Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,
I’m a roleplayer and we all know that the lore is something important in guildwars II, here i come to you to know if there is any hierarchy in the Clergy of the Six or if there is only priest at the same rank ? How does it work ?

I hope i will have some staffmember answer but it just a hope between, i try to see clearly through this.
Please tell me if you know more !

Well, there’s no clear indication that religion in Tyria has been structured into churches. Monks have answered to Dwayna, Lyssa, or as in Mhenlo’s case in GW1, to both Dwayna and Balthazar (Mainly because his parents each came from the priesthood of those two gods). Grenth also has priests, acolytes, etc.

However, you may have some indication by looking at the temple events in Orr. It seems the main enemy at each temple could have been the highest ranking member of the church, such as High Priestess or Acolyte (Although this title implies there are superior ranks).

Actually, there are at least a couple references to followers of a single god being gathered into churches- Priestess Rhie mentions such in the personal story, off the top of my head- but there’s no indication of separate titles. Pointing again at Rhie, she’s said to be the foremost priestess of Grenth, but even so she’s still addressed simply as priestess.

Thanks for the answers, i feel a bit skeptical about this because i don’t see any church without hierarchy and even in guild wars II. We knows that some ennemies has higher ranks but all we know on our npc are “priests” or maybe “acolytes”. I wonder if there may have priests seen as more important than others. Maybe the hierarchy is symbolize by the time and since when they started to be priest, like those old ancestors that teach how to be priest.

(I apologize for my english i came from French forums to get answers.)

Well, there are several mentions of High Priests- all the Orrian temple bosses, for one, and also the Mouvelian calendar is named after the first High Priest of the Church of Dwayna. Still, the fact that Rhie doesn’t take this title suggests to me that it died with Orr.

If I might speculate, though… perhaps there’s no hierarchy like real world churches because such are not needed? The primary point of having ranks is to have someone to answer to, after all. But if the gods you answer to have for most of your history been willing to speak to anyone, even the uninitiated, there’s much less of a reason to have to answer to other men as well, and therefore no need of a more formalized system of titles and ranks.

(No need to apologize! I just hope my answer is clear enough.)

There’s known churches to Grenth, Dwayna, and Kromir. I would suspect that all six gods have such.

Best bet at hierarchy that’s non-Orrian, since we don’t see any modern day High Priests, would likely be found at the Kormir monastery in Queensdale. We see various rankings to the members there, though such doesn’t give much.

@Mouvel was not a High Priest, but the “Grand Patriarch” of the Church of Dwayna. Though one may take both to mean the same in the end.

I’m with Konig and Aaron in that there are enough references throughout both GW1 & GW2 for the Clergy of the Six being separated into several churches (e.g. one for each god).

Also, it should be mentioned that High Priests did very much exist after Orr was sunk. Examples include Head Priest Vahmani (eventhough his title is somewhat odd) for the priests of Lyssa in Vabbi and High Priest Zhang, the head of the priests of Balthazar as well as leader of Zaishen High Council.

I believe the reason why we don’t specifically see the title of High Priest in GW2 is perhaps the fading influence of the clergy in general. However, what Priestess Rie says pretty much indicates that there still is a leading cleric for each church.

Worth noting is perhaps that the churches appear to have been more diverse und loosely organized in GW1, where there were different forms of priesthood in different countries. In GW2 we see a very strict distinction between priests of different gods, with a specific style of robes/clothing/armor for each priesthood.

As for role-playing as a priest, Hyldenia, I can give you an example from the German roleplaying community where I’ve been playing a priest of Balthazar for well over two years now.
We have, for the most part, come to an agreement for RP that the churches are mostly regarded as splitted into six with their own separate hierarchies, however still belonging together for a single larger concept (eventhough there can, of course, be rivalries – the gods and their priests are known to have competed with each other since Wintersday in GW1).
As for specific hierarchies within the churches, you should refrain from playing high priests or the likes of them. That’s simply because we don’t know enough about the topic, and also because it would be a bit much to let a single player dictate everything. You can simply separate into aspirants (new acolytes/novices), acolytes/novices and fully fledged priests.
The authority of priests among themselves is a more complicated matter, but imho you can – roughly – expect an elder, more experienced priest to have the deciding vote in an argument.