World of Warcraft
An unending white blanket of snow lays on the ground from east to west, with no end to its reign. Great mountain ranges surround it, with only some pockets here and there to allow passage in and outside. Great pine trees spread across the land, occasionally stopping the snowfalls from reaching the ground, but never preventing it from covering the land. Small settlements of stone, houses, taverns to provide shelter from nature and foe alike. And the people that brave the harsh but beautiful conditions of this land, never shying away from showing hospitality towards the weary.
Welcome to Dun Morogh.
Dun Morogh Geography and Aesthetics to relax to
One of my personal favorite zones that I visit from time to time just to take in what a sight it is, and a recommendation for all the winter lovers. Being one of the two that is covered with snow in the whole of Eastern Kingdoms, it stands out easily from the others just by the looks alone.
Surrounded by rocky mountains all around, it’s a high altitude, cold and windy region, a natural safe haven from the threats outside. But that doesn’t make it uninhabitable. Great forests of pine trees are scattered around, with snow leopards, bears, wolves, boars calling it home for themselves, while the people seek warmth in small villages around, or in the mighty capital that carves itself inside the mountains, Ironforge.
Looking around the snowy lands also comes with its own soundtrack that reflects not only the land, but the proud dwarves that make the place even mightier. Sometimes toning down to the calm notes to relax a little from all the chaos happening around the lands, and sometimes showcasing the high notes of it grandiose.
The natural ecosystem and sturdy dwarves however, are not the only ones residing in this place. Some live in harmony like the gnomes, whose home they had to abandon, and was taken from them as a consequence. While others look for ways to retake it.
The Trolls of Frostmane Tribe, a Small Nuisance Around Dun Morogh
These lands used to have not much threat in the distant past for dwarves, but now, the original residents of this place resurface.
The Frostmane Trolls were really the first ones to come to Dun Morogh and call it home. After the Great Sundering, they left their previous residence in the nation of Zul’Drak along with the Winterax Trolls, and settled in the Eastern Kingdoms. Once ruling these snowy lands not unlike their previous home, soon enough, the dwarven armies came and drove them towards the hills, where they had to cover inside dark caverns. Truly a shame towards their warlike culture.
Unable to do anything but watch the outside world, after some time, they saw that the Troggs were invading Dun Morogh, and rapidly becoming a problem. Using this to their advantage, they wait for the right moment, while also coming out of their caves and harassing small parts of the lands from time to time.
While this may seem like a major threat, dwarves on the other hand care little for the Frostmane Trolls, and haven’t made a move big enough to get rid of them once and for all. They instead focus on the bigger problems as they see it, by trying to quell the invasion of Troggs, and fighting in the wars of the Alliance.
The Trogg Problem of Dun Morogh
Surprisingly, a very distant relative of the dwarves, even if they don’t strike a resemblance to one another. They aren’t originally a resident of these lands, let alone the whole continent to begin with, not unlike the Frostmane Trolls. The main reason they’re here though, is in fact to do with the dwarves themselves.
Firstly a failed experiment of the titans, the troggs were a savage race of brutes with stone skin. This primal trait alone was enough to disturb their creators and they were put to sleep before the coming of an advanced creation being the dwarves and gnomes, before their inevitable descent into the flesh.
Thousands of years of this sleep was however interrupted by the exploration and excavations of dwarves, which made them resurface and take their savage anger out on the dwarven explorers. Some who managed to escape the grasp of this attack fled back to Dun Morogh, but little did they know that the troggs were following them, just not from the surface. They were instead digging underground, following these running creatures, and almost nearing the capital, their interest were taken by the sounds coming from elsewhere, Gnomeregan.
Launching their assault on the city of Gnomes, they would soon surface on the lands of Dun Morogh, and become a rapidly evolving problem for both races of dwarves and gnomes, by invading the surface side of Gnomeregan, and also Coldridge Valley, a small part of the zone in the southwestern corner.
Personal Thoughts on Dun Morogh
As I mentioned in the beginning, this place is one of the first in a line of many that soothes my soul. I personally like the winter aesthetic in real life and tend to prefer it in games too, and Dun Morogh does it greatly for a starting zone. Coupled with it being the home of Dwarves (which I also coincidentally am a huge fan of), I adore it to no extent. Many times have I started a new character as a dwarf to just go around and do the quests and take in the sights, refresh my memory with the simple events happening around, strolling about the main roads and occasionally taking shortcuts in which ends up in me trying to scale a mountain by foot, it provides me with an easy escape from the recent main quests that takes you to intense scales against whatever main enemy you’re fighting against next.
It simply is not just another zone for me, but a nice pit stop along the way while travelling along the Eastern Kingdoms.
