First War

The First War was a conflict fought between the orcs and humans following the arrival on Azeroth of the orcish clans of Draenor. It was during the First War that the human Kingdom of Azeroth was completely destroyed, its survivors forced to flee to Lordaeron under the guidence of Lord Anduin Lothar.

Act I – Prologue to the First War
• 556 AR – All was well in the Kingdom of Azeroth, led by king Adamant Wrynn III.

• 557 AR – The child sorcerer Medivh is born from the court's conjurer and a mysterious woman.

• 562 AR – King Adamant Wrynn III and Queen Varia give birth to their firstborn, prince Llane Wrynn I.

• 569 AR – Medivh is struck by a magical seizure and slips into a coma.

• 575 AR – Medivh wakes up from his coma and presents the Hourglass of Fate to prince Llane.

• 576 AR – On the Orcish home world Draenor, warlocks discover a tear in the fabric of space.

• 577 AR – The Orcish warlocks start their experiments on the rift, to discover it’s origin.

• 579 AR – The rift leads to another world. A single grunt is sent through to investigate.

• 580 AR – More orcs are sent through the rift and that’s when they first encounter the humans.

• 581 AR – Azeroth is sick. Crops are failing and the people are bitter. Nobody knows the cause.

• 581 AR – The young mage Khadgar arrives from Dalaran to Stormwind to become Medivh’s apprentice.

• 582 AR – The orcs send more and more troops through the portal and capture the Black Morass with ease.

• 582 AR – Driven by greed and pride, the orcs march straight upon Stormwind City.

• 582 AR – King Adamant III falls in battle.

• 582 AR – The Brotherhood of the Horse repels the Orcish attacks and chases them back to the east.

ACT II – Preparations
• 583 AR – Prince Llane Wrynn I is crowned King of Azeroth.

• 583 AR – The Borderlands are created.

• 584 AR – The orcs are arguing about their defeat. Some vow never to return to Azeroth, others want revenge.

• 585 AR – The chieftain Blackhand learns that humans rely on strategy and tactics to defeat their enemies.

• 589 AR – Through manipulation and power play, Blackhand units all Orcish clans under one banner.

• 591 AR – The Orcish raids have become more organized and the Borderland outposts are reinforced.

• 591 AR – Sir Anduin Lothar embarks to the Deadmines to recover the lost Tome of Divinity.

• 591 AR – Blackhand’s daughter, Griselda, escapes the Horde with her lover Turok and his mercenary ogres.

592 AR

• H1 – Additional troops are recruited. A regent of Azeroth converts a parcel of land into a giant farmstead.

• O1 – Blackhand’s most trusted lieutenant, Orgrim Doomhammer, arrives on Azeroth and builds the outpost of Kyross.

• H2 – The Regent is sent to Grand Hamlet to reinforce the city and defend it against Orcish attacks.

• O2 – The orcs invade the Swamp of Sorrows. Orgrim Doomhammer builds Stonard as his primary base of operations.

ACT III – The Age of Chaos begins
• H3 – The Regent and his troops marches through the Borderlands and destroy the outpost of Kyross.

• H4 – A cleric of Northshire Abbey saw Lord Lothar in a vision. He was alive but in need of help. The Regent leaves the front and journeys towards the Deadmines.

• O3 – Orgrim Doomhammer builds the city of Rockard as his secondary base. From their he marches west and destroys the poorly defended town of Grand Hamlet.

• O4 – Griselda is found hiding in the Deadmines. Blackhand wants her dead, so Orgrim travels west to the Dead Mines.

• O4 – Orgrim Doomhammer and his troops march straight to the mines and attack Turok and his ogres head on.

• H4 – The Regent arrives at the Deadmines and witnesses the ogres and orcs battling each other. Using this confusion he sneaks into the Deadmines, saves sir Lothar and escapes.

ACT IV – The second year of the First War
593 AR

• H5 – Lord Lothar is back in action and takes command of an outpost in Elwynn Forest, from there they retake the forest.

• O5 – Orgrim Doomhammer leads his troops north and conquers the Redridge Mountains.

• O5 – The orcs march further north and discover the Blackrock Mountains. Blackhand claims the highest volcano as his throne.

ACT V – The Sunnyglade raid
593 AR

• H6 – The Northshire abbey is under attack by bandits. Lord Lothar rides west, saves the abbey and kills the traitors.

• O6 – The diversion worked, with the front unprotected. Orgrim Doomhammer destroys the town of Sunnyglade and takes it’s people hostage.

• TLG – In Medivh’s tower, Khadgar meets the half-orc Garona. She is emissary for the orcs. Wary at first, they learn to work together.

• H7 – Driven by guilt, duty and fear, sir Anduin Lothar and his knights march behind enemy lines and rescues the Sunnyglade hostages.

ACT VI – The Breaking of a Mage
594 AR

• TLG – Khadgar and Garona summon a vision of the orcs' origin on this world. They are shocked to discover that is was a corrupted Medivh that created the portal and brought the orcs to Azeroth.

• Khadgar and Garona flee the tower in seek of help.

• While avoiding both human and Orcish encampments, they are found by Lord Anduin Lothar. He leads them to the safety of Stormwind.

• The evil inside takes full control of Medivh and drains the surroundings lands to power him. The Deadwind Pass is created.

• King Llane is informed about Medivh’s corruption and betrayal. The next day Lord Lothar, Khadgar, Garona and a group of soldiers fly back towards Medivh’s Tower to free him from his curse.

• H8 – In Medivh’s Tower, the Azerothian Troops engage Medivh’s deamons in battle. Sir Lothar, Khadgar and Garona descend into the basement to find Medivh.

• Garona witnesses a vision of herself. In a nearby future she will kill king Llane Wrynn I.

• H8 – In the lower basement they engage Medivh in battle.

• H8 – Khadgar kills Medivh and frees him from his curse.

ACT VII – The Orcish Civil War
595 AR

• Blackhand, ruling from the Blackrock Spire, has lost contact with the battlefield and reality. His otherwise sound orders are now questionable at best. Orgrim Doomhammer fears that Blackhand’s command could jeopardize the orcs’ success in Azeroth.

• H9 – Blackhand’s arrogant and pompous command is threatening the orcs’ effectiveness. The humans have marched into the Redridge Mountains and are attacking key outposts. Orgrim Doomhammer is determined to take matter in his own hands and rallies the Orcish clans of the marshlands.

• O7 – Orgrim Doomhammer and his troops destroy a key Orcish outpost that serves as a supply center for Blackhand’s forces.

• With Blackhand weakened and Orgrim’s star rising, more orcs join Orgrim Doomhammer in his march towards the Blackrock Mountains.

• At the Blackrock Spire, Orgrim successfully challenges Blackhand the Destroyer, kills him and becomes the new Warchief of the Horde.

• During this Orcish civil war, the half-orc Garona is brought from Medivh’s tower towards the Northshire Abbey for questioning.

ACT VIII – The Beginning of the End
595 AR

• O8 – Warchief Doomhammer learns that the spy Garona is held captive at the Northshire Abbey. He marches down the mountains, rescues her and destroy the abbey and all of it’s clerics.

• Warchief Doomhammer discovers that Garona has worked as a double agent. Furious of this betrayal, he orders her to assassinate her beloved king Llane to prove her loyalty to the Orcish cause. • Garona has no choice but to obey. She infiltrates Stormwind Keep and assassinates – with a heavy heart – King Llane Wrynn I.

• Sir Anduin Lothar is named Regent Lord of Azeroth after the death of the king.

• H10 – Human scouts have discovered the source of the orcs’ dark magic, the Temple of the Damned in the Black Morass. To avenge king Llane and to turn the tides, Lord Anduin Lothar and the bravest of his knights cross the Southern Mountains and destroy this dark temple.

• O9 – The reunited orcs are more powerful than ever. The humans are crushed beneath their might and the orcs conquer eastern Elwynn Forest.

• O10 – The orcs smell blood. One decisive blow against the humans would ensure their doom. Warchief Doomhammer and his bloodlust orcs march upon the training camp of the Brotherhood of the Horse. Although offering great resistance, the camp falls and the Brotherhood is wiped out.

ACT IX – The Fall of Azeroth
596 AR

• While the orcs have sacked Elwynn Forest, Lord Anduin Lothar and his knights are still present in the Black Morass. Hoping to destroy the orcs from inside out, they march north upon the cities Rockard and Stonard.

• H11 – The humans have the element of surprise when they attack and destroy Rockard.

• Stonard, however, is more heavily defended and the human knights see no choice but to retreat back to the mountains.

• At the same time, the orcs unleash their full might upon the lands of Azeroth. With virtually no resistance at all, the orcs finally have the upper hand.

• O11 – With the human army scattered, the final hour for Azeroth has come. The orcs march upon the two sentinel cities of Moonbrook and Goldshire and destroy them.

• With the whole of Azeroth under his control, Warchief Doomhammer lays siege on Stormwind City.

ACT X – The Exodus
596 AR

• Sir Anduin Lothar finds his kingdom in ruins when he returns from the mountains. He rallies any surviving soldier and civilian he can find and leads them to the coasts.

• O12 – The city of Stormwind doesn’t stand a change against the orcs and falls before Warchief Doomhammer and his orcs.

• The kingdom of Azeroth lies in ruins. Stormwind City is pillaged and it’s people are slaughtered. Sir Anduin Lothar realizes that his beloved kingdom has fallen and that the other human kingdoms will surely be next. He sees no hope than the flee his lands in search of help. He and his men set sail across the Great Sea to the kingdoms in the north, in search for a new hope for humanity.

• H12 – In the Stormwind War Room, Warchief Doomhammer finds advanced and detailed battle plans of a human counter-attack on Blackrock Spire. It was supposed to take place during the Orcish rebellion. They were supposed to kill the unsuspected Blackhand and then bring the battle towards Orgrim Doomhammer himself. This attack never took place, because the humans were at that time too busy with the threat Medivh and the reinforcement of their outposts. Orgrim Doomhammer realizes that he was close to annihilation, but he would make sure that it would not happen a next time…