Religious community

This article contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

A religious community tends to the faith and healing of the rest of the community, aiding them with all things spiritual. In wandering tauren tribes, the religious community may be but a single shaman or spiritwalker. In the time of Queen Azshara, the religious community of Suramar was a complicated structure intimately intertwined with the arcane community and involving nearly everyone in the city. Each culture on Azeroth has its own religious practices, and whether in the smallest town or the largest metropolis, those practices are supported by the religious community.

Each religious community has some sort of designated area where it practices its rituals, usually considered sacred — or profane, as with the necropolises built by undead cults as the Scourge spread its influence. This could be as simple as a special cave or grotto, or a constructed temple that required years and the labor of hundreds to construct, such as Timbermaw Hold, the shrine to the Ancients Ursoc and Ursol erected by the furbolg.

The members of a religious community may not all share the same outlook. Before the fall of Lordaeron, many cities in the human kingdom had not only overt religious communities, but had also been infiltrated by the Cult of the Damned. Several shrines to different faiths may exist, in peaceful coexistence or in competition for faithful believers. Missionary groups from outside cultures may also form part of a population's religious community.

Healing and spiritual guidance are among the most important roles that a religious group plays within the population. Its members typically have knowledge not only in the spiritual healing of the people but also physical healing, gathering collections of exotic herbs and medicines in order to teach the people how to use them properly. The religious community is also usually in charge of the proper methods of dealing with the dead, whether it be burying their bodies and putting their spirits to rest, or bringing the dead back to serve the community as among the Scourge.

Religious communities

• Suramar
• Timbermaw Hold