Kaldorei society rises around the Well of Eternity

Full History

On ancient Kalimdor, a community of nocturnal humanoids settled near the Well of Eternity. The Well's immense magic changed their lives and helped make them the people who came to call themselves kaldorei, the children of the stars. The history preserved by the original Warcraft accounts traces the rise of night-elven civilization to that encounter with a force unlike any ordinary spring or lake. Its arcane power soon became central to their identity.

The kaldorei did not remain a small settlement around a mysterious source. Their civilization spread, and its greatest centers became bound to the Well and the techniques developed for drawing power from it. They outgrew the older troll empires in influence, developing a sophisticated and expansive society. At the height of that expansion, Azshara reigned over a court in which magical learning, elite status, and political authority reinforced one another.

Yet the concentration of power carried consequences. The Highborne, the privileged magical class, increasingly treated the Well as a means of pursuing extraordinary feats. Malfurion Stormrage and others came to oppose the path taken by the queen's court. The magic radiating from Azeroth eventually attracted Sargeras, who saw a way to bring the Burning Legion into the world. The foundation of the empire thus became the channel through which its destruction threatened to arrive.

In the War of the Ancients, the same Well that had helped transform the kaldorei became the focus of the demonic invasion. Its collapse sundered Kalimdor and ended the age of Azshara's great empire. The survivors reorganized their lives around a far more guarded relationship with magic, the forests, and the Emerald Dream. Their origins beside the Well explain both their ancient greatness and the caution that shaped the later night-elven people.