Guild Wars 2

How do we explain the existence of Elementalist Charrs??

Elementalists do not whack their weapons at their enemies. Rifles shoot bullets, swords slash through flesh, but even daggers do not touch the enemies directly. In short, magic, just like Flame Legion.

Flame Legion worshipped all the wrong gods, but is it really their fault when the gods did bring results (when they last)?

The charr of other legions are practical – while they’ve developed technology to lessen their reliance on magic, magic is still too useful a tool to simply abandon. Charr spellcasters in the other legions do have some stigma attached to them (which creates a bit of a vicious cycle – the stigma leads to some defecting to the Flame Legion, which confirms that the distrust is valid in the eyes of nonspellcasters) but as long as a spellcaster isn’t attributing their powers to religion, they’re officially accepted – and are probably trained as such in the fahrar if their primus feels that that is how a given cub might be able to best serve the legions.

Arenanet wants to give every class to every race, even if it is unfiting.

They solve it the way that you will never see a sylvari engineer NPC and almost no norn thieves.

One thing to keep in mind is that gameplay != lore.
If we were to follow lore blindely Charr would most likely not have either elementalists or Guardians. While Asura most likely only would be Engineer, Mesmer and Elementalist.
Norn only Warrior and Ranger and the only races that would actually fit with everything would be Sylvari and Human.

why would charr not be guardians??

guardians dont get there magic by the gods or faith in the gods but from faith itself so the faith can be placed in anything(one being your warband or legion)
but i gess there would not be alot of guardians in the charr tho

You can hate your enemy, but enemy weapon is different thing, and if you smart, you always can use it for yourself. One of closest IRL examples – German rocket program after WW2, the Allies did not feel sympathy for Germany as an enemy, but that did not stop them from taking all results of the German rocket program after the war, to develop their own rocket programs.

Korsbaek.9803:

why would charr not be guardians??

guardians dont get there magic by the gods or faith in the gods but from faith itself so the faith can be placed in anything(one being your warband or legion)
but i gess there would not be alot of guardians in the charr tho

Amongst the charr, the weaks shall die. Guardians serve the purpose of defending allies, but by charr standards, if you can’t take care for yourself, you will be outcasted or left to die.

There might be some, because guardians can fight well, but charr guardians aren’t the regular guardians.

Gandarel.5091:

Amongst the charr, the weaks shall die. Guardians serve the purpose of defending allies, but by charr standards, if you can’t take care for yourself, you will be outcasted or left to die.

There might be some, because guardians can fight well, but charr guardians aren’t the regular guardians.

If we follow this logic, you should not use armor, treat the wounded and so on. This is contrary to the doctrine of effective army.

@OP: Why does Flame Legion=Elementalist to you? They may use fire magic mostly, but even the Flame Legion hold tech users (even before the Molten Alliance, even if it was only in the form of Igniters). And why would Elementalists, who could use water air and earth magic, be excluded from charr society and not necromancy, mesmerism, thieves, rangers, and guardians? By your question, that’s what you’re presuming, at least.

As others have said, they look down on magic, but they’re practical. They realize its worth and while they don’t like magic users and are stereotypically untrustworthy of them, they don’t exclude them.

Gandarel.5091:

Amongst the charr, the weaks shall die. Guardians serve the purpose of defending allies, but by charr standards, if you can’t take care for yourself, you will be outcasted or left to die.

There might be some, because guardians can fight well, but charr guardians aren’t the regular guardians.

Wrong. It’s not “the weak shall die” – it’s “the ineffective in teamwork are most susceptible to dying on the field” – there’s still a place, many of them, in charr society for the physically weak (such as desk work).

The charr do NOT outcast the weak. They may leer them for being so, but they won’t be simply “left out to die.” And guardians are not a “protect the weak” profession, they’re a “protect others with magic empowered by one’s faith” – to charr, they’re a “protect your warband” profession and their faith comes from trust in their warband. Warbands are immensely important to the charr – both on the battlefield and not. If you lose your warband, then you’re considered an outcast of sorts by many – but still not left to die, just not trusted outright (especially when you’re the sole survivor of a battle – you’ll be questioned whether you ran away to survive or not).

While its true that Guardians are the least common – lorewise at least – of charr professions, it is not for the reasons you mentioned. It’s because it’s 1) a magic profession and 2) based on faith (something that’s an iffy topic for charr, due to its religious connotations).

Gandarel.5091:

Korsbaek.9803:

why would charr not be guardians??

guardians dont get there magic by the gods or faith in the gods but from faith itself so the faith can be placed in anything(one being your warband or legion)
but i gess there would not be alot of guardians in the charr tho

Amongst the charr, the weaks shall die. Guardians serve the purpose of defending allies, but by charr standards, if you can’t take care for yourself, you will be outcasted or left to die.

There might be some, because guardians can fight well, but charr guardians aren’t the regular guardians.

Charr are also fanatically loyal to their warband and the Legions.
A Guardian’s power comes from either faith or intense desire to protect their own.
So it is reasonable a Charr Guardian would make a shield for his warband, take the hits, allow his band mates a chance to hurt the enemy, and finally smash his mace through the offender’s head.

You messed with that Charr’s warband, you paid the price.

Seems legit.

Back to the Flame and Elementalist part of the discussion. Charr hate the Flame (Gold) Legion, but they are practical as well. If some Charr Elementalist can rain down artillery on enemy position or heal his warband and hold his own well enough they’d accept his position. Yeah its possible a few might worry he could go Flame, but at the moment his weapons are pointed at the enemy so that’s good for now.

A-net has addressed both charr elementalists and charr guardians. They are both lore friendly.

Is there a story behind the Guardian on the lore end of things? Do you have any thoughts on how it came to be?

Jeff Grubb: With the turmoil in Elona and the spread of the Order of Whispers into other lands, more Paragon teaching showed elsewhere in Tyria. These teachings melded with other traditions, and over time, the Guardians and their abilities can be found throughout the world and among all the races. They are not tied to a particular race, philosophy, or group of gods but rather to a larger concept of proactive defense, of taking the fight to a foe and protecting those you fight alongside while appealing equally to humanity’s defensive nature and the Charr’s desire to rule the battlefield. http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/31/behind-the-scenes-with-the-guild-wars-2-guardian-massivelys-in/

Onlinewelten: ArenaNet has recently provided more insight into the charr race and it has become obvious, that they have turned their backs on the flame legion and its shamans. Does that attitude have any influence on an elementalist’s life and standing within their society?

Jeff Grubb: [] The Flame Legion is condemned more for their worship of false gods and longtime oppression of the other legions than for the fact they have a preference for fireballs. The Flame Legion remains the most “magical” legion – that was their strength, and their overthrow in part has driven charr achievements in technology. But the charr always appreciate a fellow charr who can carry his or her own weight, and while they might mock an elementalist for his light armor, they appreciate the mobile artillery support that a timely meteor shower provides. http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/guild-wars-2/interviews/jeff-grubb-im-interview-zu-charr-7759/seite-3/#

The Charr may deride those who are weak, but that doesn’t mean they leave them to die. Modern Charr seem extremely pragmatic in their approach to life. Fahrars seem to operate under the assumption that every Charr has a talent, and it is the role of the primus to find out what that talent is and make sure the young Charr is grouped up with like-minded cubs to form a warband that can then be assigned to a role that will best suit those talents. Soldiers may hold the highest honor in Charr society, but they will still fight tooth and claw to defend their farmers, ranchers, artisans etc., because they are all considered integral parts of the Charr war machine.

I figure the Charr really don’t care what your profession is as long as you don’t follow the Flame legion religion.

Gandarel.5091:

Arenanet wants to give every class to every race, even if it is unfiting.

They solve it the way that you will never see a sylvari engineer NPC and almost no norn thieves.

Well not sure about norn thieves but there is a sylvari engineer in Orr. She takes care of that big air ship that Captain Skyfire has. It’s Engineer Kahlee.

It’s been pointed out that charr still make use of ‘shamans’ but simply distrust them a bit (due to a tendency to go over to the flame legion… possibly related to them being less trusted… vicous circles.) but I think it’s important to remember that while each of the high Legions has a speciality, each is also required to be a fully functioning army in it’s own right, and each has it’s own Fahrar system, which is why you get all the classes in each legion.

Regarding the guardians, the basic unit of Charr life is the warband. Charr succeed and fail as part of a warband, never as individuals. Individualism is discouraged in many ways by Charr society. (Magic users may be looked down on, but it’s gladium that are the lowest caste of Charr society.). With their devotion to their allies and willingness to sacrifice in order to achieve victory for the group, Guardians exemplify Charr ideals and so are likely highly prized by Charr society.

They’re not highly prized – Dinky’s background, for instance, notes that he gets picked on partially because he’s a guardian. They are, however, accepted.