Invasion of Gilneas

The Invasion of Gilneas was a massive battle that was part of the beginning of the Alliance-Horde War in the Eastern Kingdoms, and resulted in the Kingdom of Gilneas ending their seclusion after nearly twenty years. The invasion is recorded as one of the most significant pieces of history on Azeroth, as it completely changed the face of Gilneas and their status in the world towards outsiders. In addition, it saw the Forsaken's brutality in the aftermath of the War against the Lich King in full force for the first time.

=History=

The Invasion of Gilneas was such a massive battle that it has been split into two parts, the initial invasion and the Gilnean counteroffensive. The initial invasion details the downfall of the wall and the destruction of the Kingdom as a whole, while the Gilnean counteroffensive details the work of various Gilnean organizations that have actively worked to counter the Forsaken and their assaults while also pushing into the regions of Silverpine Forest.

The Invasion
Before the invasion of the Forsaken, the people of Gilneas had already been dealing with internal threats in the form of the Worgen. Hunting and prowling within the forests of Gilneas, it had become so bad that even King Genn Greymane was bitten at some point, only kept from turning by way of medicinal remedies provided by Krennan Aranas.

Gilneas City

 * "The Archbishop...He refused to leave, no matter what we said or how much we begged. I remember, weeping at his feet, telling us to leave. His last words we all heard were that he was prepared to go with the Light in our name. He was never afraid."
 * -Brother Harold Remmington of Light's Dawn Cathedral.

Prior to the downfall of the Greymane Wall, Gilneas had been recovering from the aftermath of the Northgate Rebellion. During this time, a mysterious curse was sweeping through the nation, and several months before the Cataclysm shattered Azeroth, the Curse of the Worgen had over taken a large amount of Gilneas' remaining population, causing the King to call for a hold out within the nation's capitol of Gilneas City. Ultimately, the hold out did not succeed. During their attempts to hold the city, countless Gilnean civilians were converted into the ravenous Worgen. As the population slowly decreased into the feral beasts, so too did the hopes of holding the city. In a desperate bid for reinforcements, King Genn Greymane reconciled with the jailed duke, Darius Crowley, and the former Northgate Rebels joined in on the cause of Gilneas as they held out against the Worgen. Unfortunately it was not enough as the city was still going to be lost.

Deciding to evacuate the city, King Greymane asked for volunteers who would remain behind to ensure their families escaped. Though Prince Liam Greymane originally volunteered to remain behind, Crowley refused to allow it, instead remaining behind with his rebels and whoever would remain behind. Various people of Gilneas remained behind, from rebels, to priests, lords, commoners and even the Archbishop Seryl I. Hauling up within the Light's Dawn Cathedral, the Gilnean suicide missioners fought for as long as they could against the Worgen as the city was evacuated. Many died, including the Archbishop, though many were brought into the fold of the Worgen, thus beginning the end of Gilneas' serenity behind their wall.

Months Afterward

 * "Behind the monarch gates..things were calm. It was like nothing had ever happened, almost. Sure..poverty was rampant and there were crimes along the southern most crownlands but..We were safe."
 * - Susan Connoley, survivor of Gilneas City

In the months after the downfall of Gilneas City, the evacuees and any who were found along the way were brought to the crown lands of the Dusk, where the major settlement of Duskhaven was used as a new hold out. The Dusk was protected by two gates, the King's Gate and the Queen's Gate, miniature versions of the Greymane Wall that would protect them from the Worgen. During this time, the Gilneans rebuilt as Royal Apothecary Krennan Aranas researched a cure for the Worgen feral mind, based off the medicinal remedies that he had been secretly giving King Greymane to treat his Worgen bite. In the mean while, Gilneans would venture beyond the two walls to hunt the prowling worgen, and were eventually converted into capturing them for Aranas' experiments. After finding a revolutionary breakthrough using Mandrake essence, Aranas was able to successfully convert several worgen with a potentially lethal dosage of his medicine. The result allowed for Worgen to be brought back into the fold of Gilneas, which many thought would simply be for rebuilding purposes. However, after word from the wall, where several forces still held out, of an invading undead army known as the Forsaken, many experimental worgen were sent north to aid with the threat as the leaders of Gilneas prepared for the worst.

Shortly after this, the Cataclysm occurred, shattering throughout Gilneas. Forsaken Warships arrived off the coast of Duskmist Shore, and the Gilneans were once more pitted into battle against another strange foe that sought their destruction.

The Wall

 * "My dearest Martha, the gates have fallen and the Undead are marching through. The commander says we are to meet with the other defensive organizations to keep these monsters from our lands. I do not believe I will survive, but I will be thinking of you and our children every moment until I breathe my last. Take care of yourself and our sons, let them know their father loved them very much. Just as I love you. Forever yours, Steven."
 * -Excerpt from the book, "Memoirs of the Wall" by Robert Hannings

At the Greymane Wall, the Forsaken had attempted to scale the wall several times only to be shot down by Gilnean riflemen or cut down by Gilnean soldiers. For the most part, what remained of the cut off Gilnean Military was garrisoned here. A rather large earthquake had unsettled the wall, causing a large portion of it to collapse, wrenching the gate open, while Forsaken war machines below continuously punched holes into it, causing further damage to the Wall. By the time the worgen soldiers had arrived, the Shattering had all but destroyed the entrance to the Greymane Wall, resulting in a severe gap in their defenses. Yet the Gilneans held firm, the worgen soldiers assisting where they could while the Gilnean military forces spread out to ensure the wall did not fall. And though they fought hard and well, the Gilneans ultimately began to falter against the Forsaken war machine. Following a speech by Garrosh Hellscream and the return of Sylvanas Windrunner from Northrend, with her Val'kyr minions in tow, the Gilneans' defenses were overwhelmed.

Amongst the first responders to the wall, the Blades of Greymane, the Black Knights of Gilneas and countless other organizations were completely wiped out. Several defensive fortresses along the wall were destroyed or commandeered by the Forsaken, such as Coldbrick Hold and Marrow Keep. In the end, the death toll had not only significantly crushed Gilneas' remaining people, but also saw the end of most of Gilneas' last defenders.

Duskhaven

 * "My father never saw us reach Duskhaven. He'd stayed behind in Gilneas City with the others. I like to think his sacrifice was not in vain, but the Forsaken were far worse than the worgen ever were." 
 * - Unknown Civilian.

Following the sea invasion of the Forsaken, chaos broke out amongst the people of Duskhaven. Many of the huntsmen that had been bringing Worgen to Aranas had been drafted into the militia, and many of the recently freed worgen were also conscripted. The worgen saw a substantial amount of improvement to Gilneas' defensive capabilities, as they had not only bolstered their numbers, but their raw strength was enough to go toe to toe with the Forsaken's monstrosities such as the Abomination. While it had seemed the Gilneans successfully repelled the Forsaken after destroying both of their war ships and crippling their offensive strike, the Cataclysm wracked Gilneas once more, sinking a large portion of the Dusk. In the aftermath of the shock, it was found many Gilneans had lost their lives simply from the destruction. Many were saved from a watery grave, though it was deemed that Duskhaven was no longer safe. Evacuating to the Greymane Manor, the people of the Dusk were evacuated from all corners, saving a large portion of mountain horses as well as narrowly evading land locked forsaken and awakened ettins. While there were some who did not make it in time, most of the population had been able to make it to the manor just before the Cataclysm wracked Gilneas for the final time, sinking what remained of the crown lands and destroying one of the last hold outs of Gilneas.

From his observatory, Genn Greymane made a chilling realization, the Greymane Wall had fallen to the Forsaken, and off the coast of the Headlands a massive fleet of the Forsaken Navy, accompanied by a Horde Gunship was on the way. Gilneas was running out of time.

Flight to the Wald

 * "I lived in my village for fifty years before the Worgen came. Fifty years. In a matter of hours they'd torn apart nearly everyone I knew and loved. Allies or not, it still makes me nervous to look at them." 
 * - Citizen Hampton Tanner, lone survivor of the "Massacre of Brookbury".

While many clamored to attempt to defend behind the Queen's Gate, the sinking of the majority of the crown lands resulted in no other option but to head inland, especially due to the fact that the sprawling Greymane Manor was unable to host the vast majority of Gilnean survivors. Carriage after carriage sped off from the manor towards the inland regions of Gilneas. Along the way, wayward survivors that had either remained in their southern hamlets or in the woods rejoined with their fellow survivors, though it was still not enough to stem the tide of the encroaching Forsaken that had made their way through the now conquered Gilneas City into the southern reaches. Liam Greymane alongside a number of volunteer worgen devised a master plan to agitate the nearby ogre clan and their ettin lord to deter the forsaken. At the same time, several carriages had crashed into the nearby Hailwood Marsh, resulting in a need for rescue. Though it deterred their plan, Prince Liam was unwilling to leave behind any survivors and the stranded in the marsh were eventually rescued with just enough time for the prince's plan to go off. Though it would not halt the forsaken permanently, the ettin and his ogre henchmen were able to distract and kill many of the forsaken forces tailing the ragtag Gilnean survival band as they made way to the township of Stormglen Village, just off the cusp of the Blackwald.

Within Stormglen, they'd found that the local populace had disappeared and that half of the township had been over run by ravenous spiders that haunted the Blackwald. Once more, volunteers went out to scour the abandoned town for a sign of hope that more survivors still yet existed in the southern reaches, while others scoured the Blackwald to see if they'd sought shelter within the woods. Several discoveries led to the revelation that the people of Stormglen had absconded into the eastern reaches, where the region's Tempest neighbors had welcomed them with open arms. However, the revelations did not end there. While Lord Vincent Godfrey set out to re-connect with those of his lands, several worgen volunteers discovered an odd creature claiming to be a Night Elf named Belysra and that it was there to help them alongside their kin. Proof of this came in the form of none other than the believed deceased lord, Darius Crowley.

Saving Grace and Reunions

 * "As if they'd arrived by the light's grace it's self, these..elves. They brought with them not only our salvation and our missing families. They brought hope." 
 * - Baron William T. Salsaford, lord of Temsinburg.

As the Gilneans trekked to the meeting place where the Night elves had stated they would bring their salvation, they were ambushed by a Dark Ranger of the Forsaken, thus alerting them to the Forsaken's presence in the southern reaches. Dispatching the would be assassin, King Genn Greymane alongside several of his followers arrived at the great tree, Tal'doren where they found that Lord Darius Crowley alongside many others had been saved from the feralcy of the Curse of the Worgen. Families wept as they were reunited with kin they'd believed deceased. Others received closure, knowing that their loved ones had indeed passed on to their final rest after the battle of Gilneas City. Most importantly, the night elves had delivered onto the Gilneans a fighting force able to defend against the Forsaken. The ravenous worgen were faster, stronger and better fighters than any human could hope to compare, and with a majority of the trained Northgate rebels now amongst their kin, the Gilneans had their army. Not all was serene, however, as it was revealed that amongst the worgen were the Wolfcult, led by Alpha Prime. This cult of Worgen had aligned with the Forsaken and masterminded the theft of the Scythe of Elune, an artifact that held the ability to summon the original worgen from the Emerald Dream, and were planning to aid with the take over of Gilneas. Though originally apprehensive of rejoining the Gilneans, Genn Greymane revealed that he too had been afflicted by the worgen curse and asked not as a king, but as an equal for them to stand beside their kin (much to the disgust of some of the unafflicted nobility.)

Battling against Alpha Prime and his wolfcult, the power mad worgen was unaware that Darius Crowley's worgen were able to retrieve the Scythe of Elune from the Forsaken and with it, Belysra was able to banish most of the original worgen back into the Emerald Dream. However, just as she was able to complete the spell, a Forsaken Dark Ranger joined the fray and was able to interrupt her before falling to the Gilneans as well. His plans for revenge against the night elven people foiled, Alpha Prime and the Wolfcult that remained attacked Belysra to attempt to gain the Scythe of Elune before an apparition of Goldrinn's power arrived and struck down Alpha Prime. Revealed to have been the spirit of a fellow Druid of the Pack that had been slain long ago, Arvell, the spirit shared a tender moment with his once lover Belysra before passing on. The wolfcult fled into the woods in that instant, and the Gilneans were victorious. Word reached the Gilnean hold out of Lord Godfrey's successes with the holdouts of Tempest's Reach, and the King was summoned to aid with the final negotiations alongside several of his advisers.

Betrayal

 * "All we were told was that the king had been compromised some how..Light knows, I'm a loyal man. I had no intention to hurt him!"
 * - Herman Falisiwell, Tempest's Reach guardsman.

At request of Duke Vincent Godfrey, King Greymane alongside his most trusted non-worgen advisers, being Krennan Aranas, Baron Ashbury and several others, met within Tempest's Reach, a land ruled over once by Lord Godfrey himself. Under the pretense that some of the Eastern Lords were skeptical of allying with the Worgen, King Greymane was called to mediate personally, only to find that he had been tricked. Lord Godfrey alongside likeminded nobles such as Lord Walden and even Genn's trusted friend, Baron Ashbury, had plotted to rendezvous with the Forsaken, and in exchange for Genn they would end the war. Though criticized by many now for being an impossible plan, at the time the plot was enough to rally most of the Eastern Lords under their duke. Slaughtering Genn's guards and nearly killing the Royal Apothecary before his escape, Lord Godfrey held the king hostage as he awaited response from the Forsaken liaison. However, failing to kill Aranas proved to be the fatal flaw in his plan, as Aranas was able to successfully meet with those still loyal to the Kingdom and hatch a plan. Using a special potion that made one invisible, Aranas' agents snuck through Tempest's Reach, killing the traitor lords before confronting Godfrey. Surrounded and without his co-conspirators to back him up, as well as some eastern lords being against the plot such as Lord Hewell, Godfrey threw himself from the cliffs of Tempest's Reach rather than be apprehended or acknowledge a worgen as his king, dying upon the shores below.

Without Godfrey or his allies to mislead them, Greymane took control of the eastern reaches, rallying its people underneath him once more and gathering a large amount of able bodied fighters that had once rallied under Godfrey's message. With the eastern reaches united, the people of Gilneas rode out for the eastern most entrance of Gilneas City, where they established a foothold on the outside of it. There, word reached them that some of the people of the northern portions of Gilneas still yet lived, namely within Emberstone Village. Sending agents to liberate the area, Emberstone was freed from the grasp of the forsaken, and the Gilnean's numbers bolstered as the former slaves were liberated from the town's great mine. With their forces as large as they could gather, they prepared for the siege to liberate their capitol.

The Battle for Gilneas City

 * "Rebels and Worgen fought alongside Loyalists and Humans. A sight I'd never thought to see, I'll say that much. By the gods, the feeling of liberation, it was exhilarating." 
 * - Nathan Stainwright, Emberstone Survivor.

Gathered outside of Gilneas City, the people of the Gilnean resistance split into three sections. The Worgen were led by Darius Crowley, the original civilians and worgen that had been rescued from Duskhaven rallied under the King, and Prince Liam led the forces gathered from the eastern reaches. After a rallying speech from Prince Liam, the Gilneans struck.

The City was infiltrated from several fronts, the Military District, Greymane Court and the Merchant's Square at the same time. Lord Crowley led his worgen into the Military district, King Greymane to Greymane Court, and Prince Liam through the Merchant's Square alongside Lorna Crowley. The duo led the largest army through the Merchant's Square where the Forsaken were over whelmed. Lorna brought forth cannons retrieved from Emberstone Village that the Gilneans then used to blast through the large amount of abominations that were sent to prevent Liam's forces from reuniting with Lord Crowley.

Once Liam's forces united with Lord Crowley's, the group was faced with a large flesh giant by the name of Rotgut who had been constructed in the Stoneward Prison, which had been turned into a makeshift abomination factory. Using the flaming catapults that were left behind by the rapidly retreating Forsaken, the giant was destroyed and the Military District was reclaimed.

Liam and Crowley's forces then charged through the city to meet up with King Greymane's forces who had cornered Lady Sylvanas Windrunner in the Greymane Court. By the time Liam and Crowley arrived with their men, King Greymane had already destroyed most of Sylvanas' forces in the district and charged forward to assault the Banshee Queen herself. Liam was ordered to ensure the Banshee Queen would be unable to retreat while the rest of their forces attacked Sylvanas and her remaining men.

Just when victory was assured, Sylvanas pulled out her trump card, a specially made poison arrow to kill King Greymane. Unwilling to let his father die, Liam abandoned his post and rushed forward, leaping in front of the arrow meant for his father and taking the arrow to the heart, much to Genn's grief and Sylvanas' irritation. In the shock of Liam's sacrifice, Sylvanas was able to escape on horseback to the last remaining district still in Forsaken control, Cathedral Quarter.

Death of a Prince

 * "The prince was a gallant man. A gallant and brave boy with gumption beyond his years. We are lesser to know that he will never sit upon the throne." 
 * - Sir Abram Tetterby of the Royal Guard

As Sylvanas retreated, tail between her legs, the Gilnean liberation force reunited its surviving members within the Greymane Court. A surprisingly undamaged section of the city, it allowed for better regrouping and tending to wounded while a mournful King Greymane sat with his son. In his final moments, Liam happily spoke of how they'd reclaimed Gilneas City before passing away in his father's arms. Proposed with a difficult decision to continue to fight the ever encroaching Forsaken or to take the Night elves up on their offer of evacuation, King Greymane chose evacuation.

Before their departure, Lorna Crowley alongside a few others of her father's group managed to mastermind an infiltration of the Forsaken command that had taken root in the Light's Dawn Cathedral. Finding that the Forsaken were preparing to unleash some sort of devastating plague that even the likes of the Orcs found reprehensible, the Gilneans had but no choice but to abandon the city and head for The Headlands, one of the last places reported to be fully under Gilnean control. With the mass of people needed to be evacuated through underground tunnels, several Gilneans were able to apprehend several forsaken riding bats, sending forward volunteers to bombard the encroaching undead to slow their advance. By the time the Undead had reached the inner part of the city once more, the Gilneans had successfully evacuated under the secret tunnels.

Once they'd reached Aderic's Repose, the Gilneans found that their hasty evacuation had over turned and disrupted the graves within the holy site and awoken angered spirits. Unwilling to leave their departed in such a state, King Greymane and several of his followers set out to appease the angered wayward souls by fixing what graves they could and placing an offering to the legendary Aderic I. At the same time, Liam Greymane was laid to rest within the graveyard, much to the sadness of the Gilnean people. With the patriarch's blessing, the spirits were calmed and the Gilneans free to evacuate without guilt of disrupting their ancestor's rest.

Evacuation

 * "And in that instant it was over. Months of nightmare ended when we boarded those ships of violet, yet all the more empty as we left. The price of freedom." 
 * - Excerpt from "A Caged Wolf" by Ethyl Coldwell

Though the Night elven fleet was successful in reaching Keel Harbor, the most inland port of the Headlands, the Orcish attack force was not far behind. Invading the Headlands in mass, the orcs set flame and destroyed almost every city and town ship within the Headlands, putting scores of Gilneans to the axe as they struggled to defend their homes as the evacuation was prepared. Unable to save everyone from the Orcs that had arrived by way of a massive Gunship, Wolfsbane, those in the furthest reaches of Gilneas perished as they could not escape their own homes to reach the safety of the eastern port. During this time, the Night elves offered their support by way of their glaive throwers and ancients of war that they had brought with them. Gilneans with family in the region scoured out in hopes of finding their kin and that they'd escaped the furthest reaches of the region.

With the Headlands fallen but the orcs subdued temporarily, Lorna Crowley and her men once more set off into the brink, boarding and commandeering the Wolfsbane as it neared the Gilneans and their escape vessels. Butchering the orcs that would oppose them, Lorna forced the gunship to careen into the Forsaken advancing forces as she and her followers then executed whoever remained on board. Escaping by way of Hippogryph just before the gunship could crash into the Greymane Wall's outskirts, the way was clear for the Gilneans to evacuate.

Though the order was given for civilians to board and evacuate, Duke Darius Crowley offered those who wished to stay and liberate Gilneas a chance to do so by joining him in forming the Gilnean Liberation Front. Though several other organizations also formed (or reformed) during this time to aid the plight, the GLF took on the main operations as they scoured out to reclaim the fringes of Gilneas before the undead could dig in. During this time, the King resolved to meet with the leaders of the Grand Alliance and seek Gilneas' re-entry into the organization.

Counteroffensive
Following the Evacuation of Gilneas, the Gilneas Liberation Front and several other organizations were able to successfully liberate the southern and eastern regions of Gilneas from the minor forsaken presence they'd gained since the movement into the capital. At Greymane's behest, Gilneas was welcomed into the Alliance following his reconciliation with King Varian Wrynn, leader of Stormwind and High King of the Alliance. With their re-entry, King Wrynn ordered the recently returned 7th Legion to aid with the liberation of Gilneas. A lone gnomish submarine was able to destroy the Forsaken Navy off the coast of Gilneas while the Legion arrived to liberate the city. Shortly after the arrival of the 7th, Gilneas as a whole was in Alliance hands.

Led by Lord Darius Crowley, the Gilneans and the Alliance struck out into Silverpine Forest, allying with the Bloodfang Pack and successfully bringing the remnants of the Kingdom of Lordaeron from Southshore and Hillsbrad Foothills into the fold. Though Sylvanas later raised Vincent Godfrey and his accomplices, Lord Walden and Baron Ashbury to aid with thwarting the strange Gilnean tactics being employed, it ultimately came down to a final battle outside of Pyrewood Village. Having captured Lord Crowley's daughter, Lorna, prior to the battle, she was used as a bargaining chip for the abandonment of the Gilnean front. Unwilling to allow his daughter to be raised as an undead, Crowley agreed (much to Bloodfang's dismay) and Silverpine was lost. In the days to come afterwards, the Forsaken attempted numerous naval invasions of Gilneas by way of the Northern Headlands while the Alliance attempted to push them away. As time passed on, the 7th was recalled from Gilneas and Crowley's forces began to diminish. Though Ivar Bloodfang continued to serve in the country's interests, such as in Hillsbrad with the Stormpike Clan, they were ultimately unsuccessful in reclaiming what had been lost with Crowley's surrender.

Though it was a strong front at the time, Sylvanas' near death after Godfrey's betrayal led to the region being removed as the forefront of Sylvanas' attentions, especially as the war with the Alliance picked up across the whole of Azeroth. Unable to dedicate the troops she had in the beginning due to the split attention required of the Forsaken forces, the Gilnean border was abandoned by both sides aside from dedicated nationalist groups or specialized Forsaken war parties. It remained this way until the Siege of Orgrimmar where the Forsaken began to fully withdraw from Gilneas at behest of the truce. Since then, the Alliance has turned attention back to Gilneas to purify and rebuild the nation so that the Gilnean people may know a proper home again, and so that Sylvanas and the Forsaken can be contained if the truce is broken again. Thus far, such rebuilding efforts have been slow, though various groups have already over seen the restoration of certain parts of Gilneas, such as the Duchy of the Headlands being restored by the Blades of Greymane, the Viscounty of Greymoon Isle being established by the Grey Hand, and Light's Dawn Cathedral undergoing restoration at behest of the new Bishop of Gilneas, Melchiz Tzedeck and his followers.