Guild Wars 2

So, the six gods came to Tyria and brought the humans with them from ‘somewhere’. It’s heavily implied that wherever they came from was not doing so great.

I want to pose a question. Considering the combined might of the human gods, what horrible machinations or entities could force such a pantheon to turn tail and run?

Random guess? Those steampunk/gear creatures in the game come from a different place, perhaps they have the power to wipe out magic. If the gods’ powers are magic, and magic was being wiped out, you’d have to get out while you still are able too.

The steam creatures were made by an asuran "Grand High Sovereign" of a possible future and used to conquer Tyria, and then sent into the past.

Even worse, they brought the humans to a fully dragon-corrupted Tyria and thought it was a better place. I understand that the dragons were sleeping by then, but still…

Whatever it is, it didn’t follow them to Tyria (that we can tell), although it may very well be exactly what they are fighting right now that is keeping them from being in any contact with Tyria.

Side-thought: Perhaps the gods won, but the devastation created by whatever battle they had was so great that the world they came from was pretty much worthless. So they had to go somewhere else for humanity to even have a home. It could also explain why they are so reticent to join in on the war against the Elder Dragons, because they fear doing what they did before to another world. This idea doesn’t leave any cool gaps though…

Or perhaps they won but there were so few of them left that they couldn’t stand to stay in the place they had watched so many of their own race die?

@Narcemus: By all indications, the world was either A) a twisted, nightmarish place with little to no seen inhabitants at first – so it’d really be little different than the Realm of Torment (hmmm, the Mists creates places that copy other pre-existing places… any bets on what the Realm of Torment was a copy of?), or alternatively (depending on the truth behind tale of the Forgotten being brought by the gods), in their starvation throws and the gods provided the means to help counter the corruption (via the Forgotten’s magic).

In either case, one being a desolate planet that could be remade and the other being a planet with a strong, albeit easily (for Forgotten) counterable, threat, it isn’t all that bad in the long run.

(Back to general topic)

There’s really no means of telling what this possible “catastrophe” was, just that it made Dwayna looking elsewhere for a home of humanity. Given its Dwayna, it could be a number of things…

It could have been a simple constant state of unrest and war, as Dwayna’s said to have been searching for a paradise – meaning that the beginning of the search was simply looking for a refuge from conflict, or a desire to go back to the beginning (pressing the restart button without wiping the slate clean, so to speak). If this is the case, then Balthazar (and perhaps Dhuum) following through was probably not according to plan. After all, it seems only Dwayna and Melandru (though I suspect that Lyssa did too, but wasn’t part of the original six gods that came from the other world given her origins are never said in human legends) were striving for peace.

It could have been that there was a conflict in which regardless of who won it, the world became uninhabitable for humanity, even with the terraforming efforts of the gods (or alternatively, that the efforts would take too long for humanity to withstand). Personally, this is my theory – an ended (or mostly ended) conflict that left the Six having to flee anyways, perhaps even a civil war or an unheaval of an older generation of gods (the former concept given Menzies and Balthazar carrying his father’s head; the latter concept given Arachnia and the multiple, unnamed, ancient insectoid gods, all dead).

It could also be that the world ran out of resources or simply ran through its natural lifespan – the sun of the world exploding (or imploding), or the world entering an equivalent of an ice age, world flooding, something akin to After Earth, etc. (just, ya know, a world wide unstoppable natural/magical disaster).

Or lastly, my second preferred theory: invasion. There’s a lot of hostile forces out there in the Mists, the most common of which being demons – and they come in large varieties (from torment demons that thrive on chaos, to trickster demons who hate the living, or even imps that feed on magic much like Elder Dragons). It’s not unfathomable that the old world got invaded by an unknown and unexpected force. There was a lot of concept art for Utopia for a demonic army that seemed to hold ties to Menzies, but Menzies himself and his forces never dealt with demons except via the alliance with Abaddon and Dhuum (and even then, Dhuum’s the only one whose army was actual demons; Abaddon simply allied with the torment demons, it seems to me, no different than he did with Dhuum and Menzies). It wouldn’t surprise me that, given the little known of Utopia, finding this history of humanity out was the original plot of the second three chapters (ArenaNet’s original plan was to have the story of Guild Wars shown in sets of 3, each chapter being independent but linked in these trilogies; Utopia would have started the second set, but they went for Elder Dragons instead (though originally, and thank god they went against it, the Elder Dragons were to be angels and demons passing judgment on the world ._.).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Or lastly, my second preferred theory: invasion. There’s a lot of hostile forces out there in the Mists, the most common of which being demons – and they come in large varieties (from torment demons that thrive on chaos, to trickster demons who hate the living, or even imps that feed on magic much like Elder Dragons). It’s not unfathomable that the old world got invaded by an unknown and unexpected force. There was a lot of concept art for Utopia for a demonic army that seemed to hold ties to Menzies, but Menzies himself and his forces never dealt with demons except via the alliance with Abaddon and Dhuum (and even then, Dhuum’s the only one whose army was actual demons; Abaddon simply allied with the torment demons, it seems to me, no different than he did with Dhuum and Menzies). It wouldn’t surprise me that, given the little known of Utopia, finding this history of humanity out was the original plot of the second three chapters (ArenaNet’s original plan was to have the story of Guild Wars shown in sets of 3, each chapter being independent but linked in these trilogies; Utopia would have started the second set, but they went for Elder Dragons instead (though originally, and thank god they went against it, the Elder Dragons were to be angels and demons passing judgment on the world ._.).

You know, it’s a very interesting theory, especially if Anet wants to further develop the theme of Myst War. I have often heard joking suggestions from their friends “it would be nice if at the end of the match we could open a portal to the capital of the loser, we would be invaded and killed all those useless players who do not want to help their own world”.
But given that mortals can kill even the gods, and Myst War is constant, it is no longer seems to be a just funny joke. Old “World the Six” could lose the war with disastrous consequences, and their opponents could be quite ordinary mortals. It is not necessary to be a demon to hate and seeks to exterminate your enemy.

WarriorOfAsgard.3705:

The steam creatures were made by an asuran “Grand High Sovereign” of a possible future and used to conquer Tyria, and then sent into the past.

I personally would say it is an alternate reality. During http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Split_Second We see that this “Grand High Sovereign” takes a different and more honorable path in life in our reality closing this possible future from happening in our reality. So the steamcreatures we meet in e.g. lornar pass, we meet when this possible future isn’t possible anymore in our reality, so they are not sent from the future but from an alternate reality.

As for the OP’s question. The origin of the humans is somewhat clouded. The most important thing is that it is an origin story wich we have in real life as well.
They are often told from generation to generation before they where even written down and also often are part of believing in it rather then accepting it as an historic fact. Most humans now-a-days learn at school that darwin was right and that the first chapter of the bible isn’t the historic version of the origin of humans on the planet earth. This doesn’t mean the first chapter of the bible is worseless. Besides the symbolism, it marks in my personal believe the origin of the God fearing humans, marking the moment we first embrased the love of God. Mark me, this is a personal view and not a fact.

Now to Tyria. The origin of humans is somewhat clouded. The historic version is that there have been humans in Cantha longer then there has been humans in Tyria (continent). But the influence of the 6 gods is much less there and even though they have statues there, the most relgious part is bout the celestial beings and the worship of ancestors. So it seems to me that the 6 gods are infused in an allready existing alternate religion. More important, the presence of the 6 gods in Cantha seems to me insignificant and more causet it is good for commerce.

So it looks like that there where humans in Cantha before there where humans in Tyria (continent), but where the humans in Tyria believe they where brought there by the 6 Gods through the mists, the Canthans don’t believe that (or so it seems).

Now we know the mists are real (or as real as it can be in a fantasy world) and there is proof that the God’s are indeed powerfull entity’s. So it is very much possible that the humans of Tyria (the continent) where brought there through the mists. But where they came from is unknown. It is very much possible they came from other parts of Tyria (world) and for some reason their memory’s where whiped. Bottom line in all origin story’s they are often used to describe the uniqueness off the culture and to outline how important they are. So more a product of self esteem then of reality.

Last slightly related thing. The 6 Gods are powerfull entity’s wich have a more physical presence then real life gods. But they also seem weaker. These Gods are not all mighty. They can be defeated (Dhuum and Abadon) and even be destroyed (Abadon). Humans (Kormir) and half-gods (Grenth) can become full-gods.

@Rednik: The Mist (not Myst, that’s a game, a grand one though) War has been on my mind in being of two possibilities:

First, and sadly most likely, three alternative realities fighting each other in a war that they’re just presuming the other sides are pure evil. We know via the Infinity Ball storyline and A Light in the Darkness story step that the Mist connects/contains the various “possible futures,” so it wouldn’t be so hard to believe that said futures – or even pasts and presents – can access each other via the Mists.

Secondly, and more entertaining imo, is that they’re a war between Tyria, Dhuum/Menzies’ forces, and another force. To think they’re the remnants of the threat which pushed the gods off of the original human homeworld is an interesting notion, though, and somewhat possible – though, imo, unlikely given the whole charr/human/asura/sylvari/norn fighters.

@mercury: The Infinity Ball storyline is solely about alternate possible futures. It’s not alternate presents, which the term “alternate reality” is talking about.

Keep in mind that we don’t know the rules of the Mists fully, and by extension, the rules of possible futures. Though the Pale Tree tells us that the future is ever-changing, this doesn’t mean that the “old” possible futures simply cease to exist. For example, the Grand High Sovereign could have – either simultaneously or upon the result of his death – have had those steam creatures invade Lornar’s Pass. Just because the would-be Grand High Sovereign decides not to go that route, doesn’t mean that the route ceases to exist.

In the same manner, it could be possible for multiple possible futures to exist simultaneously – so while one future “stops to be,” that doesn’t mean that the other futures do, and those steam creatures could simply be coming from another possible future than the one we encountered – one where the Grand High Sovereign does exist, but doesn’t go through the portal himself.

It should be noted regarding these steam creatures that the portals they use are the same as the kind the Infinity Ball creates, and not like any other portal like the blue portals that lead into the Mists, or the green portals that lead into the Underworld. These portals are grayish and more electrical in looks, as can be seen here.

mercury ranique.2170:

So it looks like that there where humans in Cantha before there where humans in Tyria (continent), but where the humans in Tyria believe they where brought there by the 6 Gods through the mists, the Canthans don’t believe that (or so it seems).

Unless the Six Gods then took them from Orr to another place, south of Cantha like Jeff Grubb once said the human homeland may be at, and their time in Orr was so short that it was left undocumented in the timeline.

After all, the arrival of humans on continental Tyria and Elona in 205 BE has always been said to have been via ships and boats, not portals. There isn’t a single source that says “humans came to Orr and Elona via portals in 205 BE.” The closest we get is simply “humans were brought to the world at Orr” which gives no context, no timeframe, and many possibilities.

mercury ranique.2170:

The 6 Gods are powerfull entity’s wich have a more physical presence then real life gods. But they also seem weaker. These Gods are not all mighty.

Compared to other polytheistic faiths, they’re actually rather spot on. Capable of (presumably) creating life from basic elements (the gods are still atrributed for being the makers of humanity), coming from another realm of existence that governs the afterlife, unaging, extremely powerful but not unkillable, and able to reform the world as they see fit.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

mercury ranique.2170:

The 6 Gods are powerfull entity’s wich have a more physical presence then real life gods. But they also seem weaker. These Gods are not all mighty.

Compared to other polytheistic faiths, they’re actually rather spot on. Capable of (presumably) creating life from basic elements (the gods are still atrributed for being the makers of humanity), coming from another realm of existence that governs the afterlife, unaging, extremely powerful but not unkillable, and able to reform the world as they see fit.

Not going into deep discussions bout alternate reality’s, future’s and realms. Problem is that it is a very vague concept and would mean drifting off

I agree with your comparison to other polytheistic faiths. My point was not bout that but that the majority of the world nowadays believe in one god that is lesser visable and considered more flawless. I sense in many ways (not yours) people are thinking and describing the 6, that they see them as 6 flawless and allmighty beings. So thatwas my point. When it comes to e.g. the greek gods, your perfectly right.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

In the same manner, it could be possible for multiple possible futures to exist simultaneously – so while one future “stops to be,” that doesn’t mean that the other futures do, and those steam creatures could simply be coming from another possible future than the one we encountered – one where the Grand High Sovereign does exist, but doesn’t go through the portal himself.

Even if he did, there could easily have been some subordinate that took over his empire (or at least a portion of it that had the capability to produce steam creatures) after the Grand High Sovereign’s disappearance… and it’s entirely possible that the Sovereign was actually someone else’s puppet to begin with.

Considering both GW1 and GW2, how many times are there when we’ve defeated the leader of an enemy force and it’s actually lead to the end of the threat? In GW1, we killed two charr leaders and the Titans, and they still won in the end. It took killing the leaders of the White Mantle and the mursaat twice to get them out of Kryta, and even then the WM still exists centuries later. Khilbron’s death left the Titans still rampaging, and similar with Shiro’s death and the Afflicted, and after killing Abaddon we still had to mop up with Mallyx…