Tirisgarde

The Tirisgarde is the elite mage-guard of Dalaran, an organization called upon in the past by the Council of Tirisfal to do battle in the absence of the Guardian. Created to hunt down Aegwynn after she went rogue, the foundation of the Tirisgarde's strength lies in the ancient artifacts wielded by its champions, rather than empowering them directly like the Guardian was. However, the organization came to an end when all its members were exterminated by Medivh, possessed by the dark titan Sargeras, at the time of the First War.

Decades later, at the time of the third invasion of the Burning Legion, the Tirisgarde was reformed by Meryl Felstorm and the Conjuror of the Tirisgarde, recruiting into its ranks among the most talented and worthy mages of all stripes, notably from the Kirin Tor, the Magisters, and all the societies of Azeroth. From their order hall, the Hall of the Guardian, they fought and succeeded in capturing the dreadlord Kathra'natir, before joining the battle against the Burning Legion alongside the other class orders.

History
Six hundred years before the opening of the Dark Portal, after one of Aegwynn's rare visits to Dalaran where the Council demanded that she step down as Guardian or face immediate consequences, the council members agreed among themselves to take action against the Guardian after she refused. Aegwynn told the magi that putting the fate of Azeroth in their hands was tantamount to dooming the world because she grew suspicious of the order and believed that the council was abusing its power by manipulating the politics of the human kingdoms.

If the Guardian would not give up her powers voluntarily, they would force her to do so. The Council long debated how best to accomplish this. Some members proposed empowering a new Guardian, but this idea presented too many dangerous possibilities. If Aegwynn and another Guardian were to do battle, the results could be disastrous for the world. Of even greater concern was that such a conflict would call public attention to their clandestine order.

Ultimately, the council agreed on a more subtle course of action. They formed the Tirisgarde, an order of magi girded with relics and armaments that could diminish the Guardian's incredible powers, considered as the elite mage-guard of Dalaran. After years of training, these resourceful and gifted hunters set out to find Aegwynn and bring her back to Dalaran.

The Guardian eluded many of the Tirisgarde with ease. However, the hunters did succeed in finding Karazhan and reporting its location back to the council.

Hundreds of years later, forty-five years before the opening of the Dark Portal, the Council of Tirisfal continued its tireless hunt for the renegade Guardian. Waves of unflagging Tirisgarde scoured the world to find Aegwynn and hold her accountable for her defiance. Among them was Nielas Aran, who shared the same stance as Aegwynn regarding the Council of Tirisfal, and who ends up joining her to help her give birth to a new Guardian, free from the manipulations of the Council, that they named Medivh.

During the time of the First War, Medivh possessed by Sargeras killed many named and unnamed members of the Order of Tirisfal and the Tirisgarde throughout Azeroth, with the specific purpose of breaking the chain, ending the existence of both organizations before being killed.

Legion
Following the Battle for Broken Shore, Meryl Felstorm called a mage hero in Dalaran to urgently join him at the Violet Gate for a serious problem that was running out of time. There, he announced that he had not succeeded in banishing Kathra'natir, and that the latter had managed to escape while taking with him the knowledge of the mage, in particular on the Council of Tirisfal, which could have dire consequences. The duo chased after the dreadlord and managed to find it inside the Violet Hold, siphoning off the power of the Forge of the Guardian, source of great power for the Council of Tirisfal who used it to create the Guardian of Tirisfal. Together, they fought Kathra'natir who proved far too strong for them, the mage hero had no choice but to siphon the power of the Forge to become themself a Guardian and defeat the nathrezim.

Despite their victory, Meryl announced that Kathra'natir would return for the Forge of the Guardian once he regained his strength in the Twisting Nether. To protect the Forge and defeat the Burning Legion, Meryl decided to reform the Tirisgarde with the mage hero as they moved the Forge to the Hall of the Guardian where it would be safe.

As the foundation of the Tirisgarde's strength lies in the ancient artifacts wielded by its champions, Meryl Felstorm sent the mage hero on a mission to obtain the legendary artifacts that are Aluneth, Felo'melorn, and Ebonchill, whose stories and information are present in the Archive of the Tirisgarde, in order to serve in their hunt of Kathra'natir and to fight against the Burning Legion. After successfully recovering them, the mage hero used the Forge of the Guardian as a font of arcane energy to manipulate and empower his artifacts, before starting to recruit other mages along with Meryl to serve their cause.

The first of them was The Great Akazamzarak, a goblin master in portals and teleportation, recruited to help teleport mages into and out of the Hall of the Guardian because of the protective wards that surrounded the order hall. Once inside, Akazamzarak opened eight portals at once to Exodar, Ironforge, four to Dalaran, Orgrimmar, and the Borean Tundra, from which respectively came Edirah, Juli Stormkettle, Archmage Vargoth, Archmage Modera, Archmage Kalec, Archmage Melis, Uthel'nay, and Magister Varenthas. Meryl explained that he had summoned them to reform Tirisgarde to fight the dreadlord Kathra'natir who has escaped into the Twisting Nether, but also against the Legion.

While the assembly approved, Meryl announced that the Tirisgarde was now reformed and that in presence of many of Azeroth's greatest mages, it was an honor to dub the mage hero as the Conjuror of the Tirisgarde, an ancient title who symbolizes the awesome responsibility borne by the Tirisgarde.

During the Burning Legion's third invasion, the Tirisgarde began to mobilize their mages on the Broken Isles, notably to save the well-respected archivist from the Kirin Tor Chronicler Elrianne. Subsequently the Tirisgarde organized the recruitment of champions, especially Archmage Modera and Archmage Kalec, but also the recruitment of new troops such as the Water elementals and Arcane Golems of Archmage Omniara, who agreed to help the Tirisgarde after being rescued from a demon attack, the Tirisgarde Apprentices and Kirin Tor Invokers formed by Grand Conjurer Mimic, and finally the Kirin Tor Guardians recruited by Guardian Alar.

As the Broken Isles was the epicenter of ancient night elven learning, the Tirisgarde was sent to secure countless magical artifacts secreted away in forgotten vaults and reliquaries, on request of Archmage Vargoth, before they fall into the wrong hands. Later, Vargoth's long-time apprentice, Ravandwyr, arrived in the Hall of the Guardian with an urgent message from his mentor, the Tirisgarde found some sort of powerful magic emanating from the secretive Empyrean Society Enclave in Azsuna, a dangerous cult who claim to study all magic regardless of its source, but in reality who focus mostly on the forbidden. After some investigation, and the discovery of the use of the fel magic by the Empyrean Society, the Tirisgarde reduced their number and discovered that Vargoth was involved with the malevolent group, before returning to the Hall of the Guardian where Meryl was affected by a disease of magical nature according to Archmage Khadgar.

The discovery of Archmage Vargoth's dubious actions led the Tirisgarde and the Kirin Tor to investigate his quarters, following a meeting of the Council of Six, where they discovered his research and his notes on the Nightborne Soulstone. Later, champions and agents of the Tirisgarde managed to find Vargoth who entering the Arcway Vaults in Suramar, but they were unable to penetrate very far inside the Arcway Vaults due to the heavy Legion presence around it. With the help of Kalecgos and Millhouse Manastorm, wishing to obtain the Nightborn Soulstone after being released from his prison, the Conjuror of the Tirisgarde managed to find Vargoth, proving that it was corrupted by the Legion, and leading Kalec to contact the Council of Six about the Archmage's betrayal. Following this mission, Millhouse Manastorm offered his help to the Conjuror and joined the Tirisgarde for his personal interests.

While the Conjuror of the Tirisgarde was busy getting a vial of water from the Wrath of Azshara's body, in order to sustain Meryl for a while as his condition has become dire, the Tirisgarde discovered that the Oculus had fallen to the Burning Legion and was heavily shielded, the order subsequently sent troops to find a way to gain access inside. In the Oculus, the Conjuror of the Tirisgarde managed to find and free Vargoth who explained that he had never betrayed Dalaran and the Kirin tor, but that he was betrayed by the Empyrean Society and fell into the clutches of Kathra'natir who made him his puppet, using the Nightborne Soulstone to drain Meryl of his power. With the help of Archmage Vargoth, Archmage Khadgar, Archmage Kalec, Archmage Modera, the Conjuror succeeded in defeating the dreadlord and locking him in the soulstone, which later served to fuel Dalaran's weapons and defenses against the Legion with the help of Aethas Sunreaver. Vargoth then entered the Tirisgarde to thank the Conjuror for saving his reputation and his life.

For their many exploits, the Conjuror of the Tirisgarde obtained the title of Archmage from Archmage Khadgar, and later the Archmage's Prismatic Disc created with the help of Kalec from the plans of Antonidas.

Following their victory, the Tirisgarde joined the other orders, represented by Meryl Felstorm, to form the Armies of Legionfall. Their mages were present to repel the legion's assault on Dalaran and to fight alongside their allies during the Assault on Broken Shore. They were also present on Argus, accompanying the Conjuror of the Tirisgarde to fight the demons and protect the Vindicaar.

Shadowlands
After the Fourth War, the Tirisgarde makes its appearance in the mage section of the Training Hall in Stormwind and the Barracks in Orgrimmar, with Frazzle Frostfingers, Azunla, and Feenix Arcshine as mage trainers.

Troops
They deploy water elementals, Arcane Golems, Tirisgarde Apprentices, Kirin Tor Invokers and Kirin Tor Guardians.


 * Though most mages see elementals as unpredictable, frost mages have adopted water elementals as their magical familiar of choice for many centuries.


 * Animated by powerful sorcery, Arcane Golems are forged by expert masons and metalworkers, and empowered to defend mages with brute force.


 * The Tirisgarde recruits only the most talented spellcasters to be their apprentices, and even newcomers are more powerful than the masters of lesser orders.