World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 (18 page)

The mogu forged their greatest palaces and monuments with the blood and sweat of their subjugated races. Soon, the empire boasted a unified language, an established system of weights and measurements, and the first set of written laws in Azeroth—brutal codes that enshrined the mogu’s place above the other creatures. Lei Shen also forced his slaves to act as soldiers or to expand the crude fortifications once used to defend the vale from the
mantid. Thus was born the
Serpent’s Spine, a massive stone wall separating the mogu from the insectoid lands. When existing slaves perished or proved inefficient, Lei Shen shaped new ones with the power of the
Engine of Nalak’sha. This led to the creation of myriad beings, such as the diminutive yet resilient grummles and the barbaric, reptilian saurok.

T
HE
H
OZEN
B
ETRAYAL

At the height of their empire, the jinyu held close ties with the
hozen. Both agreed to help the other withstand the onslaught of the mogu. Yet on the eve of the jinyu’s final stand against Lei Shen, the hozen betrayed them. The jinyu’s so-called allies had secretly pledged their loyalties to the Thunder King in exchange for preferential treatment (a promise that was never kept). This act of treachery ensured the jinyu’s defeat and ignited a bitter racial feud between them and the hozen that would last for generations
.

F
ATE OF THE
A
UGUST
C
ELESTIALS

After Lei Shen imprisoned the White Tiger, the other celestials came to the aid of the pandaren. Yet like Xuen, they all succumbed to the Thunder King. Thereafter, Lei Shen prohibited worship of the celestials on pain of death. The pandaren lost many of their ties to the
Wild Gods, but not all. A few fearless slaves, in secret, carried on the teachings of the celestials
.

The mogu empire quickly drew notice from other civilizations on Azeroth. The
Zandalari
trolls, in particular, were amazed at the otherworldly powers wielded by the Thunder King. One of the Zandalari’s leaders, a revered high priest named
Zulathra, saw in the mogu a golden opportunity. He and a retinue of trolls journeyed to the Thunder King’s domain with a simple proposition: the mogu might hold the power of this world, but the trolls held the knowledge of the land. The two empires would make each other great and teach each other their secrets. Once they were allied, nothing on Azeroth would dare oppose them.

The offer intrigued Lei Shen. For the first time, he had met other living creatures who sought to master their environment rather than live in peace with it. The mogu rarely ventured far from their lands; superstitions and the deep-seated duty of protecting the vale still influenced their actions. They could explore the world from a position of ignorance, or they could ally with the trolls and learn its mysteries quickly.

In truth, both leaders plotted betrayal. Zulathra believed the Zandalari could steal Lei Shen’s godlike powers once they learned the mogu’s secrets, and the Thunder King schemed to enslave the Zandalari the moment they ceased being useful. Yet they kept their plans concealed, even from their own people, and publicly brokered an agreement. In exchange for the Zandalari’s knowledge, the mogu would train them in the ways of arcane magic. They also promised the Zandalari a swath of fertile land near the vale.

Lei Shen even made a secret agreement with Zulathra. The Thunder King had devised a method to fully revive his spirit if he was ever killed, but he did not trust his own servants with such knowledge. The mogu were a power-hungry people, and they would likely try to claim the empire for themselves if Lei Shen fell. Only the Zandalari would hold the key to resurrecting Lei Shen. Without him, the trolls knew they would never fully learn the secrets of the arcane—nor would they be able to claim his awesome power.

Though both leaders continued scheming, their betrayals would never come to fruition. Indeed, they found each other to be invaluable allies, and their pact endured for many years.

THE THUNDER KING BATTLES XUEN, THE WHITE TIGER

W
hile Lei Shen consolidated his empire, the
tol’vir guarding
Uldum struggled to endure the
curse of flesh. The malady had spread throughout their ranks, slowly weakening the
titan-forged. All the while, the tol’vir waited patiently for word from Highkeeper
Ra or his
mogu servants in the east.

Eventually the tol’vir received a summons from a mogu leader calling himself the Thunder King. They had heard nothing about the rise of the mogu empire. Curious, the tol’vir dispatched ambassadors to the east. When they reached the edges of the Thunder King’s domain, they were stunned to see how advanced their mogu cousins had become. In some instances, the mogu had even managed to reverse the curse of flesh.

Lei Shen warmly greeted the tol’vir and showed them the wonders of his empire, from the immense
Serpent’s Spine wall to the gilded imperial palaces of the vale. The tol’vir were shocked at the deplorable treatment of the mortal races that had been enslaved by the mogu. Even so, the tol’vir were not stirred to action. Their prime concern was the protection of the keeper-wrought machineries in Uldum.

The Thunder King wholeheartedly agreed. The works of the keepers, such as the
Forge of Origination in Uldum, were of utmost importance … and so Lei Shen announced he was claiming them as part of his empire.

He revealed that he had defeated Ra-den and taken his power. Therefore, Lei Shen claimed that he now held dominion over the keepers’ instruments. With the
Engine of Nalak’sha and the Forge of Origination at his command, he could remake Azeroth as he saw fit. As fellow titan-forged, the tol’vir would ascend to a place of honor in the mogu empire, but Lei Shen would be at its head, now and forever.

Upon learning that Lei Shen had betrayed Highkeeper Ra, the tol’vir grew furious. They refused the Thunder King’s offer, vowing never to serve a traitor, and stormed out of his tyrannical empire. Lei Shen allowed the ambassadors to leave but warned them he would take what he wanted by force. Their armies could not possibly stand against his.

So confident was the Thunder King that he invited
Zulathra to witness what he claimed would be the mogu empire’s greatest victory yet. The elderly Zandalari leader agreed—Lei Shen had artificially extended the troll’s life, but once all of the keepers’ works were under mogu control, they would unlock the secrets of immortality. Almost all of the highest-ranking Zandalari leaders accompanied Zulathra as an honor guard, also expecting to return to their capital of
Zuldazar with the gift of eternal life.

Lei Shen led his mogu host and the
trolls to the west. The Zandalari had heard tales of the lands near Uldum, but they had never seen them with their own eyes. Pristine lakes and waterfalls dotted the region’s lush jungles. It was a paradise, teeming with undiscovered life and wonders as far as the eye could see.

The full might of Lei Shen’s empire trampled over the land, stopping just short of the monolithic pyramids that composed the keepers’ bastion of Uldum. Only a small group of tol’vir emerged from the fortress to resist the mogu. Lei Shen mocked their numbers, for he knew that he alone could crush them.

Indeed, the tol’vir had known that defeating the Thunder King’s forces in battle was impossible. As Lei Shen had marched toward Uldum, the titan-forged had prepared a final defense: the Forge of Origination locked beneath the fortress. Rather than using it to its full potential—which would eradicate all life on Azeroth—the tol’vir had configured the Forge of Origination to scour only the nearby land.

THE TITAN-FORGED STRONGHOLD OF ULDUM