Guild Wars 2

In an interview between IGN and Guild Wars 2 developers it is stated that this update is going to tie together the past living story plots into a single knot. Colin Johanson states that “it’s a story that really affects the entire world and permanently creates content and change for the entire world game-wide.”

The living story so far (minus traditional holiday events) includes the Karka/Consortium, the Molten Alliance, the Aetherblades and the Zephyrites. All of these events had seemingly insignificant lore, but by putting them together we can start to draw a picture with the little information we’ve been given.

I’ve looked back at the events from the past year and have compiled this theory. In particular I will focus on the Molten Alliance, Aetherblades and Zephyrites.

The Molten Alliance:

- Flame Legion and Dredge form an alliance.
- Attacks lead from the north (invasions of Ascalon/Shiverpeaks).
- Alliance formed by an unknown “silver tongued city dweller”.

Above the regions which were invaded lies the Charr Homelands. In 1320 AE, the elder dragon Kralkatorrik awoke from this very spot and flew south over Ascalon into the Crystal Desert to hunt down Glint (one of it’s former champions who betrayed it). During this event the Dragonbrand was created, which turned all forms of life into Branded.

If the Branded grew too powerful to the north, it could have provoked the Molten Alliance to push south in hopes of escaping the terrors and colonising a new area free of Kralkatorrik’s corruption.

The Aetherblades:

- Lead by their captain, Mai Trin.
- Mysterious figure known as ‘Scarlet’.
- Weaponry a direct result of Inquest backing.
- Captain’s Council member killed by a member of the Molten Alliance, an election would be held to find a replacement.

Like the Molten Alliance, the Aetherblades have a mysterious figure working behind the scenes. The Aetherblades also assassinated one of the members of the Captain’s Council which left an opening for a new member, which their captain Mai Trin intended to take.

Instead, Ellen Kiel won this election, and as a campaign promise she announces fractal research into the explosion of an Inquest lab. What is interesting is that the Inquest are confirmed to be backing the Aetherblades by supplying weaponry. We also know they are working on harvesting the magic of elder dragons and are currently preparing a lab to test a minion of the Deep Sea Dragon.

The overarching goal of the Aetherblades in this plot was to gain a seat on the Captain’s Council, and when the plan is foiled Mail Trin is overheard saying that ‘Scarlet’ would not be pleased. This suggests that Scarlet had an unknown motive behind gaining a seat on the Captain’s Council, and is most likely linked to the Inquest and possibly their research into the elder dragons.

The Zephyrites:

- Zephyrite emphasis on Glint, mourning of her death.
- Replacements for the “Brotherhood of the Dragon” who guarded Glint in GW1.
- Emphasis on crystals (Kralkatorrik is the crystal elder dragon).

Based purely on theory and speculation, it is highly like that the Zephyrites (consisting of humans) overtook the role of the “protectors of heritage” from the Brotherhood of the Dragon (consisting of dwarves). We also know that Glint had dragon eggs in GW1, and it is said that a fragment from Glint was left behind. Perhaps this fragment was the egg, and the heritage is one of Glint’s offspring. This would mean that the Zephyrites are guarding one of Kralkatorrik’s offspring and may hold the power which was given to other champions of the elder dragon.

The Zephyrites are also heavily focussed on crystals and studying powerful magics. As Kralkatorrik is the elder dragon of crystals, and the Branded are crystalline creatures, the crystals used for Zephyrite magic most likely comes from Glint’s offspring or magic harvested from Kralkatorrik.

All of these plot lines are very loosely related, but from all of them you can derive relations to the elder dragons, and specifically Kralkatorrik. Now to link it back to what the developers told IGN about this upcoming release, the new content will pave the way for more permanent content in GW2. Based on the past living story content, it is likely that the following year will see the release of the Charr Homelands and the Crystal Desert, but mainly the progression of the storyline as we hunt for Kralkatorrik.