I want to start role playing on this character – a Tauren sunwalker. When creating the character’s backstory, the question of tribal affiliation came up.
The characteristics of tauren tribes vary a lot, with some almost being whole societies unto themselves (e.g., the Grimtotem tribe) and others being very small and location-specific (e.g., the Dawnchaser Tribe in Krasarang Wilds). Additionally, some tribes – regardless of their size – are ‘closer’ to the main story than others (e.g., the Bloodhoof Tribe vs. a tribe only affiliated with random vendor NPCs).
My question is: How do people feel about affiliating their character with a tribe that already exists in game? I feel like it’s not really a problem with the bigger tribes (so long as one’s character does not hold some high position within it) or tribes with no substantial connection to the story (since its akin to saying “our military guild is but a small subsection of the Stormwind military” or similar) but I’m curious about people’s views on this.
If you don’t affiliate your tauren with existing tribes and instead make up your own tribe, what are the considerations there, especially if you don’t want to be in a tribal guild? Since I was last an active roleplayer, communities have been added as a supplement to guilds, so maybe people use those?
It’s not an issue at all. If anything it is very refreshing to see any non-Grimtotem main tribesfolk RPing around.
I have seen 1 Bloodhoof RPer in my time on this server, but not much else. The tribes are sizeable enough to have multiple PC’s in them.
There’s not a lot of lore about the main tribes of the tauren society, but what little there is you can use to choose as background for your character. Note that Sunwalkers don’t need to be Dawnchasers either.
It’s as you say, as long as you dont make yourself out to be super-important, then by all means, be part of the Bloodhoof, Highmountain , Grimtotem or others.
And if you decide to make your own tribe well, who is to say how many tauren tribes exist in total, both in Mulgore aswell as Highmountain.
There is no issue with being under an existing tribe. You do not have to take on their name but can be part of it, as well, you have to take into consideration what you are vs. where you want to connect. The Grimtotem would most likely not have Sunwalkers, but the Bloodhoof would.
You can make your own tribe, but that is commonly more difficult to bring into existence, rather consider a caravan, or warband instead then.
I don’t have my character promote it. but he is a Stonehoof. i have met other Stonehoofs, multiple rage totems, or runetotems when they’re playing druids. you got a lot of tribes with different niches. The ones i mentioned are either Miners/smiths. or braves, or druids. If you go to Warcraft Wiki. and search for “tauren tribes” you get a long list of all known tauren tribes with a small synopses of who they are. See if it fits your character.
I highly recommend any roleplayer to go to Warcraft Wiki and do some research. like the Sunwalker and Holy light page could help you a lot in understanding your Sunwalker, and its relation to the Light.
Grimtotem are often the most noticeable tribe. because they got a distinct look, and character tied to them. and they are also still controversial. most other Tauren rpers don’t write down their tribe, because its not important to their character. they just roleplay a Tauren. A Grimtotem is its own thing at this point.
I don’t want to knock other people’s RP, but I do think that some people underestimate just exactly what the Grimtotem tribe is - or at least what it was, maybe they have been gentled over the years but I’m not wary of it if they are.
The Grimtotem tribe isn’t just an unfriendly group of tauren - they’re bloodthirsty, they value victory at any costs, they pit their own children to fight against each other.
Granted there are grimtotem who have reformed themselves somewhat and try to allign more closely with the Horde’s ideals under Jevan rather than Magatha, but even then I imagine that someone who was raised in the aforementioned child pit-fighting environment wouldn’t just turn out as a normal, healthy adult with a reasonable outlook on life.
I guess what I’m saying is that it feels like there’s a lot of Grimtotem characters who are Grimtotem in name, and name alone. And while I think that’s a bit of a shame, it does make it all the more special when you encounter someone who definitely has leaned more into that side of the character - grumpy, impatient, maybe a bit more gentle than they used to be but still very much cold blooded under the surface. Sorry for the tangent, and don’t take this as me trying to dissuade people from RPing their character how they see fit, but I do like to see good, slightly unsettling Grimtotem representation.
In fairness even other tauren tribes pit their young to fight vs one another, but I imagine in Grimtotem society it is more brutal than in regular tribes. There’s sparring and then there is sparring with steel chairs.
The above posters have added some great context about using an existing tribe as a ready made home for your Tauren, which honestly works really well in most cases.
Personally I wanted Akamito to be from a distinct tribe of my own making, but kind of wove it into the headcanon that after the centaur had open season on the Tauren until the orcs showed up, most of the smaller tribes had very few actual members left and ended up falling under the protection of the Bloodhoof in order to survive.
The homogenisation of Tauren tribes under the Bloodhoof post Warcraft 3 was quite a fun idea to play around with, do smaller tribes risk striking it out on their own again in an uncertain world now shared, or would they rather remain under the banner of the larger and dominant tribe that helped deliver them?
You can do a lot of creative stuff with building up a tribe of your own, you can play around with their history and particular cultural quirks that may not exist in the current Tauren lore.
Most Tauren RPers I’ve seen use existing tribes. It’s way easier than making your own. The only time I had a custom tribe was when I made a character specifically for a Tribe-based guild.
It’s the same as it is for Orcs, no one’s going to think less of you for being a Warsong, most RPers are going to be in the existing clans.