Guild Wars 2

So forgive me if this has been asked before, or if the answer is obvious, I am fairly new to the game. So I was wondering which race was the first to appear on Tyria? I know that Asura where pushed out of their homes underground, and that nothing is know about them since. And that the humans were brought to Tyria by the six gods (or so I’ve heard, is that fact?). Thanks for your answer.

Do you mean continental Tyria? Or the world of Tyria? What do you mean by “first”? First ever, as in, in all history of the world? Or do you mean the first of the modern races.

If you mean the first first… utterly and completely unknown. The Elder Dragons have existed for several cycles of sleeping and awakening and the oldest existing records go to 10,000 BE when the Giganticus Lupicus got wiped out by the Elder Dragons. The oldest known creatures to exist on the world would be the Elder Dragons. The cycles are hinted to be at either a rate of 3-4k years, or 11k years. If the latter, then we could be expecting 33,000 years of utterly unknown history. If not more.

If you mean which of the modern races were first to arrive on the world – as your question seems to ask – then once more it’s really unknown. As far as we know, all life except for the Forgotten, Jotun, Dwarves, Karka, Djinn, and Seers (I would mention Mursaat but they all fled into the Mists), with possiby Tengu, Kodan, and Krait as well, was utterly wiped out in the last rising. That means all the races you see now came about since then. Where or how, unknown.

Humanity’s known to have come from the Mists with the Six Gods – and it’s said previously the Forgotten did as well though whether or not that got retconed is unknown – but we don’t know when.

On continental Tyria, humanity only arrived in 205 BE (excluding when first brought to the world – apparently humanity was relocated after arriving on the world to the south). And charr have been around long before that – though how long is similarly unknown. Same goes for norn, and it’s implied by Thruln the Lost that they too were around during the last Elder Dragon rise. Asura are hinted via Rata Pten to have been on the surface once before GW1, but how long ago and how many is unknown (just a settlement or, if very far back, the whole race?).

In short: We don’t know. We only really have a rough history of humanity and the charr and the ‘elder races’ – beyond that, it’s still a mystery.

Apart from the humans, which race would you say is the most advanced or evolved? That would be a pretty good indicator for the modern races. I would be inclined to point at the Asura (if you count underground as part of Tyria) under that assumption.

Your Dragon theory is probably correct, although I am not sure if I would call them a “race” – meaning that from my perspective the Giganticus Lupicus may be the oldest. The Six Gods are also an option – it is known that they did not create Tyria and it is known that they lived in Tyria. If they evolved and ascended on Tyria (if that was how they came about at all) they are still technically part of their ‘precursor race’.

So from what I understand of the lore:

• Living races: Asura
• Extinct or absent races: Giganticus Lupicus or The Gods
• Anything living or anything that has ever lived: Dragons, maybe Tyria itself (depending on where the new ley lines lore goes)

zamalek.2154:

Apart from the humans, which race would you say is the most advanced or evolved? That would be a pretty good indicator for the modern races. I would be inclined to point at the Asura (if you count underground as part of Tyria) under that assumption.

Your Dragon theory is probably correct, although I am not sure if I would call them a “race” – meaning that from my perspective the Giganticus Lupicus may be the oldest. The Six Gods are also an option – it is known that they did not create Tyria and it is known that they lived in Tyria. If they evolved and ascended on Tyria (if that was how they came about at all) they are still technically part of their ‘precursor race’.

So from what I understand of the lore:

• Living races: Asura
• Extinct or absent races: Giganticus Lupicus or The Gods
• Anything living or anything that has ever lived: Dragons, maybe Tyria itself (depending on where the new ley lines lore goes)

We are unaware of how old exactly the asura are, but their technological advancement is no indicator of their age. Pretty much everything you currently see, has been developed in the last several hundred years – since before that the asura were a subterranean race, and with the rise of the destroyers they were pushed to the surface. What we know is that they built the Central Transfer Chamber near the elder dragon Primordus, unaware of his true nature, thinking he was merely a large source of leaking magic rather than a living creature. This would suggest they were not around during the last rise of the elder dragons, during which we know that the jotun, the seers, the mursaat, the forgotten, and the dwarfs were alive and quite advanced.

As for the gods – we know that they, and the humans, originate from another place in the multiverse. The gods brang humans to Tyria, supposedly fleeing from something – as suggested by some lore found in Orr.

Andlat Helsonr.1284:

Pretty much everything you currently see, has been developed in the last several hundred years – since before that the asura were a subterranean race, and with the rise of the destroyers they were pushed to the surface.

We know for a fact that the Asura came to the surface with their advanced technology in-tow. Not only did they have access to this technology, but they also built Rata Sum in record time. Whether their science was accelerated by having a readily available source of magic to experiment with isn’t something I considered though (and would explain their overall nature), maybe making them appear more ancient than they should be. As I said though, underground can be counted as part of Tyria.

Andlat Helsonr.1284:

As for the gods – we know that they, and the humans, originate from another place in the multiverse. The gods brang humans to Tyria, supposedly fleeing from something – as suggested by some lore found in Orr.

Source? We know well that the humans were bought to Tyria, but the gods fleeing doesn’t make sense in terms of the Forgotten who were also brought to Tyria by the gods some 900 years before the humans.

Edit: also I forgot one: the colossus is a big question mark. We don’t know when that fractal happened: the presence of humans indicated it would be within the human timeframe, but the problem with that is we don’t have any written or spoken record of the colossus as told by humans. One would assume that there would be record of these from at least the time that the Forgotten appeared, or fossil evidence from when Giganticus Lupicus went extinct – which may push them further into the past than Giganticus Lupicus. Or the race could be native to the mists.

zamalek.2154:

Andlat Helsonr.1284:

Pretty much everything you currently see, has been developed in the last several hundred years – since before that the asura were a subterranean race, and with the rise of the destroyers they were pushed to the surface.

We know for a fact that the Asura came to the surface with their advanced technology in-tow. Not only did they have access to this technology, but they also built Rata Sum in record time. Whether their science was accelerated by having a readily available source of magic to experiment with isn’t something I considered though (and would explain their overall nature), maybe making them appear more ancient than they should be. As I said though, underground can be counted as part of Tyria.

Andlat Helsonr.1284:

As for the gods – we know that they, and the humans, originate from another place in the multiverse. The gods brang humans to Tyria, supposedly fleeing from something – as suggested by some lore found in Orr.

Source? We know well that the humans were bought to Tyria, but the gods fleeing doesn’t make sense in terms of the Forgotten who were also brought to Tyria by the gods some 900 years before the humans.

The asura in GW1 came out with their gate technology, and built their city upon some ruins they found – speculated to be either ones left by the Mursaat, or ones left by a previous asuran attempt at colonizing the surface. Even then, they seem to not have knowledge of the elder dragons, since they unknowingly built their main asura gate chamber right next to a sleeping one, suggesting they are much younger than the Jotun.

About the human gods – http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Orrian_History_Scrolls

“She (Dwayna) chose Tyria and brought with her those who would make this world a paradise. As she had promised, Dwayna led her people to peace.”

The forgotten being brought by the gods is now questionable, seeing that the new revealed history suggests that their civilization existed before the arrival of the gods, and are their followers rather than creatures brought by them. Same goes for Glint – she has been revealed to not be a creation of the gods, but a purified elder dragon champion (purified by the forgotten).

zamalek.2154:

Your Dragon theory is probably correct, although I am not sure if I would call them a “race” – meaning that from my perspective the Giganticus Lupicus may be the oldest. The Six Gods are also an option – it is known that they did not create Tyria and it is known that they lived in Tyria. If they evolved and ascended on Tyria (if that was how they came about at all) they are still technically part of their ‘precursor race’.

At least three of the gods came to the world as gods (Dwayna, Balthazar, and Melandru); Lyssa, Dhuum, and Abaddon’s ascensions coming prior or after are unknown but it is likely that at least Lyssa and Abaddon – if not Dhuum and Balthazar as well – were originally humans. The Gods are less of a race than the Elder Dragons, since most of them appear to be ascended humans or half-humans (Grenth).

The Giganticus Lupicus is also a “catch all term” for the giant skeletons of ancient races. We have no clue, however, just how old these races are – they could be younger than the survivors of the last dragon rise (should the last dragon rise be during 10,000 BE at least).

zamalek.2154:

We know for a fact that the Asura came to the surface with their advanced technology in-tow.

Though they had advanced little to not at all. Asura are known to constantly lose information, but at the same time, asura are capable of making leaps and bounds in technological advancement individually.

The asura race on a whole is like a combination of the Dark Ages and the Industrial Age for Europe.

zamalek.2154:

Andlat Helsonr.1284:

As for the gods – we know that they, and the humans, originate from another place in the multiverse. The gods brang humans to Tyria, supposedly fleeing from something – as suggested by some lore found in Orr.

Source? We know well that the humans were bought to Tyria, but the gods fleeing doesn’t make sense in terms of the Forgotten who were also brought to Tyria by the gods some 900 years before the humans.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Orrian_History_Scrolls

As well as several interviews with Jeff Grubb over the years.

The Forgotten are also said to have been on Tyria before the Six Gods in GW2, having been around during the last dragonrise while the Six Gods were not around then, so the statement of the History of Tyria saying they were brought by the gods is subject to question.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

[good stuff]

Sarcasm aside, I generally have agreed with you, or have been corrected by you in the past with purely logical arguments. I will take your word as canon. Thanks, as always, for the clarification.

I think Konig would agree, it is much better to look at the written word we have in dialogue, articles, and such and base your own judgements on those, rather than taking any one individual at their straight up word. Not that I noticed any mistakes in his writing, but the lore forum grows by people critiquing each other’s assumptions.

Narcemus.1348:

I think Konig would agree

Yup.

Please do not treat me as an infallible source of lore. Because I do make mistakes. And my theories are merely such – theories.