Southshore was very close to Thoradin's Wall, and under the protection of Southshore's troops, the Scourge in the Hillsbrad Foothills failed to attack the refugees.
Southshore's troops escorted the refugees all the way across the river in the Hillsbrad Foothills.
After they crossed the river, five thousand Stromgarde militia troops from Durnholde Keep took over from Southshore's troops at the far end of the bridge and escorted the refugees toward Thoradin's Wall.
The refugees had been gripped by fear throughout the journey. They did not know whether Galen Trollbane's royal decree was genuine, but the sight of Stromgarde militia in standard red armor escorting them finally put them at ease.
With so many refugees, screening them would take quite some time.
During that screening period, however, the Stromgarde militia provided every refugee with food and temporary shelter, just as Galen Trollbane's royal decree had promised.
Once the first group of refugees passed the screening, the Stromgarde militia asked whether they were willing to join the Kingdom of Stromgarde and receive land. They immediately agreed.
The Stromgarde militia then distributed the allotted plots among the refugees and told them where their land lay in the Arathi Highlands.
After confirming it several times, the excited refugees took the farming tools they had been given and followed the routes indicated by the Stromgarde militia toward their allotted land.
The lure of land was simply too great. In Azeroth, nearly all the land in the human kingdoms belonged to three groups: royalty, the nobility, and the church. Ordinary people could only work as tenant farmers.
In the end, ninety-nine percent of the hundred thousand refugees chose to join the Kingdom of Stromgarde and receive land. Its allure made them abandon their allegiance to their former nations.
Only a small handful declined to join the Kingdom of Stromgarde outright, whether out of loyalty to their former nations or because of their own exalted status as nobles.
The news that Southshore's refugees had received land and protection as promised spread throughout the Eastern Kingdoms in an instant. Though it did not cause the same uproar as the earlier victory in the defense of Arathi, it still shocked every human faction in the Eastern Kingdoms.
"Confiscating nobles' land and handing it to those lowborn wretches? Hah. It seems Galen Trollbane has forgotten what a king ought to do," Lordaeron's Grand Marshal Garithos sneered. Though he had not been born a noble himself, once he became one, he staunchly defended their rights. Galen Trollbane's actions directly harmed the nobility's interests.
After his sneering remarks, Grand Marshal Garithos laughed and waved a large hand. "Since Galen Trollbane wants to play the good man, let all the refugees go to the Arathi Highlands. Let's see how many he can take in, and how much blood remains in the broken body of the Kingdom of Stromgarde."
Of the seven human kingdoms, the three wealthiest were the Kingdom of Lordaeron, the Kingdom of Dalaran, and the Kingdom of Kul Tiras. The poorest were the Kingdom of Stromgarde and the Kingdom of Alterac.
After the Second War, the Kingdom of Alterac ceased to exist, while the Kingdom of Stromgarde continued to decay until it became the weakest and poorest of the human kingdoms. Lordaeron's Grand Marshal Garithos knew this well.
Meanwhile, Grand Marshal Garithos led Lordaeron's largest Restoration Forces, which prompted most refugees from the Kingdom of Lordaeron to turn to him for protection.
But Grand Marshal Garithos only needed warriors who could fight the Scourge's undead, not masses of refugees who needed those warriors' protection and could do nothing but consume food because they could not resume farming.
Thus, Grand Marshal Garithos decided to drive the refugees who sought refuge with him into the Kingdom of Stromgarde. That would both lighten his burden and drag the Kingdom of Stromgarde down.
"Mentor, it seems Prince Galen Trollbane's royal decree is genuine. Why don't we seek refuge in the Kingdom of Stromgarde as well? Many of our people have already headed south to Stormwind City since Dalaran fell." At a secluded site in the Alterac Mountains of the Hillsbrad Foothills, a group of human Dalaran Kirin Tor mages who had survived the fall of the human kingdom of magic, Dalaran, had made camp.
After Archimonde the Defiler, a powerful demon of the Burning Legion, destroyed Dalaran with magic, the surviving Dalaran Kirin Tor mages scattered and went into hiding. Some headed directly south from Southshore to seek refuge in the Kingdom of Stormwind, on the southern continent of the Eastern Kingdoms.
To avoid discovery by the Scourge, the powerful Archmage Ansirem Runeweaver created a vast magical barrier to conceal their hiding place. From outside, it looked no different from the snow-covered Alterac Mountains.
Thanks to Archmage Ansirem Runeweaver's efforts, three thousand Dalaran Kirin Tor mages and five thousand residents of Dalaran were hiding there.
Archmage Ansirem Runeweaver had originally been unwilling to seek refuge in any other human kingdom. He intended to keep waiting, hoping to rebuild Dalaran.
But one piece of news unsettled him, and sorrow and affection showed in his eyes.
At last, the Dalaran Kirin Tor archmage glanced toward the human kingdom of magic, Dalaran. He understood that even with these human mages, his strength was insufficient to clear the Scourge's undead from the city, let alone rebuild it.
At the summit of the Alterac Mountains, the former capital of the Kingdom of Alterac had become the ruins of Alterac, filled with broken walls and crumbling buildings.
Yet one faction still remained within this city buried in ice and snow: the Syndicate, an organization formed by exiled nobles of the Kingdom of Alterac.
Now, several leaders of the Syndicate, including Lord Aiden Perenolde, Duke Falconcrest, and Baron Vadus, were holding a council amid the ruins of Alterac.
"My lord, this is an excellent opportunity. We can disguise ourselves as refugees, slip past Thoradin's Wall, and enter the Arathi Highlands. As far as I know, Galen Trollbane has stationed most of his troops at Thoradin's Wall, leaving far fewer to defend Stromgarde. Nobles from Stromgarde have already contacted me and promised to help us open the city gates. Together, we can overthrow Galen Trollbane's rule over Stromgarde and the Kingdom of Stromgarde." Duke Falconcrest excitedly explained his plan to Lord Aiden Perenolde, the former king of Alterac and now a leader of the Syndicate.
Galen Trollbane's royal decree naturally threatened the nobles' interests, especially those who had left and then returned. Unwilling to accept the loss of their land and homes, they contacted the Syndicate, which bore a deep hatred for the Kingdom of Stromgarde. They decided to join forces with it to overthrow Galen Trollbane's rule over Stromgarde and turn the city into Syndicate territory, taking revenge for what he had done.
Lord Aiden Perenolde bore a tremendous grudge against the Kingdom of Stromgarde. The Kingdom of Alterac and the Kingdom of Stromgarde had fought countless wars in the past, and it was the Kingdom of Stromgarde that had ultimately destroyed the Kingdom of Alterac.
When Lord Aiden Perenolde heard that he could take revenge on the Kingdom of Stromgarde and seize Stromgarde itself, his spirits immediately rose.
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