Quick Overview
The unity once achieved under Arathor gradually gave way to distinct human kingdoms. Arathor's capital at Strom had once helped unite the human tribes and defend them during the Troll Wars. Stormwind's fall in the First War would drive refugees north, encouraging the rulers of these realms to reconsider their separate concerns.
Full History
The unity once achieved under Arathor gradually gave way to distinct human kingdoms. Nobles and settlers founded new centers of power, and the seven kingdoms became the political landscape of later human history. Their common origins did not guarantee a common policy. When the orcish Horde eventually threatened the north, old borders and rivalries would complicate even the strongest alliance.
Arathor's capital at Strom had once helped unite the human tribes and defend them during the Troll Wars. In later generations, ambitious families and growing cities developed outside the old center. Lordaeron rose in the fertile northern lands, while other crowns found their own places across the continent. Each possessed leaders, armies, interests, and memories that did not perfectly align with those of its neighbors.
The Seven Kingdoms mattered because they made humanity powerful but divided. Stormwind's fall in the First War would drive refugees north, encouraging the rulers of these realms to reconsider their separate concerns. The Alliance of Lordaeron arose out of that necessity and was later fractured by renewed disagreements. The transition from Arathor to multiple crowns is therefore not a mere change of names; it explains both the resources and the weaknesses that marked human resistance to the Horde.
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