User:GoldenYak/Kezan

Related to the Reign of Azshara Expansion Concept.

Kezan is an island zone located to the south of Zin-Azshari. It is the homeland of the goblins, who were forced to abandon it during the Cataclysm. After regathering their strength, the goblins have returned, accompanied by Horde and Alliance escorts.

History
Kezan was the homeland of the goblins for thousands of years, even before the Sundering cause it to become an island. The goblin ancestors were enslaved by zandalari trolls in their early history, and forced to mine the mineral wealth beneath the volcanic Mount Kajaro and the surrounding lands. When goblins unearthed a curious metal known as kaja'mite, the substance bestowed increased intelligence upon them, granting them the knowledge to construct advanced mechanical tools and weapons to overthrow their slavers. The goblins drove the trolls from the region and took it as their home, building the city of Undermine around the great volcano.

The goblins flourished for a time, spreading their mechanical cities across the region, their advanced intellect sustained by consuming a steady supply of kaja'mite. Within a century however the supply of the mineral was exhausted, and the intellect of the goblins began to decrease. It never faded completely however, and the goblins were able to preserve enough of their technology to hold their lands against any who sought to exploit them.

The goblins endured the Sundering, spending 10,000 years refining and improving their cities, maintaining their current technological base with small periodic bursts of innovation and advancement. When the Cataclysm struck, however, the great Mount Kajaro volcano became active, flooding the city of Undermine with molten magma and forcing the goblins to evacuate the island. Years have passed since then and the goblins have recovered their fortunes and have returned in force, to reclaim their home and begin rebuilding.

Geography
Kezan is a tropical island, and the associated flora and fauna appear in the wilderness between cities. Palm trees are everywhere, and in the wild places tasty fruits and flowers can be found. Many tropical animals, including tigers and lots of bugs can also be found. Kezan has several natural bays, and the goblins have constructed at least small port towns in most of them. To the south, volcanoes constantly ooze lava into the ocean. Lava tubes and other geological tunnels and caves riddle the island. The Cataclysm caused extensive damage to the environment and buried several goblin cities in lava flows. Ash still falls from the skies. Much of the zone is underground, with the well-built goblin structures supporting solidified magma flows, forming vast open caverns deep beneath the surface. Some regions of the island are soaked in pollution, have absorbed 10,000 years of goblin industry and produced many mutated life-forms and elementals.

Some trolls and other races, including zandrill and troggs, still inhabit wilder regions of the island. They too managed to weather the Cataclysm and survive, but none of them are happy to see the goblins return.

Dungeons
- Ruins of Undermine - The former capitol of the goblin civilization, which was buried in lava flows during the Cataclysm. Many of its structures still survive, buried under solidified magma.

Story
Heroes join the Kezan Reclamation Initiative in sailing to the goblin homeland with the intent of retaking it and rebuilding the cities there. Landing in the ravaged ports of Undermine, heroes venture forth into the wreckage of the city to find it partially buried in now-cooled magma flows. The goblins set out accompanying heroes all across the island, engaged in efforts to salvage what remains and take stock of what rebuilding efforts will need to occur.

Heroes are called upon to deal with all manner of threats - malfunctioning goblin technology, rampaging elementals of fire and stone unleashed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Kajaro, hostile beasts, and the non-goblin inhabitants of the island, including trolls, troggs, and zandrill, who have claimed greater territories in the absence of the goblins and are not happy to see their former oppressors return. New sources of food must be located in the surviving jungles, mines have to be cleared of infestation, pollution must be cleaned up to a tolerable degree, and slowly but surely the island must be made liveable again for goblinkind.

Delving in the buried remnants of Undermine, the reclamation forces begin to discover mysterious mechanical constructs, seemingly of goblin make but far more advanced than anything they are currently capable of. These goblinbots seek to 'free' technology from the 'fleshy overlords', often attacking and killing living beings in order to 'liberate' the machines and tools they are operating. These ancient bots have the ability to carry out their goals, possessing the power to animate technology according to their whims and turn it upon their builders and operators. The leader of these strange machines, a construct calling itself Autonis, dwells within the greatest complex of buried structures, and he can be confronted in the Ruins of Undermine dungeon.

Questlines

 * Return to Undermine - Accompanying the goblin reclamation forces to retake Kezan. Lending a helping hand to a chosen goblin faction can yield varying rewards.
 * Constructs Gone Wild - Many goblin machines are malfunctioning, running wild throughout the region and attacking living beings. They must be scrapped for parts.
 * Zandrill Rampage - The zandrill inhabitants of the island have claimed several areas of Undermine for themselves. Evict these unwelcome squatters.
 * Time of Trolls - Troll tribes that were kept marginalized by the goblins are now striking out to get revenge.
 * Pollution Solution - Many of the toxic waste dumps of Undermine have been disrupted by the Cataclysm, disgorging mutated horrors and radioactive oozes into the area. Clean up efforts are underway.
 * Elemental Imbalance - Elementals of fire and earth are warring in the volcanic regions of the island.
 * Rise of the Troggs - Troggs from the deep mines of Kezan are swarming up from the depths. A number of underground beasts accompany then.
 * Mutation Problem - The toxic areas of the island have caused mutation in local lifeforms. Goblin mutants and twisted beasts need to be dealt with.
 * Hobgoblins Be Free - The hobgoblin revolutionary commitee wants greater freedoms for the hobgoblin people, but some members want something more - revenge.
 * Nothing Personal - One of the goblin cartels has double-crossed the reclamation efforts out of a desire to score a bigger piece of territory - but which one?
 * Ancient Machines - From the deepest depths of Undermine come mysterious goblin-built machines, far more advanced than any known. They all bear the emblem 'LXM' and have the power to turn mechanical constructs into their puppets.