So, I have been finding myself playing my Brewmaster a lot lately (because frankly, it feels more fun to plan than the other tanks) and am likely to make them my main RP toon as a result.
My main question is how exactly do the Pandaren regard this war as a whole and how exactly would they regard their kin on the other faction?
Blizzard really hasnât gone there. They havenât really gone anywhere about Pandaren since MoP, but theyâre continuing to not go there about the BfA faction war.
So, itâs probably safest to build a character and decide for yourself how that individual feels on the subjects of the war, the other side in general, and Pandaren who joined the other side in particular. Individuals will be individuals regardless, and not having Blizzard telling us what our individuals are supposed to think is probably for the best anyway.
Depends entirely on the Pandaren. Weâve met exactly two pandaren with faction loyalties. Aysa and Ji. All other Alliance or Horde pandaren are mere props.
We really do not know. I imagine Mainland Pandaren wouldnât like the war as it devastated their homeland and despite everything they taught the factions it was just thrown away/forgotten. Huojin/Tushui is iffy to me? They seem to be alright with everything as they are troops you can recruit and are part of the incursions. But if this is them actually wanting to take part or Blizzard just including all races is beyond me. As for how they regard their kin, we also donât really know either. I would assume they wouldnât fight each other unless necessary? But since it is your own toon, you can have them act as you see fit towards the war. Some probably have jumped ship, others probably have stuck around due to feeling their factions are family now. So as Zenrao put it, use your best judgement.
Whatâs that? Blizzard straight up forgetting about races that donât directly enable their Nonsense War? As if that could ever happen, ahahahahahaha
Itâs difficult to say, and believe me, Iâve been scouring for anything I can find. But from what Iâve found, it appears the Huojin and Tushui consider themselves just as much aligned with their faction as any other race can be. Being a long-time Pandaren roleplayer myself â one that RPs as Huojin, Tushui, and neutral characters â Iâve tried to portray this reasonably in my characters by focusing on what we know of both factionsâ core ideals and emphasizing them.
Admittedly, itâs very difficult to do in this plot. Especially with my Horde/Huojin characters. But they are a very passionate and oftentimes foolhardy bunch! Perhaps they wish to help the Horde mostly in itself, knowing whatâs been done is done, but not trusting the Alliance will stop at just suppressing the Horde in this war. Or perhaps they feel that the Alliance isnât practical and decisive enough to deal with potential greater threats of the future.
Thereâs no perfect answer, Iâm afraid. Itâs left to interpretation, and there isnât much to interpret. But donât let that dissuade you; make your own character a justification for their stances on the matter! Not every narrative gap can be filled, and in proper company, you can decide just how to do that.
The beauty about pandaren being a neutral race is that you can play any angle for your characters with the war. You can like it with the hawks, hate it with the doves, or not care like the turtle. As someone mentioned, the only lore characters involved are Ji and Aysa (and they have done about as much as a kid putting off homework tbh).
My pandaren chooses to fight for the Horde because he cares a lot for the friends and allies heâs made over there. He also recognizes that that heâs done too much to simply switch sides now, and thereâs also the fact that he has a minor worry that his family back on the Isle could be gotten to a bit easily to influence him to stay if that happened to be a plot point. He does not hate the Alliance pandaren at all, but wishes they would stop targeting him first in BGs- no wait that parts me.
One important thing to note is that, unlike the other races, the pandaren arenât a tribe or a kingdom or anything like that. Most of them are just adventurers who joined one faction or the other due to identifying their chosen factionâs core values. Theyâre not beholden to Ji or Aysa, though they may hold them in high esteem. Theyâre much more individualistic than that.
So far for the RP I did last night, what I have gathered from my pandaren is that he isnât too keen on the war, but recognizes it would have happened one way or another without both factions having a major change (i.e, Sylvannas in general and the Alliance needing to drop itâs venomous âIâm the victimâ mindset) while he holds his Tushui kin, dwarves, MU Draenei in higher regard than the other Alliance groups (mostly because humans are the single largest mixed bag and he more or less sets Worgens in with them).
Then in RP I also learned he conviently sends âDonât be hereâ messages back and forth with Tushui kin as to help avoid confrontation and hopefully not see them killed.
Sounds like you have a good start on finding your characterâs way. Dynamic rather than static. This post is pretty much just a summing up of what good rpers have posted above.
Important things to keep in mind (in general for Pandaren rpers, not just you):
One of Chi-Jiâs epigrams deserves contemplation in the current context: âHopeâs fire grows when the flames come together.â
The decision to go to either the Horde or Alliance capital is more forced by game mechanics than by anything lore-driven.
Huojin & Tushui are not identical to Horde & Alliance. They existed prior to the Mists falling.
Player characters are sent to both Huojin & Tushui - sometimes working with one of them, sometimes cooperatively - throughout their training on the Wandering Isle.
Significantly, the Wandering Isle is the location of the Monk class hall. This plus the previous two points can be taken to mean that many if not most Pandaren see Huojin & Tushui as complementary rather than antagonistic.
Huojin & Tushui are not the only Ways - the Wandererâs Way is prominently mentioned both in-game & in other sources, for example.
No queen, emperor, high priest, arch-magister or any other single office or person speaks for all Pandaren. There is no central authority to force Pandaren as a whole to support either Faction.
There is not a large capital-style city in Pandaria. So no center of cultural hegemony.
Emperor Shaohaoâs last acts set Pandaren on the path of finding their own way as individuals & as communities.
OOC: Pandaren rpers have the unique opportunity to create identical versions of a character on Horde & Alliance that share a single IC profile.
Itâs worth repeating that Chi-Jiâs epigram - âHopeâs fire grows when the flames come together.â is one of the core values of Pandaren culture.
What to make of all that when creating a backstory & motivations for a Pandaren character is entirely an individual decision.
He would actually not be a Tushui, he just thinks well of his kin who are in the Tushui even though he is horde aligned.
Had to work out the kinks, but I think the main reason I opted to have him go more horde aligned as a character boiled down to him being leery of various aspects of the Alliance (Kirin Tor breaking neutrality at the behest of a member of the Alliance, Genn having a bit too much of a temper, the Lightforged committing cultural genocide)
Like everyone else has said, thereâs not a super clear direction to go from in the lore (other than the good point that was made that Pandaren tend to act more individualistically than arguably any other player race bc of lack of central leadership.) But I figured Iâd toss in my two cents in terms of my character.
Although Jinâs integrated herself into the world outside the mists, spending time in both Horde and Alliance territory (although admittedly more Alliance/neutral recently, just bc Sylvanas & Co scare her,) she hasnât forgotten what they did to her homeland, even though they clearly seem to have. Rather than harboring any desire for vengeance or even justice, the one thing she fervently hopes for is just peace. She just wants all the violence to stop because face it, spiraling into greater and greater acts of destruction doesnât end well. For anybody. She doesnât see much fighting IC, but tbh even when Iâm OOC I never attack another Pandaren if I can help it (I like to shout out and say hey because faction divisions be damned.) Jin is definitely of the Pandaria-first mindset, but realizes that this war involves everybody now and thereâs no way to just ignore it.
Pandaren have this unique opportunity where as a people theyâve gained the trust of both factions. That, coupled with the fact that Pandaria remains uncontrolled neutral ground, puts them in the perfect position to spearhead the cause of communication, understanding, and ultimately peace. True peace canât be achieved without some level of communication and compassion, and who better to lead that than the only race that still strongly feels those ties across faction lines?
(Not that Blizzard will go with any of that, Iâm sure, but hey, it makes for interesting RP, right?)