Tauren mythology

The tauren have a long history, much of which is recorded on banners hanging in the tent of the Archdruid on Thunder Bluff. These various myths recount important events from the history of the people, and illustrate the virtues they hold to be important.

Sun rocs feature prominently in primitive tauren mythological cycles.

A more elaborate version of the early myths is told in the short story "Eyes of the Earth Mother".

Mists of Dawn
The earliest of the tauren myths, the Mists of Dawn, recounts the creation of the world and the tauren race by a deity called the Earthmother. Before the Age of Memory, the Earthmother breathed the world into existence from the golden mists, transforming the clouds into rich, endless fields of grain. She created day and night by alternately opening and closing her right and left eyes, An'she (the sun), and Mu'sha (the moon), respectively. The shadow of her hands caused the tauren, the shu'halo, the children of the earth, to rise up from the soil. They swore to follow their creator until the end of the world.

Sorrow of the Earthmother
The next myth of the Shu'halo, chronologically, speaks of the falling away of the tauren from their initial state of grace. Whispers rose up from far beneath the world, where the titans had chained the Old Gods. The tauren fell under the sway of these whispers, and learned of malice and deceit. The Earthmother felt a great sorrow at this, and in her grief, tore out her eyes, the sun and moon, and sent them chasing one another across the stars. The Earthmother, now sightless, remained to listen to and guide her children.

The White Stag and the Moon
This tale speaks of how the Earthmother gave the Shu'halo the love of the hunt. The tauren became great hunters, but one spirit eluded them, Apa'ro, the white stag (called Malorne by the night elves.) The tauren hunted Apa'ro to the ends of Azeroth, and finally the stag fled into the heavens, where his great antlers became tangled in the stars. As the moon, Mu'sha, chased her brother across the skies, she saw the helpless stag, and immediately fell in love with him.

Mu'sha saved the great stag, and in return he loved her, and they conceived a child, Cenarius, a demigod, union of the sky and the earth.

Forestlord and the First Druids
Cenarius grew to be as proud as his father, and in time befriended the tauren. He taught them the druidic ways, how to speak to the trees and animals. With this knowledge, the tauren aided the demigod in keeping the land safe.

Hatred of the Centaur
The last of the traditional tauren stories takes place after the fading of the Mists of Dawn and the beginning of the Age of Memory. When Cenarius eventually left the tauren they were saddened by the loss, and over generations they forgot the bulk of his druidic teachings, though they always retained their respect for the earth.

Though the tauren forgot how to speak to the forests, they lived in peace, no longer tempted by the dark whispers from beneath the world. In time, however, a great storm rode out from the west. The barbaric centaur swept into the tauren's lands. The tauren fought nobly, but the power of the centaur was too great. The children of the earth were then forced to wander the world as nomads for eons, staying in no place too long.