Undead Mesmer, I like the idea of the Charr being the mysterious force described in Beetltun's caption. I have been trying to figure that one out a bit, and I assumed it was giant's or something. Charr makes alot mroe sense, but it raises questions, especially ones relating back to comments abotu the formation and importance of Gian'ts Basin.
1) Charr hate water, so they would not have just paddled along merrily on boats across the lake. Therefore, the lake didn't exist when the Charr attacked. So what caused it to form?
I have one idea on this matter, but it does not account for the salinity. Liquifaction. Liquifaction (water comes up form underground, floods an area) ties in perfectly with that other guy's idea about a fault line thru Kryta. However, to my knowledge, liquifaction waters are right form the ground, so I don't know how the lake became salty.
2) Why is it salty?
I just had a thought. Open ur map, and look at the eastern-most Krytan lake. Notice how it is shaped an positioned to be an excellent addition to Giant's Basin. SO, perhaps they were linked at ine time, but somehow became seperated by land. Hey, here's a WILD idea: what if the Charr, hating water, actually made that land bridge across the lake to access Kryta? Just a thought. Back to what I originally wanted to say, look at the eastern lake, and now notice how south of it, towards Gates of Kryta, the land form clearly shows an old riverbed cut into the land. Theere are high ridges on either side of narrow places, perfect for water flow. This leads right down past Gates of Kryta, and looks like it could hook up with that 'S' shaped river. I know that lakes normally flow out into the sea, but this at least makes a connection to the ocean. There is another nland river from the ocean north of Fisherman's Haven, and it seems like its old conection to Giant's Basin was severed at some point, so now it hangs numbly, waiting to reconnect Giant's Basin as it exists now to the sea. Edit>>> I just went for a stroll form Lion's Arch to the lake, and realized that the swamps could support the idea that water once flowed thru that region. I noticed that the non-submerged parts had walkways visible on them, and there was evidence of knocled-down buildings everywhere. It looks to me like water swept through there very suddenly, crushing buildings, and burying old roads. We should check the lore for any mention of a long-gone town right there. Edit again>>> alot of the wreckage sems to point south, towards Lion's Arch. Soming out of the swamp, i notice a neat little wrecked building (peaceful hiding place, I shall return there) and there was debris strewn about seemingly at random. LOL, this is now so far off-topic from 'Why is it salty?', but who cares.
Onto a different matter,
I have a thought on the 'sinking' of Orr. First, was it actually literally floating on top of the ocean? If it was floating, then it would already be displacing water, so water levels wouldn't rise when it sank. If it did not actually float and was part of the ground, then water still wouldn't rise cuz its already in the water. So, unfortunately, it looks like the theory about inland flooding 'doesn't float'.
C

