Quick Overview
Gnomeregan's fall did not kill or displace every inhabitant in the same way. The radiation unleashed during the struggle against trogg invaders left surviving leper gnomes beneath Dun Morogh. Their presence became a visible consequence of the failed attempt to preserve the gnomish city.
Full History
Gnomeregan had been a center of gnomish engineering and innovation, allied in practical matters with nearby Ironforge. Its inhabitants possessed technical knowledge capable of producing extraordinary machines, yet that achievement offered no guarantee against an invasion from below. When troggs overwhelmed parts of the city, the defenders sought an answer through dangerous technological means.
The decision to use radiation against the intruders became a catastrophe. Instead of simply securing the complex, the poisonous effects struck gnomes and transformed or ruined many who remained inside. Others fled to Ironforge, where the Bronzebeard dwarves offered refuge to their displaced allies. The loss of Gnomeregan was therefore both a military defeat and a technological disaster.
Leper gnomes remained among the victims left in the underground city. Their condition illustrated the aftermath that refugees could not escape merely by abandoning the site. The struggle also imposed a burden upon those outside the city, who needed to help the displaced while confronting the dangerous remnants of the place their allies had lost.
At the original World of Warcraft starting state, Gnomeregan had not been restored to peaceful gnomish rule. The irradiated survivors and trogg threat remained part of the region's recent history, an example of ingenuity turned destructive under the pressure of invasion.
The Living Archive · Subject Chronicle
Through History
Explore documented turning points and follow their connections. The complete account remains in Full History above.
Further Reading
A research reference supplied with this article.