Iskara

The Blood Elf magic addiction

In this essay, I'd like to take a look at what to me is the defining Sin'dorei racial trait, namely their addiction to magic. To them, it would be part and parcel of their history, their lives, their very souls; a terrible secret that had been part of them their whole existence but would become apparent only upon the most shattering event of their lives. I am going to examine the sequence of events and their effects in the following.


1. The destruction of the Sunwell

First, I'd like to point out something that may be obvious but which I feel bears closer attention. The destruction of the Sunwell, quite apart from revealing their racial addiction, would be a traumatic experience in its own right. Even if the Sin'dorei had not been addicted, this event would have had and in fact did have an enormous effect on their psyches. We have numerous examples of this from RL history. The hurricane Katrina and the recent tsunami in the far east, the destruction of the World Trade Center, the nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the campaigns of terror bombardment over both Britain and Germany, the razing and slaughter of several major Chinese cities just before WWII... these are just a few examples, and they have parallels throughout recorded history.

Events like these don't just wreck buildings and cause deaths. They inflict deep injuries on the minds and souls of the survivors. These may react in different ways, ranging from persecution complexes and fanatical desires for vengeance through deep despair and dissolution of ambition all the way to driving urges to somehow make up for, heal or undo the damage done and possibly atone for whatever sins that must have 'caused' the disaster. No-one is left untouched, few manage to retain anything like a balanced perspective, most are at least temporarily driven into a maelstrom of fury, anger, despair and bitterness.

After this kind of catastrophe, finding a scapegoat becomes a principal concern. Someone has to be responsible and if possible made to pay, even in the case of natural disasters. This alone would create large splits across an already stunned and half-shattered Sun Elf society. Was Arthas the one responsible all the time? Or Uther, who failed to restrain him? Or Sun Elf leadership, lacking in vision and caution? Or did the Sun Elves' own decadence and indulgence cause it, the whole event being a punishment for their sins? These are just a few examples, and each individual's choice of scapegoat would affect her or his subsequent reactions and choices. (Another part of this would be the grief and recovery process, which ties into this as well.)

To sum up: In the case of each individual character, how did she/he react to the destruction of the Sunwell? Did/does she blame an outside power? Sun Elf decadence? Even herself, for not doing enough? What did she do in the immediate aftermath of its destruction, and what did her friends and family do?

Which of course leads to the second disaster following tight on the heels of the Sunwell's destruction, namely...


2. The addiction to magic revealed

The Sun Elves of course knew that such a thing as addiction to magic existed. It was part and parcel of their history and legends, after all. But they had never even considered the possibility that it could possibly be a problem for them. How could it be? They used magic every day, and they felt no particular need for more. They had the Sunwell. And besides, it was the sort of thing that only happened to others, the little voice of denial whispered. So, therefore addiction to magic could never be a danger to the people of Quel'thalas.

The destruction of the Sunwell proved this comfortable belief false.

After a triumphant Arthas had led his forces back south to crush the remaining human resistance, the surviving elves tried to regroup and decide what to do now. But then, mere hours after the death of the Sunwell, eerie cravings never felt before took hold of them. And following fast on the heels of the cravings came horrified realisation, renewed panic and confusion, searing shame -- and a desperate urge to find some kind of other magic source to feed on, to still the cravings.

The survivors reacted in various ways to this. Some tried to hold out against the cravings as long as they could. Some fed on what power stores remained to still the immediate craving, hoping it would not come back too fast. Some battened themselves on all the power objects they could get hold of, gorged on magic to still the cravings and numb the pain, fell unconscious in a stupor -- and then repeated the process as soon as they reawoke. Why shouldn't they? The Sunwell was no more. The Scourge had triumphed. The world would end soon, glean what scant pleasures it had left while they could.

Oddly enough, this third and last group of elves proved to be the rallying factor for the survivors. The Sun Elves who retained the will to survive at once saw that the frenzied binges of uncontrolled addicts posed a deadly threat. Magical power would be scarce in the time to come; the quel'dorei must protect what power crystals and magical devices that yet functioned at all cost. They sent what military units retained some semblance of discipline to gather up and stockpile all mobile magical objects and placed the stationary ones under guard whenever possible. That first step became the core drive of the blood elves to be: all possible sources of magical power must be isolated and controlled. This drive also led to the audacious capture of a Naaru and to usurping its energies.

And again, this could be considered in blood elf character creation. How did your character react to the discovery of the addiction? Did she recoil from it in shame and try to resist it? Did she try to appease it? Did she lose control for a while and gorge, possibly only backing away from the brink at the last moment? Did she lose friends and family to the addiction? How does she feel about it in herself?

And for that matter, how did the Sun Elf people as a whole react to the addiction? Which brings us to...


3. A dysfunctional society

As the survivors started to rebuild and recover, they faced the massive hurdle of an addiction that was for all intents and purposes a universal part of their society. Practically everybody used magic regularly before the destruction of the Sunwell, it had so many uses and advantages. Even newborn children would be addicted from birth; pregnant females also used magic as a matter of course and the unborn child would thus experience the addictive effects of magic time and again during the pregnancy.

The repercussions of this shaped every aspect of life for the blood-elves-to-be. Some of them became 'functional' addicts, keeping their indulgence limited enough to allow them to live a mostly normal life. Others turned into binge addicts, performing their duties much or even most of the time but sometimes losing control and submitting fully to the cravings. Still others fought the addiction with bitter determination, staying clean but never, ever, ever being able to let their guard down. And last there were the uncontrolled addicts, now known as the 'Wretched', outcasts from the rebuilding society.

Once again, the Wretched proved a defining factor for the new society. All elves that still resisted the addiction feared becoming like them. Mothers used the Wretched to scare children into controlling their desires for magic. In many, the fear became hate, and a large faction of the elves wanted to eradicate the Wretched altogether, blotting out the mark of shame they represented. Of course the Wretched returned this hatred and constantly strove to undermine and destroy the new society of their kinsmen. The struggle remains unresolved and is likely to stay that way. This is partly because the Wretched lack the strength to win, partly because the Blood Elves still can't agree on the necessity of a war of extinction on the Wretched, and partly because a small trickle of Blood Elves still succumb to the addiction, augmenting the numbers of the Wretched.

Also, family life suffered devastating effects from the addiction. Anyone who has ever had to deal with a family member with any kind of addiction knows how difficult it is. In a family where everyone is addicted, the difficulty grows exponentially. Tempers constantly boil over or explode, arguments flare up all out of proportion, and bitter envy of those with better controlled cravings clash with disdain and fear of those who fare less well. Children have no healthy role models to emulate and live in constant terror of the demon within them; parents share that terror with them, forever dreading the nightmare vision of a beloved son or daughter fleeing to join the Wretched.

But in spite of it all, the maimed society of the sin'dorei somehow managed to survive. Blood Elves banded together to control the addiction and its effects; mutual support became not just a therapy effort but an actual necessity for survival. Leading scholars and researchers united to find ways to deal with the addiction on a day-to-day basis and to perhaps someday find a full cure for it. The schools and universities of Silvermoon held mandatory classes about the nature of the addiction and how to resist it.

And that leads to another possible series of questions for a new blood elf character: how was her friends and family affected by the addiction? Did she and her family lose loved ones to the Wretched? How did those who resisted the addiction cope? Did the disaster unite her family or split it apart?


4. A few last words

In conclusion, I'd like to say that my small overview hardly covers all there is to say on the topic. There are numberless aspects I haven't touched, and I barely scratched the surface of the ones I did mention. There is a great deal of good literature about addiction available, and for a more comprehensive idea of the topic I urge you to go look it up. Still, I hope that my small effort might at least inspire a few ideas for people.

~M.

Heresy

Outstanding writing, Iskara - and really helpful to me I must say as I finally made a belf toon, it will help me in developing ideas of who she is past my initial outline!

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Rolo

Gotta admit I sorta skimmed, so forgive me if you covered this. I seem to remember doing the quest lines in Eversong/Ghostlands when you come upon the sanctum's for the first time they explain that they are used to gain magic from the "fey currents" (might be wrong on the exact wording) to help the addiction. Perhaps elves that remain in eversong don't suffer from the full affects of the addiction (although I contradict myself - the placement of the wretched seems to suggest otherwise, unless the wretched are simply from when the sunwell was first destroyed). Those elves in outlands and in other parts of the world I can imagine would be fairly grim characters, having to live with their addiction, day in and day out.

I've been looking at how I'm going to expand my belf and I see it expanding in this way, at first he's a typical belf as the npc's portray them - vain arrogant, then as he leaves eversong woods behind he gets more grim...


Edit: read further into your bit on dysfunctional society and yeh you basically covered it.

Not being a heroin addict I can't say how accurate "Requiem for a Dream" is but its a whole film based around addiction in 4 different people and how it ruins them.

Blacktalon

I might just add that the history of modern Blood Elves started many centuries ago when they split (or were cast out, if I recall correctly) from their "night" brethren... and it also had to do a lot with their magic addiction...

Elves are a twisted race... do you know that naga were actually elves as well? Their queen-goddess, Azshara was a Highborne...

I recommend WoW Wiki as a good source, lots of good reading collected there.

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"Shamans are like a battered wife, still hanging around regardless of abuse, hoping that someday things will get better."

Atare

Sorry if bumping this topic might seem a tad silly, but I gotta say that this really was helpful as hell. I can imagine how Atare fits into it (in fact it's a bit more precise to say that she doesn't quite, hence her quest to redeem Blood Elves from the addiction), but your writing reminded me of so much of what makes REAL quality RP. Like family and friends - when people RP they often just focus on their character alone, almost never on what their family was like...

And dammit...you really do make it tempting for me to roll a low level BElf toon that I'd RP as a mana-addicted fiend hehe. Awesome writing, no doubt, and bonus points for imagining what it'd be like whilst thinking of historical examples!