History of Azeroth, Part II

Across the Maelstrom lay a group of continents that came to be known as the Eastern Kingdoms. These were inhabited in ancient times by tribes of primal trolls, who lived and controlled the jungles and forests. Some of the Highborne, exiled from Kalimdor, made their way to the northernmost continent and built a great civilization, which they called Quel'Thalas ("High Kingdom"). The trolls of those regions and the elves fought many battles, fierce enough that the elves called upon the relatively primitive human tribes in those lands for help. Together, they quelled the troll tribes and established dominance in the land.

Silvermoon City, capital of Quel'Thalas -from wowwiki.com

The humans eventually divided their continent, south of Quel'Thalas, into several nations, the mightiest of which was Lordaeron. The continent, therefore, was also called Lordaeron.

The continent immediately to the south of Lordaeron, across the deep and chasmal Thandol Span, was populated by the mighty dwarves, who carved their kingdoms out of the mountains of Dun Morogh. They called this continent Khaz Modan after Khaz'Goroth, the Titan who created Earthen from which the dwarves were descended.

The southernmost continent in the Eastern Kingdoms came to be called Azeroth by the humans who built up civilizations there. Here the kingdom of Stormwind rose up to dominate the land, holding lordship over every region save the thick and dark jungles of the Stranglethorn Vale at the bottom of the continent. Built into the mountains, the city of Stormwind became the kingdom's capital.

Stormwind City, capital of the continent of Azeroth

It is here, in this continent of Azeroth, that the Horde first appeared. Ten thousand years after the Burning Legion laid waste to Kalimdor, a portal opened in eastern Azeroth, in a region called the Black Morass. Thousands of orcs and ogres flooded the kingdom of Stormwind, burning and razing everything in their path.

The Horde was, in fact, a product of the evil of the Burning Legion. The Horde's main race, the orcs, were once a race of peacable shamans living on a world called Draenor. The Burning Legion, intent on conquering the world's other inhabitants, the also-peaceful draenei, manipulated an orc shaman named Ner'Zhul into abandoning shamanism and taking up the dark arts of the warlock, such as necromancy. Many followed him, and the orcs began to wage war on the draenei.

Ner'Zhul -from wowwiki.com

Ner'Zhul realized the destruction to which his ways were leading the orcs, and began to defy the Legion. They turned to Ner'Zhul's best apprentice, Gul'Dan. To make the orcs stronger, Gul'Dan led his people to drink demonic blood, making them more powerful but forever binding them to the Legion. They joined with tribes of ogres and began to slaughter the draenei, uniting under a common banner as the Horde.

When the draenei had been driven from Draenor, the Horde had no more enemies and its warriors began to fight among themselves. Gul'Dan looked for a new target to prevent the Horde's self-annihilation. He found one on the world of Azeroth.

On Azeroth, a powerful wizard named Medivh had been corrupted by the spirit of Sargeras, the Titan creator of the Burning Legion. Medivh, through a supernatural mind link, contacted Gul'Dan and offered his world to the orc leader. Together, they opened a portal, and the armies of the Horde poured into the unsuspecting world of Azeroth, beginning what would become known as the First War.

Medivh -from wowwiki.com

The orcs swept easily through the continent of Azeroth, destroying everything in its path. They met strong resistance upon reaching the capital city of Stormwind, and came close to destruction, but several events seales their victory. First, at a key moment in the campaign, Alliance commander Anduin Lothar disappeared from the battlefield. In actuality, he had taken a small force secretly to Medivh's tower of Kharazan and destroyed the evil wizard. But his absence left the defense of Stormwind weakened. At the same time, the king of Stormwind was assassinated. further demoralizing the defenders. Lothar returned, hoping they had time to save their lands, but the damage was done. The orcs had conquered the continent of Azeroth, and Lothar and his people had no choice but to flee by sea northward to Lordaeron.

Not content to stop with Stormwind, the warchief of the Horde, Orgrim Doomhammer, recruited more ogres and trolls into the Horde and set his sights on Khaz Modan to the North. Meanwhile, Lothar had convinced the human kings of the north that the Horde was a threat to their entire world. So, together with the dwarves and gnomes of Khaz Modan, they formed the Alliance of Lordaeron to battle the Horde in what is now called the Second War.

At first, the Horde pushed far and fast into Alliance territory- victory seemed inevitable. But a feud arose between Doomhammer and Gul'Dan, the Horde's two most powerful leaders. Gul'Dan, obsessed with gaining power, left the Horde armies behind in search of the Tomb of Sargeras, which he believed held the secrets of immortality and godhood he so viciously craved. Nearly half the Horde forces followed Gul'Dan in his crusade, leaving Doomhammer with a severely diminished force. He sent troops to deal with the treacherous Gul'Dan and his armies, but that cost the Horde precious resources and allowed the Alliance time to regroup and rearm.

The Dark Portal -from wowwiki.com

Rallying the Alliance armies in light of the Horde's internal struggles, Lothar and his forces pushed the Horde all the way back to the lands of Stormwind. In an epic battle at the Horde's stronghold of Blackrock Spire, Lothar was killed, but the Horde faced its final defeat. They were pushed back to the Dark Portal. In a final offensive, the Alliance succeeded in destroying the portal, cutting off all hope of reinforcement from Draenor. At this, and because of continued infighting, the Horde collapsed and fell before the Alliance. The orcs, utterly defeated, were rounded up and placed in internment camps. Nethergarde Keep was built to watch over the ruins of the portal from Draenor, to ensure there would be no more invasions.