Beasts of the Savage Lands – Gorgrond

The primal forces that forged the lands of Draenor are still in conflict to this day, and in no other place is this more evident than Gorgrond. A land of contradictions, Gorgrond features barren rocky plains and dense overgrown jungles. Everywhere one looks, there’s evidence of a realm at war with itself and monstrous creatures as dangerous as they are ancient.

The Botani

Slender, deliberate, and calculating, these enigmatic living trees single-mindedly tend to the wilds of Draenor. Wise in the ancient ways, they seek lost artifacts of bygone ages to empower the explosive growth of their territory… often at the expense of Draenor’s other sentient denizens. The botani wage an eternal war against the creatures of stone, and the natives of Gorgrond do their best to survive in the midst of constant conflict between the botani and the goren, gronn, magnaron and others. Since the Iron Horde and the creatures of stone began working together, the botani have become even more aggressive – orcs and draenei both have been disappearing of late into dense botani enclaves.

The Infested

The botani have long cultured unique plantlife in their irrigated ponds or tree dwellings, but far more terrifying is their ability to cultivate flora within a living host. Unwary natives are captured and seeded in an agonizing process that alters their physical makeup and takes complete control over their bodies, turning them into mindless walking saplings. The entire process is poorly understood, but these grisly infested can be seen guarding botani enclaves or shambling ahead of the botani host as gruesome cannon fodder whose corpses eventually seed new terrain.

Genesaur

Genesaur are enormous demigods who date back to the age of colossals, when giants shaped the terrain of Draenor amidst constant warfare. The botani have retained the ability to communicate with these bastions of life, and genesaurs are revered as gods in their culture. Draenei have not yet determined if genesaur are immortal or not; genesaur emerging from botani-tended pools often retain the memories and will of their long-dead forebears. Adventurers fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of these rare beings are cautioned to give genesaur a wide berth. They are deceptively quick given their size and destroying them will take a small army of well-equipped heroes.  

Goren

While the gronn and magnaron shape the world through their brute individual strength, the goren are scavenging opportunists who dart unseen between the lumbering feet of their larger cousins. Roughly the size of an Azerothian trogg, goren live in massive colonies that burrow through the earth, gobbling up minerals and leaving twisting caves in their wake. They enjoy devouring crystalline minerals, which are digested and extruded through their skin, giving some goren the benefit of an armored crystalline shell. The bane of both orc and draenei miners, goren sniff out and infest mineral-rich burrows. Adventurers should be wary of the gorens’ ability to shoot crystalline projectiles and swarm around unprepared explorers in rolling packs, as well as their impossibly sharp teeth and acidic spit.

Between the creatures of stone and flora, and the Blackrock Clan looking to expand their domain, Gorgrond is a place you won’t forget easily… assuming you make it out in one piece.