Tidesages

The Tidesages (also written tidesages), also known as sea priests or tidepriests, are a religious Kul Tiran group that worship the Tidemother based in Stormsong Valley, in the Shrine of the Storm. Most people on Kul Tiras look to the seas for guidance the same way others look to the Light, but the tidesages have a much deeper connection with the water.

The tidesages were led by Lord Stormsong and had a leading council beneath him, each overseeing a different aspect of the order's work. Recently, however, Lord Stormsong, his inner circle and most of his followers have turned to the Void. Fed up with feeding the entire kingdom and building and blessing its ships for nothing in return, they stole the Kul Tiran fleet and set out to build many more ships to conquer Kul Tiras. Their alliance with Queen Azshara was eventually shattered as the Storm's Wake, a faction of Stormsong inhabitants opposing their schemes, assaulted the Shrine of the Storm and killed Lord Stormsong.

History
2,700 years ago, a group of humans from Gilneas left their homes and took to the ocean. They scanned the horizon day and night for a new home, seeking a place that married land and sea to shelter their children from the ocean waves. The ancestor of House Stormsong was the first to hear the whispers of the Tidemother, gentle and imperceptible to all but him, which taught him the power of the seas. Stormsong's powers guided fish and fresh water to the sailors, now masters of the elements, and as Stormsong's powers grew others began to hear the Tidemother. The wind was theirs to command as it powered their sails, and the hulls of their ships became impenetrable to the denizens of the ocean deeps. The sea guided the sailors to a new home, an island that they would call Kul Tiras, and they sent their tidesages to guide others to come to the island as well. The sea priests played a vital role early in the history of Boralus, when the city was only a collection of houses on a rock and there was no seawall to protect it from the Great Sea's storms. Each ship that wanted to go in and out of the harbor carried a sea priest if its crew wanted to survive the journey. In those days, many tidesages—who were the first to board and the last to disembark—died young trying to prevent the waters from dragging sailors down with their perishing vessel. As such, while the tidesages were dearly beloved, fathers still wept when their children were sent to join the order.

Battle for Azeroth
In recent days, the Tidesages have withdrawn into their cloisters and seem uninterested in finding the ships of the Kul Tiran fleet that have been missing for months. Long had they listened to the sea to guide their ships and their people, gentle whispers imperceptible to most. But in recent times the voices changed, becoming demanding and even violent. They started manipulating the Void, and while many turned hostile and started worshiping the horrors of the ocean, others remained firm in their duties to Kul Tiras. Their aid and mystical oceanic magic is requested in order to locate the missing fleet of legend.

The tidesages stationed at Stormsong Monastery betrayed their people and their teachings, and those who tried to betray them were considered heretics and then eliminated, such as Brother Alen. The place was raided by a Horde adventurer in order to steal the Abyssal Scepter, one of the order's most powerful artifacts, with the help of traitor Tidesage Thomas Zelling.

Lord Stormsong is revealed to have become a follower of Queen Azshara, and planned to conduct a ritual that would give her the entire Kul Tiran fleet which the tidesages held hostage. Many tidesages have become k'thir.

After Lord Stormsong's defeat, the missing fleet was found, but it could not be called home without the aid of a Proudmoore. Jaina Proudmoore would later save them.

Description
Kul Tiran children who hear the whispers of the Tidemother are sent to join the tidesages in Stormsong Valley. All tidesages walk the ceremonial Path of Storms on their way to be blessed at the Shrine. Sagehold is where the tidesages study and learn to master command of the sea. The tidesage order also possesses a sizable monastery in Boralus, where visitors are only allowed by boat. They have magical dominion over the oceans, can control water, storms, wind, and have mastery over all the elements. They use wands to control their water elemental constructs. They can also free an elemental from its bindings. Their aquatic magic also involves runes. They can use ritual implements to augment their power: a Tidal Kris, an Abyssal Beacon (quest item) allowing them to reach what the ocean's mists hide, and a Wavecaller's Mantle which carries incantations on its scrolls. They can also summon sirens.

The tidesage takes several oaths as part of their role: to serve and protect the people, guide and sustain them, and to make their ships strong. There also appears to be one to not attack or go against their fellow sages.

Tidesages bless every last Kul Tiran ship, which is what really sets them apart from the vessels visiting Kul Tiras. Kul Tiras's largest ships always carry a tidesage to navigate through storms, withstand heavy seas, and put wind in their sails. They help bring fish to nets in Tiragarde Sound and rains to the fields in Stormsong Valley. A tidesage's day-to-day job involves, among other things, blessing ships, fishermen, and their equipment; reading the tides for omens; finding the best spots to fish; and praying for the return of sailors.

The people of Stormsong do not bury their dead, they send them to the sea. The tidesages can use a bell that calls the souls of the recently deceased to them, and release them through the Ritual of Release. The souls of the fallen are released into rivers that flow through the Shrine of the Storm and out into the open sea. Legends say that as their spirits pass through the Shrine, they aid in the great blessing rituals that all Kul Tiran ships undergo. In that way, the Stormsong never stop serving their people.

Tidesages use seaweed and seal blubber to create tonics for illnesses. They can bless seawater into Imbued Tidewater, which rejuvenates strength and mends wounds. Because storm silver is lightweight and resists corrosion, Kul Tirans use it in their ships. Once this sacred material is blessed by a sea priest for use in shipbuilding, it is buried under water for a year.

The Dapple Gray is the favored mount of the sea priests.

The tidesages worship a being known as the Tidemother. The magical wards Tidemother's Pride, Tidemother's Radiance, and Tidemother's Wrath that guard the Shrine of the Storm were said to be gifts from the sea itself. They long protected Kul Tiran flagships against even the fiercest storms, but since the Tidesages settled in Stormsong Valley they have instead kept the Shrine safe. Lord Stormsong later turned their power against outsiders.

When a tidesage blesses a ship, they recite the following:  Storm above and tides below, hear us now! Breathe strength into our sails, and guard us against the crushing depths! Let this vessel be one with the vast ocean, and us with her. Sea to sea, storm to storm, tide to tide.

In the old days of Boralus, tidesages were not above teaching the irreverent through the use of physical blows. Though most tidesages are robe-wearing casters, there are also some of them wearing heavy armor. Among them are the Shrine Templar, paladin-like melee fighters, and the Ironhull Apprentices following the way of the Hull (see below). In addition to these armored warriors are tideguards.

Notes and trivia

 * Sometimes tidesages come to the Boralus orphanage to speak about the sea and how they can talk to it.
 * During BlizzCon 2017, they were referred to only as "sea priests". The name "Tidesage" was introduced during the Battle for Azeroth alpha.
 * Kul Tiras was established to have water magic users as early as in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
 * The tidesages' origins, slowly hearing the voice of the water, resembles the way Nobundo became a shaman.
 * Tidesages share similarities with the priests of the Drowned God from the  series.
 * The transformation of Kul Tirans into k'thir, as well as Lord Stormsong's corruption, resembles various stories but in particular the.
 * In the Shrine of the Storm instance there are two Tidesages, Windspeaker Heldis, who is titled "Disciple of the Wind", and Runecarver Sorn, who is titled "Disciple of the Hull". The former uses abilities identical to Galecaller Faye and the latter uses abilities identical to Brother Ironhull. Within Tempest's Edge, one also sees Fallen Hullwardens. Likewise, Galecaller Faye has an ability called Blessing of the Tempest and Brother Ironhull has an ability called Blessing of the Ironsides. These may be titles and descriptors of the other two aspects of the Tidesages, which with Wavespeaker Reid makes the three aspects Wavespeakers, Galecallers/Windspeakers, and Ironhulls/Runecarvers/Hullwardens/Ironsides. The fourth, fifth, and sixth parts of the Legends of the Tidesages denotes that the "gentle whispers" of the sea came first, which taught them to guide fish and control water, and then they could command the wind and currents, and then they could make their "hulls impenetrable".

Speculation

 * Lieutenant Alverold's fleet might have gone missing due to the Tidesages abandoning their duties.
 * Emily Fairweather and Alchemist Hart may be members, as they wear the robe.
 * Taking into account in-lore groups aren't always equivalent to gameplay classes, their use of totems, nearly identical to those of the playable Kul Tiran shaman, as well as their duties to dead Kul Tirans, could imply that the Tidesages are a type of shaman. Yvia Wavebound in the Sanctum of the Sages being the Kul Tiran portal trainer, the portal to Boralus in the Wizard's Sanctum being maintained by Storm's Wake Tidesages, and along with their use of water elementals, could mean the Tidesages are mages. Thomas Zelling's familiarity with and willingness to use of void magic among the use of the Tidesages, while not being a k'thir, may imply some parallels to either shadow priests or warlocks.
 * The ankoan shaman Farseer Ori also mentions being whispered to by the tides, as Tidesages do.