Not going to leave WoW entirely either, so let’s make it a thing that probably might have fit into the Imperial Pandaria back in the days.
Nation/Kingdom Name: House Bluemoon.
Government Type: Meritocratic Theocracy.
Coat of Arms or Banner: A blue moon disc above the smoking incense stick, set on the dark blue background.
Capital: The Crescent Terrace.
Ethnic Groups/Species:: 65% Pandaren, 25% Hozen, 7% Jinyu, 3% Grummle
Religions: Celestial worship, complemented with shamanistic practices.
Imports: Metals, gemstones, wood.
Exports: Foodstuffs, incences and many other kinds of agricultural products.
Hallmarks: Freely available healing, religious and reconciliation services.
Signature Weapon: A metal-tipped quarterstaff, being the monks’ traditional weapon.
National Dish: The Four Paths Tea, a composition of around 20 different herbs fit for bolstering one’s focus and willpower. Often used by priests, monks and scholars of all kinds.
Interesting Things about the House Bluemoon:
- Located in the north of the Valley of the Four Winds, the lands of the House Bluemoon hardly differ from the rest of the region on the first sight. A number of fields, farms and small villages cover the slopes of the foothills, making it a rightful part of the still-forming Tillers’ Union of the Valley’s nobility, as well as the house’s main source of income.
- What makes it interesting is an unusually large amount of altars and shrines, littering the land neatly. Mostly small places created to revere the ancestral and elemental spirits, there still are places of worshipping the four Celestials in every village, doubling as the seat of local mayors and elders.
- Healing and recreation are the house’s speciality for the visitors and locals alike. With the larger temples being far away from the Valley’s borders, it serves as the place to come to with trauma, illnesses or other kinds of troubles in one’s life, taking no payment for the aid, just like in any other Celestial temple. Still, it’s not uncommon, especially for those with little money, to repay for the services with gifts, work and otherwise doing their part.
Characters of the House Bluemoon:
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Theocracy is this house’s life. The important matters here are conducted either in the shrines or in front of the Celestial statues, in order to mantain laws and decency. Priesthood is the one road to power here, open for anyone willing and not caring for one’s nobility or ancestors. Which can also be a weak spot in the diplomacy, since marrying into the house does not guarantee the purely noble lineage of those involved.
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In order to keep the clergy from serving themselves instead of the people, it’s common for the house priesthood to not stay in the home lands for too long. Wandering across Pandaria, settling what matters arise and overall making the people’s lives better is expected, as well as pilgrimages to the great Celestial temples. The house’s upper crust is expected to learn in at least one temple at some point and put it to use both before and after reaching the high status.
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A common knowledge that’s seldom talked of in the open is the house being one of the places for the criminals to reintegrate back into the society. Be it thieves, poachers, jinyu outcasts or someone else, if one’s crime is not big enough to warrant an execution or involvement of the Shado-Pan, they can be sent over to learn and live a fair life. In fact, the house’s wandering priests often suggest exactly that to the local authorities, sometimes even in the wake of the grave transgressions if the guilty party shows the willingness to change, and it’s not uncommon for these people to pursue the calls of faith during and after their penance, up to the point of making themselves a name in the house.
Places of Interest:
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The house’s seat of power, the Crescent Terrace, is built on a slope of the mountains separating the Valley and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Basically a big village surrounded with terrace fields, it still sports one of the biggest Celestial shrines in the entire Valley, which doubles as the house of government and the town’s main hospital. Even the house leaders can be seen there regularly, doing the priestly work of healing and mediating on par with their subjects.
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The Garden Markets are the point of the Bluemoon’s pride. An entire tier of the terrace fields near the capital is completely occupied by the arboretums, gardens and market stalls, selling the raw plants and the products alike, be it incences of all kinds, recreative substances or just Valley-grown spices fit for the Imperial-level cuisine. A place where goods are sold in quality rather than quantity, visiting the stalls here can well be rather costly.
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The house’s geographical position puts it right on the border of the hozen territories, which is bound to bring frictions like occasional theft, hunting on its grounds and such. Bluemoon politics about it are openly peaceful, keeping the borders open and allowing the hozen to settle in their land freely. The practice brings clearly more good than the seclusion possibly would, even though the hozen are still hozen, providing an endless flow of rather loud ruckus even though most of it is harmless.
Politics And War
- The House Bluemoon is a meritocratic structure, with the figures of power elected by the clergy from its own ranks, on all levels. Far from all of these are actual priests though, but devotion to the Celestial teachings is still expected as much as the skills needed to take specific posiition. The house’s current leader, Lin Bluemoon, being the senior priestess of Chi-Ji, seems to spend as much time in the hospital as she does the actul ruling, and tries to urge the others to do the same.
- The house militia is far from the strongest even by the Valley standards, and mostly consists of local-trained fighters, shamans and priests with a small number of retired monks as the house guard of a sort. While adequate enough to deal with a saurok warband or some ravaging hozen, in case of serious threats like the warmongering mogu the house can hardly stand on its own, preferring to support the others with healing, blessings and such.
Inspirations/Cultural Analogues:
Basically what a Pandaren noble house would’ve been like if led by the priesthood.