Goria

**Goria** was the ancient capital of the Gorian Empire, built over one thousand years before the opening of the Dark Portal. A port city built on former Apexis territory, Goria was the center of a vast Ogre civilization and a place of learning, power, and prestige for the Empire.

## History

The land that would become Goria was once an outpost of the ArakkoanApexis civilization, a power that held dominance over Draenor for thousands of years until their people were torn apart by civil war. After the fall of the Apexis, new beings moved into the husks of their former cities. A colony of Ogron had moved into the shell of a former Apexis settlement build in northwestern Talador, filled with a large cache of the powerful Apexis memory crystals containing great knowledge and wisdom for any who activated them. Coveting these crystals, a faction of Arakkoa attempted to barter or threaten the Ogron for the crystals, but failed in both attempts, the Ogron being too stupid to trade with, yet too powerful to threaten. The Arakkoa took notice of the Ogre slaves of the Ogron however.

The Ogres were smaller than the Ogron, but far more intelligent, and they lived in fear of the Ogron who lorded over them as well as the Gronn who all Ogres feared as gods. In the night, the Arakkoa leader Yonzi stole away into the city to search for Ogres brave enough to rebel. One Ogre came forward, followed by others, named Gog. Far from the ruined city, Yonzi and his Arakkoa began to teach the Ogres arcane magic. The Arakkoa were stunned when they saw how powerful and effortlessly the Ogres began learning the arcane, residual Titanic power in their bloodline stemming from their decent from Grond granting them a natural advantage. After several weeks, Yonzi deemed Gog was ready to begin, but Gog did not target an Ogron. Gog instead went after a Gronn, battling the giant and slaying it with his powerful arcane magics. Gog then slew another Gronn, and then a third. By the time of his fifth Gronn killed, word of his heroics had spread across all of Draeor, earning him the name Gog Gronnslayer. With evidence of the Gronn being slain, fear of the Ogron vanished, and the rebellious Ogres fell upon the Ogron in massive groups, tumbling them to the earth and tearing them apart. Gog and his Ogres drove the remaining Ogron from the city, fleeing into the wilderness, and claimed the city as their own. Gog was named Gorgog, 'King Gog.' The city became Goria, the 'Throne of the King.'

When the fighting was done, the Arakkoa quickly and quietly moved into Goria to begin searching for Apexis artifacts. Gorgog put a quick end to that, however. Gorgog was aware that Yonzi and his followers had only ought to use the Ogres as a weapon, and that it had been Ogre blood and toil that had earned them their freedom from the Ogron. As a sorcerer himself now, he had no intention of giving away a potential source of power. Gorgog banished the Arakkoa from the new Ogre lands. The Arakkoa were furious, and days later, Yonzi returned at the head of an attack seeking to claim the city by force. Gorgog and his newly-trained apprentices were ready for him however, and the attack was thwarted and Yonzi was captured. His death did not come quickly.

After the Gorian Empire's founding, Ogre civilization began to spread across Draenor. Goria became the central hub of a vast trading network building around the Zangar Sea. New Ogre cities such as Highmaul, Bladespire and Gordal sprang up across Draenor. Though the Ogres were not focused upon conquest, large swathes of land fell under their dominion as they expanded. Goria continued to serve as the Empire's capital, and aspiring Ogre sorcerers from all across Draenor traveled to the city to learn from the city's master mages. Goria would remain the Capital of the Gorian Empire for six centuries, over which time a succession of Sorcerer-Kings ruled the greatest civilization on Draenor.

When orcs of the Shadowmoon clan learned to peacefully commune with the elements at the Throne of the Elements, becoming the first orcish shaman, the Ogres first sneered at this power, believing it only peasant trickery to make the wind blow a little stronger or the fire burn a little hotter. When the ogres of the Gorian Empire witnessed the power of the shaman first hand however, they were astounded to see Orcs turning away flash floods and wildfires and decided to take this elemental power by force. The Gorian leader of the day, Imperator Molok, sent an army to drive away the orcs and claim the Throne of the Elements for the empire.

The ogres eagerly and carelessly dissected the Throne with their arcane spellwork, ignorant to the mix of raw Titan and elemental power that lingered in the remains the Elemental Giant Grond. One day, the dissonance between the ogres' magic and Grond's residual energies ignited an explosion that blew apart the temple the orcs had carved from the giant's skull and killed every Gorian sorcerer inside the structure, leaving behind only a few standing stones. This disaster threw the elements out of balance all across Draenor, but as Molok simply sent more sorcerers to continue their heedless tampering with the Throne, the orcs were driven to action and united into a single army to wage war on the ogres.

Total war engulfed Draenor as highly mobile bands of Orc raiders began strategically disassembling Goria's overland trade networks.