User:Taliface/VotH Characters


 * ''A storm blows a Horde zeppelin off course and into contested territory. Stranded and wounded, the survivors are caught between their own war machine and the desperate enemy remnants, and the multi-racial makeup of the Horde may not make survival any easier.

This article concerns the characters of the chaptered fanfiction Valley of the Horde. To avoid spoilers, a few characters have been excluded.

=Nokawe Steelhoof=

A veteran soldier, Nokawe earned her name when she commissioned a blacksmith to make sharpened horse shoes for her hooves. Though a long-suffering, hard-working, loyal soldier type, she has a certain bull-headedness and commitment to her internal sense of morality that can sometimes lead her astray.

Biography
Born into the Ragetotem Tribe, Nokawe Ragetotem was an ambitious child, never pleased with her place in life. She was almost terminally adventurous, slipping away on her own at every opportunity to explore and frequently blundering into danger as a result. Needless to say, she kept her parents on full alert at all times, and a few of the younger hunters grew used to her showing up at random in the wilderness. Through careful observation, she learned to fight and track at a young age.

Despite her antics, Nokawe’s attention was easily held by lessons and events within the camp. She learned all the traditional skills of tauren society: tanning, carving, cooking, weaving and so on. Her adoration of the tribal ceremonies slowly built a sense of spirituality and commitment within the girl that provided some counterbalance to her restlessness.

Nevertheless, she insisted to her parents that she was ready to undertake the Great Hunt before the tribe elders seemed to agree. The tribe would not be swayed. Nokawe’s bullheadedness was clear from her demands and, while growing more physically powerful every day, she was still very much a warrior-in-training.

In response, Nokawe did the obvious. She set out on her own. Armed with her training staff, her mother’s gun and a hatchet, she bided her time until the tribe’s eyes were no longer so keenly focused on her and finally escaped into the Barrens.

The Great Hunt
Intent on putting distance between herself and her tribe, she travelled south until sheer exhaustion forced her to stop and sleep. She woke to hunger and the realisation that she was now in the territory dominated by the quilboar, with the centaur nearby in the east as well. Stealth and caution, skills Nokawe had only exercised when it came to sneaking away from her tribe, became necessary for survival.

For the first few days she was too concerned with remaining hidden to hunt for meat; she lived off what plant life she could find and observed the quilboar as best she could. Movement was necessary if she wanted to avoid detection, so Nokawe continued to trek south, learning the quilboars’ tendencies as she went.

Over the course of the next month, she began to track other animals: gazelle, stormsnouts and giraffes. Living alone tempered her. Set beside the realities of survival, ambition became gaudy to her. She found pleasure in becoming proficient with her tasks and evading her enemies.

None of the creatures she successfully killed had any sort of resonance with her, however. She expected more from the Great Hunt than meat, bone and hides, which she gathered and made use of as much as she could while on the move. Sure of some greater purpose she pressed on – and came across the remains of a small group of tauren, their bones picked clean by hyenas.

Nokawe had no idea who they had been or what might have happened. She honoured the bodies as best she could but lacked the materials to provide a proper burial. Pacing the site, examining the tracks, she discovered a small set of hoofprints stumbling away, accompanied by a steady splatter of blood. She set off after them and, on the far side of a nearby rise, she found a tauren girl, a few seasons younger than her.

The girl’s name was Tahuni, and Nokawe spent some time calming her and binding up a vicious bite wound on one of her arms. It transpired that the centaur had killed her family while she hid; the bite wound was from one of the hyenas who had come later to pick clean the corpses.

Nokawe began the long trek back north with Tahuni riding on her shoulders. They exchanged stories and Nokawe mentored Tahuni in hunting, cooking and carving. It was Tahuni who pointed out the kodo to Nokawe, adamant that there was a bond between them. They found a safe place to set up a more permanent camp. From there, Nokawe hunted the kodo. She brought her kill back and they made use of every part in typical tauren fashion. It became clear to Nokawe that this was her totem animal. She and Tahuni remained at their camp until all of the kodo had been consumed, before pressing on. They tracked down the roving Ragetotem Clan, who welcomed Tahuni in and accepted Nokawe’s proof of adulthood.

Amongst the Horde
When Cairne Bloodhoof united the tauren and brought them together under the banner of the Horde, the Ragetotem Tribe was quick to back him. Nokawe and Tahuni found a new home in Thunder Bluff. Though happy to become part of such a large community, Nokawe’s restlessness resurfaced and she did not stay long. Leaving Tahuni behind to study alongside the Runetotem druids, she set out to fight for the Horde’s vision of peace.

Nokawe proved to be a valuable asset to her unit. Her immense physical strength, incredible endurance and attention to the practical side of combat – logistics and tactics alike – won her several speedy promotions. She was eventually stationed in Silithus, where she fought against the Qiraji and reunited with Tahuni, who stood amongst the Cenarion Circle.

The Siege of Outland
While Horde forces poured into Outland, Tahuni with them, Nokawe remained on Azeroth. She spent this time fighting against the enemies of Thunder Bluff itself, helping to drive the centaur from Mulgore and generally rediscovering her place in tauren society. Her mother, she discovered, had been killed in a centaur raid, and her father had retreated to Camp Mojache in Feralas. Nokawe made plans to travel south and meet him, but at this time the Scourge began their attack on Orgrimmar and she travelled there to head them off.

War Against the Scourge
Nokawe was initially stationed at Warsong Hold in the Borean Tundra. She was reassigned help the taunka to the east due to their racial similarity, and assisted in the evacuation of Taunka'le. She fought against the Nerubian presence in Icemist Village to no avail, and eventually reached Agmar's Hammer with her taunka allies.

She narrowly avoided destruction at Wrathgate but travelled north with one of her friends amongst the new taunka recruits, the hunter Torembe, to witness the results of the New Plague. Disgusted with the Forsaken, the two retreated back to Agmar’s Hammer. Nokawe wrote a letter warning Tahuni, stationed far to the east of the continent in the Howling Fjord, and remained at the orc fortress for some time, where she entertained a romance with Torembe and fought against the nerubians of Azjol-Nerub. This period spent in one place also allowed her to commission a blacksmith to create steel tips for her horns and steel shoes for her hooves. The orcs gave her the name Steelhoof, which she kept.

As the Horde pushed on into Icecrown, Nokawe broke off her relationship with Torembe on good terms and transferred from Dragonblight to the front lines. Her hard work and gains against the Alliance resulted in her promotion from Blood Guard (Legacy) to Centurion (Legacy), and she was involved in the fight to gain a foothold in Icecrown Citadel.

The Cataclysm
Nokawe was amongst those sent to take the island Tol Barad, and endeavoured to do so until word from home brought her to demand leave.

Appearance
Nokawe is as tall as most Tauren bulls, standing at just under nine feet, and her heavy build is accentuated by her thick plate armour. The straps for the larger pieces have rubbed her bald in places, most notably over the shoulders. The rest of her body is covered with pale grey-brown fur. She lacks any major scars, but there are a few thin lines on the end of her nose from past injury.

Her snout is longer than average, with sharp, sweeping lines from high brow to flared nostril. She keeps her mane clipped short around her face and long down her back. In her youth she plaited it with ribbons and strips of cloth dyed in muted shades of red, purple and green; now she sports a few of the braids and none of the ribbons. Her long, upswept horns, meanwhile, are fixed with sharpened metal tips, and she wears steel horseshoes on her hooves.

She wears a bead necklace under her armour, tied to three feathers and a piece of polished kodo horn engraved with a wing.

Personality
Nokawe is commanding, strong-willed and pragmatic. She is never verbally affectionate but highly demonstrative, keeping close guard over her friends and going out of her way to keep them happy. Ultimately, she is a passionate woman and has all the strengths and weaknesses that go along with it. She prefers to lead and does not take particularly well to suggestions from other people, but has fought in difficult situations long enough to curb her natural tendency to stomp all over such comments.

=Tahuni Whitewing=

A skilled druid, specialising in spell casting and transformation, Tahuni is the lone survivor of the Whitewing Clan. She is intelligent, considerate and openly kind, but beneath her softness toward her allies lies a strong desire for justice that leads her through battle with a paladin's sense of righteousness.

Biography
Born into the Whitewing Clan in Desolace, Tahuni was a quiet and attentive child amongst a group of struggling adults. Driven mercilessly by the centaur, they forged their way south into Feralas. Unused to forestland and exhausted from literally non-stop travel, several died from the exertion and starvation despite the best efforts of the hunters. As the only child, Tahuni survived only because her care was spread over the tribe as a whole: different tauren took turns to carry her when she tired and she gained priority for what food they found.

The centaur finally ceased the chase when the Whitewing Clan left the road for the wilderness. No-longer hounded, they paused to rest, heal and adapt to the land. Tahuni herself, though still young, felt a great affinity for Feralas and its abundance of life. Noting the calf’s strong interest in the plant and animal life, one of the hunters took to including her in her discoveries as she sought out new sources of food. Tahuni’s knack for telling different plants apart became apparent, and her confidence grew.

As a result, she was furious when the chief announced that they were moving on. The tribe had regained the strength to travel without further losses, so they set their sights to the east, where friendly tauren at Camp Mojache claimed lay wide open spaces like those the Whitewing Clan had enjoyed in Desolace.

Joining with the Ragetotem
Tahuni fell into a sulk. As they passed from Feralas into the Thousand Needles she objected to every step they took. She declared the place was hideous, unworthy, uninteresting, and eventually had to be carried, sobbing, by her father. Discovering signs of centaur about, the Whitewing Clan made for higher ground, scaling the canyon walls and eventually advancing cautiously through quilboar land toward what would later become the Great Lift and the path north through the Barrens.

It was there that the centaur caught up with them. They had been spotted down in the canyon, presumed to be a scouting party from the nearby Freewind Post and hunted. The clan managed to run a short way north before the centaur reached them. Tahuni hid amongst the thorns of Razorfen Downs so the centaur did not see her, but the others were killed.

Frozen in place, she sat and stared for the better part of a day after the centaur dispersed, until an opportunistic pack of hyenas appeared, drawn by the scent of fresh meat. Tahuni burst out of her hiding place to fight them off, but it proved to be a futile effort. One of the hyenas bit her arm, and she fled as far as she could run before collapsing. Luckily for her, she was discovered by fellow tauren Nokawe Ragetotem, who took her in and cleaned her wound. Together, they struck north to join Nokawe's clan, and Nokawe augmented Tahuni's knowledge of plant life with details of the species in the Barrens. Unbeknownst to Nokawe, who readily accepted Tahuni as a surrogate sister, the younger tauren began to regard her as a mother of sorts. Even when they joined with the Ragetotem and Tahuni was accepted as part of the tribe, she clung to Nokawe in particular, and drew from her the strength she needed to overcome the loss of her tribe.

Becoming a druid
As the tauren tribes united, the Ragetotem Clan made the trek to Thunder Bluff, where Tahuni was happy to settle. Nokawe, however, proved too restless to stay and eventually departed to join the Horde army, leaving Tahuni behind. Initially distraught, Tahuni mocked up plans to follow her, but had only just reached adulthood herself and lacked the fighting skills that made Nokawe so obviously valuable. Eventually she sought guidance from the spiritual leaders in Thunder Bluff, who noted her affinity for druidic magic and suggested she find purpose by following that path.

Although her talent for healing proved sub-par, Tahuni showed promise as a shape-shifter. She quickly mastered the transformation into a bird, but the form of a bear proved illusive. It was suggested that she might learn more from the Kaldorei, and she spent some time in Moonglade. There she mastered the transformation into a panther and then a moonkin. As her spellcasting prowess grew, she advanced to the Cenarion Hold in Silithus to put her skills to the test. There she caught word of Nokawe's presence on the Horde front line, and later reunited with her during the fight with the Qiraji.

The Siege of Outland
Although gleeful at seeing Nokawe again, Tahuni found herself regressing in the older tauren’s presence. While she had ceased to grow at seven feet tall, Nokawe towered above her at some nine feet and had filled out considerably. It was easy to return to the role of adoring girl when the size difference was much the same as it always had been, but Tahuni was not willing to sacrifice the sense of self-worth she had gained during her druid training. Although she desperately wanted to remain with Nokawe and travel the world together, when the Dark Portal opened through to Outland she requested permission to head through to help the Horde gain a foothold in the region, leaving Nokawe behind.

Tahuni served the Horde at Thrallmar in Hellfire Peninsula for the beginning of the Outland campaign. She studied the plant life and helped tend to the sick with her limited healing skills and much wider knowledge of medical poultices. She befriended a powerful Forsaken shadow priest by the name of Miriah, and together they catalogued different species. After an accident, Miriah struck out for Shattrath. Tahuni moved to join her fellow druids at the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh and remained there for the rest of her time in Outland, becoming closely involved in the study of the Sporeggar.

War Against the Scourge
Tahuni returned to Azeroth later than most. Through her connections with Miriah, she obtained a post working between the taunka at Winterhoof and the Forsaken army occupying Howling Fjord. The cutthroat tendencies of the Forsaken made this a difficult task, especially after she received a letter from Nokawe detailing the events of Wrathgate.

After the Battle for the Undercity she received new orders to keep a close eye on the Forsaken. As she had found a sort of friendship with several of the less maniacal apothecaries, Tahuni found these orders almost unbearably difficult to follow, but held fast until the fall of the Lich King, when she quickly requested her immediate removal from the Horde army in aid of returning to the ranks of the Cenarion Circle.

The Echo Isles
Tahuni returned to Kalimdor just in time to aid the trolls in bringing about Zalazane's Fall. Although the troll druids appeared quite capable of looking after themselves, Tahuni established herself as willing to help in any way she could. She returned to Orgrimmar to catch up with the other tauren druids there, and eventually received word that a new troll druid by the name Dakavo was in need of a different teaching method. She agreed.

The Cataclysm
Tahuni did not witness the duel to the death between Cairne Bloodhoof and Garrosh Hellscream but was amongst those thronged outside, so the news reached her quickly. She wrote to Nokawe and sequestered herself away for a few days, mourning the chief and working out where her own allegiance lay. Eventually she came to the conclusion that the druidic path was the correct one to follow, even if her belief in the Horde had suffered some setbacks. She emerged set on continuing her mentorship with Dakavo, and continued to do so until she received a note from Nokawe stating that she would pass through Orgrimmar soon, on her way to the zeppelin that would take her back to Thunder Bluff.

Appearance
Tahuni is of average height for a tauren, with lean muscles and a bright white pelt. Her face is short, snub-snouted, and she has long, upswept, curved horns. Her mane is kept in long, fat plaits in the front and kept clean and well-brushed in the back. She favours light leather armour and a kilt.

Animal forms
Tahuni never mastered her bear form, but her cat form has a less leonine look to it than that of most tauren. She transforms into a white owl as her flight form as a tribute to her tribe, and long white feathers adorn the usual medallions of her moonkin shape.

Personality
Although spiritual at her core, Tahuni has a no-nonsense air about her. She has a strong set of guiding beliefs that generally allow her to be decisive. In particular, her desire for justice allows her to function well even in combat, despite an aversion to violence on the whole. Perhaps unusually for a tauren, she is something of an introvert and tends to herself with solitary flights when she can. For all that she is a good listener, she keeps her thoughts to herself, and occasionally they brew.