nice-profession-mechanic

[nice-profession-mechanic]

I think the GW2 wiki is wonderful and has a lot of good shit but i'm discovering every day you're completely fucked if you want to check on a lore book.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

I think the GW2 wiki is wonderful and has a lot of good shit but i'm discovering every day you're completely fucked if you want to check on a lore book.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

We can make our own library, with tags and context and guides for how to find.

If we show the demand, they can do a more complete job of making this easier to find.

I think the GW2 wiki is wonderful and has a lot of good shit but i'm discovering every day you're completely fucked if you want to check on a lore book.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

There's a big chunk of stuff from in game that's missing from the wiki. Also, a bunch of references to other pages don't support the claims that needs those references. Like the list of LGBTQ+ characters article names many characters, but doesn't say what they fit under or how we know this and if those characters have an article it also doesn't mention that.

We might need to start a lore Guild that actually goes through the game to document some of the less appreciated letters and scraps of lore in the game that characters don't say aloud.

I think the GW2 wiki is wonderful and has a lot of good shit but i'm discovering every day you're completely fucked if you want to check on a lore book.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

In their latest patch Arenanet invented a new chair: the table

Time to submit a bug report

[nice-profession-mechanic]

In their latest patch Arenanet invented a new chair: the table

Time to submit a bug report

[nice-profession-mechanic]

EoD had a bit of a throw away line where the Atherblades say they've been killing fractal versions of the Commander for years while they tried to scavenge parts from fractal versions of their lots of places (including themselves), which is why they're their grunts are so confident they can take the commander in a fight.

This would make for an even more haliarious turnabout to the "Piss off, Commander!" vibe since your Commander wasn't the person they fought over and over.

My favourite lore for my commander is because of what he is and the fact he shouldn't exist and is a result of anomaly dragon stuff that technically means he took the place in the plotline someone else was meant to fill... he doesn't exist in any fractal and cannot be forced to exist in one, a different timelines commander will be there.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

Mana mentioned him during fractals today, so I had to make some memes.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

They also continued to introduce new and interesting additional gay people into it. Like the pair of lesbian detectives, the ageless queer lich, the gender fluid dragon of manipulation and ice, the cat person who writes smut about the other main characters.

Playing a game for 12 years? What keeps you involved? What hooked you— the mechanics? amazing visuals? immersive gameplay?

me: ….the beta had gay plant people

[nice-profession-mechanic]

And now I rest, pockets filled to overflowing with wizard coupons

[nice-profession-mechanic]

Love me some big round numbers

[nice-profession-mechanic]

While they don't worship it directly, they do have it affect large facets of their culture and daily life. The structure of the collages and the way almost all aspects of long form cultural works are in part a way to further Asuran understanding of the Eternal Alchemy, its got the hallmarks of a cultural religion. They don't worship anything directly, but they do hold the idea of furtherance of study and sharing knowledge with serious reverance

It quacks like a religion, it just doesn't have the congregation of social power we're used to seeing in a religion.

Also, the wiki has it in the "Other Religions" list.

A (to my knowledge) exhaustive list of Religions of Tyria rated by how trustworthy and dead their gods are.

The Five

Congregation: most humans

Dead: 2 of the known 8 gods of this pantheon of 6 are known to be dead (cause we killed them)

Trustworthiness: The fuckers flaked and left Tyria a hundred years before shit started getting dangerous.

Blurb: 6 ageless creatures who each hold a mantel of incredible power and draw further power from the faith of thise who believe in them while bringing some people back from the dead for fun.

The Unseen Ones

Congregation: A small section of humans

Dead: fuck i hope so. The player has played an active part in their extinction.

Trustworthiness: nope, used their religion to try and usurp the authority of the king and do a bunch of unethical science experiments. Also had anyone with the potential to rumble the ruse killed under false pretences. Had their first prophet imprisoned in a weird forever jail for 150+ years for asking questions.

Blurb: Invisible wizards who flaked on their last proper fight to keep their wealth, then later started a cult to avoid a prophecy that would lead to their extinction.

Spirits of the Wild

Congregation: Most Norn

Dead: We recently learned they can't die while the thing they represent in Tyria is still common.

Trustworthiness: Yeah, 4 of them took a bullet for the Norn so they could flee and survive a battle that would otherwise have killed them all.

Blurb: the least scary is the spirit of bunny, which represents bunnies. The most scary is the spirit of darkness...which you don't want to meet.

Titans

Congregation: The char, but only in the past

Dead: they were, apparently there were more in the Mists so now we gotta kill 'em all again

Trustworthiness: nope, it was just a cult using oppression and picking favourites to manipulate the Char into worshipping them and doing their bidding.

Blurb: what if the most flammable guy was 2 stories tall and insisted that fire was the best way to show fealty.

Zaishien

Congregation: battle junkies humans

Dead: Allowed to escape dead baby jail by Logan Thackery's almost male-wife, personally put in the ground for good by the player, eaten by their daughter and daughter's maternal grandpa.

Trustworthiness: Less over time, Balthazar used to be all about face punching. But when his free all-you-can-faith-buffet was at risk he started being a wanker.

Blurb: If dying gloriously in battle is your vibe, come live on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean with the most oiled up battle junkies you've never met. Also, death is avoidable if you do a good job. Also, we're training to invade the centre of the universe or go there when we die for good.

Zephyrites

Congregation: A flying church of monks who live in zeplins who are following the last of the unfulfilled Flameseeker Prophecies who use bits of their god's corpse to double jump.

Dead: Tyria's best and brightest got Glint killed in their attempt to kill her dad.

Trustworthiness: Unless Glint is playing the longest of long cons, she is very trustworthy. Her powers of prophecy and understanding of the way magic worked in Tyria allowed her to continue to affect the world long after she died.

Blurb: Was anti-brainwashed in the year 11,000 years ago and used her prescient powers of prophecy to help the mortals races of the world. Is the reason the Unseen Ones went to those lengths to not go extinct.

Mellaggan

Congregation: All Quaggans

Dead: yep, killed by snake people

Trustworthiness: quite, she has lead the Quaggans from danger on several occasions after being dead.

Blurb: a goddess of bounty, human scholars insist the Quaggans are actually worshipping the human goddess Melandru since they've repurposed some of her sunken temples, but the Quaggan insist they're different.

Ameyalli and Zintl

Congregation: Hylek

Dead: Ameyalli might have been Mordremoth, and that guy is very dead. Zintl is the literal sun, and that seems to still be present.

Trustworthiness: The rise of the Mordrem has given the Hylek reason to doubt Ameyalli. Hard to distrust the sun, what with its dispassionate warmth cast on all below it.

Blurb: Frog people have sensible gods, more at 11.

Celestial

Congregation: Canthan people, people who can see the stars

Dead: can't kill an idea. you can seemingly freely kill their physical embodiments in Tyria since it doesn't affect the stars they represent.

Blurb: the stars represent stuff and if it's the right time of the year they'll let you pick a fight with them to earn the right to be lucky.

The Eternal Alchemy

Congregation: Most Asura

Dead: you can't kill an idea and this one is the idea that "stuff can be understood"

Trustworthiness: not really trustworthy when it's a dispassionate world anthropomorphised as an equation that can explain any problem that no one has proved is real and has driven most people who got close mad.

Blurb: what if string theory was a macro scale problem

The Great Dwarf

Congregation: himself

Dead: getting there, there's only so many dwarves left

Trustworthiness: does exactly what it said on the tiny, very trustworthy

Blurb: do you wanna be a hive mind? And also turn to stone? Be an ageless being, go underground, and fight forever more?

Koda

Congregation: bear people

Dead: oh yeah, koda was once a guy, that guy is dead. His ideals and philosophies and somehow voice live on.

Trustworthiness: hard to say when you're listening to mysterious voices and auguries. Also, sometimes seems to drive people mad and that's a good thing?

Blurb: I'm just not gonna have a colonialists mindset and say nothing

[nice-profession-mechanic]

A (to my knowledge) exhaustive list of Religions of Tyria rated by how trustworthy and dead their gods are.

The Five

Congregation: most humans

Dead: 2 of the known 8 gods of this pantheon of 6 are known to be dead (cause we killed them)

Trustworthiness: The fuckers flaked and left Tyria a hundred years before shit started getting dangerous.

Blurb: 6 ageless creatures who each hold a mantel of incredible power and draw further power from the faith of thise who believe in them while bringing some people back from the dead for fun.

The Unseen Ones

Congregation: A small section of humans

Dead: fuck i hope so. The player has played an active part in their extinction.

Trustworthiness: nope, used their religion to try and usurp the authority of the king and do a bunch of unethical science experiments. Also had anyone with the potential to rumble the ruse killed under false pretences. Had their first prophet imprisoned in a weird forever jail for 150+ years for asking questions.

Blurb: Invisible wizards who flaked on their last proper fight to keep their wealth, then later started a cult to avoid a prophecy that would lead to their extinction.

Spirits of the Wild

Congregation: Most Norn

Dead: We recently learned they can't die while the thing they represent in Tyria is still common.

Trustworthiness: Yeah, 4 of them took a bullet for the Norn so they could flee and survive a battle that would otherwise have killed them all.

Blurb: the least scary is the spirit of bunny, which represents bunnies. The most scary is the spirit of darkness...which you don't want to meet.

Titans

Congregation: The char, but only in the past

Dead: they were, apparently there were more in the Mists so now we gotta kill 'em all again

Trustworthiness: nope, it was just a cult using oppression and picking favourites to manipulate the Char into worshipping them and doing their bidding.

Blurb: what if the most flammable guy was 2 stories tall and insisted that fire was the best way to show fealty.

Zaishien

Congregation: battle junkies humans

Dead: Allowed to escape dead baby jail by Logan Thackery's almost male-wife, personally put in the ground for good by the player, eaten by their daughter and daughter's maternal grandpa.

Trustworthiness: Less over time, Balthazar used to be all about face punching. But when his free all-you-can-faith-buffet was at risk he started being a wanker.

Blurb: If dying gloriously in battle is your vibe, come live on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean with the most oiled up battle junkies you've never met. Also, death is avoidable if you do a good job. Also, we're training to invade the centre of the universe or go there when we die for good.

Zephyrites

Congregation: A flying church of monks who live in zeplins who are following the last of the unfulfilled Flameseeker Prophecies who use bits of their god's corpse to double jump.

Dead: Tyria's best and brightest got Glint killed in their attempt to kill her dad.

Trustworthiness: Unless Glint is playing the longest of long cons, she is very trustworthy. Her powers of prophecy and understanding of the way magic worked in Tyria allowed her to continue to affect the world long after she died.

Blurb: Was anti-brainwashed in the year 11,000 years ago and used her prescient powers of prophecy to help the mortals races of the world. Is the reason the Unseen Ones went to those lengths to not go extinct.

Mellaggan

Congregation: All Quaggans

Dead: yep, killed by snake people

Trustworthiness: quite, she has lead the Quaggans from danger on several occasions after being dead.

Blurb: a goddess of bounty, human scholars insist the Quaggans are actually worshipping the human goddess Melandru since they've repurposed some of her sunken temples, but the Quaggan insist they're different.

Ameyalli and Zintl

Congregation: Hylek

Dead: Ameyalli might have been Mordremoth, and that guy is very dead. Zintl is the literal sun, and that seems to still be present.

Trustworthiness: The rise of the Mordrem has given the Hylek reason to doubt Ameyalli. Hard to distrust the sun, what with its dispassionate warmth cast on all below it.

Blurb: Frog people have sensible gods, more at 11.

Celestial

Congregation: Canthan people, people who can see the stars

Dead: can't kill an idea. you can seemingly freely kill their physical embodiments in Tyria since it doesn't affect the stars they represent.

Blurb: the stars represent stuff and if it's the right time of the year they'll let you pick a fight with them to earn the right to be lucky.

The Eternal Alchemy

Congregation: Most Asura

Dead: you can't kill an idea and this one is the idea that "stuff can be understood"

Trustworthiness: not really trustworthy when it's a dispassionate world anthropomorphised as an equation that can explain any problem that no one has proved is real and has driven most people who got close mad.

Blurb: what if string theory was a macro scale problem

The Great Dwarf

Congregation: himself

Dead: getting there, there's only so many dwarves left

Trustworthiness: does exactly what it said on the tiny, very trustworthy

Blurb: do you wanna be a hive mind? And also turn to stone? Be an ageless being, go underground, and fight forever more?

Koda

Congregation: bear people

Dead: oh yeah, koda was once a guy, that guy is dead. His ideals and philosophies and somehow voice live on.

Trustworthiness: hard to say when you're listening to mysterious voices and auguries. Also, sometimes seems to drive people mad and that's a good thing?

Blurb: I'm just not gonna have a colonialists mindset and say nothing

[nice-profession-mechanic]

[nice-profession-mechanic]

mechanically, this'll be the same as the Raven Gates from IBS. But love me some more random magics the commander learns how to do by sticking their hand in something.

FROTHING. AT THE MOUTH.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

Something you need to understand if you want to learn stuff about Guild Wars lore is that Tyria isn't a normal world in space somewhere.

There's a thing called The Mists, that contains all reality, its past and present and future, dofferenct choices and curious ideas, the ghosts of the long dead, the ghosts of the currently alive (if you're very unlucky), pockets of stable reality exist within it. And Tyria is the largest known pocket of stable reality we the audience know about.

Time flows normally and forward, things only move if acted on by a force. All very predictable. Which means life has flourished there.

But it's not a whole planet. It's a chunk of rock floating in The Mists. Which means the night sky isn't space, it's The Mists again. There's a few parts of the lore where old civilisations used stargazing as a means to fortel the future, which to us would seem foolish, but they were actually very likely examining the movements and actions in the Mists that would be large enough to affect Tyria.

There's example where the Jotun spot the appearance of new stars and used their appearance to herald the rise of the Elder Dragons with incredible accuracy for something that occurred once every 10,000 years.

In addition to this is an idea called The Eternal Alchemy (AKA: The All and The Antikythera) which is a way to represent the delicate ballance that keeps Tyria existing and not being consumed by The Mists. However, since its all an on purpose thing made by the actions of a single being (we met and killed her, sorry not sorry) it's possible the science and nature in Tyria is a solvable field. Great enough understanding of Tyria can give you enough information to possibly make a new world in the Mists or expand Tyria or Nayos further.

[nice-profession-mechanic]

Oh no chat, I think we might have a case of unreliable narrators.

In GW2, the Titans are referred to as False Gods by the Char when they discuss overthrowing and killing them.

But what is a True God?

Do they just need to be unkillable? Cause the human gods are famously killable (the player has killed one per game so far), they also abandoned the people they proported to protect and reneged on deals and boons.

Their positions aren't fixed either. The human gods at one point were a group of 7, and then two of them had a tussle over who got to be lord of the underworld and then there were 6. When Abadon was killed the only reason Kormir took his mantel was not doing so would have caused all his power to run unchecked and that might have ended the world (due to the doomsday that had already been set up).

I've been referring to the Elder Dragons as Dragon-Gods in my last few posts for fun (and also cause Bubbles said she was a creation godess for the whole of Tyria), but they're also killable and reneg on their boons like the human gods and titans and mursaat.

So rather than putting the human gods up on a pedestal for essentially only knowing more about The Mists than any other group we've met that claims to be gods. Maybe we should just take anyone who calls themselves a God at their word and assume they are, but also that it's a meaningless title that describes nothing about their powers or capabilities.