The blazing sun hung overhead, pouring out boundless waves of heat that baked the earth, each hotter than the last. Red soil stretched endlessly across this barren land. With no nutrients in the soil, crops struggled to survive here, let alone produce decent yields. It was nothing like fertile farmland. This was the central region of Kalimdor, close to the Great Sea. It had many names: Kalimdor's eastern coast, the eastern wastes of the Barrens. Now, of course, this red land had another, more pleasing name: Durotar.
Durotar was unsuitable for growing crops and would never be a breadbasket, but it was not entirely worthless. The Creator was fair. Having denied Durotar one gift, he naturally had to bestow another.
Durotar was rich in mineral deposits, with ores scattered throughout the region. These were the treasures the Creator had bestowed upon it, ensuring it was not merely a worthless wasteland.
After days of rain, a single day beneath Durotar's scorching sun had been enough to dry the damp earth.
Temperatures here were high. It was one of the hottest places in Kalimdor, far hotter even than the Barrens.
Now, however, an oppressive atmosphere hung over northern Durotar. The clouds of war gathered thickly. Rows of tents joined together into a vast encampment, where green-skinned orcs bustled about. A closer look revealed that the camp held more than just orcs. There were also many powerfully built tauren.
Adult tauren weighed between two hundred and three hundred kilograms, and generally stood nearly two and a half meters tall. Female tauren were only slightly shorter, still standing over two meters. The males had enormous bodies and thick, powerful muscles, while the females were smaller and more delicately built, with distinct feminine features. Compared with human men, however, even female tauren remained taller and