“'tis not unexpected nor unprecedented in global politicking for a power to fragment. We’ve seen it time and time again, especially in the past forty years. Nations splinter due to disagreements at the top of their society, kingdoms broken by outside forces thanks to betrayals or just a necessary destruction of their power, and even the common man raising a stone or a fist to their betters. Even the greatest world powers have seen this. Most notably, the Horde.”
“So, I’ll ask it again, High King Anduin Llane Wrynn… Why is it so surprising to you that your Grand Alliance has fractured?” - an excerpt from an emergency council held shortly after the ‘Broken Crown’ proclamation of Year 38. These words are noted to be from either the later renegade Lord Darius Crowley of Gilneas, or from Tyrande Whisperwind a few months before the Insurrection of Ashenvale began.
The Alliance has stood surprisingly stalwart against the tides of history, despite its many contentious feuds and cracks at its foundation. Some ascribed this fact to necessity, as the unrelenting forces of evil and considerable rivalry from the Horde would not allow the Alliance to sunder. That was the truth of it. Honestly. After a Peace Treaty that officially ended the Fourth War, a few years after the War’s actual close with the second Battle for Durotar, the Alliance’s need to stand together finally passed. And this brought a lot of organizations, a lot of nations, and a lot of independent citizens to beg the question. “Is the Alliance good for our future?”
Many were afraid to answer this question.
But soon enough, some did. It is believed that a small separatist group figure headed by a Gilnean veteran was the first to act out. This happened multiple years before the actual treaty, but this ‘Northguard’ brought many to question the results of the Fourth War. And then, to question the results of many wars prior. The Alliance was founded as a coalition of independent peoples and societies, a council of equals that decided how their lands would aid one another when they were threatened. Key word, Equals. Then the High King was agreed upon, and a High King selected from Humanity nonetheless. Varian Wrynn was an aggressive and rather needed figurehead at the time, but it was proven later that much of Varian’s deeds were questionable at best, downright moronic at the worst. And he ultimately failed the Alliance at large, as he allowed the trial of Garrosh Hellscream take place. His hubris later led to the events that nearly destroyed the world.
And then they allowed the High King to be hereditary, and let an unproven young King take over the reigns. Anduin failed to hold the Alliance’s threats accountable. He did not act for the Alliance, only for Stormwind, for he let multiple Alliance factions fend for themselves while pursuing his ‘noble agenda’. Though he inevitably found his peace, it was a peace won by blood, and without much personal sacrifice on his own account.
The Dire Wolf, as she was known, had written several condemnations of the Alliance over the years. Never once did she call for action against the Alliance, only to demand the Alliance be better. To be responsible for its citizenry, to retake and hold what was lost, and to truly be ‘better’. Though her following started small, the Dire Wolf gained a large audience over the years. So when she finally broke her passive stance, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that a large separatist cause effectively tore a hole in the Alliance.
The Dire Wolf, a certain Sint Dagon, pronounced that the Broken Crown of the Alliance had unjustly oppressed its sovereign citizens and failed at its most baseline duty in defending its borders. The High King and his supporters only cared for their own moralistic agenda, only for the borders of Stormwind, and was fully willing to sacrifice every member race of the Alliance if it allowed peace to fall.
So came the Broken Crown. The name isn’t official, it was simply figured by the SI:7 that giving a larger organizational name to the myriad likeminded and regularly allied separatist causes was beneficial for actions taken against them.
To date, their de facto leader is the Dire Wolf. Sint Dagon’s manifestos had been the central spark to light the fuse, after all. Many of them seek her out for leadership or for aid, but an equal number consider her anathema to their own objectives, and only look to her for superior numbers in pushing their agendas.
The SI:7 has confirmed these Alliance leaders and near-Alliance leaders to be a part of the Broken Crown crisis.
Darius Crowley was one of the first to split from the Alliance, citing this as his main motivation. “See, I was happy to join the Alliance because we needed them, and they needed us. The necessity is gone, and now we’re back to square one, with an unjust King and a lot of lost land.” The Gilnean Lord has long had a feud with the King of Gilneas, and it seems that Genn has failed to keep Crowley on good terms. Darius wishes to reforge Gilneas without a crown to weigh it down, yet he is one of the more amicable separatist leaders. He has openly been noted to be quite positive on rejoining the Alliance once his task, and several others, are completed.
Surprisingly, General Twinbraid cheated death and also announced his separation from the Alliance. The Horde killed his son, destroyed several Alliance nations, and continued to cause atrocity after atrocity- but Anduin was willing to still hear them out? He renounced his allegiance to Magni Bronzebeard and turned Bael Modan into a new Dwarven nation. King Twinbraid the First, head of the newly formed Twinbraid Dwarves, attempts to conquer the Southern Barrens for his new kingdom. Many Dark Iron openly or secretly support General Twinbraid.
Much to the shock of the Alliance (especially the Kaldorei), Tyrande did not separate from the Alliance. Instead, it was Maiev (nobody was surprised) and Shandris (everyone was surprised). Maiev had always disagreed with Malfurion and outright hated Tyrande for her actions during the Third War, so when Tyrande’s only contributions after the armistice were bluster and single-minded hatred towards Sylvanas and nothing else, she figured it was about time she left the practical dictatorship that had ruled over the kaldorei for ten thousand years. Shandris’ reasons are much less personal, but in that, are so much more personal. Shandris is like a daughter to Tyrande, and so, she can see the failures of her mother. She’d been basically groomed to take over the role as leader of the elves, how could she not? With Tyrande in charge of the Kaldorei, change would never truly happen, and the elves were destined to permanently face tragedy. Tragedy after tragedy that would only get them all killed. With most of the Wardens already poised against the Kaldorei, Shandris saw her opportunity to invoke radical change, and became the central leader of the Kaldorei separatist movement.
I probably don’t need to explain Vanessa Vancleef.
Then there’s a strange one. General Hath of Alterac is a figure oft forgotten by history, and clearly by the Alliance. Alterac itself has been utterly abandoned to its fate, despite the fact that the Alteraci were extremely opposed to the betrayal that King Perenolde committed against the Alliance nearly 40 years ago by the point of the Broken Crown proclamation. General Hath’s deeds during the Second War inspire a new generation of Alteraci who were all born into the world without a home to stand up for themselves. His daughter, also a General Hath, built a close companionship to the Dire Wolf. After the Dire Wolf’s proclamation, it was a simple matter of promising her axe to the Wolf against the Alliance. Thus did the large majority of Alterac’s population turn against the Alliance that had left them for dead.
There’s the Northguard under the Dire Wolf, which was first built out of refugees of the Fourth War, and later collected a motley crew of myriad races. It has basically completely rebranded as the Thronebreakers, as Sint is proud to be labeled as the ‘Broken Crown’.
There are rumors that Divinius, one of the Prophet’s Chosen, is responsible for much of the unrest that has been happening among the Draenei. Many wonder that she perhaps feels that the draenei wallow in their own sorrow, and are unwilling to take their next step to the future, and clutch too close to faith for their own good. Divinius, for her part, hasn’t tipped the SI:7 into believing she’s a part of the Broken Crown crisis. She is, and for that part, has been trying to convince Nobundo to assist her. Nobundo feels that the Broken have been largely forgotten and used by the Draenei, and the SI:7 are aware the Broken are disgruntled with the lack of assistance their people have gotten from the Alliance to the point of sheer negligence.
Kul Tiras is rumored to be split into thirds on the issue, with the Lord of Stormsong wishing to stay out of this, the Lord-Admiral of Proudmoore wishing to keep Kul Tiras in the Alliance, and the Lady of Waycrest upset by the further inclusion of dark forces and the Alliance’s courting of the Horde. The Lady of Waycrest points to the fall of her mother and father to ruinous powers as points to distance Kul Tiras from the Void Elves and the Horde. It’s not clear if Lady Lucille Waycrest has been aiding separatist causes, but the SI:7 has spotted a member of the Order of Embers aiding the Thronebreakers in anti-Forsaken activities.
Fortunately, the gnomes have no comment. The leper gnomes do, but… who’s surprised?
The Broken Crown crisis affects Alliance lands. There are places of active warfare, places that are notably dangerous for Alliance loyalists, locations of high tensions between separatists and loyalists, and it even bleeds outside of Alliance lands. Contested zones between the Alliance and Horde see rising separatist activites, so too do Horde locations that were once held by the Alliance or by Alliance races. The separatists are not held back by the Alliance’s peace treaty, but they threaten to ruin the peace between the Horde and Alliance.
The SI:7’s new sister organization formed specifically to monitor this crisis, the AI:1 (Alliance Intelligence: 1st Operations Group), believes that there is a shadowy cabal helping organize the separatist crisis. There may be a greater threat to Azeroth looming behind the scenes, using the Broken Crown crisis to mask their activities.
As of year 39, half a year after the Broken Crown crisis began, High King Wrynn has been pushed by the New Horde Council to declare the crisis as a major emergency and that he must do anything in his power to reign it back in. Anduin hasn’t bent completely to their demands, and still seeks to negotiate and peacefully repair his Alliance.
AI:1 is working around the clock to find the cabal responsible. They’ll be disappointed when they find out that even without this group, this crisis was inevitable. It just needed another push.
sint post is long (edit cuz eyes glazed over)
sint apologizes for the A Lot