“Nothing is true, Everything is permitted”
Kiel Replacement Movement
Kiel Replacement Movement
pirate sylvari
They simply add their experiences to the dream.
Good Sylvari add Ventari’s teachings and their experiences of the world to improve the knowledge of the tree.
Bad Sylvari add terrible experiences to the tree to detriment the tree and corrupt it into it’s own being instead of being a Centaur-inspired tree.
Think of the tree as a giant library that spawns blank books that then write themselves. It tries to be a library of good books, but some bad books slide in.
I’ve always found those pirates strange. How is it that in 25 years, hundreds of animated plants casually found their way into pirate-society? It just seems so improbable…
On the other hand, why would hundreds of asura want to join a gang of pirates where they have little chance of pursuing their intellectual goals?
Pirate sylvari will travel the world and meet interesting people.
*kill interesting people.
It does seem strange that they would have in such a short time achieved a more or less equal proportion to the other races, especially considering that every member of their race literally has an inherently noble disposition. They just don’t get raised bad the way members of other races can be.
Personally, I think the pirate sylvari are supposed to represent the sylvari that didn’t know better and fell in with the wrong sorts after taking off for society outside the Grove. Lion’s Arch would be the natural first new city to visit, and once there pirates would be the natural element to lure the gullible into a life on the wrong side of the law.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
At Jetsam Isle – the one with the quaggan pirate meta – there is a named sylvari there. If you talk to her with a sylvari, you can compare her to the Nightmare Court. She is greatly offended by this, despite how she says she enjoys the plundering and the killing and the thrill of pirate life.
There are more sides to the sylvari life than mere “Ventari follower, Soundless, and Nightmare Court”. There are those who do not follow either Ventari’s teachings or the Court’s actions – in the Grove’s lowest level, near the House of Malomedies, there is a sylvari who’s having troubles with this conundrum: she doesn’t fully agree with Ventari’s teachings, but she can never accept the Court’s way of life.
Being a sylvari isn’t just a case of “either you follow Ventari’s teachings, or you’re of the Nightmare Court.” There are those who aren’t good but don’t seek to spread Nightmare or become twisted by it.
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
I suppose the pirate sylvari could be classified as Soundless without the soundless vibe? The Soundless, as I recall, just want to live in peace and not have the tree’s influence in their ear/head all the time. The pirates, similarly, are playing by their own code, not goodie-two-shoes like most sylvari, but not quite so dark as the Nightmare Court. After all, they only really kill us because we’re invading their territory (or it simulates them beating us up, and the waypoint fee doubles as what they stole from our body). But we just give them death in return…
Never mind. I’m overthinking this, Sylvari just like pirating for pirating sake, and aren’t nightmarish in their memories (but the Court probably loves them all the same). Hmm, are the Court and pirates ever on the same map?
I’ve always found those pirates strange. How is it that in 25 years, hundreds of animated plants casually found their way into pirate-society? It just seems so improbable…
On the other hand, why would hundreds of asura want to join a gang of pirates where they have little chance of pursuing their intellectual goals?
They’re pirates, as long as you can swing a sword and shoot a pistol they’ll allow anyone… even quaggan. Not skritt though (as far as I know), oddly enough. Probably afraid they’d steal all the shinies.
I suppose the pirate sylvari could be classified as Soundless without the soundless vibe? The Soundless, as I recall, just want to live in peace and not have the tree’s influence in their ear/head all the time. The pirates, similarly, are playing by their own code, not goodie-two-shoes like most sylvari, but not quite so dark as the Nightmare Court. After all, they only really kill us because we’re invading their territory (or it simulates them beating us up, and the waypoint fee doubles as what they stole from our body). But we just give them death in return…
Never mind. I’m overthinking this, Sylvari just like pirating for pirating sake, and aren’t nightmarish in their memories (but the Court probably loves them all the same). Hmm, are the Court and pirates ever on the same map?
The only key element between Soundless and every other Sylvari that isn’t a Courtier or a regular ol’ Dreamer is that the Soundless actively erect and maintain mental barriers between themselves and the Pale Tree. A pirate Sylvari may not do that, unless they also happen to be Soundless, themselves.
“Sylvari are one thing. We are born out of the Pale Tree, and no matter how far the wind carries us, we still carry the life of the tree in us. Human and charr, you don’t belong to anything, not even your mothers and brothers. Not even yourselves. You spend your whole lives trying to find something to belong to-something worth it. And it seems like most of you never do.”
Caithe, Edge of destiny
I’d say the pirates are regular ol’ sylvari like most others. They just interpret to the tablet in a way that isn’t goodie two shoes. Keep in mind the sylvari are inspired by the Seelie Court. While they were the “good” fairies, they could also be tempestuous, destructive and unpredictable. So the sylvari pirates may have simply become pirates because they thought it was interesting. The same way Caithe chose to randomly help a human and a charr over the ogres she chose to kill. Because she found them interesting.
I suppose the pirate sylvari could be classified as Soundless without the soundless vibe? The Soundless, as I recall, just want to live in peace and not have the tree’s influence in their ear/head all the time. The pirates, similarly, are playing by their own code, not goodie-two-shoes like most sylvari, but not quite so dark as the Nightmare Court. After all, they only really kill us because we’re invading their territory (or it simulates them beating us up, and the waypoint fee doubles as what they stole from our body). But we just give them death in return…
Never mind. I’m overthinking this, Sylvari just like pirating for pirating sake, and aren’t nightmarish in their memories (but the Court probably loves them all the same). Hmm, are the Court and pirates ever on the same map?
I wouldn’t classify them as Soundless. They’re tied to the Dream, enjoy communities and don’t really want peace. I would argue pirate sylvari are the closest to what Cadeyrn originally proclaimed wanting – sylvari choosing their own path, not listening to a tablet of dead men.
And I don’t think there are any pirates and Courtiers in the same map. Only time this would have happened would have been via the Toxic Alliance – which isn’t a good source – or maybe Sparkfly Fen.
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
At Jetsam Isle – the one with the quaggan pirate meta – there is a named sylvari there. If you talk to her with a sylvari, you can compare her to the Nightmare Court. She is greatly offended by this, despite how she says she enjoys the plundering and the killing and the thrill of pirate life.
There are more sides to the sylvari life than mere “Ventari follower, Soundless, and Nightmare Court”. There are those who do not follow either Ventari’s teachings or the Court’s actions – in the Grove’s lowest level, near the House of Malomedies, there is a sylvari who’s having troubles with this conundrum: she doesn’t fully agree with Ventari’s teachings, but she can never accept the Court’s way of life.
Being a sylvari isn’t just a case of “either you follow Ventari’s teachings, or you’re of the Nightmare Court.” There are those who aren’t good but don’t seek to spread Nightmare or become twisted by it.
Errr, there isn’t a Sylvari crewmaster among that group, Konig. You’re misremembering. That particular NPC you’re talking about is Human. And a male. I remember quite clearly because I got that “like the Nightmare Court?” line on my Sylvari talking to him too.
And yes, he does say he’s not like “those sadists”. He’s just a man who’s perfectly happy to break knees and kill people if his job calls for it. He enjoys the feelings of power and fear that he inspires, but he doesn’t commit evil for its own sake.
For me, the pirate sylvari are not neccessary evil. Depending on their motivation – some may join to satisfy their wanderlust, some may join just because they find high seas adventuring ‘romantic’ (I blame One Piece); some may be inspired by the pirates at Lion’s Arch, etc, they could have adopted the concept of ‘the ends justify the means’ for killing folks out of neceessity. I think the motivations are very similar to those of ‘good’ sylvari, therefore there shouldn’t be much conflict when their experiences are added to the dream.
The thief who did dat – Crystal Desert
I’d say it depends.
There must be Dreamer pirates, and also Nightmare pirates. Falling to the Nightmare doesn’t mean a Sylvari is going to stick with the Court in Maguuma (Noxia in the Shiverpeaks teams up with a Norn Shaman to kill children), so I can imagine a bloodthirsty courtier joining a pirate crew if it allows him to spread some chaos. There’s even a Sylvari in the Grove telling a friend that she had trouble with Nightmare Courtiers in Lion’s Arch, so we can imagine that they’re in more places than we actually see them ingame, and probably not all invested with the ranks and schemes of the Court.
But yeah, most of the pirates that aren’t trying to kill you on sight are probably Dreamers. As Ioneknight said, being a pirate doesn’t mean they’re cold blooded killers.
Plus, killing doesn’t make Sylvari evil, it’s more about abandonning most of the positive aspect in them (I say “most” and not “all”, because it’s obvious Nightmare Sylvari can still love, even if it’s a twisted love… :p).
For me, the pirate sylvari are not neccessary evil. Depending on their motivation – some may join to satisfy their wanderlust, some may join just because they find high seas adventuring ‘romantic’ (I blame One Piece); some may be inspired by the pirates at Lion’s Arch, etc, they could have adopted the concept of ‘the ends justify the means’ for killing folks out of neceessity. I think the motivations are very similar to those of ‘good’ sylvari, therefore there shouldn’t be much conflict when their experiences are added to the dream.
This. Sylvari pirates need not be any more evil than the heroes of Cobiah Mariner’s merry band of scally wags and rapscallions who founded Lion’s arch. They killed. They plundered. And they stole. All without necessarily being ‘evil’ because there wasn’t a lot of clear ‘good guys’ to do it to. A lot of times there is just ‘us and them’.
edit: “Don’t underestimate them. They learn strength from ivy. And viciousness from blackberry bushes” Norn NPC in the Grove
Canach seems to be a perfect example of how a sylvari can still be a Dreamer and have a destructive side.
(edited by Dustfinger.9510)