The giant, tentacle-faced C’Thraxxi whipped the remnants of the Black Empire into a frenzy. They swarmed the titan-forged on all sides, thinning their ranks. By the time the keepers and their allies reached Yogg-Saron, their forces were greatly diminished. They found that they lacked the strength of numbers to defeat the Old God. Yogg-Saron would have destroyed the titan-forged completely if not for the heroic efforts of Odyn.
Although scarred and battered by war, Odyn summoned his waning strength and inspired the titan-forged to launch a counterattack. He commanded Loken to weave a grand illusion spell that forced the C’Thraxxi to see themselves—and even Yogg-Saron—as the enemy. As the Black Empire’s forces turned on one another, Odyn swooped in to cut down his confused foes. The other titan-forged followed his lead, and together they succeeded in pacifying Yogg-Saron. As they had done with C’Thun and N’Zoth, the keepers buried the entity beneath the earth, locking it away in a monolithic enchanted prison.
For the first time in Azeroth’s history, a tentative peace settled over the world. The titan-forged had banished the chaotic elemental lords to another plane of existence. They had also purged the Black Empire and muted the terrible power of the Old Gods. Against all odds, Azeroth had been saved.
But there was much work to be done. The keepers’ most pressing concern was the horrific scar left behind when Aman’Thul had torn Y’Shaarj from the world’s crust. A constant stream of volatile arcane energy bled from the colossal rift, lashing out across the world. The keepers knew that, if left unattended, these energies would consume Azeroth over time.
The keepers labored day and night, crafting magic wards around the gaping wound to stanch the escaping lifeblood. Eventually, the tumultuous energies calmed and settled into balance. All that remained of the scar was an immense lake of scintillating energy that the keepers would call the “Well of Eternity.” Thereafter, the power of this wondrous fount would be infused in the ailing world, helping life to take root and bloom across the globe.
With the wound healed, the keepers sought to strengthen Azeroth’s nascent world-soul and stabilize its life force. To do so, Archaedas and Mimiron combined their powers to craft the Forge of Wills and the Forge of Origination. These two extraordinary machines would work in tandem, infusing Azeroth’s slumbering spirit with cosmic energies. The Forge of Wills would be embedded in the northern reaches of the world, and it would shape the world-soul’s budding sentience. The Forge of Origination would be installed in the southern reaches of Azeroth, and it would regulate the rhythms of the deep earth and fortify the world-soul’s form.
After these two machines were constructed, the keepers went to work. Odyn oversaw efforts to install the Forge of Wills within a vast northern mountain range that would become known as the Storm Peaks. The Pantheon appointed Odyn the Prime Designate for his valorous deeds in the war with the Old Gods. The task of watching over Yogg-Saron’s prison and maintaining the Forge of Wills would fall to him. Odyn and the other keepers immediately began building the great fortress of Ulduar to serve as the main bastion of the titan-forged on Azeroth. The fortress would house not only Yogg-Saron’s prison, but also the Forge of Wills and other machineries of the keepers’ devising.
The Forge of Wills also served another purpose: it could draw on the life essence of Azeroth itself, giving shape and sentience to creatures of living stone and metal—not only giants, but other types of titan-forged as well. This new generation of titan-forged would help the keepers bring order to the world.
As the Forge of Wills churned out these new titan-forged, Highkeeper Ra led an expedition to install the Forge of Origination in the south. He was accompanied by a number of stone-skinned creatures recently wrought from the Forge of Wills: the anubisath giants, the leonine tol’vir, and the indomitable mogu.
En route, Ra discovered that remnants of Y’Shaarj’s corporeal form lay strewn across the southern reaches of the world. When Aman’Thul had ripped the Old God from Azeroth, pieces of the entity had fallen back to the surface, infusing the land with evil. The largest intact piece of Y’Shaarj was the Old God’s icy heart, a mass of diseased flesh seething with Void energies.
Rather than destroy the heart, Ra built a subterranean vault to contain it and neutralize its evil. He, along with the other keepers, knew that studying the heart could help them understand the nature of the Old Gods and other Void creatures. Ra charged his mogu followers with watching over the Vault of Y’Shaarj. They would guard and care for the surrounding land as well.
Ra then continued his expedition and traveled west. There, he and his followers embedded the Forge of Origination in the land. The earth rumbled beneath Ra’s feet as the gargantuan machine churned to life. The highkeeper soon sensed that the twin forges were working in synergy, sending healing energies through the heart of the world. Ra and his followers erected a sprawling fortress around the Forge of Origination. This site was called Uldum, and it would become the southernmost base of operations for the keepers.
Much like the Forge of Wills, the Forge of Origination would serve a dual purpose. In the event that Azeroth’s flora and fauna succumbed to corruption, the incredible energies stored inside the great machine could be unleashed to eradicate all life on the world, allowing it to start anew.
Highkeeper Ra commanded some of the tol’vir and anubisaths to safeguard Uldum forever. He and the rest of his servants marched northwest into a land later known as Silithus. This arid and inhospitable region was home to the subterranean prison that housed the Old God C’Thun. Ra and his allies labored to expand on the prison, ultimately constructing the mighty fortress of Ahn’Qiraj. After the task was done, the highkeeper ordered his remaining titan-forged to safeguard the stronghold.
Ra himself, seeing his work completed, would spend the following ages roaming the southern regions of Azeroth, distantly observing his titan-forged and ensuring that they upheld their sacred charges.
With the twin forges embedded in Azeroth, the keepers moved to reshape the surface of the world.
To this end, they called on the new generation of servants wrought from the Forge of Wills.
Each of these loyal and mighty titan-forged would play a different role in ordering and protecting the world. The craggy, kindhearted earthen would specialize in crafting mountains and carving out the deep places of the world. The clockwork mechagnomes, designed by Keeper Mimiron, would help build and maintain the keepers’ extraordinary machineries. The stone-skinned mogu would dig out the myriad rivers and waterways of Azeroth. The task of safeguarding many of the keepers’ holdings would fall to two different groups of constructs: the iron-skinned vrykul and the chiseled tol’vir. To shape the environment, the keepers also conscripted the powerful stone and sea giants. They would roam the breadth of Azeroth, lifting towering mountain ranges and dredging out the fathomless seas.
As the titan-forged began shaping Azeroth, Keeper Freya set out to populate the world with organic life. To do so, she crafted the Emerald Dream, a vast and ever-shifting dimension of spirits and nature magic. This ethereal plane acted as a mirror image of Azeroth, helping regulate the evolutionary path of the world’s flora and fauna. A confluence of spirits and strange, otherworldly beings populated the Dream, frolicking in the surreal paradise that was their home. The mystical Dream defied mortal perceptions of reality. Concepts like time and distance held no sway within this realm of intangibles. A day on the physical world could feel like decades in the Dream.
Freya then wandered the world, searching for areas where the Well of Eternity’s energies had coalesced. These regions created optimal conditions for the development of new flora and fauna. Freya shaped immense enclaves of nature at these places of power. She molded life of astounding diversity, seeding it around the world. The sites where Freya had done her work were located at the polar extremes of the world. They included regions that would later become known as Un’Goro Crater, Sholazar Basin, and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
The greatest creatures to em
erge from these enclaves were colossal animals known as the Wild Gods. Freya adored and cared for these majestic beings as if they were her very own children. She often wandered the physical world with the Wild Gods at her side, vibrant forests and grasslands blooming in their footsteps. Yet there was one place she and the Wild Gods frequented more than any other: a massive forested peak called Mount Hyjal.
THE DREAMING WORLD
Some believe that Freya wove the Emerald Dream into being from nothing. Others claim that this strange place had always existed in some form, a dream born from Azeroth’s slumbering world-soul. It is said that Freya tapped into this realm and molded what would become known as the Emerald Dream as a way to commune with the nascent titan.
THE WILD GODS
Among the greatest Wild Gods were:
Malorne—the honorable White Stag
Aessina—the Mother Wisp
Agamaggan—the Razorboar
Aviana—the Mistress of Birds
Ursoc and Ursol—the colossal Bear Lords
Tortolla—the Wise
Goldrinn—the Great Wolf
Chi-Ji—the Red Crane
Niuzao—the Black Ox
Xuen—the White Tiger
Yu ’lon—the Jade Serpent
It was on the slopes of Hyjal that Freya bound the spirits of her beloved Wild Gods to the Emerald Dream. Inexorably tied to the ethereal realm, they would come to symbolize the health and vitality of Azeroth itself. Forever after, Hyjal would remain a refuge and sacred place to the Wild Gods.
As Freya’s creations explored the world, they came across a number of other strange life-forms. These creatures had emerged from Azeroth’s elemental past of their own free will. When the keepers had sealed off the Elemental Plane, some stragglers had escaped banishment. The fury of these spirits had ebbed over time, and they had become creatures of flesh and blood. It was from these former elementals that some forms of wildlife, such as proto-dragons, came to be.
In time, the keepers and their servants stabilized Azeroth’s main landmass, a continent that teemed with plants and creatures of every kind. Twilight fell as the titan-forged surveyed the world they had shaped, and they named the primary continent Kalimdor: “Land of Eternal Starlight.”
THE PILLARS OF CREATION
The Pantheon bestowed wondrous artifacts on the keepers to aid them with ordering the world. These relics were known as the Pillars of Creation. Ages after the keepers had completed their grand work, the artifacts would become lost and scattered across the lands of Azeroth.
GIANTS SHAPING THE LANDS AND SEAS OF AZEROTH
Pleased with the keepers’ efforts and assured that the slumbering world-soul was in good hands, the Pantheon prepared to venture back into the Great Dark. The discovery of Azeroth was proof that other nascent titans could exist in the universe, and the titans were eager to renew their search.
The keepers mourned the imminent departure of their makers, but they also brimmed with pride at being given the honor of safeguarding Azeroth. To commemorate the Pantheon’s departure, Loken and Mimiron crafted a set of enchanted artifacts called the Discs of Norgannon, which would transcribe history as it unfolded on Azeroth. If ever the Pantheon returned, they would possess a record of what had come to pass in their absence.
In his final act before departing, Aman’Thul commissioned the constellar Algalon the Observer to serve as the world’s celestial guardian. The possibility that the world-soul could become corrupted was one the titans could not ignore. Should that come to pass, Algalon had the power to initiate a procedure that would activate the Forge of Origination, purging the world of life and any corruption that was present.
With that, the Pantheon bade the titan-forged farewell and disappeared into the stars. The titans had done everything possible to heal Azeroth and assure the world-soul’s maturation. All that remained now was to wait—and hope that the world-soul would one day awaken.
In the ages after the Pantheon left Azeroth, myriad life-forms flourished across the surface of the world. The most savage and cunning were the proto-dragons, who dwelled in the frozen north of Kalimdor. The various proto-dragon species had a wide array of strengths and abilities. Some were gigantic winged beings of incredible fortitude, their spirits tied to the world itself. Others had unknowingly tapped into the latent elemental energies that permeated the newly ordered world.
But there was one proto-dragon whose brutality and devastating power overshadowed the rest of his kind. His name was Galakrond, and he was the largest proto-dragon who had ever soared across Azeroth’s skies. So mighty was the enormous creature that the beating of his wings could flatten entire forests. Strength, however, was not his only weapon. He possessed a preternatural cunning that made him an exceptional hunter.
In time, Galakrond came to dominate the most sought-after hunting grounds in northern Kalimdor. Compelled by an insatiable hunger, he devoured everything in sight. His body swelled to an even greater size. Yet nothing could ever sate his cravings.
So terrible was his hunger that Galakrond began feasting on other proto-dragons, even the corpses of the dead. Devouring fallen proto-dragons eventually warped Galakrond’s mind and body with a necrotic affliction. Misshapen limbs and dozens of eyes sprouted across his gargantuan form. Death energies wafted off of Galakrond’s jagged hide, reanimating dead matter. These necrotic powers were infused in Galakrond’s victims, and they rose from the dead as mindless abominations.
The ranks of Galakrond’s wretched minions expanded. Soon, he and his ruined followers terrorized the skies over Kalimdor. The other proto-dragons, fractured by long-standing rivalries, failed to unite against this new threat.
Tyr, the mightiest of the keepers, was the first of his kind to notice the danger posed by Galakrond. He warned his fellow keepers of what he had seen, but he could not motivate them to act. Though the keepers had once sworn to protect the world, the war with the Old Gods and the Ordering of Azeroth had sapped their collective strength and willpower. They had become indifferent to the world at large, focused solely on maintaining their vaults and arcane machineries.
But Tyr was not deterred by his siblings’ apathy. His drive to seek justice and order in the world pushed him forward. Tyr knew that if Galakrond remained unchecked, he would devour all nature, spreading his affliction to the far corners of Azeroth. Thus the keeper sought a means to destroy the giant proto-dragon and his minions.
Tyr found his answer with five of the greatest and most intelligent proto-dragons in existence: Alexstrasza, Neltharion, Malygos, Ysera, and Nozdormu. Nearly all of these creatures hailed from different strains, and each of them displayed unique powers. Even the two sisters Alexstrasza and Ysera commanded distinct abilities. The tenacious and kindhearted Alexstrasza could summon gouts of fire from her maw. The mighty Neltharion possessed incredible strength, and his piercing roar could shatter bone and rock alike. The cunning Malygos could breathe frost, encasing his foes in solid ice. The wise Nozdormu could assail his enemies with blinding storms of coarse sand. The elusive Ysera’s breath could debilitate her enemies, sapping their willpower and throwing them into a deep trance.
Tyr beseeched the five proto-dragons for aid in thwarting Galakrond. The creatures were initially suspicious of the strange being who had approached them, but they soon vowed to fight by his side. Despite their differences, the five proto-dragons showed a surprising willingness to work as one.
Under Tyr’s guidance, Alexstrasza and her companions warred with Galakrond and his fetid minions. Their battles raged over the snowy peaks and rocky spires of northern Kalimdor. Initially, Galakrond’s jagged hide warded off the attacks of the five proto-dragons. Though disheartened by their enemy’s resilience, Alexstrasza and her allies soon found his weaknesses. They assaulted Galakrond’s many eyes and his soft, vulnerable gullet. By using their powers in harmony and trusting in one another, the five proto-dragons vanquished their gargantuan foe. Galakrond’s lifeless husk plummeted to the ground, smashing int
o the frozen tundra of what would become known as the Dragonblight.
The five proto-dragons had won despite all odds, but they had only done so by working together. It was a lesson they would not soon forget. Alexstrasza and the others would carry on this ideal of unity and cooperation for ages to come.
TYR AND THE SILVER HAND
Tyr fought alongside the proto-dragons, but Galakrond proved too powerful even for the keeper of justice. In one particular battle, the monstrous creature bit off Tyr’s iron hand, suffusing him with necrotic energy. Although Tyr survived, his wound would never truly heal. Many years later, Tyr would replace his lost hand with one forged of pure silver. This silver hand would come to symbolize his belief that only through personal sacrifice could one achieve lasting justice.
MAP OF AZEROTH AFTER THE FALL OF THE BLACK EMPIRE
While Tyr and the proto-dragons were battling Galakrond, the other keepers finally emerged from their stupor. Too late, they realized the threat that the corrupted monstrosity posed. They were heartened by the resolve of Tyr’s winged allies and ashamed of their own apathy. Tyr, however, never chastised the other keepers. Instead he convinced them to imbue the five proto-dragons with powers so that they could safeguard the lands of Azeroth.
Only Keeper Odyn challenged this idea. Though he acknowledged the proto-dragons’ heroism, he did not agree that Azeroth’s fate should be placed on their shoulders. Odyn saw Alexstrasza and her ilk as primitive life-forms. Only the mighty titan-forged could be trusted to protect the world. Odyn argued that as Prime Designate, he had the final decision on how to proceed.
World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 Page 4