Nardreg

"Few remember the honoured ancestors of the Whiteclaw. Do not forget of their sacrifice, for we fight in their name; to build a Horde they would have wanted to see! A Horde who's values and culture they died to protect! When you die and join the ancestors in their vast halls, you will tell them of how you died with a curse to Gul'dan upon your lips and blood upon your tusks! Lok'tar Ogar!" - Nardreg Dwarfbane

Nardreg Dwarfbane was an orcish warrior of Thrall's Horde during the Cataclysm, and one of the few survivors of the Whiteclaw clan's destruction. During the rise of the Horde he opposed Gul'dan's methodology along with the Whiteclaw and Frostwolf clans. He joined with the Bleeding Hollow clan's warriors for much of the first and second wars; spending the most of the latter guarding the orc-controlled mines of Khaz Modan. His feats against the dwarves earned him the name 'Dwarfbane'. After the dark portal was closed, he was placed into the Lordaeron internment camps with the majority of the Bleeding Hollow, before eventually being freed by the young Thrall and sailing to Kalimdor. Following the culmination of the Third War, Nardreg's support from Bleeding Hollow warriors earned him recognition and by the beginning of the war against the Lich King he was placed into the role of a Horde Battlemaster. His tale continues with the return of Deathwing the Destroyer.

Appearance
"Hah! Look'a this wee one lads! He's as likely tae break 'is back than te be slayin' us." - Unfortunate dwarven victim

Well upon his way to venerable age, this warrior's build is typical of most orcs albiet with toughened pale-green skin and greyed hair. Standing slightly shorter than most, Nardreg is nonetheless an imposing figure with a life evidently honed by bloodshed and warefare; a toughness bred from the harsh cold of Khaz Modan. His tusks are mottled and dull, the left wrapped with a thin orange cloth at the base of the tusk to presumably ward against infection where a crack would lie. Red eyes, no longer blazing with fury, promise a firm hand and wise counsel. His hair is typically unkempt, with only one braid on either side showing a semblance of tidiness. A further two braids fall from a well-defined chin.

Duties
Amongst the many roles the Horde Battlemaster assumes, none are more recognised than directing warriors to the fight. They are tacticians, strategists, canny veterans with an eye for glory.

Equipment/Apparel
Clad in heavy plate, embellished with spikes upon wide pauldrons and protective layers of fur at the joints, Nardreg is well-suited to the frozen winds of Northrend.

Personality/Traits
It is said that the older an orc gets, the more pragmatic he becomes. Nardreg is no exception to this rule and after personally surviving three of the darkest wars on Azeroth, and many conflicts following them, he more than most understands what is to be lost in bloodshed. Like most of the Whiteclaw clan, Nardreg is typically dour and grim. Rarely has he smiled and rarely has he laughed as a result of anything other than dark humour. His bearing is a proud one, and he often takes percieved insults towards he or the Horde very seriously. Oaths, even more so, as he will not swear them lightly; instead superstitiously demanding the presence of a shaman to witness the said oath. Morally, Nardreg is a staunch Thrallite. Although relatively quiet in large discussions, Nardreg is nonetheless a shrewd tactician and his keen eyes will drink of every detail before he speaks. However, he is outstandingly stubborn. Coupled with a deep seated loyalty, Nardreg's duty stands highest among priorities; to the point he defies his own morals and fully supports Garrosh as warchief at Thrall's wish.

He holds a great distrust of the Forsaken undead, and conversely a great respect for the tauren as a result of their original offer of shelter during the Horde's landing on Kalimdor. The Darkspear tribe shares this respect, although the blood elves have distance yet to travel before the stigma of their sorcerous might can bypass the prejudice from the memory of Gul'dan's warlocks.

Of noteworthy importance is his hatred of dwarves. After months besieging Ironforge and warring with the "burrowing vermin", Nardreg stoked a fiery furnace of grudges within his heart. Although loyal to Thrall and his ideals of peace, the impending war declared by King Varian of Stormwind has provided the oppertunity Nardreg has been unashamedly desiring since the end of the Second War; the chance to claim the beard of King Magni Bronzebeard.

Orcs & Humans; The First War
The First War saw the survivors of the Whiteclaw massacre band together under the leadership of Nardreg, son of Engrik; whom, although not the eldest of the group, was nonetheless one of great experience who held the trust of his kin. Of insufficient number to reforge the clan, and thus grant themselves a degree of protection from Gul'dan's schemes, the Whiteclaw appealed to Warchief Blackhand who placed them by the side of the Bleeding Hollow clan, the clan of Kilrogg Deadeye.

Following Gul'dan's proclamation of the impending destruction of the Kingdom of Stormwind, Nardreg followed the Bleeding Hollow clan's assault on Stormwind City expectantly. Wielding tactcs learned from the slaughter of the draenei in their own cities such as Shattrath, the Bleeding Hollow barrelled into the walls of Stormwind with the Twilight's Hammer following close behind. The orcs had not counted on the mighty steeds of the human knights, and the assault ended in disaster with each chieftain blaming the other. While Gul'dan restored order through Blackhand, the orcs fled to the Black Morass to regroup. Nardreg and his warriors remained in the fortified village of Stonard, seperated from the flared tempers of the Twilight's Hammer stationed in Rockard to the south. The war came to a eventual conclusion after multiple farmsteads and small villages were put to the torch, and Stormwind City itself sharing the same fate after the willpower of the defenders diminished with the assassination of their king. As the survivors of Stormwind hastily fled north in their ships, the Horde celebrated in the sacked city with the bounty of their spoils. Nardreg accepted the friendship of Bleeding Hollow warrior Kazagg Tornscar who, although seven years his younger, was nonetheless an imposing and fiersome warrior; standing a full head taller. The two swore powerful oaths of honour after several bouts of duelling and feasting, sharing in the loot they had claimed from a knight who had elected to stay behind and protect the fleeing citizens of the city, whom had also been slaughtered.

"Dwarfbane":
"He's filled with as much grit as those rock-eaters in the mountain is old Nardreg. He'll be the bane of the dwarves if that gate ever cracks open." - Kazagg of the Bleeding Hollow clan

During the Bleeding Hollow occupation of Khaz Modan, the realm of the dwarves, Nardreg gained important firsthand experience of the grudging tenacity of the mountain dwelling warriors. Razing hold after hold, the orcs drove the dwarves out; each of who'm would flee into the towering gates of Ironforge. Their mighty capital itself stood unfazed, unbreachable by the orcish horde.

Together with his companions from the shattered Whiteclaw clan, and the mighty warriors of the Bleeding Hollow clan, Nardreg began an inticement effort to aggravate the dwarves into charging from the safety of Ironforge. Bounding upon dwarven survivors and military units from the mountain city sent to rescue them, Nardreg reaped a bloody harvest of kills, tallying the number of dwarven lives his axe had felled by collecting the beards of the dead as trophies. The beardless corpses lay in the shadow of the Ironforge, an insult and a warning to the staunch defenders of Khaz Modan who dared to resist the Horde.

In the face of the grudge between Whiteclaw and Bleeding Hollow over the Frostwolf opposition to Gul'dan's offer of power, Kilrogg's warriors were unable to deny their admiration of the visible grudge held by their guest; bestowing the name "Dwarfbane" upon him. The aged warrior carries his name to this day, along with his respect and friendship of former Bleeding Hollow warriors.

The Whiteclaw Clan:
"The Whiteclaw clan was considered to be one of the oldest and proudest of the orcish clans. Before the First War, it protested the changes to the orcish way of life by Gul'dan and the Horde. As a result of their sympathies to the Frostwolf clan, they were easy targets for the bolder and more violent clans, and were consequently attacked. The Whiteclaws were destroyed, and any surviving members were scattered. The clan was believed to be no more. They became little more than clanless savages." - Orgrimmar elder

The Whiteclaw clan, barely recollected amongst the modern Horde, was one of the many orcish clans upon the homeworld of Draenor. Commonly seen as one of the oldest and wisest of the clans, it is now a distant memory of the revered past, and a bitter reminder of what the gullibility of the orcs could cost them.

A mostly oral culture, there is little to be learned of the clan, save what the few survivors are willing to share. Truly few can recall if the Whiteclaw are infact the first of the clans, or merely one of the splinter clans who would come to proginate orc society. However, come the rise of the Horde, written messages became widespread. Knowledge of their time still remains.

The Whiteclaw clan openly spoke out in support of Frostwolf defiance against Gul'dan, earning them the ire of the rest of the Horde. Subsequently, the Whiteclaw clan would later suffer attack from the more aggressive of the clans and have their chieftain slain at the hands of the Bonechewers; ending their time upon the peninsula that would come to be known as Hellfire Peninsula. Survivors of the raids fled in small bands to the egdes of Terokkar Forest, becoming little more than savages.

A pragmatic warrior of the Whiteclaw, Nardreg, led a small number of surviving Whiteclaw warriors to the muster of the Horde at the newly constructed Hellfire Citadel. They were grudgingly accepted into the Horde as they had came willingly and every single warrior was needed to slaughter the draenei. Nardreg's band survived the massacre at Shattrath and would fight at the very walls of Stormwind during the First War.

The Whiteclaw clan remains a powerful inspiration for these surviving warriors, each of whom continues to honour the ancestors of that oldest of clans.