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Duh DUh DUh Duh duh duh duh duh The story of Stromgarde
Hello everyone!
The story of Stromgarde takes us back to the very origins of the humans.
Once upon a time, the vrykul were hit by the curse of flesh.
a curse designed by the old god yogg-saron to make them more volnerable to their corruption.
It made the keepers creations mortal and over time litterly gave them flesh similar to how
the gnomes and dwarves came to be.
The vrykul lead by king ymiron at the time were ordered to murder their malformed offspring,
but not all of them could bring themselves to kill their innocent children.
Instead they sought to hide them in a place of legend.
A land far to the south where other vrykul were hanging out, a land known as Tirisfal.
Over thousands of years humanity flourished in the eastern kingdoms, living in seperate
tribes, constantly warring with eachother over land and by extention over power.
Only one tribe, the Arathi lead by Thoradin saw the error of their ways.
They knew that if humankind remained devided, it would stand little chance against a true
waragainst the Amani trolls living to the north.
They took it upon themselves to rival clans, be it by diplomacy or force.
In just a couple of years, warlord Thoradin brought the other clans to heel.
Much to the surprise of those he had defeated, Thoradin did not reign as a tyrant.
He offered his former enemies peace and equality in waht he claimed owuld bea glorious new
human nation – a united kingdom of limitless potential.
The tribal leaders would not fade into obscurity.
They would serve as honored generals.
With these acts, THoradin won the loyalty of his adversaries and was crowned king with
his new kingdom named Arathor.
With the human tribes united, King Thoradin set out to found a new capital.
According to one legend, he discovered his answer in a dream.
In it, he saw his father wearing the pelt of a black wolf.
He told Thoradin of an arid land southeast of Tirisfal Glades.
If the king built his capital there, his people would prosper.
Thoradin sought out the land from his dream, a region known today as the Arathi Highlands.
As the story goes, the king spied a black wolf roaming the barren terrain.
On that spot, Thoradin used Strom'kar to carve out the boundaries of his city in the dirt.
Then he set his masons to work.
So arose Strom, mighty capital of the first human kingdom.
He also ordered his people to build a great wall near the capital to further shield tem
from Amani incursions.
Word of Strom’s might quickly spread among the other human tribes motivating them to
sign up and enjoy the safety of numbers.
Thoradin was wise to unite his people as the amani trolls were indeed a great threat, not
just to humanity but also the high elves living in quel’thelas.
They sought the aid of the humans as without assistance from Arathor, the trolls would
soon enough destroy Quel’Thalas and after that launch their full might against Strom
itself.
Thoradin and his advisors discusses the situation and figured that if they were taught the way
of magic, it might give them the edge they needed to truly make an impact in the war.
Their offer was in exchange for their military aid, the high elves would teach the humans
magic, knowing they had little choice they agreed to tutor one hundred humans.
Their allegiance during these so called troll wars would prove devestating for the amani
trolls and while hard earned, victory was theirs.
For months they celebrated their victory and the elves pledged their undying loyalty to
Arathor and to Thoradin’s descendants.
After King THoradin’s reign had ended, new generations of humans expanded the nation
in size and power.
The once united Arathi empire turned into the seven kingdoms, Lordaeron, Dalaran, Gilneas,
Kul Tiras, Alterac and Stormwind with their formal capital of Strom fearing that they’d
lose control.
That the other settlements would become too independent, and they would be right.
Strom was no longer the center of the human lands, left in the hands of a few ruling families
too stubborn to abandon the old cpaital.
Among them were the descendants of Ignaeus trollbane, a general who had become a legen
during the troll wars.
Over the years, these families rebuilt Strom’s crumbling infrastructure and renamed their
capital Stromgarde.
The city however would never regain its former glory and Thoradin’s dream of a unified
people was dying.
Over generations, the various city-states became increasingly distant and insular.
Rivalries emerged as these nations turned inward, concerned with their own well-being
and less inclined to offer aid to eachother.
The opening of the dark portal and coming of the Horde would quickly change that mindset
as for the fate of Azeroth and all their individual kingdoms, they had to come together under
a single banner once more.
Stormwind was the first to fall.
Anduin Lothar took Prince Varian Wrynn and their survivors across the sea to lordaeron
to spread the news of this allien threat.
The Alliance of Lordaeron was formed, a union of the different leaders.
King Terenas of Lordaeron, King Genn Greymane of Gilneas, Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore
of Kul Tiras, Archmage Antonidas of Dalaran, King Aiden Perenolde of Alterac and King Thoras
Trollbane of Stromgarde.
Not all of them were down with this allegiance right away.
People like Greymane and Perenolde were quite hesitant to sign up, but in the end all of
them were convinced that this was for the best for their people.
Their united forces took on the savage Horde.
The war did not play out without complications though.
Perenolde was foolish enough to betray the alliance, sell them out to save his own skin
by offering the horde free passage through his lands.
Thoras Trollbane figured out what was going on and he wasn’t too about it.
He took command of their forces and made sure the rest of the horde would be stopped from
reaching Lordaeron while Perenolde was a problem to deal with after the war.
After they won the impossible battle against the savage horde.
They pushed them back to blackrock mountain and then, with their warchief on his knees,
back to the dark portal.
Those that surrendered were spared an immediate death and placed within interment camps while
the dark portal was shut down.
They were unable to completely sever the connection though, but problems for another day.
First they had to deal with their prisoners and betrayers.
The fate of the orcs that had surrendered was quite a point of bate.
Some just wanted to outright execute them, but instead they decided to place them within
interment camps overseen by Danath Trollbane.
He’s the cousin of Thoras and had proven himself to be a great tactician and fighter
in the war.
If he could maintain control over the camps then that’s where the orcs would stay.
If not, the alliance would revisit executing the orcs.
Danath oversaw all of the camps but of course running all of them was a job too great for
just one man.
So it was that he delegated command to the second war’s high-ranking veterans meaning
that the quality of life in the camps was vastly different.
In some cases execution might have even been the kinder alternative and of course these
camps didn’t come cheap.
Gold was asked from all alliance members which some could not really appreciate.
Then the situation with Perenolde was rather dicey as most of his citzens didn’t know
what their leader had been up too and just invading his land wasn’t really an option.
Execution or imprisonment might send off the wrong signals to the remaining leaders of
the alliance so for now they placed him under house arrest while trying to come up with
some sort of solution.
The idea of Terenas or trollbane taking over the land had been suggested, but before anything
like that could go down, the Horde already returned for another invasion.
This time they did not come to try and claim the world, this time they showed up to steal
powerful artifacst which would allow them to open up more portals to different worlds.
The alliance or the sons of lothar as they called themselves, eventually figured out
what their plan was and decided that the Horde had to be stopped once an for all.
Lead by Turalyon, Alleria Windrunner Khadgar, Kurdran Wildhammer and Danath trollbane.
They stepped through and were eventually forced to shut the portal from Draenors side to make
sure the destruction of the planet, its transformation into Outland as we know it today wouldn’t
spill over into Azeroth.
We wouldn’t hear from our heroes for quite some time while life on Azeroth continued.
History would repeat itself as without the threat of the Horde, the alliance started
to splinter.
The small disagreements about land, power and money would soon enough caus them to withdraw
from eachother.
Some taking it as far as building a mighty wall to keep them all out, but Thoras Trollbane
just withdrew his support for the Alliance.
Thrall would break out of his interment camp and reform the Horde.
Arthas would follow the path of becoming the Lich KIng, murdering his own father something
copied by Thoras’ son Galen.
He murdered his father too and took up the roll as leader of Stromgarde, but quickly
found himself under attack by forces like the Bouldfist ogres and the Syndicate, a criminal
organisation originally lead by Aliden Perenolde, the son of the traitor.
His fellow leader Lord Falconcrest lead the assault on Stromgarde and was even able to
claim a fair chunck of the land.
All in all the treacherous son wasn’t having an easy time and did his very best to atleast
protect the trollbane family crypt, which held several ancient artifacts.
The league of arathor was formed based in refuge point.
The remnants of the once-proud kingdom of Stromgarde, would claim the basin to profit
their allies in Stormwind (and, through them, the whole of the Alliance).
Set against them are the forsaken Defilers, free-willed undead who strive to savage the
human kingdom of Lordaeron and secure their home in the Undercity – and they demand
Arathi's resources to do it.
Horde and Alliance clashed with eachother in this battleground while outside of the
basin, a jungle troll named Zengu set his eyes on the sword known as Trol’kalar or
Trollbane.
This sword goes back to the very roots of the trollbane lineage and earned a mighty
reputation during the troll wars.
So much so that Zengu wanted it for the Darkspear tribe so that they could use it against the
trolls of Zul’gurub who were becoming quite a threat with their loa Hakkar.
In order of Vol’jin he recruited horde heroes to help him secure this blade.
Several sigils were needed to remove the protections around the blade, one of such sigils held
by none other then Galen.
He was slain by the forsaken near Thoradin’s wall and the blade was clamed by the troll
but it never made its way to Vol’jin.
Zengu was was assassinated by Stromgarde tropps when he attempted to leave Arathi and the
sigils and sword were retaken.
With the Burning Crusade we saw the Dark Portal re-open and we reconnected with heroes of
old amongst them Danath Trollbane.
He was still alive even after all this time and fans wondered when he would return home
to rebuild the ancestrol capital of the humans.
Hints of his return were dropped from time to time, but first we would see the return
of Galen, resurrected by the Forsaken.
He seemed to be quite loyal to sylvanas and to serve her better, he asked heroes to once
again claim the sigils and go pick up Trol’kalar.
They handed him the blade but instead of serving the banshee queen, he rallied his undead citizens
and soldiers and declared himself king of the ruined kingdom of Stromgarde.
Luck does not favor this traitor as the knights of the ebon blade were in need of new horseman
to help them fight in the war against the Legion.
Under the command of the Lich King they were send to resurrect the legendary Thoras Trolbane.
Prince Galen is willing to help us gain access into the tomb if we help him out with his
witherbark problem by cutting down a couple of the trolls and destroying their supplies.
After fullfilling his request, we return to hold him to his end of the bargain.
“Stromgarde is mine at last!
You are fools if you think I’ll let my father have it back!
GUARDS!
SEIZE THEM!”
Galen has made a big mistake by wasting our time and trying to betray the ebon blade.
If he will not open the tomb of his father then we must take the sword and do it ourselves.
“My patience has worn thin as well.
Let’s find the prince and be done with this.”
Nazgrim: “You are fighting against a power you cannot even comprehend!”
Prince:”Stromgarde is mine!
I will not give it up to my father or anyone else!
I am the prince!
How...dare you...”
With the blade we can enter the tomb and resurrect King Thoras, one of the greatest warriors
this world has known.
His people loved him and enemies feared him.
He only spoke truth, often saying the words others were afraid to speak.
He lived a life of war and certainly deserves the peace of death, but this is not a man
who would sleep peacefully while the world around him burns.
The time has come to welcome the last true king of Stromgarde into the arms of the dead
and damned.
King THoras Trollbane: “My son.
Where is Galen?
Where is the prince who murdered his king?
Thassarian: “We took his life, my lord.
The prince left us little choice.
King THoras Trollbane: “What has become of stromgarde?”
Thassarian:”Death and ruin.
Time has not been kind to this place.
” King THoras Trollbane:”Then I have failed
as both a father and a king.”
Thassarian:” “Stromgarde is lost, but there is still hope for this world...if you
will join us.”
King Thoras Trollbane: “I will do whatever it takes to preserve peace on azeroth.”
And so the last true king of Stromgarde left his kingdom behind, but with battle for azeroth,
Danath finally returns home.
This was the staging ground for that disastrous meeting between human and forsaken as described
within before the storm.
All that remains of the fallen are the marked graves found in the highlands.
WIth the burning of teldrassil and the siege of Lordaeron, Kalimdor and the eastern kingdoms
have become highly contested.
Undercity lies in ruins which means that the alliance has control over most of the eastern
kingdoms.
It’s very close to falling completely which is why the Warfront at Stromgarde is so important
for both sides.
For the Horde it means a defense point, a buffer for Quel’thelas and potential strike
point to Gilneas.
The alliance finds the undercity indefensible and holding on to Stromgarde would give them
a staging ground to move north.
Both sides fight over dominance of the land with resources turned in to support the troops.
Inside the gameplay is reminicent of the days of Warcraft 3.
From up above we dive in the field down below and lay claim to the initial base.
After which our objective becomes gathering resources, lumber and ore.
These resources can be used to upgrade the base, build new structures, recruit troops
and demolishers to bring down the enemies gate.
Newstead and the Circle of Elements can be captured to unlock powerful support units
while through out the battle, little events can spawn.
For example you can be asked to slay a great tree or save some of your captured troops
which will then aid you in battle but the main road to victory goes through the middle.
Once the gates are down, the enemy commander is the last thing standing in our way.
The alliance will face either Eitrigg, Lady Liadrin or Rokhan while the Horde has to deal
with Danath Trollbane, Turalyon or Muradin.
With the commander forced to surrender, the faction will hold dominance over the keep
but the enemy does not sit still and will soon enough gather their forces and retaliate.
“The alliance is no match for our strength!
FOR THE HORDE!”
“One day Stromgarde will belong to the Alliance again.”
While waiting to do so, they can spend their time completing some quests in the highlands.
Like taking care of pockets of remaining syndicate or witherbark trolls or even bring down a
world boss until the drums of war sound again and the warfront repeats itself.
That is the story of Stromgarde, the very capital of human civilization now a highly
contested area for the alliance and the Horde.
If you want more details on all the things that we talked about today then check out
the related wowhead article in the description down below.
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