Guild Wars 2

For a while now we’ve been discussing the direction that raids are taking.
Also regarding the Bloodstone and the White Mantle.

Today this staff was added to the wardrobe.

the Staff of Matthias.
It clearly has the White Mantle emblem on it and the gem appears to be a Bloodstone!

From That_Shaman’s Data-mine:

White Mantle Weapons
1335453_0111 Fresh from White Mantle armorers.
[&CvwZAAA=] White Mantle Longbow
[&Cu4ZAAA=] White Mantle Short Bow
[&CuYZAAA=] White Mantle Sunderer
[&CvkZAAA=] White Mantle Gavel
[&CusZAAA=] White Mantle Pistol
[&CukZAAA=] White Mantle Censer
[&CuIZAAA=] White Mantle Bugle
[&CvsZAAA=] White Mantle Bulwark
Matthias
1303054_0864 Matthias’s Chest
[&CvUZAAA=] Staff of Matthias
[&AgFXMAEA] Mini Matthias Abomination

If you go to the wardrobe and find the item, it has a description:

Adorned with Bloodstone shards. Pulsing with magic.

At the top are four textural copies of Bloodseeker aka Bloodstone Shard aka Mysterious Stone.

Not all that surprising – we know that Bloodstone Fen is pretty much right where we’re going by now (the temple is actually on the path just behind it compared to GW1, I think – will have to see from that_shaman’s historical guide once updated), and we’ve long known that the White Mantle were behind the bandits.

What’s interesting to me, however, is the Mini Matthias Abomination. It looks like a human had bloodstone fragments melded into its body.

Yea, I can’t wait for the raid-teams to provide us with their information.
It looks as if there is some human experimentation going on with the bloodstone.
Somehow it feels a bit cliché though.

White mantle infusing their bodies using the bloodstone to gain power.
^All speculation though.

I believe I recall that Arenanet has stated before that the Slothasor became as he currently is due to the leakage of magic.
Basically the magic corrupting it.

Matthias could be the more extreme version of having been corrupted by the leaking magic.

If so it makes me wonder how much of a difference there should be for the Slothasor to only show minor bloodstone-like effects and Matthias becoming this.. abomination.

If you reach the Slothasor’s Den, you can see streams of yellow-gold magic. Curiously, it reminds me of the Exalted magic. Which isn’t too surprising since one of them says they were made by Bloodstone magic.

I think the difference might be that the Slothasor is being exposed to leaked magic while Matthias might be more directly ‘injecting’ it. Spirit Vale mentioned experiments. I had thought this meant more Gorsevals, but it could be what Matthias turns into.

We’ll see soon. Folks already beat Slothasor and there only seems to be the two bosses this wing, unless the Matthias Abomination is separate from Matthias completely.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

What’s interesting to me, however, is the Mini Matthias Abomination. It looks like a human had bloodstone fragments melded into its body.

Almost looks like something out of DAI. I certainly hope that Bloodstone stuff isn’t going to turn into Tyria’s version of red lyrium. Just think off all the stuff we shellac that on!

Though, just to make sure, I’m calling dibs on the rights of Lazarus=Corypheus jokes. Powerful ancient beings from time past, bent on revenge, delusions of grandeur, has personal cult, and associated with corrupting red crystals? The similarities are stacking up. lol

I haven’t played much Inquisition, but isn’t Red Lyrium basically normal lyrium which has been corrupted by Darkspawn blood?

For Bloodstones to be the equivalent, it would mean corrupted by dragon energy, but that would mean using it would corrupt the users – e.g., all of humanity for the past 1,000 years. The Bloodstones seem to be more likely to be anti-Elder Dragons, so I rather doubt that.

But this reminds me of the finale to Arah Seer path. As you reach the final boss, a Bloodstone Shard, it becomes active and out of control, and Randall turns into a red-hued ghost (100% unique in all of GW) while saying “I can hear the stones calling me! I can hear the voices of the Six Gods!” When you destroy the shard, he disappears, saying “I go now, to seek out the gods themselves!”

Makes me want to replay that dungeon, to see what I might have missed.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I haven’t played much Inquisition, but isn’t Red Lyrium basically normal lyrium which has been corrupted by Darkspawn blood?

For Bloodstones to be the equivalent, it would mean corrupted by dragon energy, but that would mean using it would corrupt the users – e.g., all of humanity for the past 1,000 years. The Bloodstones seem to be more likely to be anti-Elder Dragons, so I rather doubt that.

It’s regular lyrium that carries the Blight, yes. Though, the comparison I was making wasn’t so much that it was possibly corrupted by ED magic, but more to do with the effects of they have on people when possibly handled in their raw form (hearing things (the Song in DA and possibly Gods in GW), psychological damage, and now seemingly the ability to consume and grow on the user).

I wonder if it could possibly deal with the raw magical exposure from being in the presence of large Bloodstone chucks and/or unique properties from the Bloodstone themselves. And while they may not have been corrupted by the Elder Dragons, it’s still possible that the death of one nearby could still possibly effect them in some unknown way. The shards and chucks in Arah that effected Randall were next to ground zero of Zhaitan’s death, and the chuck Matthias was dealing with probably got hit with a wave of residual magic just like the rest of the raid area.

The lack of effects from Bloodstone Dust could possibly be handwaved as it being a “safe” refined form or weakened product of the Bloodstone.

Erukk.1408:

The lack of effects from Bloodstone Dust could possibly be handwaved as it being a “safe” refined form or weakened product of the Bloodstone.

Technically already has:

Magic flows from the bloodstones back into the world. Bloodstone shards are rare, but still known to affect anyone or anything within range. Bloodstone dust is far less effective.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bloodstones_