Trollish Timeline: Before the Dark Portal
Please read the OOC Intro first.
BDP = Before the Dark Portal
ADP = After the Dark Portal
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Prehistory: The Zandalar Tribe valued knowledge above all else. They did not seek to expand their territory beyond what they already had. In time, groups of Trolls thirsting for conquest broke away. These Trolls formed their own tribes and in time, their own empires; the Gurubashi in the southeastern jungles and the Amani in the middle forestland.
The tribes that would become the Drakkari were overly cruel and savage, even by Troll standards. They were pushed out of the Troll homelands by the other tribes and eventually settled in the northern reaches of the continent.
Despite the separation from the Zandalar Tribe, all the other tribes still regarded the Zandalari as the progenitors of the race and respected them as an overarching priest caste while maintaining autonomy.
16,000 BDP - By this time, the Trolls lorded over the majority of the Kalimdor super-continent However, an evil non-Troll, insectoid empire called the Azj'Aqir was quickly rising in the west. The Gurubashi and the Amani put aside their squabbles to unite against the new menace.
The Aqiri-Troll Wars began. The fighting went on for thousands of years. Though the Amani and Gurubashi did not claim total victory, their united efforts broke the Aqir Empire into two kingdoms: the Nerubians (Azjol-Nerub) and Qiraji (Ahn Qiraj).
14,000 BDP ? - A group of Trolls was living on the edge of the Well of Eternity. Some believe they were Dark Trolls and others believe they were an offshoot of the Amani. Either way, they were magically altered into the earliest Elves. They grew their kingdom burst out of the forest, rained arcane fire upon the Trolls and broke the Twin Empires of Amani and Gurubashi in only a few short years. The Age of the Night Elves had dawned.
Unspecified? 14,000-2000 BDP? - The Gurubashi Empire struggled to keep the tribes together. To that end, Min'loth the Serpent (in the service of chief Var'gazul) tried to bind a great Krakken. The Krakken was enraged at this and it flooded much of the vale, sank chunks of land and destroyed the city of I'lalai. With the city and so may of his people gone, chief Var'gazul gave up on his dreams for conquest. While they still held Zul'Gurub, this event prevented the Gurubashi from reestablishing its dominance over the other tribes. It was the end of the Gurubashi Empire.
13,000? - 12,000 BDP - After talks with the Thunder King Lei Shen, the Zandalar Tribe and the Mogu entered into an alliance.
Following the Pandaren rebellion and formation of the Pandaren Empire, the Zandalari attacked the Pandaren to restore the land to their Mogu allies. The Zandalari achieved initial success, but were eventually pushed out and forced to retreat. The Zandalari would not set foot in Pandaria again for many millennia and the Mogu clans were shattered and scattered.
10,000 BDP - The Trolls fought many futile battles against the Burning Legion on a separate front to that of the Elves. The Sundering occured, causing the continents to separate. The jungle tribe that would become the Sandfury was trapped on Kalimdor. The Drakkari drifted north on Northrend. The Amani and Gurubashi were isolated on what we know as the Eastern Kingdoms.
The Zandalari knew something was going to happen, so they wove a shielding spell over their territory. When the shield was dropped, they found that they were now on an island further south.
6800 BDP - The High Elves were exiled from Kalimdor. They set sail and landed in Lordaeron. After many skirmishes with the Forest Trolls, they founded Quel'thalas. As it was sacred ground to the Trolls, they constantly attacked. The Elves eventually erected magical runestones to mask their magical activity from the Burning Legion. The runestones also managed to deter the superstitious Trolls for four thousand years.
2800 BDP - The Amani emerged to fight the High Elves again. Being greatly outnumbered and seeing defeat on the horizon, the High Elves approached the fledgling kingdom of Arathor (who had formed in fear of the Troll threat). The Humans allied with the desperate Elven nation to break the Amani Empire's assault.
It was at this time that the legendary blade, Trol'kalar rose to infamy in Trollish lore. This war was known in the Human and Elven histories as the Troll Wars.
2500 BDP - The Frostmane ruled in Dun Morogh, but when the Dwarves arose from their slumber, in order to carve out Ironforge, they pushed the Frostmane tribe off the mountains and into the valleys below. This began the long standing blood feud between the Dwarves and the Frostmane.
9999 - 3000 BDP? - After the Sundering, the Frostmane and Winterax split off from the Drakkari and settled in the Eastern Kingdoms.
9500 - 2000? BDP - Following the Sundering, the Gurubashi were struggling to recover and rebuild. The experienced famine and other hardships. They begged the spirits for help and Hakkar answered. In exchange for blood and souls, Hakkar taught the Gurubashi many dark secrets and their power and influence grew once more.
When his demands grew too great, the priest caste that followed him (the Hakkari) began to turn away from him in fear. When he demanded to be summoned into the world, only the Atal'ai, a small group of extremist Hakkari, attempted to do so.
All the Jungle Trolls, including the Hakkari, banded together with the Zandalari and revolted against the Atal'ai. The war was bloody and when Hakkar's avatar was destroyed, the Atal'ai were hunted down and killed. The survivors fled and hid in the Swamp of Sorrows, far from the reach of the Gurubashi. There, they built the temple of Atal'Hakkar.
Though they helped defeat Hakkar and the Atal'ai, the Hakkari too were hunted down and killed or exiled. The exiles and the survivors of the killings fled and found the Atal'ai. The Atal'ai were satisfied with the suffering the Hakkari endured and welcomed them back into the fold.
Observing the chaos, the Green Dragonflight attacked and sank the temple into the swamp. They maintained a vigil over it, trying to ensure that the Atal'ai did not succeed in their goals again. In time, the temple of Atal'Hakkar became known as the Sunken Temple.
In the wake of the rebellion against Hakkar, the Gurubashi Empire fell apart. All the various tribes went their separate ways and began to engage in tribal warfare to claim as much of the jungles as they could. During this time, the Shatterspear left the Vale and made themselves a home in the far reaches of Darkshore.
9500 BDP - 15 ADP? - During the ensuing tribal battles, the Darkspear were pushed out of Stranglethorn entirely and they settled on islands between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.
0 - The Dark Portal opened.
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End of in character posting.
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Here is an archived snapshot of the often quoted Troll Compendium. I use Wowpedia's version since it is a bit faster on my machine.
Troll Compendium (formerly on the Wow official site.) Of relevance are the Early Troll Civilization, Other Trolls and Ice Trolls sections.
Drakkari Sacrificial Knife archaeology reward is a more recent source that echoes the Compendium's information on the Drakkari.
The Twin Empires in-game book discusses the Azj'Aqir War.
Scepter of Azj'Aqir archaeology reward that speaks of the Azj'Aqir war.
Empires' Fall in-game book discusses the Night Elves defeating the Gurubashi and Amani.
World of Warcraft: The Magazine Volume 2 Issue 1 - Cenarius, Freya and the Tribunal of Ages confirmed to Brann Bronzebeard that night elves evolved from the dark trolls. [Transcription].
The Twin Empires in-game book discusses the rumoured Amani offshoot living near the Well of Eternity.
World of Warcraft RPG Core Rulebook 2nd Edition gives the date of 14000 years. While the book is now deemed non-canon, it is one of the few (if not the only) source that gives any date for this event. Hence the italics and ?.
Unspecified? 14,000-2000 BDP?
Third Troll Legend carved on the tablet, Fall of Gurubashi gives us the story.
Cinnabar Bijou may have been on Min'loth's person when he died. It spent time underwater, so it gives more credibility to the third legend regarding the flood caused by the Krakken.
It is unspecified when this event took place. However, I do have four main theories (all wild speculation) as to when and why it happened.
1) It is a story concocted by the priests to explain the Sundering.
2) It happened in the wake of the Gurubashi Civil War.
3) It happened in the wake of the Night Elves defeating them.
4) It happened in the wake of the Sundering and this second major disaster is why they turned to Hakkar in the first place.
Wryxian (EU Community Manager, Blue Poster) posted lore regarding the Zandalari-Mogu alliance and the loss the Zandalari suffered
The Zandalar Agreement in-game lore object speaks of the ancient alliance between the Mogu and Zandalar Tribe.
The Founding of the Order of the Cloud Serpent in-game book also speaks of the Zandalari Wars.
An Ancient Legend quest specifically states that the Vale was closed twelve thousand years ago, after the Pandaren Empire was founded.
The Tomb of Shadows quest states that the Zandalari and Mogu were first allied during the reign of the first Mogu emperor (the Thunder King).
The Thunder King states that Lei Shen oversaw the construction and that it took several generations to complete the Serpent's Spine.
While I know that it was 12,000 years since the Pandaren Empire was founded, I do not know how long Lei Shen ruled for or how many emperors came after him but it was quite a few generations. So I estimated 1000 years, hence 13,000.
Troll Compendium (formerly on the Wow official site.) Of relevance are the Other Trolls, Sand Trolls and Early Troll Civilization entries as they all discuss the Sundering.
Empires' Fall in-game book also discusses the Sundering.
Considering that the Burning Legion were described as being locust-like in number and that they were spreading at a ridiculous rate throughout Kalimdor, it is not unfeasible to assume that the Trolls were fighting them at the edges of their territory. The Legion was more than likely winning the battles against the Trolls until Malfurion and company blew up the world.
Exile of the High Elves and The Founding of Quel'thalas in-game books that speak of the early conflicts between the High Elves and the Amani Trolls. It also says that it would be 4000 years before the Amani would rise again, placing it around 6800 BDP.
The old WoW history timeline stated that the High Elves were exiled 7300 years BDP and the founding of Quel'thalas was 6800 years BDP [archived snapshot][and another].
Arathor and the Troll Wars in-game book goes into detail regarding the Troll Wars.
Carcanet of the Hundred Magi archaeology reward that discusses the Troll Wars.
Sigil of Strom quest talks about Trol'kalar and its infamy during the Troll Wars.
Snapshot of the old history page stating the Troll Wars took place 2800 BDP.
Troll Compendium from the old WoW site. Relevant sections are Early Troll Civilization and Forest Trolls entries.
Ironforge - The Awakening of the Dwarves in-game book stated that the Dwarves emerged from slumber and headed to the mountain where they carved out Ironforge.
The old WoW history page states that the Awakening took place 2500 BDP [archived snapshot].
The old WoW bestiary stated that the Frostmane ruled Dun Morogh until the Dwarves pushed them off the mountains and into the valleys. No snapshot, but wowpedia has it archived.
Troll Compendium states that the Drakkari continued to live in Northrend after the Sundering, but the Frostmane and Winterax split off. Since Frostmane were already set up in Dun Morogh in 2500 BDP, that event must have taken place before that.
9500-2000 BDP and 9500 BDP- 15 ADP ??
Troll Compendium and Wrath of Soulflayer both go over the events of the civil war. They both state that it took place centuries after the Sundering. How many centuries, we don't know.
The Dungeon Journal entries for Sunken Temple / Temple of Atal'Hakkar states that the civil war took place over a thousand years ago and many millennia ago. As a millennia is a thousand years, multiple millennia implies that at least 2000 years have passed.
The same Compendium sources state that the Darkspear were run out of the Vale after the defeat of Hakkar. It is unknown how much longer after, so there is truly no way to date this until Blizzard gives us something more substantial.
In a previous reblog, we were discussing the Darkspear question. I said that there was no indication outside of the vague Compendium description of when they arrived to their isolated island.
The only quest that has any slightly possible hints is The Hunt for Yenniku. In it, it is stated that it is custom for the Darkspear to give some of their sons to the Gurubashi. When Thrall took the Darkspear west, they lost track of Yenniku.
Many believe this implies that the Darkspear were only recently exiled. However, it may imply the opposite as well. If they had handed over Yenniku prior to the exile, it would make sense to have lost track of him then. However, they were already on the island when they met with Thrall and traveled west so it stands to reason that exile was not the reason for losing track of him.
While this custom may have actually been cut short by the Darkspear being expelled, we do not know this for certain. For all we know, this custom was the only way for the Darkspear to keep some form of attachment to their ancestral home after centuries of exile OR was a way of paying their way slowly back into Stranglethorn Vale by giving tribute to the dominant Gurubashi tribe.
I am not saying that this is what I believe. In fact, I would much prefer it to be a more recent expulsion (say 40-50 years or so). That said, it IS a possibility. Unfortunately for us, Blizzard has left a great deal of the story in the dark.
I actually theorize that the true reason they lost contact was because the Gurubashi may have had a minor civil war as they debated whether to go along with the second coming of Hakkar or not. But that is for a different post...
Yojamba Isle screenshot from mmorpg.com taken by vknid.
Lei Shen, the Thunder King from WoW's Dungeon Journal.
Forest Troll Warlord by Twincruiser.
Ironforge - screenshot from the Vanilla WoW opening cinematic.
Sunken Temple screenshot from the Dungeon Journal page.
Dark Portal by Brian Huang.
Trollish Timeline: OOC Intro
Trollish Timeline: Before the Dark Portal
Trollish Timeline: “First Dark Portal Opening to Pre-WoW” Era
