Original Tauren

While I never have been able to get a Tauren to 80, despite the fact I love their race, I did manage to create two Tauren who I like to try and write about on occasion. While they aren't playing characters, I figured I would create a post to introduce them, they are fairly cannon in my story series with Torrg and his partner Growl, so I hope they intrigue you :)

His fur as clay red as the rocks he stood upon, Hawksfeather Suntoucher crouched low against the Red Rocks of the Mulgore plains, staring with narrowed eyes at the Grimtotem swarm that had settled in the settlements surrounding Thunder Bluff. He was normally pacifistic and peaceful, but their transgressions had carried the hunter too far to be forgiven. Their black dots shall soon run red, their numbers shall scatter, but they will return; like gnats they always return. Cairne Bloodhoof was dead, by their hand. And so he would do his best to exact his revenge. Reaching over his back slowly he took hold of the redwood bow slung over his shoulder and slid it down his arm, feeling the taut string as it came down. A tuft of wind whipping his long, sandy brown mane a bit over his eyes didn't flinch his vision as he extracted an arrow from his quiver. His nose ring swung slightly as he lowered his head a bit to the air. "Cowards." He muttered to himself. "All of them. They slip onto our lands like mice and take everything from us, they're no more than animals." He inhaled sharply, slipping the arrow onto the bow's string and pulling the weapon back, lining the bead of the arrow with his grass green eye. His tail was still, his very pulse beat within his ears as he focused on one of the black dots. By the time they saw anything, there could be a dozen dead, two dozen if the winds played his hand correctly. He could feel his harness that strapped across his chest, hindering the white patch, shaped like a bird beneath it as the wind began to pick up, flicking the leather against his pelt and curling his mane over his headband more, trying to impair his vision. "Please, ancestors." He whispered softly. A price must be paid..." The wind continued to howl, his loincloth and leggings now moving to the air, teetering his stilled balance. He sighed in frustration, his eye turning to the spotted feline who stared back at him. Shala let out a yawn and stretched her paws out lazily. Her tail flopped idly from one side to the other. After a moment, Hawksfeather lowered his weapon, and immediately the skies grew calm, the wind died down, returning the tuft of the hunter's mane to normal. He sighed and placed a hand gently on Shala's head. "The spirits forgive them for today." He said smiling at her. "But soon, they will pay their debt."
***

Thorne Wildhoof stared at his reflection for some time, his nearly blackened brown fur had toned up a few shades, giving him more shape than he'd had before. His icy blue eyes only shadows of what they had been, all signs of his former druid nature had been washed away by death, leaving him a form with which he was no longer familiar. He still had two golden rings in his right ear, but his left tusk was somewhat cracked. His mane dangled over his shoulders, forming almost a mask that lingered near his jawline like an extension of a beard, which he found he no longer had. Minor splotches of white in his fur had disappeared, leaving everything a full dark brown color and he leaned in to stare at his reflection. He felt disjointed from this world, broken. He still felt himself breathe, but could no longer hear his heart beat as loudly as it had before. He placed his hand on his bare chest and felt a slight stirring. The power of the Lich King was beyond compare, as evil and as horrifying as he was, none could argue that his power was great. Thorne turned to his side and saw the splintered areas in his fur that had been burned in the fire, his death was painful, but he had died in Torrg's arms, he was at peace. A sudden scream in his mind a cry of pain caused him to slap his fist down, shattering the shelf bracket holding up the mirror. The object fell to the floor and exploded into a shower of glass; Thorne could not feel the small cuts on his ankles, though he watched them cut open. He winced, barely out of instinct and watched as he bled from his injuries. "How could I bleed?" he asked himself, bending down to touch the liquid. "Am I not dead? But I am alive as well..." A voice in his mind, one that he could only hear had told him that he was both, but neither... the voice was not there now, but he had heard it before... the confusion caused the bull to sigh in pain and place his hands over his ears. He crouched into somewhat of a ball, placing his elbows on his knees as he cowered. "You renewed my life that had been taken from me, granted me existence after I found my peace... I will hunt you down, Lich King, and make you pay for this. I will be certain that you feel every emotion that you have forced upon me. Torrg is no longer part of my life, and for that agony alone I will rend your flesh ten thousand fold the pain that I feel right now. You will rue the day you cursed me with life renewed!"