Guild Wars 2

Speaking in biological terms. Would this be creepy, because Charr look like animals? Or would it be acceptable, since they’re sentient as much as humans? I thought of this because my boyfriend plays as a Charr, and I thought it would be nice if our characters were together in my bio, but then, that’s rather questionable.

I know it’s not what you’re asking, but let me start by saying from an out-of-character context it depends entirely on who you’re bringing it up to. I know people who do it, and I know (admittedly less) people who can’t stand it to be done. Go for it, but be ready to get a nasty comment or two if you roleplay it in public.

From a lore perspective, it’d be considered very, very odd. There are a couple relationships where cross-species romantic attraction is vaguely hinted at, but it has never, to my knowledge, been acted upon. I’d imagine the response to it actually being done would be similar to the more unconventional relationships in the real world (see the note above)- depending on the observer in question, ranging from curiosity to acceptance to disgust, but with the most common by far being an uncomfortable ‘TMI’.

A possible sidenote specific to human-charr: if your boyfriend’s character is part of a Legion, it’s likely their superiors will have an opinion should they learn of the liaison. Depending on the officer’s take on humans and the peace treaty, it could run from washing their hands of it and turning a blind eye to a furious confrontation with the possibility of punishment. Something to take into account, if you want to flesh the characters out that far.

If charr is gladium or like PC, assigned for permanent mission outside of legion structure, it will be possible. If this happening in city like LA, Hoelbrak or Rata Sum – no one gonna care about who you are or who is your partner as long as you are law-abiding citizens.
Only real problem will be claws. Those scratches can be painful.

While traditional Charr/Human places might raise an eyebrow to it, places such as Lion’s Arch definitely have interracial couples.

While its not exactly concrete evidence, there was for a time, an unnamed Charr worker in LA shortly after The Battle of Lion’s Arch, who described his remorse at loosing somebody called “Gwynne”. One could assume this either a partner or a pet. Considering Gwynne is a bit of an odd name for a pet owned by a Charr, and the way he refers to Gwynne as “my”, I assume its a partner. The name Gwynne could either be a Human name, or theres a slim chance it could be a Norn name.

On an unrelated note, I think there could potentially be a story arc with Rox and Braham as an interracial couple, considering they’re quite close, so we’ll see if the topic is expanded upon in lore.

EDIT: One more thing, interracial relationships are completely infertile according to lore. This includes Human+Norn relationships, despite how similar they look. Something to remember if you try going into an Instanced Area for some private RP, if you get my drift.

Thank you everyone! Very useful, thoughtful answers. I’m thinking I’ll go for it, then, since my girlie’s a bit of an outcast, and potential ostracizing would suit her. XD My boyfriend hasn’t been playing for long enough to determine many details for his Charr, but once he decides on things, I’m sure the relationship will make for lots of interesting dynamics. I am all about fleshing out the characters!

Can it/will it happen? Sure, as others have noted.

Will it be universally accepted? No. Some areas might not care (Norn and Sylvari I’d say especially), but others may take great disgust to the relationship. Don’t expect any kids though.

One thing to remember though, if publically RPing, a character reaction may not be the same as a player reaction.

From a roleplaying point of view, I think this is very questionable. Think of the biological barriers between humans an Charr. It’s highly unlikely that either side would find the other attractive. The idea might be exciting as long as you’re a real life person sitting behind a computer, but imagine a creature such as a Charr standing right in front of you. Would you have any intentions of getting intimate? On top of that, Charr most likely have a smell about them that would hardly be attractive to humans, and the other way round.

Yes, perhaps it is possible in a really, really exceptional case. But think of the consequences a person would suffer. An interracial couple such as this would be shunned and most likely even hated by a large part of its own people. So really, I wouldn’t do it.

Sylvari+human is a different cup of tea. One could also say that human+Norn or Norn+Charr would be less of an issue, since the Norn are pretty much in between the two concerning several points (humanoid physique, large body, animal transformations), but still, I would disapprove if they steered Braham and Rox in that direction.

Agroman.7190:

An interracial couple such as this would be shunned and most likely even hated by a large part of its own people.

Because? Remember, this is a world where everyone used to see other races nearby. Majority of people don’t care at all about someone else personal preferences, if it’s not affecting their own lives.

Well keep in mind that the Charr-Human treaty’s only been in effect for four years now. Plenty of people on both sides will be veterans of the conflict and have deep seated feelings about the other race. Peace or no peace, they could well see just being friends, let alone lovers, as a betrayal of the memory of those who died.

There can be other factors as well. Humans are a dying race (never mind how cheerful and crowded DR is or how many players play humans, it’s canon that humans in Tyria are in the role of the fading, diminishing race). A human that chooses non-human partners is opting out of replenishing the population. Conversely, Charr are expansionist and need cubs to build the fahrars and the armies, so they’d likewise lean towards disapproval of those who don’t contribute.

Plus I agree with Agroman’s comment that the arousal cues just won’t be there in more than a tiny fraction of the population of each race, which will make it unusual enough that others will care because it’s so bizarre.

As far as I’m concerned, Rox and Braham are just very good friends. They can be jealous about each other on that basis without any sexual component.

Human isn’t dying out. They are diminished from where they used to be, but they are not dying off.

If they play it as a socially shocking thing, and don’t pretend it’s normal, I don’t see the major issue.

Hell, other day I think I saw an asura-Charr couple talking about (IIRC) getting married… nobody else rping around them seemed to char :P

Donari.5237:

Well keep in mind that the Charr-Human treaty’s only been in effect for four years now. Plenty of people on both sides will be veterans of the conflict and have deep seated feelings about the other race. Peace or no peace, they could well see just being friends, let alone lovers, as a betrayal of the memory of those who died.

In fact, Charr-Human war stopped long time ago, except Ebonhawke, and even in DR people was quite unhappy about being involved in that, see Ghosts of Ascalon book. Only descendants of ascalonians holds a grudge.

Rednik.3809:

Donari.5237:

Well keep in mind that the Charr-Human treaty’s only been in effect for four years now. Plenty of people on both sides will be veterans of the conflict and have deep seated feelings about the other race. Peace or no peace, they could well see just being friends, let alone lovers, as a betrayal of the memory of those who died.

In fact, Charr-Human war stopped long time ago, except Ebonhawke, and even in DR people was quite unhappy about being involved in that, see Ghosts of Ascalon book. Only descendants of ascalonians holds a grudge.

Also that around Zhaitan’s rising/before that, Iron Legion was trying to forge peace with Ebonhawke.

The war only existed around Ebonhawke, and even some of those that still hold the hate in the Treaty tent area (It’s not finalized, just the cease-fire is) state things like “I can’t forget what they did. But this peace is for the next and following generations. They won’t have this hate.”

Kalavier.1097:

Also that around Zhaitan’s rising/before that, Iron Legion was trying to forge peace with Ebonhawke.

The war only existed around Ebonhawke, and even some of those that still hold the hate in the Treaty tent area (It’s not finalized, just the cease-fire is) state things like “I can’t forget what they did. But this peace is for the next and following generations. They won’t have this hate.”

Around the time of Zhaitan’s rise the Charr planned the invasion of Lion’s Arch over the sea, they sent a scoutship which did not return exactly because of Zhaitan’s rise. At that point an invasion over the sea was most likely going to fail due to Zhaitan’s navy, and LA was destroyed. The only other way for the Charr to invade Kryta would have been through Norn territory and the Norn would most likely not have let an invasion force pass.

So, till that time the war was not limited to Ebonhawke as far as the Charr were concerned, it was still aimed at all of humanity.

Furthermore, the one attempt (within over a thousand years) at a peaceful contact is almost cynical as the Charr must have known that a ship would most likely not make it, given that their scout did not return. Had they been serious about it they would have tried again, in some other way. It shows that they weren’t.

So the statement that the Charr were trying to forge peace is not correct. They lost interest in fighting Ebonhawke due to their inability to take it, and Kryta had gotten out of reach.

Frosch.7809:

Around the time of Zhaitan’s rise the Charr planned the invasion of Lion’s Arch over the sea, they sent a scoutship which did not return exactly because of Zhaitan’s rise. At that point an invasion over the sea was most likely going to fail due to Zhaitan’s navy, and LA was destroyed. The only other way for the Charr to invade Kryta would have been through Norn territory and the Norn would most likely not have let an invasion force pass.

So, till that time the war was not limited to Ebonhawke as far as the Charr were concerned, it was still aimed at all of humanity.

Furthermore, the one attempt (within over a thousand years) at a peaceful contact is almost cynical as the Charr must have known that a ship would most likely not make it, given that their scout did not return. Had they been serious about it they would have tried again, in some other way. It shows that they weren’t.

So the statement that the Charr were trying to forge peace is not correct. They lost interest in fighting Ebonhawke due to their inability to take it, and Kryta had gotten out of reach.

And the comment directly from a Charr which states the Iron Legion was forging peace with Ebonhawke until a Krytan prince arrived and made the fields run with blood? Which likely took place before that since it’s stated that his actions there likely got his fathers approval?

I assume that doesn’t count at all right?

Either way, for the most part, the bulk of humans and charr were done with the ‘war’.

Agroman.7190:

From a roleplaying point of view, I think this is very questionable. Think of the biological barriers between humans an Charr. It’s highly unlikely that either side would find the other attractive. The idea might be exciting as long as you’re a real life person sitting behind a computer, but imagine a creature such as a Charr standing right in front of you. Would you have any intentions of getting intimate? On top of that, Charr most likely have a smell about them that would hardly be attractive to humans, and the other way round.

Yes, perhaps it is possible in a really, really exceptional case. But think of the consequences a person would suffer. An interracial couple such as this would be shunned and most likely even hated by a large part of its own people. So really, I wouldn’t do it.

Sylvari+human is a different cup of tea. One could also say that human+Norn or Norn+Charr would be less of an issue, since the Norn are pretty much in between the two concerning several points (humanoid physique, large body, animal transformations), but still, I would disapprove if they steered Braham and Rox in that direction.

Attraction doesn’t really follow a set of rules. Animals behave in ways contrary to their biological needs all the time, and from what we have observed the more intelligent a species is the more likely they are to deviate from biological norms. Humans and charr are close enough intellectually and psychologically to interact with one another as if they were the same species, forming friendships and even familial bonds. There is no reason to think they couldn’t form a romantic relationship.

Why is sylvariXhuman different? If anything sylvari are MORE biologically and psychologically different to humans than charr are. Humans and charr are separate species but are in the same class of life. Sylvari are in an entirely different KINGDOM of life.

^

It’s not impossible. Unusual? Yes. But it’s not something I’d grab the torch and pitchfork for lore breaking. As long as they aren’t expecting everybody to be happy with their relationship, and don’t RP their characters having half-breed kids, go for it. :P

The topic poster clearly hasn’t seen Logan and Rytlock’s love quarrels. Or Crusader Ferrah and Crea Irontooth in CoF Path 1.

Serious answer : They could love each other, but don’t expect children. Also, depending on who else knows of it, they could get shunned for having said relationship, due to the bad blood.

Charrs are god kitten sexy. I don’t blame anyone, human or otherwise for thinking about it.

In reality, most people would find this pretty repulsive but this is a game! Who the kitten gives a kitten about who or what you want to kitten.

Well here’s to hoping that Charr don’t get too many traits from cats. That could get… uncomfortable…

Evans.6347:

Well here’s to hoping that Charr don’t get too many traits from cats. That could get… uncomfortable…

Most likely lost or atrophied. Such traits are no longer positive for sentient beings.

~ A tale as old as time, Beauty and the Beast….~

Agroman.7190:

From a roleplaying point of view, I think this is very questionable. Think of the biological barriers between humans an Charr. It’s highly unlikely that either side would find the other attractive. The idea might be exciting as long as you’re a real life person sitting behind a computer, but imagine a creature such as a Charr standing right in front of you. Would you have any intentions of getting intimate? On top of that, Charr most likely have a smell about them that would hardly be attractive to humans, and the other way round.

Yes, perhaps it is possible in a really, really exceptional case. But think of the consequences a person would suffer. An interracial couple such as this would be shunned and most likely even hated by a large part of its own people. So really, I wouldn’t do it.

These are all reasons to do it! Roleplaying things outside the norm is a lot more interesting than fulfilling pre-existing tropes and stereotypes.

So perhaps Charr have a stink that the female human doesn’t like, roleplay that! How much dialog, jokes and adventures could you have simply exploring the ways the two smell to each other!? Holy crap, that’s something you could spend days or more going back and forth on.

Now for my Asura. He just needs to find a Norn female that finds him charming and likes to hear him go on about his various studies and experiments. :p

It’s complete nonsense to say that only Ascalonian descendants hold a grudge towards or are suspicious of the Charr. There are several examples of human racism/mistrust towards the Charr in Divinity’s Reach, and even Minister Caudecus is said to be veteran of the war against them.
Kryta has been supporting Ebonhawke for decades, or else the city would have fallen a long time ago. Many humans of all sorts detest the Charr.

Ehecatl.9172:

Why is sylvariXhuman different? If anything sylvari are MORE biologically and psychologically different to humans than charr are. Humans and charr are separate species but are in the same class of life. Sylvari are in an entirely different KINGDOM of life.

The Pale Tree modeled the entire sylvari race after a human example. That’s why it’s different. Malyck is the only sylvari that doesn’t quite fit in.

Also – I read a lot about RP being more interesting when not following the norm. While that is true to an extent, stereotypes are important. If everybody’s a special snowflake, the world we are playing in is getting less and less important.

Depends how far they are taking that love. O_o

Well I do find the lack of interracial couples to be odd. So homosexuals and transsexuals are fine but furries aren’t? :P
I could totally see a human x charr relationship. Maybe norn x charr? Some Braham x Rox XD

We have examples of Charr cubs being raised alongside human children just fine.

We have an example of a charr cub being raised alongside a human, norn, and asura child, but a human mother(or couple, I forget).

You could EASILY go with an angle of maybe that Charr didn’t get your standard Farhar upbringing. I can see a human-charr relationship happening, just not that common or even open about it.

A traditional romantic relationship between a human and a charr is something that strikes me as highly unlikely. Possible, but unlikely.

Psychologically, they have a lot in common. It’s one of the ironies of the charr-human war that it’s the things that they have in common, and things that they would value in an ally, that are also the things that have kept them fighting for so long: Sheer determination and a refusal to give up coupled with a desire to seek vengeance for perceived past wrongs that can lead a feud to continue for generations. Humans and charr that can break through that history have the potential to become great friends, as seen by Logan and Rytlock, and the two in that CoF path.

However, almost all such relationships are likely to stick at the ‘best buds’ level. Humans just aren’t wired to be turned on by giant cat-people. Sylvari and norn are close enough to trigger an attraction, but for most humans, physical affection would be more like snuggling with a cat, except that the cat is bigger than you and sapient. While, granted, the evolutionary benefit of homosexuality is unclear, that’s essentially a case of the attraction centers in the brain having the program for the opposite sex installed. To be attracted to something completely different like a charr, a human would need to somehow have a program that directs them to a completely different species, rather than a program that would be normal if their sex and gender was reversed.

While we don’t know how charr might operate in that fashion, it’s probably similar. Like many furred social animals in the real world, including cats (cats are social, they’re just social the way norn are…), charr might bond through mutual grooming and receive pleasure through being stroked like a cat (although they might never admit it) – however, it’s unlikely that a charr would ever look at a hairless ape and go “I want to hit that!” (Well, in the direct literal sense, they’ve been doing that for over a thousand years, but you probably know what I mean.)

That said, there are ways I can see it happening. One possibility, for instance, is for a human and charr to get emotionally intimate, then get into a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship just to get their itches scratched… and once they start, bonding hormones start kicking in and they start growing attracted to one another even if they would normally be a long way from each other’s “type”. Probably not the most romantic way to become lovers, but it’s probably not actually that far off from stable human relationships: start by forming a solid emotional bond and then progress to physical intimacy. The distinction being is that humans will usually be physically attracted to one another from the early stages if not before, while for the human-charr pairing it may not develop until after they’ve become physically intimate.

Kalavier.1097:

And the comment directly from a Charr which states the Iron Legion was forging peace with Ebonhawke until a Krytan prince arrived and made the fields run with blood? Which likely took place before that since it’s stated that his actions there likely got his fathers approval?

I assume that doesn’t count at all right?

Either way, for the most part, the bulk of humans and charr were done with the ‘war’.

The Iron Legion was trying to forge peace with Ebonhawke, and humanity did not accept it, how injust of them.

“What did you expect, we are at war!” – that’s a Charr’s comment to Cobiah Marriner learning that the Charr were scouting an invasion route to LA over the sea. It shows that the “bulk of the Charr” was not done with the war. Neither was Kryta, and surely not Ebonhawke, which was the last place to accept any attempts at “peace” with the Charr, and you know that.

Seeing it as a spoiled attempt at peace by humanity is a purely subjective Charr point of view. It does not change that the Charr have been the aggressor against humanity for 1250 years. You are trying to put the blame for the war away from the Charr. That does not work.

The only honest and serious attempt at peace came from humanity, and the treatý hasn’t been signed after years of negotiations. Surely humanity is to be blamed for that too, right?

Agroman.7190:

Also – I read a lot about RP being more interesting when not following the norm. While that is true to an extent, stereotypes are important. If everybody’s a special snowflake, the world we are playing in is getting less and less important.

I find it funny when people use ‘special snowflake’ as some sort of slur to demean someone. I mean, in some context yeah it makes sense to scoff at some examples but we’re talking about the personality, environment, past and upbringing of fictional characters, not factors that particularly impact the majority or even a few people outside of this context. Nor are we talking about Mary Sue/Stu characters either.

Why is it so bad to have a ‘special snowflake’ (that is, being unique that you may or may not approach differently) for a biography and personality? In fact, if you’re not a special snowflake, you’re a trope with no creativity. Few want to hear the same old story of the same Charr or Human over and over with little variation.

So long as you set limits on how special said character is and its effect on those around you isn’t anything greater than everyone else, what’s the harm in it if said character still greatly resembles the creature they are? Even though every snowflake is unique, they all still resemble snowflakes and each difficult to discern from the others.

I do not recall saying that it’s bad to roleplay something unique. However in my experience, unique things rarely come to pass by doing what is most unlikely and shocking for people (by which I mean RP characters). In fact, people have been talking about this topic a long time.

But that’s not the point of this thread. I do agree with what draxynnic said, by the way.

Frosch.7809:

The Iron Legion was trying to forge peace with Ebonhawke, and humanity did not accept it, how injust of them.

“What did you expect, we are at war!” – that’s a Charr’s comment to Cobiah Marriner learning that the Charr were scouting an invasion route to LA over the sea. It shows that the “bulk of the Charr” was not done with the war. Neither was Kryta, and surely not Ebonhawke, which was the last place to accept any attempts at “peace” with the Charr, and you know that.

Seeing it as a spoiled attempt at peace by humanity is a purely subjective Charr point of view. It does not change that the Charr have been the aggressor against humanity for 1250 years. You are trying to put the blame for the war away from the Charr. That does not work.

The only honest and serious attempt at peace came from humanity, and the treatý hasn’t been signed after years of negotiations. Surely humanity is to be blamed for that too, right?

I’m not putting the blame of the war away from Charr. I’m simply stating that the truth is, Charr has put forth peace efforts. Then the human prince made the field run with blood of Charr and human soldiers. The reference I’ve read from wiki and otherwise makes it sound as if the human did it purposefully like he was playing with toys, not a city.

Who knows, maybe the charr always were planning on that if the peace efforts failed. Maybe they did it in response to Kryta’s obvious hostile efforts (by means of the prince). I’ve not personally read Sea of Sorrow’s, though I would if I got the chance.

I’ve always viewed the siege of Ebonhawke as a thing the Charr continued doing… to do it. That outside of the siege lines, they weren’t really dedicated toward it. They had other, bigger issues (flame Legion, ghosts, etc), and when the cease fire was signed, were happy because it meant that heavy artillery and guns could be used elsewhere.

The actual peace treaty hasn’t been signed, but that’s because there is a lot to talk about. It’s planned to include the entire fields of ruin area being given to Ebonhawke. Likely it’d involve how Charr military units in the area would be allowed to act/what they’d do. Like the Charr camps around the brand, or fighting the Ogres, etc.

That it’s not being signed instantly simply means they are actually going back and forth over the details. PERHAPS included in it is stuff for repaying/help Ascalonian descendants out, which would be something that would be heavily talked about.

Maybe they’ve had to take breaks in the sessions to deal with other threats and things (Or to clear heads), and then resumed. It’s been three years since the party at Caudecus’s Manor, which was about the Charr-human détente (Their wording a few times, other times like the mail it’s mentioned to be a party/meeting about the PEACE negotiations). Some say truce, others say treaty.

It could be that the party/meeting was to celebrate and help finalize parts of the final peace treaty, or simply the official cease fire and the treaty talks continued. It’s hard to tell. I always saw it as the peace treaty, others say it’s simply the cease fire. With zones being mostly locked in time, we don’t know for sure.

Agroman.7190:

Think of the biological barriers between humans an Charr. It’s highly unlikely that either side would find the other attractive. The idea might be exciting as long as you’re a real life person sitting behind a computer, but imagine a creature such as a Charr standing right in front of you. Would you have any intentions of getting intimate?

Never underestimate the power of the furry fetish.

Leo G.4501:

Now for my Asura. He just needs to find a Norn female that finds him charming and likes to hear him go on about his various studies and experiments. :p

Not wanting to be crude and horrible person, but…
Choosing to be crude and horrible person anyway.

I hope your Asura doesn’t mind being used as a d—-o!

pft! Asura/Norn. That’s rich.

Technically not this fantasy universe, but…
“The propensity for … humans to breed outside their species is well documented.”
-Vaarsuvius
Order of the Stick

Nox Lucis.8341:

Leo G.4501:

Now for my Asura. He just needs to find a Norn female that finds him charming and likes to hear him go on about his various studies and experiments. :p

Not wanting to be crude and horrible person, but…
Choosing to be crude and horrible person anyway.

I hope your Asura doesn’t mind being used as a d—-o!

pft! Asura/Norn. That’s rich.

“I majored in Norn anatomy, with a minor in spelunking. "

Nox Lucis.8341:

Leo G.4501:

Now for my Asura. He just needs to find a Norn female that finds him charming and likes to hear him go on about his various studies and experiments. :p

Not wanting to be crude and horrible person, but…
Choosing to be crude and horrible person anyway.

I hope your Asura doesn’t mind being used as a d—-o!

pft! Asura/Norn. That’s rich.

Lol thanks for that mental image. Although I’d be lying if i said it never crossed my mind.

Evans.6347:

“I majored in Norn anatomy, with a minor in spelunking. "

Nice >_<

But he does do quite a bit of experiments occasionally on himself. Let’s just say some cause horrific or interesting mutations as a result.

Wow, this really took off while I wasn’t paying attention. XD So interesting to read! If anyone cares to know some context, my human girlie was an orphan whose first real friend and parental figure was a Charr. The two of them were rather reclusive, which resulted in girlie having zero meaningful contact with humans from childhood until later teen years. Said Charr was an obsessive historian of the Ascalon bickerings, and girlie inherited that interest, along with a partiality towards the Charr. When it comes to social interactions, she feels more like a Charr than a human.

Considering how many people completely freak out over same sex marriage, imagine the reaction on something like this if it were a real thing

isolcity.3502:

Wow, this really took off while I wasn’t paying attention. XD So interesting to read! If anyone cares to know some context, my human girlie was an orphan whose first real friend and parental figure was a Charr. The two of them were rather reclusive, which resulted in girlie having zero meaningful contact with humans from childhood until later teen years. Said Charr was an obsessive historian of the Ascalon bickerings, and girlie inherited that interest, along with a partiality towards the Charr. When it comes to social interactions, she feels more like a Charr than a human.

Interesting. There exists some ideas put forward regarding human sexuality that in this context might suggest that a human who grew up around Charr and more particularly if this human had Charr present at a moment of sexual awakening, she might come to subconsciously associate Charr with sexual arousal. This human would effectively have a Charr fetish.
I speculate that such a human might struggle with finding a Charr partner that can fully and effectively reciprocate the affection, as well as being accepted by mainstream Krytan society.

Disclaimer-
I am not a psychiatrist, a roleplayer, or a lore expert. Anything I say with regard to these topics has the potential to wrong and/or woefully stupid.

Kalavier.1097:

I’m not putting the blame of the war away from Charr. I’m simply stating that the truth is, Charr has put forth peace efforts. Then the human prince made the field run with blood of Charr and human soldiers. The reference I’ve read from wiki and otherwise makes it sound as if the human did it purposefully like he was playing with toys, not a city.

Sounds like you haven’t gone to the original source, and the wiki is missing an important point:

The charr did indeed send a peace offering to Kryta during the period spanned by Sea of Sorrows.

It never arrived.

The peace offering was sent by ship (why, when at that point the sea route from Ascalon to Kryta involved going past Orr, was not explained) and the ship was raided by Lion’s Arch pirates. Not knowing its purpose, Cobiah Marriner sold the olive branch (a collection of religious artifacts from the ruins of Ascalon) to a private collector, and it wasn’t until it was too late that Cobiah learned of the cargo’s true intent. It’s presented in Sea of Sorrows as a ‘doh’ moment for Cobiah after the fact as Cobiah realises that he may have been ultimately responsible for the bloodshed after Edain took the throne.

So, while I don’t want to turn this into another ‘who has the moral high ground’ thread: It’s true that the charr sent a peace offering, but the offering wasn’t rejected by humans. The human political authorities simply never learned about it, or if they did, not until after Edain’s offensive, which probably removed the offer from the table (particularly if the charr weren’t aware that their olive branch had been intercepted).

Kalavier.1097:

I’ve not personally read Sea of Sorrow’s, though I would if I got the chance.

After the Rise of Zhaitan Cobiah Marriner got fished out of the ocean by the crew of a Charr scoutship which had survived the Tsunami due to its advanced technology (a steam engine) but had taken heavy damage and direly needed to reach the nearest port, which, ironically, was LA.

The Charr knew that they would be killed if they steamed straight into a human port, so they took Marriner on board to negotiate for them – they did not know that LA was no more. Their purpose had been to scout an invasion route over the sea to LA – to bring the war to Kryta. They became part of the pirates which took the ruins of LA as their base and never reported back, the way back being blocked anyway.

It was only long after that that the Charr sent a ship full of Ascalonian relics as a peace feeler, which Cobiah Marriner and his pirates intercepted, like drax explained – the Charr survivors among them.

You see that the Charr only considered an end to the conflict when they could no longer invade Kryta. But to me the whole attempt from the Charr sounds cynical, as they must have known by then that the route over the sea was blocked by both Zhaitan’s navy and the LA pirates. So i do not consider this a serious attempt at contact, more like a tasteless joke on the Charr’s part. And the state of war between Kryta and the Charr naturally went on. I am sure that neither Kryta nor Ebonhawke would have taken the attempt under consideration anyway.

draxynnic.3719:

The peace offering was sent by ship (why, when at that point the sea route from Ascalon to Kryta involved going past Orr, was not explained) and the ship was raided by Lion’s Arch pirates. Not knowing its purpose, Cobiah Marriner sold the olive branch (a collection of religious artifacts from the ruins of Ascalon) to a private collector, and it wasn’t until it was too late that Cobiah learned of the cargo’s true intent. It’s presented in Sea of Sorrows as a ‘doh’ moment for Cobiah after the fact as Cobiah realises that he may have been ultimately responsible for the bloodshed after Edain took the throne.

I’ve long known that pirates took the ship. Never meant to imply that humanity rejected it, merely that it did not end as either side wanted it. I didn’t know what the pirates (I didn’t know if it was random pirates or LA pirates) did with the artifacts though.

isolcity.3502:

Wow, this really took off while I wasn’t paying attention. XD So interesting to read! If anyone cares to know some context, my human girlie was an orphan whose first real friend and parental figure was a Charr. The two of them were rather reclusive, which resulted in girlie having zero meaningful contact with humans from childhood until later teen years. Said Charr was an obsessive historian of the Ascalon bickerings, and girlie inherited that interest, along with a partiality towards the Charr. When it comes to social interactions, she feels more like a Charr than a human.

Is the charr in the relationship said charr who acted as a parent figure, or a different one? Either way, I’d imagine a Charr in the Priory (Or any order really, but Priory mainly) would be more open toward humanity. An interesting backstory, and IMO, plausible. We have charr and human children from LA who loved playing with each other (Ghosts and charr I think was one game), but knew at least one set of parents wouldn’t approve. Said children are now adopted siblings being raised by an Asura couple lol.

So yeah, I can see a charr raising a human. We have humans raising Charr after all.

Nox Lucis.8341:

I speculate that such a human might struggle with finding a Charr partner that can fully and effectively reciprocate the affection, as well as being accepted by mainstream Krytan society.

I’d say the charr side of it would be the harder bit. Sounds like such a character would prefer someplace like the orders or LA over mainline Krytan towns (or maybe Charr towns either…) Depends how they want to be seen by the general public. Do they care about what people think, or go “I love Charr, screw the haters.”?

As others have said it’s been hinted at interracial couples happening in the actual world of Tyria, and the views people will have on it will be varied (I know my friends human would be absolutely disgusted by this relationship, although my norn and sylvari wouldn’t even bat an eye).

One thing to keep in mind though is all interracial couples are 100% infertile, so there will be no human cat hybrid babies running around. Probably for good reason…

Durzlla.6295:

One thing to keep in mind though is all interracial couples are 100% infertile, so there will be no human cat hybrid babies running around. Probably for good reason…

^ is the biggest thing. Official canon is no halfbreeds in GW2.

I can accept it (In RP) if somebody said their ancestor (EOTN era) interbred with a Norn and thus have norn-human ancestry. That’s because in a lore perspective, 250 years have passed. That could be a story that is fact, or simply a tale that got told at some point and stuck with the family.

But, I’m not going to really accept a person who is a norn-human hybrid of the current generation. Maybe if somebody gave a really, really good explanation of it. :P

It’d be nice if there were canon hybrids in Tyria. Here’s why…
Behold the master plan!

Step 1: Take a good-natured if hairy and dim-witted Rox

Step 2: Take a good-natured if hairy and dim-witted Braham

Step 3: Get some 3rd rate /fic action going on up in here.

Step 4: Get a healthy litter of good-natured if hairy and dim-witted cross-species abominations against nature.

Step 5: Show this whole mess to Mordremoth.

Step 6: Mordremoth looks and says “You know what? I f——-g quit.” He then pops off his planty skull cap, scoops out his plant brain, drops it on the ground and stomps on it ’til he dies.

Step 7: Aside from getting similar reactions out of everyone else who sees… PACT VICTORIOUS!

Step 8: Afternoon croissants with Queen Jenna.

gg elder dragons wp

When you RP, you can really spin anything you want. The question that it really comes down to, is the level of depth your wanting to take it into the set lore. The set lore also isn’t just the limit to think about, but also the rest of the RP community, and that changes daily, from person to person. If the community you RP with doesn’t really seem to have much reaction to a Charr and Human couple, then you pull from that. The other side of the coin can be true too, other players taking it the other way. Both sides aid in fleshing out the level of immersion into the lore and RP.

Now, if your just looking to see how the coupling works in the set lore, that has its own fun issues. I say fun, because it could be. There is always that Romeo and Juliet effect that can occur, and each culture has its deviants from the norm.

A lot will also come with how your boyfriend plays his Charr. Keep in mind, romance just doesn’t really seem to be a Charr thing. Applying human morals and values doesn’t always work across species. Romance is much rarer to them, relationships being much more casual for the majority. They do seem to not mind at all the act of physical and mental pleasures though. Mostly drawing on one of my favorite Charr dialogues from Soure Doomsday: “My dreams involve a barrel of whiskey, an Ash Legion minx, and you, dead at my feet,” but lovey dovey isn’t really in their culture.

They’re both pretty screw-the-haters types, but my chica resides in Lion’s Arch anyway, so that works out well. As for babies and romance, my girl isn’t really interested in either, so again, it seems I got lucky with my bitter little human!
This is all so interesting, and amusing, to read. Croissants with Queen Jenna and the abominations sounds lovely.

I can actually see this happening, however unlikely. Especially if they grew up together (say in Lion’s Arch). A human and a charr coming from different backgrounds, IE their homelands, would have wildly different values and beliefs. We are all programmed by our culture and surroundings. I a human and a charr were raised as equals and as companions, I can see something developing there. Am I alone in this?

isolcity.3502:

Wow, this really took off while I wasn’t paying attention. XD So interesting to read! If anyone cares to know some context, my human girlie was an orphan whose first real friend and parental figure was a Charr. The two of them were rather reclusive, which resulted in girlie having zero meaningful contact with humans from childhood until later teen years. Said Charr was an obsessive historian of the Ascalon bickerings, and girlie inherited that interest, along with a partiality towards the Charr. When it comes to social interactions, she feels more like a Charr than a human.

So basically she was brought up as a charr. I kinda like that idea.
Honestly though, to me that would mean that love doesn’t matter much to her, as the mainstream charr society seems to not care about romantic involvement. Relationships appear to mostly be one-time things, and sex is primarily for the purpose of churning out more soldiers for the Legions. Charr don’t really seem to understand love the way humans do. I get the feeling charr “love” is closer to a strong sense of mutual respect for each others’ strength and skill than romance.

But then, I guess there are deviants everywhere. Just bear in mind that the vast majority of humans and charr would still consider the pairing disgusting. Imagine homosexuality as viewed by most people a few decades ago. Alan Turing downright received a court sentence. I doubt charr/human relationships would garner anything that extreme, because this is still a game run by ANet and NCSoft and doesn’t come with a Mature ESRB rating, but still, there’d probably be some social ostracising from a lot of people.

Sex would also probably be problematic.

Dott.5672:

Honestly though, to me that would mean that love doesn’t matter much to her, as the mainstream charr society seems to not care about romantic involvement. Relationships appear to mostly be one-time things, and sex is primarily for the purpose of churning out more soldiers for the Legions. Charr don’t really seem to understand love the way humans do. I get the feeling charr “love” is closer to a strong sense of mutual respect for each others’ strength and skill than romance.

That’s wrong, tho.

Ember snorted, "Oh, I understand. Charr relationships have all that stage drama as well. We on occasion mate for life, though our relationships are usually more casual, and we have more than our share of jealousies, rivalries, expectations, and disappointments. Lovers come together, break apart, and come together years later. We recognize families, though our children enter the fahrar of one of their parents’ legion once they have been weaned. There we learn how to fight alongside others and form bonds stronger than family or affection.