Guild Wars 2

Greetings,
like the title says…if we ever get to play Tengu and Largos…what would you like to see in their customization, which options, sweet details etc, as well as biography?
Personally I believe that these two are the best candidates for the next playable races.
Largos, they come from the depths of the ocean (meaning they are probably struggling against the DSD)…and they are completely ’’unknown’’ to us…yet the mention of ’’houses’’ and ’’hunt’’ is really intriguing…they seem very secretive and mysterious…
Tengu…they had their appearance in GW1 in Tyria and Cantha and they had very interesting lore…perhaps if we get Canthan expansion one day, they get added as a playable race?
Post your ideas!

This is probably better for the GW2 discussion forum, since this isn’t really about lore but gameplay.

Tengu: feather colors, feather plumage (the thickness and style), beak/tusk styles
Largos: “fin” patterns is all I can really think of other than the typical body/face/hair designs.

I actually was hoping for Tengu and Centaur as the next two. The largos are too human looking, not really a lot of reason to add them (plus, they’re mostly aquatic and the current game is terrestrial).

I really do hope they will add these two races as playable, for I believe they will be epic!
About Tengu I would definitely love to be able to give different feather colours to some body parts, like wings…would like to customize beaks as well and tails, some kind of crests as options would be awesome as well! Rather “shading” colours for the plumage I would really love!
As for Largos, I would love to be able to customize “wings”, as their glow, colour and size as well, like thickness and such…

@BlueSoda, just the fact that the game is mainly terrestrial, not giving much reasons to explore the underwater lore as much, should be a reason to add an aquatic race! Besides, I believe that as Blur said, they would be the wisest add, when the Deep Sea Dragon will be added to the game!

Largos -1% chance to be playeable. They are newer to the lore than the sylvari, we haven’t even know they exist until GW2 release. And they prefer to hide from the world, live in the water and do skirmishes, not a good material for a playeable rce.

Tengu -99% chance

I apologise if I misplaced this thread…though for some reason I found it fitting with lore due to the fact it concerns two races which can be discussed nicely.

Tengu and Largos are (in my opinion) the two races which seem most fitting…
Skritt, Quaggans? I do understand that we know more of these races…but how could a silly Coo Coo Quaggan or “Shinnies” Skritt fight against the Dragons? When they can’t even defend themselves properly. I am excluding these two, because they are terribly silly. I know some people like them, but having them as a playable race would be more than silly…
Centaurs have some cool lore behind them, yes…and it would break the MMO standards…perhaps with Elona expansion?
Tengu and Largos are both humanoid races, meaning they’ll fit the models we currently have.
Besides…we do not know much about Largos, but they could have dwelt in the depths of the ocean for years, without any other race knowing about their existence. Now that DSD is causing a major threat to them, I find it logical for Largos to get out of their current lifestyle and join forces with other races. Having underwater city would be impressive…and customization options for them would be dazzling!
Asura used to live underground, no one knew about their existence until the Destroyers pushed them out…they had to fight for their survival, meaning they had to join other races to fight this threat.
As for Tengu…I don’t see why we could not play as a bird-like race…plus it would be lovely and rather unique.

I think the best reason I have heard for why centaurs will not be a playable race is one Kokittenve to me when I was in the hard-core “Centuars for Playable” camp. The reason was this, swimming. I just don’t see it being done at all. I’m sorry, but as much as I think the centaurs would be an awesome race, they gotta be able to swim to be playable. Tengu are most likely going to be playable eventually. They have an area for their home-city, they have segregation (the 4 winds), they have an area that could be their low level zone (between kessex and Lion’s Arch and straight down to Southsun Cove), and they were originally going to be a playable race, but they got dropped. As for largos, they could be interesting, but they don’t seem fleshed out enough yet. In fact, if you remove the customization limitations, kodan seem closer to the level of a soon-to-be playable race than the largos are.

@BlueSoda: ArenaNet explicitly stated back in 2009 that they want centaurs to be a “black race” – a race that’s enemies through and through. Plus, they were having problems thinking of how to make them work with the armor and underwater content (horses may swim, but you can’t really get them going sideways while submerged and the like).

Gandarel.5091:

Largos -1% chance to be playeable. They are newer to the lore than the sylvari, we haven’t even know they exist until GW2 release. And they prefer to hide from the world, live in the water and do skirmishes, not a good material for a playeable rce.

Your argument fails.

Norn, asura, and sylvari were all added just to be playable races. Largos could easily be the same.

They don’t hide from the world, they’re just not common in continental Tyria for now – no different than how asura and norn were uncommon in continental Tyria prior to Eye of the North.

In other words, the Largos now is little different than 3 of the 5 playable races.

I agree that Tengu and Largos are the top tiers for future playable races (I would even place Largos above Tengu if not for their already known capitol and the fact they were going to be a starter race). I’m even getting armor tokens for the future armors of my Tengu Engineer (crazed bird… he loves fire, chemicals and explosions) and my Largos Mesmer (his illusions don’t leave butterflies! those really are veeeery litle clones of himself!).

Largos have a lot of ingredients (faaaaaaaaar more than any other race not named Tengu) to be a playable race, and all other races have at least 1 or more “not suit for playable” trait. It’s very possible that they’re being introducted to us in litle bits. We never saw a Sylvari before this game and they started as playable. Largos and Tengu are the 2 races with representatives stating they will get news of the Pact to their people to tell them about the alliance and how they defeated an Elder Dragon, that by itself says a lot about the possibility. Largos even have clear biography questions (like which House of Tethyos they belong to, like Charr choosing a Legion and giving space for an evil House for the racial antagonist like other playable races have).

Things I would like to see in tengu customization? http://www.kekaiart.com/uploads/5/4/7/6/5476798/4274396_orig.jpg

That array of possible customizations would be really cool for them. Maybe throw a “duck beak” for comical relief like the mushrom sylvari and the afro asura.

It would be interesting too to know how they plan to differentiate males and females . My guess is that the headshape of the one in the far right would be the foundation for females, and probably males would get bigger chests as male birds use to show it to attract females. My guess is that they will get the Charr and Asura treatment for armors being mostly shared for males and females.

For Largos I think fins shapes, colored patterns and maybe the color of the patterns (we only know 2 models, there might be different colors on their fins) would give a lot of play. The body is very humanoid/elven, maybe they can get some unique skin colors we currently don’t know about, and their faces might surprise us under their maks (though I expect them to be have “pretty”/humanoid faces but who knows). Maybe ears shape/size too.

PS: About Centaurs, despite that I though before release that with a possible Elonian expansion they would be as great a playable race as Tengu, in a game with underwater combat and dodges (and jumping puzzles) they would be very hard to do given their body shapes. Aditionally all centaurs in the main continent are hostile and for what we know there aren’t enough Elonian centaurs to have a city capable to hold a playable race.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@BlueSoda: ArenaNet explicitly stated back in 2009 that they want centaurs to be a “black race” – a race that’s enemies through and through. Plus, they were having problems thinking of how to make them work with the armor and underwater content (horses may swim, but you can’t really get them going sideways while submerged and the like).

Gandarel.5091:

Largos -1% chance to be playeable. They are newer to the lore than the sylvari, we haven’t even know they exist until GW2 release. And they prefer to hide from the world, live in the water and do skirmishes, not a good material for a playeable rce.

Your argument fails.

Norn, asura, and sylvari were all added just to be playable races. Largos could easily be the same.

They don’t hide from the world, they’re just not common in continental Tyria for now – no different than how asura and norn were uncommon in continental Tyria prior to Eye of the North.

In other words, the Largos now is little different than 3 of the 5 playable races.

You always try to prove me wrong but no sir, you fail.

We know the asura ad norn races for GW1, they were added in EotN to bring us closer tothem, yes, for the purpose of being playeable. We could even witness the birth of the Pale Tree in Gw1, so another connection. If largos would be the same, shouldn’t we know more about them or play a more important part? Or devs would care more about them.

As you say, they were added to be playeable. But largos? Very new race to the lore, very few impact, and yes, they do avoid contact with other races if they can.

Maybe one day we will visit the largos territory, but won’t play them.

Tengu and Largos show the most potential…
As for Centaurs they would be interesting, but yes…I was also pondering doing JP’s with them and swimming…it would be a little silly and rather annoying…so I guess we can easily exclude them…

@Gandarel
Unlike all of the other races, Largos and Tengu are the most logical.
Just because we do not know much about Largos now, doesn’t mean we are going to exclude them from being a playable race.
We may learn more about them, and I am sure we will…as soon as something starts happening with DSD…they have the potential to become a playable race and I believe ANet will expand them more and more…since for now we only have two same models for males and females.
They seem promising…and in the beginning, we hardly knew anything about the Sylvari…in GW1 we only knew about the seed, Ventari’s Tablets and the Pale Tree. Later things about the Sylvari began to unfold…and show more about their mystery. I have the feeling that it will be the same with Largos.
As for Tengu, we already know a lot about them from GW1…
The two races which I am going to exclude from being playable are Quaggans and Skritt…anything but that… x.x
Krait (Nagas) and Kodan miiiiiight become a playable race…
I am aware that some people like Kodan…but to me they seem a little boring…plus they all resemble polar bears…can’t see the large variety in character creation for them…apart from some ’’stripes’’ or dirt on fur…
As for Krait…hmm…I just wonder how could they jump…

And to add about Largos…
They are new to us, because we did not know anything about them…but they could be an ’’ancient’’/’’elder’’ race which dwelt in the depths of the ocean for years without anyone knowing about it! After all…who would dive so deep in the ocean? Rather impossible, right?

Dwarves=they all turned to stone…and I believe Ogden is the only surviving Dwarf now…so rather impossible for them to be a playable race.

Margonites= They might show potential when we get Elona…Abaddon was defeated, Kormir took over…I wonder if Margonites are her followers now?

Blur.3465:

@Gandarel
Unlike all of the other races, Largos and Tengu are the most logical.
Just because we do not know much about Largos now, doesn’t mean we are going to exclude them from being a playable race.
We may learn more about them, and I am sure we will…as soon as something starts happening with DSD…they have the potential to become a playable race and I believe ANet will expand them more and more…since for now we only have two same models for males and females.
They seem promising…and in the beginning, we hardly knew anything about the Sylvari…in GW1 we only knew about the seed, Ventari’s Tablets and the Pale Tree. Later things about the Sylvari began to unfold…and show more about their mystery. I have the feeling that it will be the same with Largos.

…

And to add about Largos…
They are new to us, because we did not know anything about them…but they could be an ’’ancient’’/’’elder’’ race which dwelt in the depths of the ocean for years without anyone knowing about it! After all…who would dive so deep in the ocean? Rather impossible, right?

Exactly. Largos have loads of potential and more ingredients than any other race. Sylvari were a complete mystery until this game and they were playable from day 1. And as I already said, only 2 races send representatives that will talk to their people about the Pact (probably to convince them to join the fight): Largos and Tengu.

Margonites= They might show potential when we get Elona…Abaddon was defeated, Kormir took over…I wonder if Margonites are her followers now?

Nah, even after Abaddon defeat they were incredibly hostile against the players and Kormir’s new rule. Lord Jadoth and Mallyx are clear examples of Margonites not being friendly guys after Abaddon’s defeat.

About other races I have list of very specific traits that exclude them from being playable in the future and all the others races (including Kodan despite how liked they are and how their budhist culture is interesting to explore) fall in many of them. Only Tengu and Largos are 100% clean for playability (not to mention that the representatives at the Pact thing is a BIG hint).

I wonder, though, did any Margonites survive to this day? From Desolation and Crystal Desert, they were pretty much wiped to Realm of Torment, but they used to sail the Unending Ocean – what if there’s a remote Margonite city somewhere across the sea, never corrupted by Abaddon?

@ Lokheit
I completely agree! And to be honest, I am really looking forward to learn more about Largos…having an underwater city would be amazing! Besides, their customization could be really, really unique. The ’’fins’’ and different skin patterns…perhaps little adds like glowing antennae’s, used by predatory fish from the depths of the seas/oceans. Such large underwater content would be amazing…
Tengu and Largos definitely…it’s just a matter of time! Though I am really eager to get my hands on both races xD And like you said, they are 100% clean to become a new playable race!
Character creation for Tengu would really be awesome! I assume that male Tengu would be more like birds of prey or so? While females would have ’’softer’’ faces and smaller beaks? Maybe bigger eyes, no tusks? Male Tengu=Eagle, Female Tengu=Falcon…or so…

As of Margonites, after Abaddon’s defeat they were still hostile towards the player, yes…but there was one particular quest in Torment…given by the Apostate (if I remember correctly)…it was a friendly Margonite…who found out about Abaddon’s secrets and did not want to follow him…where the other Margonites cast him out and aimed to kill him…you as a player get to aid that Apostate…

Margonites are simply humans btw who gained power from Abaddon. Also, they can’t grow in numbers so wouldn’t make sense at all.

Gandarel.5091:

Margonites are simply humans btw who gained power from Abaddon. Also, they can’t grow in numbers so wouldn’t make sense at all.

Which is why I believe it would be possible a remote settlement of Margonites, untouched by the events of BE 1 and AE 0, could have survived somewhere across the sea. In fact, my train of thought leads me to think that the people of Guild Wars Utopia could have been originally Margonites of old. After all, Margonites were extraordinary sailors.

Gandarel.5091:

You always try to prove me wrong but no sir, you fail.

We know the asura ad norn races for GW1, they were added in EotN to bring us closer tothem, yes, for the purpose of being playeable. We could even witness the birth of the Pale Tree in Gw1, so another connection. If largos would be the same, shouldn’t we know more about them or play a more important part? Or devs would care more about them.

As you say, they were added to be playeable. But largos? Very new race to the lore, very few impact, and yes, they do avoid contact with other races if they can.

Maybe one day we will visit the largos territory, but won’t play them.

I wouldn’t say I always do, but in this repeated matter, certainly:

Yes, we knew of asura and norn since Eye of the Nort, but as you agree with, for the sole intention of becoming a playable race in Guild Wars 2. That was the point I made which you did not disagree with, and the same could be done to Largos, who were added in the initial release just to be made playable some expansion(s) later.

In Eye of the North, we got just about as much of norn and asuran culture – and less of sylvari culture – as we do of largos culture during the initial release – which was already expanded a bit with The Lost Shores and the Ascended amulet.

I wouldn’t say that the largos hide from other races. The skill challenge guy does seem to wish to keep himself secretive, but not so much the others. Sayeh stays hidden not to keep herself from others, but to paraphrase Trahearne: her presence unsettles others. The largos in Orr are all very open, only hiding from their kills to take them out when they’re ready – no different than an assassin or ninja on the job.

By culture, they’re stealthy, but that’s not the same as “hiding from other races” – that’s them “hiding from their targets.” Unless, as Sayeh says, it is part of their plan to announce their presence to their targets.

We actually learn a lot of largos culture for those who choose the fear “bringing harm to another” in the personal story, where you interact a lot with Sayeh – if you talk to her at every chance, you learn almost about as much of their culture as we knew of asuran culture in Eye of the North. Add on the lore we get from the others elsewhere, and you get about as much as we knew of norn culture in Eye of the North.

In the end, your main argument seems to be their isolation – which isn’t true, there’s just not many out there and they hide from their targets, not other races – and their newness, which similarly isn’t true given the norn, asura, and sylvari all being brand new and only introduced one release prior to becoming playable (which could easily end up being the same for largos).

In my opinion, the largos are being introduced in the same style that the sylvari were. Itty tidbits in their initial reveal, just to get a huge chunk of lore shortly before becoming playable.

Tuomir.1830:

Which is why I believe it would be possible a remote settlement of Margonites, untouched by the events of BE 1 and AE 0, could have survived somewhere across the sea. In fact, my train of thought leads me to think that the people of Guild Wars Utopia could have been originally Margonites of old. After all, Margonites were extraordinary sailors.

There were indeed some Margonites that weren’t “gifted” by Abaddon. These Margonites are those we hear about in the Crystal Desert in GW1. They attempted Ascension, turning their ships into towers in Thirsty River when the desert was formed, but were ultimately killed off by the Forgotten at an unknown time. Margonite civilization collapsed overall, though, in 0 AE.

Margonites definitely became wiped out, as they faded into mythology to the known world. Only Turai Ossa and the ghosts of the Crystal Desert knew they weren’t myths prior to Nightfall.

It would be interesting if Largos had Predator faces under the masks, with mandibles and such. But yeah, Largos would be nifty, Ive always thought they are strikingly similar to the Seers. Perhaps a Seer created them or something? Who knows. Tengu would be my favorite of favorites, I’ve loved them since GW. Hmm they would probably be similar options to the chart, because they use their exact framework, so Plume type, general head type, tusks, feather pattern and color.

It would be pretty unique if you never get to see the real face of your largos, but instead customized the look of your character’s mask during creation.

Having customizable mask would be nice, but I think that it might be used during character creation to decide which house you belong to.
I would love if Largos had some specific facial features…I would love them to remain beautiful, but adding something like gills or little fins (glowing fins-glow pulses like Sylvari glow) on sides of their faces would be interesting…
Glowing eyes would also be nice…

Problem with Largos and tengu though: Breathing masks will be pointless for largos, and how would you fit one on a beak?

How do you fit a breathing mask on a charr? Make it big enough. It would be no different for tengu. As for Largos, you have a point.

Largos breathing mask customization would be cool. House wouldn’t effect it any more than the charrs legion effecting their horns. And perhaps they would still have the additional breathing mask as sort of an attachment to their mask/face

-
Funny thought, Largo ranger pet option, lobotomized Quaggan

Largos either don’t use breathing masks or they always use them – we see them above and below water already.

As far as the Tengu go, this is how I imagine their customisation will be set up:

Plumage – The equivalent of “hair”. The Tengu are unique in that the males have brighter and more colourful plumage. Female Tengu are bigger than the males, but have drab plumage. (As such, it’s a reversal from the other races where the males are invariably bigger than the females.)

Beak – The equivalent of “face”. The different Tengu species have different styles of beaks, and within those beaks you could have shorter or longer beaks, more/less mandibles, and chipped/damaged beaks.

Feather patterns – The equivalent of tattoos/Sylvari glow. Players can choose a variety of feather patterns like dappled, sweeping or just a flat single colour, and dye it accordingly.

The player can then choose which ancestry of Tengu they hail from (Caromi, Avicara, Angchu or Quetzal). They also choose one of the Four Houses of the Winds (East, West, North or South) to belong to, and these choices determine their initial personal storyline.

I don’t really know enough about the Largos to speculate on their customisation or storyline.

@ Zaxares
Great ideas for Tengu! I would also love to see the option to customize the tail feathers, it would be rather interesting, considering how many bird species are out there!

As for Largos mask…they could be using the mask always indeed…having to customize mask instead of face would be interesting…but then again, I am more than curious to know how they might look like under the mask.

Another interesting thing came to my mind…
I was doing an event in Brisban Wildlands with my friend…and there was this event with “The Hunter”…a Largos hunting down the Sylvari patrol…he was killing them.
So we wondered why did he kill them? An entertainment? Or possibility of ‘’evil faction’’ of Largos?

Perhaps the Largos show their faces underwater (when they become playable, I know they don’t yet) and wear their masks on land as an “air-breather”

Blur.3465:

Another interesting thing came to my mind…
I was doing an event in Brisban Wildlands with my friend…and there was this event with “The Hunter”…a Largos hunting down the Sylvari patrol…he was killing them.
So we wondered why did he kill them? An entertainment? Or possibility of ‘’evil faction’’ of Largos?

Largos are a race of assassins. Assassination is a way of life for them, not a job so him killing a group of Sylvari just for the satisfaction of hunting prey isn’t very evil to them. Also, it says they take very great pride in efficient kills and the better killer they are the higher their social status within their culture is.

I would actually say that him killing a bunch of sylvari, without some proper bounty, WOULD be evil to them. The largos have a very strong honor system, and I am pretty sure this would betray it.

Beetle.2476:

Problem with Largos and tengu though: Breathing masks will be pointless for largos, and how would you fit one on a beak?

Largos always wear breathing masks even in water, and by making the breathing mask shaped like a plague mask.

Largos wearing masks underwater may be no different from land creatures wearing masks, helms, etc…

Blur.3465:

Another interesting thing came to my mind…
I was doing an event in Brisban Wildlands with my friend…and there was this event with “The Hunter”…a Largos hunting down the Sylvari patrol…he was killing them.
So we wondered why did he kill them? An entertainment? Or possibility of ‘’evil faction’’ of Largos?

Funny thing about that guy is he’s the only largos we see in-game that we fight to the death. The others are either friendly, or they bow out before you can kill them. Also, other largos are either named or have ‘largos’ in their title. This guy just had the name Unseen Hunter. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was from a rogue house or something, basically the Svanir of the largos. Maybe they’d be obsessed with tradition and want to remain hidden, while the other houses recognize the need to join the fight.

Mutiny.4180:

Funny thing about that guy is he’s the only largos we see in-game that we fight to the death. The others are either friendly, or they bow out before you can kill them. Also, other largos are either named or have ‘largos’ in their title. This guy just had the name Unseen Hunter. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was from a rogue house or something, basically the Svanir of the largos. Maybe they’d be obsessed with tradition and want to remain hidden, while the other houses recognize the need to join the fight.

Yepp, that’s what I was thinking…he could be an outcast or from some ’’rogue’’ house which supports these kinds of things.
Every race in game has ‘’evil side’’.
Sylvari have the Nightmare Court.
Humans have the Bandits.
Norn have Sons of Svanir.
Charr have the Flame Legion.
Asura have the Inquest..

Mutiny.4180:

Blur.3465:

Another interesting thing came to my mind…
I was doing an event in Brisban Wildlands with my friend…and there was this event with “The Hunter”…a Largos hunting down the Sylvari patrol…he was killing them.
So we wondered why did he kill them? An entertainment? Or possibility of ‘’evil faction’’ of Largos?

Funny thing about that guy is he’s the only largos we see in-game that we fight to the death. The others are either friendly, or they bow out before you can kill them. Also, other largos are either named or have ‘largos’ in their title. This guy just had the name Unseen Hunter. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was from a rogue house or something, basically the Svanir of the largos. Maybe they’d be obsessed with tradition and want to remain hidden, while the other houses recognize the need to join the fight.

Interesting that he attacks a Sylvari scouting party, not really the high prized kill that most of them find honor in. Kinda hints at an axe to grind with the Largos (rogue groups) and Sylvari and he’s the only Largos to attack a playable race. If the houses of the Largos join the alliance with the other 5 races, it could turn the rouge groups against the other houses of the Largos.

Maybe as some customization for Largos we could pick a house that we belong to(that joined the alliance) and pick a house that we feel is the greatest threat(rouge houses).

Midnight Gypsy.9360:

Interesting that he attacks a Sylvari scouting party, not really the high prized kill that most of them find honor in. Kinda hints at an axe to grind with the Largos (rogue groups) and Sylvari and he’s the only Largos to attack a playable race. If the houses of the Largos join the alliance with the other 5 races, it could turn the rouge groups against the other houses of the Largos.

Maybe as some customization for Largos we could pick a house that we belong to(that joined the alliance) and pick a house that we feel is the greatest threat(rouge houses).

Indeed…he could be a member of a rogue house.
And it would be rather interesting if we could pick our nemesis during character creation for Largos.
A Nemesis from different rogue houses that is…

I’m very eager to learn more about Largos…
If anyone gets more info about them, I would really appreciate it!

VitalSuit.1980:

Blur.3465:

Another interesting thing came to my mind…
I was doing an event in Brisban Wildlands with my friend…and there was this event with “The Hunter”…a Largos hunting down the Sylvari patrol…he was killing them.
So we wondered why did he kill them? An entertainment? Or possibility of ‘’evil faction’’ of Largos?

Largos are a race of assassins. Assassination is a way of life for them, not a job so him killing a group of Sylvari just for the satisfaction of hunting prey isn’t very evil to them. Also, it says they take very great pride in efficient kills and the better killer they are the higher their social status within their culture is.

I heard the Largos ignore the Quaggan, bc they aren’t much of a challenge. That means the Largos don’t just kill things, they hunt down challenges to improve their own skill. This might also mean the Largos view the Quaggan as a minor race. They do have some kind of a code, that we don’t know much about, not much different than the Norn I guess.

I love the idea of tengu.
They could get plummage and colors of all kinds of birds. Eagles, Hawks, Jays, Doves, Pheasants, Peakittens, Parrots, Birds of Paradise, Crow Birds.

Personally I would love to make a bluejay inspired tengu.

Zeefa.3915:

I love the idea of tengu.
They could get plummage and colors of all kinds of birds. Eagles, Hawks, Jays, Doves, Pheasants, Peakittens, Parrots, Birds of Paradise, Crow Birds.

Personally I would love to make a bluejay inspired tengu.

It’s funny how peakitten got censored, it sounds silly. xD
Anyhow, I adore birds and having such a wide variety of customization for Tengu would really be amazing!
Personally I would love to have a hawk-like and a parrot-like Tengu.

Yep they’re more like the Norn in that sense. They don’t assassinate, they hunt great prizes. That one Largos may either be a rogue/member of the evil house like other races have an evil group, or it’s even possible that as the Largos are unfamiliarized with land dwellers he attacked thinking they were worthy opponents (in the sense they were unknown creatures). Let’s remember that Asura first killed and experimented with Sylvari the first time they met (though I think that was an Inquest so all theories about that rogue Largos might be possible at the same time).

About the masks, I think breathing masks are poorly implemented and might even end up being scrapped. I still have my level 1 breathing mask (there aren’t even exotic masks outside PvP, just 3 possible masterwork Lvl 80 in the Cursed Shore), and you can swim after unequiping it (not hidding, removing it from your equipment) and you still can breathe underwater. It’s very possible that in the future they aren’t even considered equipment and are just cosmetic options that you can toggle so I wouldn’t give too much importance to the breathing masks here (maybe even some asura could invent an injection that let all players produce oxygen in blood so they don’t need aquabreathers anymore).

Lokheit.7943:

Yep they’re more like the Norn in that sense. They don’t assassinate, they hunt great prizes. That one Largos may either be a rogue/member of the evil house like other races have an evil group, or it’s even possible that as the Largos are unfamiliarized with land dwellers he attacked thinking they were worthy opponents (in the sense they were unknown creatures). Let’s remember that Asura first killed and experimented with Sylvari the first time they met (though I think that was an Inquest so all theories about that rogue Largos might be possible at the same time).

About the masks, I think breathing masks are poorly implemented and might even end up being scrapped. I still have my level 1 breathing mask (there aren’t even exotic masks outside PvP, just 3 possible masterwork Lvl 80 in the Cursed Shore), and you can swim after unequiping it (not hidding, removing it from your equipment) and you still can breathe underwater. It’s very possible that in the future they aren’t even considered equipment and are just cosmetic options that you can toggle so I wouldn’t give too much importance to the breathing masks here (maybe even some asura could invent an injection that let all players produce oxygen in blood so they don’t need aquabreathers anymore).

As I recall Sayeh al’Rajihd said that her race knows a lot about other races, while other races don’t know much about her race. So that unseen hunter not knowing much about the Sylvari is not very likely to me. It seems like they are a very knowledgeable people.

The Largos are individuals as much as any of the other races are. I wouldn’t put it past some Largos to be so in love with the kill that they hunt sentient races that they don’t have bounties for just for the sport. The Unseen Hunter might be an outcast or criminal from his own race.

Lokheit.7943:

Let’s remember that Asura first killed and experimented with Sylvari the first time they met (though I think that was an Inquest so all theories about that rogue Largos might be possible at the same time).

Nah, he (Malomedies, one of the firstborns) was indeed experimented on but wasn’t killed. He’s still alive, you can find him in the Grove.
And I don’t remember being said it was the inquest who did the experiments. Most Asuras don’t disregard mistreating other species they consider as ‘inferior’ (like how they experiment on skritts or ettins whithout their consent) and not only Inquest’s.

Minos.3450:

Lokheit.7943:

Let’s remember that Asura first killed and experimented with Sylvari the first time they met (though I think that was an Inquest so all theories about that rogue Largos might be possible at the same time).

Nah, he (Malomedies, one of the firstborns) was indeed experimented on but wasn’t killed. He’s still alive, you can find him in the Grove.
And I don’t remember being said it was the inquest who did the experiments. Most Asuras don’t disregard mistreating other species they consider as ‘inferior’ (like how they experiment on skritts or ettins whithout their consent) and not only Inquest’s.

Wasn’t he taken with other sylvari? Maybe I’m wrong but I think he had others with him at that point and asuras biopsed them. Not sure right now.

Zaxares.5419:

The player can then choose which ancestry of Tengu they hail from (Caromi, Avicara, Angchu or Quetzal). They also choose one of the Four Houses of the Winds (East, West, North or South) to belong to, and these choices determine their initial personal storyline.

Problem with this: the various clans (so their ancestry) grouped together to form the four houses. Personally, I suspect Caromi, Avicara, and Quetzal formed the North; Sensali and Angchu formed South; and unknown tribes from Elona and beyond formed the East and West (the tengu in GW2 tell us they were spread across the world, although those we see outside the wall come mainly – if not solely – from Cantha and the Caromi tribe).

Their social structure heirarchy seems to be: Clan (shown by their surnames, so the family lines) → Tribes (Caromi, Avicara, Sensali, Anchu, and Quetzal being known) → Houses (North, South, East, and West).

So I doubt choosing a tribe would be viable alongside choosing a house.

VitalSuit.1980:

Blur.3465:

Another interesting thing came to my mind…
I was doing an event in Brisban Wildlands with my friend…and there was this event with “The Hunter”…a Largos hunting down the Sylvari patrol…he was killing them.
So we wondered why did he kill them? An entertainment? Or possibility of ‘’evil faction’’ of Largos?

Largos are a race of assassins. Assassination is a way of life for them, not a job so him killing a group of Sylvari just for the satisfaction of hunting prey isn’t very evil to them. Also, it says they take very great pride in efficient kills and the better killer they are the higher their social status within their culture is.

The Unseen Hunter guy felt like a criminal assassin even among Largos. Little different than, for example, Vilnia in Snowden Drifts. Just an independent individual who adheres to their race’s culture, but embraces the darker sides of it.

Midnight Gypsy.9360:

They do have some kind of a code, that we don’t know much about, not much different than the Norn I guess.

We do know some bit about it. For example, they’re really into not keeping debts – and if they’re helped, they view themselves bound to the one who helped them until both parties feel the debt has been paid.

You see a bit of this with Sayeh’s debt to Trahearne, but if you do the fear storyline with Apatia where you meet Sayeh before the Abaddon temple story, at the Source of Orr Sayeh will talk about how you and her are now considered bounded until you repay the debt of her aid in both times (something the PC brings up, not her – she wasn’t considering it something to be indebted for).

With their kills, they seem to prefer non-sapient targets – only two NPCs go after sapient targets (the Veteran Largos Assassin who attacks the kodan Claw in Snowden, and you in other zones; and then the Champion Unseen Hunter who attacks the sylvari), but prefer whatever gives them the best challenge – most commonly being krait, risen (especially risen krait), and karka (that’s observable).

It’s also dishonorable to fail in a kill, it seems, since it’s a great insult for a krait that was killed to come back as an undead.

Minos.3450:

Nah, he (Malomedies, one of the firstborns) was indeed experimented on but wasn’t killed. He’s still alive, you can find him in the Grove.
And I don’t remember being said it was the inquest who did the experiments. Most Asuras don’t disregard mistreating other species they consider as ‘inferior’ (like how they experiment on skritts or ettins whithout their consent) and not only Inquest’s.

It wasn’t “Inquest” but “Kudu” that experimented on Malomedies, iirc.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Problem with this: the various clans (so their ancestry) grouped together to form the four houses. Personally, I suspect Caromi, Avicara, and Quetzal formed the North; Sensali and Angchu formed South; and unknown tribes from Elona and beyond formed the East and West (the tengu in GW2 tell us they were spread across the world, although those we see outside the wall come mainly – if not solely – from Cantha and the Caromi tribe).

Their social structure heirarchy seems to be: Clan (shown by their surnames, so the family lines) -> Tribes (Caromi, Avicara, Sensali, Anchu, and Quetzal being known) -> Houses (North, South, East, and West).

So I doubt choosing a tribe would be viable alongside choosing a house.

Hmm, but there’s nothing saying that a tribe couldn’t swear allegiance to a different House, right? It may be possible for tribes to move from one House to another through marriage, political alliances and the like. It could explain why tribes of different racial descent could belong to different Houses.

It probably would depend on what exactly the Houses do in Tengu society. If each of the Houses is dedicated to a different aspect of Tengu society (similar to the Ministries back in Cantha), why wouldn’t a Quetzal tribe that was renowed for producing fierce warriors join the House of the East Wind (just as an example), even though traditionally the Quetzals are seen more as singers and tricksters (favouring the Rogue and Mesmer professions). If the Houses were split more along philosophical lines like the Sylvari cycles, I would think racial ancestry would be even less of an issue.

I think the debt aspect of the largos culture will make a good foundation for an alliance with the other 5 races. The main reason the other 5 races banned together was to defeat the dragons, if they help defeat the DSD the Largos will owe a huge debt and they would need to repay it (most likely by helping to defeat the other dragons) It makes me think DSD wont be last. If it was how would the Largos repay their debt? Anyway the debt aspect would give the largos the same basic reason to ally with the other races (defeating dragons).

I also think the Tengu and Largos would be good to add together. One being a well known race from GW1 and the other being new that we can learn bits and pieces of their lore by playing one.

Zaxares.5419

Hmm, but there’s nothing saying that a tribe couldn’t swear allegiance to a different House, right? It may be possible for tribes to move from one House to another through marriage, political alliances and the like. It could explain why tribes of different racial descent could belong to different Houses.

It probably would depend on what exactly the Houses do in Tengu society. If each of the Houses is dedicated to a different aspect of Tengu society (similar to the Ministries back in Cantha), why wouldn’t a Quetzal tribe that was renowed for producing fierce warriors join the House of the East Wind (just as an example), even though traditionally the Quetzals are seen more as singers and tricksters (favouring the Rogue and Mesmer professions). If the Houses were split more along philosophical lines like the Sylvari cycles, I would think racial ancestry would be even less of an issue.

Yes and no. The Houses are made up of different tribes in an attempt to retain said tribes’ own culture and to prevent conflict among the tribes. And given their honor-bound notions, it seems unlikely that full tribes, or even clans, would join different houses. It’s not really detailed, but I don’t think it’s possible except for individuals to change Houses – much like individuals would change clans upon marriage (or so I would presume – it may not be the case).

In short: the Houses were formed out of the heritages of the tengu, in order to preserve different cultures of the same species. The houses function, it seems to me, akin to the different districts of Divinity’s Reach.

Alright, fair enough. I’m happy with the supposition that individuals would likely be able to change Houses through marriage or a process of “adoption”; as long as there’s a plausible explanation for why our Tengu character looks like an Avicara, yet he belongs to the House founded by the Angchu/Sensali.

I found some more Largos concept art with different mask and armor styles. We can also see the concept of how the wings would fold.

http://haggardcaptain.tumblr.com/post/45967837986/kekai-k-guild-wars-2-largos-concepts