Though the Pantheon did not know it, their intuition was correct. A miraculous new world was taking shape in an isolated corner of the Great Dark. Deep within this world’s core, the spirit of a mighty and noble titan stirred to life.
One day, it would be known as Azeroth.
As the nascent titan developed, elemental spirits roamed across the world’s surface. Over the ages, these beings became ever more erratic and destructive. The burgeoning world-soul was so vast that it had drawn in and consumed much of the fifth element, Spirit. Without this primordial force to create balance, Azeroth’s elemental spirits descended into chaos.
Fire, earth, air, and water—these were the forces that lorded over the infant world. They reveled in unending strife, keeping the face of Azeroth in constant elemental flux. Four elemental lords, powerful beyond mortal comprehension, reigned supreme over innumerable lesser spirits.
Of the elemental lords, none could match the ruthless cunning of Al’Akir the Windlord. He often sent his elusive tempest minions to spy on his enemies and sow distrust among their ranks. Using feints and ruses, he would pit the other elementals against each other, only later to unleash the full fury of his servants on his weakened foes. The winds would howl and the skies would darken with storms at his approach. As lightning blasted the world’s surface, Al’Akir’s whirlwind elementals would come screaming from the heavens, enveloping his foes in monstrous cyclones.
Ragnaros the Firelord despised Al’Akir’s cowardly ways. Compulsive and brash, the Firelord embraced brute force to annihilate his enemies. Wherever he went, volcanoes would burst through the world’s crust, spewing forth rivers of fire and destruction. Ragnaros longed for nothing more than to boil the seas, reduce the mountains to slag, and choke the skies with ember and ash. The other elemental lords fostered a deep hatred of Ragnaros for his brazen and devastating assaults.
Therazane the Stonemother was the most reclusive elemental ruler. Ever protective of her children, she raised towering mountain ranges to ward off her enemies’ assaults. Only after they had worn themselves thin against her impenetrable fortifications would the Stonemother emerge, wrenching open giant chasms in the earth and swallowing entire elemental armies whole. Those who survived would meet oblivion at the fists of Therazane’s most powerful servants: walking mountains of unforgiving crystal and stone.
The wise Neptulon the Tidehunter was careful not to fall for Al’Akir’s schemes or to commit his minions to fruitless attacks against Therazane’s citadels. As the armies of fire, air, and earth clashed across the face of Azeroth, the Tidehunter and his elementals would divide and conquer their rivals in brilliant routs. When his foes fled, Neptulon would crush them beneath tidal waves that dwarfed even Therazane’s highest mountain holdings.
The apocalyptic battles between the elemental lords raged for untold millennia. Dominion over Azeroth constantly shifted between the factions, each one striving to remake the world in its own image. Yet for the elementals, victory was secondary to the conflict itself. To them, the world’s calamitous state was sublime, and their only desire was to continue their endless cycle of chaos.
The elemental lords reveled amid the primordial bedlam until a group of Old Gods plummeted down from the Great Dark. They slammed into Azeroth’s surface, embedding themselves in different locations across the world. These Old Gods towered over the land, mountains of flesh, pockmarked with hundreds of gnashing maws and black, unfeeling eyes. A miasma of despair soon enveloped everything that lay in their writhing shadows.
Like gargantuan, cancerous pustules, the Old Gods spread their corruptive influence across the landscape. The lands around them seethed and withered, turning black and lifeless for leagues upon leagues. All the while, the tendrils of the Old Gods wormed into the world’s crust, slithering deeper and deeper toward the defenseless heart of Azeroth.
Organic matter seeped from the Old Gods’ blighted forms, giving rise to two distinct races. The first were the cunning and intelligent n’raqi, also known as the “faceless ones.” The second were the aqir, insectoids of incredible resilience and strength. As the physical manifestations of the Old Gods’ will, both of these races would serve their masters with fanatical loyalty.
Through their new servants, the Old Gods expanded the borders of their remote dominions. The n’raqi acted as ruthless taskmasters, employing the aqir as laborers to erect towering citadels and temple cities around their masters’ colossal bulks. The greatest of these bastions was built around Y’Shaarj, the most powerful and wicked of the Old Gods. This burgeoning civilization was located near the center of Azeroth’s largest continent. Y’Shaarj’s holdings, along with the other Old God domains, would soon spread across the world and become known as the Black Empire.
The rise of the Black Empire did not go unnoticed by the elementals. Seeing the Old Gods as a challenge to their dominion, the elemental lords moved to excise the entities from their world. For the first time in Azeroth’s history, the world’s native spirits worked in unison against a common enemy.
Al’Akir’s tempests joined with Ragnaros’s fiery servants, creating monstrous cyclones of flame. These blistering firestorms raged over the world, reducing the Black Empire’s citadels to ash. Elsewhere, Therazane raised jagged rock walls to corral her enemies and shatter their temple cities. Neptulon and his tidal minions then swept in, crushing the n’raqi and the aqir between unyielding stone and the fury of the seas.
Yet for all their fervor, the elementals could not topple the Black Empire. No matter how many n’raqi and aqir died, more and more would spawn from the Old Gods’ putrid forms like larvae from a hive. The n’raqi and the aqir engulfed the land like an unstoppable pestilence, shattering the elementals’ forms.
In the end, the Old Gods enslaved the elementals and their lords. Without the native spirits to counter the n’raqi and the aqir, the borders of the Black Empire crept over much of the desiccated world. Perpetual twilight descended upon Azeroth, and the world spiraled into an abyss of suffering and death.
Meanwhile, in the depths of the Great Dark Beyond, Aggramar continued his quest to eradicate all signs of demonic influence. His battles led him from one world to another, from one demon-beset civilization to the next. Though Aggramar bore the full weight of this task alone, his resolve never wavered. He believed with all his heart that Sargeras would one day return and see that the Pantheon’s cause was right.
It was during his long and lonely journeys that Aggramar sensed something extraordinary: the tranquil dreams of a slumbering world-soul, billowing across the cosmos. The song of life led him to a world that the Pantheon had not yet discovered, a world they would later name “Azeroth.”
Nestled within the world’s core was one of Aggramar’s kin—one far more powerful than any yet encountered. The spirit was so mighty that Aggramar sensed its dreams even through the din of activity that rattled across the world’s surface.
Yet as Aggramar drew closer to Azeroth and beheld the world, horror seized him. Void energies shrouded the world’s surface like a layer of diseased flesh. From the ruined landscape rose the Old Gods and their Black Empire. Miraculously, the nascent titan’s spirit remained uncorrupted, but Aggramar knew it was only a matter of time before it succumbed to the Void.
Aggramar sought counsel with the rest of the Pantheon, informing them of his discovery. Clearly, this was proof that Sargeras had been right about the void lords and their plans. Aggramar urged the other titans to take action with all due haste before Azeroth was lost forever.
Eonar was quick to champion Aggramar’s cause. She compelled the other Pantheon members to think of the world’s potential. If brought to maturity, this new titan could exceed even Sargeras’s considerable might, she argued. Indeed, it could become their greatest warrior, one capable of neutralizing the void lords once and for all. But more than that, Azeroth was one of them—a lost and vulnerable member of their family. The Pantheon could not abandon their own sibling to the clutches of the void lords
.
Eonar’s words stirred the hearts of the rest of the Pantheon. They unanimously agreed to save Azeroth, no matter the cost.
Aggramar formulated a bold plan of attack: all members of the Pantheon would travel to Azeroth and purge the Black Empire that had claimed it. They would not, however, take action directly. Due to their colossal forms, Aggramar feared the Pantheon would irreparably damage, or even kill, the world-soul. Instead, he proposed creating mighty constructs to act as the Pantheon’s hands and prosecute their will against the Black Empire.
Under the guidance of the great forger Khaz’goroth, the Pantheon crafted an army of enormous servants from the crust of Azeroth itself: the aesir and the vanir. The aesir were fashioned from metal, and they would command the powers of storms. The vanir were formed from stone, and they would hold sway over the earth. Collectively, these mighty creatures would be known as the titan-forged.
The members of the Pantheon imbued a number of their servants with their specific likenesses and powers to lead the rest of the titan-forged. These empowered beings were called the keepers. Though they would develop their own personalities in time, they would forever after bear the mark and abilities of their makers.
Aman’Thul gifted some of his vast abilities to Highkeeper Ra and Keeper Odyn. Khaz’goroth bestowed his mastery over the earth and forging to Keeper Archaedas. Golganneth granted Keepers Thorim and Hodir dominion over the storms and skies. Eonar gave Keeper Freya command over Azeroth’s flora and fauna. Norgannon lent a portion of his intellect and mastery of magic to Keepers Loken and Mimiron. Lastly, Aggramar imparted his strength and courage to Keeper Tyr, who would become the greatest warrior of the titan-forged.
With this new army molded from the world’s crust, the Pantheon went to war. The time to shatter the Black Empire and free Azeroth from its malign influence had come …
Led by the keepers, the titan-forged slammed into the Black Empire’s northernmost holdings.
The resilience and strength of the Pantheon’s armies made them an unstoppable force. They unleashed the wrath of gods upon their enemies, scouring legions of n’raqi and aqir and sundering their temples.
The arrival of the titan-forged caught the Old Gods completely off guard. They reeled in response to these stone- and metal-skinned invaders, but they were determined not to lose control over Azeroth. To reassert their dominance, the Old Gods called upon their greatest lieutenants: the elemental lords.
The enraged elemental lords and their minions beset the titan-forged on all sides. Ever wary of fighting a unified elemental army, the keepers resolved to divide and conquer their enemies. Thus they split their own forces and dispatched each group of titan-forged to make war on a specific elemental lord.
Tyr and Odyn volunteered to confront the most destructive elemental lieutenant: Ragnaros the Firelord. Their battle raged for weeks, engulfing the land in fire and magma. Yet the keepers’ resilient metal forms kept them safe from Ragnaros’s fiery onslaughts. Through sheer strength and force of will, Tyr and Odyn pushed Ragnaros back into his volcanic lair in the east. In a land of boiling acid seas and skies choked with ash, the two keepers defeated the Firelord.
Meanwhile, Archaedas and Freya unleashed their powers upon Therazane the Stonemother. To protect herself and her minions, the elemental ruler retreated into the towering stone spire that she called home. Archaedas used his dominion over the earth to weaken the citadel’s foundations and shatter the craggy giants who guarded it. Freya then made colossal roots sprout from the ground to entangle the fortress. They wormed through stone and crystal, buckled the citadel’s walls, and brought them down on Therazane’s head.
Ra, Thorim, and Hodir waged war with Al’Akir the Windlord. Using their mastery over the skies and storms, they forced the elemental lord back to his lair among the highest peaks of Azeroth. Lightning set the heavens aflame as Al’Akir struggled to hold off his foes. In the end, the three keepers turned the elemental lord’s own power against him, defeating Al’Akir atop his lofty domain.
Neptulon the Tidehunter and his minions rushed to aid the other embattled elemental lords, but they were waylaid by Loken and Mimiron. The two keepers used their wits to harry and outmaneuver Neptulon’s forces at every turn. Ultimately, Loken unleashed his arcane powers to freeze and shatter the water elementals’ forms, while Mimiron crafted enchanted bonds to imprison Neptulon himself.
Although the elemental lords had been defeated, the keepers knew that they could not utterly destroy the beings. The spirits of the elementals were bound to Azeroth itself. If they were killed, their corporeal forms would simply manifest again in time.
Ra soon found a solution. He set out to imprison the elementals, much as the great Sargeras had done to demons. Ra first called on the aid of the gifted titan-forged sorceress Helya. They worked in concert to craft four interlinked domains within a pocket dimension known as the Elemental Plane. Ra and Helya then banished the elemental lords and nearly all of their servants to this enchanted prison realm.
Ragnaros and the fire elementals were exiled to a smoldering corner of the Elemental Plane known as the Firelands. Therazane and the earth elementals were locked within the crystalline caverns of Deepholm. Al’Akir and the air elementals were imprisoned among the cloudy spires of the Skywall. Lastly, Neptulon and the water elementals were sucked into the fathomless depths of the Abyssal Maw. Only a few elementals would remain on the surface of Azeroth. With their leaders gone, these beings scattered and abandoned the war.
Having contained the elementals, the keepers turned their attention to the Black Empire’s aqiri legions. Many of the insectoids dwelled in vast catacombs that snaked beneath the surface of the devastated world. Archaedas bent the stones and soil to his will, collapsing the aqiri burrows and driving the creatures aboveground. Upon emerging from their lairs, the insectoids found themselves surrounded by the titan-forged.
The battles between the titan-forged and the aqir proved unexpectedly vicious. In time, the keepers destroyed most of the aqiri race. Small pockets of the insectoids, those that had tunneled deep underground, escaped the keepers’ wrath. Yet they were too weakened to mount a counterattack.
THE TITAN-FORGED BATTLE THE ELEMENTAL LORDS
MAP OF AZEROTH UNDER THE BLACK EMPIRE’S CONTROL
The victories over the aqir and the elementals heartened the keepers, but they knew that their greatest battles were still to come. As one, they turned their righteous gaze on the heart of the Black Empire: the sprawling temple city built around the Old God Y’Shaarj. By toppling the most powerful n’raqi bastion on Azeroth, the keepers believed they could crush their enemies in one swift stroke.
The keepers and their allies waded through one swarm of n’raqi after another as they battled their way toward the mountainous form of Y’Shaarj. The broken and mangled bodies of titan-forged and n’raqi alike riddled the landscape by the time the invaders breached the city and assaulted the Old God itself.
Y’Shaarj was more powerful than the keepers had expected. It poisoned the minds of the titan-forged, drawing out their fears and darkening their thoughts.
The Pantheon grew concerned that the Old God would overwhelm their servants. Despite the risk of harming the world, they decided to take direct action. Aman’Thul himself reached down through Azeroth’s stormy skies and took hold of Y’Shaarj’s writhing body. With a heave of his mighty arm, he tore the Old God from the crust of the world. In that moment, Y’Shaarj’s gargantuan bulk was ripped apart. The immensity of the Old God’s death rattle shattered mountaintops and obliterated hundreds of titan-forged where they stood.
Y’Shaarj was dead, but its tendrils had bored more deeply through Azeroth than Aman’Thul had ever imagined. In excising the Old God from the world, he had inadvertently ripped an eternal wound in Azeroth’s surface. Volatile arcane energies—the lifeblood of the nascent titan—erupted from the scar and roiled out across the world.
Horrified by this turn of events, the Pantheon realized they cou
ld not risk killing the other Old Gods in such a manner. The malignant creatures had embedded themselves so deep into the world that tearing them out would destroy Azeroth itself.
The Pantheon knew that the only course of action was to imprison the Old Gods where they lay and contain their evil forever. It would be a difficult task, but it would be possible with the aid of the keepers. At the Pantheon’s behest, the titan-forged devised a plan to shatter the last vestiges of the Black Empire forever. They would battle each of the Old Gods directly. Once they had weakened the creatures, Archaedas would create subterranean chambers to contain them. Mimiron would then fashion colossal machineries to lock the Old Gods in place. When this work was done, Loken would imbue each prison with a great enchantment that would neutralize the Old Gods’ evil.
With their plans formed, the titan-forged began their campaign. Great battles tore across the land as the titan-forged fought their way southeast to the bastion of N’Zoth. After overwhelming the Old God, the keepers used their powers to encase the creature in an underground prison.
Next, the titan-forged marched southwest to the sprawling temple city that had grown around the third Old God, C’Thun. The keepers and their allies purged swarms of n’raqi before assaulting the Old God itself and subduing it. Much as they had done with N’Zoth, the keepers entombed the entity beneath the earth and constructed a prison of their own devising over its form.
Only one Old God remained, the vicious and cunning Yogg-Saron. It would not fall so easily. As the titan-forged closed in on Yogg-Saron’s crumbling northern stronghold, the Old God unleashed the greatest of its generals: the C’Thraxxi.
The C’Thraxxi were monstrous war bringers, larger and more resilient than other n’raqi. They possessed great strength and brutal intellect, and their dark powers and maledictions could drive even the titan-forged to madness.
World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 Page 3
