Guild Wars 2

A bold and totally unforeseen alliance featuring the only two unused enemy groups in the game.

Bandits
And
CENTAURS!

From the centaur: Mobility, cavalry, a warrior based society and primordial earth magic.
From the bandits: SADDLES!

Playing off the Centaur’s hatred of humans with the unquestionable fashion sense of the common thug: 6 legs, 4 arms and two heads! And to this abominable horde, a phenomenon never before seen in the world of Tyria. Mounts! (And the Priory burst into tears)

What twisted mind could have devised such an alliance, what dark genius could have orchestrated this unlawful horde charging forth from the scarlet horizon? The mind boggles.

And yes, this is but a plausible joke. That said, I just started levelling a human warrior and the joke went from funny to hilarious. In Kessex hills, at Kenna’s bandits, there are both “Bandit Trainee”s and “Centaur Trainee”s firing at archery targets together (with Toxic Alliance people directly above the targets).

At the fort by the Kessex Haven waypoint (this one may be old), a centaur diplomat arrives, a local shouts at the head lion guard for selling them out to the Centaur, the lion guard accuses the Centaur of robbing some Lion’s Arch caravans (which the Centaur proceeds to deny) and then the Centaur rides off. A few moments later a villager at the fort comments of the mountain rumbling. Mountain Rumbling, Earthen magic, DO NOT TOUCH pillars sticking out of the earth? That doesn’t work for you? Okay. It would seem odd if this wasn’t a new addition to the game though. The Centaur was treated with civility, the Centaur refugee at Lion’s arch is held permanently at gun point by the local authorities. If the trade agreement mentioned with Lion’s Arch existed back then, the Centaur refugee shouldn’t be having such a bad time.

On a side point, I admit that I don’t like the convergence happening between every faction in the game. The good guys did do exactly that. The pact is just a big factiony glob. This glueing together of every dedicated enemy faction under scarlet’s reign however (without advancing the base story of any individual enemy faction) does seem to be destroying diversity – and the sense of an unimaginably big world where different struggles are going down between different people.

Regardless, you’ve faced down the MOLTEN ALLIANCE, you’ve faced down the AETHERBLADE PIRATES, you’ve faced down the TOXIC ALLIANCE but are you ready for the horrors of BANDITS RIDING CENTAURS!?!

ps. the factions after BANDITS RIDING CENTAURS will start with the word “ALLIANCE”.

I am pretty sure that Centaurs would not want to have anyone riding them, because no matter the circumstance, the Centaurs would probably feel they are being treated like some common working animal. Not only that, but humans would be riding them. I mean, how would you like it if a bunch of skritt suddenly jumped on your shoulders and started riding you…as hilarious as that would be….please no.

Also, Why the heck is that Centaur still being held at gunpoint in Lion’s Arch? Its been like a year and a half! If the world was truly living, then atleast the Lionguard would have realized by now that the Outcast Quindova comes in peace? Maybe change his dialogue a little to reflect that. I bet that on Dec. 10th, even while I am throwing snowballs at Tengu, Quaggans, Kodan, and all the other races ten feet away…, that poor centaur is still going to have a gun pointed at his face.

People seem to have decided for some reason that any sentient being in the shape of a horse would have a problem being ridden. I can think of several fantasy creatures across many medias and stories who didn’t object to having smaller creatures all over them.

In guild wars however, given the long lasting war between humans and Centaurs, it would definitely be extremely indignant for the centaur – and no human hating centaur would ever agree to it.

That said, still gonna happen

ps. Give me a live skritt on a harness as a backpiece and it will be the first time I spend money on this game since buying it

Bandits riding centaurs throwing Scarlet at dragons!

I didn’t think the Sons of Svanir had been used yet. Or the Jotun, though I don’t consider them to be quite the same as, say, the Flame Legion or the White Mantle.

There’s no way centaurs would ally with humans… they hate humans! Oh, wait…

Bandits riding Centaurs operating Golems

The Allied Alliance of Allies and Alliances for the Betterment of Tyria’s Allied Alliances and Allies.

Vexander, while its true the Jotun and Sons of Svanir haven’t been used, it would be breaking a trend if they were.

The Jotun are not an evil faction. You fight with some tribes while you do quests for others. Every faction Scarlet has brought together have been purely evil – evil with the official Evil stamp of approval. There are no nice people in the inquest, the Krait, the pirates (bar like 2 pirates who were kicked out), the Dredge, the Nightmare court or the Flame legion. It would be a nice deviation if the Jotan were included in some alliance but it would be a break from the simplicity of the Scarlet norm. Plus it would be nice to see what Jotans could actually provide to an alliance. Their only claim to fame is that they used to be powerful before the gods took their power away -.-

The Sons of Svanir are a unique case but also unlikely (in my eyes) to be scarleted. The Sons of Svanir are dragon minions. The only sentient free willed dragon minions in the entirety of Tyrian lore, but still dragon minions. They assault the other factions with ice corrupted creatures in tow, a clear alignment. Scarlet hasn’t been dragon related so far, she seems to be taking a different approach to chaos. To tie in with the Sons of Svanir would indirectly ally her with the ice dragon. Which would be an interesting turn, but again one I don’t see happening.

That said, I did forget about the Sons of Svanir

As has been observed, bandits and centaurs are already working together. Keep in mind that many of the “bandits” are not truly bandits per se, but are agents of political factions both within and without Kryta (the ministry and White Mantle respectively) that are trying to destabilise the monarchy.

There is, in fact, a pre-existing connection to Scarlet – bandits, Inquest, and Nightmare Court are allied in Brisban Wildlands, and as you note, centaurs and bandits are allied in Kessex and Harathi Highlands. Such an alliance would be, well, nothing new, and because it’s nothing new it may well be that the LS team are deliberately avoiding it (because it doesn’t add anything that doesn’t already exist, and because the overall Krytan political situation is something they’ll probably want to use later for something not Scarlet-related).

With regards to Quindova: the situation between Lion’s Arch and the centaurs seems to be essentially a cold war. They’re not officially at war… but despite their ambassador’s claims the centaurs definitely are raiding caravans they shouldn’t be, and there’s distrust on both sides. It’s certainly reasonable to say that Quindova should have been given some more permanent accommodation by now, whether that be as a refugee, prisoner, or possible ambassador, but that’s probably not high on ArenaNet’s radar.

Jotun and Skritt alliance
(see image of borderlands 2 Bad Maw & his minions)

Beat you down while taking your shinies!

I can’t see that happening. Centaurs hate humans way to much. Not to mention the very idea of being used like a horse would destroy their pride.

Centaurs have already allied with bandits. How long that alliance would hold should Kryta actually fall is a good question, but the centaurs are certainly willing to ally with human traitors to advance their war effort.

Maybe if centaurs were riding bandits…

AntiGw.9367:

Maybe if centaurs were riding bandits…

ingenious! they will make their enemies laugh themselves to death!

Does no one in this thread know who Minister Caudecus is? Do you people not realize that the bandits are already working with the Centaurs? Maybe the reason people hate Scarlet is because they don’t understand the existing lore.

Way to generalise, DarcShriek:

draxynnic.3719:

As has been observed, bandits and centaurs are already working together. Keep in mind that many of the “bandits” are not truly bandits per se, but are agents of political factions both within and without Kryta (the ministry and White Mantle respectively) that are trying to destabilise the monarchy.

Some of the strongest Scarlet hate is coming from the players with the most investment in the game’s lore, and with good reasons.

Word of dev, though, is that Scarlet has no connection to the factions active in Kryta – her antics in the Jubilee were pretty much just her taking a break from her long-term plans to cause a little mayhem, not part of her plans. There’d probably be more respect for Scarlet and her place in the world if she was connected to the political factions in Kryta.

The only thing that’s preventing this from happening is the Mount-Obsessed group of people that would literally go crazy if they saw something like this implemented.

draxynnic.3719:

Way to generalise, DarcShriek:

draxynnic.3719:

As has been observed, bandits and centaurs are already working together. Keep in mind that many of the “bandits” are not truly bandits per se, but are agents of political factions both within and without Kryta (the ministry and White Mantle respectively) that are trying to destabilise the monarchy.

Some of the strongest Scarlet hate is coming from the players with the most investment in the game’s lore, and with good reasons.

Word of dev, though, is that Scarlet has no connection to the factions active in Kryta – her antics in the Jubilee were pretty much just her taking a break from her long-term plans to cause a little mayhem, not part of her plans. There’d probably be more respect for Scarlet and her place in the world if she was connected to the political factions in Kryta.

I don’t think her relationships with factions are the problem. Scarlet has no connection to anything, because the writers simply inserted her into the game out of the blue, and are making kitten up as they go along to justify it.

That’s essentially my point.

If Scarlet gatecrashed the Jubilee because she was an agent in the existing political maneuverings in Kryta, that would have given her a connection. There’s a reason there was a lot of enthusiasm for her first appearance, which quickly started to deflate once we found out what she actually was.

Gerrand.3085:

There are no nice people in the inquest, the Krait, the pirates (bar like 2 pirates who were kicked out), the Dredge, the Nightmare court or the Flame legion.

Wrong, you do meet rebel, friendly dredge in I believe frostgorge or one of the other shiverpeak zones. Also the race as whole is not evil, they are Soviet Russia. Their government controls them with propaganda and fear of being enslaved again, unable to see they are already enslaved.

Bandit-riding Centaurs!

Centaurs riding around on bandits! The two-legs have been subjugated. Now they are mere steeds for our noble centaur knights, charging around on piggy-back. Lances ready! CHAAARGE!!

Wait… did I read that wrong?! :o

yeah, we need centaur related Living Stories….. make them siege Divinity’s Reach, or anything….

I could go for this, but only if the Centaurs come in pretty pastel colors and have flowing, brushable manes.

Chaotic Storm.2815:

AntiGw.9367:

Maybe if centaurs were riding bandits…

ingenious! they will make their enemies laugh themselves to death!

I could outrun a Centaur!

But I’m not sure I could outrun a Centaur riding a Bandit!

Depends. Does the bandit have Swiftness?

Jinn Kazuma.2163:

Bandits riding centaurs throwing Scarlet at dragons!

Dragons riding bandits throwing centaurs at Scarlet!

Between the saddles the Centaurs already have and how one interpret bandits riding them…

Someone is gonna have a sore kitten .

It would be nice seeing the Centaurs get involved in the Living Story. After we beat Ulgoth in the event chain, I wonder who will have become the new leader of the Centaur Alliance and whether that means long-term changes of any sort. I’d also be happy to see some development for the different tribes in the Centaur Alliance; we only see very little of their interactions, and the different tribes have unique enough flavours (as seen in wiki and game) and are thus good candidates for being fleshed out if the writers so choose.

draxynnic.3719:

Word of dev, though, is that Scarlet has no connection to the factions active in Kryta – her antics in the Jubilee were pretty much just her taking a break from her long-term plans to cause a little mayhem, not part of her plans. There’d probably be more respect for Scarlet and her place in the world if she was connected to the political factions in Kryta.

Interestingly, though, the End of Nightmare instance puzzles include a bit with the Watchknight which reveals the activation/deactivation phrases for the Watchknights. In one note in the “lab” within the tower Scarlet essentially states something along the lines of “Stupid humans always getting in my way!” as well as an interesting tidbit about wanting to secure the Crown Pavilion to herself. This makes me wonder if there was actually more behind the attack than just a spur-of-the-moment thing (and the Twisted Playground stuff) and what exactly humans had done to make Scarlet despise them to point it out so blatantly in written form (unless the note was written after the Jubilee incident, but to me it seemed not to be the case, so the attack may have been motivated by something involving humans in her past…or maybe I’m just reading too much into it).

Will the Queen’s Jubilee incident end up actually holding more weight in the future (than just the Watchknight involvement) and the note could perhaps foreshadow things to come or perhaps make Scarlet more interested in humans after her failure in QJ? It’s something to consider, and I hope the later Living Story releases will shed light on this idea after those interesting text bits in the End of Nightmare instance.

To be honest, I am wondering if the role of the watchknight there means that while they weren’t initially part of the plan, she has used them to augment it.

It is an interesting note, but so far there’s nothing that might explain that special enmity – although it is worth mentioning that she seemed to specifically avoid taking a human teacher, but that could just be that, like many forumers, she just didn’t think humans had anything to offer. One possibility I can think of is that there are some subtle out-of-game suggestions that Jennah might be the Pale Tree’s closest ally (outside of the orders, anyway) including mention in an interview (which I haven’t been able to find recently, alas) that after the unpleasant first contact with the asura, humans were the first good first contact the sylvari had. It could be that something in that made things harder for her.

Mind you, having enmity for humans and the attack being a spur-of-the-moment thing don’t have to be mutually exclusive. After all, if you already dislike someone, you’re probably more likely to decide to hurt them on a whim than if you were indifferent to them.

you know the destroyers haven’t been used in an alliance yet. and would be an interesting fight.. but who would they ally with?

sons of svanir
centaurs
evil skritt
branded?

Zhed is definitely not amused. Two legs.

Zhed kills centaurs all the time. Four legs.

what about norn riding centaurs? – no war between them right now – so maybe the sons of svanir decided to take a ride and become cavalry xD

Actually… I can see Sons of Svanir riding Centaurs, since Scarlet pairs unlikely alliances anyways.

Celestina.2894:

Gerrand.3085:

There are no nice people in the inquest, the Krait, the pirates (bar like 2 pirates who were kicked out), the Dredge, the Nightmare court or the Flame legion.

Wrong, you do meet rebel, friendly dredge in I believe frostgorge or one of the other shiverpeak zones. Also the race as whole is not evil, they are Soviet Russia. Their government controls them with propaganda and fear of being enslaved again, unable to see they are already enslaved.

You meet them in Frostgorge sound and Sorrows embrace, a Dredge-centric dungeon.