Guild Wars 2

We only have Kryta left. The Charr has Ascalon and Blood Legion homelands. I think things go on pretty well on blood legion homelands that they send reinforcements for Ascalon. The Charr are stronger than us, more intelligent than us ( I didn’t see a human making any kind of machine ) and probably more agile-ish than us ( Ash legion for the win ).
The Asura are obviously much more intelligent than us.
I think a group of Norn could destroy an entire Seraph squad.
The Sylvari are also weak-ish but they have very strong magic compared to humans.

Well, humans have nothing at all, not as strong as the norn or charr, not as intelligent as the asura, not magical as the sylvari.

I am not an expert on lore but this is 90% right I guess. we’re too weak

We have Countess Anise.

What race is the most powerful NPC guardian we know of? Or the three most powerful friendly mesmers?

By accident or design, ArenaNet has done a poor job at showcasing human advantages. However, one of the things we have been told is that humans have a more intuitive approach to magic than the asura – it’s possible, although asura would never admit it, that humans are actually more attuned to magic than they are. The asura approach the study of magic through logic and the scientific method, and as shown in real life, sooner or later such a structured approach produces more results than people putting stuff together by feel, however good they may be at doing so.

We get a glimpse of this in Sea of Sorrows, where there is a scene where a human elementalist is trying to explain something to an asura mesmer and the latter’s response is “That can’t work like that! This makes no sense!” and the elementalist is talking about how they can feel their way through it – admittedly, this may be an ele versus mes thing, but when combined with other things that ArenaNet has said, I think this is evidence of the ‘intuition versus logic’ distinction between asura and human magic use.

One of the effects of this is that it seems that while asura can do more with magic overall using their arcane technology, a human can become more powerful without it. Pretty much every time you come across someone performing a powerful magical feat without the explicit aid of some magical device, it’s a human. In terms of what we see in game, think of asura champions versus human ones – asura typically reach that level of threat through augmenting their own strength with some sort of magical gadgetry. Human champion are more likely to just blast you with epic quantities of magic or, occasionally, just knock your block in.

This intuitive feel for magic may also explain why human warrior-types at the top end can stand up against the best charr and norn warriors – it’s been confirmed by ArenaNet that warriors do use magic at an instinctive level to boost their physical capabilities, and it may be that humans are better at this side of things than the larger races… enough to roughly compensate for their smaller frame.

This different approach to magic also seems to apply when humans do make magical devices. Asura magitech tends to have a strong ‘form follows function’ aspect to it – an educated asura could probably make a good guess at what another asura’s invention does by looking over it. Humans, on the other hand, tend to be more able to make an object that physically could be anything do whatever they want it to. While there are cases of asura doing a wide range of things with gems, and human knowledge of enchanting magic items seems to have been mostly lost since the Cataclysm and Searing (if not before), this may also be evidence of the distinction between human and asura approaches.

On top of this, humans have:

• The second-strongest military in Tyria, at least among the playable races. The charr chest-thumpers on the forum like to say that an eventual charr victory over Ebonhawke was inevitable without the truce, and maybe they’re right… however, let’s not forget that Ascalon stood alone against the charr for over a thousand years and were winning until the charr found a game-changer… and even then, Ebonhawke held to the present day, making it a total of over fourteen centuries. That’s an achievement. Sure, the centaurs are a problem now, but that’s a problem due to internal human politics, which brings me to…

• Humans are probably the most adept at politics. At the moment, this is hurting them more than helping them as a race, since their political skills and skullduggery is being turned on themselves – however, in the bigger picture, humans are one of the better races when it comes to making friends, despite their violent past, and probably the best race when it comes to manipulating people who have reason to regard them as enemies. Ash Legion has some awareness of these matters, but their focus tends to be more on military special ops than on subtler forms of manipulation.

I have a feeling that I had a couple of other points, but I’ve forgotten them.

Now, sylvari have a lot of the above as well, and may turn out to have humans beaten on the ‘intuitive relationship with magic’ side of things, particularly plant-based magic; however, both on a racial level and in many cases on an individual level humans have a body of practical experience that the sylvari simply don’t have.

We’re forgetting the human durability.

No matter what, where or how much you throw at humans, we will get through it.

Humans may not be the smartest, the strongest, the most adept with magic, but we’re versatile, quick to adapt, united in the face of danger and really hard to get rid off.

Durability is a bit of an ‘informed characteristic’. It is a line that the devs threw fairly often, but the charr had it nearly as bad in 100BE and bounced back, and the asura and norn got it worse and have also bounced back. ArenaNet citing ‘resilience’ as a human strength always struck me as less of an actual strength, and more of a ‘yeah, they’ve been knocked around and they look weak, but don’t worry, they’re resilient!

Well, so are everyone else. It’s possible that humans are genuinely a little more resilient than the others, but not so much that it really makes them stand out.

Versatility, adaptability, and unity are things that I would classify as forms of intelligence, albeit not the same as the asura.

Mind you, I would question the ‘united in the face of danger’ part. Half of Kryta’s problem is that a significant political group among them sees danger as something to be exploited against another political block rather than impetus to put aside their differences. And in the time around GW1, it was human disunity that allowed the charr invasions to succeed… possibly more so, in fact, than the Searing, particularly when you consider Adelbern’s refusal to accept help from Kryta when it was offered.

First of all, humanity obviously roughly equals the charr in military strength, since there would otherwise be no reason for them to enter a treaty. there may be individuals on both sides who boast about how they beat the respective other into submission, but let’s face it – There has been a state of war for two and a half centuries without any side getting the advantage since the searing.

Second, Asura strike me more as “more inquisitive” than “more intellligent”, their culture builds around scientific progress, yes, but that’s a set of mind, not actual evolutionary advantage I think

Norn are isolated hunters, who might outmatch humans in a 1-1 comparison based on raw strength. Lorewise they can’t compete with humans in anything else: Magic, warfare, engineering…

Silvari are not any more magical than humans, from what I’ve seen. To be sure, we don’t know much about them, but looking at the events, there’s nothing to suggest that they outpace humans in the use of magic and humanity is famed for it’s expertise in the use of magic, especially mesmer magic.

So, no, I think humans are not “too weak”, they and the charr are the major forces in tyria at the moment and I think they equal one another. Maybe you mix up gameplay and lore, since Asura, Norn and Sylvari are actual “minorities” in tyria atm I’d think.

Renegade.6240:

We only have Kryta left. The Charr has Ascalon and Blood Legion homelands. I think things go on pretty well on blood legion homelands that they send reinforcements for Ascalon. The Charr are stronger than us, more intelligent than us ( I didn’t see a human making any kind of machine ) and probably more agile-ish than us ( Ash legion for the win ).
The Asura are obviously much more intelligent than us.
I think a group of Norn could destroy an entire Seraph squad.
The Sylvari are also weak-ish but they have very strong magic compared to humans.

Well, humans have nothing at all, not as strong as the norn or charr, not as intelligent as the asura, not magical as the sylvari.

I am not an expert on lore but this is 90% right I guess. we’re too weak

In a word. Yes.

Very much so. we are no match for the Charr. Who are btw too overpowered. They could send in just one of their legions and still maintain secure borders against both the Flame Legion and the Ghost of Human Ascalon.

Humanity do not have either the technology nor the numbers to even realistically challenge the Charr at this time.

Ishmael.6740:

First of all, humanity obviously roughly equals the charr in military strength, since there would otherwise be no reason for them to enter a treaty. there may be individuals on both sides who boast about how they beat the respective other into submission, but let’s face it – There has been a state of war for two and a half centuries without any side getting the advantage since the searing.

Are you serious??? Its clear you are not. Humanity has lost significant land and population in Tyria after the events of Guild Wars. At the end of those events we still held control of significant sections of Ascalon. Now humanity in Tyria only have Kryta. Not only that. Population lost of such massive scale – translates to extreme reduction in the knowledge base of humanity in Tyria – this will include significant lost of magic knowledge and ability – on top of the catastrophic lost of productive capacity and the overall size of its military forces.

And so, please explain you and many other claim that Humanity can ever be seen as comparable in military capability. You are obviously in serious error.

Let’s not forget that before the Guild Wars, one human nation was able to hold of the charr quite handily, such that the charr became regarded as a defeated opponent that no longer regarded as a credible threat. Yes, the Northern Wall was built anyway, but there were major cities on both sides of the wall, and yes, after the Searing the charr rampaged through all three, but that was a) after the military strengths had been sapped by the Guild Wars, and b) their level of success seems to have been derived as much from Searing-related panic as much as anything else (flight of the Krytan leadership, and in the case of Orr, there’s some indications in GW2 that, if not for the threat of a second Searing, Orr would probably have been quite capable of hunkering down).

Yes, the balance of power has shifted substantially since then, but even in Sea of Sorrows, the Krytan prince was able to gain some ground using meatgrinder tactics on what was then the enemy’s home ground. That would have required a significant manpower advantage. Kryta’s position has worsened further since, however, while I think Kryta and Ebonhawke are definitely behind the full charr military strength… I think Kryta is still more powerful than any single legion.

Granted, humans control less land overall… but that was probably the case when Ascalon was standing alone against all four high legions as well. As well as magic (an area in which humans still hold the advantage, incidentally – while not the best resource I remember seeing on the topic, there is at least one interview I can get my hands on fairly easily that explicitly states magic users are rare among the charr) food economy probably plays a strong role to play in this – charr rely entirely on herding, and it’s generally recognised that it takes about ten times as much arable land to raise the same calories from livestock as from high-yield crops. Charr are also twice the mass of humans, and while this makes them stronger (on average, at least), it means they probably need roughly twice as much nutrition – thus, it’s possible that you could sustain twenty humans on the land it was take to generate enough food for one charr. Now, charr are much more optimised for getting the maximum military value out of their population, but this means that given the same amount of arable land, humans can probably sustain a more powerful army.

While technology is an additional force-multiplier, one thing that is not clearly represented in-game is that the charr developed technology in part to compensate for a relative lack of magic – it’s likely that human magic does, to a certain degree, keep them competitive despite making less use of technology. And part of this might be that it further emphasises that humans can make better use of limited resources – the charr war engine requires large amounts of raw materials to produce equipment and keep it operational. A more magic-based army is less reliant on a constant flow of raw materials. Thus, between a better food economy and a more magic-based military, it’s likely that given the same amount of natural resources, a human kingdom can field a more powerful army than a charr legion. Of course, on a conservative estimate, the combined charr legions control at least three times as much land as modern Kryta, probably significantly more.

Certainly, that Ebonhawke held out for two and a half centuries shows that humans still have the strength to force the charr to a standstill. While the siege wasn’t the main focus of the efforts of the charr in the final years… nor was it the main focus of Kryta’s either. If not for the centaur invasion and the realisation on both sides that the dragons were a more important enemy than each other, than I expect the Dragonrise would have been followed by the charr losing everything between the Blazeridge Mountains and the Brand. (They’ve lost or relinquished most of it as it is…)

As I said initially, though: I think it’s not that humans don’t have those strengths, it’s that ArenaNet has been very poor at showcasing them, while they’ve done a very good job of showing those of the asura and charr. Probably partially because tanks are a lot easier to show off than “see that innocent-looking damsel over there? Kitten her off and your memorial will contain words like ‘ground zero’ and ‘blast radius’… and no identified remains.”

Humans don’t need 4 members to run at full speed.

Joking aside, I agree that humans are weakened now, but in terms. Humans that are not good with truce often become bandits, separatists and other villains, so if they could become a real nation, humans would be much stronger.

Every race has its problems. Charr, for example cannot really make Legions work as Cooperative force without some competition, which is why they cannot defeat Flame Legion.

This comes back to my observation earlier about strengths becoming a weakness when turned on themselves. Charr are the most militaristic race, but this bites them in the tail something severe when their military competitiveness turns on each other, and arguably they’ve only truly been united for about three, maybe four centuries total out of their entire history. Humans are highly competitive both militarily (but not to the same level as the charr) and politically, and again, this messes them up quite a bit when they’re using this to compete with one another.

And when you consider that most of humanity’s internal problems are, directly or indirectly, related to the conflict between the monarchy and the ministry…

Renegade.6240:

We only have Kryta left. The Charr has Ascalon and Blood Legion homelands. I think things go on pretty well on blood legion homelands that they send reinforcements for Ascalon. The Charr are stronger than us, more intelligent than us ( I didn’t see a human making any kind of machine ) and probably more agile-ish than us ( Ash legion for the win ).
The Asura are obviously much more intelligent than us.
I think a group of Norn could destroy an entire Seraph squad.
The Sylvari are also weak-ish but they have very strong magic compared to humans.

Well, humans have nothing at all, not as strong as the norn or charr, not as intelligent as the asura, not magical as the sylvari.

I am not an expert on lore but this is 90% right I guess. we’re too weak

1) We don’t only have Kryta left. There is still Elona, and Cantha. Although we do not know the state of either of them, they’re still there, and still major power houses of humanity. There’s also Ebonhawk.

2) Humans have developed technology as well as the Charr. Remember the Watchwork Knights which Scarlet Hijacked? Created by human Engineers, and we saw how effective they were by being forced to fight them.

3) Asura are more intelligent than everyone. However, Intelligent doesn’t translate to common sense, and even more rarely does it translate to Wisdom.

4) Its unlikely you’ll ever find a -group- of Norn, so that’s good for the Seraph Squads. That said they do very well against the Centaur and Bandits out there.

5) Humans have superior magic, in my opinion. The Strength of the Sylvari comes in the shared memories and experiences in the Dream, and their inability to be corrupted by Dragons (excepting Mordremoth, it seems).

The reason humans -seem- weak is that Arena.net focused on developing the other races over Humans. Humanity was the one and only playable race of the original Guild Wars, after all. The other races desperately needed to have strengths to stand in the current setting. That said, there is one other reason humanity is easily perceivable as weaker than the other races.

The Gods are Gone.

By that I don’t mean to say that Humanity needs to have its hand held by the deities. Under no circumstances do we need Dwayna, Grenth, Lyssa, Kormir, Balthazar and Melandru standing in Jennah’s Throne-room. But by the same token, the Gods are -severely- downplayed in the story. They’re supposed to be a major facet of human culture. They’ve been relegated to things like Zodiac Signs/Fortune-Teller tidbits, as the question in Character Creation for humans pretty much makes evident. “Ah, you’re lovely, you must be favored by Lyssa!” That sort of thing.

What Humanity needs in order to be perceived on an equal level with the other races is a formalized religion with specific figureheads. Right now we just have a handful of Priests who we may or may not see in the Persona; Story. However, as we go through Orr, we see these powerful High Priests of the Gods, named lore figures who were their champions. The Gods may be gone, but that doesn’t prevent Humanity from changing the rules of their faith and continuing on with it more as a philosophy and less as a religion, with various Champions who could play a significant role.

I’d honestly rather we fought Mordrem alongside some Warrior Champion of Balthazar than Marjory and Kasmeer any day.

The asura got displaced by a dragon.
The norn got displaced by a dragon.
The charr got corrupted by a dragon.
The human dead got corrupted by a dragon in orr but even in death human ghosts still fight on against the charr.

Justine.6351:

The asura got displaced by a dragon.
The norn got displaced by a dragon.
The charr got corrupted by a dragon.
The human dead got corrupted by a dragon in orr but even in death human ghosts still fight on against the charr.

This just says, ‘Krytan humans are lucky, and humans in general are stronger in death than they are in life.’

I maintain it’s Arena.net’s separation of the Six Gods from the Storyline which is causing Humans to appear weaker than other races, and there is absolutely no need for it. Humanity simply needs to rise up without them, but maintain it’s deep connection to them.

I wouldn’t say it’s the sole reason, but it’s certainly a major factor.

Something I’ve maintained for a while is that ArenaNet dropped the ball in a big way when they failed to give humans any special role in Orr. There’d probably be considerably less of a feeling of humans being weak if humans were able to make it so that instead of the statues being deactivated when the Pact holds them, they get turned around and now provide god-appropriate buffs to players in the area. That wouldn’t be putting the gods back in their old central role, merely making use of things that already exist, but would demonstrate in a fairly visible way that human piety does actually mean something.

This isn’t necessarily an opportunity that’s flown, too – they could introduce such a mechanic explained in the LS as Trahearne’s cleansing ritual having had sufficient effect that the cathedrals can now be reconsecrated instead of simply disabled. It may cause a bit of weirdness for newer players going through, but that horse has well and truly bolted with the destruction of Lion’s Arch.

If they were weak they’d be extinct or enslaved. Humans are still plentiful and growing, that should be enough indication that we are not weak.

The humans are not enslaved not because they are strong or have any strength. Its because the Charr cannot unite as one race and second because they are distracted by both the Flame Legion and the ghosts of human Ascalon. Thus the statement that humans are strong enough is actually false and a complete lie.

Of course Tyrian humanity is weak. Elona and Cantha are different continents to Tyria so must be considered separate. As in both cannot be associated in the terms of reference of this discussion. Also in case if any have missed this detail: both Krytan and Ebonhawke farmland are plagued by bandits and or beasts and renegade factions. This means that human supply lines are weak and unreliable.

Thus none can claim that humanity can hold their own in Tyria. They simply cannot. And this is truth undeniable.

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

The humans are not enslaved not because they are strong or have any strength. Its because the Charr cannot unite as one race and second because they are distracted by both the Flame Legion and the ghosts of human Ascalon. Thus the statement that humans are strong enough is actually false and a complete lie.

Of course Tyrian humanity is weak. Elona and Cantha are different continents to Tyria so must be considered separate. As in both cannot be associated in the terms of reference of this discussion. Also in case if any have missed this detail: both Krytan and Ebonhawke farmland are plagued by bandits and or beasts and renegade factions. This means that human supply lines are weak and unreliable.

Thus none can claim that humanity can hold their own in Tyria. They simply cannot. And this is truth undeniable.

The humans, in Tyria in particular, are strong enough to hold their ground until now. Especially Kryta, it rather remains stable after being united by Queen Salma. They made a more constitutional monarchy and is proven to be a continuous stable system that is valued by the citizen. They made truce with Charr because they know they could not hold on their own feet. And remember, Dougal Keane is a key character who retrieved Claw of Khan-Dur to open negotiation between the Charr and the Human.

Regarding threats, I would briefly say that Charr also got Flame Legion and Ascalonian ghosts inside their territory and Ogre that is expanding their territory. They have struggle to maintain their resources too.

These races could be both devastated if the peace treaty is broken since Mordremoth foreshadows Tyria. No one can hold their own feet in Tyria, but that is not only applied to humans in my opinion.

Just to express a point here:

“The charr are not pushed back not because they are strong or have any strength. Its because the humans cannot unite as one race and second because they are distracted by both the White Mantle and the centaur tribes. Thus the statement that charr are strong enough is actually false and a complete lie.

Also in case if any have missed this detail: both Ashford and Diessa farmlands are plagued by ghosts and/or beasts and renegade factions. This means that charr supply lines are weak and unreliable.

Thus none can claim that charr can hold their own in Tyria. They simply cannot. And this is truth undeniable."

By making a few small alterations, and deleting your reference to other continents (and I could probably have referenced Ash and Blood Homelands as well, to the effect that what we see in Ascalon is what we have when Ash and Blood have already sent all they can spare) I can turn your statement around. Everyone has their own problems. If Ebonhawke hadn’t been attacked in the Dragonrise and Caudecus had seized power*, it’s entirely likely that the Dragonrise would have been followed by a successful invasion of eastern Ascalon from Ebonhawke.

Incidentally, something that people might have missed in the last update:

First, there’s an indication that Queen Jennah might be interested in annexing the Silverwastes. This suggests that, despite an interview sixteen months ago where it was stated that Kryta didn’t have the spare capacity for foreign expeditions, now they’re in a position to seriously consider absorbing not just the Silverwastes but enough of Brisban to maintain a contiguous realm.

Second, there’s a couple of pieces of dialogue that suggest that the Seraph have their own airships now. That’s a substantial increase in their power.

Between these two points, I think that Kryta is actually considerably stronger than the status quo at the start of the game, and by extension the time period that most Krytan regions (and most of the events in those regions) are set at.

*The relevance here is that there’s a lot of evidence that at least some of the bandits are following Caudecus’ orders, and that the centaurs have only had the success they’ve had because Caudecus has been trying to pull a Palpatine to seize control of Kryta. The other part of the relevance is that some of the impetus for the truce is Jennah seeing the bigger picture.

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

The humans are not enslaved not because they are strong or have any strength. Its because the Charr cannot unite as one race and second because they are distracted by both the Flame Legion and the ghosts of human Ascalon. Thus the statement that humans are strong enough is actually false and a complete lie.

Of course Tyrian humanity is weak. Elona and Cantha are different continents to Tyria so must be considered separate. As in both cannot be associated in the terms of reference of this discussion. Also in case if any have missed this detail: both Krytan and Ebonhawke farmland are plagued by bandits and or beasts and renegade factions. This means that human supply lines are weak and unreliable.

Thus none can claim that humanity can hold their own in Tyria. They simply cannot. And this is truth undeniable.

“If they were weak they’d be extinct or enslaved. Humans are still plentiful and growing, that should be enough indication that we are not weak.” Same thing I said in the first place still applies to your response. Humans would be extinct if they didn’t have the strength to endure. The end.

Arenanet has not been very consistent with its lore. The Charr are not so held as some claim, they can actually spare a Legion for war/invasion if not for the treaties they have signed – both with HRH Jennah and with the Orders. And humanity is far from plentiful. Many here include Cantha and Elona(the continuent is a lot worst for Humanity than Tyria – and on par with Orr). Tyria is a separate region in its own right. So the population count for humanity must ONLY include those still living in Tyria, NOT anywhere else.

Thus in my opinion Tyrian humanity is actually at the edge of extinction.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

The humans are not enslaved not because they are strong or have any strength. Its because the Charr cannot unite as one race and second because they are distracted by both the Flame Legion and the ghosts of human Ascalon. Thus the statement that humans are strong enough is actually false and a complete lie.

Of course Tyrian humanity is weak. Elona and Cantha are different continents to Tyria so must be considered separate. As in both cannot be associated in the terms of reference of this discussion. Also in case if any have missed this detail: both Krytan and Ebonhawke farmland are plagued by bandits and or beasts and renegade factions. This means that human supply lines are weak and unreliable.

Thus none can claim that humanity can hold their own in Tyria. They simply cannot. And this is truth undeniable.

“If they were weak they’d be extinct or enslaved. Humans are still plentiful and growing, that should be enough indication that we are not weak.” Same thing I said in the first place still applies to your response. Humans would be extinct if they didn’t have the strength to endure. The end.

I cannot agree…more with this. Human are strong in their aspect—diplomat, abilities to adapt to situations and technology. (based upon the air ship we used to kill Zhaitan that combined technology of human, arsura and charr.)

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

Arenanet has not been very consistent with its lore. The Charr are not so held as some claim, they can actually spare a Legion for war/invasion if not for the treaties they have signed – both with HRH Jennah and with the Orders.

Citation, please? If the charr could spare a legion on such foreign adventures now, why didn’t they do so in the past?

Keep in mind, also, that the Blood and Ash legions have their own territories, and if anything we have less idea of what’s going on in their territories as Cantha and Elona. Obviously there’s communication and cooperation between the legions, but the support they provide to the Iron Legion might well be going both ways – far from the charr having a whole legion spare (that’s roughly a third of their population, so… really?) those other legions might have their own problems in their own territories that we’re not hearing about. What we do know is that the charr and humans fought each other to a stalemate and neither side felt they could afford to continue the fight.

Consider that in GoA, the alternative to a truce with humans wasn’t ‘keep on as we had been before the Dragonbrand’, it was the even more unthinkable ‘make peace and normalise relations with the Flame Legion, at the risk of granting them more influence that might someday give them the opportunity to subjugate the others again’. The charr were at least as desperate as humans to close a front with somebody. When push came to shove, humans were the least bad choice with whom peace was actually feasible and who represented enough of a threat that making peace significantly improved the charr strategic position.

Also note that at this point we’re having a chest-beating competition between what are probably two of the superpowers of Tyria. Humans are in a much less precarious place than sylvari, particularly at this current point in the Living Story (with the Pale Tree critically injured while Kryta is apparently considering expansion) or the dispersed and individualistic norn. Even asura might arguably be worse off than humans in terms of population and military power – it’s just that they have gates, the waypoint network, and a flying citadel for their capital. However, an assault by air that knocked out Rata Sum would probably put asura in an even more precarious position than a similar attack on Divinity’s Reach would put humans in.

draxynnic.3719:

Also note that at this point we’re having a chest-beating competition between what are probably two of the superpowers of Tyria. Humans are in a much less precarious place than sylvari, particularly at this current point in the Living Story (with the Pale Tree critically injured while Kryta is apparently considering expansion) or the dispersed and individualistic norn. Even asura might arguably be worse off than humans in terms of population and military power – it’s just that they have gates, the waypoint network, and a flying citadel for their capital. However, an assault by air that knocked out Rata Sum would probably put asura in an even more precarious position than a similar attack on Divinity’s Reach would put humans in.

You are aware that signing a truce in a time of war is merely a short-to-medium-term stratagem? To buy time to build strength and stability? The Charr, since the time of GoA has achieved their real goals as a result of said treaties. The High Legions may not be united. But their only real threat is the Flame Legion. The ghosts of the Ascalon region are a minor distraction of little consequence. Each Legion based on available information have secure borders and sufficient control of their home regions. Note that the lands held by the FOUR Legions are ALL on the Tyrian continent, thus have THREE times the population and thus military might compared to Tyrian Humanity – whom are restricted to Kryta and a small portion of Ascalon. Thus I hold that my opinion is the most correct and relevant – in this regard.

A truce can be anything from a short-term strategem to a step on a long-term rapprochement. I’d say that neither of us at this stage can say where on the spectrum Smodur’s actual plans lie. Smodur himself might not know for sure.

Considering that the charr personal story starts with ghosts threatening the Black Citadel, and that in the recent Living Story the ghosts have been Smodur’s main priority and that Rytlock is willing to dress up as a shaman and accept the title if it means removing that threat, I think it’s safe to say it’s more than a ‘minor distraction’. Similar for the Dragonbrand, given the resources going into the Sentinels. Population-wise – arguments have been made elsewhere that the greater territory held by the charr probably does not translate to a similar advantage in population assuming ArenaNet has any idea of how food economies work.

In terms of strength from other territories – Whether the other territories are truly Tyrian depend on how you define Tyria. Granted, the other territories are able to send aid to the Iron Legion – however, unless political dissent between the Legions has caused Blood and/or Ash to be holding back, then it’s probably safe to say that Blood and Ash have already sent as much as they can afford to send to assist the Iron Legion. And with all that help from the other territories… what we see of the charr territories is that they really aren’t that much more secure than Kryta. This insecurity is due to a range of threats rather than a couple of big ones, but it doesn’t change the fact that Smodur is already getting as much help from the other legions as they can afford to send and Ascalon is still far from secure.

In fact, Kryta’s problems coming from a couple of sources rather than several might actually mean Kryta is in a better position, since that allows for the possibility that a couple of decisive wins would leave it secure. But if the charr were to, say, totally destroy the Flame Legion and banish the ghosts (which are probably their two biggest problems), they’d still have the Dragonbrand, ogres, and other problems to deal with.

You’ve also missed that this thread is not a chest-beating competition between humans and charr, but looking at how strong or weak humans are in general. Put charr aside, and humans are still ahead of sylvari and norn, and when push comes to shove, they may even be ahead of the asura. Particularly in the context of 1327, where far from being at the risk of immediate destruction Jennah is considering expanding Kryta’s borders, compared to the desperate days of 1325 which most of the explorable regions are still stuck in.

As Vexander pointed, Queen’s Jubile is a strong proof about Humanity’s Resilience. All those watchknights and the champions at the Queens Gauntlet need a lot of resources to be put to work!

“A celebration of ten years of Queen Jennah’s rule is about to kick off in Divinity’s Reach! The queen has commissioned a new gladiatorial arena for the occasion—the Crown Pavilion—as a shining symbol of her people’s endurance.”

Even Rytlock was kinda preoccupied about this, as you can see at this bit of lore: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/delegation/