User:Minionman/Tauren General description

The Tauren are a group of large, bull-like humanoids, living in the middle latitudes of Kalimdor. Once nomadic, the tauren have mostly settled down in the lands of Mulgore and the Barrens.

Physical characteristics and Health
The Tauren are among the strongest creatures on azeroth. Stories tell of tauren, with no weapons, fighting off predators such as bears, wolf packs, and other such creatures without weapons or special training. While current day Tauren are rarely attacked by wild animals, they show this strength in other ways, and boulder throwing contests are popular among young tauren. In addition to this strength, Tauren are also quite tough, about to survive falls or other blows that would kill most others. They are, however, quite heavy and large, which sometimes causes problems for structures designed and built for lighter beings.

Tauren can eat just about anything that other humanoids can, and can also survive well on grass, though other sources are more nutritious. In general, Tauren nowadays eat a mix of grass, fruits, and meat from hunting and herding Kodo. While in the barrens, the Tauren were forced to spread out to avoid damaging the dry landscape, but the richer land of Mulgore has allowed them to settle more densely.

Tauren tend to live slightly longer, on average, than humans and orc by 10-20 years or so. They tend yo remain healthier as they age, whether due to the physical activity of their lifestyle or due to inborn differences. Tauren also appear to be more resistant to most diseases as well, while other trading cities of a similar size as Thunder Bluff would be expected to spread minor diseases more than usual, the Tauren in Kalimdor remain as healthy as ever.

Tauren tend to have few babies compared to other races, even accounting for their recent nomadic lifestyle, resulting in a low population. This low population kept the Tauren from overusing the fragile barrens, and also helped prevent wars once boundaries between different groups were worked out. Unfortunately, the Tauren were left highly vulnerable to centaur raids by this situation, as they did not have a high enough population to fight the centaurs effectively, could not replace those killed in raids, and had little experience in large scale war. If the orcs had not come, some Tauren think they may have faced extinction from the centaur raids within a few decades.

Connection with the Natural World
While Tauren do not have the obvious connection that the Night elves do to the natural world, they do have subtle connections that have assisted their survival throughout the ages. In addition to this natural ability, most Tauren learn to recognize signs of the Health of the land, patterns of weather, the health of animal and plant groups, and other such knowledge vital to the survival as nomads, and still quite important today.

Tauren seem to have a natural affinity for finding useful plants. While other races can certainly be taught to find poisonous plants, herbs, useful foods, and such, Tauren without training already seem to have these abilities, and learn more quickly than others with teaching. They also seem somewhat resistant to poisons, though whether this is simply their large size or another connection is unknown.

The Warstomp is perhaps the most well known of the Tauren's natural abilities. Partly through physical strength, and partly from that strength scaring nearby spirits, the tauren can tcreate a shockwave that stuns most beings in the surrounding area. Skilled Tauren have learned to direct these stomps, others focus on power and can sometimes split rocks, or break bones, from the shock wave.

While many animals seem capable of sensing earthquakes, storms, and other such events from far away, Tauren appear even more capable of sensing these events. Even without shamans to perform these services, other tauren could use these abilities to sense incoming rain to be collected for herds or other use.

As befits these abilities with the natural world, Tauren Shamans have for a long time been spiritual leaders and advisors in Tauren society. Recently, Druids have taken on a similar role.

Kodos
Kodo beasts are large, somewhat clumsy grazing creatures that dwell throughout southern Kalimdor. No one knows for sure when the Tauren first tamed Kodo, but for as long as anyone can remember, Kodo beasts have been an important element of Tauren society, used as pack animals, mounts, and sometimes fighting animals or food. Kodos used by Tauren today can be both tamed and trained kodo, though most Kodo are trusting of the Tauren and are simple to tame for them. Taurne watch the wild kodo heards carefully, and will protect them if too many predators or raiders appear to threaten the herds.

Buildings, Writing, and other Civilization elements
Despite their largely nomadic existence, the Tauren did have many elements considered important to other civilized races. While mostly nomadic, many trading villages, or other gathering villages, were established throughout the barrens for craftsmanship, record keeping, negotiations, and other such functions. Small groups of writers and craftsmen lived in the villages full time, while herders and other nomads would travel to villages and spend a few days or week there for various business. Many current horde outposts, such as Freewind Post, Crossroads, and Bloodhoof village, had once been such villages.

Without paper, Tauren writing was mainly done on hides or wood, and was only used for long term records and important information. Tauren symbols are more complex than other writing styles in azeroth, though still easy to read, as befits its uses. Though no formal government or set of laws was ever established, the Tauren had over time developed many traditions for sorting out property, settling disputes, and such. Even today, Cairne bloodhood does not "officially" lead the tauren, but is rather considered the leader by agreement of most other Tauren. Cairne is treated much like a "super chief" over all the Tauren instead of just his own group.

Most buildings used by the Tauren are built heavily and strong. They are quite skilled at devising structures and clothing to survive most conditions, and have learned to build a wide variety of tools, but lack skill at building weapons and armor. Their elevator system used in Thunder Bluff and Mulgore has been studied by other horde races and goblins for ideas at how to build similar structures.

Current settlement
Tauren society has undergone a number of changes with the arrival of the orcs. With the orc's help against the centaurs, the Tauren have been able to settle in Mulgore without being subject to constant raids. Mulgore proved a much richer land than the rest of the barrens, with rich supplies of fruit, grain, hunting game, and good grazing land. Many Tauren began to move to Mulgore, and with plentiful food, could live in the towns rather than herding. Cairne himself settled in the village of Tunder Bluff, more for safety than anything else, but the village quickly grew into a full fledged trading city, and became one of the more populated cities within the horde.

While some Tauren view the recent changes as "corruption", most like the changes taking place. If nothing else, the orcs brought safety from centaurs, as well as other barrens raiders such as harpies. The two cultures also shared much knowledge and experience with craftsmanship, shamanistic knowledge, dryland living knowledge, and other such information. The two races have found it easy to live together, with many cultural similarities. While the Tauren are experiencing major changes, the orcs and trolls themselves have also experienced cultural changes, with the orcs establishing a new society after several generations of warfare and interment, and the trolls rebuilding after the loss of their island. The three races have had much to teach each other about building societies, and have in general been the better for it.

Joining the horde, has, however, brought a few problems to the Tauren, especially in warfare. While the Tauren are no strangers to fighting, with some being quite aggressive and bullying as with all races, some leaders (especially amongst the grimtotem tribe) have become more violent in a different sort of way, desiring to target supposedly "weaker" enemies, and exterminate groups such as Theramore humans, Night Elves, and even other groups of Tauren. The alliance with the orcs has also embroiled the Tauren in wars with the Night Elves and Humans. Though most leaders are happy to help the orcs fight the humans (the humans being the attackers), few view Hellscream's War with the Night Elves favorably. Many worry that more wars similar ot Hellscream's war will be started in the future.