Guild Wars 2

DarcShriek.5829:

Would he really be all that different? Consider Svanir and The Great Destroyer, both of whom existed while their masters slumbered. Both were somewhat specialized, however, it’s not Malyck that would be special, but Malyk’s tree. Is there any reason to believe that Malyck’s tree would be any less capable than the Pale Tree?

Firstly, you’re comparing Malyck to dragon champions. Y’know, the top dogs of all of dragon minions. The guys who spread corruption wherever they go, who lead the armies and fanatically (just like any other minion) follow their dragon. Does this really sound like Malyck to you?

And it would be Malyck that’s special, because if it were the tree that’s special but Malyck was just your average dragon minion, then he would be on par to risen thralls – he’d have very limited speech, would be nearly (or fully) mindless, and would have no free will and no choice of self-decision or self-awareness. Does this sound like Malyck to you?

No, it just isn’t possible. Unless he’s so specialized of a minion that he’s akin to Labwan the Deceiver, who was so unique of a minion that her personality befuddled Trahearne, who had spent 23 years (all of his life) studying Risen and Orrians.

DarcShriek.5829:

Why didn’t Anet use Faolain if the Nightmare Court are related to Mordy? BTW, I still don’t think Mordy has any influence on the Nightmare Court.

Because Nightmare Court are not corrupted. They still feel the need to fight the dragons. They are still capable of free will, to an extent.

As I said, influence is not the same as corruption. The Sons of Svanir are influenced, but they are not corrupted.

To be corrupted is to become an Elder Dragon. Thus far – and it seems Mordremoth has found a way around it given Scarlet’s personality at the end – the sylvari are immune to all Elder Dragon’s corruption. But immune to their influence? No, they are not.

Thaumanova blew up fairly recently before the personal story which was in 1325. Kralkatorrik woke up 5 years before Thaumanova exploded. No ifs ands or buts about it.

Thaumanova may have led to Zhaitan’s sudden assault on Lion’s Arch, however. But no way to really prove this.

Rym.1469:

I believe that just “disrupting” leylines was quite obvious and there’s no “feeding” the dragon
EDs are kind of magical guardians, keeping the magic in check. If they notice something strange or overflow of magic, they wake up.

Uh… No, they’re not guardians. They consume magic, and expell it while hibernating. This is what was meant when Angel said they balance magic. They aren’t guardians who keep it flowing. They’re apathetic consumers who eat and sweat out magic.

Aethgar.1784:

I have another possible theory.. Scarlet kept on claiming again and again how she had some ulterior motive, and we never got her villainous rant.
My bet is that Mordremoth has been lying gathering strength, drawing on those leylines. The villainous rant may well have been that by disrupting them, she did, yes, force our hands by waking another ED. but has woken him prematurely this way, less powerful than he otherwise would have been.

Issue is that the Elder Dragons need to consume magic to rise, and what did Scarlet do? She fed him magic.

She rose him true, but by doing exactly what Drakkar did to rise Jormag, and what the Great Destroyer was doing for Primordus. So he may have been weaker if left without anything feeding him (which was the case for Kralkatorrik thanks to Glint).

Note: engineers have special dialogue for those things it seems. On phone so no text but short version is that with engineer you get told Scarlet’s goal was a Dragon the entire time, and that the drill is magical, intended to keep running even if Scarlet gets captured or killed.

Jaken.6801:

For the ley lines i presume our jungle friend just lay there in maguuma, taping into the magical energy that flows to him and now suddenly it is disturbed.. geez.. a cranky dragon..

Actually, she diverted the leg line to the Dragon, not from it.

Jaken.6801:

btw. you can talk to Taimi after you have finished. However she has nothing more then some flavour text.

So does Magnus and all the biconics. Magnus even praises you for killing Scarlet and Braham and Marjory’s injuries are mentioned.

Highly unlikely. He holds no traits common amongst all dragon minions. He’d have to be amongst the very very rare exceptions, making him a specialized minion which is possible but for such a minion to be made before the dragon’s awakening….

Never said Malyck was lying. Never said the Nightmare Court were corrupted (Gavin and other’s independence and different methodologies is pretty much proof they aren’t).

Just said that Malyck’s tree – which is said to be along the river to the west thus placing it somewhere in The Falls or Tangle Root of GW1 – is in the approximate location of the direction the line went – which was west of Rata Sum thus into Magus Falls (named after Magus Stones and The Falls of GW1). And that I suspect that Mordremoth is the root of Nightmare rather than being the source for the Dream. Influence is not the same as corruption, as the Sons of Svanir prove.

@Wookie:

This was discussed in great length during Origins of Madness, such as in the following threads:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/Theorycrafting-on-Scarlet/first (mainly latter half, as this thread was started in December-ish)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/dragon-painting-in-scarlet-s-lair/first
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/madness/Scarlet-s-Secret-Lair-Major-Spoilers/first

I don’t see why King Doric would be buried beneath Lion’s Arch.

Kryta was formed while at war with Orr by Mazdak, a son of King Doric (or rather, a prince of Orr; King Doric was the king of Orr so it’s rather a logical assumption to think Mazdak was Doric’s son). Doric himself was crowned in Ascalon and is claimed to have ruled over all three kingdoms but there’s the aforementioned “Kryta was formed while at war with Orr” note which calls that into question. Furthermore, King Doric died in Arah when his “single drop” of blood was used to reseal the Bloodstones, and there are the royal tombs right next to Arah…

Ox See Sox.3687:

Come on, just look at personal history……the same team cant suddenly make an awesome end to this LS…..

Just gonna chime in on this…

The Living World writing team are the folks who wrote up War in Kryta, which was received very well (and its well reception was probably what led Anet to go and make the Living World concept…).

And I don’t think the personal story writing team are the same as the LW writing team. If memory serves me right – and I have no clue how accurate my memory is on this – the personal story was written by multiple writers not working in conjunction with each other (hence any disjointed feeling with it, and with the open world) while the LW team is by the same four-or-so folks, and the Arah dungeon was rushed (much like the LW content – I hope this goes to show the higher ups at ArenaNet that “faster content” is looked down upon by the community).

1) I’m going to call mechanics on this. In GW1, we had to kill those maintaining portals (or stand in a capture-the-altar style way). As for the strategy you mention – you mean firing through the portal? If so, I suggest doing the event in Bloodtide for getting into the city. (If you don’t get a chance – there are fireballs shot through the portals, similar to the ones shot by the Firestorm and dredge Shamans).

2) Uh… yeah? All asura gates were underground thus going through “solid objects”. And if portals can lead across dimensions, I doubt a solid wall would stop them.

3) I am tempted to say yes there is such a case, but I cannot recall where it’s mentioned – though I believe it is in relevance to asura technology.

4) Arcane Council does. I don’t think it’s any individual, but they pretty much own all major asura gate stuff. Gate Hub Plaza gates seems to be the sole exception here.

Chris.3290:

Kral’s wingspan is the width of the dragon brand, it makes sense. The concept art, like many loading screens from both games is from Dociu’s art portfolio.

Actually, the Dragonbrand was made by Kralk’s breath, so it can be smaller – or bigger – than his wingspan. I’m gonna say smaller though.

And fun fact: most open world loading screens in GW2 (not including LW-introduced onces) are done by Kekai Kotaki.

Randulf.7614:

In the book Kralk is described as being a thousand feet tall. Not sure if Zhaitan was quite that big in the game

To you and all those questioning Zhaitan’s size, these may be of interest:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/Zhaitan-is-small/first
https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/135988/ledov__drak0009.png
https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/135990/velioksti2.png
https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/136225/ledov__drak.jpg

Vyko.6953:

Im glad u like my rips guys!

to Egon Vidar:
Im adding original Zhaitan from trailer in my next from-top render. I think you will be a bit surprised, as I was, about its size!
btw I totally agree on that its really shame that in game it doesnt look that great. While Arenanet artists team did excelent job on Zhaitans design, model and animations, its sadly hardly noticeble in game how awesome the dragon actually is. And if the fight wasnt that bad as it is now, it could be just freaking awesome boss. lets hope the next elder dragon will be presented in much better way in game (personally cant wait).

for Kalavier:
Tequatl measures:
body width – 22m
wingspan – 188 m
height (when on 4 legs from ground to the top) – 35 m
length (head to tail) – 113 m

Zhaitan:
wingspan – 500 m
height – a bit unmeasureable, since he has no legs and each hand is different
lenght – 506 m

Glory of Tyria:
wingspan – 262 m
height – 158 m
lenght – 370 m

Ladies and gentlemen, that enormous thing on the right is original Zhaitan from trailer:

For your Americans like myself, Zhaitan’s length of 506 meters is roughly 1660 feet. That’s 660 feet bigger than Kralkatorrik’s height. His wingspan is 1640 feet long – while Kralkatorrik’s is only described as blocking out the sun (I think 1640 would do that…).

And Zhaitan’s about 40 times the size of any champion.

The first good deed Scarlet has done.

Time to diminish the quaggan population some more. Finish the job Jormag and Bubbles started!

So Thaumic is basically magibabble then. :P

draxynnic.3719:

Now, it’s been implied that they’re kept seperate not simply because they’ve been assigned areas of operation that match their skills – which is what I had assumed – but because there is enough rivalry between them to mandate that they be seperated.

I don’t think what’s implied is rivalry. Go to Hooligan’s Route and you’ll see all three alliances mingling there – Toxic, Molten, and Aetherblade – in pretty close proximity to each other.

Seems like Scarlet kept the separate because she didn’t want them mingling for some non-infighting reason. And they’re mingling anyways, in a cave, away from her eyesight.

Can prove interesting if Anet keeps the alliances and the shockwaves of their interactions as side plots in the future.

Speaking of which: The Living Story Needs More Side Plots!

The shipwrecks could also be from the Cataclysm. Remember that we had shipwrecks all the way inland in places like Scoundrel’s Rise

Which would be the approximate place of NE LA now.

1) Depends on the portal you’re talking about. All we know for certainty though is how portals to the Mists work, though even that’s not 100% absolute certainty. Oh, and how mesmer portals work.

2) Fully unknown, afaik.

3) In Edge of Destiny, the group brings a full cart of inactive golems through the asura gate. In Lion’s Arch (pre-destruction), there was the charr merchant with a bunch of rifles – though we never see the rifles – mechanics is fun like that. So I would argue, normal circumstances no problem. After all, in Edge of Destiny (again), the asura gate in Ebonhawke is stated to be for supplies from Kryta primarily.

4) On the first part, any portal into the Mists leads into the Rift in some way, so the lore goes (this is why some such as myself believe the realms of the gods is within the Rift); standard portals to the Mists are made in two fashions – firstly, being made from the Mists, as it is already a place that can access all times and places; the exact mechanics of this is unknown, just that it’s a naturally possible thing within the Mists (this is also the case for where Avatars brought players into the Underworld, Fissure of Woe, and Domain of Anguish I believe). Secondly, via effectively tearing the fabric of reality where the veil between Tyria and the Mists is thin – this happens, as far as we know, in places of many deaths (such as how Lord Odran made portals, or Priestess Rhie in the human personal story) or constant use of the first form (such as Godslost Swamp and Reaper’s Gate).

Aaron Ansari.1604:

I’m not certain Subject Alpha is a good case study for cross-corrupted behavior.

True, but it is also the only example we have. Any future example would supersede Subject Alpha’s antics. Then again, we never truly kill Subject Alpha (no matter the path, a couple of the “Alpha’s Essence”es escapes).

I doubt it, personally, but we have way too little to really go off of it. Keep in mind that water is also highly conductive of magic, and there’s far more communing skill challenges related to waterfalls and springs – let alone the Artesian Waters.

All we have on ley lines are the following:

(conversation between Braham and Taimi during Edge of the Mists release)
Braham Eirsson: What do you think those probes of Scarlet’s are looking for?
Taimi: Best guess? Um… The transcendent magic channels that span the globe. Old-fashioned Synergetics texts call them ley lines.
Taimi: Normally you can’t see them or touch them, but they’re real. Magic finds its own path, like rivers running to the sea.
Taimi: The probes are trying to identify the biggest and strongest of these ley lines, but I’m not sure why. Not yet.

Braham Eirsson: What’d you learn about those…um…things you were studying before your golem broke?
Taimi: As if you’d understand. All right, I’ve got nothing but time, so let’s give it a go.
Taimi: They appear to be survey probes for the purpose of identifying high-energy thaumic channels and matrices.
Braham Eirsson: So it’s like magical energy is a swirling storm and these things are mapping it.
Taimi: A trifle simplistic, but yes, that’s exactly the case.

(Talking to Taimi during Edge of the Mists release)
→ What did you learn about the probes?
Not as much as I wanted to. I think they’re designed to identify ley lines—the channels that magical energy follows as it crisscrosses the globe.
→ Can you explain ley lines?
I’ll try. They’re analogous to ocean currents or atmospheric weather patterns, but with magic instead of water or air. Magic flows and cycles, and ley lines are the paths it chooses to follow.

(Interview with Angel McCoy a while back)
Magic is the lifeblood of Tyria. The entire world is infused with it, and it flows through everything via ley lines that criss-cross the planet.

The natural role of the dragons is to keep this magic balanced. From time to time, in the long history of the world, the dragons have awoken and begun to draw the world’s magic into themselves, reducing the level of magic flowing through the ley lines.

Then we know that Thaumanova and Lion’s Arch are over an intersection of ley lines (with LA having more intersections), and that experimenting with draconic energies (or both draconic energies and chaos magic) over ley lines resulted in the Thaumanova meltdown.

All indications point to ley lines being just for magic and magic alone. Just a path of least resistance for magic to move through.

The asura do not use “technology” they use “magitech” – or rather “magical technology” – the difference between typical technology and magitech is that the later is powered by magic, rather than things like steam, coal, or electricity.

And the asura’s reliance on magitech is actually a plot point for the asura lvl 20-30 storyline; namely that the Arcane Eye’s covering up the discovery that the dragons consume magic, and we the players trying to uncover it up so that people can learn… the asura are a buffet for the dragons.

I don’t think we even have confirmation that the so-called “spoilers” are even accurate, do we? Nor can stuff from the gw.dat be taken as canon as not all of it gets released.

But I put a spoiler tag about them.

Tamias.7059:

The reason the sylvari appear to have free will (unlike dragon minions, sans Glint), could be down to the fact that Mordremoth simply hasn’t awakened yet.

Drakkar, Nornbear, Great Destroyer. To name three champions whom did not have the free will. Glint even guarded Kralkatorrik while he slept. Hibernation does not seem to affect the mentality of their minions. In fact, not even defeat (or death – it’s still unclear what the case is around Zhaitan) as one can see in The Ruined City of Arah explorable dungeon.

Tamias.7059:

So maybe it’s the Pale Tree or the Ventari Tablet that are deliberately protecting the sylvari from that part of their nature.

Ventari Tablet is in no way magical, and thus far our only evidence of countering Elder Dragon magic is some other form of magic (Forgotten magic, or whatever Zojja gleaned from Kudu’s research – which it should be noted, he somehow retained his own free will despite being corrupted by multiple dragon minions).

It’s also unlikely to be the Pale Tree doing it, considering it would mean that Malyck’s tree is doing the same. One can pass, in extreme flimsiness, that the Pale Tree is doing so because of some external influence, but that would then require Malyck’s tree to have experience the same influence.

Tamias.7059:

So I don’t think the Courtiers are being controlled by Mordremoth, but when it awakens, that situation may change. Maybe by twisting their own connection to the Pale Tree, the Courtiers are just inadvertently making themselves more susceptible to Mordremoth’s corruption. Similarly, maybe Scarlet’s refusal to follow the path set out for her by the Pale Tree made her less protected by the Tree, and more likely to fall to Mordremoth.

In both cases though, they abandon the Dream, not just the Pale Tree.

Tamias.7059:

[…] We don’t even know if he dreams. I would say that he probably does – he feels a sense of distance, and longing, which suggests some sort of empathic connection to the rest of “his” sylvari, but his sylvari most certainly aren’t connected to our sylvari. Could be that when Mordremoth awakens, our sylvari are protected from corruption by the Pale Tree and the Ventari Tablet – his people, however, may not be so lucky.

While I agree with your end statement, I disagree with the notion that he may have a Dream. While there certainly is a possibility of it – the strongest hint being the personal story step titled “A Different Dream” – but I would argue that the sense of distance and longing may simply because he’s alone. People, normal real living people, can feel this way easily by being apart from someone they like – or from people in general, or even just simply being different from all others around them. So it wouldn’t be odd in the least if Malyck’s feeling of distance and longing is simply loneliness because he’s different.

Tamias.7059:

Maybe the dragon minions were only corrupted multiple times in CoE with great difficulty, and this usually doesn’t happen (if it did, we’d see dragon minion hybrids wherever the spheres of influence of two dragons overlap – and who’d be in charge? If that happened I’d probably expect the poor corrupted creature to just, well, die).

We never actually see dragon minions overlap though – beyond CoE, that is. That’s the most peculiar part of it. We’re also told they fight if they meet, yet we see no meeting. As for what’s in charge. It really seems that Subject Alpha is just rampaging about, able to control all dragon minions (hence why they don’t fight each other), but at the same time we never see it interacting with the other three powerful dragon minions in CoE. It may be that they simply go insane from all the different commands exhibited.

munkiman.3068:

Taking all the assets i can find, this ley line business really makes 0 sense. The image and the dragon locations and how they cross under LA doesn’t line up with anything.

[img]http://northernshiverpeaks.org/uploads/gallery/album_1/gallery_1_1_119756.png[/img]

Apparently the img tag doesn’t work….

Not sure what you’re getting at. I can see that the white is the lines from the Chantry of Secrets globe, which is a “threat assessment” board – not related to magic (though odd that it doesn’t highlight Orr, Dragonbrand, or Far Shiverpeaks – and interesting that the Isles of Janthir gets a big o’ blot).

Vol.7601:

I can’t wait until tomorrow.

If the leaked spoilers are true, then this thread will be hilarious to review

The “leaked spoilers” only state that Mordremoth wakes up. Never states where or why.

Tamias.7059:

But the sylvari Dream does bear resemblance to the hivemind of the Destroyers we see in Eye of the North, which would put the Pale Tree in the place of the Great Destroyer.

This is an argument I see a lot, but it is wrong; the Dream is not like dragon mentality – in fact, of all dragon minion mentality, destroyers are the least similar to sylvari.

Firstly, all dragon minions seem to share the same hive mind quality – this, like the fact that all six Elder Dragons corrupt, seems to be a shared quality amongst the Elder Dragons. In Edge of Destiny and Sea of Sorrows, we see in the same light as Eye of the North what happens when dragon champions die – namely we see this for Dragonspawn, Great Destroyer, Destroyer of Life, Morgus Lethe, and Captain Whiting. In all cases, the dragon minions scatter after their respective champion is slain. With the destroyers, they are outright stated to become mindless, while the other dragon minions are not, they simply flee.

Thus secondly: destroyers, being constructed from rock, appear to be mindless (Ogden Stonehealer: “With the death of their master, the Destroyers lost their coordination.” – I recall an exact statement, long time ago from an interview, stating they became mindless afterwards, same source that first called the Great Destroyer an alarm clock for Primordus, but could never find it) while other dragon minions, corrupted creatures which hold their original memories still, are not. This may not hold true for all non-destroyers (anything that’s a construct); and it should be noted that of constructs, this rule does not apply to dragon champions – in a similar light, weaker minions are closer to mindlessness even if corrupted former beings (see: Risen Thralls/Brutes – not a single one is really interactive beyond a couple lines, they just mindlessly, tacticlessly, swarm over their enemies).

Sylvari are nothing similar to either. Their mentality is all free, all equal, and all great. If they are at all dragon minions, then they are each on par to weaker lieutenants at the least.

And a third point: the Dream is not a hive mind. To use Killeen’s words from Ghosts of Ascalon:

“It isn’t mind reading, and we aren’t all connected into one big mass mind. However, before coming into this world, all sylvari are united in the Dream of Dreams.”
Page 120

This is important to note, because dragon minions are connected into one big mass mind. The entire fight with the Dragonspawn in Edge of Destiny, or rather the death of it, revolves around the Dragonspawn being disconnected from that “mass mind” – or hive mind if you prefer – and the nearby Icebrood no longer recognizing it as a “friend”.

“We establish in EoD that the Dragonspawn communicates and controls its mininos with a telepathic link. So I think it’s a fair assumption that Jormag has some mind-scanning/mind-attacking/psionic powers and that manifests in his champions. In fact, the heroes defeat the Dragonspawn by breaking that link, so the ice minions turn on it, seeing it as “not of the body”." – Jeff Grubb
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/uploads/gallery/album_163/gallery_3318_163_39486.png
For more links of post in above image.

This is even true for Zhaitan:
Avatar of the Tree: Those who have been corrupted reveal everything to Zhaitan. Nothing is secret, least of all those places where his enemies hide.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/A_Light_in_the_Darkness#Dialogues

And in Edge of Destiny, Kralkatorrik could control his minions with his thoughts – or so it appears to me, never explicitly stated – during the fight against Destiny’s Edge (after Glint’s demise).

So no, the sylvari’s Dream of Dream experience is in no way akin to the destroyers – or rather, all dragon minions’ hive minds.

Tamias.7059:

You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned Mordremoth once yet. But something needs to be said – it’s all well and good saying the theory doesn’t work for this reason or that, but Guild Wars 2 is ultimately a game about fighting the Elder Dragons, not insane engineers, and we’ve been told that the living world will eventually tie back to them. And, well, you gotta explain the mural of the Elder Dragon in Scarlet’s secret lair somehow…

I wouldn’t deny that the entity is Mordremoth.

I would, however, argue against all sylvari being Mordremoth minions. Why? Because it makes no sense given all our knowledge on sylvari and dragon minions. Sylvari are immune to corruption (they die when touched by it, rather than becoming minions) – dragon minions are not so. Dragon minions have no free will; only minion known to obtain such is Glint and she did so not by herself but by ancient Forgotten magic which is similarly immune – yet sylvari clearly do, given that they can chose how to act. And one cannot argue that the Nightmare Court’s proclaimed belief is true, given that we have seen a sylvari – with no tie to Dream nor Nightmare – that acts more akin to Dreamers than Courtiers.

I would argue, rather than all sylvari being minions of Mordremoth, that instead Mordremoth is the source of the Nightmare – that it isn’t his corruption, but still his influence (like the Dragonspawn’s mental powers seen in Edge of Destiny, where Zojja was entranced but not corrupted) – and that being tied to the Dream, the machine broke any protection against the Nightmare’s influence, thus resulting in her being more influenced than Courtiers. This fits on many fields, far more than sylvari origins being dragon minions, given the change in mentality exhibited by imprisoned sylvari in the pods in Twilight Arbor story mode (the lines by those whom, when freed, are new Courtiers – I’d quote but I’d have to dig through hundreds of screenshots in 4 folders to find them, but it sounded very akin to how the Risen treat Zhaitan’s will – at least to me); furthermore, falling to the Nightmare is thus far irreversible (like dragon corruption – until the discovery about the Forgotten ritual), and we see Sylvan hounds being irreversibly and physically turned too, then slap in Wychmire Swamp, the Nightmare Mosshearts sharing models with an Rotting Oakheart – one seen in Thaumanova, the other said to be spreading corruption (the latter and the mosshearts sharing environmental changes of black fog); then of course the husks and nightmare hounds in CoE – note: you don’t see normal sylvan hounds there, nor normal sylvari turrets either.

Everything points to the Nightmare being tied to Mordremoth, not all sylvari.

Edit: This and this thread as well as this GuildMag article (written stylishly out of request of other writers for GM at the time, and thus intentionally left incomplete) are some (old) researches of mine about Mordremoth, outdated of course but still remains my view of the matter – there is just more, imo, evidence to support my stance since these two threads.

I think that’s rather the entire point of it.

Marjory Delaqua: Scarlet rejected the Pale Tree because she wanted independence. What if Omadd’s machine cost her that?
Marjory Delaqua: Ironic that she rejected the Pale Tree to exert her independence, only to lose it to something else.

Scarlet’s been trying to, as you put it, forge her own path. But in the end, ever since being in that machine, she’s been a puppet of the entity – realizing it or not.

To me, it seems less of the entity is in control, and more of the entity is persuading her to go down a certain route – that it is tricking her into thinking she’s doing what she wants, when she’s doing what it wants.

And I’m not convinced on saying the Big Bad of LW Season 1 being a minion of a Bigger Bad is boring from a storytelling point of view. Did being a general of Abaddon make Khilbron or Shiro any less interesting of figures? To me, Shiro is the most interesting villain, yet he’s just a Big Bad that’s a mere pawn to a Bigger Bad.

Edit: Since you added another post while I was writing…

There is a line by the Pale Tree – not up on the wiki, I notice – that was added with A Very Merry Wintersday (or Fractured!, perhaps?):

“Ceara looked too deeply into the mysteries of the world, and something there was looking back at her. It managed to crack her defenses and has been trying to consume her ever since.”
→ Go on.
“I tried to protect her, but Ceara turned away from me and from her own bright potential. She imagines she can defy her destiny under the new name she’s chosen for herself.”
→What is she trying to accomplish?
“Only she can answer that. I will say she has confused knowledge, power, and authority so completely that, in her mind, they are indistinguishable. I grieve for my lost child.”

Anyways, “the forces that shape us” is very vague – as is “mysteries of the world” but one can assume they’re one in the same. It can mean anything from the Mists, to magic, to whatever created the seeds, to even the origins of the Dream of Dreams and Nightmare. Given Vorpp’s bit, I’m inclined to believe the last, though the first is still possible if one looks at the Voices of Koda having their minds in the Mists, and the risk of the Rage of Koda (insanity driven by being connected to the Mists).

videoboy.4162:

I’m confused about Glint and her eggs and the eggs not containing babies. She has/had at least one baby and we had to protect it in GW1. It was also specifically referred to as a baby dragon. So, what was it?

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Baby_Dragon

(I really need to go back and play more of that game)

What I was saying was that she was, effectively, making new branded champions – likely free of Kralkatorrik’s will like herself – with those “eggs”. They function, it would seem, like many of the corrupted ice and crystals of icebrood/branded seen in GW2 – spawning minions of their own.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

A baby Branded dragon, according to current thought.

Konig claims the eggs aren’t eggs at all. I don’t know about that- the destroyers are the only minions that have been seen using that trick, and the baby dragon has the same fleshy bits as Glint. I find it more likely that Glint falls under the “pregnant when corrupted” category, which would make her child a dragon that was Branded as an embryo.

Firstly, about the “fleshy bits” that Glint has. This is not so (retcon, one can claim) as she is stated to have been made out of crystal in GW2:
Warden Illyra: Glint remained in crystalline form, but she regained her free will and identity.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Ruined_City_of_Arah_%28explorable%29#Forgotten

Secondly, about the “destroyer eggs” – those by all appearances are just mobile and enclosed spawning pools; destroyers are, other than said eggs, only seen being made in vats of lava, forming slowly over time (details of such I believe was shown in the fight with the Destroyer of Life, half-formed destroyers in a pool of lava), and given that the eggs spawn all forms of destroyers (crablings, crabs, and trolls at least) they are by far no standard “egg”.

Thirdly, we actually do see crystals – and ice in icebrood cases – spawning dragon minions. One such case would be the Champion Strange Crystal seen during Search Tenaebron Lake with the Sentinels, which spawns a branded fish. It’s far more common amongst the icebrood, as in higher level areas corrupted ice spawns Icebrood Elementals when destroyed, and there’s also the crystals dropped by the Claw of Jormag which spawns a variety of minions.

I don’t think Scarlet’s trying to stop it. People seem to think that because of the beginning of the journal but at the end she succumbs. Per Edge of the Mists:

(Kasmeer Meade:) She’s made our lives miserable for months now. Still, if this journal is true, then I almost feel a little sorry for her. What do you supposed it all means?
→Something is driving her—*something she was afraid of but has since embraced.*
Marjory Delaqua: Scared? What could possibly frighten someone like Scarlet?
Kasmeer Meade: She saw something while hooked up to Omadd’s machine. Something that broke her. She’s hearing voices in her head. But what are they telling her to do?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Dead_End:_A_Study_in_Scarlet#Evidence

Whatever the “entity” is, Scarlet’s scared of it but embraced it. She’s working for it out of fear, not trying to stop it.

I don’t think anyone’s really questioning the nature of Mordremoth’s minions. More of the aspects of his own appearance.

The search function on this forum is terrible. I could only provide the link because I knew the thread existed and just went backwards looking for it.

Also edited above post with details.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/Fan-theory-Rox-and-Rytlock/first#content

Later in the thread, I believe this idea was brought up; and data-mined spoilers supposedly (do we even know if said spoilers are actually from the gw.dat?) claim Rox and Rytlock are….

@Facepunch: This is ArenaNet, not Blizzard. Anet has, for at least prior to the Living World, focused on continuity greatly with their storytelling and loremaking. They’ve retconned things, yes, but only in believable ways.

Though admittedly, it’s getting less and less believable and being tossed aside as “that was then, this is now”.

Syryn.7591:

As for for Thaumanova ah yes! The dragon magic was introduced not natural there. Just as you can’t use Subject Alpha as an example of Elder Dragon’s being able to corrupt other Elder Dragon minions because the dragon energies there aren’t working naturally but by the scientific experimentation of the Inquest.

Not quite. You’re comparing apple and oranges – both fruits, but both different. In the cause of Thaumanova, dragon energy was introduced artificially but the results is natural for what would occur. Same goes for Subject Alpha – the multiple corruption wasn’t introduced directly from dragon champions/Elder Dragon corrupting direectly, but the results is still the natural effect of what would occur.

Both can be used as examples for arguments, you just cannot say that the end result is how they started out as – which was the argument for Thaumanova’s interaction with draconic energies.

Syryn.7591:

Out of curiosity where does it state that Ronan specifically found the seeds in a cave in Maguuma? I thought it just stated that he found the cave in his travels while at war.

The Shining Blade, of which Ronan was a member of, was in the Maguuma Jungle at the time – well, mostly. They had presence in Kryta, Southern Shiverpeaks, and Ring of Fire too but only briefly. Ronan found the cave after being separated from a patrol, however, which would heavily reduce the chances of him finding it while in the Southern Shiverpeaks (modern day called Mount Maelstrom and Timberline Falls) or Ring of Fire, as there weren’t any known patrols by the Shining Blade in those places, and slightly reduces the chance of Kryta depending on whether it was prior to or after the events of Prophecies (given that the mursaat wiped out his family while he was away, it would have to be prior to or during the events of Prophecies, as they were almost all wiped out during the end of Prophecies) – in such a case, Kryta becomes even less likely, as they seldom had patrols in Kryta before and during the events of Prophecies. And as Aaron said, Malyck’s tree’s placement slants it further to being the Maguuma Jungle.

However, I do recall there being mention of the Maguuma in direct relation to Ronan finding the cave by a sylvari NPC in GW2 – either in the Grove or during Malyck’s personal story. Sadly, both cases are lacking in details on the wiki (otherwise I’d just link that NPC since that’d be the sole absolute case if I’m remembering correctly).

Syryn.7591:

And I believe that the things you kill in bloodtide and sparkly count towards Maguuma killer.

That’s mechanics, not lore. Also, it’s Sparkfly and Mount Maelstrom – which lore wise, are Steamspur Mountains, not Maguuma Jungle. Bloodtide counts – lore and mechanics – as Kryta. Sparkfly is, in lore, more or less split between geographic Kryta (and historical Krytan kingdom) and… Sea of Sorrows shores I guess? (and historical Orrian kingdom).

Syryn.7591:

Actually the Thaumanova fractal is proof that the Ley Lines are connected to magical energies, sometimes specifically that of the Elder Dragons, also the dialogue between Rytlock and Twistgear during the first update of OoM further provides us with the information that the Thumpers are specifically designed to locate large areas of magic.

I never denied that ley lines have to do with magic.

However, at Thaumanova, the draconic energies was introduced, not natural.

Pie Flavor.1647:

There will be no patch at march 18th

Source or it didn’t happen. Or in this case, it is happening.

Anet has stated there will be a break between Season 1 and Season 2, but they also stated there will be feature-only update(s?). Meaning that while there won’t be story progression, there very well may still be an update every two weeks.

Tamias.7059:

But we know why there’s sylvari in the Maguuma – because that’s where Ronan planted them! Had someone planted the seed that would become the Pale Tree in North Kryta Province, that could have been the sylvari homeland. So it isn’t that surprising that the sylvari are somewhere slightly different to Mordremoth (if you believe that they are dragon minions).

The seeds were there in the Maguuma before Ronan found them.

And I don’t believe they’re dragon minions, not on a whole, as all evidence supports the contrary. At best, the Nightmare is Mordremoth’s influence, thus the Nightmare Court (and their creations – husks and thorn wolves) are Mordrem’s minions/corruption/whathaveyou.

But that’s an entirely other cup of tea. One that I can spend dozens of walls of text utterly destroying the hypothesis – yet still leave you all unconvinced because it’s your opinion, and I cannot brainwash you over the internet unless you’re an idiot.

Tamias.7059:

While it’s true that the ley lines don’t represent the magic itself but the possible paths the magic could take, an intersection of ley lines would suggest a high magic concentration (otherwise Thaumanova wouldn’t have happened). And of course there’s the question of Scarlet’s motivation – she’s not gonna be interested in a bunch of “empty” channels – she’s after either the magic (aka dragon energy) flowing through them, or the source of that energy – the dragon itself. And from a narrative perspective, I know which possibility I find more compelling.

Mmmmm, not quite.

An intersection of ley lines means a larger-amount-than-normal of magic passes through, thus travels through.

And it’s also foolhardy to claim that magic within ley lines are dragon energy. Because draconic energies is corruptive magic (otherwise all magic would be considered dragon energy and thus it’d be pointless to use that as a distinction). And if the ley lines were full of corruptive magic, then the entire globe would become corrupted in a matter of weels, days, or even minutes, depending on how fast the magic travels. The entire world of Tyria would be one huge Dragonbrand of crystal, fire, rot, vegetation, ice, and water.

Tamias.7059:

As I said above and in this thread, if you assume Mordremoth is beneath Lion’s Arch, and pay attention to Scarlet’s overall motivation, the way she behaves, what the trajectory of her narrative arc might look like etc., it becomes pretty obvious what she’s after :P

Do you not recognize your own fallacy in this statement?

You open up with a presumption. Yes, if we presume that A happens, while we know that B happens, then C becomes likely. But there’s little to actually suggest Mordremoth’s under Lion’s Arch.

If you use the argument of “Orr likely is an intersection of ley lines, and there was a dragon there” then one should argue… there’s a dragon underneath Thaumanova too.

You make a LOT of assumptions in these posts of yours, and act as if they should be treated as facts.

Tamias.7059:

But just think about what you said for a minute. Of course an area with lots of magic flowing under it is gonna be a magic hotspot! An intersection of ley lines is surely exactly where you’d expect to see the most ambient magic! A magic “hotspot” is exactly what I’d call Thaumanova.

Depends on how one defines a “magic hotspot”.

Because absolutely nothing indicates that there’s ambient magic above or around the ley lines. So nothing indicates that Lion’s Arch has a lot of ambient magic, just because there’s an intersection of ley lines.

If anything, I would argue the existence of ley lines prevents magical hotspots, because a magical hotspot by definition is a location in which there is a lot of magic over a continual amount of time. Ley lines can empty for periods. If ley lines dictated where magical hotspots are to be, then magical hotspots should be constantly moving – but then that’d create a contradiction with the understanding of what a “magical hotspot” should be – a lot of magic over a continual amount of time.

In other words, it is possible – IMO likely, but not proven so – that magical hotspots have static magic, i.e., no ley line. But again, we just simply have too little information to definitively say one way or another, and that’s what you’re doing all across the board here – definitively saying one way.

Tamias.7059:

All perfectly explainable if, as I said, we think of (sleeping) Elder Dragons as sources of magic. Then, using the fluid analogy, the Artesian Waters (appropriately) would be a spring where the ley lines have led to the surface. Never mind the fact that the ley lines in Lion’s Arch are buried deep underground – there’s no reason why things can’t be different in the case of Orr (in fact it would explain why there were so many powerful magic users there, compared to Kryta). It’s looking good for our model if we are able to explain unknown phenomena in terms of known ones. By assuming ley lines point outward from Elder Dragons, things start making more sense – that’s a thumbs up.

True, one could – and should – consider the Elder Dragons as sources of magic. After all, they consume all magic in teh world during their rising (if Glint and Priory are to be believed). However, this last rise had something unique: The Bloodstone was in Orr. So Orr became probably double – if not more – of a magical source. And this is important to note: Orr had two “objects” (one living, one inanimate) that exuded magic for roughly 9,000 years before humans started being magically adept there (whether they could have been before is unknown, given they were not there). Ley lines would be unnecessary to make it a magical hotspot – and again, nothing actually hints to there being a single ley line under Orr, let alone an intersection. Yet you presume that there is!

It’s an excellent – and quite plausible – theory, but it just that. A theory. You stated as if it were undeniable fact, stating that there is an intersection of ley lines beneath Orr, not that there could be.

This said, it should also be noted that water seems magically conductive (like certain metals and gemstones); we know this from the various skill challenges, moving water seems to conduct magic (of all communing skills, the most common themes are waterfalls, springs, and places of massive death).

Tamias.7059:

As for the Thaumanova, neither location acts quite the same as Orr, but would you say that Thaumanova and Lion’s Arch are remotely similar, either? Out of the three, I would actually say that Thaumanova has most in common with Orr, with dragon energy (aka magic) all over the place. You have to remember, as well, that Thaumanova is in the state that it’s in due to the research that took place there. We don’t really know what that area was like before the disaster, but I’ll bet it wasn’t nearly as chaotic.

Dragon energy is only all over the place due to artificial (read: Inquest/Scarlet-made) interaction. Dragon energy was not a natural occurance there, and by all indications neither was the chaos magic studied there first. Back in GW1, we can go to where Thaumanova was (approximately), and there was nothing special about the area.

Tamias.7059:

In any event, this is just a model, an idea. I never said anything as bold as “places of ley line intersections don’t function like Orr”, which is, um, exactly what you said.

But you did say something as bold as:

There was an intersection of ley lines beneath Orr (that’s why Orrian magic was so much more powerful than any other human magic).

And what I said, in that quote, was far from “bold” – Lion’s Arch, nor to our indication Thaumanova, does not function like Orr in its magic abundance.

Tamias.7059:

Cool from a dev’s perspective (and from the perspective of a player who doesn’t think too hard about lore), I mean. If you’re a narrative designer, getting to blow up the main hub city and wake up a dragon all in one go is an exciting storytelling opportunity, as well as an exciting way to end a story arc.

Fair enough, I suppose one can think that to be an exciting "story"telling opportunity.

If it wasn’t done before with Zhaitan (even if the two events were disconnected by, oh, 100 ish years). Quite honestly, little in the Scarlet arc is “new” and “exciting” even ignoring the lore contradictions – Lion’s Arch has gotten attacked how many times now? Once in GW1, once in Sea of Sorrows, once in the personal story… now in living story. Feels morel ike beating a dead horse to me, like Scarlet sounding like a one-note song with the same ploys repeated (unholy alliance! Unholy Alliance! UNHOLY ALLIANCE!) but that’s just my personal opinion.

Tamias.7059:

You seem to have some knowledge of how places of ley line intersections work that you’re not sharing with us, then.

I am making no such claim, though I cannot say the same for you.

Tamias.7059:

All we really know is that ley lines are how magic is channelled across the globe – Orr, then, as a magical hotspot, must have a lot of ley line activity in its vicinity.

Right on the first part, wrong on the second part. Let me bullet point it out for you:

• Orr was, indeed, a magical hotspot. But it had an Elder Dragon radiating magic into its surroundings for about 10,000 years (to the best of our knowledge). While Zhaitan wasn’t the only source of magic, the other source of magic was the Artesian Waters – why, is unknown, but ley lines are – based off of the big kitten drill Scarlet’s using – deep underground.
• The Central Transfer Chamber was also a magical hotspot, no indication of ley lines exist. It had Primordus, and Primordus was why it was a magical hotspot.
• Two places are known to be intersections of ley lines – Thaumanova and Lion’s Arch. Neither location acts similar to Orr. And think: probes were in Orr, if Orr was just as big – if not bigger in order to create the natural magical adeptness amongst Orrians – then the energy probes would have gone off there rather than just at Lion’s Arch.

A location of multiple ley line intersections does not function the same as a magical hotspot, given the fact that Lion’s Arch and Thaumanova do not have anything in similarity to Arah/Artesian Waters.

Tamias.7059:

You could think of this a completely different way, if you wanted. You could think of them as sort of field lines, which never cross each other. The untrained eye might say, for example in an electric field, they “intersect” at a point charge, but actually what is happening there is that they are diverging from that point. In the same way, I think it’s perfectly possible that what we’re seeing is not an intersection of ley lines but a source of them – a sleeping Elder Dragon, bleeding magic out into the world.

Who’s the one that “seems to have some knowledge of how places of ley line intersections work that you’re not sharing with us” now?

Because all indications point ley lines to function akin to water and ocean currents. Which functions vastly different than field lines (though I’m no expert in the field so I may very well be wrong here).

Tamias.7059:

Sure, Lion’s Arch not being super magical creates a small contradiction, but that is far outweighed by the coolness of a dragon sleeping beneath it.

It doesn’t make a contradiction at all, if one considers the notion that there’s no ley line intersection beneath Arah.

And I disagree that the “coolness of a dragon sleeping beneath” Lion’s Arch would outweigh such a major contradiction.

Tamias.7059:

Colin’s comment on the jungle dragon (incidentally, from March 2013, likely long before the ending of LW season 1 was decided upon) suggests that there is activity related to Mordremoth in the Maguuma. This doesn’t necessarily preclude Mordremoth from sleeping beneath Lion’s Arch – its minions, the sylvari ( ) have been active in the Maguuma for a while, so it could be referring to that. And there’s nothing to suggest, either, that Mordremoth plans on staying in Lion’s Arch. It very well could fly off to the Maguuma upon awakening, and we’d be “going into the Maguuma” to fight it, just like Colin said.

Now it’s painfully plain that you’re trying to get on my nerves, mister winking smiley face.

I suppose one can argue such a flimsy argument, for the sake of stubbornness in their own hypothesis. But you have to keep something in mind: the Elder Dragons have only held influence while hibernating where they and their champions slept. Yet there’s nothing in Kryta… but something in the Maguuma.

Tamias.7059:

It’s already too late for that – whether or not LA has ley lines running beneath it is no longer a matter of dispute. There’s a ridiculous amount of magic chillin’ beneath the city, which up until now apparently nobody has noticed, so by adding that plot point ANet retroactively set the idiot ball rolling (so to speak) regardless of whether or not there is an Elder Dragon beneath the city.

The difference is that magic in the ley lines is continuously moving – hence the comparison to currents. It isn’t static, thus it may not hold the same effect as the Central Transfer Chamber or Arah’s magical hotspots. Magic may not even be passing through under Lion’s Arch the entire time.

GW’s definition of ley lines is the “path of least resistance” (the phrase actually used to describe ley lines) that magic travels through. So nothing says that magic is constantly moving through the ley lines.

@Astroboy: We know Kasmeer was a noble lady who’s mother died when she was young, the staff she has is a family heirloom, and her father died in prison covering her brother’s gambling debts. Thus she looked for work and found it with Marjory.

We know that Marjory’s a former Minister Guard who got fed up with the corruption and decided to become a detective, joining the Priory for contacts and sources.

We know that Rox was part of the Pick Warband and was the sole survivor of a cave-in, where the rest of her warband – pet devourer and mate included – died.

We know that Braham was born and raised in Cragstead by his father, Bjorne, and is the son of Eir Stegalkin; furthermore after his father’s death he was raised by… cannot recall their names but the old couple that have a PoI named after them in Cragstead.

Taimi we know is an orphan, and is currently the ward of Zojja and – seemingly – Vorpp.

Compare to Destiny’s Edge….

Eir we know, through Braham, was with Bjorne; her father killed by Icebrood, and iirc she’s said to have been a child when Hoelbrak was being built (making her kitten old) and a childhood friend of Krennak the Short… nothing else known beyond Edge of Destiny and GW2.

Rytlock we know he was disliked by the rest of his warband, and often served in long-distant missions away from them… nothing else known beyond Edge of Destiny and GW2.

Logan’s the descendant of Gwen Thackeray, younger brother of Dylan Thackeray, and an overall trouble maker in his youth. Worked as a guard for Ebonhawke caravans and avoided anything linked to his brother up until Dylan’s death at the end of Edge of Destiny… nothing else known beyond Edge of Destiny and GW2.

Caithe probably has the most background, being a Firstborn of the Cycle of the Night, lover of Faolain, amongst the first two sylvari (other being Faolain) to venture outside of Caledon Forest; saw the Nightmare but resisted it when Faolain didn’t; Wyld Hunt to kill Zhaitan and worked hard, impassively, to unite forces to fight the Elder Dragons.

Zojja has perhaps the least backstory. For all we know, is that she was Snaff’s apprentice.

And do note I’m over simplifying them all. It’s fairly equal all around.

Reincarnation, nothing links Mordremoth to the Maguuma Wastes.

Nothing outright, I should say. Mordremoth’s only linked to the Maguuma Jungle, which expands far more than just the Wastes (includes Magus Falls and Tarnished Coast, as well as what’s west off the map).

Where did you ever see it mention that there was an intersection of ley lines beneath Orr? Because that’d be news to me. Plus, if that were the case then why aren’t people in Lion’s Arch so magically evolved like Orrians were? Logical fallacy. Orr was indeed a magical hotspot, but nothing indicates that it was caused by ley lines, and places of ley line intersections don’t function like Orr.

Doesn’t change the fact that when Colin said which Elder Dragon could be next and mentioned the jungle dragon (aka whom we all call Mordremoth) he said going into the Maguuma. This means that Mordremoth is either within or on the other side of the Maguuma.

Just sayin’.

The OP is asking for female asura to show more skin.

Does no one else find that mental image a bit… horrifying?

Anyways, the issue stems from what xsquared.1926 said – asura and charr females use male armor variants. Possibly because Anet’s lazy and doesn’t want to design a third armor design because aesthetically, standard female armor wouldn’t work on our flat chested friends.

I think people enjoy the idea of a set amount of stuff they have to do, rather than “I have to do this activity until I can get that item” – which may never show up.

Honestly, RNG is not bad.

Rare percentage RNG with temporary things, however, is. Because that enforces grinding (to ensure that you can get the item before it’s gone forever), which GW2 is supposed to be against – and it also means that items will be sold for insanely high amounts of money; there are items more expensive than precursors because they were temporary and RNG.

We actually have just about as much background on the biconics as the iconics – sans Taimi. And we continue to get more.

So I guess that those fighting Jormag and his minions – in the quoted cases, homestead owners and a Claw of Koda – wouldn’t think to call Jormag a she?

And apparently you missed my point entirely. You said the Elder Dragons are never referred to with a gender – as in, never – but only as an it. I proved you wrong, they are referred to with genders. I never said they had genders just that they’re referred to with such.

It’s already been confirmed that what’s under LA are ley lines. Many times.

Mordremoth is heavily hinted and known to have influence in the Maguuma Jungle.

@Narcemus: Yeah, I was just listing from Edge of Destiny, not bothering with the whole spheal. Otherwise we’d be getting the Eyes/Mouths of Zhaitan, and likely many many more.

@Underdark: Then make a new thread. :P

Shiren.9532:

Why are these guys the one planning the operation to retake Lion’s Arch? Shouldn’t that be done by people who have forces under the command like the three Orders (or the Pact)? Or maybe even the people who know Lion’s Arch the best – the Captain’s Council and the Lionguard?

The only person in that image who has any military experience as far as I’m aware is Rox and that would have to be trumped by dozens of people from the Orders or even the Lionguard. These guys don’t make sense as primary protagonists of this story.

I’m glad to see people constantly jump at anything tengu. It shows people are passionate about them as a playable race and hopefully encourages ArenaNet to make it happen.

I have to disagree with Konig, the tengu member shouldn’t join the B team, they should join Destiny’s Edge. The B team doesn’t even include all five currently playable races.

Do you see ANY representative of the Orders in Lion’s Arch?

Other than using Vigil Keep as a refugee camp, and some Priory folks trying to document what’s happening (“Scarlet invaded Lion’s Arch? Let me get my pen and question all the refugees while others take it back!”), the Order of Whispers has thus far been MIA, and the Pact is involved only when Dragons are (sans on individual discretion).

The Biconics are the ones who’ve been after Scarlet from the beginning. Thy’re the new figure heads. Them being part of the promotional image is more than reasonable.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Just to start teasing players, they should make a tengu one of the biconics, with slightly improved animations (maybe even the same animations as charr, like how human and sylvari share all but dancing – and then give him a unique dance), but the playable race… never… comes…

Sylvari and Humans actually have different ambient animations as well.

Yes, but tengu already have that uniqueness. :P

She did “lay” “eggs” sure. Except that said eggs were transparent, made of crystal, and dragon minions (champions included) cannot reproduce. Glint “laying eggs” is just her making Branded Crystals that spawned a branded dragon-shaped minion – the Crystal Guardians and Crystal Spiders can easily be considered Branded, in terms of lore.

It should be noted that not all dragon champions are actually dragons. Mordus Lethe was a dragon champion of Zhaitan, but was a Risen Norn; the Destroyer of Life, also a dragon champion but of Primordus, was mantis-shaped; the Dragonspawn, a dragon champion of Jormag, was made from ice, mist, and bones (of minotaurs and other things).

Shiren.9532:

For starters the obelisk shards are incredibly convenient. We have no explanation where they came from – just that Scarlet acquired them. The thing krait seem to want so badly and is likely found deep in the ocean, yet Scarlet (who presumably knows less about krait history than the krait themselves) managed to find them first (while she was inventing new technology, going mad, building secret bases, forging multiple unlikely alliances, reverse engineering… you get what I mean).

It seems, based on your wording, that you think the krait could’t find the obelisk (or shards), though the thing is that they knew where they were – they just had to leave them in their original homes.

It is a bit odd for how Scarlet was able to obtain these, but given that they’re just shards it’s equally possible that the krait intended to “move” the obelisks when they fled their homeland and lost some – those that were found by Scarlet.

Shiren.9532:

They got the technology in Flame and Frost. They already have that. There are plenty of charr bodies to kill in the Black Citadel or territory the Flame Legion are currently warring over (territory that isn’t linked to the other three major races and contains an outpost of the three Orders). It doesn’t make sense for this splinter group to waste soldiers fighting Scarlet’s war when they could take the technology they have already acquired and go fight their own war.

What Angel was saying about the Flame Legion – I believe – is that because of their failures during Flame and Frost, that splinter group cannot return home without some sort of success to them – otherwise the other Flame Legion will view them as weak and traitorous, thus kill them.

It actually does make sense under this knowledge, because if they were to fight their own enemies (read: the three united High Legions), they’d not only be just a mere splinter faction of the Flame Legion (thus not even a third of the High Legion’s power – and even that’s giving the Flame Legion a lot of credit given that they were just regaining power after licking their wounds from the defeat at Kalla’s paws, and they just recently lost atleast 2 Tribunes, the Eternal Flame, and their Imperator while also being in civil war), but also having to fight or avoid their own brothers (the other Flame Legion). However, by taking LA with Scarlet’s factions, they aren’t fighting alone and their target being destroyed would grant them even more reputation points than taking on, say, Ashford Forum.

Shiren.9532:

I don’t understand what that reason would be. Using your reasoning for the alliances, why wouldn’t the Flame Legion or the dredge work with the Aetherblades to acquire airships or Inquest technology? Each of the alliances is unlikely in the first place, we are supposed to believe the benefits outweigh the diplomatic challenges (despite almost none of that being dealt within the game) so why doesn’t this argument apply to the other factions?

I think what Angel was getting at is less of “the splinter groups don’t see any benefit in working with Scarlet’s other alliances” and more of “Scarlet intentionally kept them separate so they don’t mingle too much and decide they don’t need her anymore.” That’s how I took it.

I mean, would the Flame Legion splinter group really think they could benefit in the form of more technology and defeating great enemies from Scarlet, if they start mingling with the Aetherblades and Nightmare Court – thus gaining knowledge of air superiority and (possibly flammable) toxins?

I do hope that there’s some interaction going on that’ll be revealed in the future – they were pretty close with Marionette, and we can see MA and TA almost-mingling on Postern Ward I believe.

The Aetherblades were actually explained a while back – though I can’t exactly remember where, but they’re in it for the looting; got promised bit riches (and LA’s bank and homes no doubt included) – and power, if Mai Trin succeeded.

Risk of death by good-doers is a natural threat to all pirates (and it’s not like there’s much to loot in Bloodtide or Timberline :P).