Category:Alliance

The Alliance
The Alliance (also called the Grand Alliance)is one of two major political factions of the mortal races in Azeroth, its counterpart being the Horde which the Alliance has traditionally been at war with. Driven by tradition, the Alliance consists of powerful cultures and groups bound not by desperation or necessity, but by their deep commitments to abstract concepts like nobility, honor, faith, justice, and sacrifice. Striving to represent these high ideals, its many different peoples all contribute their technical, arcane, and spiritual wisdom toward the shared goal of preserving order on Azeroth and creating a peaceful and just world.

The Alliance is an evolution of the original Alliance of Lordaeron, and the memories of the allegiances and idealism of the Alliance of Lordaeron―centered in the homonymous continent―served as the ultimate inspiration for the new Alliance of the present day. The modern organization has the bulk of its forces on Northern Kalimdor and the south-eastern continents of Khaz Modan and Azeroth. Some of the members of the previous Alliance (such as Stormwind and Ironforge) are members of the Grand Alliance.

The Alliance has throughout the Warcraft story remained the only force that can match up to the Horde. These two factions have warred several times with their predecessors (Old Horde, Alliance of Lordaeron) having clashed together in the First, Second, and Third Wars. In the Fourth War, the last major conflict as of Battle for Azeroth, the controversial acts by the Horde Warchief Sylvanas Windrunner eventually caused a Horde rebellion led by Varok Saurfang. This led to a temporary unity between the two factions when Varok asked Anduin Wrynn, High King of the Alliance, for aid in assaulting Orgrimmar to end both the reign of Sylvanas and the enmity between the Horde and Alliance. Ultimately, the rebellion caused the Horde to lose its top leadership when Sylvanas killed Varok and abandoned the Horde. With his death and her abandonment, the Fourth War is considered over and the two factions have begun talks of peace, though many surmise it may not last or cannot forgive the atrocities of the past. Currently the Horde and Alliance is in an "uneasy armistice".

The Alliance is one of the two factions that player characters belong to―the Horde being the other―as determined by a given character's race (with the exception of Pandaren which can be both). Besides race, being a member of the Horde or Alliance affects gameplay through what settlements, NPCs, quests, reputation factions and in some cases items and encounters the player may access. Faction mechanics also prevent Horde and Alliance players from talking with each others or making groups together, and most PvP gameplay involves Horde players fighting against Alliance players. The divide between the Horde and Alliance—in regard to gameplay mechanics, story elements, and sometimes in social aspects like faction pride—acts as the core element of the World of Warcraft experience.