World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 (31 page)

I
n the southern reaches of the Eastern Kingdoms, the
Gurubashi jungle
trolls languished in poverty and hardship. They had never fully recovered from the destruction wrought by the
Sundering. Many hunting and farming grounds were forever lost, and famine was a constant companion for the empire.

Desperate to reclaim their former glory, the Gurubashi of Stranglethorn Vale eventually turned to the powerful
loa spirits whom the trolls worshipped. One such creature answered their call:
Hakkar the Soulflayer, the Loa of Blood. The malevolent spirit promised to help the Gurubashi extend their empire across the lower half of the Eastern Kingdoms. In return, he demanded large numbers of living sacrifices.

The Gurubashi who pledged their loyalties to Hakkar became known as the
Hakkari. They soundly defeated nearby packs of gnolls and tribes of murlocs, as well as other trolls who opposed Hakkar. Those taken prisoner soon wished they had died in battle; Hakkar’s disembodied spirit gorged on the blood of the captives for years. Under the Hakkari’s control, the Gurubashi had achieved all they had hoped, conquering vast swaths of land and even many of the islands that dotted the coasts of the South Seas.

The
Zandalari, observing these events from afar, were pleased at first with the Gurubashi’s return to conquest and traditional worship. Yet once it became clear that Hakkar’s bloodlust would
never
be sated, they knew that the fiendish god would drive not only the troll race to destruction, but the entire world.

The Zandalari rallied their forces and set sail for the Eastern Kingdoms. There, they met with Gurubashi trolls who had kept their dissent hidden from the Hakkari. The Zandalari and their new allies learned that a faction of Hakkar’s most zealous priests, the
Atal’ai, were attempting to summon the loa’s spirit into a living form. This in turn would awaken terrible new dimensions of his power and spell certain doom for the troll race.

Horrified by the Atal’ai’s plans, the Zandalari host stormed the Gurubashi capital of
Zul’Gurub. Battles raged among the vine-covered ziggurats of the temple city day and night. Finally, atop Hakkar’s bloodstained shrine, the Zandalari defeated Hakkar and most of his crazed followers.

Despite this victory, the Zandalari and their allies agreed to remain vigilant for any sign of Hakkar’s reappearance. The loa was not truly dead—his spirit had merely been banished from the physical world.

A number of his fanatical Atal’ai priests had also escaped into the jungles surrounding Zul’Gurub. These trolls finally settled in the Swamp of Sorrows, north of the Gurubashi capital. In the heart of the wild marshland, they secretly constructed a great temple to their bloodthirsty loa: the
Temple of Atal’Hakkar.

Deep within the temple, the Atal’ai continued their worship of Hakkar. They practiced grisly rituals and ceremonies, hoping to once again summon the loa into the physical world. Dark magics twisted the flora and fauna surrounding the temple. This in turn drew the attention of the green Dragon Aspect,
Ysera.

Upon learning of the Atal’ai’s plans to summon Hakkar, Ysera unleashed her powers on the temple and its inhabitants. The Dragon Aspect’s attack buckled the temple’s walls and blasted its foundations apart. The immense ziggurat began sinking beneath the land. As the swampy mire engulfed the temple, the terrified Atal’ai abandoned their rituals and scattered into the marshlands.

Though Ysera had thwarted Hakkar’s return, she knew that the Atal’ai might someday attempt to summon the loa again. Thus, she commanded a number of her loyal green dragons to watch over the ruined temple and ensure it would never again be used to bring such evil into the world.

F
ar across the sea from the Gurubashi empire, a secretive society of
Highborne who had survived the Great Sundering grappled with an uncertain future. They were known as the
Shen’dralar
, meaning “Those Who Remain Hidden.” Nearly ten thousand years before, Queen
Azshara had charged them with the storage and safekeeping of her most precious tomes. Led by Prince
Tortheldrin, the Shen’dralar dutifully obeyed their queen. They journeyed into the misty heart of Kalimdor’s southern jungles and established a grand city called
Eldre’Thalas.

When the Great Sundering later decimated the world, Eldre’Thalas narrowly escaped destruction. Only the efforts of Tortheldrin and his followers spared the city. Together, they wove a great spell to shield Eldre’Thalas from the destructive forces of the Sundering.

Although they had saved their city, the Shen’dralar soon discovered that the
Well of Eternity had been consumed in the Sundering. Without the fount of power to draw on, Tortheldrin and his followers saw their immortality greatly diminished. The Shen’dralar soon fell into a deep lethargy and languished in their isolated sanctuary.

Tortheldrin eventually formulated a plan to revitalize the Shen’dralar. He forged pylons in one of the damaged wings of Eldre’Thalas, constructing a prison to house a new source of power: a demon named
Immol’thar. To the shock of the other Shen’dralar, Tortheldrin had covertly summoned and bound the terrifying creature to siphon the demon’s power and give it to his followers. Any objections were quickly settled once the other Shen’dralar experienced the demon’s energy for themselves. Though dark and volatile, Immol’thar’s power was invigorating and addictive, more so than even the Well of Eternity had been.

The Shen’dralar reveled in their newfound source of power, but they knew that keeping Immol’thar in their midst was dangerous. Thus, they developed a means to use the demon’s power to keep him imprisoned. For thousands of years, all seemed well.

Yet the cost of keeping Immol’thar restrained required more and more power. Nearly nine thousand years after the Sundering, the demon’s prison crossed a dangerous threshold. It began consuming so much energy that the Shen’dralar were left with none to siphon for themselves. Almost overnight, Tortheldrin’s seemingly ingenious plan unraveled, and his access to the demon’s magic was gone.

THE HIGHBORNE CITY OF ELDRE’THALAS (LATER KNOWN AS DIRE MAUL)

Not only had the
Shen’dralar lost their immortality once again, but they had also grown hopelessly addicted to
Immol’thar’s potent energies. Desperate to regain his power,
Tortheldrin plotted with his closest allies and murdered the other Shen’dralar in cold blood.

Tortheldrin’s treacherous plan worked. Having thinned the population, the remaining elves could draw on Immol’thar’s power indefinitely.

With the Shen’dralar’s numbers diminished, Tortheldrin and his followers abandoned much of their once-glorious city. The greater part of Eldre’Thalas fell into darkness and disrepair. Soon, other creatures from the surrounding jungles moved in to stake their claim to the crumbling elven refuge.

A
s Tortheldrin and his followers retreated deeper into Eldre’Thalas, the kingdom of
Arathor began to split apart. The once-small trading outposts and cities that had been established after the
Troll Wars had grown into mighty city-states of their own. Eventually,
Strom saw its influence over these regions slip away.

The island bastion of
Kul Tiras continued its traditions of trading and shipping. The city-state boasted a massive navy—the greatest in all of Arathor. Its most daring captains explored the coasts of the Eastern Kingdoms, returning with exotic goods and tales of strange lands in the remote corners of the continent.

Kul Tiras’s shipping and fishing economy eclipsed the maritime power of its northern neighbor:
Gilneas. Unable to compete with Kul Tiras’s burgeoning navy, Gilneas focused on bolstering its land-based armies and mercantile capabilities. The military of Gilneas became one of the most powerful in Arathor, equaled only by the city-state of Alterac, which held dominion over much of the northlands.

Gilneas and Alterac often combined their forces and led grand expeditions to secure the borders of Arathor. South of Strom, in Khaz Modan, they discovered the
dwarves and the
gnomes. The expeditionary forces marveled at the wondrous feats of construction and engineering that were
Ironforge and
Gnomeregan. The
humans became quick friends with both races, especially the dwarves, who also shared their love of battle, storytelling, and strong ale. The three cultures engaged in rigorous trade, exchanging knowledge of smithing, mining, engineering, and even arcane magic.

Over the years, Strom’s power continued to wane. Bound by rocky, mountainous terrain and lacking natural resources, Strom could not compete with the economies of the other city-states. Eventually, many of Strom’s noble families departed to the fertile valleys and pastures of the north. There, they founded a city-state and named it after the surrounding region:
Lordaeron. The nobles used their wealth to buy up large plots of land, some of which had been developed by earlier settlers. These areas included the Agamand Mills and the farmsteads owned by the
Balnir and Solliden families.

L
ORDAERON AND THE
H
OLY
L
IGHT

After the Troll Wars, a number of human priests began having faint visions and dreams of angelic beings, geometric forms that thrummed with living
light. Although they did not know it, the priests had actually communed with the
naaru in the
Great Dark Beyond. Through this connection, the naaru guided the hearts of some humans and introduced them to the Holy Light
.