Guild Wars 2

I was wondering if Evon is a deserter because as an Charr he should be loyal to his legion and warband (according to the lore) but his warband is never mentioned. If he is a deserter does that not also mean that he is the lowest in Charr society.

Go to the Black Lion Trading Post HQ in Lion’s Arch. Talk to his aide-de-camp.

He did indeed leave his legions, because he wanted to use his tactical knowledge from the legions for monetary gain.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Go to the Black Lion Trading Post HQ in Lion’s Arch. Talk to his aide-de-camp.

He did indeed leave his legions, because he wanted to use his tactical knowledge from the legions for monetary gain.

it’s kind of hilarious and hard to imagine charr battle tactics being used to run a business though him just running a mindset of flank enemies, use lure tactics etc i could see but actual understanding of how marketing itself works with the general public just makes it hard for me to see the connection.

Pavees.7281:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Go to the Black Lion Trading Post HQ in Lion’s Arch. Talk to his aide-de-camp.

He did indeed leave his legions, because he wanted to use his tactical knowledge from the legions for monetary gain.

it’s kind of hilarious and hard to imagine charr battle tactics being used to run a business though him just running a mindset of flank enemies, use lure tactics etc i could see but actual understanding of how marketing itself works with the general public just makes it hard for me to see the connection.

I think it’s a brilliant connection, one that others have overlooked until Evon came along. It’s more like a psychological warfare style of tactics. You make someone think that cannot live without a good or service then offer a means of obtaining it if they’re willing to pay. Tell them it’s a bargain compared to the effort of obtaining what they want through other means and people will flock to your store. The more battle-like tactics would be applied to the way he eliminates competition to create a virtual monopoly on the market. Sell a competitor’s goods for a better price than they do and they’ll be forced to counter your prices and potentially lose out on a monetary profit, or lose customers altogether. So far, his main rival is the Consortium, and we saw how that worked out. I would almost liken Evon Gnashblade’s risky investments to those of the real world’s J. P. Morgan. Almost….just wait for him to invest in the power industry (assuming he hasn’t already).

Yeah, I think we shouldn’t take ‘tactics’ too literally in this case. However, a willingness to take (measured) risks, ruthlessness in regard to competition, knowing when to offer said competition a way out (buy them out) and when to destroy them… these are all valid military and commercial qualities. Gnashblade set out not to just sell products, but to create a commercial empire which dominated all other merchants – it’s charr imperialism in a ‘soft’ form. And it looks like it has been extremely successful!

Despite what we generally see, not all charr are soldiers, even if they’re still organised in warbands for the most part. I am sure there is provision for leaving military service voluntarily and honourably. Plenty of charr live in Lion’s Arch outside of the charr political structure. For all we know, Gnashblade still has a warband out there!

The legions also accept service by other means. If Evon is channeling a reasonable portion of his profits to supporting his legion, his Imperator will probably agree that he’s more useful in that role than as just another soldier on a battlefield.

gondorf.3057:

I was wondering if Evon is a deserter because as an Charr i should be loyal to his legion and warband (according to the lore) but his warband is never mentioned. If he is a deserter does that not also mean that he is the lowest in Charr society.

You honestly need to finish the Charr Personal Story before making a thread like this. MASSIVE SPOILER:All Charr leave their warband when they join their Order, and then they even leave that to become second in command of the Pact.

Drakkon.4782:

gondorf.3057:

I was wondering if Evon is a deserter because as an Charr i should be loyal to his legion and warband (according to the lore) but his warband is never mentioned. If he is a deserter does that not also mean that he is the lowest in Charr society.

You honestly need to finish the Charr Personal Story before making a thread like this. MASSIVE SPOILER:All Charr leave their warband when they join their Order, and then they even leave that to become second in command of the Pact.

Except not all charr are the player. The player is in the minority lorewise. Few charr would willingly leave their warband without orders (generally a temporary assignment) or they abandon them, which is generally frowned upon in most cases (though if your warband has decided to defect to the Flame Legion, leaving them to stay with your own legion or becoming a gladium might be preferred).

draxynnic.3719:

The legions also accept service by other means. If Evon is channeling a reasonable portion of his profits to supporting his legion, his Imperator will probably agree that he’s more useful in that role than as just another soldier on a battlefield.

Drakkon.4782:

You honestly need to finish the Charr Personal Story before making a thread like this. MASSIVE SPOILER:All Charr leave their warband when they join their Order, and then they even leave that to become second in command of the Pact.

The difference is that in the Personal storyline, the charr PCs are ordered to act as a liason. They do not leave their warbands, they are just on extended duty. They are still Centurions, they still serve their legion, and their sparring partner from the biography is acting-Centurion.

Evon, however, is explicitly stated by Sareb to have left his legion. I don’t think Sareb would have said Evon left his legion if he were merely acting on extended duty.

Evon IS honorless gladium.

And that is why loyal, red-blooded Charr should not vote for Evon!

Zaxares.5419:

And that is why loyal, red-blooded Charr should not vote for Evon!

and vote for the mouse instead?

It’s weird though.. why does he still have his surname? Don’t charr normally drop the last name when they go gladium?

Lord Trejgon.2809:

Evon IS honorless gladium.

Pics or it didn’t happen. Quote your source or stay out of the conversation. Citation required.

@DaMunky: no, they change their surname – sometimes – when joining a new warband. A gladium doesn’t lose his or her surname.

@Drakkon: see my first post. Sareb in the BLTP headquarters in LA states he left his legion. Making him a gladium.

Our lord and savior, Evon Gnashblade the noble and merciful, wisely left the legions to serve the people of all races for the greater good.

#VoteForEvon

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@DaMunky: no, they change their surname – sometimes – when joining a new warband. A gladium doesn’t lose his or her surname.

Huh. So I guess Rox is just a weirdo then.
Wait, we already totally knew that.

Rox’s surname changed because she joined – to a degree – another warband, the Stone Warband (hence the surname Whetstone).

I thought that got redacted before the story launched, and Rox had no last name when we met her. (Because she doesn’t get to take on her Stone Warband surname until she’s officially a member.) Has something changed in the more recent conversations with her? I haven’t checked in with Rox since Flame and Frost.

NPCs not showing their full name is purely mechanical. It’s not lore. There’s a good number of NPCs which only show their first – or last – name.

Minister Caudecus being one such example. His surname, Beetlestone, is not part of his name. His daughter, Demmi, is another case.

Typically, except for sylvari and asura, all major races’ members all have surnames… except in odd cases.

Rox is not an odd case. Her surname is the one from her Pick warband until at the end of the Flame and Frost storyline.

Well know we know.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/

The question is what the implications are for Evon’s links to the Ash Legion and if he was forced to choose between loyalty to the Legion or loyalty to Lion’s Arch, which would he pick?

I think for the two candidates this creates two very different directions they could go. Ellen is very principled so could quite easily end up rubbing the other Captians the wrong way with her ideals. She is also probably closer to Magnus than we thought. It might explain much on why he put her forward if she is more than just another good officer.

Evon on the other hand is smart and measured and certianly not a coward. However he potentially has to walk a very tight political path. As a councilor he will have his dealings with the council on one side and the ash legion on the other. What if the two dont see eye to eye? What if his enemies discover his links to the Ash Legion? What exactly is the Ash Legion’s goals in LA to begin with?

That was a consideration of mine, as well. It seems to have been established that Evon is still a member in good standing with the Ash Legion (called it!), but this means, well, he is still a member in good standing with the Ash Legion. Putting him on the LA council is effectively giving Malice Swordshadow a vote on the council should she choose to exercise it.

Now, the question is, of course… is this a bad thing? The initial gut reaction may be ‘yes’, but organisations such as Ash, the Order of Whispers, and the Shining Blade are probably already stirring the pot, and what we know of Malice suggests that she’s a charr that understands the realities of the time.

It should be noted that the short story takes place from years prior to the current events. Either Sareb is lying about Evon having left his legion, Evon lied to her, or he now is a gladium (or his whole warband dissented).

My question would be why we don’t see any of his warband anywhere if they helped him establish the Black Lion Trading Post.

I have a feeling the majority of charr society consider their lowest tier to still be above every other race.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/

Nice. great find Gandarel.

draxynnic.3719:

That was a consideration of mine, as well. It seems to have been established that Evon is still a member in good standing with the Ash Legion (called it!), but this means, well, he is still a member in good standing with the Ash Legion. Putting him on the LA council is effectively giving Malice Swordshadow a vote on the council should she choose to exercise it.

Now, the question is, of course… is this a bad thing? The initial gut reaction may be ‘yes’, but organisations such as Ash, the Order of Whispers, and the Shining Blade are probably already stirring the pot, and what we know of Malice suggests that she’s a charr that understands the realities of the time.

Im kind of maybe there. The other question is how strong are his loyalties to the Ash Legion vs. Lions Arch. As much of what we have seen of him I feel hes still quite hard to read. Ellen you pretty much know what your getting but Evon has alot of unknown.

I wouldnt be suprised if his warband was still around. Evon, if he was smart, would have wanted to come across as multi cultural so taking on a Sylvari with a pile of gold would have been smart, particularly if said sylvari seemed capable. His warband could easily still be operating in the background. From the story he didnt seem to have huge respect for them so I wouldnt be suprised if he didnt have them in leadership roles in the business.

Dustfinger.9510:

Nice. great find Gandarel.

Even though Lutinz posted the same link 4 posts above Gandarel’s and it was already being discussed. lol

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Dustfinger.9510:

Nice. great find Gandarel.

Even though Lutinz posted the same link 4 posts above Gandarel’s and it was already being discussed. lol

yep. Even though I saw that I decided to keep the comment there anyway. because unlike a lot of posters, I don’t try to hide the fact that I’m human. But because you felt the need to make this comment i’ll accommodate you:

“Nice catch!” ? Not really sure what your looking for.

I just found it humorous, wasn’t looking for a response. :P

interesting….
but taking under consideration fact that BOTH NPC’s gnashblade and Sareb have the dialog line that Gnashbalde leaved their legion….

we have the whole warband of the gladiums there
about “honorless” – for charrs all gladium – if he is not trying to get into new warband is considered as honorless….

Regarding Gandarel’s post, maybe it was separate and it got merged into this thread?

That story, while enlightening, also seems to have taken place many years ago, as the BLTC is already pretty much an established institution by the time our characters are on the scene. Therefore, Sareb’s comments may still be true in that Evon may have had another falling out with his warband or the Legions down the line.

I’ve mentioned before in other threads about how the BLTC may have originally been a front for the Ash Legion to operate in Lion’s Arch. Perhaps Evon disagreed with this and wanted to make the BLTC a truly independent and neutral entity, which would have forced him to leave his warband and become a gladium.

@up the ending of the story “But, his risk had paid off. The Black Lion Trading Company was his.” could confirm that theory….
also that isn’t told that the whole warband cannot leave legion and become warband of gladiums….

A warband that left their legion wouldn’t be a warband of gladium. They may be deserters or some similar term, but ‘gladium’ specifically refers to charr without a warband – a gladium could still be (and usually is) loyal to their legion, while a warband that abandons their post as a unit is still a warband.

@draxynnic and that is interesting thing how charr name such a thing – a whole warband that refuses to do their job in legion and lefting it together

gladium that is royal to the legion isn’t gladium long enough – because to make their duty he/she have to find warband that will agree to join.
if it wob’t even search – it means that he/she is no longer rolay to the legion…..

Actually, there are gladium that find ways to continue to contribute to the legion on their own. They’re still looked-down on, but they exist (in fact, I’d be inclined to think that a gladium that doesn’t contribute in some fashion wouldn’t be tolerated at all unless their health is such that it’s reasonable for them to retire).

And most gladium that we’ve met fall into two categories:

(1) Those who have lost their warbands and keep their surnames, a la General Almorra Soulkeeper; or

(2) Those who left their warbands and lost their surnames.

Doesn’t look like Gnashblade falls in either category. And as Ash Legion he may very well not want to tell you he still working with the Legions.