Centaur (WoW)

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 **Language(s)** | * Low Common
* Common

**Centaurs** are a half-humanoid, half-horse, war-like tribal race. They abound in central and southern Kalimdor, primarily in Desolace and the Barrens, where they engage in constant war against other centaur and tauren tribes. Though rare, the woods of the Blasted Lands in the Eastern Kingdoms were once heavily populated with centaurs. They are savagery and brutality incarnate.

## History

### Background

Though legend held that they were the bastard offspring of Cenarius, the barbaric centaur race were begotten by Zaetar, son of Cenarius, and the earth elemental princess Theradras. Shortly after the centaur's creation, the ruthless creatures murdered their father. The five centaur clans in Kalimdor are therefore the bastard offspring of Zaetar.

### Conflict with the Horde

Hatred of the Centaur, a tauren myth, tells how the early tauren were driven from their ancestral lands (presumably in Mulgore) and forced to wander the Barrens of Kalimdor. The tauren claim that the centaurs have always existed to scourge the land.

The barbaric centaur over-hunted giraffes for decades, but it was the tauren who saved the species from extinction.

When the orcs first arrived in Kalimdor, they found the nomadic tauren under constant attack from the centaurs. Through the aid of the orcs, the tauren were finally able to reclaim their ancestral lands and live in peace once more. The conflict between the Horde and the centaurs continues, however, particularly in the Barrens. The members of the Horde hate them so intensely that they have taken to skinning their corpses and making rugs out of them. Such decorations are a common sight in cities such as Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff.

### World of Warcraft

The Horde and the Alliance are both attempting to control the savage centaurs by encouraging inter-tribal conflicts, so as to prevent the centaur from banding together and becoming a dangerous force.

Despite the hostility each centaur clan has traditionally had for the others, recently a centaur known only as the Centaur Pariah, labeled as a heretic by his people, developed plans to unify the clans. Adventurers can aid him in his design by entering the holy tomb of Maraudon and forging the Amulet of Union, which he intends to use to bring his warring people together as one. Whether or not the centaurs would actually be able to consolidate into a unified, civilized people remains unknown.

If redeemed, Zaetar's Spirit also spoke of hope for a more positive future for his offspring.

### Bloodsworn

In the wake of the Cataclysm, the Kolkar, Magram, Maraudine, Gelkis, and Galak tribes united under a new High Khan and new elemental ruler of Maraudon.

A centaur named Dorthar joined the Horde during this time.

### The Cataclysm

Both the Horde and Alliance are trying to unite the centaur clans within Desolace to combat the Burning Blade clan and their dark masters. Only the Kolkar, Magram, and Gelkis centaur clans unite.

## Ecology

### Description

A centaur appears as a creature with a horse's body and legs and with a humanoid's torso, arms, and head extending from the front part of where a horse neck and head would normally be placed. A full grown male centaur can stand over seven feet tall from hooves to head and weighs over a ton. Kalimdor centaurs can actually suffer the effects of undeath. Male centaur faces have no lips, giving them the appearance of an eternal grimace, some centaur leaders seem to have tusks which may or not be ornamental. The lower face of a female centaur has yet to been seen as none have been seen without a veil around their face.

### Culture

Each tribe of centaurs is lead by a khan, who is generally a leader of above-average strength and intelligence. Some of the clans, if not all, practice cannibalism and will eat the flesh of other sapient races as well, such as the tauren.

Centaurs follow a shamanistic faith, but their brand of shamanism is far different from the more gentle practices of the Horde. Centaur females tend to use a dark, perverted form of shamanism. Magic use among centaur males, on the other hand, is quite rare.

The Centaur claim that a white kodo is a harbinger of doom.

## Trivia

* Garithos unleashed a squad of mercenary centaur khans in Lordaeron in the Eastern Kingdoms to try to stop the blood elves from escaping Dalaran in The Crossing.
* Centaur skins can be found in many places around Azeroth, even other centaur camps.