Mesmer Lore?
There’s not much in the way of the lore you’re asking for, unfortunately. Most of the professions stretch back in some form far beyond GW1, and theoretically they even could have existed before the bloodstone was created, back before practically any surviving records. What we do know: the Scriptures of Lyssa, dated 45 B.E. (1373 years before the current date), are the oldest recorded use of illusions that players know of. The goddess disguises her form, but there’s no mention of the term ‘mesmer’. When the gods tampered with the bloodstone in 1 B.E. (1329 years ago) they forced most available magic into four ‘schools’, one of which, Denial, is believed to have eventually been the basis of the current mesmer profession. Lyssa, as the goddess of illusions, was considered the patron of mesmers by the humans, and it’s possible but unproven that she taught the first human illusionists the art. The earliest actual mesmer that I am aware of is Kitah in Cantha, c.772 A.E. (556 years ago), but she’s remembered as the greatest Canthan mesmer, not the oldest or the first. It’s likely the practice goes back quite a bit farther than that.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
To add to what Aaron has said, before the bloodstones were affected by gods, there were probably already beings of various races around that used mesmer-like magic but since magic was not as differentiated then, mesmers in the proper sense probably first started appearing after 1 B.E.
In addition I would note that most of the lore and stories surrounding mesmers and mesmer magic is centered very much around humans and their gods. This might give the impression that the way humans practice mesmer magic and the link between mesmer magic and Lyssa is universal, when that in fact might not be the case. For example, to humans there is quite a clear link between art, fashion, theatre and so on on the one hand and mesmers on the other hand. This link is doubtful to exist for Asura, Charr and Norn.
Yeah not much lore exists on the origin of any profession really…aside from Revenant (rhytlock being the first)
Guardians are what happened to I believe paragons and monks (preservation)
Mesmers belong to the school of Denial magic.
specifically, Denial of free will (domination) Denial of repression (inspiration) and denial of perception (illusions)
however mesmers have now grown into having Denial of reality (chaos magic) [ which mind you, according to the inquest…is also very similar to dragon magic/dragon energy]
and then now I guess with heart of thorns, Denial of Time (chronomancy.)
There have been many powerful and famous mesmers.
Gwen, Anice, even Jenna I believe is a mesmer, so typically human nobility. but the charr in GW1 also had mesmer-y like members of their legions.
I think somewhere it says all mesmers are gifted with a strong sense of grace and cunning. Like someone said Kitah.
where it all started…who knows.
Guardians are what happened to I believe paragons and monks (preservation)
Mix of paragon, monk, ritualist, and possibly a little dervish. Not to say that there might not be regular paragons and ritualists in their own lands still.
Mesmers belong to the school of Denial magic.
They did in GW1, but keep in mind that the schools no longer apply to Tyrian magic. It’s quite possible mesmers have expanded beyond what was considered Denial- actually, IIRC, pre-launch it was said that their healing skills are an example of that.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
Monks still exist… Priests/priestess of Dwayna.
I’ve heard nothing that says monks stopped existing, just we don’t play them anymore :P
Sorry, didn’t mean to suggest they didn’t! Also sorry about the thread derailment, but… while I don’t think they stopped existing, their numbers do seem to have declined precipitously. It makes sense, too. Even aside from the fact that the spread of healing magic, rise of the guardian, and loss of resurrection has muscled them out of their magical niche, what makes a monk a monk is the fact they believe their powers come from the gods- healing prayers, not healing magic . With the, well, secularization of spellcasting, the available pool of new monks must have largely dried up.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
Sorry, didn’t mean to suggest they didn’t! Also sorry about the thread derailment, but… while I don’t think they stopped existing, their numbers do seem to have declined precipitously. It makes sense, too. Even aside from the fact that the spread of healing magic, rise of the guardian, and loss of resurrection has muscled them out of their magical niche, what makes a monk a monk is the fact they believe their powers come from the gods- healing prayers, not healing magic . With the, well, secularization of spellcasting, the available pool of new monks must have largely dried up.
I describe monks as basically being a human only thing now. Mostly the Priests of Dwayna really.
Yeah not much lore exists on the origin of any profession really…aside from Revenant (rhytlock being the first)
We do have a bit on dervishes, assassins, and ritualists, along with all the ‘new’ professions (guardian, engineer, thief).
Guardians are what happened to I believe paragons and monks (preservation)
And ritualists.
Mesmers belong to the school of Denial magic.
specifically, Denial of free will (domination) Denial of repression (inspiration) and denial of perception (illusions)
however mesmers have now grown into having Denial of reality (chaos magic) [ which mind you, according to the inquest…is also very similar to dragon magic/dragon energy]
and then now I guess with heart of thorns, Denial of Time (chronomancy.)
To be honest, this is all speculation. While players likely have lined up profession to school properly, the only confirmed case is elementalists with destruction.
And about the dragon energy/chaos energy similarity bit – there’s hidden dialogue in high level fractals if you save the two generic named Inquest Operatives whch indicates that Scarlet’s a liar in her little monologue. She convinced the inquest that the dragon energy was chaos energy and tricked the Thaumanova lead into using said dragon energy instead of chaos energy.
So I wouldn’t be so sure it’s actually similar and that the Inquest ‘messed up.’
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
I think monk magic has been Preservation magic all along – however, human monks associate it with coming from the gods because preservation magic is powered by faith, and the gods were what most humans had faith in. From a monk’s perspective, they learn the proper prayers and meditations, and with faith in the gods they can wield the magic – given that perspective, it’s easy to draw the link to the power coming from the gods, when it’s actually coming more directly from the faith of the monks in the gods.
Which is why priest-types of any religion in GW1 could be monks, not just the priests of the Six. (Interestingly, the Priestesses of Dwayna ingame seem to be elementalists when you manage to get one into a fight – they throw lightning balls.) Guardians share the link between their powers and faith, but again, it doesn’t matter what the guardian has faith in: gods, the legions, the Eternal Alchemy, it’s all good.
There was an interview where they went into a little more detail: from what I recall, battle monks wanted to become more militant in order to be better able to defend themselves, while paragons were arriving as refugees from Elona without having all the masters of the discipline that would allow them to maintain paragonhood as an independent tradition. So the monks taught the paragons more advanced preservation magic, the paragons taught the monks shout-based magic and the use of weapons and armour, a few other traditions were incorporated, and the guardian was born. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find the source of that story in the last two years, so I’m working from memory, and it could have been retconned (as, I think, the time of Palawa’s conquest has).
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.
People don’t hate Scarlet like Game of Thrones fans hate Joffrey.
They hate her the way Star Wars fans hate Jar Jar Binks.
There’s not much in the way of the lore you’re asking for, unfortunately.
Sadly enough. Although I guess it comes down to the topic of how mundane magic is in Tyria. Asking who the first mesmer was is like asking who the first livestock farmer was, or who discovered fire. It’s been around so long no one knows.
Guardians are what happened to I believe paragons and monks (preservation)
Mix of paragon, monk, ritualist, and possibly a little dervish. Not to say that there might not be regular paragons and ritualists in their own lands still.
Mesmers belong to the school of Denial magic.
They did in GW1, but keep in mind that the schools no longer apply to Tyrian magic. It’s quite possible mesmers have expanded beyond what was considered Denial- actually, IIRC, pre-launch it was said that their healing skills are an example of that.
I think it’s now stronger associated with chaos magic.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chaos_magic (although the wiki is a bit sparse).
Well since Mesmers can bend mind (illusions), space (portals), time (Chronomancers) and the very essence of matter (Polymorph) I think they’ve stepped a bit outside of denial.
Joko’s conquest seems unchanged, it’s just that there was a refugee flood long after the conquest by all indication.
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Joko’s conquest seems unchanged, it’s just that there was a refugee flood long after the conquest by all indication.
I’d assume likely a slip up by Joko’s forces on border patrol :P
I found some lore on Mesmers casting illusionary spells, from Angel McCoy in an interview she did. Here is the link if anyone wants to read it in general. Ill post below, the response from Angel. http://esprits-dorr.fr/node/261
Esprits d’Orr : Are the illusions created by mesmers visible to anybody or only to the caster and the spell target ?
Angel McCoy : This depends. Casting an illusion that can only be seen by one person is an extremely advanced skill as it requires getting directly into an individual’s mind. Only the most skilled of mesmers can do this, and mesmers don’t talk about this ability. If people were to find out that mesmers could do this, it would prejudice people against mesmers and damage the trust and love mesmers work so hard to inspire in others.
No documentation of this ability exists outside the Mesmer community because the targets of this kind of spell don’t realize they’ve been duped. No one else can corroborate their experience either, so…it’s often explained away as battle fatigue. Even within the mesmer community, knowledge of this kind of spell is “need to know” only, which means only the most elder and experienced are initiated into the circle.
Lv.80 Chronomancer (Mesmerist Palamecia)
Lv.80 Scrapper (Alchemist Persenia)
Lv.80 Druid (Mender Zalintyre)
Lv.80 Scrapper (Alchemist Persenia)
Lv.80 Druid (Mender Zalintyre)
I found some lore on Mesmers casting illusionary spells, from Angel McCoy in an interview she did. Here is the link if anyone wants to read it in general. Ill post below, the response from Angel. http://esprits-dorr.fr/node/261
Esprits d’Orr : Are the illusions created by mesmers visible to anybody or only to the caster and the spell target ?
Angel McCoy : This depends. Casting an illusion that can only be seen by one person is an extremely advanced skill as it requires getting directly into an individual’s mind. Only the most skilled of mesmers can do this, and mesmers don’t talk about this ability. If people were to find out that mesmers could do this, it would prejudice people against mesmers and damage the trust and love mesmers work so hard to inspire in others.
No documentation of this ability exists outside the Mesmer community because the targets of this kind of spell don’t realize they’ve been duped. No one else can corroborate their experience either, so…it’s often explained away as battle fatigue. Even within the mesmer community, knowledge of this kind of spell is “need to know” only, which means only the most elder and experienced are initiated into the circle.
I wouldn’t take this too seriously. Even something so pathetic as a Wind Rider could cast Conjure Phantasm in GW1, a skill which only affect the target.