Warcraft Lore Part 2: Loken and the Curse of Flesh

Ulduar

The vast Titan complex of Ulduar was converted into a prison to contain the Old God Yogg-Saron. In its place, the Titans left their watchers to make sure that no one were to ever disturb the darkness that lay beneath and the Pantheon left their faithful servant Algalon to make sure that these watchers took it upon themselves to make sure that Azeroth continued to thrive with life. The most important of these watchers were dubbed "Keepers".

Yes, they are all based off of Norse mythology.

Odyn

The Prime Designate of the Keepers. Odyn oversees all production undertaken by the titan-forged and watchers. He eventually leaves Ulduar in the hands of the other Keepers to create the Halls of Valor where the greatest Vrykul warriors go after death. Valhalla. It's Valhalla.

Thorim

Thorim was given life, along with his brother Hodir, by Golganneth for the purpose of battling Al'Akir during the war with the Elementals. After the fall of the Titans, he became a Keeper and eventually married a mortal frost Vrykul by the name of Sif.

Hodir

The patron watcher and father of the Frost Giants, Hodir resides in the Temple of Winter and is speculated to the be the basis for the Dwarves' veneration of Greatfather Winter.

Freya

Eonar imbued Freya with power in order to combat Therazane the Stonemother during the Elemental conflict. Notably, Freya created the Emerald Dream and alternate dimension which is considered to be the blueprint for the Titan's ideal version of Azeroth. Inside of the Dream, G'Hanir the world tree was created to spread its roots into the real world and heal Azeroth.

Mimiron

No one knows what Mimiron's true form looked like. After an "accident", Mimiron was saved by his assistants and put inside the body of one of the prototypes being built. A genius of engineering and the progeny of Norgannon, Mimiron created the Goblin race as an experiment.

Tyr

The strongest of the Titanic Watchers, Tyr is widely regarded as the patron god of the human race (more on that in a minute). His hand has become a symbol of the Light and is used as the emblem by the Paladins of Azeroth. Tyr was given life by Aggramar himself and, together with Odyn, fought and defeated Ragnaros, the most powerful of the Elemental Lords.

Archaedas

Given life by Khaz'goroth, Archaedas helped Tyr to craft a shield that could see through any deception dubbed Truthguard.

Ra-den

Ra-den or Master Ra was the Keeper in charge of the southern reaches of Azeroth which included Pandaria and Uldum. He was instrumental in the installation of the Forge of Origination, the sister Forge to the Forge of Wills (more on that in a bit). Unlike the others, he left Ulduar almost immediately in order to keep watch over Y'Shaarj's remains.

Loken

Thorim's brother and the Keeper of the Temple of Wisdom. Loken became the Prime Designate after Odyn left Ulduar and was forged to fight Neptulon.

The Forge of Wills

Odyn ordered the construction of this device in order to bring life to Azeroth as well as transfer energy to the dormant Titan. The Forge was constructed inside of Ulduar by Mimiron and Archaedas and it is from this Forge that nearly all life on Azeroth comes from. The most notable creations of the Forge are the Mechagnomes, the Earthen, and the Vrykul. The Earthen would go on to become the Dwarves and the Vrykul are the ancestors of humans. No points for guessing what the Mechagnomes became.

Things Fall Apart

Some time after the creation of the Forge of Wills and life began to flourish on Azeroth, Loken had an affair with Sif, Thorim's wife. Attempting to keep this a secret from his brother, Loken became terrified at the thought of losing her. From deep within his prison, Yogg-Saron invaded Loken's thoughts and, in a fit of grief and rage, he killed Sif. Thorim, upon finding out, demanded to know what had occured. Loken lied to Thorim, saying that the king of the ice giants, their ally up until that point, was responsible for the death of his wife causing Thorim to declare war on the giants. Loken would go on to create an army with the Forge of Wills to break up the conflict and Thorim shut himself inside his Temple of Storms.

The Curse of Flesh

Unbeknownst to the Keepers, Yogg-Saron had orchestrated the conflict in order to plant a disease inside of the Forge of Wills. Something to aid in the assimilation of the Titan's creations. The Curse of Flesh. After afflicting the Forge with this disease, the hard stone and metal that defined those creations gave way to soft pink flesh and muscle. The true danger of this curse was that it could also spread to those created even before the Forge was affected.

The New Prime Designate

Desperate to hide his lie, Loken arranged the death of Mimiron and set it up to look like an accident and managed to convince Yogg-Saron to corrupt Freya and Hodir into complacency. With the rampant corruption, Archaedas and Tyr fled Ulduar for the southern reaches. This left only Ra-den and Odyn. Loken sought the aid of Helya, a Watcher betrayed by Odyn and forced to serve as the caretaker of souls, for her aid in dealing with Odyn. Using the same magic used to banish the Elemental Lords to the abyssal plane, Helya locked Odyn and his Vrykul warriors inside of the Halls of Valor. Helya decided to go to Helheim, the afterlife for dishonorable Vrykul warriors and decided to care for the lost souls there as one final insult to Odyn. Ra-den would never learn of the fates of his compatriots as he had locked himself away in depression after learning the fate of the Pantheon. With no one left to oppose him, Loken became the new Prime Designate and deleted all record of his corruption.

The Ignorance of Algalon

Algalon the Observer was created by the Pantheon with the intention of destroying Azeroth should it fall to Old God corruption. If he were to ever find out about the actions of Loken, he would almost assuredly kill him and put an end to Azeroth. Loken was able to flood the databases of Ulduar with false information which was able to pacify Algalon who, with his hands-off approach to running Ulduar, was none the wiser to the corruption of Yogg-Saron.

Those Who Remain

Tyr and Archaedas did not flee Ulduar alone they, along with the vrykul, earthen, and mechagnomes, stole the Discs of Norgannon to investigate just how deeply the corruption of Yogg-Saron ran. These Discs contained the truth of how Loken came to power but would never be revealed to Algalon until centuries later. Meanwhile, the vrykul, earthen, and mechagnomes that fled with the two keepers would develop the continent that would become the Eastern Kingdoms. Loken sent minions of Yogg-Saron after the group with the intention of complete extermination. Tyr held them off at the cost of his life. The Earthen whose skin still retained their stone origins asked to be sealed away in the hopes of a cure for the Curse could eventually be developed. Archaedas complied with their wishes and sealed them, the Discs, and himself inside the complex of Uldaman.

The Dawn of Humanity

As the Curse of Flesh spread among the populace of Vrykul, more and more children were born with the flesh disease. Scared and angry, King Ymiron of the Vrykul ordered that all children with the disease must be put to death. Unwilling to comply with the king's orders, many Vrykul parents hid their children away in a sanctuary to save them from persecution. These hidden Vrykul would go on to become the ancestors of humanity. This sanctuary was Tyr's final resting place. Growing up on tales of a great hero that sacrificed his life to save others and with the warmth of the light that emanated from his remains washing over the new race, people became inspired which gave rise to the Priest and Paladin orders.

Link to Part 1: http://imgur.com/gallery/lWZqA

Sorry that this one wasn't as long as the first part. I overestimated how much there was to talk about this particular subject. The next part has much more to discuss.

Link to Part 3: http://imgur.com/gallery/tqgYL

Link to Part 4: http://imgur.com/gallery/t4ZtB

Link to Part 5: http://imgur.com/gallery/cAaRj

Link to Part 6: http://imgur.com/gallery/Hxlrf

Link to Part 7: http://imgur.com/gallery/BoaZm

Link to Part 8: http://imgur.com/gallery/Vhtu4

Link to Part 9: http://imgur.com/gallery/9zjNb

Link to Part 10: http://imgur.com/gallery/J7t8K

Link to Part 11: http://imgur.com/gallery/OxBWt

Link to Part 12: http://imgur.com/gallery/S6MnU

Link to Part 13: http://imgur.com/gallery/lHDhd