User:GoldenYak/Twilight's Hammer of Northrend

UNDER CONSTRUCTION related to Spider Kingdom Expansion Concept

The Twilight's Hammer clan (a.k.a. Twilight's Hammer, Hammer clan, Twilight's Hammer cult, or Twilight Cult) refers to a single organization. It later expanded into a cult as the clan's surviving members and members of other races joined together. The Twilight Hammer's current members banded together to study Cho'Gall's teachings and form the current cult. The cult arrived in the icy land of Northrend after Illidan Stormrage used sorcery in an attempt to tear apart Icecrown and destroy the then-bodiless Lich King, Ner'zhul. The destructive magic unleashed by the renegade sorcerer awoke dark things hidden deep beneath the frozen land, and the Twilight's Hammer soon heeded their call.

History
Beneath the Storm Peaks, the Old God Yogg-Saron was nearly ready to escape from his prison, and the Twilight's Hammer gathered to work his will.

The Northrend Sect
The Twilight's Hammer has also made a presence in Northrend inhabiting the Dungeon of Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom deep in Azjol-Nerub. They appear to be drawn by the presence of the Old God Yogg-Saron and the Faceless Ones which serve him and seek to bring about their dark plans. They established Twilight strongholds deep in the Old Kingdom and Ulduar, scheming to free their patron Old God from his prison. Their plans were foiled by agents of the Alliance and the Horde, but not all of the cult members were accounted for.

In the Wake of the Cataclysm
While their brothers follow Deathwing in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, the remaining Twilight's Hammer of Northrend heed a different call. Their leader, Velius, has re-organized the cult in the wake of the defeat of Yogg-Saron at Ulduar, and all of the Hammer's resources are being devoted to seizing territory and strongholds previously occupied by the Iron Dwarves and the Scourge.

Twilight Master Velius
Click here for a full biography.

Velius was an adherent of the Twilight's Hammer cult in Northrend and a devout worshipper of Yogg-Saron, the Beast With a Thousand Maws. He became fascinated studying prisoners of the Scourge that had been forced to mine saronite, and how over time the prisoners became driven mad by the voice of Yogg-Saron. Inspired by visions of the dragon Deathwing's metal armor, Velius crafted his own armor from saronite, and grafted it directly onto his flesh, using refined liquid saronite to seal the bond.

The pain was beyond endurance, and Velius lapsed into a coma once the process was complete. It seemed like he would never awaken, until the unthinkable occured - agents of the Alliance and the Horde penetrated the defenses of Ulduar and slew Yogg-Saron himself in the Old God's prison. Before Yogg-Saron fell, he howled out a terrible curse in the eldritch tongue of the Old Gods:

yell

As Yogg-Saron died, Velius awoke. By some dark miracle, the ritual had succeeded - the black blood of Yogg-Saron had become his own living metallic flesh. Over time, the armor has grown, overtaking more of his body and replacing it with living metal. As the transformation progresses, Velius becomes more and more powerful. Velius has led the Twilight's Hammer cult in Northrend to reform and expand their numbers since the death of Yogg-Saron. His forces are targeting Iron Dwarf strongholds and Scourge holdings, any region of Northrend that contains large amounts of saronite.

Twilight Commander Stonekiller
A taunka Twilight commander in Howling Fjord, overseeing the salvage of Iron Dwarf holdings in that region, as well as the new mining operations exploiting saronite deposits. He is entrenched the Twilight Ravine, the new stronghold of the Twilight's Hammer in the Fjord, where he is finally confronted and slain.

Twilight Arcanist Zin'fanel
The Twilight commander in Borean Tundra, she is overseeing the Hammer's efforts to disrupt the ley lines around Coldarra. She later attempts to secure blue dragon remains, hoping to accomplish both her mission and one-upping Xarosan in his efforts in Dragonblight. She is opposed in her efforts by a joint force of blue dragons and mages of the Kirin Tor, led by Madra of the blue flight. Madra finally succeeds in driving Zin'fanel and her forces from Coldarra, forcing her to retreat back to Icecrown.

Together with her brother Fin'zanel in Icecrown, Zin'fanel attempted to capture the remains of Sindragosa and transform them into a powerful wychwyrm. Seemingly acting under the influence of the mysterious Malevolence that haunts Azeroth's ley line network, Zin'fanel attacked Sindragosa's Rest with a powerful wychwyrm named Indragos. When this scheme failed, she and her brother were forced to retreat once again.

After the Twilight's Hammer captures the Pit of Saron, Zin'fanel seems to lose herself completely to worship of the Malevolence. She is finally slain by enemies of the Twilight's Hammer, though her brother escapes death.

Twilight Lord Xarosan
A night elf and former highborn, Xarosan joined the Twilight's Hammer shortly before the Cataclysm tore the world apart. Xarosan is present in Dragonblight and is overseeing the efforts of the Twilight's Hammer to excavate the dragon bones there, as part of a joint venture with Scourge remnants in the region.

Xarosan seeks to master the art of necromancy and raise the remains of dragons as Wychwyrms, a new form of undead dragon fueled by vast amounts of arcane energy. The Twilight's Hammer has targeted Coldarra and the remains of the blue dragonflight's Nexus there as a source of arcane energy. However, Xarosan has little love for arcanist Zin'fanel, the Twilight's Hammer sub-commander of the Borean Tundra.

Twilight Lord Urizen
A Forsaken warlock, Urizen is the leader of the Twilight's Hammer in Zul'Drak. Urizen has come to spread the gospel of the dark gods to the Drakkari, in the wake of the frost trolls mass murder of their animal gods. Working with the frost trolls, the Hammer has remade the temple of Gundrak into a massive twilight portal, and Urizen is planning on bringing through the gigantic Faceless One Zildrohar the Traveler.

After resurrecting the slain animal gods of the trolls as dark, twisted mockeries of their former selves, Urizen succeeded in opening a vast portal at Gundrak. However, before Zildrohar could pass through the portal and manifest himself fully, heroes of the Alliance and the Horde arrived with support from the Zandalari and the Argent Crusade. Working together, they managed to drive Zildrohar back through the portal, reversing it and causing it to draw in Urizen and all of his forces.

Urizen survives in the Twilight Realm and returns to menace Azeroth in Icecrown. Trapped between worlds, Urizen appears as a bodiless spectre and lures many Faceless Ones from the depths of Icecrown to attack the Shadow Vault. At the Pit of Saron he was dragged back to the Azerothian plane and ultimately killed.

Dark Master Zorc
An orc warlock who leads the Hammer's forces in Sholazar Basin, seeking to secure the great pillars and the energies of the Titans. Zorc attempts to use the Faceless One allies of the Twilight's Hammer to destroy all of Sholazar from below, but his efforts are thwarted by Watcher Freya of Ulduar, with the aid of heroes from the Alliance and the Horde. Zorc is forced to withdraw from Sholazar, and retreats back to the Hammer's base of operations in Icecrown.

Furious at his defeat in Sholazar, Zorc turns his rage upon the Ashen Verdict in Icecrown. Eventually he captures the Pit of Saron alongside the rest of the Twilight's Hammer lieutenants, though like them he is eventually defeated and killed by heroes from the Horde and the Alliance.

Forgemaster Balehammer
Leader of the Twilight forces in Storm Peaks, he is in charge of all salvage operations involving forming holdings of the Iron Dwarves, and the assimilation of their technology into the Twilight's Hammer war machine. After discovering that the Iron Dwarves, who went into stasis at the moment of Yogg-Saron's defeat, can be reanimated when they are infused with liquid saronite, Balehammer turns all of his forces efforts towards acquiring more of the evil substance. Finally, Balehammer manages to secure the Temple of Wisdom, former sanctuary of the corrupted watcher Loken, where a vrykul named Sara teaches him the secret of how the Iron Dwarves were first created.

Balehammer is later encountered deep within Ulduar, at the Prison of Yogg-Saron. The Old God's immense carcass has almost completely degraded into rotten saronite, Balehammer was able to extract a sample of pure saronite before he was forced to retreat by the watchers of Ulduar.

Balehammer reappears in Icecrown, where he attempts to create iron dwarves using saronite gathered from all over Northrend. His earliest efforts are unsuccessful, and the iron dwarves he creates eventually break down and die. After securing the Pit of Saron and the superior saronite forges there, he successfully creates a powerful iron giant made of saronite called Dread Iron. Though he was slain and Dread Iron rendered inert, Balehammer claimed that the secrets he had uncovered had already been passed on to others.

Spiderlord Tarantulax
A nerubian champion from the Spider Kingdom of Azjol-Nerub. He is the leader of the Hammer's forces in Crystalsong forest, where he is rallying both Twilight cultists and living nerubians for an attack against the Kirin Tor of Dalaran. He is slain by bombing runs conducted by the Horde and the Alliance against the Twilight forces in Crystalsong.

Twilight Thaumaturge Fin'zanel
The brother of arcanist Zin'fanel. He has been outdone by his sister his entire life and loathes her completely, longing for the opportunity to finally prove himself superior. He has been forced into a role subordinate to her at Coldarra.

After Zin'fanel is killed in the Pit of Saron, Fin'zanel retreats, vowing to continue the plans she had set in motion. It is unclear at this time whether or not Fin'zanel has become an agent of the Malevolence like his sister, or he is still working for the Twilight's Hammer.