So I was playing with haranir in the dressing room on wowhead and noticed that a no furred, long tusked haranir with either green or red skin kind of looks like how I imagine a Half Orc would look in game.
Which brings me to my question. How common are they? Do alliance accept them? Can orcs and elves breed or is it solely orcs and humans and orcs and Draenei? I NEED HELP.
I’ve been RPing a half orc for years in Stormwind. It took some time for her to develop enough of a good reputation to not be constantly attacked, but it is feasible.
I once knew a guy who was half an orc and half another orc.
You’ll delve a lot into the realm of extrapolation when it comes to asking how common something is. Elves and half-elves aren’t exactly supposed to be the super-majority of anything in the world now but if you walk around Stormwind you’d be hard pressed to believe that from an anecdotal perspective.
So instead, I’ll present my perspective in the hopes that maybe it gives some ideas. The Alliance, that being Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, and Humans have all been at war with the Horde since it came to the world. They’ve been at war with Trolls for even longer. While there are cases for individual friendships to form and for animosity to be buried, this isn’t a common thing to happen nor are most people on either side going to be accepting of something going as far as a union that results in a child.
On the gentler end, expect pariah-hood, mistreatment, outright hostility, and other extremely unkind responses. The more we veer to the middle the more you go into the realm of outright aggressive hostility or being thrown into the river as an infant a la the rather unsavory aspects of the old Spartan approach. How brutal you wish to take it is up to your own personal tastes and the story you wish to tell.
This is all to say that, in my mind, they are extremely rare and not very accepted. The Alliance races would see them as the result of something unholy and inhumanly vile, the Horde races might see them as a failure of personal honor or weakness on part of the parent. I wouldn’t say this as an attempt to dissuade you from playing one, either. The hardship is something that I think of as integrally interesting to the concept, but dismissing it would be a mistake I think.
Creative development team was once asked about half dwarves existing and the answer was essentially not in lore, but with magic anything is possible. For other half-x, such as half-orcs, it’s probably not very common. There was an interview with Jesse Cox and Dave Kosak where Kosak also mentioned (granted this was over 10 yrs ago) that half-species were also not common at all. There’s still instances of it(Lantressor, Garona, Rexxar..) but they’re likely few.
As far as the Alliance accepting them as a whole? No, but neither would the Horde if it’s being treated in the literal sense of all individuals in the blue or red side. Would you be killed on sight in Stormwind or Orgrimmar? Very unlikely, though some player characters may try.. It’s up to you if you want to roleplay along with that.
That all said, you should be able to find folks to RP with who’d be happy to go on adventures with a half orc regardless. It’s your character, do with it as you please!
Like the posters above me have said, I can’t imagine they are very common and I’m sure they will struggle regardless of faction.
With that said, I agree with this statement:
You will always find people who will happily roleplay with characters who are out of the ordinary. A half-orc is certainly not the most out-there concept I have encountered lol
Half-orcs are probably not COMMON, but they surely exist.
I thought the same thing as you when I looked at Haranir customizations. You can convincingly create a character that resembles a night elf, an orc, a half-orc, or perhaps even a troll.
It’s kind of crazy.
Anyways, Med’an exists (or existed). Of the things one might see around Stormwind, a half-orc is one of the least ridiculous. They might be heavily ridiculed or persecuted, however, so it could be wise to have the character utilize a hooded cloak when in the city.
Hooded cloak, enchantment, something to hide the key features until the character is established and has a reputation to offer them a bit of protection. Mine wore an illusion charm bracelet for about a year while working as a guard (her commander was aware). Once her reputation as loyal to the king and as a good, fair guard was established, she felt safe removing the bracelet. She still gets side-eye sometimes, but people largely just recognize her as a normal person to see in the city. IC development over time is way better than just immediately saying “you must accept them” right out the gate.
I’m very tempted to make them be more aligned with the horde (if I did make one) due to the hordes more accepting nature overall.
There are several “Half-Orc” NPCs in Game. Garona being the most famous. There is also one that is partaking in the Tishamaat celebration for the Dreanei Heritage quest. Most of the time the Wiki just lists them as Half-Dreanei (also called Oshu’nei), but they use an Orc NPC model. I think some Blademaster guy was also a Half-Orc if I’m remembering correctly.
I don’t know how well it would go over with the players horde side, as I only have experience on alliance with mine. But I think perhaps you should test the waters by making a version of them on each side before committing to one or the other. Then if you want to continue, you just make your Haranir version of them on the side you feel most comfortable.
I remember back when I RPd, I had a half-orc character who was similarly attacked a lot, but strangely by fellow Horde members (she’s part Draenei).
…although, her being holy-aligned and from WoD Draenor might have something to do with the “being attacked” part. Anyhow, I’d say go for it.
I also strangely have a character who looks a lot like a Haranir… despite me making her look like such before DF even launched. Kind of funny.