Q:
Racial groups (four parts)
A:
1.) Sylvari don’t really have anything smaller than houses or cycles, but as for norn… if you want to strain it, maybe steadings? For humans I’d probably go with guilds, or businesses, or gangs, but there really isn’t a single format that fits every level of their society, beyond family.
2.) Almost certainly the norn or humans. It’s nearly unheard of for a non-charr to get honorary warband status, asura are usually too snooty to include other races as full members of their projects, and the sylvari can’t really be applied to non-sylvari.
3.) Nope. It does depend some on the project, but there are a few mentions of krewes that draw from all three- the golem builders in Soren Draa spring instantly to mind.
4.) Yes…ish. A warband is part of the hierarchy of a legion, so they all need to be part of it. If your old warband was in a different legion, you need to jump through hoops until you’re accepted into new warband’s before you can actually join. As a partial exception, though, Ash has been known to plant their agents inside the warbands of other legions. These split loyalties would almost always result in problems if they were found out.
As for what you’re after, it really doesn’t get much better than a guild. They are fully part of the lore, if ambiguously so, and they’re the most flexible organizations that stretch across racial divides. If you really want to be part of a canon organization though… I’d suggest having them work together in the Priory or Vigil (Whispers agents typically go solo), or even have them be part of the same squad in the Pact. The Lionguard or, well, anything based in Lion’s Arch are also solid options.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
(edited by Aaron Ansari.1604)
Thanks, do you mean a guild as in what I am in as a player or a ‘phantom’ guild they are in in the course of the game? Being all in the Priory or such well that ship sailed back when I wanted to explore different story lines. Maybe a human gang (or something with Norns if I can think of a good term).
Actually, all of them have Finnish names which is perfect for Norn. The Finnish word for gang is jengi.
Thanks, do you mean a guild as in what I am in as a player or a ‘phantom’ guild they are in in the course of the game?
I’m guessing Aaron means a guild in terms of lore, not in terms of gameplay (these are similar but not exactly the same).
There is this lore blib from the Movement of the World
The guilds of Tyria have grown and expanded, despite the destruction of the Battle Isles. Balthazar helped raise a new temple in Lion’s Arch, stepping on the hearthstone of the construction and opening a gate there to the Mists, so that heroes of each world could compete in contest. But these guilds are not racially aligned as they were in the past—no longer restricted merely to humans, they accept heroes of all societies into their halls.
The Asura easily fit into the guild system, using guilds as they would any other krewe designed for a task. To the Charr, the guilds are like warbands. They do not replace the loyalty the Charr hold to their legion but instead allow them unique opportunities to display the strength of their race and increase their own personal reputations as ferocious combatants. Norn are always eager for a fight, and their loyalty to friends makes them a blessing to any combat force. Sylvari bring unique and unpredictable strengths to a guild, and are eager to enter into any danger simply for the experience of it.
Guilds are a prominent force in Tyria, taking on challenges that individual adventurers fear to face, and braving even the most dangerous opponents. It is said that if there is any hope for the races of Tyria to find peace, it will come from the guilds and their atmosphere of cooperation and unity.
What Diovid said, although the lore outline exists to accommodate the gameplay implementation. Essentially, all you need for a guild is a long-term goal your characters can agree upon and cooperate in pursuing.
As for the norn- they do have a couple loose coalitions that could be described as gangs (the Wolfborn, arguably the Sons of Svanir) but it’s worth bearing in mind that these are so much of an exception the model doesn’t even have a name. Norn culture simply does not lend itself to any formal structures. You could have a group of friends, you could spice it up by calling it a hunting party or a ‘jengi’, you could give the group a name on top of it, but it sounds in your question like you might be looking for something more structured than that.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
(edited by Aaron Ansari.1604)
Basically what I am after is a way to refer to my characters as a group in a way that fits with lore and their existing backstories. It sounds like a guild (whether or not the equivalent word is used in another language, or even if each race uses a slightly different word to fit in their culture). I assume, just like in player guilds, there are no minimum/maximum limits on size?
I assume, just like in player guilds, there are no minimum/maximum limits on size?
Not that I’m aware of. Of course there is a limit on one’s ability to coordinate between one another in any organization so that puts some sort of limit on the size of guilds.
Other than that though, in lore guilds have been so large and powerful that their conflicts caused continent-wide wars: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/The_Guild_Wars. Note that the Guild Wars take place before the events of GW1 and that GW1 in turn takes place 250 years before GW2. The guilds have greatly declined in importance since the guild wars (although that depends on whether one sees present day organizations, like the orders, as guilds or not), with the possible exceptions of Ascalon’s Chosen (in GW1) and Destiny’s Edge (in GW2).
Near the other extreme, the aforementioned Destiny’s Edge, the most famous guild in recent history, only consisted of six people at its height. In GoA a group of four discusses whether they could be a guild, and the small number never comes up. So no, no minimum/maximum limits.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
Interesting, I had just assumed you had to have a couple hundred people before you were a guild. Knowing there is no lower limit changes things somewhat. I had never thought of DE as a guild but it does what I want in having members of all races under one ‘banner’ in a way that I can weave into their stories.
I wish the PS would let us put in stuff like that and have it visible to people. It would be ideal in a RP environment.
1.) I would say the Norn’s equivalent would either be steadings or the different spirit followers….like the wolfborn, or followers of Raven, and such.
although I know Norn are fiercely independent and tend to not have organized groups.
2.) I would say the ones who interact with Lion’s arch would tend to be the MOST accepting. Norn in general would be accepting of anybody who is strong or worthy in battle.
3.) don’t know
4.) not that I’m aware of, since Rox wanted to join Rhytlok’s warband.
1) Charr have warbands at the smallest level, with Asura it is krewes, Sylvari are groves or something, humans, well, plenty of terms. What is the equivalent for Norns?
Norns are extreme individualists. The closest thing might be a homestead, but that would in essence be the family unit. In fact Norn have demonstrated so much individualism that the existence of Hoelbrak (as seen in the game) is very odd. Well maybe the big ice-dragon forced them to work together a bit more.
3) Are all Asura in a krewe always members of the same college?
Nope. You can even have humans as part of a krewe (mind you they’d have a very low rank and probably be used as cannon fodder). Well I guess it depends on the krewe leader. Someone like Gadd was more than happy to have humans in the krewe, if only because of how disposable they were.
4) Are all Charr in a warband always members of the same legion?
Commonly so. But remember in the personal story we can recruit members from different legions to join our warband.
4) Are all Charr in a warband always members of the same legion?
Commonly so. But remember in the personal story we can recruit members from different legions to join our warband.
Those gladium were required to change legion loyalty, however, and it was remarked to be a very unusual thing- basically you only got to do it because you had a tribune in your pocket. By the time they were part of your warband, they were the same legion as you also.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.