Life

Life is a cosmic force.

Before Life

Before life began, before the cosmos even took shape, there was Light .. and there was Void. The Light is a mysterious and benevolent force in the universe. Unfettered by the confines of time and space, the Light swelled across all existence in the form of a prismatic sea. Great torrents of living energy flitted through its mirror depths, their movements conjuring a symphony of hope and joy. However, the Light can be considered chaotic. The ocean of Light was ever shifting and dynamic and as it expanded, some of its energies faded and dimmed, leaving behind pockets of nothingness described as cold.

A new power coalesced and came to be in the absence of Light in these spaces. A dark and vampiric force driven to devour all energy, to twist creation inward to feed upon itself, this power was the Void. The mounting tension between these two inseparable, yet opposite, energies triggered a series of catastrophic proportions, rupturing the fabric of creation and birthing a new realm into existence. The physical universe, which the Great Dark Beyond represents, was born in that moment.

Death and Life

The forces of Death and Life hold sway over every living thing in the physical universe. In the form of necromantic magic, Death acts as a counterbalance to Life. It is an unavoidable force that breeds despair in mortal hearts and pushes everything toward a state of entropic decay and eventual oblivion. It is said that a sacrifice of life is the only way to be ensure the saving of another and sacrificial magic was considered the greatest violation of life. The energies of life, known commonly as nature magic, promote growth and renewal in all things.

Energies can be so chaotic that they manifest as pure fel magic given form - violent entities to lash out at all life, the essence they drop is entropic and poisonous. Disorder is manifested as highly destructive fel magic. This brutal and extremely addictive energy is fueled by drawing life from living beings. Conversely, Order is most commonly perceived in reality as arcane magic. This type of energy is innately volatile, and wielding it requires intense precision and concentration.

Arcane mysteries

Josiah King:Magic is tied to the fabric of being, so much so that unleashing it is unleashing one's very life force.

Arcane Power:Arcane energy surged through her as she drew deep from her own power.

Evocation: For those trained to draw on its power, the wellspring of magical energy is limitless.

Arcane mysteries are of life and death. Mages of the arcane are diviners of secrets, balancing the ebb and flow of incredible mystic energies. Unparalleled skill is required to manipulate the volatile forces of the universe. These practitioners push their magical knowledge to its very limits—often to the brink of their own exhaustion, and at great risk to the world around them. Those who master this craft are capable of releasing a barrage of unrelenting power upon their enemies, drawing upon replenishing energies to maintain their assault for as long as the battle demands.

Kena Shadowbrand: Warlocks have the ability to convert their own life force into rewards - both material and evanescent.

Life Tap: When the dark arts call for flesh, you can only trust your own.

Banish: When you draw power from demons, it's a good idea to have a backup plan in case they disagree.

A common perception was shared that the magi's magic was unholy and possibly even demonic. In the face of demonic power, most heroes see death. Warlocks see only opportunity. Dominance is their aim, and they have found a path to it in the dark arts. Warlocks are magical practitioners who seek to understand darker, fel-based magics including destructive spells. According to how it was described: Fel is chaotic energy. Warlocks convert life into fel, draining the victim as a source of power. In addition, these voracious spellcasters summon demonic minions to fight beside them. At first, they command only the service of imps, but as a warlock’s knowledge grows, seductive succubi, loyal voidwalkers, and horrific felhunters join the dark sorcerer’s ranks to wreak havoc on anyone who stands in their master’s way.

Denizens of the Cosmos

Void Lords

Composed of pure shadow energy, the void lords are monstrous entities. These beings are cruel and merciless beyond mortal comprehension. The void lords seek to devour all matter and energy in the physical universe, driven by an insatiable hunger. The void lords exist in their natural state. Only the most powerful of these entities can manifest in the physical universe, and only for limited amounts of time. To maintain their presence in reality, the void lords must consume untold amounts of matter and energy.

Naaru

Creatures of living holy energy, the naaru are benevolent. In the Great Dark Beyond, they are perhaps the purest expression of the Light that exists. The naaru have vowed to bring peace and hope to all mortal civilizations and waylay the dark forces of the Void that seek to engulf creation.

Titans

Composed of the primordial matter from which the universe was born, the titans are colossal godlike beings. They roam the cosmos like walking worlds, imbued with the raw power of creation itself. The titans use this incredible force to find and awaken others of their kind--others who still slumber within the far corners of the Great Dark Beyond.

The Burning Legion

Within the Great Dark Beyond, the Burning Legion is the single most destructive force. The fallen titan Sargeras created this vast demonic army to scour all creation. With devastating fel magic, which all titans are uniquely susceptible to, the Burning Legion moves world to world, decimating everything in its path. No one knows how many worlds and mortal civilizations the demons have annihilated in their unholy Burning Crusade. The demons that fill the ranks of the Burning Legion are highly resilient. Their spirits are tethered to the Twisting Nether, making them extraordinarily difficult to destroy permanently. Even if a demon dies in the physical universe, its spirit will return to the Twisting Nether and manifest in corporeal form again. To truly destroy a demon's spirit, the creature must be killed in the Twisting Nether itself, in places where that volatile maelstrom bleeds into mortal worlds, or in areas inundated with the Burning Legion's energies.

Old Gods

The Old Gods are the physical manifestations of the Void. They are nightmares incarnate: mountains of blighted flesh and writhing tentacles that grow like cancers within the worlds of the Great Dark. These malignant entities serve the void lords, and they live only to transform the worlds they infest into places of despair and death.

Wild Gods

The Wild Gods are primal manifestations of life and nature. They are creatures of two realms. The Wild Gods inhabit the physical world of Azeroth, but their spirits are bound to the ethereal Emerald Dream. Many Wild Gods appear in the form of gargantuan animals, such as wolves, bears, tigers, or birds.

Elemental Spirits

The elemental spirits are primitive and chaotic beings of fire, earth, air, or water. They were some of the first sentient creatures to inhabit the nascent worlds of the waking universe. The elemental spirits appear in an almost infinite variety of shapes and sizes. Each of these creatures has a distinct personality and temperament, traits that are heavily influences by a spirit's elemental nature. The presence of the fifth element-Spirit-also affects the disposition of these elemental beings. A world with an overabundance of Spirit may gave rise to native elementals who are passive and lack physicality. Conversely, a world with too little Spirit may birth elementals who are highly aggressive and incredibly destructive.

Undead

The undead are former mortals who have died and become trapped between life and death. These tragic beings derive power from the necromantic energies that pervade the universe. Most undead are driven by vengeance and hatred to destroy the one thing that they can never have again: life.

Elements

The elements are chaotic, and left to their own devices, they rage against one another in unending primal fury.

Primary Elements

The elements of fire, air, earth and water serve as the basic building blocks of all mater in the physical universe.

Air: Breeze and wind and storm, all these the spirits of air are, and more, the Spirit of Life is in our breath with air. The storm is a destructive force. Storm burns trees. Storm floods houses. But storm can also be life force if you know the right song.

Earth: "They" claimed they could sense the life force in earth and even seemingly dead stone.

Fire: The Spirit of Life is in our blood (which was referred to as life energy) with fire.

Water: Water is the element of life and energy.

Shamans

Shaman are spiritual guides and practitioners, not of the divine, but of the very elements. Unlike some other mystics, shaman commune with forces that are not strictly benevolent. The elements are chaotic, and left to their own devices, they rage against one another in unending primal fury. It is the call of the shaman to bring balance to this chaos. Acting as moderators among earth, fire, water, and air, shaman summon totems that focus the elements to support the shaman’s allies or punish those who threaten them.

Shamanic cultures have long sought to live in harmony with, or assert dominion over, the elements. To do so, they call upon the primordial forces of Spirit and Decay. Those who seek to bring balance to the elements rely on Spirit (sometimes referred to as the "fifth element" by shaman, or "chi" by monks). This life-giving force interconnects and binds all things in existence as one. Decay is the tool of shaman seeking to subjugate and weaponize the elements.

Life Energy/Essence/Force

Souls

Life essence is what souls are.