History of Azeroth, Part III

It would not be long before the freedom of Azeroth, the whole world, would be threatened by the Burning Legion again. Before the First War, after Ner'Zhul defied the Legion, he tried to escape and hide from his former masters. They found him and forced him into servitude once again. The orcs had failed the Legion in conquering Azeroth, so a new plan was formed. Ner'Zhul's soul was reborn as a new, powerful entity called the Lich King, and he would orchestrate the Legion's next attack upon the denizens of Azeroth. The plan was to form and unleash a plague upon the world, which woulf first kill all infected people, then raise them up as undead soldiers and pawns of the Legion. Ner'Zhul set up shop in the icy northern continent of Northrend, from whence he tested and tried his plague, finding it to work perfectly. He also learned he had a great ability to reach out and touch distant minds with his own, something he would later use to his own ends.

At this time, the orcs, imprisoned by the Alliance, grew lethargic and apathetic- they had seemingly lost their warrior spirit. Though some blamed disease, one mage, Antonidas, learned of the orcs' subjugation to demons and came to believe that their lethargy was caused by their growing seperation from their demon masters. The cure could not be a physical or medicinal one- it had to be spiritual.

Thrall, Warchief of the Horde -from wowwiki.com

Aedalas Blackmoore ruled over an internment camp on the foothills of Hillsbrad, and one particular orc held his interest: Thrall, an orphan whom Blackmoore had found during the First War and raised to be his slave. Blackmoore trained Thrall to be a warrior, and hoped to use him as a weapon. But Thrall had no intention of remaining a slave forever- he began to learn of the Horde he never knew, and heard rumors that the Warchief, Doomhammer, was alive and free. Thrall escaped and sought out the Horde's last unconquered chief, Grom Hellscream. Hellscream had kept the orcs' fighting spirit and tried in vain to rouse his kin. He did, however, inspire the warrior spirit inside Thrall, who sought to reclaim his people's honor.

Thrall became a student of the shaman DrekThar, who trained the young warrior in the shamanistic tradition. Using the power of the elements, Thrall set out to free his captive brethren and restore the Horde to its former glory. Beginning with the very internement camp where he had been a slave, Thrall began his campaign. Doomhammer fell in the battle, and Thrall took up the mantle of Warchief. Together with Hellscream, they attacked the Alliance camps and freed the orcs and ogres and trolls, building up again what had been destroyed.

This was only one of the Alliance's concerns, though- bickering and quarreling over political influence and territorial rights led several of the human nations to strike out on their own. Stormwind was rebuilt, and the higher taxes that resulted from the construction effort soured the minds of a few of the Alliance leaders. Even the elves, with whom the humans had fought so closely, left the Alliance. All that remained of the once mighty Alliance were the two nations of Lordaeron and Azeroth, and the wizard faction of the Kirin Tor, who called the city of Dalaran home. They were bolstered by the undying allegiance of the dwarves, who swore to aid the humans in honor of the humans' help in reclaiming the dwarven lands from the Horde.

The Lich King in Northrend -from wowwiki.com

Little did the Alliance know the trouble that was brewing in their very homelands- the Lich King had begun to put his plan into motion. He seduced the mind of a promising Kirin Tor wizard named Kel'Thuzad, whom he used to create a group called the Cult of the Damned. The Lich King used these minions to secretly cultivate the plague that would ravage the land. The plague was unleashed on Lordaeron first by being distributed in grain and foodstuffs, keeping the general populace unaware of the danger. Those who became contaminated died and rose again as minions of the Lich King. These growing armies of undead zombies would come to be known as the Scourge.

The armies of Lordaeron, led by the mighty paladin Uther Lightbringer and his protege Arthas (who was the son of King Terenas of Lordaeron himself) sought to stem the growing tide of undeath, but met little success- the Scourge was growing too fast. Though it was a quickly losing battle, Arthas became obsessed with saving his kingdom, even resorting to extreme methods to do so. Arthas' growing desperation seperated him from his sense and humanity, until he began to lose his very soul. He tracked the Scourge to Northrend, where he fell prey to the Lich King's enourmoous power. He became the greatest of the Lich King's death knights, and returned home to Lordaeron. His mind gone and his soul in pieces, he led the Scourge against his own people, even murdering his father upon the throne.



The Lich King guided Arthas and the Scourge to Quel'Thalas, which he destroyed easily, all but wiping out the high elves which had dwelled there for thousands of years. Arthas then moved south to Dalaran, where he used the magical city to call one of the Legion's greatest lieutenants, Archimonde, into Azeroth. Archimonde destroyed Dalaran in one swift stroke, then prepared to make his next move: destroy the world tree, Nordrassil, on the continent of Kalimdor.

In his way, however, stood an odd alliance. Under the guidance of the young sorceress Jaina Proudmoore, the remnants of the once-proud nation of Lordaeron had fled to Kalimdor. There they had encountered the reinvigorated Horde under the leadership of Thrall. The two had fought at first, but then encountered a mysterious prophet who warned them that if they did not work together, the Legion would destroy their whole world. This prophet was, in fact, Medivh- the same mage who had helped to summon the Horde to Azeroth before the First War. Forming a tentative alliance, the orcs and humans joined the night elves of Kalimdor in defending the world tree from the Legion. They battled the Scourge long enough for Malfurion, leader of the night elves, to summon the collective strength and power of nature. Archimonde reached the World Tree, but as he prepared to destroy it, Nordrassil's primal fury was unleashed, completely destroying the mighty demon and freeing the world from the Legion's tyranny.



In the aftermath of this, the Third War, new nations arose in power. The Alliance between the humans and Horde fell apart. The Horde colonized eastern Kalimdor and made it their home, with the great city of Orgrimmar at its center. For their allies they had the trolls who had stood by them for so many years, as well as the mighty Tauren, a race of bull-like warriors whom Thrall had aided against invading centaurs. The Horde gained two unexpected allies as well. First, the high elves of Quel'Thalas had started to regain their former strength. Desperate to save his people, the high elf ruler, Kael'Thas, began to search for ways to rekindle the magic his people had once thrived on. This they found in Illidan, Malfurion's brother released from imprisonment, who had begun his own crusade to become the most powerful being in the world. The Alliance saw the elves' joining to Illidan as betrayal, so the elves sought alliance with the Horde.

Sylvanas Windrunner, Queen of the Forsaken -from wowwiki.com

The Horde's other ally came in the form of the Undead remaning in the ruins of Lordaeron. Seeking to distance themselves from their former Legion masters, these undead, under the name Forsaken, sought to create their own identity and wipe out the mindless denizens of the Scourge. The Forsaken took over the ruins of Lordaeron and made the ruined capital city their main base of operations, naming it the Undercity. They, too, found alliance with the Horde useful in their goals, though to call the Forsaken and Horde friends is to be naive. The Horde uses the Forsaken in their fight against the Alliance, and the Forsaken uses the Horde in a similar way against the Scourge. Once their goals are met, it would not be a surprise to see the allies part ways.

The Alliance grew after the Third War as well. The night elves, eternally grateful to the humans and dwarves for defending thier home of Kalimdor, became their steadfast ally. This was exteremlely useful in fighting the Horde on Kalimdor, where human and dwarf armies were small at best. On this continent, the night elves held the greater burden of defense.
But they would not stand alone. Shortly after the Third War, a mysterious structure had fallen from the sky onto an island not far from the night elf home of Teldrassil, a tall tree not unlike the World Tree. This structure was actually a ship, designed for travel through space. On the ship were the draenei who escaped the orc slaughter on Draenor. Their ship, the Exodar, had crashed on Azeroth, and the draenei formed their home base from the wreckage. Finding the orcs also on Azeroth, the draenei found natural allies in the night elves and the Alliance.

Draenei Warrior -from wowwiki.com

So the world stands thus today: the Alliance (consisting of Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves, Draenei, and the Gnomes of Gnomeregan who make their home with the dwarves) stand ready to defend their lands, while the Horde (made of the Orcs, Trolls, Blood Elves, Tauren, and Forsaken) prepares to reclaim its former glory. Dark menaces still threaten both factions from outside- whispers of a growing evil in Northrend brush ears far and wide, as well as other menaces closer to home...