Tauren

The Tauren are a fictional race of bipeds, one of the major races of the Warcraft universe. They are religious, but are better known for their strength, courage, and endurance as warriors. A nomadic race as old as the Night Elves, the Tauren are attuned to the earth and its spirits, and have a largely shamanistic culture that stresses ancestor worship and the honored path of the hunter. Their capital of Thunder Bluff sits in the central Kalimdor territory of Mulgore, and they are aligned with the Horde in the present conflict (as depicted in World of Warcraft). Notably, the Tauren are the only race besides the Night elves that can become Druids.

Appearance

The Tauren are huge bipeds with a general bovine appearance resembling the Minotaur of Greek mythology. The Tauren have an average weight of 500 to 750 kilograms (1100-1650 lb) and can grow up to 4 metres (13 ft) tall. Sexual dimorphism is present in the species, with the males being an average of ten feet tall with an enormous, muscular build. Females are shorter and more delicately built, with smaller horns, but are still massive and muscular when compared to other races. Like humans (and quite disimilar from a typical bovine), the Tauren have breasts on their chest rather than an udder on their lower belly. Tauren shamans are often seen carrying their ancestral totems, which are essentially large carved out logs. These logs are often used as weapons, along with the polearm weapon of the Tauren chieftains. Other Shamans carry staves or maces, and although they have the ability to learn how to use daggers and firearms, the Taurens' ecologically focused beliefs do not allow them to wield large swords.

It should be noted that while the graphics in Warcraft III may suggest truly immense Tauren, and portray them as giant, bare-breasted bull-men, they like this game intentionally skewed. In World of Warcraft -- a much more realistic game in terms of scale -- male Tauren are almost uniformly twelve feet tall (though Cairne Bloodhoof is slightly larger, as is the Disciple of Naralex within the Wailing Caverns instance). Tauren of this size probably weigh less than the nine hundred pounds suggested above, though as they likely are about the same density of large modern mammals, they probably do weigh considerably more than humans.

Abilities
The Tauren of the World of Warcraft universe have certain racial abilities (as do all other playable races in the game). Seen as the most useful of these abilities is the 'Warstomp,' which stuns up to five enemies around the Tauren for two seconds and also interrupts spellcasting. It should be noted that the Warstomp has a 0.5 second cast time which can be delayed from any damage source. 'Cultivation' is the Tauren racial ability which increases the skill level of the Herbalism profession in the amount of 15 profession points. This allows the character to harvest herbs of a higher level sooner. All Tauren also receive a 5% health increase from their racial ability 'Endurance.' The 5% increase is calculated from the characters final health, that is, after stats are attributed. For example, if the character has a base health of 100, with a +2 stamina, the overall health with will be 100, plus the 20 for stamina, plus the 5% of 120, for a total of 126. The last of the Tauren's racial abilities is 'Nature Resistance' which increases character resistance to Nature magic by 10.

History

Before the Horde
As noted, the Tauren are one of the ancient races of Azeroth. Prior to meeting the Orcs, the Tauren were a nomadic race, though it seems that they played little role in the grand dynamic of Azeroth for millennia. In fact, when encountered by the Orcs and their Warchief, Thrall, they were under significant pressure from the Centaurs and their tribes were separated. The Tauren do have a rich history which they have kept over the centuries, handed down over the ages through oral tradition; one such passage is as follows:

"Before the Age of Memory, the gentle Earthmother breathed upon the golden mists of dawn. Where the amber clouds came to rest, there were endless fields of flowing wheat and barley. This was the basin of her works - the great basket of life and hope. The Earthmother's eyes shone down upon the lands she had breathed into creation. Her right eye, An'she (the sun), gave warmth and light to the land. Her left eye, Mu'sha (the moon), gave peace and sleep to the stirring creatures of the dawning. Such was the power of her gaze that the Earthmother closed one dreaming eye for every turning of the sky. Thus, her loving gaze turned day into night for the first dawning of the world. While the right eye shone down upon the golden dawn, the Earthmother's gentle hands spread out across the golden plains. Wherever the shadow of her arms passed, a noble people arose from the rich soil. The Shu'halo (the Tauren) arose to give thanks and prayer to their loving mother. There in the endless fields of dawn, the children of the earth swore themselves to her grace and vowed to bless her name until the final darkening of the world."

Allegiance with the Horde

The Orcs, led by Warchief Thrall, had come to Kalimdor seeking a land of their own, and in the course of establishing an early presence there, came upon the leader of the Bloodhoof tribe, Cairne Bloodhoof. Cairne sensed a great ally and leader in Thrall, and sought his alliance in fighting off their ancestral enemy, the Centaurs. In return, Cairne pledged his alliance to the Orc Warchief. For their part, the Orcs and the Jungle Trolls that composed the Horde found much in common with the Tauren. Each of these races wanted to achieve a more shamanistic culture, and the Tauren, long versed in the lore of spirit and nature, were well-prepared to provide counsel and support to the budding Horde. From then on, the Tauren became an inseparable part of the Horde, fighting with the Horde alongside the Alliance and Night Elves at the Battle of Mt. Hyjal, and later helped combat the forces of Lordaeron, led by Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, when he attempted to invade Durotar.

Present
After the invasion of the Orc homeland of Durotar was repelled (as depicted in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne), Cairne, with the help of the Horde, united the tribes of Tauren and settled his weary people in a new homeland, the lush plains of Mulgore. The capital city Thunder Bluff is built on a series of mesas which are connected to one another via rope and wooden bridges. At present, the Tauren are still ruled by Cairne Bloodhoof. However, even Cairne admits that he is unusually old for a Tauren (ninety-nine years old when he first joined the Horde), and the leadership of the Tauren may thus change very soon. Common wisdom hold that his successor will likely be Cairne's own son, Baine Bloodhoof, but at this time such talk is simply speculation, particularly with the emergence of Elder Crone Magatha and her tribe, the Grimtotems, a tribe usually a distinctive midnight black in coloring, as a member of the Council of Thunder Bluff. The Tauren continue to supply fierce warriors and wise shamans to the Horde and are currently involved in the renewed conflict on Azeroth.

Tauren Clans
*Bloodhoof Clan
*Grimtotem Clan
*Runetotem Clan
*Wildmane Clan
*Ragetotem Clan
*Thunderhorn Clan
*Skyseer Clan
*Cliffrunner Clan
*Snowhoof Clan
*Waterseer Clan

Trivia
*In the beta version of World of Warcraft, Tauren could not use mounts. Instead, they could gain an ability called "plains-walking", which gave them a large, temporary speed boost. This was changed after World of Warcraft's release, when they were allowed to ride Kodo beasts as mounts instead.
*The female Tauren's dance is derived from the four-wall line dance known as the Electric Slide, while one of the male's dance cycles is based on the Dancing Banana.
*The Tauren refer to themselves as the Shu'halo.
*"Tauren" is an anagram of "nature".
*"Taureau" is French for bull.
*åœŸäºº (pinyin: tÅrén) means native or aboriginal in Mandarin
*Taurens are the only race in World of Warcraft that makes a sound when using the /moo emote.
*Taurens are the only race in World of Warcraft that can't use wands.
*Taurens are the only race in World of Warcraft that are never restricted to only cloth armor, because Taurens cannot be cloth wearing classes (mages, warlocks and priests). Some healing classes will lower their armor class to wear cloth to better their healing, but no available class is forced to wear cloth armor.
*The only available classes to Tauren in World of Warcraft are Warriors, Shamans, Druids, and Hunters
*Tauren were the only race before the Burning Crusade Expansion that could not be rogues.

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See Also

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