Lukawa Wildstride

Lukawa Wildstride

**Lukawa Wildstride** is a tauren hunter from the Wildstride tribe. As many of the tauren have settled down now that the centaur threat has been brought under control and the sacred lands of Mulgore are once more in tauren hands, there are others that have remained tied to the nomadic wanderings that they knew all their lives before now. Lukawa Wildstride is one of those.

Although what few individuals of her native tribe remain have settled in Bloodhoof village, Luka has chosen a wider path for herself, venturing beyond the borders of Mulgore and the Barrens of her birth to explore the wilds of Kalimdor and do what good she can for the horde that have settled there.

## Physical Appearance

Lukawa has soft, round face and large dark brown eyes that, more often than not, have a mischievous gleam to them. Her tawny fur and rich brown mane are fluffy and a bit wild, her mane in particular seems only tamed by the two thick braids that fall to either side of her face. Those braids are tinted green towards their tips, and woven through with an assortment of flowers and herbs.

Her clothes are a patchwork assortment of leather and cloth, sturdy, and yet clearly chosen more for the odd bits of embroidery or the particular color than for their specific martial properties. The opposite could be said of her bow, a gleaming, rune-carved recurve of golden heartwood. It has been lovingly cared for, from its sinew string to the supple leather of its grips.

## Biography

### Early life

Lukawa grew up in a small tribe that roamed the far northern edges of the Barrens, often making their camps at the verdant oasis that emerged out of the sea of golden grasses. Her earliest memories are of resting in the shade of the tall palms, or swimming in cool waters, and listening to her greatmother tell of the old tales. The Wildstride Tribe moved frequently, avoiding the roaming centaur and ever expanding quilboar as best they could.

For Luka the ever alternating path between savannah and oasis was punctuated by her own journey between the homes of her parents. Under her father’s tent she learned the hunter’s path - how to stalk, how to read tracks, and how to honor the animals that kept her tribe fed. Under her mother’s tent she learned to pick and dry herbs, to breath life into old tales, and to coax new life from soil and water and sun.

She learned to love both paths in her life, but more than either of them Luka grew to love wandering the lands. And although she was not a disobedient child, she often lost herself in daydreams, and in following her own wind-blown path. Soon enough both her parents stopped worrying when she’d disappear for an afternoon, for she always returned by dusk of her own accord - often with some new-found tale or basket of herbs to show for her afternoon off.

### Seasons of Hoof and Sand

The ebb and flow of Luka’s life would change gradually, first with the passing of her greatmother, and then with her own rites guiding her into adulthood and a new role within the tribe. Many were surprised when her path lead her to take up a hunter’s bow rather than a healer’s herb pouch, but with the growing scarcity of resources and the increasing pressure from the centaur none minded another skilled hand at the hunt.

The summer after Luka joined the ranks of the hunters the Wildstride tribe ventured to their favorite oasis for some relief, only to find the centaur had arrived there first that year. As one of the swiftest young hunters Luka was sent to call for aid from a neighboring tribe as the elder hunters and braves swept the rest of the tribe to safety. The long, exhausting, overnight run to call for aid saved much of her tribe, but her father was not among those to greet her and the reinforcements when they arrived.

His bow, long passed down through his family, would go to her, though it would be many years before Luka felt worthy enough to use it herself. Those years she’d come to call the seasons of hoof and sand, for it felt like she was ever putting one to the other as the Wildstride sought to continue evading centaur, quilboar, and soon enough, the encroachment of the Venture Company.

### A New Calling

By the time word of Cairne Bloodhoof and his alliance with these strange new orcs reached the Wildstride Tribe Luka had grown into a lean young woman, old enough to have settled down with a family of her own, but far too busy with her tribe’s needs to give herself such a chance. Though she was still young, the tribe’s ranks had been whittled down, and when the time came to decide if they would join the Bloodhoof and their new allies in reclaiming Mulgore, or if they would continue on as they had been for generations Luka was among those to make the vote.

The tales of the reclamation of Mulgore have been told better by many talespinners, but for Luka the tale is a bittersweet one. Her family was finally safe, resting among green fields that could provide them more than they could ever eat, but her own restless heart called for a return to a wilder place.

That she would decide to join the ranks of the young Outrunners as they sought to open up trade between the orcs and trolls in Durotar and the newly settled tauren in Mulgore was no great surprise. Though she was living once more on the road, sleeping on bare earth, and rarely in the same place twice, there was something different about being an Outrunner. This was no Season of Hoof and Sand, for the burden of her whole tribe didn’t rest on her shoulders any longer. For the first time since childhood Luka felt free to cut her own path.

### Over the Horizon

In the last few years since the end of the Third War Luka has found her duties as an Outrunner waning as the lands of the Barrens and Durotar become more and more settled, the paths more well-worn. Rumors of threats beyond her homeland have reached her ears more and more frequently, and the time is swiftly coming when she will rise in the morning and seek adventure over a horizon she’s never crossed before.

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Bloodsail Hold - Lukawa Wildstride