Back before Burning Crusade launched, I had a Night Elf main in his 50s who, according to the backstory I had developed for him, was on decidedly unfriendly terms with the Cenarion Circle. The trouble was that my roleplay wasn't able to back this up very well, since all I could do to was claim that I had to avoid Cenarion settlements. One day I got it in my head to make good on this claim.

I went to the Cenarion settlement in Silithus, set that faction to "At War", and began preying on outlying, unprotected NPCs (the guards there murdered me if I picked a target too close) one at a time to drop my faction rating from Friendly to Neutral to Unfriendly... to Hostile. I knew when I was done because the whole encampment came running for me. I had to res at the spirit healer, unable to ever return for my body. Silithus essentially became "off-limits".

After that, I could say with confidence that the Cenarion Hold hated my character. And if my travels ever took me past Cenarion territory, anybody with me would see that I wasn't bluffing.

Additional anecdote: my NE main had kind of a chip on his shoulder regarding Kaldorei society and had left to become a citizen of Stormwind instead. When I hit level 40, I didn't buy a cat mount. I didn't buy one at 50 or 60 either, or indeed, ever. I waited until I had earned enough Stormwind rep, by turning in more stacks of runecloth than I can count, to buy a horse. For many I was the only level 60 they had ever met without a mount.

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