Guild Wars 2

As much as I’m enjoying the Living World updates, I’ve been thinking more about what the other parts of the world are up to. We know Elona is supposedly busy fighting Palawa Joko, but what’s going on everywhere else?

• Are the Largos helping the Canthans fend off the Deep Sea Dragon’s minions?
• Are there any more Kodan still up north fighting Jormag?
• Is Kralkatorrik being distracted by fighting another group?

It seems there is a vast world to explore, that presumably is all going to be affected by the Elder Dragons, but at the moment it seems that only the continent of Tyria even care about them.

Whether its is using the Living World updates or an Expansion, I would like to see more of what is going on elsewhere in the world. (Anet could use both formats together and use the living world to build up to a release of an expansion with a second personal story campaign.)

Can’t really comment on the first two, since there’s an awful little to learn from the Largos and Kodan, neither like to talk too much.

But Kralkatorrik, he’s probably still recovering. Destiny’s Edge’s attempt to take him down was only eight years ago, and they did some pretty major damage, and he might be fighting two fronts. Our side of the Steamspur Mountains is already claimed by him with the Brand, so it’s most likely his primary focus. Over east into Elona, though, there’s probably border skirmishes between Branded and Joko’s thralls. Neither pushing too hard since they both have domestic issues still. Joko is still being pestered by Whispers movements, and Kralkky has all of us trying to purify his “claim”.

You, myself, and just about everybody else.

Yossitaru.3045:

Can’t really comment on the first two, since there’s an awful little to learn from the Largos and Kodan, neither like to talk too much.

But Kralkatorrik, he’s probably still recovering. Destiny’s Edge’s attempt to take him down was only eight years ago, and they did some pretty major damage, and he might be fighting two fronts. Our side of the Steamspur Mountains is already claimed by him with the Brand, so it’s most likely his primary focus. Over east into Elona, though, there’s probably border skirmishes between Branded and Joko’s thralls. Neither pushing too hard since they both have domestic issues still. Joko is still being pestered by Whispers movements, and Kralkky has all of us trying to purify his “claim”.

The Steamspur mountains? On one side you have Sparkfly Fen, which was being assaulted by Zhaitan with no sign of Kralkatorrik, and the other is Timberline falls, and I don’t think he’s there either. Closest would be the dwarves fighting Primordius deep under the Deldrimor Front. The dragonbrand goes down our side of the Blazeridge mountains and looks like most of the activity is in the Crystal Desert.

The Blood Legion headquarters are supposedly east of the Blazeridge Mountains, but I suspect we’d know if they were heavily fighting Kralk.

I was under the impression though that Elona lay mostly south of the Brand through the Crystal Desert, rather than east.

I’d really like to see the story make use of the Chantry of Secrets and the ‘Threat Map’ that the order have there.

• There is no real reason to believe either the largos or Deep Sea Dragon holds any kind of involvement with Cantha. Especially largos, whom are more likely to be on the northern end of the DAD’s domain. If the Zephyrites during the Festival of the Four Winds came from Cantha previously as believed, then Cantha is in an apparent cultural renaissance.
• When Jormag awoke he scattered the kodan in all directions. We only met those who fled south. There is nothing to argue some remained – beyond those who’s Sanctuaries were destroyed (initially or in fleeing), but nothing to really argue against it. There may, or may not, be kodan fighting Jormag in his other fronts, but no indication that any remain in their original territory.
• As said, Kralkatorrik is most likely licking his wounds still, rather than fighting a group actively.

• There are indications that Cantha is destroyed (partially or full).

• The Largos have probably a blooming society, but we don’t see any villages. Maybe they are hidden or they are simply not on the map. I can’t remember any information that tell about bad situation in their domain. And they are probably the most dangerous race around.

• The Tengu are lesser in numbers than expected. The great wall seems to hold a destroyed area and the destroyers are inside.

• The dwarfes are probably dead (except Odgen), because it’s a prediction from the past and those mostly become true.

• Elona might still be alive and if we get there we’ll probably won’t see any undead there. (personal speculation)

• Some strange crystals are appearing in Dry Top which reminded me on Kralkatorric. Maybe we’ll meet her sooner than expected. Without direct indication, Jormag and Primordus might be close soon, too.

• Just to allign with the common speculation: there is no direct information about DSD.

• The Kodan are building a city in Snowden Drifts and those that we meet are probably different from those who fled in the other directions.

Horst Hortensie.5420:

• There are indications that Cantha is destroyed (partially or full).

According to what source? Ships have sailed, ran into Zhaitan’s forces, and washed ashore on the Tyrian coast but all other mentions of Cantha imply it has prospered with much success.

Thanks for the info! I had forgotten that the Zephyrites may have stopped in Cantha before coming to the Festival.

There are clearly lots of areas that could be developed further as the world and story progress. I just hope these avenues are explored rather than remaining solely focused on the current areas of the world (and destroying them all, it seems sometimes).

Ronin.7381:

Horst Hortensie.5420:

• There are indications that Cantha is destroyed (partially or full).

According to what source? Ships have sailed, ran into Zhaitan’s forces, and washed ashore on the Tyrian coast but all other mentions of Cantha imply it has prospered with much success.

Cobiah got quite far and wasn’t there after Zhaitan rose just like anyone else. I have 3 indications that leave the impression.

• Nobody talks about Cantha’s state today, not even the Zephyrites which were probably there. 100 years and not a single sign even from the other side.
• The art district of Divnitiy’s Reach is destroyed without explanation. The architecture of said district was canthan design. (Divnity’s Reach – 6 districts – 6 human origins but that needs to get determined)
• The solid ocean maybe belongs to it. There are at least some matching informations. see https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/Jade-Maw-Fractal-Lore/first#post4258281

Those are just indications, but the world seems to be closer connected like we think. If Cantha is fine or has some common problems, why doesn’t anyone tell? There are airships, creatures with huge knowledge (Zommoros is surely not the only one) and even humans that look canthan and no one even bothered to get contact?

On the other hand maybe is Cantha fine and everybody knows including the PC and the player just isn’t allowed to get any information.

Horst Hortensie.5420:

• Nobody talks about Cantha’s state today, not even the Zephyrites which were probably there. 100 years and not a single sign even from the other side.

False. The Zephyrites did state they have done trading with Canthans. The state of the world at Guild Wars 2’s launch even stated that Cantha was prospering but ties between Tyria and Cantha were severed because of Zhaitan’s rise creating a road- block.

• The art district of Divnitiy’s Reach is destroyed without explanation. The architecture of said district was canthan design. (Divnity’s Reach – 6 districts – 6 human origins but that needs to get determined)

The Hole? That doesn’t really have a connection with the Continent. With the sound of something lurking in the sewers, I always felt it was signs of the Destroyers creating sink holes in their wake – it was a reason why I felt Prim would be next and not Mord… that is until Scarlet came around.

• The solid ocean maybe belongs to it. There are at least some matching informations. see https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/Jade-Maw-Fractal-Lore/first#post4258281

Which doesn’t mean much. Cantha was pleagued by a lot of evils and still survived, Tyria copes while EDs ravage the place. As far as we know the Empire has flourished well enough. The Jade Maw Factral however is best explained by how the Fractals work, the Asura were literally trying to create alternate dimensions and what these did was draw from existing content, what we see in that Fractal of course is not the reality of Cantha. The Jade Sea became a lake/ocean since the Jade began to thaw after Shiro’s defeat; his curse was lifted.

I’m not seeing a correlation. Yes there was a beast(s) in the Jade Sea frozen but I hardly consider that serious enough to wipe out all of canthan civilization. The lack of details of what DSD is up to can also be just as well explained that its interests lie elsewhere.

Those are just indications, but the world seems to be closer connected like we think. If Cantha is fine or has some common problems, why doesn’t anyone tell? There are airships, creatures with huge knowledge (Zommoros is surely not the only one) and even humans that look canthan and no one even bothered to get contact?

Firstly, contact was already slim due to Emperor Usuku’s xenophobia so Zhaitan rising up and stranding the Xunlai while also separating Tyria from Cantha was the nail in the coffin. With our interests in the Elder Dragons, it’s safe to say resources set for exploring are preoccupied with the effort to war with the Elder Dragons and while Zhaitan is dead, the Risen still exist.

We just can’t go there because they chose to focus on Living World instead of expansions. I would like to think when we go visit Cantha it would be to take many Tengu to their desired homeland while usurping the tyrannical ruler but I don’t expect to see anything of Cantha until we finish off Primordus at least (thus freeing up the Tengu since they have been fighting the Destroyers in the Dominion of Winds).

Rukh.9287:

The dragonbrand goes down our side of the Blazeridge mountains and looks like most of the activity is in the Crystal Desert.

Er, yes, I meant Blazeridge. Mistaken names entirely my own fault for posting at 4 AM…

djsarcher.9263:

I was under the impression though that Elona lay mostly south of the Brand through the Crystal Desert, rather than east.

I was rather oversimplifying, but the north end of Elona does border mountains, and it’s still technically “east” of the range. My theory on Whisper incursion into Elona is a mountain pass through the Blazeridge.

As far as Cantha goes, with all their isolationist policies, international trade was most likely in a decline before the dragons; likely with taxes and tariffs all over foreign goods, and Zhaitan and Bubbles probably clinched it entirely by adding extreme danger to the already low profits.

As far as the potential Zephyrite visit(s), if I recall, during the Cutthroat Politics story, they were rather uninterested in the Captain vote and were only interested in getting the trade agreement. If they hold the same priorities when visiting everywhere, then it’s likely they stayed towards the coast of Cantha and just conducted trade without concern for the state of the government. Provided they even did trade. For all we know, they could have flown over Cantha and just made Canthan-inspired decorations.

The only other groups with airships that I’m aware of are the Pact and the Aetherblades. The Pact is busy with Orr and the Risen (now maybe Mordremoth), and I don’t think anyone is being friendly enough with the Aethers to ask what their non-pirating activities might be.

Cantha has been cut off for 100 years. Only the Zephyrites had access to it and they aren’t too telling of the places they go. If you talked to various NPCs such as Dusk and Marjory during the Festival of the Four Winds, then you would have gathered the immense hints of the Zephyrites just coming from Cantha, and they said the place they came from – without naming it – had fabulous culture and were doing well (at least culturally).

Going off of Festival of the Four Winds, it seems like Cantha is in the best condition out of any known continent or nation.

Horst Hortensie.5420:

• The art district of Divnitiy’s Reach is destroyed without explanation. The architecture of said district was canthan design. (Divnity’s Reach – 6 districts – 6 human origins but that needs to get determined)

Wasnt there something about the Canthan arcitechture was/is a mixmatch of different asian designs/culture, and because of gw2 release in China Anet was afraid of offending the chinese players?
If this is true, it will also make a canthan expansion more unlikely.
Not sure where and when I read it though.

It was that there was negative Asian (not Chinese alone) review of the district due to the mix-match of cultural influence. Apparently Asians are heavily prideful about their culture being mixed with their neighbors’ to create a fictional culture.

Factions was similar though less apparent with its mix-matching but still received a lot of bad reviews – and had a lot more in-depth lore to explain how the cultures are ‘not Asian’ to those players (but not NA/EU players).

Feh. I’m Asian, and I think my countrymen need to take a game less seriously. :P

The Six districts in DR do not correspond one-to-one to Human cultures. Only 4 do: Rurikton (Ascalonians), Ossan Districts (Elonians), Eastern and Western Commons (Krytans). There are some Canthans in Rurikton, by the way.

Eastern and Western Commons are actually general districts and not heritage-specific. Krytans have Salma District.

The six human races is more a wyld idea, since Doern Velazquez doesn’t tell from which human empire he origins (just like it’s an unknown one or he is something in disguise) and the sylvari which are probably another human race (human spirits from another mist filled into a plant husk). But it’s just another theory, because any sign of proof is just not delivered.

The Sylvari are Sylvari; it was believed that they took a demi-human appearance due to their MOther being planted where Human Graves were located, but after meeting Malyck, that had to be revisited.

Sylvari are not Human.