Approximately 7,300 years ago, the ideological rift between the Highborne and the Night Elves regarding the use of arcane magic became increasingly irreconcilable.
DathRemar Sunstrider, the leader of the Highborne at the time, decided to break free from the pervasive oversight of the Night Elves and led his people across the sea away from Kalimdor under the guise of exile.
After enduring many hardships on the Great Sea, the Highborne fleet finally reached the Eastern Kingdoms—then a wild land—landing at Tirisfal Glades, where they remained for about 500 years.
Deprived of the magic supply from the Well of Eternity, the Highborne began to exhibit varying degrees of mana addiction symptoms.
Elves in a state of magic thirst would have their sanity gradually consumed by an endless hunger, subconsciously absorbing any energy they could come into contact with.
According to the historical records of Quel'Thalas, some powerful evil entity seemed to be buried beneath Tirisfal Glades, and the woods were permeated year-round with dangerous energies that the Highborne of that time could not yet understand.
Ignoring Dath'Remar's warnings, some Highborne who were suffering deeply from mana addiction absorbed an alien energy later known as the Void into their bodies to alleviate their torment.
This energy called the Void was laced with obscure whispers.
Under the subtle influence of these whispers, the dark emotions in the hearts of the Highborne were gradually magnified.
The wise leader Dath'Remar noticed the anomaly and established a special task force to investigate the source.
This special team was composed entirely of elusive Rogues. They successfully completed the task entrusted to them by Dath'Remar, and after many inquiries, they finally learned the source of the dark power.
Zakajz.
Upon learning of the hidden dangers buried in this land, Dath'Remar, who had long intended to leave, finally made up his mind. He led his people away from the glades where they had lived for centuries, followed the traces of magic flow, and continued northward across the continent.
The history that followed is something even High Elf children can recite from memory.
Dath'Remar and his followers blazed a trail through the Amani forest, which was full of Trolls, and discovered a ley line hub at its northern tip.
Dath'Remar poured the water from the Well of Eternity he had long kept in his collection into the small lake at the center of the ley line hub.
According to historical records, the entire sky of Azeroth was lit up by a soaring brilliance of magic, and the surging arcane power left all the Highborne present ecstatic.
They had finally found a home that truly belonged to them.
From then on, the Highborne took root in the Amani forest.
Dath'Remar discarded the title of Highborne, calling himself a High Elf, and personally renamed their new home Eversong Forest. That small lake filled with infinite magic was also named the Sunwell.
Over thousands of years of change, the team that had assisted Dath'Remar in the secret investigation of the Void energy source did not disband.
Under the frantic counterattacks of the Amani Trolls trying to reclaim their ancestral holy land, the newborn Quel'Thalas faced immense pressure. That group of elite Rogues was given more responsibilities during the continuous wars.
Infiltration, intelligence gathering, and assassination—the original investigation team gradually evolved into the secret intelligence department exclusive to the Sunstrider Royal Family.
Its name was the Blade of the Reverse Light.
The Deepshadow Family, to which Ael'tharion belonged, was one of the key backbones supporting the Blade of the Reverse Light. The current leader of the Blade of the Reverse Light was Ael'tharion's uncle, Viscount Verlais Deepshadow, whom the bullet chat had mentioned before.
Ael'tharion's father, Julian, while being a Farstrider, was also one of the unknown secret members of the Blade of the Reverse Light, primarily responsible for gathering intelligence for the Sunstrider Royal Family.
Due to their special duties, descendants of the Deepshadow Family would generally consciously choose Rogue as their primary combat class.
Within the last three generations, only Ael'tharion, an outlier, chose to become a Warrior.
Although Ael'tharion had no interest in political struggles, being in the environment of Quel'Thalas and a member of the prestigious Deepshadow noble family, he inevitably came into contact with some secret news unknown to the general public.
For example, the increasingly fierce internal strife within the upper echelons of Quel'Thalas.
To express gratitude to the Highborne nobles who had followed him through hardships to establish the new nation without regret, the first Sun King, Dath'Remar Sunstrider, established the Silvermoon Convocation, sharing a portion of the power that originally belonged to the royal family with the nobles who were loyal to him.
The first generation of Silvermoon Convocation members were all devoted followers of Dath'Remar; if Dath'Remar said one, they would never say two.
But as the first Sun King and the first generation of councilors passed away one after another, their successors did not cooperate sincerely as DathRemar had hoped; instead, they opposed each other over matters of interest.
In the eyes of families like the Deepshadows, who remained loyal to the Sunstrider Royal Family, the Silvermoon Convocation had now become a tumor hindering the development of Quel'Thalas.
Unless they encountered an urgent crisis like the Horde invasion, the daily work of the Silvermoon Convocation was to veto the decrees proposed by the Sun King.
Regardless of whether the decree was correct or beneficial to the people and the nation, most councilors would vote blindly just to demonstrate the Convocation's restriction on royal power.
And that wasn't even the worst of it.
Whenever the slightest voice of dissatisfaction with national policy appeared in the kingdom, certain councilors would unhesitatingly shift the blame onto the Sunstrider Royal Family while they stood aside, sneering and watching the show.
Simply put, the upper echelons of Quel'Thalas were now clearly divided into two factions.
Namely, the Royalist Party led by the Sunstrider Royal Family, and the Silvermoon Convocation... or rather, the Republicans representing the interests of the high nobility.
Dath'Remar probably never dreamed that the Silvermoon Convocation he personally established to assist the royal family in governing would grow into an uncontrollable force in the future.
In a struggle involving the supreme power of Quel'Thalas, there were bound to be countless sordid deeds behind the scenes.
The Blade of the Reverse Light had become increasingly active in recent years, and Julian Deepshadow, burdened with two roles, was often too busy to return home.
Regarding the Horde invasion, although some things had been kept secret, those who knew the inside story could see something was amiss.
Lirath: "Mother, Sylvanas, and Vereesa have always had their suspicions."
"Why were the Orc Warlocks able to easily find the Ban'dinoriel runestones buried in secret locations?"
The Ban'dinoriel barrier is the shield protecting Quel'Thalas, powered by the Sunwell and possessing extremely powerful effects.
Once inside the barrier, any spellcaster will be completely silenced, eliminating the possibility of enemies using spells.
The runestones that constitute Ban'dinoriel are very important; they are all buried deep beneath the ground where the ley line nodes are located, and three outposts were specifically built for defense.
These three outposts are the Sanctum of the Moon, the Sanctum of the Sun, and the Morningstar Tower.
Sunwell Village was already in sight. To avoid alerting the enemy, Ael'tharion and Lirath dismounted their birds and proceeded on foot while still some distance from the village.
"That Orc Warlock named Guldan precisely located the Sanctum of the Sun and the Sanctum of the Moon, directing the Horde's army to break through these two defensive outposts, dig up the buried runestones, and corrupt them with vile spells."
"With two of the three main pillars lost, the remaining Morningstar Tower could not hold out alone, and the Ban'dinoriel barrier subsequently collapsed."
Although Ael'tharion preferred using his hands over his brain, it didn't mean he was stupid.
Lirath's purposeful and leading words made Ael'tharion subconsciously follow his line of thought and think deeply.
"Are you saying a traitor revealed the weaknesses of the Ban'dinoriel barrier to the Horde?"
Lirath nodded with a grave expression: "That's the only way it makes sense."
"The principles of a Warlock's spellcasting are completely different from those of an Arcanist; essentially, they rely on demonic power rather than studying the essence of things like arcane magic does."
"It's not that I look down on Guldan, but a spellcasting class like a Warlock that relies on external power simply cannot compare to arcane magic when it comes to tracing things back to their source."
"I don't believe Guldan found the runestones on his own. There must be something fishy behind this."
Ael'tharion narrowed his eyes slightly and asked Lirath thoughtfully, "So, Vereesa going out alone wasn't just to contact the Ranger units in the northern forest, but her more important task was to find clues left behind by the traitor and the Horde?"
Bingo~