The story of Thunder Bluff.
Thunder Bluff is the capital of the tauren, a city of tents, totems and longhouses built across the tops of high mesas in northern Mulgore, where the wind never quite stops. Cairne Bloodhoof founded it after the Third War, once the orcs had helped his people win back Mulgore from the centaur, and made it a city open to every tauren tribe. For a people who had wandered without a home for generations, it is a statement that they are here to stay.
The city is spread over four mesas joined by wood-and-rope bridges. Elevators climb from the plains to the central mesa, where Cairne holds court at the top and the bank, inn and auction house sit on the rises below. To the north, Elder Rise is home to the elder druid Hamuul Runetotem, Cairne's lifelong friend, and to other leaders of the tribes, not all of whom agree with Cairne's alliance with the orcs. Spirit Rise holds the shamans and the cave entrance to the Pools of Vision, and Hunter Rise is where the hunters and warriors gather, and the one place in any capital where duelling is allowed.
Wind riders circle overhead and the zeppelin from Orgrimmar docks at Spirit Rise, binding the tauren to the rest of the Horde, but Thunder Bluff never feels like anyone's city but their own.
Written for this site from the game's lore. Further reading: Thunder Bluff on Warcraft Wiki.
