The feral, nomadic humanoids, drawn by the Well's strange energies, built crude homes upon its tranquil shores. Over time, the Well's cosmic power affected the strange tribe, making them strong, wise and virtually immortal. The tribe adopted the name Kaldorei, which meant -children of the stars- in their native tongue. To celebrate their budding society, they constructed great structures and temples around the lake's periphery.

The Kaldorei, or night elves as they would later be known, worshipped the moon goddess, Elune, and believed that she slept within the Well's shimmering depths during the daylight hours. The early night elf priests and seers studied the Well with an insatiable curiosity, driven to plumb its untold secrets and power. As their society grew, the night elves explored the breadth of Kalimdor and encountered its myriad denizens.

The only creatures that gave them pause were the ancient and powerful dragons. Though the great serpentine beasts were often reclusive, they did much to safeguard the known lands from potential threats. The night elves believed that the dragons held themselves to be the protectors of the world, and that they and their secrets were best left alone.

In time, the night elves' curiosity led them to meet and befriend a number of powerful entities, not the least of which was Cenarius, a mighty demi-god of the primordial forestlands. The great-hearted Cenarius grew fond of the inquisitive night elves and spent a great deal of time teaching them about the natural world. The tranquil Kaldorei developed a strong empathy for the living forests of Kalimdor and reveled in the harmonious balance of nature.

Yet, as the seemingly endless ages passed, the night elves' civilization expanded both territorially and culturally. Their temples, roads, and dwelling places stretched across the breadth of the dark continent. Azshara, the night elves' beautiful and gifted Queen, built an immense, wondrous palace on the Well's shore that housed her favored servitors within its bejeweled halls.

Her servitors, whom she called the Quel'dorei or -high-borne,- doted on her every command and believed themselves to be greater than the rest of their lower-caste brethren. Though Queen Azshara was loved equally by all of her people, the high-borne were secretly hated by the jealous masses. Sharing the priests' curiosity towards the Well of Eternity, Azshara ordered the educated high-borne to plumb its secrets and reveal its true purpose in the world.

The high-borne buried themselves in their work and studied the Well ceaselessly. In time they developed the ability to manipulate and control the Well's cosmic energies. As their reckless experiments progressed, the high-borne found that they could use their newfound powers to either create or destroy at their leisure. The hapless high-borne had stumbled upon primitive magic and were now resolved to devote themselves to its mastery.

Long had the children of the stars dwelled upon the banks of the shimmering waters of the Eternal Well. To all was known that Elune, light of the eternal twilight, aspect and goddess of the moon, dwelt within its waters at such time that she rested from her works. Upon the shores of the Well did the children of the stars, favored of Elune, build their homes, even as their gaze was trained ever skyward, into the moonlit night. Though there were many towns and places of habitation constructed

upon the lakeshore, Ameth'Aran and Bashal'Aran were the foremost, having the touch of Azshara, the Kaldorei's beloved queen, in their creation. Her favored servitors, those of the Highborne, she brought to the twin towns to reside, and to govern them she placed Athrikus Narassin, though it would be that he would spend most of his days in his Tower of Althalaxx, some ways removed of the towns. His second, a mage known of his prowess in the arcane arts as much as with his physical abilities,

was Asterion, who lived among the people of Bashal'Aran, and went many times to Ameth'Aran, to see to the needs and wants of its people. And so it was, upon the shores of the Well of Eternity, the twin towns grew and prospered, while the world beneath the stars fell slowly to madness.

Despite his harsh upbringing, young Thrall grew into a strong, quick-witted orc, and he knew in his heart that a slave's life was not for him. As he grew to maturity, he learned about his people, the orcs, whom he had never met: after their defeat, most of them had been placed in internment camps. Rumor had it that Doomhammer, the orc leader, had escaped from Lordaeron and gone into hiding. Only one rogue clan still operated in secret, trying to evade the watchful eyes of the Alliance.

The resourceful yet inexperienced Thrall decided to escape from Blackmoore's fortress and set off to find others of his kind. During his journeys Thrall visited the internment camps and found his once-mighty race to be strangely cowed and lethargic. Having not found the proud warriors he hoped to discover, Thrall set out to find the last undefeated orc chieftain, Grom Hellscream.

Constantly hunted by the humans, Hellscream nevertheless held onto the Horde's unquenchable will to fight. Aided only by his own devoted Warsong clan, Hellscream continued to wage an underground war against the oppression of his beleaguered people. Unfortunately, Hellscream could never find a way to rouse the captured orcs from their stupor. The impressionable Thrall, inspired by Hellscream's idealism, developed a strong empathy for the Horde and its warrior traditions.

Seeking the truth of his own origins, Thrall traveled north to find the legendary Frostwolf clan. Thrall learned that Gul'dan had exiled the Frostwolves during the early days of the First War. He also discovered that he was the son and heir of the orc hero Durotan, the true chieftain of the Frostwolves who had been murdered in the wilds nearly twenty years before.

Under the tutelage of the venerable shaman Drek'Thar, Thrall studied his people's ancient shamanistic culture, which had been forgotten under Gul'dan's evil rule. Over time, Thrall became a powerful shaman and took his rightful place as chieftain of the exiled Frostwolves. Empowered by the elements themselves and driven to find his destiny, Thrall set off to free the captive clans and heal his race of demonic corruption.

During his travels, Thrall found the aged warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer, who had been living as a hermit for many years. Doomhammer, who had been a close friend of Thrall's father, decided to follow the young, visionary orc and help him free the captive clans. Supported by many of the veteran chieftains, Thrall ultimately succeeded in revitalizing the Horde and giving his people a new spiritual identity.

To symbolize his people's rebirth, Thrall returned to Blackmoore's fortress of Durnholde and put a decisive end to his former master's plans by laying siege to the internment camps. This victory was not without its price: during the liberation of one camp, Doomhammer fell in battle.

Thrall took up Doomhammer's legendary warhammer and donned his black plate-armor to become the new warchief of the Horde. During the following months, Thrall's small but volatile Horde laid waste to the internment camps and stymied the Alliance's best efforts to counter his clever strategies. Encouraged by his best friend and mentor, Grom Hellscream, Thrall worked to ensure that his people would never be slaves again.

You touch the small white crystal and you can hear faint sounds on the wind. This is an audio recording of some sort. "The Sky-Touched Mystery"

"Much of the flora and fauna of the Skyborne Isles has been shaped by the elemental forces that reign here in the realm of Skywall. Many creatures once bound to the earth now bear avian traits such as beaks, talons, and feathers. Others have gained the power of flight, though such transformations remain less common than other outward changes. Among the shen'dorei, the elemental plane's influence upon the body has been gradual and subtle. Yet in recent generations its effects have grown increasingly dramatic. Consider, for instance, the phenomenon now commonly called the "Sky-Touched Blessing."

"It's well documented since our ascent to Skywall that our people have adopted more lithe, slender forms, but this occurred over the course of many millennia. In contrast, the first recorded case of the Sky-Touched Blessing--which causes shen'dorei children to be born with vivid cerulean skin--was noted fewer than five generations ago. Within a single generation of its first appearance, one child in twenty born among the Skyborne bore this curious alteration. Two generations later, that rate had doubled."

"Today, three in ten children born on the Skyborne Isles have the striking complexion of the Sky-Touched. In recent centuries, the acceleration of our physical alterations has increased, and many scholars believe that the last vestiges of our kaldorei heritage may vanish entirely within two to three more generations. The cause of this transformation may never be fully understood. Yet it is plain that, in making our lives within the elemental plane, we as a people are being changed by it in turn. Skywall is a realm of wonders, but this serves as a sober reminder that we still know perilously little of what such a place may work upon those not born to it."

Aegwynn, a fiery human girl, won the approbation of the Order and was given the mantle of Guardianship. Aegwynn vigorously worked to hunt down and eradicate demons wherever she found them, but she often questioned the authority of the male-dominated Council of Tirisfal.

She believed that the ancient elves and the elderly men who presided over the council were too rigid in their thinking and not farsighted enough to put a decisive end to the conflict against chaos. Impatient with lengthy discussion and debate, she yearned to prove herself worthy to her peers and superiors, and as a result frequently chose valor over wisdom in crucial situations.

As her mastery over the cosmic power of Tirisfal grew, Aegwynn became aware of a number of powerful demons that stalked the icy northern continent of Northrend. Traveling to the distant north, Aegwynn tracked the demons into the mountains. There, she found that the demons were hunting one of the last surviving dragonflights and draining the ancient creatures of their innate magic.

The mighty dragons, who had fled from the ever-advancing march of mortal societies, found themselves too evenly matched against the dark magics of the Legion. Aegwynn confronted the demons, and with help from the noble dragons, eradicated them. Yet, as the last demon was banished from the mortal world, a great storm erupted throughout the north.

An enormous dark visage appeared in the sky above Northrend. Sargeras, the demon king and lord of the Burning Legion, appeared before Aegwynn and bristled with hellish energy. He informed the young Guardian that the time of Tirisfal was about to come to an end and that the world would soon bow before the onslaught of the Legion.

The proud Aegwynn, believing herself to be a match for the menacing god, unleashed her powers against Sargeras' avatar. With disconcerting ease, Aegwynn battered the demonlord with her powers and succeeded in killing his physical shell. Fearing that Sargeras' spirit would linger on, Aegwynn locked the ruined husk of his body within one of the ancient halls of Kalimdor that had been blasted to the bottom of the sea when the Well of Eternity collapsed.

Aegwynn would never know that she had done exactly as Sargeras had planned. She had inadvertently sealed the fate of the mortal world, for Sargeras, at the time of his corporeal death, had transferred his spirit into Aegwynn's weakened body. Unbeknownst to the young Guardian, Sargeras would remain cloaked within the darkest recesses of her soul for many long years.

The power-hungry Gul'dan, obsessed with obtaining godhood itself, set out on a desperate search for the undersea Tomb of Sargeras that he believed held the secrets of ultimate power. Having already doomed his fellow orcs to become the slaves of the Burning Legion, Gul'dan thought nothing of his supposed duty to Doomhammer.

Backed by the Stormreaver and Twilight's Hammer clans, Gul'dan succeeded in raising the Tomb of Sargeras from the sea floor. However, when he opened the ancient, flooded vault, he found only crazed demons awaiting him.

Seeking to punish the wayward orcs for their costly betrayal, Doomhammer sent his forces to kill Gul'dan and bring the renegades back into the fold. For his recklessness, Gul'dan was torn apart by the maddened demons he had set loose. With their leader dead, the renegade clans quickly fell before Doomhammer's enraged legions.

Lord Lothar, seeing that the Horde was fracturing from within, gathered the last of his forces and pushed Doomhammer south, back into the shattered heartland of Stormwind. There, the Alliance forces trapped the retreating Horde within the volcanic fortress of Blackrock Spire. Though Lord Lothar fell in battle at the Spire's base, his lieutenant, Turalyon, rallied the Alliance forces at the eleventh hour and drove the Horde back into the abysmal Swamp of Sorrows.

Turalyon's forces succeeded in destroying the Dark Portal, the mystical gateway that connected the orcs to their homeworld of Draenor. Cut off from its reinforcements and fractured by infighting, the Horde finally buckled in upon itself and fell before the might of the Alliance.

The scattered orc clans were quickly rounded up and placed within guarded internment camps. Though it seemed that the Horde had been defeated for good, some remained highly skeptical that peace would last. Khadgar, now an Archmage of some renown, convinced the Alliance high command to build the fortress of Nethergarde that would watch over the ruins of the Dark Portal and ensure that there would be no further invasions from Draenor.

For the first time in nearly three thousand years, the disparate nations of Arathor were once again united under a common banner. Appointed as Supreme Commander of the Alliance forces, Lord Lothar prepared his armies for the coming of the Horde.

Aided by his lieutenants, Uther the Lightbringer, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, and Turalyon, Lothar was able to convince Lordaeron's demi-human races of the impending threat as well. The Alliance succeeded in gaining the support of the stoic dwarves of Ironforge and a small number of high elves of Quel'Thalas.

The elves, led at that time by Anasterian Sunstrider, were largely uninterested in the coming conflict. However, they were duty-bound to aid Lothar because he was the last descendent of the Arathi bloodline, which had aided the elves in ages past.

The Horde, now led by Warchief Doomhammer, brought in ogres from its homeworld of Draenor and conscripted the disenfranchised Amani forest trolls into its fold. Setting out on a massive campaign to overrun the dwarf kingdom of Khaz Modan and the southern reaches of Lordaeron, the Horde effortlessly decimated all opposition.

The epic battles of the Second War ranged from large-scale naval skirmishes to massive aerial dogfights. Somehow the Horde had unearthed a powerful artifact known as the Demon Soul and used it to enslave the ancient Dragonqueen, Alexstrasza. Threatening to destroy her precious eggs, the Horde forced Alexstrasza to send her grown children to war. The noble red dragons were forced to fight for the Horde, and fight they did.

The war raged across the continents of Khaz Modan, Lordaeron, and Azeroth itself. As part of its northern campaign, the Horde succeeded in burning down the borderlands of Quel'Thalas, thereby ensuring the elves' final commitment to the Alliance's cause. The greater cities and townships of Lordaeron were razed and devastated by the conflict. Despite the absence of reinforcements and overwhelming odds, Lothar and his allies succeeded in holding their enemies at bay.

"There were those who loudly opposed the Prince's plan to channel a font of demonic energy to power his network of crystalline foci. Many of the detractors were members of outspoken noble families who attempted to use their influence to turn public sentiment against House Tortheldrin and the Prince's plan."

You touch the small white crystal and you can hear faint sounds on the wind. This is an audio recording of some sort. "The Rebellion in Eldre'Thalas, Part 4"

"Prince Tortheldrin grew frustrated, fearing that delays and debate would lead to the further deterioration of his kingdom. As a result, his response to this resistance was swift and brutal. Over the course of a single bloody night, a purge was carried out that saw the complete destruction of dozens of noble houses. All who publicly opposed Tortheldrin were abruptly silenced, and entire lineages were destroyed overnight."

You touch the small white crystal and you can hear faint sounds on the wind. This is an audio recording of some sort. "The Rebellion in Eldre'Thalas, Part 2"

"When the beleaguered rebel army arrived at the port city of Eldre'narr, the magisters in control of the city had already heard of Tortheldrin's mighty rage--and of his standing order to kill any rebel found on sight. In an act of miraculous mercy, the magisters made no move to hinder the rebels' progress, allowing them to commandeer a number of ships without resistance. The Shal'nan understood that this act of mercy would likely expose many in Eldre'narr to Tortheldrin's wrath. Even so, he accepted this unexpected gift with grace and, with a heavy heart, sailed his people west into the unknown."

"In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Tortheldrin's forces were scattered and disorganized. Most were occupied with securing the city once more, and this distraction allowed the remaining rebels to escape and regroup. With nowhere else to go, the Shal'nan marched what was left of his exhausted forces west, toward the coast."

"In the end, the worst of the destruction was narrowly avoided due to the rebels' intervention, but the price was steep. The battle claimed many lives on all sides, but the rebels suffered the greatest losses. The Shal'nan himself was the only one to survive the final confrontation within Tortheldrin's sanctum. Those closest to the Shal'nan have widely documented that whatever injury he suffered in that last battle left him forever changed. In the centuries since those dark days, the Shal'nan has never spoken of what occurred, and he becomes withdrawn and wistful when asked."

"On the eve of the planned summoning ritual, the Shal'nan and his forces struck. Seeing this as their final opportunity to thwart Prince Tortheldrin's reckless plan, they made a daring raid on the Prince's sanctum, intent on stopping the ritual. Just as the Shal'nan and the rebels feared, the poorly considered spell spiraled out of control and threatened to destroy the entire city center. As the battle raged, wild magics tore through the streets, opening portals to the Nether itself and manifesting malevolent arcane monstrosities that preyed mercilessly upon the defenseless citizens of Eldre'Thalas."

Jin'Zil, It has been a while, but I thought you would like to know that the last of the Bloodfeather's have been slain. Don't thank me though, the person delivering the letter is the slayer. If you'd like, I can have her head delivered to you after the caravan makes its rounds through the Barrens. I know you like that sort of stuff for your voodoo magics. Take care old friend. -Darsok Swiftdagger