The Plaguelands and the Scarlet Crusade

Lordaeron's heartland is now the Plaguelands. Kel'Thuzad commands the Scourge there from the floating necropolis Naxxramas, Baron Rivendare rules the undead in ruined Stratholme, and in the Barov family's old school, Scholomance, the Cult of the Damned trains new necromancers.

Survivors of the Silver Hand regrouped as the Scarlet Crusade, sworn to burn the plague from the land. Their Grand Crusader, Saidan Dathrohan, is secretly the dreadlord Balnazzar, and the Crusade has grown so fanatical that it kills any outsider it suspects of taint. Its strongholds include the Scarlet Monastery in Tirisfal Glades, Hearthglen, Tyr's Hand and a bastion in Stratholme. Even its heroes carry darker stories: Renault Mograine betrayed his father Alexandros, the Ashbringer, to his death.

Not every paladin became a zealot. Those who refused the Crusade's cruelty formed the Argent Dawn, which works with anyone who fights the Scourge, from Light's Hope Chapel. The exiled paladin Tirion Fordring lives as a hermit near Hearthglen, and the Forsaken push north from Tirisfal. The fate of Lordaeron is still undecided.