Quel’Thalas / Silvermoon

Full History

Quel'Thalas began when the exiled Highborne crossed the sea and founded a new kingdom in the northern Eastern Kingdoms. Their use of magic and the creation of the Sunwell enabled the high elves to build Silvermoon and sustain a civilization apart from their night elven ancestors. Yet their settlement stood on lands claimed by the forest trolls. The long conflict with the Amani eventually drove the elves to seek human aid, and the alliance forged in the Troll Wars left obligations that survived for generations.

During the Second War, forest trolls joined the orcish Horde, threatening Quel'Thalas again. Its rangers and spellcasters aided the human-led Alliance, though the elven court did not share every ambition of its southern partners. Sylvanas Windrunner became a leading defender of the kingdom's borders, where the ancient struggle against trolls was joined by the more recent fear of orcish invasion.

The Third War struck a greater blow. Arthas brought the Scourge against Quel'Thalas to claim the Sunwell's power for the resurrection of Kel'Thuzad. Sylvanas fell resisting him, Silvermoon's defenses were breached, and the Sunwell was defiled in the ritual that restored the lich. Survivors faced not only the ruin of their homeland but the corruption of the magical source around which their civilization had grown. The kingdom's sorrow began long before any answer to that loss could be found.