?(Original copyright belonged to Blizzard. Translated by Inamingleite, proprietor of the Turtle Gem Tavern.)
The Elemental Plane was a world divided into three layers. Viewed from any vantage point outside it, it looked very much like other worlds-at least in its skies and on its land. The layer of air lay above the middle layer, supported by the realms of water and earth, which occupied the same level. Beneath them lay the third layer-the realm of fire and constantly disintegrating lava. A visitor who arrived on this plane by chance would think, at least for a short time, that he was on an ordinary, if perhaps somewhat unstable, planet.
Description
When the Titans defeated the Old Gods and brought order to this world, imprisoning the Elemental Lords and their minions in the Twisting Nether was among their first acts. These agents of chaos had to be prevented from roaming freely, or they would disrupt the order the Titans were trying to create. Thus, the Titans created a separate plane to imprison their ancient enemies. Within a short time, the Titans had confined every elemental they could find to this hastily constructed prison. This Titan-created plane was a rather small sphere-roughly the size of a single world. Above this world, a yellow orb that emitted light and heat circled overhead, serving as the "sun" of this complete world. Ordinary gravity drew objects toward the sphere's interior, where the Firelands lay. A layer of rock riddled with perpetual hollows supported the earth and water on the surface. Above it, the layer of air enveloped the land, forever unable to touch the turbulent flames below.
This planet was warped in a strange way that tended to hinder creatures from Azeroth. As they adapted to the planet's binding power, escape by ordinary movement became impossible. A creature that tried to escape this planet's simple, cruel cycle would reach its other side. Thus, if he crossed the sea by boat, he would eventually reach the opposite end of this world's only continent. The continent itself was slightly larger than Kalimdor, and the sea was almost equally wide in every direction.
The four elements that made up this plane were constantly opposed to one another and fought, sometimes with great intensity. Volcanoes tore through the solid covering, attacking the realms of earth and sea wherever possible. The air formed unpredictable storms, creating tornadoes and hurricanes that swept across the planet's surface. Even amid the devastation of these disasters, life endured, filling the skies and land as life did on Azeroth, along with forms of life still unknown to scholars.
Features and regions
The Elemental Plane consisted of four realms: air, earth, fire, and water. Each realm was ruled by an Elemental Lord who lived in a fortress or a special region.
Air: Skywall (the skywall)
The air lay above the middle layer of the Elemental Plane, and at first glance, it looked much like Azeroth's sky. A yellow sun circled steadily overhead, surrounded by drifting clouds and other matter, and wilder storms. Birds and stranger creatures flew to and fro.
Above the sun, out of sight of the ground, stood the fortress of the air elementals. Its thick walls, suspended upon columns of storm, were made from stone stolen from the earth elementals. Lightning and fierce winds constantly battered Skywall, making flight nearby almost impossible.
Inside the fortress, Al'Akir the Wind Rider held court and ruled his fellow elementals. He liked to watch the Elemental Plane in its quiet moments and wander disguised as a thundercloud. Sometimes, he attacked the sea and land below for no reason at all, though at other times he avoided conflict with the other elements. No one knew his true motives.
Traveling through the realm of air required the ability to fly, but even then it remained dangerous. Except within the thick clouds, wind elementals roamed sparsely through the skies. Skywall was a place of powerful hurricanes and arcing lightning, wildly rising air currents and angrily churning black clouds.
Elemental Lord
Air: Al'Akir the Wind Rider (Al'Akir the Wind Lord)
Al'Akir ruled the skies of the Elemental Plane. His territory bordered those of all the other elements, and Skywall and the other elemental realms affected one another more strongly than the other realms did among themselves, but he was the most unpredictable and intensely reclusive of all the Elemental Lords. Just as he might suddenly provoke a conflict, he might ignore invasions of Skywall by other elements afterward. His moods were as changeable as the weather.
Al'Akir fought using his advantage in speed. He first struck at flying enemies, answering their challenge to his dominion over the air. Trying to climb into the skies to fight him was a dangerous idea. Once the enemies in the sky had been wiped out, he usually used his whirlwind ability to sweep up creatures on the ground, lift them high into the air, and drop them. Whatever form their challenge to Al'Akir's power took, they suffered this cruel punishment.
Although Al'Akir was the weakest of the Elemental Lords, the other lords found it difficult to attack him with their full strength in his own territory. He rarely attacked them directly, choosing instead, when adversity forced him to retreat, to retaliate indirectly with whatever disasters he could unleash.
Al'Akir was the absolute supreme ruler of the skies. Other air elementals and flying creatures held him in awe. Legend claimed that he could wield all air magic in the multiverse. Even if that was true, he rarely dealt with troublesome problems personally unless they already affected him.
Earth: the deep lair/Deepholm (Deephome)
Far beneath Skywall lay a continent known as the deep lair. Its surface was extremely rough, covered in rifts and sinkholes, and earthquakes struck at regular intervals. When the realm of fire below tore through the earth and broke out, towering volcanoes formed, remaining until Therazane's earth elementals sealed off the intrusion.
The deep lair was a network of caverns, tunnels, and countless entrances and exits. It teemed with worms, cave creatures, and other subterranean life. Every kind of jade and gemstone could be found here, even varieties unknown on Azeroth, but all were considered Therazane's personal property. Mining of any kind was forbidden in her realm. Some scholars believed that a few precious stones possessed powerful natural magic, but that conjecture might never be confirmed.
Life struggled to survive on the surface of the earth, yet hardy plants and animals fought to live there. Their lives were brief and dangerous, but Therazane the Stone Mother nurtured them as best she could. Attacking these "children" of hers was the quickest way to earn her hatred.
In a very few places, the surface of the deep lair resembled the rocky, gravel-covered regions of Azeroth. Visitors to the Elemental Plane could rest there briefly, though the ground shook terribly at regular intervals.
Elemental Lord
Earth: Therazane the Stone Mother (Therazane the Stone Mother)
Therazane was a formidable opponent when she chose to be, but she was the most peace-loving of all the Elemental Lords. With patience and maternal love, she encouraged all things to grow, and she simply enjoyed resting for long stretches with the creatures that made their homes on her land. She often felt that she was perpetually at war with the other Elemental Lords: Al'Akir eroded her surface with wind, Neptulon constantly washed against her shores with his waves, and that blazing furnace Ragnaros churned her core. She would have been delighted if all three of them left.
Therazane was slow to anger and did her utmost to avoid combat. If she rose to fight, she remained a powerful and fearsome opponent. Her signature move was to charge the most dangerous enemy and pound her target into tiny fragments before moving on to the next. When faced with a genuine challenge, she quickly sank into the earth and retreated.
Therazane the Stone Mother ruled earth, dust, stone, and mountains. All earth elementals and creatures living beneath the ground respected her. Some feral Druids regarded her as the embodiment of the world's peace and tranquility. Some scholars believed that when the earth cried out as Deathwing and his kind tore it apart, she felt its pain as well. Even so, she had taken no concrete action against the great dragon.
Water: the Abyssal Maw (the Abyssal Maw)
The ocean of the Elemental Plane constantly brewed waves and storms and used them to attack the land it surrounded. The sea stretched beyond sight and was deep in many places, sometimes almost reaching the realm of fire below. The liquid itself changed constantly-sometimes salty and murky, sometimes fresh and clear. Elemental creatures existed in great numbers alongside large beasts such as krakens, but the ocean cared nothing for life.
Neptulon the Tidehunter lived in the depths of the ocean, jealously guarding his realm against every threat. His realm was called the Abyssal Maw. He and Ragnaros the Firelord never ceased their struggle, as Ragnaros constantly tried to burst through the crust with his fury and deal a devastating blow to the ocean. The Tidehunter kept the ocean surging, battering the realm of earth with waves and storms. Cunning and powerful, Neptulon held many secrets that, for many reasons, only aquatic creatures could truly know.
Rocky islets dotted the surface of the Elemental Plane's ocean, still resisting Neptulon's ceaseless assault on the land. At the point farthest from Therazane's realm floated Frostland-a glacier one mile (1,600 meters) wide. Like a gigantic iceberg, Frostland extended far below the water's surface, even touching the seabed. Smaller, though still enormous, chunks of ice occasionally broke off and drifted across the sea, slowly melting as they approached the deep lair. Some icebergs were occupied by ice elementals-combinations of elements-and other creatures.
Elemental Lord
Water: Neptulon the Tidehunter (Neptulon the Tidehunter)
Neptulon the Tidehunter was the soul of the realm he ruled-the deep sea. Those he noticed daring to disregard his anger and travel through the waves, and those who entered his domain without permission yet thought themselves above him, he could toy with however he pleased. He delighted in attacking those who considered themselves invulnerable-ceaselessly scouring the Stone Mother's rocky shores and snuffing out the Firelord's flames at any moment.
Neptulon enjoyed toying with his prey, dragging it into the water and then letting it escape for a time. Sometimes, he banished an unfortunate victim to an isolated island and let him savor the torment of tides and whirlpools. He usually tried to identify those who could not survive underwater for long and drag them far away before dealing with his remaining opponents. He particularly enjoyed extinguishing flames and bore a deep hatred for fire elementals.
Neptulon the Tidehunter ruled water, lakes, rivers, and oceans. All Water Elementals and creatures whose primary powers relied on water and cold respected him. Some believed that when a sentient creature drowned, his soul passed through Neptulon's realm on its way to its final destination. He supposedly kept souls that pleased and interested him, but Neptulon merely laughed off such notions.
Fire: the Firelands (the Firelands)
Deep beneath the earth and sea lay a hidden world of flames and ash-the Firelands. Though it was a terrible land, visitors could survive because of a cruel yet self-contradictory law of the universe-fire needed air to live and fuel to feed on. In the Firelands, everything existed in an endless cycle: ash itself gradually became future fuel, then turned back into ash when burned.
At the center of an enormous lake of fire stood Sulfuron Keep-the lair of Ragnaros the Firelord. Until recently, he had ruled his subterranean kingdom with an iron fist. Three hundred years earlier, he had been summoned to fight in the dwarven civil war-the War of the Three Hammers. This thoughtless act had torn apart the Redridge Mountains, forming what was now Blackrock Spire. Now, during this period of extreme weakness, he remained quietly at the bottom of that volcano on Azeroth, struggling to find a way home. Meanwhile, in Sulfuron Keep and the other territories of the Firelands, his elemental princes had fallen into endless struggles with one another for dominion.
The Firelands occupied the bottom of the Elemental Plane's "planet." Just as the bowl-shaped Skywall lay above the plane, the Firelands below had the same curvature. The "land" beneath the surface consisted of filthy, sticky, bubbling tar, along with ooze and rocks that fell from the sky-the deep lair. In some places, lakes of fuel oil formed, burning constantly and spraying hot soot into the air. Organic and semi-organic matter falling from the deep lair, and even liquid seeping in from the higher Abyssal Maw, constantly fueled these undying fires. Where the fire princes fought Therazane, enormous volcanoes rose from the ground, spraying lava across the Firelands and the regions above. Sometimes it reached the bottom of the Abyssal Maw and even the higher surface of the deep lair, then spewed harmful smoke and dust into Al'Akir's realm.
Elemental Lord
Fire: Ragnaros the Firelord (Ragnaros the Firelord)
Late in the dwarven civil war-the War of the Three Hammers-Ragnaros was mistakenly summoned to Azeroth by Thaurissan, king of the Dark Iron Dwarves. His arrival in the material world brought disaster: he tore apart the Redridge Mountains, forming Blackrock Volcano. Ragnaros now eked out an existence inside the volcano, waiting to escape the material world. Although he had already enslaved the Dark Iron Dwarves who summoned him, his ambition had nevertheless begun to ravage the surrounding world.
Ragnaros was the sort who was always happy to cause suffering. In battle, he avoided attacking those immune or resistant to fire, concentrating instead on those who could be burned and injured by it. If he could not make his enemies suffer, he tore open the ground beneath their feet and let surging lava destroy them. If this failed to achieve his desired result, he usually lost interest in continuing the fight and retreated. He took no pride in withdrawing from a battle that frightened him, nor felt any shame in leaving one that had grown boring.
Ragnaros the Firelord ruled fire, heat, and conflagrations. All fire elementals and creatures that used fire as their primary weapon held him in awe, an awe that amounted to more than that of a few arsonists. Some mages firmly believed that they heard Ragnaros's contemptuous laughter when casting high-level fire magic, but most of this seemed to be their imagination. Ragnaros was currently absent from his plane because the Dark Iron Dwarves of Khaz Modan had summoned him to Azeroth. The Dark Iron Dwarves were now utterly loyal to him, and he was striving to find a way back to the Elemental Plane, back to the Firelands.
Well-behaved Little Bunny's note: I don't think Ragnaros the Firelord would look for a way back to the Firelands. Remember, the Titan gods sealed him in there. To him, that place was like a prison. If you had a chance to get out, who would want to go back? Wouldn't that be stupid?