Kingdom of Suramar

**Kingdom of Suramar** is nestled in the eponymous region on the Broken Isles. It is strewn with lush and colorful flora, covering almost every cliff and crevice. Ancient Highborne towns cover much of the landscape, now inhabited by fouler creatures.

Suramar is the realm of the nightborne, led by their Grand Magistrix, Elisande, following the fall of the Kaldorei Empire. Its capital is Suramar City, almost all of the roads in Suramar lead here.

## History

### War of the Ancients

The War of the Ancients brought with it a great deal of change, both for the night elf race and Elisande's Highborne. Through a desire for greater power, Queen Azshara and the Highborne in the capital of Zin-Azshari allied themselves with the demon lord Sargeras and his Burning Legion. Having aided in the creation of a portal for the Legion to reach Azeroth, the queen and her retainers watched as the demons began spread across the kaldorei nation, destroying all they encountered.

Although Elisande and her Highborne associates in Suramar remained loyal to Queen Azshara, they became increasingly troubled as the Legion's invasion continued. Looking to the vast destruction caused by the demons, Elisande grew to deeply distrust them, fearing that their actions were not in the night elves' best interests. Eventually, she discovered that the Legion planned to create a large gateway to the Twisting Nether within Suramar itself. Elisande was horrified at this development; if the portal were opened, innumerable demon reinforcements would spill into Azeroth and quickly overwhelm the Kaldorei Resistance that was attempting to withstand the Legion's onslaught. It was Elisande's belief that the gateway would also destroy the city and its inhabitants in the process, and resolved to act.

Suramar was the location of the Temple of Elune, the central place of worship for the night elves. The high priestess of Elune lived in the temple. The Boughs of Azshara, Izal-Shurah and Arauk-Nashal were also located here.

The city was attacked and ravaged by the Burning Legion. Suramar was subsequently used by the nathrezim in an experiment to create an army of the undead, an experiment which laid the groundwork for the Scourge ten thousand years later. The Burning Legion attempted to open a second portal besides the one at the Well of Eternity in the Temple of Elune in order to attack the night elves on two fronts. The resident Highborne used the Pillars of Creation to close the portal and put several seals on the temple. The Wild God Ashamane battled the pit lord Ronokon in Val'sharah just outside Suramar and sacrificed her life to kill him. In doing so, she was able to buy the elves the time they needed to craft a shield around their city.

Most of Suramar was blasted to the bottom of the Great Sea during the Sundering. However, some of it remained above shore in the Broken Isles due to the efforts of the resident Highborne, who crafted a magical shield that kept a section of their city together. This shield would stay up for 10,000 years, as the Highborne believed the world outside of Suramar City had been destroyed. Under their shield they would evolve into the Nightborne, reliant on their source of power, the Nightwell. While the city was shielded, it was next to impossible for normal Nightborne to leave, though some illegally did through skillful navigation or by forced exile. Much later, dwarves recovered a Highborne Astrolabe from the undersea ruins of Suramar.

The sunk Temple of Elune in Suramar City was later used by the Guardian Aegwynn to hold the physical remains, Jeweled Scepter, and Eye of Sargeras, which led to the building's more familiar designation, the Tomb of Sargeras.