Prologue

The Great Beast and the Thunder King: by Lorewalker Cho

In ancient times, long before the mists, before the Last Great Pandaren Emperor...even before the Pandaren Empire…Pandaria was ruled by the children of the gods. Or at least, that is what the tails claim. For the Mogu were the children of the Titans. Carved from the very stone of the world, these great beings were constructed to execute the Titan's will under the benevolent guidance of Ra-Den, the Titanic Watcher.

And for a time, they did.

But through the eons, the Mogu lost their ways. For the Titans left the Mogu for the stars.

The Mogu became, confused, distraught, bitter. How could they be abandoned in this way?

And it was in this state that the Curse of the Flesh struck, reducing these once-proud stone creatures––servitors to gods…to mere shadows of their former selves.

They warred and bickered, feuded and clashed, and Pandaria became wrought with negative emotion. And Fear, doubt, violence, anger, hatred, despair, and pride finally broke the Mogu…save one.

Lei Shen, the Thunder King.

Under his rule, the Mogu banded together into a fearsome empire, their influence extending to the far-flung corners of Pandaria. Many great works they created, many great abilities they learned...even a way to restore their immortality and rescind the Curse of the Flesh.

Still, lost in their ways, they could only rekindle a fragment of who they once were.

In their confusion, they sought again to do the bidding of the Titans. But they were still lost, for they could not completely grasp what that was...save one.

The Thunder King convinced the Mogu that he spoke for the Titans, and he told them they should once more create life, as the Titans once had. And to that end they experimented in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, and created life.

What misshapen things did these Mogu create! For the Mogu were not ones who understood beauty or creativity. They only knew one thing: pure order and logic; what they believed the Titans represented.

In the Mantid they saw a representation of chaos, and so built the Serpent's Spine to separate themselves from them.

To restore order itself, the Mogu enslaved the populace, the Pandaren, to carry on the menial tasks while they freed their minds for more enlightened purposes.

To ensure the Pandaren would never rise up, they forbade the usage of weapons.

And so, the Thunder King ruled on, unyielding for centuries.

Yet these actions did not go unnoticed.

For one day, the sky itself turned black, the sun itself snatched away as a great shadow swallowed the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. On the ground, the rocks quaked and cracked. Lightning flashed and the thunder roared. And the halls of the palace were cast into shadow.

Lei Shen called out: "Who dares strike against the Thunder King with lightning and thunder? Who dares strike he who controls it! Who dares strike against the Order of the Titans?"

A voice replied, seeming to reverberate from the foundations of the palace itself.

"I dare, Thunder King!"

Lei Shen gazed to the sky and froze, captured in his own fear. For above the mountain hovered a Great Black Beast, it's vast bulk rivaling mountains.

"What you believe, Lei Shen, is not the Titans' design!" the beast bellowed. "This order would only create the chaos you wish to stamp out."

Lei Shen seemed to falter, but then stood tall and proud, defiant to the warning.

"The gods have not returned," he said. "The will of the Makers is min to interpret! I will order this land! You have no power over me, beast!"

The Beast was unmoved by Lei Shen's boast.

"I am not here to destroy you," said the beast, softly. "But warn you of the path you are treading. Your actions are poisoning the land, twisting it, befouling it. I hear the sounds of my rivers as they weep with the tears of Pandaren slaves. I hear the cries of the winds, calling out in torment. I hear the ground wretch as you walk upon it.

My Song, that which creates balance in the air, in the sea, and in the ground, now sings sourly. You must cease this foolishness." He thrust an accusing talon at Lei Shen and bellowed; the very air was torn by the sound, trees bending from the onslaught. "You hurt the land, the rivers, the coastlines, and the mountains because you hurt the people! I will not see the land poisoned by ill thoughts!"

"I wield the power of the gods!" Lei Shen said, standing tall and proud before the beast. " I wield it much better than you."

Lei Shen struck the beast with a mighty bolt of lightning from his fingers.

The light of a thousand suns burst into being as the arc blazed forward, long shadows cast from clouds and trees alike.

It struck the black scales with the sound of a thousand thunderclaps.

Yet when the light cleared, the beast remained. It's eyes were merely filled with disappointment, even as the bold fizzed upon it's black scales.

"The Titan's will is one of order," said the Beast, unfazed by the attack of the Thunder King. "The order you are creating will dissolve into chaos. True order cannot be imposed by fiat, no more than sheer force of will can suffice to forever balance a pebble on the tip of a mountain. True order must be be alive, must evolve to harmonize and stabilize all the elements of the world.

"But you enslave the Pandaren. You break their spirits and you make them afraid. And you squander the potential they represent. And this shall be your downfall if you continue this course."

Lei Shen laughed, dismissing the Great Beast's warning again.

"They have no power, they have no strength," he said. "Their usefulness is only in their enslavement, in the drudgery the perform to free the enlightened for more worthwhile pursuits. They are not worthy to be considered an equal to us."

"Then you are a bigger fool than I thought," said the Beast. "For you do not know what true strength, what true power is. True power is not measured by how you force your will upon others. True power, is measured by the work you do to better the world for all, not by how well you can force the world to conform to your dogma. And the fount of that power is within, not without. Strength of the mind and heart, body and spirit...in harmony."

The Pandaren slaves had halted their work at the beast's words, each pair of eyes gazing up in awe. And in each mind, an ember began to burn.

Lei Shen scoffed. As he turned to leave, the beast spoke again.

"If physical strength is how you judge the worthiness of those around you. Then, I shall show you my strength. Come to the Kun-Lai highlands three days hence."

In his arrogance, Lei Shen did, making the journey through the flat plains of Kun-Lai to that appointed location. For what had he to fear…a child of gods, an emperor of a continent, from a mere beast? One that itself would not fight his greatness?

As Lei Shen sat to watch the display of the mighty, winged creature's strength, the Beast dove into the ground. The ground quaked violently, breaking and opening up. Lei Shen still stood defiant even while his fellow Mogu began to tremble and fear.

Kun-Lai broke. The center of the plains heaved and break, stone shattering with a rumble that shook the souls of the watching Mogu. The center continued to rise, higher and higher, into the clouds until it scraped the roof of the world itself. And so the tallest peak in all of Azeroth was formed, Mount Neverest.

The great beast rose from the ground as if it were rising from mere water, shattered stone blocks cascading down its sides. Behind him lay spires of rock and snow, a monument to the great beast's physical strength.

"Is this the strength you seek?" the Beast asked.

It glanced back to the mountains, before looking down to the Thunder King.

"One day, these mountains I have created will be your tomb. For this is the place that your current path will lead. For what is sown must be reaped."

And with that final warning, the great beast left.

The great beast spoke great wisdom. And the seed he planted grew, in the minds of the Pandaren, until they at last rose up against the Mogu.

The beast's other words came true as well, as the future he described for Lei Shen came to pass. And so it came to pass that Lei Shen was laid to rest inside a vast vault under Kun-Lai, resting at the foot of Mount Neverest, just as the beast had said.

After the fall of the Mogu, the Pandaren created their own empire, one of peace and tranquility. They heeded the words of the beast again, and through it's great wisdom they learned of how the land could be poisoned with thoughts of fear, violence, hatred, doubt, anger, and despair.

Yet one lesson the beast did not teach.

The lesson that the Mogu suffered from.

Pride.

Hubris.

It is not known why the beast did not speak that lesson; perhaps the students were not ready.

But perhaps when that lesson comes, we will be prepared to learn.