Quick Overview
Beneath Blackrock Mountain, a dwarven feud left behind a realm of living fire and bondage. Thaurissan's attempt to strike back at the rival clans brought Ragnaros into Azeroth and transformed the surrounding lands in catastrophe. The surviving Dark Irons became subjects of the elemental power their ruler had unleashed. Molten Core endures as the heart of a disaster in which a quest for vengeance destroyed the victors' freedom as well as their enemies' peace.
Full History
Molten Core belongs to the aftermath of the War of the Three Hammers, when the Dark Iron ruler Thaurissan tried to avenge his clan's defeats by summoning a power beyond his control. The ritual brought Ragnaros the Firelord into Azeroth. His arrival destroyed Thaurissan and devastated the Redridge lands, raising the vast volcanic mass of Blackrock Mountain.
The surviving Dark Irons fell beneath the Firelord's influence. Their miners and sorcerers inhabited the depths of the mountain, but the power that ruled them was not a dwarven king. In the fiery reaches below, Ragnaros and his servants represented an elemental dominion older and more dangerous than the political rivalries that had led to his summoning.
The history of Molten Core is therefore a story of a disastrous bargain never intended to be one. A defeated ruler had sought the strength to destroy his enemies, and instead opened the way for a master who enslaved his own people. The fire beneath Blackrock Mountain remained the enduring consequence of that choice.
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