The Fourth War and Legionfall

((Hello everyone. I hope you're all staying safe and healthy in the pandemic.

First, I'm not resuming the travelogue--I no longer play WoW, and don't plan to return. However, on the Space Battles forum, I did make a series of posts outlining what I'd planned for the travelogue's version of Azeroth throughout Mists of Pandaria, Legion, and the Battle for Azeroth. I didn't mention Warlords of Draenor because it really doesn't fit into the travelogue (and neither will Shadowlands, by the looks of it). These won't be written from Destron's perspective, and will instead be general histories.

Since a lot of us are shut in due to the pandemic, and since I've already written these, I figured I'd go ahead and post them here. The first post will be an account of the Fourth War and Legionfall. After this will be examinations of the various nation-states post-Legionfall, and a look at Pandaria's history and philosophy. Finally, it'll finish with an account of the Battle for Azeroth, which differs pretty substantially from what you see in the game.

I hope you enjoy!))

The Fourth War

The warrior ethos of the Horde became its undoing. Though eager to prove himself and his peoples in honorable battle against the Alliance, Garrosh failed to acknowledge one hard truth: that the Horde simply lacked the resources and personnel to continue any kind of sustained war.

Though the Horde blazed past Alliance defenses in the first year, they soon found themselves in a stalemate. Units of orcs and trolls vanished in the forests of Ashenvale, felled by arrows shot from the shadows between trees. An entire generation of Horde warriors perished in the dust of the Southern Barrens. The Forsaken seized Gilneas and what remained of Lordaeron, but the corpses they raised failed to fully replenish their losses.

Hunger stalked the streets of Orgrimmar and other Horde cities as the buckling front demanded more and more food from the hardscrabble farms of Durotar and the Northern Barrens. Warchief Garrosh had already alienated many of the Horde's races, and grumbling soon turned to sedition.

Garrosh realized he could not fight indefinitely, and sought secret weapons to turn the tide of the war. Yet the mana bomb that wiped Theramore from all existences only bolstered the Alliance to fight harder.

The opening of the Pandarian Front proved too much for the ailing Horde. By now, most of the Horde's best troops were dead or crippled, forcing them to rely on reserves who fared poorly in this strange new land. The Alliance continued to push the Horde lines farther back, and all but Garrosh's most loyal orcs now questioned his leadership. His desperate attempt to use the malign Sha spirits as a weapon sealed his fate. After the damage done, much of the Horde's remaining military turned against Garrosh and joined the Alliance to shake down Orgrimmar's mighty walls.

Garrosh's trial was quick and decisive. The once-mighty warchief accepted his execution with the stoicism expected of a warrior. Though there are rumors that he escaped into an alternate Draenor, these have never been confirmed and seem far-fetched.

The Aftermath

Vol'jin, of the Darkspear Tribe, assumed the mantle of warchief and surrendered to the Alliance. The Horde was a shell of its former self. The fact that Vol'jin cooperated led the Alliance to be lenient with the Horde. Perhaps they hoped to control him.

The Treaty of Orgrimmar ended hostilities between the two factions. The Horde was required to withdraw from Ashenvale, Dustwallow Marsh, the Badlands, and Gilneas. They were permitted to keep Azshara due to the hardship that the goblins of Bilgewater Harbor would have faced in any forced removal, though this decision infuriated the Kaldorei. The Swamp of Sorrows was ceded to the Alliance, though Stonard remained a technically neutral territory. The Dragonmaw Orcs were allowed to stay in the Twilight Highlands so long as they limited their military size.

Warchief Vol'jin focused on rebuilding for the next five years. He knew that the Horde survived only because of Alliance mercy. Some of the Alliance's member nations (Khaz Modan, Gnomeregan, and the Exodar) had even gone so far as to provide support for reconstruction efforts, going by the logic that a prosperous Horde was a peaceful one. Pandaria also aided the Horde, both out of a philosophical preference for balance and because they feared uncontested Alliance hegemony.

Happily, Vol'jin ably navigated the treacherous situation. He purged the Horde of the most rabid Garrosh loyalists while also preventing his own Darkspear Tribe from wreaking punitive vengeance on the orcs who'd so abused them during the Fourth War. The Forsaken proved a more stubborn problem. Lady Sylvanas Windrunner continued to rule the once free undead as a tyrant, and her very existence mocked the Alliance citizens who'd suffered so horribly during her war campaign. Only Alliance exhaustion, and fear of Forsaken biological weapons, had saved Sylvanas from their vengeance.

The Decaying Legion

As the world recovered, the Burning Legion fell further to pieces.

Demons are defined by selfishness and treachery. Though this makes them fearsome, it also renders cooperation a difficult proposal at the best of times. The Legion devoted many of its efforts to simply ensuring obedience. Some of this stemmed from the Legion's nihilistic philosophy; they saw the world as so flawed, that any institution arising from the world must also be flawed. If life as a demon is treacherous and painful, it is only because life itself is treacherous and painful. Thus, all the more reason to destroy existence and start anew.

Sargeras remained the driving force behind the Burning Legion, but Archimonde and Kil'jaeden did most of the planning. By this point, Sargeras was distant and only Kil'jaeden functioned as any kind of leader. Yet doubts had grown about his ability due to his many failures regarding Azeroth.

1st Failure: Kil'jaeden and Archimonde had tried to seize Azeroth during the War of the Ancients, and they failed. Yet this did not threaten them so very much. Azeroth was hardly the first world to repel a Legion invasion. None had managed more than once. So most demons figured it was only a matter of time.

2nd Failure: Kil'jaeden engineered the Horde and the Scourge to take Azeroth. But in addition to failing, the Third War ended with the death of Archimonde. Never had the demons imagined that one of their greatest leaders (and most effective intimidators) would die in battle. Kil'jaeden blamed underlings, but all knew he bore responsibility for his failure. Many of the more aggressive demons particularly disdained his reliance on manipulation.

3rd Failure: The Burning Legion not only failed to turn Kael'thas into a lasting asset (his strategic acumen would have been invaluable), they also failed to remove Illidan (a weak and disorganized despot) from power. Capping all that, Kil'jaeden personally led an invasion to Azeroth and was defeated in battle by mortals.

The Burning Legion began to disintegrate almost immediately. Millions of warlords peeled off to forge new domains, not beholden to Kil'jaeden or Sargeras. These schismatics almost immediately warred against each other.

Kil'jaeden understood that his only hope was to make one last push and seize Azeroth. The Legion's sheer size meant that, though only a tiny number of demons still served Kil'jaeden, they numbered enough to overwhelm this defiant world. Further, Kil'jaeden took care to utilize better strategies, as he knew that this time, reinforcements could not be guaranteed.

Legionfall

As always, the Burning Legion's efforts started with the sowing of cults and dissension. Yet this proved to be of limited effectiveness. Decades of dealing with demon cults (and the more recent Twilight's Hammer) had made the natives of Azeroth watchful. Many cults were dispersed before they became serious dangers, with even the cult leaders sometimes successfully deprogrammed.

But with no other options, Kil'jaeden initiated a devastating attack on the Broken Shore. The Horde and Alliance both fought back, only to have many of their best troops destroyed. Warchief Vol'jin himself suffered a mortal wound, and for reasons still poorly understood, nominated Sylvanas Windrunner as his successor. Though subsequent events would prove how disastrous this choice was, she did act as an able commander for the Horde during Legionfall.

Almost immediately, the Legion launched probing attacks throughout the homelands of Azeroth's defenders, forcing them to keep many troops on the home front. The Legion's use of portals gave them a distinct logistical advantage.

Unsure where to strike and desperate to defend their population centers, the military forces of the Horde and Alliance could only spare limited forces to the main theater on the Broken Isles. Yet they possessed a secret weapon: partisans.

Independent partisans and militias had shaped the course of the Fourth War. The successful ones often possessed fearsome arms and armor looted from ancient ruins, making them formidable counters to the Burning Legion despite their small numbers. Encouraged by their governments, these partisans landed on the Broken Isles to bring the fight to the demons and proved to be quite effective at this.

To prevent infighting among the partisans, who sometimes despised each other along factional lines, cooperation was encouraged based on particular callings. As an example, the Earthen Ring ensured cooperation among shamans of all nationalities.

This strategy worked. The partisans made steady gains in undoing the efforts of the Burning Legion while the established armies repelled attacks on the homelands. Yet even the most optimistic were surprised by what happened next: a partisan invasion of the Legion's home-world of Argus, supported by none other than the Naaru's Army of Light.

These partisans achieved the impossible: they slew Kil'jaeden once and for all, imprisoned Sargeras, and established a lasting beachhead on Argus. The cost was high, but in truth, this was another benefit; rancorous partisans had long resisted the peace between the Alliance and Horde, having associated with insurgents and guerrillas in the five years of peace after the Fourth War. The death of so many would likely bolster the fragile and uneasy peace.

The Burning Legion remained a threat, but no longer an organized one. Billions upon billions of demons rampaged through the cosmos, led be petty warlords more focused on quarreling with their neighbors than resuming the Burning Crusade. It is unlikely that any demon lord could hope to unite more than a tiny fraction, which itself would inevitably collapse to infighting.

Sargeras's final act of spite was to fling his sword into Azeroth. Yet even this proved minor, as the weapon landed in Silithus, harming the vile Qiraji but no one else.

The Horde and Alliance paused to take stock of the situation. The Burning Legion that had threatened Azeroth so many times, that had once promised to consume the entire multiverse in hellish flames, had been bested by mortals. 

Yet tensions remained. Though still weaker than the Alliance, the Horde had lost a much smaller portion of its military at the Broken Shore debacle, giving it more of an edge in any possible conflict. And conflict seemed more and more likely, as the Alliance could not tolerate a criminal like Sylvanas occupying the position of warchief.

Though peace reigned, no one could be sure for how much longer.