Thread of Introductions and Random Discussion

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Source: http://www.arena.net/blog/what-does-...survey-results

Soooo...I didn't find a thread about this anywhere else....

What about the nameless Lich that appeared in Droknar's Forge during Halloween? She was wearing the costume one could purchase, but she was cryptic, all alone and stared at the moon. She's gone now since Halloween is over, but I just swore that there was going to be some quests involving her.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Nameless_Lich

"Be careful who you trust, mortal. Everything here is not what it appears to be."

Any ideas? Thoughts? Someone know of a thread elsewhere? I am really very curious.

This new interview says she (the lich) will be back, along with other members of the Lunatic Court. http://www.massively.com/2010/11/11/...elys-intervie/

Lately, as I seek my legendary vanquisher, I'm working on the last continent which is Tryia, purposly saved for last because it's my favorite. Once again, I find all the ruins and blasted areas of and around Ascalon both haunting and disturbing and I have to wonder about them.

Are there any statistics as to how many people died during the searing? Are there any maps that show, beyond what you explore in Pre, cities and areas such as Grendich Village, Rin, Nolani and Serenity temple? What was out in Eastern Frontier, the mass of ruins near the exit to Pockmark flats? Are they art books that depict these areas? Overall map of the area with cities/towns/villages marked so when we visit ruins, those of use who are curious will know what they represent?

It some ways it is unfortunate that we see these places only after they're ruins. Although I know this is wishful thinking, it would be nice to have a pre-add on that allows you to see/explore some of these legendary places. However, I know that has too many impacts on pre leveling, Legendary Defender titles and such.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ascalon_census
That's as close as you'll get. As for the maps, there is nothing, as far as I know. It would be interesting to see some of the places of Ascalon, especially Rin and Surmia, in their glory days. Would be an interesting idea for new Bonus Mission Pack missions.

This was one of my favorite things in the early days of the game, wandering around and looking at the destruction, and remembering how just days before (years in game time) the area had been lush, green, and relatively peaceful.

I'd always hoped for a bonus mission pack that would send us back on our own character, obviously in an instance but with the same zones and higher level enemies and quests. True, I can always make a new character and experience it again, but it isn't the same.

I guess he will create huge disaster for sure, but since the 6 gods had not left the mortals, maybe they'll help a little? Also without the other 4, maybe mortals can unite together to take him down with the help of the gods.

The Six have already left, though. They did so at the Exodus, 1079 years ago. I can't imagine them helping humanity now any more than they will 250 years from now.

Something crazy occurred to me today, and I figured I'd run it past you guys. I highly doubt that this is what's happening, but who knows? It might be right.

Upfront I want to say I haven't read Ghosts of Ascalon, and I don't claim to have the best mastery of the lore.

Here are the main points of my idea.

There are a few strange things about Hearts of the North. For one, the Ebon Falcon found Thackeray's tracks to the north of Giant's Basin. There appeared to have been a scuffle, and then the tracks just stop.

When we start the missions as him, he's south of the Giant's Basin. Ok, so he went south. Maybe he swam, maybe he went between the two lakes. Either way, he ended up there, and the exact method is never explained.

During Halloween, there was an NPC in Droks called The Nameless Lich. All she says is: "Be careful who you trust, mortal. Everything here is not what it appears to be."

We know that the halloween quests weakened the bonds between the worlds, allowing some members of the Lunatic Court to escape. We know that Winds of Change has to do with one of someone who is just dying to return to Tyria again. [I think we know that at least!]

When Thackeray proposes to Gwen, Gwen mentions his hair. She says she never did like the pony-tail thing, and that he should never do it again. His response is "W-What?!" and then scampers away when Gwen says "GO!"

My idea is that perhaps Thackeray's hair tie (or whatever allowed the pony tail) fell off when he was swimming. He buried the Captain, and then went north to get back to Gwen. At this point, perhaps a member of the Lunatic Court appeared, had a scuffle, and bested the weary Keiran. The real Keiran was placed somewhere else (magic!) and was replaced by this doppleganger, so as to roam the world. The doppleganger never saw him with the ponytail, so he'd never know that that's the "normal" Keiran.

This would explain his actions following the proposal, namely how surprised he was. This would also explain why he was found south of the basin, since the doppleganger would have no clue where to go. He just wants to be on the mortal realm again. This would also explain why Gwen couldn't just use the scrying pool to find Keiran. He wasn't on the mortal realm!

So there's the idea of mine.

Here are the problems with the idea.

The dialogue during the missions doesn't really work all to well with this. He refers to Gwen multiple times during this. A doppleganger wouldn't know about this unless he stole his memories too. In this case, the doppleganger would've known to go north, not south. This, in my mind, is pretty damning evidence against this idea. Also, he eventually went north anyways.

Thackeray's reaction to the ponytail comment could simply be his reaction to Gwen's bluntness and controlingness (she's a mesmer, she can't help it). It could've just fallen off.

We know that he and Gwen will found Ebonhawk, so it might really be him. This is pretty weak evidence in my mind, since the real Keiran could be rescued before then.

And that's all I can think of off the top of my head. So what are your thoughts?

Crazy? Not-so-crazy but I forgot a key detail? Maybe I'm a member of the Lunatic Court?

Possibly the doppleganger got him as he was heading back to anvil rock i like the idea a little far fetched but i can see were your getting it from unfortunately i believe that the nameless litch was referring to an event to happen next Halloween.

Cool story bro....

But seriously it could work as a short story if you like doing the fan fiction thing. But otherwise you just presented all the evidence as to why it isn't the case. I'm pretty sure they aren't going to intertwine two completely different events like that, it just wouldn't make any sense. The lunatic court don't need someone like Keiran to come back now, Anet mentioned they will be coming back on and off in the future, besides they seem like the kinds of blokes that wouldn't bother hiding lol.

As far as Keiran goes who knows why he was south. Maybe he didn't want to get back to Gwen right away? Maybe he was on his way to help at the immenient battle at lion's arch? Maybe he was just taking a holiday? Whatever his reasons he ended up cutting his plans short when he ran into Miku and the story continues from there.

is hair fell off??

Events prior to Halloween allowed the Lunatic Court to go to Tyria. The Halloween stuff has been stated to have nothing to do with the Winds of Change or the Keiran content.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11...elys-intervie/

Stumme disproved your theory before it even came up. You even disproved it yourself. And the thing about someone wanting to return to Tyria is linked to the Lunatic Court - not Winds of Change.

Hey, ladies and gentlemen...

Going back to using this thread for "introductions" for a bit, since until recently I'd migrated pretty much exclusively to the Priory over on the GW2Guru forums. (Don't look at me like that! This place was pretty much dead for a few months there...)

Anyway, as you may or may not be aware, Konig has been stepping down from moderator duties of late. Accordingly, our new overlord Kvinna asked for volunteers to take over, and I've stepped up to the plate. Good to see things active here again, and here's to hoping we can keep my duties down to squelching the occasional spammer and keeping the stickies up to date.

...unless, of course, someone comes up with something that just has to be spread to a wider audience.

Hey guys. Anyone got any idea how old our characters are supposed to be in the campaigns?

They're never really given an age so it's more or less just whatever you want it to be. The PCs are ambiguous for this reason - as is who the heroes of the campaigns are - or so I would assume.

Pretty much. I think there is an assumption that they start reasonably young - they are new recruits in two campaigns and students in another, and I think they get referred to as young by Togo at least (although in his case, "young" may be a relative term). While a specific age is never given, I would be inclined to guess an age around the late teens or early 20s for a starting character - however, it could easily be a middle-aged or older person who wants to take a different path in life or who is called up to serve.

That's probably right... some facial options look more like a guy in his 50's or a tired old war veteran (the one with the scar).

Hey all. So i'm looking for the locations where Bahltek are, but wiki only has the Mhetani keys. I gotta figure if theres anyone who knows its the people surfing this part of the forums.

Anyone share the knowledge?

What wiki are you using?

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Bahltek

Clearly shows all 4 locations of his.

Well no that says where he is but it only has a map to his location in the Mehtani Keys. The explorables are big places and if he only spawns every now and then it could take me hours and hours to find him in the other locations.

Unless i'm missing something?

This post should be of some assistance. The entire thread might be worth a read too, but that'll show you his locations.

Good luck!

(Wish you could say "Oh, the Realm of Torment? Been there!" when he talks about a nightmare realm in Fahrunar.)

Awesome, exactly what I was looking for drax - cheers!

Really hope to get some elaboration on this guy in Gw2.

Hello.
I am new to this forums and kinda new to Guild Wars.
I want to make a new character in Prophecies, but being somewhat of a roleplayer I've a huge issue with naming.

Is there any information about Ascalonian names? Do Ascalonians have any specific surname structures? Do they have surnames at all? I could not find any surnames for important characters such as Mhenlo.

Welcome aboard, Waret!

Officially, no, but there are some trends that have been noticed. A perusal of this page reveals that most Ascalonian names are British in origin, albeit not all names that are currently in fashion. There are a smattering of names from the rest of Europe, though, so pretty much any European name would probably fit - however, if you're going to pick a name from a list, a list of old British names would probably be best.

They do use surnames, generally similar in form to English ones, although some do use titles instead.

It seems to be a tossup whether a character is labeled by first name or surname or both. In some cases, such as Farrah Cappo or Oswalt Alston, we are given both. In some cases, such as Gwen or Sarah, we are clearly getting first names only. In many cases I suspect we are actually getting last names, particularly when a title is involved. For example, "Dirk" is apparently the surname of Farmer Dirk, since another NPC in Ashford refers to "Edwen" as being responsible for letting his pigs wander around.

Didn't realize that Dirk was called something else. Makes sense that some go by their last name rather than their first. Claude for instance calls himself Sergio. Dunham is a last name so I'm sure the mesmer henchman has an unstated first name.

The case for "Edwen Dirk" is an unproven deduction, of course. For all we know there is another farmer named Edwen who raises pigs and regularly has a problem with them getting loose and ravaging gardens. There is no conclusive tie, such as the villager introducing himself as the Orville mentioned by Dirk. In fact, the villager apparently lives somewhere in Regent Valley, which would be a bit of a trip for Dirk's pigs to make.

When titles are involved, it's hard to say how much reliance we can place on the usual conventions of the English language for interpreting GW.

Nobility, royalty, and religious personages typically use a first name by our conventions: King Richard, Brother John, Sir Henry. It's difficult to tell if this applies to GW, however. Given that Adelbern and Rurik are father and son, one would assume they share a surname and are using their first names in their royal titles. But, can we be sure that "Adelbern" is not the surname? And what about "Barradin", which sounds more like a surname and might not even be a personal name at all, since English nobles are often referenced by the name of the place over which they have authority? Perhaps "Duke Barradin" is more formally rendered as "Duke of Barradin" and his real name is Fred Weemsby.

Commoners with professional titles, OTOH, are generally addressed by last name: Farmer Doe, Trader Smith, Trapper Jones. But in GW we run into apparent contradictions, such as Symon the Scribe, while others seem to fit the pattern, such as Miller Upton, and some are ambiguous, such as Master Ranger Nente.

Actually, the one who mentions Edwen is the generic male pre-Sear NPC villager. So they live all over.

Regarding Barradin... I thought Lady Althea was at one point called "Althea Barradin" - may be misremembering though.

But the whole of what you said fit my thoughts, more or less. Though didn't think of the former name for commoners until you first brought it up with Dirk.

Lore observations about Winds of Change so far (completed up to Zen Daijun):

1) Nothing I've seen makes me less inclined to think that the Ministry of Purity is going to be involved in Cantha's future outbreak of militarism, speciesism, and isolationism.

2) Why is a Ministry of Purity adept invoking Kaijun Don, when Kaijun Don is the embodiment of good turned to evil?

3) Didn't we already cleanse Zen Daijun of Zunraa's corrupted aspects?

On 3) 7 years pass, and the Affliction reigned after the time of that quest, even on Shing Jea. It's highly possible that he became recorrupted. Also keep in mind all that miasma he absorbed during said quest.

Though I find it humorously that Zunraa is just a couple feet behind Tsuriai when she tells us he's been corrupted again.

On 2) It also should be noted that Oroku from When Kappa Attack (one of Lei Jeng's quests) states that Reiko studied Zunraa to devise how to cleanse corruption. Also note that corruption in its truest form is merely the state of altering from the original - and thus "evil" could be "corrupted" into "good." And from the first line of the description of Kaijun Don: The Kirin, the embodiment of corruption. To me, this tells me that kirins are embodiments of corruption, hence why Kaijun takes such a form, and until the Plague, they were good - and are capable of returning to non-corruption as Zunraa shows.

So to me it reads as a method of a cycle between going from good to evil and then evil to good.

Well, When Kappa Attack wasn't functional on Live when I made that post.

That's one possibility regarding the kirin - I'd basically assumed, though, that Kaijun Don was symbolised as a kirin because the events in question happened after the Jade Wind, and the kirin became the symbol of corruption because most of the kirin had been corrupted.