Guild Wars 2

Rukh.9287:

The dragonbrand goes down our side of the Blazeridge mountains and looks like most of the activity is in the Crystal Desert.

Er, yes, I meant Blazeridge. Mistaken names entirely my own fault for posting at 4 AM…

djsarcher.9263:

I was under the impression though that Elona lay mostly south of the Brand through the Crystal Desert, rather than east.

I was rather oversimplifying, but the north end of Elona does border mountains, and it’s still technically “east” of the range. My theory on Whisper incursion into Elona is a mountain pass through the Blazeridge.

As far as Cantha goes, with all their isolationist policies, international trade was most likely in a decline before the dragons; likely with taxes and tariffs all over foreign goods, and Zhaitan and Bubbles probably clinched it entirely by adding extreme danger to the already low profits.

As far as the potential Zephyrite visit(s), if I recall, during the Cutthroat Politics story, they were rather uninterested in the Captain vote and were only interested in getting the trade agreement. If they hold the same priorities when visiting everywhere, then it’s likely they stayed towards the coast of Cantha and just conducted trade without concern for the state of the government. Provided they even did trade. For all we know, they could have flown over Cantha and just made Canthan-inspired decorations.

The only other groups with airships that I’m aware of are the Pact and the Aetherblades. The Pact is busy with Orr and the Risen (now maybe Mordremoth), and I don’t think anyone is being friendly enough with the Aethers to ask what their non-pirating activities might be.

Can’t really comment on the first two, since there’s an awful little to learn from the Largos and Kodan, neither like to talk too much.

But Kralkatorrik, he’s probably still recovering. Destiny’s Edge’s attempt to take him down was only eight years ago, and they did some pretty major damage, and he might be fighting two fronts. Our side of the Steamspur Mountains is already claimed by him with the Brand, so it’s most likely his primary focus. Over east into Elona, though, there’s probably border skirmishes between Branded and Joko’s thralls. Neither pushing too hard since they both have domestic issues still. Joko is still being pestered by Whispers movements, and Kralkky has all of us trying to purify his “claim”.

If Scarlet is the standard for high ranking Mordrem, then we very well may be in huge trouble. She was able to gather power of most of the antagonist groups; Inquest, Flame Legion and Nightmare Court; as well as asuran colleges and charr engineering groups.

Mordrem influenced people in the various orders and as members of the governments could wreck absurd amount of slow showing damage if they remained undercover and as deceitfully clever as Scarlet. Rooting out (apologies for the obvious pun) the double agents from places of power would be a difficult and long lasting effort.

I’m not entirely sure that Jennah’s death would completely destabilize the humans. It would certainly be a huge morale killer, but the Krytan government would be thrown completely into disarray. There’s several ministers, as well as the whole of the Shining Blade. Day to day politics would most likely continue as usual, with most likely Master Exemplar Countess Anise standing in for Jennah. Government infighting will probably escalate slowly (though more quickly than it is currently when rumors spread), but no mass hysteria would break out since the death of the Queen is probably something they’d want to try to keep secret until contingencies can be carried out.

If the dragon wants immediate results from the death of a single being, the Pale Tree is the only logical choice. If the dragon is seeking a long term destabilization to the world’s governments, it would have to adapt at least ten (probably more for all the lesser and fringe groups) complex subterfuge attacks to infiltrate and internally destroy everything in its path. Well, short of a completely brute force “raze and burn” type scenario, which seems more up the dragons’ style.

Unless it was in a conversation box with a particular response, it is a generic human response. Considering you’re not really meant to go up and talk to the Minister during the battle, it’s just a slight oversight.

JusticarArkiel.1564:

“leader of the charr race because we dont want a khan-ur” rank?

Everything short of Khan-Ur is per legion. Look up Bangar Ruinbringer and Malice Swordshadow, they are the Imperators of Blood and Ash, respectively. Flame also had Gaheron Baelfire, but he’s a bit on the dead side now. Otherwise, it is as Dustfinger said, the Black Citadel and surrounding area is smack dab in the middle of Iron territory. If we ever head east of the Blazeridge mountains or where ever Ash Citadel is, the other Imperators would carry more weight.

Also, it’s not that they don’t want a Khan-Ur, it’s that it’s a position that must be recognized by all four legions, including Flame. If there’s someone capable of wrangling the Flame Legion in line with the other three, that person would be a very powerful threat to the enemies of the charr.

Retrieving a magical artifact after consumption by a dragon would be an interesting point of exploration. We know that once dormant, magic seeps out from the dragons, but is it the same magic as before, and does it want to become reattached to the object?

Personally, I don’t think it’s possible to reclaim a magical object with the magical properties intact once consumed, at least not without effort of someone actively trying to re-imbue the same effect. Magic is constantly being compared to river, implying it is free flowing, perhaps the dragons leak the magic back into the ley lines.

Going back to the field-particle analogies, perhaps magic does exactly work this way. The magic “field” permeates out from the ley lines and magical effect are themselves the “particles”. Any magic, in that case would be an excitation (read: particle) of the all-pervasive magic field. Some magic lasts longer perhaps due to larger draws of the magic field, making a magical artifact that will last hundreds of years more appealing to an elder dragon than some little fireball meant to last only a few seconds before fading back into field.

Also, it could be that magical objects aren’t magic made physical, but physical objects used as anchors to hold large particles of magic. This also nicely explains why most magic that lasts for some time is in the shape of a bubble or an area. It’s easier to anchor magic field particles to simple constructs, like a weapon for an artifact, or the air in a sphere around someone in the case of one of the many “bubble” magics. Anchoring magic to a complex living being is probably much more difficult, and not often done, which is why necromancer minions are rather simple and just bone and flesh. People are probably no more than conduits, the magic flowing through you much like electricity rather than storing it and having a “reserve” within you.

Er, wow, that’s a lot of text, I hope it’s not too much or too poorly expressed to not be understood.

Edit: And I just realized I forgot all about transformations… That kind of messes up the whole not being able to store magic in complex living beings. Someone in a form would probably make a tasty ED snack…

Rilke Cadmus.6829:

If anyone has a walk-in-and-visit-the-pale-tree-anytime-I-want-because-I am-a-kitten card, it is you.

I get the thought process behind this idea, but I don’t think it makes perfect sense. The only racial leader that really makes sense to allow pop-ins, lore wise, is Knut Whitebear.
A meeting with Queen Jennah probably requires asking permission and filling out paperwork.
“Speaking” with Imperators is probably more of a hierarchical passing of information, that is, you tell your Legionnaire, they tell the Centurion, they tell the Tribune, and finally information is relayed to the Imperator. Steps can probably be skipped depending on one’s personal relationships with higher ranked individuals.
The Arcane Council? Good luck with that. It’s largely a sham organization to give the illusion the asura have a government analogous to the other races and facilitate diplomacy. Unless one or more of them wants something, or you offer a large enough bribe, they don’t have any reason to care.

Fame does not mean complete freedom of access. Walking in on any of the racial leaders is a gameplay feature, not a lore fact.

This actually raised some questions concerning the procedures needed to meet with the Pale Tree’s Avatar. Aside from random non-story wandering, does any player character ever visit the Pale Tree by themselves?

As far as I can tell, even in the sylvari story quests, you are always talking to her while in the presence of someone who holds a position power, a firstborn. Maybe all this stuff was hand waived easily before due to having direct ties to firstborn. Doubly so for Trahearne, being the oldest.

Now that you’ve moved on from your firstborn instructors and boss, a little more work is needed. Like Caith said in the Dream and Nightmare story, “Why should she care? She has thousands of children now, Cadeyrn. You are either firstborn…or you are simply sylvari.” And that was to a secondborn, all player characters, if the two year cycle of birth classification was maintained, are at least twelfth generation sylvari.

Crixler.2857:

All I’m able to find is that it must be the “rightful king of Ascalon”.

The wording of the nature of the curse has always been vague, and probably for good reason. Who or what defined the conditions of the curse?

Was it the caster, Adelbern? If so, then the conditions would be on Rurik returning, since the King never really wanted to believe his son was murdered in the Shiverpeaks.

Was it the sword Magdaer? In that case, it could be the popular belief of any descendant of Doric being the key.

Perhaps the curse is something dictated by the tainted land of Ascalon itself. This case gets rather silly though, since if it’s just the land, then probably any idiot who happens to have Sohothin or Magdaer could come along and pronounce themselves king of Ascalon and fix it.

Personally, I was one to subscribe to the Doric blood theory.

Of course, with all the sci-magic advancements since the appearance of the asura, this could all go away with proper tampering of the nearby Ley Lines. Though, with all the set up this curse has garnered over the years, that would be a rather disappointing fix.

After getting Taimi out of the machine, I decided to throw my quaggan into it. When he came out, he claimed to have seen the Truth and can now do magic with only his flipper hands. His powers scare me.