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Posted by: TealDeer.4217

TealDeer.4217

Oooh ooh ooh okay okay:

Sylvari seem to have teeth: are they made of bone? If so, do sylvari have a skeletal structure of some kind?

How long does it take cultural armor to grow? When it’s removed, can they put it back on or do they have to regrow it?

edit:

How do ghosts work? We know how Ascalonian ghosts came to be. We know there are ghosts in Cursed Shore (of norn). There are also additional human ghosts in that one fort in Straits (pirates – who also have ghostly treasure?? did the treasure die?? lol). Are there asuran or charr ghosts? Sylvari ghosts?

I can’t answer how ghosts work (though I imagine it has something to do with the Mists, and might be spoilery for the next Raid wing…), but there ARE Charr ghosts… sorta.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fight_life-stealing_minions_in_Hellion_Forest

Basically, some of the Charr here get displaced from their bodies, and wander around as ghostly spirits. However, they aren’t dead, and you can return them to their bodies, so I’m not sure that counts.

I’ve never seen a Sylvari ghost.

edit there are ABSOLUTELY Asura ghosts. Oola’s ghost is the most prominent; it appears in her lab, bound to her golem.

(edited by TealDeer.4217)

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Posted by: Celine.6857

Celine.6857

Hey Scott, this is all fascinating and I love it.

My Q:

At what age are Asura no longer progenies and become adult or old enough to start fighting in Tyria? This is a really trivial question but is relevant to mine and my husbands roleplay with our cuties since this gorgeous thing has a sister called Kewtii Pi and we have them fighting dragons as pretty much toddlers in our heads right now ROFL. She’s called Sweetee Pi and we have an entire Pi family.

Attachments:

Samantha
Guild: Creators of Destiny Awakening [CDA] Disabled GW2 gamer; love all aspects of GW2!
Champion: Magus, Illusionist, Phantom and Shadow

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Posted by: Gnomex.2749

Gnomex.2749

I will once again post this list and i would be really glad for any answers:

  • From where does the golem download their updates? Golem from Rata Novus had a lot of updates to download – are there any asuran inter- or intranet or at least service for golems?
  • AI in Tyria – how intelligent golem can be created? Is this somehow connected with amount of magic power in a golem, which creates intelligence as an anomaly?
  • Golemancy – more golems are made from stones, or from some kind of stone-like metal? We know Scruffy was made from metal, but what about the others? * How long does it take for a juvenile wyvern to grown up? Are there any adult electric wyvern one can meet? (All of them seem to be fire or mordrem ones)
  • At what age does the Asura usually start and complete it’s college? * Hammer skills as an engineer – how much magic and how much technology is in these skills? (like 10% magic and 90% technology to reflect skills or 100% technology)
  • General maturity between races – at what age are their considered adults in their respective race communities? (Especially Norn)
  • What about Sylvari and diseases? Are their vulnerable for humand diseases? Plant ones? Maybe both? * How does the process of growing sylvari houses and outfits look like? They are grown in some kind of special places? (especially leaf houses) or at a sylvari (outfits)? Is it a long process?
  • Does the Norn Spirits of the Wild answer to members of other members who start to believe in them? Are they considered the same as a Norn in terms of visions etc.? Does the transformation in the Spirit Form (e.g. Bear Form) possible for other races?
  • Spells like Hounds of Balthazar – are these real blessings from the higher powers? Or just power of belief is forming magic of kittener to create something which looks alike to god intervention?
  • How open are Exalted about speaking of Glint’s Legacy? Is it common knowledge it exists under Tarir, for people walking around Golden City? If yes – is it common knowledge it’s a Glint’s Egg?
  • What exactly is Aetherium? Are there any lore description of what is under our Guild halls? * Long-range communication (like a beacon from Living Story of Scarlets Invasion) – are there any technology available to common asura, which enables to “call” another asura? Or maybe public services like Peacemaker in situation of danger?
  • Are there any limit to the skritt technological intelligence? Skritt Personal Story step suggests that with enough skritts they can dismantle and recreate nearly any technology – is it true? Is it a reason why Asura never won a war with them?
  • How would you rate the Commander of GW2 to the Main Character of GW1 in terms of personal power?
  • Djinns – they were powerful but common enemy in GW1 and now we have Zommoros who have… pretty much indefinite power and knowledge – did all djinns had this scale of power, but we didn’t know about it or they changed with inflow of magic to the world or Zommoros is some kind of special?
  • Are the new stars in the sky a hint of things to come?

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Posted by: TealDeer.4217

TealDeer.4217

  • Hammer skills as an engineer – how much magic and how much technology is in these skills? (like 10% magic and 90% technology to reflect skills or 100% technology)

I am not a dev, but given the previous answer about magic & tech… you’re coming at this from the wrong angle. The thing is, in Tyria, magic is technology. Almost all technology, with a few exceptions*, uses magic in some way in Tyria. It’d be like saying, “How much of a computer is technology, and how much is electricity?” Magic isn’t separate from technology — it’s a power source used by technology.

Just look at the Asura — everything they create is powered by magic. But we freely accept that the Asura are the most technologically advanced race in Tyria. They have robots (golems) and computers! It’s just that those computers and golems are powered by magic, not electricity.

Basically, in Tyria, magic replaces the real-life forces of electricity and nuclear power. It serves the same practical and narrative functions, and we even have this environmental narrative question. We’ve been using all this magic (technology, fossil fuels, natural resources basically) and it’s built up over time… and now the planet is out of balance and effectively “reacting” to that imbalance in the form of Elder Dragons (in real life, we get climate change which in turn creates unnatural drought and superstorms… where I live in the US, oil fracking has also been causing earthquakes, poisoning the water, and ground instability.

SO…

if you assume that, in Tyria, Magic = Technology, then the answer to your question is just “yes.”

.* The exceptions to Magic = Technology are, I think, a few Charr creations that use steam power alone. HOWEVER, many Charr inventions couldn’t work without things like electricity, an internal combustion engine that uses gasoline, or jet engines… and I’m pretty sure that the Charr don’t have an internal combustion engine yet, because I think one NPC mentions that she’s experimenting with oil & gasoline to try to power an engine instead of steam, but it’s not going well! So, while the Charr may have few spellcasters due to prejudice against the Flame Legion, it’s reasonable to assume that they utilize objects infused with magic and some ambient magic to power many of their inventions and devices… again, basically taking the place of electricity and gasoline as power sources. Even their steam powered devices are likely magical in some way, probably using a magical heat source (heat stones? ) to heat the water to create steam. Heck, they might use combinations of magical water sources (like the D&D Decanter of Endless Water) with heat stones for unlimited water and heat! Well, limited probably by availability of ambient magical energy, anyway.

This would explain why the air around Ascalon & the Black Citadel is unusually clear for such an industrial race — magic doesn’t seem to create soot or smoke the same way coal would!

ANYWAY

The point, again, is to not think of magic and technology as separate as they are in other fantasy settings — in Tyria, they’re one and the same.

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Posted by: Serezenith.3501

Serezenith.3501

Do wurms have tails?

…I knew I would always waste this opportunity if I got it. Kitten my life.

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Posted by: Konig Des Todes.2086

Konig Des Todes.2086

Questions about marriage and languages and calendars require more time, thought, and fact-checking, and I’m already pushing the envelope of how many hours per day I can devote to the forums.

Honestly, I’m a bit surprised to see any form of answer. Usually when mass Q&A’s start, the dev goes silent. :P

And someone made a reddit thread, so now we’ve gotten a ton of questions which will scare Scott off. :I

Well, whatever, I’ll ask my last round. If I get answers, awesome, if not, predictable.

Shiren: Elite Specs lore and Revenant legend interaction

-snip words-

I think that people would be happy to have the lore, even if it isn’t tied to learning it as you learn the elite specialization/profession.

The trainers, before they were removed, would have been perfect NPCs to slap profession lore on. A different race telling that race’s origins of the profession, or way of teaching it (e.g., charr mesmer trainers talking about how fahrars teach mesmers to use their spells when working with the warband, while human mesmer trainers talk about past accomplished human mesmers, such as Kitah from Cantha). Such NPCs could still exist, just without a mechanical purpose. And they could exist for the elite specializations too.

Revenant legends do have personalities and opinions and we do catch glimpses of them, but each legend also represents a snapshot of the character, a Mist-echo of the actual person and not the person themselves. As such, the revenant legend doesn’t necessarily have the full range of memories & thoughts as the original.

This is something that was suspected but never answered. Thanks.

Draxynnic: Sylvari are jungle dragon minions reveal

On this matter, I must ask…

Is there any plans to address the lore continuity errors between sylvari function and other dragon minion (both mordrem and not) function?

Example 1: Dragon minions consume magic, this is a largely established fact. However, sylvari never show any indication of being capable of doing this, let alone actually doing it.

Example 2: Why are they all having free will? Only method to give dragon minions/champions free will is via a ritual like seen in Arah explorable – the Altar of Glaust ritual – however, Angel McCoy once stated that such rituals are geographically limited and resource consuming so it isn’t something that could be easily used. So why is the Pale Tree, Malyck, and the Pale Tree’s “children” of free will?

Example 3: Hive mentality. All dragon minions show signs of this, but not sylvari. Why?

And not tied to that question but to your answer: “As such, we put clues in the game to hint at that conclusion, and people took the hints and figured it out.”

Honestly, even after Heart of Thorns there seem to be more contradictions than hints. In fact, any potential hint that people caught onto ended up being debunked – be it by Glint, other dragon minions, the story itself, or developer comments.

List of Questions
I do have some hopefully less-time/thought consuming and fact-checking requiring questions:

  • Is there any plans to address the lore continuity errors between sylvari function and other dragon minion (both mordrem and not) function? (restating from above so you have a nice single spot to look)
  • Were the Mordrem Guard corrupted in the traditional dragon corruption sense? Plenty of hints, but no real confirmation, that this isn’t so.
  • What’s the backstory behind the mordrem commanders? We kind of know Diarmid’s, but not an inkling for the other two. And for that matter, what’s the deal with Blademaster Cellona?
  • Can we get a concise timeline of the previous dragonrise(s)? We have several events – Glint’s freedom (supposedly 3,000 years ago), mursaat/seer war, seer creation of the Bloodstone, Forgotten arriving in the world (supposedly 1769 AE), the oldest dwarven ruins (“over 2,000 years old”), the extinction of the Giganticus Lupicus (~10,000 BE), fall of the jotun civilization, etc. – with no clear order to them.
    • ADDENDUM: When, roughly, was the last dragonrise? There’s lore telling us it was ~10,000 BE, but other lore stating it was ~2,000 BE. Did it last 8,000 years or were these two separate dragonrises as the Priory are muddling them together?

Here’s some questions from GW1 that never got answered. Hopefully they can be now:

  • What’s the significance of Bahltek and the things he talked about?
  • Can you answer the riddle that was given at the end of The Path to Revelations?
  • The seer on the table in Zinn’s lab during War in Kryta – was it dead? Was it the one met during the Prophecies campaign?
  • What is the origin of Kanaxai?

Oooh ooh ooh okay okay:

Sylvari seem to have teeth: are they made of bone? If so, do sylvari have a skeletal structure of some kind?

How long does it take cultural armor to grow? When it’s removed, can they put it back on or do they have to regrow it?

There are NPCs in the Grove that answer these questions.

Sylvari do have an endoskeleton – they are made of wood. As for growing armor and weapons, take a vigil sylvari to the bottom level of the Grove, there is an NPC there that talks about it IIRC, but I don’t recall what the dialogue is. I think it was about the toughness and effectiveness of such gear, as well as who grows it and how.

My only question at this time, and I realize that it probably falls under the can’t-answer-because-it’s-a-possible-spoiler section but….

…what’s east of Blazeridge Steppes? There’s a large land mass in that direction, what could be there? The Adventurer/Explorer in me is really itching to go there.

The Ash legion homelands, this is the complete world map btw:
http://i.cubeupload.com/zD9ud9.png

That’s false. Blood Legion owns the lands east of the Blazeridge Mountains.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Legions_of_the_Charr

“East, across the Blazeridge Mountains, Imperator Bangar Ruinbringer controls the lands of the Blood Legion.”

We, simply put, do not know where the Ash Legion makes their territory.

I do not recall where, but I could swear I read a dev state that the forgotten knowing about Glint’s death was a mistake and that should be corrected, but sadly I do not have a link.

It was either Scott or Bobby who said that, but IIRC this was in reference to an Exalted’s dialogue, not A Study in Gold, who mentioned Glint’s death happening before they went into hibernation.

It was fixed.

Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.

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Posted by: PerfectThrill.8652

PerfectThrill.8652

Is there any way you could tell us if we will ever get to see Cantha or Elona again? I wish to sail the Jade Sea….#sadface

This here doesn’t have to reflect your answer, but I have been speculating that we might get to see our fellow Canthans after the defeat of Primorus, as the Asura Gates connecting them go through his territory. It would be awesome to find and fight alongside the remaining of the stone dwarves in their battle against the Great Destroyer and other minions of Primordus.

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Posted by: Gnomex.2749

Gnomex.2749

Yes, the Hammer question was answered – my bad with copy pasting, without deleting it. Thanks for an answer anyway.

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Posted by: Aaron Ansari.1604

Aaron Ansari.1604

I just compiled all of the questions so far in one of my earlier posts, and guys, we’re up to 60! (Looking at you, Gnomex!) Maybe leave it there until our poor dev gets a chance to respond, eh?

R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.

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Posted by: TealDeer.4217

TealDeer.4217

Example 2: Why are they all having free will? Only method to give dragon minions/champions free will is via a ritual like seen in Arah explorable – the Altar of Glaust ritual – however, Angel McCoy once stated that such rituals are geographically limited and resource consuming so it isn’t something that could be easily used. So why is the Pale Tree, Malyck, and the Pale Tree’s “children” of free will?

I can answer this.

There’s basically two things going on: one, it’s established in Heart of Thorns that when Mordrem get far enough away from Moredremoth, his control over them can loosen. This is shown in part of an achievement in Act III, “An Ignoble End” https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Buried_Insight . You find a Mordrem Guard separated from Moredremoth deep below Rata Novus where Moredremoth hasn’t been able to extend tendrils. He has regained some of his free will.

Iirc, the only place we see Dragon Minions pulled far enough away from their dragon to regain some semblance of free will is Jormang minions in the Crucible of Eternity… and those guys are probably so angry / insane from the Inquest experiments that it wouldn’t matter anyway.

I think proximity to dragon corruption counts as proximity to the dragon — Moredremoth’s minions can invade Kryta because he’s extended his tendrils across there, attacking the waypoints, Branded can walk up and down the Brand & nearby it… possibly, ley-line connections work too. The point is, however, that the Sylvari can’t even hear Moredremoth outside the Heart of Maguuma unless they’re actively listening for him (as Ceara / Scarlett did).

Combined with that, Ventari had some super powerful magic of his own. The most likely explanation is that the Henge of Denravi is one of those "places of power. So, the bloodstones are nearby, and those are SUPER powerful. In fact, they literally cut things off from magic! that’s what bloodstones DO!

I obviously don’t have confirmation of this, but I think Ventari’s Tablet is likely a magical artifact, infused somewhere in the Maguuma Jungle (one of those magic springs, maybe? or the ley-line hub?) which assists the Pale Tree in maintaining her independence from Moredremoth. It, in itself, might be something that can be used to sever dragon corruption. Perhaps captured Moredrem can be “cured”?

Example 3: Hive mentality. All dragon minions show signs of this, but not sylvari. Why?

… Except Sylvari DO have a hive mind.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dream_of_Dreams

ALL Sylvari are connected in a communal dream before they’re born. After they’re born, they STILL share a race-wide empathic link (they can feel each other’s emotions to a limited degree), they STILL have a telepathic & empathic link to the Pale Tree (the Tree LITERALLY calls out to Ceara to try to turn her away from Moredremoth), the Soundless explicitly CUT THEMSELVES OFF from the Sylvari hive-mind (the Dream) for all kinds of reasons. While Sylvari don’t have conscious access to the Dream, they still experience it to a lesser degree when they sleep (duh), and their memories are essentially “uploaded” to the Dream constantly for unborn Sylvari to experience. The ENTIRE POINT of Nightmare is to introduce cynicism, hate, and doubt into the Dream by inflicting pain and suffering on other Sylvari — basically trying to wake them up to the “real world” as the Nightmare Court sees it. And it WORKS, because otherwise the Court would “just” be creepy insane cultists and terrorists. Instead, they’re a LOT more than that.

So uh… yeah, that’s a hive mind, dude. A hive mind doesn’t preclude individuals from existing within it (real life example: individual bees can and do have individual quirks and “personality” traits, and in fact the Queen has almost no control over the day to day functions of the hive — she exists to have babies, basically. Much like the Pale Tree! Same with naked mole rats, the only hive mammal).


Speaking of Sylvari, I have my own question: since the Nightmare Court storyline was cut from Heart of Thorns, can you shed some more light on what was up with that? Why did the Court essentially rebel against Moredremoth instead of joining him, since it seemed initially that the Court, in trying to find the “true” nature of the Sylvari, were seeking him? Why does the one Nightmare Courtier join the fight in Dragon’s Stand? (She’s super cool btw, I love her)

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Posted by: Konig Des Todes.2086

Konig Des Todes.2086

Is there any way you could tell us if we will ever get to see Cantha or Elona again? I wish to sail the Jade Sea….#sadface

He outright stated he cannot confirm nor deny any possible future plots.

This here doesn’t have to reflect your answer, but I have been speculating that we might get to see our fellow Canthans after the defeat of Primorus, as the Asura Gates connecting them go through his territory. It would be awesome to find and fight alongside the remaining of the stone dwarves in their battle against the Great Destroyer and other minions of Primordus.

There is no asura gate leading to Cantha in his territory. If you refer to the EotN starter quest, that asura gate is under Lion’s Arch – there’s no real canonical evidence to suggest there’s one under Kamadan or Kaineng City. Those two quests were there more to let players with only the one campaign to go to EotN content than as a canon lore, much like the quests to go from Cantha to Tyria, or from Elona to Tyria/Cantha, since the previous plots were done in lore already.

I can answer this.

-snip-

We see risen in northern Ascalon, the northern Shiverpeaks, etc. We see mordrem in Ascalon. We see icebrood near Mount Maelstrom and Metrica. None of them act any different than other risen, mordrem, and icebrood.

Distance is irrelevant, and the sylvari are far closer to Mordremoth than the Iron Marches or Diessa Plateau mordrem assaults were – let alone those in Kessex or Timberline.

One thing you’ve seem to mistake is that you’re confusing Mordrem Guard for regular dragon minions. but this isn’t so – and that very achievement you sited is the proof for it. No other case of dragon minions beyond Mordrem Guard are capable of resisting their dragon’s call and will. They don’t even want to. Corruption is not just brainwashing, it’s an overwriting of will. And distance does not affect the core of one’s desires.

Furthermore, Ventari had no special magic of his own, certainly nothing that would even come close to mimicking what the Forgotten did to Glint without sheer folly, and there’s no mention of him working magic on the seed – and even if he did, there’s nothing to explain Malyck and his tree.

And I fail to see why you even bother linking the Henge of Denravi and the Maguuma bloodstone when they’re nowhere close to the Pale Tree. (And no, Bloodstones don’t cut things off from magic, they store magic).

And Ventari’s Tablet is just a chiseled stone. I don’t know why folks are convinced its magical – it’s not. It’s nothing more than the tablets the tale of Gilgamesh was found on. It’s chiseled stone. It was carved and placed at the Pale Tree, never leaving that area. Certainly was never taken to a ley-line hub or a magical springs (come on, think logically – why the hell would Ventari take a stone tablet and dip it in water? And how could he think to take it to a ley-line hub when ley lines weren’t even discovered yet?).

Malyck’s existence is downright proof that whatever freed the Pale Tree also freed the rest of the seeds. Because you can’t just free dragon minions with the power of love and friendship. Grimm Svaard tried to do that when his brother Bronn was turned into a risen, and got a chunk of flesh torn out in turn.

… Except Sylvari DO have a hive mind.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dream_of_Dreams

No, the Dream of Dreams is NOT a hive mind. Ghosts of Ascalon, page 120. “It isn’t mind-reading,” said Killeen, “and we aren’t all connected into one big mass mind.”

I think a sylvari knows what she’s talking about, and she outright states it isn’t a hive mind.

Furthermore, it isn’t even a connection between all mordrem/sylvari, despite your claim! Malyck has no tie to the Dream of Dreams. Yet the White Stag – clearly not a mordrem/sylvari – does have a connection to the Dream of Dreams. Only three individuals has direct ties to the Dream of Dreams – Mordremoth, the White Stag, and the Pale Tree. However, the Dream of Dream can be extended to the Pale Tree’s sylvari, as well as others the Pale Tree and Mordremoth (per Hearts and Minds, though this was hijacked by Trahearne here) chooses – we do not know why or how though.

Malyck’s lack of a Dream outright proves it is not the typical dragon minion hive mind.

By all accounts, the Dream is nothing like the hive mind of dragon minions. The dragon minion hive mind is not something you can just cut off by sheer willpower like the Soundless do – if that was, then we’d be able to talk risen into not being bad. But we see how that works in Sea of Sorrrows (spoilers: it doesn’t).

So as I said, it’s a lore contradiction.

So please, don’t insult me by claiming stuff when you’ve not done your research properly. I’ve done mine – I wouldn’t have asked without looking into it all myself first. And what you claimed are very common false conclusions that I’ve been told, and countered, time and time again ever since the sylvari=dragon minion theory began. I’ve always found that theory silly because of the continuous contradictions and lack of explanations which still exist.

The Dream isn’t a hive mind, we know this because the sylvari tell us it isn’t a hive mind. And they, out of anyone, would know.

Sylvari aren’t freed from dragon corruption because of the tablet or distance because we see dragon minions who remain unchanged despite distance from their dragons or individuals trying to reason with them with morals or friendship.

Sylvari are a dragon minion anomaly, and this has yet to be answered. Heart of Thorns was the time to answer it. That time has come and gone. So it’s time to get it answered.

Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.

(edited by Konig Des Todes.2086)

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Posted by: wouw.5837

wouw.5837

I don’t know if it has been asked before,

Will we ever see the story of the final part of Beyond? I lost all my hope in seeing it finished in game, but it was the best story a-net pushed out so far and I would love to know the what happens in the final, Elonian part.

Elona is Love, Elona is life.

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Posted by: Konig Des Todes.2086

Konig Des Todes.2086

They said Beyond was canceled indefinitely shortly after GW2’s release. Sadly. The original post was removed when they super-simplified guildwars.com, but here’s a wayback machine archive of it

Maybe we can get it as a novel? -nudgenudgeScott-

Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.

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Posted by: Scott McGough

Previous

Scott McGough

Narrative Lead

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Okay, I’ve done my best in the time that I have; I haven’t gotten to everyone yet, and internally we are exploring the best process to get all the questions we can answer organized, answered, and distributed.

So this thread may not go on much longer, but until ANet has a plan for how to efficiently address all the stuff being raised here, I’ll keep answering as much and as best I can.

NOTE: this will be my last round of answers for this week. I’m starting my long weekend early so I’ll be off line until early next week.

Aaron Ansari/Jaken: Format
I think bolding and bulleting the questions would be a huge help; side discussions can and should continue, but if we bold and bullet the parts that are aimed at ANet, it’ll help me find them and reply faster.

I appreciate the collected and simplified list of questions that was compiled for me; I’ll be referring to it going forward.

Thanks!

smitske: heartfelt loaded question (but still a loaded question)
I appreciate you have a strongly held opinion.

However, this is a good example of the type of question I will not answer until you rephrase it as a non-loaded question without insults baked right in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_question

PetboyJoshua: Mordremoth influence over sylvari
Sylvari are a special case/special type of Elder Dragon minion, and their situation is made even more unique by Mordy’s influence over minds in general (and theirs in particular).

Mordremoth’s corruption is analogous to weeds and moss invading a garden and totally taking it over. The invader (for the purposes of this analogy, the weeds and moss) claims the nutrients and resources that would otherwise go to the existing plants, surrounds and envelops the native plants and digests them/converts them into more raw material it can use to grow, and then spreads outward, colonizing as it goes. The invader continues to get stronger and expand while the native plants are choked out/starved/digested and wither away. This sort of overwhelming growth/colonization can also be seen in the bodies of its minions like the Mordrem Wolf or Mordrem Troll (who were originally something else before they became Mordremoth minions—I’d call out an analogy to Alan Moore’s excellent classic Swamp Thing story, “The Anatomy Lesson,” where the creature’s original body is slowly replaced by plant material until you have essentially a plant version of the original that has the same general form but not necessarily the same function); there are also things like the Mordrem Vine Crawlers and Tendril Roots, which Mordy basically crafted from scratch using the plant material at hand.

A Mordrem Guard’s appearance is more due to Mordremoth’s ability to control and shape plant life—sylvari are plants, after all, and once Mordy’s mental influence takes hold of a sylvari, it then twists their physical form into this more formidable configuration. It is related to/a dark mirror of a sylvari’s ability to change their own appearance, but in this case it’s being directed by Mordy and not the individual.

It is entirely possible for a sylvari to be emerge from their pod mute, or blind, or otherwise physically challenged/disabled. I don’t believe there are any examples of this currently in game, but that’s down to the Pale Tree’s creation of new sylvari being so solid and reliable. If something injured a sylvari in the pod before they emerged, or if there was the human equivalent of a genetic quirk that affected them during gestation, it could happen.

I will also say that it’s possible for sylvari to be emerge from their pods with psychological problems (that can also develop after they emerge as a result of trauma, abuse, etc.). Ceara (who would become Scarlet), for example, emerged with and immediately demonstrated an extreme lack of empathy for others that, in humans, would be associated with antisocial or borderline personality disorder.

I have no further info to share regarding the Mordrem Guard who seemed to revert back to their original personality once given a reprieve from Mordy’s influence, Stavemaster Adryn’s backstory, the sylvari society’s approach to “reclaiming” someone from Nightmare, and the impact of the Pale Tree’s coma on new sylvari.

wouw: Balthek
I’m afraid I have no additional information to provide on this mysterious GW1 character.

Spyritdragon: mesmers and magic tricks
A. Mesmers routinely cast convincing illusions, some of which have substance, so their magic is more than just tricking people’s minds. But they do have control over what people see or how they see it, so that things that aren’t really there seem to be, and things that are really there seem not to be—this control is limited by their power and experience in casting illusions.

Using the Tower of Nightmares as an example, there was mesmer magic concealing the huge tower so that anyone who happened by wouldn’t see it. The spell that concealed the tower was on the tower itself, rather than on all the people who might happen by.

As Angel and Yojimaru said, top-level mesmers may be able to exert genuine mind control, but if they can, they’re keeping it secret—if everyone knew, someone would work out a countermeasure. Apart from that, most mesmers use spells to create something like a post-hypnotic suggestion rather than turning a sentient being into their puppet. As such, they can get people to do small or seemingly unimportant things based in misdirection, but the larger or more obvious/contrary to their preference the thing a mesmer wants them to do is, the more likely the target will resist/their brains will say, “Hang on, why am I doing this again?”

B. Spellcasting is a strenuous discipline and magic is an unpredictable form of high-octane energy, so the kind of tiny, precise spell impacts you’re describing are beyond the skill of most spellcasters. It’s analogous to painting a wall with a can of spray paint vs. painting a photorealistic image of a duck on a postage stamp with a brush—casting a giant ice spike to crush somebody is a lot more accessible and doable than casting a spell that boils a tiny bit of the water in somebody’s brain, especially in a combat situation.

C. Not sure I fully understand the C question about magic being restricted to skills; there are definitely spells in the world that do not appear on a player’s skill bar. People channel and focus raw ambient magic via specific spells and skills, and also through devices and constructs, but unfocused magic can also produce strange and unpredictable effects spontaneously (such as in the Thaumanova reactor, where the disaster led to raw magic creating all sorts of strangeness without anyone directing it or focusing it).

D. Rata Sum politics is a complicated beast. The Inquest hold a seat on the Arcane Council, and that advocacy at the highest level of government buys them a lot more leeway than they’d have if they didn’t hold such a powerful position. Think of a parliamentary government with lots of different parties; there are often fringe parties that hold controversial, even dangerous views, but they have representation in the government and are part of the body politic, and therefore part of the political/social landscape. If they commit crimes, the local constabulary steps in to address it—this is what you’re seeing when Inquest and Peacemakers skirmish. The Inquest is allowed to operate, and as long as they aren’t openly committing crimes or atrocities, the Peacemakers let them be. There’s also the question of corruption and officials being rewarded or threatened to look the other way, but in general the Inquest is allowed to operate because they’re part of the rich tapestry of Rata Sum’s social and political structure.

The Inquest doesn’t like its members to leave, and they have taken extreme steps to punish or reclaim those who try. They’re especially tough on those who try to get out if those people have valuable or incriminating information the Inquest wants to keep to themselves. That said, it’s not an automatic death sentence/those who leave always have to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders. To bring it back around to politics, if the person who wants to leave has leverage (i.e., “kill me and this box full of incriminating evidence goes to the Arcane Eye (or worse, a competitor’s krewe)”) and/or it’s not politically expedient to exact retribution at the moment (because the person in question has friends in high places, or the heat is on and the Arcane Council is currently watching the Inquest’s activities closely), the Inquest will bide its time and wait for an opportunity to act…and they’re very patient.

Follicle-wise, I’m afraid we’ll have to wait and see if asura can grow beards on their faces (or anywhere else).

Juniterio: GW1 Characters returning?
Can’t confirm or deny; see above’s blanket answer about upcoming story and character arcs.

Captain Vanguard: side NPC stories from the NPC’s POV
This is a great idea and one that ArenaNet did in GW1 with the Bonus Mission Pack. Right now ANet resources are focused on telling the mainline story of the Elder Dragons and their impact on the world. Belinda’s story (for example) would be fun and illuminating, but tangential to the larger story we’re telling.

Redfeather: GW1 Path to Revelations
I’m afraid I have no additional information to provide on this mystery.

That’s all for now, folks. Have a great holiday weekend!

—Scott McG

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Posted by: Tyragon.2496

Tyragon.2496

Aww, sad to see I missed my shot at asking some lore questions. Mine are mostly about norn, I guess I can give a shot.

Norn Shapeshifting – Something that’s been a big question for norn is their shapeshifting. There’s several questions in it.
When do they receive this form (age)?
How do they receive it? Is it through deeds the spirit prove them worthy?
Do all norn possess this or only those who are worthy?
Can norn shapeshift into more than one specific animal form, how and how many? Eir is an example who can in the novel. She reveres Wolf, yet transforms into Bear.
How does these shapeshifts work (is it a magical transformation or physical? e.g werewolf)?
Do norns retain wounds they receive in this form?
How long can norns stay in the form? Forever like in GW1 or a set amount of time?
Can they communicate (normal speech) while in it?
Are they completely in control or do they get some sort of animal instinct?
Do norn gain other traits of these animals in the form? E.g Snow Leopards can see in the dark, Ravens can fly, Wolves has increased smell and hearing.
Could other races gain these shapeshifting forms if they were seen worthy enough, like GW1 human character?
How do norn view these shapeshift forms? A blessing to rarely be used? A convenient attribute to always make use of? Or something as a last resort?

Norn Shamans – As someone who love the culture of norn between them and the Spirits of the Wilds, I’ve always wondered what the shamans really do. We get an insight on the Havrouns, who are fairly special, and an idea about the Speakers who seem to be High Shamans, but what about the normal shamans?
How much connection to the spirit do they have?
Do the normal shamans have any connection to the mists? Can they enter it like the Havrouns?
Do they have any connection to the mist?
What duties do they have? Is it to guard shrines/sacred animals, give advice to norn and bless them, or is there more?
Can shamans leave the shrines and travel?
Do shamans get any special powers normal norn might not have?
Would their shapeshift forms be more powerful?
How do a norn become a shaman?

Spirit’s Communication – Lastly, a small one about the Spirits. There’s one thing I’ve always wondered, and that’s how the spirits communicate.
Do they communicate through speech or is it through gestures (like Minotaur) and/or visions/dreams?
Can spirits communicate through dreams/visions to normal norn and/or shamans?
Are the dreams some mention been granted to them by the spirits true or just dreams they interpret as such?
The usual norn dialogue by female NPCs are “I pray to the spirits of the wilds, but they rarely answer.”, is there any meaning to it? Do spirits rarely answer or do they just rarely speak to normal norn?

Edit: I’ll also put this in, don’t think I saw anyone ask this.

Elementalist Magic – Elementalists seems to be some weird mix of a wizard and Avatar in the Last Airbender, but how do their magic really work?
Do they conjure (as in create) things they use, like water and stones in earth? Or do their magic work more like the benders where they use existing elements around them?
How do water healing work? Is the water they create special or do they add magic to it? Do you just need to get it on your skin? Do those healed with water magic end up wet?
Also, if elementalists kinda bends the elements, how much can they bend it? Obviously we don’t see them as the Avatar, as elementalists movement seems less flowing and less an art.
How common is it for elementalists to be able to use all elements and how easy/hard is it to learn them?
Are there known to be elementalists who can only use one, two or three elements?
How much training would it require to learn them all?

(edited by Tyragon.2496)

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Posted by: Aaron Ansari.1604

Aaron Ansari.1604

Oh, Tyragon, you are making my life difficult. Anyway, a couple of your questions already have answers- yes, norn can speak while in a spirit’s form, and we see a couple NPCs doing it. Usually in prisons. No, shamans can’t enter the Mists, that’s definitely havroun-exclusive. And I’m gonna list it anyway, just out of a surfeit of caution, but in the novels we see elementalists both explicitly conjuring and explicitly ‘bending’- it just seems to depend on the spell.

R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.

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Posted by: eNeRgOo.5463

eNeRgOo.5463

Are we going to see Malyck once again?
Will we ever meet another Sylvari Tree? If so – is it going to be female or male tree?

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Posted by: Aaron Ansari.1604

Aaron Ansari.1604

I put it on my list, eNeRgOo, but you should know that we’ve already been told there won’t be any answers about future stories.

R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.

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Posted by: Zekowah.6480

Zekowah.6480

After a friend bought me the Permanent Self-Style Hair Kit, I found myself unable to stop using it on a daily basis. While it perfectly makes sense for Humans, Norn, and Charr to change their hairstyle and color from time to time to fit weather and personal identity, it doesn’t quite make sense for a Sylvari to have completely different hair-do’s every other day.

As a roleplayer, this item was the one thing I always wanted consistently in GW2 above anything else. However, with my main roleplay character being a Sylvari, I’ve grown frustrated with the idea that I have to choose just one hairstyle for her to have for the length of her roleplay life. With that in mind… can Sylvari change their hairstyle and color at will? It seems plausible to me at least, considering they manipulate and “grow” the Grove to meet their needs. I would still really, really love an official response, though. It’s such a minor question I know, and I really doubt most people have this on their list of lore-related questions to be answered… but it would make me exceedingly happy to know for sure.

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Posted by: Redfeather.6401

Redfeather.6401

Are we going to see Malyck once again?
Will we ever meet another Sylvari Tree? If so – is it going to be female or male tree?

My gut tells me there is a relationship to the Path of Revelations quest from GW1, something a couple of us asked about here.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Prophecy#The_path_to_revelations

From what I hear Malyck was to play some role in HoT, but due to resource constraints did not participate. So is possible that he will return soon! And maybe The Path of Revelations riddle will be made clear. :O

(edited by Redfeather.6401)

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Posted by: Aidan Savage.2078

Aidan Savage.2078

Oooh ooh ooh okay okay:

Sylvari seem to have teeth: are they made of bone? If so, do sylvari have a skeletal structure of some kind?

How long does it take cultural armor to grow? When it’s removed, can they put it back on or do they have to regrow it?

AFAIK, sylvari teeth and “bones” are actually wood, likely with density approaching that of black ironwood (almost 85 pounds per cubic feet) in the case of “warrior” sylvari.

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Posted by: katubug.6378

katubug.6378

it doesn’t quite make sense for a Sylvari to have completely different hair-do’s every other day.

I disagree. I mean, we’re talking about a race that grows their own clothing. I think it might take time to go from branches to petals, or vice versa, but I’d imagine it’s quite possible.

I don’t think it’s any more immersion-breaking that having a human go from a black pixie cut to a long pink ponytail overnight.

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Posted by: Shinzan.2908

Shinzan.2908

I love the sylvari thing, it’s cool how you put in hints and hidden evidence pretty much from day one. People actually guessing it in advance makes sense when you have thousands of people comb through this stuff, and if even just one person puts it together others had to acknowledge it once it has been laid out.

My question is in relation to this, have you hinted or foreshadowed at anything else all the way back in GW1 or beginnings of GW2 that is still to come into play in the current or future storylines? Obviously not expecting specifics but just curious if any other plot threats or twists have been planed out this far in advance, possibly something people haven’t figured out yet?

Basically wondering if you plan everything out this far in advance or if this was a special case.

(edited by Shinzan.2908)

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Posted by: Raeysa Penrose.8450

Raeysa Penrose.8450

Regarding Revenants

I know you guys mentioned revenants already, but I think what a lot of us in the RP community want to know about revenants is less about the mechanics of how the revenant profession works. I understand that we don’t actually “know” how elementalists or guardians work either.

Rather, we’re hoping to find out some general idea of how, since revenants didn’t exist prior to Rytlock’s trip to the Mists, how are they cropping up now, how have they learned about the skills necessary, etc.

That is to say, the issue is really about the canon newness of the class. Elementalists and warriors have been around for ages, people are trained in their respective arts, they’re a known quantity. It makes sense for a character to enter the story with a good grasp of those abilities. But because the revenant profession is canonically very new to the world of Tyria, it becomes inherently kind of important to know how the character got hold of this knowledge with Rytlock off fighting Mordremoth.

Is it simply not technically canon for a revenant to lead the fight against Mordremoth? Or did Rytlock do some “evangelizing” before heading to the jungle? Do revenants technically only come into existence post-Mordremoth?

Obviously there’s going to be a decent amount of “just accept it as game mechanics that don’t affect lore,” e.g. the ability to play through the personal story and the fall of Zhaitan on a revenant (lol), but if there’s an official canon on the revenant player character’s place in the timeline, we’d like to know! Or at the very least, I would!

Fear not this night
curse my dependence on sleep for survival!

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Posted by: smitske.4912

smitske.4912

Less ‘loaded’ it is then. (at least an effort)

What about the future of integration for sylvari PS in a way that makes sense? (Somewhat like humans now with white matle, I hope we get to kill caudecus or something) Like I said HoT was the perfect oportunity to do so, but it was decided not to. Which kinda contradicts to what you were saying earlier where you said you prefer to tie up knots instead of going for new plots, exactly what you somewhat did with HoT IMO. Will the sylvari PS be properly tied in the future, even though a very great opportunity to do so seems to be passed, or will the knot remain untied.

Also you talk about classes and specializations about how they are just there without needing to provide lore because they are just a gameplay thing. While true for the original 8 who already had an established history if you like, I disagree for the revenant and the elite specs. I still hope to see some lore with the first revenant Rytlock (after all the lack there of was a running gag in the story in the xpac) and i do think it warrants some lore because it is completely new and he is the first revenant. Also I think there should have been lore for the especs instead of them just appearing like is the case now, most of them apart from the necro (marjy + GS) dont make any sense since you are the first character we known that has it, just out of the blue. I am afraid the ship has sailed to do anything about now though.

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Posted by: Jaken.6801

Jaken.6801

- snip-
big list of questions
-snip-

Thanks for your effort. You are doing great work there and I hope some of your questions also get some covering as well.

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Posted by: draxynnic.3719

draxynnic.3719

PetboyJoshua: Mordremoth influence over sylvari
Sylvari are a special case/special type of Elder Dragon minion, and their situation is made even more unique by Mordy’s influence over minds in general (and theirs in particular).

{cut for brevity}

Thanks! Quite insightful, although I do get the feeling that there are things you’re carefully avoiding there (and that’s okay). It sounds like what Mordremoth did to sylvari wasn’t actually corruption per se (their immunity holds even against Mordremoth) but Mordremoth’s two spheres coming together into an extreme form of mind control.

The stuff about magic really reminds me of the Eberron Campaign Setting from Dungeons and Dragons, which was described by Keith Baker as “wide magic” as opposed to “high magic.” It operates under the following principles:

I think this varies depending on society. Asura clearly have ‘wide magic’. Humans and sylvari (which can pretty much basically be regarded as independent mordrem humans), while still having wider magic than in many settings, are more towards the ‘high magic’ end of the spectrum.

Most of the really powerful spellcasters we come across are humans, sylvari, Flame Legion charr, or occasionally norn. Significant asura, on the other hand, are typically impressive because of something they’ve scienced. They’re more likely to be spellcasters than possibly any other race (apart from elder races like Forgotten and mursaat that were exclusively spellcasters), but even Zojja doesn’t seem to be especially special as adventuring spellcasters go.

I think there was an interview or article a while back where it was stated that asura take a logical approach to magic, while humans are more intuitive. Another way of looking at it is that asura treat magic as a science while humans treat it as an art. The end result, from what we see in game, is that asura are the best at magical technology, but other races may actually be more in tune with magic and thus have higher overall potential.

Actually, while I wasn’t intending to ask a question, that could be an interesting one to get an answer on. To draft it in a more organised manner:

As a culture, asura are undoubtedly the most accomplished at magic. However, there are a number of NPCs and champions of other races that perform powerful feats of magic apparently unaided, such as Jennah’s illusion of Kralkatorrik or Logan’s permanent, boulder-stopping Shield of Absorption, along with multiple champions and legends of more powerful magic still (such as the heroes in Tahnnakai Temple in GW1). Asura, on the other hand, tend to be powerful due to their technology – there are few asura champions or NPCs that show powerful magic unaided (the closest I can think of offhand is the Champion Inquest Blast Krewe Leader in Dry Top). Do asura have spellcasters capable of performing top-end magic unaided, or do asura have a dirty secret that without their technology, they’d actually have less magical potential than bookahs?

I love the sylvari thing, it’s cool how you put in hints and hidden evidence pretty much from day one. People actually guessing it in advance makes sense when you have thousands of people comb through this stuff, and if even just one person puts it together others had to acknowledge it once it has been laid out.

Ah, but that’s the thing: The theory didn’t grow out of the subtle hints that were put into the game.

It showed up quite a while before GW2 actually released, when all we had was the beta weekend stuff (we may not even have had the sylvari and asura events yet – for reference, you can find stuff on it dating back to 13 August 2012, and the original presentation on the beta forums predated it but has, I think, been removed). It was built on the following foundations (paraphrased):

1) Sylvari are immune to dragon corruption. Maybe this is because they’re already minions to begin with, and minions can’t be double-corrupted?

2) From Glint’s testimony in Edge of Destiny, she apparently broke free of Kralkatorrik purely through recognising that other life forms were more worthy of her protection than Kralkatorrik.

3) Therefore, maybe the Pale Tree was herself supposed to be a dragon champion, and she defected due to Ventari’s good influence?

It was a good theory at the time. Then the game released, people got into the dungeons… and it turned out that dragon minions weren’t immune to being further corrupted (Crucible of Eternity… incidentally, where we first saw the name Mordremoth), while other means of protecting creatures and objects from dragon corruption existed (Arah, Forgotten path). And it also turned out that Glint didn’t just have a change of heart one day – a powerful magical ritual had to be performed to return her free will for that to happen (Arah, Forgotten path again).

That knocked out the evidence that the theory was built on, and it basically persisted on stubbornness and hope from there until we got hints that Scarlet was under the mental influence of… something… and there were dragons scrawled on the walls of her hideouts…

Basically, it’s like people put together 2 and 3 together and came up 5. Then it turned out that 2 and 3 were both wrong, but people insisted it was still 5 nevertheless. Eventually, it turned out that what we actually had was 1 and 4 and thus, coincidentally, the answer was still 5.

There have been plenty of theories that were as strong in their time that proved to be wrong. For instance, people had been claiming Glint was evil since the release of Prophecies to the release of Edge of Destiny, and some persist in claiming that she has some evil plan ticking along even now. If it had turned out that Glint was still loyal to Kralkatorrik all along and had carefully set up the mursaat to be destroyed because they were a threat to the Elder Dragons, those people would have been crowing massive I-told-you-sos, but that would just have been luck on their part.

Same regarding the Sylvari connection to Mordremoth. There may be other hints in the game, but up until Scarlet, those arguing in favour of the theory didn’t raise them. The arguments for were based around claiming that CoE didn’t count because it was done in a lab and didn’t reflect “natural conditions”, and that Ventari somehow managed to stumble on something similar to the Forgotten ritual, despite there being no evidence that he had access to that kind of magic. They weren’t rising new evidence from hints in the game, they were just trying to argue away the reasons why the original lines of evidence, from before the game released, no longer held weight.

Which is why I said that the dev team shouldn’t feel bad that it got out well before the big reveal. The reason “everyone knew” the sylvari were dragon minions wasn’t because the evidence was obvious, or even that people had painstakingly put it together. It’s because ArenaNet had an idea which, when a fan raised it as a possibility, proved so popular that a large portion of the fanbase wanted it to be true. It was something that was “known” not because it was predictable, but because it was popular.

I kinda don’t want to go over this ancient history again, but to reiterate the reason I brought it up in the first place: in my mind, there is no reason that the devs should feel that they were too predictable or gave away too much in hints because this big reveal happened to be spoiled well in advance.

In fact, I worry that the fact that this theory coincidentally happened to be on the money may make the devs overly coy about giving hints in the future in case the next big surprise gets blown open.

To those who think Scarlet hate means she’s succeeded as a villain:
People don’t hate Scarlet like Game of Thrones fans hate Joffrey.
They hate her the way Star Wars fans hate Jar Jar Binks.

(edited by draxynnic.3719)

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Posted by: MatthewMedina

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  • Similarly, written and spoken languages – norn are said to have a different language, but we never see nor hear it; charr used ideograms, but did they always speak “common” – and for that matter, is there a name for the language spoke? Some lines in GW1 called it “Tyrian” while in the Ecology of the Charr it is called “human” – and why do so many minor races (grawl, jotun, ogre, harpy, hylek, etc.) know how to speak it?

Hey there! I was reading through Scott’s posts and saw this question come up and figured I would be the best person to answer since I’ve done so much to help construct the alphabets and language in game.

Norn do (or maybe it’s more appropriate to say did) have their own language, but we don’t name it and really all that survives of it tend to be names of places and people, like Hoelbrak. I think it’s unlikely that we would get into any more detail about it than we already have. Even in Eye of the North the runes we saw were few and far between, and so it was a language that was already being edged out in favor of the common tongue.

Charr ideograms weren’t actually designed to be part of a language – they were warband signs, used to leave each other messages only they could understand, like “ambush ahead” or “this territory belongs to the Smoke warband”. If charr ever had a language all their own, they’re being exceedingly secretive about it. I’ll get to when/why they speak common in more detail below.

Asura do have a spoken/written language that is as complicated as the asura are themselves, which is where the word bookah comes from. The alphabet we see on their screens/displays/signs in game is actually based on a small subset of their written language that they converted into a cipher of the common tongue; specifically the letters are derived from how they write mathematics.

Now, as to where the common language came from and why it’s become so ubiquitous in Tyria – that really goes back to ancient history, at the very least to the last cycle of the Elder Dragons awakening. In the cycle just before the one that Tyria is currently experiencing, we know that five races were shepherded by the dragon champion Glint and survived. Those races too, had their own languages, but as they fought and struggled to survive the predations of the Elder Dragons, they also realized that they would need to communicate, not only amongst themselves in the short term, but to convey to future generations whatever information they learned about the Elder Dragons. It’s not clear whether they adopted one of the race’s languages as the common tongue (in the same way that English or Chinese or Spanish have spread to become more widely spoken), whether the common tongue already existed and pre-dates those races or whether they devised a new “common” tongue that all the races learned and passed on to future generations. But whichever explanation is correct has been lost to history and what we are left with is simply the knowledge that it was that first cooperation among the races who survived the last Elder Dragon cycle which gave birth to the widespread use of a common language that all Tyrians are raised to learn. Over the millennia since the Elder Dragons returned to slumber, it became clear that being able to understand one another was vital for survival, trade, and even war and a common language facilitated this nicely. It probably is appropriate for RP’ers to call this language Tyrian, since its usage (if not the language itself) was initially born of that cooperation between all the races that lived in Tyria at that time, but internally we tend to refer to it most often as “Common” – in homage to Jeff Grubb and the original D&D design team who solved this exact problem years before us. :-D

I can’t remember how much of this information (if any) was included in my blog post about the alphabets from years ago that is unfortunately no longer available. I’d always intended to follow up on Villem Caragan’s journal on the languages with this information but time just got away from all of us. :-)

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Posted by: Nero.8047

Nero.8047

Hey Matthew,
Just a quick question that sparked to mind after reading your post just now:

If the Common Tongue was derived from the previous cycle of the Elder Dragons then we know how it could spread from those ancient races to all of the current races we know today.

Yet it seems a bit strange that the Charr seen during Prophecies and mostly the Searing are depicted to communicate mostly with grunts and roars.

My memory is a bit hazy but wasn’t Scorch Emberspire in GW:Nightfall’s Realm of Torment the first Charr to be shown to the players to well… speak the common tongue?

Question being:
Were the Flame Legion Charr who invaded Ascalon able to speak in the Common Tongue? (One would assume so due to your post ^^)

Also what was the reasoning behind not showing the Charr communicate?

  • To create more of a monstruous “enemy” archetype?
  • Was there no need?
  • Was the lore surrounding the common tongue simply not written yet?
Paragon of the Seraphim Order [Ankh]
a small, casual Guild with a play as you want style.

(edited by Nero.8047)

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Posted by: Konig Des Todes.2086

Konig Des Todes.2086

I can’t remember how much of this information (if any) was included in my blog post about the alphabets from years ago that is unfortunately no longer available. I’d always intended to follow up on Villem Caragan’s journal on the languages with this information but time just got away from all of us. :-)

None of it was. We learned of charr ideograms from your post on GW1’s wiki, and the blog post only talked about written languages – mainly Ascalonian, Old Krytan, and New Krytan (specifically how New Krytan was derived from Ascalonian and Old Krytan) and why the races all use New Krytan. As for follow-ups – why not have a few books added to Durmand Priory libraries, like the one in Divinity’s Reach?

There was a mention of an anonymous dev talking about the previous dragonrise as the origin of the common language, but it was second-hand the entire time. And it contradicted/called into question some pieces of lore.

Namely: why do the charr call it ‘human’ in The Ecology of the Charr (“the Hrangmer volcano (translated to human, the name means “Jaws of Oblivion”)”) and mention a second name for fahrar as if either name were ‘human’ while the other of their own language? By your explanation, the charr should have been using this language far longer than humans did.

There’s another oddity in your explanation: you say that there were five races sheparded by Glint, but according to lore, didn’t the mursaat (one of the five ancient races always talked about) leave Tyria rather than be hidden by Glint? Or did their betrayal and subsequent departure after hiding with Glint for a while? This is why I asked earlier if we could get a timeline of those events. :I (and as an addendum: wouldn’t the alliance between them have predated Glint hiding them? Or was their entire alliance and plight against the ED done while being hidden by Glint? – again, timeline is needed! Confusing!)

This also leads to the question which Nero asks: how did the modern races learn this language? The centaurs, charr, tengu, krait, etc. and most importantly: humans? I can imagine some races learning from the dwarves or Forgotten, but they never really interacted with the krait as far as we know – or were on friendly terms with charr.

Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.

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Posted by: LyrWar.4382

LyrWar.4382

Elementalist Magic – […]
How common is it for elementalists to be able to use all elements and how easy/hard is it to learn them?
Are there known to be elementalists who can only use one, two or three elements?
How much training would it require to learn them all?

I’d like to bounce off of this, first by saying +1, definitely interested.

If I may add a question, or nuance :

Is it safe to assume that controlling all four elements is kind of a “jack of all trades” problematic ?

In other words, would an elementalist make a choice between :
a) Mastering all elements but being limited in how deeply you can use them.
b) Mastering just one and rocking it with much more strength and expertise.

To take the Avatar example, the Avatar masters all elements. But he does not, afaik, lava-bend, or blood-bend, because that’s very elite, specific trainings. Sorry for cross-fandoms reference here.

My question is based off the GW1 system, where unless we had the elite “Master of Magic” (https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Master_of_Magic), we were either settling for being so-so everywhere (with say, 6 in each element), or only good at one thing (16 in one element).
But lore-time has passed since, so you could just have thought it as “teaching methods/magic use evolved”.

I understand it is not how GW2 elementalists were foreseen, but obviously this is a question aimed at more personalized characters.

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Posted by: Aaron Ansari.1604

Aaron Ansari.1604

- snip-
big list of questions
-snip-

Thanks for your effort. You are doing great work there and I hope some of your questions also get some covering as well.

Thanks! I’ll probably sneak a few of mine in if the devs start to catch up, but right now we’re sitting on… hm… 80 questions? (Tyragon and Gnomex make for half of that between them…) Now that I’ve got a taste of the trouble it is to compile them, I’m not in any rush to add to the workload actually answering them must be, especially with the size of the answers we’ve been getting.

R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.

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Posted by: archmagus.7249

archmagus.7249

Here comes a massive woodenpotatoes video.

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Posted by: Donari.5237

Donari.5237

I love most all of the questions (and answers) in this thread. I’ll add one that has come up in RP from time to time:

Crime and Punishment
We get the most information on the human justice system. We know about the Seraph, Ministry, and Shining Blade, we know about amassing evidence for trial via documents and witnesses (at least of a noble) and the ancient, mostly forgotten, but still legal trial by combat.

For every city except Hoelbrak (pretty sure none in Hoelbrak) we see areas of confinement. Presumably they are representative of larger and more numerous facilities, reduced to mere samples for game design purposes. But is there any such thing as long term confinement?

Basically I’m looking for a broad overview of the legal tenets of each culture (really broad, a guiding sentence or two if that’s all the time you have, enough to springboard RP from). How are civil disputes handled? How is crime prosecuted and punished? What happens to recidivists? There have to be some rules or it turns into the strongest wins, clearly not the case even among the norn.

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Posted by: Jendon.8932

Jendon.8932

Norn Shapeshifting
-snip-

Norn Shamans
-snip-

Spirit’s Communication
-snip-

These are some great questions, I second all of them. I would love to know more on norn lore and mechanics!

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Posted by: Forgotten Legend.9281

Forgotten Legend.9281

  • Similarly, written and spoken languages – norn are said to have a different language, but we never see nor hear it; charr used ideograms, but did they always speak “common” – and for that matter, is there a name for the language spoke? Some lines in GW1 called it “Tyrian” while in the Ecology of the Charr it is called “human” – and why do so many minor races (grawl, jotun, ogre, harpy, hylek, etc.) know how to speak it?

Hey there! I was reading through Scott’s posts and saw this question come up and figured I would be the best person to answer since I’ve done so much to help construct the alphabets and language in game.

Norn do (or maybe it’s more appropriate to say did) have their own language, but we don’t name it and really all that survives of it tend to be names of places and people, like Hoelbrak. I think it’s unlikely that we would get into any more detail about it than we already have. Even in Eye of the North the runes we saw were few and far between, and so it was a language that was already being edged out in favor of the common tongue.

Charr ideograms weren’t actually designed to be part of a language – they were warband signs, used to leave each other messages only they could understand, like “ambush ahead” or “this territory belongs to the Smoke warband”. If charr ever had a language all their own, they’re being exceedingly secretive about it. I’ll get to when/why they speak common in more detail below.

Asura do have a spoken/written language that is as complicated as the asura are themselves, which is where the word bookah comes from. The alphabet we see on their screens/displays/signs in game is actually based on a small subset of their written language that they converted into a cipher of the common tongue; specifically the letters are derived from how they write mathematics.

Now, as to where the common language came from and why it’s become so ubiquitous in Tyria – that really goes back to ancient history, at the very least to the last cycle of the Elder Dragons awakening. In the cycle just before the one that Tyria is currently experiencing, we know that five races were shepherded by the dragon champion Glint and survived. Those races too, had their own languages, but as they fought and struggled to survive the predations of the Elder Dragons, they also realized that they would need to communicate, not only amongst themselves in the short term, but to convey to future generations whatever information they learned about the Elder Dragons. It’s not clear whether they adopted one of the race’s languages as the common tongue (in the same way that English or Chinese or Spanish have spread to become more widely spoken), whether the common tongue already existed and pre-dates those races or whether they devised a new “common” tongue that all the races learned and passed on to future generations. But whichever explanation is correct has been lost to history and what we are left with is simply the knowledge that it was that first cooperation among the races who survived the last Elder Dragon cycle which gave birth to the widespread use of a common language that all Tyrians are raised to learn. Over the millennia since the Elder Dragons returned to slumber, it became clear that being able to understand one another was vital for survival, trade, and even war and a common language facilitated this nicely. It probably is appropriate for RP’ers to call this language Tyrian, since its usage (if not the language itself) was initially born of that cooperation between all the races that lived in Tyria at that time, but internally we tend to refer to it most often as “Common” – in homage to Jeff Grubb and the original D&D design team who solved this exact problem years before us. :-D

I can’t remember how much of this information (if any) was included in my blog post about the alphabets from years ago that is unfortunately no longer available. I’d always intended to follow up on Villem Caragan’s journal on the languages with this information but time just got away from all of us. :-)

is there any chance of any of this information being written down into new BOOKS with which we, in the game world, can interact and read? <pretty please with bacon?>

such as " Vexx’s Hypothesis of the origins of Common"

– The Baconnaire

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Posted by: Yojimaru.4980

Yojimaru.4980

Here’s a question I’ve been pondering for awhile. Are there any other groups/secret societies/ruling bodies for the various professions like The Mesmer Collective or the ever so mysterious “Order” that was active in the days of GW1?

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Posted by: Agemnon.4608

Agemnon.4608

Will Jormag ever get ceramic armor if he’s weak to heat? Ceramic Jormag needs to be made canon since an ice dragon would logically seem to know his own weakness (or is heat too obvious to implement?) and have his minions and their Inquest allies build him such a heatproof armor? It would even be a coherent and convincing reason to justify an armor stripping mechanic (defending catapults from being destroyed so they can throw lava phase 2?)

How common is it for elementalists to be able to use all elements and how easy/hard is it to learn them?
Are there known to be elementalists who can only use one, two or three elements?
How much training would it require to learn them all?

I personally think learning all four is “easy” as far as non-muggle research goes and what elementalists know are the ABC’s of magic while more advanced stuff specializes in a single element. This would be great from a perspective of reconciling story and gameplay:

1.A Pyromancer for example would still know his base elements, but due to his strong attachment to fire can tap into that, but the catch is he loses touch with the other elements. He could switch back to a general Elementalist at will. This would justify convincingly why certain future elite specs (logically after Tempest Ele’s future elites will likely specialize in one element like fire granting greatsword, earth hammer, water shortbow, etc.) replace the other elemental attunements with abilities thematic for that element.

For example, a Pyromancer could have four ability slots like a standard ele, but instead of the four elements you have three Pyromancer bars and bar 1 would be the ele’s fire weapon abilities. The other three attunements would be the same regardless of weapon set equipped. Reveal, burning, might, and power damage would fit the elite spec’s theme just fine.

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Posted by: Konig Des Todes.2086

Konig Des Todes.2086

I don’t think Jormag is weak to heat even if he is an “Ice Dragon”. After all, Sons of Svanir use corrupted ice in their firepits without it melting.

Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.

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Posted by: Nero.8047

Nero.8047

I’m with Konig on this one. For example we also know there are multiple types of “fire”.

To name a few:

  • Primordial Fire – That which was able to burn the Destroyer of Life
  • Elemental Fire – Most seen and used type of fire.
  • Holy/Cleansing Flames – Guardian’s Blue Flames.

It’s more than possible for there to be a type of ice related to Jormag.

It could even be called “Primordial Ice” although I expect the fire to be called “Primordial Fire” due to the Elder Dragon Primordus rather than it being the fire that was “there” since the beginning of time.

A synonym such as “Primeval” could work for ice I suppose…
Edit: I vote for “Boreal Ice”.

Anyhow this is all speculation.

(actually interested in what ice could be called so I’ll be rereading everything I have on Niflheim and the Jötunn to find a reference! ^^)

and to remain relevant and since I’m actually curious now:

Q: Scott/Matthew could there be some confirmation/expansion on what we currently know of the types of elements e.g. the Primordial Fire?

Paragon of the Seraphim Order [Ankh]
a small, casual Guild with a play as you want style.

(edited by Nero.8047)

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Posted by: Aidan Savage.2078

Aidan Savage.2078

Here’s a question I’ve been pondering for awhile. Are there any other groups/secret societies/ruling bodies for the various professions like The Mesmer Collective or the ever so mysterious “Order” that was active in the days of GW1?

Guardians and elementalists are really the only two other professions I could see having such Entities, mainly for obvious reasons. Thieves, however, sorta are confirmed to have such through the Elite skill, Thieves’ Guild (or w/e it’s called).

Personally, my current question is about revenants. While Mallyx and Shiro ARE probably the best choices lore-wise, is it possible for revenants (from a writer/player-perspective) to have a binding/contract/pickadescriptor with different echoes? Or are those two, along with the other Legends, the only choices because they’re the Epitome of what they embody (corruption, salvation, etc)?

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Posted by: Sungak Alkandenes.1369

Sungak Alkandenes.1369

So, I had intended to just lurk the thread, but doing research for fan fic (on another forum) got me curious:

1) How long is the (expected) Charr lifespan? And how old (approximarely) is Almorra Soulkeeper, and the other Charr considered to be in the ‘grandparent’ generation? From my own calculations, I’m estimating a minimum of 65, and closer to 70. Which is quite old actually…

[This came from my wanting to accurately state (by one of my older Lay Healer characters) that he was older than any two – perhaps three – of the young charr warband that he encountered. Saying that with Almorra present, however, will have him get corrected real fast. And for the record, one of the characters is in his 60s, and the other is in his 70s(!). Makes sense too, given how Lay Healer magic in RoleMaster works…]

2) How mad is a Charr Guardian going to get if he/she is referenced as a Paladin? Again, the translation of a RoleMaster (+ Primal Order) character to Tyria is proving to be quite interesting. They are both Lay Healers (technically), but due to how I developed skills etc one will end up a Guardian, and the other more likely a Thief (due to the 105 Agility stat, and growing up in a magic-poor area).

I’ll also second the discussion regarding Norn Spirits, Shamans etc. That will also be useful for what I’m working on.

I used to have concerns about how the Waypoint system worked (from an ‘outsider’ perspective), but I’ve already determined a set of RoleMaster type rules for them, and how its expected to tie into the death systems of both (for translation/conversion purposes). Unfortunately I’ve had to leave in a loophole of sorts, whereby an arriving planar traveler to Tyria (probably through the Mists), is very likely to be permanently killed if they’re not careful during the first few hours on arrival.

“The Meta Game does not stop at the game. Ever.” — Me
I like to view MMOs through the lazy eye of a Systems Admin, and the critical eye of a
Project Manager. You’ve been warned. ;-)

(edited by Sungak Alkandenes.1369)

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Posted by: Leo G.4501

Leo G.4501

So, I had intended to just lurk the thread, but doing research for fan fic (on another forum) got me curious:

Is it just fanfic or is there any forum rp? Looking for forum rp, myself but the ones I join tend to die off after a couple weeks.

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Posted by: Sungak Alkandenes.1369

Sungak Alkandenes.1369

So, I had intended to just lurk the thread, but doing research for fan fic (on another forum) got me curious:

Is it just fanfic or is there any forum rp? Looking for forum rp, myself but the ones I join tend to die off after a couple weeks.

Actual Fanfic. Two RoleMaster (2nd Ed) Lay Healers are ISOT to Tyria, by way of the Edge of the Mists. Starts approx between LS2 parts 1 and 2.

“The Meta Game does not stop at the game. Ever.” — Me
I like to view MMOs through the lazy eye of a Systems Admin, and the critical eye of a
Project Manager. You’ve been warned. ;-)

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Posted by: Konig Des Todes.2086

Konig Des Todes.2086

@Sungak: A note on waypoints and being killed: they don’t resurrect – resurrection isn’t really a thing in GW2 (it was in GW1 but is now something like a lost art). Mechanically, our characters never die – that’s why it’s called “defeated” state instead of dead – lorewise, our character is just unconscious. Whether or not there’s any lore on how unconscious individuals can end up at waypoints is another matter entirely, since all NPCs that use waypoints have to go right underneath them.

Use of waypoints in lore is actually a very good question for a dev to answer. (Bolding for Scott when/if he returns)

Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.

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Posted by: CaptainVanguard.4925

CaptainVanguard.4925

Interesting answer, thanks Scott, on that note, a few more things to ponder on:

Do you feel that the Elder Dragon story is struggling, have you considered using other antagonists e.g. the white mantle/palawa joko/(possibly) isolationist/conqueror cantha as a potential substiute to give players a repreive, or at least add a new layer to the story?

That’d be question one, a few others when you have time and if you’re willing to answer.

Do you believe the Largos have the “potential” to be a playable race, this does not require a confirmation or denial of such a question but rather do you believe their mystery could be fruitful ground for a potential race in the future, also, do you believe the Tengu will ever leave their isolation at any point?

And another:

Demons played a very large part in guild wars 1’s lore, the dark gods, Abbadon, Dhuum, Menzies all played a role in causing serious havok across Tyria over the course of all three of the inital titles not including EOTN, where would you currently place Dhuum and Menzies now that Abbadon is out of the picture and Dhuum is imprisoned?

Last one I promise:

Regarding Sylvari, Norn, Charr and Asura, as Humans possess multiple sub cultures and cities and nations of people, is it possible we will likley see other sylvari tree’s (not necessarily pale), Norn tribes, active rata’s, and Charr Legions in the distant future with their own cultural unqiueness?

(edited by CaptainVanguard.4925)

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Posted by: Aaron Ansari.1604

Aaron Ansari.1604

I got your questions on the list, Vanguard, but I’m going to point out again that the first couple fall pretty squarely into the ‘future potential plot points’ category we’ve already been told isn’t up for answering.

R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.

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Posted by: Sungak Alkandenes.1369

Sungak Alkandenes.1369

@Sungak: A note on waypoints and being killed: they don’t resurrect – resurrection isn’t really a thing in GW2 (it was in GW1 but is now something like a lost art). Mechanically, our characters never die – that’s why it’s called “defeated” state instead of dead – lorewise, our character is just unconscious. Whether or not there’s any lore on how unconscious individuals can end up at waypoints is another matter entirely, since all NPCs that use waypoints have to go right underneath them.

Use of waypoints in lore is actually a very good question for a dev to answer. (Bolding for Scott when/if he returns)

I do understand the game’s mechanic, and am OK with it. The problem starts when you introduce a non-Tyrian character into the world, which is where I’ve had to get creative.

- Do the waypoint stones accept them on sight? I decided they don’t, for various reasons (that are outside the scope of this thread). A character can still go up to one and ‘Attune’ to the stone, and link themselves to it, but that action requires touching it. That means an arriving outsider has no stone or other point to fall back on upon ‘death,’ which is impossible in the game normally.

- What is the reaction of said outsider(s) when faced with such a drastic change in combat tactics? For RoleMaster in particular, there are key spells and other mechanics that just won’t work here. Again, my eventual decisions are outside the scope of this thread, but its why I chose Lay Healers – they at least have ‘traditional’ medic skills, as well as Herbalism, to fall back on while figuring out what in Anu’s name just happened to their spells. But initial reactions in general will be anything from concern to outright panic, depending on what key spells no longer work.

“The Meta Game does not stop at the game. Ever.” — Me
I like to view MMOs through the lazy eye of a Systems Admin, and the critical eye of a
Project Manager. You’ve been warned. ;-)

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Posted by: draxynnic.3719

draxynnic.3719

That’s some very interesting information, Matt. That does explain a lot, and it’s probably fairly simple to go from there to how humans picked up the language. Humans interacted with at least a couple of the elder races early in human history on Tyria, so they would have learned the language that way… and may even have been encouraged by the gods to use the Tyrian common tongue instead of their previous language to make trading and negotiations with other races easier.

Which might mean that the ancient Canthan, as spoken by Kaolai in Tahnnakai Temple, may be the original human language… or one of them!

Regarding charr considering common to be ‘human’… might that be because humans were the first race that gave them enough of a problem that they saw value in learning the enemy’s language? This explanation might require the charr-human contact to predate the charr-norn contact, but it could explain why the charr might associate the language with humans even if it wasn’t actually a language that originated with humans.

To those who think Scarlet hate means she’s succeeded as a villain:
People don’t hate Scarlet like Game of Thrones fans hate Joffrey.
They hate her the way Star Wars fans hate Jar Jar Binks.

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Posted by: Aaron Ansari.1604

Aaron Ansari.1604

This explanation might require the charr-human contact to predate the charr-norn contact, but it could explain why the charr might associate the language with humans even if it wasn’t actually a language that originated with humans.

Maybe not, if the norn were still phasing out their own language in 1078, close to 1300 years after the first charr-human contact. Given that the norn weren’t exactly on peaceful terms with most of their neighbors either, but lacked the military interest in being able to spy on and interrogate their foes, I can see the charr picking up Tyrian before they did.

R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.