Old Gods' forces

The forces of the Old Gods, known in ancient times as the Black Empire, are a vaguely united faction of all the entities and organizations that serve the Old Gods. In recent times its members either serve the Old Gods directly or had allied with Deathwing, to achieve their own objectives with the support of the Old Gods.

Although they suffered a crushing defeat long ago at the hands of the Pantheon, and the Old Gods along with most of their minions had been imprisoned, the Old Gods' activities on Azeroth have been steadily increasing, culminating in the Cataclysm, when they launched a major offensive in an attempt to escape their prisons, crush opposition and return to power, until eventually being pushed back by Horde and Alliance forces.

The Old Gods have spawned and favored many creatures throughout the ages for their servitude:

• N'raqi - A monstrous race that arose from the organic matter that seeped from the Old Gods' blighted forms during the primordial era of Azeroth, commonly known as the faceless ones. They are divided in three major types: regular n'raqi, smaller ones called k'thir, and C'Thraxxi, monstrous warbringers far larger and more resilient than other lesser n'raqi. Erudax, Uul'gyneth, General Vezax and Warlord Zon'ozz are notable C'Thraxxi, while Soggoth the Slitherer is a very huge regular n'raqi.
• - Insectoids of incredible resilience and strength sharing the same origin with the n'raqi. After millennia, they evolved into three distinct races: the nerubians of Azjol-Nerub, the qiraji of Ahn'Qiraj, and the mantid of Manti'vess. Armies of the original aqir race still exist today and are loyal to N'Zoth.
• Merciless ones - Aquatic parasitic aberrations that appear with other servants.
• Leviathan kraken - Some of them serve the Old Gods, controlled by the Naga. Ozumat is their patriarch.
• Maw creatures - Beings bound to the Old Gods with a giant maw. Their name may be "forgotten ones".
• Azerothian hydras - Hydras in Azeroth are found along the coasts of Darkshore, Ashenvale and Dustwallow Marsh, and were also found in Azshara before the Shattering. Some seem to be intelligent and might be the favored pets or servants of the Old Gods. Aku'mai carries within him a small measure of the Old Gods' power. Another notable example is Kai'ju Gahz'rilla.

The Twilight's Hammer Cult was originally a clan composed of the pale orcs of the planet Draenor founded by the ogre-mage Cho'gall as a destructive cult hell-bent on bringing about the apocalypse. Based in Silithus since the defeat of the Horde during the Second War, in the midst of the cataclysm they have been found recruiting members of both the Alliance and the Horde with doomsayers proclaiming the imminent destruction of the world itself and promising its members glory and power. Other than the Horde and Alliance they have influenced weaker or desperate factions, including the almost extinct sand trolls and the rebellious Dark Iron dwarves. Led by Cho'gall and the Twilight Council, they attempt to claim the Twilight Highlands for the Old Gods who they believe to be the world's true masters, and eventually all of Azeroth itself. More recently with the fall of Cho'gall at the hands of Azeroth's champions Archbishop Benedictus, now dubbing himself the "Twilight Father", and later the "Twilight Prophet", has risen to guide the remains of the cult but eventually he is taken down as well and the clan was been splintered. Some have traveled to the tomb of the heroic titanic watcher Tyr, hidden beneath the Whispering Forest in Tirisfal Glades. There, led by an former Alliance bishop and now traitor, they attempt to resurrect a C'Thrax named Zakajz the Corruptor using Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire. Another branch was found attacking Deepholm alongside the remnants of the twilight dragonflight, led by Zeryxia, who hears the whispers of Sintharia.

• Led by the Twilight Council. Historical leaders include, , , and.
• The Cult has many members of different races, many of them traitors of their own nations:
• Mortal betrayers from Alliance and Horde.
• - Many are attracted by the promises of power of Cho'gall.
• Mo'grosh clan
• Bloodeye clan
• Gronn - While many were enslaved and some joined the cult, notably Skullcrusher the Mountain.
• Dark Iron clan - Some decided to stay loyal the Twilight Hammer and Ragnaros.
• Sandfury tribe - Allied with the Twilight's Hammer in a desperate attempt.
• Vrykul - Seen as the elite units led by Warmaster Blackhorn.
• Ascendant - Various mortals have joined the cult, attracted by the promise to ascend and "reborn" as elemental ascendants. The Ascendant Council judged which mortal where worthy of Elemental Ascension.
• - Many elementals are under servitude of the Twilight Hammer.
• Bound elementals - Many have been found enslaved by Twilight's Hammer members.

Living in what is now called Pandaria, the mantid are the oldest inhabitants of the western part of the continent and followers of a dead Old God Y'Shaarj. Throughout countless millennia, they awaited for his return, until his heart was discovered and subsequently revived by Garrosh Hellscream.

• Grand Empress Shek'zeer was the ruler of the empire until she was deposed by the Klaxxi.
• Imperial Vizier Zor'lok was the unwaveringly loyal Voice of the Empress.
• The Klaxxi is an ancient organization that possibly began as a priesthood of some sort, dedicated to Y'Shaarj.
• Paragons of the Klaxxi are the most gifted Klaxxi from many generations, encased in amber in order to preserve them for a time when their aid is required. They joined in the Underhold in order to protect the Heart of Y'Shaarj.

Countless ages ago, N'Zoth's armies waged endless war against the forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron. They still serve N'Zoth after millennia have passed.

Neltharion the Earthwarder was corrupted during the War of the Ancients into the service of the Old Gods with his dragonflight and renamed himself Deathwing. However he suffered wounds too great in the events of the Day of the Dragon and had to retreat into Deepholm to heal himself, where he beat the stone dragons into submission to serve him. In his absence, his mate Sintharia and their children Onyxia and Nefarian took over his dragonflight. With the Cataclysm, Deathwing and his flight returned and resurrected Sinestra and Nefarian as undead, the latter which resurrected his sister Onyxia. Reinforced by Sinestra's creation the Twilight Dragonflight, they allied with the elemental lords Ragnaros of the Firelands and Al'akir of the Skywall, and together with the Twilight's Hammer they work to bring the Hour of Twilight. Many other dragonkin have been corrupted and changed by the old gods.

• Led by Deathwing.
• - Along with their aspect, many dragons fell to the madness of the Old Gods.
• - An experimental dragonflight intended to rule all others, created by Nefarian.
• - A very deadly dragonflight intended to destroy all life on Azeroth, created by Sintharia.

The Dark Horde is a renegade group of various races made of troops from the Old Horde that managed to avoid capture and reject the leadership of the Horde. Now under the control of Nefarian and the Black Dragonflight, they are based around Blackrock Mountain and have forces from Elwynn Forest to the Wetlands, though they are stronger in the Burning Steppes. The Dark Horde wages war against both the Alliance and the Horde, and used to fight the Dark Iron clan and its master Ragnaros until the return of Deathwing and his alliance with the Elemental Lord of fire.

• Led by Warchief Rend Blackhand and controlled by Nefarian.
• Orcs - Many clans believe that Rend Blackhand is the true warchief and follow his command:
• Blackrock
• Blacktooth
• Dragonmaw
• s - Some trolls remember the aid given to them by the Old Horde and remain with what they believe is the true Horde:
• Firetree
• Smolderthorn
• Ogres - Some ogre clans decided to stay united under the Dark Horde:
• Firegut
• Spirestone
• Stonegullet
• Goblins - The Dark Horde employs various Goblin mercenaries.
• Dragons - The Dark Horde has corrupted Dragons of all dragonflights.
• Gnolls - Although they were never in the Old Horde, some gnolls have formed an alliance with the Dark Horde in the Redridge Mountains.
• Redridge pack
• Shadowhide Gnoll Clan
• Demons - Many orcs in the Dark Horde summon imps, felhounds, and felguards.

In the end of the War of the Ancients, after the Shattering happened, Queen Azshara and the Highborne tried their best to keep the waters at bay, but struck a pact with a mysterious power that turned them into the reptile Naga. Now as underwater inhabitants in a sunken city they worked their way into shaping a underwater empire, enslaving many aquatic races like murlocs, and taming many beasts like tube wyrms, couatl, dragon turles and snap dragons, with Azshara leading them and against beings like Leviroth and the Kvaldir. The empire's capital city is known as Nazjatar.

• Ruled by the Empress of Nazjatar, Queen of the Naga, Queen Azshara.
• The former Highborne that served the queen were turned into Naga by N'Zoth.
• Naga sea witches are revered powerful spellcasters of the naga.
• Naga lords are red male naga warriors with shells and other sea creatures fused to their bodies.
• The naga have enslaved many races:
• Many races from members of the Alliance and Horde.
• Murlocs, notably the Rockpool tribe.
• Deep Sea Murlocs.
• Mur'gul are murlocs used for manual labor and combat.
• Some corrupted Stormsong tidesages have joined Azshara after their leader fell to her masters' whispers.

Although the Old Gods created the Emerald Nightmare and transformed Xavius, first of the satyrs, into the Nightmare Lord, Xavius was defeated. Now revived, he has rejoined his former allies and spreads the Nightmare in their name. But his true loyalties still remain with the Old Gods.

• s - Xavius have demons under his command.
• Xavius still has satyr followers, including the mysterious Shadow satyr.
• The Emerald Nightmare has corrupted various beings linked to the Emerald Dream.
• Some green dragons have fell to corruption, including the former aspect of their flight.
• The Dragons of Nightmare are the corrupted members from Ysera's Brood, original guardians of Ysera's Dream's entrances, were corrupted by the Nightmare and eventually were beheaded by Cenarion Circle allies, except one that have been purified and uncorrupted.
• Some Cenarius' Children have been corrupted by the Emerald Nightmare, including their progenitor.

When N'Zoth was freed from his prison, the new queen of the mantid pledged her swarm to the Old God, making raids into the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

• Ruled by Grand Empress Shek'zara.
• The Klaxxi, with its fallen members revived, were empowered by the Void.

The Cult of the Void is a cult of worshipers who covet the gifts of the Void.

• Led by Vexiona.

Ulduar is where Yogg-Saron was sealed, but it wasn't strong enough to stop his influence from spreading over the millenniums, corrupting the Prime-designate Loken, the other Titanic watchers (Frejya, Hodir, Mimiron and Thorim), and other titanic constructs, like giants and mechagnomes and their creations. With control over the Forge of Wills, the corrupted Loken started creating a new army like many other's of the titan's creation's (earthen, giants and vrykul) but made of iron instead of stone and empowered by runes. However the Explorers' League together with the Kirin Tor and the Horde mounted an offensive against Yogg-Saron's forces and managed to kill him and save the corrupted watchers, except for Loken which was killed earlier by heroes in the Halls of Lightning, and with the death of the Prime designate, Algalon the observer came to Azeroth to judge its corruption in order to re-originate it.

• Yogg-Saron's n'raqi
• Led by General Vezax.
• was a powerful C'Thrax servant of Yogg-Saron sent by Loken to hunt down Tyr, however the keeper sacrificed himself to defeat him.
• The corrupted titanic creations of Ulduar
• Led by Loken until his death at the hands of adventurers.
• Once titanic watchers like Thorim, Freya, Hodir and Mimiron were secondary leaders of the Ulduar's corrupted ones until been freed by the adventurers.
• Hodir's many Winter servants in the Halls of Winter.
• The corrupted nature guardians that serves Freya in the Conservatory of Life.
• The Mechagnomes that have been enslaved into the Old God's service trough Mimiron.
• The mechagnomes have created many Clockwork constructs.
• The enigmatic mechagnomes have adopted Gelbin Mekkatorque's invention, the Mechanostrider.
• Fire giants like Fjorn, Volkhan and Ignis that forged a lot of constructs for the iron army.
• The iron army
• Commanded by the Assembly of Iron, composed by Stormcaller Brundir,Runemaster Molgeim and Steelbreaker.
• The iron dwarves are part of this army.
• Iron giants are the largest combatants of the Iron ones.
• Iron golems are massive constructs into the armada.
• Iron vrykuls are a kind titanic creation like the other that make their part for the armada.
• A Plated proto-drake, which the only known is made from the former brood-mother Veranus.
• The Iron dwarves are capable of bending the stone giants to their will by the use of runes, turning them into Runed Giants.
• The remnants of the world tree Vordrassil, which houses the city Grizzlemaw, is under Yogg-Saron's influence together with its inhabitants, the furbolg, leaving them as corrupted aggressive savage beasts.

Ahn'Qiraj is a fortress city in southern Silithus, and it's the home of the qiraji. They first threatened the world with the War of the Shifting Sands, where they were sealed inside their own fortress city. They tried a new offensive but utterly failed against the Might of Kalimdor, ending with the death of the Twin Emperors, rulers of the qiraji, and with them their master C'thun. Cho'gall and the Twilight Hammer took over Ahn'Qiraj while he mutated, and tried using C'thun's corpse to corrupt the Med'an the soon-to-be Guardian.

• The qiraji emperors, Vek'lor and Vek'nilash are the rulers of the qiraji.
• The insectoids of the city-Kingdom of Ahn'Qiraj found in the southern part of Silithus.
• Qiraji prophets are a type of qiraji who command powerful mental abilities.
• The qiraji have built and enslaved many constructs for war.
• The Anubisath were built and enchanted to be the guardians of Ahn'Qiraj.
• The Obsidian Destroyers, creatures made of Obsidian, are Tol'vir slaved and reshaped by the descendants of Azj'Aqir, the most notable of Ahn'Qiraj is.
• The qiraji have many Silithid servants of 15 castes grouped into 12 hives.

A coalition of disparate factions in Zandalar, spearheaded by the Dark Prophet Zul. The prophet has pledged his allegiance to G'huun, seeking to break the entity out of its prison beneath the titan research facility of Uldir alongside the blood trolls of Nazmir, known as the children of G'huun.

• is a C'Thrax that descended upon Zandalar in the past, but was defeated by the loa Sethraliss. His objective was to destroy the titan discs serving as seals of G'huun's prison. He was later resurrected by General Jakra'zet, and Mythrax retreated towards Uldir to await further orders from G'huun.
• is the leader of the Atal'zul faction, spearheading efforts across the entirety of Zandalar to free his master.
• is a former priestess of Shadra whose power she had stolen, serving as Zul's lieutenant. She works to maintain control over the tombs of Atal'Dazar.
• is a Sandfury troll that rise to prominence in the Zanchuli Council before Zul's coup, using his position to scheme alongside the sethrak Emperor Korthek to resurrect Mythrax the Unraveler.
• is the matriarch of the blood troll tribes in Nazmir.
• is the leader of the Faithless, a faction of sethrak who had betrayed the loa Sethraliss and decided to revive Mythrax.

- The meddlesome force focused on destroying the true timeway. They are helping the Old Gods to bring about the Hour of Twilight, though their reasons for doing so are not entirely clear.

• Led by Murozond.
• Aedelas Blackmoore from an alternate timeline is an agent of the infinite dragonflight.

Ragnaros allied with Deathwing when he was promised to burn Azeroth together with his minions. Without Therazane or Neptulon interfering, he decided to start with the world tree of Nordrassil with the support of the Twilight Hammer, prompting the druids of the Cenarion Circle and the Ancient Guardians to oppose him. He was beaten back to the Firelands by Cenarius, Hamuul and Malfurion, and after some days of preparations, the druids are prepared to invade the Firelands and kill Ragnaros forever.

• Ragnaros, ruler of the Firelands has agreed to ally with Deathwing.
• The second in command of Ragnaros minions is the Majordomo of the Firelands. Formerly occupied by Executus, it is now held by the former Archdruid of Darnassus Fandral Staghelm.
• s are the servants of Ragnaros, shaped in various forms.
• Flamewakers are living fire elementals.
• Fire revenants are the main infantry of Ragnaros army.
• Lava elementals are a conglomerate of both fire and earth elementals.
• Molten giants are the brutal and cunning front-line defenders of Ragnaros' army.
• At least one Fire hawk converted from a Green Dragon.
• Many night elf druids have betrayed the Cenarion Circle in Mount Hyjal and joined Ragnaros. Using his power conjointly with of nature they called themselves the Druids of the Flame, group led by Fandral and Leyara.

Free from the imprisonment of the Skywall, Al'Akir and his air elementals joined forces with Deathwing in an attempt to obtain the re-origination device the titans left in Uldum. To fight the Tol'vir, his ancient enemies, he called the support of the Conclave of Wind and Skywall's many denizens.

• Al'Akir, ruler of the Skywall has agreed to work with Deathwing.
• Conclave of Wind are four Djinn that serve directly under Al'Akir.
• Air elementals are the servants of Al'Akir, shaped into various forms.
• The djinni are the nobles of the air elemental hierarchy.
• The air revenant are the main infantry.
• Some mortal tribes have served with Al'Akir.
• The centaurs of the Galak tribe serve Whrrrl, one of the lords of Skywall.
• The tol'vir of the Neferset tribe, joined with Al'Akir's armies to regain their lost stone bodies.

• A resurgent faction of drogbar, led by the C'Thrax Uul'gyneth, who battled against in ancient times, and stirred by Ebonhorn's absence from Highmountain while visiting Thunder Bluff.

More Old Gods exist beyond those four known on Azeroth, but it takes significant power to summon them. Their influence can be seen mostly in Outland.

• The Sethekk and the Dark Conclave arakkoa serve a mysterious master. The latter group, magically augmented by Gul'dan's curse, attempt to summon their master, which they call it an ancient and powerful evil.
• The Black Blood of Draenor are oozes. The oozes of Azeroth have been at various times associated with the Old Gods, and it's very similar in name to Black Blood of Yogg-Saron, an ore made from the blood of Yogg-Saron.
• Harbinger Skyriss is a qiraji prophet and servant of an Old God, imprisoned in the Arcatraz of Tempest Keep. According to A'dal, he seeks to usher his masters' vision of conquering all of the worlds in the universe.

• Abyssal Maw is their realm.
• Elemental Lord is.
• Neptulon was attacked by the naga backed by n'raqi in a attempt to conquer his realm. After a confrontation with Lady Nazjar and Ozumat he was beaten back to the Abyssal Maw, at which point heroes attempted to rescue him, but ultimately failed as Neptulon was quickly taken away by Ozumat.

• Deepholm is their realm.
• Elemental Lord is.
• Therazane has taken no liking to the Old Gods' plans for Deepholm after Deathwing broke the World Pillar, endangering her plane and Azeroth. After an invasion by the Twilight Hammer, she and her kin made a temporary alliance with the Earthen Ring to solve those problems that the Old Gods caused though their forces. After the pillar is rebuilt she requests the hero to help her rebuild Deepholm.

• C'Thun
• Yogg-Saron
• N'Zoth
• Ancient and powerful evil
• Y'Shaarj
• Sha (originated directly from Y'Shaarj)
• G'huun

Ateena Mythrax Zul Lord Stormsong Xavius Deathwing Cho'gall Ragnaros General Vezax Warlord Zon'ozz Al'Akir Loken Vek'nilash Vek'lor Murozond Paragons of the Klaxxi

• Nefarian
• Rend Blackhand
• Onyxia
• Sintharia
• Twilight Father
• Twilight Council
• Fandral Staghelm
• Majordomo Executus
• Assembly of Iron
• Aeonus

Azshara Neptulon Therazane Prince Thunderaan

• Ahune
• Princess Theradras
• Conclave of Wind

• Even though the sha are fragments of Y'Shaarj's power, they are aimless, not affiliated to the Old Gods' forces.
• Shapeless were concepted as the "Play-Doh of the Old Gods" for Cataclysm but were eventually cut.

Old Gods' forces