Main Source: World of Warcraft RPG: Lands of Mystery.  If you wish more indepth details you can buy the book and search Northrend Regions from page 84-113. Read Lands of Mystery’s full
Table of Content which contains descriptions and lore of Kalimdor, South Seas, Undermine, and Northrend.

Northrend is the continent located far north of the Maelstrom.  Northrend is a glacier … a snowy place. There has been no official announcement, but based on the massive size of Northrend, it will be a future World of Warcraft Expansion.

There are many regions within Northrend:

  • Coldarra
  • Crystalsong Forest
  • Grizzly Hills
  • Howling Fjord
  • Icecrown Glacier
  • Sholazar Basin
  • The Borean Tundra
  • The Dragonblight
  • The Stormpeaks
  • Zul?Drak

 

Coldarra

 

Among the places of interest within Northrend, known to fans, the Dragon Aspect of Magic – Malygos – lives in a cavern named the Nexus, located at the island Coldarra—he is known to gather relics of arcane power, keeping them locked away from mortals—frozen Orcs, Nagas, Trolls and Wendigos are among the species that had dared to enter the sanctity of Malygos’ lair.  They remain frozen, like statues, as a show to display what happens to those who venture into the Lair of Malygos—as described in Warcraft: Day of the Dragon novel.  Krasus the red dragon came to visit Malygos in that book, to ask for help to free Queen Alexstrasza from the Dragonmaw Clan, during the Second War.

Crystalsong Forest

The place has an epic history of a battle between black dragons and blue dragons.  The Tuskarr legends say that many blue dragons died that day in Crystalsong Forest. Their magic released into the air.  When an elder Blue dragon casted a spell to turn the black dragons into ice, the loose magic in the air accidentally amplified the spell—causing the natural green forest to turn into crystal.  The only thing spared from such fate was the Emerald Dream Tree (The Great Tree).  The only current residents found in this region are Green Dragons and Crystalline Golem workers—sent here by the Storm Giants of Ulduar to gather crystals for their experiments.

Grizzly Hills

Places of interest in the Grizzly Hills are: Grizzlemaw, Draktharon Keep and Thor Modan.  The Grizzly Hills are inhabited by over 20,000 Furbolgs living at their settlement Grizzlemaw.  Thor Modan was built by Ironforge Dwarves.  It is a camp of stone huts and tents.  The dwarves are excavating in search of relics and clues about the Titans.  Mostly Explorer’s League work.  Darktharon Keep was formerly a Ice Troll ruin, now taken by force by the Undead Scourge as their new garrison to watch the passes of the mountains.

Howling Fjord

During Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Arthas wished with all his hatred to finish his mission: to kill Mal’Ganis the Dreadlord and destroy the Undead Scourge, and wouldn’t allow his father’s orders get in the way.  Arthas destroyed the ships of King Terenas’ men when they came to Northrend to recall Arthas’ army by orders of King Terenas. By destroying the naval ships, the nearly 5,000 survivors of both armies: those who came to Northrend with Prince Arthas and those troops who came to deliver a message to Prince Arthas on behalf of King Terenas Menethil II built a settlement near the coast of Daggercap Bay—within the region: Howling Fjord, naming the settlement as Valgarde.  The population is composed of Humans and Dwarves.  According to World of Warcraft Collector’s Edition Behind the Scenes DVD, a map of Isle of Kezan (Undermine) shows a Zeppelin-route from Undermine to a town of Northrend, known as Valgarde—at the southeastern-most side of the continent.

Icecrown Glacier

Arthas the Lich King lives, at the Icecrown Glacier. A massive tower of ice named Icecrown came to be when Kil’jaeden sent the icy-prison of Ner’zhul crashing down from the sky into the glacier.  Furbolgs of Grizzly Hills saw the flashing that blinded the sky as the object fell.

Over 200,000 Undead Scourge: Ghouls, Crypt Lords, Frost Wyrms, Abominations, Death Knights, Necromancers, Liches and other support forces live in the Icecrown Glacier.  A surprising force.  Beneath the Icecrown, however, exist a series of caverns and tunnels built with Nerubian architecture.  Ner’zhul assimilated and adapted the Nerubian architecture into the Undead Scourge’s structures after the War of the Spider.

During Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, Illidan was sent by Kil’jaeden to destroy Icecrown using the power of the Eye of Sargeras.  Accompanied by Naga Witches to channel the spellwork, Illidan used the safety of Dalaran’s ley nodes and magical shielding to create earthquakes upon Northrend to crack the ice beneath Icecrown. ( Read More )  The incident caused the Lich King Ner’Zhul’s icy-prison to leak his powers daily causing him to lose mental control over large part of the Undead Scourge in Lordaeron.  As consequence, Sylvanas Windrunner was able to recover her individual will and caused a Civil War in the Plaguelands, taking the Ruins of Lordaeron for her new band of Undead Forsaken.

The Lich King summoned his loyal servant King Arthas the Death Knight to travel to Northrend.  After Illidan’s failure to destroy the Icecrown and the Lich King, Kil’jaeden gave one more chance to Illidan to fulfill his mission.  This time Illidan, his Naga and Blood Elves forces came to the Icecrown and initiated the rituals before the Magic Obelisks that grant access to the inner walls of the Icecrown Citadel. ( Read More

King Arthas was able to defeat Illidan in combat and ascended to the top of the Icecrown Citadel.  There the Lich King ordered King Arthas to break his Icy-prison.  The chestplate and helmet containing the Spirit of Ner’Zhul the Lich King came loose as the icy-prison cracked open.  King Arthas wore the chestplate and helmet.  Immediately the Spirit of Ner’zhul and King Arthas merged—becoming into one entity.  Arthas became the living vessel of the spirit of Ner’zhul.  Sitting at the Frozen Throne, Arthas the Lich King watches over the Undead Scourge, rebuilding the Icecrown Citadel, and gathering strength to one day unleash the Undead Scourge against the world of Azeroth’s nations.

The Sholazar Basin

Not much is known of this region except that the place has no ice and barely has snow.  Some have settled farms in this terrain.  Whether it will become a future Northrend battleground instance is unknown.  However, detail of interest is that the region is charted as an anomaly.  The place is a copy of Un’Goro—with hot springs, steam vents, geysers, and a tropical jungle.  Possibly a zone made by the Titans for experiments.

The Borean Tundra

Located at the far western edge of Northrend, the Borean Tundra is a habitat for the Tuskarr race.  However, small presence of Drakkari Trolls, Blue Dragons, Undead Scourge and Naga inhabit the place.  The most important places within the region are the Tuskarr capital Kaskala; the Riplash Ruins look Nerubian structure.  However, it seems as though a large portion of the underground Azjol-Nerub caverns was pushed upwards by a cataclysm, ascending the underground ruins toward the surface as the ice broke.  Nerubians no longer inhabit these Riplash Ruins, therefore the Naga took residence within the abandoned ruins.

The Dragonblight

The Dragonblight is the place where all dragonflights come to, to die.  It is a graveyard.  It is a place mentioned in the Warcraft lore for near the borders of Dragonblight existed a Human settlement that the Lich King infested with the firsts version of the Plague for testing purposes.  This happened by the end of the Second War, 10 years after the Dark Portal. The Humans inhabiting the Dragonblight became into the first Undead Scourge of the Lich King. Months later, Kel’Thuzad became a Necromancer at the service of Ner’zhul and returned to Lordaeron to create the Cult of the Damned.  Many of the Frost Wyrms of the Undead Scourge were risen from the bones of dragons at Dragonblight.

The Dragonblight has many locations of importance: the graveyard, the Wyrmrest Temple and the entrance to Azjol-Nerub Inner Kingdom.  The Wyrmrest Temple is Titan-made.  Storm Golems may be found in this temple mysteriously.  More to be concerned is that the Blue dragonflight inhabits the temple—as if watching or communing over the spirits of the dragons.  The Wintergrasp Lake is on the northwest of Dragonblight region—frozen soild.  Tauren inhabit the Lake at a settlement named Icemist Village. The Tauren here are cooks, fishermen, tailors and create tools.  They sell and trade all their works to visitors.

The Storm Peaks

The epic battle of Sargeras and Aegwynn – known as Dragon Hunt– took place in Northrend over 800 years ago (-823 before the Dark Portal).  According to Warcraft RPG: Shadow & Light—page 107— and to World of Warcraft RPG: Lands of Mystery Ulduar, the third base of the Titans, is at The Storm Peaks of Northrend.

The wind in the peaks is extremely violent and dangerous.  The entrance to Ulduar is hidden.  The residents of Ulduar are the Storm Giants—created by the Titans.  The Storm Giants are low in numbers nowadays.  Brann Bronzebeard calculates nearly 150.  To have labor support, the Storm Giants created constructs to help gather minerals and to guard Ulduar.  This constructs are named Crystalline Golems. Places of interest in the Storm Peaks are Ulduar and the Temple of Storms—Titan-made building far to the west of Ulduar.

Zul’Drak

This is the Drakkari Ice Trolls homeland.  They have lived here since before the Great Sundering.  They are cannibalistic, practice voodoo, are larger and bigger than other types of trolls, and worship spirits.  Every six years, the Ice Trolls navigate to Zandalar in the South Seas to a meeting of all troll tribes.  The capital city of Zul’Drak region is Gundrak. The architecture of the ruins is similar to that of Zandalar Isle in the South Seas.  It is unknown whether the Ice Trolls of Northrend were the first Trolls.

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  • Read a full Table of Content of World of Warcraft RPG: Lands of Mystery so that you know what the book contains before deciding to purchase it.
  • Read our recent interview with World of Warcraft RPG Developer Luke Johnson (White Wolf Publishing).

 


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