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Tyria (world)
From Guild Wars Wiki
This article is about the world named Tyria. For information on the eponymous continent, see Tyria.
Tyria, not to be confused with the continent of the same name, is the name of the planet. It is unknown if the planet is flat or a globe, although evidence suggests that Tyria is indeed a globe. It is the home of many species, such as Humans, the Charr, the Norn, the Asura, the Tengu, the Centaurs, the Dredge, and what remains of the Dwarves – among many others. It is suspected to be at least 11,000 years old, when the Giganticus Lupicus are believed to have roamed the world. However, it has not been confirmed to house human life until at least 786 BE. There are three known continents, and an unknown amount of unexplored ones. Beneath Tyria runs a (mostly abandoned) subterranean network of tunnels linked by the Asura Gates. Now that the threat of the Great Destroyer has passed, the Asura are expected to repopulate the Depths of Tyria.
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[edit] History
Not much is known about Tyria before the arrival of the gods. Giant skeletons lie all over and within Tyria, they are the remains of an extinct race of great giants – known as the Giganticus Lupicus to scholars – whose kind have never been gazed upon by the eyes of man.
In 1769 BE, the first civilized race arrived on Tyrian soil. They were the Forgotten, a race of upright serpents, who were summoned from another world from across the Mists by the gods to protect the races of the world while the gods shaped the planet to their liking. Tyria is said to be the first world created by the gods, and after the event known as the Exodus, they would go on to create more.
In the time between then and the Exodus, much has changed in Tyria. Humans appeared on all three continents, driving the Charr from their southern ancestral homelands – what is now called Ascalon – forcing the Tengu and the Centaurs from their homes and quickly conquering the known world. The Forgotten, their job undone by humans, built mighty ships and sailed to the Crystal Sea, which would eventually become the final resting place of the Tyrian Forgotten.
However, a rift was growing between the gods. Settlements began to appear on the northwest shores of Elona in 175 BE. The inhabitants of these settlements, known as the Margonites, did not worship the entire pantheon, but just one: Abaddon, the god of secrets and water. Margonite ships ruled the Unending Ocean, causing uneasy relations with the Forgotten. The already tenuous bond between the gods was severed for the final time, when Abaddon made the most significant decision in the history of Tyria: he introduced magic.
War broke out immediately all over Tyria. While the humans fought the Charr for dominance in the mortal realm, the gods battled Abaddon, in a war that would be lost to history for over a thousand years. Abaddon may had the ability to defeat two of the gods, but the combined might of all five – Dwayna, Balthazar, Melandru, Grenth and Lyssa - brought Abaddon down. The final blow against Abaddon was struck at the Mouth of Torment, a cataclysmic strike that is believe to be why the Crystal Sea was turned into an arid wasteland, uniting Tyria and Elona into one supercontinent. The Crystal Desert and the Desolation were formed that day. Abaddon was imprisoned in the Realm of Torment, literally chained to a fate of eternal anguish, pain, fear, and madness. The year was 1 AE, and it was this year that the gods would finally leave Tyria forever.
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[edit] Geography
The known Tyria is separated into three different continents: Tyria, also known as the namesake continent, Cantha, home to the Empire of the Dragon, and Elona, Land of the Golden Sun. Between the three continents are the Battle Isles, a small island chain ruled by the Zaishen Order, that resides in the Unending Ocean splitting Tyria and Elona from Cantha. The Battle Isles is now the training ground for the most elite fighters of the world.
The northern continent of Tyria is filled with grand mountain ranges, dense forests and jungles, and ruins of once-mighty empires. To the east lies Ascalon and the Charr Homelands, locked in a seemingly eternal war for territory ever since a hundred years before the Exodus. Further south, across the Blazeridge Mountains, lies the Crystal Desert and the shattered peninsula of Orr, where the abandoned city of the gods once stood before the Cataclysm. Now all that remains of Arah lies on the seabed. West of Ascalon and North of Orr lies the Shiverpeak Mountains, previously in a constant civil war between the Deldrimor dwarves and the Stone Summit. Their civil war has ended just as their race has, the Stone Summit destroyed and the Deldrimor turned to stone from their fight with the Destroyers. Across the Shiverpeak Mountains to the west are the sounds of civil war that ring in the only remaining human kingdom of Tyria, Kryta. The fight between the White Mantle and the royal family rages on, pushing back the Centaurs into the Maguuma Jungle and further west as the days go by, along with the White Mantle. Just south of the Maguuma Jungle lies the Tarnished Coast, the current home of the Asura and the last hope the centaur Ventari has in bringing a little peace in his life. South of there is the Ring of Fire Island Chain, which, like Arah, is currently devoid of human settlement.
South of Tyria, across the Clashing Seas (also called the Unending Ocean) is the continent of Cantha. Compared to the namesake continent, the Empire of the Dragon is prospering, with palaces and forests dominating the area. The reality is that Kaineng City is a dirty, overpopulated metropolis, full of slums, street gangs and vermin. The only true haven for those who have no noble title is Shing Jea Island, a farmland that produces the food for the entire Empire. However, that island has its own problems too – for the island is filled with the Angchu and Sensali Tengu along with Naga and Yeti. While the Angchu have found peace with the humans, the Sensali are constantly hostile to the humans. Although the Naga and Yeti usually stay in their own territories, there are times when they venture out and attack human settlements. To the south of Kaineng City lies the Echovald Forest and the Jade Sea, the home of the ever rivaling Kurzicks and Luxons, vassal states whose land has been turned to stone by the Jade Wind; though shoots of grass are growing through the stony, dead floor of the Echovald and isolated reports of small pools of water forming in the Jade Sea pervade.
To the southeast of Tyria and the Northeast of Cantha lies Elona, the Land of the Golden Sun. The island of Istan is known for its navy, though Corsairs constantly raid its settlements, and is contains the oldest known ruins of Elona while the land itself is lush with plantlife. Across the sea on the body of water is Kourna, which is a savannah land once ruled by a Warmarshal, though now the land is in chaos since the events of Nightfall, with little water with the exception of the grand river, The Elon, that runs through the middle of the land. The Elon flows from the northeastern land of Vabbi into the sea. Vabbi is a prosperous land, guarded by Djinn and homeland to Hekets and Harpies. The humans of Vabbi are of a rich variety and ruled by their merchant princes. Their estates are filled with luxuries and pleasantries, but outside of them the land is a savannah and is filled with creatures and other dangers. East of Vabbi and north of Kourna lies the Desolation, a desert filled with sulfurous wastelands that are deadly to anything not dead or demonic and is the undead armies of Palawa Joko lies here.
