Guild Wars 2

Since my main joined the Order of Whispers I’ve been enjoying re-visiting the racial capitals and other areas to find other Agents.

As you probably know if you’ve got a character in the Order you can recognise other members because you’re given an additional dialogue option when speaking to them, which is usually a contradictory and semi-nonsense statement like “I’m looking to climb the unclimbable”, after which they admit they’re a member.

As far as I can tell unless and until you get that option there is no way to tell who is a member (excluding the ones in uniform) but I’m thinking from a lore prespective there must be more to it because characters seem to know in order to ask.

So far I’ve never had that dialogue option with someone who wasn’t a member and I can only remember 1 NPC (a young norn in Hoelbrak) who says it if you’re not a member, so it seems they must have some other way to identify members before they say anything.

What do you think? Would members have some other sign, maybe something visual, that they’d recognise on each other, or do they just take a guess and somehow (in spite of our characters saying and doing some stupid things at other times) happen to get it right every time?

The code is the only way to recognize each other out of uniform. The reason you only get that option with Order NPCs is because from a gameplay standpoint it’d be really annoying to have an extra dialogue option that 95% of the time just gets your character funny looks. There is one non-member in Metrica Province with that dialogue option (near the asura gate that gets attacked by skritt, iirc) and that’s pretty much what happens.

I don’t consider the code nonsense. The Order of Whispers works in the shadows to tackle threats that are unseen to others, to tackle challenges that are not apparent to others, and to obtain information that others do not even know exists.

Thus, they “see the unseen”, “climb the unclimbable”, and “know the unknown”. In other words they can climb the mountain, where others don’t even know a mountain exists.

Toxyn.9608:

I don’t consider the code nonsense. The Order of Whispers works in the shadows to tackle threats that are unseen to others, to tackle challenges that are not apparent to others, and to obtain information that others do not even know exists.

Thus, they “see the unseen”, “climb the unclimbable”, and “know the unknown”. In other words they can climb the mountain, where others don’t even know a mountain exists.

That’s true, but with some of them it’s hard to understand what it could mean. It seems as if the developers were struggling to find things that would fit the system and be connected with what the NPCs are doing.

It usually relates to what they’re doing in that area. They make some paradoxical phrase, ‘see the unseen’, and that’s basically code for ’I’m a whisper’. If you’re a whisper too, you acknowledge that, and thus reply with another paradox

hmmm, my whispers character is the last one in the orders, here I thought I just needed to bring a big bag of apples to find fellow whisperers…………

Well the order of whisper probaly has quite an extensive information network and i could easily imagine that our character could acces this network of information but Anet probaly got lazy on this one.

Septin.6487:

Well the order of whisper probaly has quite an extensive information network and i could easily imagine that our character could acces this network of information but Anet probaly got lazy on this one.

Sure there’s a network of information-gathering, and sure you can ask them what they’re up to . . .

. . . but the Order has always been real secretive. I figure they operate on a “need to know” basis. Do you have a need to know? No? Then you get something like this:

“I heard you were meddlesome, but you can relax. The Order’s on this.”

And to be honest, there is an NPC from an event clearly connected to Whisper activities who says something similar.

And here I thought the code phrase was something involving apples, judging from the number of shifty-looking NPCs who are always asking if I want to buy apples. XD

Zaxares.5419:

And here I thought the code phrase was something involving apples, judging from the number of shifty-looking NPCs who are always asking if I want to buy apples. XD

. . . no, apples are code for something else. Remember not to light your torches near the apple barrels in Lion’s Arch.

The Order has a symbol.

Non-Whispers seem to be aware of the symbol’s meaning, though – my Priory character called out the guy in the Order of Whispers-marked tents outside the Chantry. (Not directly, mind you, but I got a distinct feeling of “i know what you are” from the discussion.)

That said, the ‘verb the unverbable’ code would only go so far too – there’s at least one Whispers agent (in Fireheart Rise) that simply blurts it out, and any information gathering organisation worth their salt – Priory, Ash, Shining Blade, Arcane Eye – would likely have figured it out by now unless it was a new code introduced just before the PC joined, and even then I doubt it’d remain secret until Zhaitan’s death. Thus, I’d suspect there’s more to it – the paradoxical statement may be combined with a coded gesture, or the Order may have some kind of magic – possibly triggered by paradoxical statements – that identifies them to each other.

draxynnic.3719:

Non-Whispers seem to be aware of the symbol’s meaning, though – my Priory character called out the guy in the Order of Whispers-marked tents outside the Chantry. (Not directly, mind you, but I got a distinct feeling of “i know what you are” from the discussion.)

That said, the ‘verb the unverbable’ code would only go so far too – there’s at least one Whispers agent (in Fireheart Rise) that simply blurts it out, and any information gathering organisation worth their salt – Priory, Ash, Shining Blade, Arcane Eye – would likely have figured it out by now unless it was a new code introduced just before the PC joined, and even then I doubt it’d remain secret until Zhaitan’s death. Thus, I’d suspect there’s more to it – the paradoxical statement may be combined with a coded gesture, or the Order may have some kind of magic – possibly triggered by paradoxical statements – that identifies them to each other.

yeah, I think that if you take levels as a rough estimation of time related to personal story, by level 40 the paradoxes have become well known enough as an identifier of the order, and by 60 it’s become “I am a member of the pact, is there anything I can do to help the order of whispers?”

the order does trust certain things to outsiders after all, like the ship that was to act as a distraction whilst smuggling demmi out of LA or lots of their operations around bloodtide that are helped by players. hell the pact itself is a pretty good sign that they trust outsiders.

if the PC is a member of the pact (which by 60, canonically, they ARE. if you don’t do the storyline it’s considered non canon that you’ve progressed to wherever you are), then order members and player characters are officially allies, and so being able to identify whispers members would be considered useful enough. don’t forget that the general populace wouldn’t know the paradox, only pact and order members and allies know it. (and our character is known for not being particularly tactful, they ask tybalt in the middle of a crowded street about the order after all, now imagine that you never got the telling off from tybalt or the spy training, and it’s pretty clear that vigil/priory PCs are pretty loudmouthed)

Personally, I found that rather cringeworthy. Some bio stories lead to having at least some level of experience with covert operations – Ash Legion and human plotlines involving Anise’s disguises and/or the Shining Blade, for instance – and any character going through that sequence has worked with the Order during at least the final part of the 20-30 story. The character really should have known better.

Apples! Fresh juicy apples!