Legacy of Ironoath

[Nazkhur]

My name is Morgri Ironoath. To understand me you must understand where the blood in my veins comes from. I am the granddaughter of Kargom the first to be called the Ironoath. Kargom was a brave warrior in the Bleeding Hollow Clan under the rule of the famous Kilrogg Deadeye. For many years he served the Clan well in their lands in the olemba trees of the Terokkar Forest. Kargom earned the family name when swearing the Clan oath to Kilrogg. Kargom cut his palm with a jagged piece of iron and held it in his hand when proudly saying his oath. At the end of the oath the iron was thick with blood and bent from the sure strength of Kargom. The strength of this oath of loyalty to the Clan was as stronger than the iron he used.

The life in the Clan was almost the same for any Orc. Kargom was a skilled hunter and a fine warrior when the nearby Bonechewer Clan would look for trouble. At the Kosh’harg festivals Kargom talked often with Telkar Doomhammer of the Blackrock Clan. Even with the difference in clan the two got on well during their time together at the biannual meetings. Kargom was as feared as he was powerful. As only of Kilrogg’s senior warriors Kargom built an aura of fear and respect around him, should some other try and remove him from his place. Years passed slowly and finally Kargom found a mate with whom he could speak freely and not be the fearsome creature he was in public. Urmala was not of brave warrior lineage, but she used other methods to overcome the weakness of the arm. More skilled with her tongue, she could control the simple and get close to the powerful. Kargom was not so simple that he didn’t notice Urmala try and use this against him at times but she was a loving mate and had a sharper mind than he could hope for. Together they raised two children. Their sons Grawth and Snamr were as eager to follow their father as noble warriors of the Clan and trained hard. When Telkar was killed by an Ogre Kargom was able to attend the funeral and pay his respects to a good friend and to see his son take on the mantle of the Doomhammer.

When the Horde was in the early stages of its life and the Draenei war was ablaze Kargom, Grawth and Snamr would fool their clan into battle and reap the glories of it. In private Kargom talked freely about the mistrust he felt for Gul’dan. How such a “pitiful worm” could hope to keep control of the Clan’s escaped him. When the blood of Mannaroth was offered to the Clan’s Kargom would drink along with the seniors of the Clan. The blood changed them, at first it felt for the better. The powerful it gave was enough to smash the remaining Draenei in Shattrath, but the price was to be paid as well. In the weeks that followed the fall of the city the times got hard. The Bleeding Hollow’s made the best they could out of these times but Urmala died from fever and left a void in Kargom’s life. Without the hand of Urmala to help restrain him he became ever more violent and savage. With Blackhand ruling over the Horde was content only in battle. A battle that would come soon but first the work to prepare for it was needed. Both Grawth and Snamr would help in the building work and mining needed to create the Dark Portal. The sight of them doing this was to only enrage Kargom further and the peons around him would pay the prices for this. On a number of days he would beat one to death with his bare hands. These actions got him into trouble with Blackhand and Kilrogg, not that he cared much at these stages. Kargom made up for his temper in the Gladiator Arena. The glory and chance to fight was all he really cared about but the chances of him losing weren’t than great. Only one ever managed it, Orgrim Doomhammer. Lucky for Grawth and Snamr, when Orgrim defeated him there wasn’t much hard feeling. The memory of his father kept Kargom from making trouble in this matter.
Finally when the Dark Portal was finished and the time for the new challenge had arrived. The Bleeding Hollow Clan would play a major roll in the upcoming war against the humans. However there were some other problems brewing. In the first attack on Stormwind Keep the Bleeding Hollow’s and the Twilight’s Hammer Clan suffered greatly and Kargom would pay the price for the poor leadership in this attack. Killed by five arrows to the chest he would pass the mantle of Ironoath onto eldest son Grawth. Grawth wasn’t to hold the mantle for long and it is doubtful that his full talent was seen in the short time out of his father’s shadow. Snamr was now the only Ironoath left and planned to keep the glory of the family without so of the more shameful past. After the fall of Stormwind Snamr had risen in the ranks of the Clan and was a capable raider and scout leader. When Blackhand was slain and Doomhammer took his place, along with Kilrogg, Snamr would rally under the banner of the new Warchief. As a raider of the Sythegore Arm, Snamr would take part in the slaughter of the warlocks of the Shadow Council. The price of this battle to remove the evil shadow from the Warchief throne came at a great cost. Snamr was cursed by a warlock as he fell to his blade. A curse that would shame even the proudest Orc was the words used. Snamr wasn’t sure if the curse had worked or not, but the belief that it hung over him was a weight to carry.

When Gul’dan was kept alive by Orgrim many of the Sythegore felt that it all had been for nothing. Aware of this distrust that was growing and remains of loyalty to Blackhand the Sythegore Arm was disbanded and the raiders returned to their Clans. With fresh troops from Draenor arriving along with the Ogres, Doomhammer planned the Hordes next move. The humans who had escaped had fled north to Lordaeron. Now was the time for the Horde to follow. The invasion of Khaz Modan was to happen as Horde forces sailed across the Great Sea and took islands that lay of its western coast. With Kilrogg’s full support for Doomhammer the Bleeding Hollow Clan would be used well and take get pleasure in slaying the Dwarves and Gnomes that tried to defend. With Horde forces smashing north across the land and others landing from the island onto the Wetlands coast Khaz Modan was doomed. With the Horde in control of the land from the Portal to the Thandol Span, Doomhammer set up his citadel in Blackrock Mountain to plan his next move. It was clear that the Horde needed resources for the war and to keep a check on this would be Kilrogg Deadeye. The Bleeding Hollow was given the task of securing the mining and oil operation in Khaz Modan and the might Clan was given more the job of an overseer.

Snamr was stationed on one of the oil platforms in the Great Sea to his great displeasure. He longed more to be at the front and back fighting rather than such minding peons. On a number of occasions his fury got the better of him. The most famous being when the oil tanker needed to transport the shipment was late. When it did arrive three hours late, Snamr stormed aboard the craft and beat the Captain of it before crushing his skull between his hands. The times these happened were few and when the Horde fell back from Lordaeron, Snamr was returned to active duties. Fighting along side his Clan restored some of his pride, but the defeats that followed were great. He would fight at Blackrock Mountain and lose his left leg up to the knee there. Wounded he managed to stay with the Bleeding Hollow and made it back to Draenor when Ner’zhul reopened the rift.
Arriving on Draenor Kilrogg was hailed as a hero and reported the events of the war to Ner’zhul. The Warchief of Draenor came up with a scheme to plunder other worlds and with the help of Kilroggs Bleeding Hollow’s, Grom Hellscreams Warsong’s, and Bladefists Shattered Hand’s he would raider Azeroth for the tools to do this. The raiding for these items went well and all were recovered apart from the Eye of Dalaran. However these attacks have given the Alliance a reason to pursue the Horde through the rift to Draenor. The Alliance forces follow them and set up a staging post on Hellfire Peninsula. With the war going badly against the Horde and Ner’zhul more worried about his own problem defeat follows defeat. Recovered from his wound Snamr fights on with his Clan against the pressure of the Alliance. When Ner’zhul loses all sense and opens portals to many different worlds at the same time the planet starts to take the strain. The Alliance plan to close the Dark Portal and save Azeroth from the backlash the blast will cause. Showing courage and loyalty to their Clans Deadeye and Hellscream led the charge of their Clans through the Alliance forces towards the Dark Portal. With great honour and valour they make it through the Portal before it is closed. On the Azeroth side they battle through the Alliance lines again but large amounts are killed or captured. A few including Hellscream remain uncaptured and hide in Lordaeron.
Snamr isn’t sure of the fate of Kilrogg as he is imprisoned in one of the many new internment camps. Life at the camp is hard and the defeated Orc’s are treated like slave to the so called noble Alliance. In the camp Snamr happen to catch the eye of a young female. Grellan Lightfinger of Shattered Hand Clan was her name. She had been captured during one of the raids Snamr had been apart of. Escaping from the Alliance a number of times she wasn’t permitted to do labour for fear she would escape again. Grellan was quick witted and sneaky. Skills really found in most Orcs and skills that served her well in the camp. Using her talent of sneaking she was able to get to know Snamr well and agreed to be his mate. Falling pregnant after a few weeks Grellan wasn’t able to see Snamr apart from at a distance. When she gave birth to a son Snamr was proud that he could call himself the father. His young son would grow up fighting and brawling with the other young that had been birthed or captured. The Alliance did their best to limit this but there was the odd one that happened. Their treatment wasn’t much better and it was believed that the guards hoped they wouldn’t live. The son fought on and was one of the few to reach the age of ten. This time was when things would change. There had been rumours of the Orcs breaking out of camps and building an army but now it was at the gates of their camp. Leading this force was the Horde’s greatest Warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer. With the elements siding with the Orcs again something that hadn’t happened since before Snamr was born the camp was free. Like most Bleeding Hollow’s Snamr took up arms and followed the army freeing another camp before Arathi. In the highlands the camp was prepared for the coming attack and the Horde suffered greatly in this battle. Snamr would see Doomhammer take his mortal wound but in that moment would take his as a guard slices his head cleanly from his shoulders.
The son of Durotan, Thrall would take on Orgrims mantle as Warchief of the Horde and prepare to lead them to greater things. Grellan was heartbroken at her lose. In honour of the fallen Warchief that Snamr died with she named the child Orgrim, but the morning after the battle in Arathi things would change. The funeral pyre’s of many a fallen Orc would be lit. When Snamr was claimed by the flames the curse that had remained hidden with Snamr’s fresh from the slaughter of the council would be released. As the smoke drifted up a ghostly figure of an Orc warlock formed above the pyre. The smoky figure reached out a hand and Snamr’s sun fell to the ground and groaned in pain and suffering. The son had been changed and what greater shame for a proud father of a strong son to have his son becoming a daughter to him in his afterlife. Waking up the night after my father’s funeral I felt different. As if the world had changed around me in a moment. I was female now and become Morgri. Afraid of what the Horde might thing of this change lived alone in the wilds so that my mother could return to their safety. Before she returned to the Shattered Hand she trained me as best she could so that I wouldn’t starve. I was very young but I learnt fast. The basic skills to stay alive started much as the Orc first had. Hunting, cooking and hiding. I watched from a distance as the Orcish Horde laid waste to Durnholde in the days that followed my change. When times were hard I learnt that to take from the Human’s is a way to live.  I rarely entered Orc camps and when I did it was more to trade with what I had taken for things of more use. After a few months of this the new Warchief Thrall had a vision and gathered the Orc’s to cross the sea to Kalimdor. Seeking a chance to make a new life in this far off land I followed with the Horde and caught up with them after they had managed to release the captured Grom Hellscream from a Human strike force. After a long a rough journey we arrived on Kalimdor picking up some Jungle Trolls that were on the Broken Isles along the way. This land was barren and rough. I managed to find mother Grellan again as we tracked across the land. She managed to pass me off as a distant family member. I stayed distance as I could as such to the camps until I could find a place to settle. After the defeat of the Legion on Mount Hyjal my mother settled in the newly built Orgrimmar and I continued to wander in search of a life I can call my own. I settled in Dustwallow Marsh and watched as the Humans built Theramore. Over the new couple of years the Forsaken and Blood Elves joined the Horde. I had no love for either of these really and as events changed with the Horde I kept to myself in the marshes. Then one day North West of Orgrimmar a bright star seemed to fall from the sky. It was like nothing we had ever seen before. Some feared it was the return of the Burning Legion, others that it was a sign from the spirits that peace was needed with the Alliance or more war.
I continued to live in the marshes as best as I could but the feeling of loneliness grows with each passing day. Even if they would mock me the Orc’s were my people and I had a duty to them. I returned to Durotar and arrived at Razor Hill, that day I saw a patrol of riders from the well known Red Blade. I had heard of their skills and battles with the Alliance from my information source. The humans were so dull witted that they wrote pages of writing on the things that happened in their lands. I couldn’t read common, but the Goblins of Ratchet would read it to me for the right amount of gold. With this I had sent reports to the Shattered Hand that my mother was still close to. I also stole books from the humans. I began to study some of the Human tactics and understand how their mind worked. Even with these the Red Blade I came across looked upon me as nothing more than a peon.
When I arrived at Orgrimmar the Shattered Hand contacted me and secured me a place as a Horde Messenger. It wasn’t the most difficult job around, but it allowed me to pass on and gather information for them. I moved around a lot, from Ashenvale, Mulgore and the Barrens to Silverpine Forest and Quel’Thalas. I had known the Red Blade were a group of Orc’s from many Clans united under one banner of the former Clan Red Blade. Maybe this tribe had a place for me. Only time would tell, but with war and death spread far and wide I finally choose to take on the mantle of my father fully and become Morgri Ironoath. I might not be as I was born into the world but like my family before me I shall leave a mark on it. Loyalty to those who earn it and death to those who stand against us.

[Kozgugore]

(( Great story! Nice to see some orcses with a good knowledge of the events pre-WoW. Despite the length, it's quite interesting to read. ;3

Looks like wiki material to me! ))

[Greggar]

(( Indeed interesting We might need tot alk as Greggar was born in the Bleeding Hollow (ruins) ))

[Nergul]

(( bad wall of text crit! Nice storie, enjoyed reading it and as kozzie said, its nice to see orc with knowledge of the lore , i say wikiwiki it too! ))

[Drakash]

(( Oh my! We could spend years conversing about our childhoods! ))