World of Warcraft®

Does anyone have a good idea on how or why a tauren would be a shadow priest?
My understanding is that the taurens would be the last race (with the exception of the Grimtotem tauren) to use curses and 'dark magic' and what have you.

Do shadow tauren/night elf priests and holy undead priests exist only for game mechanics?

Please and thank you. c:

The tauren have taken to a stricter philosophy of balance lately. Give and take, life and death...and I assume Light and Shadow. Lorewise, tauren shadow priests may not be as far-fetched as it seems at face value.

Makes for interesting RP possibilities.

Here is an excerpt from a discussion we had on my server's RP forums about much this same thing. I did NOT write this, a poster named "Blacksand" did.

There's also nothing about Tauren Shadow Priests that are lore breaking. Their priests worship the sun, and the sun casts long shadows. Tauren Shadow Priests could be those who commune with the spirits of the dead, or spiritualists defending themselves against the Nightmare of the Emerald Dream by inoculating themselves to the darkness their people have no previous experience with.

I don't think you're qualified to make that statement, unless you're employed by Blizzard to write their lore. Otherwise, you're just arguing against one form of speculation with your own form of speculation ("I've never seen it in the game, so it's not possible.) The whole endeavor of role play is to both immerse yourself in the environment and make your own contribution to the story. There is a great deal of importance in knowing the story that you are adding to, and knowing the lore is a key step to making a good or welcome addition, but to play it while adhering so strictly to the lore which is itself an ever-changing set of standards is strangulating to the concept of a "role playing game." If the standards were so set in stone, our characters wouldn't be playable. They'd be NPCs.

When the moon passes in front of the sun, it forms an eclipse. In respect to Druids, this is a time of balance, but the picture tells another story; that the light which shines at its brightest at its edge casts the darkest shadow at its core. The shadow isn't an unnatural phenomena. It exists as the sun and moon do.

As part of my Tauren Death Knight's concept, I looked at the challenge of how a Tauren, a person from a very naturalist society, could ever really embrace what the Scourge means. I chose to go with the aspect of diseases being something found in nature, and it turned out to be a nice fit. It also combined with the fact that he was a Grimtotem ("Diseases will cleanse the earth of the weak.") Later, when he was convinced to join the Horde, he saw that there was something fascinating about the strength of the living to resist the inevitable nature of death that disease represents. The Scourge, like a plague, shifts and mutates, pokes at the defenses of the cell, and eventually tries to assimilate it so that it can produce more of itself.

When I had come up with the concept, at the time I was happy because there were many, many people like yourself who said the exact same thing about Tauren Death Knights that you are now saying about Tauren Shadow Priests: How lore breaking it is, essentially labeling it impossible to make coherent. Here we are, at the end of the Wrath of the Lich King, and the concept's stuck with me. It's never struck me as tiresome, which is more than I can say for a few other things I've come up with. It's also never been "invalidated" by the lore, or by the general themes of the game's story.

That said, a Tauren Shadow Priest could be a very compelling character. I remember bringing it up one day in guild chat, and Icehourn mentioned the connection to the Nightmare, and I thought that was pretty interesting. From that place of just accepting the possibility, you can go into many other directions, not just in relation to the Nightmare but into what avenues your character or idea can travel down.

As an example, there are some Native American myths relating to shadows that could provide inspiration.

"It was also believed that every man had a 'shilombish' (the outside shadow) which always followed him, and 'shilup' (the inside shadow, or ghost) which after death goes to the land of ghosts. The ''shilombish' was supposed to remain upon the earth, and wander restlessly about its former home, often moaning, to frighten its surviving friends, as to make them forsake the spot, and seek another place to live." - Choctaw mythology, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw_mythology

Here's the relation of the "shadow" to the figure of "the trickster" in mythology told by the expert himself, Joseph Campbell. http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=JM10AvJ3bsM

I would say, in light of some of these ideas (no pun intended), you could see how not only would a Shadow Priest Tauren be possible, it almost seems impossible not to have one present in the Horde in times when the world is in turmoil and the people's spirits are uneasy. I think, more important than just knowing the lore, is knowing the spirit of the lore.

If the material you're working with is too rigid, you won't be able to form it into a nice shape. If it's too soft, it won't be able to hold any shape. There is a fine balance between adhering to the lore, and crafting a story and the characters involved.

Thank you. c:

...wow. that Blacksand really knows his stuff. im impressed.

12/03/2010 9:28 PMPosted by Hazekiller

...wow. that Blacksand really knows his stuff. im impressed.

He really does. I'm glad he's on our server.

Edit: O.o Did they change quotes?

A tauren shadow-priest shouldn't anymore lore breaking than a human shadow-priest. After all the human priest doesn't suddenly stop serving the Light and the greater good just because they spec Shadow. It's just the Light's more proactive aspect.

Tauren shadow priests are like Forsaken holy priests. It's extremely rare, almost unheard of

It is mostly game mechanics, like a Forsaken Holy Priset. Forsaken Holy Priests are pretty much suicide bombers.

A Tauren shadowpriest is practically non-existant or disallowed in almost every clan but the Grimtotems. They are both low and high in the society, low for their teachings of darkness, but high for their knowledge of other sides.

12/04/2010 6:52 AMPosted by Vallys

Tauren shadow priests are like Forsaken holy priests. It's extremely rare, almost unheard of

It is mostly game mechanics, like a Forsaken Holy Priset. Forsaken Holy Priests are pretty much suicide bombers.

A Tauren shadowpriest is practically non-existant or disallowed in almost every clan but the Grimtotems. They are both low and high in the society, low for their teachings of darkness, but high for their knowledge of other sides.

You should read what I quoted up there. Might change your mind.