Games - Azeroth

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	Games - Azeroth

Azeroth is an Earth-like planet in the fictional Warcraft Universe, inhabited by a diverse array of species. Most of the action of the Warcraft games takes place on this planet. Due to the continual battle being waged in the Warcraft Universe the official boundaries of kingdoms and countries tends to change throughout the world's history. Reflected here is the world as seen in World of Warcraft after the events of the Third Great War.

History

Azeroth's ancient history is steeped in mystery, but at the earliest known time it was controlled by a race of powerful evil entities known as "The Old Gods" who reigned over a race of Elementals. Eventually the Titans, a race of benevolent Gods who shaped young worlds and prepared them to grow, arrived in Azeroth. The Old Gods vehemently opposed the Titans, and sent their armies against them. Despite their vast power, the Old Gods were defeated, chained together underground by the Titans. Without their Gods' powers to maintain them, the elemental forces were banished to another plane as they could not sustain their existence alone.

Then the Titans began their work shaping the new Azeroth. They created two races to help them in their task; the Earthen (who would ultimately become the Dwarves), a race of stony subterranion humanoids who had power over rock, and the Giants, who shaped things under the sea. With much toiling they created the single continent, "Kalimdor", meaning "the land of eternal starlight" (it is unclear who attributed this name to the continent.)

In the center of the continent they created a lake full of potent mystical energy which would flow out and nourish the world, spreading new life throughout the continent. They named this lake "The Well of Eternity".

Their work done, the Titans chose the most powerful race of all then living on Azeroth, the Dragon Flights, and charged them with the task of safeguarding it. Each of the five ruling dragon flights was imbued with a power from one of the Titans and given a domain to watch over. With this complete, the Titans left the world to continue their mission, and never returned to it again.

After this many races sprung up on the new continent and contended for power. The first races worth noting were the Silithid and Nerubians, insectoid races that then formed one civilisation known as Azi'Aqir. For a time they were the most powerful race in the world before the Trolls rose up and struggled against them. This war lasted for many ages with neither side gaining the advantage at first, before the Trolls, ultimately, through perseverance split Azi'Aqir in two and banished its citizens to the north and south ends of Kalimdor (which would eventually become Northrend and Silithus.)

The Trolls, now the ruling race of Azeroth, quickly became divided into many different factions, slowly losing racial unity that they would never regain. Around this time the Night Elves emerged near the Well of Eternity. There is evidence indicating that the Night Elves were actually a tribe of Trolls who were transformed by the Well of Eternity into their current form, although nothing is stated explicitly.

The Night Elves used the potent magic of the Well to control the continent and quickly became the single ruling race. They entered into a magical renaissance period where many frivolously used magic for their own amusement. Through a complicated chain of events this triggered the invasion of the Burning Legion from the Twisting Nether. After an epic battle, the Well of Eternity (which was also the portal through which the Burning Legion sought to enter the world) exploded, burying the surrounding Elven cities under the sea, and shattering the one large continent into four separate ones. The location of the destroyed well and portal is even nowadays marked by a fierce counter-clockwise spinning stationary storm and vortex, known as the Maelstrom. Not shown on the map above is the ice continent of Northrend, which lies off the northern edge of the map, home to the Nerubians and the Lich King.

After this event, which would come to be known as the Great Sundering, the Night Elves settled on the western continent, which they continued to call Kalimdor. They resolved to practice Druidism, and abandon the magic that had lead them to ruin, although things did not go so smoothly. Illidan Stormrage tried to recreate the Well of Eternity, instead leading to the creation of the World Tree, a colossal Tree bound to the spirit of Azeroth, to which all the Night Elves became bound, granting them immortality. Further complications came when a group of Elves tried to practice magic again and left, becoming the Diurnal High Elves who settled in the north eastern tip of the Eastern Continent forming the kingdom of Quel'Thalas.

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