The Exiles of Quel'Thalas

Long after the Sundering, a group of Highborne still could not give up the arcane. Their reckless spells raised storms over Ashenvale, and the night elves finally banished them. Led by Dath'Remar Sunstrider, the exiles sailed east across the Great Sea and wandered the new continent for years, searching for a land where magic ran strong.

Around 6,800 years before the Dark Portal they found it in the north of Lordaeron. Dath'Remar poured a stolen vial of water from the Well of Eternity into a lake on a nexus of ley lines, and the Sunwell blazed into being. Around it rose Quel'Thalas and its capital, Silvermoon. Living under the sun rather than the moon, the exiles changed over the centuries and became the high elves, the quel'dorei.

The land was not empty. It held ancient ruins sacred to the Amani trolls, who attacked the newcomers in overwhelming numbers. The elves held them back with magic and raised Ban'dinoriel, a barrier of runestones that kept the Amani at bay. For some four thousand years Quel'Thalas prospered behind it, while the trolls waited for revenge.