World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Last edited by deadbite on 18-02-2019, 20:44:00; edited 29 times in total

Hello,

My name is Daniel, but here, in the Freakz community, I'm known as Deadbite. Since I started playing World of Warcraft, the story of this game, correctly called the lore, made me stay and play it and it still makes me like the game more and more today.
Back in 2014, I was still new to this game and server, you could say that Deadbite was less than one year old by then. After my former guild, "Fallen Angels Alliance" was dissolved, I joined the guild "Unstoppable" and instantly found in their subforum a topic called "World of Lorecraft", created by "Seanyne". I was amazed by the lore, and saddened at the same time that the author did not finish to tell the entire story.

Now, after almost three years, and after Blizzard retconned (changed) some of the lore, and added more to the story, I decided to restart this idea and give something back to this community, inspired by the work of many lore-telling youtubers (I'll mention them in the credits section).
I started this topic, to make the lore of this amazing game called World of Warcraft easy to access to anyone who wants to know it.

You may like my idea, or you may not like it, but the topic will be closed, as I have a lot of stories and tales to write down here. If, by any means, you want to tell me something, feel free to send me a private message with anything you want, critics included.
My English is not perfect, so if you spot any mistake, please notice me, and it will be fixed.

Due to the fact that World of Warcraft's lore is humongous in size, I decided to split it into many chapters, each dedicated to another topic:

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I. Creation of the Universe
- The Great Dark Beyond
- The Twisting Nether
- The Naaru and the Void Lords
- The Titans
II. Azeroth before the Titans
- The Elementals
- The Black Empire
III. The war between the Black Empire and the Titans
- The titanforged
- War against the Elemental Lords
- War against the Old Gods
- Outcome of the war
IV. The Shaping of Azeroth
- Stabilizing Azeroth
- The shaping of the lands
- The departure of the Titans
V. After the Titans
- The Five Dragon Aspects
- The Valarjar
- The end of the Pantheon
- Corruption of Titan Keeper Loken
- Following Loken's betrayal
VI. Races of Azeroth
- Before the Titans
- Titanic Creations
- After the ordering of Azeroth
VII. The Ancient Empires
- The Trolls
- The Aqir and Troll War
- The Mogu
- The Age of a Hundred Kings
- The Mogu Empire
- The Pandaren Revolution
- The Pandaren Empire
- The Jinyu and the Hozen
- The Yaungol and the Tauren
- The Night Elves
- Rise of the Kaldorei Empire
VIII. The Burning Legion
- The Beginning
- The Structure of the Burning Legion
IX. War of the Ancients
X. The Stormrage Brothers
XI. After the Sundering
XII. The Human Kingdoms
XIII. The Troll Wars
XIV. War of The Shifting Sands
XV. The First War
XVI. The Second War
XVII. The Horde
XVIII. The Alliance
XIX. The Third War
XX. The Lich King
XXI. The Scourge
XXII. War of The Spider
XXIII. Blackrock Mountain
XXIV. Second War of the Shifting Sands
XXV. The Burning Crusade
XXVI. Outland
XXVII. Illidan, the Betrayer
XXVIII. The Sunwell
XXIX. Wrath of The Lich King
XXX. Ulduar
XXXI. Fall of the Lich King
XXXII. War agains The Nightmare
XXXIII. The Cataclysm
XXXIV. Deathwing
XXXV. Rage of the Firelands
XXXVI. Thrall
XXXVII. Alliance - Horde War
XXXVIII. Rise of The Zandalari
XIX. Mists of Pandaria
XL. The Mogu Empire
XLI. Lei Shen
XLII. The Pandaren
XLIII. The Seven Sha
XLIV. Alliance - Horde War
XLV. Darkspear Rebellion
XLVI. Siege of Orgrimmar
XLVII. Garrosh Hellscream
XLVIII. War in Draenor
XLIX. The Warlords
L. Hellfire Citadel
LI. Legion Invasion
LII. The Broken Shore
LIII. Varian Wrynn
LIV. Vol'Jin
LV. Sylvanas Windrunner
LVI. Pillars of Creation
LVII. The Emerald Nightmare
LVIII. Suramar City
LIX. Anduin Wrynn

Please keep in mind, that I'm an university student, and part time worker, so I will post when I have the time to do so, but I intend to post at least once per week, unless something irl comes out.
I'm a detail guy, so the lore will be detailed, but still, at least for the start, I will focus more on the events and less on individual characters.
I assume this topic as my work, and I will change its structure or contend whenever I deem it necessary.
Again, please restrain yourselves from posting here, since I have a large amount of content to write down. The post will be locked, but if you somehow manage to post, your post will be deleted.
Even though this is not the purpose of the topic, feel free to like it, and even award me with some rep if you want.

Seanyne, for the original topic.

WoWPedia, for most of the information.

Youtubers:
- Nobbel87
- Krucial
- Hirumaredx
- Doronsmovies
- Hayven Games (R.I.P.)

Also, my thanks to the Freakz team for helping me out, especially to LethalFactorLK and Wedinn.
At long last, special thanks to you the readers and to the Freakz community as a whole.

World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Last edited by deadbite on 28-07-2017, 21:16:33; edited 2 times in total

In the World of Warcraft, the Universe is known as The Great Dark Beyond, or simpler Great Dark, Great Beyond, Dark Beyond or the Beyond. The Great Dark Beyond represents the physical universe, containing all of the planets and other physical objects.

Before the existence of life, the universe was nothing but Light, an energy that kept expanding. But by doing so, it grew thin, and many pockets devoid of Light started appearing, becoming the Void, the opposite force to the Light.

As the Void grew stronger and stronger, it started interacting with the Light, and cataclysmic explosions occurred, giving life to the primordial universe. Another effect of these explosions was the creation of both the Naaru, beings made of shards of pure light, and the Void Lords, malevolent creatures of Shadow and Darkness.

The Great Dark Beyond is home to countless worlds and races. Out of the millions upon millions of planets in the Great Dark, only a few were named, each having an impact on the lore of the Warcraft Universe:

- Azeroth, the true World of Warcraft, where most of our journey happens.

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- Argus, home of the Eredar race and the center of the Burning Legion.

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- Draenor, home of the Orcish race, later known as Outland.

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- K'aresh, homeworld of the Ethereals.
- Xoroth, homeworld of the Dreadsteeds.

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- Xerrath, a world destroyed by the Burning Legion as a show of power during the enslavement of Xoroth.
- Nihilam, the world where the Titan Pantheon was exterminated by Sargeras.
- Fanlin'Deskor, a world named by the Prophet Velen, as he saw its fall in a vision.

The Great Dark is compensated by the Twisting Nether, which represents the astral plane, and also by several other dimensions.

One of the primordial forms of life in the universe are the Elementals, beings made of each of the natural elements: earth, fire, air and water. With the existence of a fifth element, the spirit energy, these elementals can coexist in peace.

The order of the Great Dark Beyond is represented by the Arcane Magic, a form of energy born with the primordial universe.

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The Twisting Nether, also known as the Endless Void, the Nether or Nether World represents the astral plane between the worlds, and divides the Light and the Void. It is an ethereal dimension made of chaotic energies. The Nether transcends all realities, and time passes differently in it, thus making this dimension imperceptible to mortals, in normal circumstances.

Despite of it being separated of the physical universe, several worlds exist also in the Twisting Nether:

- Outland, the dying remains of Draenor.

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- Mardum, the Shattered Abyss, former prison for the demons captured by the Titans.

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- Nathreza, homeworld of the Nathrezim, also known as the Dreadlords.
- Argus, located at the border between the Nether and The Great Dark Beyond.

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- Dreadscar Rift, a Burning Legion world, conquered by the warlocks of the Black Harvest.

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- Niskara, a Burning Legion prison world.

The most prominent races of the Twisting Nether are the Demons. They are not a single race, but rather a gathering of many races of immortal beings who fed on life and magic. The term "Demon" is used for any being that has its soul bound in the Twisting Nether. Because of this binding, the demon is immortal in the Great Beyond, having only its body killed, and the soul returning in the Nether. They can be truly killed only in the Twisting Nether.

The chaos of the Nether is represented by the Fel Magic, a form of chaotic energy born at the time of the creation of the universe. It is the opposite of the Arcane Magic.

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The Naaru, being the purest form of the Light in the entire universe, swore to protect all the life that exists from destruction caused by the Void and the Burning Legion, and also to bring it peace and hope, through the teaching of the Holy Light.

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When a Naaru is drained of all of its Light energy, it becomes a Void God, one of the most powerful creatures of the Void, being able to destroy entire worlds if left unchecked.

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The Void Lords are the complete opposite to the Naaru, being composed of pure Shadow energy from the Void. Their goal is to consume all the energy that there is in the cosmos. Whereas the Naaru are free to move through dimensions, the Void Lords seem to be stuck in the Void, only the most powerful of them being able to manifest onto the physical universe, by consuming very large quantities of matter and energy to maintain themselves in the physical form.

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Jealous on the Titans for their power, the Void Lords tried to corrupt the Titans, however they did not succeed. Thus, they created a parasitic race of creatures known as the Old Gods, in order to corrupt the World Souls, before they develop.

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From the primordial matter and the Arcane Energy, emerged the Titans, a race of colossal beings imbued with the power of the creation itself. They were born from World Souls, spirits that are formed within the fiery cores of a very small number of worlds. These spirits drain the planets of their Spirit energy, turning it's elementals to chaos and war.

They are envisioned as perfect majestic beings, basically gods, by the lesser races.

The very first titan that emerged is Aman'thul, who woke up other titans from their slumber and formed the Pantheon. The members of the Pantheon were:
- Aman'thul, Highfather of the Pantheon, the leader of the group and the one who woke the others from their slumber.

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- Eonar, the Lifebinder, protector of life, nature and health.

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- Norgannon, Keeper of Celestial, master of all magic, knowledge, secrets and mysteries.

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- Golganneth, Lord of the Skies and Roaring Oceans, father of the Sea Giants.

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- KaZ'goroth, Shaper and Forger of Worlds, the ultimate craftsman.

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- Aggramar, Lieutenant of the Great Sargeras, successor of Sargeras as the Champion of the Pantheon.

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- Sargeras, the Defender/the Destroyer, former Champion of the Pantheon, now leader of the Burning Legion.

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The Titans' goal is to find more of their peers, but also the shape the worlds they find, guide the mortal races and protect them from the Demons.
Sargeras' and Aggramar's duty was to protect the worlds from these Demons, imprisoning them on Mardum, a prison world originally called the Plane of Banishment.

After seeing the corruption of the Void, the Champion Sargeras began to lose hope, and left the Pantheon. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that, in order to stop the Void, he needs to forge the universe in fire. Drove to insanity, he shattered the prison world, Mardum, releasing the demons, and thus creating the Burning Legion.

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After Sargeras' departure, Aggramar became the Champion of the Pantheon and eventually came across the slumbering titan of Azeroth, being called by its dreams. Within Azeroth's core was a nascent titan far more powerful than any of the Pantheon members, even more powerful than Aman'thul or Sargeras.
But Azeroth was infested with the Old Gods, so the titans set to purify the world, succeeding by creating the titanforged.

World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Last edited by deadbite on 20-05-2017, 03:02:44; edited 3 times in total

The first denizens of Azeroth were the elementals. At the beginning, the fire, earth, air and water elementals coexisted on Azeroth, but as the World Soul inside the fiery core developed, it drained the planet of its spirit energy, and these four species of elemental beings started to become more erratic and violent, eventually waging war against each other.

The elementals were under the control and leadership of the four great Elemental Lords. These four were:
- Ragnaros, the Firelord – a very powerful Firelord, preferring to crush his enemies down with the brute force of his armies. He sought to take full control over Azeroth, by boiling the seas of Neptulon, melting down Therazane’s mountains, and chocking Al’Akir’s skyes with ash. Wherever he went, raging volcanoes erupted and spew rivers of boiling lava.

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- Al’Akir, the Windlord – the most cunning of all the Elemental Lords, and a great tactician, as he would send spies to the other elemental forces, in order to sew distrust amongst them and even succeeding at pitting other Lords into clashing their armies, only to crush their weakened forces with his own armada, and his own power, sending lightning and great cyclones to devastate the lands.

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- Neptulon, the Tidehunter – the wisest of the Elemental Lords and a master strategist. He was very careful not to fall for Al’Akir’s schemes and preserved his armies, only to attack the weakened forces of the other elements that fell for the Windlord's schemes, using divide and conquer strategies, before drowning and crushing them with his own colossal tidal waves.

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- Therazane, the Stonemother – the most reclusive of the four Elemental Lords, as she would retreat and raise great mountain ranges to protect her children and wore out her enemies. After the invaders were weakened, she and her children would attack in full power, firstly, by creating giant openings in the ground to swallow her enemies, and then using her most powerful servants, giant elementals of stone and crystal, in order to crush any remaining foes.

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The four elements fought like this for ages, until the Old Gods came to Azeroth.

After they came crashing down on Azeroth, the Old Gods started spreading their tendrils in the ground, to reach the nascent titan down in the core of the planet, and they soon covered the entire land of Kalimdor. The four Old Gods that crashed on Azeroth were:
- Y'Shaarj was the most powerful of the four Old Gods

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- C'Thun, the master of madness and chaos.

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- Yogg-Saron, responsible for the corruption of Loken and the World Tree Andrassil and the creation of the Curse of Flesh and the Emerald Nightmare.

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- N'Zoth, the weakest of the four Old Gods, but the most elusive and the most mysterious of them.

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From their corrupting influence on the land, rose two new races on Azeroth – the cunning n’raqi, and the resilient aqir.

The n’raqi are commonly known as the Faceless Ones, or the Faceless. Cunning and intelligent, they serve the Old Gods with fanatical loyalty.

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There are many subraces of the n’raqi:
- The common faceless – the bulk of the faceless armada.

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- Aquatic faceless – n’raqi adapted to underwater lifestyle, with lager eyes and nautilus-like heads.

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- Faceless spellcaster – n’raqi casters with thinner tentacles and masks on their faces.

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- C’Thraxxi – called the faceless generals, the most powerful of the n’raqi, larger and more resilient than the others.

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- The forgotten ones – the largest among the n’raqi.

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Among the leaders of the n’raqi stand some of the most powerful faceless, those being Yor’Sahj the Unsleeping, Warlord Zon’ozz, Herald Volazj, Erudax, the Duke Below, General Vezax, Kith’ix and Zakajz the Corruptor.

The aqir were incredibly strong and more resilient than the n’raqi, but they were less intelligent and were employed by the n’raqi as laborers and forced to build colossal temple cities and towering citadels around the Old Gods' massive bodies.

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The greatest of these holdings was built around Y’Shaarj, this civilization starting to spread across ancient Kalimdor, marking the start of the Black Empire.

The Elemental Lords wouldn’t stand still and see as the Black Empire spread across their domains. Seeing the Empire as a threat over their dominion, the Four Elemental Lords banded together for the first time in Azeroth’s history and launched a war against the Old Ones.

The Widlord spawned giand tornadoes that mixed with Ragnaros' fires, forming raging firestorms and Neptulon's tidal waves swept across the lands, guided by Therazane's mastery over the earth and stone. The combined forces of the elements were mighty, and fought valiantly against the Black Empire, but they weren’t enough to defeat the Old Ones, and in turn, were enslaved.

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World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Last edited by deadbite on 01-06-2017, 00:22:40; edited 1 time in total

After Aggramar found Azeroth, he discovered that what Sargeras reported about the Void’s corruption of a world soul is true, but he was firm that the nascent titan of Azeroth could still be saved, so he rushed back to the Pantheon and told them about this world he found.

He even had a plan of attack. All the members of the Pantheon would go to Azeroth’s location, but they would not intervene directly, as their massive bodies would pose more harm than helping the planet.
Instead, using the Great Forge of Khaz’goroth, they would create a great army of titanforged, an army with the purpose of purging Azeroth from the corruption of the Black Empire. And the plan was set to motion.

The titanforged were created by the Titans, being divided in two subspecies, the Aesir, giant titanforged made of metal and would command the power of the Storms, and the Vanir, great titanforged made of stone and that would command the power of the Earth. Later these two species of titanforged would be known as Watchers.

To lead these newly created titanforged, the Pantheon created the nine Titan Keepers, each with his own powers and abilities bestowed on them by the Titans themselves:
- Highkeeper Ra had powers bestowed upon him by Aman’Thul, Highfather of the Pantheon, and was also gifted with The Fist of Ra-Den, which he wielded in battle against the Black Empire.

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- Keeper Odyn also had had his powers given by Aman’Thul, was leading the titanforged army into battle.

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- Keeper Archaedas was empowered by Khaz’goroth with powers over the earth and forging.

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- Keeper Thorim was imbued by Golganneth with the power over storms and sky.

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- Keeper Hodir was also gifted by Golganneth with the same array of powers as Thorim.

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- Keeper Freya was given by Eonar the power over Azeroth’s flora and fauna, along with the power to create or tap into the Emerald Dream. (It is unclear if Freya created the Dream or simply tapped into it.)

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- Keeper Loken was given a part of Norgannon's intellect and mastery over the arcane magic.

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- Keeper Mimiron was imbued with the same powers by Norgannon.

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- Keeper Tyr was empowered by Aggramar with his strength and his courage and became the most powerful warrior in the titanforged army.

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In response to the creation of the titanfoged, the Old Gods responded with their great army of elementals, and the two forces clashed for weeks.
Yet, it was not an all-out war, as the Titan Keepers were smart enough to use divide and conquer tactics against the Black Empire’s greatest lieutenants, the Elemental Lords.

So, Keeper Odyn and Keeper Tyr fought against Ragnaros, the Firelord, as their metal bodies protected them from his fire, and through pure will they deafeated the lord of flames.
Keeper Archaedas and Keeper Freya took on the Stonemother, using their power over the earth, the flora and the fauna to best Therazane.
Keeper Ra, Keeper Thorim and Keeper Hodir, went in combat against Al’Akir, the Windlord, and used their mastery over the wind, sky and storms to turn the Windlord’s own powers against him.
Neptulon, the Tidehunter, being the wisest of the Elemental Lords, tried to assist them in battle, but was outmaneuvered at every turn by Keeper Loken and Keeper Mimiron, and ultimately defeated by their mastery over the arcane magic.

Due to the fact that the Elementals were bound to Azeroth, the Keepers knew that they would eventually recover and return in battle, so Keeper Ra proposed a plan similar to how Sargeras used to do with the demons on Mardum. So, with the Fist of Ra-den and with the help of Helya, a very powerful titanforged sorceress, he created the Elemental Planes, a prison dimension linked to Azeroth, divided in four planes, one for each of the elements.

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So, Raganaros and the other fire elementals were banished into the Firelands, Al’Akir and his air elementals were imprisoned into the Skywall, Therazane and her children sent to Deepholm, and Neptulon and his water elementals were banished into the Abyssal Maw.

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After the titankeepers dealt with the Elemental Lords and their armies it was time to focus on the Old Gods and their forces.

The first to fall were the Aqir, as Archaedas used his mastery over the earth and stone, to collapse the aqiri burrows and caves on them. Forced to get on the surface, the Aqir were slaughtered by the titanforged armies.
Still, a few pockets of the aqir were able to survive by burying themselves further underground. They would later split into three main groups, many years later becoming the Qiraji, the Mantid and the Nerubians.

After they dealt with the Aqir, the titanforged turned their attention to the greatest city of the Black Empire, the bastion that surrounded Y’Shaarj. But this battle was far more harder than the Keepers thought as the Old God Y’Shaarj, being the strongest of the four Old Gods, was more powerful than the Titan Keepers ever envisioned him to be. He poisoned the minds of the titanforged, by filing them with their darkest thoughts and their greatest fears.

The battle against Y’Shaarj became so dire, as the titanforged lost more and more of their force, as Aman’Thul decided to take action himself and ripped Y’Shaarj out of Azeroth.
With his deathrattle, Y’Shaarj blew mountains away and killed all the titanforged that were near him. But the Old God’s tendrils bore down into Azeroth more than anyone imagined, and from the crater that remained where Y’Shaarj once stood, volatile arcane torrents of energy, the lifeblood of the nascent titan inside Azeroth, erupted, making the Pantheon to realize how much the Old Gods dug into the planet, and how much harm would do killing the other three Old Gods would do to the planed and the world soul itself.

Odyn proposed to use a tactic similar to the one they used against the Elemental Lords and imprison the Old Gods deep underground.
C’Thun and N’Zoth fell quite fast, and each of theirs defeat Archaedas would create a subterranean chamber to imprison them, while Mimiron created colossal machines to lock the Old Gods down and Loken would enchant the prisons to neutralize the Old Gods powers.

Yogg-Saron would not fall so easily though, as he unleashed his greatest generals, the C’Thraxxi, into battle. These giant n’raqi were far stronger that the common Faceless Ones, and their dark powers were strong enough to drive the titanforged to insanity. The remaining might of the Black Empire fought against the titanforged for days and days but were slowly defeated.
Yet, by the time that the Titan Keepers reached Yogg-Saron, their numbers were dangerously low, as both the n’raqi and the titanforged forces were decimated in the battles that ensued.

Because of their diminished numbers, the titanfoged were on the verge of losing their hope, but Titan Keeper Odyn rallied them against the Old God, and Loken was commanded to conjure an illusion spell which made the C’Thraxxi to see themselves and even their creator, Yogg-Saron, as their enemies.
With the last Black Empire forces turned against eachother, the titanforged defeated Yogg-Saron and imprisoned like his other brethren.

The war of the titanforged against the Old Gods ended with the imprisonment of three of the four Old Gods, and the death of the fourth one, the banishing of the elementals in the Elemental Planes, but also with the decimation of both factions’ forces.

C’Thun was imprisoned in the Southern Silithus, in the West of Kalimdor, Nzoth was imprisoned near the center of the landmass and Yogg-Saron in the northern part of the land.
Y’Shaarj was killed by Aman’Thul and in the place where he stood, in the middle of the ancient Kalimdor, a torrent of volatile Arcane energies was now raging. Some remains of Y’Shaarj’s body fell back on Azeroth, in the southern parts of the land, where now is the continent named Pandaria, the largest chunk of it being the Old God’s heart. These remains cursed forever the land.

The Titan Keepers, alongside with their titanforged peers were tasked by the Titans to shape the land after the war.

World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Posted: 31-05-2017, 23:57:09 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

After the great war between the Titans and the Old Gods, there was peace on Azeroth, for the fisrt time in the young planet’s history.

Even so, there was a lot of work to do, in order to make the world livable again, after it was corrupted and almost lost, during the reign of the Black Empire. To order the planet, the titans gave to the titanforged five great artifacts of power, known as The Pillars of Creation, to help them with their duties.
These five great artifacts of power came to be known as:
- Aegis of Aggramar

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- Tidestone of Golganneth

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- Eye of Aman'Thul

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- Hammer of Kaz'goroth

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- Tears of Elune

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The nascent titan inside the planet’s core was very weakened and had to be helped by the Titan Keepers in order to get stabilized, but the top priority was sealing the great wound on the planet’s surface, that was left in the place where Y’Shaarj stood before he was ripped out of the planet by Aman’Thul.
The torrents of energy that poured out of that wound weakened the world soul inside even more, and the Titan Keepers knew that if left unchecked, it would drain the nascent titan of its precious life blood, and kill it.

So the Titan Keepers and the Titanforged started working to calm the storm around the wound. They put massive time into this, as they worked day and night around the wound and crafted great energy and magical shields and wards around it.
The violent torrent started to calm, and eventually it calmed down for good, leaving behind a very large lake made of pure arcane energy. In awe of the lake’s greatness, the Keeepers decided to call this newly formed lake the Well of Eternity.

Once this was done, the titanforged started to focus on stabilizing the world soul residing inside the planet.
Archaedas and Mimiron joined their forces and powers in order to create two massive facilities on the planet’s surface with the main purpose of stabilizing Azeroth’s life energy, by infusing the world soul with cosmic energies.
These two facilities are known as The Forge of Wills and The Forge of Origination.

The Forge of Wills was placed in the northern part of the planet’s surface, residing inside the Halls of Stone in Ulduar, and it would help to shape the nascent titan’s early thoughts and its perception.

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Besides this, The Forge of Wills had another purpose, and that would be to create a whole new generation of titanforged, these being no longer giants, but rather new subraces, known as the Anubisath, the Tol'vir and the Mogu.
- Anibisath

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- Tol'vir

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- Mogu

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For his efforts in the war against the Old Gods, Keeper Odyn was named by the Titans as Prime Designate, having the duty to watch over The Forge of Wills and Yogg-Saron’s prison.
For this, he, and the other titanforged build the great fortress of Ulduar, which incorporated both The Forge of Wills and Yogg-Saron’s prison. Ulduar would also serve the titans as their center of command on the planet.

On the other side of the planet, in the southernmost part of it, Highkeeper Ra went in an expedition along with the new titanforged, those being the Anubisath, the Tol'vir and the Mogu, to place The Forge of Origination.
Upon their arrival in the south, Ra found out that the scattered remains of Y’Shaarj were enough to curse the land for ever and even found out that the greatest chunk remaining was the Old God’s heart itself.
The Keeper decided that the best course of action would be to lock the heart into a container in order to be studied so they may understand the Old Gods and the other void beings. Thus, the Vault of Y’Shaarj was built, and, before leaving to install The Forge of Origination, Highkeeper Ra left the Mogu to watch over the vault and also take care of the surrounding lands, with the titanic watcher Norushen being assigned to guarding the heart.

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With the Old God’s heart secured, the expedition changed its way westward, and after reaching their destination, the building of The Forge of Origination started. After the Forge was finished, the titanforged built an entire fortress around it and called it Uldum.

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The main purpose of the Forge of Origination was shaping the world soul’s form and besides this, like the other Forge, it had another purpose and it was that, in case of systemic corruption taking over the planet again, it would be activated and by releasing immense wave of energy, it would eradicate all life on Azeroth, so that it could be started over again.

Highkeeper Ra placed here most of the Tol'vir and some of the Anibisath to safeguard the fortress and then took his remaining followers into the land known as Silithus, and build another great bastion over the prison of C’Thun. This new great structure was to be named Ahn’Qiraj. Ra stationed all of his remaining followers here, to guard the fortress and the Old God’s prison, and started travelling on the southern parts of the planet, watching his followers doing their job from afar.

Spoiler:

After the two great forges and the other titanforged bastions were set in motion, the time to shape the planet has come. For this, the Keepers had another new generation of titanforged to be build using The Forge of Wills.
These titanforged were the Earthen, the Mechagnomes, another generation of Mogu and Tol'vir, Sea and Earth Giants, and the Vrykul.
- The Earthen had the power to dig underground caverns and shape mountains on the surface.

Spoiler:

- The Mechagnomes were designed by Keeper Mimiron, and had the job to build and mentain the titanforged machineries.

Spoiler:

- The new generation of Mogu had were formed to dig out the rivers, lakes and water ways on the lands of Azeroth.

Spoiler:

- The Sea and Stone Giants had the duty to shape the undersea and land environments.

Spoiler:

- The new generation of Tol'vir was made so they will guard over the land.

Spoiler:

- This duty was also bestowed upon the Vrykul.

Spoiler:

Now the world was shaped, but, besides the titanforged it was empty. Azeroth needed life, and this duty was set upon Keeper Freya. For this, the Keeper created, or at least tapped into the Emerald Dream, a surreal plane where otherworldly animals and spirits roamed the lands. This plane was a mirror image of the land of Azeroth, as it was in the beginning.

Keeper Freya established a link between Azeroth and the Emerald Dream and then set to find places where the energies of the Well of Eternity would reach the surface. As she wandered the world, she found that in these places are the perfect conditions for life be developed and prosper in the form of new flora and fauna. Such locations were the N’Goro Crater, Sholasar Basin and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
In these places, Freya experimented and created a large variety of life, and then seeded it around the world.

Spoiler:

Still, not all life on Azeroth was created by Freya. As she wandered, she noticed that some of the elements escaped the banishment in the Elemental Planes, and some, with the power of the Well of Eternity, developed into creatures of flesh and bone, creatures such as the proto dragons.

Spoiler:

The Titan Keepers, along the other titanforged helped the world soul to stabilize and continue to form inside the planet, shaped the depths, oceans, and landmass of the planet, and covered it with various forms of life of all kinds.
The largest continent of Azeroth was named by the titanforged Kalimdor, meaning Land of Eternal Starlight.

Spoiler:

The Titans were delighted with the titanforged’ work and decided to leave in order to continue their search for new world souls, as the discovery of Azeroth has shown them that even if they thought that they were the only ones, there could be more of their kind in the vastness of the Great Dark Beyond.

The Titan Keepers and the other titanforged were saddened that their masters and creators would leave, but, at the same time, they were filled with pride that they were considered fit to have the honor of safeguarding the powerful world soul that is Azeroth.
In the honor of the Titans, Keper Loken and Keeper Mimiron created the enchanted artifacts known as the Discs of Norgannon, in which they would keep the record of all Azeroth’s history during the time of the Titans’ departure. If the Titans were to return, they could use these Disks to find out what happened to the world, during their absence.

Spoiler:

As a final act before leaving Azeroth, Aman’Thul recruited Algalon the Observer, a very powerful celestial being, and entrusted it with the key to the activation of the protocol that turned The Forge of Origination in a weapon, if the planet fell again to corruption, thus making him Azeroth’s celestial guardian.

Spoiler:

After this, the Pantheon left Azeroth, and never returned.

World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Posted: 01-06-2017, 03:37:23 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

The titans left Azeroth in the hands of the Keepers and the titanforged for safeguarding. For a time, peace was kept both among the titanforged and on the planet. The world soul was stabilized, life was in bloom and the Demigods spawned new life whenever they walked on the earth.

But this peace didn’t last for long. The proto dragons were not a titanic creation, but rather they evolved from some elementals that escaped the banishment that their race suffered due to their violent behavior against the titanforged and their association with the Black Empire.

The proto dragons somehow made a leap to intelligence and gained the ability to speak and band together. But not all of them made this leap.
One such dragon that made the leap to intelligence was Galakrond, also known as the Father of all dragons. He was enormous in size, because he kept eating, driven by an insatiable hunger. He was even bigger than Neltharion, who was said to be one of the largest and most dominant of the proto dragons.
From a benevolent proto dragon, that loved hunting, Galakrond became a terror to his peers. It had a large size, and with it, a large appetite. The more he ate, the more he grew and the more he grew the more he felt the need to eat. He soon invaded other dragons’ hunting grounds, and not before much time, he began to cannibalize his own species. Due to this, he grew gigantic in size, and became a threat to the entire world.

Spoiler:

Galakrond was so large that whenever he landed, the earth would shake in earthquakes.
Due to this cannibalism, Galakrond grew even more, but became deformed, as countless wings, eyes, mouths and limbs grew out of its body. The eyes gave him sight in every direction. With this transformation, Galakrond gained a new power – he could rise in undeath the corpses of the proto dragons that he ate, and control them. These undead proto dragons were mindless, and only organized under Galakrond’s command.

To end his reign, all the surviving proto dragons banded together under the leadership of five of the strongest and most intelligent of them – Neltharion, Malygos, Ysera, Alexstrasza and Nozdormu. They were caught by surprise by Galakrond when they attacked him, as the gigantic dragon hid his undead underlings into the clouds high above the living proto dragons, when they couldn’t be detected.
The undead proto dragons killed one third of the force of living proto dragons. However, Malygos, being the most intelligent of the proto dragons, made a plan and instructed the remaining two thirds of the force to fly high into the clouds as one. The undead followed them but, blinded by the lightning made in the clouds, couldn’t find the living ones. In this moment, the living proto dragons attacked the undead abominations and decimated Galakrond’s army.

A female proto dragon named Talonixa took credit for the plan, and nearly killed Malygos when he said that he was the leader of the attack, with the blue-white proto dragon being saved by the intervention of Neltharion.
At this moment, Galakrond engaged into battle the living proto dragons, while Neltharion, Nozdormu and Malygos watched from afar. Despite being outnumbered hundreds to one, the gargantuan proto dragon managed to decimate the living army of dragons. His breath created a toxic mist in which the livin proto dragons were left disoriented, only to be devoured by Galakrond. One of these devoured dragons was Talonixa. The trio that stand afar didn’t wait for too long, as they came to distract Galakrond, so that he would beat his wings to disperse the toxic mist, allowing the proto dragons to escape. Galakrond ignored the other proto dragons, and chose to follow Neltharion and Nozrodmu, but each and every one of the remaining living proto dragon managed to escape.

The Titan Keepers decided to not take any action, except for Tyr. He and the five leaders of the proto dragons formed a team under the Keeper’s leadership. They decided to ambush Galakrond while he was in a deep sleep, but the plan failed, and Galakrond managed to fend off the proto dragons, and even eat one of Tyr’s hands.
The five proto dragons fled the area and regrouped to form another plan, as they didn’t want to give up, as they found out that their true power stood in their unity, as the five of them fought as a family.

Alexstrasza used her fiery breath to burn down the extra limbs and eyes that the monstrous dragon grew, while Nozdormu used his sand breath to blind the beast’s eyes on the opposite side, Ysera, the weakest of them, in terms of physical power, managed to get into Galakrond’s mouth and ravage his sensitive insides with her claws and teeth, while Neltharion, the strongest of the five, in terms of raw power, single handedly fought off the undead servants that tried to protect their master.
The cooperation of these four dragons gave Malygos the time and distraction he needed in order to drop a giant pillar-shaped rock into Galakrond’s mouth, causing him to suffocate.

Even so, Galakrond was stil capable of fighting and when he was about to take out the rock out of his throat, Neltharion an Malygos hurled an undead proto dragon into the rock, plundering it deeper into the beast’s throat, cutting all the ear passage. This way, the combined force and intelligence of the five proto dragons managed to kill the gigantic cannibalistic proto dragon named Galakrond, who fell down and plummeted into the ground in the place now known as Dragonblight.

Spoiler:

Amazed by the five proto dragons might and cooperation, Tyr proposed to the other Titan Keepers to imbue the dragons with a portion of their powers, to which the Keepers, ashamed by their lack of actions in the matter with Galakrond, agreed, all of them, except for the Prime Designate Odyn, who thought that it is a bad idea to bestow such a great power upon such primitive life forms, and that only the mighty titanforged should be allowed to protect Azeroth. He insisted that he, as the Prime Designate, should be the one to have the last word into the matter.
But the other Titan Keepers didn’t listen to Odyn, and even Highkeeper Ra came from across the world to the ceremony that transformed the five proto dragons into the Five Dragon Aspects.

Freya called Eonar to bestow upon Alexstrasza the power to shape and protect life, making the dragon the Lifebinder. Also, for her courage and compassion in the battle against Galakrond, she was crowned as the Dragon Queen and given the leadership over the Five Dragon Aspects.

Spoiler:

Freya also asked Eonar to bless Ysera, who was Alexstrasza’s younger sister, with nature power, and she was entrusted with the safeguarding of the Emerald Dream, the flora and the fauna of Azeroth. She was now known as the Dreamer.

Spoiler:

Highkeeper Ra called upon Aman’Thul to bless Nozdormu with the mastery over time and the duty to safeguard the time ways , and he’ll be known from now on as the Timeless One.

Spoiler:

Keeper Loken called upon Norgannon to bless Malygos with mastery over the Arcane Magic, having the duty of sharing, exploring and protecting the vast Arcane magic. He became known as the Spellweaver.

Spoiler:

Finally, Keeper Archaedas called upon Kaz’goroth to imbue Neltharion with some of his vast power over the lands. Neltharion was now known as the Earth Warder, and was in charge over the mountains and the deep caverns of the earth, as he embodied the raw strength of the world.

Spoiler:

After this, the Keepers changed most of the remaining proto dragons, into the dragons that we see today, marking the start of the Five Dragonflights, bound to the single goal of protecting Azeroth.
Then, the titanforged built the Wyrmrest Temple, to serve as the heart of the dragon culture and a place of gathering for these Five Dragonflights.
Satisfied with their work, the Titan Keepers returned to Ulduar, leaving the Dragon Aspects to safeguard Azeroth.

On another note, Odyn was angered by the fact that the other Keepers dared to disrespect his decisions as the Prime Designate, and decided to create an elite army of his own design to protect the world, this time him being opposed by the keepers.
His mind was set though, so, if the other Keepers would not help, he will take actions on his own then.
With the help of the titanforged sorceress Helya, whom he saw as a daughter, Odyn lifted a part of Ulduar into the sky, and named it The Hall of Valor.

Spoiler:

From here, he informed the Vrykul down below, that any who will prove themselves worthy by dying a honorable and glorious death in battle, will be taken into the Halls of Valor to live again, given a mighty titanforged body, and become Valarjar, the elite protectors of Azeroth.

Spoiler:

Odyn only had to find a way to transport the fallen heroes’ bodies into his domain, and for this he studied the energies of the Shadowlands, a plane similar to the Elemental Dream due to the fact that it is linked to Azeroth, but whereas the Emerald Dream represents life and blossom, the Shadowlands represent death and decay.
In this place reside the souls of the dead, and it is thought that the Shadowlands existed ever since the life surfaced in the universe. Basically it is hell.
By studying this realm, Odyn found out that he needed the power of the Val'kyr, spirits that guide the dead souls of those who’ve fallen in glorious battle from the Shadowlands to his domain up in the Halls of Valor. But this would mean that the one to become a Val'kyr would be neither dead nor alive and will spend her eternity guiding the souls of the heroes.

Spoiler:

None of the Vrykul stood up for the job, and without any idea left, Odyn decided to force this job on a poor soul. Helya stood firmly against the idea and for days argued with her father about this mad plan of turning the titanforged Vrykul into nothing more than slaves. When she saw that there was no prevail against Odyn, she threatened the Keeper that she would return the Halls of Valor down to Ulduar.

In this very moment, Odyn saw Helya as his daughter no more, but rather as an enemy, and finally found his first Val'kyr right there, in front of him. Odyn shattered Helya’s body, and transformed her soul, thus making her the first Val'kyr.
For this, Helya hated Odyn from the bottom of her heart, but she couldn’t find herself able to resist his commands, and with great sorrow she had to force this sad fate upon other female Vrykul at the command of Odyn, this way creating the Val'kyr that he needed to succeed with his plan of creating the Valarjar.
For ages, Helya and the other cursed souls that became the Val'kyr transported the Vrykul heroes to the Halls of Valor, where Odyn trained them to become his elite army. Odyn had no remorse to break off from the other Keepers nor to force this cursed fate on Helya and other unwilling female Vrykul, as, in his mind, all he had done was for the greater good and for the protection of Azeroth.

Back in the Great Dark Beyond, Sargeras, the fallen Titan was driven to insanity by the thought that the corruption of the Void Lords would engulf all life in the universe and shattered the Plane of Banishment, creating a hole in reality.
The explosion caused by this enveloped the Titan in fel magic and distorted both his body and soul, marking the end of Sargeras as a Titan, and the start of his Burning Crusade. Even if he was enveloped by his madness, Sargeras still had his mind set on stopping the Void Lords from conquering the entire universe, and decided that to stop them, he would need to purge the universe in felfire.
In the meantime, he had learned how to permanently kill the demons, and offered the freed demons a choice, either join him in his grand crusade or perish by his own hands. The demons gladly agreed to join Sargeras and thus the Burning Legion was born.

Spoiler:

Sargeras started his Burning Crusade and when he killed the Celestial Guardian of a planet that the Titans ordered, Aggramar came to the place, as he had heard the Celestial’s dyeing cry. Aggramar confronted his former friend and asked for an explanation, but without success, so the two greatest warriors of the entire universe clashed in battle. Sargeras had the upper hand since he had now domain over the fel magic that was poison for his former peers, the Titans, and defeated Aggramar, leaving him in agony. With the remains of his powers, Aggramar struck once more, and a great explosion of fel and arcane magic occurred, shattering both warriors’ weapons.

Spoiler:

Aggramar returned to the Pantheon and they all tried to bring back Sargeras with reasoning. They even told the fallen one about the new world soul that they found, Azeroth and how it was to become even stronger than himself or Aman’Thul and with it, they will certainly have a great chance of defeating the Void Lords. But nothing they could say would matter to Sargeras. In a rage haze, Sargeras struck down Aggramar, merely cleaving him in to with his felblade.
The entire Pantheon fought the fallen Titan, but they could be a match for the fel infused Sargeras.
Before their demise, Norgannon used his mastery over the cosmic energies to envelop the Titans’ spirits in protecting magic, preventing them from truly dyeing. The spirits were sent through the cosmos while Sargeras thought that he succeeded in ending the Pantheon.
He even received some information about a new world soul in a little planet called Azeroth, and even if he didn’t know where to find it, he knew that it was only a matter of time until he will find this planet and destroy it before it falls to corruption. So he continued his quest in purging the universe, planet by planet, world by world, adding more races to his Legion, or exterminating those who refused to join him in his madness.

Spoiler:

Meanwhile, the spirits of the Titans found their way to Azeroth and fused with the Titan Keepers. The Keepers that received the spirits of the Titans felt a surge of power and began to have memories of events that they never experienced in their entire life. Disturbed by this event, the Keepers called out for their creators, but the only answer was silence. This sent the Titan Keepers in a long period of confusion, and the Old God imprisoned beneath Ulduar, Yogg-Saron, took advantage of this and began to seep into the minds of the Keepers.

His target was Keeper Loken. Initially, the Keeper resisted the Old God’s corruption, but Yogg-Saron soon found out how to best Loken. Slowly driven into despair, Loken found comfort only with a female Vrykul named Sif, who was his brother Thorim’s mate. A secret and forbidden love grew between the two of them, and under Yogg-Saron’s influence, Loken became more and more convinced that they should not hide their love for each other, but Sif refused, as she knew that this would break the unity between the Titan Keepers. She broke all ties with Loken and demanded that he would leave her alone. The thought of losing her send Loken into madness and in a moment of rage, he struck Sif down.

Spoiler:

Loken felt guilty and wanted a way out of this mess, he could not get himself to tell Thorim what had happened. In that moment Sif’s spirit appeared in front of Loken and, to his surprise, she seemed to have forgiven him for what he had done, and even agreed with him, that Thorim could not know what happened, or else a war will start between the titanforged. She instead instructed Loken to blame Arngrim, the king of the ice giants for her death, and he took her body into Storm Peaks.

This however was not Sif, it was Yogg-Saron, and Loken knew that something was not right, but with his judgement clouded by guilt and fear he agreed and informed Thorim of how Sif had died, according with this plan. Enraged, Thorim struck down the king of the ice giants and many of his followers, ingniting a war between the storm and the ice giants, the Aesir and the Vanir, a war that Loken scolded Thorim for, saying that Sif herself would look upon Thorim in shame for what he had done.

Spoiler:

This had driven the Titan Keeper Thorim into a great depression and he decided to leave Ulduar behind and travel into the Storm Peaks in solitude.

Yogg-Saron, in the form of Sif’s spirit, instructed Loken to use The Forge of Wills to create his own army of titanforged. What the Keeper had not known is that the Old God tainted The Forge of Wills with the Curse of Flash. This would cause the newly formed titanforged and also the older ones to transform their stone or metal bodies into bodies of flesh and blood, thus making them more vulnerable to the Old God’s corruption.
Loken found this out too late, and the fear that the Pantheon or Algalon would find out about this shattered his last remains of sanity and he became set to cover up his doings and embrace the power of the Old God Yogg-Saron. He knew that his newly formed army could defeat the other Keepers. His first targets were the remaining giants. His army crushed the giants, and he placed those who survived into stasis.

His next target was Keeper Odyn and his army of Valarjar. The key to Odyn’s defeat was vHelya, who still loathed Odyn for what he had done to her, so Loken struck a deal with her: he would free her from Odyn’s grasp, and she would use her powers to lock the Halls of Valor into a pocket dimension. It was done, and in a similar way of the Elemental Planes, a new prison dimension was formed so that not even Odyn and the Valarjar, with all their might would be able to escape. Free from Odyn, Helya created her own domain, called Helheim, bound to Azeroth’s great seas where she and the other Valkyr would take the spirits of the Vrykul. But the darkness in Helya’s soul transformed this dimension into a hellish place, and the Vrykul taken there became the Kvaldir, who would plunder and raid Azeroth’s coasts for all the eternity.

Spoiler:

Not all the Val'kyr that left Odyn joined Helya, as some chose to disappear into the Shadowlands and others, still with nobility in their soul became the Spirit Healers, that would guide the dead back to the land of the living from the Shadowlands.

Spoiler:

Meanwhile, Keeper Mimiron found out that something was wrong with The Forge of Wills, but before he came to know too much, Loken sabotaged his workshop in hope of killing him. Mimiron’s mechagnomes found their master’s spirit and created him a mechanized body, but his mind was never the same, and Mimiron secluded himself into his workshop and his creations.

Spoiler:

Loken's next target was Freya, as his armies confronted her at the Temple of Life. Freya was overpowered by Loken, and enthralled by Yogg-Saron, who made her to seclude herself into Ulduar, and tend to her garden to the End Times.

Spoiler:

During this time, Hodir was confronted by two fire giants named Ignis and Volkan at the Temple of Winter. The giants destroyed Hodir’s folowers, and Loken personally subdued his fellow Keeper. Yogg-Saron also took control of Hodir, and forced him to return to Ulduar and stay into a frigid chamber of the temple.

Spoiler:

There were two Keepers left, Tyr and Archaedas. Tyr witnessed Hodir’s fall and found out about Loken’s corruption. He informed Keeper Archaedas about this and took him and a close friend, the titanforged female Ironaya, to the outer parts of Storm Peaks, to stay safe and conjure a plan to stop the corrupted Keeper Loken. Loken thought that Tyr and his companions fled the area and returned to Ulduar, where he altered the machines and appointed himself as the Prime Designate, ensuring his rule over the keep.
He then disabled The Forge of Wills, and banished many of his servants into the Storm Peaks. Loken then remained alone with his guilt in the silent halls of Ulduar, fearing that either Algalon or the Pantheon would find out about this and punish him. Yogg-Saron’s plan worked and now, without the Keepers watching him, he could start escaping his prison.

The new Prime Designate of Azeroth, Loken found it suspicious that Highkeeper Ra never returned to Ulduar, so he dispatched some of his forces to the south. Arriving in Uldum, Loken’s minions found out that not even Ra’s followers knew what happened to their master. However, these southern titanforged began to be affected by the curse of flesh too, as they made contact with the tainted minions of Loken.
Highkeeper Ra was in fact down in his catacombs under the region that is now the continent of Pandaria. When he received the spirit of Aman’Thul, instead of falling to confusion and despair, he found out what actually happened, the Pantheon was gone, but he refused to believe it. Ra then extracted what remained of Aman’Thul’s soul and placed it for safekeeping into a titanforged vault under the Vale of Eternal Blossom, and continued to dwell into his catacombs trying to figure out what to do next.
Without their master, Ra’s followers continued their duties, the Tol’vir remained in Uldum, while the Anubisath continued to guard the prison fortress of Ahn’Qiraj and the Mogu continued to guard the titanforged vaults and machineries of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

Back in the northern part of Kalimdor, the banished titanforged started to create their own way of life. The giants retreated into the mountains and the seas, the Earthen went underground, while the Vrykul remained on the surface and formed an entire society, made up of small clans. These groups of titanforged lived in peace with each other, but the peace wouldn’t last for long.
The fire giants Volkan and Ignis saw the Storm Peaks as a land waiting to be conquered, and they recruited a clan of Vrykul, the Winterskorn to fight for them. The Vrykul however started to feel the first effects of the Curse of Flesh, with their metallic skin becoming weak and brittle.

Spoiler:

This however did not set back the twin giants for much time, as they created powerful metal constructs named Golems and waged war against the Earthen, decimating them.

Spoiler:

The Earthen survivors fled to Keeper Tyr and his companions for help. The three gladly joined the Earthen, with Tyr fighting against the giants’ forces and Archaedas and Ironaya building up the Earthen’s defenses. The tide of war turned back against the Earthen and the Keepers as Ignis and Volkan created enchanted snares to subdue the local proto dragons, forcing even Tyr and Archaedas to retreat.

Titan Keeper Tyr went and asked the aid of the Five Dragon Aspects, who agreed to help and managed to lock down the Winterskorn Vrykul into prison cities spread across the region, and made them get lost in slumber while the Curse of Flesh degenerated them into beings of flesh and blood.
The trio consisting of Keeper Tyr, Keeper Archaedas and Ironaya decided to confront Loken and that their best course of action would be to get in control of the Discs of Norgannon, which contained even the plans and schemes of Loken inscribed into them. Tyr came at the gates of Ulduar and began arguing with Loken, while Archaedas and Ironaya infiltrated the fortress and stole the artifact.
Being now into the possession of the Discs of Norgannon, the trio took some of the exiled titanforged, meaning some Earthen, Vrykul and Mechagnomes, and headed south before Loken found out what happened. When Loken found out, he was again caught by fear, and unleashed the most powerful and cunning of the C’Thraxxi that were imprisoned in Ulduar, Kith’ix and Zakazj the Corruptor and sent them after Tyr and his companions.
The C’Thraxxi generals sensed the corruption of Loken and agreed to follow his orders, eventually tracking down Tyr and his companions. Tyr decided that their best hope of escaping was for him to battle the two monstrosities and hold them back, while the other managed to lose their tracks.

With only a tiny bit of Aggramar’s power lingering inside him, Tyr managed to fight back the C’Thraxxi generals for six days and six nights, after which he decided to sacrifice himself in order to save his friends, unleashing all of his remaining powers into a giant Arcane explosion that killed Zakazj and greatly wounded Kith’ix, who barely managed to escape with his life.
Noticing the explosion, Archaedas and Ironaya returned to the scene of battle only to find their friend's and Zakazj’s lifeless bodies. In Tyr’s honor, Ironaya named the region Tyr’s Fall, which, in the Vrykul tongue was Tirisfal. Tyr and Zakazj were buried in the zone, and Tyr’s silver hand, that he used to replace the one he lost in the fight with Galakrond, was placed upon his final resting place.
The Vrykul decided to stay there and keep an eye on the area for the end of days.

Spoiler:

The rest of the companions went down to the region now known as Bad Lands to a titanforged vault named Uldaman, where they stored the Discs of Norgannon for safeguarding. There were also put into stasis the Earthen, to act as the guardians of the vault. While in stasis, they began to feel the effects of the Curse of Flesh and degenerate into flesh and blood creatures. The Mechagnomes, even though they started to feel these effects too, they chose to stay awake. The Uldaman vault was then sealed off by Archaedas, to protect the Discs form Loken’s forces forever.

Back in Ulduar, Loken became so desperate that he couldn’t recuperate the Discs of Norgannon, that he created his own machinery that told a fake history of his own making, the Tribunal of the Ages. The machinery malfunctioned and warped the history even more than Loken imagined, but it didn’t matter for him, as long as no one would find out what he had done. Loken then proceeded to alter the titan communication devices in a way that only his death would call for Algalon the Observer, this way Loken having his revenge by having Algalon wipe out all life on Azeroth.

Spoiler:

World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Last edited by deadbite on 31-07-2017, 01:37:00; edited 1 time in total

Like I said earlier, before the coming of the Titans and the ordering of Azeroth, the planet was populated by the elementals, who were comprised of four species:
- the fire elementals, ruled by Ragnaros, the Firelord;
- the air elementals, ruled by Al’Akir, the Windlord;
- the water elementals, led by Neptulon, the Tidehunter;
- and the earth elementals, led by Stonemother Therazane.

These first denizens were followed by the arrival of the Old Gods, alien beings created by the Void Lords with the sole purpose of finding and corrupting World Souls.
The influence of the Old Gods gave birth to two new races – the N’raqi and the Aqir.

The N’raqi were cunning and intelligent beings also known as The Faceless Ones, and they were made up of:
- the common faceless, the bulk of the armies;
- aquatic faceless, adapted to underwater life;
- faceless spellcasters, smaller but adept in the use of magic;
- the C’Thraxxi, the faceless generals;
- the Forgotten Ones, the largest of the faceless.

The Aqir are insectoid species that are strong and resilient and were used as laborers.

The next to come to Azeroth were the Titans, who, due to their large forms, could not interact directly with the planet, so they created the species called the Titanforged, who later developed more of their own, becoming a large variety of subspecies, such as:
- Titanic Watchers, created directly by the Titans;
- the Anubisath, with the role of guardians of C’Thun’s prison, Ahn’Qiraj;
- the Tol’vir, with the role of guarding the fortress of Uldum and the Forge of Origination;
- the Vrykul, with the role of guarding the region of Storm Peaks, and the fortress of Ulduar;
- the Mogu, having the duty of creating the rivers and water ways on the planet, and also to guard the Vault of Y’Shaarj;
- the Earthen, with the purpose of carving the deep caverns and raising the great mountain ranges;
- the Mechagnomes, with the duty of mentaining the titanic machineries;
- the Sea and Stone giants, with the purpose of shaping the land and the underwater environments.

After the planet was ordered by the Titans and the Titanforged, Keeper Freya began pouring life on the planet in the form of various animals, and plants, leading eventually also to the birth of the Wild Gods.

These Wild Gods, later known as Demigods were:
- Agamaggan, the Great Boar, father of the Quilboar;

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- Aessina, the Mother Wisp, the soul of the forests;

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- Ashamane, the ferocious gray panther;

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- Aviana, the Mistress of Birds and mother of the harpies;

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- Cenarius, the Forest Lord, the founder of druidism;

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- Ela’Lothen, the Moonspirit;

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- Goldrinn, the Great Wolf, also known as Lo’Gosh, the embodiment of ferocity, savagery and will power;

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- Malorne, the White Stag, guardian of nature and father of Cenarius;

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- Ohn’Ahra, the Eagle Spirit;

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- Omen, the corrupted wolf that now resides in the lake in Moonglade;

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- Tortolla, the Wise, the patron of all amphibians;

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- Ursoc, the Mighty and Ursol, the Wise, patrons of those who favor the balance of nature;

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- L’ghorek and Nespirah, the Vashj’ir ancients;

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- several other demigods.

Along with these demigods, there are also the August Celestials, the Wild Gods that remained in Pandaria:
- Xuen, the White Tiger, the spirit of strength;

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- Chi-Ji, the Red Crane, the spirit of hope;

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- Niuzao, the Black Ox, the spirit of fortitude;

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- Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent, the spirit of wisdom.

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Not every life form on Azeroth was produced by Freya. The proto dragons evolved from the few elementals that escaped the Elemental Banishment. Eventually, some of them made the leap to intelligence, and in the aftermath of the battle with Galakrond, the Five Dragonflights were created from the proto dragons by the Titan Keepers.

Now, in a period of peace, new intelligent life forms began to appear on the surface of the planet, influenced by the powers of the Well of Eternity. These new races were:
- the trolls and the night elves

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- the yaungol, the tauren and the taunka

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- the goblins

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- the murlocks, gorlocks and Jinyu

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- the pandaren

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- the hozen

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- the wildkin

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- the furbolgs

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Additionally, other species were descendants of some of the Wild Gods, like the quilboar, the gnolls, harpies, wolvar, driads, centaurs, magnataurs end possibly, the tuskarr.

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World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Last edited by deadbite on 17-02-2019, 17:01:12; edited 1 time in total

One of the oldest, if not, the oldest of the species native to Azeroth since the ancient times are the trolls, also known as trollkind. The most ancient troll legends mention the Titans, calling them “the Travellers”, thus meaning that the trolls evolved and developed their society after the ordering of Azeroth, but before the departure of the Titans.

In the early years of the troll society, they were divided in very small tribes led by shadow hunters. The early trolls developed a large array of superstitious customs, in the likes of warfare, cannibalism, mysticism, meditation and one of the most important traits of their society, the dark magic known as voodoo. The central point of their society was the worship of the Wild Gods, whom they called the Loa.

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This led to the gathering of a large amount of tribes near the mountain range of Zandalar, where a lot of Loa resided, thus marking the start of the first and largest troll empire, the Zandalari Empire, with the capital in the city of Zuldazar placed on the highest plateaus of the mountains.

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The empire was made of many troll tribes, with the largest being the Amani, the Gurubashi and the Drakkari, along with the Zandalari tribe. The former three tribes would eventually depart from the Zandalari and form their own empires, the Amani Empire in the forestlands of what is now the continent of Lordaeron, the Gurubashi Empire in the jungles of what is now Stranglethorn Vale, and the Kingdom of Zul’Drak, near the great fortress of Ulduar.

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About 16.000 years before the First War, the war between the Aqir and the trolls began when curious trolls found Kith’ix’s body in slumber. After the battle with Tyr, the C’thraxx fled the area, and set to hibernation near the mountain of Zandalar. The trolls thought that the monstrosity was a Loa, and woke it up, only to be slain by the N’raqi general, that would call for the Aqir to rise back to the surface from their underground Empire known as Azj’Aqir.

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The Zandalari called for the help of the other great troll tribes, the Amani, the Gurubashi and the Drakkari, to band together again to fight the insectoid race, and the newly formed alliance was called the Empire of Zul.

The war waged on for thousands of years with neither of the belligerents winning. Under the leadership of the Zandalari, the tribes began to fight off the Aqir and even began to set them back. The Drakkari began to assault the northern colonies of the Aqir, but met high resistance, as the insectoid were being aided by Obsidian Destroyers that they found and captured in the fortress of Ulduar.

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The Gurubashi began to fight off the insectoid race in the south-west, also being opposed by titanforged Anubisath, captured and corrupted by the Aqir, as they conquered the fortress of Ahn’Qiraj. The Zandalari instructed the other tribes to fight in smaller groups using guerrilla tactics, in order to subdue the Aqir, and this proved to be quite effective.

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Meanwhile, the Amani tribes launched an all-out attack on the C’thraxxi general Kith’ix, that was the leader of the Aqir forces. This proved to be a suicidal attack, as most of the Amani died in the battle that ensued, but ultimately succeeded in bringing down the N’raqi general.

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In the aftermath of the war the trolls did not succeed to eradicate completely the Aqir, but eventually spread their forces so thin, that instead of one empire, the insectoid race was now split in three kingdoms, formed of three separate races:
- the Qiraji, based in the prison fortress of Ahn’Qiraj and in Silithus;

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- the Nerubians, who created a vast underground empire called Azjol Nerub in Northrend;

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- the Mantid, located in the western parts of Pandaria, having conquered the region called the Dread Wastes.

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The Empire of Zul also disbanded with the tribes of Amani, Gurubashi and Drakkari, forming their own capital cities in Zul’Aman, Zul’Gurub and Gundrak. Despite the fact that they succeeded in fighting back the Aqir, the trolls did not spread more than they were before, except for the Dark Trolls, part of the Amani Empire, who set to the west, and founded colonies near the Well of Eternity.

Close allies to the Zandalari Empire, the mogu are titanforged created with the purpose of carving the water ways of Azeroth, and were ultimately given the role of building and guarding the Vault of Y’Shaarj, which contains the hearth of the fallen Old God. They were created out of stone, in the image of the Watcher Norushen, and have had life bestowed upon them by Highkeeper Ra, using the artifact called The Fist of Ra-Den. Under the command of Ra, the mogu fought off the servants of the Old Gods and also created the Vale of Eternal Blossom.

After the death of the Titans, Highkeeper Ra retired into his catacombs and without their master, the mogu felt fear, anger, pride and greed for the first time when the Curse of Flesh had reached them.

They became terrified as their stone form was gone and now they felt the need to feed and breathe, and also could bleed and die. Without a master, they didn’t feel the need to band together to safekeep the titanic structures and started to fight each other.

After a thousand years without their master, and in the presence of the Curse of Flesh and its effects, meaning about 15.000 years before the Third War, the mogu tribes went through a period of intense wars and infights, as the mogu warlords fought over power and territory, destroying the land and peace in the region of Pandaria. This period of time is now known as the Age of a Hundred Kings.

The only times when the mogu would stop the wars and band together would be at the beginning of each mantid cycle of new swarms, in order to defend their lives and lands against the insectoid race, but they would return to their usual wars immediately after the mantid threat was quelled down.

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All tribal kings and warlords wanted nothing less nothing more than defeating the other clans, however, one of them was different, and his name was Lei Shen. He was the son of a warlord, and after his father was killed, he didn’t want revenge and neither to continue in his father’s footsteps. His eyes were set on higher goals. He went to find Ra-Den, and after succeeding in finding the Keeper at the Thundering Mountain, and also learning the truth about the titans' death, Lei Shen struck down his former master and stole the power of both Keeper Ra and Titan Aman’thul. Now, Lei Shen's goals were to continue the work of the titans, but the means to do so, were nowhere near those of the titans, but rather exactly what a mogu would do, conquer everything and force his ideology on everyone.

He then started to be called the Thunder King, and united all the mogu clans into the Mogu Empire, putting an end to the Age of a Hundred Kings.

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Armed with the power of storms, Lei Shen, the Thunder King began uniting the mogu clans in the only way that the mogu knew, by eliminating all his opponents. Even so, many mogu saw in his conquest the purpose that the mogu lacked all these years after their master left them, and joined under his banner to form the first Mogu Empire.

The empire was based on the ideology that the strong (always being the mogu)should rise to power, while the weak, meaning the “lesser” races – the pandaren, the grummle, the hozen and the jinyu – should be the slaves of those in power.

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On the matter of enslaving the other races, Lei Shen made a declaration, that if anyone was to defeat him in one-on-one combat, he would spare that warrior's people, but if he'd win, he would enslave the entire population. Xuen responded to this declaration, in hope of freeing the enslaved races from under the mogu's grasp. The battle between the two combatants lasted for 30 days and 30 nights, with the sky being filled with lightning, and the land rumbling with their fury. In the end, Lei Shen bested the Celestial, and as punishment, had Xuen imprisoned on the peaks of Kun-Lai.

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Lei Shen made the Thundering Mountain, where he took Ra’s powers, his throne, and called it the Throne of Thunder.

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Also, under the reign of Lei Shen, many of the great mogu structures were built by the enslaved races, such as Mogu'shan Vaults, used to store the artifacts of the empire and the spirits of the old kings and the Serpent’s Spine, a colossal wall spanning the length of the empire meant to keep the mantid threat at bay.

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During the Thunder King’s reign various other innovative creations took place. One of them is the creation of Shenqing, the Divine Bell, an artifact build under the influence of the Sha, that would fuel the mogu soldiers with anger and rage, and engrave fear and doubt into the hearts of their foes.

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Other great achievements of the Thunder King include the creation of a mechanical guardian of the Throne of Thunder called Dark Animus, the taming of the cloud serpents and the birth of Nalak, the Storm Lord, the creation of the hydra Megaera, and the aberration Durumu, the creation of the Saurok species and also the creation of the first written laws in the history of Azeroth.

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Another great achievement is the ability to negate the Curse of Flesh, as the mogu returned to their stone form.

The Thunder King allied the Mogu Empire with the Zandalari Empire, promising to the trolls forever a large plot of land near the Vale of Eternal Blossom. Also, Lei Shen entrusted the Zandalari with the secret to his resurrection, if he would ever die.

This death would eventually come, in the distant land of Uldum. Lei Shen sought to annex this land and the titan bastions and machineries contained in it to the Mogu Empire and led there a great army of mogu and Zandalari trolls to conquer it, however, knowing that they would never defeat Thunder King’s army, the Tol’vir activated the Forge of Origination and modified it so it would only affect the land of Uldum, killing the entire army, including the leader of the Zandalari trolls, Zulathra and Lei Shen, but also many of the Tol’vir, leaving the area deserted.
The body of the Emperor was recovered and buried into the Tomb of Conquerers.

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Lei Shen’s successor was Emperor Dojan. Under his rule the capital of the Empire was moved from the Throne of Thunder, to the Mogu'shan Palace, in the Vale of Eternal Blossom.

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Also under his reign, the Saurok started rebelling and in response were purged, and almost driven to extinction, finding safe haven into the jungles of Krasarang.

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Many emperors ruled after Emperor Dojan, until the reign of Emperor Lao-Fe, the Slavebinder, about 12.000 years ago. Even by mogu standards, Lao-Fe was a monster among monsters, as anyone who opposed him had his family thorn apart, and children sent to the Serpent’s Spine to be killed by the mantid forces.

This led to the uprising of the oppressed races, with the Pandaren leading the revolution. By the law of the Mogu Empire, the Pandaren were not allowed to touch weapons, or learn how to write and read. The pandaren monks found a new way to fight, using only their bare hands and feet to fight. This uncommon fight style proved stunningly effective, as the pandaren won many battles against the seemingly stronger mogu forces. The other slave races, including the Jinyu, the Hozen, the Saurok, the Yaungol and the grummel soon joined the pandaren in their rebellion.

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In response to the constant defeats, Emperor Lao-Fe retreated all his forces to the Vale of Eternal Blossom, the seat of the mogu power, forcing the rebels to launch an all-out attack in order to defeat the Empire. With immense casualties, including the leader of the uprising, Master Kang, the first monk, the uprising succeeded in defeating the Mogu Empire, with the emperor himself being killed.

In the aftermath of the revolution, a new era of prosperity began, with the former slave races being now autonomous and free. All the races established their own nations, with the pandaren creating their own empire, based on the principles of justice, wisdom, and benevolence. The pandaren dedicated themselves to being the preservers of peace in the land surrounding the Vale of Eternal Blossom, who would be known as Pandaria.

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The pandaren are a race of unknown origins, due to the fact that they are older than the kaldorei or the furbolgs. It is speculated that they are descendants of an unknown wild god, and even that they are distant cousins of the raccoon. The pandaren settled the area around the Vale of Eternal Blossoms roughly 15.000 years before the First War and, due to their peaceful ways, they quickly befriended the four wild gods that dwelled in the area – Chi-Ji, Niuzao, Xuen and Yu’lon. These four wild gods were renamed by the pandaren the August Celestials and bestowed upon them the gifts of knowledge and philosophy and honed their nature and culture. The pandaren also created a system of worship around the four Celestials that was kept even through the days of the Old Empire.

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After the revolution, about 100 years following it, the mogu allies, the Zandalari trolls decided to aid the mogu in their problem with the pandaren. The numbers of the trolls and vast and, for a time, their bat riders offered them a great advantage, since the pandaren had no fly mounts at the time. The invasion lasted for many years, the trolls bringing in even their most fierce weapons, the dreaded dinosaurs honed for war.

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The invasion of the Jade Forest led to the pandaren learning how to tame the cloud serpents and train them to be ridden, thus forming the Order of the Cloud Serpent. This newly formed form of counter attack turned the tide for the pandaren and led to their win in the war.

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Before the night elves became addicted to the arcane powers of the Well of Eternity, the pandaren had strong ties with them, this ending when the kaldorei became dependent on the powers of the Well. Before the Sundering, the last pandaren emperor, Shaohao, discovered a way to protect his land from the attacks of the Burning Legion. He shrouded the entire land into mists and it remained like this for 10.000 years, until, after the Shattering caused by Deathwing’s Cataclysm, the mists started to vanish.

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However, during these 10.000 years, the pandaren thought that the rest of the world was lost during the Great Sundering and, on the other side, the world has forgotten about them, as the mists made any of the ships that entered the area to return to the open ocean.

Still, some pandaren set to travel the world. The greatest example is the legendary brewmaster Chen Stormstout, who traveled along Rexxar and Thrall and helped in the creation of the new nation of Durotar.

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Other travellers are all the pandaren that made the Great Turtle Shen-zin Su their homeland. Roughly 9.200 years after the Sundering, a pandaren named Liu Lang set sail on the back of a gigantic sea turtle, named Shen-zin Su, to see what is beyond the mists, and was soon followed by many others.

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The Jinyu are a race that evolved from the murlocks that were lucky enough to settle in the Vale of Eternal Blossom. The magical powers of the Vale expanded their minds and grew their bodies until they evolved in the race known as the Jinyu.

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During the Age of the Hundred Kings, the Jinyu had a great empire that engulfed most of the land of Pandaria, ruling it from the Vale of Eternal Blossom, until they were ultimately defeated by the mogu.

The Jinyu uplifted the Hozen and taught them how to survive the dangers of the land, and put the basis of their culture, even allying against the mogu. However, the Hozen betrayed the Jinyu in the last days of the war and the Jinyu were defeated. This betrayal led to hundreds of years of hatred and war between the two races.
The Jinyu aided in the Pandaren Revolution and since then pledged their loyalty to the pandaren emperors. During the events of Mists of Pandaria, the Jinyu allied themselves with the Alliance.

The hozen are one of the races that settled the area around the Vale of Eternal Blossom, during the Age of a Hundred Kings, living in the lush forests around it. They were known as the ungovernable people, until a few years before the War of the Ancients the Monkey King rose to power without spilling a single drop of blood.

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The hozen also aided in the Pandaren Revolution by digging tunnels leading behind enemy lines.

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During the events of Mists of Pandaria, the hozen allied themselves with the Horde.

About 12.000 years before the First War, the Yaungol were a peaceful race living under the tutelage of Cenarius in the center of Kalimdor, but as the tribes had to share their hunting grounds with the trolls, they decided to migrate to new lands, despite Cenarius’ opposal, and they reached the borders of the Mogu Empire.

The mogu emperor Qiang the Merciless enslaved the yaungol and ordered his flesh-shapers to enhance the bovine race’s strength, intelligence and savagery. After hundreds of years under the mogu oppression, the yaungol joined the Pandaren Revolution.

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After being set free, the yaungol had barely any culture, as the mogu laws banned them and the other enslaved races of having any sort of culture. Some of the yaungol still clung with incomplete myths about Cenarius and his teachings and others decided to start a new life. As the two parts of the yaungol could not reach an agreement, those who wanted to return to a life in nature, by Cenarius’ teachings, decided to leave to the north.

Some of these yaungol travelled as far as the far North, to the Storm Peaks, where the interaction with the Titanic machineries transformed them and gave birth to the Taunka.

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The remaining travellers settled in the central part of Kalimdor, where they reunited with Cenarius. Here, they learned the druidism from the demigod. These yaungol were also transformed into a new subspecies, by the powers of the Well of Eternity, becoming the Tauren.

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The tribes that decided to remain in the south moved past the Serpent’s Spine, where constant warring against the Mantid made theme even more savage and honed them into great warriors.

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The three subspecies retained contact with each other until the Great Sundering shattered the land and severed their ties.

About 15.000 years ago, a tribe of dark trolls decided to leave their brethren, as they were not concerned with battles over lands, but rather wanted to live a peaceful life with the nature. The travelled west from the other tribes eventually settling on the shores of the Well of Eternity and made other settlements even as far as the slopes of Mount Hyjal.

The prime source of power that is the Well of Eternity transformed the dark trolls in more powerful and more intelligent beings, suited for their noble spirits, becoming virtually immortal beings. As they changed, the tribe gradually gave up on their ancient heritage and tradition and began worshipping the moon goddess Elune, whom they believed that slumbered in the depths of the Well during the day. From communing with Elune, the formers trolls discovered the name Kalimdor, and also other titanforged words, and even discovered some titanic artifacts scattered around the Well. From this point on, the former trolls adopted the name of “kaldorei”, meaning “the children of the stars”, essentially becoming the night elves.

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As the elven society developed, they began to explore the land and discovered all of its denizens including the driads, the trees, and other woodland creatures, which eventually led them to the peaks of Mount Hyjal and the wild gods that lived there, befriending them. One of these was Cenarius, who saw in the night elves the potential to become the caretakers of the nature. Thus he taught them the ways of nature, eventually leading to the path of druidism.

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For many years the night elves grew in balance with both their draw to the nature and to the arcane magic of the Well of Eternity, eventually building the capital to their small nation at that time, Elun’dris (The Eye of Elune in their tongue), around the Well.

The only creatures that did not want to interact with the night elves were the ancient and reclusive dragons, of which the elves thought that were the guardians of the world.

As time passed, more and more night elves were drawn to the arcane magic and the better lifestyle that it provided, also to the obsession of unlocking the truth behind the Well of Eternity. Many night elves became powerful sorcerers and soon their society began so grow faster and faster, with many temples being built around the magical lake. It was in this era of growth and prosperity that Queen Azshara came to power.

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Also in this era, the night elves were divided in two castes – the Highborne or quel’dorei and the lower castes, who kept the name of kaldorei. Queen Azshara was a very powerful sorceress and was beloved by all of the night elves, despite the fact that there was some ire between the Highborne and the lower castes. In fact, she was loved so much among the elven nation that the capital city of Elun’dris was renamed Zin-Azshari, meaning “the Glory of Azshara”.

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Not even the force of the troll empires was able to stand in front of the Kaldorei Empire’s growth, and soon, it became so large that it was comparable with the ancient Black Empire of the Old Gods. The might and power of Queen Azshara was so great that eclipsed even the wildest dreams of Lei’Shen and the trolls.

Empowered by the Well and wielding arcane magic that not even the greatest priests of the trolls could fathom, the growing elven empire threatened the mighty empires of the Amani and Gurubashi trolls. The elves quickly dismantled the trolls’ defenses and supply lines and the mighty empires fragmented in the manner of years.

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Queen Azshara was not interested in conquest, despite the wins, she simply wanted to end the troll incursion into the elven territory, so she struck a deal with the Zandalari tribe, which still held some power and influence over the other tribes. In exchange for stopping their incursions into the elven controlled territory, the trolls were allowed to keep the sacred mount of Zandalar, as well as their great cities of Zul’Gurub, Zul’Aman and Gundrak.

The trolls agreed, as they know that they stood no chance against the elves’ arcane magic, but up to this day, they kept a deep resentment towards the kaldorei.

As the ages passed, the empire spread across most of the land of Kalimdor, along with their great cities and temples.

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During this time, the Highborne continued to exploit the powers of the Well of Eternity to such great heights that even today the powers wielded by the sorcerers mean nothing compared to those days. The continued reckless practice of arcane magic eventually caused waves of arcane magic to spread into the Twisting Nether, eventually reaching Sargeras, the Dark Titan, and getting his attention.

World of Lorecraft

deadbite · Last edited by deadbite on 01-04-2019, 22:51:00; edited 1 time in total

The Burning Legion, also known as the Legion, Legion Forces, the Burning Shadow or the Great Shadow, is an army made up of seemingly an endless amount of demons from the Twisting Nether and also corrupted races from the Great Dark Beyond.

The Legion is responsible for the annihilation of countless worlds and species in the Great Dark Beyond and also in the Twisting Nether, in their Grand Crusade. The Burning Legion’s agenda is, simply put, to save the Universe by purging it in fire.

But before plunging further into the story of the Burning Legion, let’s first talk about its beginning.

It all starts with the Pantheon of the Titans. When the Titans emerged, they made their goal to spread across the Great Dark and find more like them. One of these Titans was Sargeras, their Champion.

Sargeras was great and noble, but all that started to change when he found out the existence of the demons. Sargeras and his lieutenant, Aggramar fought these demons and after finding out that they seemed to be immortal, as they could only be truly killed in the Twisting Nether, their home dimension, they built a prison world especially to jail them, called Mardum.

Sargeras’ fall to madness accelerated when he discovered a world containing the infant soul of a Titan inside it, a world soul. This world was infested and corrupted by malevolent entities of the Void, the Old Gods.

Frightened by the thought that this corruption could lead to the birth of a Dark Titan, having his allegiance to the Void, Sargeras decided to end the suffering and corruption of the nascent Titan, by striking it down, cleaving the planet in two.

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The rest of the Titans were outraged by Sargeras’ way of dealing with the new world, essentially killing one of their own kind. This was the first time that Sargeras spoke out what he was thinking deep inside: the existence itself is flawed and the only way to save life is to purge it.

As he saw that the other Titans did not share his view, he decided to retire into isolation and, left alone with his thoughts, he meditated and the fear of the Void Lords led him to the decision that he was right, the Universe needs to be purged in order to be saved. The Titan knew that he could not accomplish this alone, he needed an army, and he knew where to find it: Mardum. The Fallen Titan proceeded to shatter the prison world and while doing so, the fel explosion that resulted engulfed him and distorted both his mind and his body. Sargeras offered the demons a simple choice, either join him in his Grand Crusade, or be destroyed. The choice was obvious and the Burning Legion was born, with the demons being granted higher power and intelligence.

The Legion set to attack the first world, and Sargeras personally murdered the constellar that was watching over it. Aggramar was the first to find out about this, and confronted his former mentor and friend, Sargeras, resulting in a battle between the two of them that shattered Sargeras’ sword Gorshalach, and also with Aggramar alive, but greatly wounded.

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Aggramar managed to return to the Pantheon, and the Titans and the Legion met near the world of Nihilam. Both Aman’thul and Aggramar tried to resolve the problem peacefully, appealing to Sargeras’ honor, even informing him of the newly found world soul, Azeroth, said to be more powerful than both Aman’thul and Sargeras, but the Dark Titan was set in his way and proceeded to end the Pantheon, starting with Aggramar, whom he nearly cleaved in two.

Sargeras and the Burning Legion were successful, but this showed Sargeras that, despite his army of demons were ruthless and bloodthirsty, they lacked organization and strategic thinking. Sargeras decided to fill these commanding posts with a race called the Eredar, native to the world of Argus.

The Eredar were led by a wise and powerful triumvirate, consisting of Kil’jaeden, Archimonde and Velen.

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Sargeras appeared in front of the three leaders and offered them great power and knowledge. The former two of the leaders accepted the offer, but Velen was a prophet and saw the truth hidden in Sargeras’ words.

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While his former friends and their followers were transformed into powerful demons by the Dark Titan, Velen and most of his followers escaped their homeworld, Argus, forever becoming known as the Draenei, or “the exiled ones”.

Argus has since become the seat of power of the Burning Legion and the Eredar became the leaders of the endless army, with Kil’jaeden and Archimonde being, alongside their master, Sargeras, the main leaders of the Legion.

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The Burning Legion then started its Grand Crusade, purging world after world and corrupting more races to join the ranks of its army, eventually reaching Azeroth.

Like I said before, the Burning Legion is made up of countless races of demons and also corrupted races of the Great Dark Beyond. The most prominent of these races are:

- The Nathrezim, also known to the Azeroth races as the Dreadlords.

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This race is native to the Twisting Nether world of Nathreza. They are cunning and intelligent, and serve as both emissaries for the lords of the Legion, especially for Kil’jaeden, and also as field commanders and strategists for the Legion armies. The Nathrezim, while being formidable foes to fight on the battlefield, they prefer a different way of fighting, which is by manipulation and subterfuge, often being involved in the nations and kingdoms of Azeroth.

One of their remarkable achievements is the creation of the Runeblade Frostmourne, the weapon of the Lich King. As the Nathrezim feed up with the living energies of the mortal races, they created a sword that feeds with the souls of the living beings that it strikes down.

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The Dreadlods’ homeworld, Nathreza, is said to have now the same fate as Draenor had, being obliterated, or at least partially, by Illidan Stormrage, as he created a massive explosion, by overloading the portal that led to that world.

The leades of the Nathrezim are Tichondrius, Anetheron and Mephistroth, and other notable members of this race include Balnazzar, Mal’ganis, who led Arthas to find Frostmourne, Varimathras, the former Arch Lord of Undercity, and Lothraxion, a former member of the Burning Legion, which is now unique, being infused with the Light, and being the High Commander of the Grand Army of the Light.

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- The Eredar, also known as the Man’ari

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Roughly 25.000 years before the First War, the Eredar were invited to join the Legion, which led to a schism in their race, with the ones who joined the Burning Legion being known as the Man’ari, or “unnatural beings” to those who chose not to join, called the Draenei, or “the exiled ones”.

The Eredar are highly intelligent and are supreme wielders of magic. Their homeworld is Argus, which is now known to inhabit a world soul, similar to how Azeroth does. Like I said before, Argus is now the seat of power of the Burning Legion, with Antorus, the Burning Throne in the center.

The Eredar serve as commanders of the Burning Legion and also powerful warlocks and sorcerers for the endless army, with Kil’jaeden and Archimonde being the supreme leaders of the Burning Legion, serving only Sargeras himself.

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- The Annihilam, commonly known as Pit Lords

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The Annihilam are a powerful race of demons recruited into the Burning Legion by Kil’jaeden and have collosal size and strength. They are used as military commanders and revel in the destruction of everything that exists.

The Pit Lords are so important to the Legion that they are rarely seen on the battlefield, with only Mannoroth, their racial Leader, and Azgalor being seen in the War of the Ancients and the Third War. Even before being recruited into the Burning Legion, the Pit Lords were so brutal that they conquered other races of demons only to pit them against the mortal races of the Great Dark Beyond. Aside of Mannoroth and Azgalor, other notable Annihilam are Argaloth, imprisoned in Tol Barad and Magtheridon, former lord of Outland.

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Mannoroth’s blood was used to corrupt the orcish race of Draenor.

- The Ered’ruin

The Ered’ruin are a race of demons containing three subspecies, the Doomguards, the Doomlords, like Lord Kazzak, and Terrorguards, like Azzinoth, the original wielder of the Warglaves of Azzinoth.

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- The Mo'arg

The Mo’arg are another race of demons consisting of multiple subspecies, ranging from Mo’arg brutes, to the stunted Gan’arg, imposing Felguards and the large and powerful Fel Lords.

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- The Shivarra

Tall six handed female race of demons, with surprisingly few facts known about them, only the fact that they are devoted to their master.

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Besides these major races that make up the elites of the Burning Legion, there are also a lot of other races, including:

- The Tothrezim, a species of demons that share ancestry with the Nathrezim, and are as smart and as cruel as them.

- Imp Mother

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- Imps, small, crackling and evil demons that feed upon magic and life.

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- The Aranasi

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- The Sayaad, also known as Succubus.

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- Anguish Jailors

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- Inquisitors

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- Beholders

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- Other demons with animal forms.

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There are also some other species that were corrupted and included into the burning legion:

- Fel Orcs, created by Gul'dan.

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- Felblood Elves, corrupted blood elves.

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- Felborne, corrupted Nightborne.

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- Fel Naga

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- The Satyrs, corrupted Night Elves.

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- Corrupted Vrykul, led by God King Skovald.

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To Be Continued...

World of Lorecraft