Hundreds of thousands of years ago, or in an even more ancient age, the Titans of the Pantheon ruled the vast majority of the universe.
They were the most benevolent of rulers. They never even displayed their authority through violence, although each of them was among the most powerful beings in the universe. These mighty creatures, passionate about sowing the seeds of life, visited tens of millions of planets and ushered in countless ages of life on worlds suited to its growth.
But even the gentlest rulers had a ruthless side, and the Pantheon was no exception. On their long journey in search of life, they encountered not only orderly, beautiful beings, but twisted, dark existences as well. Whether they were born that way or became so later, allowing these twisted creatures to exist unchecked throughout the universe posed the greatest threat to other life.
And so the Titans also built many prisons across the boundless universe, specifically to imprison these brutal creatures.
The largest of these was called Mardum, a prison for evil that encompassed an entire planet. During that glorious age of the universe, Mardum and the other prison planets held the cruelest, most sinister, most cunning dark beings, personally guarded by the Pantheon's mightiest warrior, the Bronze Titan Sargeras. In that age, no darkness dared resist the stellar longsword Gorshalach in the Bronze Titan's hands.
But even the wisest Titans failed to notice how much their strongest warrior had changed during his endless battles against the Void Lords of the Shadowlands, who constantly sought to corrupt the physical universe. Having witnessed endless corruption and depravity, and discovered those loathsome Void Lords' corruption of nascent Star Spirits, flames of purification continued to well up deep within Sargeras's heart. Sargeras believed that purifying the universe, and purifying the Star