World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 (17 page)

The emergence of so much life around the vale piqued the interest of four
Wild Gods. Their names were
Xuen, the White Tiger;
Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent;
Chi-Ji, the Red Crane; and
Niuzao, the Black Ox.

Xuen and his fellow Wild Gods gathered at the vale to watch over and guide the myriad life-forms that dwelled in the area. Though the warlike activities of the mogu often troubled them, the Wild Gods delighted in watching the other races flourish. In particular, Xuen and the other demigods developed close ties with the pandaren, in large part due to their penchant for peace.

The pandaren considered the Wild Gods, whom they called the “
August Celestials,” to be benevolent deities. They formed a system of worship devoted to the extraordinary beings. In return, the Wild Gods bestowed knowledge on the pandaren, nurturing their ties to philosophy and the natural world. At the behest of the August Celestials, the pandaren formed a culture that sought peace and harmony with the surrounding environment.

Yet soon a new mogu leader would arise to challenge these philosophies. His name was
Lei Shen, and his rule would threaten not only the mortal races of the vale, but the August Celestials as well.

MOGU DEFENDING THEIR LANDS FROM THE MANTID

A
s the
pandaren and other races prospered around the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, the mogu continued their endless squabbling. It was during this cycle of violence that a warrior named Lei Shen came to power.

A descendant of a minor warlord, young Lei Shen was thoroughly accustomed to the brutality of clan warfare. Despite his skill and success in battle, he saw the incessant conflicts and political maneuvering as a betrayal of the mogu’s potential. Nevertheless, he remained stalwart as a vassal for his father.

A close advisor eventually betrayed and murdered Lei Shen’s father. Almost all of the fallen warlord’s clansmen sought refuge in the ranks of other clans, abandoning Lei Shen. Only a few loyal armsmen refused to leave his side. Rather than seek retribution and perpetuate the violence, Lei Shen chose to go into exile. He wandered the land, meditating on what he saw as the failures of his kind.

Soon Lei Shen desired answers his intellect and reason could no longer provide. He set off in search of the mogu’s long-absent master, Highkeeper
Ra.

In recent centuries, the highkeeper had become known as
Ra-den
, meaning “Master Ra” in the new mogu tongue. Few of Lei Shen’s kind even believed he still lived. Why would their ancient creator have allowed them to suffer from the
curse of flesh? Lei Shen believed Ra-den had a plan, a master purpose, and that the current trials of the mogu were merely a test. Perhaps it was even the will of the
titans themselves. After all, Ra-den was their living instrument.

After years of searching, Lei Shen located the entrance to the hidden vaults beneath the land north of the vale, sacred chambers that the mogu had all but forgotten due to their ceaseless warring. There he found the highkeeper, sitting quietly in the stillness beneath the earth. Ra-den showed no reaction to the young mogu’s intrusion. The highkeeper said nothing, even as Lei Shen began to ask him questions about the mogu’s true purpose.

T
HE
M
ADNESS OF
L
EI
S
HEN

The decision to abandon any claim to his father’s power had spared Lei Shen’s life. When a clan’s leader was killed, it was customary for rivals to immediately murder his family and thus exterminate the clan lineage forever. Lei Shen’s meditations were seen as a sign of despair and madness. Most assumed he would never be a threat to any mogu ever again
.

Days and weeks passed, and Lei Shen grew frustrated with his master’s silence. Finally the mogu realized that Ra was not contemplating some subtle plan, was not engrossed in the work of the titans … The highkeeper had simply given up. The suffering of the mogu had been the result of an absentee master and nothing more.

Lei Shen unleashed his anger on Ra, accusing him of abandoning the titans and their purpose. His harsh words roused the highkeeper from his stupor. Ra took Lei Shen to the nearby
Thundering Mountain, where unending storms roared and split the heavens. No mogu had dared scale its slopes before, for the mountain was believed to be a forbidden place. Inside a massive, ornate vault, Ra-den summoned the lingering power of
Aman’Thul and showed Lei Shen the answers he wanted: the titans of the
Pantheon were dead, murdered by one of their own. Their final hope was the world of Azeroth itself, but it was already infested with creatures of the
Void.

The highkeeper had assumed that this knowledge would shatter Lei Shen’s soul as it had his own. Yet the mogu reacted in a way Ra-den never expected.

Lei Shen decided that if his master had no interest in continuing the titans’ purpose, he would do it himself. Without warning, he struck out and incapacitated Ra-den. Lei Shen then bound the mighty being in enchanted iron bands. He stole not only Ra-den’s incredible power, but also the contained power of
Aman’Thul
.

Might beyond understanding flooded through Lei Shen’s soul. He imprisoned Ra-den within the Thundering Mountain, ignoring the highkeeper’s rage and confusion at the betrayal. When Lei Shen descended the mountain and met with his remaining armsmen, they were in awe of him. Rumors of Lei Shen’s newfound might spread among the mogu clans. Some believed he had torn out the heart of a god and eaten it. A few claimed he had harnessed the ancient powers of the vale itself. Still others whispered that he was a titan reborn.

Yet all of the stories had one fact in common: this “Thunder King” had demanded that all mogu bow before him. He claimed the birthright of the titans, and he would destroy all those who refused to yield to his will.

Thereafter, Lei Shen set out to unify the mogu and forge them a new destiny as the masters of Azeroth and guardians of its
world-soul. The petty squabbling and warfare that had plagued their kind would no longer be tolerated. With lightning and thunder at his command, Lei Shen crushed all opposition. The fortunate ones were killed quickly; the unfortunate ones were kept in chains for centuries.

Initially, most of the mogu rallied to him out of fear, but his “miracles” soon inspired devotion. The Thunder King had mastered the enchanted tools of the keepers. One of these was the
Engine of Nalak’sha, a powerful device that Lei Shen had discovered beneath the land north of the vale. Using this extraordinary machine, the mogu began shaping flesh and stone into new living creatures. They even found a way to reverse the curse of flesh among themselves.

Under Lei Shen, a period of prosperity
and
brutality gripped the vale. For the mogu, it was the beginning of a glorious new empire. Yet for the region’s other races, it marked the start of an age of tyranny.

A
s Lei Shen’s empire expanded in scope and power, he soon regarded all living creatures within his domain as his servants. The curse of flesh was a weakness, he reasoned, and although not all of the mogu might ever be fully cleansed of the flaw, other beings of flesh would always be beneath them.

The Thunder King began a campaign of enslavement in the lands surrounding the vale. The wise
jinyu had established a small empire of their own. Though they fought valiantly, the jinyu ultimately crumbled before the might of Lei Shen. The mogu sacked their towns and left their entire civilization in ruins.

Upon learning of the jinyu’s fate, the
pandaren fled to Kun-Lai Summit, north of the vale. There, they sought the protection of
Xuen, the White Tiger. When Lei Shen brought his armies to the foothills, he challenged Xuen to a duel that would decide the fate of the pandaren. Xuen accepted, and for many days the great battle between the White Tiger and the Thunder King shook the skies over Kun-Lai. In the end, Xuen could not match Lei Shen’s stolen titan power. Lei Shen chained Xuen near the peak of the mount, forcing the
August Celestial to watch as the mogu bound the pandaren to slavery. Fearing that the pandaren’s peaceful philosophies would undermine his rule, Lei Shen forbade them from learning how to read or write, or even how to speak any language other than the mogu tongue. To disobey was to be killed in slow, brutal fashion.