A young man's life is cut short by a tragic accident. Instead of being the end, the man is reincarnated into one of his favorite fictional universes, Warcraft, as an infant High Elf.
In the body of a girl...
Now she must not only come to grips with her new reality, but also uncover the mystery of why this happened to her. The world of Azeroth is very much as she remembers, but also different from anything she anticipated. All the while, sinister forces work in the shadows to acquire those very same answers for themselves.
A Child of Noble Birth is a Warcraft Self-Insert Fic written by MidasMan
and can be read here and here.
This fanfiction contains examples of:
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Deconstructed. The Magister, the ruling class of Quel'Thalas, are portrayed as out of touch with reality and elitist but not necessarily evil. However, their obsession with politics means that the Convocation doesn't do anything as the Scourge marches on Silvermoon.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Syllia pulls this off twice. First, she directly impersonates a magistrix to con some Quel'Thalas guards into helping her expose Dar'Khan Drathir as a traitor. The second time, she rescues scattered and fleeing military forces from certain death when she went to check on the Gatekeeper rune stones, giving them the impression that she's been sent by the Convocation to rally the defenses. She just never corrects this assumption and ends up leading a contingent of troops into Fyrestone.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Syllia befriends Elsia Emberbirth and Verana Coldwater, daughters from very prominent and opposed magisterial families, simply by being nice in the case of the former and saving her from her own hubris in the case of the latter. Notably, they do not like each other, regularly butting heads if they're within earshot of each other, but they tolerate the other's presence because of Syllia.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Just as Dar'Khan has Syllia dead to rights, Lord Coldwater steps in to subdue and apprehend him, having been alerted to his scheme when Syllia broke into his estate to borrow clothes from Verana.
- Syllia pulls this off for several times in Defense - I, rescuing fleeing High Elves from getting wiped out by the undead. The very next chapter has her do this twice, first breaking an attack on the garrison at Fairbreeze and the next saving Sylvanas from getting killed by Arthas.
- Blood Knight: Amiria left behind most of her vices when she became a mother, but enjoyed killing too much to give it up.
- Broken Masquerade: Thanks to Syllia's actions, the leadership of the Alliance become aware of the existence of the Burning Legion, and that the Scourge is merely their minions.
- Chick Magnet: Somehow, Syllia has Noly, Elsia and Verana all pining for her.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In her interlude, Amiria revealed herself to be a troubled youth. Her family died through ill means and she tried to get through life with sex, drugs and death. They never did much, however, and only left her feeling empty after. She had gone to a forest to commit suicide before she found the baby Syllia and the SI's human corpse, thereafter dedicating herself to becoming a mother.
- Decadent Court: Courtly intrigue in Quel'Thalas is dominated by the magisters, turning an already deadly affair up to eleven when its participants are stupendously long-lived and capable of powerful magic. Anecdotes from various characters paint just how petty the leaders of their society can get, from having randos murdered over stray comments to disowning their children due to unsatisfactory performance at school.
- Decon-Recon Switch:Of the overpowered/hypercompetent Self-insert, which the author disparages on the Space Battles thread.
- On one hand, while Syllia is a Child Prodigy with incredible talent at arcane magic and befriends members of wealthy and influential families, none of this gives her the political influence to be taken serious in Silvermoon's halls of power. Also Quel'Thalas is extremely isolated - and Silvermoon City even more - preventing her from contacting anyone who could do anything about the coming of the Scourge.
- Syllia is also The Slacker, and doesn't actively do anything to oppose the Scourge until the purging of Stratholme. In fact, the only reason why she urgently attempts to change anything (as before it was half-hearted) is because her Evil Knockoff chews her out in a dream for her laziness and not having a plan to deal with the Scourge. She also fails to notice her mentor is a red dragon.
- Democracy Is Bad: For the Magisters, yes. Dath'Remar Academy's history class is about the failures of "mob rule" amongst non-elves. This in spite of the fact, as Syllia mentally recounts, that the Convocation of Silvermoon is a hive of political corruption and nepotism.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Old Gods and anything else related to the Void. It's implied by her dream counterpart that Syllia was captured by the Old Gods before her reincarnation as a high elf.
- Evil Knockoff: Syllia meets an dark version of herself in a nightmare, which is implied to be a creature of the Void. Later, after Syllia meets with the Council of Six, she shows up again.
- Magic Knight: Syllia does not solely wish to rely on magic for protection and enlists the help of a paladin-in-training and her own mother to learn how to fight.
- The Mentor: Magister Firebrook was this for Syllia at first, being the one to discover her talent, but he is quickly left behind after she gets into Dath'Remar as Siristra replaces him in this role. They're still on relatively good terms though.
- Mysterious Backer: Alexstrasza takes a personal interest in Syllia, sending a message through King Anasterian to get her apprenticed to Siristra and even sending Krasus to Dalaran to make sure the Council of Six take her warnings seriously.
- Off the Rails: The story follows lore for much of the early part as Syllia was too young and had no capability to influence anything. She was able to make some changes after she gained the attention of the dragons, managing to warn the Council of Six of Arthas' betrayal early enough to save Terenas. Later, she exposes Dar'Khan's treason and even saves Sylvanas.
- Only One Name: As commoners, Syllia and Amiria don't have a family name. This becomes an issue when the former applies to Dath'Remar as the proctor tells her to write her family name or her test will be thrown out, so she writes the first fantasy elf-sounding name she could think of: Dawnguard.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Siristra Everflight, whose real name is Siristrasza, is a red dragonness who disguises herself as a high elf and becomes Syllia's mentor. Syllia fails to realize she's a dragon even though her manor is decorated with paintings of heroic dragons. It doesn't even register when Siristra arranges for Syllia to meet Krasus, who she actually recognizes as Korialstrasz, in Dalaran.
- Plagued by Nightmares: Syllia suffers for years from the exact same nightmare, which also easliy identifies as being related to the Old Gods.
- Power Stereotype Flip:
- Verana Coldwater is An Ice Person, but also somewhat of a Hot-Blooded Tsundere, who became Syllia's friend after she was defeated in the entrance exams for Dath'Remar Academy.
- Elisia Emberbirth is Playing with Fire, but also an aloof Ice Queen, Delicate and Sickly and formerly a Shrinking Violet.
- Syllia Dawnguard is Pure Energy, and the arcane "element" is associated with high intellect and wisdom. Syllia is a Genius Ditz, who while possessing great magical potential (and cosmic awareness due to her meta-knowledge), she's also The Slacker.
- Power Trio: Syllia forms this friendship with Verana Coldwater and Elsia Emberbirth, who also correspond to the three specializations for mages in World of Warcraft.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- The red dragons and the Council of Six in Dalaran give weight to Syllia's claims about the threat of the Scourge and the Burning Legion, they even took her warnings about Arthas seriously before he even took up Frostmourne.
- Lord Coldwater is this in a way. He's the same kind of magister as the rest, utterly sure in his own superiority and near-heedless in matters he sees as beneath himself, but he takes Dar'Khan's treason seriously and is the only vocal figure in the conclave that doesn't dismiss the Scourge as a minor threat.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sylla's Evil Knockoff gives her this, chewing her out for spending years doing nothing as the Scourge gathered strength in Lordaeron.
- Shout-Out: When Zyra Fyrestone tells Syllia of her intention to deplete the settlement's soldiers, including Syllia and her party who just arrived there, to march out and meet her father while demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the Scourge's threat, Syllia channels Tywin Lannister to get Zyra put under house arrest by her own people. As they both dislike their superior and do not want to die, they listen.Syllia: “I believe Lady Zyra is tired from the day’s events, and is not well. Can someone please escort her chambers and ensure she is not disturbed for the rest of the night.”
- Single Mom Stripper: Given their family circumstance, Amiria's youth and secretive nature, as well as the strange insinuations made by her clients within earshot of her daughter, Syllia operates under the assumption that her mom turned to prostitution to support them. Her interlude shows that she's actually an assassin and a minor crime boss. Her office is in a brothel she owns, which lends to this misunderstanding when Syllia comes in to warn her of Arthas' attack.
- Tsundere: Verana. She enjoys being around Syllia, and perhaps even Elsia, but can only express herself in the most abrasive ways possible. In her own thoughts, she is very roundabout in admitting to herself that she enjoys her friends' company and has something of a crush on Syllia.
- Wizarding School: Dath'Remar Academy, which educates magisters - Quel'thalas ruling class. While magic is also taught, politics and history are also part of the curriculum.
