User:GoldenYak/World's Heart/World Story

Introduction
In the skies above Azeroth, it appeared suddenly - the Void Star. A blazing corona of sickly radiance around a core of absolute darkness, growing larger in the night sky with every passing day. Seers and magisters across the world, astromancers and scryers and heavenly prophets, all were driven mad upon attempting to study the approaching star. The Twilight cult, in all its disparate chaotic factions, emerged from the warrens and dark corners of the world, preaching the hour of doom, the coming of the fabled Hour of Twilight and the Endtime. Shadows grew darker and strange beasts groaned and roared in the night. Adherents of the holy light found their powers slowly dimming, while practitioners of shadow magic and Void-sorcerey were overwhelmed and devoured by the darkness they had once thought tame. The leaders of the Alliance and the Horde found some of their most trusted arcane advisors driven insane or to suicide, found assassination attempts spiking sharply, their own dreams filled with nightmare visions and promises of doom.

Then the sky began to rain dark fire - fragments of the Void Star plummeted to the surface ahead of the main body, like heralds of doom. From the fallen meteors slithered and swarmed abominable horrors - dread insectile aqir by the thousands, hideous slithering n'raqi horrors, colossal bellowing c'thraxxi nightmares. The land itself rippled and changed, tendrils of shadowy fog enveloping settlements that changed stone and wood to oozing flesh and glaring eyes. Once peaceful forests twisted into gardens of writhing tentacles and fanged maws. The mortal armies of Azeroth rallied to bastions and fortresses, making of them islands of sanity in a world gone mad. As the world reeled from the tide of dark horrors, the true nature of the Void Star became hideously clear - the Void had disgorged the ultimate nightmare to threaten Azeroth.

An Old God was coming.

Chapter One: The Battle of Ulduar
Countless millennia ago, Azeroth had suffered an invasion by the Old Gods. The hideous Void-born monsters had fallen out of the stars like living comets, burrowing into the strata of Azeroth and spreading their eldritch spawn across her once pristine surface. A dread Black Empire ruled by the Old Gods and their spawn had smothered the world for centuries, until the Titans had come and put an end to their reign. Now, the Void had sent another Old God, the most powerful one that the universe had ever seen, to fall upon Azeroth once again in the absence of the Titans. At Azeroth's core lay the hope of the universe, the nascent worldsoul of a Titan not yet born, and like all the horrors of the Void, the Old God hungered to devour and corrupt it, transforming it into an avatar of dark chaos that would lay waste to the cosmos.

To counter the threat of the falling Old God, a call had gone out from Ulduar, the most grand city of the Titans. The Keepers of Ulduar, led by Prime Designate Odyn, had begun to prepare a defense against the Old God, but Ulduar was already besieged by the eldritch spawn that had fallen in advanced of their progenitor. The armies of the Alliance and the Horde, and all the children of Azeroth, rallied to Ulduar's call with their mightiest instruments of war. Wondrous Dalaran appeared in the skies above, the Council of Six gathering at the floating city to lend their arcane might. Dread Acherus and the majestic Vindicaar flanked the city, each flying fortress brimming with skilled warriors prepared to defend their world. Horde and Alliance airships, goblin zeppelins, and ethereal shift-ships filled the sky. On the ground, Horde and Alliance armies lent their shared might to the defense of the Titan city alongside Titanforged legions - earthen, golems, tol'vir, and giants. Even former enemies like the vrykul and mogu were present, prepared to fulfill the oaths of their most ancient forefathers to guard the works of their ancient makers. Hideous eldritch spawn rained constantly from the heavens, met with magic and fire and steel.

As the Old God plummeted through Azeroth's atmosphere, stripping away the cloud-cover and revealing its hideous glory to the gathered throngs below, the order was given by Odyn to begin the counter-attack. The power of Ulduar's greatest weapons was channeled together with the magical might of Dalaran and the arcane power of all the mortal races into one colossal beam of arcane force that sought to push the Old God away from Azeroth and back out into the darkness. As the arcane power of Azeroth speared into the colossal fiend and its descent slowed, it seemed like the strategy would succeed.

Then, suddenly, disaster struck on two fronts. Beneath Ulduar, massive sinkholes yawned open, swallowing hundreds and collapsing walls and towers across the city. From the depths swarmed a horde of nerubian warriors, the underworld vomitting up tides of the arachnoid fiends. Spawned by the Old Gods in millennia past, the kingdom of Azjol-Nerub had lain hidden beneath the surface building its strength, strength it now unleashed upon the enemy of the Spider Kingdom's ultimate masters. Even as this new foe attacked from below, another enemy struck from within. Archmage Khadgar of Dalaran, the man who was at the very center of all the efforts of mortal magic-users to drive back the Old God, was suddenly struck down from behind by one he trusted most, the Archmage Modera. With an unfurling of dark wings, Modera revealed herself to be the Dreadlord Sinestroth, nathrezim and worshiper of the Void. All throughout the gathered mortal forces most vital points, key figures and leaders were revealed to be disguised nathrezim loyal to the Void, the demonic shape-shifters having replaced their targets months ago, plotting to sabotage the defense of Azeroth at a key moment.

With the nerubians attacking Ulduar's systems from below and the nathrezim sabotaged the arcane efforts of Azeroth's defenders from within, the last defense of the world collapsed almost at once. The great spell that had slowed the descent of the Old God sputtered and died, and darkness fell upon the world. The Old God plummeted out of the sky, unstoppable as divine wrath. The defenders on the ground watched in horror as the Old God crashed through the flying fortresses arrayed against it - in an instant, Dalaran was annihilated, its wondrous spires obliterated. The Vindicaar swiftly followed, its luminous radiance devoured by the aura of Void power sheathing the Old God, before the fiend's bulk smashed it apart like broken glass. Acherus barely survived, its shattered husk crashing into the glaciers of Icecrown. Countless airships were swept aside, swatted like insects, their ruins raining from the sky. Wails and screams of despair and horror rose from the mortal defenders as the Old God careened overhead and crashed into the seas, miles north of Ulduar, with an impact that shook the world. Nearly a third of Ulduar's structure collapsed into ruin, and tidal waves engulfed the coasts of Northrend, Kalimdor, and the Eastern Kingdoms. Reveling in victory, the servants of the Old God retreated into the depths of Northrend, or fled across the sea to the site of their god's arrival.

The defense of Azeroth had failed utterly. The Old God had come, and burrowed ravenously into the world's flesh to reach the Worldsoul at it's core.

Chapter Two: Azeroth's Underworld
Reeling from the diaster at Ulduar, the defenders of Azeroth struggle to regroup. Ulduar's systems are heavily damaged and further threatened from the nerubians lurking below. The Old God burrowing through Azeroth's crust is sending shockwaves of devastation across the world, while Voidspawned horrors from below are rising up everywhere to threaten the surface. The Horde and Alliance forces, already battered by their losses at Ulduar, are stretched thin dealing with the uprisings. The destruction of Dalaran has crippled magical transport across the world. Not since the days of the Cataclysm has Azeroth been in such dire straits.

Rallying together the world's mightiest heroes, Prime Designate Odyn declares that Ulduar must be secured from threats before a true counter-attack can be mounted against the forces of the Voidspawn. The Spider Kingdom of Azjol-Nerub must be rooted out before Ulduar can be made safe, and so Odyn unlocks the lower vaults of Ulduar, exposing great passages into the underworld. The defenders of Azeroth organize into a strike-force to establish a foothold in the Upper Kingdom, the portion of Azjol-Nerub that lies closest to the surface. The forces of Doorward, mortals devoted to keeping the horrors of the underworld at bay, was long ago established in one of the nerubian cities and then abandoned during the war against the Lich King. Baelgun Flamebeard's brother, Bolverk Flamebeard, leads the allied forces in retaking Doorward, establishing it as the base of operations for the Alliance and the Horde's efforts in the area, and acting as the capital city for the forces attacking the deeper reaches of the Spider Kingdom.

The surrounding city is populated with nerubians, who reveal that they have secured and activated a corrupted Titan Waygate, transforming it into a Black Worldgate that is bringing in more aqiri and Old God related forces from across Azeroth and beyond. The nerubians are supported by Voidsworn nathrezim led by none-other than the demon Sinestroth, architect behind the sabotage that led to the disaster at Ulduar. Shutting down the Black Worldgate becomes the top priority for the allied forces.

After a brutal battle against the Voidsworn, the Black Worldgate is deactivated, cutting off the nerubians from reinforcements and forcing them to flee back into the depths. The Alliance and the Horde secure the area, with Doorward being organized into an impregnable fortress. From Doorward, the heroes of Azeroth organize a campaign to rid the underworld of evil and destroy the Spider Kingdom. To aid in the defense of the world, the legendary Class Orders are restored.

Chapter Three: The Spider Kingdom
The defenders of Azeroth venture into four major underworld regions that act to support Azjol-Nerub itself. In the underground fungal forest of Naz'Zurak Weald, heroes face the arach'layn, a race of mutant spidre-elves conducting vile experiments and raising up faceless ones from the depths. In the Bloodstone Chasm, hidden vrykul holdings buried long ago are discovered to hold ancient secrets, and dangers. A dark curse was born in this secluded chasm that has spread suffering far and wide throughout the ages - the curse of the vampyr. At the heart of the Chasm lies the fabled Stoneforge, first of the great Titan Creation Engines that birthed the Titanforged races. Long ago corrupted by the Old Gods, the Stoneforged is sought by dark powers who wish to use it to birth further horrors.

In the Fire Sea, the depths of Ulduar have been ravaged, the power systems that drank of Azeroth's molten blood under assault by the servants of the Void and their elemental slaves. Mimiron and his mechagnome children lead the defense of the region. Ulduar must be preserved if the world is to have any hope of striking back against the Voidspawn. Elsewhere, the black blood of Yogg-Saron has tainted an underground forest beneath the fallen world tree Vordrassil, turning it into a nightmarish valley of pollution and mutation. Iron Dwarves under dark influence have made a fortress in the region, as have tribes of corrupted furbolg. A mysterious entity from the distant past with a fist of metal has been seen orchestrating the efforts of all the followers of darkness in this land.

With the forces of the Void having been fought and defeated in all four underworld regions, the Spider Kingdom itself now lay exposed. In the heart of Azjol-Nerub's great palace was the Spider Kingdom Nezar-Kali, the wicked mother of the nerubian race.

Chapter Four: The Curse of Flesh
While the Spider Kingdom has fallen and the nerubians are in retreat all throughout the depths, another evil has lain claim to the Stoneforge in the Bloodstone Chasm. Undead vrykul forces have captured the Stoneforge at the behest of their mistress, the undead vrykul queen Angerboda. In life she was wed to the vrykul King Ymiron, and sacrificed her life so that her husband could be awoken from a millenia-long slumber. But her spirit could not rest easy when Ymiron was slain and enslaved by as an undead by the Lich King. Her spirit clung to the world until she was raised into undeath herself, and upon her dark resurrection Angerboda seized control of many undead vrykul to serve her own designs. Angerboda embraced the ancient demonic curse of the vampyr, extending her powers over the undead even further

Capturing the Stoneforge, Angerboda discovers that it is infected with the Curse of Flesh, causing any of the living stone creatures birthed from the Stoneforge to rapidly become beings of flesh and blood. This only serves Angerboda's schemes, as the creations of the Stoneforge are slain and then transformed into undead beings that she controls. With the Stoneforge under her command, Angerboda will be able to create a limitless army of the undead.

Chapter Five: Into the Shadowlands
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Chapter Six: The King of Darkness
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Chapter Seven: The Forgotten Kingdom
With the deactivated Worldgate at Doorward secured, the defenders of Azeroth seek a way to use it to reach the impact site of the fallen Old God, intending to mount a direct assault under the Voidspawned invader. As the forces at Doorware swell with an influx of new recruits, words of warning from the Bronze Dragonflight - the Infinite Dragonflight have begun a new assault on history, targeting the ancient era of the war between the trolls and the insect kingdom of Azj'Aqir. To combat the time anomalies of the Infinite Dragonflight, the heroes of Azeroth are brought to the long fallen kingdom of Azj'Aqir, a realm hidden in Azeroth's underworld. The events of the past must be set right, or the entire course of history will be derailed causing disaster for the present.

Chapter Eight: March of the Titans
With the Infinite Dragonflight defeated in Azj'Aqir, their ultimate master is revealed as none other than the fallen Old God C'Thun, whose lingering undying essence controls the Infinite Dragonflight from his buried citadel in Azj'Aqir. With one scheme foiled, C'Thun sets in motion another even more dire - the great eldritch engines in C'Thun's citadel send the Infinite Dragonflight back in time to Azeroth's darkest era - the Black Empire itself during their great war with the legions of the Titans, the legendary event known as the Scouring. C'Thun intends to connect the era of the Scouring with the present era, causing the war between the Titans and the Old Gods to spill into the present. Such a devastating paradox would rend time and space itself to nothing and spell doom for all of Azeoth, past, present, and future. The defenders of Azeroth mount a desperate journey into the era of the Scouring to stop the Infinite Dragonflight and put an end to C'Thun's threat once and for all.

Chapter Nine: Malgoth, the Black Empire Reborn
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Chapter Ten: The World's Heart, Defiled
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