The cold, hard fact is that the first mage to carry Verdant Spheres openly was the late Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider, who acquired his set of three(!) before first meeting Malfurion's expedition. Artificers consider these items to be a powerful type of ioun stones, magical stones that orbit the user's head and grant them magical benefits, also hinting at a similar creation process. Sadly, Prince Kael'thas never revealed any details to his entourage, nor did he hint at the original creator. This has led some scholars to believe that the Spheres are themselves demonic in origin.