Mulgore

The tauren were historically a nomadic people who traveled Kalimdor while pursued by centaur marauders. After joining forces with Thrall's Horde, Cairne Bloodhoof gained the military strength needed to drive off the centaur and reclaim the ancestral valley of Mulgore. They constructed permanent settlements, including Bloodhoof Village and Thunder Bluff, to establish a unified homeland where all tauren tribes could thrive in peace.

Mulgore is completely ringed by impassable mountain walls except for a single southeastern pass. Following the main dirt highway east past Bloodhoof Village and Morin Cloudstalker's post leads through this mountain corridor directly into the arid plains of the Barrens.

The Venture Company is an unscrupulous goblin-run commercial cartel seeking Kalimdor's natural riches. In Mulgore, they run a mining operation in the eastern mountains and have occupied the vital water wells—such as Thunderhorn, Wildmane, and Winterhoof—desecrating the land and threatening the regional water supply.

Dwarves from the Bael Modan expedition have established the Bael'dun Digsite in Mulgore's northern foothills. Driven by the Explorers' League to unearth relics of their Titan creators, they excavate tauren land without permission, ignoring tauren protests that such operations scar the Earthmother.

The Rites of the Earthmother are a sacred series of trials that every young tauren undertakes upon reaching adulthood. These tasks test hunting, tracking, vision communion, and knowledge of the natural balance, proving the young initiate's devotion to the land and the ancestral traditions of their people.

High Chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof governs all tauren lands from the capital city of Thunder Bluff atop the northern mesas. His son, Baine Bloodhoof, governs Bloodhoof Village and manages the daily concerns of the lower plains under Cairne's wisdom.