Following the end of the War of the Ancients, there was a long period of tranquility. Andreas and his followers took advantage of this calm era to grow their base step by step.
Aside from occasional Naga raids from the sea, the new settlement remained in a phase of peaceful development. In the years immediately following the conflict, the people suffered from a severe lack of security, leading most to crowd into the new capital, Annahis, which featured robust defenses.
However, as the memory of war faded, the overcrowded conditions of Mount Hyjal began to make many feel uncomfortable. Life on the Holy Mountain was governed by far too many taboos, a fact that displeased those who favored freedom.
To alleviate the population pressure and with Tyrande's tacit approval, groups of Night Elves began attempting to migrate outward. As the lush forests closest to Mount Hyjal, Ashenvale and Felwood were naturally their first choices.
When intelligent beings choose a place to settle, an abundant water source is the primary consideration. In the central-western part of Ashenvale, there was a scenic island in the middle of Lake Iris. As the number of migrants grew over the years, it gradually scaled up into a town, named Astranaar by its early inhabitants.
Andreas, equipped with his "prophet" foresight, had long known that Astranaar would eventually form. He chose a base location that was neither too close nor too far from this lakeside town, maintaining a strategic distance from mainstream Night Elf society.
Whether approaching by land or sea, any travel from Ashenvale into Darkshore had to pass through the defensive perimeter established by Andreas.
Over the years, this village—which originally started with only a thousand people—had attracted many outsiders thanks to its comprehensive defenses and ample food supply. Now officially named "Moonshadow's Rest," the base boasted a population of over 50,000, and the number of newcomers continued to rise annually.
The vast ocean, now free of Naga interference, left the first-time landlubbers in awe; their curiosity often drove them to explore its depths. Compared to the Great Sea on Kalimdor's east coast, which bordered the Maelstrom, the Veiled Sea on the west coast was relatively calm, with storms occurring far less frequently.
Two years passed, and the guards of Moonshadow's Rest had figured out the pattern of Naga invasions. Every spring, when flowers bloomed and life awakened, the Naga reached their peak breeding season. Perhaps their life forms had changed after mutation, or perhaps N'Zoth had granted the Naga an "advantage" using his power.
The Night Elves, who previously had extremely low fertility, underwent a massive transformation after becoming Naga; their ability to produce offspring became remarkably strong.
Every spring, the Naga would come ashore from the deep sea to breed. During this season, Andreas was often reminded of the magnetic voice of a nature documentary narrator, sir David Attenborough.
As long as one avoided the spring season when the Naga came ashore, the calm surface of the Veiled Sea was very safe. Years ago, Andreas had developed the prototype of a tourism industry, taking visitors out for maritime sightseeing. As for the vessels used for "fleecing"—ahem, "ferrying"—passengers, they had been a key research project for Moonshadow's Rest in recent years.
Choosing the coast as a base meant that the development of a navy was an unavoidable issue; this had been one of Andreas's pre-planned objectives. Thinking of how the Night Elves would still be using primitive single-masted triangular sailboats ten thousand years later, Andreas felt a sense of embarrassment.
Even setting aside the naval scale of a future maritime superpower like Kul Tiras, a great race descended from the ancient era ought to have a formidable navy to show for itself.
Andreas was not a shipwright or a naval architect in his past life. However, having once been obsessed with Age of Discovery games, he had conducted a rough study of ships from that era.
He discarded lateen sails from the start. Even when building small single-masted boats, Andreas chose the classic square-rigged design. While perhaps not as fast as a lateen sail, it was more stable and controllable. If speed was truly required, he could move to multi-masted designs; the carpenters he recruited simply needed to spend time researching how to maintain stability when scaling up the hulls.
Of course, even with Andreas's guidance, a shipbuilding industry could not be built overnight; it required a long period of careful refinement. The more stable experimental models created by the shipwrights became the primary vehicles for the maritime tourism industry, providing a significant amount of tax revenue for Moonshadow's Rest each year.
In the eyes of visiting tourists and new residents, Moonshadow's Rest didn't look much different from a standard Night Elf settlement—it was simply a place that lived off the land and the water. But the thousand people who had first followed Andreas to build "Moonshadow's Rest" knew very well that their leader would never give up a position of "one person below, ten thousand above" to come to this godforsaken coast just to play at farming.
The Priestesses of Elune who had followed Andreas to Moonshadow's Rest due to their dissatisfaction with Tyrande's rule were eventually "convinced" by his silver tongue and his status as a favored of the Moon Goddess over several years of persuasion. These priestesses now called themselves the "Moonshadow Priestesses."
Andreas claimed to them that he had received a revelation from the Goddess Elune herself. To distinguish themselves from the Sisterhood of Elune led by Tyrande, he established an additional shadow sect of Elune—the "Shadows of the Dark Moon."
Thanks to the nature of light and shadow being interchangeable, these Moonshadow Priestesses transitioned to practicing Shadow energy far more smoothly than Andreas had expected.
A few years ago, Fandral, who was in Annahis, sent word that Tyrande claimed to have received a divine revelation from Elune, developing a type of energized spring water called a "Moonwell."
It could rapidly heal the physical strength and restore the spent mana of those who drank from it. In his letter, Fandral expressed great disdain for Tyrande's act of "borrowing the Goddess's authority," detailing the actual principles behind the so-called Moonwell.
"The raw material for this thing is simply water from the new Well of Eternity. The Priestesses of Elune use lunar power to 'purify' it, and presto—it becomes this bullshit Moonwell."
Andreas hadn't expected Moonwell origin to be so mundane, but after his initial shock passed, he suddenly thought of a way to retaliate. Thus, "Moonnight Wells"—a specialty of Moonshadow's Rest—appeared out of thin air. The raw materials were provided through the "friendship" of Fandral and Shandris.
Unlike the Moonwells, which focused on healing and recovery, the water from the Moonnight Wells could enhance a drinker's physical attributes across the board for a certain duration, depending on the amount consumed. In simple terms, it was a massive "buff machine."
With the Moonnight Wells—claimed to be an equal gift from Elune—the population growth of Moonshadow's Rest accelerated significantly, and the number of priestesses in the Shadows of the Dark Moon sect grew rapidly.
Tyrande was furious when she learned of this, but she couldn't step forward to claim that Andreas was simply fooling people. After all, everyone was relying on the same tactics, and the methods used were almost identical; if they truly clashed and destroyed each other's credibility, neither side would benefit. Ultimately, Tyrande could only rub her nose and bitterly swallow the loss.
However, the supply of new Well of Eternity water transported by Fandral was subsequently restricted, and Shandris, who was forming the Sentinel units, was kept under strict watch by Tyrande.
As Moonshadow's Rest grew stronger and the navy began to take preliminary shape, preparing to expand north toward Darkshore, Andreas suddenly received a parchment letter from a far-off place.
"Igrul?"
Andreas, busy with major construction, scratched his head in confusion. He spent a long time trying to remember before slapping his thigh in a realization.
"I remember now! No wonder I felt like I had forgotten something—helping the Drogbar drive out Deathwing!"