The pandaren have arrived.

The alliance ship that crashes into the pandarean starting area is supposed to have been transporting horde prisoners of war from pandaria to Stormwind.
This is what causes the Tuishi and Houjin to encounter the horde and alliance, pick sides etc.
So if we treat the pandas as IC we can assume the war for pandaria has allready started.

Ezlbag wrote:The alliance ship that crashes into the pandarean starting area is supposed to have been transporting horde prisoners of war from pandaria to Stormwind.
This is what causes the Tuishi and Houjin to encounter the horde and alliance, pick sides etc.
So if we treat the pandas as IC we can assume the war for pandaria has allready started.

For there to be war prisoners from Pandaria, Anduin Wrynn's ship must've crashed there already, so that Garrosh had reason to send his forces there to not let Alliance gain uncharted landmass before the Horde.

And -that- has not happened yet. Since it'll happen in MoP?

What I try to say is.. That's compareable to saying Deathwing flew over Azeroth before he really did ingame.

And thats why im personally confused on how i should treat the pandas.
Seeming as the two "leaders" of the pandarean groups are both important people in the panda start zone.

Ezlbag wrote:The alliance ship that crashes into the pandarean starting area is supposed to have been transporting horde prisoners of war from pandaria to Stormwind.
This is what causes the Tuishi and Houjin to encounter the horde and alliance, pick sides etc.
So if we treat the pandas as IC we can assume the war for pandaria has allready started.

They are prisinors of war, but not from Pandaria, I believe they are simply Horde prisinors. After all, there's a war all around us. However the war has -not- started, my problem with discussions about letting them into the horde or alliance, or letting them study magic as Ashling said, is that do we know more are coming? Do we know some joined the alliance? Until Theramore Falls, I consider the Pandarian War not started as it was stated that action would be the start of the fuse. I don't mind acknowledging the pandas are here, they are really weird and peculiar and a source of intrigue. However bringing five pandas from a camp in Orgrimmar into the Horde seems rather fast, (not to mention there's no democracy in the Horde trololol).

Prior to the Skyfire's arrival in Pandaria, the Skyseeker landed on the northern coast of The Jade Forest. Horde forces had also discovered the area, and were taken aboard the gunship as prisoners after a sea engagement. While transporting the prisoners out of Pandaria, the gunship crashed on the Wandering Isle for unknown reasons.

After crash landing, the alliance marines and horde prisoners were forced to work together as the crash had severely injured Shen-zin Su, the turtle upon which the isle is located. The native pandaren helped remove the Skyseeker's wreckage and heal Shen-zin Su's wound.

Source Wowpedia (yes im aware a pedia is not a completely reliable source but its the only thing i have seen on the subject, so unless another source is provided im inclined to belive it)

Who says they in turn arrive or report back to Stormwind prior to MoP's release?

Theramore is stated to the the fuse that will cause the Alliance to go all in on Garrosh's war effort, the real start of the war. And Theramore will be available a week or so before MoP.

So that week could very well be when the things you speak of Ezl, take place. And then bam, it's MoP and things are in motion.

I too was confused as to the relation between the pandaren, knowledge of Pandaria, and how much should be known at the present time.

I've therefore compiled a brief timeline, made after watching the intro cutscenes (new and old) and browsing WoWpedia:

1- After ‘decisive victories’ at sea, the southern Horde fleet lay waste to the Alliance royal flagship and capture Anduin Wrynn.

2- The Alliance fleet run aground on Pandaria, and are swiftly pursued by the Horde.

3- The Alliance and Horde fight on the newly-discovered continent, but some or all of the Horde fighting force are captured and loaded upon the Skyseeker as prisoners.

4- The Skyseeker crashes upon the Wandering Isle - factions of Tushui and Huojin choose to accompany survivors from their respective factions back to Stormwind and Orgrimmar.

5- At this point, the pandaren begin settling into the capitals, after having been initiated into the Horde and Alliance (finale of Wandering Isle quests).

6- Garrosh and Varian soon hear reports of the continent from survivors of the Skyseeker, and begin plans to send further forces there. This leads into the Jade Forest questline.

(Parts 1-3 and 6 are described in the Horde Jade Forest intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-lrICnSSTY ; parts 4 and 5 are seen on the Wandering Isle)

Therefore, where are we at the moment?

The pandaren are in the capitals, so we’re certainly at stage five at least. Let us not forget that the Wandering Isle pandaren have been ‘separated from Pandaria for millennia’ (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists-of-pandaria/feature/zone), and so their knowledge of the continent likely amounts to half-forgotten myth.

If Garrosh and Varian have yet to be briefed, there is absolutely no knowledge of Pandaria. If they have, all the leaders of the factions know is that there is a newly-discovered landmass to the south. It is very likely that this knowledge has been kept secretly within the confines of Grommash Hold and Stormwind Keep.

Given all of this, I would not expect knowledge of the newly-discovered continent (much less its name) to be anywhere near public until Mists launches.

That is just my opinion (albeit supported by evidence where I can), however.

I fully support the honourable member for Orgrimmar's point.

Anduin is gone, is he gone to Pandaria?

After I read some more, I realised it is possible the Pandaren could have already been there.... yet nobody noticed the island as everyone presumed it was a mist...

Pandaria was shrouded by a magical mist by its last Emperor after the Great Sundering ten thousand years ago, and thus disappeared into myth and legend. Only those pandaren who left their homeland on the back of the great turtle Shen-zin Su, including the renowned pandaren brewmasters, have been seen outside of their homeland since; some even came to the aid of the other races during the Third War.

Somehow before the Shattering dissipated the magic that kept Pandaria hidden since the Great Sundering, some pandaren emerged from the bamboo forests of their ancestors to bring their unique fighting style (and robust ales) to the rest of Azeroth.[2]

So the current NPC's could... actually be there...

However, Thrall hinted that they could be there in Charge of the Aspects. He talks about a "Land beyond the mists"...