Guild Wars 2

The Thaumanova Reactor is one of the Seven Magical Wonders of Tyria. Recent interest in this facility has been piqued by the Fractal further detailing the explosion that occurred within it. I recently returned to it after reading a number of posts on this forum discussing it.
The story of the Thaumanova Reactor explosion begins in the Chaos Crystal Cavern in the Iron Marches. Located due west of Old Piken Ruins waypoint, the cavern is filled with multi-coloured crystals. It is also the staging area for the constant porting in and out of various creatures from within Tyria. At one end of the cavern there is a strange Asura gate. It is likely that the gate was used to transport crystals from the cavern to the Thaumanova Reactor, either by the Inquest or other Asuran scientists. Right now travelling via this gate is a one-way trip. You leave the cavern, but you don’t emerge from a corresponding gate at your destination. Instead, you are transported to a height above Bloodfin Lake. There is a possibility that this is because the original destination gate was destroyed in the Thaumanovic explosion. If this is the case, it would suggest that the “twinning effect” within the cavern causing it to exhibit similar phenomena to that of the reactor complex could be because of feedback through the gateway prior to the destruction of the link between the two locations. Alternatively, the explosion may have generated a harmonic wave that affected the crystals in the cavern causing them to oscillate at the same frequency as the crystals within the reactor and so producing the observed effects. If the gate was used to transport the crystals, it is likely that the destination gate was located within the Thaumanova Reactor facility.
The Thaumanova Reactor Complex exhibits similar phenomena to that observed within the Chaos Crystal Cavern, but nowhere near as extensive in scale. For example, within the cavern you will encounter almost every race of creature (humans, krait, ettin, harpies, dredge, imp etc etc), but at the reactor you will only ever encounter a select few. Moreover, you encounter many more forms of wildlife at the facility. According to the Wiki, the following creatures can be encountered at the reactor.

Creature
Disorientated
Rock Dog
Yes
Hyena
Yes
Polar Bear
Yes
Wolf
Yes
Ice Drake
Yes
Marsh Drake
No (located outside the facility but within the general vicinity)
Salamander Drake
Yes
Scaled Drake
Yes
Earth Elemental
Yes
Ice Elemental
Yes
Tar Elemental
Yes
Hawkeye Griffon
Yes
Fire Imp
Yes
Ice Imp
Yes
Alpine Minotaur
Yes
Minotaur
Yes
Chaos Beast
TBC
Red Ooze
TBC
Toxic Ooze
No (this creature is native to the facility)
Arctic Crab
Yes
Freshwater Crab
Yes
Hermit Crab
No (this creature appears to be native to the facility)
Steam Hulk
Yes
Steam Mechataur
Yes
Jungle Skelk Lurker
No (located outside the facility but within the general vicinity)
Reef Skelk
No (this creature appears to be native to the facility)
Breeze Ride
No (this creature appears to be native to the facility

I have taken the liberty to document whether the various creatures encountered within the facility are disorientated. Some of the foes encountered within the facility clearly are not disorientated. A quick glance at this list demonstrates that the kind of foes you encounter in the Chaos Crystal Cavern are not nearly as frequently represented within the reactor facility. For sure, a number of champions spawn within the facility, such as a veteran Svanir and a veteran Rotting Oakheart, but for the most part disorientated creatures are represented by wildlife. But there is an anomaly here: the steam creatures. They are an unusual creature to find at the facility. (On a side note I do not know whether you encounter steam creatures in the Chaos Crystal Cavern could someone please clarify this: Have you ever encountered them in the cavern?) If anything, you could argue that the reactor’s porting abilities are far-reaching, affecting even the creatures of Lornar’s Pass. This would explain why the steam creatures are represented within the facility. But then we strike an anomaly: the champion steam Ogre. This creature is not currently an observable naturally-occurring creature within Tyria. Furthermore, the homeland of the Ogres appears to be the Blazeridge Mountains, located due east of the Steamspurs, into which the steam creatures are currently pouring. So we are left with an intriguing question: How did the Ogres become steam creatures?
It is said that the explosion at the reactor tore the fabric of space and time. Given that the steam Ogre is not a currently naturally-occurring creature within Tyria, it follows that he is either: 1) from an alternative present (another dimension) or 2) a different part of Tyrian history (whether the past or the future). It seems of the various possibilities that the Ogre is probably from the future. And if this is the case, it seems safe to assume that the steam creatures in general are too.
Once again according to the Wiki the steam creatures come in the following forms:
Steam Ogre
Steam Brain
Steam Hulk
Steam Mechataur
Steamrider
This may be of significance. Let us return to the creatures encountered within the reactor facility. Given that only so many creatures are ported in and out of the facility, I have taken the liberty to list the possible origins of these creatures.

Creature (only disorientated)
Possible Port Point Of Origin
Alpine Minotaur
SD DC TF FS LP WF GF
Hyena
DP FoR BS FR IM PoA BW
Polar Bear
SD FS
Rock Dog
PoA GF DP BS IM KH HH
Wolf
SD TF LP GF DP FoR BS FR IM HH Qu
Ice Drake
SD DC TF FS LP WF
Salamander Drake
PoA FoR BS FR IM
Scaled Drake
TF PoA GF BW Qu BC CF SF MM
Earth Elemental
DC TF LP PoA GF DP FoR BS FR IM BW KH HH Qu CF MP MM SoD ML CS
Ice Elemental
SD DC TF FS LP WF GF FR MP ML CS
Tar Elemental
PoA DP FoR FR ML CS
Hawkeye Griffon
TF PoA GF FoR BS FR IM BC
Fire Imp
PoA FR
Ice Imp
SD DC TF FS LP WF
Minotaur
SD DC LP PoA WF GF DP BS FR IM HH
Steam Mechataur
LP
Steam Hulk
LP
Arctic Crab
SD FS
Freshwater Crab
TF LP GF HH

Now having noted the naturally-occuring habitats of the various creatures ported to and from the reactor facility, let’s collate the frequency with which creatures are being taken from each region.

Now having noted the naturally-occuring habitats of the various creatures ported to and from the reactor facility, let’s collate the frequency with which creatures are being taken from each region.
Region
No. of creatures possibly taken from region
Total
Brisban Wildlands
111
3
Metrica Province
11
2
Queensdale
111
3
Kessex Hills
11
2
Caledon Forest
11
2
Harathi Hinterlands
11111
5
Gendarran Fields
111111111
9
Bloodtide Coast
11
2
Sparkfly Fen
1
1
Malchor’s Leap
111
3
Cursed Shore
111
3
Straits of Devastation
1
1
Snowden Drifts
11111111
8
Lornar’s Pass
1111111111
10
Dredgehaunt Cliffs
111111
6
Timberline Falls
11111111
8
Mount Maelstrom
11
2
Frostgorge Sound
111111
6
Wayfarer Foothills
11111
5
Fireheart Rise
111111111
9
Diessa Plateau
111111
6
Plains of Ashford
111111111
9
Iron Marches
1111111
7
Blazeridge Steppes
1111111
7
Fields of Ruin
111111
6

From this table it seems safe to concede that the most unstable parts of Tyria from which creatures are being ported are 1) along the mountain range forming a natural border between the Plains of Ashford and the Blazeridge Steppes, 2) through Lornar’s Pass and 3) Frostgorge Sound, in particular the Dimotiki Waters (only because polar bears are native to only this and one other place and this is the only part of Tyria in which 1) Ice Drakes, 2) Quaggan and 3) Polar Bears all mingle). Furthermore, if we travel to the Plains of Ashford and visit Stonecrag Kraal we observe something interesting: Ogres, rock dogs, hyenas and hawkeye griffons all living together – indeed, rock dogs, hyenas and hawkeye griffons are Ogre pets (at least in this Kraal). This may explain why these creatures are routinely seen in the Thaumanova Reactor facility. It does not mean that their presence is desired however. The steam creatures are not modeled after any of them, save for the Ogres themselves. Instead, the steam creatures seem to be modeled after 1) Wind Riders, 2) Minotaurs (both Alpine and otherwise), and 3) Earth Elementals. Interestingly, Wind Riders appear native to the Thaumanova Reactor facility, whereas Minotaurs are commonplace in Lornar’s Pass; Earth Elementals are present in Lornar’s Pass and the Plains of Ashford. There may be a connection between all of this…

I need to make some corrections to this. In particular, I think that the Ice Elementals are not disorientated, whereas I thought that they were. Furthermore, I neglected to include Rock Drakes amongst the foes encountered in the facility. As it stands, the wiki (from which I garnered my information) does not note this.