Pandaria

"This is the article about the nation situated upon the same continent, for the actual continent, see Pandaria (Continent)""'It is a land of a hundred princes and a thousand lords, all under the rule of one God-King.'""-- Accounts of the Far South, Aran Tiderevere, famed explorer"Pandaria, known as the Celestial Abode or the Land Which All Kings Pay Tribute To by the Pandaren, is an ancient civilization located on its namesake southern landmass. It is described as a prosperous land where its inhabitants lived in idyllic peace and away from the oppression of feudal lords that plagues the Old World. Although only recently been set foot on by the outer world, Pandaria has influenced the world since the Golden Age of the Night Elves, far before the rise of the first Men. Aspects of its culture had ingrained deeply within that of the Elves and Men.

Its mystery, remoteness and fabled wealth had long made it the destination of countless failed expeditions by adventurers and nations alike. Its people, the Pandaren, have been received with highest courtesy by kings and emperors should they set foot upon the soil of the Old World, with both immense curiosity for their exoticness and fear towards the legendary power of the faraway empire. Its unique produces of silk, jade and pandar are sought-after resources of luxury and symbols of prosperity to the Elves and Men since the early days of civilization, which facilitated the rise of trade, commerce and naval exploration.

The name Pandaria, like its namesake continent, comes from pandar, the fragrant seeds of the pandar tree that are ground to make incense in temples and shrines, and one of the resources most associated with the land of Pandaria.

The Pandaren, a once enslaved race, had founded its mighty empire after overthrowing its tyrannical overlords over 2,000 years ago before the sundering of the world. They have since prospered upon the fertile lands of the continent and established a sophisticated culture that became the origin of many important inventions to civilization, of the most essential are gunpowder and print-making.

Politics
"'Tehn Tek-Hon Hant Yent'""-- 'The sky is high, and the Emperor is far away,' Tradition Pandaren Saying"Pandaria has established a highly sophisticated political system over millennia to govern their massive nation. Unlike the feudal systems common among the kingdoms of Man, Pandaria is a oligarchical system ruled under the supreme power of the Emperor and his court of intellectual elites, who are granted great political power. The aristocracy of Pandaria hold minimal influence in court and only gain political sway through their positions as Grand Custodians, should they be so appointed. They are forbidden to hold core administrative positions within the Imperial Court.

One of the most remarkable lands in the world, Pandaria is not governed by lords and barons, but by commoners and littlefolk: Sons and daughters of farmers and fishermen, artisans and merchants, who have passed a long and grueling examination process to prove their administrative abilities and political knowledge. Those who emerge from the final test supervised by the Emperor himself are held with high esteem and the best of them are offered a coveted position in the Imperial Court, where they will serve in the hundreds of different positions governing the massive political engine that drives the Empire. The top candidate, known as the Blossom Picker, often eventually find their way to the position of Head Minister of the Imperial Cabinet, second in power only to the Emperor himself.

Despite its impressiveness, however, Pandarian politics has long been marred by the corruption of its court officials and the nepotism of its political factions, the result of a large bureaucracy and separation of power. Slander, intrigue and assassinations are the norms within the gilded walls of the Palace of Tranquil Heaven.

Government
Contrary to popular belief that Pandaria has no centralized ruler, with the semi-mythical Shaohao being regarded as "the last emperor", Pandaria is still under dynastic rule of a long line of emperors. Such a misbelief may originate from the misunderstanding of the mytho-chronical account of Shaohao's reign recorded by the famed Kul'Tiran explorer Aran Tiderevere in his Accounts of the Far South.

In truth, Shaohao was only the last Emperor to have absolute power over his denizens. In the last years of Shaohao's reign, he had established the Imperial Cabinet, to which he gave most of his administrative powers due to his advance age. This, combined with the vastness of the Emperor's realm, resulted in the Emperor's power being greatly diluted and most of Pandaria eventually became self-governed counties under Grand Custodians (Dae Shok), court-appointed magistrates, to whom the denizens of each county must pay a twelfth of their produce to as taxes after every harvest season. The Emperor's authority is little evident in the lives of Pandaren commoners, creating the illusion that no centralized authority wields power over Pandaria.

Culture
With a history of over 4,000 years, Pandaria is one of the world's oldest existing civilizations. Its culture is shaped by the variety of races and inhabitants that have lived, farmed, fought and died upon its lands. Inheriting the civilization of their ancient Mogu masters, the Pandaren have built a complex society upon essential ideologies core to the Mogu culture, but have also absorbed the influence of the numerous races they have lived in harmony with after they consolidated their rule of the Southern Lands.

Pandaren society is established upon the political philosophy of Chong, which outlines several core principles that are insinuated into the ordinary lives of Pandarian littlefolk.

Attitude Towards Races of the Old World
Although outwardly humble and good-natured, the denizens of Pandaria believe in the absolute supremacy of their culture over that of the races of the Old World, regarding them as barbarians (Gan Yek) and holds them in disdain.

Despite their dislike of foreign beings, the Pandarians recognizes their value to their massive trade empire and do not consider engaging in commercial activities with the Old World to be below them, and have produced goods specifically to the requests of mighty Old World powers.

Pandaren, like how they are regarded as curiosity in the Old World, also regard the denizens of the Old World with studied interest. Pandaren adventurers, rare as they are, usually wander the Old World from land to land to record the oddities, customs and cultures of the stranger world. When they end their journey and return to their homeland, they are required to make a report to the Imperial Court, where the records are transcribed by court scribes and compiled into the ever-increasing volumes of the Great Book of A Hundred Realms, the official encyclopedic reference to Old World cultures.