Hello my loyal followers, welcome to the start of a fic series (Yes, you read right) that I hope will be very successful. The series is a Warcraft/RWBY crossover that overall will be known as The Hour of Twilight and will be split into five different volumes. This fic however, is not part of the five. This is more of a history book of sorts, meant to lay out the lore for this AU, and believe me, it's quite heavily AU, so much so that I felt the need to write this in the first place. For Warcraft fans think of it like the WoW Chronicle but not as big, and for RWBY fans think of it like an extended session of World of Remnant. If it helps with reading this, then I would definitely listen to some ambient WoW or RWBY music, to help set the mood. Now, on with the show!
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Chapter One: Primordial Remnant
In the beginning, there was Light and Void. The Light was benevolent in nature, spreading waves of endless joy across the Great Dark Beyond. In stark contrast, the Void was a force of darkness, vampiric in nature, it sucked the life out of all living things in its path, causing stars to sizzle out and die. For eternity, these two forces, opposite sides of the same coin, clashed endlessly, neither gaining nor losing ground in their timeless conflict. These conflicts were chaotic in nature, the Light and Void bleeding together to cause cosmic explosions, rupturing the very fabric of creation.
It was within these explosions that the Universe as we know it, was born.
In the greatest of these events, matter fused together, creating worlds of endless numbers. But it was one of these worlds that stood out, one that was different, even to those that contained the slumbering spirit of a Titan. A world with a semi-shattered Moon, a world called Remnant.
Remnant for the most part, was like any other world. Like all other worlds, it was dominated by the four Elemental Spirits; Air, Earth, Fire and Water. These primal beings could do great good, but they could also do great evil, and a darkness had seeped into their hearts and turned their thoughts to destruction. For when Remnant first began to form, something terrible had been locked inside. A spark of Void energy had found its way to the centre of the world, and there it began to fester.
As previously stated, the Void was vampiric and needed to feed, and it found a suitable source of food inside the young world. As mentioned, the four Elemental Spirits ruled, but as with all worlds, they were balanced by the fifth Element: the Spirit of Life. If the Spirit of Life was overwhelming, the Elements were passive and lacked form, but conversely, if the Spirit of Life was too weak, the Elements were destructive and chaotic. And the Void Spark had devoured much of the fifth Element.
With no Spirit of Life to counter them, the four Elements raged cataclysmic wars with one another. Remnant was their battleground, and the leaders of the Elementals were extremely destructive. Ragnaros, known as the Firelord, was brash and impulsive, charging headlong into battle and crushing the bodies of lesser Elementals with his great Hammer, Sulfuras. Al'Akir, known as the Windlord, lacked the physical strength of the other Elementals, but he was cunning, pitting his foes against one another and striking them down when he was confident he could win. Therazane, known as the Stonemother, was patient, taking refuge in her mountain citadels and crashing down upon her hapless enemies like an avalanche. Neptulon, known as the Tidehunter, was wise and cunning, often drowning his enemies beneath great tidal waves when his foes were too concerned with one another to notice his scheming.
And so, the Elemental War continued unabated, each battle fought changing the face of Remnant as it is known today. That is, until the arrival of a new challenger, hailing from the stars: the Titan Pantheon.
The Titans were born from slumbering spirits known as World Souls, found throughout numerous planets within the Great Dark Beyond. They travelled the cosmos, bringing balance and order to the Universe in the hopes of awakening more of their kin. When they came across Remnant, they saw a world in distress. Whilst it did not house a World Soul, it was their duty to nurture the world regardless, in the hopes that life would one day flourish.
As they tried to calm the raging Elements on Remnant, they were puzzled at how aggressive the Spirits were. No matter how hard they tried to calm the Elements, they always resisted. Immediately, they knew that something was wrong with the Planet, but set about trying to calm the Elements first before investigating. After an age of conflict, the Titans finally succeeded in calming the Elements, segregating them across the world in four different locales.
Ragnaros the Firelord claimed the western Deserts of the continent Sanus, whilst Therazane the Stonemother claimed the rocky eastern reaches of the same landmass. Neptulon the Tidehunter claimed the craggy coasts of the continent Animus as his domain, and Al'Akir the Windlord claimed the polar caps of the northern continent of Solitas.
With the Elementals in check, the Pantheon began to investigate the cause of the strife, and were troubled by what they found. Deep within the world was a Void Spark, which had grown fat and volatile from the strife of the Elemental War, and had nearly consumed the entirety of the fifth Element. At this time in history, the Pantheon knew not of the deadly intent of the Void Lords, the masters behind this dark power, but knew they could not stand by and let the corruption fester.
So, as they placed their great machines and forges on the world, they also created two beings known as Titan-Forged, beings of immense strength and power. The first was called 'Jacovitch', a metal skinned Aesir, whilst the second was called 'Wilhym', a stone skinned Vanir. Their charge was to watch the world and made sure that life flourished, whilst their second charge was to keep vigil on the Void Spark that had now become dormant, and take necessary action should it resurface.
Before leaving, the Pantheon called upon one of the Constellar, a celestial race that was perhaps as old, if not older, then the Titans themselves. They instructed one of their number to safeguard Remnant, and protect it from both internal and external threats. And so the Pantheon left, leaving the ordering of the world to the two Titan-Forged.
For millennia, the two Titan-Forged watched over the world from their citadels, watching both as myriad life-forms began to flourish, whilst also watching out for any resurgence of the Void. Eventually, two notable races emerged, two races that immediately piqued the interest of the two Titan-Forged: Trolls and Humans.
The Trolls were tall creatures, and savage too. They flocked together in small communities called 'Tribes', and were by far the more common of the two races. Whilst Trolls were of average intelligence, they were both cunning and strong, even bringing stronger and more savage beasts to heel. Perhaps the most peculiar fact though, is their uncanny ability to regenerate at a rapid rate, including in some cases, regrowing entire amputated body parts.
On the other hand, Humans were at the time, meek creatures, hiding in the shadows lest they become hunted. Despite this however, the Humans had a knack for building tools, and were infamously adaptive, even creating small wooden settlements, the very first Human villages.
At the sight of the two species, the Titan-Forged made it their charge to watch over the races, believing that these two species, whilst completely different, could help forge the world into a greater place in the cosmos. But the Titan-Forged weren't the only ones to notice the two new species, for they had also earned the ire of the Elemental Lords.
The Four Lords met in secret, discussing the arrival of these new races, as well as what it meant for them. They came to the ultimatum that the Titan-Forged would gift these new races their lands, lands that had rightfully belonged to them before these foreign invaders claimed it. And so the Elements set out to undo all that the Titans had created.
A new Elemental War began, but this time, the Elements fought united against Humanity and Troll-kind. Raging tempests brought down the wrath of the heavens on the primitive races, raging infernos consumed flesh and bone, earthquakes swallowed entire villages and tsunamis snuffed out the sparks of life.
The Titan-Forged were quick to do battle, destroying the forms of many Elementals, but in the end they were two against infinity. The Elemental Lords themselves dealt the killing blows, Jacovitch's metal form being pinned down by the Stonemother's rocks whilst the Tidehunter drowned him, and Wilhym being plucked from the earth by one of Al'Akir's tornadoes before being burned alive by the flames of Ragnaros.
With their defenders dead, nothing could hold back the stem of the Elements. And with this new conflict emerged a new more well known threat. With the conflict renewed, the Void Spark reignited, spurred on by the panic of the two races. The Void soon began to seep through the worlds crust, causing physical manifestations to appear. These manifestations took on many shapes and forms, but all were drawn to negative emotions like moths to a flame, and left only death in their wake. They were the Creatures of Grimm, and they were the very will of the Void.
And so it was that Humanity and Troll-kind were embroiled in a war on two fronts, facing off against both the Elements and the new threat of the Grimm. In these times, both cultures would deal with the conflict in their own ways, even forgetting the existence of one another.
The Trolls realised that divided, they would stand no chance against the Elementals and the Grimm, and so united under the banner of the wise and powerful Zandalari Tribe, and migrated over the vast oceans to the island continent of Menagerie, where they built the impressive stone city known as Zuldazar. They were constantly harassed by the Elementals and the Grimm, but their impressive stonework, and their new knowledge of a dark and mystical art known as 'voodoo', allowed them to live on.
The Humans however, carried on to live as they always did. Their small settlements were always alert, watching out for both raging Elementals and Grimm. Some small tribes did unite together, but never on the same scale as the Trolls did.
For a time, it seemed as though the Elemental Lords would get their way...were it not for the change of heart of four Elemental Spirits known, quite ironically, as the Furies. Gordawg, Fury of Earth, Aborius, Fury of Water, Incineratus, Fury of Fire, and Kalandrios, Fury of Air, rebelled against their masters, fearing that the extinction of the mortal races would lead to grave consequences.
Any initial attempt to communicate with the flesh and blood races were unsuccessful, the Trolls regarding them with open hostility whilst the Humans merely fled from their presence. Their luck changed however in the aftermath of dire circumstances.
Whilst traversing the world, they came across a small Human settlement that was being ravaged by the Grimm. The Furies leapt into combat, using their awesome powers to crush the Grimm, but it was seemingly too late. All in the village had been slaughtered to the last babe...all except one. They had discovered the crying body of an infant boy, who had been successfully hidden by the Humans. Realising that there was no greater opportunity, the Furies took the child in as their own.
They retreated to their sanctuary, known as the Throne of the Elements, and they taught the child how to master the Elements. They taught the child how to use the Elements to both preserve and to destroy, and as he grew, so too did his mastery.
Finally, when they believed the child to be ready, they taught him the groundwork for a powerful spell, that would rip the Elementals from their plane of existence and exile them to a realm fitting of their nature, whilst also providing Humanity with a weapon with which to combat the Grimm. No Elemental would be able to escape the spell, and this fact frightened the child. He knew that if all Elementals were affected, then so too would the Furies.
The Furies however, reassured the child, telling him that as long as he remembers them, they will never leave him. Confident in his decision, he began to cast the great spell, but it did not go unnoticed. The Elemental Lords felt the rush of magic ready to engulf their armies, and converged on the source. There, the Furies did battle with the Elemental Lords, but they could only delay, not vanquish. As the Furies physical forms were destroyed, their essence and minds melded with the child, giving him more strength to call upon.
And as the Elemental Lords prepared to invoke their full wrath upon the child, he finished the spell, ripping the Elementals from all over the worlds into the Elemental Planes we now know as; the Firelands, the Skywall, Deepholm and the Abyssal Maw. As the Elemental Lords were vanquished, the child discovered four curious relics in their place.
In the wake of Al'Akir, he saw the power of knowledge, flowing around within a metal orb like a swirling storm. Where Ragnaros once stood, he saw the power of Destruction, great flames coursing through the cage, threatening to break free. In Therazane's place, he saw the power to create, grains of dirt forming small mounds of earth, ready to be forged into many things. And where Neptulon had been banished, he saw the power to choose, water teeming in and out of its metal cage.
As he observed the Relics, the voice of the Furies spoke to him, telling him that these four Relics were not only a gift to Humanity, but also a burden. With them came great power, but if shattered, they will release the Elements from their prison, and this time, there would be nothing to stop them. And so, the child entered exile, choosing to live a life of solitude in order to protect Humanity from its greatest enemy: itself.
Across the world, where Elementals had fallen, there were strange crystals in their wake. Humanity began to gather this strange substance, and soon discovered the latent power within. Using this new-found 'Dust', Humanity quickly began to find ways to combat the creatures of Grimm, and Humanity would rise from the ashes of war, and flourish for many years to come.
As Humanity began to leave the shadows, the child watched, forever guarding the relics. As time passed, he began to know only bitterness and sorrow, the only family he had ever known taken from him. And so he remained much the same, until by chance, he was greeted by four young Maidens.
