Under the watchful eyes of the Night Elves, Faldir led his loyal people and ministers to depart Stromgarde and the Arathi Highlands by ship.
The fleet sailed south along a pre-scouted route, eventually settling in the fertile forests south of the Dun Morogh mountains, a place that would later be known as Elwynn Forest.
Faldir was self-aware; the moment he led the royal family south, the history of the Arathor Kingdom came to an end.
He named the new nation established in Elwynn Forest the Kingdom of Stormwind and organized architects to construct a fortress city—Stormwind City—within the mountains in the northwest corner of the forest.
With the demise of the Arathor Empire and the establishment of the Kingdom of Stormwind, the lords of various city-states, who had been closely monitoring the situation in Stromgarde, also adapted to the times, successively declaring themselves kings and establishing their own kingdoms.
The descendants of Ignas Trollbane stubbornly refused to leave the land for which Emperor Thoradin and their ancestors had fought; they re-fortified the dilapidated Stromgarde, renaming it Stromgarde Keep.
With this renovated castle as their base, the descendants of Trollbane established the new Kingdom of Stromgarde, and thus, the pattern of the Seven Human Kingdoms was finally formed.
The split of the Human Empire had little to do with Andreas, but with the official naming of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, the pressure on the town of Helude, led by Brunhilde, suddenly increased.
How could anyone sleep soundly with another's bed beside them? Even if it wasn't within their core territory, the constant presence of such a thorn in the side within Tirisfal Glades made the Menethil royal family very uncomfortable.
Lordaeron organized an army of over 100,000, preparing to decisively defeat the shieldmaidens of Helude and incorporate this gradually developing matriarchal clan into the Kingdom of Lordaeron's territory.
"Hmm..."
After receiving Helude's plea for help, Andreas seemed a bit hesitant.
Although the Night Republic's national strength far surpassed Lordaeron's, he had no intention of openly antagonizing the human kingdoms. If he sent troops to help Brunhilde, it would undoubtedly completely offend the Kingdom of Lordaeron.
After many years of development, Helude's scale was already quite impressive.
They had completely developed the mountainous region in the western Tirisfal Glades, even building a small port town in the western Tirisfal Glades, named Helvir Port.
Putting down the plea for help, Andreas looked up at the others present.
"What do you all think? Should we send troops to support them?"
Shandris, as the military leader, was the first to decline in a businesslike manner: "I do not advocate sending troops across the sea. Leaving aside the cost of this war, our intervention would likely bring great uncertainty to the stable development of the Eastern Kingdoms."
Fandral stepped forward and countered Shandris: "I believe we should help. Since Helude has proactively sought our aid, we can take this opportunity to make demands of them and establish Helude as the Night Republic's first official stronghold in the Eastern Kingdoms."
Andreas nodded noncommittally, turning his gaze to the other two.
"High Priestess and Maiev, what are your opinions?"
Maiev crossed her arms over her chest and thought for a moment: "I agree with Shandris. While gaining an official stronghold in the Eastern Kingdoms is tempting, offending Lordaeron, the most powerful human kingdom, for it might not be worth the cost."
Tyrande pondered for a long while before tentatively asking, "What if we don't consider sending troops, but try to resolve it through diplomatic means?"
"We can contact Quel'Thalas through Celeste's channels and persuade them to jointly pressure Lordaeron through diplomatic channels, forcing them to cease military action."
Fandral shook his head, saying, "It's difficult. Lordaeron has sent an army of 100,000 this time, clearly very determined to remove the thorn that is Helude. I don't believe that pressure from Quel'Thalas alone will make them back down."
Maiev added, "Moreover, Quel'Thalas' relationship with us has been rather delicate in recent years."
"The royal faction, led by Anasterian, maintains close ties with us, but the aristocratic forces, led by the Silvermoon Council, often cause trouble in our maritime trade."
Andreas leaned back slightly in his chair and mused, "As long as Helvir Port is fully opened to Quel'Thalas and they are exempted from a certain degree of cargo taxes, it should be possible to persuade the nobles of the Silvermoon Council by offering concessions."
"Additionally, since the establishment of the Kingdom of Dalaran, they have been repeatedly lobbying our lower and middle-level officials through Quel'Thalas' channels recently."
"They hope to formally establish diplomatic relations with the Night Republic, set up mutual embassies, and deepen exchanges in academia and maritime trade."
Tyrande's eyes gleamed with thought: "That makes it easier. By establishing diplomatic relations with Dalaran, we can further compress Lordaeron's diplomatic space. If we can persuade Kul Tiras, that would be even better."
As a maritime kingdom, the ties between Kul Tiras and the Night Republic were the closest among the human kingdoms.
Initially, when their ships ventured into the sea, they were often harassed by the Zandalar trolls, who were unwilling to see another competitor emerge on the seas.
Andreas unhesitatingly ordered protection for the then-nascent Kul Tiras; the Third Naval Fleet stationed in Azsuna was dispatched, forcing the Zandalar to retreat under the guise of protecting freedom of navigation.
From then on, Kul Tiras naturally attached itself to the Night Republic's powerful support, gradually expanding its shipping routes to the continent of Kalimdor across the sea, becoming the first human city-state to formally establish diplomatic relations with the Night Republic.
With the establishment of the Kingdom of Kul Tiras, both sides were recently preparing to set up mutual embassies, so it should not be difficult to ask Kul Tiras to lend its support.
The members of the High Council unanimously opposed direct military intervention, deeming it the worst possible option.
However, everyone agreed to protect Helude from Lordaeron's military threat through diplomatic channels.
If handled well, it would not only demonstrate the Night Republic's influence in the diplomatic sphere but also successfully gain an important point of intervention in the Eastern Kingdoms.
"Then let's do it this way."
Andreas, as Speaker, made the final decision: "Celeste Sunstrider, the head of the revitalized Nalath Academy, will contact Quel'Thalas and persuade the High Elf Kingdom to join us in applying pressure."
"High Priestess, the negotiations with Dalaran will be your responsibility. Maiev will be in charge of persuading Kul Tiras."
Fandral looked around, asking with a bewildered expression, "Then what should I do?"
Andreas shook his head and handed Fandral another letter he had received that morning.
"You and I have other important matters. We will take the Cenarion Council and the Hidden Path to Marasheen."
"The tauren's dominance over this vast grassland is under threat; a new barbaric species is rising, and... they have some connection to Cenarius."
The Tauren had lived a peaceful life in Marshanhi for thousands of years, maintaining good cooperative and trade relations with the Night Elves over the years.
Although the two sides had different customs, they shared common ground in protecting nature and maintaining peace in Kalimdor.
Though it might sound a bit utilitarian and impolite, before the rise of humans, the Tauren—with their decent birth rate and gentle nature—were the primary choice for cannon fodder in Andreas' mind.
Thousands of years of peaceful development allowed the Tauren's sphere of influence to expand steadily.
After occupying all of Marshanhi, the Tauren gradually expanded their footprint to The Barrens through the Stonetalon Mountains, which they co-developed with the Night Elves.
Many people have misconceptions about Tauren, thinking they are purely vegetarian. In reality, Tauren are omnivorous; they are a typical nomadic race that eats the sheep they herd, the pigs they raise, and they also fish to vary their diet.
Compared to agricultural races, nomadic races have relatively lower requirements for land quality; they can survive as long as grass can grow.
The Barrens was not suitable for a primarily agricultural race like the Night Elves, but for the Tauren, this was not an issue.
After entering The Barrens through the Stonetalon Mountains, the Tauren continued to expand their territory without any foreign enemies.
During their exploration of the plains, they discovered the worthless red lands to the east, as well as the fertile Great Plains to the west of The Barrens—Mulgore.
The Mulgore grasslands were separated from Marshanhi only by a continuous mountain range. Using gunpowder purchased from the Night Elves to blast through the rock, the Tauren spent several hundred years constructing a mountain tunnel between Marshanhi and Mulgore.
While their territory could not yet match the Night Elves, who spanned from north to south, the Tauren of this timeline dominated central Kalimdor. Their strength had already far exceeded that of the original history, making them the undisputed second-largest power in Kalimdor.
But recently, a brand new species suddenly emerged in their ancestral home of Marshanhi.
The Centaur, a brutal and bloody race.
The Tauren possessed a combat profession that the Night Elves had never developed—the Shaman.
Shamans can listen to the voices of the elements and gain power through communication with them.
The gradually growing Tauren Shamans unexpectedly heard a faint female call from within the earth of Marshanhi.
The Tauren, who worshipped the earth mother, were overjoyed and strengthened their connection with this voice, believing it was the earth mother responding to their faith.
However, things did not go as planned. When the Tauren awakened this element trapped underground and summoned her to the Material World, they realized they were wrong—terribly wrong.
What was summoned was not the kind and gentle earth mother of their imagination, but a hideous and ferocious elemental creature—the Earth Elemental Princess Theradras.
Theradras is the daughter of Therazane the Stonemother. As for her looks... they're hard to describe, but WoW players know exactly what I mean.
She, along with a fat pig named 'Princess' in Elwynn Forest, severely distorted players' originally beautiful impressions of princesses, making one wonder if the lead creators at Blizzard had some sort of psychological trauma regarding the title.
After the war of the Dark Empire, most elementals were banished to their respective Elemental Planes by the Titan Keepers, with only a few lucky ones escaping.
Princess Theradras was one of them. Having suffered fatal injuries during the war, she sank into the earth to sleep, escaping the fate of being sealed into the Elemental Planes, though she remained asleep for tens of thousands of years as a result.
After the Tauren accidentally awakened Theradras, she instinctively absorbed life force from the fertile lands of Marshanhi to restore the energy she had severely lost during her long slumber.
The drain of life force caused the land of Marshanhi to rapidly lose its vitality. The once lush green grass instantly became withered and yellow, the earth began to dry and crack, and the vast area surrounding Theradras was left a barren wasteland.
An ecosystem shift of this scale immediately caught the attention of the Cenarion Circle. Fandral had previously entered the Dream to discuss countermeasures with Malfurion, Remulos, and others.
Ultimately, the Cenarion Circle sent another son of Cenarius, the Keeper of the Grove Zalthar, to Marshanhi to investigate and act as he saw fit.
No one knows what happened in between, but when Remulos next received news from his brother, he was shocked to find that Zalthar had actually... married that hideous Earth Princess.
Remulos: "???"
The union of the Earth Princess and the Keeper of the Grove gave birth to a brand new species: the Centaur that now run rampant across the plains of Marshanhi.
The Centaur species did not inherit Zalthar's love for nature or his gentle personality; they only inherited his four-legged body and Theradras' tyrannical nature.
After Zalthar married Theradras, the Earth Princess fulfilled her promise to him and stopped absorbing the life force of Marshanhi. The Tauren barely managed to continue living on this land, which had become significantly more barren.
By the time Andreas and the others heard news related to Theradras again years later, the Centaur were already rampaging wildly across the already quite desolate Marshanhi.
They revered the cave where Zalthar and Theradras lived as a holy land, naming it Maraudon.
Strangely enough, the Centaur themselves rarely approached the area where Maraudon was located.
Because they could not control the rage and tyranny inherited from the Earth Princess, they began to vent their constant fury on the local Tauren inhabitants... When Andreas and Fandral led their team to Marshanhi, this once-fertile land was even more desolate and dilapidated than when they had last seen it.
A large number of Tauren could not endure the harsh living conditions of Marshanhi, now known as Desolace, and the entire clan migrated to the neighboring Mulgore grasslands. Only a few sentimental individuals remained to guard the ancestral home where the Tauren had lived for many years.
As a Druid, Fandral immediately frowned upon seeing the tragic state of Desolace.
"How did it come to this? Hasn't Theradras already stopped absorbing the life force of the Marshanhi lands?"
The Tauren responsible for receiving Andreas' party was also a member of the Cenarion Circle, named Saturo Runetotem.
Incidentally, the Linges Clan, the suzerains of the Kalimdor Tauren, had completely declined at the hands of Theradras.
The newly awakened Theradras had almost no reason. While instinctively siphoning the life force from the land, she also killed the Tauren Shamans performing the ritual and the core members of the Linges Great Chieftain's family who were presiding over it.
Now, the Linges Clan had only one distant descendant left, a Druid who had gone to Moonglade; the clan existed in name only.
Saturo shook his head bitterly. "Theradras indeed stopped absorbing life force, but her offspring, the Centaur, are frantically destroying the already shrinking pastures of Marshanhi."
Now, only a small area in the very center of Desolace still maintained green grass. Looking out from a high vantage point, Andreas could see a vast expanse of desolation.
"Speaker Moonshadow, Archdruid Staghelm, please follow me."
Saturo politely guided Andreas and Fandral. "The new Great Chieftain, Dorn Bloodhoof, is waiting in the royal tent for your arrival."