Troll Lore an' History

[Gudran]

Me recent studies 'ave brought me across some fascinatin' history that not many in tha alliance 'ave delved inta. In this book I shall put together my notes ta form a basic history of tha race we call tha trolls. More ta come as I progress in me studies.

~Gudran Whitebeard

The earliest known trolls belonged to the Zandalar tribe, from which all other trolls are descended. On the whole, the Zandalari valued knowledge above all else, but a significant portion of the tribe hungered for conquest instead. These disaffected trolls eventually departed to form tribes of their own. As time went on, what remained of the Zandalar tribe came to be regarded as an overarching priest caste for all trolls. The Zandalari worked tirelessly to record and preserve troll history and traditions, and these wise trolls acted to further the goals of troll society as a whole. Greatly respected by all other trolls, the Zandalari nevertheless remained apart from the day-to-day politics of their people.

About 16,000 years ago, trolls lorded over much of ancient Kalimdor, which was the only continent on Azeroth at the time. Out of the tribes that had split off from the Zandalari, two troll empires had emerged: the Gurubashi empire of the southeastern jungles and the Amani empire of the middle forestlands.

Several smaller troll tribes were also driven out of civilized lands and into the far north, where they settled in the region that would later be known as Northrend. These tribes founded a small nation known as Zul'Drak, but this kingdom never achieved the size or prosperity of the southern empires.

The Gurubashi and Amani empires had little love for one another, but their conflict rarely escalated into war. At the time, their greatest common enemy was a third empire: the civilization of Azj'Aqir. The aqir were intelligent insectoids who ruled the lands of the far west. These clever insectoids were greatly expansionistic and incredibly evil. The aqir were obsessed with eradicating all non-insect life from the fields of Kalimdor.

The trolls fought the aqir for thousands of years, but never succeeded in winning a true victory. Eventually, due to the trolls' persistence, the aqiri kingdom split in half. Its citizens fled to separate colonies in the far northern and southern regions of the continent. Two aqiri city-states emerged: Azjol-Nerub in the northern wastes, and Ahn'Qiraj in the southern desert. Although the trolls suspected that there were other aqiri colonies beneath Kalimdor, their existence was never verified.

With the insectoids driven into exile, the two troll empires returned to business as usual. Neither civilization expanded much farther than its original boundaries.

[Gudran]

The night elves developed along the shores of the Well of Eternity, and so they were strengthened by its energies. Despite the trolls' attempts to keep this new race from claiming further territories, the night elves built up a mighty empire that expanded rapidly across Kalimdor. Wielding fierce magics never before imagined by the trolls, the night elves soon threatened the two greatest empires in the world.

The night elves systematically dismantled the troll's defenses and supply chains. Unable to counter the elves' destructive magics, the trolls buckled under the onslaught. The territories of the Gurubashi and Amani empires fragmented within only a few years, and the night elves' shockingly quick victory incurred the trolls' eternal hatred.

Eventually the night elves were burned by the arcane fires they had sought to control: the elves' reckless use of magic lured the Burning Legion to the world of Azeroth. The demons crushed much of the night elves' civilization. There are no records to indicate that the Legion attacked either troll civilization, but it is likely that battles took place across the breadth of the continent.

At the end of this terrible conflict, known today as the War of the Ancients, the Well of Eternity imploded. The resulting shockwave shattered ancient Kalimdor into several landmasses and drove the center of the continent far beneath the sea. Large tracts of land that once belonged to the Amani and Gurubashi empires still exist in the present-day lands of Quel'Thalas and Stranglethorn, respectively.

[Gudran]

The long centuries following the Great Sundering were difficult ones for the troll race. The dauntless trolls rebuilt their ravaged cities and set about reclaiming some of their former power. Even so, famine and terror became commonplace within the broken kingdoms. The jungle trolls, driven to desperate ends, sought aid from ancient mystical forces. Both troll empires shared a central belief in a great pantheon of primitive gods, but the Gurubashi empire alone would fall under the sway of the darkest one.

Hakkar the Soulflayer answered the jungle trolls' plea. Hakkar gave the trolls his secrets of blood and helped them extend their civilization across most of Stranglethorn Vale and certain islands in the South Seas. He brought the jungle trolls great power, but in return the bloodthirsty god required that souls be sacrificed to him.

His demands quickly escalated, and he grew impatient with his loyal priests, the Hakkari. He told them to find a way to summon him physically into the world, so that he might directly drain the blood of his victims. So vast was his hunger that he dreamed of devouring the lives of all mortal creatures. Most of the Hakkari had already begun to guess at his insatiable appetite, and they were horrified at the prospect of the damage he might wreak and the power he might gain if given the ability to feed unchecked. Nonetheless, the Atal'ai, a small extremist faction of the Hakkari, decided to do as Hakkar wished.

[Gudran]

Before the Atal'ai could complete the summoning, the other jungle trolls, including the Hakkari, rose up in open revolt against the cruel god. Even the Zandalar tribe was drawn into the conflict, for they saw that Hakkar presented a deadly threat to the entire world. The magics that were unleashed laid waste to Zul'Gurub, but just as the battle seemed most hopeless, the trolls succeeded in destroying Hakkar's avatar. Driven from the jungles, the Atal'ai were hunted nearly to extinction. Only a small group of Atal'ai escaped into the Swamp of Sorrows, where they secretly built a great temple to their god: the Temple of Atal'Hakkar.

Having helped fight the fanatical Atal'ai, the Hakkari hoped their role in carrying out sacrifices for Hakkar would go unpunished. They soon discovered otherwise. Once the more immediate threat of the Atal'ai had been eliminated, the jungle trolls turned on the Hakkari as well. Many former priests were tortured and executed in grisly public spectacles. Others were torn apart in mob violence. The luckiest Hakkari were simply stripped of all their possessions and forcibly ejected from Zul'Gurub. They were warned not to return on pain of death.

Bitter and desperate, the surviving Hakkari reached a terrible decision. They tracked down their former enemies, the Atal'ai, and offered to help them summon Hakkar into the world. Pleased by the suffering that the Hakkari had clearly undergone, the Atal'ai were convinced of the Hakkari's change of heart, and accordingly welcomed them into the temple. The Atal'ai and Hakkari continued to do their god's work there, preparing for his arrival into the physical world. The green Dragon Aspect, Ysera the Dreamer, soon learned of the evil priests' plans and smashed the temple beneath the marshes. To this day, the temple's ruins are guarded by mighty green dragons.

The remnants of the Gurubashi empire went their separate ways, claiming territories in the vast jungles of Stranglethorn Vale. These scattered tribes began fighting one another, and at length the Darkspear tribe, which was smaller than most of the other tribes, was driven off the continent altogether and took to the ocean. Hoping to avoid further conflict, they settled on a remote desert island.

A fragile peace settled over the broken empire. Nevertheless, trolls spoke of a prophecy that Hakkar would one day be reborn into the world, and on that day, he would consume it whole.

[Gudran]

The War of the Ancients and the Sundering both came about because the night elves had abused arcane magic. Still, the highest caste of night elves, the Highborne, refused to relinquish arcane magic. As a result, they were exiled from Kalimdor, and they sailed across the sea and landed in Lordaeron. These exiles renamed themselves the high elves.

As they pressed further inland, the high elves developed a blood feud with the forest trolls, who controlled most of the northern reaches of Lordaeron. Finally the weary elves reached a forested region that reminded them of their distant homeland in Kalimdor. Driving out the resident trolls, the high elves established the kingdom of Quel'Thalas.

Elven magi crafted monolithic Runestones along the borders of Quel'Thalas. These massive stones powered a magical shield intended to mask the elves' magic from extra-dimensional threats and protect the land from invasion. The Runestones also frightened away the superstitious trolls for a time.

The hard-won peace of Quel'Thalas endured for roughly four thousand years, at which point the forest trolls gathered together and staged a vicious campaign to destroy the elven intruders forever. The high elves were hopelessly outnumbered. King Anasterian Sunstrider of Quel'Thalas desperately sought allies to aid him in the war, and so it came to pass that the king struck a partnership with the human nation of Arathor.

The elves taught a small number of humans how to wield magic. With these new magi and the armies of Arathor, the high elves succeeded in destroying the trolls' power base. The Amani empire would never fully recover from its defeat.

[Gudran]

Early in the Second War, the isolationist elves took little interest in the war's progress and provided only token support to the Alliance of Lordaeron. Then Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer offered the forest trolls a place in the Horde. If the trolls accepted, Doomhammer promised that the Horde would vanquish the high elves and assist the forest trolls in reestablishing the Amani empire.

The forest trolls' leader, Zul'jin, declined the tempting offer at first. As a famous hero of the Amani tribe, he had accomplished an amazing feat by uniting all forest trolls under his rule. Still, the forest trolls were primarily interested in fighting the high elves, and Zul'jin was skeptical about the Horde's plans. A short while later, human soldiers captured a war party led by Zul'jin. When the Horde rescued the trolls, Zul'jin changed his mind and agreed to an alliance with the Horde. A few tribes of forest trolls joined their new allies on the battlefield. Shortly thereafter, the Horde burned down the borderlands of Quel’Thalas and slaughtered many high elf civilians. Furious at this wanton destruction of life, the elves subsequently committed all their resources to the war.

By the time the Horde was driven back, however, the orcs and their allies had already achieved their true goal: to steal and desecrate many of the Runestones that powered the elves’ defensive shield. The warlock Gul’dan then used the pilfered stones to power his devious Altars of Storms.

Nevertheless, the Alliance ultimately won the Second War, and after a number of additional battles, most of the vanquished orcs on Azeroth were rounded up and placed in internment camps. In the war's disastrous aftermath, many forest trolls were furious at the Horde's failure to carry out its promise and deserted their former orc allies without a moment's hesitation. Today only one tribe of forest trolls--the Revantusk tribe--is loosely affiliated with the Horde, much as the Wildhammer clan of dwarves is associated with, and yet not a member of, the Alliance.

Although the Second War ended some years ago, the Dragonmaw and Blackrock orc clans and their allies--among them two tribes of forest trolls--have not given up trying to defeat humanity. Referred to as the Dark Horde by outsiders, this group is led by the orc Rend Blackhand, who has named himself warchief. A force of approximately five thousand strong, the Dark Horde regards itself as the true Horde, and believes that Thrall and his followers are foolish weaklings. Rend's forces reside in Blackrock Spire, and they have allied themselves with the black dragonflight.

[Gudran]

Before the Third War broke out, the courageous orc Thrall escaped his enslavement and began assembling a new Horde. This Horde would make no pacts with demons, nor would Thrall and his orcs seek further conflict with humans. Instead, at the urging of a prophet, Thrall led the revitalized Horde over the sea to Kalimdor.

The voyage grew perilous when a violent storm appeared and inflicted heavy damage on the orc fleet. Fearing that the ships would not reach Kalimdor intact, Thrall ordered the Horde to seek shelter in the cove of a nearby island. The elderly leader of the Darkspear trolls, Sen'jin, greeted the orc newcomers and warned them that a group of humans had established an outpost on the island.

Unfortunately the humans were not the only threat on the island. A group of murlocs captured Sen'jin, Thrall, and several other orcs and trolls. Thrall fought his way out of his prison cell and freed a number of other captives, but by the time he reached Sen'jin's cell, the wise old troll was missing. The murlocs had taken him away in order to sacrifice him to a mysterious sea witch.

Despite Thrall's best efforts, a murloc sorcerer succeeded in carrying out the sacrifice. Mortally wounded, Sen'jin revealed that he had seen a vision in which Thrall would lead the Darkspears from the island.

The sea witch was furious at the slaughter of her minions and the defilement of her sanctuary. She summoned powerful waves to batter the island. Regardless, Thrall and his forces managed to defeat further murloc attackers, repair the damaged fleet, and retrieve a number of troll survivors.

In Sen’jin's honor, Thrall offered the Darkspears a place in the Horde and sanctuary in the kingdom he planned to establish in Kalimdor. Vol’jin, the son of Sen’jin, took control of the Darkspear tribe and accepted Thrall's offer. After the orcs departed, a large group of Darkspears also sailed for Kalimdor. Vol'jin and the rest of the tribe weathered the sea witch's anger, gathered all the supplies they could take with them, and joined their brethren roughly a year later in the new orc nation, Durotar. They made a home for themselves on the Echo Isles, just off the southeastern coast.

[Gudran]

The Darkspears were not to know peace for long. After the Third War, Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore led a large fleet of battleships against Thrall's forces on Durotar. Proudmoore could not be convinced that this new Horde was any different from the corrupted Horde of the First War. Under heavy attack, the trolls were forced to evacuate to the mainland of Durotar, but the Horde managed to defeat the misguided admiral.

Much relieved, the Darkspear trolls began returning to the Echo Isles, only to be betrayed by one of their own. A witch doctor named Zalazane used dark magic to rob several other trolls of their free will, forcing them to obey him. As his influence spread, his army grew while the number of free Darkspears dwindled. Fearing that all of his people would fall to Zalazane's insidious sorcery, Vol'jin ordered the tribe to abandon the Echo Isles.

Thus, the free Darkspear trolls left the islands and created the fishing village of Sen’jin on the Durotar coast, just northwest of the Echo Isles. Some Darkspears have remained in the village, and others have ventured farther afield. Vol'jin himself dwells in Orgrimmar, the capital city of Durotar. Orcs make up the majority of the city's inhabitants, but there is a strong troll presence in the Valley of Spirits.

Today the Darkspears and their allies frequently strike at Zalazane's holdings on the Echo Isles, determined to win back the trolls' first home on Kalimdor. In the meantime, Zalazane has not given up in his efforts to enslave his entire tribe, and so he continues to send his trolls to the mainland in order to drag further Darkspears under his sway.