Nekros Skullcrusher was one of the few Orcish warlocks who were not part of the Shadow Council. Nekros Skullcrusher never cared for his dark, magical calling. He considered himself more a warrior than a wizard, but his duty to his clan, and himself, demanded that he saddle his burden, especially when a human knight deprived him of half a leg. Nekros, being of the Dragonmaw Clan, was commissioned by his chieftain, Zuluhed, to bear the dark artifact known as the Demon Soul, which he would use to capture and contain Alexstrasza, the mighty Dragonqueen. They did just that, and Nekros became her warden in Grim Batol, using the Demon Soul to inflict unimaginable pain on her whenever she did not cooperate. When she chose to starve herself, he shattered an egg before her. Nekros continually abused her, both mentally and physically, especially after the Second War, when she became the only real weapon the Horde had against the Alliance. Her mates, however, were dying, and Nekros would soon have no further means of producing her children. Nekros was tricked by Deathwing into moving Alexstrasza into the open, where she was freed by her lover Korialstrasz, and the first thing she did was dispose of Nekros, burning him to cinders. His son Nek’rosh survived the massacre.

Appears in Warcraft: Day of the Dragon

She is one of the five Aspects and was granted power by the titans of the universe. Her younger sister is Ysera who is also an aspect and leader of the green dragons. She was a friend of Neltharion until his betrayal.

She was held captive by an Orc Warlock named Nekros Skullcrusher, by means of a special artifact called the “Demon Soul”. She was forced to breed and her young fought against the Alliance.

She was able to escape her enslavement by the assistance of a young human mage named Rhonin and her favored consort, the dragon Korialstrasz also known as Krasus, when in his human mage form. She killed her former captor, thus ending the final bastion of Orc power during the Second War. Currently resides in Grim Batol, a former Dwarf stronghold.

Her main consorts are Tyranastrasz (Tyran), the Scholarly One and Korialstrasz (Krasus).

Appears in Warcraft: War of the Ancients trilogy
Appears in Warcraft: Day of the Dragon

Shortly after the return of the Burning Legion, Priestess Tyrande and Archdruid Malfurion made a desperate journey down into the Barrow Deeps of the Druids of the Claw. These druids had been in hibernation, exploring the Emerald Dream where Ysera lives, but had nestled very close to the prison of Illidan. In the depths of the Barrow Deeps, at the entrance to the prison, Tyrande decided to free Illidan, allowing him to face the Burning Legion with his powers. Malfurion opposed this, and the two went in separate ways. Tyrande and a small cadre of Night Elf Sentinels fought their way to the cell containing Illidan and set him free.

Upon returning to the surface, Illidan led the Night Elves in destroying some of the dimensional gates, then disappeared. Illidan was soon led by (in the sense that he told him about the artifact to achieve his own goals without letting him know about the consequences) the Death Knight Arthas to find a powerful demon artifact, the Skull of Gul’dan, that the Burning Legion was using to corrupt and poison the Felwood forest. Illidan destroyed the artifact, absorbing the power and some of the memories of Gul’dan, and transforming him into a demi-demon; the transformation granted him wings and horns as well as new demonic powers. He then hunted down and killed Tichondrius, lord of the Nathrezim. Despite Illidan’s role in saving the forest, Malfurion was shocked that his brother had so totally given himself over to the quest for power and banished Illidan from Ashenvale. The fuming Illidan then stormed off leaving a burning trail in his wake.

Khaz’goroth, the Titan shaper and forger of the world, bestowed some of his vast power upon the mighty black wyrm, Neltharion. The great-hearted Neltharion, known afterwards as the Earth-Warder, was given dominion over the earth and the deep places of the world. He embodied the strength of the world and served as Alexstrasza’s greatest supporter. Black dragons breath consists of blasts of molten lava rather than pure fire.

Neltharion used to be allied with the other Dragons, but an artifact he took from the Old Gods (the Demon Soul) drove him mad through its arcane magic. He came to be known as “Deathwing the Destroyer” and tricked the Aspects into giving some of their powers to the Demon Soul to help battle the demons; however when the Demons were driven back, he turned on the Aspects and began to fight against them as well. Eventually the Demon Soul was destroyed by a human sorcerer named Rhonin while Deathwing attempted to steal Alexastraza’s (the Aspect of Life and mother of the Red Dragon Flight) eggs, and Deathwing was driven away by the other Aspects.

Led by this mad leviathan, the Black Dragons plan to destroy the Burning Legion, the Scourge, all other races and all other Dragons so that they may rule the world with their view of perfection.

Patch 1.9 saw the first true world event in the World of Warcraft. Located in the mysterious insect-infested, quasi-Egyptian themed area of Silithus, Ahn’Qiraj was the capital city of the powerful Qiraji, a race of magical creatures under the thrall of an ancient and terrible Old God who was chained beneath the earth in ages past. A coalition of Night Elves and dragons of the Four Flights fought a war against the Qiraji and their Silithid minions and sealed them behind the Scarab Wall. However, after many centuries the bonds of their prison began to break and Silithus was overrun by the creatures once more. A call for War against Ahn’Qiraj went out and the combined might of the Alliance and Horde sealed away the menace of the Old God for good.

The world event was triggered by a twofold action. First, the entire server population was able to take part in the Ahn’Qiraj War Effort. Players of every level could turn in various items in both Ironforge and Orgrimmar for their faction’s respective war preparations. Metals, herbs, textiles, and other commodities were all collected in great quantities. For example, one collector in Ironforge required players to turn in a stack of 20 runecloth bandages at a time. The total number of runecloth bandages required numbered in the tens of thousands. The faster materials were turned in, the faster the War would commence. In the weeks leading up to the opening of the gates many servers were neck-and-neck as Blizzard provided a rankings page to monitor the progress of each realm. In the end the realm Medivh succeeded in being the first to open the gates of Ahn’Qiraj.

At the same time the War Effort was taking in supplies, high level players could engage in a quest chain that spanned the entire world to piece together an artifact called the Scepter of the Shifting Sands. This item would be necessary to ring the Scarab Gong and break the seals holding the Scarab Wall closed. When the War Effort was completed the armies of the Alliance and Horde would march to Ahn’Qiraj. In a spectacular set-piece the armies formed ranks outside the Scarab Wall and the gong was sounded by one lucky person per server. The gates opened and the minions of the Qiraji spilled out in a titanic melee. Additionally, invasions of Silithid insects occurred in almost every populated area of Azeroth.

With the initial event completed the gates were open to everyone on a given server and players were able to access two new raid dungeons: the 20-man ruins zone and the 40-man temple zone and a few new quests.