Operation Hellgate

Operation Hellgate was an armed military conflict between various parties of the Alliance and Horde in southeastern Azeroth. The campaign began with strange reports coming from the Swamp of Sorrows, which detailed nighttime hit-and-run attacks on Horde and Alliance military outposts by an unknown party. Tensions between Alliance and Horde interest groups rose catastrophically until an international incident emerged. Both Stormwind City and Orgrimmar washed their hands of the conflict in an official capacity, and treated the operations as a localized ordeal in order to preserve the tenuous Post-Siege Alliance-Horde Armistice.

Many factors contributed to the escalation of tensions, including purposeful attacks on Alliance and Horde assets, a lack of communication between the opposing forces, swift and covert assaults by a presently unknown third party, pre-existing personal vendettas between Alliance and Horde officers, and international tensions following the resolution of the Siege of Orgrimmar.

A Shadow in the Swamp
Disturbing news reached the ears of the 7 in Stormwind City that there were an increasing number of strange violent incidents occuring in the Swamp of Sorrows. Originally, it was believed the Blackrock Clan or Trolls of the Temple of Atal'hakkar were the culprits, but further evidence quickly proved otherwise.

Many Alliance patrols suddenly disappeared from the swamps without a trace, but later turned up mutilated, hanging from trees, or tossed carelessly into bogs. Clues near the sites of the gruesome murders included Horde insignia and banners, which led the authorities to conclude that the attacks were a deliberate sabotage by the Horde.

A sole Gnomish commando survived a night assault on an Alliance outpost, but his injuries rendered him incapable of painting a clear picture of the events to investigators. The Alliance military's first responders quickly arrived, which in turn led to an increased presence of Horde forces once word had reached Orgrimmar that the Alliance appeared to be moving a substantial amount of military assets into the area.

Stormwind's military advisors cautiously gathered testimonies and evidence regarding the situation in the Swamp of Sorrows, but results remained inconclusive at best. During the process of the investigation, Alliance and Horde companies began skirmishes and surgical assaults across the region, which led Stormwind City and Orgrimmar to swiftly denounce the activities and refer to them as a "localized incident". This mitigated damage to the already shaken Post-Siege Alliance-Horde Armistice, which was threatened by the developments in the Swamp of Sorrows.

In order to prevent wild speculation and fearmongering, the House of Nobles issued a press blackout in Stormwind City regarding the events in the southeast. Most major Stormwind publications had already begun to treat the skirmishes in the Swamp of Sorrows as the beginning of a conflict which would end the Armistice as it currently existed. As such, any intelligence regarding the Swamp of Sorrows was considered a matter of national security, and was not to be conveyed to the general public if it could be helped.

It proved difficult to determine which faction's forces initiated the first assault. Commanding officers involved in the conflict were urged by Stormwind and Orgrimmar to solve the situation quickly, and with as small of an impact on innocent life and international stability as possible. While the ensuing battles were violent, they were not nearly as brutal or desperate as past conflicts had been.

War in the Southeast
(( To be written when the event begins. ))