Welcome! This guide was inspired by the post provided by Demirgen regarding the Blackrock clan. I thought it might be a marvellous idea to provide similar for other Mag’har clans, in order to help provide a one-stop shop space for details of a clan, and to provide space to help swap tips and idea regarding roleplay concerning said clan. I can’t guarantee it will be as robust regarding citations however! Rather it’s a general compilation of information taken from Wowpedia, Wowwiki, provided text from WCI and WCII as well as from WoW of course!
This post is regarding the Bleeding Hollow Clan!
Overview and History
The Bleeding Hollow Clan hailed from the jungles of Tanaan. Before this when a large group of Orcs emigrated from Gorgrond they settled in the overflowing encroachments of the Everbloom which made up Tanaan Jungle. The environment here was very harsh, with death lurking around every corner, and dark hollows said to contain passages to dark magic. The Orcs that tried to survive here either suceeded through great hardship, or went insane trying. This lead to the formation of two clans: The Bleeding Hollow Clan contained those Orcs whom managed to survive and adapt, the smaller group whom had a more tenous grip on their sanity came to form the Bonechewer clan.
The Bleeding Hollow Orcs truly came to prominence under the leadership of Kilrogg Deadeye, whom killed his own sickly father in order to take his position of clan leader. Kilrogg partook in the now customary ritual of removing an eye for a vision of his own death. Once Kilrogg knew the moment of his death, he ceased to fear death the hands of the perennial enemies of the Bleeding Hollow: the Arrakoa. With this confidence he successfully led the clan to push the Arrakoa out of Tanaan and the clan quickly grew in size and power.
During the First War, the Bleeding Hollow were amongst the first clan to be sent through the portal. They made many military contributions towards the Horde’s war efforts in Azeroth, and were charged with the march on Khaz Modan. Although the Bleeding Hollow could never truly breach Ironforge and Gnomeregan, they effectively kept the Dwarves and Gnomes trapped within their own cities for a significant period of the First War whilst clearing the mountains of Dwarven presence to allow the Blackrocks to begin mining and forging weaponry in Khaz Modan using the forges and resources of the Dwarves.
The Bleeding Hollow did not return to Draenor with the conclusion of the First War, instead fleeing into hiding. Taking advantage of their talents for survival in an unforgiving environment, the Bleeding Hollow hid themselves within the Black Morass and continued to observe the Dark Portal, waiting for the Horde’s return (which Deadeye was convinced of, given his death-vision showed the Horde reunited).
Eventually Ner’zhul reopened the portal and the Bleeding Hollow shared their gathered intelligence over the years with the other clans. Their service was greatly valued, as was their intel. Indeed, Kilrogg and the others were welcomed back into Draenor as heroes representative of true Orc strength given their survival for years in the lands of humans. Ner’zhul recommended the Bleeding Hollow return to Draenor en-masse as a respite for their hardships, whilst the other clans orchestrated his desires on Azeroth.
When the Alliance eventually pursued the Horde back onto Draenor, the Bleeding Hollow primarily engaged with the Alliance in the lands now known as Terrokar Forest. It was during these campaigns that Kilrogg eventually met his destiny, which was to die at Auchindoun, delaying the Alliance so Ner’zhul could reach the Black Temple and complete his ritual which would transform Draenor into Outland. Kilrogg’s vision came to pass as he met his death at the hands of Danath Trollbane.
The remaining Bleeding Hollow fled. Some fled into Azeroth and were rounded up in the internment camps to later be freed by Thrall. Others fled into the wilds of Draenor. Of these Bleeding Hollow several eventually came to be corrupted and became Fel Orcs. A small number of those who were uncorrupted came under the leadership of Jorin Deadeye, Kilrogg’s son, whom came to reside in Garadar in Nagrand after the Ogre clans pushed the Bleeding Hollow out of their settlements established in Nagrand.
AU–
AU Killrogg’s death vision placed his death at a slightly different time and place (Hellfire), yet his vision still came to pass as he believed it would. The remaining Bleeding Hollow in this case were either already corrupted by the Fel and so followed Gul’dan and the Legion, or remained uncorrupted and fled into the wilds of Tanaan and wider Draenor.
With the defeat of the Iron Horde and the Legion, the remaining uncorrupted Bleeding Hollow co-operated with the other clans in rebuilding Draenor, and came to join the other clans when forming the union of the Mag’har clans against the Lightbound.
Attributes
Superstition
Due to their unique environment and cultural practices, the Bleeding Hollow Clan Orcs embody several traits that set them out from other Orcs. They are incredibly superstitious, paying great heed to what they perceive as omens and prophecy.
The name of their clan derives from the practice of chieftains of the clan extracting one of their own eyes in exchange for a vision of their own death in a secluded hollow underneath Tanaan, the most famous chieftain of whom did so being Kilrogg Deadeye (the most notorious and successful Bleeding Hollow chieftain to date).
This kind of reference to fatalism, destiny and soothsaying branches into the clan proper, where attempting to make use of such omens and forecasting is attempted via use of blood magic (though is typically far less potent than that achieved by the chieftain’s ritual). All members of the clan typically followed the orders of their chieftain with full conviction in the accuracy of the chieftain’s death-vision. Their general superstitious nature and wariness of the unknown and mystical makes them very similar to Jungle Trolls in this regard.
Blood Magic
In addition to being superstitious yet related, the Bleeding Hollow practice Blood Magic. They use this magic to empower their strongest warriors, grants boons, scry, induce berserker furies and to terrify their opponents. They utilise the blood of their victims and strongest warriors to empower these foul magics, as well as marking themselves with bloody wounds and brands as a means to call their magic to them quickly. Elemental magics appear to be under-emphasised in the Bleeding Hollow clan. The Blood Magic they use does not appear to have a direct connection with the Old Gods such as in the case of G’huun.
Warfare and Combat
As survivors in a harsh environment the Bleeding Hollow are well-suited for warfare, particularly when it comes to matters of attrition or guerrilla warfare. Their favoured tactics on home territory is to coat their weapons with poisons that cause their opponents to hallucinate terrifying visions as they die. They prefer to attack from concealed territory, but are capable of fighting in open warfare very successfully as evidenced by their stark contribution to the Horde war efforts during the First and Second wars.
What makes the Bleeding Hollow particularly dangerous when being lead in formal battle is their conviction in the death-vision of their chieftain. Kilrogg dragged the Bleeding Hollow from a precarious position into one of dominion over the Arrakoa and Genesaur. With his death-vision known, he had absolute confidence he was not to die at their hands, which meant he held nothing back regarding committing to fighting them. His soldiers believed absolutely in this vision, and so the Bleeding Hollow fight fervently with a berserker-like zeal in combat. Though they are especially cautious of the supernatural, they appear to be much harder to unnerve by more mortal means. Although it is unknown whether the Bleeding Hollow now follow a specific chieftain aside from heading the Overlord of the Mag’har, it is probable they still follow their superiors with a fanatic bent, so long as they remain convinced of the auspicious nature of that person. If they are convinced following a leader coincides with positive omens, it’s very likely they will do so without question, making them terrifying and unreasonable in combat. How this affects ones character depends on how they view their leadership. Gar’Dhal for example is convinced that for the immediate future following Sylvanas coincides with some rough omens ed experienced so his adherence to the Hordes formal political structure is high. This may vary for other individuals based upon the omens they experience as our non-chieftan PCs are unlikely to have perfect glimpses into the future.
The Bleeding Hollow were to hold back to delay the Alliance’s advance to the Black Temple during the Second War, as Kilrogg knew his death was to come at Auchindoun whilst doing so. His soldiers obeyed him completely in this. With his death however the clan fled and splintered once his vision came to pass. It appears that the Bleeding Hollow are very much guided by their almost blind confidence in their chieftain. Those that fled soon gravitated under the leadership of others (be it Jorin Deadeye or Illidan/Legion).
Technology
Bleeding Hollow Orcs are arguably one of, if not the most primitive of the Orc clans. They appear to have little affiliation for any forms of technology. Their weapons are crude and minimal, instead relying on potent venoms, and their magic is drawn from ancient terrible rites involving blood. The land of Tanaan makes the keeping of animals difficult, and much the same with farming, thus they do not utilise simple farming technologies and animal husbandry like other clans such as Frostwolf and Thunderlord. The other clan that arguably shares a similar technological outlook is the Laughing Skull Clan. Within the Iron Horde the Bleeding Hollow were not amongst those clans to regularly utilise Iron Star technology, instead their chief roles fell back on their blood magic and berserker style of combat. Even with firearms and bombs available, they appeared to prefer the traditional weapons of their clan: bows, spears and crudely fashion handaxes and picks.
![:smiley:](https://d1bg94bbsh66ji.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=6" ":smiley:")