For as long as I’ve been Rping a Pandaren there has never been a shortage of players and guilds who have recognized that the Pandaren no longer have a standing Emperor and those who have ambitions to bid for succession. Not exclusive to WrA I’ve seen plenty of MG Rpers and even guilds who have outright claimed bloodline to former emperors or even in the line of Shaohao himself. And my own characters are guilty of having ambitions, though never really coming into fruition beyond lofty goals.
But noticeably, at least through WrA’s community, there has been several public RP hooks and groups making it fairly clear of their interest in fulfilling the “vacancy” of Pandaria’s ruler, with some outright claiming a stake entirely. I won’t get into how well or poorly some of these advances have been received since I want to go into a discussion less on the conflicts of Blizzard’s concrete lore and more on just the hypothetical of how something like that would even work among among the server’s playerbase.
Like, In my ideal world, I feel like this is in the making of a Warring States period where various warlords, factions and groups all are looking to seize the land. Raising armies, making political ties, and so forth in their endless goals towards conquest—all while recognizing on an OOC level that no one can really “own” a space in game and that the desire to take over is little more than a plot device to get people to engage with one another. Some sides would win, sometimes they’d lose, but all in a utopia of player respect and mutual desire to just share good stories.
Then again reality and experience almost always humbles my expectations. And if there has been anything learned is that ambitious projects like these often turn into drama. Not to mention it borderlines on forcing people to buy into a narrative that they may disagree with or weren’t aware of. Needless to say, some “headcanons” would have to be adopted in order for continuity to make sense. IE: Where are the Shado-pan, etc, etc.
Like I said, I think the -idea- several special interests all vying for power in regards to Pandaria. But I’d like to have a discussion on just the community’s thoughts on it. If there was anything learned from the last two summits, is that the momentum for such a concept is brewing beyond just one particular guild or group at this point.
I’m not super familiar with the Pandaren community even though it’s almost all I play/RP. But! I really enjoy the idea of several separate Pandaren houses/clans fighting for power. There could be assassination attempts, small battles, councils held between the different leaders, ect.
Having a server-wide RP for Pandaren may also attract more to the race. I’ve always wanted a more “Huojin vs Tushui” focused RP and your idea sounds even better than that!
Edit: I worded my last point poorly and decided it wasn’t needed. I’ll get my answer by reading the replies to this thread. Really like the idea!
As a guildmaster of a guild that is frequently accused of such things as sedition to overthrow the provincial way of life in Pandaria, Warlord-ism, and “claiming to be the bloodline of Shaohao” (all above fake news), I’d like to agree with you on a few things.
The idea of a ‘Warring States’-esque period in-game is very intriguing, and would be interesting to see expanded on in the future perhaps. I know with our personal ambitions, it was simply to unify and support, not conquer and rule the various regions/clans/factions of Pandaria as a whole. A warring-states spin on our take of things holds potential fun, so long as all parties are knowledgeable about the progression of such a story line.
I for one have always welcomed such intrigue into the whole ‘empty throne’ business, as my character themselves isn’t really what a lot make her out to be. In monarchical and feudal society’s, there were always rival houses and clans that would make various territorial and title claims. I have seen me and my guilds claim as little more valid than the next clan or factions, just with added fancy bells and titles. Of course all of this was gone into under the assumption little to no Pandaren factions outside of us would recognize such things until after perhaps something like this post is suggesting.
It is of my personal agreement that there can never be ‘one true’ owner of an in-game settlement or region. Overall, I am interested to see where this thread goes, and interested to see if anything RP-related may or may not come of it.
I think this is an excellent way that Pandaren guilds with their own stakes to power could interact with one another. If a few could get together and set up some combat systems and cement the whole “warring states” idea, this would lead to some great RP in the community!
E: Will watch this thread with heightened interest- I’m very eager to see what comes of it.
I’ve always liked the idea myself. Many of my own Pandaren characters, and/or the lore behind those characters, would go very well with a Pandarian ‘Warring States’ kind of narrative.
I suppose the safest means of accomplishing such a thing would be to have plot points prewritten and agreed upon by the participants; an endeavor that, by itself, might be quite difficult to reliably do for various reasons.
The whole thing would probably have to be pretty self-contained as well barring the use of (insert dramatic sting) server canon. Whatever happened within the story would either have to be rather inconsequential, posing no change to status quo established by our Californian overlords, or kept more or less entirely among the participating parties. Admittedly the latter especially doesn’t seem too bad, considering a lot of guild rp plots are more or less like that already; at least as by my own experience.
Overall I can only see anything resembling the concept working in one of two ways; a semi-scripted plot run by tight-knit group, or a plot where only one faction is composed of players, making it just any other guild rp scenario.
To reiterate (and expand), scripting events I think would be paramount to having such a thing work. Having the core outcomes pre-planned mitigates some of the chaos of having them be entirely organic, hopefully lessening chances of ooc conflicts threatening the integrity of the project. Granted this is but one means to solve one potential problem, the likes of which still competes with several other pitfalls inherent in collaborations; but I digress and my stream of consciousness is beginning to fade.
See I’m excited about that sort of stuff. Then again, with all of my eagerness(assuming people are on board) my head starts to hurt thinking on how conflicts would be resolved. Whether via PvP(my personal prefered method), rolls, DM’d events, PvE challenge mode races, etc, etc.
I think in your case refers a lot to the reaction towards particular a particular title that I don’t think needs to be brought up in this thread. That being said, yes, if said title were thrown around in a show of force or to rally people behind the character’s ambitions, similar to how several warlords all formed new kingdoms in ancient china over the remnants of the old, I could see this having a similar impact/effect.
That’s ultimately how I wish for everything to be. A self-contained story within the community that I suppose is semi-public, but has no real consequence or impact to anyone who chooses not to recognize the ongoing plotline outside of it.
Especially if said conflicts were to escalate to the point that, while the Horde and Alliance couldn’t support one side officially, the idea of proxy forces or disavowed units ushered to push the fighting in one direction or another would be a bit intriguing.
The only I can say, as a dissenting voice to this entire discussion (even as a member of Lian’s own guild) is that there would have to be a lot of head canon for this to even be remotely viable. That’s all well and good to do, and tons of guilds do that but for this it seems…a bit much? The idea of warring states is outstanding make no mistake but coming from a continent that really does pretty much give the middle finger to war as a whole? Kinda…off putting to me, personally. Especially (as Lian said)…where the /****/ are the Shado-pan in all this? The Golden Lotus? The August Celestials? Would the Four really allow this kind of thing to go on? I know I sound like the party pooper here for this kind’ve idea but to me, on like practically every pandaren character I have my people don’t want war at all on their homeland (adopted homeland in terms of wandering isle.)
That’s a fair point, Ailcei. I assume a lot of mainlander civilians would be quite unhappy with the warring factions right on their doorstep as well and would likely try to defend their homes, not even counting the reactions that Pandaria’s elite forces would have to the infighting.
I thought the golden lotus all died when the Vale got old-god-ed (the first time)?
Fair point on the others, though: they would certainly object to all-out war. Maybe the warring states would then be forced to restrict their combat to subterfuge and non-lethal mock-battles and tournaments meant to gain prestige, rather than actual warfare?
I haven’t been paying much attention to the current content patch so I’m not sure if it’s confirmed or denied, but I’m fairly certain the Golden Lotus as an order still remains.
They did indeed get cut down like wheat, but they’re not all gone. The dailies you get in the Vale even have the old Golden Lotus members giving them to you like the days of old at times. So they’re very much still a presence, from what I can see in-game.
The Golden Lotus IIRC is still around yes but heavily understaffed since the bulk of their members were culled doing the MoP campaign. I remember seeing in a thread a while ago where someone assumed they were mostly defunct and left to the Shado-Pan, but I am not 100% certain
You wouldn’t be able to leave to go to the Shado-Pan, as the Shado-Pan only recruit via the Trial of Red Blossoms. So, whomstever said that was amiss in their knowledge. The Shado-pan, Golden Lotus, and maybe the protectors of the Celestials are understaffed to heck at the moment.
I agree a lot of head-canon and narrative buy in would be needed to adopt it so yes, we’re in consensus there though I don’t think that’s any more or less unique to any plotline that pits player ideas against what’s feasiable to Blizzard canon. And thus leads me to–
In playing the devil’s advocate the question I’d ask moreso is what could they do about it? Are the Shado-pan numbers strong after already being a limited few and engaged in several conflicts since MoP? The Golden Lotus as a faction was defunct until being revitalized in defense of the Vale. The Celestials are indeed powerful, though not infailable as proven by Lei Shen several times.
I guess the point is, the -opportunity- for a hook like this to work would be in the space where everyone is licking their wounds and depleted of fighting strength to fit within a suspension of disbelief. It would be harder to work a story like this when it would be fairly acceptable to image any of Pandaria’s native forces at full fighting capacity.
And yes, Mainland and Isle Pandaren alike -could- protest or be against any fighting. Whether it’s clandestine or in massive battles. But don’t also forget that several pandaren, especially in a plotline on Kun-lai, outside of Binan, willingly put on the armors of the Horde and Alliance to engage in a world war that was forced upon their shores.
I apologise I didnt mean to say the former Golden Lotus went to the Shado-Pan entirely, just that their forces were somewhat combined, at least we saw this with the recent patch.