The Tengu’s Behavior

Version 2.0
Enjoy

The Tengu’s Behavior

I. Identification of the Tengu Clans

The Tengu are a widely spread out race. They exist both in Tyria and Cantha. Of the Tengu that have been encountered, there are five clans. The clans in Tyria, all of which are hostile, are the Caromi, the Avicara, and the Quetzal. These clans seem to have very little in common.

The Caromi live in Kryta, and are known for raiding the merchants. The Avicara live in the Southern Shiverpeaks, seemingly attacking all that come near them. The Quetzal live in the Tarnished Coast, and they attack any who enter their land.

The Canthan Clans are the Angchu (for a link with more background on the Angchu, click here) and The Sensali.

II. Canthan Tengu Clans

These clans are known enemies and seem to be very different in attitude. Unlike the clans in Tyria, these two we actually can interact with, for the Sensali, only through The Tengu Accords.

The Angchu

The Angchu seem to hold honor, pride, and the clan above all things, as evident through Talon Silverwing, Soar Honorclaw, and Swift Honorclaw.

The most noticeable thing with the Angchu and honor, is that Honor is the prefix of their clan leader’s last name, Honorclaw. Throughout many dialogues the Angchu Tengu mention honor. Here are some instances:







All of these talk about how they want to be treated equally by humans and by being treated as inferior beings, their honor is harmed. That was one of the reasons why they attacked humans during the Tengu Wars. Other reasons range from their children being killed to being attacked for hunting on their own grounds.


The Sensali

It seems to be that the Sensali also have a sense of Honor and Pride as well, as evident in both The Tengu Accords and The Rite of Valor quest. In both, Gull Hookbeak is an ally NPC. In the Tengu Accords, he seems to speak with pride of his clan, and with confidence as well that the Sensali will when with no contest. In the Rite of Valor, Gull is trying to prove himself worthy, which can be viewed as pride for himself and a chance for honor from his clan.



For reference sake, here is what Gull says in The Tengu Accords and The Rite of Valor:



Gull seems to be untrusting in The Tengu Accords, which can be the affect of too much pride in himself and his clan. In other words, he’s cocky and stubborn.

There is another show of honor, to a degree, among one of the Sensali Tengu in the Tengu Accords.



Although it doesn’t comment on their own honor directly, the Tengu speaks of how the assassins are dishonorable, therefore being less honorable then themselves.


Through that, it can be said that both clans in Cantha, although enemies, both hold Honor, Pride, and their Clan above other things. We cannot know, directly, if the Tyrian Tengu Clans are the same, however, it is a high possibility.

III. Tyrian Tengu Clans

Looking back at the Tyrian Tengu Clans, we see the Tengu as raiders and mauraders, much like how the Sensali act, but they act out of revenge from the hostility made that started The Tengu Wars (For the other Wiki for fast reference, click here).

So the Tyrian Tengu act like the hostile Canthan Tengu, no real surprise there, being the same race. So lets try to look at why the Tyrian Tengu are all hostile.

The Caromi Tengu



Let’s cover them in the order we meet them (when going with the storyline). First we have the Caromi. They are, with a simple glance, raiders attacking caravans and travelers throughout separate parts of Kryta. But why are they doing so? Well, the Sensali are doing the same thing because they were attacked and forced to move. What’s to say that the Krytans didn’t move onto the Caromi’s land? What is positive is that they are angered at Humans for some reason. If the Tyrian Tengu are like the Canthan Tengu in that they are prideful and respect honor, then the best guess would be that the Krytans did something to offend the Tengu, and they are responding in the manner they are in order to protect their honor.

The Caromi in Nebo Terrace and North Krytan Province seem to attack all monsters nearby (usally Ettins) along with humans. Along with that, all of the Caromi in a majority of Kryta are situated in single areas, never patrolling, and have bosses nearby. While the areas where there are no Tengu bosses, such as Twin Serpant Lake, the Tengu are patrolling and only attack the players. They even let White Mantle by. So, I assume that the bases of the Caromi have be placed in the areas where there are bosses. These would be North Kryta Province, Stingray Strand, Nebo Terrace, The Black Curtain, and Divinity Coast. Divinity Coast and Nebo Terrace, however, might be a raid, and those bosses are leading the raid. I say this because the Tengu show up on roads and at houses. While the others, are close to turned wagons and plains, and excluding North Kryta Province, are not near any human houses.

This means that the Caromi were split into having three bases. According to the Prophecies Manuscripts, there are four “Known Clan Leaders.” Those are: Pello Agileclaw, Chuff Quickbeak, Squaw Nimblecrest, and Glyd Swiftwing. Three are in North Kryta Province, one in Divinity Coast. This suggests that the main home for the Caromi is the area in North Kryta Province. This could also mean that this was the original home, before the Krytans came in.

The Avicara



The next clan to look at is the Avicara. They are not assaulting caravans, as there are none in the Southern Shiverpeaks, and they attack the humans, possibly other NPCs (including the Titans during Defend Droknar’s Forge). The Avicara’s home is in Mineral Springs, this is supported by the fact that the only Avicara bosses are in Mineral Springs. At the entrance to Mineral Springs, the Avicara can be seen attacking the Stone Summit, along with anyone else who comes near. This can be seen as an act to protect their main home.

One of the six known clan leaders, the bosses in Mineral Springs, has the prefix Honor- in his last name, just as Swift and Soar Honorclaw do. The Tengu’s name being Syr Honorcrest. This supports that the Avicara uphold honor as well.

The Quetzal



The last Tengu clan to look at is the Quetzal. These are probably the easiest to figure out the motives for. For starters, there are signs around where they usually are. These signs are a warning to trespassers, saying that they will be killed on sight if they continue. Of course due to game mechanics they will attack all others when aggroed, even if outside of the territory.



Thanks to the signs and how these Tengu act, it is clear that they are hostile because they are very territorial. This is nearly as cleared as fact with the two things I have mentioned, but to help this statement, there are also either Norn or Asuran corpses at some of these signed, usually looking like they were trying to trespass onto the Quetzal’s area.



Overview

Keeping the fact that the Quetzal are very territorial, when we look back at the other hostile Tengu clans, that only supports why they are hostile towards the humans. The Sensali were being attacked and pushed out of their homes, which angers them as they have pride and honor to uphold, along with being territorial, they go to war with the humans. The Caromi are being pushed out as well with the spread of Krytans into their lands, so they revolt by raiding the caravans. The Avicara are not assaulted directly, much like the Quetzal, but are still very territorial, so they attack all trespassers that go into their land.


The Tengu’s Religion

There is little given about the Tengu’s religion sadly. And all of it comes from the Angchu, so the beliefs may differ between the five clans.

I. Sky Above the Sky

The first thing that was told about the Tengu’s religion is where they believe their spirits go. This place is called the Sky Above the Sky, and is only mentioned in the quest Cleansing the Steel.



II. Prophecy of Peace

Another thing that is mentioned about the Angchu and a belief they have, is a foretelling, or prophecy, of when the Tengu and Humans can finally be at peace with each other. It is told by Talon Silverwing in the Far Shiverpeak outposts of Eye of the North.



The Tengu’s Architecture

There are little to no buildings of the Caromi or the Avicara sadly. However, there are buildings by the Quetzal, a whole village at that. And there are some things that the Caromi have made, although not architecture per se, but worth noting.

I. Canthan Architecture

There are two “villages” for the Angchu, and one for the Sensali. All have the same architecture. The two cvillages for the Angchu are known as Aerie and the Roost. In the Roost, there are two types of “buildings,” a tent and another building (which looks a lot like a giant bird cage to me).





The “giant bird cage” seems to be a house, as it is also seen in Aerie and the Sensali village. And, there are multiple of them.

In Aerie, there is also a campfire with bones at it. The types of bones varies in size and shape.



There are also giant cages to the size, and stacked up. One of these cages is open and can be walked into. These cages seem to me to be used for fishing, and quite possibly for hunting as well. Either way, this seems to be how they trap their food, or keep it locked up until it’s time to eat it.



Also in Aerie, there is a “house” up on a cliff. With no way to walk up there, and with it looking to be very hard to climb up, this suggests that the Tengu are good at climbing, seeing how they can no longer fly.



In the Sensali village, there are only the “houses.” However, there is an issue. The village is occupied by Canthan Peasants and Canthan Guards. Even with this, the reason why I say that this is a Sensali village is because these “houses” only show up in three areas, this village, Aerie, and the Roost. This suggests that it is a Tengu designed building. Also, the area other then this little village is swarming with Sensali, with Yeti scattered here and there.



My theory with this village is that the humans came in and took over, forcing the Sensali to leave, but they refused to go far and are constantly trying to take it back. This is probably either a cause of the Tengu Wars, or happened because the Sensali refused to agree to peace with the humans after the Tengu Wars.


II. Tyrian Architecture

Caromi

The only Caromi architecture that I was able to find was a simple campfire and what seemed to be wards. The wards were decorated in human bones and burnt bodies. This campfire can be found in the southern part of The Black Curtain, where there the Caromi Winglord is.



There are numerous wards around the campfire itself, and in the area heading to the campfire. There are two ways to get to the campfire itself.



Quetzal

There is a Quetzal village in the southwest corner of Verdant Cascades. These buildings are the only known Tyrian Tengu buildings currently.



They are rather crude in design. They are huts, that are on top of a loft-like wooden floor, with a tent-like construction of leaves on top.



I assume the loft-like floor is designed to prevent the house from flooding and from getting muddy. As the houses are right on the edge of a lake/pond, with high rain, the area can easily turn muddy and have a chance of flooding.



With how high some of the houses are, it seems not all are put like that for a flooding possibility. Some just seem to be higher up, possibly to give more room on the bottom.



There are also some houses that don’t even have the top covering of leaves, or the loft. This rather hurts the theory of the flooding and rainy area, unless the houses are newly constructed and don’t yet have the top covering. These houses are also rather high up so they would not suffer from flooding as easily as the others.

The Tengu’s Diet

Overall

All of the Tengu clans seem to have one thing in similar when it comes to location. Everyone has a camp near a water source. This would suggest that the Tengu favor eating fish over other raw meat. But there must be things they eat other then fish, otherwise they would be described as eating raw fish, not raw meat.

Caromi

Other then fish from the Sea of Sorrows and nearby lakes, the known meat sources would be: Fire Imps, Skales, and humans. There are even bones and bodies at the campfire in The Black Curtain, which are human bones/bodies, and the bodies look like their insides have been taken out and burnt.

All three are nearby each main camp that the Caromi have.

Avicara

Fish would be a rare commodity in the Shiverpeaks due to the weather. The only known spot that has water that is not frozen that the Avicara are in is Mineral Springs, and at that spot there are three of the clan leaders. So there must be a more common food source. The possibilities are: Tundra Giants, Trolls, Dwarves, and Ice Imps. The Stone Summit would probably be their most common food, as they are probably constantly attacking each other, Stone Summit trying to enslave/kill the Avicara off and the Avicara defending their home. Mineral Springs alone has all four nearby (Ice Imps and Trolls in the Ice Imp Cave, Tundra Giants south of that, and Stone Summit in Tasca’s Demise).

In the spots that the Tengu are found, at least two of these are found.

Angchu

The Angchu at the Aerie, being the only one with a pact with humans, most likely does not eat humans. By the bones that are found at the camp, they seem to eat some of the bulls that are nearby. They could also eat Kappa, as they are nearby Onghsang Island, which houses many Kappa. There is also Mantids, although I don’t know how well those would taste. And, of course, fish.

The Angchu at the Roost can easily eat anything, as they can trade with humans, even though they would be feared. If, instead, they hunt, they probably either eat Vermin, which is most likely, or the Jade Brotherhood, seeing how they are gangs, the Canthans wouldn’t care much if they disappear. However, the Jade Brotherhood is less likely.

Sensali

The Sensali have the most limited access to fish other then the Avicara, because they too are in mountains. The Sensali probably eat mostly off of Yeti, their primary enemy, and humans.

Quetzal

The Quetzal have the biggest amount of possibilities, even though they are only in two areas. In Verdant Cascades, the Quetzal probably eat fish, the Skelk, Iguanas, and the Wind Riders that are in the area. The Quetzal in Alcazia Tangle most likely eat fish, Simians, and the dinosaurs. Possibly snack on the wondering Asura as well.

hehehe nice job, i like this hehe very enjoyable.

Also the Aviacara attack and kill the Stone summit at the entrance to Mineral Springs.

Yeah... that's pretty much how I saw it too. Even the hostile Tengu aren't actually hellbent on your extermination, they just don't want those pesky humans invading their land. Not that they ever seem to take the hint.

hmmm the carmoni might be attacking becuase the the ascalonians moving into the kryta area taking the carmoni's area away from them. thats my opinion anyway

Normally, I would say that is a good possibility. However, the Caromi would then be attacking mainly the Ascalon Settlement. They are attacking the Krytans all over Kryta (Their main "encampments," if you will, are the plains of North Kryta Provence*closest to the settlement but not there*, in Divinity Coast mission, Stingray Strand, and Twin Serpent Lakes). The Ascalon Settlement seems to only be attacked by Skales (driven out by Undead from the swams) and Ettins, maybe Undead as well, but not the Tengu.

As always, I enjoyed reading your theory

This was such a great read. Thanks for sharing your observations and taking the time to articulate them. Really makes me wish more and more that aNet would include Tengu as a playable race in GW2 ><

I'm sure they will, just not straight off the bat (incidentally I just got done posting this somewhere else. Heheh). ArenaNet has put a fair bit of work into fleshing them out, and it would be a bizarre choice not to take that further.

Maybe they see the Ascalonians as fellow refugees and feel sorry for them?

On the second read-through, a couple of things come to mind:

Regarding the Tyrian Tengu, it is worth noting that the name of the Avicara Warrior boss is "Syr Honorcrest", echoing the Angchu's Soar and Swift Honorclaw. This provides further evidence - through their use of the word in their names - that honor is something valued among the Tengu.

Furthermore, while a secondary source, it is worth noting that the Tengu in Japanese mythology were, at least in some periods, seen as highly honorable beings - not always friendly to humanity, but honorable nonetheless.

Secondly, it's interesting to note that, apart from the Quetzal outpost in the Verdant Cascades, the three tribes of Tengu in Tyria appear to be spread around the Sea of Sorrows - the Avicara in the Southern Shiverpeaks, the Caromi in Kryta, and the Quetzal on the Tarnished Coast. Could this suggest a settlement pattern for the Tengu - that they arrived in Tyria from the Sea of Sorrows - either ultimately from Cantha or from some other point of origin we have yet to find? Or could it be that, when combined with the observation that the known Tengu settlements in Cantha are also near the coast, that the Tengu simply prefer to live on or near the coast?

First, I was going to add the Honor- part of the names in my next update. Impatient much

Second, A fair majority of the Tengu settlements seem to center near fresh water (only ones that don't would be the Caromi in North Kryta Province, Nebo Terrace, and some of the Avicara that seem to be more patrols). The "homes" of the Tengu all seem to be located nearby water. Even Mineral Springs has unfrozen water in the north-middle section, where there are three of the six bosses, and all together (the other three are spread out).

This suggests to me, that the Tengu are mainly fish eaters. And could by why they congregate to the Sea of Sorrows.

And I was going to add all that in the OP before I finish it with the 2.0 version.

Wouldn't surprise me. Fish are an easy source of raw meat... easier, at least, than raiding Krytan farms (which it sounds like they are known to do as well).

Updated.

Enter Version 2.0

Enjoy.

Update Notes:
Expanded Angchu
Expanded Sensali
Expanded Avicara
Expanded Quetzal
Added Tengu Religion
Added Tengu Architecture
Added Tengu Diet

Nice point regarding the fish...

Regarding the supplementary meat sources, at times you seem to be suggesting that the main source of food for a number of Tengu populations is other sentients. That seems to be unlikely - while they may not skirt away from doing so, chances are there are plenty of other food sources in those mountains that ANet didn't bother to make models for and put into the game. After all, an ecosystem where yetis eat Tengu and Tengu eat yetis is hardly a stable one, and if enough humans were being taken to make up the difference, I'd imagine that the people of Shing Jea would be more concerned about the two groups then they seem to be.

The 'Prophecy of Peace' is an interesting observation - given EOTN's purpose, I'm guessing this will come into play in Guild Wars 2 sometime (maybe it'll turn out to apply to Charr somehow as well?) This is especially notable considering what Kisu's son will end up doing...

One consideration with interpreting that, however: Some of the concepts in the prophecy could be interpreted as metaphors of death (freedom could be freedom of the spirit, and the concepts of rising and of a star could be a reference to the Sky beyond Sky, ie the Tengu afterlife). In other words, it may be an expression of pessimistic defiance couched in poetic terms - only when the Tengu are all dead will there be true peace.

That said, it could be an indication that somewhere in the world there is, or will be, a Tengu homeland - suggesting that the Tengu populations we know may be exiles, descendants of lost shipwreck victims, or otherwise isolated from their homeland. Given a homeland of their own, the Tengu would be able to relate to others as a nation rather than as clans caught in territory claimed by another race.

I have to wonder if the Caromi are actually native to N. Kryta province, or if they were forced into that region as refugees, fleeing either from the undead in the south or from the Stone Summit in the Shiverpeaks. There is no sign that they have any structures of their own in the area, permanent or temporary, and they are all found in the vicinity of extensive human structures except for the elite Caromi bands in Twin Serpents and the south part of the Black Curtain. (Could the elite Caromi be the rearguard for a northward migration?)

I would have to think that there are more meat sources for the Sensali and Avicara, as they wouldn't have much to go on in their areas.

I never thought about the whole "death of all Tengu means peace" thought. I would hope that not to be the case, but it is a possibility. When I first noticed this, I thought that maybe it dealt with an Ancient Dragon (like when a certain one dies, or does something in the storyline, there would be a bright light and the Tengu would take that as their homeland, idk). It sounds to me that it will be a lot like how the Israelis were given the promised land by God after the 40 years in the desert. The Tengu go through the hardship of getting pushed off their old land, to be shown a new, better, land for them to live in.

I would have to think that the Caromi lived in Kryta before the humans, but got scattered and their old buildings removed by humans. It has been 772 years sense the settlement of Kryta (the first Krytan village at least), so it is not unreasonable to think that humans removed all the Tengu architecture when they pushed them out of their homes.

Not to mention, I think the lack of buildings is more based off of the fact that Prophecies has little to no culture of races other then Humans, Dwarves, Charr, and Mursaat, with suspected Forgotten. All we see of Charr are prisons in Ascalon, so there isn't even a lot of that. For Mursaat, it's just the Onyx gate and other buildings like that we go through that we know are by them.

For Prophecies, I think ANet didn't put in a lot of things from other cultures because they did not know how far they would expand on them, and which races to make sentient or not (even the Grawl had a chance at becoming sentient, but that ended up going to "a smart grawl responds with 'Oot!'" /facepalm).

I don't want to derail the topic, but ... I would regard the grawl as sentient. Not very, but they do have clothing, adornments, and some sort of religious beliefs. (Have you ever seen the grawl ceremony at King's Watch and their fight with the grawl heretics?)

In fact, there seem to be too many races that have some level of sentience. Even the skale turn out to have religious beliefs and the ability to organize themselves as an army. About the only things that can certainly be said to lack sentience are the charmable animals and the occassional frog, bunny, and moss spider. That bothers me a bit.

Should have been more clear. Grawl could have been sentient, but they went with "semi-sentient" grunts as a language but able to have a culture.

In your terms, everything is sentient. Able to form into swarms is far from the sentient I mean. Your version of sentient is just having intelligence (for skale, I assume they act the same as bees or another insect, meaning, they have a queen, which organizes them how they want, into swarms and whatnot. Their belief seems to be nothing more then following the strongest of the brood.) All animals have intelligence, but few have the ability to form cultures and speak in more then just grunts, and that is what I mean by sentience. Hekets are even shown to be sentient. Grawl, by my standards, are semi-sentient, same with skales *only in Istan it seems though*, along with Harpies. Other then that, they have intelligence but they are not my limitation of sentient.

If you are so interested in what species in GW are sentient and what are not, my current project would be to research all those I find to be sentient. I am currently working on Centaurs and plan to have a thread for them up by monday. My current list of races to look into has 11 races (including Tengu and Centaurs, and not including humans). If there are requests, just PM them to me, if they are one of the 11 that I have looked at, their order in the list will not changed, but I will respond that it is in the list.

Um, no. I specifically pointed out culture, religion, and artifacts as being some of the defining hallmarks of sentience. As far as skale worshipping the strongest of the brood and behaving like bees, I think the events in Istan (Moa'vu'Kaal quest chain) add up to more than that.

I'll have to look back into that quest chain (and I knew that is what you were talking about). All I remember of that quest was the skale worshiping a very strong skale which we had to kill.

And, technically, everything has a culture, from insects (they have their own little hierarchy) to human beings. And that is what I was getting at.

But, whatever, and like I said, I'm going to have to look back into that quest chain... maybe my paragon can still do it.

Edit: after looking at the quest dialogue, it seems that Moa'vu'Kaal was just a very powerful Skale (it had an elite skill afterall). The legends by humans make it sound old, however, we don't know two things.

1. Is Moa'vu'Kaal just the name given to it by us because we believe it to be the old Moa'vu'Kaal, or is it really a dark "god" of the skales?
And,
2. Where did the Moa'vu'Kaal come from? Was it summoned via teleportation (like through a rift or something) or was it summoned, and it came from the mainland or something?

Until those two are answered, we cannot say it truly is a skale god, and the least we know is that the skales at least "worship" the strongest warrior (similar to how the Charr's leader is suppose to be the strongest Charr).

Well, the Skale do then invade Beknur (I think) in order to get revenge for Moa'vu'Kaal's death. That sort of cause-and-effect thinking seems to imply some intelligence above the animal level.

There are also mobs in Istan that consist of mixed Skale and humans ("Istani cultists") indicating that it is possible for Skale and humans to coexist. This could simply be a process of the Skale choosing not to bite the hand that feeds it rather than a sign of sapience, however.

I'd probably be inclined to put them at a little below Grawl intelligence - very primitive and not exactly smart, but still having some rudimentary understanding of abstract concepts.

Although I agree with you that they are probably a little below, if not equal to, Grawl intelligence, I disagree with BrettM that they are Sentient, as I consider both Grawl and Skale semi-sentient (and only the Istani Skale seem to be semi-sentient). However, due to the quest The Cyclone Palace That the current skale leaders are unusually intelligent. Which means that the summoning of Moa'vu'Kall and the attacking swarms could have been devised by it, and afterwards, the skales went back to unintelligent swarms as before.

As for the Istani Cultists with the skales. That is actually what I was referring to before Moa'vu'Kaal came in. That there is some culture. I think those skale just like being worshipped, as they worship Moa'vu'Kaal.

The Skale has too little on them and their culture to really deduce much. I might add them to the list I mentioned before, but it won't be much I'm sure.

I'd be inclined to agree with BrettM, actually - that they have a culture indicates such. But that doesn't mean they're smart. Or good with other races' languages - maybe 'oot' simply means they have a mostly nonverbal language?

We've also seen Charr successfully use Grawl as patsies before (presearing Ascalon) implying that they have found ways to communicate, however crudely, in the past. And we can probably also presume that Vael's concern about an alliance was a valid one.

All that said, we may just be arguing about where the line is placed on the continuum rather than where the Grawl and Skale lie on that continuum.

(What puts the Skale lower on the continuum is that while the Grawl do produce reasonably advanced tools (or at least know to pick them up when they find them), the Skale are still at the level of relying purely on their own bodies. This may, however, be more of an indication of how the natural abilities of the skales make tools redundant rather than an indication of low intelligence on the part of the Skale, however. Still, lack of tool use does remove an evolutionary pressure to become more intelligent - since they don't use tools, an individual that would in theory be able to make better tools doesn't receive as much of an advantage as in a tool-using society.)

I think the argument is more caused by my use of the term "semi-sentient," while you two call them sentient because they have culture and whatnot, I call them semi-sentient because they cannot communicate with us (although they can clearly communicate with each other, and the Charr *which, remember, in Prophecies, Charr were indicated to communicate through growls*). My "semi-" comes from the fact that they are not bi(or more)lingual, while other sentient races *humans, tengu, charr, etc* are.

But we are getting way off topic now.