The Empire That Doomed the World

Full History

The kaldorei built their civilization around the Well of Eternity, and its magic enabled an empire of extraordinary reach. Queen Azshara and her favored Highborne pushed that power further until their spellwork drew Sargeras's attention. An attempt to open a path for the Burning Legion became a war for the world itself. The empire's greatest source of strength had become its most dangerous weakness.

The Highborne treated the Well as a reservoir for increasingly ambitious sorcery, while Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind rose among those who resisted the queen's course. Azshara's adviser Xavius became entangled with demonic power, and Legion armies poured into ancient Kalimdor. Not all kaldorei accepted their rulers' decisions. The resistance drew together druids, warriors, and allies who recognized that preserving the empire unchanged would mean permitting the invasion to succeed.

The defenders prevented Sargeras from crossing fully into Azeroth, but the closing catastrophe shattered the Well and tore the continent apart. Survivors faced a transformed land, and Azshara's underwater court survived in the forms later encountered as naga. A kingdom built upon limitless access to magic had nearly destroyed the world it ruled. The Sundering became a dividing line in history: before it lay a single enormous continent and the height of the empire; afterward came scattered peoples, exiles, and centuries of vigilance.