Guild Wars 2

Honestly. It’s not even hinted at in Guild Wars 1. It was on the map of neither GW1 or GW2 (before now). So where did it come from? I’m genuinely confused. It’s a large, obvious cove that has turned what used to be a very open bay into two narrow passages from the Sea of Sorrows into the Strait of Malchor.

How do you “lose” that? How does something of this nature not appear earlier? It’s really just driving me nuts. Any reasonable speculation should be enough to relieve me of some of this crazy. Thanks.

It’s seems a volcanic island. The island could have been formed way afterward GW1. There’s an obvious crazy Sylvari who has been trapped for a long time.

Legion.4198:

It’s seems a volcanic island. The island could have been formed way afterward GW1. There’s an obvious crazy Sylvari who has been trapped for a long time.

Certainly possible. Could you provide his location? I didn’t spend more time there than I had to for the event due to server load lag.

It is a she sylvari. Eh think she is somewhere to the south on the isle.

Where did it come from… well so much else changed when dragons rose so that it was not in GW1 doesn’t matter that much I think.
It was not there before when GW2 started.

Mayyybe… it has been a floating isle untill it hit the bay. This questions when the sylvari ended up there and how though…. she could be from the/a different Pale Tree maybe.

Would have suggested that it could have just sudenly risen from the depths in some way (maybe not quite the Orr way, there would have been a new wave though smaller) but it is unlikely considering the sylvari that is there.

Uhm… maybe… it was there all along and rose with Orr, just no one knew it was there. I mean if we consider the known map is what is known by the races. It is very plausible there are things missing, things wrong etc.. Would be odd though as there have been sailing within the bay assumedly, and it is not all that far from other landmasses so it would be hard to miss.

Just throwing out ideas :P
I like the floating isle idea best I think

Crazy Syvari is named Owain, I think. Her eyes are bugged out, and she doesn’t seem to know what Tyria is.

Zeefa.3915:

Would be odd though as there have been sailing within the bay assumedly, and it is not all that far from other landmasses so it would be hard to miss.

This is what drives me crazy. There had been sailing through the Sea and Strait throughout GW1. I seriously doubt the island came up with Orr…it just doesn’t seem like it’d make a lot of sense. If that island was [dumb censor is dumb] and sunk by the Cataclysm, why not the surrounding terrain as well?

I realize that there is no transcontinental sailing now due to the DSD and (now formerly) Zhaitan, but that island is pretty big and is pretty darn close to inhabited mainland. Someone would have seen it.

I feel like they should have just found a better place for it to avoid this kind of confusion and brain-killing.

I’m thinking it just recently rose, particularly the coral-infested part.

And here, Anet had a great opportunity to expand upon the lore of Tyria, but all they did was say that the Consortium found it and the karka live there. A bit more would’ve been nice. They handled the Mad King lore very well, but this was just……..ugh.

ClintonD.8620:

I’m thinking it just recently rose, particularly the coral-infested part.

This has been my take on it.

Firstly, it’s huge and as said never mapped before. Secondly, a good portion of it looks like it was crafted by the karka – who are known to have some sort of fluid that they excrete that solidified into a very hard substance, said substance being used on their shells and their nests (hence why their shells are so kitten tough as they get older).

Secondly, the western island looks like its fairly volcanic. Not only do you have a hot geyser effect throughout the southeastern half of the western larger island, but the northern part seems to have gases which would indicate volcanic activity.

I’d presume that Southsun Cove was formed by a combination of new volcanic activity (possibly made by Primordus), and karkas building nests.

It being a new location would also explain why the krait, quaggan, and risen got through without any presence of karka (or krait remaining there, if there was nothing there originally there’d be no point since their culture thrives on slaves, and for quaggan there’d be less protection in the open waters from those undead; for the risen, the karka would be a formidable opponent to keep them at bay longer).

It would also explain why its only recently being explored.

Thank you Konig. Solid stuff. I had actually planned to post this on Guru, hoping to get your take, but I keep on getting login authorization errors over there. /sigh

A note on Owain. She is from Tyria. She was part of a crew that came to the island being sponsored by the consortium. My guess is she has only been their for a few months at most. She was a chef sent to research new ingredents.

Shes gone insane from the trauma. Anytime she mentions Tyria or her crew she starts to crack and break down crying.

The island has likely only been open for survey recently. Prior to this very few people would try and set up on an isle that close to Orr. The risen probably had a notable presence on the isle originally.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Secondly, a good portion of it looks like it was crafted by the karka – who are known to have some sort of fluid that they excrete that solidified into a very hard substance, said substance being used on their shells and their nests (hence why their shells are so kitten tough as they get older).

are you talking about this place? perhaps im overthinking it and there isnt really anything to it, but i couldnt help but wonder about why it looks like the entire area is dramatically built up around the remains of like 200 shipwrecks, and it all looks so much like something you would see underwater, giving the impression that it maybe was underwater at one point? possibly a hint towards the DSD and his destruction?
also cant help but wonder how theres water running down the sides of things lol
i havent looked through the entire zone yet though so maybe im missing something that explains it

Yes, that’s the material I refer to. It’s always surrounding their eggs and nests, so its definitely of karka origins.

I’m with the volcanic activity theory. They were probably just a few tiny islands of little note and a shallow part of the bay. Then the volcano on the northwest end of the zone erupted, probably while still underwater, raising a significant amount of the shallows above water. The volcano may have erupted as a side effect of orr’s rise (Orr rising probably had a big geological impact on the surrounding areas) or of it’s own volition.

The karka clearly love building their nests on warm volcanic vents, the karka, being driven into the bay by bubbles find this island that is rich in volcanic activity and see a paradise and begin building nests using various debris found on the ocean floor. They could also possibly be attacking risen as a food source. Crabs have been known to eat carrion, risen are just mobile carrion.

Then as the risen threat fades the karka have less food, and we’re able to go further into the bay without worry of attack. We come across the island, our silvari friend screws around a bit, and the karka find a new food source. Then they follow ships back to Lions Arch, and other karka beginning to get desperate for food leave their island and spread through the bay, in search of food, attacking other coastal settlements.

Another hint that it rose from the sea are all the shipwrecks over the island. I notice lots of wooden planks, even on higher places. Unless they were airships, I couldn’t think of any other way those could’ve gotten there.

At first arrival it reminded me immediately of the eastern shores of south Kryta, Tears of the Fallen, Stingray Strand. The island is located suspiciously close to where the Sacntum Cay mission Island used to be in GW 1.

Shipwrecks were all over the Crystal Desert, they don’t neccesarily mean something rose from the sea. The structures on the east look like sculptures the sea makes from cliffs. Maybe the shipwrecks are the remains of the flood that washed away Lion’s Arch.

That’s another thought. Perhaps the receding waters from Kryta brought loads of sediment and shipwrecks which got mixed in with the sediment already within the bay.

frans.8092:

Shipwrecks were all over the Crystal Desert, they don’t neccesarily mean something rose from the sea. The structures on the east look like sculptures the sea makes from cliffs. Maybe the shipwrecks are the remains of the flood that washed away Lion’s Arch.

Actually the shipwrecks in the Crystal Desert are there because of receding sea levels rather then rising sea levels due to an antire continent resurfacing.
If I’m not mistaken those ships belonged to a seafaring people that made their home in the shallow waters above what is now the desert, until waters lowered and the ships came to be stuck on the newly surfaced dunes.

Anyway judging by the flora of the island it has this whole coral reef theme going on, so my first thought is it used to be a relatively shallow reef a ship could easily get stuck in. Island surfaces due to volcanic activity, what’s left of the ships gets brought along above water.

I’m pretty sure Sanctum Cay was waaaay further north. Isn’t it the island the Tengu now inhabit? It wasn’t anywhere near where the grove now is any way.

Jelle.2807:

frans.8092:

Shipwrecks were all over the Crystal Desert, they don’t neccesarily mean something rose from the sea. The structures on the east look like sculptures the sea makes from cliffs. Maybe the shipwrecks are the remains of the flood that washed away Lion’s Arch.

Actually the shipwrecks in the Crystal Desert are there because of receding sea levels rather then rising sea levels due to an antire continent resurfacing.

Erm. They’re there because the flood of the Crystal Sea was pushed up when Abaddon was defeated. So yeah, it would be land surfacing (just not a continent nor the “re” part).

Pretty sure its not even on the GW1 map.

Oh, there is no question that this Island was never on the GW1 map. The question is how an island was built up in 250 years. It does seem possible because of the fact that it is near a volcanic island chain, it is inside of a bay, not deep ocean, and when the waters receded from Orr’s rising it would have dragged large amounts of sediment and shipwreck material out.

There being shipwrecks around makes sense if it was land raised through either the rising or Orr or the volcanic and tectonic activity that happened along with it (which we know had fairly far-reaching consequences, that’s what happens when you shift a major land-mass – everything else gets pushed). I’m fairly certain we can associate Southsun Cove with volcanic activity; I’m from New Zealand and my friends and I were excited to find areas that look like the old Pink and White Terraces that were once a tourist attraction here. They’re formed as part of a thermal area with geysers and hot pools.

A lot of the formations are coral-like and Konig’s observations about karka natural constructions/nests are important too – the karka have probably used this area as a breeding ground (I like the idea that they’re chiefly marine creatures but come on land to breed) for some time. But it still makes sense that it was once land under the Sea of Sorrows (the very name of which hints at numerous shipwrecks) which has been forced up in the course of other activity in the last hundred years or so.

There’s no way this island is even a decade old. If you swim along the west side, you can touch the coast of Caledon forest, and see the inlet that leads to its bay/lake. There’s no portal, so you can’t zone between them, but look at the map. You’re literally touching a zone that’s been well populated for at least 25 years by a race defined by their curiosity.

At most, I’d go with the volcanic theory and say it happened a few months ago.