Guild Wars 2

Apologies if I missed it in the wiki or these forums, but I can’t find any information on this. All those ruins in VB – who used to live there?

There’s no explanation really given just like there’s no explanation why we didn’t see any Tarir structures in GW1.

The “no Tarir in GW1” question is easy. It was built later, in the 250 year span between the games.

I always assumed they were built by the original druids: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Druid_

I don’t think there’s anything in-game that tells us, but the druids seem the most likely candidates to me because they started off as human and the ruins seem to be built to human proportions and they were in the jungle for a long time, so they’d have time to build big structures, but vanished hundreds of years ago, giving those structures time to turn into ruins.

The other possibility is that it’s one of the races living in the maguuma, like the hylek, who decided stone structures were unsuitable for some reason. But in that case I think they would have mentioned it.

Are you talking about the ruins in the southeastern corner of the map? I’d assume they belong to the same civilization the buildings in the Maguuma Wastes. There hasn’t really been any formal statement about who built them, nor the ruins around Rata Sum back in GW1.

Or the whole Lost Precipice Guiild Hall…

Thanks for the feedback! I was actually referring to all of the ruins we come across, from that fighting pit/Pale Reaver area to the Lost Precipice. We see remnants of buildings and structures everywhere, and nobody really explains it to us. I expected at least a bunch of Priory nerd npcs to be chatting about it when they have a moment to catch their breath, but nothing.

The druid theory makes sense in terms of humans being in the jungle, but then again things like a fighting pit (and large edifices in general) seem to run counter to the really back-to-nature/hippy-dippy feeling I get from the description of the druids. It would be interesting to find out more about who’s old home many guilds are squatting in now.

I’m not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it was the advanced society of skritt that one day fell to ruin

I always think them belonging to the civilizations that were around before the previous dragon awakening cycle, 10.000 years ago when dragons destroyed them.

Think of Protean ruins and the Reapers if familiar with Mass Effect story.

Lost Precipice was inhabited by those who became the Exalted (or their families?) if I’ve understood correctly. The SE ruins I’m really curious about however.

I think this tread would do better in lore section. But on the subject. We have some hints, that they belong to the Forgotten.

Firstly, we know from study in gold, tablet 8
( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/A_Study_in_Gold ), that both Lost Precipice And Gilded Hollow were used by Forgotten.

Moreover, some structures in Mystery Cave are similar (even same) to those of Gilded Hollow, and with Mystery Cave we got reference to Forgotten. There are ascension symbols and cobra motives (which were used on forgotten seals) on the entrance.

And finally, there is similarity in architecture between VB/SW ruins and Bastion of the penitent, which is Mursaat prison said to be build only by combined effort of prisoners – that being Humans, Jotun and Forgotten.

Only thing that doesn’t add up are the stairs. Why would Forgotten use them?

The ruins located in Silverwastes, Verdant Brink, and Lost Precipice are ultimately unknown. However, there are hints.

And those hints are not Forgotten. In fact, the very source for Tutanchamon’s claims is proof that it isn’t. Because the only relation between Gilded Hollow and Lost Precipice is the crystal, in addition, Lost Precipice was already existing and named such before the Forgotten arrived, indicating that those ruins had been there before the Forgotten began searching for a place to put Tarir. In other words, they existed during or before GW1’s time.

The golden structures are made by Forgotten (and Exalted). The sandstone structures… predate the golden structures.

The first hint as to the inhabitants is the statues – they’re human, and have been compared to Elonian standards in the past (same statues seen in Aquatic Ruins Fractal, which was compared to as a mix of Ascalonian and Elonian to the devs, who not only didn’t deny such, but built on it to explain the mixing properties of the Mists when creating fractals, to explain the fractal isn’t about a point when Ascalonian and Elonian structures got mixed together, but instead was about two different points (or more) which individually featured Ascalonian and Elonian structures).

The second hint is an item added to the regions with Heart of Thorns’ legendary collections: the Primeval Runescroll, though the term “primeval” is a fairly generic term, it has only ever been used in relation to ancient Elona – specifically the Primeval Kings, first hereditary leadership of Elona.

We know in the past that there were at least two groups of humans who had a presence in the Maguuma Jungle, prior to the White Mantle. The first, more known, is the druids. The second is the Krytans who had established a trade route going all the way to the western coast of the Maguuma Jungle. Kryta was re-established in 300 AE, spreading far from the then-Bay of Sirens coastline at that time, by Elona.

These ruins are likely further structures along that trade route, connecting Kryta to the western Maguuman coastline, which were abandoned when the Third Guild Wars ended, and humanity began its decline.

Rognik.2579:

There hasn’t really been any formal statement about who built them, nor the ruins around Rata Sum back in GW1.

While no explicit statement, it’s been more or less confirmed that the ruins of Rata Sum in GW1 were made by… the asura.

This is made apparent by Rata Pten, a surface asuran city that predates the Cataclysm.

There are other asuran ruins which surround Orr on all sides, curiously – some can be found at the top of Lightfoot Passage, for example, and Orr did have a presence in the Tarnished Coast, which is surrounded by these same ancient structures.

Should also be noted that the TC ruins in GW1 had the same appearance as the Central Transfer Chamber structures (as if that weren’t a big enough give-away), and our first out-of-game introduction to asura includes the line: “It has been centuries since Asura were seen aboveground.”

Which means that the Tarnished Coast Ruins, Rata Pten, and the Lightfoot Passage ruins are at least 450 years old (at least two centuries old by GW1’s time), made by asura, and for unknown reasons abandoned.