Guild Wars 2

If you were to write a book of Tyria or a History of Tyria what sort of chapters would it contain?

example:
A bestiary
History of the world of Tyria
Mysteries of Tyria
Lore / History of the races

or maybe simply a collection of books from GW1 and GW2 that are in game.

I hope I am wording this all correctly.

That is a good question.

Depending on the scope you’re going for, the work may be as short as a handbook or grow as large as an encyclopedia. I universe we have the Wikki Crewe as a tie in to the official wiki.

Of course there’s nothing preventing the creation of another in universe encyclopedia.
The one thing preventing me from writing a Historia Tyriae is the amount of incomplete data we have.

Let’s start with the Humans.
If I were to write about the Bloodline of tyrian royalty from King Doric to present day rulers, I’d find that there are maybe a few named monarchs and the rest is simply not elaborated on.
Elonian history may warrant a book of its own. I read the Nightfall manual, a book giving detailed information on elonian rulers and dynasties can make for a good long read.
Cantha is another place of significant human history. It may even be the place where humans first appeared on the surface of Tyria, the other theory maintains Orr to be the starting point of human expansion. We don’t know, as we’d have to visit Cantha to find evidence.

The History of the Charr is another problem, as most of it isn’t written. There are ideograms, and you can reconstruct the history from their maneuvers, but that is a lot of piece by piece reconstruction with a bit of conjecture thrown in.
Modern Charr history on the other Hand is exceptionally well documented, but if an outsider asks to access the Iron Legion’s archives, he’ll most likely be denied.

Norn History suffers from the same problem as charr history. Oral retelling through skalds has been the only way to preserve the legends of old. Add to this the Norn’s propensity for bragging and you are faced with unverifiable tales offered by unreliable narrators.

Sylvari history has many advantages, though. It has excellent documentation, many contemporary witnesses are still around and a good amount of it has already been written down. The obvious downside: As of 1329 AE, it is about 30 years long.

Asuran history shares many of the advantages of Sylvari history, is longer and has a good amount of secondary literature. Some of it is conserved via optical record. The recent discovery of Rata Novus allows for groundbreaking discoveries.

If I turn to the natural sciences, I could write about the anatomy of the present day races. Hopefully the Charr won’t mind if I ask to keep their enemies’ bodies for later dissection. Anatomica Charrorum a book for aspiring surgeons and a valuable read for anyone operating in Ascalon.

Taken from an existing book on anatomy:
1) General anatomy
2) Skin, glands, hair and claws
3) Musculoskeletal system
4) Internal organs
5) Head, cranium and neck
6) Sensory organs
7) Nervous system

On books that are already ingame: many offer some insight into the world of Tyria, but I’d love to see more.

A few thoughts on the above…

Charr and Norn:

the lack of a written history is not, actually, that problematic. It only changes the focus of the book in question. Instead of a history, or would have to be more an anthopological and archeological study that would serve as their history. If you think about it, this is the way we handle documenting many of the cultures that have only a history of oral tradition.

I would recomend the following sections:

1. Legends of Tyria: this would include things from all races, both those still in existance and those now extinct.

2. Time of the Human Gods: I do not chose this as a human-centric individual, but rather because the Human Gods had a huge affect on all races, so much so that the standard calender is based on their leaving (BE and AE are Before Exodus and After Exodus)

3. Rise of the Dragons: This would start with perhaps a little pre-history from GW1 of the events that lead to Primordius’ first stirrings and detail what happened leading up all the way to Mordremoth, the last of the dragons to awaken. This would, essential, be the modern day

4. Races of the Tyrian Continent: this would be a general discussion of the major events that lead to the developement of each of the current races, both Player and NPC.

Each of these 4 books would then be broken down into the following sections:

1. Geography: including any maps that might have survived as well as the general lay of the land. After all, we know that in the last 250 years, Tyria has undergone major geographic changes…it no doubt has in the past as well.

2. Magical Events: these would be major magical events that would also help to document the interacts of the various races…things such as the Thaumanova Reactor Explosion.

3. Spiritual Beliefs of Tyrians: this would be a compare and contrast with all the major races on their spiritual beliefes, including any Mythical Origins as well as theosophic contentions and beliefes.

4. Wars and Conflicts: goodness knows there are enough of them

That’s where I would take it from.

Gany