The following story is a fictional background story of one of the NPCs (non-playable characters) that players encounter in the game Guild Wars 2. The stories came about initially as a joke. I lead a bounty hunt in game every Sunday, and we take breaks of 10 minutes around every hour. A couple of weeks ago, a regular asked me to tell a story. I did a clumsy retelling of some quests in the game. The following weekend, I evaded with trivia. The third one, I had an idea for a story, told it, and it was well liked. For the fourth one, which happened yesterday, I prepared in advance. I wanted to do the character justice, so I pre-wrote the story. There is a character limit for a message sent in the in-game chat, hence the nature of the text below.
The story is based on actual game lore, events, places and objects in the game, as well as character dialogue. As such, it contains references that might be unfamiliar for readers who have not played the game. Although not crucial for the reading, below you can find a small glossary to help you better understand the context, if you so desire. If not, just skip around to reading. Words highlighted in the text have a glossary entry, words highlighted in the entries are cross references in the glossary. And there is always more and more lore to be found in the wonderful Guild Wars 2 wiki.
Ascalon – a region in the North-Eastern part of Tyria, sight of a conflict between Charr and Humans that has lasted over a millenium. Charr were driven North by the Humans, who established the Kingdom of Ascalon. The Charr pushed back, border skirmishes escalated into war, which in turn lead to Charr shamans performing a ritual that brought about the Searing, a cataclysm that left the lands scorched and barren. The remnants of the Human Kingdom held on for about two more decades – some fleeing to the neighboring Kingdom of Kryta, while others braved the Charr onslaught, before the Foefire, another magical cataclysm brought about by their King Adelbern wiped them out, transforming people into eternally re-forming ghosts to fight the Charr. Events in Guild Wars 2 take place roughly two centuries after the Searing (the original Guild Wars game has a tutorial zone before the Searing, the rest of the game storyline starts about two years afterwards).
Black Citadel – the capital city of the Charr, built upon the ruins of the former Human capital city of Rin, in a mostly regenerated Ascalonian landscape. Ghosts from the Foefire still haunt the surrounding areas.
Charr – one of the five playable races in the game (see Tyria). Charr are a feline warrior like race, slightly inspired by the Roman Empire and Sparta. Charr are ruled by the Imperators of the High Legions: Blood (the army backbone), Iron (inventors and engineers of war machines), Ash (scouts and spies). The fourth Legion was Flame (a caste of magic wielding shamans) – these are now outcasts. In the times of the Searing, the Legions were united under the supreme command of the Khan-Ur, a title held by the Flame Legion Imperator.
Elder Dragons – The Elder Dragons are primordial beings intrinsically tied to the ambient magic that weaves itself through the very fabric of Tyria. The have millenia long cycles of slumber and activity – the latter of which is tied to great destruction and the wiping out of entire races. They have distinct personalities, goals, and domains of influence. They can twist both landscape and creatures to mimic their powers, resulting in specific landscapes and corrupted dragon minions. There are six Elder Dragons: Primordus (Fire and Conflagration), Jormag (Ice and Persuasion), Zhaitan (Death and Shadow), Kralkatorrik (Crystal and Fury), Mordremoth (Plant and Mind) (see Scarlet Briar), and a yet unnamed Dragon known to reside in the Ocean.
Fahrar – the Charr equivalent of school. Charr cubs are separated from their parents a year after birth and incorporated into the fahrar of their High Legion. A supervisor known as Primus is largely in charge of their education and upbringing, and much of the education is militaristic. It is in the fahrar that cubs form groups that evolve into warbands, the smallest organizational unit of the legions, and a Charr’s effective family.
Lightbringer – see Orders of Tyria.
Lion’s Arch – Formerly the capital of the Human Kingdom of Kryta, it was sunk when the Elder Dragon Zhaitan rose from its slumber. Kryta nowadays stands as the last Human Kingdom in Tyria, much diminished in territory. Lion’s Arch was rebuilt after the flooding, first by roaming corsairs, then by intrepid adventurers of various races. It is now an independent city ruled by a council, and the economic hub of Tyria where all races gather and trade. It boasts a strong navy, a stronger economy, and a standing army / law enforcement organization known as the Lionguard.
Lionguard – see Lion’s Arch.
Mesmer – one of the professions/classes that players can choose in the game, it is one of three type of magic wielders. Mesmers are masters of illusion and deception, as well as tricks of the mind. The other two magic professions are Elementalists (who harness the natural forces) and Necromancers (who can summon the dead and channel blood energy).
Orders of Tyria – Multi-racial organizations of Tyria, established for the purpose of fighting the Elder Dragons. The Orders have different views on how this can be achieved. The Durmand Priory is an order of scholars (with ranks such as Novice, Scholar, Magister…) seeking knowledge to aid in their mission. The Order of Whispers aims to return the Elder Dragons to slumber. They are a secretive organization of spies using coded language to identify each other (i.e. “know the unknowable”), with ranks such as Agent or Lightbringer. The Vigil believes in defeating the Elder Dragons in combat, calling upon the strong to protect the weak. Their militaristic view is reflected in their ranks, such as Crusader or Warmaster.
Orr – A Human Kingdom in the region of the same name. It was sunk beneath the sea by a Cataclysm, when one of its leaders, desperate to stop the advance of the Charr armies upon Orr after the Searing (see Ascalon), recited a forbidden ritual. It destroyed the invading Charr armies, and Orr with it, plunging it into the depths.
Primus – see Fahrar.
Priory – see Orders of Tyria.
Scarlett Briar – A slightly unhinged Sylvari by the name of Ceara, with an uncanny talent for magic, smithing, and engineering. She succumbed to an entity that plagued her in nightmares, taking on the name Scarlet Briar and building an army of unlikely alliances of various races and outlaw organizations in Tyria. The destruction she wreaked upon Tyria culminated in an attack on and the destruction of Lion’s Arch. She was defeated, but her hidden purpose had been fulfilled, as she activated a magical ley-line, feeding its energy to the slumbering Elder Dragon Mordremoth (the entity that controlled her), thus awakening it.
Searing – see Ascalon.
Tyria – is a continent in the world of the same name, the general setting of the entire Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 games and book. It is inhabitable by many sentient species, five of which are playable: Humans, Charr, Asura (like Brokka, mentioned in the text, a diminutive race of big-eared inventors, scientists and wielders of “magitech”), Sylvari (plant like humanoids), and Norn (giant humanoids based on Norse culture).
White Mantle – originally a religious organization in the Kingdom of Kryta during the events around the Searing (see Ascalon), worshipping gods they called The Unseen Ones. With the aid of their gods, they stopped the Charr invasion of Kryta and assumed leardship. The gods turned out to be a malevolent race called the Mursaat and the reign of the White Mantle turned cruel, plunging Kryta into civil war. It ended only when the assaulting White Mantle armies and their “gods” were deafeated in Lion’s Arch, back then the capital of Kryta.
Zhaitan – one of the six Elder Dragons. Zhaitan slumbered underneath the Human Kingdom of Orr, which was later destroyed and sunk in the Sea of Sorrows during a cataclysm. When the dragon awoke, it raised the sunken kingdom from its depths and corrupted its corpses into its undead minions. The great flooding that followed reshaped the coastline, sunk Lion’s Arch (the old capital of the Human Kingdom of Kryta) and cut off Tyria from the continents Elona and Cantha.
Growing up in the Black Citadel or the settlements that sprung up around it, like the Town of Nolan and the Village of Smokestead, a cub would soon get familiar with ghosts.
At first, they would be frightening, these specters of humans who died over two centuries ago, hunting and haunting any Charr they see, at the behest of a foolish and long dead King.
In the fahrar, they would provide an adrenaline kick for daring cubs who’d sneak out when their Primus wasn’t looking, and go chasing ghosts on a dare.
The way I viewed them would change – from a menace, to target practice, to eventually a mere nuisance. New magics and new technologies are keeping them at bay these days.
When I was a recruit still wet behind my ears, the ghosts would regularly encroach on any Charr settlement. Defending outposts was a common assignment for the rookies, including myself.
A little something one of my mentors had said in training stuck with me: If you want to solve a problem, it helps to understand where the problem came from. So one thing seemed clear, then.
To get rid of the ghosts (and the boring assignments in Ashford Forum), I had to learn all I could about how they came to be in the first place. And so I set out to learn about human history.
If you are a human… you do NOT want to read Charr books about it. The past centuries have been a bloody mess, in quite the literal sense of the word. And history is written by the victors.
So to better understand the curse that brought forth the ghosts, I started bugging the Priory members stationed in the Durmand Scriptorium in the Black Citadel. I wanted to get another side of the story.
And so, I came to learn about Symon the Scribe. A royal scribe to the mad king Adelbern. Only, if his writings (which are contemporary to the Searing), are to be believed, Adelbern was not mad.
He was a kind and just king in the years before the Searing, and increasingly pained by the state of his people afterwards. It was not villainy, but a downward spiral into despair.
At first it was slow, and then ever faster. Due to paranoia, he refused aid from other human kingdoms and disowned his own son, who sought to lead the humans to safety.
For twenty years after the Searing, he battled Charr and other menaces to his kingdom. Eventually, he caused the second great catastrophe that put an end to the human kingdom of Ascalon.
Charr books say it was an act of despair and vengeance. Human books claim that his sword, the fabled Magdaer, clashed in battle with the Claw of the Khan-Ur, wielded by the Flame Imperator.
I have not solved the problem of the roaming ghosts – that is a task for another hero, I think. Other adventures lay before me. Though as mentioned, ghosts are a mere nuisance these days.
I have however in time acquired both the Claw of the Khan-Ur and Symon’s History of Ascalon. It is a book dear to me, even as it paints my people black: I consider it a warning against mindless hate.
I find that relevant today, having seen what it leads to through several bloody wars. The Charr legions would do well to take the lesson to heart these days.
And being, if you will, a fan of Symon the Scribe, I just HAD to approach a human named Symon when I met them in my adventures. A human who became one of my favorite people, a true unsung hero.
When I first met Symon, the world was in turmoil, as Tyria so often seems to be. Scarlet Briar had unleashed her deadly armies upon the world.
—-
Lion’s Arch had through the ages withstood the villainy of the White Mantle, only succumbing when the rise of Orr and the Elder Dragon Zhaitan flooded it.
Yet, it rose again, and flourished as a city uniting all races of Tyria, but belonging to none. Or rather, to all. Even when Zhaitan sent its most powerful champion, it rallied, and it resisted.
Scarlet’s army was the first to ever occupy it. The city was in shambles, and the survivors were fleeing. The Lionguard and the Orders of Tyria were doing what they could to shelter them.
In one of the refugee camps to the south, on Stormbluff Isle, Symon tended to the fleeing survivors. He was young, kind, and eager to prove himself. Helping the unhelpable, as his Order would say.
Witnessing a tragedy like that changes a person. Some people, it breaks. Others, it tempers and forges, as fire tempers steel. They find their true unbending core, for better or worse.
In Symon’s case, it was the latter. For two long years, he helped any way he could. He comforted any way he could. He eased all troubles he could, and lent an ear where one was needed.
Sometimes, the job was pulling corpses out of rubble. Other times, it was something as seemingly simple as crafting a little doll for a child who had lost everything.
Like for all survivors, there was growth. A conquering of nightmares. For the honing of skills and for words of wisdom, he was lucky to have Lightbringer Brokka at his side.
For fighting the war inside of him, he only had himself. Fear, anger, grief – these are all normal in the wake of such pointless destruction that one is powerless to prevent.
Symon went through them all, and then some. You could see a glimpse of the other, the deeper struggle sometimes… if you paid close attention.
In the evenings, around campfires, when the grisly and the menial chores were all done. When his gaze would lose itself in the flames, and his hands would idly conjure little mesmer tricks.
Gradually, that carefully hidden constant restlessness in him began to still. I think the wisdom and unwavering belief in love and kindness he found in Brokka helped.
I hope our budding friendship, started over a book written by his namesake two centuries ago, also helped. I hope he found reassurance that he was cherished, and that it gave him strength.
When the deeds of the heroes that songs are sung about were done, Scarlet Briar was no more. The heroes charged off into the jungle, to face the new threat that arose.
The ones left behind, they were the unsung heroes. All the survivors, left in a pile of smoldering rubble. They started to rebuild their city. Rebuild their lives. And some, to rebuild themselves.
My friend still calls Lion’s Arch home. Just look for aid worker Sya, next to the imposing lion statue by the Mist portals in Fort Marriner. Say hi, and be kind to her.
She has fought her battles, and she has conquered them all. She has learned the most valuable lesson during that time – to embrace life, to celebrate who she is.
The little mesmer tricks do wonders for her, as did the friendships she built, the courage she found, and the resolve she has steeled through those years.
Her friends are still by her side. Brokka and Tokk, with their adopted human and Charr cubs running around Tokk’s Mill. Lionguard Hela, and her dog Hauser. And me. I also sometimes visit.
