The Skyborne

The shen'dorei, the "hidden people": elves whose ancestors left Eldre'Thalas long ago and built a home among the winds of Skywall. Now the wind spirits have vanished, their island is failing, and a new generation comes to Azeroth, split between the Alliance's High Order and the Horde's Windshapers.

A High Order Skyborne mage and a Windshaper Skyborne shaman rendered from the WoW Forever client — The two orders: a High Order mage (Alliance, left) and a Windshaper shaman (Horde, right), rendered from the Forever client's own models.

Lore name: Shen'dorei, "the hidden people"
Homeland: Zephras Isle, anchored in Skywall
Factions: Alliance: High Order · Horde: Windshapers
Starting zone: Zephras Isle, levels 1 to 12
Ancestry: Highborne of Eldre'Thalas

What the client says

High Order Skyborne (Alliance)

Lore name: Shen'dorei. Languages: Common, Darnassian. Classes: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Warrior. Racials: Elemental Insight, Read Ley Line, Skysight, Walk on Air, Wind Blessed.

The client's character-creation text: The High Order is made up of the descendants of the ancient Highborne scholars of Eldre'Thalas. When the wind spirits disappeared from Zephras Isle, the High Order realized that the Skyborne's utter dependence upon their elemental patrons had left them dangerously vulnerable. A new generation of High Order has now been called upon to return to Azeroth to reclaim the arcane knowledge that they have lost, and use that power to ensure that the shen'dorei have the self-reliance to survive on their own.

Windshaper Skyborne (Horde)

Lore name: Shen'dorei. Languages: Orcish, Darnassian. Classes: Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior. Racials: Elemental Insight, Read Ley Line, Skysight, Walk on Air, Wind Blessed.

The client's character-creation text: The Windshapers are the descendants of the first shen'dorei high elves to receive the wind spirits' gift of elemental skysight. A new generation of Windshapers is called to Azeroth from their home within Skywall to solve the mystery of what became of their missing elemental mentors, and will stop at nothing to see the wind spirits restored and their way of life preserved.

Who they are

The Skyborne are elves, but not any elves the world knows. After the War of the Ancients a band of rebels fled Eldre'Thalas, a city of the Highborne, and made a pact with the spirits of the wind. The spirits gave them a home: an island held up in Skywall, the elemental plane of air. For thousands of years the shen'dorei lived there, hidden from the world below.

Thousands of years ago, a group of Highborne exiles forged a pact with elemental wind spirits and built a civilization within Skywall—one of the elemental planes.
Blizzard: WoW: Forever Meet the New Skyborne (Blizzard)

That home is now in danger. The wind spirits that protected the island are gone, the pylons that hold Zephras Isle together are failing, parts of the island are falling into ruin and darkness, and the people are divided about what to do. Every Skyborne character starts life in that crisis.

When players encounter them in WoW: Forever, the Skyborne are in crisis. Their elemental benefactors have vanished, the pylons that hold Zephras together are failing, and portions of the island have begun falling into ruin and darkness.
Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever Found Photos Panel Recap (Blizzard)

Warcraft background: The Highborne were the night elf nobility of the ancient empire, masters of arcane magic. Their reckless use of the Well of Eternity helped bring the Burning Legion into the world, and the War of the Ancients that followed ended with the Well destroyed and the continent broken. Afterwards the night elves turned against arcane magic; many Highborne left, and their line led to the high elves of Quel'Thalas. Eldre'Thalas in Feralas is where some of them stayed; its ruins are Dire Maul.

Two orders, one people

You choose your Skyborne's side at character creation, and the choice is a belief as much as an allegiance. Both descend from the same exiles; they disagree about the future.

The High Order (Alliance)

The High Order claim the Highborne scholars of Eldre'Thalas as their ancestors. When the spirits vanished, they drew a hard lesson: a people that relies completely on its patrons is helpless when those patrons leave. So they turn to the arcane magic their forebears mastered and their people let slip, to make the shen'dorei able to stand alone. That's why only the High Order can be mages.

When the wind spirits disappeared from Zephras Isle, the High Order realized that the Skyborne's utter dependence upon their elemental patrons had left them dangerously vulnerable.
From the game client: High Order Skyborne, the race description in the WoW Forever client

The Windshapers (Horde)

The Windshapers descend from the first shen'dorei to receive the wind spirits' gift of skysight. For them the answer is not to replace the spirits but to find them. They come to Azeroth to learn what happened to their mentors and to bring them back, and with them the way of life the covenant protected. That's why only Windshapers can be shaman.

The Windshapers are the descendants of the first shen'dorei high elves to receive the wind spirits' gift of elemental skysight.
From the game client: Windshaper Skyborne, the race description in the WoW Forever client

A third group, the Al'Aketh, is also fighting over Zephras Isle, according to Blizzard. It isn't a playable side and Blizzard hasn't said who they are.

Speculation: Why the Windshapers join the Horde and the High Order the Alliance isn't explained anywhere yet. A reasonable reading: the Horde's shaman and the Earthen Ring share the Windshapers' respect for the elements, while the Alliance's mages of Stormwind and Dalaran offer the High Order the arcane knowledge they want. This is our reading, not Blizzard's.

Homeland: Zephras Isle and Skywall

Both orders begin on Zephras Isle, a starting zone for levels 1 to 12. The client's map names Shen'dar Village and the Shen'dar Highlands, Thendal Village and its grove, Falaath Village, Windsong Lake, the Rohashi Spires, the Shrine of Akir, the Sanctum of Storms, the Valanaar Skydocks, the Shadowgale Forest with the Nightclaw Cavern, and the Ruins of Ban'aethal. It also lists Skywall itself as an area of the island. There is no Skyborne capital city on the mainland: in Azeroth they are guests of the Alliance's or the Horde's cities.

The Skyborne have no home reputation of the old kind; instead each order has its own: the High Order and the Windshapers. Blizzard's beta notes mention Belathaan Brightwish near the Shrine of Akir and an event with Lorthuna in a Windshaper quest: the only Skyborne NPCs Blizzard has named so far.

Allies and enemies

Each other. High Order and Windshapers share blood, villages and history, and disagree about everything that matters now. That tension is the heart of Skyborne roleplay.
Night elves. Distant cousins who stayed behind after the War of the Ancients and turned away from the arcane. The High Order's hunger for arcane magic is exactly what night elves distrust. Both Skyborne orders still speak Darnassian.
The Horde and the Alliance. Brand-new allies. Blizzard's beta notes mention a Skyborne quest, "Exploring the Horde", that sends you to talk with Lady Sylvanas Windrunner in Undercity: a Skyborne's first sight of the Horde's leaders.
The Nightclaw Druids. Secretive druids of the Shadowgale Forest who side with neither order. See factions.
Whatever took the spirits. Nobody knows yet, which makes it a threat every Skyborne shares.

Language and names

In the client the High Order speak Common and the Windshapers Orcish, like the rest of their factions, and both also know Darnassian, the night elves' language. So two Skyborne on opposite sides share a tongue that most of their allies can't follow. The client also has a new language named Shen'dorei whose word list is nearly the same as Thalassian's; no player race learns it. See the RP guide on languages.

Blizzard hasn't described Skyborne naming customs. The client's place names give a feel for the sound: Shen'dar, Thendal, Falaath, Valanaar, Rohashi, Akir, Ban'aethal. Elven names with soft consonants and apostrophes fit. For the second name, a home village (Falaath, Thendal), a wind or sky word (Galewhisper, Skyreach) or an old High Order family name all work, and two-part names let a whole Skyborne family share one.

Racial abilities as flavour

Both orders can Walk on Air (a long controlled glide: the wind still answers them), get Wind Blessed (1% Haste) and Elemental Insight (more damage against elementals, whom they know better than anyone). The High Order can Read Ley Line, drawing on a ley line to recover (much longer at a real ley line), a scholar's trick. The Windshapers have Skysight, an elemental blessing of speed that lasts far longer at an elemental convergence. Full details are on Races.

In WoW Forever

In WoW Forever: The Skyborne are Forever's only new race. The High Order can be Warriors, Hunters, Rogues, Mages and Druids; the Windshapers Warriors, Hunters, Rogues, Shaman and Druids. Skyborne druids have their own forms, and the race has its own dance (/dance), voices and customisation, including feathers, face tattoos and the "Zephyr" and "Wayfinder" body tattoos. The client also has a family of crane mounts, the Galestriders, set up as their racial mounts: see our datamine article.

RP hooks and character ideas

A young High Order scholar sent down to Azeroth with a list of lost spells to find, who discovers that the mages of Stormwind and Dalaran have their own ideas about who owns that knowledge.
A Windshaper who could hear the wind spirits as a child and now hears nothing: grief, doubt and a stubborn search.
Siblings or cousins on opposite sides: one High Order, one Windshaper, meeting again in a neutral town like Booty Bay. Their shared second name makes it obvious to anyone who looks.
A Skyborne who has never seen a tree without wind in it, meeting an orc, a gnome or the Forsaken for the first time, and asking all the wrong questions.
A former follower of the Nightclaw Druids who left the Shadowgale Forest with a secret.
A Skyborne druid who wonders whether the night elves' druids, who also stayed away from the arcane, might know where the spirits went.
A High Order mage pulled towards Eldre'Thalas and Shen'dralas, where the story of their ancestors began.