by Aurael on Oct 20, 2006
by Amber "Aurael" Weldon
The world of Azeroth, from its beginning, has had an enemy which has threatened all life on the world. That enemy is the Burning Legion, started by the rebel Titan Sargeras. They call their desire to consume and destroy all life on all worlds the Burning Crusade.
All problems on present-day Azeroth could be blamed on the Burning Legion and their destructive influence on the inhabitants of the world. The world of Azeroth consisted of a single, perfect continent called Kalimdor which surrounded a large lake of energy, The Well of Eternity (the fount of life for Azeroth). The humanoid race of
dark-skinned elves called the Kaldorei and ruled by their queen, Azshara, began their civilization on the banks of the Well.
The elves, curious about the energy surrounding the Well, began to investigate it. They soon learned primitive magic which sent waves of energy spiraling up through the Twisting Nether (which connected Azeroth with other worlds). This caught the attention of Sargeras and his Burning Legion.
The trouble began with the seduction of the Kaldorei queen Azshara by Sargeras. The Highborne elves (the servitors of Azshara) helped their queen open a portal which allowed the Burning Legion access to the world. This act led to the division of the Kaldorei. The Highborne, also known as the Quel'dorei, were addicted to the magical energies they found around the Well of Eternity. The Kaldorei, who opposed magic, fought against their Quel'dorei bretheren, attempting to stop the opening of the portal within the Well of Eternity. The power surrounding the Highborne caused the continent of Kalimdor to split into peices. A sea formed between the land masses, and in the center of the sea, where the Well of Eternity had stood, a giant swirling storm of energy remained. This became known as the Maelstrom.
Queen Azshara and her Highborne elite were formed into the naga and they formed a city at the bottom of the Maelstrom. The destruction of the Well stopped the Legion from entering Azeroth, but at a terrible cost. The survivors of the Great Sundering (as the destruction of the single continent of Kalimdor came to be called) made their way back to a peice of the broken landmass and set about rebuilding their civilization. With the help of dragons, they were able to grow a colossal tree, known as the World Tree which would guard the elves against age and disease.
The surviving Highborne could not give up their love for magic, which distressed the Kaldorei so much that they banished them from their lands. The Quel'dorei set off in ships and eventually came to land in the land of Lordaeron and came to be known as high elves. They gave up the worship of the Kaldorei's moon god Elune and walked freely during the day, rather than the night. Thus, their skin became lighter and they lost some of their height. On this new land, the high elves discovered tribes of trolls, who repeatedly attacked them for control of land and also came into contact with humans.
The humans, brought together under the tribe of Arathi formed a city-state in southern Lordaeron which they called Strom. The elves, weary of fighting trolls, came to the humans for help. They offered to trade magical knowledge to the humans in return for help in the fight against the warbands. The humans agreed, and together they defeated the trolls. Never again did the trolls form together into one nation and the humans and high elves shared a peaceful bond for many years.
Meanwhile, the humans grew in magical power and the power they carelessly used once again drew the notice of the Burning Legion. Demons began to enter the
mage-city of Dalaran. In order to combat these demons, the elves and humans decided to imbue a person with both elven and human magic. This secret sect became known as the Guardians of Tirisfal. When one Guardian became too old or wearied from the secret war against the demons, the council would choose another Guardian.
The Guardian Aegwynn came to distrust the council during her period of Guardianship. She decided that, rather than passing her power to a person of the council's choosing, that she would have a child and pass her power on to him. Aegwynn had gone further than any other guardian in the battle against the demons. She fought the shade of Sargeras himself. However, upon his defeat, he transferred his soul into her and remained there, dormant and secret. When she became pregnant, Sargeras possessed the infant while in the womb. She had her child and named the boy Medivh.
During all this, the earthen (dwarf-like beings made from living stone) which had been sealed in Uldaman at the time of the Great Sundering woke to find themselves changed. They had become mortal creatures during their slumber. They called themselves dwarves and began to mine the depths of the world. Three factions arose out of the dwarves of Ironforge. These factions eventually separated into the Wildhammer dwarves of Aerie Peak, the Dark Iron dwarves who became enslaved by the fire elemental Ragnaros, and the Bronzebeard clan that stayed to rule Ironforge.
Another planet played a part in the history of Azeroth. In the reaches of the universe, Sargeras' lieutenant Kil'jaeden came across the world of Draenor--a world inhabited by the shamanistic orcs and peaceful draenei. Kil'jaeden decided that, cultivated properly, the world could produce fine forces for the Burning Legion. He corrupted the orcs into a savage, blood-thirsty people. Only one orc cheiftan stood against these changes, Durotan of the Frostwolf clan.
Medivh, now grown and corrupted by Sargeras, opened the Dark Portal with help of the Shadow Council warlocks. This allowed the orcs of Draenor to come into Azeroth. In their blood-thirsty, enraged state they launched their full might against the human kingdom of Stormwind. In order to keep dissension from the ranks, the orc commander had the family of Durotar murdered. However, Durotar's infant son Thrall survived. He was adopted by a human and raised as a slave.
Eventually, the humans gained the upper hand in the war. The orcs fled back to Draenor, but an orc of the Shadow Council was using artifacts from Azeroth to open
other Dark Portals on other worlds. This caused the word of Draenor to begin to unravel. The orcs escaped the destruction back through the Dark Portal, which was
destroyed. The orcs were now stuck on Azeroth. They were rounded up by the humans and placed them in internment camps. The orphan Thrall was given a good
education, despite his status as a slave. He eventually came to free the orcs and brought them all together to form a new society. The orcs, by this time, had receded from their savage, blood-thirsty ways. Thrall became the greatest leader the orcs had ever known.
The orcs that had been trying to create the new Dark Portals were led by Ner'zhul. They escaped Draenor by fleeing into the Twisting Nether, but the Burning Legion was waiting for them. Kil'jaeden, needing a new army for the destruction of Azeroth, transformed Ner'zhul into the Lich king and his followers were transformed into death knights. They were given the power to bring a deadly plague to Azeroth. Whoever died of the plague would rise as an undead, bound to serve Ner'zhul. A new religion was formed by the human mage Kel'Thuzad known as the Cult of the Damned. The cult worshipped Ner'zhul as a god and helped to spread the plague throughout Lordaeron. Many fell to the plague, only to rise again as undead.
The undead Scourge transformed the kingdom of Lordaeron into the Plaguelands. The high elves, mourning the loss of their homelands, came to call themselves blood elves and sought out the naga to secure their magical energy. The blood elves were condemned for traitors and cast out of the Alliance. The dwarves remained loyal to the Alliance in thanks for the help given when the orcs were waging war against all people on Azeroth. The night elves, who had been attacked by a remainder of savage orcs that had broke from Thrall's leadership, joined the Alliance as well.
The orcs, led by Thrall, befriended Cairne Bloodhoof and his mighty tauren warriors and with the help of the taurens, settled in a land that they named Durotar, after Thrall's father. They were joined by the trolls of the Darkspear Tribe and formed a loose coalition, dedicated to survival and prosperity. A group of undead who decided that they were not going to be controlled by the Lich King broke away from the Scourge, becoming the Forsaken.
This brings us up to the time that World of Warcraft started. If you would like to read the extensive lore behind the World of Warcraft universe, visit the following: World of Warcraft Site - Story (the official lore from Blizzard) WoW Wiki (a collection of all the history from the World of Warcraft universe into a searchableIf you have any questions or would like to discuss the lore, visit the WoW TenTon Hammer Forums or email me at Aurael@tentonhammer.com.