Guild Wars 2

Don’t think first post saved: if duplicate please delete

Considering the collective knowledge int his forum I wanted to come here to talk about the possibility of the Mantle being the authoritative organization behind the Aetherblades and living story content thus far. The vandalism on the queen’s page reminded me of the PR for War in Kryta. I would be thrilled to have the Mantle introduced to us in this patch.

Is there any connection that can be made without being forced? Or has this topic popped up recently?

The White Mantle appear briefly in the personal story. But currently they seem like a minor rogue sect. They don’t seem as large in number and organized as they were 250 years ago. And they aren’t exactly known for their airships and steam punk technology. The only tie that I know of is that the Mantle would gladly overthrow the Queen.

But they are probably not the only ones.

The links are there. We know the White Mantle are connected to the bandits – how deep it goes is unclear, but at least some bandits are actually White Mantle. The Seraph in Brisban are looking for White Mantle activity… and what is there are a lot of bandits that spout antimonarchist ideology (what I would expect from White Mantle looking to overthrow the royal line that overthrew them) who are allied with the Nightmare Court and Inquest. Scarlet’s behaviour so far seems very Nightmare Court-ish, while the Aetherblades are known to have a connection to the Inquest…

…and the last time we saw a Mursaat we didn’t kill, he was swearing vengeance on humanity, and Scarlet’s letter is threatening to basically destroy Kryta.

So, it is indeed possible, although the reveal might not come for a while yet.

Here’s hoping!

That all seems incredibly far fetched. Do we have anything to directly connect them to the aetherblades? Because bandits are not aetherblades.

Basically what you have here is:

• Various groups are against the crown, including the White Mantle unsurprisingly.
• The White Mantle have connections with the various bandits that plague Kryta.
• The Seraph are hunting down White Mantle, also not surprisingly.
• Scarlet enjoys mocking the crown, and twirling her mustache in front of the Queen.

draxynnic.3719:

who are allied with the Nightmare Court and Inquest.

Really? Evidence?

draxynnic.3719:

Scarlet’s behaviour so far seems very Nightmare Court-ish,

No it doesn’t. She’s just a bad Sylvari pirate captain so far. She doesn’t dress like the nightmare court, or surround herself with other nightmare court allies. Nor have we heard her spout any of the typical Nightmare Court banter. Currently I don’t see any evidence to link her to the Nightmare Court, other than being a Sylvari and being a villain. If the hooded figure is indeed Scarlet. I would assume so, but it has not been confirmed yet. She also doesn’t use technology that is typical of the Nightmare Court, who don’t use much technology at all (they mostly use plants, just like the Sylvari).

draxynnic.3719:

while the Aetherblades are known to have a connection to the Inquest…

How does that connect them to the White Mantle?

draxynnic.3719:

…and the last time we saw a Mursaat we didn’t kill, he was swearing vengeance on humanity,

Not specifically Kryta though, nor directly the Queen. Just humanity as a whole.

draxynnic.3719:

and Scarlet’s letter is threatening to basically destroy Kryta.

It seems more aimed against the Queen and her big party, then against all of Kryta. I see no reason why she would want to destroy Kryta, nor do I see evidence that that is her intent.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Not specifically Kryta though, nor directly the Queen. Just humanity as a whole.

And how many other human kingdoms do you see in Tyria today?

lordkrall.7241:

And how many other human kingdoms do you see in Tyria today?

My point being, the Mursaat directly threatened all of human kind. That includes Lion’s Arch, Divinity’s Reach, Ebonhawk, and basically any human settlement such as Beetleton, Ascalon settlement, Nebo Terrace, Travelers Dale etc. Their beef is with humanity, not just with Kryta’s royalty. And they’re not exactly the only ones threatening human kind. Threatening humans is not a unique trait that instantly links them to anyone else threatening humans.

Scarlet is specifically threatening the Queen and threatening to disrupt her festivities violently. That implies completely different goals. In fact, everything about the letter is unlike how the Mantle or the Mursaat operate. The Mantle are fanatics, spouting their religious propaganda. They don’t bother with verses, and would more likely undermine Kryta’s royalty through propaganda, and making people think that they need the Mantle. Meanwhile the Mursaat are not known to make public threats at all, they mostly try to stay hidden, and revealing themselves as gods to select fanatics. And do the Mursaat have airships? All of this contradicts any involvement of both the Mantle and the Mursaat.

With bandits allied to the Nightmare Court and Inquest – the Sinister Triad on the western edge of Brisban Wildlands. Generally, as you go further west in that zone, you get more and more signs of the alliance, until you get up to Fort Vandal and the three groups are patrolling together and being referred to as the Sinister Triad.

Admittedly, we don’t know that those bandits in question are White Mantle, but we have reason to believe they might be – and thus that’s a potential link between the WM and the Inquest, which can in turn translate to a link between the Inquest and the Aetherblades.

On Scarlet being NC – it’s her general demeanour. She has that sadistic ‘my game is your pain’ vibe to her. Now, that’s the weakest part of my post, since apart from that vibe there’s nothing else pointing her as NC, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she was. For the purposes of this discussion, though, it doesn’t really matter – we do know she’s connected to the Aetherblades, and as discussed above, there is a possible chain to link the Aetherblades to the White Mantle.

On the motivations: Scarlet’s letter talks about “warming her hands over Kryta’s flames” and “hard lessons to teach to the people of Divinity’s Reach”. That sounds to me like her target is the nation and the city, not confined solely to Queen Jennah. In fact, she’s not making any direct threats to the Queen at all – they’re all targeted at city and nation.

When it comes to Lazarus… he swore vengeance against humanity, and Kryta is the biggest proportion of humans in Tyria. It’d be pretty hard to carry out an effective vengeance against humanity that doesn’t have a significant focus on Kryta, unless he’s actually gone to Cantha and/or Elona and is actually responsible for the troubles there. And, besides, given that it was mostly Krytan resistance to Mursaat rule and Ascalonian heroes that lead to so much bad stuff happening to the mursaat, I would expect Kryta and Ascalon to be at the top of his hit list.

Now, with all this, I’d stress that the word is plausible. There is a chain of logic that suggests there may be a connection between Scarlet’s actions and the White Mantle. That does not mean that the connection actually exists… but there is some evidence that it might.

On the other hand, if there is a connection, it’s the sort of thing I’d expect ArenaNet to keep close to their chests for at least another few LS chapters, so I’m not expecting anything concrete either way next week.

This is well out into left-field, but if the Mantle play into this at all, I hope it’s on our side against Scarlet. So far, we only have a few possible links to suggest their motivations, but they seem to be more about control than destruction, whereas that poem quite blatantly spells out Scarlet’s intentions to see Kryta fall. That would make her an enemy of the Mantle by default. Furthermore, I’m rather tired of the whole “stronger together” theme. Between the Pact in the personal story, the Molten Alliance in Flame & Frost, and the Aetherblade-Inquest connection, it’s become predictable, and worse, it’s polarizing. With the Pact on one side and a web of alliances and cooperation that now connect the Nightmare Court, Inquest, White Mantle, Aetherblades, centaurs, and feasibly the Flame Legion and dredge, the narrative has taken a turn towards black-and-white, clear cut, simple, bland good vs. evil. If, however, the White Mantle come to Kryta’s aid- even if only that they might usurp power at a later date- it would add a much more interesting shade of gray to the mix. An alliance of convenience, or, if ANet isn’t willing to go that far, a three-sided slugfest, would be much more compelling storytelling than the White Mantle being yet another enemy in cahoots with other enemies.

I suggest you all check the main guild wars 2 subreddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/
stickied post

I agree entirely. And although unlikely, that would make for an excellent plot twist. Regardless of what happens to Queen Jennah, having this sort of love/hate alliance with the Mantle, would add a very interesting twist to the story. It would add tension and unrest to Kryta. And it would set the stage for the return of the Mursaat later on, which I definitely want to see happen.

Interesting possibility story-wise, but I don’t see it happening. First, the White Mantle followed the lead of the mursaat, and the known remaining mursaat was last seen swearing vengeance on humanity. So it’s possible that their mandate has changed – or that they’re thinking they can sweep in as saviours after what the people of Kryta think is an unrelated attack and seize power.

Thalador made an interesting observation, actually – Malyck’s tree appears to have been deeper in the jungle, possibly closer to where the White Mantle and Lazarus retreated to. A possible connection might be, then, that Scarlet is from Malyck’s tree and has been influenced by Lazarus.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

My point being, the Mursaat directly threatened all of human kind. That includes Lion’s Arch, Divinity’s Reach, Ebonhawk, and basically any human settlement such as Beetleton, Ascalon settlement, Nebo Terrace, Travelers Dale etc. Their beef is with humanity, not just with Kryta’s royalty. And they’re not exactly the only ones threatening human kind. Threatening humans is not a unique trait that instantly links them to anyone else threatening humans.

And yet all of those (other than Lion’s Arch and that is not really a human kingdom) is govern by Kryta and the Queen. So there really only is ONE human kingdom in all of Tyria (continent) at this time. Killing/hurting the Queen and destroying DR would most likely mean the end of humankind on the continent.

i think scarlet just has a Joker complex and wants to see the world burn. can she use the white mantle for that? sure, i guess, but that’s as far as it goes. aetherblades (and the molten alliance too, for that matter) are unrelated to the white mantle.

I’m intrigued by this, but one question springs to mind:

We’ve also noted many non-humans among the Aetherblade attackers…charr, norn, even an asura or two in their hideout in Gendarran Fields.

Would the White Mantle be willing to work with these other races (other than the Unseen, of course)?

So I just recently learned that people are pushing this theory because some person over on Reddit found an old piece of GW1 art, posted it on a novelty account, and some mod over there stickied it, now everyone thinks its official PR stuff.

I’d rather have people’s “Jennah is Evil” theories again than this, theres just no basis for it.

zao.2710:

I suggest you all check the main guild wars 2 subreddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/
stickied post

Which only mentions old War in Kryta stuff from gw1. Nothing relevant to the living story. Why it got stickied is anyone’s guess.

@ Malafide: The White Mantle have more than just “some ties to some bandits” – if you pay attention to the open world and dialogue, you learn that the bandits, although trying to appear as disorganized factions, are in fact united. And in the personal story you learn that the White Mantle are backing/leading the bandits. Which is the case isn’t really known though.

But anyways, the chances of the WM being related are, imo, slim.

1. They are only indirectly tied, via the bandits holding an alliance with Inquest and Inquest allied with Aetherblades. But that’s like saying the centaurs and dredge are allied.
2. The bandit leaders, White Mantle, and ministry have the shared goal of ruling Kryta themselves. Scarlet seems intent on just causing havoc and death. Doesn’t seem like she’s geared towards usurping Jennah “the Tyrant” (as some bandit mooks are led to believe her to be).
3. Scarlet also seems interested in technology. I think her attacking Kryta in force is due to the Opening Ceremony. “You spoiled my fun” she says…. This is her revenge for stopping her hacking of the Watchknight. The Watchknight seems to be her main goal to me. And the lesson she’s going to teach? “Don’t get in my way, or you die”
4. Bandits and Ministry and WM showed no interest in tech.

The reddit is spiraling out of control, and if mods are trolling something on such a large scale they will lose a lot of credibility. Not that it’s an official outlet or anything, but it has a big part in the community.

Do I honestly think the Mantle/Mursaat are going to have a part in this? Not really. I have had a huge craving for nostalgia and this hit the spot so I’m just hoping it’s going to be an interesting ride.

What is disappointing though, is that a lot of players taking this to heart are going to be severely disappointed. This hype is going to severely downplay the actual story and that kinda sucks.

Gnat.9405:

The reddit is spiraling out of control, and if mods are trolling something on such a large scale they will lose a lot of credibility. Not that it’s an official outlet or anything, but it has a big part in the community.

Do I honestly think the Mantle/Mursaat are going to have a part in this? Not really. I have had a huge craving for nostalgia and this hit the spot so I’m just hoping it’s going to be an interesting ride.

What is disappointing though, is that a lot of players taking this to heart are going to be severely disappointed. This hype is going to severely downplay the actual story and that kinda sucks.

oh please, “lose credibility” over what? a harmless joke?

BrunoBRS.5178:

oh please, “lose credibility” over what? a harmless joke?

I predict many disappointed people when the white mantle doesn’t show up at the speech as a result of this. Its misleading, and many people don’t realize its a joke.

Gnat.9405:

What is disappointing though, is that a lot of players taking this to heart are going to be severely disappointed. This hype is going to severely downplay the actual story and that kinda sucks.

This exactly.

If Livia is still alive, why isn’t she actively hunting down and killing White Mantle bandits? They were always here enemies and I would think by now, being under the influence of the Scepter of Orr, she would be in full scale vengence on my enemies mode.

Zyphent.2967:

BrunoBRS.5178:

oh please, “lose credibility” over what? a harmless joke?

I predict many disappointed people when the white mantle doesn’t show up at the speech as a result of this. Its misleading, and many people don’t realize its a joke.

Gnat.9405:

What is disappointing though, is that a lot of players taking this to heart are going to be severely disappointed. This hype is going to severely downplay the actual story and that kinda sucks.

This exactly.

there will always be stupid QQ from people that can’t tell rumors from the truth. that won’t suddenly make the GW2 subreddit a bad place to visit.

Gnat.9405:

The reddit is spiraling out of control, and if mods are trolling something on such a large scale they will lose a lot of credibility.

In the thread over there, there was someone who messaged a mod and posted said mod’s response being that they know it’s a joke but stickied it because it would be funny.

Reddit mods are trolls.

DarcShriek.5829:

If Livia is still alive, why isn’t she actively hunting down and killing White Mantle bandits? They were always here enemies and I would think by now, being under the influence of the Scepter of Orr, she would be in full scale vengence on my enemies mode.

Who says she isn’t?

Though since the Shining Blade are downplaying the White Mantle’s continued existence (probably for good reason), I’d imagine Livia hunting them down would be the same.

Also, she no longer has the Scepter of Orr.

I would think that if Livia was still hunting White Mantle, then the White Mantle wouldn’t be so open with their insignia at bandit camps. Her lack of a presence in the game seems to be an indicator that at best she has gone independent, at worst she may have gone rogue. Then again, she could just be dead.

Tanith.5264:

I’m intrigued by this, but one question springs to mind:

We’ve also noted many non-humans among the Aetherblade attackers…charr, norn, even an asura or two in their hideout in Gendarran Fields.

Would the White Mantle be willing to work with these other races (other than the Unseen, of course)?

You pose a good question. I would think the White Mantle would be Xenophobic, but they don’t have to be. However, I can only recall human bandits. Does anyone know of any non-human bandits?

DarcShriek.5829:

Tanith.5264:

I’m intrigued by this, but one question springs to mind:

We’ve also noted many non-humans among the Aetherblade attackers…charr, norn, even an asura or two in their hideout in Gendarran Fields.

Would the White Mantle be willing to work with these other races (other than the Unseen, of course)?

You pose a good question. I would think the White Mantle would be Xenophobic, but they don’t have to be. However, I can only recall human bandits. Does anyone know of any non-human bandits?

No, but I don’t see a reason for the white mantle to be xenophobic, as long as you believe in the Unseen Ones.

Interestingly, the Mantle is active around Beetletun. Check out the graffiti if you visit, and wonder just why there’s some operating there. Then remember Lord Beetlestone supposedly had done something wicked enough to cause his daughter to run away and it was important enough she was being hunted my Ministry Guard in the free city of Lion’s Arch where the Lionguard operate.

Some point we are going to see every enemy we fought during the story of each character working together. White Mantle, Inquest, Dredge, flame Legion, just lump all the pirates together, they already said that we are going to find out what invoked the dredge and flame legion attacks.

wouw.5837:

DarcShriek.5829:

Tanith.5264:

I’m intrigued by this, but one question springs to mind:

We’ve also noted many non-humans among the Aetherblade attackers…charr, norn, even an asura or two in their hideout in Gendarran Fields.

Would the White Mantle be willing to work with these other races (other than the Unseen, of course)?

You pose a good question. I would think the White Mantle would be Xenophobic, but they don’t have to be. However, I can only recall human bandits. Does anyone know of any non-human bandits?

No, but I don’t see a reason for the white mantle to be xenophobic, as long as you believe in the Unseen Ones.

Well, the White Mantle didn’t like charr much for a while. Other races may be seen as a threat to kryta. I can’t recall any non human in the ranks of the white mantle or the bandits.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Interestingly, the Mantle is active around Beetletun. Check out the graffiti if you visit, and wonder just why there’s some operating there. Then remember Lord Beetlestone supposedly had done something wicked enough to cause his daughter to run away and it was important enough she was being hunted my Ministry Guard in the free city of Lion’s Arch where the Lionguard operate.

Also she had information that was of interest to the Order of Whispers, that has to count for something.

As for the White Mantle being Xenophobic actually they weren’t necessary xenophobic. They were fanatical to their Unseen Ones, so if Mursaat tell them to play nice with the non-human members they accepted the human members obey without question.

Actually, the graffiti in Beetletun is the centaur’s symbol, not the White Mantle/bandit’s one. We know that Caudecus is guilty of many things, including playing patron to bandits and conspiracy responsible for the deaths of Krytan citizens and soldiers, but there is no evidence tying him to the White Mantle beyond that both use the bandits to their own ends.

EDIT: No, it’s not centaur… what is that? Looks almost like grawl.

wouw.5837:

You pose a good question. I would think the White Mantle would be Xenophobic, but they don’t have to be. However, I can only recall human bandits. Does anyone know of any non-human bandits?

No, but I don’t see a reason for the white mantle to be xenophobic, as long as you believe in the Unseen Ones.[/quote]I, too, wouldn’t see them as xenophobic. They probably wouldn’t let non-humans into their group (doing so would be like the Iron Legion putting a human as Tribune – that just isn’t going to happen), but I can see them working with others to further their goals. Via the bandits, they already do this with Inquest, centaurs, and Nightmare Court.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Actually, the graffiti in Beetletun is the centaur’s symbol, not the White Mantle/bandit’s one. We know that Caudecus is guilty of many things, including playing patron to bandits and conspiracy responsible for the deaths of Krytan citizens and soldiers, but there is no evidence tying him to the White Mantle beyond that both use the bandits to their own ends.

EDIT: No, it’s not centaur… what is that? Looks almost like grawl.

It’s the grawl “demonic graffiti” design which, like other grawl graffiti designs, are used in many non-grawl places.

It’s just meant to be atypical graffiti.

TBH, it’d be far more interesting if it was the bandit logo. But that thing’s probably well known – just its tie to the WM (if such exists, that’s still speculative) would be unknown.

I don’t know if White Mantle will be introduced this year. I doubt they will be since this LS is wrapping up. I do hope that the next major story arc introduces Mursaat/Mantle though. They deserve something epic. I can’t imagine their story not leading up to opening Ring of Fire.