Swamp of Sorrows

The Swamp of Sorrows (also once known as the Swamps of Sorrow) is a contested territory in the southern part of the Eastern Kingdoms. Among its murk-ridden marshes the Green Dragonspawn patrol at the behest of their dreaming mistress, Ysera. The great Dragon Aspect has warned of a lurking terror within the Temple of Atal'Hakkar, and her loyal servants are determined to protect the land from the emerging doom.

Far distant from civilization, the Swamp of Sorrows is a stagnant marshland of sucking bogs and weeping trees. The ocean seeps into the fen, making the water brackish and ideal for alligators and crocolisks. Salt deposits encrust fallen logs and protruding rocks. Bog beasts slog through the interior. Despite these dangers, the Horde has taken advantage of the region’s distance from Stormwind to establish a colony on the continent. A group of draenei, displaced from their homeworld, also has a settlement here and routinely sends assassins and saboteurs against the orcs. A flight of green dragons guards a ruin called the Lost Temple, an ancient troll edifice that channels demonic energy and drives living creatures to madness and violence.

Some draenei were led through the Dark Portal by a few unknown leaders with the hopes of finding a new life, and have settled in the Swamp Of Sorrows. Unfortunately, most of them were driven mad due to homesickness, and attack all on sight.

The orc outpost of Stonard, built during the First War and rebuilt under Thrall's rule, is the only civilized town in the swamp. It serves as a base for the Horde. While being rather isolated from other Horde settlements, it has gained new interest with the re-opening of the Dark Portal.

Yet most of the swamp is dominated by nature. Wild beasts like crocolisks and jaguars hunt for prey, and ancient Bog Beasts wander through the land. Aggressive Murloc tribes populate the coast and nearby caves.

The Swamp of Sorrows stands on the eastern side of Azeroth, east of the Deadwind Pass, north of the Blasted Lands and south of the Badlands. However, the only foot route to it is through Duskwood, then Deadwind Pass.

History
Originally, the Swamp of Sorrows was the northern part of an enormous swampland called the Black Morass. After the fall of the Gurubashi Empire, a renegade faction of trolls, the Atal'ai, fled into the swamp and built a large temple, the Temple of Atal'Hakkar. Ysera of the green dragonflight learned of their evil plans, drowned the temple into the largest bog, and sent several members of her flight to guard the ruins.

Then in the southern part the Dark Portal was opened, and the Horde invaded the Morass. The orcs built two settlements in the Swamp of Sorrows, Rockard and Stonard. These towns, and later Blackrock Spire farther north, were the Horde's main bases during the First War against the humans. During the war, Rockard was destroyed and Stonard severely damaged.

With the implosion of the Dark Portal during the second war, the southern part of the morass was separated and transformed into the barren Blasted Lands. The implosion left some groups of draenei on Azeroth, forever changed by the disaster. Most of them went mad from homesickness and the separation from their land, forming the hostile Lost Ones. A small group, calling themselves Broken Exiles, managed to escape that fate and struggle along.

After the warchief Thrall assumed command of the Horde, the old outpost of Stonard was rebuilt by the orcs to its former glory. Researchers have come to study and exploit ancient magical artefacts, as well as the abundant flora and fauna of the swamp.

Recently, after the crash of the Exodar, some draenei have come to help their broken cousins, but they decided to stay neutral towards horde and alliance.

Swamp of Sorrows (WC3)
Once a tribe of furbolgs stubbornly held its own against foul creatures invading the swamp. Unfortunately they weren't able to hold out long.

Geography
The swamp is aptly named, as the water from the ocean estuary encrusts fallen logs and rocks with salt deposits. The road rises mere inches from the water, painstakingly built to allow travel through this wretched area. This stagnant land is made worse by the jaguars, the hulking bog beasts and the crocolisks, manytoothed beasts that lurk at the water’s edge waiting for travelers.

The Swamp of Sorrows contains no raid dungeons or battlegrounds. The Temple of Atal'Hakkar (aka the Sunken Temple), an instanced dungeon for adventurers levels 50-56, can be found in the eastern part of the zone. Sorrowmurk, east of the Sunken Temple, is a micro-dungeon full of elite dragonspawn. The orc outpost, Stonard, can also be found in this zone, and is a Horde travel hub (their nearest one to the Dark Portal), and the location of the master alchemist trainer. Harborage is a small village of draenei broken, who deal with both the Horde and the Alliance.

Although Alliance has no travel hub in this zone, both Darkshire and Nethergarde Keep are valuable alternatives as their locations lets one run to the Swamp without encountering any enemies on the way.

Maps and subregions



 * Topographic map of Swamp of Sorrows

Micro dungeons

 * Sorrowmurk: Sorrowmurk lies east of the Temple of Atal'Hakkar, and is full of green dragonspawn elite. Sorrowmurk is also home to the green drake Somnus, objective of one of the Test of Skulls raid quests, the quest line to obtain the key to Onyxia's Lair.

Flight paths from Stonard

 * Grom'Gol Base Camp, Stranglethorn Vale
 * Booty Bay, Stranglethorn Vale
 * Kargath, the Badlands
 * Flame Crest, Burning Steppes

Notable characters


Swamp of Sorrows is home to several characters of note. At Stonard, Fel'zerul seeks aid in the battle against the Atal'ai. Near the entrance to the Blasted Lands, the Fallen Hero of the Horde attempts to cleanse the corruption that stems from a grand demon to the south. And southeast of Stonesplinter Junction, Watcher Biggs sends bold adventurers into the swamp in search of his lost shipment. At the Harborage in the northwest, Anchorite Avuun studies the Lost Ones of Fallow Sanctuary in hopes of curing their condition.

Quests
Quests in the Swamp of Sorrows are few and far between, stretched out across level 35-55. A few quests in this zone lead to the Sunken Temple, and so merit a visit. For the most part, however, this zone is seldom seen as a prime questing area.

Resources

 * Herbs
 * Stranglekelp
 * Kingsblood
 * Liferoot
 * Fadeleaf
 * Goldthorn
 * Khadgar's Whisker
 * Blindweed (One of the few regions where you can gather it.)
 * Leather
 * Green Whelp Scale (Skinning level 34-36 whelps)
 * Shadowcat Hide (Skinning level 37-43 Panthers)
 * Worn Dragonscale (Skinning level 40-60 whelps/wyrmkin)
 * Green Dragonscale (Skinning level 40-60 elite whelps and wyrmkin in around the Temple of Atal'Hakkar)
 * Ore
 * Silver Vein
 * Iron Deposit
 * Gold Vein
 * Mithril Deposit
 * Truesilver Deposit

Wild creatures

 * Bog Beasts
 * Crabs
 * Crocolisks
 * Dragonspawn (green)
 * Dragon Whelps (green)
 * Drakes (green)
 * Frenzies
 * Lost Ones
 * Murlocs
 * Oozes
 * Sharks
 * Spiders
 * Swamp Jaguars