| Mogu | |
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Throne of Thunder |
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Leaders: |
Lei Shen† (Empire) |
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Organization: |
Various clans |
The Mogu are a race of powerful titan-forged Humanoids native to the region of Pandaria. Proud, stoic, and hateful, the Mogu are one of the many Titan-forged races created by the Titans in their campaign to bring order to the world of Azeroth. The Mogu were created by the Titan Keepers during the ordering of Azeroth to carve and protect the land. In particular, the Mogu would fall under the command of Titan Keeper Ra, also known as Ra-Den, and established a firm control over the southern reaches of Azeroth. The Mogu would later be afflicted by the Curse of Flesh orchestrated by the Old Gods, and would begin a spiral into in-fighting until reunited by the formation of the Mogu Empire.
Today the Mogu are once again frustrated by their divisions. Having fallen far from their lost Titan heritage, the Mogu yet strive in their own way their original purpose bestowed unto them by the Titans; to protect the World-Soul of Azeroth.
Biology[]
The Mogu are a large people, with a powerfully built frame that can stand from as short as eight to as tall as fifteen feet in height. From the earliest origins, the Mogu share the same stone composition as a great many of the Titanforged races such as Earthen and Tol'vir. It is whispered in legends that the Mogu were created in the image of Titan Watcher Norushen, the first Mogu.
After the Curse of Flesh, The Mogu lost their stone composition and solidarity and gained a number of characteristics inherent to many mortal races of Azeroth, including the need to eat, sleep and breathe. Mogu males and females both possess digitigrade legs with a set of leonine claws to walk upon. Mogu hair appears to grow in a peculiar way, bundling together in thick dreadlocks at the chin and cranium. Upper body strength is impressive in Mogu males, and are capable of tearing down large trees and crushing impressively sized boulders with their arms alone.
History[]
Origins[]
The Mogu came into being through the use of a Titan Synthetic Being Matrix, a term for the multiple Titan forges scattered beneath the Crust of Azeroth used by the Keepers to create their servants. From the Forge of Wills in Ulduar, Keeper Ra used the legendary Titan artifact, the Fist of Ra-Den, shaped by Aman'thul the Highfather from a bolt of lightning, to bestow life upon the Mogu and forever gift them with the fury of the storm. The Mogu were once a legion of stone, heartless and obedient, content in the purpose given to them by their Father. By their Masters' command, the Mogu fought against the terrible malformations of the Old Gods and their Servants in the primordial age of Azeroth. The Mogu shaped the mountains and carved the rivers of the land. When their work was done and order had been brought to Azeroth at last, they joined their Titan Keeper Master as he marched to the southern reaches of the World, to oversee the nessecary task of implanting the God-machines in Azeroth's soul, to nurse and develop the World-Soul within that would one day birth a new Titan.
As Ra-Den marched south, accompanied by vast legions of his Titan-forged servants, such as the stalwart Anubisaths, the leonine Tol'vir, and the indomitable Mogu, the Keeper discovered the physical remains of the Old God Y'Shaarj, killed in the Ordering of Azeroth by Aman'thul. Disturbed, yet presented with the opportunity to understand these great nemeses of the Titans, Ra-Den decided to begin operations in this southern corner of the ordered world. At Ra-Den's command, the Mogu constructed an astonishingly beautiful cradle of life, tended to by the Titan Keeper Freya around the prison of Y'shaarj's remains. This Cradle of Life would become known as the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, and would form the core of the emergent Mogu Society. The Mogu and their Titan Keeper Masters bade them and aided them in the creation of Titan facilities in the land that would one day become known as Pandaria. The Titan facility that would become known as the Mogu'shan Vaults was created beneath a mighty mountain range that echoed with thunder. Within, a new Synthetic Being Matrix known as the Forge of the Endless was installed, along with the means to create new Mogu. Finally, an astonishingly powerful God-machine known as the Engine of Nalak'sha was implemented in the facility's deepest levels, with power enough to mold Azeroth to the Maker's will.
With his fortresses established and the remains of Y'Shaarj secure, Ra-Den felt the Titan-forged's work to be secure. With much yet to do upon the ordered world, Ra granted the Mogu the task of the protection of the Vault of Y'Shaarj, as well as the care of the lands they had lovingly crafted. Ra-Den bade the Mogu farewell, wished them fortune, and set off with the remaining Anubisaths and Tol'vir to construct the great fortresses of Uldum and Ahn'Qiraj. The Titan Keeper himself, once seeing his work complete, would spend the following ages roaming the southern hemisphere of Azeroth, visiting his children and watching them from afar, ensuring they upheld their sacred charges.
The Curse of Flesh[]
Thousands of years would pass before strife came to the Mogu. Left to their own devices, the Mogu continued their charge of protecting the southern regions of Azeroth. In this time, new races would spring into being, both mortal and animal. The Mogu accepted these new beings into their domain stoically, not seeing them as interfering with their sacred duty. In this quiet age, the Mogu would begin the development of their nascent culture, measuring themselves against one another in contests of strength and learning more of the outside world. In these pursuits, no Mogu would dare harm another and though they possessed the freedom to do so, most Mogu were content to remain in the holdings bestowed unto them by Ra-Den.
15,000 years before the opening of the Dark Portal, agents from the fallen Titan Keeper Loken arrived in Southern Kalimdor, seeking news of Ra's fate for the paranoid and corrupted Keeper. His agents never found Ra, nor news of him from his Mogu servants. Yet while they may not have found Ra, they left something behind; the Curse of Flesh. The Mogu who interacted with Loken's agents unknowingly contracted the virulent curse of flesh from the Old God influenced Titanforged sent by Loken, and they unwittingly spread the curse throughout the rest of Mogu society.
The Mogu defend their lands from the Mantid.
First, the Mogu grew restless. After their master, Ra-den, fell silent and their bodies were turned into flesh and blood by the Curse of Flesh, the Mogu became frustrated. After a thousand years without orders from their master, the mogu began to argue amongst themselves, soon falling apart into warrior clans. Their culture, language and identity began to change, and the mogu came dangerously close to destroying themselves from within. Only one thing united them; Their instinctual duty to protect the lands charged to them by the Titans. It was programmed into their bones and blood, and at the beginning of each new mantid swarm, the clans would reluctantly band together to defend their lands against the insectoid threat, but once the swarm had been fended off, they would once again fall back to infighting.
The rise of Lei Shen[]
So the cycle continued for many years. However, one king would prove himself far more intelligent, inspired, and ambitious than the others. The young Lei Shen was born the son of a warlord during the Age of a Hundred Kings. Despite seeing the mogu's infighting and squabbling as a betrayal of their great potential, Lei Shen remained a stalwart vassal of his father. A close advisor eventually betrayed and murdered Lei Shen's father, causing the clan to fall apart and seek refuge with other warlords, leaving Lei Shen and a handful of loyal guardsmen behind. Unusually, Lei Shen did not seek vengeance for his Father's murder. It was typical custom for Mogu society at the time for all family of a fallen King to be executed so that they would never prove to be a challenge again. Rather than continue the fighting, the young mogu chose to go into exile, meditating and wandering the land. Most mogu saw Lei Shen's meditations as a sign of madness and proof that he would never threaten any mogu ever again.
Like his brothers, Lei Shen was strong of arm and fluent in the ways of war. But unlike others of his generation, he spoke of more than conquest. Lei Shen had listened to and learned from the legends of his forefathers a thousand times over. Speaking of the great gods of the Mogu and their master, the Storm. These legends were etched into his heart. Once Lei Shen had come of age and commanded his own legions, he announced his intent to awaken the gods. After years of searching, the warlord found the entrance to the hidden vaults beneath the lands north of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. What he found therein was illuminating: the titanic watcher Ra, who stood guard over a miraculous titan device, the Engine of Nalak'sha.
The Highkeeper showed no reaction upon seeing Lei Shen, even as the mogu began asking him questions about the mogu's purpose. Weeks passed, and Lei Shen grew more and more frustrated, and still, Ra said nothing. When the mogu realized that Ra was not contemplating some grand plan, but had simply given up hope, Lei Shen unleashed his anger upon the keeper, accusing him of abandoning the work of the titans. The harsh words finally woke Ra fom his stupor, and the highkeeper brought the mogu to the nearby Thundering Mountain. There, Ra-den summoned the lingering spirit of Aman'Thul, Highfather of the Pantheon. Ra had assumed that the bleak truth of the Titan's demise would break the spirit of Lei Shen. Yet the Mogu reacted in a way Ra-Den had never expected. The revelation that the Pantheon were dead did not, however, cause Lei Shen to fall into despair like Ra had. Instead, the mogu decided that if the Pantheon were dead and their servant refused to continue their work, he would do so himself. Without warning, Lei Shen incapacitated Ra, bound the keeper in great chains, and stole not only the keeper's power, but also the power of Aman'Thul.
Flush with the power of Ra-Den and Aman'thul and insight beyond understanding flooding into his mind, Lei Shen endured an epiphany of the truth of the universe, learning of Titans and Old Gods and the struggle of order against chaos. Lei Shen was determined to never let chaos arise on Azeroth again. From now on, there would only be order. His order. When Lei Shen descended the mountain and met with his remaining loyal armsmen, they fell to their knees in awe, for before them stood if not their gods, then their greatest embodiment. He declared the Thundering Mountain to be his seat of power and atop its summit he would build a majestic and forbidden city.
The conquest of Pandaria[]
Lei Shen looked upon his kneeling followers. "We will call you 'The Lightning King'", they said. But Lei Shen did not agree. "Lightning strikes in an instant and is over in a flash," he said. "But thunder. Thunder! Thunder proclaims the coming of the storm. Thunder quakes the skies long before the lightning strikes, and thunder echoes in the hills long after lightning's power is spent. It is thunder that sends animals cowering and fills the hearts of peasants with dread. Let thunder be my herald, so that my power is felt throughout the land. I will be... The Thunder King." This among many other stories were told surrounding the newly declared Emperor of the Mogu, yet all stories had fact in common. This "Thunder King" had demanded all mogul bow before him. He had claimed the birthright of the Titans and would destroy all who refused to bow to his will.
Thereafter, Lei Shen set out to unify the Mogu clans and forge them into a new people as masters of azeroth and guardians of its world-soul. No longer would infighting be tolerated within the Mogu. Initially, most Mogu rallied to his banner out of fear, but his 'miracles' soon inspired genuine devotion, many looking upon him as a God-King. The Thunder King mastered many of the arcane secrets of the Titans. Foremost among them was the Engine of Nalak'sha, a God-Machine of the Titans beneath the north of the vale. Using the endless energy produced by such a miraculous machine, the Mogu began shaping flesh and stone and create new creatures and servants to reinforce their armies and guard their domain. Under his opinion, a new reign of both enlightenment and oppression in equal measures began to spread over the land.
The Thunder King came to regard all living beings within his domain as his servants, and decided to conquer the two empires of the jinyu and hozen, two races who had settled around the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Though the jinyu fought valiantly, they ultimately crumbled before the might of Lei Shen. The Jinyu villages were eradicated, their culture was suppressed, their bodies marched over and their entire civilization was left in ruins. On the eve of the jinyu's final stand against Lei Shen, they were betrayed by their allies, the hozen, who had pledged their loyalties to the Thunder King in the false belief that they would receive preferential treatment under the Thunder King's reign. A promise that was never kept by Lei Shen nor his successors.
After learning of the Jinyu's fate, the wise and enigmatic Pandaren fled from their lands surrounding the vale. They sought shelter in the harsh Kun-Lai mountains north of the Vale. The August Celestial Xuen had learned of the Pandaren plight, and resolved to fight for them. Well aware of the strength of his foe, Lei Shen approached Xuen with an offer of single combat. If the White Tiger could defeat Lei Shen in battle, then he would leave the Kun-Lai mountains alone for all time. If he lost however, the population would be enslaved. Xuen agreed, and for thirty days and nights the battle of strength and thunder raged across the Kun-Lai peaks. Finally, Lei Shen defeated the White Tiger and displayed his defeated foe for all to see in a prison built high in the mountains. The Pandaren were enslaved, and faced a future of cruelty beneath their new Mogu overlords.
Reign of the Empire[]
For the next three thousand years, The Mogu Empire would endure, but was never as powerful and expansive as it was under the Thunder King's rule. An era of equal parts enlightenment and brutality descended upon Azeroth as the Mogu quickly advanced to become the most powerful nation-state on Azeroth.
Culture[]
Mogu Culture is largely based around the concept of Order. This heritage from their Titanic ancestry is translated in modern times to concepts of control, dominance, and authority.
Magic[]
Unlike "lesser races" that need schooling in the arts of magic, the ability is innate in the Titan-forged Mogu. From what is known about Mogu usage of magic, their magic users typically do not fall into known categories, such as mage or warlock. Special emphasis was placed on flesh-shaping or spirit-capture magic. The mogu are competent flesh-shapers and can create other creatures from the substance called Anima. They are known to have created the saurok and grummles.
Government[]
In many ways, ancient Mogu government was a meritocracy, based on brutal strength and terrible cunning. The changing of a Mogu dynasty was a bloody process where the previous regime must be overpowered and executed. As a part of mogu culture, when a clan's leader is killed, it is customary for rivals to immediately murder his family and thus exterminate the clan lineage forever.
List of known Mogu Kings and Emperors.
- Queen Monara (Pre-Empire)
- Emperor Lei Shen, "The Thunder King." "Creator of the Saurok."
- Emperor Dojan Firecrown.
- Emperor Dojan II
- Emperor Kang
- Emperor Wai
- Emperor Qiang Steelskin, "Warlord King." "The Merciless." "Creator of the Yaungol."
- Emperor Subetai Swiftfoot, "The Bandit King."
- Emperor Zian "of the endless Shadow."
- Emperor Meng Sharpfang, "The Mad King."
- Emperor Tian, "Creator of the Grummles."
- Emperor Tsao
- Emperor Lao-Fe, "The Slavebinder."
Empire falls
- King Xin the Weaponmaster, "King of the Clans." (Claimant)
- Emperor Lei Shen, "The Thunder King." (Ressurected)
Slavery[]
Slavery was a common practice for the Mogu Empire, and remains a common one to this day. Slavery as a Mogu institution began with Emperor Lei Shen, who felt it was only right that the "lesser races" of the world served the Mogu just as the Mogu had once served the Titans. In many ways, the mogu are based on brutal strength and terrible cunning. Even with powerful magic at their disposal, the mogu often preferred to use slaves to build their massive monuments. Enslaved humanoids were marked with branding irons. Forged of iron and imbued with spells of subjugation and pain, manacles with inward-facing spikes were forced onto the slave races of the mogu. The blood of many mogu slaves were shed with a bone whip fashioned from the spine of some large and ancient creature. Anatomical dummies of pandaren, jinyu, hozen and even fellow mogu were used to document torture techniques.
When the mogu had exhausted their options for enslaved mortal warriors, they turned their attention to creating armies of animated constructs to do their fighting for them. These terracotta warriors would sometimes sit dormant for centuries.
Mogu Clans[]
Mogu family life was arranged into a Clan structure. Smaller family units made up the lower portion of the ladder, whilst larger, interconnected Clans forged of alliances and family relations occupying the upper tier. Most Mogu Clans are named after their founder, though modern Mogu Warlords may readily rename the Clan when they come into leadership.
List of known Mogu Clans:
- Clan Shan'ze
- Clan Shao-Tien
- Clan Dojani
- Clan Gurthan
- Clan Kargesh
- Clan Harthak
- Clan Gormal
- Clan Korune
- Clan Baruk
- Clan Dokani
- Clan Zan-Tien
- Clan Rajani