Blackrock Clan

The **Blackrock Clan** of orcs have a very complex and convoluted history, but remain by and large hostile to the races around them.  They are primary antagonists of the Knights of Ashfall, and a continuing threat to everyone in the Redridge Mountains and the Burning Steppes.

## History

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Due to the events caused by Garrosh Hellscream and Kairozdormu, the history of the Blackrock Clan that we know derives from two separate and distinct timestreams.

The Blackrock Clan of our timestream arrived in Azeroth via the Dark Portal during the First War. They were fierce warriors, led by Blackhand the Destroyer, maddened and crazed by demon blood.

It was during the First War that Orgrim Doomhammer turned on his chief and slaughtered him and the entire Shadow Council, making himself the single source of power and authority. Between the First and Second Wars, Rend and Maim Blackhand, sons of the fallen chief, formed the Black Tooth Grin and split from the Blackrock Clan.

The constant divisions and splits within the Clan are often partially credited with bringing about their defeat at the base of Blackrock Mountain. The Clan went into captivity after the Second War, but some few evaded capture, and either returned to Blackrock Spire, or joined the Black Tooth Grin.

In Orgrim's absence, Rend and Maim renamed the Black Tooth Grin into the Blackrock Clan, and continued its depraved practices, as well as raids across Azeroth and Lordaeron. Following the Third War, the Clan split once more; many Blackrocks traveled to Kalimdor with Thrall to join the New Horde, but some merged with the original Blackrocks in their volcano, becoming the Dark Horde.

That Dark Horde chose their allies poorly, aligning with Deathwing, the Dragonmaw, and Twilight's Hammer. When defeat finally humbled them, the extreme majority of the Dark Horde finally folded into the New Horde, under the iron fist of Garrosh Hellscream.

However, the Blackrocks remaining in the volcano would not remain alone. From the alternate timestream came the Iron Horde, who absorbed their numbers into them and created the Black Iron Offensive. Though their plan to launch a weapon to destroy Stormwind from Blackrock Mountain was thwarted, they remain a credible threat in the Burning Steppes and mountain.

## Interaction with the Knights of Ashfall

First contact between the forces of Ashfall and the Blackrock Clan came about when the Order laid claim to the abandoned Ironwall Keep. During the decommissioning of a portal left in the basement of the Keep, the orcs and the Order got a glimpse of one another, leading the orcs to send out a war party to attempt to drive them out. When that party failed, a larger force arrived to besiege the Keep and slay those within. The Order, along with a detachment from the Shadowtalon Company, repelled the attack and kept the fortress for the Alliance.

Unwilling to accept this defeat, the Blackrock Clan then moved to besiege Pinehold, in Seabreach County. The remaining humans resisted them until the Knights arrived to break the siege and liberate the town. Their commander was slain by Nellea Lennon at the gates of Pinehold.