User:GoldenYak/New Dragonblight

The Dragonblight
Level: 71 - 74
Location	Southcentral Northrend

UNDER CONSTRUCTION related to Spider Kingdom Expansion Concept

The Dragonblight, also called the Great Dragonblight, is a great dragon graveyard, located in Northrend. The vile Scourge plundered this sacred burial site for dragon bones to raise as undead frost wyrms until the defeat of Arthas finally drove the undead from the lands.

At the heart of Dragonblight is Wyrmrest Temple, where representatives of all of Azeroth's dragonflights meet to discuss matters of importance. With Deathwing's cataclysmic return to Azeroth, the black dragonflight has withdrawn from the Wyrmrest Accord and has begun laying siege to Wyrmrest Temple. The blue dragonflight recently reconciled their differences with the rest of the dragonflights, and have joined efforts in defending the temple.

In western Dragonblight lies the Pit of Narjun, the entry point into the lower reaches of the Spider Kingdom.

History

Wrath of the Lich King

The forces of the Scourge defiled the great Dragonblight to raise the dragon remains as undead drakes in the service of the Lich King, while the Nexus War against the blue dragonflight occupied the resources of the Wyrmrest Accord. With the death of Arthas, the Scourge have pulled out of Dragonblight, and the Wyrmrest Accord has begun to focus it's efforts on dealing with the treacherous black dragonflight.

Cataclysm

This section concerns content related to Cataclysm.

When the corrupted black aspect Deathwing erupted back into the world, the forces he unleashed shattered all of Azeroth. Northrend has not escaped the devastation, and even the sacred Dragonblight has been touched. Wyrmrest Temple became the site of a ferocious conflict between the forces of the Old Gods and the Dragonflights. The forces unleashed by this conflict still scar the land...

Areas affected:

The Pit of Narjun has opened wider, and now leads down to the underground zones of the Spider Kingdom! The instances Azjol-Nerub and Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom are still available in their original location. Kilix the Unraveler is gone, but new quests are in place.
Westwind Refugee camp has become Westwind Village, and involves new quests around the expanded Pit of Narjun, which has swallowed Icemist Village.
Agmar's Hammer now sits on a cliff overlooking the expanded Pit of Narjun.
The ley line fracture along the Glittering Strand has expanded, further devastating the Lothalor Woodlands. The Twilight Hammer are up to something here. The Star's Rest camp has become Lotharlor Lodge to deal with the growing threat.
San'layn and other Scourge remnants have been spotted in the ruins of Indu'le Village. The Cataclysm has drained the lake, exposing the ley line fracture there. The Twilight's Hammer are here as well...
The blue dragonflight have rejoined the Wyrmrest Accord, and Wyrmrest Temple is being rebuilt in the wake of the attack by the black dragonflight and the twilight dragonflight. From Outland comes Tyrigosa representing the blue dragonflight and Karnyaku representing the Netherwing, seeking to join the Accord. Jorad Mace is a quest-giver here.
The Azure Dragonshrine is overrun with mana elementals. The blue dragonflight representative at Wyrmrest have quests related to the area.
The Ruby Dragonshrine is under attack by hostile forces from the Obsidian Dragonshrine.
The Emerald Dragonshrine has been flooded and destroyed in the Cataclysm. The green dragonflight is seeking to establish a new sanctuary.
The Cataclysm has opened a sinkhole underneath the Bronze Dragonshrine, causing the sands and bones within to fall underground. Time inside the cavern has become so twisted, even the bronze and infinite dragonflights cannot control it. Many new quests have been added.
The dread maw Go'rath lies slain, and the other Forgotten Ones have withdrawn into the darkness of the underworld, leaving great sinkholes surrounding Wyrmrest. The Accord will require aid in making sure that no more horrors rise from them.
New Hearthglen has become a ghost town, with the few survivors of the Scarlet Onslaught driven insane. Scourge remnants are seeking to raise the fallen Scarlet Crusaders as a new army.
The Forgotten Shore has been flooded by the Cataclysm. Surveyor Hansen is not happy. The Argent Crusade is here to try and retake New Hearthglen.
Avalanches have crushed Venomspite. The Forsaken there have moved...
Naxxramas has fallen, and the raid instance has been removed. Portions of the fallen necropolis have been seized by the Forsaken and turned into a Horde stronghold. Alliance from Wintergarde Keep are trying to dislodge them. The Carrion Fields have become a battle ground between the two forces. The Onslaught base camp has become infested with mindless undead.
The Wrathgate's Court of Skulls has become an Ashen Verdict stronghold, replacing Kor'kron Vanguard and Fordragon Hold. The Wrathgate is open, exposing previously unexplored areas of Icecrown Citadel. Scourge remnants are holed up inside.

Geography

Most of the Dragonblight is a single valley, sloping southward to the Shiverwind Coast. Low hills rise along the sides, taller to the east where they butt up against the Grizzly Hills and Zul'Drak. To the north a thin line of tall, sharp-edged cliffs breaks the land where Icecrown Glacier begins. The western edge borders Lake Wintergrasp, and the ground there is low and even and frozen solid.

Map

Dragonblight, Post-Cataclysm

Instances

Instance Name	Level Range	Group Size	Approximate Run Time
Azjol-Nerub	72-74	5	25 - 30 min
Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom	73-75	5	45 min - 1 hour
Obsidian Sanctum^[1]	80+	10/25	30 min - 1 hour
Ruby Sanctum	80+	10/25	Unknown

Quests and Storylines

Scourge remnants remain all throughout Dragonblight, although most have been reduced to mindless undead. San'layn under the command of Prince Atherann and Prince Theraldis are attempting to raise the dead of Indu'le Village. In New Hearthglen, the surviving Scarlet Onslaught have succumbed to madness and joined the Cult of the Damned, under the command of the Necromancer Heigan the Unclean and the Death Knight Lady Blaumeux, who escaped from Naxxramas before it's final destruction. The Ashen Verdict has established a camp outside Angra'thar, the Wrath Gate, which has been opened. Questlines will take adventurers into unexplored parts of Icecrown Citadel, and will involve interaction with the new Lich King and the Scourge remnants that remain inside.

The ruins of Naxxramas have become a Horde camp occupied by the Forsaken. With the death of both Kel'thuzad and the Lich King, the necropolis lost all power and crashed into the Killing Fields. The Forsaken have Kel'thuzad's phylactery in their possession, and have begun conducting experiments in order to uncover the secret of creating a lich. Alliance forces from nearby Wintergarde Keep are attempting to force them out.

The Twilight's Hammer are conducting further experiments with damaged ley lines at the Glittering Strand, Lothalor Woodlands, and in the drained lake at Indu'le Village. A worrying development is that the Twilight's Hammer seems to be interacting peacefully with the Scourge remnants there. The alliance camp of Star's Rest has been expanded into an elven fort, Lotharlar Lodge, in response to the increased threat. The Twilight's Hammer has also joined the San'layn faction of Scourge Remnants in excavating dragon bones, and is experimenting with creating new forms of undead drakes imbued with the power of twilight dragons. Twilight Lord Xarosan is the commander of the Hammer's forces in the region.

The Wyrmrest Accord has seen the betrayal of the black dragonflight and reconciliation with the blue dragonflight. Agents of the Nether dragons of Outland have also arrived to petition for the Netherwing to join the Accord. Quests from Wyrmrest Temple now focus on defending the dragonshrines and the dragon graveyard from the black dragonflight and the Twilight's Hammer. The Bronze and Green dragonshrines were heavily damaged in the Cataclysm, and questlines there focus on salvaging what remains and finding new places for dragonshrines to be established. The questline culminates in an all-out battle with forces of the Twilight's Hammer and the black dragonflight in the Obsidian Dragonshrine.

The most significant change to Dragonblight is the expansion of the Pit of Narjun, which has swallowed much of the surrounding terrain. The tunnels that lead to the Wrath instances of Azjol-Nerub and Ahn'Kahet remain, but the pit leads much deeper down into the new zones of the Spider Kingdom.

Changes to Instances in Dragonblight

In Azjol-Nerub, Anub'arak has been replaced with Nephri'thos, an undead Crypt Lord. Upon his death, he yells "What was shall be again! What is shall be no more!' He does not appear to be affiliated with any of the Scourge Remnants, and is instead acting on his own.
In Ahn'Kahet, Prince Taldaram has been replaced by Prince Antibus, a member of the San'layn faction of Scourge Remnants. He is functionally the same as Taldaram.

Gallery

The Dragonblight.
Twilight Lord Xarosan, leader of the Twilight's Hammer in Dragonblight.
The Twilight's Hammer rules the Obsidian Dragonshrine.
Xarosan plots to resurrect dragon corpses as wychwyrms, a new breed of undead dragon.
The Ashen Verdict have seized the Wrathgate.
Put an end to Heigan the Unclean for good at the ruins of New Hearthglen.
The Pit of Narjun has opened wider, revealing new areas of the Spider Kingdom.
What horrors await in Azeroth's Underworld?