Tauren

{{#ifeq:-|-||Template:Sort}}[[File:{{#switch:horde|alliance=Alliance|boss=Boss|combat=Combat|hostile=Combat|horde=Horde|aldor=Aldor|scryers=Scryers|kirin tor=Kirin Tor|rare=Rare|elite=Elite|both=Both|kyrian=Kyrian|necrolord=Necrolord|night fae=Night Fae|venthyr=Venthyr|neutral|#default=Neutral}}_{{#switch:{{{2}}}|xlarge=64|large=32|small=15|#default=32}}.png|{{#switch:horde|alliance=Alliance|boss=Boss|combat=Mob|hostile=Mob|horde=Horde|aldor=Aldor|scryers=Scryers|kirin tor=Kirin Tor|rare=Rare|elite=Elite|both=Alliance & Horde|kyrian=Kyrian|necrolord=Necrolord|night fae=Night Fae|venthyr=Venthyr|neutral|#default=Neutral}}|link={{#switch:horde|alliance=Alliance|boss=Mob|combat=Mob|hostile=Combat|horde=Horde|aldor=Aldor|scryers=Scryers|kirin tor=Kirin Tor|rare=Rare mob|elite=Elite mob|kyrian=Kyrian Covenant|necrolord=Necrolord Covenant|night fae=Night Fae Covenant|venthyr=Venthyr Covenant|both|neutral|#default=Faction}}]]Tauren
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Main leader	[[File:IconSmall_{{#switch:tauren |night elf=NightElf |blood elf=BloodElf |high elf=HighElf |#default=Tauren}}{{#if:Male|_Male}}.gif|{{#ifeq:{{{3}}}|Large|26px|16px}}]] Cairne Bloodhoof
Capital	Thunder Bluff
Theater of operations	The Barrens, Durotar, Mulgore, Feralas, Moonglade, Thousand Needles
Language(s)	Orcish, Taur-ahe
Affiliation	Horde, Thunder Bluff, Cenarion Circle
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Tabard	{{#if:|[[File:{{{tabard}}}|90px]]}}

The tauren [ˈtɔɹən] (shu'halo in their native language of Taur-ahe and sometimes pluralized as taurens) are a race of large, bovine humanoids who dwell on the great plains of Central Kalimdor. For countless generations, they were constantly harassed by the violent centaur, who forced the tauren into a nomadic lifestyle in the harsh Barrens. However, during the Third War and the Horde's invasion of Kalimdor, the tauren and the invading Horde became allies, and the Horde aided the tauren in driving off the centaur from the sacred lands of Mulgore. High Chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof established the capital city of Thunder Bluff, and to this day the tauren remain one of the most stalwart allies of the Horde.

Despite their enormous size, the tauren are a peaceful and honorable people who nonetheless are fierce fighters when roused. Hunting and shamanism are held in high regard in their culture, as is their worship of the Earth Mother and respect for the land and nature.

Appearance

Tauren are large bipedal ungulates, described as half-bovine beings. On average, tauren are towering, with females standing at 9 feet in height while males reach 10 feet. Tauren are roughly a foot shorter in-game, likely due to game limitations such as too small doorways. Females and males alike are known to have a very large bulk and weight, long tails, large hooves, and three fingers (two fingers, one thumb) per hand. Both males and females have horns of varying size and shape. Tauren are a mostly diurnal race.

Tauren are large, muscular humanoids and bovine in appearance, complete with hooves and horns. They weigh anywhere from 400 to 800 pounds.^{[citation needed]}  Their immense bodies are covered with fine, short fur that ranges in color from black to gray to white to red to brown to tan and any mottled combinations or variations thereof. When tauren grow old, their pelts start to become dotted with gray. During the summer months, tauren use their ears and tails to flick off flies.

Fleet Master Seahorn remarks that most non-tauren find them indistinguishable from one another. In fact, most non-tauren find them indistinguishable from a certain four-legged farm creature.

Tauren can see in the dark better than humans.

The rise of the centaur

1,100 years before the opening of the Dark Portal, the tauren wandered Kalimdor's forests and plains, living in harmony with nature. One region in particular was especially sacred: the verdant grassland of Mashan'she, or "Loom of the Earth Mother". Drawn by faint elemental whisperings, the tauren became convinced that somewhere beneath the meadows, the Earth Mother herself dwelled. After decades of attempting to rouse her from her slumber, the tauren shaman eventually succeeded, but to their horror they realized that what they had awakened was not the benevolent Earth Mother, but the enormous earth elemental Princess Theradras, daughter of Therazane the Stonemother. The newly awakened Theradras reached out to the verdant surroundings for sustenance and consumed their energies in order to regenerate her weakened form. The tauren would later name this now barren land "Desolace".

The sudden monumental loss of life sent ripples throughout all of Azeroth and even the Emerald Dream. Zaetar, son of the forestlord Cenarius, traveled to Desolace to investigate, but though he had decided to imprison Theradras, he instead fell in love with her. Theradras requited Zaetar's affection, and the two became mates. From this forbidden and unnatural union, the centaur were born. After having brutally murdered their father, the half-horse creatures quickly proliferated and spread out across Kalimdor, driving the tauren of Desolace from their homes and igniting a long and dark period of war that would come to last for many centuries.

For countless generations, the tauren roamed the plains of the Barrens hunting the mighty kodo, and sought the wisdom of their eternal goddess, the Earth Mother. Their tent settlements were scattered across the landscape and changed with the seasons and the weather. The wandering tribes were united only by a common hatred for their sworn enemy, the marauding centaur. For generations, the tauren had weathered intermittent attacks by the centaur, with the centaur seeing the tauren as weak for their mystical beliefs and hunted them for sport. The battles took a heavy toll on both sides. The tauren did not shy away from combat and made the centaur pay for every unprovoked attack, but they had no love for war and always opted to find a new home rather than throw their lives away whenever the horse men appeared. As such, the tauren lived in a constant state of upheaval, and a year of peace was always followed by a year of war. The shu'halo accepted this cycle of conflict as inescapable as it was the only life they knew, but that would eventually change.

The Third War and the Horde

The mighty tauren of the Kalimdor plains have pledged their allegiance to the new Horde out of respect for their courage and honor. The bold Tauren seek only to safeguard their quiet culture from the deathly fires of the Burning Legion. When roused, tauren are fierce fighters and use their flails, horns and their mighty totems to smash their enemies into the dust of the plains.

At the brink of extinction, the chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof, desperate for help, turned to the strange green-skinned warriors from over the sea. Cairne quickly befriended Warchief Thrall and the other orcs, and recognized that they shared a love for honor and battle. For their part, the orcs and the Darkspear trolls that composed the Horde found much in common with the tauren. Each of these races wanted to achieve a more shamanistic culture, and the tauren, long versed in the lore of spirit and nature, were well-prepared to provide counsel and support to the budding shamanism within the Horde.

With the orcs' help, Cairne and his Bloodhoof tribe were able to drive back the centaur and claim the grasslands of Mulgore for themselves. For the first time in millennia, the tauren had a land to call their own. For this alone they were forever indebted to their orcish allies. Upon the windswept mesa of Thunder Bluff, Cairne built a refuge for his people, where tauren of every tribe were welcome.

Owing a blood-debt to the orcs for their assistance, the tauren joined Thrall on Mount Hyjal to defend Kalimdor from an invasion by the demonic Burning Legion. Following the Legion's defeat, the tauren who helped defend Hyjal returned to their new home in Mulgore.

Over time the scattered tauren tribes united under Cairne's rule. There were but a few tribes who disagreed about the direction their new nation should take, but all agreed that Cairne was the wisest and best suited to lead them toward the future. Helping the mighty Cairne in the duties of ruling his race were the Archdruid Hamuul Runetotem and the elder crone Magatha Grimtotem.

Although the tauren had reclaimed their lands and battled alongside the Horde, not all was peaceful. The Grimtotem tribe tried to usurp the rule of Cairne, plotting to overthrow his leadership. In Mulgore, they had problems with the Bristleback quilboar. At the same time, the Emerald Dream, realm of the green dragonflight, was tainted with a strange evil. Malfurion Stormrage was trapped inside, and the green dragons acted strangely as they attacked all who passed near. Both elven and tauren druids were researching these events since the Emerald Dream, home of Ysera the Dreamer (the Green Aspect), had to be kept safe.

Several tauren individuals have joined the organizations like the Twilight's Hammer cult and the Shadow Council.

Relations

This section is a lore stub.

The Horde

The Tauren are the strongest allies of the Horde, since their encounter with Thrall in the unknown lands of Kalimdor, and after the help provided by the still nascent Horde against the Centaurs, the Tauren swore allegiance to the Horde.

The Forsaken

When Sylvanas Windrunner sent out emissaries to various factions in order to protect her budding nation, the Forsaken, the kind-hearted tauren of Thunder Bluff proved to be the most promising contact. Specifically, Archdruid Hamuul Runetotem saw the potential for redemption in Sylvanas' people, even though he was fully aware of the Forsaken's sinister nature. Thus, the tauren convinced Warchief Thrall, despite his misgivings, to forge an alliance of convenience between the Forsaken and the Horde. There are some tauren, such as the Elder Council, that wish to cure the Forsaken, and Bena Winterhoof, who wept when first seeing the undead, claims that she was given a mission by the Earth Mother herself to save their new undead allies from their curse. Magatha Grimtotem herself was one of the original proponents of the alliance between the tauren and the Forsaken, and she, more than anyone among the elders, felt the tauren and their ways could help the Forsaken find a path back to being human. She claimed that to heal the land, the tauren had to first remove the disease upon it. She pointed out that the Forsaken know much of disease, and claimed that by aiding one another, the trust between the two peoples would be strengthened.

The Alliance

Please add any available information to this section.

The tauren are not as hostile to the Alliance as some of the other races that comprise the Horde, though many Alliance members consider them to be little more than beasts.

Tauren have poor relations with the dwarves of Ironforge, as the dwarves' constant digging in the earth has caused them to come into conflict with the tauren. The tauren see their digging as scarring the Earth Mother, and that the dwarves are hollowing and defiling the land.

Of all the Alliance races, the night elves are the ones with the best relations to the tauren, due to their shared druidic tradition and connection to nature. Arch Druid Hamuul Runetotem strives for diplomacy and willingly works side by side with the night elf druids in the Cenarion Circle. The tauren have shown an incredible propensity to the tenets of Cenarius, and by their proxy the Horde is welcomed within the safety of Moonglade. The preservation of Azeroth is a common goal that the two races both share. However, despite the bond between the two races, there are some tauren who believe that the night elves' pride still limits their sight. Prior to the War of the Shifting Sands, the night elves and the tauren had apparently been involved in a blood feud dating back centuries. Some of the kaldorei during the War of the Ancients, such as Desdel Stareye, also seemed to regard the tauren who came to their aid as barbaric and uncivilized in nature, although this attitude seems to have considerably lessened over the millennia.

The Grimtotem

Please add any available information to this section.

The Grimtotem tribe stand as an aggressive extreme of the usually pacifistic tauren, wishing to eradicate the "lesser races" from Kalimdor and to retake the tauren's long lost ancestral holdings. Even before their exile, the Grimtotem showed open hostility towards the other tribes, going so far as to attack the settlement of Freewind Post and almost eradicate an entire village in Stonetalon.

Other

The centaur

Tauren and centaur tribes have long feuded with each other over the lands that the two nomadic races shared. The centaur are known for their brutality and savagery, but support from the Horde has turned the conflict in the tauren's favor, allowing them not only to survive but also to prosper. The barbaric centaur over-hunted giraffes for decades, but it was the tauren who saved them from extinction. The tauren claim that the centaur have always existed to scourge the land, even though the shu'halo were actually indirectly responsible for the centaur's creation by awakening Theradras.

Despite this, friendship between a tauren and a centaur can be made as seen with Ironhoof and Dorthar.

The quilboar

The vicious, boar-like quilboar have long clashed with both the centaur and the tauren over land and food. One tauren group inhabited the southern parts of the Barrens for decades and considered the land to be holy, but they were driven off by the quilboar. While some tauren were able to forgive being driven from their ancestral lands, others, such as Auld Stonespire, were not and considered the quilboar's actions to be a sin worthy of the most severe revenge.

Although centaur, tauren, and quilboar all hate each other, the three races come together to do trade at Flayers' Point in Desolace. But there is no love lost between them, and brawls erupt like clockwork every five minutes, earning the trading post the nickname "Slayers' Point".

The harpies

Harpies have clashed with the tauren on several occasions. During the Third War, a group of harpies from the Stonetalon Mountains started poaching the tauren's precious kodo herds, slaughtering them mercilessly and leaving the beasts to rot in the sun. The threat was only dealt with once Rexxar set out to kill the witches. The Windfury harpies are one of the tauren's natural enemies in Mulgore, and the shu'halo collect their feathers for ceremonial headdresses. The tauren take pride as the protector of the Stonetalon Mountains, which unsurprisingly caused them to come into conflict with the nearby Bloodfury harpies.