Immortality

Naturally one of the first questions was about the new un-announced Alliance race to be featured in the expansion. Metzen gave no hints, and implied that they're still working out all the details. But he did acknowledge that once everyone hears about the new race, part of it will make sense, and part of it will make everyone go "huh?" ...We can't even speculate. (But it won't be Pandas.)

But he did acknowledge that once everyone hears about the new race, part of it will make sense, and part of it will make everyone go "huh?"

The Pandaren Empire, founded in ancient times, before the Great Sundering of the world, shared resources and mystic knowledge with the haughty night elves of central Kalimdor. However, as the night elves' racial obsession with the forces of magic drove them to the brink of madness, the gentle pandaren decided to sever their ties and leave the night elves behind forever. Sensing that magic would be the doom of any race that trifled with it, the pandaren clans, or shao'dins, traveled far into the treacherous lands of the south. There the pandaren established crude, but beautiful cities of stone and sturdy bambus reed. They lived in peace for many generations before the burning shadow came to engulf the world...

After the War of the Ancients and the subsequent Sundering of the world, the pandaren's surroundings became increasingly hostile. Forced to fight for food and precious land against both the early tauren and the bristling quilboar tribes, they developed into amazingly proficient warriors. Wielding thin, delicately balanced blades, the pandaren wardancers quickly established themselves as some of the deadliest swordsmen of the ancient world. With the wardancers leading their armies, the pandaren carved out a small empire for themselves in the Stonetalon region of Kalimdor's desolate Barrens. Though the fierce wardancers maintained peace throughout the pandaren lands, their relatively small population would ensure that their influence would never spread much farther than the Barrens' rocky borders.

Now that war has engulfed Kalimdor once again, the mighty pandaren have come forth to protect their sacred lands and ensure their ancient race's survival.