Alliance of Lordaeron

The Alliance of Lordaeron (aka Lordaeron Alliance, Great Alliance, Grand Alliance, Human Alliance, or Alliance ) was the union of the seven human kingdoms, along with the dwarves of Khaz Modan (which also included the gnomes of Gnomeregan) and Aerie Peak, the high elves of Quel'Thalas, and others with major political influence including the Church of the Holy Light. This coalition formed as a response to the threat of the Orcish Horde during the Second War.

History
Following the destruction of the Kingdom of Stormwind by the Orcish Horde during the First War, its survivors fled to Lordaeron. Realizing the threat the orcs posed, Regent Lord Anduin Lothar, leader of Azeroth's refugees, was able to convince the leaders of the other human kingdoms to unify against the orcs as the Alliance. The Wildhammer dwarves of Aerie Peak and high elves also soon joined the Alliance, as well as the gnomes of Gnomeregan and the Ironforge dwarves later in the war. The Alliance — under the leadership of Sir Anduin Lothar as its Supreme Allied Commander — ultimately defeated the Old Horde during the battle of Blackrock Spire. Although Anduin Lothar was slain by Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer, his death inspired Turalyon to push the Alliance to victory. Turalyon's forces succeeded in destroying the Dark Portal, the mystical gateway that connected the orcs to their homeworld of Draenor. Cut off from its reinforcements and fractured by infighting, the Horde finally buckled in upon itself and fell before the might of the Alliance, thus ending the Second War.

The scattered orc clans were quickly rounded up and placed within guarded internment camps. Though it seemed that the Horde had been defeated for good, some remained highly skeptical that peace would last. Khadgar, now an Archmage of some renown, convinced the Alliance high command to build the fortress of Nethergarde that would watch over the ruins of the Dark Portal and ensure that there would be no further invasions from Draenor.

After the death of Lothar, the Alliance of Lordaeron was led by King Terenas Menethil II with Turalyon as its Commander. Terenas accepted ambassadors or the monarchs from all member nations and races to his capital. Rarely did the monarchs of the major realms come together. Generally, they spoke through couriers and diplomats, with the occasional state visit thrown in as well. One of the inner council of the Kirin Tor had ever been present at such events (with the exception of one meeting Dalaran was not invited, led by Lord Daval Prestor, though spied upon by Krasus).

Under Ner'zhul's surgical command, the remnant orcs from Draenor reassembled into the Horde of Draenor, reopened the Dark Portal, raided several Alliance settlements, and rounded up several Azeroth artifacts that they needed before fleeing back to the safety of Draenor.

King Terenas of Lordaeron, convinced that the orcs were preparing a new invasion of Azeroth, assembled his most trusted lieutenants. He ordered General Turalyon and the archmage, Khadgar, to lead an Alliance Expedition through the Dark Portal to put an end to the orcish threat once and for all. Those recruited into the Alliance Expedition included veteran heroes of the Alliance such as Danath Trollbane, Kurdran Wildhammer, and Alleria Windrunner. The Alliance Expedition, however, never returned because Turalyon and Khadgar agreed to make the ultimate sacrifice by destroying the Dark Portal from their side on Draenor. Though it would cost their lives, and the lives of their companions, they knew that it was the only way to ensure Azeroth's survival.

Several nations left the Alliance in response to decisions made after the Second War, including King Terenas's institution of a tax to fund the orcish internment camps and fund the rebuilding of Stormwind. Furthermore, there have been heated debates on what to do with the vacant territories of the treasonous Kingdom of Alterac, with the Kingdom of Stromgarde wanting to annex portions of it to their kingdom while others wanted to hand the kingdom whole to an Alterac noble promising increased influence to their kingdoms.

Disagreements over what to do with the lethargic orcs (mostly pertaining to internment camp costs) created tension between some member states of the Alliance of Lordaeron. In particular, Quel'Thalas, led by King Anasterian Sunstrider, became an increasingly cold ally, which ultimately led the high elven king to rescind his loyalty to the Alliance completely, and declaring his nation independent once more. Anasterian's secession, and the liberation of the orcs from internment camps, sparked the nations of Gilneas and Stromgarde to follow suit, and the Alliance of Lordaeron lost roughly half of its members in rapid succession.

However, Kul Tiras remained loyal to Terenas and the Alliance of Lordaeron. Thus, Kul Tiran fleets patrolled the trade lanes hunting pirates and marauders on the high seas. Several Alliance ships reported that they had escaped a band of pirates whose leader carried glowing blades oozing black smoke, and soon it became clear that those ships were the lucky ones. A newly empowered crew of pirates was preying on Alliance vessels, and when the raiders captured a ship, they left no survivors. Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore led the search for the rogues, and after weeks of hunting, his small fleet cornered their ship a few miles off the Eastern Kingdoms' shores. The pirate crew seemed to be possessed, barely human, but after a coordinated cannon barrage, Proudmoore sent the Bellwether, to the bottom of the ocean. The admiral sailed away, believing he had killed them all.

Years later, an orc gladiator named Thrall led an orcish insurrection against the orcish internment camps. Some Alliance leaders feared the young Warchief and his smaller volatile Horde may pose as dire a threat as the Old Horde did. At the same time, unbeknownst to the Alliance, Kel'Thuzad began forming the Cult of the Damned in Alliance lands and have been spreading the Plague of Undeath in Lordaeron. Uther and his fellow paladins investigated the infected regions in the hope of finding a way to stop the plague. Despite their efforts, the plague continued to spread and threatened to tear the Alliance apart. As the ranks of the undead swept across Lordaeron, Terenas' only son, Prince Arthas, took up the fight against the Scourge. The Scourge was a difficult foe to beat, for the undead ranks swelled with every soldier that fell defending the land. Arthas began employing extreme measures to fight the undead, and his obsession with defeating the Scourge led to him losing his humanity.

Eventually, the Alliance was ravaged by the Scourge and the Burning Legion during the Third War. Terenas led the Alliance — since the end of the Second War — until his murder almost 20 years later at the hands of Prince Arthas, leading to the collapse of Lordaeron during the Scourging of Lordaeron. Arthas attacked Quel'Thalas shortly after, ransacking the elven homeland and nearly scouring the high elves from Azeroth. The survivors of this massacre proclaimed themselves blood elves in honor of their peoples' fall, and a group of them joined the Alliance resistance led by Grand Marshal Garithos who attempted to reclaim Lordaeron from the undead. The blood elves abandoned the Alliance resistance due to racism on behalf of its commander and left Azeroth to escape to Outland. Grand Marshal Garithos was killed in the following civil war of the Plaguelands, and the Alliance resistance fell apart soon after his death.

Memories of past allegiances and idealism ultimately inspired the new Alliance of the present day led by the Wrynn dynasty.

The Seven Kingdoms, heart of the Alliance
When the refugees from Stormwind arrived on the shores of Lordaeron bringing their tales of the Orcish Horde, the humans saw the common sense in forming an Alliance of their countries, and with their neighbor races.

It was not as simple as that, however. When the refugees arrived on the shores of Lordaeron fleeing the horrible Horde, King Terenas of Lordaeron called delegates from the seven nations of humanity together to meet to discuss the threat. King Terenas of Lordaeron called the other human kings together to discuss the Horde and Stormwind. King Terenas took the refugees at their word about the danger in the south and agreed to join forces. Backed by Daelin Proudmoore of Kul Tiras, he moved that the humans unite to save the Stormwind people and remove the Horde from the land. The other five leaders were harder to convince. Kul Tiras, Dalaran and Stromgarde were agreeable, while Gilneas and Alterac were hesitant.

As they were meeting, the Ironforge dwarves faced the Horde as it rampaged through their lands, and knew they needed aid if we were to protect their homeland. The Horde also caught the attention of the high elves in Quel'Thalas. Each of the races approached the humans to discuss the Horde and to eventually join the Alliance.

Most of the human countries, after much quarreling, finally agreed to unite for the betterment of the future. They called themselves the Alliance and put their armies under the control of Lothar, who had faced the Horde. They included all seven of the human nations, some more grudgingly than others.

Kingdom of Stormwind
The Kingdom of Stormwind, the shattered southern human nation, brought its resolute and angry refugees into the Alliance. Now under the rule of the Regent Lord Anduin Lothar, these people once made up the mightiest of the human kingdoms. They mourned their beloved King Llane Wrynn I who died when Stormwind City fell to the Horde, and they settled near Southshore, determined to take back their homeland.


 * - Regent Lord and Steward of the kingdom of Stormwind, and Supreme Commander of the Alliance armies.
 * - Crowned king of Stormwind after the Second War.

Kingdom of Lordaeron
King Terenas II of Lordaeron proved to be Stormwind's staunchest ally, calling a conclave of all human kingdoms to meet and discuss the fall of the kingdom of Stormwind. Its armies were the heart and backbone of the Alliance.


 * - King of Lordaeron and primary founder of the Alliance.

Kingdom of Stromgarde
Lordaeron’s opposite was the kingdom of Stromgarde; its leader, Thoras Trollbane, led his kingdom with a strict, martial philosophy. While Lordaeron brought the priests, Stromgarde brought the warriors. This kingdom borders Khaz Modan, and served as the first area of defense from land-based attacks for the humans and sent half of its standing armies to the main Alliance army. Stromgarde left the Alliance after the Second War, upset with certain political decisions.


 * - Lord and king of Stromgarde.

Admiralty of Kul Tiras
Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore led the island nation of Kul Tiras which is a naval and merchant country, and thus both rich and powerful. Proudmoore was an ally of Anduin Lothar, so he was Stormwind's second strongest-patron. Daelin Proudmoore, also the father of Jaina Proudmoore, would later go on to invade the newly formed Horde on Kalimdor, souring relations between the Alliance and Horde and meeting his death.


 * - Ruler and Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras, and Grand Admiral of the Alliance fleets.

Kingdom of Gilneas
King Genn Greymane ruled Gilneas, the human nation on the southwest of Lordaeron. Personally, he was a selfish old fool who only aided the Alliance when it benefited him. He joined them in the Second War but offered only token support. His coast is well fortified to this day, and a strong wall separates his peninsula from the rest of the continent. No one has seen the lands of Gilneas — or the people of Gilneas — since the wall was erected.


 * - Lord and king of Gilneas.

Magocracy of Dalaran
Dalaran was a nation populated by, and run by, magi. The Kirin Tor ran the country as a conclave, their committee leading the magi in an intellectual as well as political fashion. Antonidas was the true ruler of the Kirin Tor, and his wise, fatherly countenance became the sect's public face. They were once a powerful nation, strong allies of the Alliance, trading considerable knowledge for the protection of the other nations. Dalaran’s archmagi were invaluable in the Second War. Later, in the Third War, Arthas Menethil and Archimonde of the Burning Legion destroyed Dalaran. Currently, a magical wall encircles the area, where the ruins once were, while the rebuilt city itself went floating to Northrend.


 * - Leader of the Kirin Tor and ruler of Dalaran.

Kingdom of Alterac
Lord Aiden Perenolde, perhaps the most notorious human noble of the Second War, was in charge of Alterac at the beginning of hostilities. Perenolde was cowardly and because of his will weak; he betrayed the Alliance, sending ships to strike at their vulnerabilities. Captured and ousted, now Lord Aliden Perenolde, Aiden's son, leads the Syndicate, a bandit group that includes Alterac's fallen nobles who seek to reclaim their kingdom. They also have holdings in the ruins of Stromgarde and Durnholde Keep. In their desperation, it appears they have formed an alliance with the Argus Wake, an arm of the notorious Shadow Council.


 * - Lord and king of Alterac.

Kingdom of Quel'Thalas
Quel'Thalas, the kingdom of the high elves, is located on the northern tip of the continent of Lordaeron, northeast of Stratholme. At the time of the Horde's approaching invasion of Lordaeron, King Terenas sent emissaries to High King Anasterian Sunstrider and the Convocation of Silvermoon. In it, Terenas mentioned that Lord Lothar was the last descendant of King Thoradin of Arathor. Millennia earlier, during the Troll Wars, the elves had made a pact to aid Thoradin and his descendants, the Arathi. Anasterian, seeking an opportunity to fulfill the Sunstrider dynasty's debt to Thoradin, grudgingly sent a small force to the Alliance armies stationed in Hillsbrad. The party was led by Alleria Windrunner, a captain in the Silvermoon Ranger Corps.

When the Horde invaded Quel'Thalas and began burning the edges of Eversong Forest, Alleria returned to Silvermoon City to warn of the oncoming Horde and when Anasterian and the Convocation refused to acknowledge the threat, Alleria threw the head of a forest troll at Anasterian's feet, saying that she and her sister Vereesa had slain the troll near a river not far from Silvermoon. This provoked a reaction from the high king, who had fought against the trolls during the great war millennia earlier, and he ordered the full mobilization of his army to combat the Horde onslaught.

After the Second War, tensions began to arise between the high elven nation and its human allies - humanity came to distance itself from Quel'Thalas; the elven kingdom, in turn, proving to be an uneasy ally. The tension came to a head when High King Anasterian Sunstrider seceded - the catalyst that led to both Gilneas and Stromgarde following suit; a turn of events that changed the face of the Alliance and weakened it considerably.

Following the nation's destruction after the Third War, the surviving high elves cast off the name of their sundered brethren and proclaimed themselves the "blood elves," in honor of their sacrifice. The sin'dorei would come to reclaim much of their ancestral homeland, and its new leadership would come to ally with the reformed Horde after several failed attempts at reforming amiable relations with the remaining Alliance member states.


 * - High King of Quel'Thalas, represented by the sisters Alleria and Sylvanas Windrunner, and other high elves.

Wildhammer clan
Located to the north of the Arathi Highlands, the Hinterlands are home to the Wildhammer clan, renowned for their use of gryphons. Led at that time by High Thane Kurdran Wildhammer, the Wildhammer clan came under attack by what ultimately proved to be a diversionary tactic by orcish Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer. The Warchief deduced that if he sent a force to attack the Hinterlands, the Alliance would respond, allowing him to take the remainder of his forces into Quel'Thalas with the aid of troll Zul'jin and the Amani. Realizing their plans, Lothar dispatched Turalyon and Khadgar, along with half the Alliance forces, to travel north to Quel'Thalas and come to the aid of the elves, while he aided Kurdran in clearing out the remaining Horde forces in the Hinterlands.

Kurdran and his Wildhammers later came to the aid of Daelin Proudmoore's forces in the Great Sea, allowing the Admiral's ships to focus on the Horde ships while the gryphon riders battled the dragon riders of the Horde.


 * - Chief thane of the Wildhammer clan located at the Hinterlands, Northeron, the Aerie Peaks, and the capital of Aerie Peak.

Kingdom of Ironforge & Bronzebeard clan
The kingdom of Ironforge (aka kingdom of Khaz Modan) is the dwarven kingdom of the Ironforge dwarves in the continent of Khaz Modan. It includes the lands of Dun Morogh and Loch Modan in the foothills of Ironforge Mountain. On their way to Lordaeron, the Horde conquered Khaz Modan and laid siege to the city of Ironforge itself but were unable to penetrate its defenses.

The capture of Khaz Modan allowed the Horde to obtain the mineral resources required to build a fleet of vessels to sail across the Great Sea into the Hillsbrad Foothills in southern Lordaeron. With their defeat at Capital City, Orgrim Doomhammer ordered a general retreat into Khaz Modan; Kilrogg Deadeye, chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow, informed Doomhammer that if left unchecked — if his clan retreated to Azeroth with the remainder of the Horde — the dwarves would attack or, worse, link up with the Alliance armies that were most likely pursuing them.


 * - King of Khaz Modan, represented by his brothers Muradin and Brann Bronzebeard.

Gnomeregan
Gnomeregan has been the capital city and home of the gnomish race for generations It is located within the dwarven region of Dun Morogh in the Khaz Modan. The dwarves gave the gnomes a place to build themselves a city, in the dwarven owned mountains of Dun Morogh, not too far from Ironforge itself thus the gnomes and dwarves built Gnomeregan. The gnomes were not founding members of the Alliance and were only represented by the dwarves and also considered part of the dwarven forces. Even though they were not leading members, they became major contributors to the war effort. Gnomes brought technical innovations to the battlefront. As members of the dwarven side of the Alliance, gnomes served the Alliance well during the Second War, providing valuable technology such as submarines and gyrocopters to aid their cause, but, oddly, during the Third War gnomes did not lend their aid to the Alliance, barricading themselves in their city. This event greatly shocked the Alliance, but it was later revealed that the gnomes had their reasons. An ancient vile race known as the troggs had dug their way into the city within depths of the earth, and devastated the gnome population after lengthy battle, finally driving the survivors to seek refuge within the dwarven capital of Ironforge.


 * - High Tinker after the Second War and king of the city of Gnomeregan. He was a member of the dwarven side of the Alliance, rather than being an independent voice.

Church of the Holy Light
The Church of the Holy Light, or Church of Light, was a strong supporter of Alliance's effort. During the First War, the Clerics of Northshire bravely supported the armies of the Kingdom of Stormwind with clerics who healed wounds and channeled devastating powers of Holy Light against their foes. With the defeat of Stormwind in the First War, Alonsus Faol and his surviving brethren fled their base of operation at Northshire Abbey with the kingdom's other survivors to the shores of Lordaeron. There, Archbishop Alonsus Faol was one of the key figures in forming of the Alliance. Faol and his brethren continued to offer hope and teachings and power of the Light to anyone in need, but realizing that it would take more than people armed with power of the Light alone, Alonsus, along with his young apprentice Uther the Lightbringer, created an order of holy knights, Paladins, known as the Knight of the Silver Hand.


 * - Leader of the Church of the Holy Light that includes Northshire and its clerics, the Knights of the Silver Hand and the Church followers which included most of the people from all the kingdoms combined.

Knights of the Silver Hand
At the onset of the Second War, when the Alliance formed and began mustering its forces, several abbots openly wept as they realized that their pacifist priests would need to learn the arts of war; but Archbishop Alonsus Faol saw an opportunity to unite the sword and the chalice to create a new breed of holy knights: Paladins who were mighty with the hammer as well as the holy magic of the divine. He founded the Knights of the Silver Hand and began training paladins immediately. Uther was his first and greatest paladin.


 * - Leader of the newly formed Silver Hand alongside Alonsus.
 * - Member of the Silver Hand, he succeeded Lothar as Supreme Commander when the Regend Lord died.

Tol Barad
Tol Barad was a lesser human kingdom. It was the location of an island citadel controlled by Stromgarde during the war.

During the middle of the Second War, the Alliance was approached by a man who offered his support to their cause - Daval Prestor, who claimed to be the ruler of "a small kingdom in the north". He managed to join the Alliance and became a potential candidate to succeed as the ruler of Alterac stating he was from there.

However, as it would later be revealed, Daval Prestor was in fact the great black dragon Deathwing in disguise, who sought to manipulate the Alliance for his own deeds. It is not known if there really was a "kingdom" that he ruled.

Meetings
Tides of Darkness and Day of the Dragon show some of the important meetings during the Second War. Included in these meetings were usually the human monarchs, the kirin tor, and the church of light, as well as a few other important individuals. The above image details one of these early meetings of the leaders and representatives of the Alliance of Lordaeron. At several of the meetings (though not all of them) were the monarchs and leaders of the seven human kingdoms and representatives from the dwarven and elven nations. The initial meetings included the monarchs of the nations of Lordaeron, as well as important leaders and individuals from other organizations, and cities. The large man with the axe is Thoras Trollbane, and the pair in front of him are Terenas Menethil II and Anduin Lothar. Daelin Proudmoore is the man in the tricorn hat. Seated next to him is a female ambassador from Quel'Thalas (speculation would point to Alleria or Sylvanas Windrunner). On her right, the quiet-cultured looking man is Aiden Perenolde. The mage with his back to us may be the Dalaran leader Antonidas, or Khadgar who was also at the meetings (however it is more likely Khadgar because Antonidas is described as being bald ). Next to him is a large bearish man, with the heavy beard, on whose tunic can be observed to bear the letter "G," this is Genn Greymane. The dwarf is an emissary from Khaz Modan, who also represented the gnomes of Gnomeregan. Alonsus Faol was also at the meetings as well, representing the Church of Light.

Leadership


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 * Alliance


 * Alliance army

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 * Alliance navy
 * Kingdom of Lordaeron

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 * Kingdom of Stormwind

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 * Nation of Kul Tiras

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 * Nation of Dalaran

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 * Kingdom of Stromgarde (formerly)

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 * Kingdom of Gilneas (formerly)

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 * Church of the Holy Light

/      -
 * Knigths of the Silver Hand

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 * Kingdom of Ironforge

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 * Wildhammer clan


 * Gnomeregan

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 * Kingdom of Quel'Thalas (formerly)


 * Alliance resistance

Notes and trivia

 * As a good marker of the differences in philosophical viewpoints between the Alliance of Lordaeron and the Old Horde, the human clerics and paladins were able to heal their wounded allies, while the orcish necrolytes and death knights were only willing to raise their fallen comrades as undead. Spellcaster abilities were originally the only differences between the two factions.
 * While not seen in the game but only in World Editor, the faction the player controls in the human campaign is called the Alliance of Lordaeron and later Alliance Forces   (which was the name of the team in the first two missions).
 * In early builds of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos the high elves were much more involved in the military of the Alliance of Lordaeron, deploying rangers as hero units, as well as dragonhawk riders and mage-priests.