Recent
-
Razaron Madeye
by Razaron
[June 11, 2024, 02:40:45 PM] -
New arrival says hello!
by Kozgugore
[December 03, 2023, 07:08:48 PM] -
Home again
by Bamm
[April 28, 2022, 10:26:53 PM] -
Home page news
by Kozgugore
[April 01, 2022, 01:25:05 AM] -
Bamm's Booty Bay Bedtime Bonanza
by Bamm
[January 30, 2022, 04:11:46 PM] -
Beyond and Back
by Razaron
[December 18, 2021, 11:11:17 PM] -
What Comes After
by Rhonya
[September 21, 2021, 04:51:46 PM] -
Letters to Home
by Bamm
[August 14, 2021, 03:10:29 PM] -
Application: Dharra
by Nakobu
[June 14, 2021, 12:57:33 AM] -
Thiama
by Thiama
[April 06, 2021, 05:27:43 PM]
Members
- Total Members: 1,193
- Latest: SteakKaralynne
Stats
- Total Posts: 33,083
- Total Topics: 3,067
- Online today: 197
- Online ever: 449 (October 27, 2024, 12:55:06 PM)
Users Online
- Users: 0
- Guests: 193
- Total: 193
193 Guests,
0 Users
April 02, 2015, 01:06:00 PM
Between A Rock And A Kosh'harg Place
In past years, the Red Blades came to see their biannual Kosh’harg celebrations in Nagrand as something of a reprieve. A safe haven amongst Outland’s more dangerous and corrupt regions, the Land of Winds was a home away from home. Orcs would tell tales around the Garadar campfire, spar at the Ring of Trials, hunt the majestic talbuk and mighty clefthoof of the land — and of course, on the anointed day of the Kosh’harg Festival, trek out to the Spirit Mountain of Oshu’gun to give tribute to the ancestors and feast amongst their allies.
But the Red Blades are not upon Outland, but its primordial alternate antecedent of Draenor. When the latest Kosh’harg season came about upon the vernal equinox, they made the customary pilgrimage to its version of Nagrand. Yet the tribe found not a haven but a hornets’ nest of Warsong war-riders, Gorian centurions in stone-wrought battlements, and oversized, ferocious beasts. Everything had changed, and the Red Blades would have to abandon their prior knowledge of Outland’s Nagrand in hopes of mapping out the dangers of this savage Land of Winds.
Nothing proved sacred to the ruthless Iron Horde. The traditional Kosh’harg grounds, nestled in the foothills of Oshu’gun, had been annexed and fortified by the Warsong Clan. Eager to avoid defiling hallowed ground with bloodshed, and moreover, desirous to celebrate the Festival safely without the threat of ambush, the tribe were forced to hold the Festival upon a high, remote clifftop within view of the Spirit Mountain. With the Red Blades' allies in the Horde arriving on their own business or to commemorate the Kosh’harg, the Festival itself came and passed without violent incident. This indeed proved a relief for those weary of war and past internal bickering amongst the banners of the Horde Gathering.
As the sun set on the Kosh’harg Festival, the Spirit Mountain appeared as magnificent as ever amongst the picturesque Nagrand landscape. Yet not all was quite as it seemed — spiritualists approaching Oshu’gun reported feeling an off-putting tension in the air, and south of the mountain, a strange sort of eldritch corruption had begun to wither away the trees of the Spirit Woods and its beasts. Something was foul in the region, and whether the result of the Iron Horde’s machinations or something darker yet, it would have to be put to an end for the sake of the ancestral spirits dwelling within the Spirit Mountain.
Yet more immediate dangers would soon confront the Red Blades. Guerrilla assaults were hatched to stem Iron Horde aggression in the area, and try and make the roads of Nagrand a safer place for travellers — yet it proved clear that the tribe were hopelessly outmatched and outnumbered, and whatever impact they might have, it was certain to be temporary. News that the Iron Horde had allied with the ogres of Highmaul proved distressing, but emboldened the orcs to begin considering strikes against their holdings.
The Iron Horde and Gorian Empire were not the only organised threats facing the tribe, however. Reports of encroaching and hostile Alliance forces began to appear, and then, danger struck from the most unlikely of places. An unassuming sheep that had been High Blade Sharptongue’s pet and companion of late turned out to be the exiled warlock turned peon Luk Vileclaw. Though eventually captured and executed, with his soul imprisoned within Gul’thauk Blackblade’s runeblade to prevent an unholy resurrection, Luk’s brief violent and manic appearance had involved brainwashing Gul’thauk Throatrender and injuring several orcs along the way to an assassination attempt on the High Blade.
Throughout all of these many perils, the Red Blade tribe has held strong, and through the rigors of adversity, they have bonded closer yet. The Kosh’harg Season has drawn to a close, and their attention is beginning to turn from the Warsong strongholds of Nagrand to more vulnerable areas upon Draenor. To where will the Red Blades ride next? Only time will tell.
About the author
