Nightfallen

The Nightfallen are outcast nightborne elves that have been cut off from the nourishment of the Nightwell due to being exiled from Suramar City and have begun to wither into a state of withdrawal. Over the millennia, in order to survive a food shortage crisis, the nightborne developed a method to adapt the energy of the Nightwell into an ingestible form called Arcwine. The populace of the city were thus saved and the arcane source became a direct source of sustenance. Fate would deal a cruel blow as the energies of the Nightwell were addictive, and elves unable to retrieve Arcwine nourishment would begin to starve and regress. Without this magical sustenance they began withering into a weakened state known as nightfallen, as is expected of anyone starving. However, instead of dying of starvation after the standard period of time passed, the nightfallen would then enter a fully mindless state, a creature completely driven by instinct and their individual self lost — a fate called withered that is considered worse than death. Death follows if the creature can find no magical sustenance.

The descent to withered nightfallen is not immediate, and can take up to 50 days. Nightfallen that have not entered the withered stage can fully recover back to nightborne if they regain access to Arcwine; nightfallen who have eaten an arcan'dor fruit have their dependency on the Nightwell cured, and also eventually recover into healthy nightborne. However, once they cross the withered threshold, there is no known return to sanity. The nightborne are as yet unable to revert withered to what they once were.

While appearing similar at first glance, this is a state that is very different to that of the Wretched for blood elves. One of the notable differences is that it is a failure to feed on the Nightwell's energy that causes this withdrawal rather than a greedy and/or reckless over-indulgence. Unlike blood elves who become wretched, nightfallen will become withered regardless of their measure of self control. It is not optional like is the case of the latter. In some respects it is the inverse of the blood elf situation, pretty much as night is to day.

When hungering, nightfallen stand with a hunched posture, clutching at themselves as they uncontrollably tremble from withdrawal. They also have a habit of scratching their jawline.