User:Ximothy/Crusade/Part I: Rise of the Crusade
Rise of the Crusade
The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official Warcraft lore or history. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and are applied for roleplaying purposes only.
“Esarus thar no'Darador—By Blood and Honor We Serve.”
Words of the Crusade,
The Crusade, some times called the Old Crusade, the Human Crusade or the Crusade of Seven Kingdoms, was the union forged initially between the Seven Kingdoms of humanity on what they believed were warnings from divine beings but in truth was the machinations of the Burning Legion.
History
Portents of Destruction (10-8 BDP)
It had nearly been ten thousand years since the Legion's failed invasion of Azeroth resulted in the imploding of the Well of Eternity and banishing the Legion back to the Twisting Nether. Since there, the Legion had conquered many more worlds, but always held the memory of their loss close to heart, vowing vengeance against Azeroth.
Sargeras sought to infiltrate Azeroth personally, and picked which Azerothian defender would make a good host. He settled on the arrogant and wilful Aegwynn, the newest Guardian of Tirisfal, and using the Jewelled Sceptre of Sargeras, he opened a rift into the snowy Storm Peaks that allowed a powerful Avatar of Sargeras through to face Aegwynn. The two faced one another in titanic combat, and in the end, Aegwynn subdued the incredibly powerful Avatar. In her arrogance she believed she had triumped over the Dark Titan, however Sargeras used the 'defeat' to seep his essence into Aegwynn herself.
Aegwynn proceeded to intomb the remains of the Avatar as well as any items he had, such as the Eye of Sargeras and his Jewelled Sceptre, into the former Temple of Elune of the sunken portions of the city Surarmar, becoming known as the Tomb of Sargeras. Believing her victory total, Aegwynn became far more prideful and, with Sargeras' influence, began ignoring the Council of Tirisfal, her mind clouding her into thinking she was better off without them. This allowed Sargeras to go undetected for so long. However, Sargeras did not believe he could take over Aegwynn's body without her noticing and doing something drastic like killing herself to prevent it.
So he nudged her to want a child, someone to inherent her powers and Guardianship for her, making her think she knew better than the Council of Tirisfal. To this end she sought a powerful sorcerer,and found Nielas Aran of the Court of the Kingdom of Azeroth a suitable match. She courted him and in her own way came to care for him as well, but once she bore a child she left , not thinking she herself suitable to raise a child and trusted Aran to raise him instead. Nielas named his child Medivh, which meant Secret Keeper in elvish. Sargeras' essence moved from Aegwynn into this new born someone he knew he could in time take over as he would slowly inherent the Guardian powers.
As a young child, Medivh bore witness to many of humanity's nations and cities, travelling the world with his father to learn about other cultures. The humans intrigued Sargeras, who knew they were the Titan's children and had a high apitude for arcane magic. They had great potential, and the Dark Titan contacted Kil'jaeden the Deceiver with the task of corrupting humanity into a suitable vanguard for the Legion to enact vengeance upon the Kaldorei and all of the mortal races on this globe. These travels ended after an explosion of magic that killed Aran and put Medivh into a coma for years until finally waking on one of his friends, Prince Llane Wrynn's, birthdays.
Kil'jaeden spent a few years watching the people of the Seven Kingdoms, noting any weakness or strength they possessed. He needed a Harbinger, someone to act as his hand on the world while he deceived the rest of humanity. Humanity had great innate arcane potential as the Kirin Tor were shown to have gained advance understanding of arcane lore, among them Kil'jaeden saw a few potential harbingers such as the powerful Kel'thuzad. However he questioned the ability of the magi to convert humanity as many humans distrusted magic and instead looked to what was possibly the most powerful insistute of the entire human race; the Church of Holy Light.
Many adherents of the Light existed and the current head of Church was Alonsus Fao, the Archbishop who the Deceiver believed was too holy to act as a direct pawn so he looked elsewhere in the Church for his puppet. He needed someone of high rank that already had darkness in their soul and found a man known as Jarl, who was a High Priest of Azeroth and leader of the Northshire Brotherhood as well as an old friend of Faol's. Kil'jaeden contacted this man through his dreams, and wormed his way into his skull. Learning that for all his faith Jarl also harboured doubts since suffering still existed and questioned if a benevolence such as the Light existed why would it allow people, especially their worshippers, suffer. Knowing they could use this, Kil'jaeden contacted his master.
Sargeras' possession of Medivh came into full swing after he recovered from his magic induced coma. As a child, Medivh had come to befriend the Prince of Azeroth, Llane Wrynn, and the most recent child of the Arathi Bloodline, Anduin Lothar. Sargeras allowed this friendship to blossom, believing he could use this later. Kil'jaeden needed to push the kingdom of Azeroth into chaos to allow his conversion of Jarl, and help Sargeras cement his place in that kingdom. To this end the Deceiver made his first mark on the world by reaching out to the southern jungle troll tribes of Stranglethorn Vale. With this, Sargeras began hunting down and killing the Council of Tirisfal and the Tirisgarde for they showed the greatest threat to their plans for corrupting humanity. In a few years most of the Council were slain and the cause pinned on rampart gnolls, cunning troll assassins or even botched demon summonings with the few who survived incapable of tracing who was murdering their Council member.
Gurubashi War
The southern tribes have long warred against both the humans to the north and each other but were also a superstitious group that would follow power. They were, however, too easily divided and disorganised to be united against the night elves as such were passed over to be the vanguard of the Legion in favour of humanity. Still Kil'jaeden knew they could be used as a tool to begin the fall of humanity, test it's ability to wage war and help grip the citizens of the Seven Kingdoms with the fear of the unknown.
Presenting himself as a powerful spirit, quickly being accepted by the priests and witch doctors among the Gurubashi as a new and powerful Loa. The Deceiver drove the other Loa away from the Gurubashi and pushed the Gurubashi to war using his own magic mastery to empower the Troll's already potent Blood Magic.. The Gurubashi, led by Bloodlord Jok'non, began by targetting the Stranglethorn settlements that the people of Stormwind created, such as Blackwater Bay slaughtering the inhabitants and driving the survivors north. The Gurubashi then moved forth into Brightwood attacking the outlying settlements of Grand Hamlet and Sunnydale.
The Kingdom of Azeroth quickly moved to deal with the new threat, King Barathen commanded the Brotherhood of the Horse and Stormwind Legions to march to war. The blood cursed blades of the Gurubashi inflicted horrific injuries upon the innocents of Brightwood cursing them. When the Clerics of Northshire arrived, led by High Priest Jarl, arrived to provide aid they discovered to their horror that they could not heal the victims of these Fel infused wounds. The innocents suffered while the clerics were incapable of using the Light to save them leading to a crisis of faith among both the suffering soldiers and the priests.
Among the Gurubashi generals was Zan'non the Son of Jok'non who was using his magic to usher the minor tribes, such as the Bloodscalp and Skullsplinter, into the war through fear of their Blood magic and their new Loa, the “Red God”. The minor tribes invaded Westfall, attacking Moonbrooke and the outlying farms. The Clerics further despair at being unable to help the victims, most of all Jarl who grew angry towards the Light. King Barathen had to lead his force to Westfall to hunt down the minor tribes giving Bloodlord Jok'non, who feinted a retreat, the opening to beeline straight towards Stormwind City.
Those in-between the army and the city had to flee to Stormwind to avoid the approaching troll army, among them High Priest Jarl and his followers. They warned Prince Llane Wrynn of the up coming invasion force led by Bloodlord Jok'non and the Prince launched into action calling upon his two friends Anduin Lothar and Medivh to help defend the city. The trolls besieged the city with a frenzy that most humans were unused to, Blood magic driving them to near insanity. As the battle slowly turned to favour the trolls, Llane appealed to Medivh to save Stormwind City.
Stepping forth, Medivh intended to call upon Arcane power, but from within Sargeras instead funneled another power, Fel. Unleashing a massive torrent of Fel magic, the troll vanguard was destroyed, all of the trolls on the ramparts were obliterated and the army scattered. Bloodlord Jok'non was killed in the unleashed torrent of power. Jarl and many other priests witnessed the power first hand and were drawn to it as they saw this destructive green power devastate the vanguard and save many more lives than their Light would've. King Barathen mopped up Zan'non and his tribals burning their bodies before flanking the besieging army at Stormwind and ending the siege for good. The battle was a near total victory for the Kingdom of Azeroth, the trolls suffering the bulk of the losses yet it still left the people of Stormwind scarred and it left the needed seeds of doubt in the mind of High Priest Jarl.
Harbinger of the Legion
It was then Kil'jaeden revelled himself to the down trotten High Priest. He hid nothing, telling the priest he was a demon lord that sought to bring Fel corruption to the world. At first Jarl was horrified, but was also intrigued, and although he initially refused Kil'jaeden he also did not tell anyone else of his visions as his faith in the Light was shaken by the Gurubashi War. When Kil'jaeden revelled himself again a few weeks later, Jarl was less resistant to talking. Kil'jaeden showed him the power of Fel, it's ability to burn life as fuel and was reliant on the will of those that use it. Jarl refused to learn anything and instead fled from the meeting but again did not report his meetings and stewed in wondering what this power would be like.
Upon the third visit, Jarl initiated the conversation by making an observation; the power of the Gurubashi in the previous war was Kil'jaeden's and he gave it to them. This was not a question or even an accusation instead it was presented as an observation. The Deceiver knew this was the breaking point and Jarl could very well turn away now, but he did not lie to him, claiming responsibility and claiming it was a demonstration of the inferiority of the Light. Jarl considered those words and before making a final judgement he asked to learn some of these powers so he could judge that claim for himself.
Kil'jaeden gave him a basic drain life ability, allowing Jarl to take the life of some deer and rejuvenated himself. The power was intoxicating for the priest who was still feeling helpless from the War. When he asked for more Kil'jaeden showed him something else instead; the worlds the Legion had corrupted. Xandros, Niskara, Xoroth and even Argus. The sheer desolation and power of Fel could convert entire worlds. The power was overwhelming in comparasment to anything the Light had to offer and Jarl fled the meeting for his quarters.
The fourth meeting was the last. Jarl had to make the decision now and the priest made the choice to convert to the Deceiver's teachings. Kil'jaeden was pleased and bestowed upon him further training and teachings to turn him into the first human warlock and a powerful one at that. He also gave him the remains of a creature that Kil'jaeden called a Naaru, saying to use his knowledge to steal the Light from these remains to imitate the powers of a Priest to fool his flock in believing he was still faithful. With his knowledge and new allegiance, he left to begin his work as Kil'jaeden's Harbinger.
Kil'jaeden has begun spreading his influence among humanity, however mankind was hardly desperate in fact they were prospering under rulers such as Terenas Menethil or Barathen Wrynn. He needed to create fear and anger among mankind before they could be united, and as such Jarl was given the job of corrupting the Elements of this world. The Legion had former shamans among them and they knew how to torture the world's spirits into submission.
As the rituals began, the wail of the Elements being tortured was heard by the tauren and their shamans, the Earthen Ring. Realising they could cause a problem Jarl was tasked with destroying the Earthen Ring before they could spread the knowledge of what was happening, and travelled to Kalimdor with the aid of some demons. Demons at his side Jarl battled the tauren in fierce combat and although the tauren proved capable of killing several demons they were already weakened by what the torturous ritual had already accomplished that weakened their powers. The Ring were wiped out to the last and Jarl was intoxicated on the power that Kil'jaeden had given him, never before feeling such a rush.
The ritual continued and the elements buckled under the pain retreating from the world to avoid further punishment. Without the Elements to keep balance the seasons of the world were thrown into disarray. Summers became longer and hotter and winters drew out with colder conditions, practically erasing spring and autumn. The various races across the world felt the affects of this from humanity to the dwarves, trolls and even the minor races like gnolls or kobolds. Many among the human kingdoms noticed that Quel'Thalas, the magical home of the elves, was not suffering these droughts and freezing winters causing suspicion among the more superstitious folk that they may have had a hand in it.
Shamans across the world could not figure out the problems the Elements were in agony and could not speak to them, the Earthen Ring and seemingly been slaughtered by some unknown force and they felt their powers failing. The world heaved but this was only the beginning of the troubles as the corruption of the Legion had only just begun.
Dreams of Destruction
With humanity becoming desperate from the drastic seasons Kil'jaeden began the next part of his plan; implanting dreams of death and destruction to the spiritual leaders of the humans. In the meantime he orders Jarl to find like minded priests and other people to begin creating some organisation to help corrupt humanity from the shadows as relying on dreams forever was not feesible, they needed a hidden influence from within corrupting them.
Using his magic, Kil'jaeden began to influence the dreams of the priests of the Church such as the High Priests and of course Archbishop Alonsus Faol. He gave them dreams of the dying lands while the elves continued to prosper; of purple skinned elves from across the sea invading and destroying humanity. He posed the dream as if it came from the Light, warning humanity of the elves bringing about the long summers and winters while they continued to enjoy their enchanted home, of them enslaving and destroying the Seven Kingdoms.
Many Priests were confused on this dream. Alonsus Faol and many others have never had any negative interactions with the elves and even shared a faith though now it seemed as if the Light itself was telling them that it was the elves that was causing the world's ails as a prelude to some great invasion. When priest after priest came to Alonsus Faol about these dreams he grew more and more concerned on what this meant for the future. He decided to contact High Priest Vandellor of Quel'thalas, however Jarl made it a point to interfere with the attempted messages making it appear that the elven priests were ignoring Alonsus' messages.
Eventually Kings from various nations were writing to Alonsus Faol saying their own priests were going on about destruction and the elves being harbingers of it, also accusing them of the recent seasonal upheavals. A Kingsmeet was being called in Capital City and King Terenas was inviting the Archbishop as well. Faol took the weeks leading up to it to pray to the Light for guidance and answers,though wasn't sure if the Light could answer such prayers directly. To his surprise, a being that radiated the Light appeared before him in his visions, calling himself Kil'jaeden and claimed to be an aspect of the Light that has chosen to save humanity. He urged him to unite mankind as one to save itself.
He consulted the other High Priests of this latest vision, and he found a supporter in High Priest Jarl who said that he believed this was divine deliverance and they would be fools to ignore it. He was passionate on the subject and many of the High Priests were also swayed to the words of the High Priest. Jarl, however, did not suggest making war on the elves instead he cautioned patience and the need to find answers before doing anything drastic as he feared driving humanity to war too quickly would result in them resisting. Jarl came under Faol's good graces for this, and was taken into confidence by the Archbishop believing Jarl could be trusted as an old friend and confidant.
Heating Tensions
Humanity had grown resentful towards the elves and their general aloof behaviour was not helping matters. Anti-Elf sentiment was already spreading throughout the kingdoms, with the humans of Gilneas, Alterac and Kul Tiras, kingdoms that generally did not hold positive relations with the elves being among the strongest to follow this belief. The Kingdom of Azeroth was still largely recovering from the past few wars and did not care about the troubles in the north they instead focused on cultivating what land they had and tried to ignore the other Kingdoms. The Kings of Lordaeron and Stromgarde were the slowest to give any thought to these anti-elf thoughts, both had historic ties to Quel'Thalas and weren't eager to drop those.
Jarl, at behest of his master, would encourage Alonsus to engage in this anti-elf sentiment, and Faol himself became convinced elves were the enemies as he put his faith in the Light. Slowly, the courts were beings swayed too and the various High Priests of the kingdoms were preaching to their monarchs about the importance of acting on the Light's will, and Vandellor and his elven priests were expunged from the Church, denied a chance to speak for themselves as they became aware of the growing hatred too late. It was a time of uncertainty among the humans. Alonsus held no hatred towards the elves, but he was coming to believe that they were responsible for the hardships facing humanity.
Up north in Quel'Thalas, the elven government was becoming worried about what, exactly, humanity was going to do with this growing hatred. While some, like Dar'khan, believed their people capable of defending their boarders with ease, others voiced concerns that a united humanity may actually be a threat. King Anesterian for the time being merely placed the Farstriders on alert but did little more and didn't do much to soothe the concerns of High Priest Vandellor and his priests. He never held much stock in what he considered a human faith and the silence of the Church was not something he saw as a problem- the less ties to the south, the better, as far as he was concerned. High Priest Vandellor tried to travel south only to discover he was barred at orders of the Church. The bastion of Holy Light had become the champion of anti-elf sentiment, even against fellow priests and now was refusing to even hear the elves defend themselves.
The other races had varied of reactions; the gnomes found it strange but didn't care for surface politics as they did not suffer the changing climates being entirely contained underground, while the dwarves were more or less split- the Wildhammer were more for the elves, and found the entire movement disgusting while the Ironforge were more sympathetic to the human's rising hatred since they had their own priests preaching the evils of elvenkind as they too saw the visions, and these dwarves never had much of a relationship with the elves to begin with.
The elven citizens of Dalaran didn't face much hardships as most mages weren't pious people, some took the Church's words to heart however Antonidas and his Council strove to keep the sentiment down. Krasus was disturbed but largely disinterested in quelling anything, where's Kael'thas was growing angry at the treatment his people were suffering at the words of what he doubted was anything holy in nature. Despite the Kirin Tor's best efforts, however, they couldn't detect any type of Magic besides holy about these visions; Kil'jaeden covered his tracks well. Tracking demonic magic was not the Kirin Tor's speciality, that belonged to the now defunct Council of Tirisfal and their Tirisgarde servants and with them gone, they had to rely on other sources. Treatments gradually grew worse and Kael'thas was growing increasingly agitated about the whole affair.
As a result, Antonidas and the Kirin Tor requested an urgent meeting with the Guardian Medivh and to their surprise he answered. Medivh brushed it off as being important and met with the various heads of Dalaran, the Council of Six; Antonidas, Modera, Drendan, Kel'thuzad, Kael'thas and Krasus. They inquired about the nature of this magic and Medivh informed them that he believed them to be Holy in nature, he had attempted to track any arcane, shadow or fel magic but found nothing; Sargeras used the respected word of a Guardian, who was to defend humanity, as a tool of their damnation. Before he left Antonidas requested Medivh take an apprentice and after a strange moment of silence Medivh agreed and told him to be sent to Karazhan. Sargeras did not know why his puppet agreed but ultimately did not think a single apprentice would amount to much.
Though a disappointing result the Kirin Tor did inform the others of the result, and many saw this as the mages endorsing the Church though Antonidas did not consider it as such. Regardless the damage was done and many assumed both the Kirin Tor and the Church believed this message divine in origin, thus proving it authentic. This turned the distrust into outright hatred for many, and even the resolve of the Church strengthen with some outskirt towns even lynching elves if they were found.
The seeds were being placed. Humanity had grown desperate from the severe weather, and the dreams were agitating them as rumours of them spread like wildfire among the commonfolk. Now Kil'jaeden needed to direct this towards the elves and spark a hatred for them. He orders Jarl to create that spark.
Blackwood Massacre
The small barony of Blackwood is the closest human territory to Quel'Thalas and the people there has always been distrustful and hateful of the elves. Decades ago the people of Blackwood starting to have conflicts with the elves over the nature and location of the border. The King of Lordaeron, who was Terenas' grandfather, interceded before matters grew violent and negotiated a new borderline with the elves; one that cut the Blackwood lands in half. The concession greatly diminished the power of House Garithos and they have resented the elves ever since.
It had been little over two years since the weather turmoil had begun, Spring and Autumn had been consumed by Summer and Winter, leaving the scorching heat for half a year, and freezing winters for the next. Lordaeron was suffering like all nations but the people of Blackwood could not help but notice their haughty neighbours were not suffering these problems within their eternal spring home. Baron Garithos heard the rumours of the priest dreams pointing to the elves for being responsible and he fully believed them. The people of Blackwood were desperate and angry, and the elves were an easy target.
Jarl disguised himself as a wandering priest and visited Blackwood, knowing of all the territories the people of Blackwood are the most eager to vent their anger towards the elves. He was able to approach the Baron since the Baron was interested in anything a priest had to say about the elves and he played upon Baron Garithos' fears and urged him to take action now because Terenas would never strike first. How many more burning summers and freezing winters must they endure before something changes? The Baron was easily convinced and rallied the Knights in his service, calling for an Elf Hunt and he left his son Othmar behind in Blackwood.
The timing was not coincidental, Jarl wanted the patrol holding a famous Ranger-Captain, Alleria Windrunner, to be the target of this raid. The death of such a famous figure would reverberate through Quel'Thalas and incite hatred against the humans. The intrusion towards the border was masked through Jarl's magic though he was very careful not to get too close lest he sets off the elves' wards himself and alerts the patrol to his presence. He just needed them to be close enough that their sudden appearance causes a surprise among the elves and the desired effect was achieved. When a party of human knights appeared outside of their southern outpost Alleria had to act fast.
She was reluctant to engage first so attempted to approach them. Baron Garithos wasted no time and attacked outright glancing Alleria with his lance before she pulled back and ordered a counter attack. The elves were well trained, but there were many more knights than rangers, and the knights were more prepared for this fight than the rangers were. Many knights died, but the soldiers were able to hit as hard as they got. The slaughter carried on, and the elves were butchered. As the battle died down, the knights were victorious, most of the elves were slain. The Ranger-Captain survived albiet barely and was taken by the knights back to Blackwood as a prisoner.
When elven scouts reported the slaughter the Ranger-General, Lireesa Windrunner, was furious and along with her other daughter Sylvanas ordered a retaliation strike against Blackwood, approved by the Convocation of Silvermoon. A mere two days following the butchering at the lodge Lireesa and her forces were able to find Baron Garithos and even more of his knights, and slaughtered them to a last, allowing only one survivor to tell the tale of their vengeance.
The massacre has sent ripples through the kingdoms, many humans lords and nobles did not fully understand what had happened. The elves officially state the truth, that the Baron and his knights attacked them first, but of course, this is the story they'd tell regardless and many of the nobility were not convinced. They were outraged that a fellow lord and noble had been killed, with them perceiving it as murder and the lies are lying. They spread this belief to their subjects, and the effect the Jarl wanted took place- fear and hatred towards the elves increased.
Kingsmet
The now dubbed “Blackwood Massacre” was cause for Alonsus Faol to call a Kingsmet of the various rulers of humanity but instead of one of the capitals like it usually is the Archbishop called them to meet at Tyr's Hand in the Eastweald, the home of the Church of Holy Light. The rulers and representatives of the Seven Kingdoms made way to Tyr's Hand within the fortnight; King Terenas Menethil of Lordaeron, King Thoras Trollbane of Stromgarde, King Aiden Perenolde of Alterac, King Genn Greymane of Gilneas, King Barathen Wrynn of Azeroth, Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore of Kul Tiras and High Magus Antonidas of Dalaran.
The importance of this meeting to High Priest Jarl's plans can't be understated, he needed the beginnings of humanity's unity to begin here. He continued to manipulated Alonsus Faol into further accepting the 'Light's' decree that the elves were trying to destroy humanity. The Archbishop was coming to the idea the elves were up to something, and was becoming enamoured by the idea of the Seven Kingdoms unified in the grace of the Light. Jarl even played upon his morals reminding him that any action just has to cripple the elves not wipe them out, which Alonsus also believes. Jarl had a better understanding of human nature, however, and felt that once they got a taste of war with the elves it'll become harder to stop them.
The other High Priests agreed with Jarl. Some were like Faol and simply believed they were doing the right thing, but many of them had actually been converted to the path that Jarl already treated. His powerbase was growing within the Church, hidden from prying eyes and giving Jarl more and more influence among the echelons of the faith. Jarl has barely had time to rest for the past two years, constantly seeking pawns and moving pieces on the chess board, Kil'jaeden was becoming impressed with how well Jarl danced to the tune of deceit. He had chosen his harbinger well.
Kingsmet is rarely called for joval or pleasant things and the monarchs arrived dour faced. Terenas was always a pious man and he wanted to believe in the Light and after the Blackwood Massacre he was leaning towards Alonsus' views but still had doubts. Thoras was coming more around, having grown desperate as harsh droughts have devastated his people's farmlands severly and many Stromic wanted someone to blame. Perenolde and Greymane were actually two of the kings to advocate in favour of dealing with the elves, all of Alterac's crops were frozen over and storms over Gilneas had gotten worse with both monarchs blaming the elves. Daelin Proudmoore was more hesitant. He respected the elves but confessed to not knowing enough about them to defend them or stand against the wishes of the Church, a stance that was expected as the Church did not have as much power in Kul Tiras, being a minority in terms of religion.
Alonsus Faol the begun to speak of uniting humanity as one to face this new threat. The situation was getting worse and worse, the drastic change to the seasons was devastating their yields and many are going hungry, the recent conflict between the elves and Blackwood showed hostile intent and the visions of the Light were bearing truth; humanity was suffering. Although he once doubted he has come to believe in these visions and encourages the Seven Kingdoms to unite as one. When one asked if he was suggesting an alliance Faol instead expressed the idea of uniting their armies into a single Crusade to launch against their enemies. The idea was surprising, and some kings objected at first however Antonidas and the others had no alternative answers and the people of their nations were growing scared. The time for thinking was over and the Archbishop once more asked of the leaders to unite into the Crusade.
Terenas Menethil was the first to lend his support, though he at first was adverse to war with the elves, his people were suffering in the drought of summer, and elves now attacked his people on sight. He could not stand by any longer. The man was always pious, and a devoted follower of the Light, so him coming to believe in these visions as well is nothing unusual. Thoras Trollbane felt as if the elves had betrayed them and he threw his axe into this growing crusade stating they will make them pay for using their socerery to devastate their farms and crops. King Greymane even came to support the notion,the hot summers weren't affecting them as much as the other kingdoms, but the winter had caused massive problems for all of Gilneas as the storms have become several times worse than before.
The Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras, too, supported the movement. Whatever happened to the seasons somehow affected the elements themselves, as his people's Tidesages have lost their powers. This has devastated the people of Kul Tiras; no longer do they have Tidesages to guide their ships and construction has halted without their blessing as their elemental powers waned into nothing. If the elves are to blame and Daelin had become convinced they were due to no alternative then he wanted justice. King Aiden Perenolde, who noticed the majority of kings were swaying to the idea of the Crusade, also pledged his kingdom to the new Crusade, offering his spy network and mentioned the colder winters have effectively frozen his kingdom.
Only two remained, Dalaran and Azeroth. Aontidas was rather distraught, Dalaran had a population of elves and he feared that if these kingdoms were willing to make war on the elves they'll also do so against Dalaran for 'harbouring' them. Elven sympathises were already being attacked in towns. He did not want harm to come to Kael'thas and his people but Antonidas had no alternative answers, no other solution to assuage the king's conclusion that the elves were to blame save that he personally doubted it. He instead made an effort for time pushing the idea of Dalaran pledging for a later date.
Eyes turned to Barathen Wrynn, who's frowned at such unity. He reminded them that, years ago, the largest ever gnoll war band united all gnolls south of Khaz Modan and made war upon Stormwind and its territories. He requested aid yet none, not even the valiant Lordaeron, gave any semblance of aid or support. A mere two years ago the Gurubashi empire launched a war against them, using never before seen magics to devastate them and once again none of them agreed to help. Many died and Barathen swore off any further friendship with the northern nations.
Alonsus tried to persuade him that while he was not wrong to be angry for those refusal, not joining now wouldn't do anything but vindicate their refusal to aid them. Barathen, however, denied his kingdom's entry to the Crusade and said that if the elves tried to make war then they would defend themselves by themselves as they did with the gnolls and trolls. He stood from the table, bid them luck with the elves, but informed them that Azeroth would not be joining the war effort against enemies too far to pose a real threat to it. He left for home taking his people with him.
Though the loss of Azeroth to the cause was a blow as their calvary was legendary and they held the strongest army, the Archbishop would not let moral fall because of it. He declared the beginnings of a Crusade, and was strict in imposing the three tenants to it- Respect, Compassion and Tenacity, remaining stalwart that they were not fighting to commit genocide, nor did they desire to kill every elf. He believed elves merely mislead, and hoped that once the threat was ended, humans and elves could live in peace once more.
A touching speech that soothed the concerns of men like Terenas and Daelin, however Jarl heard and pondered if this compassionate viewpoint could pose a problem to his master's plans. Upon hearing this, Kil'jaeden decided that perhaps allowing Alonsus lead the charge would be an error, and instead instructed the apprentice of Faol to over throw him and take charge.
Birth of the Crusade (8 BDP)
The organisation began, each of the five Kingdoms that pledged themselves to the cause and sent a portion of their armies to begin marshalling their numbers in Tyr's Hand. It was during this time that Alonsus Faol approached his fellow priests, Jarl included, about the formation of an order of holy warriors to spear head this invasion, as a reminder of what the Light stands for. He envisioned an Order of the Silver Hand, knights and paladins devoted to the Church to lead this united effort.
From the Lordaeron faithful, as the most religious country they had the greatest pool to pull canidates from, Alonsus Faol selected five pious men with martial skill; Saidan Dathrohan, Tirion Fordring, Alexandros Mograine, Turalyon and Sir Uther. To each of these five, Alonsus Faol presented five librams, each representing one of the five tenants he wanted to instill upon the new holy order; The Libram of Holiness for Dathrohan, Mograine was given the Libram of Compassion, to Fordring was presented the Libram of Retribution, the Libram of Protection was given to Turalyon, and finally to Lord Uther was given the Libram of Justice.
Jarl looked upon this “Silver Hand” with some concerned. He couldn't stop Faol from doing this and having such holy men lead the war could be problematic, so he had decided that these paladins must be the example for humanity to follow. He made time to meet up with each of the men of this new order, trying to analyse what each of these men value. They were all convinced of the holiness of their Crusade and the idea that the elves were responsible for the hardships facing humanity, so the High Priest was certain he could, in time, sway the paladins to become more fanatical and brutal.
In Dalaran Antonidas had to move quickly. He needed to warn Kael'thas of what happened in Tyr's Hand, although he knew it would result Quel'Thalas being more prepared for the Crusade he couldn't in good concious harm the elven citizens of his city. He noticed Krasus had seemingly vanished without a trace, much to Antonidas' relief, but he had to also warn Kael'thas before it was too late. When warned Kael'thas was outraged at the accusations that the Church lodged at the elves with what he saw as circumstantial evidence. He summoned every elf in Dalaran and brought them back to Quel'Thalas.
Jarl became aware of this quickly as he had agents in Dalaran, most importantly was Kel'thuzad of the Six, who Jarl was able to sway with promises to unrestricted magic research and new powers. Kel'thuzad reported the prince leaving for Quel'Thalas, which annoyed Jarl to no end as now he would give Quel'Thalas a chance to prepare better. When the news of this reached the Church, High Priest Jarl urged the Archbishop to condem this action, but Faol was sympathetic and instead he forgave Antonidas, stating that compassion is not a sin. It was with this that Jarl realised that as long as Alonsus Faol leads the Crusade, it won't go down the dark path he or his demonic masters want. He had to remove him.
He consolidated his power, summoning every contact he had made in the past two years to a secret meeting place below the island of Caer Darrow. Archmage Kel'thuzad of the Kirin Tor was one of the arrivals, naturally. Joining him was several of the Priests from within the Church he had managed to recruit, such as Isillien, one of the principle priests of Lordaeron, as well as the priests Neheri, Leander and Hylan. He stressed the importance of twisting the Crusade into becoming more monsterous, and ordered his disciples to encourage the Crusaders to give in to hating the elves, and to make them believe it's the Light's will.
As the priests left for the amassing war party Jarl kept Kel'thuzad for another task; finding more like minded people across the world. Jarl knew of the shields around Quel'Thalas' heartlands powered by the Sun Well and they needed someone on the inside to help sabotage it. The High Priest was also interested in expanding their ranks to other nations and powers, which Kel'thuzad promised his master he would do. For now, Jarl headed back to Tyr's Hand to continue convincing the new Crusade to give into zeal and conceiving of wars to get Alonsus to step down.
Invasion of Quel'Thalas: Beginning
The warnings of Prince Kael'thas was not ignored, and the recent slaughter of the ranger patrol and what they believed was Alleria's death fueled the desire for vengeance among the elves. Ranger-General Lireesa organised the Farstriders and home guard of the elves, summoning the Ranger-Lords Sylvanas Windrunner, Lor'themar Theron, Halduron Brightwing and Renthar Hawkspear, to begin preparing their defences in the south.
The scouts reported mass movement towards Tyr's Hand and Stratholme, they worked out that Blackwood was intended to be the point of which the invasion would be launched from. Sylvanas took Lor'themar and several others to burn Blackwood before the Crusade could begin marshalling there, inflitrating the city in the middle of the night and murdering many of the soldiers and castle staff in the thick of night, before setting fire to most of the buildings and escaping back to Quel'thalas. Most of the military personal of Blackwood died that night, and the civilians were forced to flee, however Benedictus and a few of his followers used this chance to slaughter the fleeing refugees, making it appear to the newly arrived Crusade forces that the elves had butchered Blackwood to the last, with only a few such as Othmar Garithos, who was among the Crusade himself, as survivors. It was during this attack that Sylvanas had discovered a dying Alleria, learning that she was alive but was dying from how she was treated in the captivity of humans. Although she tried to tell Sylvanas something important she tragically passed away before she could. As such she failed to tell Sylvanas that she had bore a child; an half elf. The small child was instead taken by Jarl when he found him within the burning Blackwood.
The apparent butchering inflamed the Crusade and led by the Silver Hand they laid siege to the first Elf Gate. Led by the five Crusader Lords the Silver Hand were able to breach through the Elfgate and slaughter the defenders through sheer volume of soldiers compared to the elves; humanity always vastly outnumbered the elves and this advantage was now more apparent than ever. Ranger-General Lireesa watched the Elfgate fall from a distance, not letting the Farstriders provide reinforcements instead instructing them to use hit and run tactics and allow the woods themselves aid them. Quel'thalas was a thick forest, a practical maze for those not well learned of the land. The Farstriders used this as their chance to drasically slow the advancing Crusade armies, hitting their horses and burning supplies in the thick of night. Cutting supplies off and harassing them caused the invading soldiers to become more desperate in their actions as men become savage when deprived of food. Lord Uther, one of the foremost leaders of the Crusade's forces, would listen to Isillien who advised more and more brutal means of fighting noting their people cannot endure these harassment forever.
With hunger and desperation growing Lord Uther and the other Silver Hand leaders pushed further into Quel'thalas by burning a path through the forest and hit the town of Tranquillien where Ranger-General Lireesa was operating out from. The ensuring battle was a massacre as the desperate Crusaders slaughtered the elves to the last, the few survivors reporting horror stories after they fled north. Uther confronted and managed to kill Lireesa Windrunner and so crippled the Farstriders. When news of the battle reached south Archbishop Alonsus Faol ventured north to see the aftermath and was horrified at not just the destruction but also how the common soldier treated the dead, piling up the bodies and impaling them on spikes. A crisis stirred within and Faol went back south to Tyr's Hand and desperately prayed. He couldn't believe this was the Light's will and at how quickly humans will turn to savagery in war. He prayed for answers and for the briefest of moments a crystaline being, a Naaru, appeared before him and Faol felt the true warmth of the Light for the briefest of moments. It was enough to make him realise he had not been acting on the Light's will but instead someone else's. Kil'jaeden appeared and mocked the Archbishop, before entering his mind. He couldn't make a permanent puppet out of him but he could force the Archbishop to give up his title to Jarl. Having become despondent for having engineered this bloody crusade Faol failed to resist and gave in to despression becoming a puppet.
He made the declaration of him stepping down, stating that he could no longer act as the guide of humanty with his old heart. He declared his replacement as High Priest Jarl and he was declared with a new name; Archbishop Benedictus.
Canonisation of Benedictus
With the title in hand his place as the head of the Church was solidified. Benedictus called upon his contacts and agents throughout the Seven Kingdoms and beyond to meet in a secret place. It was now he officially formed the Hidden Circle, a series of information circles that reported to him that had varying degrees of knowledge regarding the true intention of the Crusade. His highest most circle, and those who's identity were a mystery to all below them in rank, included people such as Kel'thuzad and Isillien. These two requested to meet with Benedictus soon after his canonisation.
Meeting with Kel'thuzad and Isillien the Archmage introduced his newest disciple to him, the elf Dar'khan Drarthir who could help them counter act the Sunwell. For now, however, Benedictus was more intersted in bringing Stormwind into the Crusade first and he debated with his fellow disciples about whether or not Barathen would be swayed. Ultimately agreeing with the logic Isillien put forward that King Barathen greatly respected Alonsus and still denied him, Benedictus plotted an assassination attempt and planned to blame the elves to poise Llane against them. If only Barathen had an assassination attempt, however, it might be suspicions so the Hidden plotted to have an attempt on each of the Kings' lives.
Taking several ornate daggers to be gifts to each of the kings and inventing some cover story about the daggers' meanings, demons were sealed within. The real difficulty was making it so the summoning could not be traced to the daggers themselves, with Dar'khan attempting to mask it with arcane magic trying to make it seem that the demons were summoned using arcane magic from a distance. The elf admits if one knows what to look for, it'd be clear the daggers were a vessel for the demons, so they need to be careful and perhaps reclaim the daggers quickly if possible. If the Kirin Tor got their hands on one of these daggers, it could be disastrous. He also left traces of magic from the Runestones in order to mask the demons, much like how the elves masked their presence from demons, and to trace its magic back to Quel'thalas to further frame the elves.
With the daggers in hand, six for each king, he set off to each nation presenting the dagger and giving some soothing words about the Light, the mantle of kingship and the burden of what the Light has put on them, encouraging each King to remain true to the war. Terenas, Greymane and Thoras gracefully accepted the dagger and shared similar words. Daelin made an effort to please the Archbishop, taking him to Drustvar where most of the Kul Tiran Light worshippers lived, but it was clear Daelin did not personally follow the Light but rather the Tidemother. Still he accepted the gift gracefully.
Arriving at Stormwind as the last of the kingdoms for him to visit he was greeted by King Barathen and Queen Taria. The King suspected that Benedictus would use this chance to try and sway him to join the Crusade however he still accepted the visit as a worshipper of the Light. Benedictus did make a vague attempt however he presented it more as an obligation he was fulfilling and privately told Barathen he did not come here to convince the King to join; a truth, if one that twists the true matter. He gave Barathen the dagger and was guided around Stormwind before settling in. Two weeks into the visit was when the assassination plot was sprung. In the dead of the night the dagger's runes broke and freed the demons within, causing a large doom guard to appear in the bed chamber of King Wrynn. Before any of the guard could react to the noise the King and Queen were slaughtered and many of the guard died before the beast was put down. It was during this time that Benedictus sent one of his Hidden agents to recover each of the daggers, with Arator the half elf offspring of Alleria that was magically aged being sent to recover the dagger given to Wrynn.
The false assassination attempts on the other kings went as hoped. Thoras personally slew his would be assassin, taking his head as a trophy. Greymane was quickly saved from his assassin by his guard rushing in and saving the man, with Greymane similarly taking a trophy from the demon. Perenolde was not even in the room when the demons appeared, and it was dispatched by guards before any of the royal family was threatened. The only one of the northern kings who did not escaped unscathed was Terenas, and this was by design, the scarring Terenas under went was to inflame the people further as even a 'moderate' like Terenas who preached compassion was still targeted for assassination.
Anduin Lothar was beyond furious at his King's death, and Llane was too shocked. After Medivh arrived, he lured the two of them into thinking that the demon was very likely summoned by the elves to cut the head off of the human nations. Llane promised to return the favour, and ordered Anduin to prepare for war; he utterly trusted Medivh to tell the truth, a fact that would prove costly. Anduin Lothar called upon the legions to Stormwind to prepare for war as they would join the march north.
Returning to Tyr's Hand Benedictus met another disciple that his agents recruited; a Dark Iron dwarf named Molus Blackburn. The dwarf had a reputation as being a powerful sorcerer and shadowmage, and within Benedictus sensed the desire for power. He inducted both Blackburn and Dar'khan to the highest most circle. It was from Molus that Benedictus learnt about Ragnaros and the Dark Iron's enslavement to the Firelord with Molus suggesting that Emperor Thaurissan desired freedom. If the Dark Iron Emperor was helped then Molus was certain a powerful ally could be found within the Dark Iron Clan, something Benedictus was greatly interested in.