Guild Wars 2

This post takes what we know of Asura and elaborates on it to a decent degree. It goes into how the Asura evolved and into playful hints about their culture. It is meant to be a source for Asura and non-Asura roleplayers to use as a guide to what Asura may or may not be capable of physically, how the Asura appear, sound or feel, and how they might use their appearances in certain situations.
The work put into this thread is detailed and gives a great deal of insight into the Asura. It would do me and my firends a lot of good to see this acknowledged by Arena Net as canon for the game, and included in the Asura wiki.

An overview of Asura physiology:
The Asura are a small, intelligent subterranean race that has been forced to the surface just over two hundred years ago. A close inspection of their physiology reveals how they evolved to adapt to their dark and unforgiving subterranean environment over time.

Body Structure:

Height: While even the tallest Asura reaches only about four feet tall. Their short stature is a remnant of a time before the Asura built their underground cities and traversed the commonly cramped crawlways and caverns with close ceilings. While the Asura are small in comparison to species that evolved on the surface, they are of average height for subterranean bipeds.

Skin: Asura have tough, almost leathery skin ranging from dark to light pigmentation of grays, brown, black or white and are sometimes spotted. They developed this resilient hide in their underground world as a natural defense against the sharp and damaging walls, ceiling and floors of jagged stone. Their skin, while tough and resilient, is actually rather smooth to the touch. Humans sometimes make morbid jokes about using Asura skin to upholster their furniture. Newborn Asura progeny do not have such thick skin, however. They are born with skin as soft as a human’s. As an Asura ages, their skin thickens and hardens till it reaches its final state at around five years of age. The Asura will occasionally quip “Don’t be a softy” or “Stop acting so sensitive” as a means to refer to someone behaving like a child.

Head: The Asura’s head are wide, flat ellipsoids and are seemingly oversized for their small frames. Their heads have evolved to be larger in order to accommodate a larger brain. However, prior to this enlarging of the skull’s interior volume, the Asura’s head shape allowed an individual to approach cracks and crawlways from multiple angles, rotating the head so that if a space was too narrow to approach straight on, a simple twist of the neck would bring the narrow top of the head to bare.
Their faces are usually rather flat with their noses and lips only slightly protruding from the rest. Their features are typically sharp and angled, making most seem like they’re scowling or upset to other races. Females tend to have only slightly softer features than males, though the difference can be so subtle that any other race would be hard pressed to tell the difference. Aesthetically, Asura find sharp features more appealing than rounded, smoother features. It is sometimes said among Asura that if a human thinks your face is adorable, you can be sure the Asura do not.

Eyes: Asura have large, walnut shaped eyes proportionally larger than the other sentient races which allow them to capture far more light in their nearly lightless surroundings. With their sensitivity to light, however, Asura became easily dazed when they first created fire. Instead of adapting over time, they quickly began covering their eyes with primitive head wraps made from thinned leather hides to deal with the harsh light until they became technically advanced to first replace their wraps with lenses, then their fire with softer electric lights, then again with holographic lighting. It should be no surprise that the Asura now use protective goggles as every day wear after escaping to the surface. Surface dwelling Asura will usually have some form of eye protection on them at all times, and will usually be wearing them around noon in order to be comfortable in the glare of the sun.

Mouth: The Asura have wide, thin lipped mouths filled with pointed, shark-like teeth. The Asura are omnivores even though their teeth might suggest otherwise. The Asura evolved as predators, clinging to cavern walls with their sharp fingers and strong feet, and dropping down on their prey where they would quickly dig their sharp fingertips in to hold on, and then bite down with their razor sharp teeth. Similar to a shark, Asura’s teeth are design to pierce and shred flesh, not at all for chewing. Their teeth are designed in such a way as to fit snugly together when clamped down and used similar in fashion to a saw. These sharp teeth also helped to bite through the tough carapaces of insects and allowed them to tear apart the stubbornly resilient mushrooms that managed to grow in the deep places of the world.
After their escape from their subterranean domain, the Asura have come in contact with other races and their foods. They have grown accustomed to vegetables if they are boiled so as to be more easily eaten, or made into paste like substances such as green dip, and bread is difficult for them to ingest because it is not easily broken down before swallowing. Candy is a mixed bag of issues. While sweet and delicious and providing an exemplary boost of energy for the late working researcher, hard candies are difficult for an Asura to ingest because they have no way of grinding and the candy down. Softer candies do not present such issues for the Asura, so toughies and candy corns are more preferred.

Ears: Asura have wide large ears that extend from the side of their head made up of thick cartilage and muscle that can be controlled independently for the purposes of increasing and decreasing the amount of noise they can pick up at any time. Apart from their sense of hearing, the Asura’s ears are also used to dissipate heat. The ears are also one of the few things which can hint at an Asura’s gender. Male Asura’s ears typically hang straight off of ther head while a female’s ears sport a small arch coming off their head before they hang down. Similar to animals, an Asura’s mood can often be told from the position of its ears. Asura can make their ears roll back flat against their head, roll forward to droop further down, or even stand straight up.

Arms: The Asura have long, thin arms with short, but thick, forearms. Their arms allow the Asura a proportionally longer reach while still being able to squirm through tight tunnels. Their forearms sport a good deal of muscle to assist the Asura with their grip and their ability to tunnel through rock. Unlike the Dredge who adapted large arms by burrowing through the ground, Asura arms remained thin because they used their legs to push themselves along while they cleared the way with their hands.

Hands: Asura hands are a small marvel of evolution. Though small, they are able to squeeze with an average of four hundred pounds per square inch; four times that of a human. The ancient Asura developed this powerful natural grip while climbing the sheer sides of cavern walls, digging their way through smaller crevices, and crushing the hard bones and outer shells of their prey. This does not translate to their strength or their carrying capacity, but one will have great difficulty prying something from an Asura that does not wish to part with their belongings.
Their hands sport three fingers and an opposable thumb. Their fingers are of note because unlike the other sentient races, including the Charr who have claws, the Asura have thin, dexterous fingers ending in extremely dense, sharp fingertips. Their fingertips consist in a bony core wrapped in layers of keratin which usually match the Asura’s skin tone. The tips are typically as sharp and hard as a carbon steel nail, and have no feeling in them whatsoever. If an Asura wishes to test an items structural integrity, it will usually tap it with the tip of its fingers. If they wish you feel the texture of an item, they will often use the underside of their fingers or their palm. An Asura rubbing something, or someone, softly is very often only attempting feel something, and the touch is not meant as an affectionate gesture.
Their fine pointed fingertips allowed them to find, or make, handholds in the stone walls of their underground habitat. Their sharp digits were the original reason why most Asura clothe themselves in leather and tougher fabrics such as burlap in order not to shred their clothes (these same fabric choices were also ideal as cover-all’s for experiments). After escaping to the surface and interacting with the other sentient races, some Asura have begun to blunt their fingertips in order not to tear the clothing or furnishings of their hosts or guests.

Legs: Short and stubby, the Ausra’s legs have adapted over time to become solid braces and provide short, but forceful burst of horizontal or vertical movement. Their thighs are wider than their arms proportionally than other sentient species and their calves widen further still, merging smoothly into the ankles and feet to give their legs the look of nobby, blunted cones. While climbing, the Asura could utilize their legs for quick, sure jumps. While digging or crawling through cramped spaces, they would push themselves along with their legs while clearing the way with their hands. Because of the specialized design of their thick legs, the Asura have a pronounced waddle to their walk and they avoid using stairs if at all possible, preferring ramps which make walking on an incline plane much easier. It is not uncommon to see an Asura scooting down a stair case, or holding onto the railings while taking a single step at a time, in the lands of other species.

Feet: Asura have wide, flat feet with three long, thick toes. The underside of their feet is rough and has the densest skin at 1.5cm. The middle toe makes up two-thirds of the mass of their feet, providing a stable center of balance, with the other two toes providing support and a distribution of weight. Their toes are quite dexterous, able to curl into ‘fists’. Ancient Asura used their toes to grip onto footholds or rocky protrusions in order to stabilize their perch.

The Five Senses: The Asura have developed their senses to certain extremes in order to cope with near lightless and extremely treacherous environment.

Hearing: It should come as no surprise to anyone that Asura as a whole have exceptional hearing. Their hearing developed out of dependency, keeping the often smaller subterranean creatures out of the maw of natural predators and sensitive enough to detect sounds with relative ease through walls, depending on thickness and material. Controlling the amount of sound they receive is also important, Asura are capable of rotating their ears to localize the sources of sound or letting them droop- the natural fold of their ears cutting down on noise all together.

Vision: Sporting a proportionately massive pair of eyes, Asura have a vision to match their hearing in sensitivity- but with less natural means of filtering the inbound information. Low lighting is preferred due to this. Having developed for navigation in the pitch black of their under-world, an Asura can utilize even the dimmest of lights to see at a level in which they can navigate with relative ease. Even in complete darkness they could see up to a hundred and twenty feet. Out of the dark, however, is another story. Bright lights easily daze or offend their senses, and are generally unfavorable or avoided all together. In modern Asuran society, this assists with inventing and tinkering by allowing them a finer sense of detail and scale.

Scent: However less impressive than the vision and hearing they developed for the same reason; an Asura still boasts an impressive sense of smell to assist with subterranean living. It was imperative- because no matter how powerful their eyes or ears, the ability to pick up on subtle scents went a long way. It allowed them to detect predators and prey where their other senses failed, and gave them the chance to detect poisonous gasses with greater ease. This powerful scent is still used in civilized life, allowing the ever inquisitive race ways to determine the identity of unknown substances. Their scent is, however, not sensitive enough to be as easily offended as their eyes. It falls somewhere between that of a humans’ and a charrs’.

Taste: An Asuras taste is roughly on par with a human’s, however certain foods with more pungent aromas will have their taste compounded upon simply due to an Asuras advanced sense of smell.

Touch: Thick skinned for purposes of navigating harsh jagged terrain and volcanic glass without needless injuries, Asura are lacking in their sense of touch. Most of their body is covered in a hide that takes a significantly greater deal of force to penetrate than that of a human, save a few areas that are significantly softer. Such areas are at the back of the knee and elbow, the armpit, the neck, crotch, palms, and ears. These areas sport clusters of nerves- much like the fingers and toes- and are far more susceptible to feeling things all together.

Gender differences: By and large, the Asura look and sound alike and seem for the most part androgynous. . Non-Asura naturally have difficulty in telling an Asura’s sex when first meeting them. There are, however, a few key differences between the sexes to look for (though if you’re actively doing so an Asura will likely notice and do their best to keep you confused out of snarky amusement).

Hair: Male Asura typically wear their hair shorter or spiked/combed back while the females will grow theirs longer. Asura do not usually care to work their hair into elaborate braids or other such designs except for special occasions. It isn’t uncommon however, for a male Asura to wear his hair long (or a female to wear hers short) while in non-Asura lands simply to keep the bookahs guessing. After all, if you’re not smart enough to figure it out why should they make it any easier?

Faces: As stated before, female Asura faces have slightly softer features than males. The difference is usually only different enough for an Asura to tell. To add confusion to their appearance, a female can usually squint their eyes, tighten their lips and flare their nostrils and appear male if they wished to.

Chest: Male and female Asura both have flat chests. Females have mammary glands which protrude slightly, but not enough to make their sex obvious while clothed in typical Asura fashion or even when fully nude.

Ears: As stated above, An Asura’s ears can sometimes help tell their gender. Male Asura’s ears typically hang straight off of ther head while a female’s ears sport a small arch coming off their head before they hang down. Cheeky Asura wishing to keep their gender hidden will sometimes keep their ears lifted slightly to show a arch in the case of males, or lowering their ears a bit in the case of females.

Physical Appeal and Sensitive Zones:

Ears: An Asura’s ears are at once a point of high physical attraction and their largest erogenous zone. To the Asura, the larger the ears of a prospective mate are the better. Width, thickness and length are all things that catch an Asura’s eyes when looking at another Asura’s ears. The larger the ears, the larger the cranium they rest upon.
Asura’s ears are also highly sensitive to the touch by Asura standards. While a human’s feathered tracing of a finger might go unnoticed, an Asura scratching their sharp fingertips down their mate’s ears, or biting down with their sharp teeth, will be met with an extremely positive reaction.

Cranium: With the Asura’s admiration and pride in their superior intellect, it should come as no surprise to anyone that larger heads are a selling point in physical attractiveness in their society. The larger the cranium, the larger the brain inside and thusly the larger potential for higher intelligence (even if the Asura know that is not necessarily the case).

Teeth: The Asura’s smile competes only with their large eyes for domination of their facial structure. Their teeth, which must be well maintained to keep their edges razor sharp, are a fixture of physical appeal. The brighter the smile, the more obvious it is to onlookers how well kept and detail oriented the Asura is. Sharper, whiter teeth also make a more poignant statement about their owner’s biting strength.

Fingertips: Sharp, well maintained fingertips are essential for the Asura to be able to bring about significant physical sensations in their mate when touching them in areas that are not as sensitive as their ears. An Asura in non-Asura lands may blunt their fingertips for the duration of their stay, understanding that they likely won’t be mating any time soon. However, upon their return to Asura controlled territories, one of the more practical things to do is to sharpen their fingers so they not only can function more efficiently in their society, but also appeal more to the opposite sex.

Palms, Arm Pits, Back of the Knees, Inside of the Elbows: These are the few areas outside of the groin that are softer than the rest of an Asura’s body. They sport thinner skin and clusters of sensitive nerves. While the skin is not so thin that an absent swipe of Asura fingertips will break the skin, they are thin enough and sensitive enough that light Asura touches can bring about a positive reaction.

Conclusions:
After looking into animals that share similar traits as the Asura and listing my discoveries above, I’ve found that the best over world environment would be a warm, humid one with a great deal of overcast to shield them from the sun- such as a rain forest. The fact that they’ve since made their home in the Metrica Province is no surprise as a jungle provides them with likely the most comfortable living habitat. The least optimal place to live would likely be anywhere a Norn would be at home. Cold, dry, and with an over-abundance of reflective snow shining light into their already sensitive eyes- winter and any area that generally has such features is likely dreaded to a degree. Perhaps explaining further why an Asura inventor would go out of his way to spread joy at the solstice of the least desirable season of all. This does not stop them from setting up labs in order to perform experiments, however. It simply means that those Asura who do dwell in such conditions make sure to bring clothing and equipment to compensate for the both the cold and the light.

I would like to see this become canon info as well!

I’m an absolute Asura fanboy and can only approve of this!

It makes sense and what i know about asura lore is in there as well.

The lore as whole can only profit from this, if this finds the Writers and Devs acceptance.

I approve of this. +100 awesomeness points to you, sir.

I agree 100%, should definitely be canon! Excellent effort and work on putting this together.

As a side note, I think the wording about the diet is just a bit confusing, I don’t think the original poster was contending that Asura are not omnivorous.

I altered the wording on the subject of their mouths to clear up that they’re not pure carnivores.

Thanks for the support everyone! I’m glad you like it!

This stuff makes a lot of sense for the Asura and I think Arena Net should really consider making this Physiology canon.

Would like to see what a dev has to say about it though.

You are awesome for thinking of all of this, and i think this should be canon. Thumbs up

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Obligatory Grammar Nazi’ing aside, yes, Asura are very well designed. They had a lot of effort put into them. ANet said they wanted their personalities to be extremely animated, and you can tell they definitely put a lot of attention into this race for that purpose.