Cult of Aloran

The Cult of Aloran is an elven organization that originated upon the Highborne's banishment from Night Elven lands. It was originally intended to further differentiate between the two peoples as it took the known cosmology surrounding Elune and twisted it into worshiping the sun goddess Aloran.

## Basics

Aloran is a goddess of fire, war, and the sun that protects those of the High Kingdom from the threats of those that lurk in the dark. She was conceived upon the banishment of the Highborne by a select number of priests who refused to submit to the ban of arcane magic. As such the dogma is structured to glorify the Highborne, and subsequently the High Elves, while putting down the rest of the world around them. The original priests on Kalimdor argued that as Elune resided within the Well of Eternity, both the Light and Arcane were her sacred tools. Upon their banishment they shifted their reverence to the Sun, flipping the worship of Elune on its head in every aspect.

They associate the moons, Elune, and the earth with darkness. This was the lifestyle of those they left behind for their cowardice and weakness. The sun is therefore associated with light and magic, the means by which the Highborne would command the world as the sun does the sky.

Aloran herself is personified as a High Elf (now Blood Elf) in golden armor, with bright yellow eyes and flaming wings at her back. She is strong in both skill at arms and magic, attaining her radiance through excruciating trial and training to better herself.

## Mythos

It is believed that Aloran was once incredibly weakened by the forces of darkness, but then lashed out and took back what was hers by right. Henceforth she drove the unworthy from her domain and commanded it to such a point that even the twin moons bowed before her might. The moons and the earth saw that they were inferior to the radiance of her form, but while the earth basked in her strength the moons plotted and emerged in her wake to exact their hidden influence.

She then looked down upon the world, filled with the remnant forces of darkness, and through the Well of Eternity gave a select few the enlightenment she herself found. So doing she rose them from their profane forms to become more akin to her image, forging the first elves out of trolls. She then granted to the elves her tools in shaping the heavens, the mastery over the magical domains of Light and Arcane. She bid them to use it as they saw fit, as personal mastery over her tools would bring them more into her own image.

With the powers of Light and Arcane now granted to the elves they set out to banish the darkness from the face of Kalimdor. However, the Moon goddess Elune pulled the kaldorei from their birthright in favor of nature and the cover of shadow. The weak clung to darkness, returning to their barbaric roots. In response, Aloran unleashed the Burning Legion as a means of her wrath and dominance. They killed nearly all of the barbaric false gods of the wild, and finally consumed Azshara and her Highborne for failing to enact her will. Only those who forsook Azshara survived, and as a reminder of her wrath the Maelstrom took form from whence her will was once made known.

The priests who hold these beliefs acknowledge Elune and Cenarius, but as trickster figures who turned the kaldorei from the righteous path. They enforced ignorance by banning the use of sacred arcane magic out of cowardice. As an added insult the worship of Elune and nature became the norm, and as they saw it darkness once again encroached on the lands of the Sun. So the Highborne lashed out and were banished, free to abandon their brethren to darkness and bring the light to a domain that deserved it.

And so they arrived in the Eastern Kingdoms. Just as the ancient kaldorei controlled nearly the entire continent of Kalimdor, the same was expected of the Quel’dorei. An empire of magic to force back the barbaric darkness that pervaded the world in the Sun’s absence. To this end conquest of the Amani trolls and early humans/vrykul was a priority, due to their worship of nature and the elements. However, after the Troll Wars and the humans discovering the Light, the humans finally became respectable if primitive and backward for worshipping the Light over the Sun.

## Values

Aloran personifies many values such as war and skill at arms, pursuit of knowledge, justice, and courage.

War and skill at arms come from the belief that the forces of darkness are ever attempting to encroach upon the lands of the light. The will to put down your life to protect the High Kingdom and purge the barbaric worshipers of the dark is highly respected, and the development of the individual’s ability to enact such a belief is encouraged.

Pursuit of knowledge is also encouraged. Ignorance only weakens the High Elves, as it did the Night Elves before them when they shunned the study of specific schools of magic. So while holding magics beyond Light and Arcane sacred is heresy, it is perfectly fine to study such schools so long as the practitioner acknowledges the profane nature of such things. Scholars and the like are therefore regarded with just as high esteem as warriors, bringing light to the world through understanding instead of banishing those unworthy of it.

Justice and loyalty to the crown is also expected of practitioners and faithful. To go against the law of the land is to ally oneself with darkness and as such is to be punished. It is also expected of those that enforce the law to do so as their station dictates. This belief sprung forth to further elevate the high elves from the night elves, as it paints the night elves weak in banishing the Highborne rather than executing them as was the law. This failure of the druids is seen as a greater failing than the disobedience of the Highborne, thus absolving them of true guilt.

Finally courage in the face of strife is valued. The ability to stand before the dark and not waver at its advance, even if the individual feels fear. The faithful are expected to hold their own against the onset of evil, and ties into the values of war and justice. This came about to put down those Highborne outside of Quel’thalas, saying that they submitted to darkness instead of rising up to confront it despite the weakness displayed by the druids. They were supposed to uphold their own values by executing practitioners of arcane magic, yet instead of calling them out on this they fled and hid in the remote corners of Kalimdor, hoping never to be found.

## Practices

Practitioners of this faith do not believe that the Light has a will of its own. It is a gift from Aloran and as such is merely another form of magic. Those that use it are fundamentally no different than mages that command the arcane, nature, shadow, or later fel and necromantic magic. It is subject to the will of the mage priest, and therefore any moral character imposed on its use is that of the user instead of the magic itself.

Temples make frequent use of eternally lit arcane fires as a symbol of Aloran. This is to make a mockery of Elune’s temples, who frequently use water for the same purpose. The connotations of it also change, as they view fire as more powerful than water for purposes of conquest and might. So in this way they are attempting to say that not only are we against the practices of our predecessors, but our god is more powerful than yours.

The temples themselves dominate the land around them. Each one is made with magic, impossible architecture and size being the norm. At high noon following the construction of the temple, the priests bless the area by casting a spell that sends a blast of flame in all directions around the structure, obliterating trees and wildlife within the ordained territory granted to the temple. The blast is then recalled, the flame and ash being launched into the sky in a spectacular pillar that could be seen for miles around.

Fire and Light also play a significant role in the daily ritual for priests within the temples. The burning of incense is found throughout the structures from large golden holders, their ashes falling to decorate the floor. Unless they are to be used in ritual, these ashes are to remain undisturbed. Meditations are frequently held by individuals in pitch black chambers, surrounded and illuminated only by a ring of flame. And although the walls of the temple are opaque, magic allows for sunlight to flow through them as if made of glass to illuminate the entirety of the halls.

At the beginning of each month the temple calls together its priests for open forum on their introspections and philosophical findings. These meetings are cataloged and held within the temple library, then sent to the head priests each year for a discussion on what was found that year to be canonized. Such collective knowledge is then gathered again at intervals of ten years, events of the decade debates every hundred years, and every hundred year canon at the millennial level. Supposedly this would continue at the ten thousand year mark, but until that day the high priests study these millennial canon rigorously to best understand the Light and its workings.

Finally, the temples encourage the teachings of martial arts to all those willing to train in their halls. They teach all types of weapons and techniques to combat the trolls along their borders. Most of their students go on to fight in the Thalassian military, though some become priests of the order to teach the next generation of those coming to learn. Even some that were already ordained as scholars of the Light train for martial conflict, although they rarely bring their gifts outside the temple itself.