Guild Wars 2

Yesterday I was playing with a friend just known on the spot who is a huge fan of the White Mantles.
He was so passionate about the lore of GW and knew a lot about it that I gladly listened to his tellings, to the point that he was showing me around some interesting places that I noticed while exploring, but didn’t really know anything about.

In short I came to know the situation between Mursaat and White Mantles in GW1, which I played but couldn’t really remember all the details.
He told me that the Mursaat are a strong and ancient race of spellcasters that travel in other planes of existence.

He also said that the wall to the Tengu’s dominion in the Caledon Forest has this Mursaat-like statues carved in it, but somehow their heads are always covered by trees. The rest of the body, though, looks similar to those of the Mursaat.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/b/b3/Dominion_of_Winds_%28Caledon_Forest%29.jpg
If the image is not clear, I invite you to visit the place in game and see for yourselves.

Also he told me that this wall is said to have came out of nowhere in almost an istant, immediately appearing; also, he added that the wall appeared around the happening of the Great Tide that occured when Zhaitan awake from his sleep.

Since Tengu where present on Kryta and Cantha, but then they were forced to leave Cantha, and since the happening of this events, my hypothesis is:

Could it be that the Tengu, being forced to leave Cantha, decided to close themselves in their territory, and against the menace of a giant cataclism like the rise of the elder dragons, they asked Mursaat to prevent their homeland to be destroyed, and the least created a giant wall that would stop the waves? In exchange, the Tengu would secretly worship the Mursaat and dedicate themselves to them?

It sounds crazy, but here I’m providing some questions that need to be answered in order to disprove this theory:

1) Are Tengu still speaking about the Sky Above the Sky?
- If yes, they may be still preserving their religion while worshipping them, maybe encouraged by the fact that Mursaat travel between planes. The Sky Above the Sky could have been interpreted by Tengu like the plane of existence from which the Mursaat come.
- If no, maybe it’s because they dedicated themselves to the Mursaat.

2) The dates of the events:
- The great wall really appeared when the giant wave occured? If yes, it could be possible: if no, then this theory is compromised.
- The exodus of the Tengu from Cantha happened before or after the great wave?

3) Are Tengu ever being considered hostile by Krytans?
- If yes, then their confinement is more predictable and would not be considered suspect.
- If not, why they should close each doorway to other races by simply saying “We don’t trust you?” It would be logical to think they are hiding something.

4) Was the old territory where the dominion of the winds is located a forest with white mantles temples, or mursaat temples, or any magical place that could have influenced the Tengu or the Mursaat to come in contact?

If you have any more questions or know better then me, please let’s discuss. I’m looking forward to know if something like this could be possible.

I’ve been around the wall, which is a locale that strikes me as very interesting in how the story seems to be taking place. However, I don’t see the Mursaat-like structures. I really don’t.

I respect your theory, but consider it unlikely.

Alright I guess I have a few things to talk about here.

First thing I want to point out is that I have not heard anything about the wall appearing out of nowhere. From the history I read the tengu all gathered together in one spot (Sanctum Cay) after the Canthan tengu arrived with Zhaitan’s Tsunami right on their tail. After all the tengu of Tyria joined them they secluded themselves by building the wall. If there is any dialogue in game to prove me wrong here please provide it, though.

As to your questions.

1) I have not seen any dialogue in game about the Sky above the Sky recently though, but I have also not seen any diaogue in game that would call for inclusion of it either. I’ve seen dialogue between people trading, I’ve read about their distrust of the other races, I’ve read about their basic cultural breakdown, but I haven’t found any reason to ask about their religion. So this is neither a point for or against your theory.

2) I think I kind of answered this with my first paragraph.

3) Currently there is no sign of tengu as being hostile to Krytans, but there was hostility in the great past that was GW1. Plenty of hostility, when including the hostility between tengu and Canthans, for them to build a wall against humanity. I think the current closed door standard is more of a point of not knowing these other races well enough to trust them either, having such a bad history with humanity.

4) No. There was nothing about Sanctum Cay which had anything to do with the White Mantle. A few Krytan graveyards, a harbor, nothing else really. I do have to point out that there was a temple to the Mursaat located in the Riverside Province, which would be probably a few miles from the island. I guess this could be a point in your favor, but so far I find very little to point towards this theory.

On a side note, My personal opinion on those structure built every few feet, is that they are merely a throw back to a canthan style of architecture. They look very much like the roofing style of many canthan buildings.

I don’t quite see these statues, unless you mean the large cross-like things like the one above the gate. I doubt that’s really a statue. It just seems like adornment to me, shaped after bird wings rather than Mursaat appendages. Look at the bridge, same style structure like the cross above the gate, yet no head.

Those “mursaat like motifs” can be seen in far better view in Kessex Hills (no trees). There was a thread on it a long time ago and people were saying they looked like elephants then. It is also the design on the Shuttered Gate

It isn’t that “their heads” are covered by trees, but rather there is no head to it. If it were a mursaat, it’d be cut off just below the shoulders. It also lacks arms and legs.

Syrpharon.7491:

Also he told me that this wall is said to have came out of nowhere in almost an istant, immediately appearing; also, he added that the wall appeared around the happening of the Great Tide that occured when Zhaitan awake from his sleep.

Not… quite. The tengu built it after they arrived in Tyria. The timespan for how long it took to build it is unknown, but it was built within the past 100 years. Not date is given to when the “Tengu Wall” ‘appeared’ either.

Also, it’s Great Tsunami, not that it matters.

Syrpharon.7491:

Could it be that the Tengu, being forced to leave Cantha, decided to close themselves in their territory, and against the menace of a giant cataclism like the rise of the elder dragons, they asked Mursaat to prevent their homeland to be destroyed, and the least created a giant wall that would stop the waves? In exchange, the Tengu would secretly worship the Mursaat and dedicate themselves to them?

I don’t really seeing anything that ties tengu to mursaat. They secluded themselves due to the oppression recieved in Cantha, and erected the wall themselves for that same purpose – not to hold off the undead (or the wave that came out of nowhere as far as people knew). Now they’re fighting destroyers within that wall, and to get to Tyria they even fought through the Risen forces.

To your numbered points:

1. Like Narcemus said, there’s really no situation to bring up their religious faith. Even in GW1, this was rarely mentioned – and only by the Angchu at that. It should be noted that the only tengu we speak to, as far as we know, are Caromi – who were in Kryta at the time of GW1. It should further be noted that each of the Four Houses are of different culture and different locational origins (prior to arriving at the Dominion of Winds that is). So the Caromi afterlife belief may have been different than the Angchu’s from the beginning.
2. The wall appeared after the Great Tsunami. The tengu also arrived after the rise of Zhaitan (which is when the Great Tsunami occured). It was actually the giant wave that led the tengu to realize “we should go there” – they went towards the Great Tsunami’s origin because of the Great Tsunami and, supposedly, a prophecy foretelling peace for their people (or there was some reason that the Great Tsunami marked the time for them to travel to Tyria and seclude themselves).
3. Not in modern times, no. In the past, the Caromi were raiders. In modern times, they’re 100% neutral to all outside races. They closed their doors to others because of the persecution they received in the past – Cantha being the main example. They’re untrusting of other races because that trust with humans (if not more) has been broken before in the past.
4. No. It was Sanctum Cay, an abandoned (after the Cataclysm) island which held an old Smiting Monk monastery (aka a monastery to the then Five Gods). Except the fact that the White Mantle assaulted the Shining Blade there, there’s no tie to them.