The only real big, cosmic-level threat in Pandaria is the Sha. The literal embodiment of negative emotions. These things can possess people who are overwhelmed by emotional states, and corrupt the land itself.
The last Pandaren Emperor, Shaohao, defeated these Sha by burying them underneath the land.
Let's think about that: They literally bury their emotions.
We've seen how that works out when they falter. The Shado-Pan are conditioned in training to repress emotions so as not to let the Sha overwhelm them as they fend off the Mantid and the Yaungol. Yet something happened at Shado-Pan Monastery, and even Taran Zhu himself is overwhelmed (he gets better after the dungeon, though, as he's part of the Townlong Steppes quests.)
I don't remember a concrete explanation for why Zhu was corrupted, but he sure seems very pissed off at both the Alliance and the Horde for taking their war to his shores, and escalating the minor skirmishes between the Hozen and Jinyu into a full-scale proxy war that totally ruined the Temple of the Jade Serpent with Sha energy.
Here's an interesting thought, though. If Sha are beings of pure emotion, is it such a good idea to repress them, and bury them underground and just try to not feel them? The Pandaren lifestyle has become very jovial and serene, which is fine, but they're not exactly good at dealing with situations when such emotions arise.
Another question: the Mogu ruled over Pandaria for millennia. They're not exactly peace-and-love types, yet they did not seem to be overcome by the Sha.
Ok, one last thing. Supposedly the Mantid were created by an Old God named Y'shaarj, much as the Qiraji were created by C'Thun and presumably the Nerubians were created by Yogg-Saron (or something like that.) Unlike C'Thun or Yogg-Saron, the Titans literally did kill Y'shaarj, rather than just chain him up. The result appears to be the Sha. (Not sure if this is explicitly said, but they did point out that Sha is part of the name Y'shaarj. Still no word on N'zoth.)
This opens up a whole can of lore worms. The Sha are not exactly easy to control. We have heard that the planet would be destroyed if the Old Gods were truly killed. Is Pandaria's uniqueness due to their resident Old God's death? Would they have been better off if Y'shaarj had been left alive, but trapped?
One of the things I'm having a lot of fun with in Pandaria is seeing the ways in which this very unique land, that at first glance doesn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of Azeroth, is actually more closely related than you would think. Reading through some of the lore books and watching Lorewalker Cho's shows, we discover that, for example, the Jinyu were originally Murlocs, who were then transformed by the waters in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, almost exactly the way the Dark Trolls were transformed into Night Elves by the Well of Eternity (they even have the same wireframe skeleton.) The Grummles, as it turns out, were originally Troggs, reshaped by the Mogu into their present form to serve as scouts, meaning the Grummles are actually distant cousins of the Dwarves.
And the Mogu language is Titanic in origin. These are people who seem to be made of stone and metal (or at least they can turn the flesh of the dead into it, which is exactly the opposite of the Curse of Flesh.) If you ask me, I think this points to the Mogu being created by the Titans, presumably with the purpose of either guarding the waters in the Vale or assisting in the creation of new creatures. The Mogu have spirit and flesh-manipulating magics. Perhaps this power was originally intended for a more noble purpose, and something within Mogu society changed eons ago to turn them into brutal oppressors.
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