History of the world
Life on Azeroth is nasty, brutish, and short. Yet the world was not always torn by war and scarred by conflict. There was a time in which the world teemed with life and vitality. People lived in peace and balance with their surroundings, and wondrous magical beasts roamed the wilds and skies uncontested. It was a time before the arrival of the Burning Legion.
Ten thousand years before the orcs and humans clashed in their First War, the world of Azeroth had only one massive continent - surrounded by the infinite, raging seas. That landmass was home to a number of disparate races and creatures, all vying for survival among the savage elements of the waking world. At the continent's center was a mysterious lake of incandescent energies. The lake, which would later be called the Well of Eternity, was the true heart of the world's magic and natural power. Drawing its energies from the infinite Great Dark Beyond, the Well acted as a mystical fount, sending its potent energies across the world to nourish life in all its wondrous forms.
The shimmering power drew the greatest tribe in the land, a race called the Kaldorei. These ancient people named the great land Kalimdor and settled near the vortex of cosmic energy. After several ages spent in peace and learning, the Kaldorei grew in power and wisdom so that they soon outstripped the other humanoid races of Azeroth.
The Well of Eternity was key to the Kaldorei's advancement. This connection did not come without a price, ultimately both beneficial and malevolent. In studying the Well's energies, the Kaldorei were infused with its power, becoming immortal and gleaning mastery over the creatures of the land. In time, they learned to manipulate the powerful energies directly. Thus did the study of arcane magic begin.
Some Kaldorei believed that abusing the Well's arcane energies could only lead to ill, but their words of caution were ignored as their brethren flew headlong into the study of magic. Their greatest wizards and sorcerers built beautiful cities, crafted amazing magical devices, and reshaped their world to better suit their needs. One of the greatest of their sorcerers was Azshara, a gifted woman who seemed to know more about magic than anyone alive even though she never studied a single treatise on the subject - as if she understood magic as its most primal level. Before long, Azshara was crowned the Sorceress-Queen of Kalimdor. She gathered about her the Highborne, those Kaldorei of the upper classes who most reveled in magic. The Highborne soon acted as Azshara's chosen sect and venerated her as goddess.
The Coming of the Burning Legion
The mighty Highborne became haughty and decadent as they grew in power. Unknown to them, their abuse of and obsession with the Well's otherworldly energies attracted the attention of a terrible race of creatures that fed upon magic. These beings, demons of the Burning Legion, dwelled in an extraplanar reality called the Twisting Nether. Sensing the sudden bloom of magical energies on Azeroth, these demons were drawn to Kalimdor like flies to a corpse. The barrier between realities kept the demons from feeding directly upon the Well's energy. Not to be denied, Sargeras, the dark titan and lord of the Burning Legion, exerted an unholy influence upon the nobles of Kalimdor. As Sargeras began his subtle manipulations, his lieutenants Archimonde the Defiler and Mannoroth the Destructor prepared the infernal minions to strike.
Queen Azshara and her Highborne servitors, overwhelmed by the terrible ecstasy of magic, fell victim to Sargeras's undeniable power. To show their allegiance, the Highborne aided their queen in opening a portal within the depths of the Well of Eternity. Though insufficient to allow Sargeras entry, it was enough for the Burning Legion to begin its assault.
The warrior-demons stormed through the Well of Eternity and laid siege to the night elves' sleeping cities. Led by Archimonde and Mannoroth, the Legion swarmed over the lands of Kalimdor, leaving only ash and sorrow in its wake. The demon warlocks called down the searing Infernals that crashed like hellish meteors into the graceful spires of Kalimdor's temples. A band of burning, blood-letting killers called the Doomguard marched across Kalimdor's fields, slaughtering everyone in their path. Even packs of wild, demonic fel stalkers ravaged unopposed across the countryside.
Nature rose up in shock and anger against this violent intrusion from beyond. The seas roiled as demonfire rained from the skies. The Kaldorei were shaken enough from their arcane haze to recognize the severity of this threat. They did what they could, but the Burning Legion was the manifestation of destruction. Cities were blown apart like fallen leaves, and the night elves were pushed back as the demons savaged their once idyllic realm.
The War of the Ancients
It fell to a young Kaldorei scholar, Malfurion Stormrage, to find salvation for his people. Malfurion had long felt incensed by the growing corruption among the upper class. His own brother, Illidan, practiced the Highborne's magics, but Malfurion convinced him to forsake his dangerous obsession and help battle the invaders. The young priestess Tyrande Whisperwind agreed to accompany the brothers.
The three heroes met with the reclusive demigod Cenarius, who brought the aid of the powerful dragons. Led by the great leviathan Alextrasza, the dragonflights agreed to engage the demons while Malfurion looked for a way to banish them from the world.
Malfurion was convinced that the Well of Eternity was the demons' umbilical link to the physical world and insisted that it should be destroyed. As the Well was also the source of the night elves' immortality and powers, his companions were shocked by the rash notion. Yet Tyrande saw the wisdom of Malfurion's theory and helped convince Cenarius and their dragon comrades to storm Azshara's temple.
Illidan was unnerved at the thought of never again wielding magic... and resentful that Tyrande had chosen romance with his brother rather than himself. Fear and jealousy curdled as Illidan vowed to protect the Well's power by any means necessary.
Malfurion found his brother missing, but assumed only that he could not face the thought of destroying the Well. Though, heartbroken by Illidan's departure, Malfurion was committed to his course. The Highborne were in the midst of summoning Sargeras when Malfurion's forces struck, but they were far from surprised. Illidan had already whispered to Azshara of the plan, and she unleashed her mighty powers upon the attackers. Tyrande fell even as she made to strike the mad queen, sending Malfurion into a murderous rage. The battle between Malfurion and Azshara threw the Highborne's carefully crafted spellwork into chaos. The vortex within the Well's depths spun out of control and the Well of Eternity collapsed upon itself.
With its link to the Well severed, the Burning Legion was flung back into the primal chaos from whence it came. In the ages that followed, they would become the stuff of legend.
The Sundering of the World
The seas rushed in to fill the gaping wound left by the Well's implosion. Kalimdor was sundered into a handful of separate continents surrounding the new, raging sea. At the center of the new sea, where the Well of Eternity once stood, was a tumultuous storm of tidal fury and chaotic energies that came to be called the Maelstrom. It stood throughout the passing centuries as a chilling testament to the terrible cataclysm that forever shattered the utopia once enjoyed by the night elves.
A handful of night elves survived the explosion - including Malfurion, Tyrande, and Cenarius, miraculously enough. They sailed upon crude rafts to the only landmass in sight: the holy mountain Hyjal. Azshara and her acolytes were smashed to the bottom of the raging sea, but other Highborne survived the sundering. Though Malfurion mistrusted them, he was satisfied that they could cause no real mischief without the Well's energies.
The night elves climbed the slopes of Hyjal to wooded bowl nestled between the mountain's enormous peaks. A small, tranquil lake awaited them, but, to their horror, the lake's waters were fouled by magic.
Malfurion did not know at the same time, but Illidan was present at the fight against the Highborne. He hid in the shadows, taking advantage of the confusion of battle to fill seven vials with the Well's shimmering waters. Having survived the Sundering, Illidan fled to Mount Hyjal and poured one of the vial's contents into the mountain lake. The Well's potent energies quickly ignited and coalesced into a new Well of Eternity. Illidan intended it as a gift to future generations, but Malfurion was outraged. Arcane power was innately chaotic, and use of the Well's energies would lead to a repeat of the horrors just endured by the night elves. Illidan denied his brother's accusations and refused to relinquish his magical powers.
With Cenarius's help, Malfurion sealed his own brother within a vast underground chamber. The Well was not so easily handled. Fearing that its destruction would unleash another catastrophe, the nigh elves looked for a way to protect it. The three great dragons - Alextrasza, Ysera, and Nozdormu - helped them create Nordrassil, the World Tree. Sustained by the Well's magic, but divine rather than arcane in origin, Nordrassil obscured the existence of the Well of Eternity and protected the world against any future threats from the Burning Legion.
Seclusion of the Night Elves
In the aftermath of the Burning Legion's first assault on the world of Azeroth, the surviving Kaldorei on Mount Hyjal vowed never again to tamper with arcane magic. They set about building a new empire, one at peace with the world and with nature. Over the next several thousand years, the Kaldorei became masters of manipulating the gentler and more divine magic of nature.
Yet some Highborne who survived the Sundering still felt that arcane magic was not inherently dangerous, if used with proper control and moderation. Like Illidan before them, they fell victim to the withdrawal that came from the loss of their coveted magics. They were tempted, once more, to tap the energies of the Well of Eternity. Malfurion and the druids warned the Highborne that any use of arcane magic would be punishable by death. In turn, the Highborne unleashed terrible magical storm in an ill-fated attempt to convince the druids to rescind their law. Unable to bring themselves to slaughter so many of their kin, the druids instead exiled the reckless Highborne from their lands. The Highborne - or Quel'dorei, as Azshara had named them in ages past - were glad to be rid of their conservative cousins. Though none knew what awaited them, they eagerly boarded ships and braved the waters of the Maelstrom.
As the Quel'dorei departed, the Kaldorei wove a powerful druidic spell to close their borders within an eternal mist. There they remained for thousands of years, hidden by the mist and by the swirling seas of the Maelstrom, untouched by time and the creatures of the waking world.
Settlement of Lordaeron
The Highborne braved the dangers of the Maelstrom and came upon the land that humanity would someday call Lordaeron. There, they set to establishing their own magical kingdom - Quel'Thalas - and rejected the night elves' precepts of moon worship and nocturnal activity. Forever after, they would be known only as the "high elves."
As part of their new start, the Quel'dorei created a new mystic well from which they would draw their arcane power. This font was born of one of the vials that Illidan had drawn from the first Well of Eternity and that was taken by the Highborne after his emprisonment. In keeping with the high elves' casting aside of night culture, they called this new font the Sunwell. Though potent indeed, the Sunwell lacked the full power of the Well of Eternity. Mighty though the Quel'dorei magic was, it did not bestow the immortality their cousins enjoyed. Combined with their day-oriented culture, high elf society soon grew significantly different from what they once knew on Kalimdor.
Some of the elves, wary of the Kaldorei's warnings, felt that their use of magic might draw the attention of the banished Burning Legion. They decided to mask their lands within a protective barrier that would prevent anyone from sensing magic within their borders while not restricting their use of it. They constructed huge, monolithic runestones at various points around Quel'Thalas that marked the boundaries of the magic barrier. In addition to the runestones, the Convocation of Silvermoon was founded. This group of seven of the greatest high elf lords vowed to watch over and protect their new homeland.
As their empire grew, the high elves skirmished constantly with the savage forest trolls of Zul'Aman. The green-skinned humanoids were disorganized and primitive, but their cunning earned them a place as the most dangerous enemy the high elves faced for many, many years. The high elves also learned that they shared their new continent with humans, but left them to their own crude culture for some time.
The Rise of Humans
The humans lived a nomadic life for many years until the rise of the Arathi. This tribe saw the potential in uniting the individual human tribes, particularly when faced with the increasing danger of troll warbands. The Arathi brought other human tribes under their rule over the next few years, eventually establishing the nation of Arathor with the massive fortified city of Strom as its capital.
Word of the new nation reached the high elves, who were increasingly hard pressed to keep the trolls at bay. The high elves made contact with the humans, beseeching them for aid. The humans agreed to an alliance with the elves in exchange for being taught how to use magic. The united forces of humans and high elves defeated the trolls so decisively that the troll race never again approached the dominance it once enjoyed.
The growth of Arathor also brought humans in contact with dwarves, who had long lives in underground realms. High elf and dwarf cultures were so different that little trust was shared between the two, but the humans formed a bond with the dwarf race. In time, the humans settled so much of Lordaeron that the single empire of Arathor eventually fragmented into different kingdoms, each developing its own beliefs, governments, and lifestyles.
The Guardians of Tirisfal
As the human and elven cultures mingled, humans displayed an astounding natural affinity for magic - indeed, many human wizards eventually outstripped the skill of their high elf teachers. These human mages were greedy and careless, however. Each new generation became more obsessed with mystic power and grew conceited and aloof.
Once more, the abuse of magic attracted the Burning Legion.
The first demons who slipped back onto Azeroth were relatively weak and easily defeated, but rumors soon spread throughout the human and high elf lands. The descendents of the original Quel'dorei remembered the tales of their ancestors, and the Council of Silvermoon entered into a pact with the Magocrat lords of Arathor. They formed a secret order called the Guardians of Tirisfal, after the secret forested glade in which the wizards first met. The Guardians kept quiet the true threat of the Burning Legion to prevent mass panic and revolution.
The Guardians carried on as a unified, though largely secret force even as the human kingdoms fragmented. Some time later, the foremost Guardian, a human woman named Aegwynn, learned that a number of demons had settled on the northern continent of Northrend. The demons hunted dragons to drain the mighty creatures of their magic. With the aid of the dragons, Aegwynn destroyed the demon forces. Even as the last demon fell, the mighty Sargeras appeared before Aegwynn to warn her that the Burning Legion would return. Enraged and overconfident, Aegwynn destroyed Sargeras's physical form with ease. Fearing that his spirit would linger, she sealed the ruined carcass in one of the ancient waults of Kalimdor deep beneath the sea.
Alas, when Aegwynn unleashed her power, Sargeras infected her with a portion of his own spirit. This taint passed on to her child Medivh years later. As ignorant of the infection as his mother was, Medivh gained renown for his magical prowes even as a youth. His childhood in the southern kingdom of Stromwind was innocuous enough otherwise - that is, until be turned 14. Then his inherent arcane power clashed with the dormant spirit of Sargeras. Medivh fell into a coma for many years. When he awakened, so did the soul of Sargeras. The demon began to pervert Medivh's mind and soul to his own foul ends.
The World of Draenor
Azeroth was not the only world subjected to depredations of the Burning Legion. Elsewhere in the Great Dark Beyond was Draenor, a lush world home to a shamanistic, clan-based society of orcs and another race, the peaceful draenei. Sargeras's second in command, the demon Kil'jaeden, discovered Draenor some time after the Sundering upon Azeroth. This new world offered a great opportunity for the Burning Legion if cultivated properly.
Of the two races, Kil'jaeden saw that the orcs were more suitable for corruption. He seduced the orc shaman Ner'zhul in much the same way that Sargeras brought Azshara under his control. Using the brute as his conduit for corruption, the demon spread battle lust and savagery throughout the orc clans. Before long, a spiritual race was transformed into a bloodthirsty people.
Kil'jaeden then urged Ner'zhul to take his people the last step, to give themselves over entirely to the Burning Legion. Yet the mighty shaman somehow resisted the demon's command - there were some lines even a battle-enraged orc would not cross. Kil'jaeden needed a mortal to open a gateway to Azeroth and settled on a talented novice named Gul'dan. The young orc became an avid student of demonic magic and grew to be a powerful warlock. He taught other young orcs the arcane arts, and soon the last of the orcs' shamanistic traditions were replaced with a terrible new magic that reeked of doom.
The warlocks quickly ran things in the form of a Shadow Council that acted as "advisors" to the clans' chieftains. Kil'jaeden knew his orcs were almost ready, but he wanted to be certain. He had the warlocks summon Mannoroth - the living vessel of destruction and rage - and perform a ceremony in which the clan chieftains drank of the pit lord's blood. Consumed with the curse of bloodlust, the orc clans united in a single Horde and wiped out the draenei.
The First War
With the only opponents of any significance eradicated and the warlocks' energy twisting and blackening the once fertile lands of Draenor, Gul'dan grew nervous. With no foes to face, the orcs would soon turn on one another. Gul'dan's power, however, was sufficient to reach across the barrier of worlds and look for a way out.
On Azeroth, Medivh had been resisting Sargeras's corruption as best he could. Medivh's lifelong friends sensed the change in him, but their growing awareness could not stop Medivh's descent into madness. Finally, Medivh fell victim to Sargeras's power. Not long after, Gul'dan's consciousness touched that of Medivh - now possessed by Sargeras. The two made a bargain to lead the Horde to Azeroth.
The mortal orcs would be far easier to bring onto Azeroth than the demons of the Legion. Once there, the Horde would soften up any resistance and generate the arcane power necessary to bring the Legion through. With the warlocks working on Draenor and Medivh on Azeroth, the gateway was opened between the worlds. The Horde came through near the human kingdom of Stormwind and launched the first strike of what proved to be a devastating war. During the struggle that followed, Lord Anduin Lothar, a friend of Medivh's since youth, foresaw the destruction of the world if he did not take a drastic step. With the aid of Medivh's own apprentice, Khadgar, Lothar slew his old friend, destroying Sargeras's spirit and freeing Medivh's at last.
Led by the cunning Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer, the orcs carried on relentlessly against the human forces, crushing all resistance in the southern kingdom of Stormwind. Lothar rallied the remnants of his armies and launched a massive exodus across the sea to the northern kingdom of Lordaeron.
The Second War
Lothar met with the leaders of the seven nations of Lordaeron. They agreed that the orcs would eventually wipe out all of humanity if left unchecked. The Alliance of Lordaeron was formed, a union of human nations with support from high elves and dwarves. Lord Lothar was appointed as the Supreme Commander of the Alliance forces.
In the south, the orcs brought ogre allies from their home world and conscripted the native forest trolls of Azeroth. They launched a new campaign that ended up raging across the continents of Lordaeron, Khaz Modan, and Stormwind. The battles of the Second War ranged from traditionnal land wars to naval conflicts and even massive aerial dogfights. Despite the Horde's relentless savagery, the Alliance managed to push the Horde armies back into Stormwind, the first kingdom to fall at the Horde's hands.
Though the Alliance was heartened by its success, the Horde's defeat hinged on the warlock Gul'dan. A mighty orc warrior named Durotan warned Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer of Gul'dan's ties to the demon Kil'jaeden and the warlock's plans for godhood. Aware of the degree of corruption that lay within his people, Orgrim realized that Gul'dan must be stopped or he would destroy orcs and humans alike.
Gul'dan sought out the legendary Tomb of Sargeras, believing the power of godhood awaited him there. The warlock used his infernal powers to raise the tomb from the sea floor - creating a new, volatile island chain in the process. Doomhammer sent much of his army after the traitorous warlock. Gul'dan entered the raised tomb nevertheless, but he did not find the power he sought. Rather, he unwittingly released a swarm of demons that tore the warlock and much of the Horde forces to shreds. Then the Alliance struck, pushing the shattered Horde back to the very threshold of the Dark Portal.
Though the Alliance defeated demon and orc alike, victory was bittersweet: mighty Lothar had fallen in battle.
The Destruction of Draenor
The grieving Alliance rebuilt its shattered homeland, and surviving orcs were hunted down and herded into internment camps. Khadgar, Medivh's former apprentice, was ordered to watch over the ruins of the Dark Portal.
Some orcs who escaped back to Draenor began plotting revenge. The shaman Ner'zhul, however, held no interest in revenge or the schemes of demons. He decided to open a new Portal to a world where his people could rebuild their society. To do so without the aid of the demons (thereby breaking the pact he had made with Kil'jaeden that began the corruption of the orc race), he needed several magical artifacts from Azeroth.
Ner'zhul re-opened the Dark Portal and sent several warriors to recover the relics. Khadgar's men failed to stop the orcs, and the warriors returned to Draenor with the relics in hand. Thinking the orcs were preparing a new attack, the Alliance ordered Khagdar and his troops through the Portal to stop the Horde once and for all.
Unaware of the Alliance's plans, Ner'zhul opened a number of new Portals that would lead to uncorrupted worlds. To Ner'zhul's shock, the existence of two Portals on a single world began to tear Draenor apart. Great earthquakes and storms shook Draenor to its core. Khadgar's forces fled back to Azeroth and destroyed the Dark Portal as Ner'zhul led his orcs through the second Portal. As the last orc fled through the Portal, the potent magic at last overwhelmed the ravaged world of Draenor in a final catastrophic explosion.
The New Horde
In the aftermath of the First War, a human soldier named Blackmoore found an orc infant alone on the battlefield. The child, the son of Durotan, was the sole orc survivor. Blackmoore named the infant Thrall and took him home to Durnholde. The human raised the orc as a favored slave, intending to train him as a powerful but educated warrior. Blackmoore desired to use Thrall to make orcs tractable to human rule, but Thrall escaped before his training had finished.
Thrall searched out his people and was dismayed to find them lethargic and directionless on their reservations. He decided to track down the last free chieftain, Grom Hellscream, who continued to lead his Warsong clan in an underground war. Thrall located Hellscream and learned from him of another clan far to the north that could teach him something of his heritage. Thrall ventured north, where he encountered the Frostwolf clan. From them, he discovered his heritage as the son of Durotan and the clan's rightful leader.
Thrall was taught the ways of the shaman and showed a natural affinity for the spirit magic. In the course of his training, Thrall also discovered that the orcs' lethargy was caused by a racial "addiction" to the demon magics. With the warlocks slain during the Second War, the orcs were suffering a kind of withdrawal from the demons' arcane influence. He came to realize that his people must restore their spiritual ties or they would waste away to nothing. Soon after, Thrall left the Frostwolf clan to free the other captive clans, restore their heritage, and ensure their future survival.
Upon his return south, Thrall encountered the aged warchief Orgrim Doomhammer, who had lived as a hermit since the end of the Second War. Doomhammer sensed Thrall's power and honor and wasted no time naming him the new Warchief of the Horde. Thrall set about freeing his people, his forces swelling with each new clan released from the prisons and reservations.
Perhaps even more significantly, Thrall's heroism and mystic power reawakened the orcs' spiritual heritage. Those who joined Thrall cast the last taint of demonic influence and embraced their shamanistic roots once more.
Rise of the Lich King
Shortly before Draenor tore apart, Kil'jaeden captured the shaman Ner'zhul and his followers as they attempted to escape from the dying world. The vengeful demon was not about to let the orc get away with breaking their pact. He tortured Ner'zhul, slowly tearing his body to pieces, but keeping the shaman's spirit intact. Ner'zhul pled for mercy more than once, but Kil'jaeden reminded the orc of their blood pact. He still had a use for the willful shaman.
The orcs' failure to conquer Azeroth forced Kil'jaeden to create a new army. This new force could not be allowed to fall prey to the same petty rivalries and infighting that had plagued the Horde. It would need to be merciless and singleminded in its mission.
Kil'jeaden offered the tortured spirit of Ner'zhul one last chance to serve the Legion... or suffer eternal torment. Driven near to madness with agony already, Ner'zhul agreed.
His spirit was placed within a specially crafted block of diamond-hard ice gathered from the far reaches of the Twisting Nether. Encased within the frozen cask and warped by Kil'jaeden's chaotic powers, Ner'zhul became a spectral being of unfathomable power. At that moment, the orc known as Ner'zhul was shattered forever... and the Lich King was born.
Ner'zhul's loyal death knights and warlock followers were also transformed, the wicked spellcasters ripped apart and remade as skeletal liches. Kil'jaeden insured that even in death, Ner'zhul's followers would serve him unquestioningly.
Remade in undeath, Ner'zhul was commanded to spread a plague of death and terror across Azeroth that would snuff out human civilization forever. All those who died from the dreaded plague would arise as the undead... and their spirits would be bound to Ner'zhul's iron will forever. Kil'jaeden promised that if Ner'zhul accomplished his dark mission of scouring humanity from the world, he would be freed from his curse and granted a new, healthy body to inhabit.
Though Ner'zhul appeared agreeable, Kil'jaeden remained skeptical of his pawn's loyalties. Keeping the Lich King bodiless and trapped within the crystal cask assured his good conduct for the short term, but he required a constant, watchful eye. Kil'jaeden called upon his elite demon guard, the vampiric Dreadlords, to police Ner'zhul. Tichondrius, the most powerful and cunning of the Dreadlords, warmed to the challenge.
Kil'jaeden cast Ner'zhul's icy cask back into Azeroth, followed by his minions. The hardened crystal streaked across the night sky and smashed into the arctic continent of Northrend and buried itself deep in the Icecrown glacier. The frozen crystal, warped and scarred by its violent descent, resembled a throne... and Ner'zhul's vengeful spirit stirred within it.
From the confines of the Frozen Throne, Ner'zhul reached out with his vast consciousness and touched the minds of Northrend's inhabitants. He enslaved the minds of many with ease - among them ice trolls and the fierce wendigo - and drew their evil brethren into the growing shadow. Ner'zhul quickly devastated the mortal population of Northrend with his plague, and with each fatality his undead armies grew.
A handful of powerful individuals heard the Lich King's mental summons, most notably the archmage Kel'Thuzad of the magical nation of Dalaran. Kel'Thuzad abandoned the ways of his people to pledge his soul to the Lich King before the Frozen Throne. Kel'Thuzad's first mission was to found a new religion that would worship the Lich King as a god.
To help the archmage accomplish his mission, Ner'zhul left Kel'Thuzad's humanity intact. Under disguise, the wizard used illusion and persuasion to lull the downtrodden, disenfranchised masses of Lordaeron and establish the Cult of the Damned. Its members, many turned from the philosophy of the Holy Light, were promised eternal life in return for their obedience.
With Kel'Thuzad's success, the Lich King made the final preparations for his assault. Ner'zhul placed his energies into a number of portable artifacts and ordered Kel'Thuzad to distribute these plague-cauldrons among cult-controlled villages. The cauldrons would then act as plague-generators, sending the plague seeping out across the unsuspecting farmlands and cities of northern Lordaeron.
Many of Lordaeron's northern villages were contamined almost immediately. Just as in Northrend, the citizens who contracted the plague died and arose as the Lich King's willing slaves. As the plague spread, Kel'Thuzad looked upon the Lich King's growing army and named it the Scourge - for it would soon march upon the gates of Lordaeron and scour humanity from the face of the world.
The Alliance first learned of this new trouble through fragments of rumors about "death cults," then increasing appearances of undead. Uther Lighbringer and the Knights of the Silver Hand, a brotherhood of holy paladin warriors, investigated the infected regions in hopes of finding a way to stop the plague. Despite the Knights' efforts, the plague continued to spread and threatened to tear the Alliance apart. Indeed, one of their number, Prince Arthas, so feared the threat of the undead that he took increasingly extreme steps to conquer them. This fear and resolve proved his ultimate defeat. He tracked the plague's source to Northrend, intending to end the threat. Instead, Prince Arthas fell to the Lich King's tremendous power - his soul stolen by the cursed blade Frostmourne - and became the greatest of his death knights. Arthas then led the undead Scourge on a rampage throughout the continent of Lordaeron.
Return of the Burning Legion
After crushing the majority of Alliance forces, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad (now a lich) led the Scourge to Dalaran. Even the wizards of Kirin Tor lacked sufficient power to stop the undead from stealing the spellbook of Medivh from the city. With this artefact, Kel'Thuzad had all he needed to summon forth the Burning Legion. The mighty demon Archimonde and his host emerged at last upon the world of Azeroth. Yet Dalaran was not their final destination. Instead, they would head for Kalimdor and Nordrassil, the World Tree.
In the midst of this chaos, a lone prophet had appeared to lend the mortal races guidance. This prophet proved to be none other than Medivh, the last Guardian, miraculously returned from the Beyond to redeem himself for past sins. He told the Horde and the Alliance of the dangers they faced and urged them to band together. Orcs and humans would have none of it, so Medivh dealt with each separately, using prophecy and trickery when necessary to guide them across the sea, past the dangers of the Maelstrom, and to the legendary land of Kalimdor.
The forces soon encountered the long-hidden Kaldorei civilization. The night elves reacted to the news of demonic invasion with grim determination. The Burning Legion had never ceased in its desire for the Well of Eternity, long the source of strength for the World Tree and itself the heart of the night elf kingdom. If successful, the demons would literally tear the world apart.
Even as the mortal races understood the full import of the threat, the Burning Legion followed the undead Scourge to Kalimdor. The continent was no longer hidden from detection, and the demons did not hesitate to lay siege to the World Tree that grew over the Well of Eternity.
The Battle of Mount Hyjal
Under Medivh's guidance, Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall, leaders of the human and orc forces respectively, realized that they must put aside their differences. Similarly, the night elves, led by Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whiperwind, agreed that they must unite against the demons if they hoped to succeed in defending the World Tree.
Unified in purpose, the races of Azeroth worked together to strengthen the World Tree's energies to the utmost. Empowered by tremendous spiritual energies, Nordrassil held the power to destroy Archimonde and sever the Legion's anchor to the Well of Eternity. The final battle shook the continent of Kalimdor to the roots. Unable to draw power from the sundered Well, the Burning Legion crumbled under the combined might of the mortal armies.
The Aftermath... and the Future
Though victory was theirs, the mortal races found themselves in a world shattered by war. The Scourge and the Burning Legion had all but destroyed the civilizations of Lordaeron - and had almost finished the job in Kalimdor.
The orcs, led by Warchief Thrall, have found a new homeland on the continent of Kalimdor and spirit brothers in the race of tauren who lent their aid in the climactic battle. The once unstoppable juggernaut of the Horde became a loose coalition of orcs, tauren, and others dedicated to survival and prosperity rather than conquest. Their peace was short lived, regrettably, when new Alliance forces arrived from Lordaeron some months later. The fleet was under command of Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore - father of Jaine Proudmoore, a hero of the Second War, and a staunch enemy of the Horde.
With little enough to return to, and a perilous crossing required to reach Lordaeron, the majority of Alliance forces remained in the new land of Kalimdor. In the year after the Third War ended, they established a stronghold on the island of Theramore. Though Jaina Proudmoore held the orcs in high regard in the wake of the recent war, the truce established between the Alliance and the Horde soon suffered strain when her father arrived. Unlike his daughter, Daelin Proudmoore believed the orcs incapable of reform. He quickly launched assaults upon Durotar, determined to eradicate the orc presence and make Kalimdor suitable for human colonization. In turn, the orcs and their Horde allies mobilized to secure defenses throughout Kalimdor and struck back at the Grand Admiral's forces.
Once Jaina realized she could not dissuade the Grand Admiral from his mission, she saw only one course of action that might forestall the return to rampant genocide that gripped both Alliance and Horde in the past. With a heavy heart, Jaina Proudmoore aided Thrall in shattering the Grand Admiral's forces. She acted to save both Durotar and Theramore and paid the price with her father's death in the battle. Grand Admiral Proudmoore's forces were repelled, and Jaina and Thrall signed a non-agression pact to keep their two lands safe.
The high elves on Kalimdor face problems of their own. Their proud home of Quel'Thalas was razed in the war, and very few came with Jaina Proudmoore's army to settle in Theramore. They have begun acting even haughtier and more withdrawn than ever before and spend much of their time venturing into Kalimdor - hunting down the remaining undead and demons who destroyed their home, they say. More surreptitiously, they also look for new sources of arcane magic to replace what they lost with the destruction of Quel'Thalas.
Ironforge dwarves were stranded upon Kalimdor like the rest of the Alliance forces. To their surprise, they discovered tantalizing information about a progenitor race they call the titans, ancient beings who may have created dwarves. Fueled by curiosity, the inquisitive dwarves have left but a token force in Theramore while the rest of their kind roam Kalimdor in search of their mysterious origins. Indeed, many have resettled on Bael Modan, "Red Mountain," a site of some titan ruins located in the southern part of the Barrens.
The night elves still have their homeland and much of their population. They lost much of their solitude, however, and must deal with the lingering effects of the Legions' corruption. Furthermore, they sacrificed much of their spiritual energy to empower Nordrassil in the Battle of Mount Hyjal, resulting in a loss of their immortality. Once protected and alone, they now must deal with numerous races and peoples - including an offshoot of their race that hungers still for arcane power.