World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 (20 page)

Yet not all yaungol left the vale. Those who stayed behind quickly found themselves at odds with the pandaren and other liberated slaves. The mogu flesh-shaping had not completely subdued the yaungol’s bold nature, and conflict after conflict ignited over matters of land and resources.

Fearing an open war with their former allies, the yaungol moved west, settling outside the
Serpent’s Spine. That left them exposed to the
mantid, and every one hundred years, the swarm would threaten to exterminate their people. The mantid cycle and constant infighting among these yaungol led to a strong warrior tradition, one that would make them far more savage than the tribes that had gone north.

Over the passing of generations, the energies emanating from the
Well of Eternity and keeper-wrought machineries around Kalimdor changed the yaungol in unique ways. Those near the vale would keep the name “yaungol,” though they grew more warlike than their distant cousins. Those in central Kalimdor, close to the Well of Eternity, would take the name “
tauren.” The tribes that ventured to the north, near the
Forge of Wills, would be called “
taunka,” and they would adapt to the region’s icy terrain.

These far-flung groups maintained contact with one another for many years, but when the Great
Sundering eventually shattered the world, all connection between the tribes was lost.

T
he
Zandalari had always maintained a distant relationship with the mogu following
Lei Shen’s death. Though the
trolls found the mogu’s knowledge of arcane magic useful, they loathed the constant intra-clan strife and tense political maneuvering. When it became clear that no mogu clan would establish total dominance, the Zandalari refrained from pledging their loyalties to any one faction in particular.

But they never forgot the promise Lei Shen had made to them: a large plot of land near the Vale of Eternal Blossoms would forever belong to the trolls. When at long last the mogu empire crumbled, the Zandalari saw an opportunity to take what they believed was rightfully theirs. They did not move immediately. Internal debate raged in the Zandalari capital of
Zuldazar about whether the territory should be taken by diplomacy or force.

In the end, it was a descendant of the great high priest
Zulathra who made the strongest case. His name was
Mengazi, and he knew that the pandaren would be unlikely to honor the Zandalari’s agreement with the mogu. The former slaves had also overthrown their masters, and as such, they could be strong enough to mount a fierce resistance against the trolls if given time to prepare. To succeed in claiming their land, the trolls would need to strike without warning and with enough force to shatter the pandaren’s will.

To this end, the trolls marched south, intent on seizing a fertile region north of Kun-Lai Summit. The Zandalari stormed the main settlement in the area—a tranquil pandaren farming village. Imbued with mystic powers and riding atop colossal saurian war mounts, the trolls slaughtered almost every single resident of the settlement. The Zandalari ranks then pushed into the Jade Forest, a dense jungle that had become the heart of the newly established pandaren empire.

When word of the invasion reached other pandaren settlements, panic seized them. No standing army existed to thwart the trolls. In the decades since the slave revolution, few had seen the need to carry on the militaristic ways of the mogu, preferring instead to let all residents live in peace, without an overarching authority. The only real fighting force was an order of monks, charged by the pandaren emperor to patrol the Serpent’s Spine and stand against the periodic mantid swarm.

Though the monks raced from the Serpent’s Spine to defend their lands against the trolls, they found themselves hopelessly outnumbered and outmaneuvered. The trolls were employing a form of warfare none had ever seen, descending into battle on the backs of reptilian pterrorwings and giant bats. The pandaren had no means to counter these ferocious aerial attacks.

Ultimately, salvation came from a young pandaren named
Jiang. When she was but a child, she had found a cloud serpent hatchling, alone and badly injured after a terrible storm had destroyed his nest. At the time, the pandaren regarded the flying cloud serpents as untamable and violent beasts, but Jiang nursed him back to health and befriended him. Those in her village often saw them flying the skies together.

As the monks fought a losing battle atop the cliffs of the Jade Forest, Jiang and her serpentine companion, Lo, swooped down from the clouds. Lo’s fury and fire broke the Zandalari ranks, forcing them to retreat. News of the victory spread throughout the empire, and others followed in Jiang’s footsteps. They tamed the powerful cloud serpents, and soon a small army arose to fly into battle at Jiang’s side. These brave pandaren became known as the
Order of the Cloud Serpent.

PANDAREN SERPENT RIDERS STRIKE AT THE ZANDALARI TROLLS

The tide of the war had turned. The trolls knew there was little they could do to win by conventional means, so
Mengazi turned to a final tactic: resurrecting the Thunder King, Lei Shen.

Lei Shen had granted the Zandalari the secret to his revival, not trusting any of his mogu underlings to do it for him if he were ever killed. The trolls knew the Thunder King would have the power to purge the troublesome serpent riders and destroy any army on the ground. A pitched battle erupted near the
Tomb of Conquerors, where Lei Shen’s corpse was enshrined. Jiang sacrificed herself in a final, desperate attack, killing Mengazi. The other Zandalari soon broke ranks and fled back to their homeland in shame. Through her heroic act, Jiang had prevented the trolls from resurrecting the terrible Thunder King.

There was great celebration throughout the empire, but also mourning over the lives lost, especially Jiang’s. For decades after the conflict, Lo was seen circling the skies above the Jade Forest, as though searching for his old friend and rider. The other serpent riders honored Jiang’s memory by codifying her teachings. Within the
Order of the Cloud Serpent, her tradition of training and befriending the majestic creatures would survive for millennia to come.

B
efore their war with the
aqir, the troll tribes claimed large swaths of Kalimdor. Many of these groups, such as the
Gurubashi and the
Amani, clashed with each other over hunting grounds and territory. Yet one tribe was unconcerned with these battles for land and power. Known as
dark trolls, they lived in a network of deep caverns that stretched beneath
Mount Hyjal. They abhorred daylight, only emerging from their underground burrows at night. The dark trolls’ nocturnal habits changed them over time, turning their blue-hued skin into shades of gray.

The dark trolls cherished their independence from greater troll society, and they largely ignored the activities of other tribes. Unlike their Gurubashi and Amani cousins, they longed for a peaceful connection to the natural world. Dark troll mystics often sought ways to commune with the land and live in harmony with it. Many of these trolls gradually migrated toward the center of Kalimdor. They explored the labyrinthine groves at the heart of the continent, crossing paths with the elusive faerie dragons, chimaeras, and
dryads. In time, the dark trolls also discovered an enormous lake of scintillating energies, a lake they would later know as the
Well of Eternity.

Mesmerized by their discovery, the dark trolls settled along the Well of Eternity’s shores. Over generations, the energies radiating from the lake suffused the trolls’ flesh and bones, elevating their forms to match their graceful spirits. They transformed into highly intelligent and virtually immortal beings. These former trolls gradually abandoned their ancient heritage and traditions. The tribe’s mystics began worshipping the moon goddess,
Elune, who they believed was bound to the Well of Eternity itself. They claimed that the deity slumbered within the fount’s depths during daylight hours.

The former trolls also discovered the name “Kalimdor” and other
titan-forged words from communing with Elune and investigating strange artifacts scattered around the Well’s periphery. Influenced by this newfound language, they called themselves
kaldorei
—“children of the stars”—or
night elves.

S
ISTERHOOD OF
E
LUNE

The city of
Suramar became the center of night elf worship and home to the
Sisterhood of Elune. This order, composed of female night elves, dedicated itself to venerating the moon goddess. The Sisterhood’s priestesses had a hand in nearly all aspects of early night elf civilization, from acting as spiritual leaders to helping defend their burgeoning territories from outside threats
.