Old Gods

Old Gods (also known as Shath'Yar in their own language, as well as various other names) are parasitic, eldritch horrors created by the void lords in order to find and corrupt slumbering titan world-souls. These immense mountains of flesh, physical manifestations of the Void, grow like cancers within the worlds of the Great Dark Beyond.

Four Old Gods — Y'Shaarj, C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, and N'Zoth — ruled the planet of Azeroth during its primordial age, forming what would become known as the Black Empire. When the Pantheon arrived, they sent their armies, the titan-forged, to shatter the Old Gods' citadels and crumble their empire. Y'Shaarj, however, proved much too strong for the titan-forged to defeat, which prompted the titan leader Aman'Thul to reach down his arm and tear Y'Shaarj apart. This created a giant gaping wound in the planet's crust from which the arcane lifeblood of Azeroth, the nascent titan, was hemorrhaging.

Realizing that the Old Gods had embedded themselves too deep in the world's surface to be removed without destroying Azeroth itself, they instead decided to have the Old Gods imprisoned deep below the surface of the world to contain their evil forever. The Pantheon, in an attempt to study the eldritch monstrosities and find a solution to their existence, inadvertently created a fifth Old God, G'huun. It was subsequently sealed within the research facility of Uldir, now located on Zandalar.

Though incapacitated and, until recently, forgotten, the Old Gods still to this day influence the very people and events of Azeroth. Along with the Burning Legion, they are one of the most powerful and reoccurring threats found in the Warcraft series of games and books, especially during the Cataclysm where they attempted to bring about the end of the world, the Hour of Twilight.

Lately, N'Zoth has been quite active and its servant, Queen Azshara, has been commanding even more naga attacks on the surface. After the last seal imprisoning G'huun was broken, it attempted to set itself free and became a potentially world-ending threat. With Yogg-Saron and C'Thun defeated and Y'Shaarj deceased, the only Old Gods currently active are N'Zoth and G'huun.

=Known Old Gods=

The Old Gods' sole purpose is to corrupt a titan world-soul into a being of unimaginable evil, a "warped titan" or "dark titan". Should the Old Gods succeed, the warped titan would consume all matter and energy in the universe, bringing all of existence under the void lords' will.

Y'Shaarj
Main article: Y'Shaarj Unlike the other Old Gods who were merely imprisoned, Y'Shaarj was ripped out of Azeroth and slain by the Titans themselves. Its remains fell back on the land that would later become known as Pandaria and its essence, seeping into the soil, would spawn the Sha. The titan-forged gathered its remains, notably the Heart of Y'Shaarj, which they placed under guard beneath the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. After the Aqir and Troll War, the aqir that settled in the surrounding regions where Y'Shaarj's essence still polluted the land were gradually transformed into a race called the mantid. Ages later, Garrosh Hellscream unearthed and managed to restore it using the magical pools of the Vale. Following the heart's excavation, the mantid, who worshipped Y'Shaarj, flew to Garrosh's side, with the Klaxxi paragons standing guard over the Old God's heart. After the heart's power was drained during the final confrontation with Garrosh at the end of the Siege of Orgrimmar, the last gasp of Y'Shaarj faded from existence.

The Three
The current primary goal of the Azerothian Old Gods is to escape their titanic prisons. Whereas in ancient times the Old Gods used to wage war against each other, Warlord Zon'ozz leading the armies of N'Zoth against the forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron, these three have now formed an alliance that the few mortals who have the knowledge call "the Three", destined to further their goals and influence the oblivious world. The Three were responsible for manipulating the events during the War of the Ancients Trilogy and the Hour of Twilight, but also for the corruption of Neltharion into Deathwing, or for the transformation of Azshara and her Highborne into naga.

N'Zoth
Main article: N'Zoth N'Zoth was the first Old God to be neutralized by the titan-forged. It was imprisoned in an underground prison some distance west of Uldaman but has since notably been responsible for the formidable growth of the Emerald Nightmare after its creation by Yogg-Saron. During the Cataclysm, N'Zoth was a driving force behind the actions of Deathwing.

C'Thun
Main article: C'Thun C'Thun followed after N'Zoth's fall and was sealed in the titan-forged research station of Ahn'Qiraj. After the Aqir and Troll War, many aqir settled within the confines of C'Thun's prison. The captive Old God's foul presence slowly warped the aqir's forms over time, molding them into a race known as the Qiraji. 975 years ago, C'Thun sent its Qiraji armies to ravage the world in the War of the Shifting Sands. Though they almost succeeded in conquering nearly the entirety of Kalimdor, the Qiraji were defeated by the combined forces of the Kaldorei and the Dragonflights. They raised the Scarab Wall, an enchanted barrier that would contain the insectoids for centuries to come. Recently, Cho'gall and his Twilight's Hammer followers conducted a ritual to shatter the Old God's bonds. C'Thun awakened the thousands of Qiraji and silithid laying dormant in Ahn'Qiraj and beneath Silithus, and rallied them for war. Though they almost conquered Silithus, the Alliance and the Horde combined their armies in a force called the Might of Kalimdor and defeated the Old God before it had time to regain its full strength.

Yogg-Saron
Main article: Yogg-Saron Yogg-Saron, the most powerful of the Three, was imprisoned under the titan city of Ulduar in Northrend. Following the Aqir and Troll Wars, the Aqir that settled near Yogg-Saron's underground prison gradually evolved into a race called the Nerubians due to their proximity to the Old God. Their kingdom would become known as Azjol-Nerub. As the World Tree Andrassil grew, its roots pierced the prison of the Old God, granting him an access to the Emerald Dream which it would share with his Old God kin. Over time, Yogg-Saron also managed to corrupt the Keepers who guarded Ulduar and slowly broke through all but the last of its restraints. But thanks to the combined might of the Alliance and the Horde, aided by brave adventurers, the Keepers were freed, and together they defeated Yogg-Saron.

G'huun
Main article: G'huun G'huun is an Old God born from the result of experiments by the Titans. It is quite less powerful than the other Old Gods, but still represents a potentially world-ending threat to Azeroth. It is imprisoned within Uldir on the island of Zandalar.

Other Old Gods

 * An unknown number of Old Gods were hurled into the Great Dark Beyond by the Void lords, and other Old Gods are active in the worlds beyond Azeroth.
 * One unnamed world had become irredeemably infested by the Old Gods during the time of the Pantheon, leading to Sargeras destroying it.
 * Other planets have been seen infected with Old Gods in-game.
 * A group of Arakkoa known as the Dark Conclave attempted to call forth the Summoned Old God into Outland.
 * Harbinger Skyriss yelled "We span the universe, as countless as the stars!" and A'dal stated that Skyriss' Old God masters sought to conquer all worlds in the universe.
 * Some of the more outlandish theories regarding the creation of the sentient dagger known as Xal'atath claim that the blade is all that remains of a forgotten Old God who was consumed by its kin in the early days of the Black Empire.
 * The Gods of Arak scroll mentions that Anzu would converse with "the gods of the abyss", and that he would find them "dull, witless creatures".
 * A piece of artwork featured in Chronicle Volume 3 depicts the four known Azerothian Old Gods, in addition to a fifth creature in the top right corner.

=History=

Origins
From the moment the universe came to be, dark spirits within the Void sought to twist reality into a realm of endless torment and chaos. These void lords, envious of the Pantheon's power, pooled their power and created the Old Gods to exert their influence over a titan in its most vulnerable state: before it had awakened. Not knowing which planets contained titan world-souls, the void lords then hurled their creations out through the Great Dark Beyond, hoping that some would smash into a nascent titan. The Old Gods began contaminating mortal worlds and everything else they touched in their blind search for a world-soul.

Being creations of the shadowy void lords and physical manifestations of the Void, the old gods are deeply intertwined with the dark force and can control it directly. Many mortal followers of the eldritch horrors make frequent use of shadow magic, and shadow priests who derive their power from the Void stray dangerously close to the domain of the Old Gods. The ritual dagger known as Xal'atath was used by dark priests of the Black Empire at its height.

The Black Empire
Long ago, the world of Azeroth became threatened by a group of Old Gods. These entities of chaos and destruction wreaked havoc on the world. Plummeting down from the Great Dark Beyond, C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, N'Zoth, and Y'Shaarj slammed into Azeroth's surface, embedding themselves in various locations of the world. A miasma of despair soon enveloped everything that lay in their writhing shadows as they spread their corruptive influence across the land, all the while sending their tendrils down through the world's crust, towards the planet's defenseless world-soul. Two races, the N'raqi (or "faceless ones") and the Aqir, arose from the organic matter that seeped from the Old Gods' massive bodies, becoming fanatically loyal servants that built great citadels and temple cities around the colossal forms of their masters. The greatest of these structures were built around Y'Shaarj, the most powerful of the Old Gods, and the holdings of the Old Ones would soon spread over Azeroth, eventually forming the Black Empire. When they arrived, the Old Gods enslaved the elementals that had once raged freely on primordial Azeroth, though not before a brutal war in which the four Elemental Lords, who had previously been bitter rivals of one another, banded together in an attempt to fight the Old Gods' fledgling empire. Though the elementals were mighty, they could not stand against the constant swarm of N'raqi and Aqir. Without the native spirits of Azeroth to counter the Old Gods' influence, the borders of the Black Empire crept over much of the world. As perpetual twilight descended, the world spiraled into an abyss of death and suffering.

Ragnaros, Neptulon, Al'Akir, and Therazane, having now been enslaved by the Old Ones, led their respective armies in an eternal conflict that ravaged the world to no end. Meanwhile, the N'raqi servants of the Old God N'Zoth raged war with the combined forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron.

During their journey across the cosmos, the Titans eventually made their way to Azeroth and encountered the elementals, who vowed to drive the Pantheon back in the name of their dark masters. Upon discovering the deep and insatiable hunger for destruction in the Old Gods and seeing them as immensely evil, the titans initiated a war with them. Fearing that their enormous forms would severely harm or even kill Azeroth's world-soul — the most powerful one yet encountered by the Pantheon — the titans instead created mighty servants to do battle in their stead. Known as the titan-forged, these beings waged war against the elemental servants of the Old Gods, eventually managing to defeat them and seal them within the newly-created Elemental Plane. Once the titan-forged started to make their way towards the bastion of Y'Shaarj, however, the Titans feared that their servants would not be able to stand against the Old God's might. Thus, Aman'Thul, the Highfather himself, reached down through Azeroth's skies and heaved Y'Shaarj from the surface of the world. The Old God was instantly ripped apart, but in the wake of its death, the lifeblood of Azeroth's world-soul rushed to the surface in a great wound later known as the Well of Eternity. The Pantheon realized that the Old Gods had burrowed too deep to be excised from Azeroth without killing the nascent titan, and so they ordered their servants to instead imprison the vile gods, rather than killing them. The campaign of the titan-forged to contain the remaining three was long and brutal, but eventually, they succeeded in containing the Old Ones below the surface of the world.

C'Thun was bound within the great fortress of Ahn'Qiraj, located close to the titan-forged stronghold of Uldum, and N'Zoth was imprisoned in a similar way, though it is not known exactly where (possibly deep below Azeroth's oceans). Yogg-Saron was the last Old God to be imprisoned, even unleashing its enormous C'Thraxxi generals in an attempt to halt the advance of the titan-forged, but eventually it was bound beneath the titan city of Ulduar under the watch of six keepers.

Early imprisonment
Due to the influence of Yogg-Saron and the other Old Gods, the earthen, one of the many races created by the Titans, began to succumb to the Curse of Flesh. The same thing happened to the Mechagnomes, Tol'vir, Mogu, and Vrykul, eventually resulting in their fleshy bodies, as opposed to their original stone composition or metal design. The Vrykul, who had originally had iron skin, also began producing a smaller and weaker mutation of themselves. The Old Gods had presumably intended to subvert the Titans' work from within, and to a great extent they succeeded; the Titans were loath to unmake the world except as a last resort. Thus, many of the mortal races of Azeroth had their nature suspended between order and chaos, between their titanic birth and their Old God-originating corruption.

Knowing that they would soon depart a world full of deep corruption, the Titans took several measures to contain it as much as possible, including creating new armies of earthen to inhabit specific areas they had sealed off, and the Watcher Loken was made Prime Designate of Azeroth. Using the power of the gigantic, winged proto-drake known as Galakrond, they imbued the five Dragon Aspects designed to watch over and protect the world in their absence.

Nozdormu, the Bronze Aspect, was given power over time, charged with guarding the proper flow of history and policing the webs of fate and destiny. Alexstrasza the Life-Binder became the guardian of all life, an essential role left by the Titans in the wake of Azeroth's corruption. Neltharion the Earth-Warder became the caretaker of the planet itself, guarding the deep places of the world and creating mountains and rivers to aid the mortal races. Ysera the Awakened was tasked with the protection of the Emerald Dream. Finally, Malygos the Spell-Weaver became the guardian of arcane magic, an extremely dangerous force if placed in the wrong hands.

Though the Aspects were usually vital allies of the mortal races, the Titans made one fatal mistake: they gave one Aspect, Neltharion, power over the depths of the world, the very same depths in which they had imprisoned the Old Gods.

War of the Ancients
Main article: War of the Ancients 10,000 years ago Queen Azshara and her Highborne wanted to open a portal for Sargeras powerful enough for him to manifest in his full glory. In turn, Alexstrasza contacted each of her fellow Aspects. It was one of the most respected of these dragons, the Black Dragonflight's leader Neltharion the Earth-Warder who proposed a plan should the worst truly be coming to pass. Alongside his old friend Malygos, Neltharion proposed that a simple golden disc, imbued with the power of each of the aspects, in turn, could be created that would be so powerful that no force on Azeroth or indeed even from outside could possibly stand against it. Should all these strange portents really be true, dragonkin would be ready. Convinced by Neltharion's arguments, the other aspects agreed and the Dragon Soul was created.

Unknown by the other Aspects Neltharion had found himself intrigued by the whispers of the Old Gods pinned within the very earth he was assigned to watch over for an untold time. These entities knew full well who Sargeras was and what his appearance signified for Azeroth. Having worked over the course of thousands of years to suborn Neltharion, they now sought to make use of their newest and most powerful weapon. The Old Ones wanted to divert the power of Sargeras' portal to themselves and crack Azeroth open and after eons of imprisonment, they would be free. However, Illidan Stormrage gained the Dragon Soul and used it alongside his brother Malfurion Stormrage to close the portal, unknowingly preventing the release of the Old Gods.

10,000 years later the Old Gods invaded Nozdormu's realm and managed to open a rift in time, that, as they had planned, tossed some beings back through time, beings that would change the way the War of the Ancients took place, and give Sargeras a new chance to enter the world, and therefore give them a new chance to set themselves free. Their plans were although crushed again by Krasus, Rhonin, and Broxigar, who was sent back by Nozdormu in time. This was a backup plan from the Old Gods' initial attempt to rip time apart and change history so they were never imprisoned in the first place, which was blocked by Nozdormu with great effort.

War of the Shifting Sands
Main article: War of the Shifting Sands Over vast stretches of time, C'Thun sought to subvert and corrupt. Its Qiraji would come to C'Thun and conquer for it the titan complex that lies today in the sands of Silithus, the fortress temple of Ahn'Qiraj. C'Thun waited, until at last its forces had grown strong enough to contest the hated Kaldorei for dominion over Kalimdor itself. Thus began the War of the Shifting Sands, which would see corrupted titan creations like the Tol'vir battle side by side with silithid hordes and Qiraji leaders to push the Kaldorei out of Kalimdor. C'Thun's plan nearly succeeded. At first, the night elves held fast and defeated the Qiraji in several battles, thanks to the brilliant leadership of the archdruid Fandral Staghelm. Following his son's death, the Kaldorei were driven out of Silithus by the Qiraji, and a victory for C'Thun seemed nigh. But the combined forces of night elves and the bronze, green, red and blue Dragonflight drove the frenzied Qiraji back. But neither could those forces hope to win out against the Old God itself in its den. Rather than risk such an apocalyptic conflict, a solution was enacted that sealed the Qiraji and C'Thun up inside their very fortress, the city complex of Ahn'Qiraj itself. Fandral Staghelm, entrusted with the Scepter of the Shifting Sands used to seal Ahn'Qiraj, shattered it out of bitterness over the death of his son.

Recent history
After their defeat on the Broken Isles during the Second War, Cho'gall and his surviving minions of the Twilight's Hammer sailed west to the mysterious continent of Kalimdor, drawn in by the whispers of the Old Gods. They were followed by Garona, who was eager to hunt out the last members of the Shadow Council.

In the aftermath of the Third War, the Old Gods noticed the demon Illidan Stormrage and his hunger for power intrigued them. Illidan cast a powerful spell to summon the naga and they answered. A group led by Lady Vashj pledged themselves to him. They did not come because of their shared history, nor did they respect his demonic power. They came because the Old Gods willed it. They were aware that his quest to destroy the Lich King could spark a new war on Azeroth, one that would envelop the undead, demons and world's nations. With this chaos, Cho'gall and his cultists could awaken the Old Gods relatively unopposed. They saw Illidan as useful in this regard, and they were confident that he could bring a new age of conflict. The Old Gods sent the naga to aid him in his campaign against the Lich King. If the former elf became troublesome, they could order the naga to cut out his fel-corrupted heart.

World of Warcraft
C'Thun recently awakened, freed itself, and reemerged from Azeroth's depths. It now lairs in the ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, until it was slain by adventurers. At some point during Loken's stewardship of Ulduar, he came under the sway of Yogg-Saron imprisoned within and eventually betrayed both the Pantheon and his own brother, Thorim. Loken resided in Ulduar's Halls of Lightning, seeking to free Yogg-Saron completely. According to Malfurion Stormrage, the Old Gods are behind the Nightmare corrupting the Emerald Dream. Although the Nightmare Lord in the dream turned out to be the Satyr Lord Xavius, it is suspected that he acted on behalf of a power even greater and darker than Sargeras. It has been confirmed that Yogg-Saron is responsible for the spark of the Emerald Nightmare, but N'Zoth is responsible for its spread. During the war in Pandaria, the power-hungry Warchief Garrosh Hellscream excavated the still beating heart of Y'Shaarj and took it with him to Orgrimmar. After draining the heart's power during the final battle of the city siege, what little was left of Y'Shaarj faded from existence.

The Old Gods were indirectly involved in Garrosh's escape to an alternate Draenor, as their Infinite Dragonflight aided the remnants of the True Horde, Wrathion and Kairoz in breaking the fallen Warchief out of his prison.

Sometime after the forces of the Alliance and Horde departed to Draenor, that universe's Gul'dan found his way to Azeroth-Prime, in the wake of a failed Burning Legion invasion of that alternate world. This Gul'dan set off a massive Burning Legion unlike any previously seen on Azeroth. Much like they did millennia ago, the Old Gods seemingly seek to manipulate this invasion to their own ends. Most notably they've restored Xavius to his position as Nightmare Lord and he now wields the Emerald Nightmare to aid the Legion, though his true loyalties, and the Nightmare itself, remain firmly under the dominion of the Old Gods. One of the sacrificial daggers from the Black Empire has also found its way into the hands of an adventurer, providing the Old Gods another potential pawn. Now, as ever, they retain a derisive opinion of Sargeras and the Legion, but delight in the distraction it provides.

Cataclysm
Nozdormu revealed that the Old Gods caused much of the suffering the Aspects experienced. The madness of Malygos and Deathwing, the Emerald Dream turned into a Nightmare, the altering of the timeways, the attack of the Twilight Dragonflight, the construction of a monster out of Blackmoore, and the Twilight Cult were all intertwined into a dreadful conspiracy of the Old Gods to destroy the Aspects and the Dragonflights forever, and with it all chance of order and stability. The Aspects were shocked by this.

=Power and strength=

"“For I bear allegiance to powers untouched by time, unmoved by fate. No force on this world or beyond harbors the strength to bend our knee. Not even the mighty Legion.” — Harbinger Skyriss"

Comparative strength

 * Based on ancient tales, Krasus incorrectly believed that should the Old Gods open the gates of their prison, even the titan Sargeras would find himself pleading for the peace of death. Krasus further thought that the Aspects were the most powerful creatures on all the mortal plane, so all five of the Aspects combined would represent a force capable of defeating the elder beings.
 * However, Sargeras and Aman'Thul both demonstrated the ability to kill Old Gods with ease, mostly by taking advantage of their significant size difference. Sargeras killed numerous Old Gods simultaneously with a single stroke of his sword, destroying a nameless world-soul infested with Old Gods. Aman'Thul killed the most powerful of the Old Gods on Azeroth, Y'Shaarj, by simply plucking him from the surface of the planet. In doing so, he inadvertently wounded the sleeping world-soul due to how deeply Y'Shaarj had burrowed into the planet's crust. Though the Titans could have easily destroyed the rest of the Old Gods in a similar fashion, it was avoided so as to not damage Azeroth any further.
 * On the other hand, the Old Gods of Azeroth don't seem particularly concerned with the Legion or Sargeras, and Star Augur Etraeus considers the 'avatars of non-existence' to be the 'true horror of our reality'. While they may not be as strong as titans, they should not be underestimated.

Powers
One of the Old Gods' most notable abilities is their psychic power, being able to mentally twist the thoughts of most beings and take full control of them. Entire armies of titan-forged would turn against themselves under the influence of the Old Gods. Even confined, their mental abilities can reach out to nearly anything around them in the form of dark whispers.

Old Gods have also immense power over Void and twilight magic and can spread a seeping miasma from their bodies. Their corruption is strong enough to transform a pure world-soul into a twisted abomination. They are so confident in their corruption that Xal'atath stated all things could be corrupted, and are willing to wait millennia for it to bare fruit, showing incredible patience. Only awakened titans are known to be able to fully resist the corruption of the Old Gods. Organic matter seeping from the Old Gods' blighted forms gives birth to hideous minions, such as the N'raqi and Aqir, who serve their masters with fanatical loyalty.

Whispers
Since the dawn of life on Azeroth, the Old Gods have been whispering to the subconsciousness of beings at the surface, subverting their thoughts and feelings, and sometimes driving them to great malice, complete insanity, or both. The old whisperings urge one to do dark, terrible things. They are subtle whispers that eventually become indistinguishable from one's own thoughts.

The most notorious and tragic victim of the Old Gods' whispers is Neltharion the Earth-Warder, the once mighty Dragon Aspect who had been empowered by the Titan Khaz'goroth with dominion over the deep places of the world. Yet, not even Neltharion's great wisdom and power proved capable of breaking the grip the old whisperings had on his mind, causing the Earth-Warder to eventually lose all his sanity. Neltharion renamed himself Deathwing, seeking the genocide of all non-draconic life, the enslavement of the other Dragonflights, and the release of his masters.

The night elves Malfurion Stormrage and Varo'then momentarily heard the whisperings when they held the Demon Soul in their grasp. Malfurion has since stated that "Ysera's noble brood had fallen victim to the old whisperings", as well. This was a reference to the Emerald Nightmare. The Highborne Queen Azshara too heard the whispers moments before what would have been her death during the Great Sundering. She accepted the Three's offer: Azshara and her Highborne would be saved, but they would become servants of the Old Gods. They were subsequently transformed into the monstrous naga.

The most striking historic account of the old whisperings, however, is found in the ancient scrolls of lore of the Tauren tribes, kept at Elder Rise within their capital city of Thunder Bluff. The legend of the creation of the Tauren says that the first incidents of Tauren having committed acts of deceit, murder or warfare were because some of their early brethren "hearkened to the dark whispers from deep beneath the world." Ysera acknowledged that these whisperings originated from the Old Gods and that they penetrate even into the Emerald Dream.

All the Old Gods encountered by adventurers to date have whispered to them throughout the fights, trying to convince the heroes of Azeroth to turn on their allies and give in to loneliness and despair. For all the mystical and military might the Old Gods command, it is perhaps these whispers, and their penchant for manipulation, that is their greatest ability.

The Hour of Twilight
Main article: Hour of Twilight An ancient prophecy speaks of the Hour of Twilight, the final days of the world and if the Old Gods that were chained long ago had their way set in motion, this chain of events would enact their final vision to remake the world in their image.

This, however, may be one variation of the prophecy, as the Pale Orcs of Draenor had also heard of an Hour of Twilight, one whispered to them by the Void lords themselves, stating that the Hour of Twilight is when the Void will consume all existence.

Mortal worship
Main article: Old Gods' forces The Old Gods' crazed worshipers seem to spring from all of the world's cultures and peoples. The Old Gods are asleep and imprisoned deep beneath the earth, yet their power is so vast that their maddening, destructive taint seeps out from their prisons and appears to tear away at the sanity of some of Azeroth's inhabitants. To what extent sentient beings can fall under the influence of the Old Gods in this manner is not well understood, but those who hear the Old Whisperings most clearly have joined together in a coalition that is known as the Twilight's Hammer.

Most of these followers and cultists have lost every ounce of their sanity and have become completely unpredictable and malevolent, or were forever changed, for example into faceless ones or elemental ascendants. Through the leadership of the ogre-mage Cho'gall, a powerful champion of the Old God C'Thun, the Twilight's Hammer became the focal point for the mortal worship of the Old Gods. Large groups of the Twilight's Hammer have been observed to settle at or near sites where they believe the Old Gods or their minions are sealed away; many await C'Thun's awakening in Silithus, while others appear to serve Ragnaros in the Blackrock Depths alongside the Dark Iron dwarves.

The largest concentrations of the Twilight's Hammer, however, were located at Grim Batol and the Bastion of Twilight, within a region of the Eastern Kingdoms that is now referred to as the Twilight Highlands. The mantid, a race cousin to the Qiraji and Nerubians, still worship Y'Shaarj, an Old God killed by the Pantheon in ancient times.

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