Chapter 2: The Rise and Fall of Empires
This is the western frontier of the kingdom of Lazer, at the foot of the western side of the Frozen Mountains, on the edge of the Sunset Meadows, and at the junction of the human realm and the orc territory. Ite, Poole and Poole were both frontier warriors of the Kingdom of Lazer, and the Seventh Frontier Guard Brigade of the Silver Fir Legion, one of the three major legions of the Kingdom of Lazer, was stationed on the south side of the Boulder Fortress.
The Kingdom of Lazer is one of more than ten large and small human kingdoms on the Morning Haze Continent, with a land area of millions of kilometers, ranking third among all human kingdoms, but with a population of less than 10 million, it is a typical vast and sparsely populated kingdom for hundreds of millions of human societies on the continent. But this is also a helpless thing, most of the human beings live in the central and southern plains of the continent with a suitable environment and climate, and the Lazer Kingdom is located in the northwest of the center of the continent, and it is also the northwest border of the human territory. The higher altitude makes the climate of most of the land of the Lazer Kingdom dry and cold all year round, and the crops are difficult to grow and survive, only the Emerald Basin in the south is surrounded by high mountains on all sides, blocking the cold wind blowing from time to time in the north, and the unique terrain makes it abundant, the four seasons are distinct, and the vegetation is luxuriant, it is the famous granary of the Lazer Kingdom, and it is also the location of the capital of the kingdom, Lazer City.
The million-kilometer frozen mountains and the Itassus Mountains divide the entire continent into four parts of different sizes, the largest of which is the southeast, which is the traditional territory of mankind, and most of the land is in the hands of humans, of course, except for the endless dense jungle in the south, because it is the home of Warcraft, a forbidden place for humans and other creatures, known as the Warcraft Jungle.
In that vast and mysterious verdant jungle, there are countless powerful and terrifying unknown beings living there, even the greatest Terran king in the history of the continent, the incomparably powerful founder of the Divine Radiance Empire during the golden age of mankind more than a thousand years ago, the Holy Radiance the Great, has not been able to conquer there. According to historical records, Emperor Link once led the powerful Knights of the Holy Radiance, broke through the Great Stone Fortress, drove thousands of miles, and defeated the orc alliance in one fell swoop under Sunset City, the royal city of the Orc Alliance. After defeating the old enemy orc alliance, he marched north, and the army marched into the dwarven kingdom entrenched in the bitter cold land of the far north, forcing the dwarven king to conclude an alliance under the city in desperation and bow down to his vassals. In the end, with the belief that the glory of a hundred battles would be invincible, Link the Great tried to wipe out the entrenched monsters in the Warcraft jungle in one fell swoop, thus expanding the kingdom's territory all the way to the edge of the Endless Sea. However, the proud warriors of the 500,000 powerful Knights of the Holy Radiance who entered the jungle were desperately sniped by countless powerful demonic beasts, and in the end, almost all the human army, including Link the Great, died in the jungle, and only a few escaped. This was also the first and only large-scale invasion of the Warcraft Jungle in the history of the continent, but in the end, it ended in a fiasco for humans, and it also made the world truly know the horror in the Warcraft Jungle.
But that failed encirclement and suppression also angered the powerful existence in the Warcraft Jungle, and then countless Warcraft swarmed out of the jungle and pounced on the vast plains, frantically attacking and killing every human they saw, destroying countless villages, towns and cities. The revenge of the Demon Beasts swept through most of the Holy Empire, lasting for several years, causing the Holy Radiance Empire, which was originally so powerful that it almost dominated the continent, suffered a fatal blow, known as the Beast Plague.
It was at this critical moment that the God of Light sent down a miracle, and three divine favorites were born, leading the Knights of the Protector of Light to defeat the beasts that were in turmoil, and also made the glory of the God of Light, which had been declared invisible, spread to every corner of the kingdom and penetrated into the hearts of the people. Since then, the indestructible authority of the king has gradually been replaced by the teachings of the God of Light, and the once-prosperous Holy Empire has inevitably declined after this tragic beast tide. The new successor of the kingdom, the son of Emperor Shenghui Link, Shenghui Wateit, saw that his kingdom was gradually declining, and that the previously strong royal authority was threatened by the growing power of the Temple of Light, and in desperation, he issued a decree to dissolve the Cult of the Illuminati in an attempt to regain the scattered royal power. But this decision hastened the collapse of the empire. Faced with the threat of the new king, the Temple of Light did not hesitate to launch a war called the crusade against the blasphemer Saint-Wotte. With the help of the deep appeal of the God of Light, countless devout believers and survivors who had received the rescue of the Temple of Light responded one after another, and after a war caused by a brief collision of kingship and religion, the already crumbling Kingdom of Divine Radiance finally collapsed, and only the second monarch of the Holy Empire, Holy Radiance-Waterit, finally broke out of the siege and disappeared under the desperate protection of the remnants of the Knights of Divine Radiance.
On the ruins of the Divine Radiance Empire, a vast empire completely controlled by the Temple of Light slowly rose to become known as the Empire of Light. It is a theocratic state, inheriting all the territory of the Divine Radiance Empire, and three gods rule the nascent empire in place of the gods, and are revered as the Three Sages of Light. Although the three sages are favored by the gods, they are still mortals after all, although their lifespans are much longer than those of ordinary humans, and as the years go by, their bodies will slowly become old and weak.
In the year 375 of the Bright Calendar, just as the Three Sages were about to die, a person who had long been forgotten in everyone's memory appeared, that is, the last king of the Shenghui Empire, Shenghui Wateit, who had disappeared at that time.
Reappearing in front of the world, Radiance-Wattit has long since ceased to be human, but has become a lich with a strong aura of death and decay, leading countless undead warriors to take revenge.
Controlled by an obsession for revenge, the Radiant Wateit unleashed a terrifying forbidden spell undead plague in the heart of the Empire of Light, in the heart of the Empire of Light, in the square of the headquarters of the Temple of Light, which is known for its sacredness and grandeur, causing a catastrophe in the history of mankind. Although in the end, the Holy Empire defeated the undead army led by the lich after paying a heavy price, and the three sages also burned the last of their vitality and worked together to seal the undead Lich Radiance - Waterit, but the elite power that the Holy Empire relied on to deter the lands, the Knights of the Light Cathar, was also almost wiped out in this catastrophe, and the capital of the Holy Empire, the former Holy Radiance King City, and later the Bright Fortress, were shrouded in the aftermath of the undead plague within a radius of thousands of kilometers, and countless devout light believers were corrupted by the evil death power in this catastrophe, and finally transformed into crazy bloodthirsty undead, pounced on all living creatures around them, killing and tearing them apart, and the entire area was shrouded in a haze of death.
The most tragic catastrophe in the history of the continent is known as the Rebellion of the Dead. This also led directly to the beginning of the collapse of the Kingdom of Light.
When the news of the chaos in the human territory spread on the continent, the orcs who had gradually recovered after hundreds of years of recuperation and the dwarves who had been oppressed by the human race were ready to move after learning that the human race had suffered such a catastrophe and their strength was greatly damaged, and they quickly reached an alliance, and countless orc warriors armed with exquisite weapons and armor made by dwarven craftsmen, their eyes were red with the desire for revenge, and they gathered from everywhere, roaring and rushing to the fortresses guarded by various humans in the frozen mountains, fearless of death, trying to recreate the glory of the orcsใ The human fortress guards, who lacked support, resisted bravely, but in the end they were unable to stop the steady stream of orcs, and the Boulder Fortress fell first.
The mad orcs made their way through the fortress to the heart of the empire. At this time, the most elite legions of mankind and the upper echelons of the empire were all damaged by the scourge of the undead, and countless undead were still wandering around the Bright God Castle, and the human armies stationed everywhere could not gather for a while, and they all fell into chaos, and when the legions stationed in various places were still waiting for orders, they were fiercely attacked by the swift orc cavalry, and they were crushed.
At a time when the undead are in turmoil, orcs are killing outside, and the human race is in danger, the mysterious race that has been living in the dream forest in the southeast of the continent, the elven race, under the guidance of the mother of the forest, the goddess of life, has driven tens of thousands of ancient war trees to cross the southern part of the frozen mountain range and appear on the land of mankind.
The warriors of the elven clan harnessed the tall ancient trees of war, and with their precise bow and arrow skills and the gorgeous magic attacks of a large number of elven mages, they quickly contained the fierce attacks of the orcs, giving the humans who had been repeatedly defeated a chance to breathe. With a large population base, the humans who had stabilized their positions quickly reorganized a powerful army, first exterminated the wandering undead near the royal city, and then joined the elven reinforcements, step by step, and finally defeated the combined orc and dwarf forces in the decisive battle of the Twilight Plains, driving the invading enemy back to the west side of the frozen mountains.
This is also the first time that the orcs have broken through the fortress and slaughtered the hinterland since humans established a fortress in the frozen mountains, and it is also called the battle of fall by humans in the history books.
After this battle, under the leadership of the elves, humans, orcs, elves and dwarves signed an agreement known as the covenant of the four tribes, dividing the territory of each race in detail, that is, bounded by the direction of the two major mountain ranges, the mountains and the uninhabited desert north of the Itassos Mountains all day long belong to the dwarves, the southeast of the continent belongs to humans, and the southwest of the continent except for the southernmost dream forest is the territory of the orcs, and the elves still only live in the dream forest. The provisions of this agreement basically follow the traditional territory of all ethnic groups, and it has not caused dissatisfaction among all parties, but this originally vague traditional boundary division is clearly written into the covenant.
However, this battle of the fall had a huge impact on humanity, and after this battle, the original vast Empire of Light fell apart due to the death of the Three Sages and the decline of the Temple of Light. Without the deterrence of the powerful Knights of the Protector of Light, the old nobles, who had long been dissatisfied with the theocracy, declared their independence from the empire and proclaimed themselves kings in order to regain their former glory and power. The Temple of Light, which was greatly damaged, was also unable to fight against this, and the remaining temple forces could only do their best to hold the territory near the Bright Fortress and continue the title of the empire. After nearly a hundred years of mutual conquest and struggle, the human race finally formed twelve kingdoms of all sizes led by the Bright Empire on this land, which has continued to this day, forming the current pattern.