Guild Wars 2

So where did Scarlet get her recources to build…that?

The resources (materials, manpower, etc) required to build the space ship in Lornar’s Pass look to be immense. I understand the developers were going for “wow factor” here, but for me personally far fetched things like this are jarringly inconceivable to the point of being groan-inducing.

If you had been playing the game since flame and frost you would know that scarlet has an army of molten alliance tech specialists churning out weapons and materials and a horde of aetherblade pirates supplying her with man power and inquest innovations.

I’m more interested in how an insane and entirely uncharismatic/unlikable sylvari like Scarlet managed to form lasting alliances with the dredge, flame legion, a bunch of humans (Aetherblades), and krait (well this one is somewhat explained by the krait just being stupid religious zealots), while never giving any indication that she wants to do anything but kill everybody. Seriously, what do these guys have to gain from siding with her? And she also somehow manages to keep them all from killing each other despite almost all of the involved races being incredibly xenophobic (especially the krait). It renders the coming together of the pact an absolute joke in comparison.

Singer.8740:

If you had been playing the game since flame and frost you would know that scarlet has an army of molten alliance tech specialists churning out weapons and materials and a horde of aetherblade pirates supplying her with man power and inquest innovations.

I have been playing since Flame and Frost, and I’m well aware of her minions. But even with the Dredge, Flame Legion, and Aetherblade at her beck and call…have you seen that thing? It looks to be the size of Divinity’s Reach. It’s a flying ship the size of a city. That’s about as believable as her being accepted by each of the asuran colleges.

She’s from a future overrun by crazy steam creatures and watchwork stuff. I assume that what we see poking out from the clouds is just the tip of the iceberg of a whole dimension of machinery. Hardly any less believable than any of the other stuff in the game.

Each alliance has something to offer to its founding members. Something so appealing that they would put aside there differences (for a time) in order to reach a greater end.

Example; molten alliance
Flame legion being now weakened and leaderless from the death of baelfire and lacking any substantial military force despite there superiority in magic, and the dredge also so recently made leaderless and left reeling from the recent rebelion
in there ranks and on the flip side having access to incredible dredge sonic technology and manpower but left vulnerable from there complete lack of magical might were easily coerced by a mysterious stranger (Scarlet) from the city in forming there tenuous alliance and in so doing bolstering there manpower and giving rise to the innovation of all new and deadly molten fused technology. This is not to say that the alliance is without strain however. As through various npc conversations and other sources for example the dredge note found in the dredge tunnels in south west wayfarer foothills remarking on how a female dredge explaining her worry to a superior officer about the flame legions ill treatment of its females and that how if the alliance was to continue such treatment was not to become common place amongst the dredge.

So as we see from this example the benefits of such an alliance far out way the negatives and all though there is strain the productivity and efficiency created makes these alliances work and to top it off though Scarlet being clearly insane is also a brilliant tactician manipulating Tyria to her play book while wrestling with her inner demon’s.

Lastly Xeno “phobia” meaning a fear of “strangers/ outsiders” and can only accurately be applied to the Krate and was easily quashed by there fanatical beliefs and the chance to see there messiah’s reborn. The Krate’s ultimate purpose.

P.S. I could explain what Scarlet is doing but that would be SPOILERS. Go to Scarlets Lair and read her journal study what you find in her lair and you shall see. I have noticed there seems to be some gaps in your knowledge regarding the current living story leading to a mostly negative image of scarlet as a character i believe you should rectify this even if it does not change your overall opinion it is always good to see the big picture. EDIT; this last bit is directed at Jabberwock. I almost caused some confusion there. :p

panzer.6034:

She’s from a future overrun by crazy steam creatures and watchwork stuff. I assume that what we see poking out from the clouds is just the tip of the iceberg of a whole dimension of machinery. Hardly any less believable than any of the other stuff in the game.

Nope that’s the hole machine. there’s blueprints in scarlet’s lair. Also she is a newborn Sylvari barely a decade old. Her involvement with the steam creatures has not holey been explained and remains one of the few loose ends remaining in the current story.

Singer.8740:

Nope that’s the hole machine. there’s blueprints in scarlet’s lair. Also she is a newborn Sylvari barely a decade old. Her involvement with the steam creatures has not holey been explained and remains one of the few loose ends remaining in the current story.

You mean the blueprints for the big drill? Was there another one i missed?

And, yeah, she’s young but clearly she’s portalling in from the steam creature future where she has part of her army. She has all the resources she needs since she’s potentially in charge of a whole future dimension.

She played the tp with her vast intellect and financed her army with the profits.

panzer.6034:

Singer.8740:

Nope that’s the hole machine. there’s blueprints in scarlet’s lair. Also she is a newborn Sylvari barely a decade old. Her involvement with the steam creatures has not holey been explained and remains one of the few loose ends remaining in the current story.

You mean the blueprints for the big drill? Was there another one i missed?

And, yeah, she’s young but clearly she’s portalling in from the steam creature future where she has part of her army. She has all the resources she needs since she’s potentially in charge of a whole future dimension.

She’s using inquest tech to portal. As i mentioned above her connection to the steam creatures has not yet accurately been elaborated upon and any thoughts on the subject are simply conjecture.

EDIT; I am going to bed for the night i will take a look at the thread tomorrow so if you have any other questions keep posting them and i will get back to you.

FateOmega.9601:

She played the tp with her vast intellect and financed her army with the profits.

You forgot to mention her illegal hunting of quaggan’s to supply her third world quaggan backpack sweat factory’s that she then sells via back door deals to the black lion trading company.

Singer.8740:

If you had been playing the game since flame and frost you would know that scarlet has an army of molten alliance tech specialists churning out weapons and materials and a horde of aetherblade pirates supplying her with man power and inquest innovations.

If you have been playing from the beginning, you’d know that the molten alliance practically came apart (and certainly distanced itself from Scarlet) at the end of the Flame and Frost arc – something that apparently devs themselves have forgotten. You’d also know that the aetherblade main base (built right in LA – noone knows how) got captured (and that pirates are generally not known for having massive resources). It was never explained why Nightmare Court follows Scarlet (official dev statements from the time of the Queen’s Speech claimed that the Court consider her to be a dangerous lunatic, not an ally). Krait appearing/acting anywhere not close to a sea-connected body of water is extremely improbable – even if we ignore the matter of them helping her at all being based on extremely shaky grounds. She stilll has watchworks – but we killed a lot of them during the invasions, and retaking the city. Shw should have been running out of them already, unless she’s massproducing more (again, with what resources?)

So, basically that leaves only two possibilities. Inquest or Steam Creatures. Why would Inquest fund her so much is beyond me, but they just might have resources required. And we don’t know much about Steams, so we cannot rule them out. So, it is theoretically possible for her to have resources, funding and manpower. It’s just much more believable, that the writers never really bothered to consider that point at all.

darkace.8925:

Singer.8740:

If you had been playing the game since flame and frost you would know that scarlet has an army of molten alliance tech specialists churning out weapons and materials and a horde of aetherblade pirates supplying her with man power and inquest innovations.

I have been playing since Flame and Frost, and I’m well aware of her minions. But even with the Dredge, Flame Legion, and Aetherblade at her beck and call…have you seen that thing? It looks to be the size of Divinity’s Reach. It’s a flying ship the size of a city. That’s about as believable as her being accepted by each of the asuran colleges.

It also looks to be mostly hollow space from what I’m seeing.

For the resources? The Molten Alliance had been mining and testing weapons before, including that strange mineral “Azurite” which piqued my interest quite a bit. Aetherblades have been raiding people, and it’s not entirely unfounded to think they were taking materials as much as material wealth.

Also, it’s now a well known fact Captain Evon Gnashblade stole thousands of silk and other materials from the Black Lion Trading Post. It was long suspected he just flipped it to fund his campaign but now it’s clear he was giving it to Scarlet. Never trust a merchant or banker, especially a charr.

As for “where”? I suspect there’s quite a few places she could have had it built underground and then used her portals to move it into position. It looks to be roughly as large as the Queen’s Pavillion so maybe she was assembling the parts there until we broke in? (I don’t see it being as big as Divinity’s Reach, that’s definitely an overstatement of size.)

Why did nobody cotton to the fact she had it? Maybe people did. The Order of Whispers had agents in the Molten Alliance making dead drops but we never heard if they returned safely. I almost suspect spies did try to find things out but either didn’t return or hadn’t gotten pieces to put the whole picture together. Scarlet’s Secret Lair for all that it’s hyped up to be “right under the Priory’s nose!” is barely a thirty-foot square foot room. Not a great grandiose labyrinth of caves.

She’s clearly operating somewhere else, and just has small labs and bolt-holes around the world.

Evon is funding Scarlet using the profits earned from TP taxes. War is an investment.

She purchased the basic ore package from BLTC.

Most of those ores are garbage. You see the prices on the TP? Would take a great deal of time to get the funds needed for all that.

DarcShriek.5829:

She purchased the basic ore package from BLTC.

Zeivu.3615:

Most of those ores are garbage. You see the prices on the TP? Would take a great deal of time to get the funds needed for all that.

DarcShriek.5829:

She purchased the basic ore package from BLTC.

It was a joke. I’m sorry you didn’t get it.

I don’t understand how she’s had the time to do everything that she’s done, much less get all the resources…

Healix.5819:

Evon is funding Scarlet using the profits earned from TP taxes. War is an investment.

^This…

Basically via Evon we are funding Scarlet…

My theory: Palawa Joko.

Hey, stop laughing!

No, seriously. We know Joko took over Elona shortly after GW1. We also know that he was most likely aware of all the developments taking place in Tyria, including the arrival of the Charr, Norn, and Asura. Then came the elder dragons and the Sylvari. To a guy playing the role of Evil Overlord the addition of four new races of wannabe heroes is bad news, especially when you add in the bigger threat of the dragons. He’s got his slice of the pie, thank you, and would really rather not have to deal with pesky “champions” trying to rob him of his hard earned gains. What, just because he’s an undead necromancer who thrives on terror and murder, he’s not allowed to be happy or something?

Worse, airships. Suddenly people can come and go from his kingdom at leisure. Then he hears about this strange psychopath terrorizing the lands to the north. She’s got moxie, some plans, and the charisma to pull people together, but she’s also pretty much intent on starting up the biggest conflict Tyria has seen since the Searing. So he sends an emissary. He’s got lots of territory, and the undead really don’t stop working. He’ll cut a deal with her: in exchange for resources and labor, she makes sure his northern border is safe. He doesn’t even really need her to succeed at overthrowing Queen Jenna or taking down the known races with her piddling little alliance, just keep everyone busy so they stop asking what’s going on in Elona. That gives him more time to plan and shore up his defenses, and better yet, her war is going to leave behind lots of extra corpses. What sort of necromancer doesn’t like lots and lots of corpses? And doing the production gets him access to her tech base as well. Its win win, all the way around for him.

The entire living story concept, as implemented, makes little sense, so I’m sure that any concern over making the actual content believable has never even been considered as a legitimate concern.

IMO, the Madness is just a reflection of the state of the entity that has created it.

The silver lining is that the implausibility sets the ground work for the entire Living Story having been nothing but a substance fueled mass hallucination, easily brushed back under the rug when, and if, they decide to get back in the business of building on and improving that GW2 game they launched back in 2012. You know the one, right? The one that was perhaps the best MMO at launch in the history of the genre and only hinted at the paradigm shift to come?

I’m sure in some alternate reality, (quantum physicists now assure us that there likely really are such alternate universes), there is an Arenanet that stuck to the Manifesto and looked at ongoing development as an opportunity to continually breath new life into the game world and move the title closer and closer towards it’s original ideals.

kitten , I envy the version of me that lives in that reality…

Given how much thought the lore writers put into giving Tyria a believable and compelling back story, the departure from compelling, believable content is just another sin against this game’s original ideals that can be laid at the feet of those who have championed or captained the entire “Living Story” fiasco.

Self delusional psychopaths who aren’t born into some sick legacy that supports their ability to manifest those delusions never see those delusions become reality. Even if Arenanet try to back-fill a lame explanation, it could never make any of this any more believable or any less dis-congruent with the carefully crafted lore upon which this game was built.

Thinking this content is somehow the gaming equivalent of Game of Thrones makes my wonder if Scarlet isn’t just the in game manifestation of a self delusional personality being mocked, probably unknowingly, by the people at the studio forced to produce this “stuff”.

If so, I applaud the genius of those subversives still alive over there. I can only hope that they will get to see the day when things get back on track and Living Story can be shelved as an object lesson in how not to develop MMO content.

Well put Fiontar, but there’s a much simpler explanation. Cash is king and talk is cheap! Hubris often leads to short-sightedness…

She uses the Star Forge, obviously.

I think maybe if you take the unscaled events as canon, it’s a bit more believable, and the scaling is just for gameplay purposes.

We don’t see huge amounts of scarlet forces in the story instances afterall.

I think she gets her resources from the Consortium. They where introduced in LS, and as far as we can tell, other than holidays, they are all connected somewhat. The plant in her lair is from Southsun. The Consortium is trying to move in on the Black Lion. They make an excellent resource and distribution network. They where already there as soon as the Nightmare Tower Fell, they helped move people after Flame and Frost. I really think the Consortium is Scarlet’s Finance arm. They even have their own gate to the Mist/Fractals, the thumper is built right under water near them, and the Aetherbase is a stones throw away.

If we all use the Black Lion, what if her alliances use the Consortium to trade goods. Think Evon’s fees are bad? What do you think Scarlet charges?

The bottom of the ship looks like the Mad Kings Clocktower.

She save money for COF p1, Soulthourn farm, and champtrain. (And maybe she spend her grant from asuran academy in gems) She dont have legendary or ascended, so its easy.

Scarlet has some of the new picks and funds her armies by selling off used sprockets!

DarcShriek.5829:

Scarlet has some of the new picks and funds her armies by selling off used sprockets!

Well view, maybe Molten alliance also give here an exclusive Azurite pickaxe too, she farm that as hell and its why we cant find it anymore.

The Mystic Forge – a wholly owned subsidiary of Scarlet Enterprises. With offshore bank accounts on Southsun Cove.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Also, it’s now a well known fact Captain Evon Gnashblade stole thousands of silk and other materials from the Black Lion Trading Post. It was long suspected he just flipped it to fund his campaign but now it’s clear he was giving it to Scarlet. Never trust a merchant or banker, especially a charr.

This is not a well known fact. Actually its the first time I’ve heard anyone mention it.

Source please…

Thobek.1730:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Also, it’s now a well known fact Captain Evon Gnashblade stole thousands of silk and other materials from the Black Lion Trading Post. It was long suspected he just flipped it to fund his campaign but now it’s clear he was giving it to Scarlet. Never trust a merchant or banker, especially a charr.

This is not a well known fact. Actually its the first time I’ve heard anyone mention it.

Source please…

The Lion’s Arch chat channel. If enough people say it, it must be true, especially on the internet!

Also, your sarcasm detector is broken, I’d see a mechanic

The marionette was built by steam creatures in the “steam universe” behind the “steam portals”, Scarlett reprogrammed them useing a “steam-watchwork virus” and now they serve her.