Southshore

Southshore (or South Shore) is an Alliance port town located in the region of Hillsbrad Foothills, currently controlled by the Alliance after the Fourth War, albeit under reconstruction. It used to be part of the kingdom of Lordaeron as a small fishing village.

Second War
The survivors of Stormwind arrived at Southshore after fleeing the Horde, which had destroyed their kingdom during the First War. The people of Stormwind then settled near Southshore, pledging their loyalty to the recently formed Alliance. Southshore was transformed into a busy seaport during the Second War. Its maritime area was rich with oil, which was also coveted by the Horde. Despite its new status as a military port, Southshore was eventually attacked and burned to the ground by the rampaging Horde. Sometime after the war Southsore was rebuilt.

Third War
On the onset of the Third War, Thrall gave the order to assemble the orcish clans in order for the new Horde to leave the continent and travel to Kalimdor. They skirmished with Alliance forces and freed Grommash Hellscream and his Warsong clan, later secretly infiltrating the town during the night to steal its ships so they could sail to Kalimdor.

During the Third War, Southshore was a lively place. Bartolo Ginsetti talked about the "world-famous" cloaks he would be making and Nat Pagle idly fished off the dock. Sally Whitemane, Renault Mograine, and Little Jimmy Vishas were children running around the town, and Herod the Bully was wandering around somewhere. Inside the inn, there's was a hushed conversation between Alexandros Mograine, Isillien, Fairbanks, High General Abbendis, and Arcanist Doan about the rumors of undead far to the north. In this precise moment was when the Ashbringer's dark crystal was purified. In the upper rooms, Stalvan Mistmantle was snoring away, while a young Taelan Fordring carried his father's hammer proudly. Phin Odelic studied with a cabal of Kirin Tor mages, and every so often a pair of mages would walk through the town: Kel'Thuzad as well as Helcular. The goblin merchant Zixil was working on completing his Overwatch Mark 0 prototype. In the town hall there were also Nathanos Marris and Raleigh the True.

Some time after the fall of Capital City to the Scourge, Calia Menethil took refuge in Southshore where her husband, a Lordaeronian footman, and their daughter had already been living. With everyone assuming she had died to the Scourge, she lived in secret with her family until the town was attacked by the undead.



World of Warcraft
Southshore was a quiet port town and one of the few pockets of human civilization that existed in Lordaeron, maintaining their allegiance to the Alliance. A few survivors of the Third War and adventurers called this town home. In fact, some of its residents used to be members of the Knights of the Silver Hand and Kirin Tor mages. Merideth Carlson raved on about her new invention: a special horse feed that could nourish spiritual horses. Chef Jessen was renowned for his Soothing Turtle Bisque and Bartolo Ginsetti sold his famous Yeti Fur Cloaks. In terms of threats, Marshal Redpath tasked one of his men to take care of the local murlocs and naga in the area. Redpath himself would employ Alliance adventurers to hunt the Crushridge ogres settling in the Alterac Mountains.

They also had problems with the Forsaken in Tarren Mill and the Syndicate at Durnholde Keep stealing their horses and shipments of crystals. Sergeant Hartman could attest that Southshore's animosity with the Forsaken could get pretty heated during the Hallow's End festival as the Forsaken would antagonize the residents with stink bombs. Magistrate Henry Maleb seemed convinced that the Syndicate were scheming Southshore's destruction and had previously assassinated the former magistrate. Maleb requested aid from any adventurer to help in Southshore's retaliation. Phin Odelic sent adventurers to aid his companions in investigating hints of the Forsaken Plague in the Arathi Highlands. Loremaster Dibbs tried to preserve lost knowledge for the Royal Library of Stormwind.

The Battle for Hillsbrad eventually escalated into a battleground between the towns of Southshore and Tarren Mill. Alliance adventurers from Southshore and Horde adventurers from Tarren Mill frequently clashed in full blown skirmishes in this notorious conflict. This can be seen with Novice Thaivand who directs adventurers to resurrect Helcular, who proceeds to battle the inhabitants of Southshore before either being driven off or fleeing from the town.

The goblin Zixil and his robotic guardian Overwatch Mark I were trading with Southshore and Tarren Mill during this time.

Blood Runs Thicker
When the Darkmoon Faire arrived in town, the Fallrook brothers started causing troubles when they started to tease Kerri Hicks. When Kerri embarrassed the two, Cedrick Fallrook sought revenge by falsifying evidence to convict her of his brother's murder and had Marcus Redpath arrest her.

Always taking care of his family, Silas Darkmoon went on his own investigation to find the truth. Being unable to prove her innocence, they broke her out of Southshore's jail and would have had a confrontation with Marcus and his men if it wasn't for Yebb Neblegear finding the witness Peter Hamelspot. Peter explained that Cedrick was the true killer of his brother.

With nothing but a bad reputation, Cedrick's father gave his son money to get out of town. Unfortunately, he was caught up by the Darkmoon Faire and they buried him alive in his brother's coffin.

Old Southshore
At the time of the invasion of Outland, adventurers were transported to an old Hillsbrad — seven years in the past, and were tasked to help preserve the timeline by aiding a young Thrall escape from his cruel masters at Durnholde Keep. The area featured many characters in their youth, including the future founders of the Scarlet Crusade.



Cataclysm
Southshore remained a part of the Alliance until it was destroyed by the Forsaken on the orders of Sylvanas Windrunner, who used their Forsaken Blight on the town, leaving it blighted and in ruins.

The surviving residents and their leadership eventually fled to Fenris Isle in neighboring Silverpine Forest, but they were pursued and hunted down by Agatha and Horde adventurers on the orders of Sylvanas Windrunner, who raised some of them into undeath. At Fenris Keep, most of the Southshore leaders became Hillsbrad Worgen after drinking the blood of Ivar Bloodfang and the other worgen leaders, rendering themselves immune to undeath and joining forces with the Gilneas Liberation Front to retake Lordaeron and Gilneas for the Alliance. The worgen continued to make their blood offering to every surviving human in Lordaeron, resulting in hundreds of new recruits to bolster their ranks, and they openly fought with the Forsaken forces afterwards.

Exploring Azeroth
Several years after Southshore's destruction, after the Fourth War, it has been reclaimed from the Forsaken by the Alliance who are undergoing the process of cleaning up and rebuilding.

Significance
For the lower-level Alliance players (those not seasoned enough to dare entering the Western and Eastern Plaguelands), Southshore was one of two of the northernmost Alliance havens — the other being Aerie Peak. For utilitarian purposes, Southshore far outstripped Aerie Peak considering the array of its services and its location as well as being the drop-off point for players beginning the long trek on foot to the Scarlet Monastery. But it was far less safe, sometimes being the location of raids going between the town and its Horde counterpart, Tarren Mill, to the north.

An NPC quest giver named Marshal Redpath stood outside the Southshore Town Hall. It is unknown if he was related to the Redpaths whose history is so interlaced with the Eastern Plaguelands. Inside the inn, Lieutenant Farren Orinelle mocked Redpath for telling him to take care of the local murlocs.

Quests
A number of quests involving the Syndicate and the ogres in Alterac Mountains started in Southshore. Also, a few quests that could be found at the inn involved killing the nearby murlocs and naga.

In The Burning Crusade
In The Burning Crusade expansion, adventurers are transported to the past to help preserve the timeline by aiding a young Thrall. Instead of heading straight to Durnholde, however, players may explore a portion of Hillsbrad, including both Tarren Mill and Southshore.

With the town's destruction in Cataclysm, this is now the only way to see the town as it was in pre-Cataclysm.

Warcraft II demo
In the Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness demo, the second Alliance level called Southshore is an early version of the retail's Southshore mission. The retail version reused some of text from the earlier version of the mission briefing but was modified. For example the reason for the construction of the Southshore naval facilities is a bit different in the two versions of the mission. The retail versions of the missions also have redesigned maps. Note that the Tides of Darkness demo represents missions from an early version of the game (perhaps the beta version) left out of the released game and later released lore. Some of the ideas evolved into the different maps seen in the released version of the game.

In the demo map, you start on one small island and take over a much smaller island. In the Alliance level called Southshore, you attack from Southshore to that much smaller island. The islands described in the demo version of the mission appear south of the Southshore region. While the islands in the demo are not given names, these may have developed into the idea of the Channel Islands or the region near Tol Barad, which is southeast of Southshore (Tol Barad is shown to have at least two islands according to manual map). The demo mission maps for Southshore show the islands as being to the southwest and very near Southshore's shore. However, the Warcraft II battle maps, like most maps in World of Warcraft games, are not necessarily to actual scale. The Second War map only shows a single island east of the Southshore dot (the dot may represent the general area of the region or the township). It may be possible that this island may correspond to these "islands".

While not directly related, the Tides of Darkness mission map of the third Horde level, called "Southshore", shows at least two islands are located in a similar configuration. The Orcs were gathering oil from a hidden location on these islands, in order to fuel for ships participating in the final attack on Hillsbrad. See Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness missions for more information.

In the RPG
Southshore is a port that serves as the chief Alliance base on the southern Hillsbrad Foothills coast. It is known for its sea turtles, which are a delicacy. Though only a small town, Southshore is the largest settlement in the whole Hillsbrad region. A small Alliance garrison berthed within and does its best to drive the Syndicate and Forsaken forces from their land while protecting Lordaeron's southern regions from the Scourge in the north. They do a good job with their few forces, and the nearby farms thrive. Southshore's town council takes an active role in all things, and Magistrate Henry Maleb is a particularly driven and wise man. Maleb and Marshal Redpath, the Alliance commander, are consumed with fights against ogres and murlocs.

In addition to its role as an Alliance military base, Southshore is Hillsbrad's mercantile center. The town's small privateer fleet keep the waterways clear, allowing ships to dock at the town's harbor and keep the economy strong.

The relations between Aretain Naris and Southshore are similar to those between him and Hillsbrad, except that the hatred is reduced by distance. Aretain's men view the people of Southshore as arrogant city-folk "from that smelly fishport."

Southshore is also one of the few existing relics of the once-great human nation of Lordaeron. With the remains of the city-state of Dalaran and the kingdom of Stromgarde, Southshore is one of the few Alliance controlled towns left in Lordaeron. The people there celebrate Hordefall in memory of the defeat of the Horde in the Second War.

Jack lived in a farm near Southshore.

Notes and trivia

 * The town brewed its own Sparkling Southshore Cider.
 * Ironically, the tower built between Tarren Mill and Southshore was built to symbolize the bond of friendship and brotherhood between the two cities.
 * In the town's graveyard you will find a Decorated Headstone and Helcular's Grave.
 * Catherine Rogers grew up in Southshore and her family is buried here.
 * The town was under the control of the Barov family, one of the wealthiest families in Lordaeron, which also owned Brill, Caer Darrow and Tarren Mill in the past.
 * There was a church in Southshore, but it was absent in World of Warcraft.
 * The stable master Wesley was likely a nod from Blizzard to the movie The Princess Bride. The movie's main character, Wesley, has fair blond hair and wields a rapier just like the one the stable master was holding. The Wesley from The Princess Bride is also a stable boy, while World of Warcraft's Wesley was a stable master.
 * A level 44 elite undead, Helcular's Remains, would sometimes spawn in the Southshore Graveyard to seek revenge as part of a Horde quest chain.
 * Southshore is an Uncommon Location card in the World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game's Drums of War set.
 * Southshore, often abbreviated as SS, was famous for being raided by Horde players. Usually, the attacks were carried out merely by one or more high-level players, but full-scale raids consisting of 20-30 players weren't unheard of. Southshore's reputation as a world PvP hub was even more evident during Hallow's End, in which Horde players were tasked with bombarding Southshore with stinkbombs, which Alliance players were then asked to clean up. Although there was little practical benefit for either side, attacks on Southshore and Tarren Mill were often a part of long back-and-forth PvP battles fought throughout Hillsbrad. Many of these were themselves in retaliation to earlier attacks, such that the original reason for the conflict was more or less forgotten. These battles were so popular that Blizzard implemented a battleground, Southshore vs. Tarren Mill, to commemorate them during World of Warcraft's 10th-anniversary event. In Legion's Patch 7.2, the battleground returned as a PvP Brawl.

Speculation
With Weldon Barov still alive and affiliated with the Alliance as of the events of alternate Draenor, and further described as true heir to the House of Barov, he presumably helps strengthen the Alliance's current sovereign claim over Southshore with The Deed to Southshore.

Magistrate Henry Maleb was last seen in Shadowfang Keep as a worgen, still affiliated with the Kingdom of Stormwind and the Alliance, but his current status and whereabouts after the Bloodfang Pack managed to reclaim it from the Forsaken, is unknown.