Guild Wars 2

Curious as to how plant people relate into physical prowess.

Depends what you mean strong, Norn and Charr are phisically strong, sylvari was never meant to be about that, i find ur question interesting.

they seem to be on-par with humans, both in strength and resilience.

for all practical matters, they’re essentially green, quirky humans :P

It still makes me wonder; a sylvari has no internal skeleton, they’re just wrapped leaves; so, do they bend? Do the leaves unfurl or fray if damaged? Do they wrap back together if they were unfurled, can they regrow if torn out? What kind’ve organs do they possess (They eat, so presumably they have something akin to a stomach, I envision something like a pitcher plant ;p)

I propose that I test these questions out with the help of a large hammer and a pair of secateurs in the name of the eternal alchemy!

Ryuujin.8236:

It still makes me wonder; a sylvari has no internal skeleton, they’re just wrapped leaves; so, do they bend? Do the leaves unfurl or fray if damaged? Do they wrap back together if they were unfurled, can they regrow if torn out? What kind’ve organs do they possess (They eat, so presumably they have something akin to a stomach, I envision something like a pitcher plant ;p)

I propose that I test these questions out with the help of a large hammer and a pair of secateurs in the name of the eternal alchemy!

they have wood for bones. like, super resilient wood or something. they have the same basic anatomy as humans, only more leafy. i’m almost sure this includes sexual organs, but they’re sterile. also, that’s kind of a discussion i’d like to avoid because it’s creepy >.>

but anyway. leafy humans. they have a leafy equivalent of skin, flesh, veins, blood, organs, bones, etc.

Sylvari apparently do have organs mimicking humans own internal organs, what exactly they have is not known but they can perform all of the same functions as a normal human. This includes copulation, thought they do not reproduce.

If their skin is torn it does grow back but at the same rate as a humans skin would. They do bleed out, although their blood is said to be a golden sap like substance.

That’s all I got.

Well my Sylvari is made of hickory, so yeah, I’d say it would hurt to punch him in the face.

But if we lit him on fire and laid some strips of bacon on the guy, admit it, that would be some good bacon.

I think that the pale tree is preventing sylvari from reproduction( part of the Pale Tree Dragon theory), or they have sex organs as a fallback in case the tree dies.

^ or because, you know, it’s fun :P

Does anything say that they can’t have children the old fashioned way? everything I’ve seen has just said that they haven’t yet. I mean the only two sylvari that I know of which were in a major relationship were Caithe and Faolin, but two women don’t usually have children no matter what race :P

Its really strange but in the beta events I remember running into a small ‘arena’ of sorts in the Norn starting area (or maybe it was the person story I can’t remember) where you were put against others in this tiny ring.

Standing at the side is a Norn and a Charr (Or another Norn I was only listening, was an intense fight). I remember one laughing at the Sylvari, claiming that Sylvari arn’t strong, so they are no match for Norn and not a threat, the other then says that they are tougher than they look. The are as strong as a Human but there is nothing to break, you try to twist an arm or break an elbow and they just twist.

(Something along those lines)

If they have wood like fibers for bones, then they would be considerably hard to break, as their bones would be akin to flexible green wood.

@Narcemus.
There are examples of romantic involvement between sylvari in a few places. Not just Caithe and Faolin. The green knight story line is intruduced before we really know anything about Faolin. As a people, romance, courtship and sexuality seems to be a very strong part of their culture.

On topic.
I think the sylvari evolved to mimic humans as closely as they could. They seem to have equivilency in everything else by design. I assume physical strength would also be on par.

Narcemus.1348:

Does anything say that they can’t have children the old fashioned way? everything I’ve seen has just said that they haven’t yet. I mean the only two sylvari that I know of which were in a major relationship were Caithe and Faolin, but two women don’t usually have children no matter what race :P

pretty sure it is said that sylvari can’t bear children. they’re even amused at how birth and growth works for other races, and see it as something very outlandish and hard to describe (as shown, for example, in one of the envoy quests where you help the order of whispers, and you struggle to even describe a child).

Sylvari may be as strong as a human, but they are physically more resilient then a norn is.

It was stated in a blog post, during devlopment, that the sylvari cannot bear children. They all come from the pale tree when they are “born.” This is more than likely the reason why sexual orientation is not that big a deal among the sylvari.

Either that or Sylvari are a recently created society and they have no background on which to place any importance on sexual orientation. And I would like to know what blog post, because I read pretty much every 1 during development and I don’t remember any outright stating that they could not reproduce. If I remember right it was being left to question with other things like if they die of natural causes, since no sylvari has died except to weaponry or dragon corrpution.

Narcemus.1348:

Either that or Sylvari are a recently created society and they have no background on which to place any importance on sexual orientation. And I would like to know what blog post, because I read pretty much every 1 during development and I don’t remember any outright stating that they could not reproduce. If I remember right it was being left to question with other things like if they die of natural causes, since no sylvari has died except to weaponry or dragon corrpution.

not to steer this off topic, or to accidentally cause a pro-gay/anti-gay discussion, but sexual orientation is driven by instinct, the need to mate to create offspring and make sure your genes are the ones that stick (survival of the fittest and whatnot). society came after that, and decided that not following that instinct because you like it better the other way is wrong (depending on which society).

anyway, my point is that it’s not the lack of social background that makes the sylvari not care about genders, it’s that they don’t have this “instinct of procreation”, and as a result who they mate with or why becomes their choice.

Or they could have just had viewpoints similar to the early Greeks…..

Well, there are no ‘children’ among the sylvari for the whole early greek thing to technically work. I think the issue here with the sylvari is that they haven’t had time to learn how to procreate. I mean this instinct you are talking about came from centuries of creatures mating with other creatures to figure out what worked. The sylvari have had around 23 years, and from what we can tell normal sexual acts from every other race’s standpoint don’t work for them. I mean they are plants, maybe they need to go and have bees pollenate them :P

Of course they’re strong. Sylvari can do everything remember?

Narcemus.1348:

Well, there are no ‘children’ among the sylvari for the whole early greek thing to technically work. I think the issue here with the sylvari is that they haven’t had time to learn how to procreate. I mean this instinct you are talking about came from centuries of creatures mating with other creatures to figure out what worked. The sylvari have had around 23 years, and from what we can tell normal sexual acts from every other race’s standpoint don’t work for them. I mean they are plants, maybe they need to go and have bees pollenate them :P

you don’t “learn” instinct. every living creature follows this simple pattern (always have, always will): eat, grow, procreate, repeat. it’s the cycle of life.

so if sylvaris could have children, they’d have it by now.

Narcemus.1348:

Either that or Sylvari are a recently created society and they have no background on which to place any importance on sexual orientation. And I would like to know what blog post, because I read pretty much every 1 during development and I don’t remember any outright stating that they could not reproduce. If I remember right it was being left to question with other things like if they die of natural causes, since no sylvari has died except to weaponry or dragon corrpution.

http://www.arena.net/blog/the-sylvari-soul#more-5533
here ya go. there are a few interviews as well if you’d like to see them .
http://www.cdaction.pl/news-20880-4/guild-wars-2---wywiad-z-martinem-kersteinem-i-erikiem-flannumem.html
http://www.wartower.de/artikel/artikel.php?id=651

my understanding is that they’re supposed to be made of plant cells and fibers arranged in ways that mimic humanoid organs and limbs. Plants lack a way to generate and release tension on their own, which is why they can’t move, but if they could, just imagine how much energy they could store in their limbs (like when you pull back on a large branch and release it).

I didn’t have much time to read them, but nothing that I read said anything about Sylvari never being able to reproduce, just that they’ve never had the urge or need to. And that the way in which they love isn’t physical but more spiritual.

Do sylvari have romantic relationships?

Sylvari fall in and out of love, just like other races do. They have a romanticized view of devotion, and they’re curious about passion in all its forms. There are male and female sylvari, but none has ever produced a child as other races do. Because of this, traditional human-style gender roles have no meaning to sylvari, either in their society or in their romantic relationships. Often, a sylvari’s ardor is expressed with courtly zeal—emotional, empathic, personal—and is not necessarily defined by gender.

From the first link. Don’t ask for sources if your just gonna skim them.
but this is veering way of of the original topic… oops lol.

Again though, saying that they haven’t reproduced and that they can’t reproduce are two completely different things. I read that very statement.

I think that’s pretty indicative of what’s possible. Kids happen by accident quite a bit. if the sylvari have been around for 25 years in adult bodies and not one single child was concieved then it probably can’t happen.

25 years is quite a bit of time. Not reproducing in a quarter of a century when we clearly see romantic relationships are not uncommon in sylvari society seems to equate not doing it with not being able to do it. especially when we know how sylvari definatly do ‘proceate’.

Yes, but one has to wonder how long it takes a race to learn how to procreate. I mean the only thing that they have to go off of is the sex that they see those of other races having, but who says that this is the way in which plants reproduce? It seems quite possible that though they may have the reproductive organs that humans and other races have, these are merely for show, in the sense that their muscles and such are.

Every example I can think of says procreation doesn’t really need to be learned. Who taught the Pale tree how to make sylvari?

Also, “possibilities” can be argued to a supremem illogical extreme. It’s "possible’ that humans don’t birth like on earth or maybe they secretly also have a way of giving birth by digging up babies from a cabbage patch :P But since there is absolutly no indication of it and since we know how humans absolutly do procreate, probably no cabbage babies outside of the sylvari. Probability says we know the one way sylvari procreate. By the Pale Tree.

Narcemus.1348:

Yes, but one has to wonder how long it takes a race to learn how to procreate. I mean the only thing that they have to go off of is the sex that they see those of other races having, but who says that this is the way in which plants reproduce? It seems quite possible that though they may have the reproductive organs that humans and other races have, these are merely for show, in the sense that their muscles and such are.

it doesn’t take long at all, as in “if you aren’t born knowning how to procreate, you’ll go extinct”. the very first generation of anything had to know how to procreate, because you don’t “learn” that, just like you don’t need to “learn” that you should try and stay alive.

Not to steer this thread back away from dendrophilia again, but as for the bone debate, don’t RL plants already have a means of mimicking skeletal structures? Being plants their cells are rigid, as opposed to animals’ squishy cells. Just because they have a plant-like equivalent of all things human, doesn’t mean they have a woody bone structure, a leafy pancreas, some kind of sap filled gall bladder, it just means they achieve pretty much all the same functions and experiences as humans do. Like the above example of the pitcher plant instead of a full gastrointestinal system.

My big question is, can you tell how old a sylvari is by cutting off its head and counting the rings in its neck?

Yes, there is actually a quest about that :P J/K

And I’m just saying, until ArenaNet comes out and says that Sylvari can never reproduce and would go extinct if all pale trees were destroyed, I will hold out hope. I mean for all we know it could be a limitation to the species while the pale tree still creates sylvari, but something would trigger and allow procreation if something were to happen with the pale tree. I mean honestly if the game developers want things to be possible or impossible they will make a way, and until they state something as an outright fact I will not believe it.

Daecollo.9578:

Sylvari may be as strong as a human, but they are physically more resilient then a norn is.

I doubt very much they are more resiliant than a race that walks around half naked in below freezing temperatures that is also capable of shapshifting into hybrid creatures.

I would say, based off of the characters I read in Ghosts of Ascalon, comparing Killeen to either Gyda or Gullik it seems very easy to see that she is much more flimsy, but this being said, the difference is also between warriors and scholars. But I’d personally say when it comes to physical strength they are closer to humans. Which makes sense because they were made in the image of humanity.

most display plantlike features such as hard wood for bone structure, have foliage and petals for hair

while sylvari can and do have sex, it is not for reproduction as sylvari can only be born from the Pale Tree.

from GW2 wiki on the sylvari page

The wiki is written by players, players can make mistakes.

None of the links around that statement talk anything about whether or not the Sylvari can reproduce. As I said before, without a direct quote from Ree Soesebee or Jeff Grubb, I won’t believe it.

^ that’s like saying "well we’ve had 25 years worth of adult insert sterile crossbred animal species here, and of course they were all sterile, but that doesn’t mean they can’t reproduce. we’ve just never seen one, ever, and every single one we’ve seen can’t.

I’m just saying, you can disagree with me until your face turns purple, but I will not believe that sylvari can never reproduce until one of those two say so.

good for you. won’t keep you from being wrong until they say so.

“Elli: The Sylvari cannot reproduce, can they?

Ree: No, no, they can’t. The only way a Sylvari reproduces is the Tree. The Tree gives birth."

http://www.wartower.de/forum/showthread.php?threadid=1059600

Look for the English transcript: Transkript auf englisch in German

Or just listen to the podcast.

Bam! They can’t breed. Said by Ree herself.

Have not bothered to read replies as I am feeling lazy and I find myself in a snarky mood….

Go punch a redwood tree, tell me how it goes.

So, yeah, major hit in the groin there. I mean who would guess that an American wouldn’t see a single sentence on a german website.

Fine then though, I’ll admit that sylvari cannot reproduce.

Try guildwarsinsider. That’s where I found the link to that.

Go solo a Nightmare court knight in TA then u’ll know how strong they are. ;D