Shado-pan
Not to be confused with the Shado-Pan.
In the time of the emperor, there was only one shodo-pan at any one time. At that time, the shodo-pan was the pinnacle of military and spiritual leadership, second only to the emperor. When the empire declined and the pandaren fragmented into shao'din or clans, the shodo-pan represented the leader chosen to head each shao'din.[1]
A shodo-pan must share the perspectives of the militant and the spiritual. Thus, they must learn both the skills and techniques of a wardancer along with the insights and powers of the geomancer. When the shodo-pan cannot negotiate with the spirits of places, he must fight and defeat them. And, just as the geomancers deal with the spirits of place, the shodo-pan must also care for the spiritual needs of their shao'din.[1]
The shodo-pans channel and embody the spirit of the pandaren. It is said the ancestors may foretell a future shodo-pan from among the deserving geomancers and wardancers of the clan. However, neither geomancer or wardancer is favored above the other to become a shodo-pan and candidates must master the the shaktani warblades of the wardancers and learn the Hundred Spirit Songs of the geomancers to qualify for the revered role.[1]
From their dual mastery, they can draw from both the precise strikes of the wardance and the spiritual bulwark of the geomancy to augment their tactics in combat. The centaur khans of the past were known to wisely fear a coming shodo-pan.[1]
Pandaren April Fools[]
- Main article: Pandaren (April Fools)
For a 2002 April Fools joke, Blizzard announced the "Shodo-Pan" as a hero unit of the 5th Warcraft III race, the Pandaren.
References[]
- ^ a b c d Manual of Monsters, pg. 80