Azeroth: Elemental Paradise

For countless ages, the Titans of the Pantheon had searched the cosmos for possible brethren, bringing order to every world they passed. Yet perhaps fate was playing a joke on them. After finding Aggramar, no matter how hard they tried, they never found another new companion—aside from the pitiful World Soul Sargeras had cleaved in two with a single stroke.

At times, the Titans of the Pantheon also wondered whether all their efforts were in vain. Were there truly no other companions left? This doubt often filled their hearts.

But as kind Keepers of order possessing immense power, they repeatedly pulled themselves together and continued their journey. Though the facts gave them cause for doubt, Aman'Thul, their leader, still firmly believed that there had to be World Souls they had yet to discover. That hope drove them onward.

Though the Pantheon did not know it, their intuition was correct. In a remote corner of the Dark Void, a unique world was beginning to take shape. Deep within this world's blazing core, a powerful and noble Titan soul was awakening to new life.

Perhaps others did not know, but I believe you have all guessed his name.

One day, that name would resound throughout the Dark Void.

Azeroth

Let us turn back time to when this newborn Titan had just come into being. At that time, as the Titan's power steadily grew, this world attracted one of the most common forms of life in the Dark Void—the elementals. These strange creatures, likewise born at the beginning of the Dark Void's formation, were spread across nearly every world in the cosmos. Drawn by the power radiating from this world, they settled upon it.

After many years, these creatures began to grow violent and destructive. The root cause lay in the world itself. The elements of the universe were broadly divided into wind, fire, water, and earth. These four fundamental elements formed the foundation of all matter in the cosmos, but they conflicted with and restrained one another. They needed a peculiar fifth element—spirit—to maintain the balance. (Incidentally, this fifth element later proposed by shamans could be considered the same thing as the chi spoken of by monks.)

The flourishing World Soul grew incomparably vast and consumed most of the fifth element. Without this primal force that created balance, the elementals of Azeroth began to descend into chaos.

Fire, earth, wind, and water—these were the four powers that dominated this newborn world. Their chaos caused endless conflict between them, and elemental torrents began surging endlessly across Azeroth's surface. Eventually, rulers arose among these elements—the Elemental Lords.

The Elemental Lords were each the mightiest beings of their respective elements. Their tremendous power far exceeded mortal imagination. These Elemental Lords began trying to enslave the lesser spirits that had not been absorbed, using them to create their own servants.

These Elemental Lords would come to occupy pivotal roles in Azeroth's future history.

Al'Akir, Lord of the Wind Elementals, was born with the madness inherent to wind. In terms of cruelty and cunning, none could match him. This treacherous creature often sent his wind elemental servants to secretly watch his enemies, then quietly sowed seeds of suspicion among them. These wind elementals would first use disguises and sinister schemes to make the other elements slaughter one another. Once their strength had been weakened, he would have his servants launch a surprise attack and unleash all their fury.

Whenever Al'Akir descended, gales howled and the sky darkened. Storms coiled around his body as bolts of lightning hammered the ground, as if they would split it apart. The whirlwind elementals he commanded shrieked as they plunged from the heavens, sweeping away enemies with their cyclones. Well, by the look of it, these wind elementals were every bit as cunning as the infamous demon deceivers, the Nathrezim.

Unlike Al'Akir, Ragnaros the Firelord held the Wind Lord's conduct in utter contempt, considering it cowardly. These aggressive, hot-tempered, impulsive elementals usually chose the most violent and direct methods to assault their enemies, stopping only after wiping them out completely. Wherever this Elemental Lord of flame went, scorching magma erupted from beneath the earth, turning the entire surface into a sea of fire.

This quintessential brute of a lord dreamed every day of making the seas boil, leveling mountains, and filling the sky with ash. The other Elemental Lords loathed his destruction of everything, making him something of a public enemy among the elements. Perhaps only the Pit Lords had a style comparable to his.

Therazane, the Stonemother of earth, seemed to have inherited the earth's broad, gentle nature. Of all the elemental rulers, she preferred seclusion and solitude the most. She raised rolling mountain ranges to block enemy advances, protecting her children in this way. When enemies were about to breach her solid defenses, she appeared and tore enormous fissures into the ground, causing entire elemental armies to fall into them. Even if any survivors remained, they would choose death or submission under the might of Therazane's strongest servants. These walking mountains of crystal and stone were the Stonemother's most powerful warriors.

Neptulon the Tidehunter had inherited the water elementals' habitual caution. Throughout this elemental war, he was always careful: neither allowing himself to fall into Al'Akir's vile schemes nor sending his servants against the Stonemother's impregnable defenses in futile attacks. While the other elements beat one another senseless across Azeroth's surface, the Tidehunter and his elemental legions chose to defeat their enemies one by one. Once an enemy fled under their assault, Neptulon would unleash his signature tsunami to crush them. Even Therazane's towering mountains would be shattered before it. Well, another fellow who liked to stab people in the back.

The wars among these Elemental Lords had continued without pause since their birth. During that time, control of Azeroth changed hands several times, and every temporarily victorious Elemental Lord tried every possible means to shape the world as they wished. Yet on the other hand, chaos was the nature of these elements. To them, a world forever wracked by landslides and earthquakes was the ultimate ideal. Their only desire in battle was to make this chaos repeat itself endlessly, never ceasing.

Well, they should count themselves fortunate that, while happily playing around on Azeroth, they had not been discovered by the greatest criminal force in the Dark Void. Otherwise, history might not have unfolded as we know it. What luck.

The elements happily reveled in Azeroth's chaos. If nothing unexpected happened, it would have continued for a very long time. Unfortunately, the unexpected soon arrived.

Yes, you guessed it—the Void Lords. The Void Lords again. These troublemaking fiends hiding beyond the Dark Void were practically the source of all evil throughout history. It seemed that in every event driving history forward, traces of them could be found. If some powerful being had strangled them in their cradle when they had first been born, perhaps this cosmos would have been far more peaceful.

These troublemaking Void Lords scattered countless servants into the Dark Void. These servants were known as Old Gods. While the elements joyfully fought among themselves, a group of Old Gods descended forcefully upon Azeroth and swiftly took root across the world.

The Old Gods rose from the earth, using mountains as their bodies. They possessed enormous mouths capable of devouring everything and cold, pitch-black eyes. After their arrival, an aura of despair filled every place they went.

Like enormous, disgusting abscesses spreading at breakneck speed, the Old Gods began frantically spreading corruption across the land the moment they arrived. Wherever they passed, the land withered, becoming scorched black and burning hot, devoid of all life. Their tendrils also invaded deep into the crust at every moment, constantly advancing toward the core of this nascent world.

The Old Gods made no attempt to conceal their activities on the surface. They spread their influence and created servants of their own. One kind was called the N'raqi, who were cunning and intelligent. Another was the Aqir, resembling later insects and possessing astonishing ferocity and power. Both races fanatically worshipped and served their masters.

With the help of these servants, the Old Gods continuously expanded their territory. The N'raqi acted as overseers, directing the intelligent Aqir laborers to build towering fortresses and temple-cities around their masters' massive bodies. Starting from the very center of Azeroth, the Old Gods' domain continued to expand. In the end, a Black Empire was born.

The rise of the Black Empire finally became more than the elements could tolerate. Once they recognized the threat the Old Gods posed to their rule, the Elemental Lords could no longer hold back. They decided to drive these despicable outsiders from their world. After such a long period of confrontation, Azeroth's elementals united for the first time to resist a common enemy.

This wonderful situation looked quite promising, but it was completely useless.

The fiery cyclones unleashed jointly by Al'Akir and Ragnaros leveled the Black Empire's fortresses. The Stonemother raised towering walls of rock to trap the enemy, reducing their temple-cities to ruins. Neptulon led his tidal servants in raising monstrous waves that battered the Old Gods' servants.

The Elemental Lords' display was spectacular, and it seemed the Old Gods were about to be utterly defeated. Yet the final outcome was exactly the opposite. No matter how desperately the elements fought, they could not completely defeat the Black Empire. No matter how many N'raqi and Aqir they killed, the Old Gods could create more. Their servants were endless, an infinite army covering the entire land and rendering the elements' dazzling efforts meaningless.

In the end, this unbalanced war came to a close. The Old Gods enslaved the elements, and no opponents remained capable of stopping the Black Empire's expansion. Eternal twilight descended upon Azeroth, and this newborn Titan fell into dire straits.

But until the final moment, no one could know how the story would end. Just as the Black Empire carried out its evil ambitions, a notorious cosmic gang discovered them.

This was truly a tragedy.