Frostborn

The Frostborn (also spelled the frostborn,"If any of the frostborn have seen it, they'll be sure to recognize the description." The Frostborn King"On the day a frostborn becomes a man, he has to prove himself in battle.", "perhaps ye have a bit of frostborn blood in ye, eh?" Fervor of the Frostborn (quest) sometimes spelled frostborneTroggbane, Axe of the Frostborne King and also known as frost dwarves,Ultimate Visual Guide, pg. 79Aid from the Explorers' Leaguehttp://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/features/primer/index.xmlWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Official Strategy Guide pg. 166 and Frostborn dwarves) are a race and a faction of dwarves"...the race of frost dwarves known as the Frostborn...", World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Official Strategy Guide pg. 166"The Frostborn are a previously unknown race of frost dwarves", World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Official Strategy Guide pg. 225 native to the Storm Peaks. They have recently befriended members of the Explorers' League, and although they have differences with their dwarven brethren, they welcome Alliance members within their settlements.
They were led by Yorg Stormheart, "King of the Frostborn", who ruled over them from the mighty Frosthold in the Storm Peaks. This changed when Yorg recovered his memories, which he had lost some years back, and remembered that he was Muradin Bronzebeard, a dwarf from the Bronzebeard clan of Ironforge. After the war against the Lich King, Muradin decided to return home with his brothers so he left Velog Icebellow in charge of the leadership of the frostborn in his absence.
==History==
The Frostborn is a mysterious newly discovered faction of frost dwarves. Brann Bronzebeard thinks they migrated from Uldaman to the Storm Peaks with many making Frosthold their home, since there are no records of them in Ulduar.World of Warcraft: The Magazine Volume 2 Issue 1
Ages ago, after being corrupted by Yogg-Saron, the Keeper Loken killed his brother's wife Sif, and tricked Thorim into believing that King Arngrim and the frost giants were responsible. In a fit of rage, Thorim threw his hammer, Krolmir, at Arngrim, who was in the middle of a battle against a clan of frost dwarves. The explosion of Krolmir striking the ground killed all those nearby and froze the entire tableau for all time, catching the moment the shockwave threw many of the dwarves into the air.Exploring Azeroth: Northrend, pg. 158
500 years ago, the Frostborn found Mina Stormsmith half-dead in the snow. The frost dwarves nursed her back to health, and she learned their ways. After she'd spent a full year and a half with them, she told them she finally had the strength to return to Dun Morogh and face her family. She told them the chronicle of her brother's life, so they would know him too. Then, the Frostborn gave her a gift: a mace, forged from the broken pieces of the axe she'd had with her and that she had broken in Ulduar fighting iron dwarves. She followed their tradition and named the mace after the person she carried it for: Mithrios Stormsmith, her lost brother. Mithrios then stayed in the Bronzebeard clan for years to come until it ended up with Muradin Bronzebeard.Exploring Azeroth: Northrend, pg. 160
Following the Third War, a party of Frostborn returned from a trek across the Dragonblight during an extremely harsh blizzard. They followed a trail of blood-soaked snow and found a lone mountain dwarf wandering and who spoke a dialect they could not understand. Not about to let their new-found cousin freeze to death, they took him along with them and continued on. Not long after, an extremely large jormungar burst out of the snow and swallowed one of the Frostborn before they could react. Velog Icebellow's father thought they were all doomed before he heard a furious roar behind him, and turned to see the mountain dwarf growing in size, his skin getting a stone-like texture and his hands sizzling with lightning. He smashed the beast's head with a stormhammer in his powerful state, the jormungar's head barely connected to its body as it collapsed dead. The Frostborn were in wonder and awe, and Velog's father named him Yorg Stormheart, a name reserved for heroes of the Frostborn, as he had no name when they encountered him and he had earned this title. Yorg eventually became King of the Frostborn years later, as he had trained the Frostborn into even greater warriors than they could have boasted during their war with the frost giants. The defeat of the huge jormungar at his hands became an example for all Frostborn as their hardest test of strength for warriors of the Frostborn is to defeat something much larger than them, such as a giant, a dragon, or a jormungar as a testament that their size is not their weakness.Fervor of the Frostborn (quest)#Notes
===Wrath of the Lich King===
At the time of the war against the Lich King, the frostborn at Frosthold befriended the Explorers' League — unlike the iron dwarves — and welcomed all Alliance members into their homes. Yorg Stormheart, "King of the Frostborn," agreed to allow his people to join the Alliance against the Lich King. Nevertheless, Yorg was uneasy about lending aid to anything that might cost frostborn lives.Fervor of the Frostborn (quest) This alliance benefits the Explorers' League because it is believed that the frostborn may be able to aid them in their quest to find out more information about their titan heritage.
It was ultimately revealed that Yorg Stormheart was in fact Muradin Bronzebeard, long thought to have been killed when Arthas Menethil took up the runeblade Frostmourne. Rather, Muradin was merely wounded and had lost his memory, and so was willing to take on the persona of Yorg Stormheart. He was later reunited with his brothers Brann and Magni, and recalled all his lost memories. Muradin then decided to leave the frost dwarves to hunt down Arthas, now the Lich King, and chose Velog Icebellow to replace his as the new King of the Frostborn.The Brothers Bronzebeard
===Exploring Azeroth===
Following the war against the Jailer, Mithrios was found by a Frostborn patrol after a skirmish with the Scourge near Icecrown. The frost dwarves discovered runes on it that linked the weapon to the earthen of Northrend and to the ancestors of Muradin Bronzebeard. As the Frostborn were repairing the weapon, King Velog Icebellow wrote to his old friend to come to visit them and tell the story of the weapon. Muradin, however, had no idea what weapon Velog was referring to, so he called his brothers, Brann and Magni, to come with him.Exploring Azeroth: Northrend, pg. 2
When the Bronzebeadthe dwarves arrived, the Frostborn were glad to see Muradin. After the presentations and a feast, they spent the night drinking and sharing stories. During the night, Muradin told Velog that he had no doubt he left the Frostborn in the right hands, and with the help of the historian of Frosthold, he learned the story of the meeting between Mina Stormsmith and the Frostborn.Exploring Azeroth: Northrend, pg. 160
After the Bronzebeard brothers left, Muradin sent a letter to Velog, inviting him, and any Frostborn who would care to make the journey, to Ironforge, hoping to bring their families together and wanting to show them Dun Morogh's interesting places - New Tinkertown, the Thunderbrew Distillery, Ironforge Mountain, and the Deeprun Tram.Exploring Azeroth: Northrend, pg. 161
==Appearance==
The frostborn are similar to conventional dwarves, with an exception being that their skin is an icy blue. Glorthal Stiffbeard has snow-white skin, a trait shared with the frostborn skins used in Heroes of the Storm; signifying not all of their race is blue-skinned. Upon even closer examination, the frostborn have similar marks on them as those of the earthen. According to Brann Bronzebeard, the Frostborn descend from earthen the same way that the rest of dwarven kind do; possibly having retained these markings rather than having abandoned them as the rest of dwarf kind has.
While no female frostborn appear alive in game, frozen corpses of them can be found at Thunderfall. They, just as with the male frost dwarves, look similar to normal dwarves. While none are shown in game, the historian of Frosthold is noted as female; so they appear to still be present in frost dwarf society. The lack of female frostborn is likely due to the fact that the Frostborn use several skins previously reserved for the earthen, which female dwarf models do not possess.
==Culture==
A tradition of the Frostborn is to name the weapon they use after the person they carry it for. They also write on their weapons what is most important to them, telling the world what and who they fight for. This tradition was later passed on to the Bronzebeard Clan by Mina Stormsmith.Exploring Azeroth: Northrend, pg. 162
According to Muradin, one of the Frostborn's lessons is "The avalanche will fall as it wills, but you dig yourself out of the snow."
===Warfare and tactics===
From the immortalized battlefield of Thunderfall, many aspects of Frostborn battle techniques against their larger foes can be seen.Thunderfall
The women of the race seem to be specialists in ranged combat, as they can be found leading the ranged battalions of female and male Frostborn, as well as being the sole healers on the battlefield. These ranged battalions consisted of bowmen and riflemen, the riflemen being somewhat scarce but present nonetheless. These groups usually formed by their siege weaponry, ballistae, and seemed to slowly push forward as evidenced by the tactics used by the frontlines to guard those who moved forward (see below).
While mostly on the front lines, men would be in charge of loading and firing the ballistae, while some were part of the ranged battalions with the women. On the frontlines the men would swarm their enemies, using a variety of melee weapons, as well as utilizing spears to throw at their enemies from afar. Unlike the ranged battalions, spearmen were often men from the frontlines, throwing a secondary weapon to attack their enemy as they moved in. As stated previously, the ranged battalions would slowly move forward, those who did were often shielded by a barricade of men, who utilized large shields to defend against the large clubs of the frost giants, which could easily kill the dwarves without the defenses. The Frostborn utilized their enemies large size by using nearby objects as a way to jump onto their enemies and attack the foe from on top of it.
Joined with the frontlines were the cavalry of the Frostborn, which were men armed with large polearms riding bears into battle.
===Weaponry===
The Frostborn are seen using various melee weapons, from swords to axes to even polearms. From the evidence of the battle of Thunderfall, their ranged weaponry at the time mainly consisted of bows, but riflemen could also be found. The men on the front lines would hurl spears at their enemies while moving in when the opportunity presented itself.
Frostborn used bears as ground mounts to ride into battle on, as well as ballistae to fire at their enemies. Stormcrest Eagles seem to have replaced the bears as a mount, their ability to fly would prove much more useful in the mountains of the Storm Peaks, while a land mount would have limited use for travel in the area.
===Mounts===
As the Wildhammers did with gryphons after moving to the Hinterlands, the frostborn have developed a special bond with a flying creature, the Stormcrest Eagle. These eagles are abnormally larger than any other species of eagles and are very resilient, due to them having to make their home in the harsh Storm Peaks, which is similar to the frostborn's situation. The frostborn ride these great beasts as flying mounts. The frostborn have also been known to breed these eagles, since Stormcrest Hatchlings can be found at Frosthold.
From the battle of Thunderfall, it seems that the frostborn used bear mounts at one time, likely Icemaw bears, due to their being the only bears native to the region. They were used as the mounts for the frostborn's ground cavalry, and aside from the battle of Thunderfall they have not been seen used again. Likely they have been replaced by the Stormcrest eagles completely due to the Storm Peaks being difficult to manage on foot, while air travel is much easier.
They also use white worgs called frosthounds for tracking.Sniffing Out the Perpetrator (Alliance)
==Members==
===Named===
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===Unnamed===
* Frostborn Axemasters
* Frostborn Iceshapers
* Frostborn Scouts
* Frostborn Stormriders
* Restless Frostborn Ghosts
* Restless Frostborn Warriors
* Frosthounds
==Reputation==
===Reputation description===
This mysterious race of frost dwarves makes their home in the Storm Peaks. They've recently befriended members of the Explorers' League and welcome Alliance members within their settlements.
===Guide===
Reputation with the Frostborn is gained by completing their non-repeatable quests and their one daily quest. The daily quest Pushed Too Far is given by Fjorlin Frostbrow at Frosthold. Upon completion, the quest awards 250 reputation.
As of patch 3.3, all Alliance Vanguard factions receive spillover rep from quests and 5-man dungeons. This negates the need for doing solely Frostborn dailies to reach exalted.
==Notes and trivia==
*Some Minions of Weavil can spawn as blue earthen, possibly Frostborn, despite predating them.
==Gallery==
Falstad HotS Frostborn.jpg|Falstad Frostborn skin in Heroes of the Storm.
Muradin HotS Magni Frostborn.jpg|Muradin Magni Frostborn skin in Heroes of the Storm.
==References==
==External links==
 
Category:Wrath of the Lich King
Category:Alliance Vanguard
Category:Alliance races
Category:Storm Peaks
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