World of Warcraft -  Undermine

Many players wrongly think that Undermine is an Isle.  The truth is that Undermine is the capital of the Isle of Kezan, the largest and southmost of the South Seas Islands. Isle of Kezan is ruled by the Trade Coalition, composed by five Goblin Princes of Trade.

Isle of Kezan was formerly controlled by Jungle Trolls.  However, the Goblins invaded the island and almost erradicate the presence of trolls in the area through a war long ago.  Isle of Kezan still has Troll presence, but the Goblins are no longer concerned about them, focusing more into their merchant business.

Isle of Kezan has many places of interest such as Mount Kajaro – a volcano—that is held sacred by the Kezan Jungle Trolls.  They live at the nearby Voodress Village.

Bilgewater Port – to the northwest – is the primary port of the Goblins in Isle of Kezan. It is controlled by the Bilgewater Cartel.

Edj Port – to the northeast – is run by Baron Revilgaz and his Blackwater Raider Pirates.  Baron Revilgaz oversees its operations from Booty Bay.

Undermine has some surface areas, but it is mostly underground.  A series of volcanic caverns, tunnels and chambers that span out of Isle of Kezan through the ocean floor, connecting to adjacent smaller islands to the west of Isle of Kezan.  Slave pens and the Palaces of the Goblin Princes of Trade are located in Undermine.

Besides Slaves, the tunnels are inhabited by a strange breed of goblins named Hobgoblins.  Their lifespan is barely three years, and are overgrown in size.  Hobgoblins are purple-skinned.  They came to exist through alchemists experiementing during the second war on goblin subjects.  More details of the Hobgoblins in the RPG Book mentioned below.

The World of Warcraft Collector’s Edition Behind the Scenes DVD shows within the Art and Design section, a series of slideshows while the Developers talked about their work. In the slideshows could be seen a map of Isle of Kezan (Undermine). The map was drawn on a chalkboard with ink-markers.

You could see a Beach resort to the northeast, and Mount Kajaro (volcano), Black Beach and a Rain forest to the southwest. (if you have the Collector’s Edition, to find this map, load the DVD Menu as follows: Extra Features > World Creation at minute 8:51 )

Most exciting to find out in the Behind the Scenes DVD was to see two boat routes and two Zeppelin routes:

The Bilgewater Port offers transportation to Kul’Tiras and Ratchet. While Edj Port – on the Northeast – profiting Booty Bay’s Blackwater Raiders offers two Zeppelin routes from Undermine to: Booty Bay and Valgarde (Northrend).  However, there is a mysterious cut-line from Undermine to Nazjatar—the underwater homeland of the Naga, beneath the Maelstrom.  The cut-line might suggest that players might be able to reach Nazjatar in a Goblin Submarine.  This is, of course, not confirmed.

An unofficial fan-made rumor: In War of the Ancients Trilogy, Deathwing lived inside a volcano with his slave servants: goblins.  The goblins created an adamantium plate to cover his body.  The proximity of Demon Soul caused Deathwing’s body to be torn apart.  There are at least five rumors of possible locations Deathwing could be hidden since the Second War. Even his son Nefarian employs the help of Goblins in Blackrock Spire.  A hint?  Mount Kajaro represents a good atmosphere for a Deathwing Lair.  However, there is no mention of it in the RPG book or elsewhere.  Time will tell.