Rise of the Horde

Around 11 years before the First War, the Shadowmoon were led by the wise
chieftain Ner'zhul, who was respected by every clan. He acted as an advisor to all
shaman and helped foster the loose bonds between the different clans. One
[7]

day, Gul'dan, an orc exile who had agreed to a pact with the Burning Legion,
approached the Shadowmoon and claimed that his home village had been destroyed by
ogres. The Shadowmoon took pity on him and accepted him into their clan. Gul'dan
managed to win Ner'zhul's friendship, even convincing the chieftain to accept him as his
own apprentice. This allowed Gul'dan's demonic master Kil'jaeden to begin
manipulating Ner'zhul by appearing in the elder shaman's dreams disguised as his
deceased mate, Rulkan. Meanwhile, Gul'dan incited a conflict between the draenei and
the orcish Bladewind clan that culminated in a massacre of the largest Bladewind
village. Gul'dan killed the few orc survivors and returned to the Shadowmoon with tales
of an unprovoked slaughter against the Bladewinds on behalf of the draenei. "Rulkan"
had warned Ner'zhul that the draenei planned to destroy the orcs, and the chieftain sent
a summons for a great clan meeting at Oshu'gun, where the orcish chieftains agreed to
band together into the first Horde and march to war against the draenei. [8]

However, as the months of war between orc and draenei progressed, Ner'zhul gradually
began to feel doubts about the Horde's purpose and the increasing bloodlust of his
people and secretly journeyed to Oshu'gun for guidance from the spirits. Kil'jaeden was
aware of this and ordered Gul'dan to gather allies to take control of the Shadowmoon
clan, since Ner'zhul could no longer be relied upon. Gul'dan recruited the young
shaman Teron'gor and taught him the ways of fel magic, and slowly won other shaman
to his side as well. At Oshu'gun, Ner'zhul was condemned by the real Rulkan and the
other ancestors, who told him that he had been deceived by Kil'jaeden. The shaman fell
into despair and was captured by Gul'dan's new followers on his way back to
Shadowmoon Valley. The warlocks treated him as little more than a slave, and as
Ner'zhul gradually faded from the public eye, his usurpers became the voice of the
Shadowmoon clan. Gul'dan's trusted Shadowmoon warlocks would later form the initial
[9]

members and inner circle of the secretive order known as the Shadow Council. [10]

Shortly after Blackhand was named Warchief of the Horde, he assigned specific roles to
the various clans. The Shadowmoon were among the clans assigned to act as scouts,
raiders and auxiliary forces that could quickly move from one region of Draenor to
another.[11]