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Medivh
As told by Aegwyn the Last Guardian
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My name is Aegwyn, and for over one thousand years I have wandered the realms of this world and endeavored to safeguard the peoples of its lands against the ethereal powers of the Great Dark Beyond. I have seen mighty kingdoms rise and fall. I have witnessed the deeds of high nobility and the lowliest of rabble both conspire to define the destiny of mankind.
It has been only recently that I have, regrettably, become directly involved in the matters of men. For countless ages it has been the charge of my Order to shelter and protect mortal man from the mysteries of the Great Dark, and the palpable, heinous evils of the realms beyond. To battle these dark forces of the Twisting Nether we were given considerable power and longevity rivaling that of even the ancient Elves. With this power came one grave burden - The Guardian must not interfere with the affairs of men until the time comes when a successor must be chosen and the mantle of guardianship is passed to another.
Thus did I - Aegwyn, last Guardian of the Order of Tirisfal - judge that my time had come. Forty-two winters had passed since I first came to the kingdom of Azeroth in search of the Conjurer Nielas Aran. It was he whom I had chosen to sire the heir of my powers. Nielas was exceptionally talented in the simple conjurative magiks of men, and I believed that he would be the perfect mortal father for my child. . . and so he was. . .
I gave birth to a son and named him Medivh - or “Keeper of Secrets” in the ancient tongue of the Elves - in the fall of the year 559. I transferred all of my knowledge and power into the infant, locking it deeply within him to manifest itself only when he reached physical maturity. Believing that my work on this world was done and seeing that my son would be cared for by Nielas’ people, I wandered across the fields of time, preparing myself for the passing.
I kept a distant, watchful eye on my son for much of his young life. I was assured that the deep-seeded altruism of Tirisfal would guide him in his trials and temper his heart and mind as to make him worthy of the Guardianship that was, I believed, his destiny.
On the eve of the marking of his thirteenth birthday, the power locked deep inside of my son wakened. Unable to deal with the raw, cosmic energies surging inside him, Medivh suffered a massive psychic trauma. He was pacified by the good Clerics of the Northshire. They removed the youth to their sacred Abbey and for six years tended to his all but comatose body.
Eventually, Medivh awakened from his sleep seemingly in full control of his faculties and powers. Yet, underneath the confident and almost arrogant facade, I somehow knew that my son had become malevolent and corrupt. The wisdom and power that was his birthright had been perverted by distant forces within the Twisting Nether, altering the Human part of his soul and marking him with its evil touch forever.
It was not until the first wave of those wretched creatures known as the Orcs thundered through the dark rift that I realized how incredibly dangerous my son had become. . .
With his mastery over the arcane energies increasing almost by the moment, Medivh had set out to probe the extent of his ability to manipulate the world around him. Delving into the forbidden arts of Necromancy, Medivh began to unravel the mysteries of life and death. He took to consorting with Daemons from the lower planes, using their powers to augment his own. His hunger for power became stronger, and with every minor success Medivh fell ever deeper into the dark abyss of madness. He traveled far throughout the astral plane, exploring the infinite secrets of the Great Dark Beyond. It was then, in the midst of swirling chaotic hallucinations, that Medivh first encountered a world beyond his own and captured a glimpse of the aberrant, murderous denizens of that place.
Here at last, was the tool that Medivh had been searching for…
Desirous of complete dominion over Azeroth, Medivh used the insights gained from the knowledge of Tirisfal to strike a bargain with Gul’Dan the Warlock - the mightiest of the rulers on the dark, red world that haunted Medivh’s visions. Communicating through deep trances and astral projection, Medivh told Gul’Dan of an ancient tomb lost beneath the north sea that contained power beyond imagination. It was to this tomb that I had banished the ancient Daemonlord Sargeras after a long and exhausting battle eight hundred years before. Even I cannot say whether or not the power of Sargeras remains entombed there. The promise of incredible power tapped from a true monarch of the underworld was enough to make the insatiable Gul’Dan agree to do Medivh’s bidding.
Medivh agreed to furnish the location of the Tomb of Sargeras to Gul’Dan as well as an entire world to conquer. In exchange for this gift, Medivh required the total destruction of the only force he believed capable of contending his ascendancy to power - the great Kingdom of Azeroth.
Thus, in the year 583, the first of Medivh’s unnatural Portals was opened between the world of Azeroth and the red world of the Orcs. Although the time of my passing had drawn near, I traveled to Medivh’s mystic tower to reason with him and attempt to dissuade him from a path that would surely lead to his own destruction. The power that was once of Tirisfal had become so twisted inside him that my pleas seemed as nothing. I fought with what energy remained in my weakened body, but having given all of my powers to him so long ago, I was easily defeated and banished from his sight.
The arrival of Gul’Dan and the Horde War Chief Blackhand heralded a war that tore the realm of Azeroth asunder for nearly five years. The once rich lands of the kingdom were razed and left fallow by the merciless Orc armies. And yet, for all of his craft and guile, Medivh did not survive to see his plans come to fruition. My son was killed by a bold Azerothien raiding party who broke into his tower and slew him in the very room where he first made contact with the minions of the Horde. Even the great War Chief Blackhand was eventually destroyed as his ultimate victory drew near, betrayed by his servant Orgrim Doomhammer.
The greatest loss to the peoples of Azeroth came when King Llane, their benevolent and just ruler, was killed as Stormwind Keep fell under the siege and was overthrown by the Orcish Hordes. Only the valiant leadership of Anduin Lothar, Knight errant in the Brotherhood of the Horse and a hero in the war, allowed the survivors of Azeroth to escape from their decimated homeland with their lives.
Even with Medivh and his vile magiks gone, the Portal continued to channel hundreds of Orcs into the Human lands every day. With the death of Blackhand, Orgrim was quick to seize control over the Blackrock clan - the most powerful Orcish force on Azeroth. While others still vie for supremacy over the rest of the scattered Orc clans, Gul’Dan, the infamous Warlock and chieftain of the Stormreaver clan, is rumored to be amassing a great navy to find the legendary Tomb of Sargeras for himself. Rend and Maim, the barbarous sons of Blackhand, also have secured a strong following amongst the Orcs, and hope to wrest ultimate control of the Horde away from the treacherous Doomhammer.
Although other factions grow stronger within the chaotic Horde, it seems certain that all of the clans will follow Doomhammer’s plans to hunt down and destroy the renegade Humans of Azeroth wherever they choose to run…
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The Alliance of Lordaeron
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With the arrival of the Azerothien refugees upon the shores of Lordaeron, King Terenas formed a council of delegates from each of the seven kingdoms under his rule. Recounting terrible tales of destruction and carnage wrought by the Orcish invaders in Azeroth, the Steward Lord Anduin Lothar convinced the sovereign of Lordaeron to unite themselves against this great threat. Despite much quarreling and debate, the lords acquiesced to Lothar and Terenas, and agreed to unite their armies under the general command of Lothar himself. As the shores of Lordearon had already been savaged by small bands of Orc marauders, Lothar found a strong ally in his longtime friend Admiral Daelin Proudmoore of the seaside kingdom of Kul Tiras. Thoras Trollbane, lord of Stromgarde, was also quick to offer his support to this newly forged Alliance, sensing that the time for glorious battle was at hand. These warriors were not the only ones to get ready for battle. . .
As the holy writ commandeth that the whole armor of rightousness be worn in the war against evil, Alonsus Faol - Abbot of the now destroyed Northshire Abbey - convinced the ecclesiastic ministers of Lordaeron to gird their priests and followers alike with weapons of war. As the guardians took up swords of light to defend the heavens, so must the holy men of earth be prepared to combat the dark tide that was quickly approaching from the south. From the ancient subterranean halls of Khaz Modan came the stoic Dwarves of Ironforge, reporting that the Orcs had already begun to assault their mountain kingdom. The Dwarves offered their support in arms and ingenious technologies to the Alliance, who in turn assured them that the Orcs would be driven back at all costs.
The reclusive Elves of Silvermoon ventured forth from the shadowy forests of Quel’thalas to offer their services to the Alliance. Their magiks, so closely tied to the forces of the earth, had shown evidence that the Orcs had been defiling the very lands of Lordaeron as part of their sinister plans. The ill-bred prejudice that had existed for eons amongst the three races was put aside, and a bond was formed between these ancient neighbors. This bond would become a force known across the whole of Lordaeron as the Alliance. Thus, united in arms against a common foe, the Alliance stands upon the shores of destiny and awaits the coming of the Tides of Darkness.
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