It's been awhile (like that Staind song) since I've written a "World Tour" article. My intention with this series is to shine a spotlight on cool, beautiful or unique locales and regions from video games. I've always been someone who can withdraw from the act of playing the moment to moment action of a game and notice some incredible digital vista or sit by a small fishing pond and enjoy a game's bucolic countryside. I'm the guy who accidentally lets all of my UNSC Marines rush forward into certain death while I take in the beautiful forests and lakes on the Halo ring. I really enjoy letting myself be whisked away to these fictional worlds that we spend so much time in and just lose myself in them. The first World Tour that I wrote was of BioShock Infinite's incredible, iconic setting, Columbia, which is one of the most amazing locations that I have ever seen in my life, across any medium of fiction. I plan to do a piece on Rapture from the first two BioShock games at some point, but first, I wanted to touch on one of my favorite regions from my favorite game.
To call World of Warcraft a vast game would be an understatement. It is enormous by any measure. The in-game regions (called "zones" in WoW) are not all of equal size; some are small, but most would take you a solid ten to twenty minutes or more to navigate on foot. In the process of exploring the world and completing quests, you really get to appreciate all of the gorgeously designed zones that Blizzard created and find your favorite little hideaways in the world of Azeroth. Truthfully, I foresee several different WoW zones eventually getting the World Tour treatment, but today I wanted to write about the starting zone of my favorite race in World of Warcraft - Mulgore, the homeland of the bovine-like Tauren. To clarify, this is Mulgore as it appeared pre-Cataclysm. I greatly prefer the pre-Cataclysm version of nearly every zone.
Mulgore, and by extension, the Tauren as a people, and all of their lands and territories, are heavily inspired by Native American tribes, specifically those of the American Midwest and West. Mulgore is a pastoral plain, surrounded by steep cliffs and mountains. It appears to be based, at least partially, on the kind of terrain and environments that you would encounter in Wyoming or the Dakotas. Verdant, sprawling plains stretch further than the eye can see. Craggy cliffs and barren buttes reach into the infinite dusty, blue sky. Small clusters of pine trees offer much-needed shade for those who need to duck out of the beating sun. The still, cool waters of Stonebull Lake are replete with fish and provide the area's main resource for water. A handful of natural, gargantuan, rock towers loom over the plains, atop them is the Tauren capital city of Thunder Bluff. It is a majestic land; one of quiet, dignified peace and solitude.
 |
| Image Credit: Reddit |
The Tauren live a spartan, highly naturalistic lifestyle. Most of their homes are tents of varying sizes. There are also larger, wooden lodge-like buildings used for inns as well. In Tauren towns and villages, you can find massive totem poles, hewn out of wood into the shapes of animal heads and painted in beautiful teals, reds and white. These three colors seem to be culturally important to the Tauren, as they are often featured in their crafts and arts. Being Native American-inspired, the Tauren are also quite attuned to nature, favoring vocations like Druidism or Shamanism. They also have incredibly skilled warriors and hunters who are more willing to get their hands dirty, so to speak. Most Tauren are incredibly noble and objectively good, which I've always enjoyed, both as a Tauren fan and player, and as someone who tries to lead a moral, just, peaceful and respectful lifestyle myself.
 |
| Image Credit: Wowpedia |
There are a couple of small settlements scattered across Mulgore. Camp Narache is a tiny encampment on the Red Cloud Mesa, a span of secluded foothills that serve as the training ground for new Tauren players. A ways down the road from Narache, on the banks of Stonebull Lake, is the central village of the zone: Bloodhoof Village, which is a notably larger settlement than Camp Narache, but still comparatively dwarfed by the capital city. Bloodhoof features traders of various professions and a stable of sorts for kodo, which are the rhino-esque mounts that Tauren use. For a bit of neat worldbuilding, Bloodhoof is also the home of skilled ceremonial drum-makers. The drums serve no function in the overall game and they aren't purchasable, though the kodo mounts do have the drums fastened to them, which was a cool inclusion to give a further peek into the Tauren culture. Apparently, the long-rumored Bard class could be coming to the game at some point in the future, so maybe the drums will finally be added to the game with a function.
As I stated above, Thunder Bluff is the stunning capital city of the Tauren. The city rests atop a set of high cliffs, and you have to take enormous wooden elevators up to the summit to enter the august crown jewel of the Tauren people. A staggeringly enormous totem pole, complete with a bull's head, gazes out over Mulgore from the core mesa of the city. Thunder Bluff is connected via bridges that connect the various peaks that comprise the sectors of the city. One peak belongs to the hunters and warriors, while another is home to a massive spirit lodge where shamans and druids convene. Tradesmen and artisans of every stripe populate the city, making and hawking their wares. The city is bustling with an industrious, busy energy that is unique for this people, as most Tauren settlements are quiet and relaxed.
 |
| Image Credit: Wowhead |
While Mulgore is a comparatively peaceful, quiet zone compared to much of Azeroth, there is still a mild degree of danger afoot on these rolling plains. Aside from the obvious danger of the elements, the abundant and hardy wildlife presents a potential threat to any unaware or unprepared Tauren. Coyotes, kodo, massive vultures (called Swoops), cougars, terror birds and plenty of other environmentally appropriate critters create a perilous ecosystem in the vast swaths of land between Camp Narache, Bloodhoof Village and Thunder Bluff. The wicked bird-woman harpies have nesting grounds entrenched in the trees in the far corners of the zone. Dwarves have a dig site tucked into the mountains, and given that they're a member of the rival faction, the Alliance, they will kill the Tauren adventurers on sight. There's also a villainous, greedy, excavation company called the Venture Company who has begun setting up fledgling operation sites in Mulgore. This organization is known across Azeroth for their corrupt business practices and lack of concern for any damage that they cause to the surrounding ecosystem.
The main enemy that the Tauren face, both in Mulgore and in the bordering zones and regions, are an ancient rival that they have dealt with for untold millennia: the porcine Quillboars. Quillboar are similar to the Tauren in many ways. They're also a naturalistic people with fearsome warriors, elementally-powered shamans and they're highly protective over their homeland, but they're considerably more violent and primitive than the Tauren. Their territories overlap with the Tauren's lands, so these two protective, bestial peoples have been at odds for a long, long time. Quillboar are a constant, ever-present threat to Tauren players from the very beginning and through several consecutive zones.
I don't have much more to say about Mulgore. I just wanted the opportunity to analyze and expound on what exactly I've loved about exploring this zone for the last nearly two decades. World of Warcraft in its pre-Cataclysm state is highly nostalgic for me, and it's like video game comfort food to spend some time just questing through these classic regions and relive the good, old days of the now geriatric MMO. Traipsing through Mulgore as a new Tauren character, through that quiet, relatively peaceful land brings my mind back to the halcyon days of my youth, before the world got so loud and so chaotic. If you've never played World of Warcraft Classic, it's the only "legitimate" way to revisit the old version of Azeroth's map. There are also excellent private servers out there that are still set in the "classic" era of World of Warcraft. If you've never played through Mulgore, you should check it out. Hopefully my love letter here will rub off on you in some way.
Post a Comment