The Unseen Ones: A Factual And Speculative Study Of The Mursaat, Part II

The Unseen Ones: A Factual And Speculative Study Of The Mursaat, Part II

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Note (29/1/2015): This study is outdated - A more recent version can be found here:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/...-golden-birds/

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The real test of a Believer is his range of sight
Faith does not require clear vision
But rather an acceptance of what is truly there
-- Oath of the Unseen

Foreword



Hello, and welcome to the second part of my factual and speculative study of the Mursaat. Part I can be found here:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/u...t10515627.html

This second part will again encompass various elements concerning the Mursaat. I hope you will enjoy and comment to your choosing.

I. The Bloodstones

The official Guild Wars Manuscripts give us a detailed description on the origin of the Bloodstones.

1072 years ago, when the Old Gods' gift of magic had been misused by the races of Tyria and wars were raging across the land, it was Doric who traveled to Arah, the city of the Gods, and pleaded with the Gods to intervene. In response to Doric's plea the Gods divided the magic in Tyria into four Bloodstones and a Keystone to prevent anyone from ever wielding power over all magic again. They sealed the stones with Doric's blood and placed him and his dynasty in charge of guarding the stones.

So, in total there are five Bloodstones, four of which represent a specific school of magic, and one keystone. The schools of magic are Preservation, Destruction, Agression and Denial.

The first campaign, Prophecies, offers the player six distinct professions, four of which are spellcaster professions. It should come as no surprise then, that each magic profession corresponds with a specific school of magic.

The Monk profession corresponds with Preservation (through healing and protection), the Necromancer with Destruction (through death and decay), the Elementalist with Agression (through damage output – standard definition of aggression is usually physical harm or damage) and the Mesmer with Denial (through interruption and drain/denial).

Interestingly, the Mursaat consist only of these spellcasting types. Their Jade counterparts are predominantly Rangers and Warriors.

In the original Guild Wars campaigns we have encountered three Bloodstones: The Maguuma Bloodstone, the Ring of Fire Bloodstone and the Shiverpeak Bloodstone.

Now, which of these Bloodstones correspond with which school of magic? Many efforts have been made in the past, and I will attempt the same.

I.I. Maguuma Bloodstone: Destruction

The Maguuma Bloodstone would be associated with Destruction. This Bloodstone is used specifically to harvest the souls of the Chosen by quite literally destroying them on its surface.

This process can be seen here:





We know for a fact the Mursaat are in possession of at least one other Bloodstone: the Ring of Fire Bloodstone. One would think that, in order to keep the titans safely locked away and averting their own demise, the Mursaat would use all means possible to ensure their own safety. If the harvesting of souls to charge the soul batteries would be possible on every Bloodstone, you would think the Mursaat would do it on the Ring of Fire Bloodstone instead of a Bloodstone thousands of miles away.

But apparently, only the Maguuma Bloodstone is used to harvest souls. The docks on the Ring of Fire, where Leah Stone is found, show us that the soul batteries are actually transported back to the Ring of Fire once they've been charged on the Maguuma Bloodstone.

I.II. Ring of Fire Bloodstone: Denial

The Ring of Fire Bloodstone would be connected to the school of Denial. There are several clues that point in this direction.

"But alas, all this dark magic is draining my soul’s energy." – Leah Stone

The environment near the Bloodstone is said to be tainted by dark magic. Where does it come from? If the bloodstone is oozing magic, so to say, it's effects of denial would be present. Her soul's energy is being drained.

"Even now I can feel them draining my power away." – Vizier Khilbron

Vizier Khilbron says the same. He comments on something else as well:

"The Mursaat have covered the volcano with potent anti-magics." – Vizier Khilbron

Draining away power. Draining away energy of the soul. The presence of anti-magics. All in the vicinity of the bloodstone.

I.III. Shiverpeak Bloodstone: Agression

The Shiverpeak bloodstone would represent the school of Agression. It is important to remember that agression, in its literal sense, means the threat of harm or actual harm, be it physical or otherwise. Again, there are several clues that point in that direction during some interesting quests.

These include Crystal Method, The Blade's Essence and The Arrow's Point. They are all related to the nearby Shiverpeak bloodstone.

Saerin speaks of these shards, pieces of the bloodstone, as magical objects that can literally make ordinary arrows more powerful or agressive, in the sense that they can inflict more physical harm:

"Those shards can turn ordinary arrows into armor-piercing thunderbolts." – Saerin

Again, she comments on the agressive nature of the shards:

"With an arrowhead such as this, I could rob a man of his life from a full league away! He would hear nothing but the sound of his final breath." – Saerin

Here she comments not on shards of the bloodstone but on its essence. Again, she would have their blades enchanted with it to make them more powerful, more damage-inflicting, and so more agressive:

"One thing is certain, though, if that essence is tied to the Bloodstone, then it contains power. Perhaps we could enchant our blades with it..." – Saerin

In this quote, Saerin says nothing about shards or essences, but she clearly shows an agressive nature when talking about her "enhanced" weaponry:

"Our problems may outnumber our blades, but if all our swords are the sharpest...let's just say our solutions will come quickly. I'm looking forward to "mediating" a few disputes myself." - Saerin

I.IV. Unknown Bloodstone

When we consider the above, I predict the last remaining bloodstone will represent the school of Preservation. I hope GW2 will soon confirm my hypothesis.

II. Spectral Agony

The awesome power of the Mursaat lies in their famous and fear-invoking skill, Spectral Agony. Long have I questioned the origin of this powerful skill. Where does it come from?

There is a quote from GW2 that got me thinking. The quote is found during the quest 'Rending the Mantle'. This is the quote:

"Those who controls a bloodstone, controls magic itself." - Bookcase

Each bloodstone represents a school of magic. The quote states quite clearly that if you control a bloodstone, you control the magic it represents. We know for a fact at least two bloodstones are controlled by the White Mantle, and by extention the Mursaat. These include the Maguuma bloodstone and the Ring of Fire bloodstone.

Whether the Shiverpeak bloodstone is controlled by the Mursaat or the White Mantle is uncertain. However, I believe it is.

"Their scouts, always on the lookout for enchanted weaponry to use in their struggle against the White Mantle, noticed the ettins returning to this place repeatedly, where they harvested some sort of magical essences." - Master Dungeon Guide

Ettins, being the creatures that they are, would hardly be interested in the magical properties of the bloodstone. They do not belong to the intelligent creatures, therefore making them incapable of wielding magic. Also, it is stated repeatedly that the ettins harvesting magical shards and essences exhibit odd behavior. They appear to behave differently than normal ettins.

It appears these ettins are under some form of control; some magic forcing them to penetrate the dungeon and harvest the shards and essences of the bloodstone. There is no direct evidence for this, but I would say the Mursaat or the White Mantle are behind this.

Now, if we operate under the assumption that the Mursaat are in possession of 3 bloodstones, and we remember the fact that controlling a bloodstone means controlling the magic it represents, we can come to an interesting conclusion:



It would seem that the powerful Spectral Agony is the result of the combined magic of the 3 bloodstones. This, again, is merely a hypothesis.

III. The Eyes That Watch All

It is stated throughout the game, on various occasions, that the Mursaat are the Unseen masters, watching all that transpires. Inquisitor Lovisa says something interesting about it:

"Just remember, little ones: the Unseen Ones are always watching you and everything you do..." - Inquisitor Lovisa

If we take this claim seriously, how then could it be possible that the Mursaat are capable of watching everything we do all the time?

Since time immemorial, this has been a divine property. I have discussed in part I the claim of the divine of the Mursaat, and I have concluded that the Mursaat consider themselves as such, along with their Mantle followers. However, the Mursaat are anything but divine. They are not immortal. They are not omnipotent. How then can they make such bold claims?

I think the Mursaat are indeed capable of watching everything all the time, but only to a certain degree, and by relatively easy means. It has something to do with the capability of the Mursaat to become 'un-seen':

"I believe they used their spellcasting to slip beneath the skin of the world, out of phase with Tyria." - Yissa

"That creature, the one you called an Unseen One, possesses such frightful power. It is removed from the pattern of the world." - Glayvin

We have all seen the Mursaat display this ability. In the Bonus Mission Pack, after the Charr invasion has been repelled, the Mursaat leaders at that time, Optimus Caliph, Lazarus the Dire and Mercia the Smug, appeared seemingly out of nowhere. However, I don't believe this was achieved by means of teleportation. Like the above quotes state, the Mursaat "slip beneath the skin of the world". They become "out of phase with Tyria".

I believe they are able shift between two dimensions parallel to each other. When they are 'un-seen', they are not merely invisible, they no longer occupy the same physical realm as we do. However, they are still able to perceive our dimension without being able to interefere in it. In this way, they are omnipresent, not in our dimension, but in a dimension "underneath it", bordering it, if you will.

IV. Rata Sum

For the connection I made between the Mursaat and the city of Rata Sum, I would ask you to read part I. I will not repeat that hypothesis here.

I have found a small piece of information in GW2 that seems to support my earlier claims. During the quest 'Rending the Mantle', players are able to examine the bookcases in the Confessor's room. These books are about Krytan history, asuran architecture, and bloodstones. There's also a book titled, "To Serve the Unseen.

The bloodstone book describes how the gods of Tyria imbued the Bloodstone with magic, and then broke it into pieces. Who controls a bloodstone, controls magic itself.

The book about serving the Unseen is scribbled in a code of squiggles and strange drawings—the ravings of a madman. Amidst the gibberish, the words 'Eyes that Watch All' are written over and over.

The book about Asuran architecture is full of arcane equations that make no sense.

Now, the first two books make total sense. Here we have a book about the bloodstones, something that can easily be associated with the Mursaat. The book about serving the Unseen, I need not explain.

However, why would there be a book about Asuran architecture? Why would it be in possession of the White Mantle, who have no apparent connection to the Asura, along with two other books so closely related to the Mursaat? I believe this small clue supports the already strong case for Rata Sum being of Mursaat origin.

V. Janthir Symbols

There have already been studies in the past about the Mursaat alphabet, symbols found on the Janthir pedestals. It has been confirmed they are of Mursaat origin.

I'm not sure if this has been noticed before, but an active Shrine of Mending, projects several symbols in the air:



These symbols look like the others found on the Janthir pedestals. The translation, sadly, is something to be guessed at.

VI. Human Mursaat

I'm not sure this has been clearly stated in the past, but I thought I'd go ahead and do it anyway in case of any doubt. I say with great certainty that the Mursaat are, or at least were, human. Whether they can still be considered 'human' in their current form is debatable, but there's no doubt that at one point, they very much were.

Evidence of this can be found by analysing the Mursaat's anatomy:



A quote can also be found in GW2 where Salia refers to the Mursaat as 'people':

"I can, but such knowledge is dangerous. The mursaat were an ancient people, long dead. The White Mantle worship them, but the last mursaat was eradicated many years ago." - Exemplar Salia

We don't use the term 'people' to refer to non-humans. It's as simple as that. This raises questions about how the Mursaat were able to become the creatures they are today.

VII. Number 9 & 3

The following is something that has eluded me for a long time. I have not been able to find a satisfying answer to this puzzling question, but it appears there is some symbolic significance to the numbers 3 and 9. These numbers are present in several ways:







I don't think these are figments of my imagination. I genuinly believe there is some sacred geometry at work here, probably in some way related to Janthir. Again, we have yet to learn why.

VIII. The Mursaat & Djinn

There appears to be a vague connection between the Mursaat and the Djinn. I'll elaborate.

The Guild Wars Manuscripts say the following:

"In some Elonian legends, they (Djinn) have the power to act unseen." - Manuscripts

For obvious reasons, this above quote got my attention.

Now, according to Nicholas the Traveler, Zinn incorporates Ruby Djinn Essences into his Golems' power cores. Why is this relevant? Well, during the War in Kryta and the pending attack on Lion's Arch, Zinn says the following:

"I think we can repurpose the core to provide a blanket protection for those in range, similar to infusion." - Zinn

The cores Zinn uses for his golems, created by incorporating Djinn essences, can be repurposed to created a blanket protection similar to infusion.

Why would Djinn essences be able to achieve a protection against Spectral Agony? Why are the Djinn, like the Mursaat, able to 'act unseen'?

Beside this fascinating connection, there are interesting parallels between the two. The Mursaat and the Djinn aren't that different when it comes to appearance. They both exhibit the same, high-pitched screeching. They both bestow their favor on people who aid them in tasks. Vabbi legends hint at Djinn granting wishes and bestowing powers.

This connection is vague to say the least. If it's true, hopefully more information on this will come to us in the future.

IX. Conclusion

There is no real conclusion to this writing. I will merely end by saying, with confidence, the Mursaat are certainly not gone:

"The Mursaat, or Unseen Ones, keep reappearing after they've been reported gone. Some think them gods, but I mean to establish who they truly were...or are." - Scholar Yissa

Afterword

I’d like to thank ArenaNet for giving us this marvelous world of Tyria, and for allowing us to delve deep into its stories and mysteries. Without them, all of this would be impossible. And lastly, I’d like devote this work to the Mursaat, my eternal Unseen masters.

- Confessor Zephaniah

The real test of a Believer is his range of sight
Faith does not require clear vision
But rather an acceptance of what is truly there
-- Oath of the Unseen

You make two huge mistakes right off the bat, which really mess you up further down the line.

• Firstly, Guild Wars 2 proves the History of Tyria (aka Prophecies manual) wrong with the history of both the gift of magic and the Bloodstones. Magic existed long before the Six Gods even arrived on the world - however, it was sealed. Since the Elder Dragons consume magic, during the last rise of the ED the Seers went and took all uncorrupted magic in the world and placed it within a single large stone: the original Bloodstone. In 1 AE, Abaddon took this stone and tampered with it (how we do not know) and unleashed magic that was contained within. The other five gods, after King Doric's plea, then took it and tampered with it again - drawing power from Zhaitan to empower the Bloodstone and splitting it within Arah. From there, the History of Tyria is correct. We learn most of this in the Arah explorable mode dungeon - seer path - but we also learn some of this elsewhere.
• You're wrong on the profession to school relation. We only have 1 confirmed profession's school known: the Elementalists. And they use *Destruction*. This is a known fact - sadly, it came from the original guildwars2.com page for the Elementalist, which like the other profession and race pages, had the unique-giving lore taken down. Necromancers are most likely to utilize aggression.

Correction: the bloodstone is merely a *conduit* for the souls (same with the Ring of Fire bloodstone). It is the soul batteries (and presumably, the inscriptions which are lacking on the Shiverpeaks bloodstone) that actually harvest the souls of the Chosen.

Everything viewable about the Maguuma bloodstone hints to it being *Preservation*, not Destruction.

Why? The Maguuma bloodstone is closer to those who are being harvested, and it's far easier to ship soul batteries (yes, *ship* - they don't use those teleporters for the soul batteries) rather than thousands of people - even more so when soul batteries conserve space. You get about 3 souls per soul battery, and you can stack them up. It's far more efficient - and easier to manage - to lead the Chosen into the Maguuma Jungle. I mean, do you really think the Chosen would willingly go to the Ring of Fire without question like they would into the Maguuma Jungle?

You're mistaken. It's not the environment that's draining power - it's the mursaat towers. If you recall, they hold an effect-contained circle, said effect being "Mursaat Tower", which is draining energy.

And it is the most powerful of these towers which Leah and Khilbron refers to - in both cases, said towers are nearby. If you quoted the full line, which you quoted in two separate parts, you would see that Khilbron outright states that the Mursaat have caused this draining effects. It's not the bloodstone, but those towers.

If I had to guess, this bloodstone is likely to be either Destruction or the Keystone. I say the keystone because it shows no immediate features in it or its surrounding. However, one thing to note is the sole time it is activated via a soul being killed atop: when Khilbron is killed atop, the soul batteries and bloodstones' inscriptions activate, ripping his soul out of his body and placing it into the soul batteries to seal the Door of Komalie. When this happens, the volcano becomes active and erupts.

In other words: when the bloodstone is tapped into, the volcano goes haywire. Now, this may simply be a reaction of magic in of itself, but I believe that it is Destruction magic (the Elementalists' field) at work.

And this would also explain why the White Mantle and mursaat don't utilize the RoF bloodstone for its sacrificing - each time they would do so would result in a volcanic eruption.

While I agree with the conclusion, I disagree with your reasoning. Those lines aren't talking about aggressiveness of anything - they're just deadly weapons.

The true hints to the Bloodstone being Aggression is not in these lines, but in the environmental effect caused by the bloodstone: Aura of the Bloodstone And it is through this effect that we can determine that necromancy utilizes Aggression magic - because both the aura's effects and Necromancy hold shared capabilities: life stealing.

You make a fatal flaw - excluding the two points I talked about initially, and how the likelihood of the Maguuma bloodstone being destruction or Ring of Fire bloodstone is extremely small.

Spectral Agony predates the existence of the four schools of magic. It was the main tool the mursaat used to wipe out the seers. As presented in the Arah explorable dungeon, the mursaat betrayed the seers and then fled the world during the last Elder Dragon rise - only to return recently and known as the Unseen Ones (e.g., they only returned to the world a little before Saul found them!). The seers have been nearly wiped out for a long time - this heavily implies (I would say conclude but there's a slime chance that may not be so) that the mursaat/seer war was during the last Elder Dragon rise. And even if that's not the case, we know it occurred prior to the Six Gods' arrival on the world.

And as said, the four schools of magic didn't exist until 1 BE. Magic, however, did - as did Spectral Agony.

It likely is a combination of the schools of magic, but I think it'd be just as likely that it's not even limited to those four schools - it may utilize elements _unrelated_ to those four schools. After all, as GW2 reveals, the bloodstone is simply leaking magic - not filtering it like previously believed.

At the end of the mursaat path in Arah explorable, you get to actually use the mursaat's magic - albeit in a limited form.

It's not slipping into another dimension so much as becoming invisible and invulnerable to the world itself while still being able to interact with it.

This very ability is seen in spirits. Take the plot behind Shiro Tagachi and why we had to become Weh no Su in Factions (note: Weh no Su and Ascension are the same thing, lore wise, just different trials and names). Spirits are capable of hiding themselves from the world, and becoming invulnerable in the process, but still able to interact with it. That's how Shiro insta-wiped the party at the end of Vizunah Square (while having Envoy powers as well, mind you). The mursaat's magic of "invisibility" seems to simply mimic this ability - and Ascension allows us to see, and interact with, this.

I introduce you to Rata Pten, ancient asuran architecture of the same design as the GW1 Tarnished Coast ruins that predate the Cataclysm!

As to why the White Mantle are interested in asuran architecture? Probably because Lazarus vowed vengeance on them, and the White Mantle - via the bandits - are allied with the Inquest.

Nice catch! I always just thought it was mist-effects.

Alright, I'm not going to bother reading this section. It's been known for years now - at least 2009 - that the mursaat predate humanity on Tyria.

And humanity are not of Tyrian origin, but brought to the world by the Six Gods.

Though mursaats are humanoid, they hold no ancestral ties with humans.

Meh, out of curiosity I read further. Actually, we do. Or at least, Tyrians do. Charr, asura, norn, and so forth are all called "people" in GW2.

And the Shining Blade certainly doesn't consider the mursaat human-like. They consider them demons.

While at least one of those I think is a bit of a stretch (the blue numbers on the WM emblem), I don't think there's much meaning in this.

Anet has a lot of re-using the numbers 5 and 6 a lot as well. Especially 6.

They're able to act unseen because they're spirits. Elemental spirits, to be precise. As I said before, spirits on a whole are capable of utilizing this "unseen" action - the Prophecies manual refers to this as their "shadow form". As for the infusion - that's an interesting bit. I have long speculated that the Eidolon provided such because it is described as a creature made of "malice and shade" - and similarly, I thought the titans were such because they were made from tormented soul. In turn, I had taken it as them being creatures of pain and negative emotions that spectral agony holds little effect on them (think like the norse berserkers who, through the use of drugs, would endure pain).

However, given this I suspect it may be more in the fact that the three are spectral entities (Eidolons have an etheric appearance; titans are born from tormented souls as said; and djinn are elemental spirits as said).

However, I'd say that the infusion related djinn more to the Eidolons than mursaat.

But it is interesting to note another connection: both races were around during the last Elder Dragon rise. And its certainly food for thought...

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Also: you may get more responses if you post this on GW2Guru or the official GW2 forums. Since this forum's practically dead.