so.. Black Lion.. what's the story?

I tried to do some digging, but I couldn't find much lore besides 'it exists'..so.. where the lore at, boys?

it has existed since prior to the story start of Guild Wars 2, but it's younger than Seas of Sorrows timestamp.It's currently led by Evon Gnashblade.. and that's about it.I found some unfounded grounds to claim "it was founded by the Blacktide Den Corsairs from GW1, who went 'legal' in the new Lion's Arch (as far as legal does)".

if anyone got details, please share them with me, I'm might curious.-When was it founded?-Who was it founded by?-How were krytan politics involved when turning a group of corsairs into a legally correct trading company?-How strong is their influence, are they contained within Lion's Arch?-Do world leaders meet'n'greet with Evon?-And how much trade and money do they control, enough to influence law and regulation in other nations?

This would be a great idea for side story achievements/missions/quest!!Having to dig through the Priory's Library....collecting long lost artifacts... this could be linked to the Zunlai banking guild in Cantha!! This could be fun.

@Ayakaru.6583 said:if anyone got details, please share them with me, I'm might curious.-When was it founded?-Who was it founded by?-How were krytan politics involved when turning a group of corsairs into a legally correct trading company?-How strong is their influence, are they contained within Lion's Arch?-Do world leaders meet'n'greet with Evon?-And how much trade and money do they control, enough to influence law and regulation in other nations?I can't answer the first two, but I can venture theories on the rest:How were Kryan politics involved when turning a group of corsairs into a legally correct trading company?Probably not at all. By that point, Lion's Arch had become an independent city-state, separate from Krytan politics and welcoming of all races so long as they were peaceful within its boundaries.How strong is their influence? Are they contained within Lion's Arch?They have a pretty good shipping plan, delivering anywhere waypoints are active. They are headquartered in Lion's Arch, but they seem to find products from all over the lands. That's more than I can say for the Consortium. Outside of Southsun Bay, I don't know of a single service or product they've offered.Do world leaders meet'n'greet with Evon?Not likely. He's not the head of Lion's Arch, and he failed to get elected to the Captain Council. As such, he's just a powerful charr in a city founded by humans. If another spot on the council opens, though, you can bet he'll be on it like a skritt on shinies.How much trade and money do they control, enough to influence law and regulation in other nations?I'd be bold enough to say that Evon Gnashblade is one of the richest charr in the world. As I mentioned, he is able to find goods from anywhere heroes can venture, which means as far south as Vabbi and as far west as Tarir. As for his influence, we don't hear about any of his machinations, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any. In fact, I believe he's been pretty quiet he lost to Ellen Kiel. He did help in the initial recovery of Lion's Arch, but I think it was the Consortium who got the contract to rebuild the city.

"Due to the fact that the endlessly tortured humans travel from Blacktide Den to Lion's Arch (two amazing cities) I named them the Black Lion Trading Company"Source

@Ayakaru.6583 said:I tried to do some digging, but I couldn't find much lore besides 'it exists'..so.. where the lore at, boys?

it has existed since prior to the story start of Guild Wars 2, but it's younger than Seas of Sorrows timestamp.It's currently led by Evon Gnashblade.. and that's about it.I found some unfounded grounds to claim "it was founded by the Blacktide Den Corsairs from GW1, who went 'legal' in the new Lion's Arch (as far as legal does)".

Huh, never heard that but it's definitely wrong.

The Black Lion's origin story (in terms of lore) can be found here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Short_Story:_Evon_Gnashblade_Disembarks

In terms of development, it actually has a rather neat origin. During the development of the game, Make A Wish Foundation brought a girl, Emily Orange, in to ArenaNet and she helped create an event chain - the one in Kessex Hills involving Aria Venom and Draithor the Drill - Aria Venom named after Emily's GW1 character. Part of this had the Black Lion Traders.

Emily's blog post about making the events To quote the significant part:

The simple merchants that Draithor kidnaps, should be called merchant. The team thought my merchants deserved a bit more pizzazz if they were going to get kidnapped and murdered and reanimated for years on end and allowed me to name them more specifically. Due to the fact that the endlessly tortured humans travel from Blacktide Den to Lion's Arch (two amazing cities) I named them the Black Lion Trading Company.

So that's your origin.

From a design, it was dubbed by a Make-A-Wish Foundation visiting girl - at least, the name is. From lore, Evon's warband founded it as an attempt to get some economic power in LA for the Ash Legion. It would have been founded only a few years before the personal story, by the sounds of it.

As to Krytan politics - well, Lion's Arch is the free city so the Krytan kingdom has no say. They have very strong influence, given that we see traders in every racial city and inbetween. I havent' seen any world leaders beyond the Captain's Council meet'n'greet with Evon but I'd imagine that they do communicate to some degree (probably via advocates and the like). They don't have enough trade and money to influence law and regulation, even in Lion's Arch. But they're definitely one of the biggest traders in Central Tyria.

@Martnor.1746 said:This would be a great idea for side story achievements/missions/quest!!Having to dig through the Priory's Library....collecting long lost artifacts... this could be linked to the Zunlai banking guild in Cantha!! This could be fun.

The Xunlai Guild is actually succeeded by the Arch Exchange - which is the banking system we use. The Arch Exchange is run by Captain Hao Luen, grandson of the founder of the Arch Exchange (and former Xunlai Guild member when the Xunlai Guild was cut off from Cantha with Zhaitan's rise): Hao Luen. Yes, grandfather and grandson share names.

We actually have heard a fair bit about Evon's machinations since he lost the election.

He was appointed as essentially Lion's Arch's quartermaster during Scarlet's attack, a position which granted him influence that he's used to weaken his competitors. He's also been blackmailing Hero-Tron into spying on the Captain's Council for him. I'd say he's still angling himself to grab the next opening on the Council that comes up.

So, @Konig Des Todes.2086 , if i understand you right Evon was the founding master of the Black Lion?