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Born Tasmia Mallor, to parents both long forgotten and dead. Tasmia was a Kaldorei, a child of the starts. She entered the world not long after her feral and nocturnal people had made a home at the mysterious lake they dubbed the Well of Eternity. A new society had been born, and Tasmia born into it. Her people were just on the brink of the feeling the full effects of the Well's magical power. Granted strength, agility, and wisdom to match even the Dragon's they had not met yet, and above all else, immortality. Tasmia was born to world and life that would never cease, never end, and never die.
Her ever curious people began to explore the known world, then a large land mass called Kalimdor, where they met the other denizens of this new and strange world. Among them were the Dragons, great serpantine beasts that the Kaldorei held with reverence, they believed them to be the protectors of the world, and believed that they and their secrets were to be left alone.
Among the races that the Kaldorei found were also strange and wonderful entities, one of which was the demi-god Cenarius, Lord of the Forests. Cenarius grew quite fond of Tasmia and her people, seing them as very curious and extremly inteligent children. He tought them everything they know about the natural world. With Cenarius's teachings the Kaldorei created a great and unbreakable bond and balance with nature.
Endless ages passed, the her culture grew all accross the known lands of Kalimdor. Around this time, Azshara, the Queen of the Kalderei, underwent a dramatic change. . .
She built an emense and wonderous palace at the shores of the Well of Eternity, which housed her favored servitors, whom she called the Quel'dorei, or the High Borne. They worshiped her and followed her every command, and they all believed themselves better than the rest of their lowercaste bretheren. During this time, the Kaldorei loved and worshiped their queen, but secretly here High Borne were hated by the masses. Tasmia felt the hate for the High Borne deep inside her, but ignored it to be with the beuty of the forests.
Azshara shared the priests intense curiosity of the well, and ordered her High Borne to delve its secrets. They studded it tirelessly for many years, and in time, discovered how to manipulate the cosmic energies of the Well for their own uses. They had gained the power to create, and destroy, at whim. Cenarius and the Druids warned Azshara that this would only lead to disaster, as the archaic magic could not be controlled. Azshara ignored them, and her and her High Borne delved deeper into the cosmic energies of the Well. Not caring for magic, Tasmia stayed in the forests to relish in the purity of life that being at balance with nature gave her.
Over time, a subtle change came over Azshara and her High Borne, they grew callous and treated the lowercaste with cruelty. The once beutiful face of Azshara had grown to a shadowy and brooding appearance. She withdrew from the world, only interacting through her High Borne Priests.
Two young druids by the names of Furion Stormrage and Ru'ali La'ron, who had spent much of their studdies on the effects of the Well, suspected that some terrible force was corrupting the queen and her High Borne. Although they had no idea of the cataclysm that would ensue, they did know that the lives of the Kaldorei would forever change.
Azshera's meddling with magic had sent great ripples of energy through the Well and into the Great Dark Beyond, and into the Twisting Nether and were felt by terrible alien minds. One of which was Sargeras, the Great Enemey of all life and the Ravager of Worlds. He drew his attention to the budding world of Azeroth, and to the limitless possibilities of the Well's power. The Great Enemey from the Nameless Void decided that he would destroy what life was on Azeroth, and claim the Well's power for his own. He gathered his demonic armies, named the Burning Legions, and made his way for Azeroth. The Legion, comprised of millions of screaming demons, all ripped from the far corners of the universe, burned with the thought of conquest. Sargeras' lieutennants, Archimond the Defiler, and Mannoroth the Destructor, prepared the Legion to strike.
Azshera, consumed by the taint of the archaic and choatic magic, fell victim to Sargeras' more powerful mind. She and her High Borne began to worship him, and as a show of servitude, granted him entrance to Azeroth, in the form of a dark and evil portal at the depths of the Well of Eternity.
It came with out warning, the armies of the Burning Legions tore forth from the Well and laid waste to the great slumbering cities of the Kaldorei. Tasmia's home and her parents were burnt from the face of Azeroth in the terrible battle. Tasmia was in the forests of Kalimdor where she liked to be, an experienced woods-woman, she was watching over her sleeping city from a nearby cliff when the battle began. She watched as the Infernals cause a rain of hellish fire to spew from the sky and scorch Azeroth.
A rage like none other filled her, as she watched her city burn to the ground, and the forces of the Legions march across her world and kill her people. The Kaldorei fought the Legion for the sake of their world, but it was a losing battle. During this time, Tasmia left with the brothers Furion and Illidan, the priestess Tyrande, and Ru'ali La'ron, in search of Cenarius at his home in Mt. Hyjal, to muster a fighting force to stop the Burning Legion.
Cenarius agreed to help and summoned the might Dragons to aid the Keldorei. As the armies of the Keldorei and their allies formed, Tasmia came to the conclusion that her skill with a bow and blade would never be enough to quell the onslaught of the Burning Legions. She went to Illidan and the other High Borne that had been convinced to forsake the ways of their magic-addiction wrought destruction.
She asked for them to teach them the magic she would need to help battle the Legions, but they told her that the archaic magic of the Well would drive them, and her, all mad again, and would be not near strong enough to stop the infernal magic of the demon armies.
"Then use the Demon's magic against them," she said to them. "If the Well's magic is too chaotic to control, then we can kill them with their own magic." The High Borne listened, and out of the ever present addiction to magic, they agreed, if they could not have the magic of the Well, then the Demon's would suffice. The High Borne thus became the Demon Hunters, Kaldorei warriors infused with the destructive energies of the Demons.
Tasmia however did not wish to follow the path of the new Demon Hunters, she was one with nature, and the quiet stealth of the forests, not magic. She knew that she would need magic to aid her though. And thus she tapped into the magical energies of the Demons, and formed a magical bond with nature that she knew would aid her, the nature of Shadows. And thus the Shadow-craft, as she called it, was born.
She taught others that thought like she did, the arts of the Shadow-craft and Shadow-skill. Elune is the goddess of the night, she lives in the silver glow of the moon, and the shadows of the night. Listen to the Shadows, let them guide you, and you will hear Elune's voice. Weilding her new elemental powers, she took a new name, Umbra Na'alira, the Ancient Shadow Walker, and became the elusive Shadowdancer. Aided by her Dava Ngden'arie, Shadow Killers, she went with Furion, Illidan, Tyrande and Ru'ali, to Azshera's temple, where they were now completing the last ceremony in which to bring forh Sargeras.
A great battle ensued, many of the Kalderei and their allies were brought down by the Burning Legions and Azshera's raging power. For Azshera had known they were comming. They were betrayed by Illidan and his lust for magic. The ceremony was disrupted, and the chaotic energies of the Well of Eternity buckled, and the Well collapsed in on itself. . .
The world was sundered that night, the Kaldorei that survived found a safe place to be, the Legion was sent back, and nearly all of Azeroth was sunken beneath the oceans. . .
Mt. Hyjal survived the cataclysm, and a new Well was created. Although Umbra and the other survivors, including: Furion, Tyrande, and Ru'ali, found this new well to be fouled and tainted by magic. They also found Illidan, in his lust for magic, he had stolen the waters of the destroyed Well of Eternity and placed some of it in this new Well.
Illidan was entombed in the base of Mt. Hyjal by Furion, and the High Borne cast out, for they all knew they would succomb to the magics of the new Well. The new Well must be dealt with, and the Dragons came to the Kaldorei's aid again.
Alexstrasza, the Life-Giver, placed an acorn in the magical waters, and the World Tree was born, named Nordrassil, "Crown of the Heavens." Nozdormu, the Timeless, placed an enchantment on Nordrassil that made the Kaldorei immortal once more, for they had lost their immortality with the destruction of the Well of Eternity.
And the last enchantment on the tree placed by Ysera, the Dreamer, linked it to her ethereal dream realm. And along with it the Druids would selflessly sacrifice many years of their lives to hibernate and allow their spirits to roam Ysera's Emrald Dream.
The Kaldorei over the years aged into the Night Elves as they are known today, their warriors still keep watch over the sleeping Druids and their slumbering forests. They are known as the Sentinels and they keep a constant Vigil over the new Kalimdor.
Umbra and her Dava Ngden'arie were spared from the expulsion of the High Elves, since they too had used magic to bond with the Shadows, but had battle valiently against the Burning Legions. But they could not ignore the call for of magic. Even though they do not actively use magic, it magic that supplies the bond to their Shadow-crafts and skills. They feared that they too would succumb and end up like the High Elves. Their salvation came in the form of a Black Dragon.
Malavere, the Shadow Mother, with the approval of the other Dragons, placed one last final enchantment upon the World Tree. This was unknown by the Night Elves, for only the ones that bonded with the Shadows came to the Dragons for help. This final enchantment opened a doorway to Malavere's world. Very similar to Ysera's Emrald Dream, this was the Dark Dream, a tormented place, where Malavere could watch over the Nightmares of the world and guard them from escape. This enchantment allowed any who were linked with the Shadows to, like the Druids, slumber and drift in the highways of the Dark Dream. This would allow the Dava'irim, Shadow Walkers, to enter a Dark slumber, and ignore the addictive call of magic.
To this day, whenever a Dava'irim feels that the call of the chaotic magic is too much to bear any longer, they can dissapear into the Shadows and the tormented world of the Dark Dream. The Dava'irim sacfrice years of their life in a world of untold horrors, so that they will never succumb to the will of magic.
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