Red Dawn

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This article is about the human organization. For the Dragonflight quest, see N [70] Red Dawn.
Not to be confused with Crimson Dawn.
NeutralRed Dawn
Rise of the Red Dawn - Not over.jpg
Marran Trollbane (center), Veronica Nials (right), and soldiers of the Red Dawn
Main leader  Lady Marran Trollbane
Secondary leaders  Colonel Veronica Nials
  Formerly  Joseph the Enlightened †
Race(s) HumanHuman Human
Base of operations Unknown
  Formerly Ar'gorok
Theater of operations Arathi Highlands
Language(s) Common
Affiliation Independent
Status Active

“[T]hose dissatisfied with Lord Danath Trollbane's rule... With our old Stromic ways forgotten, with famine, unrest, and orcs on our lands, and dwarves and elves in our cities. All will rise up and embrace a 'new dawn'.”

— Marran Trollbane[1]

The Red Dawn is a human supremacist organization, founded and led by Lady Marran Trollbane, which seeks to unite all humans on Azeroth and restore the greatness they enjoyed in the ancient Empire of Arathor, to the exclusion of all other races.[2][3] The organization is an amalgam of several human-forward factions,[4] consisting of Marran's own Stromic loyalists as well as splinter groups[5] of the Stormwindian Defias Brotherhood, the Lordaeronian Scarlet Crusade, and the Alteraci Syndicate.[6][7] From their headquarters in Ar'gorok in the Arathi Highlands,[8] the Red Dawn attempted to ascend to power by provoking a war between the Alliance and Horde[9] and launching a coup for control of Stromgarde, but were defeated by heroes led by King Danath Trollbane, Overlord Geya'rah, Eitrigg, and Faerin Lothar. Rather than let her be executed as a martyr, Danath exiled Marran and her followers from the Highlands.[10]

They were introduced in the Rise of the Red Dawn storyline as part of the greater Legacy of Arathor campaign added in patch 11.1.7.

History

Background

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The Red Dawn traces its roots to the aftermath of the Fourth War. Lady Marran Trollbane, the niece of Lord Danath, was appointed regent of the kingdom of Stromgarde while her uncle's duties drew him to Stormwind. She requested aid from the Alliance's 7th Legion, officially to protect Stromgarde, but the Legion began claiming territories in the Arathi Highlands from the Mag'har orcs, who'd settled in the Horde base of Hammerfall. In response, the Mag'har leader Overlord Geya'rah summoned the Kor'kron to deter action from Stromgarde.[11] Marran had been raised on idealized stories of the Empire of Arathor, the first human civilization, whose legacy she believed had been all but ruined by the destruction or corruption of most of the Seven Kingdoms. She believed that Stromgarde was selling its strength to the Alliance, sending its troops and resources abroad while neglecting its own people, and that it was her destiny to restore Stromgarde's greatness and continue Thoradin's legacy by removing the orcs from the Highlands to claim them for humanity alone, even if it meant provoking a new war between the Alliance and the Horde.[12]

Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall discovered this crisis when they traveled to the Arathi Highlands to recruit the 7th Legion and Kor'kron into a strike force for the war in Khaz Algar. The Stromic-Mag'har conflict came to a head at the Battle of Go'Shek Farm, but ended when Geya'rah and the Mag'har laid down arms and convinced the 7th Legion to do the same and join them in Khaz Algar. Danath arrived and arrested Marran, and ordered Knight-Captain Wrenn to organize search parties to round up her supporters. Geya'rah and Danath agreed to work together to quell the animosity between their peoples, but Thrall remained concerned by the fact that Marran's supporters, such as her loyal spymaster Zatacia, remained at large and the possibility that seeds of hatred between Stromgarde and the Mag'har still lingered.[13]

Rise of the Red Dawn

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Joseph the Enlightened, Marran's right hand.

While he left for Khaz Algar, Danath placed Veronica Nials, a colonel of the Stromic army, in command of the kingdom.[14][1] Unbeknownst to him, Nials was loyal to Marran and her ideals. Together with Joseph the Enlightened, a member of the Scarlet Crusade, they recruited humans from organizations across the Eastern Kingdoms—the Scarlet Crusade, the Defias Brotherhood, and the Syndicate—to create the Red Dawn: an organization that would lead all humans back to glory under the leadership of Lady Marran, the "rightful ruler" of Stromgarde.[3][15] The different groups had different motivations for joining the Red Dawn. Joseph urged his fellow Scarlet Crusaders that after their many defeats in their war against the Scourge, they needed to seek out allies and lend their aid to the Red Dawn's even grander aspirations of not only saving Azeroth from the undead, but making it a paradise for humans everywhere.[3] Members of the Defias, which had split up into factions after Duncon Ratsbon's defeat,[16] joined the Red Dawn because they believed that their own organization had lost sight of their original cause of deposing Stormwind's corrupt nobility and that the Red Dawn offered them a new cause of cleansing corruption from all human kingdoms. For the Syndicate, the remnants of Stromgarde's old rival kingdom of Alterac, Nials offered reconciliation and the promise of fighting for all humans regardless of nationality,[3] though not all of the Syndicate approved of their new leader's decision to join the Red Dawn.[17][18] The Red Dawn set up their secret headquarters in the former Horde fortress of Ar'gorok, which had been abandoned since the Fourth War. Bandits of all types and bands took refuge there under their banner.[7][19] Marran created an elaborate plan to remove her uncle, take control of Stromgarde, and then lead its army and the Red Dawn to Hammerfall to secure the Highlands for themselves.[20]

In order to create the right conditions to justify her coup,[21] Marran sent bandits of the Defias and Scarlet Crusade to start launching attacks on Stromic and Mag'har outposts and farms across the Arathi Highlands,[22][23] which had been left unprotected with most of the Stromic and Mag'har soldiers in Khaz Algar.[24] The bandit raids served to recruit Stromic civilians to the Red Dawn and disrupt supply lines, which in turned caused hunger and unrest among the citizens in Stromgarde Keep and made it easy to direct their anger at the Mag'har.[14] Marran supporters further inflamed the situation by stealing supplies, harassing Danath loyalists, and committing acts of vandalism and violence against non-human citizens in order to intimidate them into leaving the city. Joseph the Enlightened held inflammatory speeches where he advocated for Marran as the rightful ruler of Stromgarde and blamed Danath and all non-humans, specifically the Alliance and Horde, for the kingdom's woes. The Stromic army enacted a curfew in an attempt to maintain order, but had too few soldiers to enforce it. Nials also deliberately withheld soldiers from intervening, citing the lack of manpower, in order to allow the chaos to continue.[15][25] Meanwhile, Syndicate spies provoked the Witherbark trolls into also launching raids, and disguised themselves as refugees from the attacks and tricked the Mag'har into taking them in at Hammerfall.[18][24][26]

Upon receiving word of the raids and unrest, Danath and Geya'rah, accompanied by Faerin Lothar and adventurers, returned to the Highlands to defuse tensions among their peoples in Stromgarde and Hammerfall.[22] They came upon the Defias stealing tar and torches from Newstead Farm,[27] and discovered mentions of the Red Dawn.[16][28] While Geya'rah returned to Hammerfall, Danath, Faerin, and the adventurers went to Stromgarde to inform Nials of the raid.[14] Captain Roderick Brewston deputized Faerin and the adventurers to enforce the curfew for Marran's supporters,[25] request supplies for the army (which was unpopular among the citizens), and force Joseph to desist his speeches and leave the city.[15] Meanwhile, Nials orchestrated for Danath to be kidnapped by sending him into a roadside ambush by the Red Dawn, who killed his men and brought the captive lord to Ar'gorok. The Syndicate then planted orc weapons at the site to implicate the Horde for the attack in the hopes of starting a war that would destroy both Stromgarde and Hammerfall and leave the Red Dawn in power.[9] Nials told Faerin and the adventurers that Danath had left following a summons from Hammerfall, then took them to see the imprisoned Marran, who saw Faerin's arrival—the return of a Lothar and an Arathi to the Highlands—as a good omen. She attempted to recruit Faerin to her cause and hinted that she was the leader of the Red Dawn, something that Nials denied.[1]

The Syndicate burning Hammerfall.

At the same time, Joseph led the Scarlet Crusade in an attack on Refuge Pointe, killing all non-humans there and kidnapping the rest, though the passerby Mag'har Karga Bloodfury saved a few. Nials sent Faerin and the adventurers to look for Danath at Refuge Pointe. The heroes discovered that the attacking Scarlet Crusaders, too, were part of the Red Dawn, and defeated Joseph and forced him to escape[23][29] before continuing to Hammerfall, where they learned from Eitrigg that Hammerfall had never sent for Danath. Eitrigg sent outriders to look for the missing lord[30] while Faerin and the adventurers went to tell Geya'rah, who had gone to Go'Shek Farm to deal with the Witherbark trolls' aggression.[17] Barclay Olson, a Syndicate member who was skeptical toward the Red Dawn, revealed that they'd planted evidence against the Horde in Witherbark Village in order to make the trolls attack the orcs and draw away Hammerfall's defenders.[18] Shortly after, the Syndicate, led by Joseph,[31] attacked the undefended town and used the material from Newstead to set it on fire, but Geya'rah, Eitrigg, Faerin, and the adventurers led the Mag'har to retake the town[32][33] and force the Syndicate to retreat. Meanwhile, Geya'rah's outriders had discovered Danath's destroyed caravan.[34] Geya'rah, Eitrigg, and Faerin found evidence of the false flag attack at the site and split up,[9] with Faerin going to alert Stromgarde and the Alliance[35] while Geya'rah and Eitrigg went to Ar'gorok to rescue Danath.[19]

Danath Trollbane spares Marran's life at the climax of the battle in Stromgarde Keep.

In Stromgarde, Nials freed Marran, who launched a coup for control of the city[20][35] and imprisoned Faerin in the Tower of Arathor.[21] Marran was supported by parts of the Stromgarde army, but most of her soldiers were made up of Defias, Scarlet Crusaders, and Syndicate wearing stolen Stromic uniforms. Captain Roderick Brewston rallied Stromic soldiers that were still loyal to Danath, collected evidence of the Red Dawn forces' real identities in order to prove Marran's treachery,[6] and freed Faerin,[21] at the same time as Geya'rah and Eitrigg freed Danath from his prison in Ar'gorok.[20] The heroes regrouped at the gates of Stromgarde. Danath and Eitrigg confronted Marran while Geya'rah, Faerin, and the adventurers killed Joseph the Enlightened. They then went to join Danath and Eitrigg, and Faerin defeated Marran. Danath spared his niece's life so as not to make her a martyr, but stripped her of her title and name and exiled her from the Arathi Highlands, leaving her powerless. Marran told her uncle "This is not over" and left with Nials and her other remaining followers.[10] With the Red Dawn's departure, peace returned to Stromgarde.[36]

Members

Named

Former

Unnamed

Organization

Factions of the Red Dawn: a Defias Enforcer, Syndicate Outlaw, and Scarlet Inquisitor in Ar'gorok.

The Red Dawn's ideology is summarized in the oath of loyalty sworn by its members: to renounce all other allegiances but loyalty to Marran Trollbane, to vow to protect the cause of humanity to the exclusion of all else, and to reunite the people of Arathor and see them take their place as the greatest nation of Azeroth.[2] The emblem of the Red Dawn, depicted on badges carried by its members, is a rising sun with long rays emanating from it, colored red,[28] which symbolizes their goal of rising up like the morning sun to usher in a glorious "new dawn" for all humanity.[3][15] They revere the memory of Arathor, the original human civilization.[3][10][15] As a reflection of this, they refer to the city of Stromgarde by its ancient name, "Strom".[20][38]

The Red Dawn are hostile to not only the Horde, whose races they see as murderous barbarians responsible for destroying several human kingdoms, but the Alliance as well. Joseph the Enlightened, in his speeches to Stromic citizens, decried the Alliance as an imperialistic organization that stole Stromgarde's resources to feed non-human races and fund their exploitation of distant lands, leaving Stromgarde starving and defenseless. Red Dawn sympathizers in Stromgarde displayed hostility even to their longtime dwarven and elven allies,[15] and Marran spoke disdainfully of the Arathi Faerin Lothar's "elven blood".[1] Captain Roderick Brewston believes that many of the Stromic members of the Red Dawn joined only because they were desperate for a promise of a better life.[21]

References

 
  1. ^ a b c d N [80] Marran Trollbane
  2. ^ a b Red Dawn Oaths of Loyalty
  3. ^ a b c d e f Red Dawn Propaganda
  4. ^ Lore Book: Rise of the Red Dawn
  5. ^ Keith Riley on X (2025-05-02). Archived from the original on 2025-06-21.​ “11.1.7 Faerin Questline Lore Clarification: Only splinter groups of the Defias, Scarlets, and Syndicate join the Red Dawn. Those organizations still exist. This is more about individuals changing organizations than entire organizations merging together.”
  6. ^ a b c A [80] How Old Are These Things?
  7. ^ a b H [80] From Ironforge With Love
  8. ^ H [80] The Search for Danath
  9. ^ a b c N [80] False Flag
  10. ^ a b c d e N [80] Rise of the Red Dawn
  11. ^ Heartlands, Chapter 1: Summit at Boralus
  12. ^ Heartlands, Chapter 3: Bloodlines
  13. ^ Heartlands, Chapter 5: The Battle of Go'Shek Farm
  14. ^ a b c N [80] Ill Tidings
  15. ^ a b c d e f N [80] Deputy Delivery
  16. ^ a b N [80] Finding Family
  17. ^ a b c N [80] To See a Troll
  18. ^ a b c N [80] Crime Family
  19. ^ a b H [80] Fallen Fortress
  20. ^ a b c d e H [80] Returning to Stromgarde
  21. ^ a b c d A [80] The Search for Faerin
  22. ^ a b N [80] Trouble in the Highlands
  23. ^ a b N [80] Finding Refuge at Refuge Pointe
  24. ^ a b N [80] Supply Run
  25. ^ a b N [80] Curfew Kerfuffle
  26. ^ N [80] Withering the Witherbark
  27. ^ N [80] Torches and Tar
  28. ^ a b N [80] Emblematic of Things to Come
  29. ^ N [80] A Familiar Face
  30. ^ N [80] A Different Point of View
  31. ^ N [80] Once Bitten Twice Shy
  32. ^ N [80] The Burning of Hammerfall
  33. ^ N [80] Hammerfall Down
  34. ^ N [80] Danath's Disappearance
  35. ^ a b A [80] Return to Stromgarde
  36. ^ N [80] Past Glory
  37. ^ N [80] The Syndicate Strikes Back
  38. ^ Marran Supporter says: Strom will rise again!
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