by Blizzard
At Velen’s behest, draenei emissaries tried to make contact with the clans. All attempts to do so were either ignored or met with open hostility. When Rangari scouts reported that the orc clans were uniting into a single army, Velen and the exarchs knew the time for diplomacy had passed. They would need to defend themselves against the battle-hungry orcs.
Rather than launch offensives at the orcs, the draenei leadership decided to defend their holdings. The draenei did not yet know that the Burning Legion was manipulating the clans. Velen and the exarchs considered the orcs victims of the world’s natural disasters and elemental upheaval, just like every other living creature on Draenor.
Exarch Akama, leader of the Vindicators, was charged with organizing the defenses. He dispatched his followers to different draenei settlements across the world. Meanwhile, Artificers constructed new defenses in major cities such as the Temple of Karabor and Shattrath.
Velen himself occupied his time with unraveling what was causing the elemental turmoil. The thought had crossed his mind that the Legion might be responsible, but he had found no evidence of demons on Draenor.
Nonetheless, Velen kept his attention on the stars in the event that the Legion did appear. He wouldn’t realize until it was too late that the demons already had a presence on the world.
Ner’zhul watched the war against the draenei unfold with growing apprehension. He had followed Rulkan’s advice, but what good had come of it thus far? The orcs were devolving into a bloodthirsty people. Of even greater concern was the state of the elements. After the attacks on the draenei began, the world’s elemental spirits had gone completely silent.
Kil’jaeden sensed Ner’zhul’s anxiety, and he acted to retain his hold on the shaman. One night, the false visage of Rulkan again graced Ner’zhul’s dreams. The spirit told the shaman of powerful beings who could help the orcs triumph over the draenei and bring balance to the world. Ner’zhul urged Rulkan to call on these potential allies.
The next night, one of these beings made contact. Kil’jaeden appeared to Ner’zhul in the form of a radiant elemental entity. He told Ner’zhul to push the Horde to victory before the draenei could muster a defense. Kil’jaeden promised that in doing so, Ner’zhul would please the elements.
Though Ner’zhul was initially in awe of this new benefactor, his unease deepened. Kil’jaeden was eager to annihilate the draenei, and he wanted the orcs to slaughter their victims without mercy. The benefactor seemed particularly obsessed with killing the one known as Velen. Ner’zhul had never before communed with a spirit who was so violent.
Also, ever since Kil’jaeden had begun speaking with him, Rulkan had disappeared. Ner’zhul needed her guidance now more than ever. He secretly embarked on a journey to Oshu’gun, hoping to reestablish contact with his dead mate and glean advice from the other ancestral spirits.
Unbeknownst to Ner’zhul, Kil’jaeden was aware of his plans. The elder shaman was not the leader the demon lord had hoped he would be. Kil’jaeden commanded Gul’dan to gather allies who could help him control the Shadowmoon clan, since they could no longer rely on Ner’zhul.
Gul’dan met with a young but highly respected Shadowmoon shaman named Teron’gor. To win the orc to his side, the warlock showed him the might of fel magic, which he claimed was a higher form of shamanism. Teron’gor had spent too long trying and failing to call on the elements for aid. After experiencing fel magic for the first time, he knew he’d found a means to make a difference in the world, a means to help his troubled race.
Teron’gor was only the first Shadowmoon shaman to become a warlock. Slowly, Gul’dan won other shaman to his side. Whatever noble intentions these orcs once had faded with the influx of fel energy. The corruptive magic twisted their thoughts and darkened their hearts.
They became loyal to Gul’dan alone.
As Gul’dan trained his warlocks, Ner’zhul reached Oshu’gun. He called out to the ancestors, his force of will so strong that he broke through the unseen barriers that Kil’jaeden had placed around the sacred mountain. A storm of ethereal voices howled in the shaman’s mind. Among them was his mate, Rulkan.
This was not the guise assumed by Kil’jaeden. It was the real Rulkan. The spirit revealed that Ner’zhul had been used. The draenei were not the enemy. Kil’jaeden was. He was not concerned with saving the orcs. His goal was to corrupt them. With Gul’dan’s help, Kil’jaeden had coerced Ner’zhul into forming the Horde and igniting war against the innocent draenei.
Rulkan and the other ancestral spirits then turned their backs on Ner’zhul. Their silent condemnation crushed the elder shaman, for he knew that there was nothing he could ever do to win back their favor. For the spiritual orcs, such a fate was worse than death.
Shame flooded through Ner’zhul. The ancestors were right to disavow him. He had been a fool, delivering the orcs into the hands of evil without even realizing it. His head bowed and his heart heavy, he skulked back to Shadowmoon Valley to decide what he would do in the days ahead. At the very least, he believed he could find ways to sabotage whatever Gul’dan and Kil’jaeden planned for the orcs.
He would never have that chance. Before the chieftain reached Shadowmoon Valley, Gul’dan and his new followers apprehended him.
Many of the warlocks called for Ner’zhul’s death, but Gul’dan did not indulge them. Kil’jaeden had given his servant specific orders regarding the elder shaman. The demon lord wanted Ner’zhul to watch what would become of the orc race. Kil’jaeden also had practical reasons for keeping the elder shaman alive. Ner’zhul had been the one to lobby for war against the draenei. If he suddenly disappeared, it would raise suspicion among the other clans.
In the weeks and months to come, Gul’dan and his warlocks would constantly abuse Ner’zhul and treat him as little more than a slave. The elder shaman feared death, and he became too weak and timid to disobey his masters. He would gradually fade from the public eye, and his usurpers would become the voice of the Shadowmoon clan.
While Gul’dan betrayed Ner’zhul, the orcs continued their war against the draenei. The clans crushed small outposts across the world, but they were not as successful with seizing larger settlements. The draenei’s defenses were mighty, and their armies worked in unison.
The orcs were quite the opposite. Rival chieftains like Blackhand and Grommash Hellscream often argued over battle tactics. These disagreements ignited fighting between the clans. They were a Horde in name only.
Kil’jaeden was well aware of this. He had watched the war unfold with growing displeasure. Gul’dan yearned to take Ner’zhul’s place and control the Horde, but the demon lord denied him the opportunity. As useful as the warlock was, he couldn’t serve as a leader. His strength lay in subterfuge and manipulation—activities best performed in the shadows.
The orcs needed a true leader. They needed a warchief.
Kil’jaeden’s voice thundered in Gul’dan’s mind. He commanded the orc to find another leader for the Horde. Without one, the clans were doomed to crumble and fall to the draenei. Though Gul’dan was furious that his master would not allow him to rule over the Horde, he obeyed. The warlock’s lust for power was second only to his fear of Kil’jaeden.
Gul’dan knew of only one orc with the strength and confidence to exert control over the Horde: Chieftain Blackhand. Of all the clans, his Blackrocks had been the most successful against the draenei. If they led the Horde, they could impose their strict military discipline on the other orcs. The Blackrocks could also use their elemental forges to arm the clans and create massive war machines to destroy the draenei’s defenses.
Gul’dan met with Blackhand and urged him to take up the mantle of warchief. If he did, the warlock promised to grant his clan otherworldly strength. Not only would Blackhand’s shaman wield power again, but his soldiers would become mightier than those of the other clans. Blackhand himself would be remembered as the greatest orc leader who had ever lived.
The warlock knew it would take more than promis
es to win Blackhand’s support. Gul’dan trained some of the Blackrock clan’s shaman in the ways of fel magic. He also taught these new initiates how to magically increase the number of soldiers in their clan. The warlocks flooded adolescent orcs with fel power. The influx of magic caused the orcs to grow rapidly and gave them the strength of adult warriors. But another consequence was the psychological effect this technique had. The fel energies warped the young orcs’ minds and left them prone to sudden outbursts of violence.
Regardless of the drawbacks, Blackhand was astounded by the results. He ordered the warlocks to transform his young sons, Dal’rend and Maim, into “proper soldiers.”
Seeing Gul’dan as a useful ally, Blackhand agreed to lead the Horde. The warlock vowed to create a clandestine order to help them watch over the orcs and maintain control. This group would be known as the Shadow Council, and Blackhand would be one of its members. What Gul’dan did not reveal was that his trusted Shadowmoon warlocks would form the inner circle of this secretive order, and they would owe their loyalty to him and him alone. Blackhand’s inclusion in the Shadow Council was merely a tactic used by Gul’dan to trick the warchief into thinking he would hold authority over all aspects of the Horde.
Distrust festered between Gul’dan and Blackhand, and for good reason. They saw each other as a means to an end. Gul’dan intended to use Blackhand as a puppet ruler. Through the Shadow Council, the warlock would control the Horde and its destiny. Meanwhile, Blackhand was no fool, and he assumed Gul’dan would seek power for himself. He was confident he would not be used by the warlock. To the contrary, he would use Gul’dan to secure his place in orcish history.
While Blackhand renewed the orcs’ offensive against the draenei, Gul’dan formed his Shadow Council. Its initial members were the first Shadowmoon warlocks, including Teron’gor. Individuals from other clans also joined the order. They were sworn to secrecy and warned not to betray the Shadow Council’s existence or purpose to anyone.
Gul’dan inducted more than just orcs into the secret order. He sought out powerful individuals across Draenor. The two who would prove most effective were Garona and Cho’gall.
Garona hailed from the Bladewind clan. Her father had been a great orc warrior, and her mother had been a draenei prisoner. Garona was not the first half-breed born into the clan, but she was one of the few who survived past childhood. Years of abuse had forged Garona into a ferocious fighter. Apart from natural physical strength, she also possessed a keen intelligence and a gift with tongues. She had mastered the draenei’s language from other Bladewind captives, and her clan had often used her as an interpreter.
After the draenei destroyed the main Bladewind village, Garona fled into the wilds of Terokkar. She had worked her way east before running across the Shadow Council. While some of the warlocks viewed Garona as an oddity, Gul’dan saw great potential in her.
Gul’dan sympathized with Garona to win her trust—he knew well the pains of living as an outcast. Once the half-breed put down her guard, the Shadow Council struck. Gul’dan and his warlocks called upon their dark power to ensorcell Garona and use her as an assassin.
Cho’gall served a much different role than Garona. As a two-headed ogre, Cho’gall was treated as an omen of good fortune. He had lived a life of privilege in Highmaul, where he tutored under the most talented ogre sorcerers. Cho’gall had a natural affinity to the arcane arts. He gained an immense following among Highmaul’s common ogres, but not among the city’s aristocracy.
Cho’gall’s arrogance and lust for power put him at odds with the ruling elite. High-ranking ogres feared that his growing popularity would allow him to seize control of the city. To prevent that, the aristocracy tried to assassinate Cho’gall. The ogre mage narrowly survived the attempt on his life, and he fled from Highmaul.
THE NECROLYTES
With Kil’jaeden’s help, Gul’dan also formed a group of orcs called necrolytes. They dedicated themselves to learning the dark art of necromancy. Through it, they would be able to spread plagues to the draenei and raise the dead to fight at the Horde’s side.
Cho’gall thirsted for vengeance, but he knew it would not come unless he acquired more power. As he searched the world for knowledge and weapons, he came across the Shadow Council and its fel magics.
Gul’dan was intrigued by Cho’gall’s unfettered confidence and insatiable lust for power. He made the ogre mage his foremost apprentice, and he taught him the secrets of fel magic and told him of the Burning Legion’s existence.
Though Cho’gall pledged his loyalties to Gul’dan, he was prepared to break them at any time. The ogre mage wanted only power, and he was not interested in the ideologies Gul’dan spouted concerning demons and the Legion. The moment Gul’dan and the Shadow Council ceased being useful, Cho’gall was prepared to turn his back on them.
Though Gul’dan had won Blackhand’s support, he knew the other clans would not accept the Blackrock chieftain as their warchief. Not yet. He dispatched his Shadow Council agents to the orcish territories, spreading word of Blackhand’s mighty deeds. They claimed that his shaman had discovered new power and tapped into a force even greater than the elements. Many orcs grew intrigued by these mysterious stories, and they looked upon Blackhand with awe.
During their journeys, the Shadow Council agents also spied on the clans. They took note of those orcs who opposed the Horde, and they relayed this information back to Gul’dan. There was one orc in particular who drew the warlock’s ire: Chieftain Zagrel of the Whiteclaw clan. He had called on the clans to end their pointless war with the draenei and focus their attention on shamanic rituals. Zagrel believed that only through dedicated worship and adherence to old traditions could the orcs rekindle their relationship with the elemental spirits.
If he were given enough time, Gul’dan feared that Zagrel could win the support of orcs who questioned the Horde—orcs like Chieftain Durotan and his Frostwolves. The warlock would need to deal with the Whiteclaws’ troublesome leader quickly, and he had the perfect weapon.
Gul’dan ordered Garona to strike down Chieftain Zagrel. The ensorcelled half-orc could not resist his commands. As silent as a shadow, she slipped into the Whiteclaws’ encampment and stabbed Zagrel through the heart. None of his clan would ever know she’d been there. After their leader’s untimely death, inner turmoil crippled the clan as Zagrel’s brothers and sons battled for the title of chieftain. The Whiteclaws would endure, but they would never be as strong as they had once been.
THE SHADOW COUNCIL LORDS OVER NER’ZHUL
Chieftain Durotan was already growing wary of the war against the draenei. Zagrel’s demise only deepened his unease. It was not a mere coincidence that the Horde’s most vocal opponent had died. Yet Durotan had no proof of who had murdered the Whiteclaw chieftain. Had it been one of his power-hungry kin, or had it been the work of some other, unseen force?
With Zagrel eliminated and respect for the Blackrock clan on the rise, Gul’dan called a meeting of the chieftains and their shaman at Oshu’gun. The time had come to nominate Blackhand as the Horde’s leader, but the warlock had one last ploy to secure support for the new warchief.
Gul’dan preyed on the fears of the shaman at Oshu’gun. They had begged and groveled to the elements for years to no avail. Now they needed to face the harsh truth: the world’s feckless spirits had abandoned the orcs. Yet Gul’dan said there was still hope for the shaman. He proclaimed that the Blackrocks had restored their strength with a glorious new power.
Its name was fel magic, and it was the orcs’ only hope of saving themselves from the draenei.
Gul’dan claimed that benevolent beings had taught the Blackrocks how to wield this magic. They were eager to secure victory for the orcs. Yet Gul’dan never revealed the name Kil’jaeden to the clans, nor did he speak of demons. Not even Blackhand knew about the Burning Legion. Only Gul’dan’s most loyal Shadow Council agents were aware of the full truth.
The Blackrock warlocks demonstrated their
magics on captive draenei, siphoning the prisoners’ life essence and burning them from the inside out. Having been powerless for so long, the shaman pleaded with the Blackrocks to share the secrets of their fel might.
Even Drek’Thar of the Frostwolves beseeched Durotan for permission to learn this magic. Though plagued with suspicion about fel magic and its seemingly corruptive properties, the chieftain gave his blessing to Drek’Thar. To deny his shaman such power would be to put the Frostwolf clan in a place of weakness. Durotan would not allow that to happen.
Drek’Thar was only one of many shaman to embrace fel magic. Orcs from all clans tutored under Blackrock warlocks. It was just as Gul’dan had planned. The Blackrocks and their chieftain were seen as the masters of fel magic, and they were treated with immense reverence.
As the shaman basked in the strength of fel magic, Gul’dan addressed the orcs once again. He warned that the draenei were mobilizing their defenses. If the clans did not work together, they would surely lose the war, even with fel magic at their command. What the orcs needed was a single leader to oversee military operations—a warchief to command the chieftains.
And who would be better to fill such a role than Blackhand, who had led his clan to victory after victory against the draenei?
Some chieftains saw Blackhand as a rival, but none could deny his power. He held the secrets of fel magic. He had also transformed his clan into an unstoppable war machine. If the chieftains named Blackhand their leader, perhaps he could do the same for their clans.
