Stout Hill

Stout Hill was an Orcish internment camp in the northwestern mountains of the Westweald. It fell within the Duchy of Hearthglen, but like most internment camps, it was operated under direct Royal Army supervision. On the orders of its last royal commander, Leonhard Vanderleigh, it was the site of a brutal massacre of Orcish prisoners during the Third War. Stout Hill was then abandoned by the military. It was used as a haven for Lordaeronian refugees fleeing the Scourge starting around 22 LC, and is often attributed as the birthplace of the Red Hand of Tyr. By 26 LC the internment camp had been burned to the ground, with several of its vagrant inhabitants trapped inside the buildings.

History
Stout Hill does not have some long and storied history. This small plateau in the mountains of the northwestern Westweald had no permanent inhabitants prior to the opening of the Dark Portal, merely a few stray Aznakhi using it as grazing ground or farmland. This changed in the aftermath of the Second War. King Terenas II, seeking an alternative to the wholesale slaughter of the surviving Orcs, ordered the construction of internment camps to hold them. The long-term goal of these camps was unclear - some posited the notion that the Orcs might be converted and allowed to resettle, while others believed this was simply a place to keep them until they died out - but regardless it presented a need for land on which to put them, preferably land that was isolated from the rest of Lordaeron in case of insurrections. Stout Hill was one of many such locations appropriated by the Royal Army for this purpose.

Construction proceeded quickly. Given the mountainous environment - there was only one safe road down - the architects forewent constructing walls, instead erecting a large stone watch tower overlooking the road. A garrison for the housing of soldiers was also constructed, and the remainder of the plateau cleared as farmland. The Orcish prisoners would later be put to work building the rest of the camp, including longhouses for their own shelter, small homesteads for the families of the camp wardens, and a palisade spanning the width of the road to complete the fortification. The Orcs were also responsible for preparing the farmland, from which they would produce the food to feed both themselves and their captors after the Royal Army ceased provisioning the camp around 10 LC.

Due to the very same reasons that made it attractive as a camp site, Stout Hill was never one of the most populous camps. Orcs consumed copious quantities of resources, and there was limited living space and arable land in the mountains. Stout Hill never held more than a few hundred captives at a time, and it was a number that diminished as time went on, being replenished with transfers from other, more southern camps, which lacked Stout Hill's relatively significant rate of decline. The exact causes of this decline were never conclusively determined, despite Church officials investigating the matter, but it was believed that the royal commander, Leonhard Vanderleigh, was actively attempting to prevent the Orcs from reproducing, with harsh corporal punishments for Orcs found to be pregnant.

Third War
Thrall's escape from Durnholde Keep did not go unnoticed. Fearing similar incidents occurring in Lordaeron's heartland, Commander Vanderleigh ordered many of the Orcs' community leaders segregated from the rest of the prison population; it is believed that these leaders were subject to intense torture, attempting to ascertain if there was some sort of network or plan the Orcs had in place to orchestrate escapes. This, however, soon became a moot point, as the Plague of Undeath struck only months later, presenting a far more immediate and visceral threat than the freed Orcs, most of whom had taken to the sea and disappeared. As the Royal Army began to lose entire divisions to Scourge attacks (and, more disturbingly, entire divisions converted by the Plague), the garrison of Stout Hill was called into service. Before deploying, Vanderleigh ordered the culling of the entire Orcish population of the camp, and the incineration of their bodies to prevent reanimation. Given that the Undead had no need of foodstuffs, the camp was simply abandoned as it was, with no attempts to damage its infrastructure, a decision that would later prove fortunate for refugees.

Starting around 22 LC, refugees from across the Westweald began to trickle into Stout Hill, making use of its isolated location and fortifications to ward off Undead incursions. Its fields, while somewhat overgrown, were more than sufficient to provide for the refugees who had taken shelter there. It remained a stable and secure haven for at least three years; its population never exceeded a hundred refugees at any given time, but it hosted a stable population of almost fifty, with others coming and going. More than a few interesting characters are known to have weathered there, including the radical Scarlet Crusade firebrand Katherine Pike.

Stout Hill's end came suddenly and unexpectedly, and even today it is unclear exactly what transpired there. In the waning months of 25 LC, there was a fire that claimed the entirety of the camp, with many of its inhabitants still inside the camp's buildings. It is likely that the fire was intentional, as given the layout of the camp, it is unlikely a fire accidentally begun in one of the structures would have been able to spread to the entirety of the camp; there is also some evidence to suggest that some of the inhabitants may have been locked inside the buildings while they burned. Regardless of cause, come 26 LC the camp was in ruins, and not a single refugee remained. Notably the Scourge never bothered to claim the camp, and as of the Argent Crusade's reclamation of the Plaguelands in the early 30s LC, the camp's fortifications were still standing and in serviceable condition.