HUMANS: THE ALLIANCE OF LORDAERON
Human History
( SINCE THE END OF THE SECOND WAR )
Aftermath of the Second War
The devastating Second War against the orcish horde left the Alliance of Lordaeron in a state of shock and disarray. The bloodthirsty orcs, led by the mighty warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer, not only smashed their way through the dwarf-held lands of Khaz Modan, but had razed many of Lordaeron's central provinces as well The unrelenting orcs even succeeded in ravaging the elves remote kingdom of Quel'Thalas before their rampage was finally stopped. The Alliance armies led by Sir Anduin Lothar, Uther the Lightbringer, and Admiral Daelin Proudmoore pushed the orcs south into the shattered land of Azeroth - the first kingdom to fall before the orcs' ruthless onslaught.
The Alliance forces under Sir Lothar managed to push Doomhammer's clans out of Lordaeron and back into the orc-controlled lands of Azeroth. Lothar's forces surrounded the orcs' volcanic citadel of Blackrock Spire and laid siege to their defences. In a last-ditch effort, Doomhammer and his lieutenants staged a daring Burning Steppes. Doomhammer and Lothar squared off in a titanic battle that left succeeded in vanquishing Lothar, the great hero's death did not have the effect the warchief had hoped for.
Turalyon, Lothar's most trusted lieutenant, took up Lothar's bloodstained shield and rallied his grief-stricken brethren for a vicious counterattack. Under the ragged standards of both Lordaeron and Azeroth, Turalyon's troops slaughtered the bulk of Doomhammer's remaining forces in a glorious, but terrible rout. There was nothing left for the ragged, scattered orc survivors but to flee to the last standing bastion of orcish power - The Dark Portal.
Turalyon and his warriors chased the remaining orcs through the festering Swamp of Sorrows and into the corrupted Blasted Lands where the dark portal stood. There, at the foot of the colossal portal, the broken horde and the rugged Alliance clashed in what would be the last, bloodiest battle of the Second War. Outnumbered and driven mad by the curse of their blood-lust, the orcs inevitably fell before the wrath of the Alliance. Doomhammer was taken prisoner and escorted to Lordaeron while his broken clans were rounded up and hauled north - back to Lordaeron.
Beyond the Dark Portal
Only a few months after Nethergarde's completion, the energies of the dark portal coalesced and opened up a new gateway to Draenor. The remaining orc clans, under the leadership of the elder shaman, Ner'zhul, charged forth into Azeroth once again. intent on stealing a number of magical artifacts that would increase Ner'zhul's power, the orcs planned to open up new portals in Draenor that would allow them to escape their doomed red world forever.
Convinced that Ner'zhul was planning a new offensive against the Alliance, King Terenas of Lordaeron sent his armies into Draenor to end the orcih threat once and for all. Led by Khadgar and General Turalyon, the Alliance forces clashed with the orcs across the burning landscape. Even with the aid of the elven Ranger Alleria, the dwarf Kurdran and the veteran soldier Danath, Khadgar was unable to prevent Ner'zhul from opening his portals to other worlds.
The tremendous magical storms caused by the portals' converging energies began to tear the ravaged world apart. Ner'zhul, followed only by his trusted servants, managed to escape through one of the portals as Khadgar fought desperately to return his comrades to Azeroth. Realizing that they would be trapped on the dying world, Khadgar and his companions selflessly decided to destroy the dark portal so that Azeroth would not be harmed by Draenor's violent destruction. By all accounts, the heroes were successful in destroying the portal and saving Azeroth - But whether or not they escaped the death throes of Draenor remains to be seen.
The Battle of Grim Batol
After the destruction of the second dark portal, the Alliance succeeded in rounding up the most of the renegade orc clans still left in Azeroth. The orc internment camps, built shortly after the Second War, were filled to capacity and guarded around the clock. Through the newly arrived Warsong clan had so far escaped the Alliance's wrath, there was only one group - the Dragonmaw clan - that was large enough and strong enough to upset the delicate peace that had settled over Lordaeron.
The Dragonmaw clan, led by the insidious warlock, Nekros, had conquered and held a great portion of northern Khaz Modan using dragons and small units of foot soldiers. Nekros maintained his hold over the Dragonqueen, Alexstrasza, and her red dragonflight by use if a powerful artifact known as the Demon Soul. Based in the ancient dwarwen strongholdof Grim Batol, Nekros built up a sizeable army and planned to reunite the failing horde. But, despite the warlock's power, the intervention of the reckless mage, Rhonin, threw Nekros' plans awry. Rhonin and his companions, aided by dwarven resistance fighters, succeede in destroying the Demon Soul and freeing Alexstrasza from the orc's control. The vengeful red dragons incinerated the Dragonmaw clan and effectively put an end to the last bastion of the orcish power in the world.
With the death of Nekros, the last of the orcish warlocks - the orcs left to wallow in the crowded internment camps - slipped into a crippling lethargy. Stripped of their will to fight or even die, the orcs lost all sense of themselves as warriors - and the last traces of the proud culture that had birthed them.
