Six Magicians And A Circus
The Elder Dragonic Cycle
In “The Movement Of The World” a radically altered Tyria is presented to humanity. The Six have departed into the Mists, leaving the governance of the planet to six new godlike creatures: The Elder Dragons. The life-cycle of these serpents can be likened to that of bears. Both are positioned highly in their respective food-chains; both are selective in their diets; and each spends proportionally more time sleeping than awake. Indeed, it seems that everything an Elder Dragon does is designed to ensure that it can enjoy as comfortable a slumber as possible.
When Did The Cycle Begin?
There was a time when magic was “wild”. Although this was a period within recent memory, it suggests that there was a similar interval in which the Elder Dragons enjoyed their diet – magic – without contest. Presumably, however, at some point this situation changed. It is this juncture that may have motivated the serpents to begin casting spells intended to harvest magic from those with whom they were competing, a process we have come to know as “corruption”.
It goes without saying that corrupting minions involves the consumption of some of the magic that the Elder Dragons would prefer to feed on. However, the net return of corrupting must be in the dragons’ favor. Thus, it is better for them to corrupt than not to corrupt.
But Elder Dragonic corruption may not have initially been as effective as it is now. Different creatures may have offered varying levels of resistance to the original spells cast by the serpents. In other words, the dragons may have learned how to corrupt their minions.
Evolution: It’s An Inextricable Part Of The Guild Wars 2 World
In 1326AE Tequatl the Sunless evolved. “It has been gathering power in the depths. It is faster, stronger, deadlier. It has returned to devour and destroy. [Tequatl the Sunless] has evolved.” This champion of Zaithan joined a handful of other creatures within Tyria also said to have evolved: a destroyer, a husk, a toxic hybrid – even maybe grawl (whom human scholars theorize may have evolved into charr and charr scholars theorize may have evolved into humans).
Evolution. It’s an inextricable part of the Guild Wars 2 World.
The Importance Of Evolution
The evolution of Tequatl the Sunless, the toxic hybrid, the destroyer and the husk is important because it is as much an enhancement of their intelligence as it is the adaptation of their respective biologies. Tequatl didn’t just get stronger, he also paraded “an kitten nal of new attacks and lethal tricks”; the toxic hybrid grew bigger and adapted so quickly to the fighting-styles of those against whom it battled that Kasmeer Meade was heard to exclaim, ““I’ll be kitten ed if it isn’t learning as it goes”.” To begin with, husks are normally quite stupid, but evolution heralds a larger size and a new level of cunning comprised of novel skills and abilities.
In each and every case, a process of change is presented that involves adaptation in all of it’s forms, including learning. Tyria lives. Don’t let the seemingly-static nature of mundane everyday activities fool you: The creatures you fight against, at least from a lore point of view, truly do adapt. To date, however, only a select few have been used to demonstrate this.
Elder Dragons And The Process Of Learning
Having demonstrated that the process of evolution within Tyria involves learning, let us proceed with our speculation, which is precisely this – that Elder Dragons may have had to learn how to corrupt other beings. For them, this may have been a procedure of experimental spell-casting, until each serpent settled upon an effective spell or spells. Realistically, if developing a model of corruption did involve learning, in my opinion said learning occurred during the serpents’ waking hours. Moreover, the rate at which they learned was probably dependent on three variables:
1. The amount of time they were awake for (or, if you’d prefer, how much time it took for them to consume enough magic to return to sleep);
2. The number of test subjects available to them.
Of course, not every reptile developed the same kind of spell. Factors such as competition with other Elder Dragons may have influenced the direction that each took in developing their respective models of corruption. Kralkatorrik, Jormag and Zaithan seem to have settled upon predominantly mammalian targets for their spell(s). Primordus has largely abandoned pre-existing beings in favor of creating minions from scratch. Bubbles also appears to create minions directly. Thus, with each cycle of awakening the model of corruption practiced by an Elder Dragon could well have become highly specialized, so much so that it becomes increasingly difficult for a model to radically adapt to major changes in the kinds of potential minions available.
The Consequence Of The Coming Of Humans And Sylvari To Tyria
For the most part, those Elder Dragons who target pre-existing beings can integrate new arrivals into the ranks of their minions. Thus, although humans (probably) came from the Mists (certainly, it is widely accepted that at least some of the Six came from the Mists) they were biologically similar to many of the other creatures that the Elder Dragons had successfully corrupted in the past, making their assimilation into minions straightforward. What has not been so simple, however, is the dragons’ ability to counter some of the spells associated with the magic of the Six. These spells represent new forms of energy manipulation that the serpents have had very little exposure to (of the six reptiles, Zaithan was probably the most familiar with the magic of the human gods). One spell in particular – the ritual practiced by both the Forgotten (on Glint) and the Pact (on a risen chicken in Arah EXP)) is so rarely employed that the dragons have not yet been able to develop an effective response to it. (It is worth noting that the spells of the Six are effective at cleansing minions, rather than the land itself.)
The situation is nowhere near as clear-cut when we consider the coming of sylvari to Tyria. Not only did they bring new forms of energy manipulation, biologically they were radically different to any of the other magic-users targeted by the reptiles. Thus, the sylvari have been able to cleanse the corruption of the land by both Zaithan and Kralkatorrik. The newness of the sylvari is, in my opinion, the primary reason why they appear resistant to Elder Dragonic spells and also why their magic is so effective at cleansing it (sylvari magic seems to be more effective at cleansing the land itself, rather than individual minions). But this does not mean that the models of corruption employed by the dragons could not be adapted to assimilate them. The problem, however, as I have previously suggested, is that they need time and test subjects and although, for example, Zaithan may have been working toward incorporating sylvari into the ranks of his minions, he 1) lacked the time, having been killed before he could succeed and 2) lacked sufficient test subjects (most of his initial subjects died and one subject who may well have become a minion (i.e. the mad sylvari) was liberated through physical intervention by the Pact before this could be accomplished).
Some consider that at least three forms of evidence demonstrate that sylvari resist Elder Dragon corruption for magical reasons only. Most players will be familiar with the corrupted stumps of Sparkfly Fen, the corrupted tree of Orr, and various branded plants of the Brand (there are also mushrooms corrupted by Zaithan’s spell(s) in the Kessex Hills, although technically these are not plants but fungus). This evidence is considered sufficient demonstration of both Zaithan and Kralkatorrik’s ability to affect (i.e. corrupt) plants and that, therefore, because sylvari are plants it was not their unique biology that prevented either dragon (or Jormag, for that matter, since he has also tried to) from integrating sylvari into their models of corruption. However, it goes without saying that sylvari are plants of a far higher order than mere shrubs or trees. Given the scant examples of higher-order plants residing in areas affected by the corruption of either Zaithan or Kralkatorrik, it seems reasonable to conclude that although they did have the ability to corrupt simple plants, they never pursued the integration of every form of flora. In short, sylvari biology is too complex to be corrupted by the present models of these three dragons, although the situation may change.
Furthermore, although at this point both human (i.e. the magic associated with the Six) and sylvari spells may be somewhat enigmatic to the Elder Dragons, it does not mean that with time they cannot learn effective counters to them. Thus, it would be premature of us to state that Kralkatorrik or Jormag will not adapt their models of corruption to integrate sylvari or will not be able to counter spells cast to cleanse their corruption.
Mordremoth And Sylvari
Mordremoth, unlike the other reptiles, may have developed a model of corruption specializing in the affectation of plants of all orders, giving him a head start in the process of assimilating sylvari into his ranks and deciphering some of their more cryptic forms of energy manipulation. Thus, Mordremoth may be able to affect mammals, but to nowhere-near the extent to which he can corrupt plants, leading to a scenario precisely the opposite to that with which we are familiar – namely, mammals may be largely resistant to Mordremoth’s corruption, whereas plants are almost universally not.
Conclusion
It has been my intention in this post to provide a plausible explanation of why Elder Dragon corruption can be countered by both the Forgotten ritual and also sylvari spell(s). From this explanation, it is also possible to speculate that so-called sylvari resistance to Elder Dragonic corruption may not continue indefinitely. In essence, this explanation likens the current situation in Tyria to a state of war between the Elder Dragons and their potential minions, in which one side may develop new ways to counter the other’s magic and vice versa, so that nothing is ever truly certain and no one side can rest assured of victory.
The Great Jungle Wurm of the Bloodtide Coast lays large round eggs, even spitting them during the meta-event “Triple Trouble”. By contrast, Maguuman Jungle Wurms (and all other wurms, for that matter) lay smaller eggs, resembling hens’ eggs.
I wouldn’t put much stock into the icon for when eggs since that icon is used for many non-edible (to players) eggs throughout the game. However, a different point of the same argument would be that the wurms are different species via the fact that one is three-headed and others are not (or at least to our knowledge).
Hence, any member of the seven classes – Elementalist, Engineer, Guardian, Mesmer, Necromancer, Thief, and Warrior – is a magician.
By lore, the engineer does not use magic directly. And it is likely that the warrior is the same – at least given the descriptions of fighters in the novels, but it is more questionable. Rangers, which you didn’t mention, are outright called to use magic in GW2.
The life-cycle of these serpents can be likened to that of bears. Both are positioned highly in their respective food-chains; both are selective in their diets; and each spends proportionally more time sleeping than awake. Indeed, it seems that everything an Elder Dragon does is designed to ensure that it can enjoy as comfortable a slumber as possible.
I have to disagree on this assessment. Sadly I do not have the books on me so I cannot direct quote but in Sea of Sorrows, Captain Whiting says something along the lines of “now is the time of the Elder Dragons and of Orr. The end of man is near.” Similarly, Glint in Edge of Destiny said that the dragon’s ravaged the world until nothing was left and they fell sated. While Glint’s line was not the complete truth given that she hid races durring the previous rise (unless she speaks iif an older case), it does not allude to the Elder Dragons being akin to bears in habit.
And we do not know exactly how long the dragons remain awake.
To me, it feels more like they try to stay awake but there is not enough food for them all so they run out and hibernate to let it regrow. The defeat of Zhaitan may change this, making the other five stronger and so forth with each Elder Dragon death.
There was a time when magic was “wild”. Although this was a period within recent memory, it suggests that there was a similar interval in which the Elder Dragons enjoyed their diet – magic – without contest.
The line a about magic being wild comes from Thruln the Lost, which is a questionable source in of itself. The interviews with Angel McCoy mentioning that the Elder Dragons awake when the magic in the world is high indicates that magic was akin to now in previous rises, which is what Thruln speaks of. Unless the magic still in the Bloodstones are still significant enough to change the feel of magic in the world.
Because of the two points above, I do not think that corrupting is better for dragons in feeding than not – but that they’re trying to rule, not just consume.
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
This champion of Zaithan joined a handful of other creatures within Tyria also said to have evolved: a destroyer, a husk, a toxic hybrid – even maybe grawl (whom human scholars theorize may have evolved into charr and charr scholars theorize may have evolved into humans).
These are all completely different situations. The destroyer and husk are experiments in CoE – unnatural. The Hybrid is similarly unnatural and utilizes the transformation capabilities that are natural (but underplayed in GW2) to the Krait. And the crawl is complete poppykitten when considered by players as we know grawl likely predates humanity and are apes not felines like charr.
None of these cases are akin in any form to Tequatl as far as we know.
Evolution. It’s an inextricable part of the Guild Wars 2 World.
It really isn’t by all accounts we hold, as there is not yet any solid indication if proper evolutionary situations.
The evolution of Tequatl the Sunless, the toxic hybrid, the destroyer and the husk is important because it is as much an enhancement of their intelligence as it is the adaptation of their respective biologies. Tequatl didn’t just get stronger, he also paraded “an kitten nal of new attacks and lethal tricks”; the toxic hybrid grew bigger and adapted so quickly to the fighting-styles of those against whom it battled that Kasmeer Meade was heard to exclaim, ““I’ll be kitten ed if it isn’t learning as it goes”.” To begin with, husks are normally quite stupid, but evolution heralds a larger size and a new level of cunning comprised of novel skills and abilities.
The husk and destroyer don’t really show any expanded intelligence, but does show eveolved defensive capabilities – as does Bjarl, whom is the icebrood equivalent of the Evolved Husk and Evolved Destroyer.
Tequatl and the Toxic Hyrbid are, as said, entirely separate situations – both from each other and the husk and destroyer.
Having demonstrated that the process of evolution within Tyria involves learning, let us proceed with our speculation, which is precisely this – that Elder Dragons may have had to learn how to corrupt other beings.
The situation of Tequatl becoming smarter sounds more like learning from failure as it was never killed before the update. So I am not sure how “evolution involves learning” (which given half of your demonstration of such is from Inquest experiments).
Though the speculation itself doesn’t need your proclamations on evolution in Tyria.
Of course, not every reptile developed the same kind of spell. Factors such as competition with other Elder Dragons may have influenced the direction that each took in developing their respective models of corruption.
Kralkatorrik, Jormag and Zaithan seem to have settled upon predominantly mammalian targets for their spell(s). Primordus has largely abandoned pre-existing beings in favor of creating minions from scratch. Bubbles also appears to create minions directly. Thus, with each cycle of awakening the model of corruption practiced by an Elder Dragon could well have become highly specialized, so much so that it becomes increasingly difficult for a model to radically adapt to major changes in the kinds of potential minions available.
I have to disagree with this assessment. We have been told via interview(GuildMag issue 9) that Primordus is very much capable of corrupting living beings. We also see Jormag corrupting ice elementals in Dredgehaunt as well as using bits and pieces of many things to make the Dragonspawn in Edge of Destiny. Zhaitan can be seen corrupting corpses, living beings, plants, and even water and spirits. Kralkatorrik is seen corrupting anything physical – land, beings, and lightning even.
But when we look at the primary means of corruption, it is far more specific, and the diversification that spreads out corruption falls to champions and side effects (or in Jormag’s case, Sons of Svanir).
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Thus, although humans (probably) came from the Mists (certainly, it is widely accepted that at least some of the Six came from the Mists) they were biologically similar to many of the other creatures that the Elder Dragons had successfully corrupted in the past, making their assimilation into minions straightforward.
It isn’t supposed. It is confirmed fact that humanity came from the Mists, and the Six are said to have preceded them, but not by much. Said by Ree, Jeff, and Angel. This is no mystery. The mystery falls to:
- What world did they come from?
- Were it Duuum, Lyssa, and Abaddon – or some predecessor of them – that came with Dwayna, Melandru, and Balthazar?
As to the ability to corrupt humanity, I would place it not to similarity to pre-existing races, but instead to that the Elder Dragons seem capable of corrupting anything – or rather, almost anything. What that “almost anything” is, humanity lack but Forgotten and sylvari have/had.
What has not been so simple, however, is the dragons’ ability to counter some of the spells associated with the magic of the Six. These spells represent new forms of energy manipulation that the serpents have had very little exposure to (of the six reptiles, Zaithan was probably the most familiar with the magic of the human gods). One spell in particular – the ritual practiced by both the Forgotten (on Glint) and the Pact (on a risen chicken in Arah EXP)) is so rarely employed that the dragons have not yet been able to develop an effective response to it. (It is worth noting that the spells of the Six are effective at cleansing minions, rather than the land itself.)
If I am understanding you right, you seem to be claiming that the dragons are capable of countering the Six’s magic… Then say at the end here that they cannot, stating as if the Forgotten ritual (which predates the Six if the Priory scholar is right) is of the Six.
Please clarify.
The situation is nowhere near as clear-cut when we consider the coming of sylvari to Tyria. Not only did they bring new forms of energy manipulation, biologically they were radically different to any of the other magic-users targeted by the reptiles. Thus, the sylvari have been able to cleanse the corruption of the land by both Zaithan and Kralkatorrik. The newness of the sylvari is, in my opinion, the primary reason why they appear resistant to Elder Dragonic spells and also why their magic is so effective at cleansing it (sylvari magic seems to be more effective at cleansing the land itself, rather than individual minions). But this does not mean that the models of corruption employed by the dragons could not be adapted to assimilate them. The problem, however, as I have previously suggested, is that they need time and test subjects and although, for example, Zaithan may have been working toward incorporating sylvari into the ranks of his minions, he 1) lacked the time, having been killed before he could succeed and 2) lacked sufficient test subjects (most of his initial subjects died and one subject who may well have become a minion (i.e. the mad sylvari) was liberated through physical intervention by the Pact before this could be accomplished).
That seems to be the thought of certain sylvari as presented in-game by the Pale Reavers. But I’d note that they had plenty of time to test on the Forgotten since according to the Priory, they are one of the oldest civilizations known – including that of the other elder races like the dwarves and jotun.
The mad sylvari seems to have been a typical prisoner of war example and torture-to-interrogate situation. I wouldn’t think it to be a case of experimentation.
Also, sylvari are not that biologically different to the other plants creatures beyond their connection to the Dream – treants, aloes, stalkers, ibolgas, etc. All exist in the world and then some. And we see Zhaitan and Kralkatorrik corrupt plants (as you point out). I don’t think biology has anything to do with it.
And lastly, the sylvari haven’t purified any of Kralkatorrik’s corruption… Unless you know something I do not. Secluded Glen isn’t a purification of the Dragonbrand, if that is your line of thought, as Killeen was buried on the Dragonbrand’s edge.
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Most players will be familiar with the corrupted stumps of Sparkfly Fen, the corrupted tree of Orr, and various branded plants of the Brand (there are also mushrooms corrupted by Zaithan’s spell(s) in the Kessex Hills, although technically these are not plants but fungus). This evidence is considered sufficient demonstration of both Zaithan and Kralkatorrik’s ability to affect (i.e. corrupt) plants and that, therefore, because sylvari are plants it was not their unique biology that prevented either dragon (or Jormag, for that matter, since he has also tried to) from integrating sylvari into their models of corruption. However, it goes without saying that sylvari are plants of a far higher order than mere shrubs or trees. Given the scant examples of higher-order plants residing in areas affected by the corruption of either Zaithan or Kralkatorrik, it seems reasonable to conclude that although they did have the ability to corrupt simple plants, they never pursued the integration of every form of flora. In short, sylvari biology is too complex to be corrupted by the present models of these three dragons, although the situation may change.
The lack of higher plants being corrupted comes from the lack of higher plants aside from sylvari. I would not hold it in high regard. And as I’ve found when mapping Bloodtide Coast and Sparkfly Fen recently, both zones in areas dealing with either shows far, far more than the previously used corrupted stumps. Fullgrown trees are twisted by Zhaitan in many areas. Also, all of these cases are shown to be mere byproducts. Unintentional spreadings of the corruption.
Mordremoth, unlike the other reptiles, may have developed a model of corruption specializing in the affectation of plants of all orders, giving him a head start in the process of assimilating sylvari into his ranks and deciphering some of their more cryptic forms of energy manipulation. Thus, Mordremoth may be able to affect mammals, but to nowhere-near the extent to which he can corrupt plants, leading to a scenario precisely the opposite to that with which we are familiar – namely, mammals may be largely resistant to Mordremoth’s corruption, whereas plants are almost universally not.
Leading back to the grand diversity of things corruptable by dragon’s mentioned above, I think this would fall under Mordremoth’s preference being on plants, not animals. Rather than “Mordremoth learned to corrupt plants and not animals” – it would just be “Mordremoth focuses/prefers corrupting plants.”
Of course this is all supposition still really because we don’t know the relevance of the Nightmare Hounds and Summoned Husks in Experimental Green Lab.
It has been my intention in this post to provide a plausible explanation of why Elder Dragon corruption can be countered by both the Forgotten ritual and also sylvari spell(s).
The issue is that it is more than just a single ritual which is immune to the dragon’s corruption in regards to the Forgotten. Rather, we are told that all Forgotten magic and magically-imbued artifacts are immune to being fed on or corrupted by the dragons – immune in the sense of indestructible to them (by all appearances). What makes the ritual so unique is the fact it gives a minion free will.
And this fact in turn hinders your theory – nice as it is – because the Forgotten were by all accounts of the Priory, not new and unknown to the Elder Dragons. The only foreseeable potential tie between the Forgotten and the sylvari lies in two forms:
- The sylvari were around and altered, or were made, by the Forgotten in the distant past.
- The Dream being the key, be it known to the Forgotten or it is as speculated to be part of the Mists.
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.