The story of Western Plaguelands.
The Western Plaguelands were once the breadbasket of northern Lordaeron: rolling fields, farmsteads and the grain town of Andorhal. That is exactly why the plague began here. The Cult of the Damned, servants of the lich Kel'Thuzad, poisoned Andorhal's grain, and as it was shipped across the north, the plague of undeath went with it. The kingdom never recovered.
The fields are still sick. The Scourge hid plague cauldrons on the four largest farmsteads to keep the land poisoned, and Andorhal is a ruin full of undead. In the south, on an island in Darrowmere Lake, the keep of Caer Darrow, once home of the Barov family, hides the Scholomance, a school where necromancers are trained beneath the castle, ruled by Darkmaster Gandling. On Sorrow Hill, near Andorhal, stands the tomb of Uther the Lightbringer, the great paladin who died nearby trying to stop the prince he had once trained.
Not everyone has given up on this land. The Scarlet Crusade has turned Hearthglen, in the north, into a fortress for its holy war against the dead, and it does not ask too many questions about the living either. At Chillwind Camp, in the south near the Alterac border, the Argent Dawn and the Alliance gather heroes to strike at the cauldrons and the Scholomance and win the land back.
Written for this site from the game's lore. Further reading: Western Plaguelands on Warcraft Wiki.
