Guild Wars 2

I agree Espen, Yih did an amazing job on your Skyr and Craxus, Really, really cool pieces!

I spoke to her as a Sylvari and she said a lot more about Mordremoth than she was aware that he awakened. She confirmed the theories that Sylvari would be highly susceptible to his corruption if not for her protection.

Edit: Just went back and spoke to her on my human. She doesn’t mention the Sylvari corruption issue at all unless you’re Sylvari it seems.

I enjoyed it, OP! Really nice job, but it makes season 1 look better than it actually was. You have this great dark and really intimidating vibe going for Scarlet here, but in the game she was just comically done, in my opinion, a lot of that had to do with her voice and her laughter. It’s funny how much different she seems in your video.

And here are my character references, Laelvryn and Nhaevryn:

Part II
“He’s gone, Cadeyrn. Leave him be.”
“I’ll not let a brother die. There are far too few of us to give up on a life, even one so close to burning out.”
“He’s no brother of ours. He’s no firstborn, and most of the secondborn are far too young to venture as far from the Grove as you have. You yourself said you’ve never seen him before.”
“He’s Sylvari, Serimon. Perhaps you think the Mother would share your harsh indifference toward his fate?”
Silence.
“That’s what I thought. Help me get him into the pod.”
“This is folly, this pod has served its purpose and brought one of our own safely into the world. What you want from it, it cannot give, Cadeyrn.”
“You’re a Mender, are you not? If this is so hopeless, can you offer an alternative?”
Serimon lowered his eyes. “I…No, I don’t have the skills his wounds require.”
“Then the pod, NOW.”

The two of them struggled to fit Lael’s body into the pod, he was much bigger than its previous occupant, a female Sylvari whom Serimon was already not fond of. But it was fresh and it was here.

“Get his legs in. And careful to not put too much strain on his back, I’m certain it’s broken and you probably made it worse carrying him back him.”
Cadeyrn gently bent Lael’s legs inward. “Made it worse? You didn’t see him lying there on the rocks. I couldn’t have made it worse even if I had dragged him back by the ank—”

As he spoke one of the vines inside the pod twitched.

“Serimon, did you see…”
“I saw. Be quiet, and don’t touch him again.”

The vine seemed to spasm again, then it slithered around Lael’s waist and pulled him in tight against the walls of the pod. A second vine wrapped around his legs while several more entwined his shoulders and chest. Then, slowly, the leaves of the pod closed tightly around the Sylvari’s body.

“Rest well, brother,” Cadeyrn whispered, placing a hand on the pod. “May you meet the Dream and may it guide you back to us.”

Part III – 1325 AE
Lael blinked and rubbed his eyes. “Where is Caithe?”
A nearby Sylvari turned to him “Caithe? You dreamed of Caithe?”
“Yes, she and I battled a dragon in my dream.”
“A dragon? Don’t try to move too much, I’ll get the Mender.”

Lael looked around. He didn’t recognize this place, but as he stared down at the sprawled pod and the mud on the ground nearby, he felt an uneasiness in his heart.

A voice gasped from down the path. “By the Tree…You…You’re…”
“I’m what? Do you know me? I don’t remember you from my dream.”

Serimon stood staring for a long time. For days after they placed Lael in the pod, the Mender checked on his condition regularly. The pod had done its work quickly, and his body appeared healthy after only a few days, yet he did not wake. After a year, Serimon began to believe he wouldn’t reawaken and suggested they bury his body, but Cadeyrn refused. From then on, Cadeyrn watched over Lael’s pod himself and Serimon’s visits grew more infrequent. By the time Cadeyrn left the Grove and began calling others into Nightmare, Serimon had all but forgotten about Lael. Yet, here he was. Standing. Speaking. Awakened. And a dreamer!

“No, no, of course not. You’re right, not from the dream. But perhaps…before the dream?” Serimon shouldn’t have said it, he realized immediately. Whoever this Sylvari is now, he is no longer the same broken soul that Cadeyrn found in the West. Serimon decided to back down and let his curiosities go unanswered for now.

“Before the dream? I don’t understand. Where is Caithe?”
“Come with me, Sapling. I’ll take you to Caithe.”

The two walked silently along the path. After some time, they arrived at a house deep within the Grove.

“Caithe will be expecting you inside.”
“Thank you for showing me the way, Mender…”
“Serimon is my name. And you, what is your name?”
“My name? I don’t know. I had no name in my dream. Is that normal”
“It happens. You can pick your own name if you like. What feels right? It can be anything, but I find that saplings often know their names, even if they’re unaware of it.”
Lael stood at Caithe’s door for a moment, thoughtful. He looked at his feet, then his eyes wandered around the Grove, finally settling on the moon. He stared up for what seemed to Serimon like a long time, then finally turned back to the Mender. “Laelvryn,” he said. “My name is Laelvryn.”

Sorry it was so long! Thanks for reading, I’ll get some screens posted soon!

Ok, here’s my story. Sorry about any typos, I was trying to get it from my head to paper in time.

Part I – A recollection from 1304 AE
I remember the day he fell. From the ledge, I watched him, dropping so fast, so silently. The quiet is what haunts me. After the seasons we spent together, this is the most vivid memory I have of him, this deafening silence as he fell. Then, as his body broke on the rocks below, the silence hung for a moment more, then the roar of the water crashing down around him rose once again. My memory of the moments that followed is crowded by that sound, the sound of my roaring terror as I sprinted down the slope, stumbling on the mossy rocks, tumbling, regaining my footing only to crash again, but I thought only to reach him.

Then, suddenly, everything was dark, quiet.

The green of the forest and roaring falls fell away. There was nothing, nothing but me for what felt like hours. Then, slowly, I felt something, a creeping tightness rising in my chest. Breathe, I thought, just fill your lungs. But something was wrong. My lungs were heavy and stiff, a sensation I had known once before. Then it came to me. The silence, the darkness, the crushing weight within my chest. I was back in my pod, newly awakened. Life-giving earth was all around me, but also within me, taking back its gift like a cruel child. I remembered horror, confusion — my first memories — but this time I was not living them, not feeling them. This time, there was no fear, no confusion, because I knew what was coming next, I knew he was coming. But that didn’t stop the pain, the rising weight in my lungs and throat. I needed to calm myself. I thought back to our first moon together.

“Nhaevryn,” he called me.
It fit. “I like it,” I answered.
“And me? Who am I?”
Nothing came to me. “How do you choose?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t really feel like I chose it.”
“Well, that isn’t working for me. Can we just call you Nhaevryn, too?”
He laughed, “I don’t think so. Look at me, what do you see? How do I make you feel?”

We had been awake for only a few hours, together since he brought me out of the dark weight of the earth. He saved my life and I couldn’t even give him a name, I knew nothing about him. I stayed quiet for a few minutes, staring at him, while he looked at the moon. I knew then that we awakened together for a reason, and that he would always be with me.

“Loyal.” I said after awhile.
He smiled and laughed. He didn’t look away from the moon. “Loyal.”
I could tell he thought it was weird, somehow off. “How about Lael, then?”
He was silent. Then he turned away from the moon and looked at me. “Yes. Lael.”

His arms crashed down through the rocky soil and heaved me out of the dark earth. He had come, finally. My lungs erupted, I spat out death and choked down air, just as I had that day. The light flooded in, but as I righted myself, I realized that I wasn’t crouched in the mud above my pod. Lael wasn’t at my side. Then I heard it all around me again, the roaring of the water, swallowing me. Then, almost immediately, it was drowned out again by that terrible silence. Lael falling. But now it was I that had fallen. Fallen trying to get to him, trying to be with him for the end. I could have been unconscious for hours as he lay nearby, struggling to keep breathing, dying alone. I sprang to my feet, and ran to the spot where he fell. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t lying there holding onto life, waiting to say goodbye, and he wasn’t twisted and broken, already gone from this life. He was just gone. And for the first time in three years, I was alone.

-continued in next post-

Hey, just stopping in to say that I just finishing up a story for this, I’ll post it in a couple of hours!

BobbyStein.2315:

We want to seed Tyria with lore bits and other items that can better educate adventurous players seeking more knowledge on the subject. Keep your eyes open in future releases. Thanks so much for taking the time to post your feedback regarding episode 2.

Yes times one billions!

Well, I guess I’ll be the one who disagrees. By making them untradeable, I’m forced to play for my weapon skin, if I want it. We have already had plenty of skins that you can acquire immediately as long as you have 50-100g. I’ve seen quite a few posts asking for ANet to add some skins that need to be acquired by playing. It would be nice if it was a skill gate instead of an RNG gate, but I still prefer this to gemstore/TP only skins.

justkoh.4073:

By insisting on 30 out of 30 (in this case), they’re just pushing a lot of folks to check guides and in doing so, deny them of the sense of self-accomplishment.

Maybe I’m misinterpreting, but it seems like you just said that people should be able to experience the sense of accomplishment without actually accomplishing anything.

Isn’t that kind of like saying “Let’s cut 5 miles off of the marathon but still put a finishing line at the end so that people who finish the first 21 miles can feel like they’ve run the marathon”?

+1 to Donari’s post. I find that I ckittenually get any name I want so long as I’m willing to tack on an extra syllable or add letters here and there. “H” is a great one (e.g. Naevryn → Nhaevryn).

My preference is also to stick with the single name. The one time I didn’t (I named my necro Vahlia Rootrot) I’ve regretted it big time. Though, not enough for a name change item from the gem store =P

Yup, it seems like too weird of a thing to be a simple oversight, considering every other race is represented. I don’t agree with Gwaiyn’s theory though, it makes no sense that ANet wants the PC to be the Sylvari representative, maybe if Sylvari were the only playable race…

My guess is that DE 2.0 is not fully fleshed out yet, remember that Taimi didn’t really show up until later on in season 1. During the course of this season, we may lose one of the humans and gain a Sylvari. Canach would be cool.

As to which human we will lose, I would guess Jory. She’s got a vengeance angle now, so she may do something stupid and get herself killed. Also, the devs have said that interesting things are coming for Kasmeer and her developing powers. This is just speculation though. Either way, I’m hoping we get a Sylvari member soonish.

I agree that this would be pretty cool, OP, and the idea of a few sets of profession-specific armor is really appealing to me in concept.

A winter-themed Scarlet, Thiagugu?

I also jumped on one of the new hairstyles, and prettied up my necro while I was at it.

Vahlia Rootrot before and after:

Ronin.7381:

that’s a couple thousand miles mind you if we’re to think on real scale

I’m not criticizing you, but this comment made me stop and think. The distance is actually much, much shorter than that. I don’t know if it’s been done, but it would be fairly easy to create a scale bar on the map of Tyria based on how far a toon can run in a set amount of time, assuming toons run at a reasonably realistic speed. I’d bet if we do this, we’ll find the the entire explorable world map is less than 10 miles across.

Here is a bit about my Sylvari warrior. It’s formatted and written as a wiki entry, as if this is an NPC in the game that all players can encounter, rather than my PC.

Laelvryn
Laelvryn was born of the cycle of noon. He awakened in 1303 AE in the Maguuma Wastes. He is not of the Pale Tree.

Background
In his first minutes awake, he saved the life of another Sylvari awakening from a nearby pod. Her pod was entirely buried in rocky sand, and she nearly died during her awakening. He named her Nhaevryn and she named him Lael. His name was not changed to Laelvryn until 1325. The two were very close until 1304 when Laelvryn died. The cause of his death is not known.

Death and Reawakening
In 1304, Laelvryn was found near death in Aurora’s Remains. Cadeyrn, a young Secondborn at that time, brought him to the Grove. Mender Serimon told Cadeyrn that Laelvryn was beyond help, but Cadeyrn placed his body inside a pod from which another Sylvari had recently awakened. He died soon after. However, as Mender Serimon was removing his body from the pod, he noticed that his wounds had began to heal. Cadeyrn is reported by Mender Serimon to have checked on Laelvryn every day until he left the Grove and founded the Nightmare Court, but Laelvryn did not wake.

Laelvryn finally woke in 1325 as a Sylvari of the Pale Tree. He has never discussed his past and it is unclear whether he remembers anything prior to his dream, though some dialog suggests his memories are not entirely lost. For example, when he met the Pale Tree she addressed him as Lael but he asked to be called Laelvryn and could not explain why. This has been interpreted by some players as a subconscious hope to be reunited with Nhaevryn, and has led others to speculate that the two may have been linked in a way similar to the Dream of Dreams links Sylvari of the Pale Tree.

Trivia
The Sylvari whose pod Laelvryn slept in was present for his death, but was never identified. She encountered Nhaevryn hiding in the Grove immediately after Laelvryn’s death. In exchange for information about the Grove, Nhaevryn told this Sylvari where she and Laelvryn were born. Some players have speculated that this Sylvari was Ceara, and that this information was a driving motivation for her earliest visit to the Maguuma Wastes.

Corvo Raven’s story

That was a really cool idea!

^What he said. The OP and others are stating that they don’t understand the logic behind this. Well, that’s because they’re comparing the achievement that having crafted 5 Legendaries is with the achievement that having crafted 2 of the same Legendary is, and are confused as to why the reward is better for the latter. But this is not about achievement and reward, it’s about “work” and compensation. Namely, the work that some players did to be able to dual wield Legendary skins, and the compensation ANet decided was justified after they changed the rules and let everyone dual wield Legendaries without crafting a second.

And no, I did not make duplicate Legendaries, I just thought I’d spell this out for those who, for some mind-boggling reason, don’t seem to get it.

Honestly, I’d be very surprised if either of those things happen. Not because they’re farfetched, but I just don’t think ANet is going to be dedicating story arcs to character development. They haven’t thus far and I doubt they will. Just my opinion.

BrunoBRS.5178:

then there’s that priory chick that discloses confidential information to you because, well duh, you’re the freaking commander of the pact, the one that killed zhaitan.

I don’t know the answer one way or the other, but this isn’t evidence at all that we’re still a commander in the Pact. She just says she told you be “you’re you.” It’s only evidence that we have a good reputation, which, yes, was earned by defeating Zhaitan while acting as a commander of the Pact.

The only ways we’ll know for sure is A) hearing straight from a dev that we still have official status as a Pact commander or hearing the same thing from a prominent NPC in game. Having an order member call us “commander” isn’t really clear evidence. People in the States refer to ex-presidents as President Bush, President Clinton, etc. often, it’s a sign of respect for the role they once served.

this is very funny.

Does it move at all when you jump and run, or is it totally static?

dekou.6012:

And yes, the ponytail is static.

Thanks, just saved me a hair kit.

Shiren.9532:

I feel like I’m reading a book and I’ve missed a giant “reveal” chapter.

Yes, this and a lot more of this.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And they missed the opportunity to name it “The Dragon that killed…………..Belinda”.

Thanks for the spoiler, Teofa.

I am also a biologist and I work with insects; I agree that this is cringe-inducing. I work with flies that are closely related to mosquitoes, so that one is literally (read: not literally) killing me.

Also, +1 to you, OP, for “kittenroaches,” though I guess I should be +1’ing the forum filter.

There is no female version even vaguely similar to Spudfuzz’s. That’s what I’m saying.

Looks like there’s something reminiscent of a male version of Spudfuzz’s female hair concept. It looks pretty neat, but why no female version o.O /endcomplainingovernewcontent

It would be really interesting to hear in detail how some of these characters fit into the lore. I know that some people, often RPers, will write up short stories to describe their toons’ histories, but not everyone is a talented writer.

It might be interesting though, to write up a mock wiki page for your toon. I for one would read them. I have a lore-compatible Sylvari warrior, maybe I’ll write one up myself.

Balsa.3951:

T: Nothing can break me. No blade can cut me. I am a leaf on the wind.

Joss Whedon fan. Yup, best sylvari ever.

WaterHunter, I think the pattern has been every 6 months or so gem store items make a reappearance. These skins were released for the first time during LS season 1, the Nightmare Tower update, I think. They recently returned, maybe a month ago or so. If they do come back, it will probably not be until the end of this year or early 2015.

I’m not a handicapped or disabled person, but I’ll just say that I think Taimi is fantastic. I’ve never pitied her. In fact, I think she is probably one of the more impressive characters in the group, irrespective of her condition. It’s kind of great that they’ve put a character in the game that is not “impressive considering the handicap” but instead “impressive, and happens to be handicapped.”

Edit: In regard to Taimi’s intelligence being at Mary Sue level, keep in mind that in this fantasy world and in it the Asura are the cream of the brain crop. I don’t think there’s a problem with a 13 year old Asura prodigy displaying the level of insight and intellectual curiosity that Taimi does.

Thanks!

/15,000 chars

Can I reserve your next open spot when it opens? =P

Hi, I think this is a good start to something.

Just a couple of criticisms:

Be careful with vague, one-word descriptors. They don’t do much in to evoke vivid imagery. I’m talking about the use and reuse of “weak,” used to describe a sound and then the light two sentences later.

The other thing is that you have relatively little dialog and mostly description, which is great, of course, but that means you really have to make your dialog count toward developing the relationship between your characters. However, the longest exchange you have between these two is very cliche dialog (take this <insert weapon> because killing yourself would be better than letting them torture you). Cliches do nothing to develop the uniqueness of your characters, they do exactly the opposite.

Lastly, and I don’t say this to be mean, but this has nothing to do with GW2 and really does not belong in this forum.

Keep up the good work!

There has been no proof yet, and there may never be, depending on what your definition of proof is. I doubt Mordremoth with ever jump out from behind a tree yelling “It was me, kittens!” We may get a confirmatory bit of dialog from our fearless NPC gang.

Jory: “Looks like it was this jungle dragon that was whispering those ‘sweet nothings’ into Scarlet’s head the whole time, doll.”
Kasmeer: “Your detective skills are what I love most about you!” * swoon *
Taimi: “Poor Scarlet!”
Braham: “Aw, sorry kiddo, come snuggle Uncle Braham.”
Rox: “Why am I even here?”

That’s not to say the context clues have been strong enough to be considered proof, I just think that the reason you see many people assuming it was Mordremoth is because it seems to fit pretty well, being that Morde is the jungle dragon, has already shown the ability to corrupt plants (we assume the vines are under his influence) and it follows that he/she/it may be able to influence Sylvari in a similar way. You’re right that there are other possible explanations. We’ll have to wait and see.

Personally, I would rather see what kind of destruction Mordremoth can dish out than see him/her/it quickly put down. I would love for a Mordremoth conflict to last several seasons, so long as we get hit hard and fast with a show or multiple shows of power, so that long’ish story actually feels like a hard fought battle.

I’d like to see an aggressive, confident and powerful elder dragon that seems like a legit threat, not one that hides in Maguuma while the PC easily dispatches hordes of plant-corrupted minions.

Yes, I customized the settings myself bit by bit, but honestly other than the sharpness, it’s not really that different than vanilla graphics.

Sorry to hijack your thread, Cynz

iAsuno.9654:

what did you use to take those screenshots? ingame screenies don’t normally look like that. and is you use sweetfx may i ask what settings you use?

I’ve attached my sweetfx settings, enjoy =)

Ooooo pretty art!

My ele, Dracarys:

Heya Cynz, keep up the great work! I like everything you’ve posted here, but Celtica’s commission is really exceptionally well done, imo.

Obligatory screenshot upload
Here’s my elementalist, Dracarys. * Crosses fingers *

CaptainVanguard.4925:

It was “Not” there before.

Arleii.5304:

I’m sure this vine wasn’t there before!

Sorry guys, but it’s been there since the patch was first applied on July 1.

I’d like to prove it to you, but it’s just my word against yours, and apparently you’re pretty sure it’s new.

The best I can do is link this reddit thread from more than 3 days ago that specifically mentions this WP-molesting vine.

I think that if your art contains any content or themes that a forum post is not allowed to contain, then you probably can’t post it here. Code of Conduct

Really nice after shot, Elatiell! I love Sylvari cultural =)

Here’s mine, “Dracarys.”

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Great pic there! Well done

Zefrost.3425:

Really like this a lot.

Dondarrion.2748:

Extremely well done, both the outfit and your screenshot!

Iris Ng.9845:

Very well done. You look like a resident of Dry Top.

Thanks everyone for the kind words! I edited the post with a second screenshot that shows some more up-close detail

Great idea and it’s looking good so far. Staying tuned!

Thanks again! You did an amazing job, love the detail.

If you were ANet and wanted to make some bucks in the gemstore, would you sell a weapon skin that has already passed “The Weeaboo Test” and is universally loved, or would you risk design time on a ring-pommel blade or some other whosywhatsit?

Lord Faren is E, as the reddit community has clearly proven with facts about reasons.

Therefore he is Lord Faren, the Italian Stallion, the Master of Disaster, the Breaker of Chains, the Unburned and the Hero of Maguuma.

I see your point Mantis. But it seems clear that ANet will be expanding Maguuma in increments with coming updates, so you’ll be getting that vast area to explore. Given that you are aware of what type of content release you’d enjoy most, maybe you should wait a few months to do this content, then do it all at once so you have that experience of a vast, new region to explore.