Uldaman

Uldaman is a titan vault buried beneath the northern Badlands, where it has lain since the world's creation. The dwarves of Ironforge uncovered its ruins and saw in them the key to their own lost past. King Magni Bronzebeard then turned his people from mining to archaeology and helped found the Explorers' League to dig out the truth of their origins.

The excavation released the troggs sealed inside, and they overran the dig so fast that a band of dwarves was trapped deep in the ruins. The troggs that later burst into Gnomeregan are believed to have come from this dig. The Dark Iron dwarves of the Shadowforge clan now raid the vault to claim the Discs of Norgannon and other relics for their master, Ragnaros. Ragnaros sent the fire elemental Ambassador Infernus to oversee their digging from Angor Fortress.

The Stonevault troggs, led by Grimlok, roam the halls and dig sites, and one of them, Revelosh, carries half of the staff that opens a sealed chamber. Shadowforge dwarves, including Galgann Firehammer, hold Dig Three and search the ruins for artifacts and power stones. The vault's own guardians wake to crush intruders: the giant Ironaya, the Obsidian Sentinel, the Ancient Stone Keeper and a host of earthen, the stone-skinned ancestors of the dwarves. At the bottom, in Khaz'goroth's Seat, the Stonekeeper Archaedas guards the Discs of Norgannon.

Prospector Stormpike in Ironforge's Hall of Explorers sends Alliance adventurers to find Baelog's band at Dig Two, and Baelog shows them how to open the hidden Chamber of Khaz'mul. Advisor Belgrum wants the Tablet of Will, which legend says gives created beings a will of their own, before the Shadowforge can use it. Both factions hunt the lost gems of a necklace worn by a paladin who died in the ruins. The goblin Rigglefuzz in the Badlands pays for the power stones the Shadowforge dig up, which he found to be a lasting source of power.

Once Archaedas falls, touching the Discs of Norgannon calls up a stone watcher, the Lore Keeper of Norgannon. It explains that the titans, whom it calls the Creators, made the earthen from Azeroth's stone. Under stress the earthen could break down into two forms: the mindless trogg, which the Creators rejected, and the dwarf, which they accepted. The discs then make a small copy of themselves for the Explorers' League in Ironforge or the sages of Thunder Bluff, and the League calls it "the find of the century."