Quick Overview
Gnomeregan fell when troggs invaded the gnomes' great underground city and a desperate attempt to repel them released dangerous radiation. The gnomes had contributed reconnaissance craft, submarines, and other devices to the Alliance's earlier wars. The ruins of Gnomeregan remained contested, and the catastrophe was not undone by a presumed player victory.
Full History
Gnomeregan fell when troggs invaded the gnomes' great underground city and a desperate attempt to repel them released dangerous radiation. Many gnomes were killed or driven from their homes, and the survivors took refuge with the dwarves of Ironforge. The disaster left one of the Alliance's most inventive peoples living as exiles near the machinery and workshops of their allies.
The gnomes had contributed reconnaissance craft, submarines, and other devices to the Alliance's earlier wars. Their confidence in engineering could not save their own city when the troggs swarmed its tunnels. A weapon intended to clear the invaders poisoned much of the place instead, transforming defense into catastrophe. The surviving population could not simply return to the home in which its skills and institutions had flourished.
By the opening of original World of Warcraft, displaced gnomes maintained their identity while relying on dwarven hospitality. The ruins of Gnomeregan remained contested, and the catastrophe was not undone by a presumed player victory. Their story illustrates how the old world's conflicts could dispossess even peoples who had not been central to the Third War's battles.
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