Tauren Lore

[Chikt]

Be forewarned, this could get ranty...

So I'm a huge lore fan of WoW, the whole universe is just so colorful and different from any other story. In WCIII, I was excited with the introduction of the Tauren, because they seemed like a race with such lore possibilities due to their wandering nature and their home being right next to the Night Elves own, not to mention they are pinned as being as old as the Kaldorei, possibly older, and learnt druidic ways before the Night Elves did.

But the introduction of the Tauren in WCIII seemed rushed and ignored. The introduction of the Tauren could be summarised into this:

Tauren: Marauding Centaur!
Thrall: Noobs! *Pwns Centaur*
Tauren: Woot! We're free! We'll join the Horde now!

And really, that was it. The story stayed on the Tauren for a very short time. Even after they joined the Horde were things really made clear. "No problem" I thought, "WoW will give us some more backstory on them."

Backstory in the form of a few scrolls on the Elder rise that basically tell of the creation of the Tauren through the Earthmother, how they came to become the first druids and ultimately lose their ability thanks to the Centaur. It's a very colorful lore, but it's not at all again touched upon in any sort of quest or the like. In fact, the main Tauren storyline that takes place with the Grimtotem is even cut short and skipped over again and again. It really starts in the Stonetalon Moutains, continues into the Thousand Needles, and then just seems to disappear until you get to Feralas.

And then, again, it just halts and is never heard of again.

It's sad really that the Tauren are so very overlooked. From the way Thunder Bluff is, Blizzard had big plans for the Tauren (Drum vendors, Totem vendors) that simply just got cut short and never used. Then, at the same time, Thunder Bluff is extremely incomplete-it is lacking several extremely important vendors, class trainers, and profession trainers that other cities feature prominently.

Then the other big issue I have is the lack of any sort of instance with a Tauren theme. People point out to me very often that "tents don't make for a good instance", but instances like Zul'Farrak, Zul'Gurub and other outdoor-based areas prove this otherwise-you don't need a giant temple to have an interesting place to instance. The Barrens would have been a perfect area to have some sort of story detailing the Tauren fighting against the Centaur, but instead, we get two Quillboar instances.

People also say that Maraudon could be classed as a Tauren themed instance, but I will point out the complete and utter lack of any reference to the war the Centaur had with the Tauren in Maraudon-instead, it seems to be much more Night Elf based, and could even be seen as a continuation of the Wailing Caverns.

But lets look at what races get what themed instances...

Humans- Deadmines, Stockade, Scarlet Monastery
Dwarves- Uldaman, Blackrock Depths
Gnomes- Gnomeregon
Draenei- Tempest Keep, Auchindoun
Night Elves- Wailing Caverns, Ahn'qiraj, Dire Maul (To an extent)
Orcs- Ragefire Chasm, Hellfire Citadel, Gruul's lair (To an extent)
Trolls- Sunken Temple, Zul'farrak, Zul'Gurub
Blood Elves- Black Temple, Tempest Keep, Zul'aman (Soon)
Forsaken- Stratholme, Scholomance, Naxxramas
Tauren- ...

You get the idea.

Tauren are featured in areas (Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Depths), but not as the reason those areas exist if you know what I mean. Wherever there is a Tauren instance, it would seem, the Night Elves also feature moreso. Wherever there is a Tauren in an instance, it just happens to be a druid working with the Cenarion Circle, or a random, un-named Tauren beating on you. There's nothing in these places that deepen or shed light on the Tauren backstory.

Now, if I hear one person turn around and say "But there's nothing interesting about nomads living in the middle of nowhere to create an instance about", I'll scream. I mean, come on-the Tauren live right on the Night Elven doorstep of Ashenvale, and yet, we hear nothing of the Tauren and the Night Elves clashing or ever working together before recently? Is it like, since Thrall landed on the coast of Kalimdor, the Tauren have gone "Huh! Would you look at that! There's a bunch of big trees and purple people over there!"

Even Gnomes, Blizzard were skimpy on, but they got a whole instance themed after them telling about the recent destruction of their city.

Why not do something with the Tauren like they did with the Dwarves and Uldaman?

The backstory to the Tauren isn't going to grow itself, and it seems to me the main reason that there aren't any Tauren instances, Tauren-themed quests or the like is because of the lack of Tauren backstory. It's a painful circle, and as a Tauren lover myself, I must say it is a frustrating matter to go through the game and see such a colorful, interesting race be completely overlooked. Or, when it is looked at, it's in the shadow of the Night Elves as the two are put into a region as the Cenarion Circle.

A lot of work goes into the game, but is it so much to ask for something, anything at all, to deepen the Tauren backstory?

[Skafloc]

Actually, I've often thought the same thing Diomades. There is so much potential I believe in probiding a lvl 30-40 something instance with 1000 needles as the setting. I could even have replaced or been part of the Razorfen Down instance. Imagine, an instance setting way up on the mesa's of 1000 needles!

That whole Grimtotem village up there could have included an instance. It just seems to me that Tauren were an afterthought..

[Chingaso]

You forgot...

Orcs - Blackrock Spire.

Ok, but seriously, I agree. One reason I have trouble playing a Tauren (as opposed to playing an Orc) is the lack of "in-place" lore, and I'm lazy.

On the other hand, I dislike the Grimtotem quests probably more than any in the game. I DO NOT like fighting and killing Tauren. It just feels wrong.

[Fallacy]

There's not any in-game reference, but the night elves and tauren have been wary of each other for quite a long time. They fought together during the War of the Ancients, but the elves, with their extreme xenophobia, thought of the tauren as little more than animals, even though Cenarius held no favorites and taught them about druidism as much as the Kaldorei. So, afterwards, they mostly kept to themselves, until recently, when Malfurion opened up relations by reteaching the taurens on how to be druids.

There's also rumors on Uldum, in that it may be the origin of the tauren.

[Thoraggar]

Blizzard might not have put alot of initial lore into the Tauren because they have a nomadic lifestyle, and arn't given to the strict history keeping of the dwarves, elves, gnomes, ect. Orc and Tauren both seem to have a word-of-mouth history, but the until outland seemed the only orc history took place within 2 generations, so little info could be lost by the orcs. And since they're not out building great halls or monuments to themselves there's no lore based place to go. I'd like to see more of the tribe designations, I only know Bloodhoof and Grimtotem, so maybe some tribal-relations quest would be cool, and we dont really know how Cairne united them do we?

[Gregarion]

There's also rumors on Uldum, in that it may be the origin of the tauren.

Now that would be cool.

[Tibr]

Emerald Dream plz! I soo hope we moo cows play a big part in and when the Dream is finished. But yea little cow lore makes me a sad moo moo :cry:

[Yichimet]

Do what I do, Diomades: read books on Native American legends and use your imagination. Heh.

Seriously, playing a Tauren allows a lot of freedom as far as timeline and lore goes. Almost every story I've told, every prayer I've said, is taken from Native American texts/websites etc., and twisted with a little imagination. I have the same rant you do--GIVE US SOME FRIGGIN' LORE, especially on the Grimtotem!--but for now, I make it up as I go. I don't have to be as careful as humans, orcs etc. do about my story so long as it follows the general major events of the world.

And, playing as a Grimtotem, I get to warp those creation stories into something more persecuted and vengeful so that I have a reason to want every single night elf dead.

The real truth of it is that, like someone said, Tauren don't have a truly "written" language--it's pictographic--and as such we rely on oral methods of transmission much like all nomadic people. So the stories aren't written down. That's not an excuse to disclude them from the game, though!

And I thought Uldum was more on the Earthen.

edit: One thing to note, though, is that it's treading a fine line when you use real life as the basis for your lore. It could be considered exploitive in some ways, especially because there's no way for me to verify a lot of the most readily-available stories (websites) because neither am I Native American nor do I know any Native Americans. That's one reason I tend to spruce up the stories as best I can with my own details.

[Vilmah]

nor do I know any Native Americans.


You do now! I'm 1/2 Lenka.

[Cyrass]

Do what I do, Diomades: read books on Native American legends and use your imagination. Heh.

Seriously, playing a Tauren allows a lot of freedom as far as timeline and lore goes. Almost every story I've told, every prayer I've said, is taken from Native American texts/websites etc., and twisted with a little imagination. I have the same rant you do--GIVE US SOME FRIGGIN' LORE, especially on the Grimtotem!--but for now, I make it up as I go. I don't have to be as careful as humans, orcs etc. do about my story so long as it follows the general major events of the world.

And, playing as a Grimtotem, I get to warp those creation stories into something more persecuted and vengeful so that I have a reason to want every single night elf dead.

The real truth of it is that, like someone said, Tauren don't have a truly "written" language--it's pictographic--and as such we rely on oral methods of transmission much like all nomadic people. So the stories aren't written down. That's not an excuse to disclude them from the game, though!
.
If you're looking for the recent history of the Grimtotem Tribe, I'd suggesting picking up the Horde Player's Guide for the WoW Roleplaying Game, it's got some stuff on the Grimtotem Tribe in there.

Also, I believe that the Tauren Language is Runic, but it might be Pictoral, I can't remember.

[Yichimet]

It's definitely pictographic, or at least the few official spots I've found information have always said it was.

I'll see if I can find the Horde player's guide somewhere. All the other Warcraft RP books I've got are PDFs I "acquired" so I'm not sure how handy I'll be at finding the Horde guide.

[Raziel]

Actually, the Tauren didn't join the horde when the Horde helped Cairne's Caravan's through the Barrens. The Orcs and Tauren parted ways, and met each other again at the base of Stonetalon Mountain. Thrall used Cairne's advice to reach the Oracle, but even after that the Tauren hadn't officially joined the Horde until much later, near the Battle of Felwood.

[Kaebora]

If you're looking for the recent history of the Grimtotem Tribe, I'd suggesting picking up the Horde Player's Guide for the WoW Roleplaying Game, it's got some stuff on the Grimtotem Tribe in there.

When you say "recent history", does that include the last 15-20 years of stuff? My characters are in Darkcloud Pinnacle 5 years before the start of WarCraft III, but...then I got to thinking - did that exist that far back? I know the Grimtotem have always kinda been in Thousand Needles, but did they actually have a stronghold of their own before the end of WarCraft III? That seems to have been when most of the Tauren cities and towns were made because the Horde pretty much forced them to have centers of commerce and defense as opposed to movable tents carried around (though I'm sure some Tauren still live like that).

Also, I agree that Blizzard needs to put more Tauren stuff in-game, but I'm not worried. I'm sure they'll do something with the Tuskaar in WotLK that will tie in with Tauren lore. Also, I think the lack of lore is one of the best reasons to role-play a Tauren. You really have the freedom to come up with more or less whatever you want, within some minorly restricted bounds.

[Moteu]

Well, I do realize I am a few months late on this post, but I'll toss it in all the same. I agree with all said. There isn't a Tauren BG either. It seems the Tauren are like the gnomes...just slightly more overlooked. Ironic, huh? If anyone is still feeilng passionate about Tauren RP please see the post titled "Achewon Bischuwi" in the Nether Legends section.