayne is able to produce them by herself, and does so. She keeps them for situations that require speed or in which she cannot barter for what she needs.

Society is not commerce-centric, but more communal. The basic needs of the average citizen are taken care of: basic food, shelter, basic clothing, health care. The farmer still grows wheat, the miller still grinds it into flour and baker still makes it into bread and the people still eat it, but for the most part, no money changes hands. Services that go beyond basic needs, such as restaurants, inns, and fine clothes, are still commercial and profit-driven. The long lifespan of the average customer, however, places a great emphasis on quality rather than affordability.

With the re-introduction of magic, several aspects of life that would have been shunned as tainted by the Highborne have seen a resurgence after being pioneered by Illidan. Although he began to recreate them out of a childhood desire for what the Highborne had, they are now highly sought-after by association with him. His initially humble demeanor regarding these arcane wonders was mistaken for being used to much finer, rather than the remnants of being lowborn and looked down on.

Night elf alcohol is typically brewed from fruits and berries, by or with druids, and winds up a light, sparkling drink that does not induce hangovers or vomiting. It does, however, still inhibit male sexual performance while lowering other inhibitions. The recreational drug of choice is actually mint, which has a mellowing effect. Although sometimes brewed into a liquor, it is more often imbibed via hard candy, which allows for faster absorption into the bloodstream. The term for being under the effects of mint is “fuzzed”.

Due to night elf lifespan, things that might once have been socially unacceptable have grown commonplace. There is no stigma, for example, attached to a man walking around in public wearing nothing but a loincloth. Clothing is not gender-specific. Pants, leggings, trousers, and items of that nature are worn by anyone whose occupation requires freedom of the legs. Skirts, wraps, dressed, robes, and such are worn by anyone whose occupation is less physical. Undergarments are worn for functional comfort; a man who spends his days painting in the comfort of his own home may wear comfortable robes and nothing underneath, while a Sentinel might forgo a loincloth under her armor but be certain to wear a breast-binder to reduce bouncing.

Because of the human habit of referring to soldiers as ‘men’, it was initially misunderstood to be the human word for ‘warrior’. Upon being corrected, the average night elf response is confusion that women don’t fight, and curiosity as to what they do instead. This, combined with the nature of night elf clothing, often led to objectively hilarious arguments regarding what’s “proper” for a man or woman, and on at least one occasion, Illidan shucked off his robe and handily beat several human men in a footrace, proving both that he was manly enough to wear ‘a dress’ and that a loincloth was much more practical than the silly things humans wore.

 

TIMELINE

After the Sundering, Tyrande and Malfurion and the other semi-leaders of what was left of the night elves decided that their people were better off starting from scratch. Whole swaths of culture got thrown out, history was taught in a very stilted way, and they moved the center of their civilization to the west coast.

The Highborne were not, for the most part, exiled. Malygos had not blessed the Second Well, so arcane magic was considered anathema. The parting was fairly peaceful; all parties recognized that they weren’t going to be happy together, and the Highborne were given one of the vials of water from the Well of Eternity so that they could create their own font of power wherever they wound up. They left midway through the first century post-Sundering.

Many ‘trouble spots’ in canon aren’t an issue in Kayneverse due to Ellekayne wandering around, sometimes at the direction of Elune or Cenarius. Dire Maul, for example, was discovered only a few centuries after the Sundering. Ellekayne contacted Malfurion through the Dream and reported the situation, and soon enough a small army of priestesses, Sentinels, and druids arrived. The demon was killed, the city cleansed, and moonwells constructed. Instead of the Dire Maul in canonverse, Kayneverse has the city of Eldre’thalas, which is a bustling cosmopolitan center.

The worgen were, as in canon, originally druids that took the form of the wolf. Goldrinn did not approve of night elves stealing even little crumbs of his power, however, and cursed them with madness. The form would infect and addict them, making them want to wear it more and more until they were little better than rabid beasts with a thirst for blood and slaughter. When no druid could keep their mind for one week while wearing the form in the Emerald Dream, it was flat-out forbidden. Even Ellekayne, with Illidan there behind her eyes to keep her thoughts civilized, only lasted four days. The druids who were infected by the form practiced it in secret, which led to rampages, and the survivors often discovered that the infection had been passed to them through their wounds. Eventually, Malfurion gave the order that worgen were to be killed on sight, and Ellekayne spent many years hunting down the scattered packs.

The tree in the Emerald Dream that canon worgen were ‘banished’ to was, in Kayneverse, called the Timeless Tree because it refused to involve itself in the passage of time. It is a very unhappy tree that wants nothing more than to be left alone – by everything and everyone. There is a single branch that was brought out of the Dream; the tree being outside the timestream means that its branch is attuned to time. The priestess Belryssa was driven mad by the death of Arvell, and stole both the branch and the Fang of Goldrinn at Ralaar’s urging. He combined them into the Scythe of Elune, a weapon that could slice through time. Belryssa had intended to go to a time before Arvell’s death and save him, but Ralaar overpowered her and brought his pack – the last worgen pack – to Gilneas instead. Nozdormu brought Ellekayne and Illidan there to hunt down and kill them, and allowed Ellekayne to keep the branch as a reward. She keeps it with her as a staff and, attuned as it is to time, it warns her when a significant event is about to occur. Since Kayneverse is an experimental timeline, Nozdormu allowed her to keep the branch so that he can see how events play out if the Bronze Dragonflight does not interfere.

With the death of Belryssa, Genn Graymane did not survive his worgen infection. His son Liam had to put him down, along with every other non-druidic worgen his forces found in Gilneas. This also means that Gilneas was much weaker by the time the Wall opened, because he was fighting both worgen and rebels.

Sindragosa was not part of the War of the Ancients; she was in fact laying a clutch of eggs when the Flights gave part of their essence to the Dragon Soul, and both she and her entire clutch – as well as all the other eggs at the time – survived Deathwing’s object demonstration. Malygos did not go mad, but rather became secretive and antisocial, as did the entire Blue Dragonflight. The Blues thrived, but any time a Red found one he or she became suffocatingly over-protective, so they considered it easier to continue to hide.

About three or four thousand years before the Third War, Illidan and Ellekayne found and restored the Crystal of Zin-Malor. They had been on cordial speaking terms with the blue dragons in the Winterspring area, and upon the crystal’s restoration brought it to the Blues and insisted it be delivered directly to Malygos. The Spellweaver was impressed by this display of maturity, particularly coming from Illidan, who had to all appearances sacrificed his eyes for power. Malygos decided that the night elves were ready for the knowledge of arcane magic again, and blessed the Second Well and the World Tree. Night elves born with the gift of the arcane have a blue tint to their eyes. Illidan’s crystal eyes took on a pure blue glow, making them look like night elf eyes again, and he stopped wearing a blindfold in public at that point.

The tauren were assimilated into night elf society thousands of years before the opening of the Dark Portal. When Thrall and Jaina and their people arrived in Kalimdor, they were also adopted. Thrall met and assisted Cairne as per the events of Warcraft 3, but instead of the tauren joining the Horde, they suggested that the Horde join the night elves. Jaina was relieved and pleased to have an ally who saw nothing wrong and everything right with a woman running the show. When Admiral Proudmoore showed up and started attacking orcish settlements, the Horde sent discreet but urgent messages to Darnassus and an entire night elf army materialized around Proudmoore’s camp demanding to know what he was doing. Initially, they thought he was trying to overthrow Jaina until she explained (to their puzzlement) that where she came from, men ran things, and this was her father. Admiral Proudmoore was told very firmly that Kalimdor was night elf territory, the orcs were under night elf protection, Theramore was Jaina’s little kingdom, and he was to take his boats and his warriors and run along home.

Cenarius did not die. The branch of the Timeless Tree warned Ellekayne upon meeting Thrall and Grom that something significant was going to happen, so Illidan accompanied Thrall and Cairne to Stonetalon where they met with Jaina and Medivh, while Ellekayne stayed with Grom in Ashenvale. She was able to prevent Cenarius’s death, but Grom was still re-infected by demon’s blood and still died slaying Mannoroth.

Goblins have been poking at Kalimdor for hundreds of years; each time, they encounter Ellekayne. Initial attempts to express territorial claims went badly until she learned enough of their culture to declare herself Trade Princess of nature. Goblins are used to the Trade Prince of a given area skimming the cream off the top; it took very little time for them to adjust to the idea of Ellekayne’s ‘skimming’ taking the form of keeping the area clean. First violations result in a warning: the goblin and all of his minions are allowed to leave, with all of their equipment. Upon a second violation, the goblin and his minions may leave, but the equipment is ruined and stays behind. Third violations, the equipment is detonated and the goblin and his minions may leave if they survived. Fourth violations end in death. Over the generations, this has had a sort of ‘controlled breeding’ effect on the race, resulting in a more clever and less reckless goblin. In game, compare the Steamwheedle Cartel’s towns to Bilgewater Cartel towns for an example.

The Steamwheedle Cartel allied with the night elves and did build the towns of Gagetztan, Rachet, and Everlook – with the Trade Princess’s approval. They keep the towns as eco-friendly as possible, knowing that if Ellekayne ever dropped by for an inspection, she wouldn’t care who made the mess: as long as it was within city limits, it was the Steamwheedle Cartel’s responsibility. After the Third War, when she started traveling the Eastern Kingdoms, the cartel adopted a policy of not setting up shop – even temporarily – in any city or town that wouldn’t meet the Trade Princess’s standards. They weren’t sure if she was muscling in on that continent and didn’t want to risk her wrath, and this had a rippling effect resulting in higher environmental standards among other races as well.

Arthas never survived his encounter with Illidan. He’d murdered his father and invaded Quel’thalas in the name of the Burning Legion before the Lich King felt secure enough in his power base to try to backstab the Legion by setting Illidan against Tichondrius. Sylvanas staged her rebellion once she sensed Arthas’s death, but without the independent Scourge faction making the fight messier, the Nathrezim ended it quickly. With the defeat of Tichondrius, the night elves were alerted to the Legion’s presence in the Eastern Kingdoms and sent an army. The Third War was prolonged and messy, fighting demons and undead in Lordaeron, but it meant that Nordrassil wasn’t exploded to take out Archimonde. Lordaeron joined the night elves gladly, and Calia Menethil was crowned queen right before allying with Tyrande. Druids and priestesses did much to heal the battered land, and relations with the orcs were eased somewhat since the Horde had fought so fiercely to kill demons for the good of a people that had enslaved them – and then cheerfully went back to Kalimdor.

The Lich King was taken out by Burning Legion forces for his attempted rebellion; this splitting of Legion attention is why the Third War was so protracted, messy, and ultimately less destructive. The tainting of the Sunwell, however, did still result in significant damage to the quel’dorei people. Some of them turned to fel for a source of power, mostly drinking demon blood. Their eyes, which had been tinted blue from drawing on the arcane power of the Sunwell, turned green if they had fel energy in their system and were called ‘blood elves’ as a derogatory term, referring to the drinking of demon blood.