Wednesday, December 12, 2007 8:26 PM
Inso
Arathor and the Troll Wars
CHAPTER II : THE NEW WORLD
II - ARATHOR AND THE
TROLL WARS
(2 800 years before Warcraft I)
The tribes of early humanity raided each other's settlements with little
heed for racial unification or honor. Yet one tribe, known as the Arathi,
saw that the trolls were becoming too great a threat to ignore. The Arathi
wished to bring all of the tribes under its rule so that they could provide a
unified front against the troll warbands.
Over the course of six years, the cunning Arathi outmaneuvered and outfought
the rival tribes. After every victory, the Arathi offered peace and equality to
the conquered people; thus, they won the loyalty of those they had beaten.
Confident that they could hold their own against the troll warbands or even the
reclusive elves if need be, the Arathi warlords decided to construct a mighty
fortress city in the southern regions of Lordaeron. The city-state, named Strom,
became the capital of the Arathi nation, Arathor. As Arathor prospered,
humans from all over the vast continent traveled south to the protection and
safety of Strom.
United under one banner, the human tribes developed a strong, optimistic
culture. Thoradin, the king of Arathor, knew that the mysterious elves
in the northlands were under constant siege by the trolls, but refused to risk
the safety of his people in defense of reclusive strangers. Many months passed
as rumors of the elves' supposed defeat trickled down from the north. It was
only when weary ambassadors from Quel'Thalas reached Strom that Thoradin
realized how great the troll threat truly was.
The elves informed Thoradin that the troll armies were vast and that once
the trolls had destroyed Quel'Thalas, they would move on to attack the
southlands. The desperate elves, in dire need of military aid, hastily agreed
to teach certain select humans to wield magic in exchange for their help against
the warbands. Thoradin, distrustful of any magic, agreed to aid the elves out
of necessity. Almost immediately, elven sorcerers arrived in Arathor and began
to instruct a group of humans in the ways of magic.
The elves found that although humans were innately clumsy in their handling
of magic, they possessed a startling natural affinity for it. One hundred men
were taught the very basics of the elves' magical secrets: no more than was
absolutely necessary to combat the trolls. Convinced that their human students
were ready to aid in the struggle, the elves left Strom and traveled north
alongside the mighty armies of King Thoradin.
The united elf and human armies clashed against the overwhelming troll
warbands at the foot of the Alterac
Mountains. The battle
lasted for many days, but the armies of Arathor never tired or gave an inch of
ground before the troll onslaught. The elven lords deemed that the time had
come to release the powers of their magic upon the enemy. The hundred human
magi and a multitude of elven sorcerers called down the fury of the heavens and
set the troll armies ablaze. The elemental fires prevented the trolls from
regenerating their wounds and burned their tortured forms from the inside out.
As the troll armies broke and attempted to flee,
Thoradin's armies ran them down and slaughtered every last one of their
soldiers. The trolls would never fully recover from their defeat, and history
would never see the trolls rise as one nation again. Assured that Quel'Thalas
was saved from destruction, the elves made a pledge of loyalty and friendship
to the nation of Arathor and to the bloodline of its king, Thoradin. Humans and
elves would nurture peaceful relations for ages to come.
Filed under: Lore