Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East

Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East is the second expansion pack to Heroes of Might and Magic V and the first stand-alone expansion pack released for the fifth series. It was developed by Nival Interactive and was released by Ubisoft Entertainment on October 12, 2007 in Europe, then soon after in the U.S. on October 18, and then Russia on October 25. Poland later received a release on January 24, 2008.

Stronghold
The result of a wizard experiment in mixing Demon and Human blood, the Orcs are a savage warrior race that live for combat.


 * Stronghold's units: Goblins, Centaurs, Warriors, Shamans, Slayers, Wyverns and Cyclopes.


 * Racial skill: Blood Rage


 * Hero: Barbarian

Rage of the Tribes
The story begins with the character Quroq, an Orc, who takes over a renegade Haven city and begins to introduce worry upon the false Queen Isabel. The queen sends forth her most trusted servant, the corrupted Archbishop Alaric to ward off the Orc invasion. The actual events that happen between this and the next time we see the Orcs are unknown though Quroq is killed by Alaric at some point.

The Will of Asha
Meanwhile, the Necromancer Arantir is driven by his master Asha (who is the goddess of order) to fight against the demonic corruption in the Haven cities. He meets up with a novice Necromancer named Ornella, introduced to him by Giovanni the vampire. With Ornella at his side, Arantir sets out towards the city of Flammschrein, the holy city which has been desecrated by the demon Orlando. After killing Orlando, Arantir visits the graves of Flammshrein where he frees a fragment of the true Queen Isabel's soul. Upon doing so, the succubus impostor who had been taking the place of the queen is revealed and she is forced to take over the city.

Biara (the Succubus) uses the Heart of the Griffin, an artifact that sends demons to their hell, as a portal to the Haven city after having corrupted the Heart of the Griffin by means of a dark ritual. Arantir also meets with the Orcs and arranges an alliance via the Orc shaman Kujin.

To Honor Our Fathers
At the same time (as it is revealed later), the young Orc Gotai takes lead of the Orcs and hopes to crush the demons. In order to do so, however, he must brave many trials, the first of which is to gather the support of various tribes. To do so, Gotai sends Kujin, who manages to assemble an army of Orcs. Gotai then chooses to respect the soul of Kunyak, the greatest of the Orcs who lead them to freedom, by going to his burial place in a wizard city. After doing so, he avenges the death of Quroq by killing Alaric. It should be noted that Alaric was no longer fighting for the false queen when he attacked Gotai, for his final battle took place after Arantir performed the rite by which Biara was revealed. It is shown that Alaric had actually gone mad and hoped to kill all the Orcs believing that it was all just an illusion and he still was to follow the wishes of his master. Though Gotai offers for Alaric to die honorably, Alaric shows no sign of sanity in his final moments.

Flying to the Rescue
After the death of Alaric, Gotai and Kujin arrange a meeting with Zehir, who allies with them for their common causes. Zehir begins by traveling to the duchies where he must help Duncan and Freyda fight off the demon influence. He does not participate in the fight directly, but he performs a rite that separates demons from humans. After this event, the followers of the false queen realize their mistake and instead join Zehir. After Freyda and Duncan manage to fight off the demons, they agree to help Zehir in the final battle.

Zehir then travels to the mines where Wulfstan rules. The Dwarves who are in constant feud, wish not to aid Zehir. Wulfstan, however, tells Zehir that if he manages to find Arkath, the fire god of the Dwarves, then maybe the Dwarves can ally and aid Zehir. After finding the portal to Arkath, Zehir is intercepted by Wulfstan's brother Rolf, who has become deranged and bloodlustful since his last appearance in the previous game. Rolf attacks Zehir who overcomes him. After this victory, Zehir, Wulfstan and Hangvul, the other faction of Dwarves, confront Arkath. Arkath announces that Wulfstan is to be king and that Hangvul must compensate for betraying him. So it is that the Dwarves ally and aid Zehir in the next battle.

Zehir then travels to Talonguard, the capitol city of the Haven faction, now overrun by demons. While he makes his way past the guards that defend the way to the city, Zehir's allies destroy the surrounding Inferno towns and blockade Biara, who has escaped on multiple occasions already. These allies also include Ylaya, who makes a deal with Zehir early in his travels in which she joins him under the circumstance that he destroy the troublesome Soulscar clan, which he does. After all other Inferno towns are destroyed, Zehir besieges Talonguard and after winning, allows for the true Queen Isabel to kill her. Though Biara proclaims she has done her job, the others know she is bluffing, and that the demons are just as badly wounded as the Haven faction. The conclusion also suggests that the Dwarves, Orcs, Wizards, and Dark Elves as well as presumably Elves and possibly Necromancers (for whom Arantir is spokesman) are also allies. In this situation, the demons are thoroughly outnumbered by seven factions (Haven is included) to 1, which actually makes 7 of the 8 factions of the game "good" factions.