User:Talonz/lore

Implemented as of 08:26, 5 August 2007 (UTC).

All events within the Guild Wars universe are entwined within the history of Tyria. Remnants of the past lay scattered within forgotten lands, reminding those living of what their world has endured for over the past thousand years. Those who seek to preserve this history such as Symon the Scribe know full well the power of this knowledge. An understanding of the past breeds an understanding of the present, as it is not uncommon in this world for long forgotten evils to arise once more and terrorize those that have long forgotten them...

The Birth of the World
More than ten thousand years ago the Great Giants, or Giganticus Lupicus according to those who study them, walked upon the land. What happened to them is long forgotten, though their bones still lay scattered around the continent from far into Charr territory all the way down to the Crystal Desert.

Several ages after they disappeared, a race of serpents was summoned to leave the Rift and walk upon true land. For a time, they were to become the custodians of the world as we know it, aiding other creatures in their journey to life while the gods shaped the world around them. Tyria flourished under the protection of these snakes that could walk and talk, but it would not be long before another race was born: humans.

No longer did the serpent creatures dominate the land. Their population quickly diminished as the humans' culture spread across the face of Tyria crafting weapons, making armor, and spreading knowledge. What became of the serpents is known by few, hence how they have acquired the name of the Forgotten. The ancient protectors found they were no longer needed, and in less than a century they fled to the far reaches of the Crystal Desert where they knew no humans could ever make permanent habitat. To this day, that is where they still reside today.

The Early Human Era


Even though the the Forgotten retreated to the Crystal Desert, the gods did not halt their development of the world. They decided to introduce what would become one of their largest mistakes: magic. They brought it into the world so as to make people's lives less arduous, but it soon came to be used for more than just the intended purpose as huge wars broke out between the many races of the land.

By the time humans acquired magic, they were scattered across all three continents of Tyria. Unlike modern times were each continent is ruled separately, King Doric was the one true and noble ruler of all the lands. Seeing the world he ruled over war-torn and ravaged, he pleaded to the gods for mercy, legend having it that he prostrated himself at the feet of the goddess Dwayna.

The gods did lend a hand towards the world, and in doing so they created five bloodstones. Using King Doric's own blood, they separated and locked away the four schools of corrupt magic: aggression, denial, preservation, and destruction. The final stone, the keystone, is the only way to reassemble what they left behind in sealing the magic. Never again could one person harness any of the four magics; it is near impossible to use the keystone to reassemble the other four bloodstones. All five stones were placed in a volcano on the southern shore of Kryta, leaving the humans with only a very limited control of magic that they could seize only if they worked together.

Finally, in what became known as the Exodus, the gods left the physical world, confident that by sealing away the four types of evil magic they would never again need to return to what they created. For a time, all was good. The world finally once again at peace. As peace is, however, it always comes to an end: the humans prospered over the next hundred years until the volcano the bloodstones were sealed in erupted and sent the five stones to different corners of Tyria. Though the bloodstones have never been reunited, it did not prevent greed from once again entering the veins of humans, giving rise to wars once more, only this time also between the humans themselves.

The Three Continents
After the Exodus, the three continents plunged into very different situations.

The continent of Tyria underwent several wars between guilds amongst the three kingdoms of Ascalon, Kryta, and Orr which came to be known as the Guild Wars. Attention soon diverted from these wars, however, as Tyria began to face a new threat with the hostilities of the Charr in the north. Cantha had its own problems when Emperor Angsiyan is murdered by his bodyguard Shiro Tagachi, who was ultimately slain. Finally, Elona had its share of trouble with several internal disputes, a large-scale war against against the undead Palawa Joko who was finally defeated by Turai Ossa, and a couple smaller wars against the corsairs.