The Lich King’s reign of terror was over. As if to affirm that a bright future would soon dawn on Azeroth, other joyful events occurred across the world. Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage was at last freed from his imprisonment by the shadowy Emerald Nightmare through the efforts of his love, High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, and her allies. Elsewhere, after years in exile, the highly intelligent gnomes and the fearless Darkspear trolls made gains toward reclaiming their respective homes in Gnomeregan and on the Echo Isles.
Yet just as hope was beginning to surge among Azeroth’s races, tragedy struck. The world’s elemental spirits grew increasingly erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Agents of the nefarious Twilight’s Hammer cult surfaced throughout Horde and Alliance cities, spreading word of the impending apocalypse. The world’s leaders scrambled to find a solution to Azeroth’s growing instability.
In the dwarven bastion of Ironforge, King Magni Bronzebeard undertook a mystic ritual to commune with the earth. The ceremony, however, had an unexpected effect: Magni was transformed into diamond and became fused to the depths of the mountain city itself. In the wake of his petrification, the Bronzebeard, Wildhammer, and Dark Iron clans agreed to rule over Ironforge via the Council of Three Hammers, but the city’s future remained uncertain.
Meanwhile, Thrall journeyed to his ancestors’ lands in Nagrand, hoping to glean insight from Outland’s elemental spirits as well as other respected shaman. In his absence, Thrall appointed Garrosh Hellscream, son of the legendary orc Grom, as acting Horde warchief. Garrosh’s brash demeanor inflamed relations between the Horde and the Alliance. A gruesome slaughter of druids in Ashenvale, which the Twilight’s Hammer had perpetrated to look like an act of the Horde, escalated tensions further and sowed mistrust among Garrosh’s own comrades.
In particular, Garrosh infuriated Cairne Bloodhoof, the wise tauren high chieftain. Believing that the new warchief would lead the Horde to ruin, Cairne challenged Garrosh to a duel of honor. Although the mighty tauren fought valiantly, no amount of strength could have led him to victory. The matriarch of the Grimtotem tauren tribe, Magatha, had poisoned Garrosh’s blade, unbeknownst to either of the duel’s combatants. Cairne became immobilized after he received a flesh wound during the battle, allowing the new warchief to land a killing blow.
Following the duel, Magatha’s agents seized the tauren capital of Thunder Bluff for the Grimtotem. The usurpers also intended to murder Cairne’s son, Baine, but the young tauren eluded his assassins and staged a counterattack. Ultimately, Baine and his forces reclaimed Thunder Bluff, expelling Magatha and her traitorous followers from tauren lands forever.
Unaware of these critical events, Thrall received an ominous warning in Nagrand from the Fury of Earth: the fear and turmoil of Azeroth’s elementals echoed the condition of Outland just before that world?then known as Draenor?had been ripped apart. Yet Thrall had little time to act on this unsettling revelation…
In a sudden upheaval eclipsing the world’s recent elemental unrest, Azeroth shattered. Violent quakes tore through the earth. Mountains of fire and magma burst from the ground. Colossal tidal waves obliterated coastlines and caused widespread flooding.
The Cataclysm had begun.
To be continued in part two of « The Story So Far… ».
