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Know Your Lore: The sorrow of Southern Barrens
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Cataclysm brought with it a lot of changes -- the face of Azeroth was forever changed as the landscape altered when Deathwing burst forth onto the scene. But along with the physical changes, there were plenty of political changes as well. For the Horde, Cataclysm saw the rise of a new Warchief in Garrosh Hellscream, as Thrall took his place beside the Earthen Ring and tried to repair the tattered land. The Alliance saw the rise of the Council of Three Hammers in Ironforge, as Magni Bronzebeard's sudden demise left a hole in the heart of the Bronzebeard dwarves. It was the shattering of the land that saw both Alliance and Horde forces immediately move to reconfigure their borders and take whatever land and resources they could possibly get. Though the war rages on, some places are no longer war-torn and filled with the sounds of combat. Instead, these once-populated areas are filled with the silence of lives lost, of the cautious footsteps of looters looking to take whatever spoils of war they can carry. Perhaps the most saddening of these is the once-peaceful settlement of Camp Taurajo -- now a charred version of its former self, left to wither back into the harsh lands of the Southern Barrens.
Know Your Lore: Stormrage and the Emerald Nightmare, part 1
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. The events playing out in game right now have long-lasting repercussions on future lore, but there are also events playing out that aren't present in game. The Shattering by Christie Golden details some of these events, but there's another book out there that also has an effect in upcoming events. I'm talking about Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak, which was released earlier this year and covered information regarding the Emerald Nightmare. Even though the book was released some time ago, the effects of the book haven't been felt. This is because as far as timelines go, Stormrage hadn't really happened yet -- or has it? The book takes place somewhere between Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm, and though we don't see any of the events in the book played out in game, we see players from the book and the repercussions of the book's events. Today, we're going to give an overview of what's in the book and how it affects what's going to play out in Cataclysm. Please note: The following post is all about Stormrage and contains spoilers for the majority of the novel as well as the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you're planning on picking up the book, turn away now, lest ye be spoiled for eternity!
