Timeline

This is a compilation of events in the setting. No one will individually know all events here, but it will be filled out as the story continues. All dating is based on the opening of the Dark Portal, but this is not necessarily how people within the setting would view the world. Within the Alliance, much of the surviving leadership out of Stormwind still uses the King's Calendar as is tradition.

Before the Dark Portal

• -147,000 (speculative) — The Titans arrive.
• c. -100,000 — The Titan facility now known as Bael Modan is in operation under the guidance of the Titan Khaz'goroth. Acheras the Custodian serves as its labratory assistant and information repository. Troggs, as a failed project, are entombed here due to their brutality.
• -64,001 — The Titans depart. They empower the dragonflights to protect the world and the Well of Eternity.
• c. -12,000 — Eldre'Thalas, known as Dire Maul thousands of years later, is built to house Queen Azshara's most prized arcane secrets. The Shen'dralar reside here.
• -10,000 — War of the Ancients: the Kaldorei Resistance versus the Burning Legion and Queen Azshara's loyalists.
• -9,999 — The Sundering breaks Kalimdor into separate land masses, sinking large stretches of the Kaldorei Empire. Queen Azshara and her Highborne are lost beneath the waves, while the resistance escaped northwest toward Hyjal.
• -9,999 — Illidan recreates the Well of Eternity at the summit of Hyjal.
• -7,300 — The remaining Highborne are banished from night elven society.
• -6,800 — The Highborne settle in what later becomes Quel'Thalas. They rename themselves Quel'dorei or "high elves".
• c. -5,000 — Draenei begin working the fields of Draenor.
• c. -3,000 — A violent earthquake shakes the Stonetalon Mountains, levelling some mountains and building up new ones. Twelve massive, mysterious stone columns arch out of the ground now and appear as ribs. These are later known as the Bones of the Earth Mother and become sacred to tauren shamans.
• -2,800 — Humanity is united as the Empire of Arathor. With the high elves in the Troll Wars, the power of the Amani trolls is shattered.
• c. -2,500 — The earthen awaken in Uldaman, their rocky hides having become skin. They rename themselves "dwarves" and venture out into the world. They find the tallest mountain in the area and name it Khaz Modan, or "Mountain of Khaz", in honor of the Titan, Khaz'goroth. They construct an altar to Khaz'goroth in the form of a forge. The city that grows around it becomes known as Ironforge.
• -1,200 — The Empire of Arathor begins breaking up.
• c. -970 — War of the Shifting Sands: silithid and qiraji swarm across Silithus. The night elves and dragonflights are unable to defeat them fully, but are able to seal them away.
• -581 (1 King's Calendar) — The Kingdom of Stormwind is founded.
• c. -500 — The high elven Farstriders are formed, whose roots stretched back to the Troll Wars.
• -230 — War of the Three Hammers: upon the death of High King Modimus Anvilmar, civil war breaks out among the Bronzebeard, the Dark Iron, and the Wildhammer clans. Ironforge is kept by the Bronzebeard clan, but the Wildhammer clan loses Grim Batol due to Dark Iron magic. The Dark Iron clan is beaten back severely and in desperation accidentally summons Ragnaros the Firelord, destroying much of the Redridge Mountains in the process. The Dark Iron clan is subsequently enslaved by Ragnaros, while the Wildhammer clan is forced to relocate its capital to the Hinterlands.
• c. -200 — Goblin Trade Fleets begin sailing the world.
• c. -170 — Night elven Sentinels begin exterminating the satyrs, but this proves fruitless later.
• c. -120 — The Earthen Ring, a group of tauren shamans whose goal it is to keep the elements in check, becomes publicly known.
• -24 (559 King's Calendar) — Aegwynn gives birth to Medivh in the Fall. He is raised in the court of Stormwind by his father, Nielas Aran.
• -19 (564 King's Calendar) — Prince Llane of Stormwind, son of King Wrynn III and Queen Varia, is born.
• -12 (571 King's Calendar) — Medivh reaches his Age of Ascension. His powers awaken, the effects of which reach Northshire Abbey; over one hundred clerics soon arrive. The clerics' abilities and the power of Nielas Aran barely contain Medivh. At the end of the onslaught, Aran lay dead and Medivh was unconscious, barely breathing. Medivh is moved to the Abbey for the safety of both him and the kingdom. During this battle, Medivh inadvertently opened a gateway to Draenor.
• -6 (577 King's Calendar) — Prince Llane reaches his Age of Ascension. Medivh awakens and flies to the keep, giving the prince an hourglass that would never run out until the reign of King Wrynn III failed.

After the Dark Portal

• 1 (583 King's Calendar) — Medivh opens the Dark Portal and the Orcish Horde begins its slow invasion. The land has grown sick over the preceding six years. The hourglass has its last sand trickle to the bottom, at which point orcs crash the gates of Stormwind Keep. Llane and the Queen are sent to Northshire Abbey. King Wrynn III is slain.
• 2 (584 King's Calendar) — Llane is crowned the King of Stormwind at the age of 20. The orcs have made encampments in the Black Morass to the east. Prince Varian Wrynn of Stormwind is born to King Llane and Queen Taria.
• 6 (588 King's Calendar) — Princess Calia Menethil of Lordaeron is born to King Terenas Menethil II and Queen Lianne Menethil.
• 8 (590 King's Calendar) — Prince Arthas Menethil of Lordaeron is born to King Terenas Menethil II and Queen Lianne Menethil.
• 9 (591 King's Calendar) — Jaina Proudmoore of Kul Tiras is born to Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore and Lady Katherine Proudmoore.
• 12 (594 King's Calendar) — Aegwynn returns to Medivh, but realises that he is insane. The two battle, but he defeats his mother and banishes her, leaving her unable to help against him in the future. Two weeks later she informs King Llane that Medivh was responsible for the coming of the orcs. Blackhand becomes Warchief of the Horde and brings proper organisation to the orcs. The First War begins.
• 13 (595 King's Calendar) — Anduin Lothar is freed from the Deadmines after twenty months of captivity.
• 17 (599 King's Calendar) — Orgrim Doomhammer slays Blackhand and becomes Warchief. Medivh is killed by Anduin Lothar and a band of warriors within his tower, leaving the orc warlock Gul'dan comatose from the psychic backlash. King Llane is killed by Garona Halforcen shortly before Stormwind Keep itself falls, effectively ending the First War. Anduin Lothar leads the refugees from Stormwind across the sea to Lordaeron's southern shores.
• 18 (600 King's Calendar) — King Terenas Menethil II of Lordaeron meets with Anduin Lothar and Prince Varian Wrynn of Stormwind. A council of the human nations is called.

• 24 (606 King's Calendar) — On the Eve of Summer, a freak darkness covers the Black Morass. The mages at Nethergarde are unable to discern it, but feel that the rift at the ruins of the Dark Portal is growing. The Bleeding Hollow clan escapes through the Dark Portal back to Draenor.