Invasion of Gilneas

The invasion of Gilneas is a battle between the Forsaken and the worgen for control of Gilneas. It is an important part of the Alliance-Horde war and resulted in Gilneas being abandoned by the Alliance, with conflicts still occurring at the Greymane Wall.

The invasion of Gilneas has multiple phases: the initial ousting of the Gilnean people, the Alliance counterattack, and concluding with the Alliance's retreat from Silverpine Forest. The first phase of the war was the Forsaken invasion into Gilneas which resulted in most of Gilneas's civilians fleeing to Darnassus. The second phase involved the fighting of the coalition forces of the Gilneas Liberation Front, the Bloodfang pack, and the 7th Legion against the Forsaken and the Horde. Since the Battle for Gilneas is a frequent battleground for the Alliance and the Horde, the fight for Gilneas has so far been an ongoing war.

Causes of the invasion
Due to the events at the Battle of Angrathar the Wrathgate, the Forsaken are "in the dog house" with the rest of the Horde and the Horde leadership. With the Horde now controlled by Warchief, Garrosh has ordered to claim Gilneas so the Horde can have a port in southern Lordaeron. The motivations of the Wolf Cult led by were to gather worgen servants, march on Darnassus, and get revenge on. The two groups worked together, with the worgen weakening Gilneas's defenses for the Forsaken.

The invasion and the exodus
The Forsaken started a frontal assault on the Greymane Wall, but the Gilnean troops defending it coupled with the wall's mighty defenses were easily driving the Forsaken back despite all their efforts and daring attacks. Although the Gilneans' defenses held, the Greymane Wall began to deteriorate.

The worgen curse and the Wolf Cult
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Gilneas was ravaged by the worgen curse, which transformed any human into a worgen (a cursed half-wolf, half-man creature) that lost their minds to bloodlust and a desire to tear flesh. The worgen curse was being spread by and his Wolf Cult, in an attempt to soften the Gilnean defenses from the inside in order to facilitate the invasion once the Forsaken were able to breach the Greymane Wall. The worgen curse was rapidly spreading through Gilneas, and the Wolf Cult's numbers kept growing.

Eventually Alpha Prime led his worgen in an open attack on Gilneas City, turning many of its citizens into feral worgen and overrunning the city. While the Gilneans did try to fight off the worgen, they discovered that the numbers of the worgen were too great, and an evacuation of the city was necessary. King ordered the release of the political prisoner Lord Darius Crowley, a dissenter that led the Northgate rebellion against him. After Crowley was released, he became convinced that he and Greymane needed to unite their efforts for the sake of their people. Crowley, understanding that the only shot for the surviving Gilneans to reach the safety of Duskhaven was for the worgen's attention to be kept on Gilneas City, decided to remain behind with a group of his followers at Light's Dawn Cathedral to serve as a distraction. Crowley's group was eventually surrounded and overrun by the worgen and Crowley became a worgen himself. However, his sacrifice allowed the Gilnean refugees to successfully reach Duskhaven.

— the royal alchemist of King — created a special potion that when drank by a worgen, helped them bring back balance between their human and beast sides; in other words, it returned human consciousness to the cursed worgen. Thus a group of captured worgen were treated and joined the Gilneans just before the Forsaken invasion started.

The attack on Duskhaven
Even after the Wolf Cult seized Gilneas City, the defenses at the Greymane Wall were holding. However, some weeks after the refugees from Gilneas City fled to Duskhaven, the Cataclysm started and shattered the Greymane Wall — destroying its gates. It also destroyed the reefs that were defending Gilneas from a naval invasion, allowing the Forsaken to invade Gilneas both on the land and from the shore.

Soon two ships of the Forsaken navy arrived on Duskhaven and commenced a bombardment. At the same time, the ships started landing; Forsaken footsoldiers and abominations disembarked from their transports and stormed the shore. However, Duskhaven troops and newly-cured worgen met their enemy head-on, and acting under the command of Prince, showed heavy resistance to the Forsaken invaders. , a Gilnean nobleman, led the counter-assault and decided to use the worgen to neutralize the Forsaken ships. He commanded them to capture the catapults that were bombarding Duskhaven and use them to catapult themselves into the ships and slay their captains: and. Lord Godfrey also ordered them to slay the Forsaken commander, Dark Ranger Thyala. But the victory came with a price. The earth, already weakened from the bombardment, began to fragment and collapse as the Cataclysm continued. An evacuation of Duskhaven was put together just in time, before the town was completely consumed and submerged under the sea. The survivors fled to Greymane Manor, and then further inland — into the Blackwald.

While moving into the Blackwald, two Gilnean stagecoaches were ambushed by ogres (servants of the ettin ) and crashed — including Prince Liam Greymane's own stagecoach. While Liam and a worgen adventurer rescued the stranded survivors, they also discovered a squadron of Forsaken under the command of Captain Asther had also arrived at the Stagecoach Crash Site. Liam Greymane decided to make the Forsaken and the ogres fight each other by ordering the worgen to steal Koroth's Banner and plant it before the Forsaken. Soon Koroth himself arrived and thinking that the Forsaken stole his favorite banner, furiously attacked them; giving enough time for Liam and the other survivors to escape.

Origins of the worgen curse
Upon arriving to Stormglen Village, the Gilnean refugees discovered that the village was completely deserted, and part of it was even overrun by giant spiders. After fighting off the spiders and slaying the broodmother, the worgen decided to enter Blackwald itself in search for any survivors.

Within this dark forest, the Gilneans met the night elves led by, who told them of the origins of the Worgen Curse — that long ago, there was a group of druids known as the Druids of the Pack, who were practicing the ability to shape-shift into a wolf form and worshiped the Wild God and Ancient guardian,. However, during an ancient war against demonic forces, they abandoned the balance and allowed the beast within to consume them; thus becoming the first worgen. Eventually the night elves, led by Archdruid, were forced to banish them to the Emerald Dream to sleep for eternity under a tree identical to Tal'doren — the wild tree in Blackwald. However, the original worgen were released by Archmage Arugal and eventually started spreading their curse to the Gilneans. They also met — who had also been transformed into a worgen and with the aid of the night elves, had managed to regain the balance between man and beast — and he was furthermore curing other feral worgen. Crowley then revealed that the Forsaken were trying to find a special artifact that would bring the worgen under their control: the Scythe of Elune, which had been brought in from Duskwood mere days before. A group of worgen was sent by Crowley to attack ' dark rangers that held the Scythe at Woods' End Cabin. Crowley's forces were led by, a former follower of Lord Crowley who also became a worgen. While Tobias and his trackers were keeping the dark rangers occupied, another worgen sneaked by and stole the Scythe before it could reach Sylvanas.

Greymane's worgen, knowing that the alchemy that had returned their minds to them would not last long, drank the waters of Tal'doren, and restored the balance between human and beast. soon arrived and ordered Crowley and his worgen to submit and join the king's army against the Forsaken, to which Crowley refused. However, when Genn Greymane arrived and revealed that he himself has been affected by the worgen curse, Crowley agreed to have his forces join the Gilnean resistance. With the Gilnean worgen united, Greymane proclaimed that he will unite all of his people to end the Forsaken invasion.

The unseen fight
While Greymane left for Tempest's Reach, the night elves led by Belysra Starbreeze, alongside Lord Crowley, Gilnean worgen, and the investigator, were confronted by , the Wolf Cult, and their Forsaken allies at Tal'doren. Belysra attempted to seal the Wolf Cult worgen away beneath Daral'nir in the Emerald Dream, but before she could do so, a Forsaken dark ranger shot her in the arm. This caused her to drop the Scythe of Elune, and Alpha Prime signaled for the army of Forsaken to surround them. Alpha Prime took possession of the scythe, but just as he was about to finish Belysra off with it, the spirit wolf of Belysra's old lover — — killed Alpha Prime. With the death of their leader, the Wolf Cult scattered; leaving the Forsaken without their lupine allies and open to attack from the night elves and Gilneans.

Godfrey's treason
was shocked when he discovered that his own king was a worgen, one of the very creatures he had fought against so fiercely. Godfrey, who had always condemned the transformed Gilneans as monsters, created a plan that he believed would save Gilneas. After gaining support from two eastern lords, and, Godfrey captured King Greymane, and held him prisoner at Tempest's Reach. Godfrey planned to use Genn to strike a deal with the Forsaken by turning his king over to them.

The worgen, however, planned to free their king with as little bloodshed as possible. The worgen adventurer used Krennan's Potion of Stealth to stealthily track down and assassinate both of the traitorous eastern lords, leaving Godfrey without his support from them. Godfrey still refused to surrender, however, stating that he would rather die than serve a worgen as his king, and jumped off a cliff; thus committing suicide.

Battle of Gilneas City
With the dissent from within crushed, sent his loyal supporters to aid in liberating the mining town of Emberstone Village from Forsaken control. Prince and, the daughter of Lord , led the troops. The two made their headquarters in the livery stables. After freeing the enslaved Gilneans, Liam and Lorna sent their forces to dispatch the Forsaken leader,  — who was known for his unbound ruthlessness — and later on  — the so-called scientist who carried out inhuman experiments on the villagers too old to work the mines.

Having assembled an army composed of every available Gilnean, Genn finally directed the Gilneans in retaking Gilneas City. The Gilnean army was divided to attack multiple fronts on Gilneas City. Liam Greymane headed the assault on the Merchant Square, while King Genn Greymane and Lord Crowley handled the assaults on the other districts. This would be known as the Battle of Gilneas City. Before entering Gilneas City and starting the battle for it, Liam made an inspiring speech:

''The Forsaken think we're weak, a broken people. They think we'll roll over like a scared dog... how wrong they are. We will fight them in the fields until the last trench collapses and the last cannon is silenced. We will fight them on the streets until the last shot is fired, and when there is no more ammunition, we'll crush their skulls with the stones that pave our city. We will fight them in the alleys until our knuckles are skinned and bloodied, and our rapiers lay on the ground, shattered. And if we find ourselves surrounded and disarmed, wounded, and without hope; we will lift our heads in defiance and spit in their faces. But we will never surrender! FOR GILNEAS!''

The Gilnean forces under the command of started fighting their way through Gilneas City, destroying Forsaken forces positioned there. Soon they were attacked by a large number of abominations. The villagers of Emberstone brought artillery cannons, however, which helped in defeating them. After Liam's forces met and united with worgen forces around Stoneward Prison, the Forsaken unleashed upon the Gilneans one of their most powerful creations — the flesh beast known as. However, the worgen took control of Forsaken catapults and used them to take down Gorerot quickly. Soon Liam and Crowley caught Sylvanas herself at the Greymane Court, while his father came and attacked from the other side. As the tide was turning against Sylvanas, she used her dark powers to stun everyone in the immediate area and aimed a poisoned arrow at Genn Greymane. Liam jumped in front of the bowshot, saving his father from certain doom. As Sylvanas fled the scene, Liam died with the knowledge that the city had been freed from Forsaken control.

Escape from Gilneas: The endgame
Later on, Sylvanas met with, envoy of Warchief. Sylvanas told him that Gilneas was under control and consented to not use the Forsaken Blight, as its development had been banned after the incident at the Wrathgate. As the emissary left, however, Sylvanas told to deploy the new plague as planned, despite Garrosh's command.

At the dawn of the next day, despite the wishes of Garrosh Hellscream, the Forsaken used their Blight on Gilneas. What the Forsaken didn't know, however, was that the population was already being evacuated through a secret passage to Aderic's Repose due to and a worgen adventurer's surveillance of Sylvanas's conversation beforehand. While worgen distracted the Forsaken using bombing bats they had recovered, destroying some of their Blight catapults and thinning out the Forsaken ranks, the rest of the Gilnean populace escaped. In the final moments of the evacuation, King Genn and the Crowley family paid their final respects to the deceased Liam Greymane and made a promise to him to liberate Gilneas one day.

The night elves, led by the priestess of the moon, made good on their promise and brought ships at Keel Harbor, as well as an offer of sanctuary in their lands. Unfortunately, the Forsaken's allies, the Horde, arrived as well. An orcish gunship (similar to Orgrim's Hammer) entered the field, preventing the transport ships from taking the Gilneans to safety. Meanwhile, another force of orcish invaders attacked Keel Harbor. While the druids were holding the enemy back, the siege weapons carried by the elven ships were deployed and met their enemy head-on. As a result, the orcish attack was successfully repelled. However, the gunship was still a threat to the ships. A hippogryph-mounted party boarded the gunship to place explosives in the engineering room below deck. As they proceeded, the gunship's captain,, appeared and the party fled on wyverns that were roosting on the lower deck. Once the explosives detonated, the gunship's engines became destroyed; causing the destroyed the gunship to crash into the Greymane Wall.

Aftermath
Gilneas was left in ruins, both by the Forsaken invasion and by the Cataclysm ripping the very land apart. Civilians were evacuated to Darnassus following the destruction of the Horde gunship, while a large amount of the soldiers and volunteers remained in Gilneas under the leadership of. Crowley's forces formed the Gilneas Liberation Front and their mission is to purge the Forsaken from their lands and retake all of Gilneas for the Alliance.

After the Gilneans settled in Darnassus, the Gilnean people rejoined the Alliance and King journeyed to Stormwind — the political and military capital of the Alliance. With Genn's homeland turned into a war zone and his heir slain; Genn began making plans and coordinating with the Alliance to retake his homeland. Genn now stands near King, a sign of the newly reforged friendship and hope that Gilneas will be reborn again.

The battles in Silverpine
Although most of the Gilneans were evacuated to Darnassus, the Gilneas Liberation Front, a rather large military organization with the goal of retaking Gilneas and driving the Forsaken out of their lands, remained to combat their foes under the leadership of. The Gilneas Liberation Front forces started operating not only in Gilneas, but also in Silverpine Forest as well, and soon had a few minor victories. Despite their large numbers (as seen throughout the Silverpine Questline, especially in Gilneas), the Gilneas Liberation Front was still incredibly outnumbered by the Forsaken who continued to grow as Hillsbrad was decimated and most of its inhabitants turned undead. As such, the Gilneas Liberation Front used unorthodox guerrilla warfare and ambush tactics against the Forsaken, which proved very effective. Soon after their initial pushes into Silverpine, Darius Crowley formed an alliance with the Bloodfang pack led by. The Bloodfang pack seemed to be composed of not only Silverpine residents, but Gilneans as well (possibly from Pyrewood or ferals who refused to follow Crowley in Gilneas); all these disparate feral worgen may have banded together to form a single pack following the Forsaken's crusade against the worgen in the aftermath of their invasion of Gilneas. discovered the alliance through her deathstalkers and agents led by Deathstalker Commander Belmont who were operating in Silverpine. The Bloodfang worgen started constantly ambushing and destroying Forsaken forces in Silverpine Forest. One of their most successful operations was the attack on three orc ships, commanded by, that arrived from Kalimdor to reinforce the Forsaken. These ships were full of supplies, weapons, and soldiers and a small band of Bloodfang worgen attacked them while the Orc Sea Dogs, led by, were too drunk to be able to show any resistance. The ships were destroyed, although many Sea Dogs managed to survive and retreated to the Forsaken Rear Guard. Soon the orcs were brought to order by a Horde adventurer sent by, and later took part in the fight for Silverpine Forest.

The Forsaken, understanding that this new threat and their unorthodox tactics must be dealt with accordingly, started bolstering their numbers by slaying the Hillsbrad human refugees that have settled in Fenris Isle and raising them as Forsaken using the new servants of Sylvanas — the Val'kyr. However, Lord Crowley and Ivar Bloodfang used these attacks to persuade the humans of Fenris Isle to become worgen. By offering to let the Hillsbrad refugees drink their worgen blood, they would become worgen and thus become immune to the Val'kyr's necromancy magic while also gaining the means to exact their revenge. This single act bolstered the worgen numbers greatly, and although a large number of them were slain by artillery fire when they were trying to assault Horde outposts by crossing Lordamere Lake, it barely made a scratch in their numbers. sent his Sea Dogs to fight the swimming to the Decrepit Fields. Yet without the adequate alcohol, the Sea Dogs were defeated and mostly slain, along with their Demolishers.

As the fighting for Silverpine continued, the Forsaken received word that Crowley and Bloodfang would be meeting in the abandoned Deep Elem Mine. Sylvanas took advantage of this opportunity by sending her best warriors under the command of one of her elite,, to trap and corner the worgen leaders in the mine, which had only one entrance. However, the meeting was in truth a trap. Instead of finding Crowley and Bloodfang, the Forsaken found the entire shaft of the mine rigged with explosives. Cornered, the last thing the doomed Forsaken had seen was Ivar entering, taunting them for falling prey to his trap, followed by the detonation of the explosives as Ivar fled the shaft. An entire squadron of s, as well as Forteski, were slaughtered. A lone Horde agent survived the trap, having been saved by Forteski just before his demise.

At the same time, another large group of Forsaken veteran troopers and catapults have been crossing Olsen's Farthing, only to meet a brutal ambush by the Bloodfang pack; leaving no survivors.

The liberation of Gilneas
By this time, the Gilneans had already arrived in Darnassus. King had arrived in Stormwind, asking  — King of Stormwind — to send the Gilneas Liberation Front aid. With the power-hungry Forsaken decimating the Alliance in the north, the potential of Gilneas as an Alliance foothold, and understanding the plight of their new allies; King Varian needed little convincing to agree. The king's finest soldiers — the 7th Legion — were sent to ensure victory in Gilneas.

Led by, the 7th Legion fleet arrived off the coast of Gilneas, where they discovered a large Horde fleet. To clear the way for the bulk of their troops, the 7th Legion used gnomish submarines to covertly blow up the Horde's ships. Meanwhile, commander of the Forsaken forces in Gilneas, sent a Horde agent to restore communications between the outposts on the land.

It was soon discovered that not only had the Gilneans been assaulting Forsaken Forward Command, but all of the Forsaken outposts in Gilneas had been lost to the Alliance — including Gilneas City. This major loss was an ill omen for the Forsaken in the war for Gilneas. The Horde agent was sent to see if any of the closest Forsaken outposts, namely Dreadwatch Outpost and Rutsak's Guard, were still under their control. It was soon discovered that Dreadwatch was ravaged by the Alliance. Rutsak's Guard too had fallen, with being the lone survivor of his outpost.

The Forsaken, having confirmed the loss of Gilneas City to the Alliance, had discovered that the forces that obliterated Dreadwatch and Rutsak's Guard were, in fact, the Gilneas Liberation Front and the 7th Legion. It was revealed that a vanguard force of the 7th Legion had infiltrated Gilneas City using submarines, liberated it from Forsaken control, and made the Cathedral Quarter courtyard their base of operations. After which, they regrouped with the Gilneas Liberation Front and aided them in destroying the Forsaken outposts under the command of. Master Sergeant Pietro Zaren himself engineered the slaughter of all the Forsaken troops at Rutsak's Guard, leaving alive only so that he may be traumatized by their strength. The lone Horde agent was sent to assassinate the Master Sergeant, many of his submariners, and also evaluate the enemy's numbers which the Horde would soon have to face. By using a telescope to observe the enemy forces, the Horde agent discovered that a large Alliance naval force was en route to Gilneas. Meanwhile, Forsaken Forward Command was assaulted by the combined forces of the Gilneas Liberation Front, the Bloodfang pack and the 7th Legion; thus crushing the last true foothold the Forsaken had in Gilneas.

With no other options, the Forsaken were driven back into Silverpine Forest and Gilneas was at last liberated. However, the Horde adventurers, with the aid of the Val'kyr, and , managed to recover the corpse of — despite all efforts of the Gilneas Liberation Front to destroy them — and brought it to Sylvanas. Meanwhile, Belmont's deathstalkers recovered the corpses of two of Godfrey's lieutenants — and  — so that  could resurrect them all as powerful allies against the worgen.

The fall of Ambermill
Now that Gilneas was secure, the Gilneas Liberation Front and the Bloodfang pack started concentrating their forces at the Greymane Wall for the grand offensive into Silverpine. Meanwhile, had  raised Godfrey, Walden, and Ashbury as undead and conscripted them into the Forsaken war machine. After the ritual was complete, Sylvanas — with the aid of Godfrey — started preparing her own forces for battle. She ordered the Horde agent who had continued to serve successfully throughout Silverpine to lead an important assault upon Ambermill — one of the last Dalaran settlements in the lands which (despite the Kirin Tor's stance of neutrality) had made a pact with the Alliance forces.

Out of the need to survive, the Kirin Tor mages of Ambermill and Dalaran Crater (left behind to protect the land for the day when Dalaran would return), made a pact with the Alliance to protect themselves from the Forsaken who in the past years had attacked the mages and continued to do so in the present. They agreed to fight with the Stormwind army when the time was right to repel the Forsaken. To protect themselves until then, they phased the entirety of Ambermill's population in a pocket dimension in order to guard themselves until the forthcoming battle. In their absence, the magi left behind numerous s to maintain the grounds of Ambermill while they were gone.

However, the Horde adventurer, with the aid of — a former archmage of the Kirin Tor who had been a long-standing member of the Forsaken of Undercity (dating back to their freedom from the Scourge) — used the Ambermill Codex to find the portal to Ambermill's pocket dimension in Beren's Peril. The Horde adventurer entered the portal using a Dalaran Archmage's Signet Ring taken after slaying Relios the Relic Keeper and brought the town back to its original state by overloading the arcane powers of  — who was responsible for maintaining the barrier. At this point, the Forsaken army — already amassed at the border ready to strike — invaded Ambermill and slew the Kirin Tor mages, while the Val'kyr immediately raised them as new Forsaken.

The Alliance counteroffensive
Following the success in Ambermill, Sylvanas sent, , and the adventurer to southern Silverpine and crush the Alliance counteroffensive by gaining key victories for the Forsaken.

The first move was to retake and destroy Pyrewood Village for the Forsaken, which had been attacked and taken over by a large number of 7th Legion troops which had decimated almost all of the Forsaken forces occupying it. The group soon found all of the 7th Legion members used in the attack were non-human; a clever tactic as the Val'kyr were unable to raise non-human creatures. Soon after, the Horde agents crushed the Legion forces in the area. Following the destruction of the 7th Legion troops, and the rescue of the surviving Forsaken troops (Although Godfrey slew several troops, claiming they were weak.), the village was set ablaze.

Their next move was attacking the 7th Legion Base Camp, which was under the command of — a Wildhammer 7th Legion commander. The base camp was garrisoned, similarly to that of the Pyrewood forces, by non-human 7th Legion members — mainly dwarven. The group assassinated and pillaged the 7th Legion Battle Plan — a great advantage for the Horde forces.

Meanwhile, the 7th Legion fleet reached the shores of Gilneas and started landing the bulk of their forces for the assault on Silverpine Forest. The combined force of the Bloodfang pack and the Gilneas Liberation Front started the offensive and clashed with the main Forsaken army positioned at the Forsaken Front. As the battle went on, Godfrey and his entourage moved to the Gilneas Liberation Front Base Camp after having gained intel that it was led by no other than — Darius Crowley's own daughter. It was revealed that unlike most of the Gilnean forces, Lorna had not been turned into a worgen, making it possible to slay and raise her as a Forsaken. The group set out to capture Lorna, planning to use her as a bargaining chip to force to retreat before the Forsaken were overwhelmed by the forces of Stormwind.

Accompanied by, her Val'kyr trio, and her most trusted soldier; rode across The Battlefront, which was filled with Horde and Alliance forces combating fiercely at every turn. She then met with and  at the shattered gates of the Greymane Wall, where she offered Crowley a choice: either he surrenders and sounds his forces' immediate retreat into Gilneas, or his daughter would be slain and risen as Forsaken to serve the Banshee Queen forever. Godfrey, Walden, and Ashbury then arrived with the captured Lorna, showing Sylvanas was not bluffing. Unable to allow such a horrifying fate to happen to his daughter, Crowley agreed to retreat back to Gilneas and give up Gilneas City, to which Ivar reacted negatively (calling him a bastard), and made a howl before running away. Lorna was released, and Crowley departed with his daughter as well.

As the three fled back to the safety of Gilneas, the Alliance forces following suit, Godfrey did the unthinkable and assassinated as she was proclaiming the Forsaken's victory and was preparing her troops for an assault on Gilneas in order to annihilate the remaining Alliance forces. In shock, the Horde members had a short duel with Godfrey and his two undead Gilnean comrades (Ashbury and Walden) until they were overpowered and forced to fall back to Shadowfang Keep. Cromush ordered the Val'kyr to "fix" the Banshee Queen, and the three Val'kyr sacrificed their lives to resurrect her. The Dark Lady rose again, furious with rage at Godfrey's betrayal and stating that he would have to pay for his traitorous act; while also losing any doubt that Val'kyr were indeed the future of the Forsaken. After this, the Banshee Queen returned to the Undercity to recover; while the Bloodfang pack and Gilneas Liberation Front fell back to Gilneas.

Aftermath
In the end, the Forsaken ended up losing all major land bases and holdings in Gilneas to the overwhelming Alliance forces. The Alliance also took heavy casualties but they succeeded in reclaiming the mainland of Gilneas and are attempting to maintain their tenuous foothold. This, however, has not stopped the area from being a hot spot for the Horde and Alliance to fight over Gilneas's resources. The Forsaken continue to launch naval assaults on the Gilnean coastline, which is now a fierce back and forth Battle for Gilneas. As the Alliance attempts to repulse the Forsaken endeavors to regain a foothold on the land, the Forsaken troops continue to land along the coast, attempting to regain a staging ground for a larger assault to destroy the Alliance in the area.

, actually a black drakonid, and his Blackhowl forces secured Gilneas City at some point, though their ultimate status is left unknown after Creed's death. Currently, the city is deserted, with only partially buried ruins remaining.

Before the Storm
By the time of the end of the Argus Campaign, Gilneas was referred to as fallen, with nothing but "wind, sorrow and ruin" in the land. When Genn arrived at Stromgarde Keep before the events of the Gathering, he told Anduin that both kingdoms were now in ruins, with Gilneas being home to the Forsaken and Stromgarde being overrun with criminals, ogres, and trolls. The book later references the kingdom as completely abandoned; thus leaving its fate ambiguous.

Forces

 * Alliance
 * Gilneas
 * Gilnean troops
 * Gilneas Liberation Front Worgen
 * 25 Canons
 * The Bloodfang:
 * Bloodfang Worgen
 * Darnassus expeditionary night elves
 * Night elf troops
 * Ships
 * Hippogryphs
 * Ancients
 * 7th Legion
 * 7th Legion marines
 * Ships
 * 3 Gnomish submarines
 * Some Kirin Tor mages of Ambermill


 * Horde
 * Forsaken
 * Forsaken troops
 * Forsaken ships
 * Abominations
 * Forsaken catapults
 * Durotar expeditionary orcs
 * Orc invaders
 * Orc sea dogs
 * Orc ships
 * 1 Orc air ship
 * Some fallen Kirin Tor mages of Ambermill
 * Wolf Cult worgen
 * Gilnean human spies
 * Gilnean worgen
 * Kaldorei worgen

Trivia

 * During early alpha, it was initially planned that orcs of the Horde would have a larger role in the initial attack, instead of the Forsaken. Krugg Worgmaw, Orc Scouts, and Orc Invaders would attack the town of Grimmburg first.