Forest Troll

Forest trolls are a green-skinned subspecies of trolls found in the forests of Lordaeron.

Long before the rise and fall of the kingdoms of men, the Amani Trolls of Lordaeron had built an enormous troll empire. After centuries of war and hate, an alliance of elves and humans finally dealt a crushing blow to the Amani when they defeated a great troll army at the foot of the Alterac Mountains. The empire did not recover from the defeat, and the trolls never rose as one nation again. Yet some forest trolls survived, each generation nurturing their hatred of the elves in the dark forests of the north for thousands of years. During the Second War, the Amani trolls were briefly allied to the Horde, and the forest troll Zul'jin was one of the greatest heroes the trolls have ever known.

=History=

In the Depths of Time
Forest trolls are native to northern Lordaeron. In the time before the rise of the night elves, the trolls ruled the vast Amani Empire. Together with the jungle troll's Gurubashi Empire, they fought the Aqir, eventually disrupting the insectoid empire into two nations. It is rumored that exiles from the Amani Empire journeyed to the Well of Eternity and were transformed into the first Kaldorei, though this has never been proven.

With the arising of the Kaldorei, the Amani Empire was all but dismantled with the primitive magics the Kaldorei wielded. With the arrival of the Burning Legion, the forest trolls retreated into the wilderness and took no direct part in the conflict.

The rebuilding and the Troll Wars
Main Article: Troll Wars In the aftermath of Kalimdor's shattering, the forest trolls began to once again expand their lands across the newly formed Lordaeron, naming their new territory Zul'Aman. However, the arrival of the Quel'dorei leads to a burning rivalry that would last millennia. The Quel'dorei founded their new Kingdom on an ancient troll city that was sacred. This led to the forest trolls attacking the fledgling elven kingdom for the desecration of their city. The stubborn elves, by using magic, drove the trolls back and for a time no conflict arose between the elves and trolls.

After two thousand years had passed the Amani warbands struck out of Zul'Aman determined to destroy the high elves once and for all. They scored victory after victory against the elves, pushing them slowly back. The desperate elves forged an alliance with the human empire of Arathor, teaching a hundred humans the way of magic. The combined human and elf armies met the trolls at the base of the Alterac Mountains. For days the trolls assaulted the allies' lines until at the right moment when the human and elven magi unleashed a fury of fiery magic onto the forest troll army. The searing flames stopped the troll's wounds from regenerating and then the human knights charged, slaughtering most of the troll army and driving them back into Zul'Aman. The trolls suffered a defeat from which they would never recover.

The Second War
At the time of the First War orcish warchief Blackhand sent Orgrim Doomhammer to invite the forest trolls to join the horde. The trolls declined, having little interest in anything beyond their own forests. However at the beginning of the Second War orc forces rescued the trolls leader, Zul'jin, from Alliance soldiers and in gratitude Zul'jin pledged the forest trolls to the now Warchief Doomhammer. Zul'jin had done what no other forest troll had done since the Troll Wars: he united the numerous tribes of Zul'Aman under one banner and joined the Horde. He hoped that by joining the orcish invaders they could attempt to retake Quel'Thalas from their sworn enemies, the elves. Besides the elves, the warriors of Stromgarde were also then considered traditional enemies of the forest trolls.

The forest trolls contributed their axe-throwers, berserkers, and destroyer ships to the forces of the Horde fighting with the Orcs throughout the Hinterlands and Quel'Thalas, slaughtered thousands of humans and elves and razed to the ground all villages they found in their way. Orgrim Doomhammer and Zul'jin attacked the elf homeland and made it to Eversong Woods until Alliance reinforcements could arrive. Doomhammer, however, focused his strength on Lordaeron and did not destroy Quel'Thalas as Zul'jin wanted. When defeat for the orcs seemed inevitable, the forest trolls as a united race abandoned the Horde as suddenly as they joined, but some tribes decided to stay with their orcish allies, notably by being brought to Draenor by Kilrogg Deadeye and then spread among the various clans of the Horde of Draenor, or joining up with Rend Blackhand's Dark Horde at Blackrock Spire.

Recent Times
In the aftermath of the Second War, the forest trolls returned to the old ways of rivalry and fighting between the tribes. Two tribes, the Smolderthorn and Firetree joined Rend Blackhand's Dark Horde and have taken up residence in Blackrock Mountain. During the Third War, the forest trolls stayed away from the main conflict, however, a fair percentage of forest trolls fell to the Lich King's powers. They have lost their will and are undead. The recent fall of Quel'Thalas and Lordaeron led to a unique opportunity to once again attempt to reclaim their ancestral lands, in the wake of the loss of the Sunwell several tribes attacked the weakened elves. Zul'jin also returned after years missing to lead the trolls against the elves and, much to his frustration his old allies - the Horde. The warlord was killed during the raid of adventurers seeking ancient treasures within the troll bastion, Zul'Aman. The Amani forces were scattered for a long time, until the Zandalari started to send their emissaries to every troll tribe, with Amani being no exception. An individual that dubbed himself 'the Invincible', Daakara received the message and became the new warlord of the Amani. He quickly started to gather all remaining trolls of Zul'Aman in order to unite the tribe once more.

One tribe, the Revantusks who still felt some loyalty toward the Horde agreed to a pact of friendship and mutual assistance with the new Horde under Thrall but declined to rejoin them as they also remembered the recklessness and corruption of the first Horde. The recent Cataclysm has seen Elder Torntusk's return to the Revantusk Village and the Revantusk tribe openly supporting the Horde. The Revantusk are battling the other forest troll tribes in the region and the Wildhammer Dwarves in an effort to claim the Hinterlands for themselves and the Horde.

=Tribes=


 * Amani Tribe - the Amani tribe of forest trolls were the leading tribe of the old Amani Empire and currently live in Zul'Aman under the leadership of Daakara that seeks to continue the work of the legendary warlord, Zul'jin.
 * Firetree Tribe - the Firetree trolls are one of two tribes of forest trolls that belong to the Dark Horde.
 * Mossflayer Tribe - the Mossflayer tribe lives in the Eastern Plaguelands, some of its members have been converted into the undead.
 * Revantusk Tribe - the Revantusk trolls live in the Hinterlands and have agreed to a pact of friendship and mutual assistance with the Horde.
 * Smolderthorn Tribe - the Smolderthorn trolls are one of two tribes of forest trolls that belong to the Dark Horde.
 * Vilebranch Tribe - the Vilebranch tribe of forest trolls live in the Hinterlands and worship the blood god Hakkar the Soulflayer.
 * Witherbark Tribe - the Witherbark is a tribe of forest trolls that live in the Hinterlands and the Arathi Highlands.
 * Witherbranch Tribe - the Witherbranch sails the Great Sea in search of Azerite.
 * Shadowpine Tribe - the Shadowpine tribe of forest trolls live near Quel'Thalas.
 * Shadowglen Trolls - the Shadowglen Trolls lived in Silverpine before they were killed by Illidan and Malfurion.