Can anyone tell me if the giant rock behind queen jennah has any meaning or why is there in first place?

Decoration, as far as we can tell. You may as well ask about the meaing of the pond. There’s been a conspiracy theory for a long time that it’s a bloodstone, but besides being a stone with a glowing pattern there’s no evidence. They aren’t made of even remotely similar material.

After King Doric’s imploration to the gods, the original “bloodstone” was divided into six pieces, one of which was a Keystone. Since then the royal dynasty has been in charge of preventing these stones from ever being reassembled into one whole piece.
For all we know, it could be the Keystone, or it could perhaps be the exact spot where King Doric himself stood on when he pleaded to the gods, and was put in the throne room as a symbolic reminder of the royal duty.

Five pieces, not six, and the same story tells us that Doric went to Arah, and that all five stones were deposited in a volcano that later spewed them out. It is a nice idea, but there’s just no backing for it- it’s made of a completely different material than the bloodstones, in either game or the second, and the glowing markings people like to point to are a far cry from the inscriptions that only two of the three known bloodstones were seen with anyway.

It’s not clear if the Keystone was created from the original seers’ stone like the five bloodstones – if it were, anyway, it could be very different from the others nonetheless, even in the looks, since it would not be a container of magic like the bloodstones are.

Bloodstones are a dark red, so it isn’t that.

Simple fact is that we don’t know what the throne room’s throne backing is made out of – if anything special. I do recall a comment from a dev ages ago that this stone was seen in GW1 but… even after years, no one has a clue what it is.

@Sock: Yes, it is clear that the Keystone was created from the original Bloodstone. To quote:

They smashed the stone into five parts—four equal but opposing stones of magic, and one keystone. Without the keystone, the other four couldn’t be reassembled.

^ From the original Prophecies manuscript. And to prove it’s still accurate:

The gods agreed. They used Doric’s blood to seal the stone (blood + stone = bloodstone) and it broke it into five pieces. They threw them in a big volcano. Of course, it erupted, and spewed them out.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bloodstones_%28book%29

Which mentions the Seers creating the Bloodstone originally.

Five pieces – four schools and one keystone – the Bloodstone was broken into.

And trying to argue that a stone would be different “since it would not be a container of magic” is silly when it comes from the same exact stone. Besides if this stone which shares models with the Bloodstone Shard in Arah is any indication we know what a magicless Bloodstone looks like: black/dark gray. Not white and gold.

To try to argue that it’s a Bloodstone but looks nothing like a Bloodstone is like arguing a duck is, in fact, a chicken.

Further, common theory is that the Ring of Fire bloodstone was the Keystone. Just theory, though, but there’s not really any indication of it being Denial or Destruction (the Maguuma bloodstone is theorized to be Preservation due to the magical qualities of the Maguuma Jungle’s waters – which have weakened just as the bloodstones have – and the Shiverpeak one is theorized to be Aggression due to the necromancer-like aura it gave in the cave system it was found in).

To me it looks like the altar I saw in one of the cinematics where the White Mantle were sacrificing people. So, in saying that, I could see it as being a “keystone” in that it is the altar and final piece needed to reunite the bloodstone shards perhaps?

I don’t know. Looks an awful lot like an altar to me.

Whoops! I had totally misread the number of “bloodstone” pieces, my mistake…
So yeah, five pieces, and the Keystone is one of them.

@Konig Des Todes: The point was a different one however. Since each of the four bloodstones holds one of the four different aspects of the original, unified magic, it follows that the Keystone must be imbued with a different kind of magic (hence it’s not a “…container of magic like the bloodstones are”), which could have very well altered its appearence.

That doesn’t really make sense. We do not see any indication that the Bloodstones are altered based on the type of magic in them – after all, all three Bloodstones we see share the same exact appearance as do the fragments from when the original Bloodstone was broken into five larger pieces. And all of it is a shimmering blood-red.

To be clear, “original and unified” intended as the magic contained in the former “Seerstone”, which is magic relative to Tyria (the planet) – it was the human gods that broke it, we don’t know about the origin of their kind of magic.

They didn’t put “their kind of magic” in the Bloodstone, however. They just took the magic that was already in the Bloodstone and divided it into four schools – which relate to the most common spellcasting professions (Elementalist, Monk/Guardian, Mesmer, Necromancer).

Any magic they might have put into the Bloodstone was from Zhaitan – unknowingly – and would have been prior to dividing the Bloodstone.

Randall Greyston: Fantastic! The human gods not only sundered the seer’s bloodstone here—they increased its power.
Randall Greyston: They pulled the energies of Zhaitan himself, even though they did not know of the sleeping Elder Dragon.
Randall Greyston: They only knew that this was a place of great magical power, and built their godly city here.

Yeah, I agree, they didn’t store any of their magic in the still functioning “Seerstone”, they used Tyria’s own magic to pump it.
But then they literally broke it, and in creating the Keystone, a magical stone, they might have used their own magic.

They didn’t create the Keystone any more than they created the other four stones. And honestly, nothing says the Keystone is magical – and if it is, which TBH is more likely than not magical, there is no reason to believe the Six Gods imbued it with their own magic.

And even if that did happen – which need I remind is unlikely – nothing indicates that such would alter the coloration of the stone from going dark shimmering red to a still brown/white.

Furthermore, the shape of the throne doesn’t make much sense for it to be the Bloodstone’s keystone. Aside from it being more stone-like than crystalline-like akin to the Bloodstones, the way it’s cut and placed imply that it was carved into cleanly – which the Bloodstones most certainly weren’t given all the jagged spikes we see in all three bloodstones.

Honestly, the likelihood of the throne room stone being a bloodstone is as likely as the Deep Sea Dragon being Abaddon reincarnate.

cptaylor.2670:

To me it looks like the altar I saw in one of the cinematics where the White Mantle were sacrificing people. So, in saying that, I could see it as being a “keystone” in that it is the altar and final piece needed to reunite the bloodstone shards perhaps?

I don’t know. Looks an awful lot like an altar to me.

Now that you mention the white mantle, behind the queen’s throne there is a huge door with a lot of Shining blades, perhaps this is a place of power or something.

Four of the fragments were obtained from the Seerstone much like when white light passes through a prism and gets separated into its component colors.
But the Keystone seems to possess a different purpose from those four pieces, a different usage, and it would be a part that wasn’t intended to exist or designed by the seers originally (to continue the earlier analogy, it would be a second prism that brings the colors back together).
So what I’m suggesting is that it is different from the other bloodstones, both in its purpose and possibly even in the looks (we still haven’t observed all of the fragments after all).

Regarding it resembling some kind of altar, if it were the Keystone, I could totally see that for it to work the royal heir must be sacrificed onto it.

Sock.2785:

Four of the fragments were obtained from the Seerstone much like when white light passes through a prism and gets separated into its component colors.

…What?

The Bloodstone (I don’t know why you keep calling it Seerstone – it’s always called a Bloodstone) is not prismatic in any way shape or form. All fragments and three larger pieces are a shimmering blood red. There’s no prism or component colors.

Sock.2785:

So what I’m suggesting is that it is different from the other bloodstones, both in its purpose and possibly even in the looks (we still haven’t observed all of the fragments after all).

But we’ve observed three of five and they are identical. As well as all the smaller fragments and shards.

There is no difference in appearance except shape. And the purpose is actually the same. All five pieces’ purpose is to store and separate magic into four forms.

Sock.2785:

Regarding it resembling some kind of altar, if it were the Keystone, I could totally see that for it to work the royal heir must be sacrificed onto it.

If that were the case, why would the royal heir keep that as the throne? That’s beyond stupidity.

It doesn’t look extremely similar, but when I was thinking part of an altar I was thinking about this cinematic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgJC7JK859k

To build on what Konig finished with- why in the world would the keystone be in Divinity’s Reach at all?

I’m not sure if the seers referred to it as Bloodstone, but, either way, I’m referring to it as Seerstone to differentiate it from the modern bloodstones, which were obtained (and named this way) by King Doric’s plea to the gods.

“…like when white light passes through a prism and gets separated into its component colors”, with a second prism that makes the light white again.
That was just an analogy (a poor one maybe):

• White light = original magic, Seerstone
• First prism = gods’ intervention
• Component colors = schools of magic, four fragments
• Second prism = Keystone (together with royal blood)

I don’t really see how the Keystone is equal in purpose to the others, since the stored magic has been split (divided into four schools) between four of the fragments.

By keeping the Keystone in the throne room (the throne per se seems to be a red sofa by the way), at the very center of Divinity’s Reach, it will be nicely guarded and hard to reach (unless someone infiltrates the ministry… you know who I mean) – it would be hidden in plain sight.
Also, we are not completely certain that Queen Jennah is the rightful heir to the throne.

But… okay, let me rephrase that. Why would Kryta have the keystone?

Ok, got what you mean: because it’s a royal duty.

And how did it even got there?
Well, obviously like how Rytlock got Sohothin… no idea.

cptaylor.2670:

It doesn’t look extremely similar, but when I was thinking part of an altar I was thinking about this cinematic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgJC7JK859k

There is no altar there. That’s just the Bloodstone. Nothing more. And there is really no similarity between the two. The inscriptions carved into that Bloodstone and the Ring of Fire Bloodstone (but wholly absent from the Shiverpeak Bloodstone) appears Mursaat/White Mantle in nature and are definitely not like the sharp circles and lines (not runes/inscriptions) of the throne room’s stone.

Sock.2785:

I’m not sure if the seers referred to it as Bloodstone, but, either way, I’m referring to it as Seerstone to differentiate it from the modern bloodstones, which were obtained (and named this way) by King Doric’s plea to the gods.

We don’t know what the Seers called it, but everything referring to the pre-shattered Bloodstone just calls it “the Bloodstone”.

Sock.2785:

“…like when white light passes through a prism and gets separated into its component colors”, with a second prism that makes the light white again.
That was just an analogy (a poor one maybe):

• White light = original magic, Seerstone
• First prism = gods’ intervention
• Component colors = schools of magic, four fragments
• Second prism = Keystone (together with royal blood)

Prism indicates multiple colors. But there is only one color: Red.

There is no prism that you speak of. None at all. There is red, red, red, and more red.

Furthermore, the Bloodstone is crystal. This stone seems to be marble or along those lines.

It’s far more likely that the throne room stone is some trophy from the White Mantle, given that they loved to use marble on all their structures. This would make it plot relevant kitten many apparently want it to be (instead of, y’know, just a cool kitten stone of no importance that some previous king thought “I want that to be behind me when my subjects peer at my gaze; it will show them my awesomeness”), and make it logical to have in the throne room – a show of “this is the remnant of Kryta’s greatest enemies that my family had overthrown, a sign of oppression that I, like my father and his father all the way back to Queen Salma, stand atop of”.

Sock.2785:

I don’t really see how the Keystone is equal in purpose to the others, since the stored magic has been split (divided into four schools) between four of the fragments.

Because magic itself is not the same as the four schools. Because in order to utilize more than one school via tapping the Bloodstones, the Keystone is needed.

Sock.2785:

By keeping the Keystone in the throne room (the throne per se seems to be a red sofa by the way), at the very center of Divinity’s Reach, it will be nicely guarded and hard to reach (unless someone infiltrates the ministry… you know who I mean) – it would be hidden in plain sight.
Also, we are not completely certain that Queen Jennah is the rightful heir to the throne.

There really is no indication that Jennah isn’t a rightful heir. What’s in question is if she’s the only rightful heir. The amulet that has caused everyone to question Jennah’s legitamacy only talks about the next heir to the crown – in other words, it shows who should be crowned should anything happen to Jennah, if the wording is taken at face value. But this isn’t the first mention of another heir being possible – in Chapter 3 of the human personal story, the Order of Whispers contact Ihan mentions that she might not be the “last” heir.

ANYWAYS, as to your reasoning: it makes little sense. In order to unleash magic again, the blood of an heir of King Doric is needed. They are also meant to prevent this from happening. So why would they spend the majority of their time on the very thing that their blood should never touch?

It’s like sleeping next to an adder snake that’s ready to bite you. Not a smart idea.

Ok this is sadly based on nothing any more but I always thought we knew what the stone was : a piece of the original Lion’s Arch keep, to remember the battle for Lion’s Arch of Salma.
At first, I thought it was a dialogue of an NPC in the throne room, but apparently it is not, at least not referenced on the wiki. I looked on the internet and could not find any source either. But I was quite sure this was the case, and honestly I don’t see why I would have created this idea alone.
Does it ring a bell to anyone? Could the NPC have been removed?

Honestly, this ‘decoration’ looks like a stolen thorn pedestal floor used by the original druids in GW1- remember those sssssslowwwww walking tree guys you had to keep alive?- It’s their rock from original Maguuma jungle. (At least that’s what it looks like to me—- lay it flat)
I found the Picture of this exact stone!! Look under GW1 wiki- Fort Koga!!
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Fort_Koga

Konig Des Todes.2086

Prism indicates multiple colors. But there is only one color: Red.
There is no prism that you speak of. None at all. There is red, red, red, and more red.

I’m not implying that the aggression fragment is blue, that the preservation one is yellow (and so on), or that the gods used a prism…
That was an analogy.

Konig Des Todes.2086

Furthermore, the Bloodstone is crystal.

The inscription on the two bloodstones is carved into a material that clearly looks stone-like. Also, the carvings on the Keystone are different because it was made by someone else, the gods.

Konig Des Todes.2086

There really is no indication that Jennah isn’t a rightful heir.

It’s just implied and accepted that she is from the Salmaic dynasty. I don’t see a clear line here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tyrian_royalty_family_tree

trub.1657

Honestly, this ‘decoration’ looks like a stolen thorn pedestal floor used by the original druids in GW1.

Uhm.. those are vaguely similar, yeah – especially in the glare coming out of them.

Sock.2785:

I’m not implying that the aggression fragment is blue, that the preservation one is yellow (and so on), or that the gods used a prism…
That was an analogy.

Given your continued stance that the keystone is white and saying so because prisms…

Seems more than just an analogy. I mean… why else would you say it’s white because of a prism.

Sock.2785:

The inscription on the two bloodstones is carved into a material that clearly looks stone-like. Also, the carvings on the Keystone are different because it was made by someone else, the gods.

Black stone is often volcanic. They were paced inside of a volcano. It only makes sense some volcanic rock would form around them.

Also, the gods altered all stones… so if they carved one to ensure it has a purpose… wouldn’t they do the same to the others? Yet the third bloodstone seen lacks any kind of carving or inscription.

Sock.2785:

It’s just implied and accepted that she is from the Salmaic dynasty. I don’t see a clear line here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tyrian_royalty_family_tree

That’s because that’s a fan-made family tree and we don’t know who Jennah’s father was, hell, that list would make it kitten clear we know less than 10% of the royal family lineage.

Konig Des Todes.2086

Given your continued stance that the keystone is white and saying so because prisms…

Seems more than just an analogy. I mean… why else would you say it’s white because of a prism.

Other than plainly stating it, I don’t know how else to put it in order to make it understandable that it is an analogy… don’t mix objects from both groups.

Konig Des Todes.2086

Also, the gods altered all stones… so if they carved one to ensure it has a purpose… wouldn’t they do the same to the others?

That’s one of the point from where I started: the Keystone is different. The others are like miniature versions of the original Seerstone (containers of magic).
As I said earlier, the Keystone was not a needed piece for the seers.
To add on this, we don’t know what the original Seerstone looked like, if it was stone-like or crystalline.
When the gods started releasing the magic from the Seerstone back into the world, given the massive amounts of magic seeping from it, some could have started to crystallize (as we are seeing from recent events in game, magic can crystallize.) – in the cinematic linked by cptaylor.2670, we can see that the crystalline fragments are erupting from the stone (they could be increasing in size much like stalactites).

Konig Des Todes.2086

That’s because that’s a fan-made family tree and we don’t know who Jennah’s father was, hell, that list would make it kitten clear we know less than 10% of the royal family lineage.

Ain’t it weird, not to say suspicious, that the names of Jennah’s parents, given that they are pretty recent history, have never been spoken out or written (both in game and out)?

Anyway, if she was related to King Doric, I guess that the pieces must be brought back together in order for the supposed sacrifice to work.

P.S. I call it Seerstone for argument’s sake.

Sock.2785:

That’s one of the point from where I started: the Keystone is different. The others are like miniature versions of the original Seerstone (containers of magic).
As I said earlier, the Keystone was not a needed piece for the seers.

This makes no sense.

The Keystone was part of the original Bloodstone. It’s literally taking one thing and dividing it into five pieces.

Why would it change color. Why would there be an unneeded “piece” if there was only one piece?

Your argument is literally this:

We know what three of the five bloodstones look like – and they are identical – however, since we don’t know what the other two bloodstones look like, they can look like anything – including this stone that looks nothing like those three bloodstones. Therefore, it must be a bloodstone.

Amd yes, the keystone is a bloodstone. And so was your “Seerstone” despite you wanting to call it something else.

Sock.2785:

When the gods started releasing the magic from the Seerstone back into the world, given the massive amounts of magic seeping from it, some could have started to crystallize (as we are seeing from recent events in game, magic can crystallize.) – in the cinematic linked by cptaylor.2670, we can see that the crystalline fragments are erupting from the stone (they could be increasing in size much like stalactites).

You’re making a very wide theory which is starting to sound like it’s contradicting lore – sounds like you’re saying the keystone wasn’t part of the original bloodstone but created because of excessive magic in the world.

However, there is a fatal flaw in the claim that magic would have crystallized in the world when the gods released magic. And that is:

The effects we’re seeing now is when there is too much magic in the world because two of the Elder Dragons, which contained and limited a large amount of magic, are dead.

This never happened in the past, and this large amount of magic would have led to the Elder Dragons beginning to wake up in Year 0 rather than Year 1078, since they wake up when there’s a large amount of magic in the world.

That makes that however much magic was put back into the world by the Gods – momentarily – wasn’t even close to the amount of magic in the world during GW1 let alone now, when we’re starting to see it crystallize – for reasons we do not yet know.

And I disagree on the conclusion for the video – I do not think that the fragments are “erupting from the stone” – the clip is far too short. Given their appearance, I’d and the animations/model showed in the making up video released yesterday, I’d say that those crystals are an actual part of the Keep Construct, not erupting let alone growing from it – much like the jade constructs of GW1.

Sock.2785:

Ain’t it weird, not to say suspicious, that the names of Jennah’s parents, given that they are pretty recent history, have never been spoken out or written (both in game and out)?

Anyway, if she was related to King Doric, I guess that the pieces must be brought back together in order for the supposed sacrifice to work.

Weird? Yes. Suspicious? No. It’s almost never relevant, and when it is, it’s more natural in the dialogue to say “Jennah’s father” rather than “King <Name>, Jennah’s father” or “Jennah’s father, King <Name>” and if it’s just “King <Name>” then we, the players, wouldn’t know they’re talking about Jennah’s father.

Like King Roderick – given he reigned 50 years ago at an unknown age, it’s likely he’s Jennah’s father. But because we only got his name, we don’t know.

It’s hardly suspicious because they can toss any name and it literally means nothing to us. It wouldn’t matter if her father is named King John or King Asinine.

Furthermore, even if Jennah herself isn’t a descendant (which contradicts all established lore, regardless of whether or not there’s another heir), previous kings/queens would have been since Salma definitely was (proven records and whatnot found during GW1), and that would hold the same exact risks as if Jennah was a descendant of Doric.

And arguing that the “pieces must be brought back” is highly theoretical on both fronts – both in-game and out of game – and idiotball holding on a whole new level than ever done in the history of Guild Wars.

“Oh hey, there’s a chance that my blood can unleash powerful magic that once drove all the known races to the brink of genocide, but hey, the five pieces likely have to be brought together so it’s okay that I spend my day to day life on this one piece.”

I’m sorry, but who’s stupid enough to take that risk?

Konig Des Todes.2086

The Keystone was part of the original Bloodstone. It’s literally taking one thing and dividing it into five pieces.
Why would it change color. Why would there be an unneeded “piece” if there was only one piece?
[…] sounds like you’re saying the keystone wasn’t part of the original bloodstone but created because of excessive magic in the world.

The Keystone was physically obtained from the Bloodstone, I’m not implying otherwise, but its sole purpose seems to be that of making the bloodstones into one whole again, reuniting the schools of magic back together, making them undistinguishable… when, back with the seers, magic was already undistinct. Also, the gods had deranged the purpose of the Seerstone when they started putting magic back into the world, creating in this way the Bloodstone.

Regarding the Keystone’s appearance, given that the stone’s purpose has changed from the original, I don’t see why its aspect couldn’t have changed as well.

Konig Des Todes.2086

However, there is a fatal flaw in the claim that magic would have crystallized in the world when the gods released magic. And that is:
The effects we’re seeing now is when there is too much magic in the world because two of the Elder Dragons, which contained and limited a large amount of magic, are dead.
[…] Given their appearance, and the animations/model showed in the making up video released yesterday, I’d say that those crystals are an actual part of the Keep Construct, not erupting let alone growing from it – much like the jade constructs of GW1.

I didn’t state it would had crystallized all around the world, but around the bloodstones (the four containing magic). The seers contained all the uncorrupted magic of the world into the Seerstone, supposedly not a small quantity. When, because of the gods, magic started slowly but continuosly seeping from the bloodstones (it wasn’t released in a burst, we still have the bloodstones after +1000 years), it could have started to crystallize around the seeping points on its way out, like stalactites.
So the growth wouldn’t be observable in small periods of time, unless the crystalization was the result of a burst – take what happened with Matthias Gabrel for example, when he turned into an Abomination: he could hold no more the incredible amount of magic flowing through him and the crystal-like formations (sprouting exactly when the hovering crystal shatters) definetly look like they’ve bursted from inside of him.
Regarding the Keep Construct, its base material seems to be marble – I see red glows inside the broken marble but the crystal bits (except the one hovering over its “shoulder”) seem to be protruding from it – they were part of the wreckage when the Construct had been assembled (we see that the White Mantle hoarded quite a lot of the red crystalline fragments in Salvation Pass).

Konig Des Todes.2086
It’s hardly suspicious because they can toss any name and it literally means nothing to us. It wouldn’t matter if her father is named King John or King Asinine.

I didn’t mean the names per se, but the knowledge that she is undoubtfully related to that line – perhaps by developing some more on her lineage.

Konig Des Todes.2086

And arguing that the “pieces must be brought back” is highly theoretical on both fronts – both in-game and out of game – and idiotball holding on a whole new level than ever done in the history of Guild Wars.
“Oh hey, there’s a chance that my blood can unleash powerful magic that once drove all the known races to the brink of genocide, but hey, the five pieces likely have to be brought together so it’s okay that I spend my day to day life on this one piece.”

Thing is, they would not take a chance: those directly involved would know how things work – how it would work is only in doubt to us.
Also, needing to bring the fragments close together really isn’t that absurd, on the contrary it’s pretty logical, and it would also be a very difficult deed to achieve.

P.S. I’m not stating it must be this way. It could be this way, this is all speculation.

Sock.2785:

Regarding the Keystone’s appearance, given that the stone’s purpose has changed from the original, I don’t see why its aspect couldn’t have changed as well.

By your argument, the entire bloodstone’s purpose changed (not really – it still holds magic just as it did before, just in a slightly different manner), so by your argument the entire thing would have physically changed.

But there’s really no reason to believe the Bloodstone crystals would change at all regardless of its purpose.

Sock.2785:

When, because of the gods, magic started slowly but continuosly seeping from the bloodstones (it wasn’t released in a burst, we still have the bloodstones after +1000 years), it could have started to crystallize around the seeping points on its way out, like stalactites.

I think you don’t understand what the “release of magic” actually was.

“Correct. Abaddon bestowed a unique gift of magic on each group of creatures.”
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Quiz_Terminal#Terminal_5
Abaddon, god of water and secrets, gave the stone away to some races. This caused wars, because people fought over it. King Doric begged that it be taken back so the battles for power would end.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bloodstones_
Those are our most accurate descriptions of what Abaddon – the one who released magic – did.

The main thing you seem to forget is this part, however:

King Doric begged that it be taken back so the battles for power would end. The gods agreed. They used Doric’s blood to seal the stone (blood + stone = bloodstone) and it broke it into five pieces.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bloodstones_
Randall Greyston: Fantastic! The human gods not only sundered the seer’s bloodstone here—they increased its power.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Ruined_City_of_Arah_(explorable)#Seer

They put magic back into the Bloodstone. Yes, magic flows slowly back into the world from the Bloodstones, but they had also put magic into the Bloodstone first.

By the sounds of it, it was released as a series of bursts – bloodstone given to one race after another unique magic granted to each – but then the magic pulled back into the Bloodstone, separated into the four schools universally via shattering, and left to slowly seep back into the world (over time weakening the bloodstones).

There was a take by the seers, then a give by Abaddon, then a take by the Five, followed by a slow trickle of a give by the Five.

Sock.2785:

So the growth wouldn’t be observable in small periods of time, unless the crystalization was the result of a burst – take what happened with Matthias Gabrel for example, when he turned into an Abomination: he could hold no more the incredible amount of magic flowing through him and the crystal-like formations (sprouting exactly when the hovering crystal shatters) definetly look like they’ve bursted from inside of him.

I’ve not fought Matthias myself so I can’t say personally, and while it does certainly seem like the bloodstone “grew” out of him when looking at the abomination form initially (especially so for along the arm), I’m not so inclined as to say this is because he had too much magic inside of him.

And honestly, as you said – from what I saw from videos I concur – the hovering crystal shatters above him – and his staff, which has a bloodstone shard, also seems to shatter. This makes me more inclined of an instantaneous case of showing what happens if you were to embed a bloodstone shard into a person – it would grow, feeding on the body while mutating it. The main reason I say this is that the bloodstone coming “out” of Matthias is focused on one point and spreads from there – as if that giant shard was the thing that was floating above, jammed into his body, and twisted it with the overwhelming raw magic that was inside it from the sacrificing of souls.

Rather than “Matthias put so much magic into his own body that he started turning into a living bloodstone”.

But hey, it’s a chaotic battle so either is plausible, really. -shrug-

Besides we know Bloodstones have very weird effects on people: Randal in Arah turned into some sort of red ghost before vanishing into thin air when he was attacked the energies of six shards.

Not seeing much relevancy to the keystone being a completely different color and material to every other bloodstones.

Sock.2785:

Regarding the Keep Construct, its base material seems to be marble – I see red glows inside the broken marble but the crystal bits (except the one hovering over its “shoulder”) seem to be protruding from it – they were part of the wreckage when the Construct had been assembled (we see that the White Mantle hoarded quite a lot of the red crystalline fragments in Salvation Pass).

Looking at the videos, it to me looks more like red crystal that has a marble coating – how they’d manage that I can only imagine as using magic to soften then harden marble (making it like a casting), but that’s what it looks like to me.

Sock.2785:

Thing is, they would not take a chance: those directly involved would know how things work – how it would work is only in doubt to us.
Also, needing to bring the fragments close together really isn’t that absurd, on the contrary it’s pretty logical, and it would also be a very difficult deed to achieve.

I think you put a little too much faith on the gods explaining things in such a way that it wouldn’t be forgotten or twisted.

Also, keep in mind that Salma took role of the throne from scratch – any wisdom imparted to Doric’s children would have been lost in the transition from Jadon to White Mantle to Salma, as Salma never had royal teachings.

It’s possible that the characters in the world know more about it than we do – highly likely in fact – but to the degree that they know that potential fanatics would know that simply killing them on a Bloodstone wouldn’t unleash its magic? That’s a pretty kitten huge risk to take even if they do know that it wouldn’t work.

Double so, when it’s well known that the White Mantle sacrificed the Chosen on top of a Bloodstone, using said Bloodstone to empower the soul batteries – as we saw in GW1.

Sock.2785:

P.S. I’m not stating it must be this way. It could be this way, this is all speculation.

Never said you were saying it must be.

However, I’m saying that I don’t see how two obviously very different materials (red crystal-like versus white marble-like) can be the same thing (bloodstone).

To be fair, I’ve called it ‘Seerstone’ myself. Ingame, I think it’s called the Bloodstone even when it was united, but as far as we know the name came from Doric’s blood being used to break it up into parts to begin with. It’s possible that it had a pre-existing connection to blood, but we know it was connected to the Seers, and sometimes you want a term that distinguishes pre- and post-breaking.

That said, I don’t think there’s any real reason to think that the stone is related to the Bloodstones just because “we saw it in Guild Wars 1”. Likely it’s just a stone of Krytan significance – possibly a part of the original royal keep, possibly a trophy from a White Mantle site.

Good question, and well noted!
Good screenshot, too.
To me it looks like a calendar, an astral map.

Could be from the era and the people of the Jotun, but their designs are different. This could be from the time and doing of The Forgotten, as I doubt the Giganticus Lupicus could have made such a thing.