#eod speculation

[dualumina]

*brain who grew up on anime like Naruto and Yugioh and other "eye color has MeaNinG" shows waking up during the middle of the night*: So what if Miyani actually had golden eyes like a lot of other Elonians seem to have and enough exposure to the "blue" water magic of the Forge's realm caused her eyes to turn green?

our tired ass: it's 4 AM

[rosewoodroad]

What if the legend of the Commander made it onto Canthan shores way before EoD even began?

Rumours of a Dragon warrior from across the ocean, speculation of their origins ranging from a half-dragon hybrid to a dragon disguised as a mortal.  A being who rescued empires of crystal and felled giants of metal. Perhaps they were sent from the heavens on behalf of the Gods. Perhaps they were sent to oppose the Gods.

And- hear me out- what if this spawned local plays about the Commander? Picture your comm just walking down the Shing Jea shoreline and seeing a homely theatre set up in the distance featuring what looks like a bad cosplay of them and Balthazar and hold on a second-

[kenren]

The Great Hunt ❄ Aokiji (Kuzan) x Female Reader ❄ Chapter 5 of 7

I cannot tell you now;     When the wind's drive and whirl     Blow me along no longer,     And the wind's a whisper at last— Maybe I'll tell you then—                         some other time.                                 The Great Hunt, Carl Sandburg                        

A story of departures and returns. And sex. Of course there's sex.

Previous

.・゜゜・Author notes: Deux ex machina in the form of a masked revolutionary. I like to think that it's Sabo but his rank is probably too high to do shit like this lmao. This was originally two chapters but I decided to combine them, as well as the two I was going to post into tomorrow, on Tumblr. The story will now be out of seven chapters on Tumblr but nine on AO3. Obligatory tag for @thehanging-gardens. (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡

.・゜゜・This chapter is mostly SFT but contains references to previous NSFT acts I guess. Minors, please still don't interact lol.

.・゜゜・Chapter word count: 2334.

.・゜゜・AO3 (See first chapter for tags.)                                                

                        .・゜゜・

You didn’t get the chance. He was gone by morning, and something in the stillness of the morning air told you it was indefinitely.

Two years and a handful of bitter months passed. Handful after handful of stocky men came by boxed up armful after armful of your stocky piles of documents, unloading them into your new but no less soulless office in New Marineford.

Pressed against one wall was Kuzan’s favorite couch, which you had made enough of a fuss about to convince the higher-ups to salvage. You were pretty sure the rest of the furniture at the old base had been scrapped or left behind. 

It was on that couch where you now sat with a huff, smiling wryly at the corner of your office designated for documents related to ongoing and future operations.

You estimated that you had leaked at least three stacks’ worth to the Revolutionary Army by now, and you managed to mail a couple anonymously to Nico Robin. Just because you liked her style, from what Kuzan had told you.

His name made you wince as it crossed your mind.

Well.

Whatever.

At least one of you had to keep fighting the good fight.

And you had kept fighting…until today. When you were finally caught. By Smoker, of all people.

“I’ll let you go if you resign.” You had just stared at him, immediately knowing what he was referring to, but unsure whether to be taken aback by his laxity. “In exchange…don’t think too poorly of him.”

“Who?” 

He had fixed you with a look that told you everything. But before you could go to argue, he lit up both of his signature cigars and turned to leave. “I expect to hear of your resignation by EOD tomorrow.”

Did you regret it? No. Did you regret getting caught? That was…a question. You weren’t sure how you could keep contributing to the fight against the World Government in your current situation. You weren’t trained in combat; without your access to classified documents, you had no weapons with which to fight.

But now you were sat in a bar, sipping a stiff drink as you eyed up a television broadcast on the latest in the series of occurrences in the New World. The reporter rattled off a list of “facts”—nothing particularly informative; the World Government’s extraordinarily persistent censorship team made sure of that, but as someone who had had an insider’s perspective until recently, it was enough to make you speculate that things were in motion that could no longer be undone. And…well. You were confident that the harm you had done to the World Government by leaking those documents far outweighed the good you had done by fixing a few typos over the years. You smiled to yourself. You had earned the right to relax for a bit.

“A quick question for you, miss.”

Ah fuck.

Another foiled plan. You briefly wondered whether this interruption was tied to your having been caught.

You eyed up the inquisitor. Their voice was masculine enough, but their face was mostly obscured by an effective albeit poorly-crafted mask. You caught the faint gleam of their irises through the eyeholes, and their mouth was left uncovered, twisted into a disarmingly friendly smile. You scanned their body for any identifying details, but their tall frame was wrapped in a simple black cloak. You cleared your throat and turned back to your drink. “Who are you?”

“I mean no harm, just have a quick question. Answer it quickly so I can get out of this stupid getup.”

You snorted. “What is it?”

“Are you happily married?”

Your eyes snapped to theirs once again, the deliberate wording of their question making your hair stand on end. “And what if I am?”

The person laughed good-naturedly. “That’d be a real shame. But on the off chance that you’re not, I’d like to give you my number.”

They passed you a slip of paper with an address and time scribbled on it. You squinted as you tried to remember Kuzan’s handwriting, but instinctively, you knew it was his anyway. “He’s under the impression that I’ll actually show up?”

“He said you owe Smoker a favor.”

“What, did Smoker tell him what happened already? I know news travels fast, even in this mess of a world we’re living in, but there’s no way he could have planned to meet me within the past…3 hours.”

“Who told you that Smoker only found out today?”

You froze. “How long has he known?”

“Since a little birdie told him.”

“Kuzan ratted me out?!”

“Only when your services were no longer needed. When the finish line was in sight regardless of a few, ehm…misplaced documents.”

“He put my life in danger!”

The person giggled. “You can slap him around for that yourself, if you’d like.” They nodded toward the paper now crumpled in your grasp. “I gotta be on my way.”

                        .・゜゜・

“You know, I never got to ride your dick.”

It was the basement floor of a pretty generic abandoned building. Concrete floors, a handful of beams, a ratty Oriental carpet forgotten in one corner of the room, a desk pressed up against a taped-up panel in the wall.

From where you were standing, you could see Kuzan stiffen, but he didn’t turn around.

“...”

“You passed out. And then when I got up in the morning you had disappeared. Like, indefinitely.” You couldn’t stop your lips from curling into a smile as you looked upon your…uh…companion for the first time since his departure.

Hearing that smile in your voice, Kuzan turned around. He looked you up and down, but…well. In terms of holding a blank expression, you never could beat him out. “You’re as insufferable as I remember. Wonder if I can talk Smoker into giving you your job back; I don’t get paid to deal with this anymore.”

“Well I was looking forward to it.”

“Hm?

“Riding your dick.”

Kuzan coughed to hide his laugh. “Arara, I’m deeply sorry.”

“Are you?” You squinted at him just long enough to make sure he grasped the hidden meaning in your words, but he chose to ignore it.

“You know I am. Unfortunately I can’t dismantle governments from between your thighs.”

“What’s between my thighs is enough to dismantle governments on its own.”

His lip quirked. “Why do you think I told you to become the Navy’s resident slut? You could have saved us a lot of time, you know.” You snorted, and he smiled at the familiarity of the sound. “My associate informed me that you are, not, in fact, happily married.”

“Mm.”

“So…it wasn’t a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Maybe not for me.” His face fell slightly, and you smirked. “Besides, what if I’m unhappily married?”

“Then my point stands.”

Your hands twitched at your sides, your body practically begging you to throw yourself into his arms. You resisted, still grasping at the power you held over him in this moment. You held your smirk like a blade and fixed him with your best unimpressed gaze.

“Why did you come here? Do you have something to say to me?” 

“You know why I came here, brat.”

“You have some nerve calling me brat when you’ve been gone for over two years.”

Kuzan fell silent for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“I was partially kidding.”

“I know. And you’re still a brat; I’m not taking that part back.” He took a tentative step toward you, and you debated stepping back. “I would say I didn’t know it would take so long, but that would be a lie. I was…not unaware of the risks. Just certain that I could make it back to you eventually.”

“Selfish marine, and selfish ‘something else’…did you ever figure out what that ‘something else’ was? Pirate?” You cocked your head. “...Revolutionary?”

Kuzan grimaced. “Both…and neither. We can go over all that happened another time. But now…I am selfishly yours.”

“Another time? You seem quite sure that I’ll want to see you again.”

“...Observation haki.”

“Or a gut feeling?”

“Or wishful thinking.”

Your smirk widened. “Sounds about right.” He stared listlessly at you for a moment. You realized that he looked exhausted. Slightly older, even, which came as a surprise. The sudden reminder of his mortality had you sucking in a breath, and a thought crossed your mind, only partially formed—something about love and wasting time. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ll give you your chance to explain yourself…another time, like you said.”

“I’m not sure what that means. Are you telling me to walk away for now? Sakazuki only left me one leg, you know.”

You snorted, and Kuzan averted his eyes. “I heard about that. But you seem to be managing. Whatever prosthetic you must have MacGyvered out of ice let you run away from me for two years.”

“Not away from you. Just in one large and painful circle. I…” He trailed off, dragging his eyes back to yours. “Am home.”

The enormity of his sentiment hit you with such force that your face fell. Your feet moved as though on their own; without thinking, you pulled him into a tight hug, burying your face in his stomach. “I missed you, you big oaf. Where are you living, anyway?”

He chuckled. “I guess I have to figure that out, don’t I.”

“Were you expecting to stay with me?”

“Expecting is a strong word. Hoping might be more accurate, but it’s not like I’ll get the same sleep anywhere else that I got on that damn couch in your old office.”

“It should still be in my office; I insisted that they have it transferred to New Marineford. Maybe you can have Smoker steal it for you.” You shifted in his embrace. “Kuzan.”

“Yes.”

“You should kiss me.”

Kuzan pressed your head more firmly against his torso, no doubt trying to hide his reaction to your sudden request. “Oh? And why is that?”

“It might make me forgive you.”

He released your head and looked down with a soft smile. “Arara…you’ve sure changed over the years. The woman I know would never give up such an excuse to hold a grudge against me.”

“I want to forgive you.”

“For what, exactly?”

“...Leaving me?”

Kuzan was silent for a long moment. “Would you still want to forgive me if I told you I would make almost all the same decisions all over again? I have no remorse to offer you.”

“Remorse is not what I asked for. You wanna kiss me or not?”

Kuzan looked mildly startled. “You…”

“There you go with that again. You never told me what you were about to say…that time.”

…

Kuzan kissed you slowly, like he was afraid you would disappear before his eyes the second he pulled away. When he finally pulled back, his gaze was fixed on a point somewhere above your head.

“You are it for me.” You froze, waiting for him to continue. He finally looked down, meeting your eyes. “That is to say, you wrenched me from complacency. None of my small acts of rebellion, from the time I spent under Garp until now, could measure up to the enormity of my feelings for you. No empire I could hope to dismantle could produce enough scrap for me to build a barricade high enough to offer the love I bear you the protection it deserves.” He hesitated, then took a seat on the ground. “That is why I left. I am too simple a man to have parted myself from you for any purely political reason.”

“You left…”

“To create a world in which this can be cultivated.” Your eyes widened at the implications of his words. “You should have seen the look in your eye when I went to drop off my report after Marineford. I decided, in that moment, that I would rather turn the World Nobles into snow cones than ever see that look again.”

You grinned. “And that was before you even kissed me.”

“Like I said, there’s been no one else for me since we met. And there will be no one else. You…are it for me.” He huffed. “You are the first and last love of my life. Do with that what you will.”

“Who knew a little time apart could turn you into such a romantic.” You settled onto the ground next to him, although doing so made it harder to meet his gaze. “It’s the same for me. I…I didn’t even try to wait for you; hell, when I heard you joined up with Blackbeard, I even tried to make myself go and fuck someone else out of spite, but…”

“Again, like I said. You didn’t have to try to wait for me.” You looked over at him, just barely catching the teasing gleam in his eye. Your eyes narrowed at the shift in emphasis on the words in that sentence.

“There’s no way you could have known that I wouldn’t move on even if I tried.”

“...Observation haki.”

“Bullshit!”

“Perhaps. The truth is, I didn’t know. Although I am quite enjoying the idea that no one has touched you since I last had you under me.”

“Should have ended with you under me, you damn icicle.”

“Popsic—”

“Shut up.”

Kuzan patted your head and looked down at you with a fond smile. “I wouldn’t mind being under you. I have no other place to sleep tonight, after all.”

“Arara, Kuzan, are you whoring yourself out for a place to stay?”

“Yes. Let’s hope the dissolution of the World Government solves the housing crisis once and for all.”

“Hm…I don’t know. I quite like having you at my mercy.”

“No roof over my head could ever take that away from you.”

You stood up, dusted yourself off, and offered him your hand. A symbolic gesture, since he was obviously too heavy for you to actually help up. “Let’s go home.”

He took your hand. Another symbolic gesture. “Yes ma’am.”

[mystery-salad]

Can I get 1, 3, 10? (@commanderhorncleaver)

Since you didn't specify which one, I'm giving you Cora! Since I've so rarely talked about her or her partner ;3c

1. Who are they and what's their dynamic with the commander?

Cora is a very eligible handsome gal, and for years she was incredibly single and ready to mingle. But a little after lws4, she's snatched up a lovely partner who's a sylvari-turned-mordrem named Mae ( @ascalonianpicnic ). After HoT, once the mordrem were free of Mordremoth's influence, the team ran into Mae in the exalted city while checking on the egg.

Mae wanted to join the team, wanting to help people, and Cora saw a teammate and friend in her rather than a monster to fear. For a long time that's all she saw in them, but then she dealt with her own changes that really pushed Mae from teammate to confidante she could trust with her very being.

After so many years saving the world and being exposed to magic and binding with Aurene the daughter of Glint...she started experiencing some changes. The exalted were once humans until with a promise and an agreement they changed themselves using excessive magical energy. Cora had no such agreement, but she had intake far more magic than any humans body was made for. She felt her body crumbling away and in her terrified state she tried to hide it, but Mae cared so deeply about her and was all too familiar with trying to hide things away. They knew something was going on even if Cora wouldn't say what.

They made it clear they were here for anything, whatever she needed to lean on. And when the changes became too big to hide, she asked Mae to accompany her back to Tarir so she could ask the exalted what was happening to her. It was a very meaningful trip that put a lot of extra trust in each other, and Mae was the first teammate to see her new form and warmly accept her. The two dating didn't take long to happen after, and they anchor each other well with their love.

3. What does/what would the general population of Tyria think of the relationship?

It was almost secondary news next to the fact that the Commander had become Exalted! For a long time Tyria was abuzz with the way Cora had changed, how strange it was and if she was still the same person underneath. No one had seen an Exalted up close before with all of them sequestered away in a dangerous jungle so she's an oddity to many. As the tabloids run out of sensational things to write though, Cora's saying life is speculated on once more. What had been a very eligible bachelor is now something "inhuman" to many. How do you kiss something with no mouth, embrace something with barely a physical form? Of course it's a mordrem who at the end of the day is attracted to her confusing new look, perhaps they find space in each other for these changes.

The public isn't exactly...mean on a straightforward level, but headlines follow trends that would get someone punched if Cora paid attention to them.

10. Are there any events in the story that happen differently because of/to/involving them?

Not that we've ironed out so far! We're still a few chapters behind in Cora's plot though and EoD is absolutely going to have some big changes due to how Cora's Exalted form will interact with the high magic saturation zones and the Void. And icebrood will have changes, but those will be more due to me not liking the plot progression than Cora dating Mae :p

[rata-novus]

okay final thoughts on the studio update until we know more, specifically about having to *gasp* pay for content that isn’t relying on a monthly sub fee.

i bought PoF in 2017. between that and EoD (bought a week before launch in 2022) i spent ZERO dollars on the game. anything i want from the gemshop i convert gold to gems. that’s just not a sustainable business model from anets side. yes there’s the cash shop, but i honestly do not get why this games player base is so averse to paying for content lmao.

$20-30 a year-to-a-year-and-a-half (speculation on release cadence) is entirely reasonable imo

[agent-flyingfox]

oh, theyre that one smiler from my EOD!

Oh, right! Your Smiler, I've heard of them.

Yes, I've juggled through a few handlers in my training. So far none of them are keen to stay as my handler. Not sure if Smiler was one but...I'm sure there's been talk amongst them.

I'm just speculating. Whatever way they managed to get that info...Ah, Gaymer I don't want you to think I'm evil. I swear I'm absolutely indisputably a Good Agent. Please know this. Please.

Earnestly,

Agent Flying Fox

[fromacatastrophe]

Here's a guide that no one asked for and I doubt anyone will read, to my Skyrim dragonborn OCs. They don't exist in the same timeline (except for when I am imagining funny memes that are too hyperspecific for me to even bother making).

Dalinan : 7' tall orc alchemist who refuses to make/use any sort of poison whatsoever. Favors the bow. Absolute dogshit at stealth unless she has access to her invisibility potions. Half-raised by her cousin. Not from a stronghold and has complex feelings about lacking that cultural connection. War Trauma ™ (child soldier edition). Dutiful to a grim fault. Tends to have extensive and increasingly ludicrous back-up plans for if/when things go awry. Resting bitch face but an absolute softie. Will adopt you if she detects emotional vulnerability (inherited that trait from her cousin, who recently took over the Riften orphanage for reasons only Maven Black-Briar knows in full). Absolutely detests leeks, 0/10, worst vegetal ever. Ends up in a poly relationship with Taliesin and Caryalind. When Cary is ready to go home in a decade or two they both go with him (he takes some convincing, but neither she nor Tali would ever let him go alone). She becomes captain of Cary's personal guard + Tali becomes an advisor; there's no end to the speculation about the relationship between the three of them but no one is going to risk actually asking. Dalinan showing up to formal events in ancient snow elf armor and bearing Auriel's bow and shield is the kind of power move that intimidates even people who don't care a fig about the whole Dragonborn business. And shhhh about lifespans okay, we're going to pretend that orcs age like other mer. Shhhh. Let the lady grow old with her partners.

Amejja : khajiit arsonist. tiny. is on the run from a hefty bounty in cyrodiil. claims that her victims deserved it. plays the 'but this one is just a little kitty. a birthday cat. are you going to arrest me on my birthday, guardsman? sad meow?' card to get out of soooo much trouble. decides that Taliesin is her fun uncle; he's honored and also mildly terrified of the prospect of her meeting his sisters (the mayhem would be legendary). learning to shout is the #1 best thing that ever happened to her. fire shout? AMAZING! dragons? eh. big scaly cats. 'surely we can come to an agreement, can't we my cousins???' super annoyed that she actually has to kill Alduin. when Delphine asks her to kill Paarthurnax she attacks her instead because fuck you that's why. flirts with joining both the thieves' guild and the dark brotherhood but betrays and destroys them both over feeling slighted by them. Decides that being dragonborn = being Miraak's baby sister; decides to rescue him. this confuses the Miraak. Besties with Lucien and Khash (both are mildly afraid of her in a fond sort of way), friendly rivals with J'zargo. Extremely distrustful of anything to do with dwemer ruins or machinery, but tolerates it for Remi's sake (some hissing is involved). Will absolutely destroy anyone/anything that harms Scrap. Doesn't join the Dawnguard. Will purr to heal you (purring is a healing spell) but you'd better appreciate it! She's a young gal with wanderlust who just wants to see the world (and set parts of it on fire).

T'Vreyne : Vulcan, Starfleet officer, aro/ace NB, vegetarian, here via daedric tomfoolery/a shuttlecraft mishap. Doesn't initially speak Tamrielic Common and so communicates mostly through frustrated charades and extremely reluctant touch-telepathy until they learn (...from Tali and Gore, so you can just imagine the vocabulary T'Vreyne ends up with). Their background is in security with a specialization in EOD and they've been working as a 'special collections' (read: highly hazardous artifacts) archivist since The Accident. Has significant scarring, chronic pain, and a prosthetic arm due to The Accident. Prefers stealth to avoid unnecessary conflict, then magic/shouts to de-escalate if possible, and then if violence is unavoidable favors a simple one-handed sword. Absolutely refuses to use enchanted equipment due to the whole Soul Cairn of it all. Mistaken for an Altmer by everyone who isn't Altmer; Altmer tend to assume that they're a [derogatory term for mixed-heritage mer]. Has zero (0) respect for Elenwen & thinks she's utterly incompetent; reads her for absolute filth at the truce conference. Other than negotiating the truce does not interfere with the civil war whatsoever (prime directive and all that). Their EOD experience comes into play during the College of Winterhold questline. Becomes close friends with Teldryn during the whole Miraak thing. When Starfleet finally manages to contact them, they choose to stay on Nirn instead of going 'home'. Settles down in Raven Rock and eventually invites Teldryn, Taliesin, and Gore to move in. Occasionally one or more of them will get the itch to travel, but that's home now and they always end up back there before long. T'Vreyne will not be telling you where all those elder scrolls and black books are stashed unless you have a good fucking reason (they've come full circle and once again find themselves to be a special collections archivist whoops).

[adrisventari]

AIGHT PATCH FINISHED

got thoughts n feelins under the cut

ariaami would have brought canach and yao, she never met ayumi in the canon, and then made a chaotic disaster scene with the two of them. buy one of every drink, break a whole set of glassware, become vastly inebriated and be little shits. she's too ace for this shit, it's a friendship outing. canach and enansi are also finally official so he's getting his smooching elsewhere. yao my beloved I'm sorry you have a crush on my disaster giant cat

she's also still very traumatized, she did wayyyy more collecting of memories bc I require the horrors. she's taking a small step in the right direction, as she has been since icebrood saga.

overall I prefer the first half and the depth of it, the exploration of trauma and expectation. I'm excited for the future, hopeful for more long-form story content akin to LW or expansions, I'm looking at you twitter snippet. already speculating whom that spooky voice could be.

also my dumbass didn't realized they stopped syncing the tyrian calendar so I like to imagine this all happens relatively quickly after EOD. Gehix/Emyij child #3 hasn't happened yet, but they have a name finally! Kiri, and then twins Kav and Kote, triple trouble™

[achromant]

I had a GREAT idea for a new legendary shield. Concept is based on a folded paper, akin to traditional origami, because Cantha, eh?

Stowed shield is completely folded up, but reveals its long red ribbon upon drawing the shield. The shield itself changes shape slightly, depending on the skills used. Blocking skills like from Warrior's and Guardian's 5 create paper particles around the character, forming a protective bubble, while projectile skills like Engineer's and Chrono's 4 fold the shield into an arrow shape. Ink patterns on the paper shift with the shield's shape. Footfalls are inky paper scraps that start floating and fold into small paper people (absolutely inspired by Ghibli's Spirited Away, yes), then crumble and vanish.

[commander-coppercogg]

So under a cut because spoilers for the new End of Dragons stuff but the boyfriend and I did some wiki diving last night and found some stuff out:

So I originally thought this was gonna be the commander stand in for Cantha and I even saw some people speculate that this might be Zojja coming back into the story. But turns out this character was discussed during a guild chat episode and already had a wiki page!

I’m so interested to meet her and learn about her and her earrings and her eyes and her design are super super cool and holy shit Gorrick used to work at Thaumanova???? Has this been mentioned before??? Maybe it has something to do with how Blish lost his body???

So I went and read the transcript for the podcast episode (cause listening to podcasts is very difficult for me). The transcript seems to be auto generated so there’s a lot of spelling mistakes but here’s the relevant bit:

Fans of Gorrick are in for a treat!!!! I wonder if she has ties to Inquest at all. Cause the Aetherblades and the Inquest had an alliance in Living World Season 1 right? Maybe we’ll get to find out how and why Gorrick and Lish joined the Inquest cause I’ve always wondered about that. I’m really really hoping for good asura content please anet all of the other races have had their moment in the spot light please.

This gets a bit more personal so uh yeah:

I will say my other immediate gut reaction is “oh god I hope they don’t try and cram a bad romance plot line in there.” Cause like on the one hand I’d love to see an autistic character get an in-depth romance story cause a lot of times autistic people (such as myself) are infantalized to the point where we are denied adult romantic and sexual relationships. But on the other hand I feel like it could really easily fall into some really bad tropes. ESPECIALLY if, god forbid, they try and make it a love triangle with Taimi. I remember Taimi saying something at the end of Icebrood Saga (I don’t have screen caps sorry) that made me go “are…are they trying to…no. No way.” And like nothing came of it so maybe I read it wrong. And Anet has always done an incredible job with Gorrick and his character. And I think that’s the reason I feel immediately so defensive and so nervous. Cause I don’t want it to be bad! I learned I was autistic while playing this game and Gorrick is honestly one of the only autistic character I’ve ever encountered and he really means a lot to me. And I can recognize that a lot of my gut reaction is personal projection and nervousness and I’m still really really excited to meet Ankka and got to Cantha. This turned out a lot more personal and depressing than I meant it to, I just wanted to ramble some feeling out.

[senterya]

I'm crawling up the wall I'm so excited.

Although I have to say it - from what we've seen Untamed is a remastered Soulbeast. The aesthetic is very similar, just now instead of merge/unmerge we have 'ancient power' boosting either us or the pet. We might have to balance something like life force or druid's astral force as an added difficulty.

I'm very optimistic because of the specs ANet showed us so far, but I wonder how the primal force mechanic will work. Because of how pet ai is, it feels more logical that the pet is the one building up the primal force, and it deplates when the ranger is the one imbued with it - so far it didn't seem like what they have going on, but we'll see, we'll see.

Knockdown and dazes on hammer are nothing unexpected, I'm a little sad they didn't go with something less predictable (like making it into a condi weapon cmon Anet it would have been funny). Spec overall looks like a durable power build by default. I'm itching to see the trait lines.

[a-gay-little-cat]

i'm trying to match n figure out the elite spec previous from the site somehow n this is my guess but tbh i'm most unsure of warrior and guardian but hell they could also throw us for a complete loop here

[commanders-sole-braincell]

Speedy first impression speculation and by speculation I mean I looked at them on the site went “hhhm, that one looks like the mesmer abiliites, and the one, one over looks like the bottles on the necro art, so maybe those three are light - so the others must be in threes!” like the smooth brain I am

I am ready to be five types of wrong and I’m terrified

[commanderfloppy]

Speaking of elite spec guesses, I've seen some people talking about this icon and how it looks like a lion so probably a ranger spec.

But another thing I noticed is that this also kind of looks like a shield, Ranger's don't have shields yet so....shield ranger?

[quintiliusheartripper]

So this morning(4-5am) i went down on my gw2conspiracy shit whih included koda is the first elder dragon to exist (creator of tyria and all the elements and creatures), koda is jormag (this was one that caused me to have a weird melt down because i assumed claw of jormag was just called so because it does jormags bidding and the kodan were like yeah thats like our own physical leader. But then jormag themselves call bangar "voice of jormag' and i fucking lost it), me noticing and seeing that a baked shape CLEARLY DONE after the back ground was made and wondering if the "echo in the mists" context line is talking about the echo being kralkatorrik or his mom in this. Aurene maybe beig beside the ship there and seeing this. Its not the same shape as kralk so it can absolutely just be bad lighting baking the background but the edges are so SHARP and also dragon shaped that im like hmmmm (also gw2 having us end kralkatorrik and is last words be Mother... Really really makes me hope we find out about this great grand ma elder dragon)

It reminds me of kralk going over elona

Anyway the other thing is the trailwr says a cycle reborn at the end

and my mind is like "parent more baby elder dragons to make them have compassion and a empathy like aurene does towards mortals and humanity" which was also caused by like....

Im 90% sure its just reused models and aspects but this weird floaty island reminds me of the trees and such in HoT

Which has my mind being like MORDREMOTH EGG MORDREMOTH EGG and the idea of the commander raising elder dragons 2.0 is fantastic

Will any of this happen? No. Especially anything involving info on koda. But thats also why im labelling it as gw2conspiracy

Thanks to commander soup for listening to me and giving her these brainworms and this was my ted talk

[eggsordium]

because i want to, and because it intrigues me, i’m gonna go through all of these images and guess wildly at what i think they’re gonna be/what they represent LMFAO

minus the virtuoso, of course, because we already know about that one, and the necro, because @sepiidae​ already said it here

i know i just made a Whole Post about an idea for guardian elite spec, but i think this is the one for guardian, y’all. and if not guardian, then maybe revenant???? and the only reason i’m saying this is because the shape of this icon kinda reminds me of samurai helmets??

i think it’s because of the two spikes on top of the head, and the approximate “helmet” shape of it. now, i’m not japanese, nor am i particularly well-versed in samurai or that long era of japanese history, so i could 100% be wrong. but considering that cantha is the “east asian inspired setting” mmo classic (which in itself is a WHOLE separate post that i might make, being east asian myself), it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if anet tried to get something samurai-themed into the game, especially via something like an elite spec.

and for that reason, obviously, guardian is sort of a natural fit for something like a “samurai” theme. to my limited understanding, real-life samurai have a sort of... moral code they have to hold to? from wikipedia, “Bushidō (武士道, "the way of the warrior") is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle. It is loosely analogous to the European concept of chivalry.” which definitely fits up guardian’s thematic alley. but, again, please don’t take me at face value for this without doing your own research into samurai, because i know it’s a heck of a lot more complex and detailed than what i’ve got here!

on the other hand, revenant could be an interesting one here, since, being cantha, there could be a whole host of historical canthan “samurai” (i’m putting this in quotations because 1) i don’t know if they’ll rename it and 2) it’s definitely a vast oversimplification) that could be super cool to channel!!

okay, so, has anyone watched avatar: the last airbender? then you’ll probably know where i’m going with this. it’s obviously a bit of a stretch to identify a specific type of sword from a stylized icon, but the curve of these swords reminds me a little of the chinese dao

which, yes, is the type of sword that zuko used—in fact, he used two! dual dao, dual-wielding.

my current guess for this icon is for the thief. thief currently has access to main-hand sword, but not off-hand—which is also why i disqualified warrior, because it DOES have access to main-hand and off-hand sword. dual-wielding thief????? perhaps ninja-themed, as is often a classic????

i’ve got nothin for this one, you guys. it just looks like a little guy with REALLLLY buff arms and HUUUUGE pauldrons. siege warrior to accompany the siege turtle????? i hope so. himbo rights!!!

my guess is that this will be for the ele!! yes the fire gave it away. the diamond at the center does give me some pause however. we know that cantha’s been using a material called “dragonjade” in innovation and etc. after the whole kerfuffle with the jade wind. it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to guess that maybe that’s what the diamond in this icon is referring to?? but you would think that we’d get a dragonjade-engi class instead, but i have my reasons to hold the engi back because...

THIS. THIS IS DEFINITELY THE NEW ENGI YOU GUYS. IT LOOKS LIKE A ROCKET, AND UNLIKE JEFF BEZOS OUR ENGIS ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTE TO THE DESIGN AND CREATION OF ROCKETS.

it looks like a rocket, but i’d wager my entire life that this is a fireworks-themed class. cantha!! fireworks!!! engineer!!!!! fireworks were originally invented in china, after all!

and quite frankly, if anet doesn’t do a fireworks-themed engi elite spec, i’ll eat their headquarters. it’s just such a perfect combo!!!!

personally, i think this is for the ranger, because it kinda looks like a bear. or maybe a lion? tiger? and it kinda looks like a shield, i guess? rangers don’t have access to shields yet, so that could be cool!!!

now, i have no clue what class this is mean to be. or, should i say... noh clue. :3c

again, same disclaimer as the above about samurai, which is that i’m not particularly familiar with the specifics of japanese theatre and history. however, i have a vague approximate knowledge of some things, and what this icon reminds me of is noh theatre masks—specifically (after a quick google) the hannya type

i really don’t know which class this would go with, but my guess is possibly the revenant????? or maybe the thief? what we know of stereotypical ninja today possibly stems from theater performers—specifically, black-clad background theater helpers who were meant to be ignored while props were moved around and stuff, so i could see this icon being for whatever thief elite spec too!

this got SUPER long and SUPER away from me but hopefully people enjoy!!!