Garad'kra

The Garad'kra is a group of Horde militias founded in the wake of the Cataclysm. Its role is to be dispersed across Kalimdor to police the territories of the Horde and maintain order in the chaos created by the Cataclysm. Its captains compared the Garad'kra to a spider and its web: if enemies approach or any damage is done to the web, the spider is able to respond with swift, precise force.Bloodsworn, pg. 6 - 7
New members are initiated into the Garad'kra through a ceremony in Orgrimmar's Ring of Valor, in which they swear the :Blood Oath of the Horde under a shaman's supervision.Bloodsworn, pg. 137 - 140 The order is divided into small militia units which are also individually called "Garad'kra", commanded by leaders who in turn answer to Battlemaster Bröng, the apparent overall leader of the organization. A team leader can give one of their subordinates the rank of stone guard, making their commands carry the same weight as the team leader's own.
==History==
The Garad'kra was founded following a decree by Warchief Garrosh Hellscream shortly after the Cataclysm. With the lands of the Horde troubled by starvation and chaos, Garrosh believed that the Garad'kra was needed to sustain control. He demanded every Horde leader to send their best to serve in the militia. Members of the different Horde races traveled from far and wide to Orgrimmar to join the organization. Some, like Ironhoof, demanded to be conscripted, seeing it as a great honor.Bloodsworn, pg. 42
Shortly after the Garad'kra was founded, Battlemaster Bröng assembled its members in the Ring of Valor to give them their first orders: ending the threat posed by Aratas and his centaur army. One of the Garad'kra teams, led by Shagara, left Orgrimmar to do so. They traveled to the Northern Barrens and found and confronted Aratas and his perfect ones, but the team proved to be disorganized and only won the battle thanks to the help of the orc drifter Malgar.Bloodsworn, pg. 72 - 85 Malgar's unlikely friend Dorthar, a centaur outcast, revealed that Aratas had created an army of centaur in Desolace and planned to invade Thunder Bluff and Orgrimmar two days later. Shagara and Ironhoof decided that returning to Orgrimmar wouldn't give Garrosh enough time to prepare, and that their only option was to buy the Horde time by striking at Desolace on their own.Bloodsworn, pg. 88
Shagara sent word back to Battlemaster Bröng, after which the team—accompanied by Malgar and Dorthar—set out on a zeppelin journey to Desolace. During the voyage, the Garad'kra helped Dorthar learn how to fight, knitting the team closer together and training them to work as a unit.Bloodsworn, pg. 89 - 94, 97 - 98 On arrival in Desolace, Shagara and Ironhoof formed a plan to kill Aratas, even if it meant their own deaths—the only possible way their small group could slow the centaur invasion. While Malgar and Dorthar freed the centaur's orc slaves, the Garad'kra confronted Aratas at the entrance to Maraudon. They started to lose against the perfect ones until Malgar joined them and turned the tide. Aratas realized that Malgar was the group's "heart"—the one that allowed them to fight effectively—and tried to kill him, but one of the Garad'kra, Rada'jin, caught the spear meant for the orc. The unfazed Aratas brought the captive Shagara into Maraudon to sacrifice her to his elemental father. Rada'jin's death caused the Garad'kra to immediately fall back into disagreements until Malgar declared that he was going after Shagara, which convinced the others to follow him. Inside Maraudon, Aratas summoned his father and the Garad'kra stayed to fight it, while Malgar caught up with Shagara and helped her kill Aratas. The two rejoined the others and used Aratas' spear—the elemental's only weakness—to destroy the creature.Bloodsworn, pg. 99 - 135
The centaur took days to recover from Aratas' death, giving the Horde time to move their armies into position and break up the centaur forces. The team returned to Orgrimmar with Malgar and Dorthar, both of whom subsequently joined the Garad'kra themselves.
==Members==
* Battlemaster Bröng — Leader of the organization.
** Shagara — Leader of a team.
*** Ironhoof — Stone guard of Shagara's team.
*** Ashra Valandril
*** Dorthar
*** Felgrim
*** Malgar
*** Rada'jin 
==Speculation==
The Garad'kra may be named after the former Frostwolf chieftain Garad, similar to Garadar.
==References==
Category:Horde
Category:Organizations
Category:Militias
Category:Bloodsworn