The Founding of Durotar

Thrall and the Darkspear allied army, together with the arriving Eitrigg, surrounded the quilboar from both sides. The quilboars' retreat had been sealed off, and the earthen walls reinforced by Bwonsamdi's soul power were not so easily shattered. Desperate, the quilboars began charging the Horde's allied forces, attempting a final struggle like trapped beasts.

Empowered by the shamans, the orc warriors bravely cut down the quilboar, while the troll headhunters harvested those filthy creatures from afar.

The Saurfang brothers and Eitrigg, the three veteran generals, each led a force into the quilboar ranks, constantly dividing and annihilating them. In the end, roughly 400,000 quilboar were surrounded by an army of 200,000 orcs and slowly devoured.

It would take several days to capture tens of thousands of pigs, yet hundreds of thousands of quilboar had half their number wiped out in a single day before surrendering outright. Rend, however, ordered them buried alive without hesitation. With the support of Eitrigg and the other elder orcs, Warchief Thrall did not object.

Rend saw that Thrall could not bear to watch his subordinates slaughter the quilboar prisoners, so he stepped forward to explain. "Warchief, I know you were mainly educated in human knowledge and have a kind heart, but these quilboar are different from us orcs, and different from the centaur. We are going to build a new home on this land. To truly take control of it, we must eliminate its powerful native inhabitants. Our conflict with the quilboar and centaur is fundamentally irreconcilable. Besides, they are merely a barbaric race that knows only destruction. The centaur can at least work for us, but these lazy quilboar are good for nothing but eating, drinking, and destroying the environment. This land is the result of their destruction. I learned from the prisoners that wherever the centaur and quilboar run rampant becomes barren." Of course, no prisoner had told him that. Nor could he tell Thrall that he knew history. The quilboar and centaur were both parasites upon this land, while the kind, simple Tauren, who cherished nature, had been bullied by them.

Thrall fell into thought as he watched the vines summoned by the quilboar atop Razor Hill, drawing in the remaining nutrients of the land.

"You are right, Rend. Whether for the Horde or for this land, these quilboar, who know only greedy plunder, are our enemies. Their existence is an insult to intelligent beings." Thrall felt the land's mournful cry—its hatred and curses for the quilboar and centaur, as well as its gratitude toward Thrall and the new Horde. The will of the land wished to bear the new Horde as its people, willing to accept the Horde as the rulers of this land in place of the quilboar and centaur. It begged Thrall to give it a new name.

Thrall communed with the elements, green energy winding around his hands. As he cast his spell, the vines on Razor Hill receded.

The earth spirits cheered in joy.

"From this day onward, this land shall be called Durotar, in memory of my father. It will also become the Horde's new home." The land accepted Thrall and his Horde, joyfully accepting its new name. From then on, it became an inseparable part of the Horde. Though it was not especially fertile, it was the orcs' new home.

Whether in the northernmost valleys or at the southern landing sites, the orcs felt the land welcoming them, as though they had returned to Draenor—returning to that sense of belonging. Countless orcs wept. After decades of exile, they finally had a home and land of their own again.

Some asked why the orcs had chosen the most barren Durotar. It was practically an endless red wasteland, and before the Cataclysm, its water resources had been even scarcer than those of the Tanaris Desert. They clearly had better choices; even the Barrens possessed far richer resources than Durotar. It was not merely because Durotar had been the first place the orcs arrived. More importantly, this land had truly accepted them. Every element of this land welcomed the orcs' arrival, eagerly greeting them as its new masters. Only here could the orcs feel that they were no longer outsiders. The feeling of home that surged from the depths of their hearts was something they had not experienced in the decades since Draenor's collapse. For decades, they had been rejected by the land of Azeroth as outsiders, but Durotar alone acknowledged their place here. From this day onward, they too were truly part of Azeroth.

"This land truly belongs to the orcs now, Warchief. We have a home—a real home, a home for orcs." Rend also felt the land's welcome and the bond between himself and this land. In the past, Azeroth had rejected the orcs, and Rend's soul had never fully accepted that he was a part of this world. He had always regarded himself as merely a passerby. But this time, he felt something familiar—the feeling from his previous life, when he studied in another city and returned home once every half year; that familiar sense of freedom and ease whenever he came home. The soul of China held feelings for the land. The efforts of their ancestors, their blood and souls, had been poured across the lands they conquered. How could they not love them? Yan and Huang originated in the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins. In what was now China, what land was not guarded by the loyal souls of generation after generation? Even what had been lost would one day be reclaimed. What belonged to China was carved into their bones, and the heroic spirits of their ancestors clung firmly to that land. Rend and the orcs had conquered Durotar. Countless amounts of blood had been spilled here, and the souls of orc warriors had remained here. Rend felt that familiar sensation, as though he had returned to that familiar land. This land was their home. Why was it home? Because the land had accepted them; because they had conquered it with blood and tears; because the souls of the pioneers had branded this red land deep into their souls.

A soul from another world, in a body from another world—for the first time, he was no longer an outsider. He was truly a part of Azeroth, acknowledged by Azeroth's world-soul.

Durotar's elements suddenly grew active, elemental affinity gathering around the orcs, especially around those who had once been shamans. They had once been abandoned by the elements. Only Thrall, an orc raised on Azeroth, had been acknowledged by Azeroth's elements. Although the shamans had recovered some elemental affinity with Thrall and the Frostwolf Clan's help, the elements had still rejected them. Until today. Until this moment. Azeroth's elements truly accepted them, treating them as they treated all living beings of Azeroth. The elements had returned, and the orc shamans reclaimed the portion of power that belonged to them.