Mulgore



The green, verdant plains of Mulgore are home to the noble tauren. Mulgore is nestled in the foothills of the Stonetalon Mountains to the north, and protected by a natural wall of mountains on all sides. The only pass through these mountains is currently closed off by the Great Gate, which leads into the Southern Barrens to the east.

Mulgore provides bounty for the hunt, as a diversity of wild beasts roam the rolling plains and climb the foothills of the surrounding range. In the northern section of Mulgore, the new Camp Sungraze sits in the shadows of the mesas of Thunder Bluff, a tauren city which towers above the plains. Bloodhoof Village is centrally located and surrounded by the clear waters of Stonebull Lake, while further south on Red Cloud Mesa, Camp Narache stands as the principal training camp for all young tauren.

Despite the serene landscape and the pine-scented breeze, Mulgore is fraught with trouble. Brambleblade Ravine and the sacred Red Rocks are overrun by quilboars, and they continue to spread into the rest of Red Cloud Mesa. The goblin-run Venture Company infests the Venture Co. Mine in the eastern mountain face, while the Grimtotem tribe try to take vengeance against the other tauren by poisoning their water wells. The Windfury harpy tribe lay claim to the extreme northern reaches of Mulgore and the southeast mountain face. A tribe of gnolls known as the Palemane make their home at the cave called Palemane Rock, as well in scattered camps along the southern mountains.

History
Mulgore is referred to as the ancestral home of the tauren. It is also hinted that the tauren lived here centuries after the Sundering. It's probably the same area as mentioned in the Hatred of the Centaur mythology.

The effects of Thaurissan's spell that summoned Ragnaros during the War of the Three Hammers were sensed even in Mulgore.

The Third War and after
Once nomadic, the tauren met with Thrall and his orcs when they landed on Kalimdor. Looking to the orcs for protection, they saw kindred spirits with honor and power. With Thrall's escort, Cairne Bloodhoof led his people to Mulgore and came upon what is now called Thunder Bluff. They constructed their capital upon the lofty mesas, and the city is now a center for trade and commerce. Ruling over the tauren in his old age, Cairne looked one day to hand the mantle of leadership down to his son Baine.

Rexxar and his companions were tasked by Tagar with driving the Stonetalon harpies away from the tauren's kodo herds, for the foul creatures were slaughtering them and leaving their bodies to rot. Mulgore was also home to a large group of centaur, who had captured Baine and thrown Cairne into despair. With the help of Bovan Windtotem, Rexxar rescued Baine and brought the tauren back into the Horde.

World of Warcraft
With the orcs' help, Cairne and his Bloodhoof tribe were able to drive back the centaur and claim the grasslands of Mulgore for their own. For the first time in hundreds of years, the tauren had a land to call their own. Upon the windswept mesa of Thunder Bluff, Cairne built a refuge for his people, where tauren of every tribe is welcome. Over time, the scattered tauren tribes united under Cairne's rule. There are a few tribes who disagree about the direction their new nation should take, but all agree that Cairne is the wisest and best suited to lead them towards the future.

Though the noble tauren are peaceful in nature, the rites of the Great Hunt are venerated as the heart of their spiritual culture. Every tauren, warrior or otherwise, seeks identity both as a hunter and as a child of the Earth Mother. Tauren who reach the age of maturity, must test their skills in the wilds of Mulgore and prove themselves in the Great Hunt.

The Venture Company has invaded the region and taken over the Thunderhorn Water Well, Wildmane Water Well, and the Winterhoof Water Well. For unknown reasons what appeared to be a small scouting force of Galak centaur could be found roaming the plains of Mulgore. Meanwhile, the dwarves from Bael Modan created the Bael'dun Digsite in order to excavate the area.

However this incursion was against the wishes of Baine Bloodhoof, who saw it as an affront to the Earth Mother, and as diplomatic solutions failed, the Bloodhoof Tauren resolved to drive the invaders out by taking and breaking their pickaxes. At the same time the tauren directed Horde agents to clash with the harpies, quilboar, and gnolls that reside within the region. During this time Horde agents were able to drive the Venture Company away from the wells, thereby restoring it to tauren control.

During the Scourge Invasion, Mulgore was attacked by the Scourge.

The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm
Following the war against the Lich King, Thrall stepped down as Warchief of the Horde. He was replaced by Garrosh Hellscream, who was believed to have ordered the killing of innocent druids (although this was a miscommunication; the act was actually done by orcs loyal to the nihilistic group of the Twilight's Hammer). Cairne, infuriated by the killings, challenged Garrosh for the leadership of the Horde. Garrosh accepted, and due to the machinations of Magatha Grimtotem, won and killed Cairne. With Cairne's death, Magatha had Bloodhoof Village infiltrated and took Thunder Bluff for the Grimtotem. With the help of a rebel to the Grimtotem tribe and the goblins of Ratchet, the tauren of the Horde retook the city.

Baine Bloodhoof now leads the tauren from the High Rise in Thunder Bluff, in his father's former place.

As Our Fathers Before Us
With the inclusion of the Bilgewater goblins into the Horde, Warchief Garrosh demanded to use Mulgore's waters.

Cataclysm
Following the destruction of Camp Taurajo, the tauren have erected the Great Gate to block the Alliance from further advancing. Meanwhile, in the wake of the Cataclysm, the dwarves of the Bael'dun Digsite were slaughtered by agitated Earth Spirits, proving Baine's warning correct. At the direction of Ahmo Thunderhorn the Horde agents are sent to calm them with a magic drum.

The recent Cataclysm has also saw great changes to the Red Cloud Mesa, which has suffered greatly after becoming under siege by the Bristleback quilboars who have spread out from the Brambleblade Ravine. At the same time Grimtotem rebels, refusing to swear allegiance to Jevan Grimtotem and Baine Bloodhoof, have invaded the region by taking control of and poisoning the wells. In response to this, young tauren are requested to aid in beating back the Bristlback, while the tauren accept aid from all members of the Horde in dealing with the Grimtotem and other threats in the region.

With everything that the Cataclysm caused, the tauren rebuilt the capital and fought back the quilboar who encroached on their territory.

Geography
Mulgore is a sheltered and pastoral valley dotted with mesas and surrounded by mountains on all sides, and accessible only through a pass to the southeast. Resembling a huge pasture, the area is covered with verdant green grass and few trees. An oddity of the landscape, the tall cliffs of Thunder Bluff tower over the fields in the center of the zone.

Mulgore contains no dungeons of any type and no battlegrounds.

Maps and subregions


Detailed pre-Cataclysm area map (lists all creatures) Topographic map of pre-Cataclysm Mulgore

Flight paths from Bloodhoof Village

 * Thunder Bluff

Flight paths from Thunder Bluff

 * Bloodhoof Village
 * Orgrimmar, Durotar
 * Bilgewater Harbor, Azshara
 * The Crossroads, Northern Barrens
 * Hunter's Hill, Northern Barrens
 * Zoram'gar Outpost, Ashenvale
 * Sunrock Retreat, Stonetalon Mountains
 * Malaka'jin, Stonetalon Mountains
 * Thunk's Abode, Desolace
 * Shadowprey Village, Desolace
 * Vendetta Point, Southern Barrens
 * Brackenwall Village, Dustwallow Marsh
 * Camp Mojache, Feralas
 * Westreach Summit, Thousand Needles
 * Gadgetzan, Tanaris

Zeppelin connections from Thunder Bluff

 * Orgrimmar, Durotar

Notable characters
Mulgore is home to several tauren of status. From the base camp in Camp Narache, Chief Hawkwind sends promising young tauren out into the world. In Bloodhoof Village, Mull Thunderhorn leads the effort to cleanse the Mulgore water wells, and from his post on the road east of the village, Morin Cloudstalker seeks to eradicate the foothold the Venture Company has established in the land. Baine Bloodhoof, son of the great Cairne, leads the tauren from Thunder Bluff.

Quests


As the starting zone for the tauren, Mulgore quests range from level 1-10 in difficulty. Quests here often deal with driving out invasive creatures and protecting the land. Particularly important to young tauren are the Rites of the Earthmother quests, in which they learn the ways of the land.

Resources

 * Cloth
 * Linen Cloth
 * Herbs
 * Peacebloom
 * Silverleaf
 * Earthroot
 * Leather
 * Ruined Leather Scraps
 * Light Leather
 * Thin Kodo Leather - Skinning level 10-20 kodos
 * Ore
 * Copper Vein

Wild creatures

 * Boars
 * Carrion birds
 * Cougars
 * Kodos
 * Lions (one, The Rake)
 * Tallstriders
 * Wolves

In Warcraft III


In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Mulgore was a secondary map of the Old Hatreds mission of the Founding of Durotar campaign. The area was more arid than in World of Warcraft, and Thunder Bluff already appeared, thought it was at the same level as the rest of the map, only separated of it by bridges. However, it may have been intended to be a different settlement as the map showed Thunder Bluff being in western Mulgore, while Rexxar visited a settlement on the eastern Mulgore border. The settlement was also home to a Goblin Bazaar. Bovan Windtotem and his spirit walker peers were considered as outcasts and lived in a village north of the settlement with its own mana fountain.

Mulgore was home to a Razormane quilboar group led by the Razormane Destroyer, a harpy coven that attacked the native kodo beasts and a centaur army led by the War Khan.

In the RPG
This rich plain was once used by the night elves as prime hunting grounds. When the Great Sundering shattered the world, mountains pierced the earth and the night elves fled north. The mighty tauren made their home upon the low valleys and high plateaus after the night elves left. In time, the ash of upheaval disappeared and the once fertile grasslands returned. The aggressive centaur claim the right to the grasslands and have warred constantly against the tauren for supremacy of the land, but the tauren's mesa strongholds have so far proved impregnable. Mulgore is a landlocked region, with Desolace to the west, the Barrens to the east, the Stonetalon Mountains to the north, and the Thousand Needles to the south. Mulgore is the ancient homeland of the tauren, who live on the windswept mesas and roam the grassy valleys. Below the mesa's ridgeline are the vast emerald plains, which hold an abundance of life including prairie wolves, young kodo beasts, and tallstriders.

The centaur forces mercilessly hound the tauren throughout Mulgore. The tepee-like tents and crude hide huts that comprise tauren towns stand in stark contrast to the turning windmills and pulley structures that keep the tauren gristmills operating. Large, ornately carved totems dot every street and stand above every major structure.

Toward the eastern border, quilboar displaced from Durotar have started creating dens with thorned hedgerow barriers. For now, it is a small concern for the tauren, but if the bristly "boar men" encroach too far, there will be a price to pay. At present, the tauren are far more interested in what the centaur are up to. Mulgore is filled with a variety of antelopes, rabbits, and wild boar, making it the ideal place for game hunting. A tauren pastime involves hunting these animals to improve one's combat skills. The tauren rarely eat their prey, preferring to graze on wheat and grass that grow wild in the valley.

A land of windswept mesas and grassy plains, Mulgore is the tauren's ancestral homeland. Centaur often send raiding parties into Mulgore, and the tauren, with the help of their Horde allies, beat them back. Tauren are naturally a nomadic people, and their tent cities are scattered across the landscape and change with the seasons and the weather. Now that they are members of the Horde, the tauren have constructed several permanent settlements, including fortified Dalsh-Beran and their capital of Thunder Bluff.

Mulgore is temperate with hills, plains (grassland), and some rugged mountains.

In the TCG
Every tauren vows to keep safe the golden plains of Mulgore.

Notes and trivia

 * Lorewise, there is a small enclave belonging to the Dawnchaser tribe in the sunny plains of Mulgore.
 * Since the Cataclysm hit, you can now find critters killing one another with weapons in Mulgore. The mesa above Stonetalon Pass you'll find rabbits with axes, squirrels with a helmet and knife and mice with two guns and a skull used for a helmet.
 * In Latin, the verb mulgere means "to milk".
 * While the Great Gate can be walked around, and Stonetalon can be fallen into from Stonetalon Pass, there is no explicit land route out of the zone.

Speculation
The story of Ghost Howl may imply that the Burning Legion tried to invade Mulgore either during the Third War or the War of the Ancients.