Black Empire

The prehistoric empire formed and ruled by the Old Gods while they worked to corrupt Azeroth. It enslaved the elements and engaged in endless civil wars, seemingly for the amusement of its masters. Though toppled by the coming of the Almighty Pantheon, it continued to fester in the shadows of Azeroth as the Old Gods enacted their millennia-long plans to escape confinement

## History

### Ancient Times

After slamming into Azeroth from the Great Dark Beyond, the Old Gods embedded themselves in the world's surface and sent their tentacles slithering towards the planet's defenseless core and its nascent World-Soul. As they spread their corruptive influence across the land, two races arose from the organic matter that seeped from their blighted forms: the cunning n'raqi and the resilient aqir. The n'raqi, or "faceless ones", acted as taskmasters, employing the insectoid aqir to build massive citadels and temples around the massive bulks of their Old God masters. The greatest of these bastions was built around Y'Shaarj, the most powerful and wicked of the Old Gods. This burgeoning civilization was located near the center of Azeroth's largest continent, and soon the holdings of Y'Shaarj and the other Old Gods would spread across the world, becoming known as the Black Empire. Massive sacrifices and living buildings filled with void energy were some of the distinguishing features of this shadowy domain.

The rise of the Black Empire did not go unnoticed by the Elemental Lords, who had previously been the only inhabitants of Azeroth. Seeing the Old Ones as a threat to their dominion, for the first time in Azeroth's history, the native spirits of the world united against a common enemy. Ultimately, however, the elementals could not stand against the endless swarms of n'raqi and aqir, and the Old Gods eventually succeeded in enslaving the Elemental Lords. Without the native spirits of the world to hinder the Old Gods' influence, the Black Empire's borders crept over much of the desiccated world. Perpetual twilight descended upon Azeroth, and the world spiraled into an abyss of death and suffering.

The Old Gods constantly fought against each other, through infinite armies that clashed in ceaseless battle. The forces of N'Zoth, led by the C'Thraxxi Warlord Zon'ozz, waged endless war against the forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron and at one point, N'Zoth also lost a great battle to Y'Shaarj in the land now known as the Broken Shore. However, as was so often the case, even defeat ultimately worked in N'Zoth's favor

### Arrival of the Titans

One day, however, the titans arrived with the intention of purging Azeroth of the Old Gods' corruption and saving its growing world-soul. As the titans' bodies were too massive for them to take action directly without risking permanent harm to the planet, they instead crafted the mighty titan-forged — the aesir and the vanir — to do battle in their stead. The titan-forged succeeded in defeating the Elemental Lords and sealing them in an Elemental Plane and destroyed most of the aqiri race, but when they began making their way towards the temple city of Y'Shaarj, the Pantheon feared that the Old God would prove too great a challenge for them. Aman'Thul the Highfather decided to take direct action, despite the risk of inflicting permanent damage to the planet. Thus, he reached down through Azeroth's skies and ripped Y'Shaarj from the surface of the world, tearing the Old God apart and obliterating hundreds of titan-forged in the process. To the titans' horror, a great wound was left in Y'Shaarj's wake, and the world-soul's lifeblood erupted from the scar to roil out across the world. The Pantheon realized that the Old Gods had burrowed far deeper into the surface than anticipated, and they could not risk excising the remaining three Old Ones, lest Azeroth be completely destroyed. Instead, the Pantheon ordered their titan-forged servants to imprison the remaining Old Gods and contain their evil below the earth, rather than outright killing them.

After several long and difficult battles, the titan-forged succeeded in imprisoning N'Zoth, C'Thun and Yogg-Saron where they lay, even after Yogg-Saron unleashed its mighty C'Thraxxi generals. The Black Empire was no more, and for the first time in Azeroth's history, a tentative peace settled over the world.