Guild Wars 2

Inspired by Ludovicus’s ‘suggestion’ on a Living Story arc going to Jormag territory, I wrote one up semi-inspired by a joke story I wrote up on the spot a while ago (with alterations to be more serious of course!) dealing with an expansion upon older characters and factions, including but not limited to the White Mantle, Isgarren, and of course, Lazarus.

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I give up my copy rights about this ideas to ArenaNet™.

(just because I would be honored if they used this, even an inkling of it – copied verbatim from Ludovicus)

Chapter 1: The Queen’s Pavilion
The story begins in another celebration of the Queen’s Coronation Anniversary (because there needn’t be another reason to celebrate the same day every year in-universe), and the Crown Pavilion and the Queen’s Gauntlet has opened again. But the main story happens elsewhere, in The Upper Palace.

To the public’s eye, thanks to the mechanizations of Scarlet, the amount of Watchknights has been reduced (partially out of resources, partially to prevent a repeat of past events). However, thanks to Scarlet’s actions in the previous year, the Ministry was able to worm its way into sending guards into the Pavilion for “extra security” of the emissaries.

Legate Minister Caudecus uses this as a chance to legally escape the house arrest he was evicted under at the end of the Caudecus Manor story dungeon; and further spreads the Ministry Guard’s influence in the city. Jennah and Anise are concerned about this, and Logan – being Logan – suspects him of foul play (again) and hires Marjory Delaqua to dig up anything she can to get him back under house arrest. Players aid her in this, investigating various crimes throughout the city, which has taken a recent rise (this is what the story of the update focuses on), and though there are ties to the Ministry Guard, nothing conclusive comes up to put the blame on Caudecus. But there is one oddity among them – there is a criminal tied to a minister who’s just left the city for Garrenhoff.

Story-related Content Update

• Return of the Pavilion and Queen’s Gauntlet for the month; amount of spawns in Pavilion has been reduced (more spaced out veterans) and the boss events happen less frequently (to make up for this, the legendaries are now accompanied by two champions required to be killed for the event). A new tier to the Queen’s Gauntlet is added, along with the return of all old opponents. Related achievements become available for obtaining as well (though, obviously, the plot-related achievements, such as Opening Ceremony, are unobtainable).
• Balloon events return as well, but without the Aetherblade attacks (escort enemies are altered; no Aetherblade morale equivilant).
• By Ministry demand, the so-called “Royal” Terrace got un-renovated back into a shrine to Balthazar and training ground for troops (though some elements may remain).
• A statue commemorating the Great Collapse and the former Arts District is erected in the upper levels of the Crown Pavilion.
• Various idle dialogues about increased crime (thievery, stalking, kidnapping, etc.) is added throughout Divinity’s Reach.

Chapter 2: Arcane History
The Pavilion celebration has come and gone, but unsatisfied with the results, Marjor continues the job she was hired for and ventures to Garrenhoff. Like any good detective, she quickly finds something to be… strange, and investigates further. To make things more confusing, the Minister who was suppose to have shown up at Garrenhoff is nowhere to be found and no one claims to have seen him beyond his arrival to the town – many believe he simply left shortly after arriving, his business done, but no reports that Marjory found indicates his return. During her investigations, she finds the Arcane Eye’s base and begins suspecting them of having ties to the Minister’s disappearance; upon being proven wrong, however, she turns her attention to the Wizard’s Tower and works to gain access – where she discovers the truth of Isgarren and the villagers he ‘invites’ to his tower.

At the same time, Bandit activity is on a rise, with occasional new events popping up throughout human-controlled Kryta (including Divinity’s Reach itself). Though these Bandits are interestingly supplied with magitech weaponry – Inquest weapons to be precise.

Story-related Content Update

• New map-wide bandit invasion events added throughout Kryta, happening at rate of Scarlet invasion now (DR excluded; the small time events there are just as infrequent, but not map-wide); both old and new bandits have their weapons replaced with Inquest weapons.
• A few new idle dialogues in Garrenhoff about the Minister and Marjory.
• Wizard’s Tower becomes open as a persistent world mini-dungeon/jumping puzzle accessed via event-controlled event (similar to Flame Legion Tombs).

Chapter 3: The Sinister Triad
The discoveries of the Wizard’s Tower revealed the prevailed presence of the White Mantle to Marjory – something that the Shining Blade immediately confront her to keep secret. However, even threats from the Shining Blade doesn’t deter Marjory from looking further into this, as well as the increased bandit activity she believes tied into the Ministers (and her original job of finding dirt on Caudecus) as in the Wizard’s Tower that was ran by White Mantle operatives, she found ties to the bandits. It’s quickly discovered through reports from western Brisban Wildlands that the Sinister Triad alliance between bandit, Nightmare Court, and Inquest was a success in the end.

Working together with Shining Blade Exemplars Salia and Mehid, Valiant Mathair, and some local Wardens, Seraph, and Peacemakers, Marjory and Kasmeer plan out and successfully storm Fort Vandal. This culmnivates in Caudecus’ ties to the White Mantle revealed, and Lazarus has his short moment in the spotlight as he leaves before confrontation in the story mode. Her job done, Marjory returns to Divinity’s Reach with the intent to take Caudecus and his following down for good, while Salia and Mehid realize that there’s far more work to be done with the mursaat’s return…

Story-related Content Update

• Bandit invasion events updated, altered into Sinister Triad invasions, and spread into the three beginner maps of the Maguuma.
• Addition of a new permanent dungeon level 80 – Fort Vandal. Story mode follows Marjory’s investigations, while the explorable follows Mathair and co.‘s clean-up of the Sinister Triad’s presence in the area.

Chapter 4: Into the Wastes
With true cause for concern of Kryta’s safety, Logan and Anise are leading a joint-offensive westward into Talmark Wilderness (accessed via north of Lionshead Outcrops, Brisban Wildlands; and a new path is added in Pinion Trail heading east; incorporates’ GW1’s western Talmark Wilderness, Majesty’s Rest, and Sage Lands (and a bit north of the areas as well, possibly)). In the open world, the push west word (the new zone made to feel like Malchor’s Leap but with Sinister Triad forces) is led by various members of the Triforge; Logan, Anise, and Caithe make only temporary appearances for LS-only events.

Story-related Content Update

• A follow up instance, the Trial of Caudecus Beetlestone, opens after completing the story mode of Fort Vandal. Idle chatter among Ministers is added in The Upper City.
• Addition of a new zone, Talmark Wilderness (half of which is made to feel like Malchor’s Leap but with Sinister Triad forces instead of Risen, but not as gloomy of a local – a mixture of dense forestry and dried out landscapes; the other half a mixture of the western Krytan villages (ex: Dakutu Village) and old tombs (Majesty’s Rest’s tombs).
• The Sinister Triad invasion event now has a chance of happening in Talmark Wilderness and Divinity’s Reach (lore explanation for former being with Caudecus’ capture, their plans of overthrowing DR from within likely fail so they’re trying by force).

Chapter 5: Agonizing Touch
The invasion push has been going well, and the Triforge forces of Peacemaker, Seraph, and Warden has forced the Sinister Triad led by Lazarus further into the Maguuma Wastes, closer to their real base of operations: Bloodstone Fen. Here, after a series of events to push to the fortress built around the ancient bloodstone renovated by Inquest and Nightmare Court magic, the final confrontational dungeon opens for players to assault, and bring an end to the mursaat once and for all (or so the hope is).

Story-related Content Update

• A new zone (incorporating GW1’s southern half of The Wilds, Mamnoon Lagoon, and Silverwood). This new zone is also subject to the Sinister Triad invasion.
• New permanent dungeon (incorporates GW1’s Bloodstone Fen area; accessed from where the mission outpost was, roughly); story mode focuses on the first push through the enlarged fortress and the chasms naturally formed around the bloodstones; explorable focuses on the eliminating the Sinister Triad’s alliance for good, including the liason leaders of the three groups (WM, NC, Inquest) and a Priory group interested in the bloodstone itself).
• Living Story UI box includes a progression bar of Sinister Triad forces defeated, counted by successful “new dungeon” runs and invasion event completed (failed invasion events wouldn’t count); completion of this server-based progress bar results in the slow-down of the invasion events and a new celebratory instance at one of the main Triforge bases.
• At the end of this content month, the invasion and DR events come to an end; all instances are available from their introduction until the end of this fifth chapter. All other zone and dungeon events remain (to be treated little different than how the Orr zones function when post-Personal Story… for now).

(P.S., all of this was thought up over the course of… 1-2 hours, so it’s not meant to be entirely fleshed out in the later half)

It would be awesome to have a piece of content related to GW1 and especially the White Mantle/Mursaat.

Maybe there is even a way to fit Galrath into this (oh yes I got the reference). Nicely written btw.

Hey Konig that is magnificent idea and premise you have. However I was pondering on something Robert said during the queen’s jubilee update:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I originally had the Mursaat/White Mantle as one of the factions. They’re certainly a stronger pick than something like bandits or pirates, but there’s a lot of factors that go into these sorts of things. Creating a new army never before seen is pretty complex and takes a lot of time and iteration. Not only is there a large design cost for it, but art has to create a brand new environment, new armor, new character models, new weapons, and those are not simple tasks either. I played a ton of GW1, so I know their significance. I also knew how much time I had to do this, what my asset request bank was, and knew that I couldn’t do the Mursaat justice… especially with such a small area. 
If I’m gonna do Mursaat and White Mantle, I (as a hardcore GW1 player) would want it to be epic and grand. We haven’t ..forgotten.. about them, I just have higher expectations for them than what I was capable of putting out in this release.
…and yes I’m proud of that reference.

One thing he might be referencing to is how the Mursaat used to move in GW1 via levitation. Could they make Lazarus walk now, because certain powers he used to wield have been diminished over time? Which in his mind would fuel is hatred/vendetta against those who wronged/humiliated him so many years ago. He still would be a major threat, because he hold a vast amount of knowledge due to his elder race lineage. Maybe remove the mask from his face and reveal the ramifications of extending his life cycle unnaturally. I can just imagine that Lazarus still has Saul D’alessio soul and is using him as a puppet like Vizier Khilbron did to Prince Rurik (but in a more deceptive way).

As for the white mantle they could combine the bandit appearance with that of how they used to look. Considering they have white mantle ghosts running around in Brisban Wildlands it would not be that hard to import. You could also take resources from the cultist in Colossus Fractal, the personal story quest “Rending the White Mantle,” and resources from Caudecus Manor.

There is so many things when you get the Mursaat involved, and the conspiracies Lazarus himself could have concocted. Maybe he had a hand in causing the great collapse. Trying to test the queens resolve and propelling Caudecus deeper in the political quandaries of Divinity’s Reach.

I doubt that he was referencing that levitation – doing such a thing is probably one of the more easier things to make for mursaat – take the Risen Wraiths for example; they use a krait frame (same animations as krait), but are placed a few feet off the ground in order to levitate. With mursaat, their movement didn’t require leg or arm movement, so it could be a (mostly) still animation.

With the comment of mursaat, I’m sure it was more of the new model, new frame, new voice (for the effect grunts as well as aggro/killing/dying voiced lines), and new animations (attack, etc.) than the levitation animation.

As to Lazarus extending his life unnaturally – unless you refer to the splitting himself that he did between Prophecies and Eye of the North, we don’t know the natural lifespan of mursaat.

The cultists from Cliffside Fractal are unrelated to the White Mantle, so I don’t see why one would take resources from them… Especially since the only unqiue thing they have is their screeching aggro noise.

And yes, the conspiracies and plot points available when dealing with the White Mantle and related individuals is indeed large. This was just a quick thing that popped in my head, without going too into theorycrafting in the post.

Yeah, sorry about the “unnatural extension of one life” speculation quip. Got carried away a bit. However I was referencing the event that happened in Eye of North when it came to his power diminishing. When it comes to occultist: I know they are unrelated. I apologies I should have been more specific. What I meant is they could recycle certain material to make new models, animation, or effects for the new NPC’s. So it would take less resources to create them.

I think this is a marvelous idea. Plus I can’t wait to see Majesty’s Rest again (maybe still guarded by bone dragons?).

Will this introduce a use for Agony Resistance in the actual open world? This will make a lot of people happy. Also this will be great for my own rp as my characters have a very deep history with the WM.

Please Anet, make this happen. THIS is the story we care about. Existing GW1 lore.

“Living Story UI box includes a progression bar "

….. Lightbulb!

How great would it be if LS events had a progression bar for meta completion instead of being based on number of achievements and dailies? Would drastically reduce the “Now what do I have to do next?” feeling whenever the achievement you are working on dings.

Do whatever you like about the new LS and eventually you will get the meta reward… Doesn’t really have much to do with the topic, but would be a great idea.

Yumiko Ishida.3769:

Will this introduce a use for Agony Resistance in the actual open world? This will make a lot of people happy. Also this will be great for my own rp as my characters have a very deep history with the WM.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/tower/I-was-really-excited-for-this-patch/page/2#post3092043

Keep in mind that the Mists agony is not quite the same as the mursaat Spectral Agony. In order to gain protection against the mursaat’s agonizing touch, we have to find spectral creatures born of malice and shade and have a seer use her magic on us to infuse the slain entity’s essence into our armor – which will effectively absorb most of the Spectral Agony’s effects.

Spectral Agony not only dealt nearly unhealable damage (you can survive low-lvl agony without any infused piece, whereas it was basically impossible with SA), but caused the victim to fight, cast spells, and move considerably slower (the reduction was 80% with 0 infused pieces). The two agonies are different. The mursaat – if they were to return – would stretch out their hands and slaughter even the FotM lvl 50+ elitists in the blink of an eye.

If ANet wants to honor their lore snickers and the mursaat we got to know and fear in GW1, the infusion against their magic will be a plot device gained through the successful completion of some hard instanced mission (not dungeon!)… just like in Iron Mines of Moladune, Ring of Fire, and Abaddon’s Mouth.

that wouldnt be epic enough for lazarus tbh, this is a guy who split himslef up inside hosts to survive xD it would be next to impossible to stop him, i want this mursatt to be the ultimate villian i love the mursatt and there story

Back in time I had an idea of Minister marrying Queen Jennah, forcing her to do it. Then, when story continues, we could see the inner corruption of Jennah making progress via Lazarus and Caucedus, to the point when shbecomes the part of enemy force. Now imagine something like that: To slay Lazarus/Caudecusus, you would have to slay Jennah, because she could become something like a living Philacery. In a plot twist, we could support Logan when getting to her queen, and getting corrupted by her in first time and made to serve her in madness again. After some time, we could get some influence on Logan, thus aiding him in his hardest mission – to slay his Jennah!After he manages to do it with great sacrifice, he changes. He has lost all his purpose in life, slaughtering it with his bare hands. Named as a Queenslayer, he doesn’t feel like any hero anymore. Going in madness, he slays brutally people cheering at him at the gates of Divinity’s Reachwho remind him of what he did. He eventually escapes the Seraph, killing them on his way and here we have two options :
1. He enters the Ebonhawke Asura Gate, leaving DR and as a Gwen’s blood, and with his charge in Seraph, he convinces big group of Ebonhawke to leave to Desert with him.
2. He lonely escapes to Cantha in some way

Voila! Here, we have another Arthas!