Azeroth

Azeroth is the planet on which most of the Warcraft story happens. Deep inside it sleeps a worldsoul, the young spirit of a titan. Over the ages many races have settled its lands, some born there and others arriving from different worlds.

Today the two big political powers of the mortal races are the Alliance and the Horde. They fight each other often, yet both care about Azeroth and have joined forces when a shared enemy threatened it, such as the Burning Legion or the Void.

The world has four major continents with many islands around them. The Great Sea lies between the four, and in its middle swirls the Maelstrom, a huge whirlpool that is all that is left of the ancient Well of Eternity.

Several islands have played a big part in recent events: Zandalar, Kul Tiras, the Broken Isles, the Dragon Isles and Khaz Algar. The Forbidding Sea lies east of the Eastern Kingdoms, the Veiled Sea west of Kalimdor and the South Seas below Pandaria.

In the game, every continent is cut into zones: map areas with their own theme, monsters and scenery, separated by invisible borders like countries. A zone can hold subzones, cities, towns and instances. Dun Morogh, for example, contains the subzone Coldridge Valley, the city of Ironforge, the town of Kharanos and the Gnomeregan instance.

• Alliance or Horde: the zone belongs to one faction.
• Contested: both factions share it.
• Sanctuary: a safe place, such as Dalaran or Shattrath City.
• Combat zone: a zone made for PvP even on non-PvP realms, such as Tol Barad and Wintergrasp.

The open world started with the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and almost every expansion has added a new continent or world. Some of them, like Outland, Draenor, Argus and the Shadowlands, are not on Azeroth at all.

In the current story, the Worldsoul Saga, Xal'atath and her Void armies try to claim Azeroth's worldsoul, and she has sent the Devouring Host against the Isle of Quel'Danas to seize the Sunwell (see Quel'Thalas).