Guild Wars 2

I would personally like to see an entire series of living world content devoted to, arguably the best race in the Guild Wars universe, the Skritt. I’m thinking maybe there could be some kind of Skritt rescue society, who respond to various issues in Tyria that no other organisation really considers, such as mysterious disappearances and kidnap. So my totally not plagiarised idea:

So it turns out that an orphan girl has been kidnapped by a woman who is really obsessed with like… orichalcum? The woman has discovered that there are rich orichalcum veins in a particularly dangerous part of Orr, but it is only accessible by a small hole, which only a child could fit through. In the meantime, the girl is locked away in the evil woman’s fortress.

So anyway, the rescue society finds out and opts to send two Skritt members (let’s call them… err Bernard and Bianca) to investigate and bring her back. These Skritt secretly have a crush on each other. So we happen to come across the pair, who are being attacked by something? We save them and become involved in the adventure.
Eventually it turns out, that the woman is actually an evil Orr dragon in disguise, and wanted the orichalcum ore to like… power up a super giant dragon robot. Incidentally, the girl has made friends with the super giant dragon robot and she’s all like

“You are not a projectile device, you are who you choose to be”

The dragon robot then becomes good, and attacks the evil Orr dragon. However, the Orr dragon, enraged, attacks the orphan girl. In a brave and loyal act, the dragon robot sacrifices itself to save the girl.

We then step in and fight the dragon. The Skritt deliver the finishing blow and they have a passionate moment together. However, Bernard gets corrupted by the dragon’s soul, and there is cutscene of him giving a very evil grin. However, the characters don’t know this, which sets the stage for follow up stories. Kasmeer and Marjory decide to adopt the girl.

Or something.

+1

There can never be too many Skritt.

+1 More shiny contents please.

ok op ideas are good and it doesnt hurt to have more ideas out there plus i always loved the skritt

Aiglos.2907:

I would personally like to see an entire series of living world content devoted to, arguably the best race in the Guild Wars universe, the Skritt. I’m thinking maybe there could be some kind of Skritt rescue society, who respond to various issues in Tyria that no other organisation really considers, such as mysterious disappearances and kidnap. So my totally not plagiarised idea:

So it turns out that an orphan girl has been kidnapped by a woman who is really obsessed with like… orichalcum? The woman has discovered that there are rich orichalcum veins in a particularly dangerous part of Orr, but it is only accessible by a small hole, which only a child could fit through. In the meantime, the girl is locked away in the evil woman’s fortress.

So anyway, the rescue society finds out and opts to send two Skritt members (let’s call them… err Bernard and Bianca) to investigate and bring her back. These Skritt secretly have a crush on each other. So we happen to come across the pair, who are being attacked by something? We save them and become involved in the adventure.
Eventually it turns out, that the woman is actually an evil Orr dragon in disguise, and wanted the orichalcum ore to like… power up a super giant dragon robot. Incidentally, the girl has made friends with the super giant dragon robot and she’s all like

“You are not a projectile device, you are who you choose to be”

The dragon robot then becomes good, and attacks the evil Orr dragon. However, the Orr dragon, enraged, attacks the orphan girl. In a brave and loyal act, the dragon robot sacrifices itself to save the girl.

We then step in and fight the dragon. The Skritt deliver the finishing blow and they have a passionate moment together. However, Bernard gets corrupted by the dragon’s soul, and there is cutscene of him giving a very evil grin. However, the characters don’t know this, which sets the stage for follow up stories. Kasmeer and Marjory decide to adopt the girl.

Or something.

This sounds awfully familiar

Redenaz.8631:

+1

There can never be too many Skritt.

Except in one place, trouble tends to happen when you get too many of them in one place.

CureForLiving.5360:

Redenaz.8631:

+1

There can never be too many Skritt.

Except in one place, trouble tends to happen when you get too many of them in one place.

Trouble? Or Good/fun times?

skullmount.1758:

This sounds awfully familiar

Err, I have no idea what you’re talking about cough cough

CureForLiving.5360:

Redenaz.8631:

+1

There can never be too many Skritt.

Except in one place, trouble tends to happen when you get too many of them in one place.

WE CALL THAT PLACE SKRITTSBURGH

I STAND BY WHAT I SAID

They can’t focus too much on the Skritt, because doing so will reveal the hidden truth about them:

THEY created the Elder Dragons.

The skritt mind-link works by sound. Once, long ago, they had technology. It linked them all, one race-wide hive mind link to make them all super geniuses. They discovered that magic eventually builds up within the world, and starts to create problems. So, they created several beings that would gather up this energy, and made them capable of transforming and controlling any “problematic” life forms they happened upon while working. When their job was done, they would shut down until they were needed once more.

No one knows WHY the Skritt empire fell. Maybe they didn’t understand magic as well as they thought they did (they didn’t use it, after all), and the dragons malfunctioned when they overloaded on it. Maybe a mimetic virus spread through the hive mind, and shattered it. Whatever happened, it left them broken and scattered, with only faint racial memories of their technology to always draw them to “shiny things”, and cause them to create the same kinds of structures in whatever place they called home.

Now uncontrolled, the elder dragons do what they were programmed to do, time and time again. The skritt empire has faded into distant memory. Scraps of their machines and devices were found by a race called “asura”, who did the best they could with it, but eventually resorted to using magic to fill in the gaps they could not understand.

If you think this is wrong, then look around at the various Skritt lairs. You’ll notice they’ve got odd structures that they keep repeating in any lair where they have room to build. Why? How is it even possible that they all do it, unless it is from a powerful memory the whole race shares? And why, if Skritt are all over the place, do the dragons never corrupt them?

So, they can’t do a LS on Skritt until they’re ready for the big reveal. And it’s too soon for that.

Plagiarism is a crime you know.

Palador.2170:

They can’t focus too much on the Skritt, because doing so will reveal the hidden truth about them:

THEY created the Elder Dragons.

The skritt mind-link works by sound. Once, long ago, they had technology. It linked them all, one race-wide hive mind link to make them all super geniuses. They discovered that magic eventually builds up within the world, and starts to create problems. So, they created several beings that would gather up this energy, and made them capable of transforming and controlling any “problematic” life forms they happened upon while working. When their job was done, they would shut down until they were needed once more.

No one knows WHY the Skritt empire fell. Maybe they didn’t understand magic as well as they thought they did (they didn’t use it, after all), and the dragons malfunctioned when they overloaded on it. Maybe a mimetic virus spread through the hive mind, and shattered it. Whatever happened, it left them broken and scattered, with only faint racial memories of their technology to always draw them to “shiny things”, and cause them to create the same kinds of structures in whatever place they called home.

Now uncontrolled, the elder dragons do what they were programmed to do, time and time again. The skritt empire has faded into distant memory. Scraps of their machines and devices were found by a race called “asura”, who did the best they could with it, but eventually resorted to using magic to fill in the gaps they could not understand.

If you think this is wrong, then look around at the various Skritt lairs. You’ll notice they’ve got odd structures that they keep repeating in any lair where they have room to build. Why? How is it even possible that they all do it, unless it is from a powerful memory the whole race shares? And why, if Skritt are all over the place, do the dragons never corrupt them?

So, they can’t do a LS on Skritt until they’re ready for the big reveal. And it’s too soon for that.

Okay, freaking out now

I’d love to see them do something with Skrittsburgh. The king says they’re trying to build a real city, so lets see it. I think it’d be great to have a place that showcases the heights the skritt can reach when there’s a bunch of them together.

Malkizid.3925:

I’d love to see them do something with Skrittsburgh. The king says they’re trying to build a real city, so lets see it. I think it’d be great to have a place that showcases the heights the skritt can reach when there’s a bunch of them together.

I would really like to see something involving Skrittsburgh. They could have a totally not plagiarised theme song! Something along the lines of….

Life is like a hurricane
Here in… Skrittsburgh.
Something, Something, Something, it’s a… Skritt-blurr.
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!

Skritt-Tales! Woo-oo
Everyday they’re out there making
Skritt-Tales! Woo-oo
Tales of shinies…

or something.

Zomaarwat.3912:

Okay, freaking out now

I forgot to mention the final horror of it for the Skritt.

When they gather in large enough numbers, they start to remember. Not enough to become what they were, but enough that they start to realize how far they’ve fallen. How much they’ve lost. Every Skritt around them is a reminder of just how broken they are.

And so, they scatter. Rather than face the pain and sorrow, they split away from the group and set up elsewhere. Elsewhere becomes someplace happier, and when their numbers grow too high once more they scatter again.

Imagine a world champion chess player that takes a damaging blow to the head. They survive, but the brain damage is irreparable and leaves them severely limited. Most of the time, they struggle through life. But when they see a chess board, they remember just enough to know that they were once good at it. They once understood it. And now, they can’t even remember the names of the parts, much less how to play. And so, the sight of a chess board causes them to burst into tears as they realize just how much they’ve lost. THAT is the sad truth behind the Skritt.

“Your plans are misguided good lady.” Said the Etin as he placed down his cup of tea, " If you do to my compatriots what you have done to me you will find us quite capable of doing what you wish, but controlling us will take more than camomile tea. Really I don’t know what to be more impressed by, the Asuran intellectual amplifier you acquired or your camomile blend. But we are not your main difficulty. The manifesting of skritt intellect will provide unforeseen difficulties."

The sylvari narrowed her eyes. She didn’t trust this Etin, but then she didn’t trust anybody who was confident around her.

“Conduct your test” prompted the Etin, “you will see.”

“Chipachir!” the sylvari called. A skritt came rushing in, gratifyingly nervous. “Tell me what this is!” She commanded.

The skritt beamed “Chipachir knows what this is! It is a shiny! Plant lady will give shiny, yes?”

The sylvari handed it over, then pulled a lever by her side. A cage holding four skritt descended from the roof. “What else can you tell me about it?”

“This is an Asuran shiny!” said Chipachir, “but it needs a place for skritt to put it.” He looked around and his eyes settled on the housing for the flux oscillator in his hands. “Here it is!” he exclaimed excitedly. Chipachir then placed the flux oscillator on top of the housing and arranged an assortment of tools and other parts around it. “All done now, very shiny. Plant lady like, yes.”

The sylvari did not reply, but instead pulled another lever. Another cage of nervous skritt appeared.

Chipachir looked at his arrangement and suddenly reconsidered. He picked up the flux oscillator and inserted it into its housing and flicked a switch. It began to hum.

“I would posit that you are still ignorant of this device’s purpose.” Said the etin.

“Oh no skritt knows what this does. Asurans very clever. This thing both is shiny and makes noise. Very clever.”

Another lever, another cage full of skritt. This time the skritt wre slightly more agitated

“Also, it makes things stop falling! We just need other bits” Chipachir scrambled around, found what he was looking for and hooked it up. The device started floating. Chipachir let out a startled yelp, grabbed onto the device and clambered on top to stop it floating away.

“It is an anti-gravity device.” explained the Etin, “and you could simply switch it off.”

“Quite right, quite right.” said Chipachir flicking the switch. “You are much smarter than most two headed ones!”

“We need this to be more powerful, at the moment it can’t even lift a skritt.” Said the sylvari.

“Build more!” suggested Chipachir.

The sylvari said nothing, but pulled another lever. Another cage of skritt appeared and the background level of noise increased noticeably as the trapped skritt became even more frantic.

Chipachir gasped “Not need to make so many more. Maybe one more to lift a two head. Just need to change this part.” He pointed at the circuit “These should be next to each other, not in a line!”

“But if you put those in parallel the etherial diodes won’t do their job!” the Etin objected, interested despite himself.

“No problem, no problem. Move those here.” Chipachir pointed excitedly.

The sylvari leaned forward, more alert now. She knew what the skritt was talking about but she had never considered it. This was genuinely exciting. After five minutes of frantic soldering the skritt was ready. He attached two tethers to the boxes housing the equipment and flicked a switch. The device whirred into operation, but sat on the floor. Chipachir climbed on top and flicked another switch and was lifted up smoothly.

Chipachir started dancing on top, singing “Skritt made it, skritt made it. Now it’s shiny and noisy and floaty and,” he paused to sniff, “and smelly. Ooh, not good”

An orange smoke had started to seep out the device, and the combined smell of lightning, charcoal and magic that came with burning Asuran circuitry insinuated its way into the room. Chipachir flicked a switch and came crashing down. “Not good, not good”, he muttered, picking himself up and pacing. “Something is wrong, but skritt doesn’t know what.”

The sylvari pulled another lever and more skritt appeared in a cage.

“Skritt knows! Skritt knows!” Chipachir declared. Then turned to face the sylvari and fixed her with his eyes. Eyes she had never seen from a skritt before. Eyes that mirrored her own, full of knowledge, intellect and also, there was no use denying it, madness. “Skritt knows.” The room had gone quiet, the noise of the hyperactive skritt inexplicably silenced.

“Skritt knows how to make your box. Skritt know why you want it. Skritt knows you plant lady, who was once called Ceara but now calls herself Scarlet. Skritt knows you will fail. You want to try and rid this world of oil by setting it on fire. You may control the winds of this world but you can never control its magic. Skritt tried and skritt failed. Skritt also saw the dark places of this world and it destroyed us as it will destroy you.”

Unnerved Scarlet pushed back all the levers and the skritt cages were taken from room leaving only Chipachir, who in a stupor tried to grasp at the understanding that had been his just moments before. With blank eyes he expressed the only part that remained clear to him “The horror. The horror.” Shaking his head to clear his mind Chipachir looked at the dented anti-gravity device, plucked out the flux oscillator and dashed out of the room with his shiny.

This was disappointing. Scarlet was going to have to get back in contact with Mai Trin. She didn’t like the risks she was going to have to take controlling parts of the inquest and a group of pirates, but anything was better than this.

“Excuse me!” came a voice. Scarlet started, she had forgotten about the Etin. “Would you mind using that Asuran intellectual amplifier to reduce my cerebral capacity back to its original level. I believe that I would be much more comfortable not understanding what I have just witnessed here.”

Oh, that was good!

Palador.2170:

Oh, that was good!

Well, it was your post that inspired it.

Having Skrittsburgh (I still can’t get over how silly that name is) do something during the LS would be great – I don’t know how I’d feel about skritt being the focus of an entire LS season though. That’s a lot of time, and I’m not that big a fan.

I dont think we have enough desiney Ref in my guild wars
Make a skritt-eny world with skritteny mous and chipp and dale….and something something skritt sherlock holmes

That was pretty good, Cormac. Even with Scarlet in there, which is saying something.

Zaxares.5419:

That was pretty good, Cormac. Even with Scarlet in there, which is saying something.

Controversially I don’t hate Scarlet. There are problems with the way she was presented to us as a character, but that was mostly due to the writers experimenting with a new method of story telling. Scarlet’s lair was the first time we really got a feel for what was going on inside her mind, and for all that it was a bit silly that you could walk in there with minimal difficulty it was forgivable because it was such a cool insight into what she was thinking. It showed us she had failed ideas on the way (skritt Etin alliance for one). In the end I’m just annoyed that Braham didn’t let her reveal her plan for rocket dolyaks.

The other thing that the lair showed us was that my prediction for skritt and quaggans to be united as the squee-alliance was way off. Missed opportunity ANet!

Skritt dragon minions. I’m calling it.

I’m backing the Skritt Pirating venture.