Guild Wars 2

Ok so 1st saw the POI rata pten the other week in mount maelstrom while doing guild event so didn’t have time to escalate and such or finish it’s heart…I know it’s an ancient ruin that looks like a tomb/monument kinda thing…can someone please give me more info on this? Was it an ancient asuran settlement that was abandoned? Secret inquest city that was over run? Musarat? Any info at all ok it would be great since I love the asura!!!

dunnberry.2964:

Ok so 1st saw the POI rata pten the other week in mount maelstrom while doing guild event so didn’t have time to escalate and such or finish it’s heart…I know it’s an ancient ruin that looks like a tomb/monument kinda thing…can someone please give me more info on this? Was it an ancient asuran settlement that was abandoned? Secret inquest city that was over run? Musarat? Any info at all ok it would be great since I love the asura!!!

I think you asume an connection to Asura or Inquest due to the name being simular to Rata Sum?? That might be a wild assumption. Rata Sum as it currently is, is build on top of ancient ruins build by an unknown race. It is unknown if it was allready named Rata Sum or that the Asuran’s gave it the name. I can’t proof it but both Rata Sum and Rata Pten don’t feel like it is an asuran name. (asuran’s tend to use technical terms describing the purpose of the place, like metrica province, luminatus plant, hydro lab.)

The architecture does remind me of the architecture of the ruins of Rata Sum in gw1.

It even partially debunks the theory that the Mursaat build Rata Sum and named it is an anagram of Mursaat. Not saying that isn’t the case, but it makes it less logical if there is also a Rata Pten build by the same mysterious race.

It’s an abandoned asura settlement, supposedly dating back to around gw1 times (note that we couldn’t reach its part of the map in gw1). It’s currently being excavated by the Priory, hoping to find lost pre-Great Destroyer asuran knowledge.

It’s an old Asuran settlement, dating back to sometime when Orr was still thriving. As for why it was abandoned, we have no idea, though I could be wrong. The Asura had contact with humans before GW:EotN. It is just that they lost contact over the centuries, and weren’t seen above ground, that humans started thinking they were a myth.

I don’t have time to go there to look for evidence myself at the moment but I will do to to see if there is any hard evidence that it is asuran. The wiki isn’t always right so just cause it is there doesn’t make it so.

Specially when this page has been subject to a revert war on the wiki between two well known wiki-editors there. This was near the moment they both got banned for 6 months.

But I’ll promise to see if there is conclusive evidence to find somewhere later today or tomorrow. The ruins look asura, but even with Rata Sum it was hard to tell wich elements where asuran and wich where by the mysterious race that build it. It might very well that the asurans adepted the style cause they liked it and found it intreging.

1. The heart-NPC offers an Early Asuran Relief Rubbing with the description “These patterns must date all the way back to when Orr was still a thriving place”
2. A Berserk Ancient Defense Golem can spawn in Rata Pten (although it looks just like any golem in gw2, i.e. modern design)
3. There is a destroyed asuran gate(again, gw2-design)
4. there is a structure that looks just like the ress shrines from the asuran territory in gw1

But there is also Historian Ennail talking to himself: “Seems like some sort of dialect. Maybe dwarfen? No, that doesn’t match up. Where else have I seen this?”

oh, and inb4 rata pten is an anagram for the actual name of the seer-race

LotKrotan.9467:

oh, and inb4 rata pten is an anagram for the actual name of the seer-race

0_0

LotKrotan.9467:

oh, and inb4 rata pten is an anagram for the actual name of the seer-race

Rata Sum → Mursaat

Rata Pten → Netrpaat

From here on out I’ll call the seers the netrpaat. XD

mercury ranique.2170:

I think you asume an connection to Asura or Inquest due to the name being simular to Rata Sum?? That might be a wild assumption.

Except for the fact that it is explicitly stated in game to be Asuran.

mercury ranique.2170:

I don’t have time to go there to look for evidence myself at the moment but I will do to to see if there is any hard evidence that it is asuran. The wiki isn’t always right so just cause it is there doesn’t make it so.

I looked into it deeply, it is asuran.

Explorer Cryptcutter offers and “Early Asuran Relief Rubbing” (no wiki page, sadly) which has an inscription saying that it dates back to when Orr was still thriving – e.g., before the asura surfaced in Eye of the North. And for the heart activity itself, you can dig up “Asuran Relics” (again, no wiki page sadly). There is, as LotKrotan mentioned, a Priory scholar suggesting an old Dwarven dialect, but it may turn out to be old Asuran – that whole “half mathematical, half structured” language.

But these ruins interestingly match the ruins of GW1, and there’s also another set of ruins within Lightfoot Passage of the same design, near the vista.

Truth be told, Rata Pten is practically full out proof that the asura were on the surface before Eye of the North – when and why they left is unknown, but this is heavy evidence to support Rata Sum and the other Tarnished Coast ruins being asuran structures that were abandoned. This in turn explains why the ruins in the Tarnished Coast used the same design as the structures in the Central Transfer Chamber, structures outright confirmed to be asuran, and fits in with Linsey Murdock’s sharing of Jeff Grubb’s statement that the ruins once belonged to a magical race.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

mercury ranique.2170:

I think you asume an connection to Asura or Inquest due to the name being simular to Rata Sum?? That might be a wild assumption.

Except for the fact that it is explicitly stated in game to be Asuran.

mercury ranique.2170:

I don’t have time to go there to look for evidence myself at the moment but I will do to to see if there is any hard evidence that it is asuran. The wiki isn’t always right so just cause it is there doesn’t make it so.

I looked into it deeply, it is asuran.

Explorer Cryptcutter offers and “Early Asuran Relief Rubbing” (no wiki page, sadly) which has an inscription saying that it dates back to when Orr was still thriving – e.g., before the asura surfaced in Eye of the North. And for the heart activity itself, you can dig up “Asuran Relics” (again, no wiki page sadly). There is, as LotKrotan mentioned, a Priory scholar suggesting an old Dwarven dialect, but it may turn out to be old Asuran – that whole “half mathematical, half structured” language.

But these ruins interestingly match the ruins of GW1, and there’s also another set of ruins within Lightfoot Passage of the same design, near the vista.

Truth be told, Rata Pten is practically full out proof that the asura were on the surface before Eye of the North – when and why they left is unknown, but this is heavy evidence to support Rata Sum and the other Tarnished Coast ruins being asuran structures that were abandoned. This in turn explains why the ruins in the Tarnished Coast used the same design as the structures in the Central Transfer Chamber, structures outright confirmed to be asuran, and fits in with Linsey Murdock’s sharing of Jeff Grubb’s statement that the ruins once belonged to a magical race.

That’s a little anticlimactic, but it makes a lot of sense. Even in GW1 the structures all seemed perfectly sized for Asura. But this still does provide a lot of interesting questions, the ruins were after all ruins and there were plenty that were on slants etc so it’s possible they’re quite ancient.

Which is more likely though? That this what was left after the Asura went underground, or that there were Asura living on the surface while others lived underground?

Keep in mind that the ruins’ origins are unknown to the general asuran population. Given all the previously said and this fact, my theory is that it was part of an asuran team – or group of teams – that surfaced in their own “working independently” kind of concept, and were soon enough either wiped out or forced to retreat and never mentioned a “surface” world – or did and were thought insane by a race that didn’t know a thing like a “sky” could possibly exist.

All very Interesting thanks for the info guys! Hopefully I can go back around there and try to dig up anything extra too…really wish we knew more about the asura past pre EOTN

Just to add on this. I had some time to dig around and can confirm that it is very likely to be Asuran. After going there I went to do some daily while i was around. First off all, on the north west side of the ruins on top of the edge of the map (wich you can’t reach) there are some more ruins with the familiar shapes of triangles. indicating the complex was rather big. I went into the north easter direction and reached the southern entry to Quandry Scratch to find that this too had those same asuran ruins. as well as elements in the cave system as well.

I don’t think that this was a forgotten branch of Asura’s. Besides that Quandry Scratch could be used as an entry to the Depths of Tyria, there is also remnants of an asura gate near the ruins possibly indicating access directly to the transferchamber.

So I do think that this settlement cause of the size, the gate and nearby caverns was known to the asurans back then. The reason they are forgotten now remains unclear.

What is interesting is that in Quandry Scratch is a asuran consule. in the heart there you can tamper with it to get 3 inquest blueprints. Indicating that this was indeed an early inquest base or that this was visited by the inquest more recently. The first indicates that the inquest is older then we so far suspected. The second is indicating there is (or was) something important bout these ruins.

Or that console was stolen, skritt do like their shinies.

The Inquest were said to be a “recent group” by ArenaNet, so I doubt that they predate the asura’s surfacing, especially considering that the Inquest was formed partially because of the knowledge lost from said surfacing. They certainly are not over 250 years old.

“Inquest founders looked upon the amount of knowledge lost when Quora Sum was wiped out by the destroyers, and judged such a signal drop to be complete anathema to their purposes.”
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/That_Old_College_Try

So its either “The Inquest were hear” or “the skritt stole from Inquest.”

Unfortunately, it is one of many dialogues that cease to be available once the heart is complete, but it is said that Quandry Scratch was an Inquest base. Iirc, their skritt test subjects rebelled, drove them out, and established New Skrittstead over their base.

Rata Pten = Anet Trap.

What if the settlement that was Pten, was from a separate branch of asura? It seems like the asura descendents from GW1 like the city surname ‘Sum’ as they have had at least 2 cities that share that. Perhaps the ‘Pten’ asura did interract with Orr and other races, perhaps they were just studying those races.

LotKrotan.9467:

2. A Berserk Ancient Defense Golem can spawn in Rata Pten (although it looks just like any golem in gw2, i.e. modern design)

But wait…wasn’t the G.O.L.E.M. initiative (250 years ago) what created the first asuran golems? How did they have golems in Rata Pten? Hmm…

I may be wrong though.

Golems have existed long before. The G.O.L.E.M. project seen in Eye of the North is just a boosting project to Oola’s pre-existing designs (which were likely based off of older golem designs) in order to better combat the destroyers.

Ah, right. Silly me, didn’t think of that actually…

It would be hilarous if the asura think Rata Sum is on the ruins of a long dead race, when it is the ruins of older surface asura.

But what actually drove them down? They had a friendly existance with humans as far as we can tell. They arent a race from the previous dragon awakening. Maybe some sort of Asuran nations existed then, and they went to war, destroying almost everything they made. Why else would they need defense golems to kill anything foreign? The survivors had fled underground, and because of that they will do anything they can to avoid war now, even if they dont have records of why.

Beetle.2476:

It would be hilarous if the asura think Rata Sum is on the ruins of a long dead race, when it is the ruins of older surface asura.

But what actually drove them down? They had a friendly existance with humans as far as we can tell. They arent a race from the previous dragon awakening. Maybe some sort of Asuran nations existed then, and they went to war, destroying almost everything they made. Why else would they need defense golems to kill anything foreign? The survivors had fled underground, and because of that they will do anything they can to avoid war now, even if they dont have records of why.

Perhaps it was when they discovered the great magic in the depths of Tyria and built the Central Transfer Chamber right next to our good friend, the elder dragon Primordus. It’s possible that their gate system at the time couldn’t support the lower amount of magical energy that they could provide at the time and were forced to move into a safe location in the depths in order to power their gates. That way they were safe from others attempting to steal technology and had the ability to go anywhere in Tyria as their network of gates spread as far as Cantha and Elona. Pure speculation of course.

There’s nothing to really support there being asura gates in Cantha or Elona. The quests that took Factions and Nightfall characters to Eye of the North being canon would require Vekk, Ogden, and those other dwarves being underneath Kamadan, Lion’s Arch, and Kaineng City all at the same time. It is more likely that they are treated like the quests that take Nightfall characters to Factions and Prophecies (or Factions characters to Prophecies) – a simple mechanical devise that isn’t actual canon, more or less, since the events being talked about happened 3 years (and a few weeks/months) earlier (respectively).

The asura gates under Kamadan and Kaineng might actually have existed, but there’s no hard evidence for such. Just the gate beneath Lion’s Arch (as its mentioned in War in Kryta).

…why would the gates underneath Kaineng and Kamadan not be canon if we can access them both?

Sure, they use the same map and area as the one under LA, but there’re pretty obvious holes in the ground leading to the gates. And if the problem is identical story paths then much of the story in GW2 is false despite appearances to the contrary: how can Tybalt have been the one to sacrifice himself if the PC joined the Priory? The fact is that Tybalt is not alive in any timeline afterwards despite not seeing him in person. It is the same with the gates: they all exist, I’d just say that the event itself was re-used for convenience instead of the location.

Guild Wars reused many locations for missions and such, but that doesn’t mean that the locations themselves aren’t canon. The fact that the gates are underneath Kaineng and Kamadan supports their very existence. I doubt that it is similar to the ‘time travel’ quests that take place.

I would say personally that it is an iffy situation and that it could work either way. Because of their status of the game bridging quests there is reasonable doubt as to whether or not they are canon. Much like, as he said, the quest bring characters from the Nightfall story back to the prophecies story, even though nightfall happened years later. I do not think this means that they are not real though. In my opinion, if there was an asuran gate below Kamadan it would make for possibly the simplest way for the Order of Whispers to usher people in and out of Elona, but this is just speculation. Until more information comes out on the matter, though, that is all any of this is.

it is iffy indeed – mechanically, ArenaNet needed a way for people who might not have Prophecies to get to Eye of the North, since EOTN didn’t require Prophecies. Thus, we have three gates where canonically there might have only been one.

Or it could be that canonically those gates were there with their own dwarf/asura teams. That said, though, there’s little evidence apart from those quests – which may be purely mechanical – of dwarven or asuran presence in either continent.

@I See No Tomorrow: GW2’s story paths is actually a different case than the quests taking players into Eye of the North.

In the quests, you have one individual being placed on three different continents at the same time.

In the GW2 story paths, you have multiple individuals in the same story but only one individual is seen.

(And extensions of said scenarios in the same concept)

As Narcemus and drax said, it’s an iffy situation, though it is my opinion that it leans greatly towards the “just mechanics” side. Which is precisely what I was meaning. They may be there, but they are highly unlikely to be there in the scenario we saw them as, and they’re similarly likely to be there for mechanical purposes only.

It’s got nothing to do with re-used locations. It’s got to do with the fact that Vekk, Ogden, 2 other named dwarves who’s names I cannot recall, are all in these three separate line of events that happened at one single time. Three teams cannot go through the same asura gate and then blow up said asura gate immediately after to prevent destroyers from appearing. Furthermore, there’s no mention of destroyers in Cantha or Elona – and we go back to Cantha post-Eye of the North. The only real evidence to support the earthquakes and asura gates being in all three continents (and, btw, that’s one heck of a far reaching destroyer threat especially given how “far” the Elder Dragons’ influences spread in GW1) is the presence of Canthan and Elonian henchmen. However, Zho was in Eye of the North due to her travels (given the Black Moa scavenger hunt and her dialogue about being a guide), and only Herta makes mention of “volunteering” outside of her land.

It is possible that there could be three teams that all came through the gate near-simultaneously, and it was after the last time that the receiving gate got blown. That requires a lot of coincidence, though.

That would have been a tricky situation though Drax, since I think I believe hearing that only two gates can be attuned to each other at the same time. So you would have one leaving the gate, reattune, another group, reattune, another group. All of that before Vekk blows up the gate? Plus how much threat is there after it’s been changed so much. I would agree with Konig that it is highly unlikely that there were destroyers on those continents though.

Plus, it seems that the original asura gates could only be tuned to one location (at least without a lot of work), unlike GW2 asura gates (unlike what mechanics show), hence why Vekk had to destroy the gate rather than simply disabling or re-attuning it, and why there was a Central Transfer Chamber.