Guild Wars 2

I have recently started playing fractals (i.e. I’ve done it twice so far). I love the maps, the encounters, the special mechanics and everything else about them.

Just on the lore side of things I was a little disappointed. I read the wiki articles, but there doesn’t seem to be anything there. So just in case there IS background stories attached to (some of) the fractals that somehow hasn’t made it into the wiki, I thought I’d ask the pros here in the Lore subforum.

I know of course what the Searing fractal is based on, and I am vaguely aware of the jade quarry being something that appeared in GW1. As for the rest, I’m at a complete loss. For example Cliffside: who’s that big stone guy and how and why was he imprisoned?

I would appreciate any insights (and also speculation).

:)

Before anything else, you need to know that fractals take place in the Myst wich is a place where both past, present and future are mixed up meaning for some fractals (grawl’s, dredge’s, swamp and water particularly) we don’t know if the events have already happened or are/will be happening.

It seems like the Myst aren’t also limited to our version of reality, given the fact we know for sure that the Charr’s one is in fact an alternative version of the searing so doesn’t relate the events of the Searing the exact same way it happens.

For the uncategorized one, we have no clue when it takes place even if the environment might suggest a ruined version of Rata Sum, in this case it’d be happening either in the future or in an alternative universe.

Lastly, it has been stated by ArenaNet that the colossus fractal is taking place at the very begining of humanity presence in Tyria (if I remember well, it should be approximatively around 2000 BE even if the date isn’t accurate and might vary depending of the source, you should ask Konig for a more accurate answer on this).

What entity exactly is the colossus and whether or not it once lived in Tyria or only resides in the Mysts are unanswered questions.

This is already helpful to me, thank you

Mists, not Myst – Myst was a game series. An awesome game series. Though I love the typo because of nostalgia.

The Mists are more than just where past, present, and future gets mixed up. Rather, it’s protomatter – the building blocks of all existence – and the afterlife. You can think of it as the Guild Wars’ equivalent of both the Big Bang and entropy – the beginning and end of all things. Along with this, it is connected to all things and all times, connecting what has happened (past), what is happening (present), what could happen (all possible futures), and what’s currently going to happen (the current, changable, future). Along with those four, the Mists also seem to contain alternate universes – though this is just theorycrafting at this point, as an explanation for World versus World.

Beyond what we see in the fractals themselves, we have nothing on Snowblind (Sons of Svanir), Underground (Dredge), Volcanic (Grawl), Aquatic (Krait), and Swamp fractals. But an interesting note about Volcanic is that it may be tied to destroyers. All the bats are oddly fiery and the Imbued Shaman’s fight is not only structured similarly to the Great Destroyer’s fight in GW1, but also he wields a Destroyer Bow.

The Urban Battleground Fractal is an alternate “reality,” as Minos said, of the events formed around The Searing. Uncategorized Fractal appears to be a “possible future.” Unlike what Minos said, these two do not outright indicate alternate realities (hence why I used quotation marks when I said reality before) – the Mists copies, but does not copy perfectly. The things that it mimics in creating things often come out flawed, and when that happens to living beings you get demons – but in the Fractal’s case, you have historical events being replayed in a manner that didn’t happen the way the fractal shows. This is why we cannot be certain that Uncategorized Fractal is of a possible future, since it may simply just be a mis-copy of something happening at Rata Sum, causing it to explode/crash/whathaveyou.

As Minos said, the Cliffside Fractal occurred at the “beginning of known history on Tyria” – that is, when humanity had recently been brought to the lands. There is no date given to when humanity arrived on the world, though it was previously thought to be sometime between 1,769 BE and 786 BE – the former marking the timeline’s claim of when the Forgotten were brought to the world by the Six Gods, the latter being the earliest human mention in Cantha (we know humans have been around much longer before then, but not how much longer, and now the former date is called into question due to new lore on the Forgotten – previously it was that the Six Gods brought forgotten then humanity to the world, but the forgotten may not hold original ties to the Six now).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

But an interesting note about Volcanic is that it may be tied to destroyers. All the bats are oddly fiery and the Imbued Shaman’s fight is not only structured similarly to the Great Destroyer’s fight in GW1, but also he wields a Destroyer Bow.

Fascinating, thanks!

What do you think the chances are for ANet planning to release some background on any of the fractals on their blog (or wherever)? Do you think the fractals were designed with any future plans in mind, or just put together quite randomly for a good variety of landscape as playable maps?

Slim to none. Best chance would be to ask them in interviews.

At this point, the Aquatic (krait) one is the most intriguing to me, because it seems so unlike anything we know – particularly those statues.

As to designed with future plans in mind – maybe, maybe not. There’s two things of interest to me about the Fractals as a whole: Firstly, Anet said that The Lost Shores content which the Fractals were introduced in would hold hints of future content (whether Fractals were those hints or not is debatable). Secondly, you have a fractal that matches or could match four of the five living Elder Dragons – Volcanic holds destroyer elements, Snowblind holds icebrood elements, Swamp could be tied to Mordremoth in some unknown manner, Aquatic hold krait who seems to (unknowingly?) hold a faith in the DSD (those prophets of theirs are very Elder Dragon sounding to me). Though these ties are likely just superficial at best, it’s interesting to consider – shame they don’t have a Crystal Desert themed fractal or an Orr-themed fractal to go with it (imagine a Fractal showing the Charr Invasion within Orr).

We were told that the Fractals were designed with the notion that they could do anything about the game’s lore, and even go away from the “canon timeline” since the Mists also makes up incomplete things. I doubt that it was randomly done though.

Here’s hoping!

When I saw the statues in the aquatic fractal, the first thing I thought of was the colossus from the cliffside one. Could, of course, be coincidence.

I’d think something more tied to Istan or Utopia.

I personally agree with Pixel that they look a lot like the Colossus type figures. How they might be tied to them is another thing. They are muuuuuuch to small to be created by a Colossus. They just seem a bit too realistic to be elonian. And Ascalonian statues tend to have a lot of armor to them, from our guesses.

Dear experts, this is a long shot, but in a very similar vein, do we know anything about the sPvP maps outside of the trivia listed on the wiki pages?

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Dear experts, this is a long shot, but in a very similar vein, do we know anything about the sPvP maps outside of the trivia listed on the wiki pages?

PvP, my turn!

Khylo was the property of the legendary guild, Ascalon’s chosen, and the battle we live there is probably the “pre-event” of the fight (Mordakai is still alive and can be seen in the blue starter place along with his healer) that we can read about in the book of GW1, against the Zealots of the Shiverpeaks.

Niflhel is probably a North-Krytan fort between Giants’ Basin and the Shiverpeaks.

Capricorn - intresting one, because the architecture is Ascalonian human, however, they had no access to the sea. The ship in the dock is Capricorn, the lost magcal ship of a member of the Captains’ Council of Lions’ Arch, namely Captain Peter the Lost. The ship was stolen by Covington, but in lack of information about the magical ship, she couldn’t maintain a grasp over it and the ship got away with no crew.

Temple of the Silent Storm - ordinary Kodan iceberg.

Spirit Watch - ordinary hill dedicated to the 4 main spirits of the wild.

Legacy of the Foefire - an Ascalonian guild hall. Players in GW1 had the opportunity to buy this now ruined hall for their guild, many guild battles took place here. When the kingdom fell, charrs began to use this as a mining site, but the spirits of the old guild lord and his guard still watch over the place.

However, this was in the Batte Isles, on the open ocean and under Canthan/Zaishen reign. Charrs fit in because it is Ascalon-themed and they conquered it, but the isle itself is 2 continents away from ascalon. So.. bit of a lore collision.

Hello there,
While doing the Snowblind Fractal, after defeating the Ice Elemental, and before entering the forest, I randomly looked up and saw what appeared to be the bottom of the Uncategorized Fractal. It appeared to be a large geometrical structure accompanied by a much smaller one, also cubical in form. The whole thing was pretty far away, and I could only see gray-ish shapes.

I don’t have screenshots (using an Apple keyboard with Windows, don’t have the print screen button on it), but maybe you guys could shed some light on it?

@joaoantunes.5367:
You could go to options and change the key which is assigned for taking screenshots in the game. Would be nice to see it, as I’ve never seen it nor would I know where to look.

But mechanically speaking, the Fractals uses the same map – just like how in GW1, you would be able to see the various outposts in the Realm of Torment from each other, you’d be able to do the same with the Fractals if you can find the proper angle and view. They’re each just floating blocks of reality within the Mists, so it isn’t unfound for them to be close to each other.

Gandarel.5091:

However, this was in the Batte Isles, on the open ocean and under Canthan/Zaishen reign. Charrs fit in because it is Ascalon-themed and they conquered it, but the isle itself is 2 continents away from ascalon. So.. bit of a lore collision.

Originally, prior to Factions, the guild halls were in continental Tyria iirc. It was when Factions came out that guilds got banned from having guild halls in continental Tyria.

Gandarel.5091:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Dear experts, this is a long shot, but in a very similar vein, do we know anything about the sPvP maps outside of the trivia listed on the wiki pages?

PvP, my turn!

Khylo was the property of the legendary guild, Ascalon’s chosen, and the battle we live there is probably the “pre-event” of the fight (Mordakai is still alive and can be seen in the blue starter place along with his healer) that we can read about in the book of GW1, against the Zealots of the Shiverpeaks.

Niflhel is probably a North-Krytan fort between Giants’ Basin and the Shiverpeaks.

Capricorn - intresting one, because the architecture is Ascalonian human, however, they had no access to the sea. The ship in the dock is Capricorn, the lost magcal ship of a member of the Captains’ Council of Lions’ Arch, namely Captain Peter the Lost. The ship was stolen by Covington, but in lack of information about the magical ship, she couldn’t maintain a grasp over it and the ship got away with no crew.

Temple of the Silent Storm - ordinary Kodan iceberg.

Spirit Watch - ordinary hill dedicated to the 4 main spirits of the wild.

Legacy of the Foefire - an Ascalonian guild hall. Players in GW1 had the opportunity to buy this now ruined hall for their guild, many guild battles took place here. When the kingdom fell, charrs began to use this as a mining site, but the spirits of the old guild lord and his guard still watch over the place.

However, this was in the Batte Isles, on the open ocean and under Canthan/Zaishen reign. Charrs fit in because it is Ascalon-themed and they conquered it, but the isle itself is 2 continents away from ascalon. So.. bit of a lore collision.

This is fascinating. Thank you so much. (Konig as well.) I’m happy now.

Should this be on the wiki? I think it should.

As promised, here is the screenshot from Snowblind Fractal. Does it look like the bottom of the Uncategorized Fractal?

I would agree that it does very much look like the uncategorized one. This brings an interesting thought to mind. Perhaps all of the Fractals of the Mists are all very close to each other, located in a small, but specific region of the Mists. In other words this is just a slow expansion into what we know of the realm, perhaps to be expanded on in the future.

I don’t think this has anything to do with the lore, just that all the fractals were made on the same map.