Is Defias Brotherhood Still Around?

The sponsor of this video is myself. Check out Doron's Academy for videos on history from the Ancient Greeks to World War 2 and on science hand drawn videos on anything from radiation to music and anxiety. The link is in the description below. Hello, guys, this is Doronsmovies and today I will be talking about the Defias Brotherhood and what is going on with them.

Briefly covering their history, most recent actions and the current whereabouts. So without further ado, let's get into the lore. Edwin VanCleef was the childhood friend of Mathias Shaw the leader of the SI:7 and was trained by him as a rogue being quite skilled.

However, instead of becoming an agent he became one of the most influential architects and the leader of the Stonemasons guild. As such he worked on the construction of Nethergarde keep and ultimately on the largest project so far, the rebuilding of Stormwind.

As the city was demolished by the orcish Horde an immense amount of work was required. Therefore artisans from all over the human kingdoms arrived and even moved their families and began working on the project under Edwin VanCleef. However, when the program was completed the House of Nobles - the governing body refused to pay.

Partly it was because they ran up a debt and didn't really have the money, but mainly because Onyxia in disguise manipulated both sides in order to never achieve a compromise. Ultimately the Stonemasons rioted and as everything got out of hand as Queen Tiffin was killed by a rock.

This created a personal vendetta for her husband Varian who banished them from the city. In order to avoid persecution, the Stonemasons hid in the rural areas to avoid punishment and to collect their payment through looting. In the end, they became bandits known as the Defias Brotherhood.

Their base of operations became the deadmines, which is a vast mine system that used to be a significant source of wealth for Stormwind but was abandoned during the First War. Initially, the Defias Brotherhood consisted mainly of artisans that didn't have much of a background in fighting, it was mainly their leader that was a skilled rogue.

Still, they didn't really need to as their main act was ambush. The brotherhood constantly looted Westfall, attacked caravans despite the protection from Stormwind and at one point they became quite a problem. As many skilled craftsmen were a part of it they were quite advanced technologically building bombs and various forms of equipment.

At this point, these were no longer just the Stonemasons protesting but essentially a terrorist bandit organization that sought to expand their influence. They hired goblins using their technology and building harvest golems and even had inside people within the Stormwind government going as far as kidnapping the king.

The height of the Defias Brotherhood's power was when they began working on their master project the juggernaut - a massive warship that took so many resources that even Stormwind would have a hard time building it. The end goal was to use it to tie up the kingdom's fleet and bomb and demolish the city that they had previously rebuilt.

Unfortunately for them, the militia and Alliance forces worked on shattering their hold over their lands and destroying their powerbase. Then adventurers were contracted to infiltrate the Deadmines to disrupt the shipbuilding project, the mining operations and ultimately to kill Edwin VanCleef.

His head was brought the Stormwind and the Defias Brotherhood was said to have been stopped. However not only did his death not stop them but it only made them more mysterious and difficult to track. They attempted a riot within the Stockade in order to recruit more members and free their own which ultimately failed.

Furthermore, they organized small-scale operations and sabotages. In the dawn of the Cataclysm, Defias make their full-scale return now led by Edwin's daughter Vanessa. As the people of Westfall are blaming their king for poverty, she further incites them, while at the same time recruiting new allies and rebuilding their arsenal.

The juggernaut construction began once again and the organization is planning to make their big move. This time Stormwind decides to send another mission, the one that would wipe them out. The brotherhood is broken, Vanessa is defeated and there she detonates a series of explosions to blow up the invaders and herself.

Ultimately she survived, but at this point, the organization was completely shattered. A few years later in Legion we see VanCleef's daughter as she joins the Uncrowned and helps us fight the demonic invasion. However, in regards to the Brotherhood little has been said but there have been a few confirmations.

We know for sure that they have lost their base and that the Deadmines are now just a haunted mine. Some undead defias remain but it is just a shadow of their former power. A side from that we haven't really seen them since. We know for sure that most of their leaders have been wiped out and seeing as even their leader joined a different organization it isn't too outrageous to say that they no longer exist.

Nonetheless some of them are presumably still out there and as their organization was all about working in the shadows and having their people all around there is no doubt that their supporters and some former members still exist. But in my opinion, they are far from a powerful army.

Personally I see them making some symbolic appearances in the future but I never really see them being rebuilt or reaching near the peak of their power. Not only because they were destroyed but because the world has changed. We are now facing different threats, Varian is gone and Anduin is the king.

Their payment is now an old story completely overshadowed by their atrocities and crimes. Thank you for watching. Check out Who the most powerful warlock is by clicking on the screen and also check out the second channel Doron's Academy for videos on real-world history and science.