Garona's Chronicle: The First Incursions

Full History

Garona's early chronicle of the invasion follows the Horde as it entered a world whose inhabitants were unfamiliar to its warriors. A small advance party crossed the rift and found human farms rather than the enemies imagined on Draenor. Raids and reconnaissance gradually became sustained warfare. The orcs learned that conquest would demand more than terrifying a few undefended settlements.

The first excursions brought plunder and violence to villages that had little understanding of the attackers. Garona's account describes an initial reconnaissance group and the sack of a farming settlement, then the establishment of camps in the swamps around the portal. Those marshlands provided cover and a route into Stormwind's territory. As the Horde's forces grew, human cavalry and organized defenses gave the invaders new lessons about their enemy's strengths.

A failed attack on Stormwind helped drive tactical adaptation, showing that the humans could fight effectively in circumstances the orcs had underestimated. The chronicle is valuable because it presents the invading army's early observations, not only the later judgments of its victims. It also demonstrates how the First War escalated through choices made after the first raids, rather than becoming a full conquest in a single crossing.