World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 Read Free Page A

celestial beings observed the many worlds ordered by the titans, staying vigilant for any sign of instability. When it was necessary, the constellar could initiate a fail-safe procedure to scour life from a world in the hopes of resetting its evolutionary process.
    Over the ages, the Pantheon discovered fewer and fewer world-souls. Yet they remained undaunted. They knew that the universe was vast beyond measure, and even after epochs of exploring the stars, they had only plumbed but a small corner of creation.
    Unbeknownst to the titans, malign forces were also hard at work in the distant reaches of the Great Dark.

T HE P ANTHEON
    Aman’Thul—Highfather of the Pantheon
    Sargeras—Defender of the Pantheon
    Aggramar—Lieutenant of the Great Sargeras
    Eonar—The Life-Binder
    Khaz’goroth—Shaper and Forger of Worlds
    Norgannon—Keeper of Celestial Magics and Lore
    Golganneth—Lord of the Skies and Roaring Oceans

F rom the moment the cosmos came to be, dark spirits within theVoid sought to twist reality into a realm of eternal torment. These entities were known as thevoid lords, and they had long watched the Pantheon and their journey from world to world. Envious of their power, the void lords sought to corrupt one of the world-shaping titans into an instrument of their will.
    To achieve this goal, the void lords struggled to manifest in the physical universe. As they did so, their energies seeped into reality, warping some of the unsuspecting denizens of creation. Yet the noble and virtuous titans proved impervious to this insidious corruption. Eventually, the void lords moved to exert their influence over a titan in its most vulnerable state: before it had awakened.
    The void lords did not know which worlds contained slumbering titan spirits. Thus they pooled their power and hurled dark creatures throughout the physical universe, hoping some would smash into aworld-soul. An unknown number of the void lords’ creations hurtled through the Great Dark. They contaminated mortal worlds and everything else they touched in their blind search for a nascent titan. In time, these wicked beings would come to be known as theOld Gods.
    Although the titans were aware that Void energies existed in the universe, they had no knowledge of the void lords or the Old Gods. The Pantheon’s attention was consumed by another, more immediate threat: demons. These ferocious creatures had been born from theTwisting Nether. Held in the thrall of unbridled hate and malice, they hungered for nothing less than the destruction of all life in the universe.

J ust as in theGreat Dark Beyond, life had also arisen in the Twisting Nether. The creatures that emerged from this turbulent realm were known as demons. They had been formed as a result of theLight and Void energies that had bled together at the borders of the Twisting Nether. The demons embraced their furious passions and reveled in pushing the boundaries of their power, heedless of the consequences. Many of these aberrations indulged in the highly volatile energy that pervaded the Nether. Some learned to wield the all-consuming powers of fel magic. Before long, these bloodthirsty demons clawed their way into the physical universe, terrorizing mortal civilizations and bringing ruin to world after world.
    Demons came in many forms. Some, like the two-headed void hounds, roamed the trackless wastes of the Nether like ravenous beasts. Others, such as the monstrous abyssals and infernals, were mindless amalgamations of matter and fel energy, created by more powerful and intelligent demons.
    Among these greater demons were the nathrezim, otherwise known asdreadlords. Cunning and manipulative, they dedicated their existence to mastering the arts of shadow magic. The nathrezim relished infiltrating mortal civilizations, sowing unrest, and turning nation against nation. As these societies devolved and crumbled from within, the nathrezim would corrupt their populations, twisting innocents into new and