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War of the Spider
During his travels, Thrall found the aged warchief,
Orgrim Doomhammer, who had been living as a hermit
for many years. Doomhammer, who had been a close
friend of Thrall's father, decided to follow the
young, visionary Orc and help him free the captive
clans. Supported by many of the veteran chieftains,
Thrall ultimately succeeded in revitalizing the
Horde and giving his people a new spiritual
identity.
To symbolize his people's rebirth, Thrall returned
to Blackmoore's fortress of Durnholde and put a
decisive end to his former master's plans by laying
siege to the internment camps. This victory was not
without its price: during the liberation of one
camp, Doomhammer fell in battle.
Thrall took up Doomhammer's legendary warhammer and
donned his black plate-armor to become the new
warchief of the Horde. During the following months,
Thrall's small but volatile Horde laid waste to the
internment camps and stymied the Alliance's best
efforts to counter his clever strategies. Encouraged
by his best friend and mentor, Grom Hellscream,
Thrall worked to ensure that his people would never
be slaves again.
War of the Spider
While Thrall was liberating his brethren in
Lordaeron, Ner'zhul continued to build up his power
base in Northrend. A great citadel was erected above
the Icecrown Glacier and manned by the growing
legions of the dead. Yet as the Lich King extended
his influence over the land, one shadowy empire
stood against his power. The ancient subterranean
kingdom of Azjol-Nerub, which had been founded by a
race of sinister humanoid spiders, sent their elite
warrior-guard to attack Icecrown and end the Lich
King's mad bid for dominance. Much to his
frustration, Ner'zhul found that the evil nerubians
were immune not only to the plague, but to his
telepathic domination as well.
The nerubian spider-lords commanded vast forces and
had an underground network that stretched nearly
half the breadth of Northrend. Their hit-and-run
tactics on the Lich King's strongholds stymied his
efforts to root them out time after time. Ultimately
Ner'zhul's war against the nerubians was won by
attrition. With the aid of the sinister dreadlords
and innumerable Undead warriors, the Lich King
invaded Azjol-Nerub and brought its subterranean
temples crashing down upon the spider lords' heads.
Though the nerubians were immune to his plague,
Ner'zhul's growing necromantic powers allowed him to
raise the spider-warriors' corpses and bend them to
his will. As a testament to their tenacity and
fearlessness, Ner'zhul adopted the nerubians'
distinctive architectural style for his own
fortresses and structures. Left to rule his kingdom
unopposed, the Lich King began preparing for his
true mission in the world. Reaching out into the
human lands with his vast consciousness, the Lich
King called out to any dark soul that would
listen.... . . .
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