Nekros Skullcrusher

Full History

The Dragonmaw clan remained dangerous even after the Old Horde's defeat, because the red dragonflight had not been freed. Its chieftain Zuluhed had placed the Demon Soul in the hands of Nekros Skullcrusher, an orc whose authority rested less on battlefield command than on possession of a weapon dragons could scarcely resist. From Grim Batol, Nekros ruled over prisoners far mightier than himself. Alexstrasza, the Dragonqueen, was forced to serve the ambitions of the clan that held her.

The Demon Soul was the instrument of the prison. Its power let Nekros torment and command red dragons and compel them to produce offspring for the clan's armies. The riders who flew those dragons remained a threat to the Alliance after the Second War's main campaigns were over. The fortress was thus both an orcish refuge and a factory of coercion: every new dragon forced into service prolonged a defeated army's ability to make war.

Nekros did not control the larger game surrounding his captive queen. Deathwing coveted the dragon eggs and was prepared to use the orcs until their usefulness ended. The mage Krasus, secretly the red dragon Korialstrasz, directed Rhonin toward Grim Batol to end Alexstrasza's bondage. Vereesa Windrunner and Falstad helped carry that mission through attacks and betrayals. A plan that Nekros understood as secure possession was becoming the center of a battle among powers he could not command.

When fighting reached the fortress, Nekros sought to hold the Dragonqueen through the Demon Soul even as his enemies drew closer. Deathwing's interference brought further disaster upon the Dragonmaw. Alexstrasza broke free during the ensuing struggle, and the weapon that had sustained Nekros's authority could no longer save him. The Dragonqueen killed her tormentor, ending the immediate command he exercised over her life and the lives of her children.

Rhonin then destroyed the Demon Soul with a scale from Deathwing. The dragon Aspects regained the power stolen by the artifact and forced the black dragon to flee. Without the magical source of its dominance, the Dragonmaw clan could not maintain its terrible advantage. The stronghold that had given Nekros control over dragons instead became the place where that power was broken.

Nekros's fate belongs to the unfinished aftermath of the Second War. A defeated army had survived by enslaving creatures stronger than itself, and a single artifact had permitted an orc commander to defy the world's ancient guardians. His death showed how brittle that dominion was once the Demon Soul was taken away, while Alexstrasza's release marked an end to one of the war's cruellest legacies.