Mists of Pandaria is an expansion the likes of which we haven't seen before -- and a lot of that has to do with the lore and story behind the expansion. Unlikely every expansion before, Mists doesn't feature any of the usual host of big bad villains from previous Warcraft games. It's all new, and with that newness comes an almost overwhelming amount of new lore to figure out.

But Mists isn't just about the pandaren, Pandaria or the assorted new races found on the new continent. It's also a story of Alliance and Horde, locked in a conflict that began all the way back in Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. And Mists features some familiar faces from current lore, characters that continue to grow and change with each new iteration of the game we love.

We've been writing lore columns here and there detailing different characters in the game, but these columns can get lost in everything else on the site. So for the sake of convenience, here's a selection of lore articles featuring people and places that will be involved with the new expansion.