First Lore Project: Factions Preview Event!

Hello, all!

As mentioned in the sticky thread Welcome to the Overlook!, this forum will be carried along by 'weekly projects' of particular subjects, to generate large amounts of discussion, research, and activity. As said, these may involve expeditions in-game, referring to the manual, looking out for things while you play, and even research outside the game. By doing this we will explore particular subjects of game lore in a lot of detail, and when we have reached a good depth in the discussion and can draw certain conclusions, we will have unravelled the subject to everyone for their information and interest.

Well, here, I present to you the first of these projects! Except, try not to think of it as a school or academic project, it is nothing of the sort.

The theme, as you may have guessed from the title of the thread, is the Guild Wars: Factions Preview Event.

This preview event is hopefully going to give us a huge insight into the coming game, the 'Chapter 2' of Guild Wars. We will be able to explore several areas of the continent of Cantha, the two Factions and their capital cities, and encounter monsters and NPC's of many types as well as other players in great PvP battles.

With all this stuff being presented to us in this preview...how can we miss taking a dive into the lore of Guild Wars: Factions? We simply can't.

So, what is there for us to dive into in this Preview Event (along with playing through it and experiencing new gameplay)?

• Cantha!
• Canthan people!
• Canthan architecture!
• Canthan creatures!
• The two Factions, and their lore!
• The lore of the two new professions!
• History, religion and ethics of Cantha!
• What is the link between Tyria and Cantha?!
• What is the adventure and the lore surrounding it like?!
• What do the NPC's tell us? What stories, legends and myths are there woven into the lore?!
• What are Alliances, Alliance Battles, the new PvP maps, etc. like and what information about the lore of Guild Wars: Factions can we draw from them?!

As you can see, that's quite a lot of things...and there may be more!

And furthermore...surely, there are connections between the lore of the game and lore elsewhere (e.g. generalised fantasy/RPG things)? So...we can research them!

Hopefully by doing all these things in the preview we can get out as much detail about the coming game and the lore that surrounds it as possible.

The preview event begins soon - put your thinking caps on, prepare to take a look at all the lore that will make up Guild Wars: Factions!

Regarding the discussion in this thread...make sure you take into mind other points of view, and we need to bring in evidence from the in-game Preview Event to support all the speculation and research. Screenshots, copies of what NPC's say, descriptions etc. are all fine, just keep it appropriate.

Happy discussing guys!

(PS: Look out on the staff openings section on the homepage, as the weekly lore projects progress we will be trying to develop a team of contributors here.)

Information below is from the new "Alliance NPC" in the Guild Hall.


The horns of battle are sounding. Come and fight!

Kurzick Scribe [Faction Transfer]

Individuals may be frail, but in numbers we find strength. For this reason, men join guilds and guilds join alliances. So too should an alliance seek a nation to serve. If your alliance is prepared to join us, send your Alliance Leader to speak with the Kurzick Ambassador. If you fight well enough, you may be given command over territories that fall into Kurzick hands.

Kurzick Kommandant [Alliance Battles]

The Frontier is quiet at the moment, but we can be sure that the Luxons will soon attack again. I will let you know when it is time for battle once again.


Luxon and Allies, I call to you. Come and fight!

Luxon Scribe [Faction Transfer]

Life in the Jade Sea is hard. The Luxons survive only because the strong have banded together. If your alliance is prepared to join us, send your Alliance Leader to speak with the Luxon Ambassador. If you fight well enough, you may be given command over territories that fall into Luxon hands.

Luxon Navigator [Alliance Battles]

The cowardly Kurzicks ar hiding from us for the time being, but we shall find them soon enough. I will put out a call when the time for battle has returned.

Ok, I have a question that demands answering.

How in Dwayna's name did the Stone Summit dwarves of Tyria obtain and enslave vast quantities of Canthan Dredges? (I think there was one other thing too...I don't remeber.)

I can't think of any logical explanation for this, or at least not one that can be proven.

The dwarves have a trading port (theoretically), Port Sledge. I assume whatever overseas trading they do is done there. Perhaps, Canthan traders came there with a load of captured dredges for sale, and the Stone Summit saw their opportunity to buy a cheap slave labour force? Either that, or the fact that there are 'dredges' on both continents is merely a coincidence.

I haven't got very far in the gameplay of the Preview Event yet, and I have other things to do tonight. Probably tomorrow morning I'll take a look at the information and impressions I've come across so far and present some topics for discussion.

Hope everyone's having fun in Cantha and is taking good note of their surroundings and what the NPC's are saying

Isn't Port Sledge controlled by Deldrimor? I guess it could theoretically have fallen under Stone Summit control at some point (this point being conveniently placed to correspond with the Canthan trade vessel).

the dredges dug their way to kurzick in an attempt to escape from the stone summit.

A dregde named Moleneux tells this. Hes west from Fort Aspenwood.

if this story is true (which im assuming it is) we can get information about the stone summit. this shows how cruel they really are; to make an entire enslaved race want to dig under the mountains, under the seas, under orr, under the great ocean, under cantha and into kurzick lands. CRAZY mean those stone summit must be.

Interesting! That name seems familiar - isn't he one of the scroll trader collectors in Sorrow's Furnace?
If it's possible, could you post a screenshot of what he says exactly? I haven't had the time to get over near Fort Aspenwood yet

Anyway...

Let's get down to business guys! We're well into the Preview Event, and I'm sure everyone will agree that as predicted, there is a lot that we can discuss about the lore.

Some opening topics...

1. The architecture, appearance/clothing of the Luxons and the Kurzicks, and what are the things that make them so different?

I've been looking around the two factions' capitals, Cavalon and House zu Heltzer. They intrigue me.

The Luxon capital, Cavalon, has its base sculpted out of the jade sea. The jade has been uplifted and sculpted to form steps, platforms, etc. Also, when you're in there near the alliance battle/allegiance NPC's, look up - you should see some giant tattered coloured sheets of material spread across wooden beams. It looks almost like the ruins of several ship sails put together. To add to that, there are various wooden structures all over the place that look like they have been taken from shipwrecks, and, of course, there are the massive turtles sitting around, moving their heads, not doing much . Overall, the city seems to be a very colourful and creative scene. I'm going to get some screenshots of the main things in there.

House zu Heltzer, the Kurzick capital, is basically a giant, dark, gothic-style cathedral, with pillars towering up on all sides and various tree trunks lying about the place including one that has been made into a bridge. The cathedral is lit by several chandeliers. Again, in this place, look up - the cathedral has no ceiling, only some arches that perhaps might once have been the supports for a ceiling. So, you stare instead into a maze of tree branches obscured by mist, presumably part of some giant trees surrounding the place. There is a small exterior area to the cathedral within the outpost, with refreshing green grass and those wonderful henchmen standing about.

I'll get discussing the costume of the two sides later...others feel free to discuss it. All I can say for now is: Some of the Kurzicks have marvellous hats! Oh, and...the Luxons dress brightly and creatively in general, and the Kurzicks dress...dark Post pictures of NPC's please, let's laugh at them, mock them and analyse them

2. Place and people names! Cavalon, Gyala Hatchery, Master Togo, etc...

Well...so far I haven't looked very much into these. Perhaps some of the names could be researched, to see if they have outside links. Other than that, I'm sure there'll be interesting differences between Kurzick and Luxon people names. Discuss.

3. The creatures/enemies of Cantha! Yetis, Rot Wallows, Wardens, etc...

Again, I need to look into this. I've seen various types of interesting creatures, and I'm sure they'll have some detail behind them. Again, screenshots/information/discussion on this are welcome!

4. Information from NPC's...

Let's try to gather screenshots/copies of what NPC's say so we can discuss them. From Chapter 1 we know that NPC's, especially those such as mission briefers, give a lot of information that relates to lore. Surely, it will be the same in Chapter 2.

So...let's get talking about all this stuff!

I want to encourage people as much as possible to post in-game screenshots/copies of what NPC's say here, so that once the FPE is over we will still have a load of evidence to discuss. If you think you have a screenshot or can take one that will be useful in examining the lore of Guild Wars: Factions, by all means go ahead and post it in here. Copies of NPC's speeches, and I'm sure other things too would also help. Thanks in advance to anyone that does - I am going to try to get some screenshots myself!

I'm trying to collect real-world information about the creatures that appear in Cantha. Her's what I have so far:

Yeti: A Tibetan term that means 'Himalayan mountain spirit'
Oni: They are a Japanese/Chinese Buddhist demon. They have 3 eyes, 3 fingers and 3 toes. They are cruel and lecherous and sweep down from the sky to steal the souls of those doomed to die.
Kirin: A Chines/Japanese Unicorn/Dragon combination. They are also sometimes depicted as a dragon, fish and ox chimeric beast.

I will add more as I am able.

sry i didnt make screenies what the dredge said. made all the quests he gave me and dont have the nerve to create a new factions rpg character, sry

From Wikipedia:

In mythology, the Nagas are a race of supernatural beings usually depicted with both snake and human attributes, who inspired modern interpretations:

* In modern fantasy fiction, members of any race with both snake and human characteristics may be called nagas.

Kappa means demon turtle in Japanese

Ok, I found this somewhere (what that dredge guy says):

http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?i...eplight3ob.png

His name is Moleneaux

So...they dug to the other side of the world? Does that mean that the world Tyria and Cantha are on is flat?...Or does he not literally mean that, but instead they just dug a really long tunnel under the ocean to reach Cantha? Interesting topic.

Nice stuff on creatures. I think I'll take a little dip into the game to get some screenshots of these creatures now, and I'll search wikipedia and the like for any outside lore clues. Keep it coming! I'm also going to get some screenshots of Canthan NPC's and the outposts.

We've been adding some things to GuildWiki regarding the FPE information. Also, in my opinion, the dredge seem to be underground-dwellers in nature, so I am for the scenario in which they dug a looooong tunnel from Tyria to Cantha. Here's some Kurzick information on their "houses". All Canthans believe in the Old Gods of Tyria. Not just the Kurzicks. This was confirmed in an IGN article a while back, I believe.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/221/fpehouses0lx.png

When I first arrived at House zu Heltzer, I thought Heltzer was a last name, and this was the capital and the royal family's dwelling. Apparently, it may be a title, as with Durheim, Brauer, etc.

Ok, since I'm finding it quite hard to take good screenshots of these creatures, I'll just copy some from GuildWiki into here. I'll edit this post as I find more.

Stone Scale Kirin

http://www.guildwiki.org/images/c/ce...cale_Kirin.jpg

Yeti's

http://www.guildwiki.org/images/9/9f/Yeti_ritualist.jpg

http://www.guildwiki.org/wiki/Image:Yeti_ranger.jpg

Kappa

http://www.guildwiki.org/images/8/84/Kappa.jpg

Here's some info on the two capitals also taken from the wiki:

Cavalon: Although Cavalon is the Luxon's home settlement, most prefer to stay on the move, returning only once every decade, when the Convocation brings together all of the three armadas. Traders from around the world come to buy the precious jade and rare seashells that the Luxon merchants sell here.

House zu Heltzer: One of the oldest and largest of the Kurzick Houses, the zu Heltzers can trace their lineage to Saint Viktor and well beyond, a fact that they waste no opportunity to mention to newcomers. As masters of thought, magic, and architecture, their buildings are nothing short of exquisite, and getting past their magical wards and protections is nothing short of miraculous.

I'm going to get some screenshots of the two cities and NPC's now before the event ends. I may not have time to post them until later, though.

The Jade Wind: ive seen this mentioned repatedly through out the preview. Im assumeing it happened several years before "now" and turned most of Cantha into solid jade (as you can see from the Jade "Sea") and sent sevearl species of monster, such as the Discord wallow, into extinction.

The Oni: I saw from one of the Collectors in the Luxon capital that they belive the Oni to be derranged/cursed humans. He explained his reasoning through a nomadic clan of almost animalistic Luxon that are outcasts from the entire canthian society, luxon or not. This group, who i dont remember their name, were also responsible for the utter massicre of several armies of Kurzik at Pine Ridge, apparently a battle several years before the present (i heard THIS from a Canthan guard wandering around on the road to the Luxons)

The Charr: It seems the Charr made it to Canthia as well. I saw an NPC mention a diseased band of Charr as a similie somewhere in Kurzik lands. Makes ya think... how powerful were the Charr exactly? and how far away IS Canthia from Tyria?

Government in Canthia: It appears that the Kurzick, luxons and Canthians are 3 compleately diffrent nations. Since the Canthians are commonly reffered to as a 3rd party in this, and are seemingly disticnt from the two warring factions. I assume they are the Sweeds in this conflict. Compleately neutral.

Saint Viktor's Shrine: The Shrine, south of House Zu Heltzer, is a memorial to Saint Viktor. He was an advocate of peace between the Kurziks and Luxons, but was supposedly struck down by the luxons during one of his sermons.
The shrine is a pilgramage spot for those canthans/kurzik who still follow the belief of Ancestor worshop.

Religion: if the above statement is true, the traditional 5 gods are a recent religions revoloution. Before Balthazar and his cohorts moved into cantha, they were a "shinto" culture (by comparison at least. most likely it had a FAR diffrent name and style, but its the closest thing i can think of at the moment).

What are the patron gods of Assasins and Ritualists: im guessing just by the style of skills that they use, Ritualists are deciples of Grenith who were former deciples of Dwyna. Assasins, on the other hand, are deciples Balthazar and Lyssa. (speculation of cource. it just seems logical by the way their skills are used)

Long post o_o lots of junk and speculation... what do you think? ^^

Interesting stuff Jonval.

Supposedly, it was Shiro Tagachi's massive cry when he was killed after murdering the emperor of Cantha 200 years ago, that let out this massive wind...turning the sea on which the Luxon seafarers sailed into solid jade, petrifying the forest inhabited by the Kurzicks, and yes, I read somewhere also that some creatures were killed and became extinct because of it. Must have been a pretty loud but also very magical scream, to have the power to send out a gigantic force like that. I'm interested as to how his scream had so much force to it.

Hmmm...yes. Cantha to me seems to be the dominating empire of the continent, as the continent is actually named after it. Judging by some things I've read they are a very rich trading empire, and the size of the city perhaps indicates the age of the nation itself.
It'll be interesting to see exactly what the standing between the 'three' factions is...to me it seems that the Luxons and Kurzicks are much more recently developed and sort of 'vassal states' within the Canthan empire. That said, the Canthans are too busy trading to care about the conflict going on between the other two. Perhaps they tried to interfere earlier but realised it was hopeless, and so they gave up.

As to religion, it seems to me that the Kurzicks see themselves as the 'elite' in the eyes of the same Gods that are worshipped in Tyria. They are orthodox and dedicated in their reverrence of these Gods. You make a good point about that Saint Viktor though - I'm confused as to the nature of Canthan religion. I thought that Cantha, being very Asian-themed, would have gods of that kind. Cantha (the nation), being like China in my eyes, I thought would have some kind of sun god, or various eastern-style gods. I'm not sure exactly where the Luxons lie with Gods, but the Kurzicks confuse me too. The gods used to live in the city of Arah, in Orr, in Tyria; if they created the world, surely they created Cantha too, so they would go there too? Regarding that saint and this sort of dark divinity within the Kurzick culture, I'm thinking the Kurzicks may actually have been informed by visiting Tyrians of the actual gods...therefore they quickly converted and used these gods, building them into their already very gothic, orthodox, conservative, protective culture. Mere speculation though, as there isn't much information on this subject really.

Gods of Assassins and Ritualists: I agree that assassins would be followers of Lyssa...I'm not so sure about Balthazar, though. Balthazar is god of great war and fire...assassins do not fight wars, but sneakily kill and betray. However, I do not believe they would be entirely dedicated to Lyssa - they do not worship beauty and illusion, but focus on trickery, swiftness and shadow arts. I think they are therefore loose hangers on to Lyssa, but otherwise are rather godless.
Ritualists confuse me. I don't understand how those who follow Dwayna could move over to Grenth. However, that seems to be their alignment - they have skills that focus on bringing up spirits to hurt others and using the ashes of the dead, while they also use spirits to heal and protect. I was thinking of Melandru, but ritualists don't seem to fall very much under the 'nature' alignment as I had thought when I first heard of them.

Good food for discussion there, and also, I've got a load of screenshots, which I'll start putting up. Those include pictures of what NPC's say - GuildWiki had some but not all when I checked.

There's another familiar from Prophecies very closely tied to Cantha that we're all forgetting: the Xunlai agents [storage]. Apparently they do the emperor's bidding, because that's why we couldn't access the storage to import items. I hope we'll get some more inside on how these guys work, and why. It would be cool to blend in the gameplay elements into the story that way.

Yes...the Xunlai Guild may have ties to the emperor, though I believe the Xunlai are Canthans, in reality. Look at their faces. Numerous Canthan NPCs in LA look like them.

Thank you for discussing my ideas symeon.

Religion: Personaly, i dont think that the Canthians would have converted over to the Tyrian gods so quickly or easily. Something must have triggered it. i have 2 cool, fantasy related theories and one real world based theory on this.

1) the Charr. one hell of a foe here. It allowed a religious revoloution in Kryta, why not Canthia if they made it this far.

2) the Jade Wind. It was a cataclysmic tradgedy that litteraly altered the lives and world of the Canthians it would seem to be more than enough to trigger religious reform.

3) your sugggestion probobly is the more logical, the Tyrians spreading their gods, setting up a small sect that eventualy grew to dominate Kurzik religion. (hopefully with a good amount of blood shed. what good is religious reform with out a small civil war?)

Also on the subject of religion, I only just realised that Ritualists seem to be the remnants of the previous way of ancestor worshiop. with all the ashes spells, and various binding rituals, they focus on the long dead ancestors to do their business.


Assasins and ritualists:
I came to the conclusion about balthazar-lyssan hybrid by the way assasin played. It played less like a ninja and more like a knife weilding killing machine not afraid to mix it up with the warriors on the front lines. Trickery and raw power. that sounds like a bathazar-lyssa hybrid to me :P

Also, Ritualists are a kind of necromnacer. There are 3 kinds of necromancers out there (in fantasy) good, neutral and evil. the good ones commune with the dead in order to aid the living. the neutral ones use all forms of the dead to do various deeds, good and bad. Evil ones usualy resort to more unholy minions. Often, deamons of varying rank and power. warlocks, spiritualists(basicly our ritualists) and our good old, freindly neigborhood necros.

But as i stated earlier, Ritualists are likely the remnents of the previous religion. So, seing as the gods of that religion were long dead people, were looking at the truely godless profession i think.
Again, logical speculation based off common trends

A think about the kappa they are the ''egg-carriers'' of the naga if you look closely they got eggs lying on their back.

The Guild wars homepage got updated:

Grenth

Necromancers learn early that the way to true power is by bowing down at the foot of the god of death and ice to pledge total, undying allegiance. The Assassins of Cantha pay homage to Grenth, and rarely take on a job unless a priest of Grenth places a blessing upon the task. Ritualists, who speak to and control the darker forces of the underworld, also draw strength from Grenth's teachings. Statues of Grenth depict the god with the body of a man and the narrow, skeletal head of a beast; Canthan artists tend to add a draconic look to the skull. The Canthan version of Grenth stands astride a small mountain of the dead, but in Canthan art the faces of these corpses are always averted from the god of death, as if in shame, to distinguish these enslaved dead from the "living" ancestor spirits.

Lyssa

Twin goddesses of beauty and illusion forming a paradoxically singular entity, Lyssa is the patron god of the Mesmer profession in the northern Tyrian continent. In Cantha she also represents the incarnation of luck, both good and bad. Many Canthan Assassins revere Lyssa more for her intrinsic duality than her famous beauty and have been known to invoke her charms. Depictions of Lyssa in Canthan culture reflect the typical northern style: lithe twin figures of exquisite beauty entwined in an eternal dance.

I'd say the Old Gods are pretty much universal and have influence in every region of the world.

Speaking of Gods... Once I noticed that the resurrection shrines also had statues of the Gods on them, I payed alot of attention to them. In doing this, I noticed two very interesting statues that I'd never seen before, which are attached to this post.


The first statue looks like Dwayna -- but the Dwayna statues in Tyria are notable different.

The second statue is obviously no god we've ever seen before. It really strikes me as the Ritualist's god, just because of how it's senses seem to be blinded, and yet it still inspires fear.

the first statue is a statue of dwayna (non favour) all broken up and second statue is clearly lyssa (non favour) shes covered up in thorny branches. (you can see both of them in toa whn we dont got favour.

This is my first post - I'm thrilled I have (hopefully) something to offer the discussion.

I've watched and rewatched the Factions Cinematic to look for clues not given elsewhere in the game (and because I think it's so well done). First, the focus of the main hall seems to be a large relief on the wall. Shiro is always pictured small by comparsion. Look at it and see if it rings any bells. I couldn't find any connections to the 'current' gods in it, but it's interesting none the less.

Secondly, I was curious why the Kurzicks and Luxons were both represented in taking down Shiro. Then I received my pre-order disk that came with a very helpful and informative narrative about Shiro and the day when the sea turned to Jade. I'd be happy to post it if you think it would be okay.

The short version is: bodyguard (Shiro) turns bad - kills emperor, all three great armies were present for the Harvest Festival and sought to avenge his death, the two champions killed him, immediately prior to death he released the final shout. We arrive two generations later getting ready for the next Harvest Festival.

My note: Shiro couldn't have been Luxon (as I originally thought based on clothing) because both Luxon and Kurzick worked to kill him. So what's with the fighting between the two? And who was the third great army?

I apologize if this information has been previously posted or is available elsewhere on the site! I feel like I've read everythign (been playing for quite a while) but I could've certainly missed it!

Rhucks: Sounds interesting, it'd be great if you posted it up.

The opposite of the Historian of Houses in House zu Heltzer is the Historian of Clans in Cavalon:




Good thing that Anet have given some updating on their info regarding the gods/relation to professions.
So Assassins=Grenth or Lyssa?
Ritualists=Grenth?

I'd just like to do a sum up of the various topics mentioned in the starting post so far. Keep the information and discussion coming.

Cantha!
Big map, varying types of landscape across it...huge city. Divided into three: Cantha, Kurzicks, Luxons. Lots of Asian-style things everywhere.

Canthan people!
Generally Asian looks, but varied. The Luxon's clothing looks Middle-Eastern, seafaring, piratey, while the Kurzicks have very pale faces, large hats and weird hairstyles, and a dark dress sense. Not much seen of the ordinary Canthans yet.

Canthan architecture!
The Marketplace clearly resembles a Chinese/Japanese city, with high-rise buildings and that style of roof.
Cavalon's base is built out of the jade, but there is evidence that a lot of the structures have been built from the remains of ships. Giant turtles.
House zu Heltzer is a giant open-air gothic-style cathedral, right in the depths of the forest. Lots of engravings on the wall, tree trunks used for bridges etc.

Will do the rest of these later (short on time at the moment):

Canthan creatures!
The two Factions, and their lore!
The lore of the two new professions!
History, religion and ethics of Cantha!
What is the link between Tyria and Cantha?!
What is the adventure and the lore surrounding it like?!
What do the NPC's tell us? What stories, legends and myths are there woven into the lore?!
What are Alliances, Alliance Battles, the new PvP maps, etc. like and what information about the lore of Guild Wars: Factions can we draw from them?!

Feel free to sum them up yourself if you want.

Welcome to the board Rhucks!

I belive the 3rd army you spoke of was probobly the Canthian army its self. I said earlier that Cantha, the Kurzick houses the the Luxon clans are 3 diffrent powers with their own armies. (as we can tell from the direct conflicts between the luxon and kurzick and the fact that Cantha is the home to the emporer). Symeon said that the Kurz and luxes might be vassals the the Emperor him self.

The conflict between the Kurz and Luxons were probobly territorial in nature at first or even pollitcal. Yet until Saint Viktor was slain, in cold blood, by the Luxons. Then things got out of hand. (I breifly discussed Viktor in an earlier post. I might have not clearly detailed the description of the shirine i got in game. Unfortunetly, i did not take any SC.)

(on a side note about Factions... who here thinks this a step in the right direction for GW game play wise? the Alliances and stuff sound more like what GW was gonna be about. :P)

Yes, I've been thinking about that too, and I agree. In 'Guild Wars: Prophecies', the only real relevance of the title 'Guild Wars' related to the 'guild wars' described in the lore manual that took place between the different nations and ended before the game started. The only other thing that it could have related to was guild battles, but I don't think they could even be considered to be real 'battles', let alone 'wars'. In Factions, guild alliances and great 12v12 alliance battles across large maps, shifting the border line between two sides over time, is really a 'war of guilds'. That said, only the coming of our guilds to Cantha will actually make it a 'war of guilds'...before it had just been Luxon vs Kurzick, but when we come along and fight in great battles for either side, we make it almost our own war. Also, we sort of worsen the whole situation

Anyway, I'd like to take a look at those other subjects from my last post that I said I would tackle later (i.e. I'll remove the ones not done from that post and do them in this post).

Canthan creatures!
We've seen quite a lot. Yetis, Kirins, Wardens, Undergrowths, Kappas...and we've got screenshots available. Not much more can be said, except for they are interesting and a good deal different to the creatures of the original Guild Wars. We've also learnt from some research that these names relate to things with meanings outside of the game, too.

The two Factions, and their lore!
A good amount of detail on this one. Lots of information from NPCs, in particular, the Historian of Clans (Luxon) and the Historain of Houses (Kurzick). Those two NPCs' sayings have been taken and are available, along with many others. Other lore for the factions relates to the architecture and people, which are being discussed separately. Concerning the lore of the factions specifically, consult sources such as www.guildwiki.org to find good information from the NPCs.

The lore of the two new professions!
(from www.guildwars.com) The Assassins of Cantha pay homage to Grenth, and rarely take on a job unless a priest of Grenth places a blessing upon the task. Ritualists, who speak to and control the darker forces of the underworld, also draw strength from Grenth's teachings. Many Canthan Assassins revere Lyssa more for her intrinsic duality than her famous beauty and have been known to invoke her charms.
- Other than this, we have experienced these professions and their skills, but there is other 'lore-like' information on assassins and ritualists on the official site.

History, religion and ethics of Cantha!
Again, NPCs such as the Historian of Clans and the Historian of Houses give us an insight into this. We become very aware of the whole faction war thing that has been going on for a while.
Religion of the two professions is described above, but it has been confirmed that Cantha worships all the old gods. However, there appears to be some difference between the factions - in particular, the Kurzicks, who have a particular martyr 'Saint Viktor' who was slain by the Luxons. Also, many of their buildings seem to be 'gothic-church/cathedral-style gone dark'. They appear to be more orthodox and have slightly different ways in their religion. Furthermore, they see themselves as the protectors and elites in the eyes of the gods.
In terms of ethics, we are mainly driven onto the factions scene again. Two factions with huge enmity and a constant war going on. Enough said for now.

What is the link between Tyria and Cantha?!
Really no information yet other than physical movement i.e. being able to travel from Lion's Arch to Seitung Harbor and being able to go from the Guild Hall to Alliance Battles. However, recently we have had the small connection of the Luxon and Kurzick refugees arriving in Tyria to set up camps, fleeing the disastrous war.

What is the adventure and the lore surrounding it like?!
From the Preview Event, which starts out sort of half-way through the adventure in Cantha (or maybe more than that), we can see that at least the part shown is heavily rooted in the Factions war but also in trying to get the support of a particular faction against the 'big' enemy, Shiro. But it seems that in doing so you also get yourself embroiled in the factions war and alliance battles. So there is the sort of ongoing war, but the actual adventure still coming through it that will supposedly lead on to tracking down and defeated Shiro, or maybe even a greater evil. We must wait for the real game to find out.

What do the NPCs tell us? What stories, legends and myths are there woven into the lore?!
They tell us lots of information, about the factions war, the two factions, and Cantha. There are some stories and legends presented to us by the NPCs, which tie in to the information about the current situation that they give us.

What are Alliances, Alliance Battles, the new PvP maps, etc. like and what information about the lore of Guild Wars: Factions can we draw from them?!
Mainly rooted into drawing guilds into the entire factions war thing. The alliance feature's details we know about...and many of us played the alliance battles. Though they had technical problems, they were very enjoyable, and helped to give us a feeling of 'war' with larger teams and larger maps, and the moving border line.


Feel free to summarise them in your own way, too, and add information.

Also, take note that I am starting up a new project tonight; so by all means get over and join in on that one. Though, keep in mind that while new projects are being introduced, old ones should continue to be discussed/worked on for as long as possible until hopefully things are 'wrapped up' in them.

Keep up the discussion in here, let's unravel everything that we got out of the preview event last weekend and lay down as many and as detailed conclusions about the lore of Guild Wars: Factions as possible!

when i heard cavalon was the luxon capital city the first thing that came into my head was avalon, which is the mystical isle of King Arthur's tomb. I'm not sure if this has any type of connection with cavalon, but according to the legend, king arthur will come out of avalon when his country needs him most, and save the country from destruction. Cavalon being near the sea added more to my feeling. I don't know if it is right or not, just thought i should put it out there

The thing that strikes me as funny... not ha-ha funny, but *spider-sense tingling* funny, is that the Luxon capital is built out of the Jade of the sea. literally cut right into it, right? What happens when the spell is reversed, and the sea returns to normal? Are all the Luxons going to drown? Where were the Luxon centered before the scream? Also, Tengu are friendly to Canthan (due to the Tengu henchie)... so why the hostility to Tyrians? What sparked the Tengu attacks on Krytans?

Gaile, if you read this, you should poke Anet with a stick until they commission someone to write a novel based on the GW lore, just to appease us (for a good reference, I reccommend checking out the Resident Evil works of S.D. Perry... tells a wonderful story without being too much of "connect the dots of the game")

A novel based on each chapter.... for instance... Book 1 could be about the pre-searing thru the defeat of the Lich, and explain things like where exactly does the Charr get the power to nuke Ascalon? We know the power came from their gods, but their gods (the titans) are entombed at the time of the searing. What is the Charr civilization like? we have very little info on it. We know with the Grawl that there are religious and apothetic factions.

PLEASE ANET!!! HIRE SOMEONE TO WRITE A GW NOVEL!!!!!!!!!!

Seems to me that this should clarify the primary gods of the new classes. (But sure, it cant be bad for an Assassin to also pray to Grenth for some prey^^)

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. Quite a coincidence there, I think...but who knows, they could or could not be connected . Maybe other place names have outside connections.

The main one I know about which I don't think was meant by Anet and is just a minor coincidence - the two just happen to have the same name - is Ascalon. I read about it somewhere, I believe it was/is a town of some sort somewhere in what was 'Canaan' (Israel/Palestine/Lebanon)...though I didn't really read the context that it was in.

Two good points there. From the official lore it seems that before the scream the Luxons were a seafaring nation, but obviously now the sea is solid they cannot sail and therefore decided to settle down on it. But you're right, they're kind of putting themselves at risk by sitting on a solid sea...it's not like ice, but technically it's still sea and something could happen to change it back to how it was, in which case they would all drown (unless they knew it was coming).
About the Tengu...I don't know if you actually encounter them as enemies anywhere in Cantha. If not, that may indicate that the Tengu only live in Tyria. The name Talon Silverwing seems familiar as a boss name to me - but then again, I may just be imagining things. In any case, to get from Tyria to Cantha he must have been captured, tamed, and sold to Canthan traders...or something along those lines. Then in Cantha they trained him to fight with humans.

I do remember someone - a Canthan guard I think, sorry no screenshot - saying that the Kurzicks and Luxons were vasal states.

Also, probably not intentional at all, but

Cavalon = Camelot + Avalon

However, I decided to Google the name and came up with this

Cavalon
Boy Name
Name of a king
Originally from Arthurian-Legend

http://www.pickbabynames.com/Arthuri...C/Cavalon.html

Yes, it was in the thread about the real Rurik.

Here it is, orrigionaly from Ailyrr Merlena.

For those of us in a hurry, the wikipedia one basicly says that Ascalon (also spelled Ashkelon) was a Muslim Port during the middle ages that fell to the cursaders quite quickly.

To me, this makes Human/Charr battles as a metaphor for the Crusades. (intentional or not, it was a good touch )

Wtf..? Check Elaine Donnerbalken's screens...can u BUY Favor of the Gods in Cantha?

(Bit off-topic, sorry for that..)

The Favor of the Gods that you purchase from the temples is the +2% bonus like you would get from killing a boss.

Here's a possible answer to your interest in how his death cry could have been so powerful.

Shiro

Traveling Through the Game:

It is my belief that you will begin your journey through Cantha From the North and make you way south through the game similar to the FPE event. You will see many more Canthan NPCS up north as it will most likely be the "low level" area. Once players hit level 20 they can then procede into areas where the war between factions exist.

The Gods:

Just because the 5 old Gods once called Tyria home doesn't mean they have never reached out to different lands. I belive we will see and understand more about these gods with future chapters and new locations. I also belive that with new chapters we will also unlock new realms of the gods such as "Underworld" and "FoW" for the other Gods. On that note i'd also like to say I thought it was a poor decision on arenanet's part to locate the Temple of the Ages in Tyria instead of an area like the Battle Isles. Mainly because I assume that all chapters will be able to travel to the battle isles regardless of owning additional chapters. So instead of having a Temple of Balthazar in the battles isles it would have been best if they had switched locations with ToA, especially since I think we will eventually be able to go to FoW from that temple. I think when they open up a new realm there will be a Temple(Town) in that land for it. So whether or not we can access the future realms later from ToA remains to be seen.

The Gods Statues:

Instead of having statues and ressurection shrines scattered around the area in Tyria they have been merged into one in Cantha. I thought this was a excellent idea. Not only that, but you can also gain more then just dp removal/Morale from them. I hope they redo Tyria in this format. So what exactly do these new God Shrines do? Well aside from rezzing and removing dp and boosts they also give additional bonuses which may be extremely helpful...depending on if you have the gold and have the attirbutes that gain bonuses from that particular god statue.

For 20 minutes you can get 2 different types of special bonuses(Varies on God), One specific attribute of a particular profession can be raised by 1(Varies), All attributes of a particular profession are raised by one(Varies). So for Lyssa someone with an Assassin or Mesmer profession on there character can raise all of those attributes for that profession up 1. Also, Lyssa can increase a Elementalists energy storage attribute to 1(This may vary depending on which statue of lyssa you are at), remember that this is a primary attribute so only Primary Elementalists can take advantage of it.

Now the statue of Grenth can raise a Ritualists or Necromancers attributes to 1. let it be known that you are not limited to just choosing one option from a god statue. THEY DO STACK! Even if you are a Monk/Warrior you could choose to have 1 to all ritualists attributes. Obviously it won't help you any but you can do that if you wish.

Sounds awesome, Tarus.

Mesmers with Energy Storage...? Clarification would be appreciated.

Fixed: I meant to say Elementalists, thanks for pointing that out rayne ;p. I'd also like to make note that Grenth Statues also have a blessing called "Disciple of Ice" which will raise your water attribute(Also elementalist) to 1 for 20 minutes as well. Once I have more time I will be posting screenshots of the new factions bosses on guildwiki. I have about 20+ so it will take some time .