Horde

The modern Horde bears little resemblance to the demonic army that marched through the Dark Portal in the First and Second Wars. After shattering the Burning Legion's grasp upon his people, Warchief Thrall led the orcs across the Great Sea to Kalimdor to build a spiritual homeland founded on ancestral traditions and honor. Along the way, Thrall forged lasting ties with Vol'jin's displaced Darkspear trolls and Cairne Bloodhoof's tauren tribes, fighting side by side to drive off centaur and demonic incursions during the Third War.

In Kalimdor, the orcs carved out the nation of Durotar and built the fortress capital of Orgrimmar, offering the Darkspear refuge upon the nearby Echo Isles. Just south, in the lush plains of Mulgore, the nomadic tauren unified around Thunder Bluff under High Chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof. Sharing shamanic reverence, a deep bond with nature, and mutual survival needs, these three races view each other not as tactical assets, but as an enduring family bound by spilled blood and spiritual respect.

Across the sea in the ruined lands of Lordaeron, Lady Sylvanas Windrunner led the free-willed Forsaken out of the Scourge's grasp. Desperate for allies against surviving human factions and remnants of the Scourge, Sylvanas sought a place within the Horde. Tauren elders argued the undead might yet be redeemed, and Thrall admitted the Forsaken into the Horde, establishing a vital military outpost in the Eastern Kingdoms despite persistent misgivings among Kalimdor's ranks.

Despite Thrall's hopes to build an enduring peace with the Alliance, the legacy of the Old Horde casts an inescapable shadow. To human and dwarven eyes, orcs remain bloodthirsty invaders, and undead can never be trusted. Clashes over vital lumber in Ashenvale and skirmishes along territorial borders have plunged both factions into a tense, fragile cold war. Thrall actively directs campaigns against demon cults like the Burning Blade to prove the Horde has severed ties with the Legion, but deep-seated hatred threatens to reignite all-out war at any spark.