Gnomes are a meritocracy - While High Tinker is given based on the vote, the vote is whom the best tinker is.
Anyway..
Orcs (Mag'har as well), Trolls, Tauren, Highmountain Tauren - Tribalism.
Humans, Dwarves, Mechagnomes, Worgen, Zandalari - Monarchy. Kul Tiran - Feudalism.
Blood Elves, Dark Iron - Regency. Previously a Monarchy.
Void Elves, Pandaren - Anarchy.
Goblins - Oligarchy.
Night Elves, Draenei, Lightforged Draenei - Theocracy
Gnomes, Nightborne - Meritocracy
Vulpera - Mentioned to be a Democracy in a quest if I recall, as the Vulperan Caravans vote for whoever their leader will be.
Undead - Ex-Dictactorship. Currently an Anarchy.
Off the top of my head, it seems to be a direct result of their extremely zen culture (itself a necessity due to the Sha). An entire culture built around harmony tends not to need much by way of ruling bodies to keep shitty people in check, as it seems the Shado-Pan have authority to 'induct' anyone who's particularly disruptive and poses a risk of causing Sha outbreaks accordingly.
It'd be interesting to see how their culture develops without the threat of the Sha and, as of BFA, with the mantid once again crippled, this time without any apparent successor and all the Old Gods their culture is built around dead. It's likely that the current state of things has become so ingrained in pandaren culture that they'll continue forward as-is, since even without that particular Sword of Damocles hanging over their head, the system works well for their genial culture and relaxed pace of living.
I'm also curious as to how the Shado-Pan will change once Taoshi, Taran Zhu's apparent successor-in-training and second, and a member of the Uncrowned's leading council, takes over given her aforementioned affiliation.
Last edited by Thage; 2020-02-14 at 07:19 PM. Reason: Clarification
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Right now all signs point to being appointed by the rest of the Alliance. Varian earned his place during the Pandaren campaign (although it was largely a formality, as he had personally overseen most Alliance operations since his return before the second Scourge Invasion regardless) and Anduin got the job because of his personal ties with most of the Alliance leadership.
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Oh of course, anything is removable by forceful rebellion
On the King able to prevent wars, that is because warmongers are actually a minority among the rest of the states, they wouldn't go to war without the support of the alliance, they can, but they will do so alone (darkshore) with only the willing support of others, if they convince the high king, he can call the other states for war, and the other states can decline (draenei in BFA, they stayed mostly out of it due to being spent from legion)
"Welcome to MMO-C, where most posters would rather play semantics, pick faults or just flat out fail at reading comprehension so they can argue with you over an issue that wasn't even in the original post."
-Kronik85
Democracy and communism? Old Gods represent both, they are a literal cancer after all.
It's questionable as to how much they've erected a full monarchy and how much is just them putting elections on hold while they sort everything out--at this point, Gelbin has won every election since he invented the mechanostrider, if memory serves, so coronating him for the sake of stability (and because so far, nobody else has the merits necessary to challenge him in the elections) may only be a short-term thing. Regardless, once he passes/dies I expect the gnomes will return to electing High Tinkers.
There's also the question of this being done to help integrate the mechagnomes, as Mekkatorque's coronation is apparently being done to unify the gnomes and mechagnomes; once the mechagnomes adjust to the ideas of the gnomes' democratic meritocracy we could see elections resume. So abolish is a bit of a strong word here, it feels more like when pre-Caesar Rome would appoint a de facto king during wartime for the sake of keeping everything running smoothly with a minimum of bureaucracy (and Gelbin doesn't seem the Caesar type who would take the opportunity to establish a hereditary monarchy regardless).
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I'd probably agree with the idea that the threat of the Sha kind of stood in for any kind of central authority insofar as enforcing social law and custom goes, as the necessity for repression of negative emotions would keep the populace on the straight and narrow without much of a need for external enforcement. With the Shado-Pan dealing with the rare outliers in their culture you have a functioning "state" where individuals essentially keep themselves in line, lest they provoke a greater evil in the form of the Sha to bedevil them.
10,000+ years of isolation and social repression has probably permanently shaped their society, as well - it'd take quite a long while to see any marked changes in mainland Pandaren culture, I'd wager. I don't really see Taoshi changing much of Zhu's policies as concerns the Shado-Pan, while she might have more willingness to work with outsiders like the Horde and Alliance she'd probably keep such contact to a minimum and confined to working with Shado-Pan agents who are already far removed from the hustle of bustle of Pandaren society. Interestingly enough the Pandaren of the Wandering Isles seem to share in the mainland Pandaren's penchant for self-governance, despite the lack of the Sha making it a necessity. This is either down to the very nature of the Pandaren as a people, or perhaps the Pandaren of the Wandering Isles haven't shed their cultural fear of emotionality due to their history on the mainland before departing with Shen-zin Su.
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Sounds quite idyllic, perhaps a proper implementation of collectivism if there was one. I wonder how outward diplomacy would be done to represent the pandaren, maybe through the shado-pan? They seem to be the military organ at least, aside from the occasional militias we see.
My main considerations with Taoshi lay in the more unsavory aspects of the Shado-Pan, aspects Yalia seems to take no joy in as well. For example, under Taoshi I imagine most of their hardline stances will be all but eliminated (especially the threat of torture used in Trial of the Red Blossoms which may or may not have been legitimate) with the Sha removed entirely as a threat and mantid crippled possibly for good this time.
Her penchant for working with outsiders could also see pandaren more active in world affairs as mediators, and the Shado-Pan acting as another Argent Dawn-like institution as N'zoth's invasions have made it pretty clear they can't remain in relative isolation forever.
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I think that's likely, yes - such things may no longer be strictly necessary (if they ever were) for Shado-Pan recruitment. I'm not sure the Mantid are necessarily a non-threat despite their losses in the Ny'alotha conflict, especially since they thrived and continued to be a menace despite the loss of their former "god" Y'Shaarj for millennia. It's likely the Klaxxi will soon empower yet a new queen of the Mantid to guide them into another era, and they'll continue to use the swarm as a means to hone their might at the cost of Pandaren lives. The threat of the displaced Yaungol also remain in the Townlong Steppes.
I don't really think it's the Shado-Pan that would isolate the Pandaren, but rather the insular and xenophobic nature of the mainland Pandaren in general. I can see trade opening up a good deal with some Pandaren enclaves, but it would probably be kept as discrete as possible, with access to their heartland not forbidden but generally discouraged and frowned upon. The high cost of Horde and Alliance interference in Pandaren culture is likely still on the minds of many mainland Pandaren even today, not without good reason either.
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I would imagine the Shado-Pan, themselves mostly non-conformists from mainland Pandaren culture, would continue to be the branch of their society that interacts with foreign nations like the Alliance and Horde - keeping such influences away from the people and acting as an informal barrier of sorts. I would not be surprised if the Shado-Pan had representatives whose role was solely in dealing with the Alliance and Horde dignitaries, acting on behalf of the mainland Pandaren as a whole. Kind of a graduated evolution of the manner in which they dealt with Vol'jin and Tyrathan Khort in "Shadows of the Horde."
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
I'm going to cite this thread as a reason as to why I quit WoW. People like the OP.
I can't just play a game anymore.
The Scourge is obviously stalinist. You've heard it here first.
Well, there are Barovs and such. We know that Forsaken often claim rights to their former land, so I guess they are at least bougeoisie.
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Anduin's appointment wasn't explained. It just looks as if Blizzard didn't care and they put king of Stormwind in charge.
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Mak'gora was legal. It was stupid as it favored the strongest but it was here.
Pandaren and Draenei didn't want war. Night elves, worgen, void elves, high elves and some humans wanted war. I think dwarves were just neutral here.On the King able to prevent wars, that is because warmongers are actually a minority among the rest of the states, they wouldn't go to war without the support of the alliance, they can, but they will do so alone (darkshore) with only the willing support of others, if they convince the high king, he can call the other states for war, and the other states can decline (draenei in BFA, they stayed mostly out of it due to being spent from legion)
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They had a king.