World of Warcraft patch 1.1 launch world

Full History

When the first adventurers entered Azeroth, the world had not recovered from the fall of Lordaeron or the Burning Legion's defeat at Mount Hyjal. Human authority endured in Stormwind, but the old northern kingdom lay shattered. Thrall's people established themselves in Durotar, the tauren found security in Mulgore, and the Forsaken occupied the ruins beneath their former capital. These territories reflected the political and military consequences of Warcraft III rather than an entirely new age without connections to the past.

The major powers had unfinished struggles on nearly every frontier. In Westfall the Defias Brotherhood threatened Stormwind; beneath Blackrock Mountain the designs of Ragnaros, Nefarian, and competing Horde remnants made an ancient volcanic region dangerous. The Scarlet Crusade pursued its own war against the undead, while the Argent Dawn built an independent resistance to the Scourge. The old troll empires left both ruins and living factions, and the gates of Ahn'Qiraj remained sealed in the south.

The world also retained unresolved personal and political conflicts. Sylvanas Windrunner had freed part of the undead from the Lich King's control, yet Arthas had not disappeared from history: he had reached Icecrown and united with Ner'zhul. The night elves survived the defense of Hyjal after losing their old form of immortality, while the Darkspear trolls and tauren were finding their places within Thrall's coalition. Their new alliances did not erase longstanding differences of allegiance and custom.

This beginning matters because it leaves the outcome of the world's continuing struggles unwritten. Garrisons, cults, settlements, and leaders stand as they do at the game's opening; a possible mission is not the same thing as an event that has already happened. The enduring historical story is the situation that brought the peoples of Azeroth to this uncertain moment and the deep past still visible in their lands.