Tuhka Thunderhorn
Appearance/Personality:
Tuhka is somewhat larger than your average Tauren female and is covered in a thick coat of white fur adorned with brown spots. The thickness of her fur and her size can be attributed both to her past residency in the forests of Winterspring and her inheritance of her mother's looks. Her glossy, bleached horns point outward from her face.
Tuhka is generally a very emotional and occasionally boisterous character, prone to outbursts of passion regarding her father's lineage and other aspects surrounding her calling towards the hunt. She also is very vocal about her resentment towards the class of druids involved in the Cenarion Circle. However, her years spent in the wilderness not only dulled her connection to her people's culture, but rendered her ignorant of the Horde's presence in Kalimdor over the past decade and a half. In general, her communication with her Horde brethren is hindered by an uncertainty in both the Orcish and Taurahe languages, and as a result she is believed to be a typical "strong-but-silent" Tauren. For now she is slow to respond to her fellow Horde, picking her words carefully, but as she becomes fully immersed in her people's culture, the huntress is bound to open up.
Past:
Tuhka Thunderhorn was born to Kesek Thunderhorn and Maide Mistrunner, a rather tragic couple whose coupling had been the result of a very brief period of intense infatuation. Kesek belonged to a tribe of renowned hunters, veritable heroes in the war against the Centaur. Though rough around the edges, the Thunderhorn were lauded by the Tauren populace as great protectors of their collective goodwill. Maide descended from a long line of druids, whose docile nature and fixation upon nature made them prime diplomats with the Kaldorei druids. The tribe was somewhat divided, as a significant portion of them resided in north Kalimdor and were rather integrated into Night Elf culture and tradition. Shortly before she was to follow her mother up towards Moonglade, Maide had a chance encounter with Kesek after he had returned from a successful hunt. After straying away from his brothers, Kesek saw Maide across the bonfire. At first sight, he was struck with longing for this fair Tauren. She stared back, drunk with a lust for the celebrity of these Thunderhorn hunters. Immediately they began courting and, in spite of her parents' disapproval, the two were married.
Shortly after Tuhka was born, the fighting began. Maide's parents continued to harp on their disappointment of her rejection towards her druid calling, undermining her feelings for Kesek. His prolonged stays in the wilderness inspired much frustration in Maide and his occasional wounds would send her emotions reeling. After a few years of this, the tensions and minor quarreling erupted into a massive fight and Maide took the infant Tuhka, leaving Kesek behind for an indeterminate amount of time. After only a few days, Maide received word that a Centaur ambush had resulted in Kesek's death. After the burial rites, she reconciled with her parents and her obligation to the Cenarion Circle was renewed.
Tuhka spent her formative years in Nighthaven watching her mother rise in the ranks of the Circle. Despite her mother's urgings, Tuhka took no interest in the role of the druids. Through the thinly-veiled criticisms her aunts gave of her mother's past, Tuhka began to learn more and more about her father. Instead of seeing him as the caricature of recklessness that her relatives provided, she glorified the other half of her ancestry. She often wandered off into the wilder growths of Moonglade and sometimes would be gone for days, driving her mother into hysterics over her well-being. She eventually befriended a moth, which she dubbed Poli and began to take pleasure in watching the occasional Kaldorei hunter exhibiting his excellent marksmanship. After several years of her mother's pressure, Tuhka stormed out of her mother's domicile very much an adult Tauren and very much disowned.
As she traveled outwards from Moonglade, she sometimes took to learning from adventuring Kaldorei hunters about the finer points of her class. As she roamed northern forests, she became more skilled and eventually took to icy Winterspring to master her abilities. For a period of time, she abandoned the valley due to the insistence by a band of Kaldorei, warning of massive creatures called "demons" marching from the south. After her brief flight into the mountains, she returned to find the great tree that towered over the land missing. After that event, many of the Furbolg that she traded with became hostile and she retreated deeper into the wilderness. Living off the land she was cut off from most aspects of society and it wasn't until she was in the middle of her adulthood that she began to encounter her own kind in the frosty reaches of her hunting grounds. Adventuring Tauren, though not very common, would approach her and offer kind words. She was hesitant to respond, but after several encounters she began to tap into the free flow of information about the world she had been whisked away from. The events of the past decade had mostly shocked her, but the news of her kind conquering the Centaur and founding Thunderbluff filled her with glee.
Now into her prime, Tuhka longed to reconnect with her brethren and to bask in the glory of the Tauren resilience. She felt ashamed that she allowed herself to leave her father behind at a time when his cause, no the entire Tauren cause, needed unity and strength the most. Resolving to rejoin her heritage, Tuhka and her moth Poli began the long trek south towards her new homeland.
Present:
Though she has been inducted back into the Horde, Tuhka still feels an overwhelming sense of alienation in the face of the Horde masses. Unable to find a connection with any fellow soldier (just yet), she traverses the land mainly focusing on her various assignments and little else.