Azj'Aqir

Azj'Aqir was the aqir empire that ruled the western reaches of Ancient Kalimdor. It was eventually defeated by the troll empires and the survivors settled in different regions of the old continent.

History
About 16,000 years ago, the Gurubashi and Amani empires had little love for one another, but rarely warred against each other. At the time, their greatest common enemy was a third empire -- the civilization of Azj'Aqir. The aqir were intelligent insectoids who ruled the lands of the far west. These clever insectoids were greatly expansionist and incredibly evil. The aqir were obsessed with eradicating all non-insect life from the fields of Kalimdor.

The trolls fought them for many thousands of years, but never succeeded in winning a true victory over the aqir. Eventually, due to the trolls' persistence, the aqir kingdom split in half as its citizens fled to separate colonies in the far northern and southern regions of the continent.

Two aqir city-states emerged in the northern wastes and in the southwestern desert, built upon conquered tol'vir cities. Though the trolls suspected that there were other aqiri colonies beneath Kalimdor, their existence was never verified. As a third kingdom is known to have risen in the lands now known as Pandaria, the trolls' suspicions may have been proven correct.

The Azj'Aqir kingdoms of Azjol-Nerub and Ahn'Qiraj have survived in present day Northrend and Silithus (respectively). The Mantid Empire have also survived, protected with the rest of Pandaria from the catastrophic Great Sundering that ended the War of the Ancients. In a conversation he has with Kaz'tik the Manipulator, Korven the Prime credits their survival to the Kypari trees.

In the RPG
Long ago, before the Sundering, there were two troll empires: the Gurubashi and the Amani. At some point in their history, the trolls found themselves threatened by an insect race called the Azj'Aqir. Eventually the trolls beat back the creatures and split them into two factions, the nerubians in the north and the qiraji to the south. The nerubians eventually faced the Lich King in Northrend, and the qiraji fought the night elves in Silithus after the Sundering. The elves won, but the land was blasted by the war, and the elven towns were left in ruins.

Trivia

 * It is hinted that the aqir empire stretched as far as the lands that would much later be known as Quel'Thalas.
 * The tier 19 warlock set is named Legacy of Azj'Aqir.