World of Warcraft
So, you’ve opened up a dwarf or a gnome character from scratch. You’ve spawned into Coldridge Valley, slayed wolves, troggs and the Frostmane trolls that inhabit the zone and took the quests that placed you on the way out of this place. Going through the tunnel leading to Dun Morogh and walking the road in front of you, you see a cliff drop to your left and a cave entrance with big, white furred monsters staring back at you. Taking faster steps, you soon see a small settlement in the distance. This may be the first semblance of an actual place inhabited by life you’ve seen since you entered this world. And lucky you it has a name for you to remember. Kharanos welcomes you with open arms.
Kharanos, The Town That Lives
Greeting you with a small caravan nestled just near the entrance, this small town is the first real taste of the questing experience dwarves and gnomes get after spending some time in their respective starting zones. Its main eye-catch is the Thunderbrew Distillery, situated to the right side when you enter. It’s said, or to be more precise it “is”, the one and only place you can sit down and drink the best ale in the whole world. Featuring an innkeeper inside with the usual services they provide such as trading and setting your hearthstone, one can also find class trainers for rogues, mages, priests, paladins and warriors, a stable master for the hunters outside the inn, and also trainers for the cooking and first aid professions. This fine establishment is a family business passed down to Ragnar Thunderbrew, who also very kindly gives you the family recipe for the famous Dun Morogh “Beer Basted Boar Ribs” after helping him with supplying rations for the inn.
Kharanos, The Wall That Protects
While it does warm your insides with the fine inn and finer people inside of it, we can’t not see the obvious militaristic moves around the town. That is, the large forge and a gnomish workshop just on the other side of the road from the distillery. While not being a serious fortress in the middle of the road, the spot Kharanos is built on is actually a bit of a strategic one. It’s on the road to the stone-wrought dwarven city of Ironforge, and close to both the encampments of the Frostmane Trolls, and the cave we’ve mentioned in the beginning, which houses droves of Wendigos, along with the usual wildlife around the town consisting of boars, bears and wolves. The first quests you go to in fact, are mainly to collect meat from the boars for the distillery, and to get the fur of the wendigos. The influence of Kharanos’ questing also goes a bit farther than just the immediate area around the town, stretching all the way behind the mountains to the west of the town where Frostmane Trolls are most active.
Personal Thoughts on Kharanos
Kharanos is not a grandiose place, and frankly, it doesn’t need to be that. Upon first discovery, it immediately relaxes the player, letting them know that inside this snow-covered zone and a variety of enemies all around, is a small but bustling town that provides the necessary comfort one would need. It has most of the services one would require to start their adventuring career, while also not being shallow for only offering services but also an opportunity to take in a fresh breath of air, and maybe take a couple of minutes to watch the passing future heroes of Azeroth run around the place and watch the snow fall.
