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wowcustodian · 7 years

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History of the Black Dragonflight Part 2

Part 1: https://wowcustodian.tumblr.com/post/158604089586/history-of-the-black-dragonflight-part-1

The silence was only the quiet before the storm evidently as since his retreat into Deepholm Deathwing had not been idle. He had rested within the Stonecore, weakened from his wounds at the Battle of Grim Batol until the Twilight Hammer cult came to him and began working on forging Elementium armor plates from ore Deathwing had commanded the gyreworm Coroborus to dig up. The plates were hammered and fused into the Dragon’s flesh to sear his wounds closed and hold his slowly rupturing body apart. His madness taking physical form as the power of the Old Gods had steadily increased within him with the awakening of C’thun and Yogg-Saron. His power increased to greater then ever before and his body ready for war Deathwing burst from the Stonecore, shattering the World Pillar and destabilizing the connection between the Elemental Plane and Azeroth, erupting back into the world and causing the cataclysm known as the Shattering. The world itself heaved causing floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, the Elemental spirits were sent into a frenzy as Deathwing made his way east until he crashed down upon Stormwind, scorching the park and the stone towers before leaving, having reclaimed the heads of his children Nerafian and Onyxia. His madness now completely overtaking him his goal was to usher in the Hour of Twilight and see the eradication of all life from Azeroth.

Deathwing’s message had been clear, he had returned to see the world eclipsed in fire and shadow. Heroes from the Horde and Alliance began their work, hunting down the newly realised Twilight’s Hammer and quelling the unrest caused across the planet. In the Badlands a lone Red Dragon, Rheastrasza had begun research into the Black Dragonflight to see if there was some way to purify them of the Old Gods corruption. With the help of players and a gnome scientist, Dr Hieronymus Blam, she collects eggs from the captured Black Dragon Nyxondra and experiments on them, ultimately being able to purify a single egg. She calls players to a cave and to wait while she collects the egg only to be found by Deathwing who has learned of her plan. She begs that the egg be spared by Deathwing refuses and burns them both before leaving. Upon the player investigating it is revealed that the purified Black egg is long gone and the egg Deathwing thought was the purified one was one of Rhea’s own. (Also this quest is fucking heartbreaking. No matter how high level I get I can never bring myself to get rid of the Trinket you get from it.)

As his plans began to take motion Deathwing went to Mount Hyjal, just as Ysera’s Green Dragonflight arrived to witness Deathwing summon Ragnaros the Firelord back into Azeroth from the Firelands to see Nordrassil burn. Al’akir the Windlord also allies himself with the Old Gods and Deathwing as his minions seek to take control of a Titan machine in Uldum that could wipe out all life on Azeroth and in the Twilight Highlands the Twilight Dragons battle the Reds for control of the area as the Twilight Hammer, led by Cho’gall, claim the Bastion of Twilight as a stronghold to continue their experiments. Alextrasza and her son Calen lure Deathwing to the Highlands to try and end him once and for all and while both Dragons badly wound the other ultimately Deathwing survives. Calen has the player leave with his mother while he stays to hold Deathwing back, claiming later that the Black Dragon was more hurt then he let on and was forced to retreat to recover.

As further fuel for his experiments Deathwing, using the power of the Old Gods, revived his dead son Nefarian as an undead dragon and set him to work in Blackrock Spire once more. His experiments more gruesome then ever, resulting in his final “greatest” creation; a revived Onyxia supposedly capable of being a new Brood mother for their flight.

Another plan of Deathwing’s that ended in failure was the Blue Dragon Arygos, son of Malygos. After Malygos’ death the Blue Dragonflight were discussing who to choose as the new Aspect of magic and in secret Arygos had stuck a bargain with Deathwing that would see him as his father’s successor and the Blues to survive the coming destruction in exchange for loyalty to the Black Aspect. The plan ended when the Blue Dragonflight voted Kalecgos as their new Aspect of Magic. Arygos ran from Coldarra and was soon after killed by the Twilight Hammer for his blood to be the catalyst to bring Chromatus to life. (I did say it was years later.)

As Deathwing and his forces ravaged the lands Kalecgos as the newest Aspect, as well as Ysera, Nozdormu and Alextrasza began meeting at Mount Hyjal to discuss possible ways to defeat the Destroyer. Ysera also took time to train Thrall to better connect to the earth, allowing him to see for hundreds of miles around until he felt some kind of “gap” in his perception beneath Hyjal. Delving down Thrall constructed a stone copy of himself as he reached the empty space and found it to be a chamber hidden under the mountain, blocking anything from seeing inside. As he entered the Orc found himself face to face with the Black Aspect who proceeded to beat and claw the stone Thrall, the pain of his wounds reaching his flesh and blood self. Deathwing saw it as a mockery that the other Aspects dared to try and “replace” him as Earth Warder with a mortal shaman. It was only by the Aspects, Earthen Ring and Cenarion Circle that Thrall survived and the Aspects themselves came to the conclusion that the only chance to defeat Deathwing was with his own creation; The Dragon Soul.

Nozdormu opened a time portal to send heroes back to the Well of Eternity, before the Sundering to allow the disc to be stolen before it was sent away. Bringing the item back to the present and ferrying it to Wyrmrest Temple, Thrall and his Hero escorts (*coughfuckthisdungeoncough*) are accosted by the Twilight’s Hammer, desperate to prevent the Dragon Soul from being used.

At some point before the Dragon Soul was brought to Wyrmrest the Red Dragons employ a Rogue to recover a Decoder ring from Hagara the Stormbinder and deliver it to Corastrasza in the Twilight Highlands, claiming it could act as a cipher for a hidden message. Upon arriving the Rogue discovers a dead thief at the Dragon’s feet and she explains the purified Black Dragon Egg Rheastrasza sent off from the Badlands was being kept at the Vermillion Redoubt for safe keeping until a band of these thieves snuck in and stole it. The cipher is needed to decode the message in the pocket of the dead man. The message is revealed to be instructions mentioning to meet up at Ravenholdt Manor in Hillsbrad with the egg and the Rogue is sent there to retrieve it.

Upon reaching the basement where the egg is kept it’s revealed the egg has hatched into the Black Prince, Wrathion. Pure of the Old God corruption but no less merciless than the rest of his kin. He employs the Rogue to hunt down other Black Dragons, claiming that they are a threat to Azeroth and to himself.

The first is Hiram Creed, a Black Drakonid who, disguised as a Gilnean has gathered a motley crew together on promises of retaking their city. He has infected them with his Draconic blood to heighten their senses and abilities while slowly corrupting them into being his slaves.

The second is Nalice, the Black Dragonflight representative from Wyrmrest Temple. Now she’s hiding out in the caves underneath Karazhan and digging up arcane secrets.

Thirdly is Deathwing himself. Wrathion tasks the Rogue with being one of the Raid that sees Deathwing destroyed. So it finally comes to the battle of Wyrmrest. Deathwing and his forces attack Dragonblight in full force. The ground ripped open as colossal maws of leviathan tentacle covered beasts spew the minions of the Old God N’Zoth out to swarm the temple. The Black Dragonflight battle their cousins, filling the sky as the Horde and Alliance airships try to defend the temple as best they can. All of the combined efforts trying to buy the Aspects enough time to use the Dragon Soul, or rather for them to empower the Soul so Thrall can use it since it’s still unable to be wielded by a Dragon.

It was here Deathwing unveiled his “ultimate” creation; the Twilight Dragon Ultraxion. Having consumed the energies from Nether Dragons, Ultraxion radiates crackling purple lightning and attempts to bring down the Aspects as they work on the Dragon Soul. Ultraxion, like all of Deathwing’s plans, failed due to the Heroes of Azeroth defending the Aspects and slaying the Twilight Dragon. Finally prepared, Thrall releases the power of the Dragon Soul on Deathwing, badly wounding him. In his rage the Black Aspect destroyed the Horde airship and began making his way back to the Maelstrom to flee into Deepholm as he had done before. The Aspects, Thrall and Heroes of the Horde and Alliance all boarded the Alliance airship, the Skyfire, and gave chase.

After fending off Warmaster Blackhorn and his Twilight Drakes the Heroes dove out of the Skyfire and landed on the back of Deathwing himself and proceeded to forcefully tear away the Elementium plates holding the Dragon’s body together. The damage done to him and another blast from the Dragon Soul by Thrall pierced a hole through Deathwing’s chest, causing him to crash into the Maelstrom.

Believing him finally dead, the group met up with Thrall and the Aspects on the shores of the Maelstrom only to have their celebrations cut short as Deathwing, now little more then a writhing insane mass of fire and tendrils, rose from the waters for one latch ditch effort to snuff them out and cause a second Cataclysm. With the immense power of the Aspects Deathwing was finally slain and his body utterly destroyed save for his jaw which was carried back to Stormwind and Orgrimmar as a trophy just as had happened to his children.

With the plans of the Black Dragonflight finally stopped Wrathion’s agent returns to him to find the Black Prince standing at the corpse of a Red Dragon, claiming the “Treacherous” Red Dragonflight attempted to kill him off. It is then Wrathion informs the Rogue of one final Black Dragon that he wishes to see dead. His bodyguard Fahrad. Wrathion goads Fahrad, pointing out that as a Black Dragon he too shares the visions and whispers of the Old Gods every one of his brothers and sisters has. Becoming agitated Fahrad takes on his Dragon form and attacks but at the last second the Rogue lunges from the shadows and deals a killing blow.

Relieved Wrathion claims he is, as far as he is aware, the last Black Dragon in existence. He takes on his Whelpling form and flies off.

Later in Pandaria strange agents working for an unknown master pop up here and there, scouting the lands. As it turns out they serve Wrathion who calls heroes he deems worthy to the Tavern in the Mists where he explains that he has foreseen the return of the Burning Legion and that Azeroth has no hope to survive should the Horde and Alliance continue their war. As his only interest is in Azeroth itself and not the mortal races, he pledges his loyalty to each faction without the other knowing. He tasks these heroes with proving their faction deserves with win the war and thus be the vanguard to stand against the Legion. He judges Varian and Garrosh, asking the Heroes to see for themselves what the Alliance and Horde truly stand for.

During his stay in Pandaria Wrathion becomes friend with Prince Anduin. The two debate on the merits of harsh leadership versus compassion as Anduin recovers from an attack by Garrosh.

After gathering requested resources for Wrathion he leads Heroes to the Isle of Thunder, to the Thunder Forges. His plan being to use the power of Lei Shen against him. Acknowledging the brilliance of the Thunder King as well as the Titanic machinery he uses, Wrathion manages to craft the Lightning Lance which he claims can harness the very power the Thunder King himself wields, however the weapon must be tempered by using the Lance on the Cloud Serpent Nalak just as it dies, to absorb the power Lei Shen imbued into the creature. With what the Heroes gatheres Wrathion creates the Crown of Heaven to empower the Heroes armor and declares them the “spark” that with ignite and unlock Azeroth’s true potential.

Next he requests the Heroes to return to the Isle of Thunder to gather Titan Runestones to learn about the history of the Mogu race, their Titanic origin and their servitude to the Titan Keeper, Ra. Their purpose of protecting the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and its power. Their eventual rebellion and founding of the different clans and eventually the rise of the Thunder King and his Empire.

After learning of the power Lei Shen holds Wrathion commands the Heroes to go to the Isle one last time and return with the Heart of the Thunder King. The campaign is long and difficult but they do return victorious and present the Heart to Wrathion who, despite Anduin’s obvious disgust, eats the heart to gain the Titan knowledge Lei Shen possessed. After devouring the heart he receives a vision of millions of worlds presumably all the planets the Titans visited and a voice speaks through him of having to “Rebuild the final Titan.” Afterward he claims to’ve forgotten everything the Heart showed him and that all the Mogu too also forgot their purpose.

The next task the Prince has is to talk to all four August Celestials and complete a trial from one of them. Each of the Celestials asks Wrathion of his opinion of each trait they stand for; Strength, Hope, Fortitude and Wisdom. Each Celestial disputes Wrathion’s thoughts, such as him believing strength to mean having the power to crush your enemies or that he does not truly believe Azeroth can withstand the Legion.

Yu’lon and Xuen both have the Hero duel a blindfolded Wrathion. Chi’ji and Niuzao summon a vision of Deathwing’s humanoid form and ask the Hero to heal and protect Wrathion as he fights it. From this we learn that beneath all of Wrathion’s cold arrogance he is terrified of Deathwing. Despite the attempts to offer advice Wrathion dismisses the words of the Celestials, interested only in the power they offer. Taking their blessings Wrathion creates a Cloak of Virtue, another token of power gifted to us as a reward for our aid.

The Black Prince has one last mission for us, to allow us to earn his Draconic power to be augmented into the cloak to increase its power and so sends us to the newly discovered Timeless Isle. At the Isle Wrathion introduces the Heroes to Kairozdormu, a Bronze Dragon studying the anomaly that is the Timeless Isle. Gathering the reagents from the Timeless Isle Wrathion requests he asks us to meet him at the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. With Lorewalker Cho transcribing the tale of your exploits the two begin to argue about what kind of “Hero” the story is about, one who seeks to benefit the world or destroy their enemies. Nevertheless Wrathion forged the Cloak with the power of his own magic, creating the Legendary Cloak. With its immense power Wrathion gives the Hero the task he apparently had been preparing them for all along; Garrosh Hellscream’s assassination. To take part in the Siege of Orgrimmar and end Garrosh, leading to the Alliance taking the chance to destroy the Horde in their weakened state.

As this is not the outcome, the Hero returns to Wrathion to find him storming about the Tavern in the Mists, throwing glasses about and breathing fire, insulting Varian Wrynn for throwing away his opportunity. His plan had been to aid the Horde in conquering Azeroth until Garrosh alienated himself from the other Horde Leaders at which point Wrathion’s allegiance changed to the Alliance. In his anger he claims he should have do what “Auntie Onyxia” did and assume direct control of the Alliance himself.

His bartender Tong grows infuriated at Wrathion’s rambling and finally talks back to the Black Prince, trying to convince him that the Horde and Alliance are at their strongest because of the conflict between them pushing them both, however Wrathion dismisses Tong’s words as he did the Celestials and flies off after proclaiming that he will stop at nothing to prepare Azeroth for the coming war and that “next time” he will leave nothing to chance.

Wrathion is not one to sit and do nothing and so as the world prepared for the trial of Garrosh Hellscream he began planning. As the trial went on he met regularly with Anduin Wrynn as the two grew to become good friends yet Wrathion also ventured to meet with Warlord Zaela, leader of the Black Dragon clan and engineering her clan as well as several allies, attacking the Temple of the White Tiger to disrupt the trial long enough for Wrathion’s other ally, Kairoz, to free Garrosh and together the two lept across time and space to Alternate Draenor. His belief was that a new more powerful Horde could sweep across Azeroth and remove the Alliance and the old Horde from the world so that an Azeroth of united Orcs would stand ready to fight the Legion when they inevitably return.

Wrathion himself travelled to Draenor and ended up at Admiral Taylor’s garrison claiming to have angered the local Ogres and sought somewhere to stay. While there he grew to distrust Taylor aswell as one of his followers, Ephial. Wrathion eventually left the garrison, taking several of Taylor’s men with him. Beyond being briefly seen in his Whelp form sat outside Khadgar’s tower in Talador the Dragon has not been seen since.

Since the Legion’s invasion and the campaign across the Broken Isle Wrathion himself has not been seen however as this is the very conflict he was so obsessed about I’d be surprised if we didn’t see him at some point. We were introduced to a new Black Dragon, minor spoilers if you haven’t completed the questing experience in the new zones.

It is discovered that when Huln Highmountain banished Deathwing to Deepholm he used the Hammer of Khaz’goroth to attempt to purify some of the remaining Black Dragon eggs of their corruption. While most were destroyed a single Whelpling remained, Ebyssian or as Huln names him, Ebonhorn. Ebyssian had remained in Highmountain across the centuries having taken on the form of a Tauren and serving as an advisor to every High Chieftan to follow in Huln’s hoofprints. After completing the Nelthation’s Lair Dungeon Ebyssian says he has “Family matters” to attend to which seems to hint at a confrontation between himself and Wrathion but we have yet to see anything from the two since then.

Wrathion gives us our best depiction of how Black Dragons were before the Old Gods corrupted them as Xuen calls him “A Black Dragon through and through.” From him we can determine the Black Dragons are rather disconnected from the mortal races, focused on the wellbeing of Azeroth as a whole. Focused, arrogant and seemingly unwilling to listen to the advice of others, they will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals and are unrepentant about doing so. Many Black Dragons have shown a preference for manipulating mortals, humans more then any other, to carry out tasks for them rather then get their hands dirty themselves.

Ebyssian is the exception to this being compassionate and loyal to the Highmountain Tauren however as he was raised with zero contact with any other Dragon, living in hiding it is understandable how he grew so attached to the people.

Male Black Dragons tend to end with the suffix “an” while females usually end with “ia” though as with all Dragonflights there are exceptions such as Razormaw, Nalice, Nyxondra and Neltharion himself. Like many Dragons they choose to live in caves however Black Dragons generally choose somewhere deep underground with molten lava running about their lair. They can breathe lava and the symbol of the Black Dragonflight is a volcano.

PHEW Jeez this one took a while. I thought the other posts were long. This one ended up taking a lot more effort then I realised, hopefully I won’t make that mistake again. If you made it through the entire thing congratulations! Apologies if my rambling was boring, any feedback is welcome as always.

Ciao!

P.S. WrathionxAnduin OTP!

#warcraft #World of Warcraft #lore #dragon #rpg #wowcustodian

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wowcustodian · 8 years

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History of the Black Dragonflight Part 1

So let’s kick this off with the easiest one to discuss; the Black Dragons. As I said in the last post, these next few posts are gonna be the histories of the Dragonflights aswell as general tips on how to play them. That said for reasons I’d hope are obvious, you’re not gonna be RPing a Black Dragon. If it’s not obvious then hopefully it will be by the end of this so let’s get started.

The Black Dragonflight came to be when the Titan Khaz'goroth placed this blessing upon the Proto Drake Neltharion, who would become known as Neltharion the Earth Warder.

"My blessing upon you will seem humble compared to those which have been bestowed upon the others: the managing of time, of life, of dreams and magic. I offer you the earth. The soil, the ground, the deep places. But know that the earth is the basis of all things. It is where we are rooted. Where you must come from, if you are to go to. Here is whence true strength comes. From deep places...within the world, and within oneself."

With this blessing Neltharion was turned into a fully realised dragon and granted the power to reshape the lands of Azeroth how he saw fit. His duty, and thus the duty of his Flight, was to use this power to alter the lands to accommodate the mortal races and ensure no race ever need go to war with another over land or natural resources. For several thousand years they carried out this charge well and Neltharion was known for his wisdom and strength however the Black Dragons strong connection to the deep places of the world had put them in connection with something that was never meant to be rediscovered; The Old Gods.

Over the centuries the Old Gods whispered into the minds of every Black Dragon on Azeroth, focusing most of their attention on Neltharion himself to poison him against his fellow Aspects. Rather then “serving” the mortal races and supporting the other Aspects the Old Gods showed him glimpses of a world where the mortal races all bowed in fear to the Black Dragons and Ysera and Alextrasza were Neltharion’s consorts. His bitterness and resentment grew until finally, perhaps even unbeknownst to himself, he snapped and became a puppet to the Old Gods.

Eventually came the War of the Ancients, the Burning Legion pouring into Azeroth via the Well of Eternity and the Wild Gods, the Night Elves and the Dragons all stood united against this common enemy. Neltharion saw this as an opportunity, since the other Dragon Aspects were still unaware his loyalty had shifted. He proposed to the others that they forge a weapon, a golden disc that would house a portion of the Titan power gifted to each of them. He called this weapon the Dragon Soul. Since the other Aspects had nothing but respect for Neltharion at this point they considered his plan and agreed, Ysera, Alextrasza, Malygos and Nozdormu all contributed their power, greatly weakening all of them however Neltharion who had claimed to have already supplied his own portion, had held back and given nothing and what the other Aspects believed to be a weapon to turn on the Demons now gave Neltharion power over them all. All five Flights took to the skies and rejoined the battle. Neltharion who carried the Soul unleashed its power on the demons, decimating them but the elation and hope this inspired quickly vanished as he then turned the destructive force on the Night Elf armies and then the other Dragonflights. Due to their own power the Dragon Soul had been donated from them every Flight save the Black Dragons were paralysed in midair, unable to act, only to watch Neltharions betrayal play out. It was only when Alextrasza’s mate, Korialstrasz who hadn’t been present when the Red Dragonflight’s power had been given to the Dragon Soul, was able to fly in and attack Neltharion long enough for him to lose his focus and for the other Dragons to break free.

Enraged Malygos and the entire Blue Dragonflight charged Neltharion only to have the full force of the Dragon Soul released upon them, instantly annihilating almost the entirety of their Flight. Only those Malygos had managed to shield behind his magic were able to survive as Neltharion escaped.

Because of this attack all Black Dragons became kill-on-sight for the other Dragonflights and Neltharion officially became known by his new title; Deathwing the Destroyer. Thus the Dragonflights went to war and many Black Dragons perished in the conflict yet still Deathwing’s hatred for the mortal races and the other flights only burned more. Eventually however Deathwing was banished from Azeroth to the Elemental Plane of Deepholm by the Tauren Huln Highmountain as he wielded the Titanic artefact; the Hammer of Khaz’goroth. Deathwing was forced to the Earth plane where he spent some time before managing to return to Azeoth centuries later.

During the Second War with the Horde Deathwing saw a chance to reclaim the power of the Dragon Soul, now renamed the Demon Soul. During the War of the Ancients it had been stolen from him and the other Aspects had cast a powerful spell on it so no Dragon could wield it, putting its destructive power beyond Deathwing until now. He manipulated the Chieftan of the Dragonmaw Orc Clan, Zuluhead the Whacked, to claim the Demon Soul. He did indeed find and take the Soul and gave it to his Lieutenant, Nekros Skullcrusher who used its power to enslave Alextrasza and force her to lay dozens of eggs so her brood could be broken and bent to the will of the Dragonmaw as mounts.

During this time Deathwing approached Teron Gorefiend who had been sent to Azeroth to gather artifacts for Ner’zhul back on Draenor and offered Teron a deal. Deathwing would offer the aid of the Black Dragonflight in their war with the Alliance in exchange for the Horde ferrying several Black Dragons and their eggs to live on Draenor. Gorefiend accepted and Deathwing prepared to journey to Draenor but not before commanding his children Onyxia and Nefarian to remain on Azeroth and ordering them to take command of the Orcs who dwelled within Blackrock Spire.

And so the Black Aspect helped the Horde to steal the Eye of Dalaran from the Mage city and their forces escaped through the Dark Portal back to Draenor. Deathwing demanded one final payment for his help, an artefact Ner’zhul had used to reopen the Dark Portal in the first place; the Skull of Gul’dan. Reluctantly the Orc parted with the Skull and the Black Dragonflight ventured north to the remains of Frostfire Ridge and Gorgrond to care for their eggs. While there however the native Gronn saw the Dragons as a threat and became extremely hostile, battling the Dragons until the Alliance along with Khadgar arrived to retrieve Gul’dan’s skull for their own. They aided the father of the Gronn, Gruul in his assault which resulted in a battle with Deathwing himself where the Aspect was forced to leave the Skull and escape as the Dragons who remained were slaughtered and impaled upon the jagged rocks. Pushed back by the Gronn Deathwing soon realised Draenor’s destruction was imminent as Ner’zhul began channelling his spell to open more portals to other worlds and so he abandoned Draenor to escape back to Azeroth. The surviving Black Dragon eggs still on Draenor as it was ripped apart were exposed to the energies of the Twisting Nether and would eventually become the Netherwing Dragonflight. (Btw fuck the dailies to get those Netherwing mounts…in the ass…with a rusted fire hydrant.)

So with his Flight almost wiped out Deathwing turned his thoughts into ways to repopulate and remembered the Dragonmaw clan still within the Highlands and began to enact a new plan. Taking on the human guise of Lord Daval Prestor he nestled himself into King Terenas’ court to influence the human leaders of the Alliance from within. He fabricated a manor, a lineage and servants for himself to give his title as Lord credibility and managed to earn some trust even from Genn Greymane and when the traitor King of Alterac, Aiden Perenolde whom “Prestor” claimed to be blood relatives with, was finally dethroned he had Terenas place him as its new king and even offered the hand of his daughter Calia Menethil as his bride. As this went on he also tricked Nekros into believing the Alliance planned to invade and attack the Dragonmaw. Fearing the attack he ordered Alextrasza and her eggs to be moved, exactly as Deathwing had intended. As they began to remove the Red Dragon Queen from her prison Deathwing attacked and began to steal the eggs for himself. What he did not expect however was the arrival of Ysera, Malygos and Nozdormu to all confront him at once, albeit still weakened as part of their Aspect power still remained within the Demon Soul. It was Rhonin, a human mage, who finally ended the Demon Soul by using one of Deathwing’s scales to shatter the disc and release the stored power, returning the Aspects to their full potential for the first time in thousands of years. Now with the power to outmatch him the Aspects attacked and badly wounded Deathwing but before they could put an end to him the Black Dragon escaped into the Elemental Plane of Deepholm to go into hiding.

The Black Dragonflight seemed to go quiet for some time after this after a civil war and power struggle to lead them with Deathwing’s disappearance. In the end it was Nefarian and Onyxia who emerged as the stand in commanders of their Flight in their father’s absence. Onyxia, posing as Lady Katrana Prestor, a human noble in Stormwind’s court and an Advisor to King Varian Wrynn and Nefarian working tirelessly from within Blackrock Spire, putting his enslaved Blackrock Orcs and Black Drakonids to work in attempts to combine the powers of all the Dragonflights to forge Chromatic Dragons. In the end both their plans would fail as heroes of the Alliance and Horde would enter Blackrock spire and undo all of Nefarian’s work and see him dead, bringing his head back to be hung at their city gates as a grisly trophy. His Chromatic experiments only ever creating a single success and Nefarian would die before seeing it brought to life. Years later mortal followers of Deathwing would bring the giant experimental Dragon to Northrend and give it life, bringing the monstrous Dragon Chromatus into being. With five heads, each possessing the full might of one of the Flights it took tremendous power from the four Aspects to bring it down, only to discover that Chromatus was not and most likely could never be dead. It was sealed away in an Arcane Prison where it lies to this day, undisturbed and guarded by the Dragonflights.

Onyxia’s downfall is much more convoluted as it goes into the Warcraft comics, her plan was to use dark magic to split Varian into two beings, one embodying his strong will and the other his weaker will. She would murder the strong willed Varian and keep the weaker Varian as her puppet to allow her to rule Stormwind and the Alliance from the shadows. However her plan was interrupted and the strong willed Varian escaped, only to return later and see her true form revealed before the Stormwind court. Onyxia kidnapped Anduin Wrynn and teleported herself back to her lair and the two Varians, desperate to see their son safe, agreed to work together. Their forces laid siege to Onyxia’s cave in Duskwallow Marsh and claimed her head, just as her brother, to be held as a prize at the gates of Stormwind.

After the deaths of the two Black Dragons their mother, Sintharia emerged, travelling to Outland and calling herself Lady Sinestra. She was the only consort of Deathwing’s to survive his attempts at mating to repopulate the Black Dragonflight, resulting in deep scars across her body which burned endlessly for the rest of her life. Having abandoned her mate and her Flight Sinestra aimed to finish what Nefarian had begun and create a brand new Flight to rule Azeroth with. She took on a Blood Elf form and came to the Dragonmaw Orcs still remaining in Outland and struck a deal with them to collect the Netherwing Dragon eggs they had gathered for her experiments, claiming they were intended for Deathwing.

Once she had the eggs Sinestra took them to Grim Batol where the Dragonmaw had held Alextrasza and began her work to try and combine the power from fragments of the Demon Soul into the eggs which resulted in the birth of the Twilight Dragonflight. Sinestra’s creation was the Twilight Dragon Dargonax who she saw as a child yet hated her for her attempts to control him. In the end Vereesa Windrunner, Korialstrasz, Kalecgos and the Draenei Iridi assaulted Grim Batol, saw the Demon Soul utterly destroyed and Dargonax dead. As his power burned away at him in his final moments he took Sinestra with him.

Time passed with only the slightest involvement of the Black Dragonflight. Beyond the quests of the Dragon Nalice at Wyrmrest signifying that at some point the other Aspects apparently had been convinced not every Black Dragon should be slaughtered on sight. Perhaps due to the Nexus War the other Dragons were desperate enough to accept help even from the Black Flight.

(I know this is long as hell but trust me, there’s a lot to go through. More then even i realised @.@)

Part 2: https://wowcustodian.tumblr.com/post/159032639736/history-of-the-black-dragonflight-part-2

#warcraft #World of Warcraft #lore #dragon #wowcustodian #rpg

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wowcustodian · 8 years

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History of the Blood Elves

Alright so before getting to the Blood Elf history there’s a bit of confusion that deserves clearing up.

Blood Elves are known as Sin’dorei which is Elvish for “Children of the Blood”

Night Elves are known as Kal’dorei which means “Children of the Stars”

However there are technically two types of elves to be called Quel’dorei which means “Children of Noble Birth”

The Highborne are the first and are part of the ancient Night Elven race who lived in grand palaces by the Well of Eternity and were considered nobles. The second are the High Elves who were…what the Blood Elves were before they became Blood Elves. But both are called Quel’dorei but look different. Highborne look like Night Elves, High Elves look like Blood Elves but with blue eyes rather then green eyes.

Right, got that cleared up? Alrighty, perfect, on with the history!

The original incarnation of the Blood Elves was, as I mentioned, the High Elves. 10,000 years ago when the world was split apart in the Sundering it was due to the Highborne abusing magic and attempting to turn their greatest font of power; the Well of Eternity into a gateway for the Burning Legion to enter Azeroth. A resistance of Night Elves, Dragons and Wild Gods fought back in the greatest war Azeroth ever witnessed known as the War of the Ancients. Ultimately the Well was destroyed, the portal closed which resulted in the Sundering shattering Kalimdor into the continents of Azeroth we know today.

However before the Well was destroyed one Night Elf who fought to prevent the Highborne’s plan, Illidan Stormrage managed to preserve the power of from it by saving several vials of water from the Well. When the Night Elves settled atop Mount Hyjal after the Sundering, while everyone else was still in shock or recovering and trying to establish shelter for everyone Illidan went to the nearby lake and poured three vials into it, transforming the lake into a new Well of Eternity.

This act, while earning Illidan his imprisonment, sparked a heated debate among the remaining Night Elves. Many believed that they should abandon the Arcane altogether, that meddling in such potent magics was what drew the Legion to their world in the first place and were better off left alone while others claimed magic was the birthright of the elves and that they should not have to live without it.

In the end the Night Elves who wished to never use the arcane again remained in the north of Kalimdor and eventually became the Night Elves we play as in WoW while the others left to find a new home, led by Dath’Remar Sunstrider. Sailing across the seas to the Eastern Kingdoms these High Elves initially settled in the land that would become known as Tirisfal Glades however they soon came to fear the land as it began to affect them. Elves hearing voices, turning to madness and violence as some ancient evil crept into their minds. They left hoping to find somewhere else to call their new home and on the northernmost point of the continent they used a stolen vial of the waters from the Well to forge a new font of power which they called the Sunwell.

After establishing their new shining city of Silvermoon the High Elves came under attack from the Amani Trolls who lived to the south in their city of Zul’aman, seeing the elves as interlopers on lands that belonged to them. The initial battles with the Amani were cut short however as the High Elves managed to terrify them with their command of the arcane. While there were constant skirmishes the Amani didn’t launch another outright attack on the elves until 4,000 years later when they resurged and began pouring through Eversong in an endless siege on the elven lands. Like water eroding a cliff, the High Elves soon begin to find themselves being pushed back and fear that should the war continue they might lose to the encroaching Trolls. In an act of desperation Anasterian Sunstrider, great grandson to Dath’Remar and the King of the High Elves, reached out to the human kingdom of Strom, the first ever human kingdom established by King Thoradin of Arathor. The Elves had, had a few borderline skirmishes with the humans but neither had ever seen the other as an enemy and the humans had also battled the trolls so an alliance was struck. Thoradin had no love for the elves but recognised the threat the Amani would pose should they retake Eversong woods and so agreed to march his massive armies, comprised of several human tribes that had been brought into the kingdom, north to aid in the war and in return the High Elves would train the humans in the Arcane, thus becoming the very first human Magi. The armies of humans and elves united and faced the trolls, leading to a great battle at the foot of the Alterac Mountains. The clash of kingdoms lasted for days with the mages eventually turning the tide, the humans showing exceptional aptitude in magic and as before, it was the power of the arcane that was the tipping point, shattering the troll’s lines and decimating their forces. The remaining Amani fled and were either hunted down and slaughtered or escaped back to Zul’Aman.

The humans went on to apply their newfound magical knowledge and found the city of Dalaran while the elves returned to Silvermoon to continue their decadent, lavish lives. Centuries passed until the High Elves were called to aid in another conflict as the next great threat to Azeroth emerged; The Horde.

The city of Stormwind had fallen to the Orcs invasion and the survivors had sailed to Lordaeron to escape and warn King Terenas Menethil the second of the threat. Terenas called for a meeting of the seven human kingdoms and formed the first incarnation of the Alliance we know today. While predominantly humans the Alliance also called for aid from any ally they could, including the Gnomes of Gnomeregan, the Dwarves of Aerie Peak and of course the High Elves of Quel’thalas. Terenas made sure to mention in his missive to Anasterian that the commander of the Alliance forces, Andruin Lothar, was the last known descendant of King Thoradin and reminded him of a promise Anasterian had made at the end of the troll wars; to come to the aid of Thoradin and his descendants should they ever need it. This was the humans calling in that debt and reluctantly Anasterian agreed and sent a paltry force of elven rangers to Hillsbrad, led by Alleria Windrunner.

Their motivation to support, or lack thereof, changed when the Orcs landed in the northern lands and enlisted the elves old enemy, the Amani trolls, into their ranks on the promise of helping them destroy the High Elves and raze their cities. With the trolls knowledge of the land the orcs began burning down elven settlements and killing anyone they found. Now that the High Elves had been directly attacked by the Horde they pledged their full might to the Alliance to see them wiped from Azeroth.

In the end the Alliance triumphed and captured many orcs and chased the remaining warbands south back to the Dark Portal. Despite Alleria who had fallen in love with the human Turalyon during the conflict, leading her rangers through the portal to Draenor to keep the Horde from remerging, the rest of the High Elves saw their allegiance finished. Their goal was to crush the Horde and the trolls who sided with them to protect themselves and had no interest in the affairs of humans. So the elves officially left the Alliance and returned to Quel’thalas spare the few who chose to remain in Dalaran teaching and learning magic, one of whom was Anasterian’s son Kael’thas Sunstrider.

As it was the reclusive peace of the High Elves was disturbed once again by a new and altogether more horrific and devastating threat. Years after the second war King Terenas’ son Arthas Menethil had returned from the frozen lands of Northrend with the runeblade Frostmourne in his grasp and the undead armies of the Scourge at his back. Arthas’ came home to butcher his people, lay waste to his kingdom, murder his father Terenas and his mentor Uther. Lordaeron lay in ruins as Arthas then turned his attention north. His goal was to storm Quel’thalas and use the magics of the Sunwell to resurrect the Necromancer Kel’thuzad. The armies of the dead marches ceaselessly through the forests of Everson until they came under attack by the High Elves, led by Ranger General Sylvanas Windrunner, Alleria’s sister. Despite Sulvanas’ best efforts her rangers were pushed back, any who were to fall rising again as new undead enemies. Finally Arthas cornered Sylvanas and ended her life. Denying her the peace of death he transformed her spirit into a Banshee and forced her to serve at his side in the destruction of her own city. The Scourge broke through the walls of Silvermoon, the Dead Scar forming in their wake as their necrotic essence seeped into the earth itself. The sacking of Silvermoon resulted in almost the entirety of the High Elves mercilessly slaughtered, over 90% of their race. In truth the Scourge was successful in penetrating the magical wards surrounding the city because the elves were betrayed from within by a Magister called Dar’Khan Drathir who murdered several members of the Convocation of Silvermoon, a group who channelled the powers of the Sunwell to the cities defence. In the end Dar’Khan’s life was ended in the siege aswell, and he became one of the thousands of undead High Elves to be raised in the aftermath.

Also during the attack came a battle between Arthas and Anasterian who wielded the blade Felo’Melorn, which means “Flamestrike” in the elven tongue, a powerful Runeblade but ultimately not as powerful as Frostmourne and Anasterian too would fall.

Arthas used the Sunwell to return Kel’thuzad, now a Lich and the Scourge took their new additions to their army and left. Kael’thas who had been in Dalaran at the time, left as soon as he heard the news and returned to find his homeland ruined and scarred, his people barely clinging to life, lost and terrified more then they had ever been before.

As horrified as Kael’thas was at the state he now found his home and people the worst was still yet to come. The Sunwell had been corrupted by Kel’thuzad’s resurrection and could go out of control and wipe out what remained of Quel’thalas and the people in it. So it was with a heavy heart Kael’thas was forced to destroy the Sunwell. While this did spare his people from utter destruction they had to face an arguably worse fate. The elves soon realised that as they had spent thousands of years in the radiating glow of the Sunwell they had become so saturated in magic that they could not survive without it. They began to suffer withdrawals that took the lives of the young, old and already sick. They had to feed on magic to stabilise themselves but this was walking on a razor’s edge. Too little magic and they would be weak and in pain from their body needing more, too much and they would wither, becoming pockmarked and slowly lose their minds to the addiction, becoming what they came to call the Wretched.

Kael’thas travelled his kingdom, burning the corpses of their dead to spare them being raised, scorching the infected forest to halt the spread of undead and finding what survivors he could. With most of Silvermoon in ruins and undead and opportunistic trolls striking out the survivors holed up in a small portion of Silvermoon that still stood, this portion being the city hub ingame. Kael’thas gathered his people and attempted to bolster their spirits, declaring that they would find a cure for their addiction, they would have their revenge on the traitor Prince Arthas. His final decree was that they would no longer be named High Elves. They would take the name of Sin’dorei, Blood Elves, in honor of their fallen.

Kael’thas placed Lor’themar Theron in charge as Regent Lord of Silvermoon while he left to seek aid from the new incarnation of the Alliance, the same version from Vanilla WoW. Instead of any help the Alliance put Kael’thas and his Blood Elves under the charge of Grand Marshal Garithos, a bigoted old man who had nothing but contempt for the elves and put them to work on menial tasks and suicide missions, during which Kael encountered Tyrande Whisperwind and Maiev Shadowsong and later Lady Vashj and her Naga. The Naga came more then once to offer help when the Blood Elves found themselves outnumbered by Scourge forces and Kael was forced to accept. Garithos however saw accepting the Naga’s aid as an act of treason and had the Prince and his people arrested and imprisoned in Dalaran’s dungeon to await excecution. Again Lady Vashj came to Kael and not only offered him his freedom but a potential solution to the addiction his people now suffered from. Kael accepted and he and a portion of the Blood Elves were led to Outland where they joined with Illidan Stormrage.

Rather then a cure Illidan taught the Elves how to drain magic from any source, even living or demonic. This taint of Fel magic changed the Elves eyes from blue to green yet it was a small sacrifice to sate their hunger.

Most of the Blood Elves remained in Silvermoon while those who stood with Kael’thas in Outland were called to return to Azeroth with Illidan on a hunt for Arthas to prevent him from reaching the Frozen Throne. They sailed to Northrend and battled the Scourge, Kael’thas finally facing Arthas himself to attempt to have his revenge yet ultimately Illidan’s forces were repelled and went back to Outland in defeat.

Meanwhile those in Silvermoon had began to reach out to retake their lands, rebuilding what they could of their city and pushing the Scourge back. Still weakened it was a daunting task and they began to search for new potential allies, one of which came as a surprise. Sylvanas Windrunner, now known as the Banshee Queen and leader of the Forsaken, the undead who had broken free of the Lich King’s control. Sylvanas it seemed, still held some compassion for her people and offered to retake the forests south of Eversong which had been renamed the Ghostlands. Afraid and expecting to be double crossed, the Blood Elves had to relent and accept the help as they found noone else willing to. Through the Forsaken the Blood Elves would eventually be inducted officially into the Horde.

At some point between their retreat from Northrend and the reopening of the Dark Portal Kael’thas sent some of his fighters to the Black Temple to train under Illidan to become Demon Hunters, though they tended to lack the loyalty to Illidan that was usually prevalent in Night Elf initiates. Kael’thas himself took over the region of Outland, Netherstorm for how rich in magic it was and began siphoning all he could into the Tempest Keep. Inside he found a Naaru named M’uru and captured it, sending it back to Silvermoon to serve as a source of power for his people. It was this attack that forced the Draenei to flee Outland in the Exodar and crash into Azeroth.

At some point in Netherstorm Kael’thas became convinced Illidan was ain ineffective leader and abandoned his loyalty to him. Still feigning servitude he was secretly contacted by and swore himself to Kil’jaeden and the Burning Legion. Under this new influence Kael sent some of his best men and woman to assault Shattrath city yet as the elves reached the city and stared down the Draenei defenders the elves instead laid down their arms. Their leader, Voren’thal the Seer demanded to speak with A’dal, the Naaru watching over Shattrath. He knelt before A’dal and pledged loyalty to the Naaru, claiming to’ve seen him in a vision and knowing the salvation of the Blood Elves lay with them and not Kael’thas. A’dal accepted them and allowed these Blood Elves to form the Scryers faction within the city.

Meanwhile now fully fledged members of the Horde the elves on Azeroth were faced once more with the resurgence of their ancient foe, the Amani. This time however they had the other races of the Horde to aid them and not only quelled the trolls uprising but cut the head off the snake, taking out their leader Zul’jin. By this point the order known as the Blood Knights had been established, stealing the power of the Light from M’uru to be wielded by the first Blood Elf Paladins (They had been Priests before now however) and both the Horde and Alliance had both begun their campaigns through Outland, dismantling Illidan’s grip on the land bit by bit as well as trying to purge the Demons from the shattered world. Eventually the Scryers revealed Kael’thas’ true loyalties and their Prince was confronted in Tempest Keep and defeated. Still clinging to life however Kael gathered those still loyal to him and returned to Azeroth, attacking his own city to capture M’uru and the entity called Anveena who was the living remaining essence of the Sunwell (Complicated story for another time) and moved them to the Isle of Quel’Danas where he established a foothold. Demons and Felblooded Elves infested the Island while Kael began his work to rebirth the Sunwell and channel its energies into summoning Kil’jaeden into Azeroth.

The armies of the Horde and Alliance and the forces of Shattrath all convened at the Isle and pushed through the Magisters’ Terrace where they found Kael’thas, barely clinging to life, having become a Wretched himself at this point. The Prince was finally killed and Kil’jaeden was banished back into the Twisting Nether.

M’uru as it turned out had foreseen his fate and allowed it to happen, transforming into a Void Lord and ultimately being destroyed in the attack of the Sunwell Plateau however when the battle was done Lady Liadrin, leader and first of the Blood Knights, and Prophet Velen met at the edge of the now extinguished Sunwell. Showing regret for the actions of the Blood Knights Liadrin watched as Velen placed the last flickering spark of life M’uru left behind into the Sunwell causing it to reignite in a pillar of Light.

It was here that the Blood Elves were finally freed. They had a source of magic to sate their addiction and a source of the Light for the Blood Knights. Since then they have aided the Horde’s campaign in Northrend against the Lich King, many joining the Argent Crusade. During Cataclysm they fought against the Amani again when they allied themselves with the Zandalari and of course against Deathwing and the Twilight’s Hammer.

It’s not until Mists of Pandaria we get anything more major in terms of development for the Blood Elves as a whole. Due to the actions of Garrosh Hellscream, Lor’themar was considering having the Blood Elves leave the Horde and join the Alliance and even began talks with Varian Wrynn to negotiate such a thing. However before anything could be established Garrosh learned of these talks and sabotaged them via the Sunreavers, the faction of Blood Elves within Dalaran. He has Fanlyr Silverthorn steal an ancient Mogu Artifact called the Divine Bell from Darnassus and open a Sunreaver portal to Dalaran, framing the Sunreavers for the theft. The plot worked and Jaina Proudmoore, already consumed with hatred for the Horde, returned to Dalaran to confront the leader of the Sunreavers, Aethas Sunreaver. Though Aethas denied any knowledge of the theft Jaina imprisoned him and began to violently eject all Blood Elves from Dalaran, either killing them, capturing them or chasing them off. Dalaran became a battleground as Grand Magister Rommath, an advisor to Lor’themar, came to the city to save as many Blood Elves as possible and free Aethas. In the end the peace talks with the Alliance were in vain and the Sunreavers were exiled, blaming Garrosh just as much as Jaina for the entire event. After that Lor’themar and the rest of the Blood Elves took part in the defense against the Thunder King and the Siege of Orgrimmar. Tensions between Lor’themar with Sylvanas and Jaina both show the position of the Blood Elves within the Horde as a whole now.

And that brings us up to Legion which is still ongoing so I’ll leave it there. This post is already stupidly long as it is, apologies there. I did try to keep it focused but it’s a challenge considering how long the history of this race is. That said I hope this was informative/entertaining at all and maybe helped some Roleplayers out there get some context. The Blood Elves, while not one of my favourite Horde races are certainly one I respect. They’re survivors, having suffered horrendously in the past numerous times and yet always claw their way back.

Alrighty guys, until next time. Take care!

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