Random unanswered questions... (Possible Spoilers)

Hello everyone,I've been wanting to look into all the things that Arenanet has introduced over the world of Guild Wars 2 that haven't really been 'cleared up' and still to this day remain a mystery. I'll start with what I've come across that has peeked my interest.

• Almorra Soulkeeper - Why did this Charr not become corrupted by Kralkatorrik's breath when all others around her did. Is the corruption something we could fight against through sheer force of willpower or perhaps Almorra has a special ancestry? As stated in the wiki Kralkatorrik passed overhead. Beginning with her second-in-command, Harthog Soulslasher, her warband succumbed to the dragon's breath and became Branded; Almorra miraculously survived despite being a foot away from Harthog. The phrase miraculously survived has my interest.
• This relates to Living World Season 2 : Entanglement (Spoilers) - There's a chapter where your character investigates an attack at the Condordia Waypoint and end up rescuing a group with magical artifacts. It seems that one of the artifacts being transport is a magical locket that reveals the next ruler of Kryta. This is the last we ever hear about this but I would like to know if that locket may ever come back in the future.
• This relates to Living World Season 3: Flashpoint (Spoilers) - After the big battle with Balthazaar in the heart of the volcano we learn that Primordus and Jormag have basically gone back to sleep. This relates to the Sons of Svanir who worship the Elder Dragon Jormag. If Jormag has returned to sleep would there be an effect on the Sons of Svanir? This also goes to the Icebrood and Destroyers since both Dragons are now asleep - Does their power or influence change at all?

That is all I have so far, I would like it if these cleared each other up as I have been very curious ever since I learned about them - Perhaps they hold potential for additions to the 'Current Story' area.

@Khorthall.1682 said:

• Almorra Soulkeeper - Why did this Charr not become corrupted by Kralkatorrik's breath when all others around her did. Is the corruption something we could fight against through sheer force of willpower or perhaps Almorra has a special ancestry? As stated in the wiki Kralkatorrik passed overhead. Beginning with her second-in-command, Harthog Soulslasher, her warband succumbed to the dragon's breath and became Branded; Almorra miraculously survived despite being a foot away from Harthog. The phrase miraculously survived has my interest.I'm sure others will come along to revive the debate in depth, but the long and the short of it is: we have a few different accounts of the day Almorra's warband was branded, with the details varying to a relatively substantial degree. In some accounts, it's phrased to suggest that they were just on the outer edge of the event (or under some kind of cover) and that Almorra was 'lucky' enough to be past the splash zone while her comrades were not. In others, there's no mention of that, and some put Almorra standing close enough to her warband that some people here think she couldn't possibly have been out of the way. There's even one that has people speculating that she survived because she didn't look at Kralkatorrik, although that seems a very odd requirement for corruption.

Either way, though, I think we can discount sheer force of willpower and special ancestry. There's no other accounts of anything, charr or otherwise, pushing off the effects, and it seems just as unlikely that Almorra was the single strongest-willed thing along the entire length of the Brand (in fact, she admits that the experience of losing her warband in such a horrific manner broke her for a time). Likewise, the only suggestion of inherited immunity to dragon corruption is among cleansed dragon minions, who retain a distinct outward appearance.

• This relates to Living World Season 3: Flashpoint (Spoilers) - After the big battle with Balthazaar in the heart of the volcano we learn that Primordus and Jormag have basically gone back to sleep. This relates to the Sons of Svanir who worship the Elder Dragon Jormag. If Jormag has returned to sleep would there be an effect on the Sons of Svanir? This also goes to the Icebrood and Destroyers since both Dragons are now asleep - Does their power or influence change at all?

The Sons formed before Jormag awoke, so having the dragon go to sleep might be a blow to morale, but is unlikely to throw them too far off course. Likewise, we've seen destroyers both before Primordus awoke (GW1) and after Balthazar put the dragon to sleep (PoF), and in either case, they didn't seem to behave noticeably different from when their master was awake.

@Aaron Ansari.1604 said:

@Khorthall.1682 said:

• Almorra Soulkeeper - Why did this Charr not become corrupted by Kralkatorrik's breath when all others around her did. Is the corruption something we could fight against through sheer force of willpower or perhaps Almorra has a special ancestry? As stated in the wiki
  Kralkatorrik passed overhead. Beginning with her second-in-command, Harthog Soulslasher, her warband succumbed to the dragon's breath and became Branded; Almorra miraculously survived despite being a foot away from Harthog.
  The phrase miraculously survived has my interest.I'm sure others will come along to revive the debate in depth, but the long and the short of it is: we have a few different accounts of the day Almorra's warband was branded, with the details varying to a relatively substantial degree. In some accounts, it's phrased to suggest that they were just on the outer edge of the event (or under some kind of cover) and that Almorra was 'lucky' enough to be past the splash zone while her comrades were not. In others, there's no mention of that, and some put Almorra standing close enough to her warband that some people here think she couldn't possibly have been out of the way. There's even one that has people speculating that she survived because she didn't look at Kralkatorrik, although that seems a very odd requirement for corruption.

• This relates to Living World Season 3: Flashpoint (Spoilers) - After the big battle with Balthazaar in the heart of the volcano we learn that Primordus and Jormag have basically gone back to sleep. This relates to the Sons of Svanir who worship the Elder Dragon Jormag. If Jormag has returned to sleep would there be an effect on the Sons of Svanir? This also goes to the Icebrood and Destroyers since both Dragons are now asleep - Does their power or influence change at all?

The only difference is that when the Dragons are awakened they send much stronger minions.

Almorra Soulkeeper. A common mistake in lore-keeping is to assume everything said in game is true. We often experience things from stories told by NPC's. Those can be coloured and differ per NPC. A good example is that Palawa joko claims to have destroyed Balthazar. We know it isn't true. We just don't know if the NPC who said it is lying or continueing the lie.

So for Almorra, we can only state that what all stories have in common. She survivied while her warband did not. The exact method remains somewhat obscured. That is why I doubt it was a method of fighting.

The locket that shows the next ruler of Kryta. I doubt we will never hear from it again. But when and where seems to be a mystery. So far we seem to be steering away from Kryta for now. So I doubt we will find out more anytime soon. My question about the incident at concordia is actually why mordremoth his minions where after the locket.

Dragonminions operate in different ways per dragon (and often per kind).Svanir was never corrupted by Jormag. Jormag's luitenant whispered false promises to him and he turned into a follower of Jormag by choice. This also goes for all the sons of Svanir. They seduce eachother. With Jormag back to sleep, it is likely they will have a harder time finding new recruits to worship Jormag, but they will remain.Gw1 EotN had several dragon minions active without their master active. Often activated by a champion. But the Silvari show that it can be done on other terms and it can turn them into good.

@Arden.7480 said:

@Aaron Ansari.1604 said:

@Khorthall.1682 said:

• Almorra Soulkeeper - Why did this Charr not become corrupted by Kralkatorrik's breath when all others around her did. Is the corruption something we could fight against through sheer force of willpower or perhaps Almorra has a special ancestry? As stated in the wiki
  Kralkatorrik passed overhead. Beginning with her second-in-command, Harthog Soulslasher, her warband succumbed to the dragon's breath and became Branded; Almorra miraculously survived despite being a foot away from Harthog.
  The phrase miraculously survived has my interest.I'm sure others will come along to revive the debate in depth, but the long and the short of it is: we have a few different accounts of the day Almorra's warband was branded, with the details varying to a relatively substantial degree. In some accounts, it's phrased to suggest that they were just on the outer edge of the event (or under some kind of cover) and that Almorra was 'lucky' enough to be past the splash zone while her comrades were not. In others, there's no mention of that, and some put Almorra standing close enough to her warband that some people here think she couldn't possibly have been out of the way. There's even one that has people speculating that she survived because she didn't look at Kralkatorrik, although that seems a very odd requirement for corruption.

• This relates to Living World Season 3: Flashpoint (Spoilers) - After the big battle with Balthazaar in the heart of the volcano we learn that Primordus and Jormag have basically gone back to sleep. This relates to the Sons of Svanir who worship the Elder Dragon Jormag. If Jormag has returned to sleep would there be an effect on the Sons of Svanir? This also goes to the Icebrood and Destroyers since both Dragons are now asleep - Does their power or influence change at all?

Mm... that's certainly true in Zhaitan's case, and quite possibly Jormag's, but I don't know if we can say the same of Primordus or Kralkatorrik. We've never known either of them to send their minions on an attack beyond their territory. Instead, when they want to expand, they've both showed a tendency to move personally, and then let their minions fill in along the route they took and their new resting place. That kind of build-up, where the lesser minions push against the uncorrupted boundaries without massing against any one objective and the powerful minions either stay right within the leading edge of the expansion or embedded deep within the heart of the territory, is exactly what we saw the Great Destroyer pursue before Primordus awoke.

@mercury ranique.2170 said:My question about the incident at concordia is actually why mordremoth his minions where after the locket.

They do address that in the patch. Basically, Mordremoth was striking at any magical objects within reach to drain them, and the locket in particular wasn't any more tasty then the next magical doodad, it happened to have been in a vulnerable place at that time.

@mercury ranique.2170 said:Almorra Soulkeeper. A common mistake in lore-keeping is to assume everything said in game is true. We often experience things from stories told by NPC's. Those can be coloured and differ per NPC.

While I don't really want to revive this Almorra debate again (and Aaron described both sides quite fairly in my opinion), it should be noted that the Edge of Destiny and Ghosts of Ascalon novels are written in third-person limited so the viewpoints there are primary sources—the characters whose viewpoints we're seeing the story told through were actually there to see Kralkatorrik create the brand so they're not subjective sources. What is unfortunately true however is that Almorra's account to Dougal is told from Dougal's PoV so if Almorra lied to him, she lied to us all and we'll never know.

@Khorthall.1682 said:

• Almorra Soulkeeper - Why did this Charr not become corrupted by Kralkatorrik's breath when all others around her did. Is the corruption something we could fight against through sheer force of willpower or perhaps Almorra has a special ancestry? As stated in the wiki Kralkatorrik passed overhead. Beginning with her second-in-command, Harthog Soulslasher, her warband succumbed to the dragon's breath and became Branded; Almorra miraculously survived despite being a foot away from Harthog. The phrase miraculously survived has my interest.

In addition to what @"Aaron Ansari.1604" has said, there was a dev interview with Jeff Grubb (who heavily edited Ghosts of Ascalon which contains Almorra's personal recounting) in which he stated that Almorra was just outside of Kralkatorrik's corruption - e.g., in that "splash area" on the edge, explaining why those in front and behind her were corrupted but not her. Her survival was, effectively, pure luck.

See the discussion being talked about in this thread.

@Khorthall.1682 said:

• This relates to Living World Season 2 : Entanglement (Spoilers) - There's a chapter where your character investigates an attack at the Condordia Waypoint and end up rescuing a group with magical artifacts. It seems that one of the artifacts being transport is a magical locket that reveals the next ruler of Kryta. This is the last we ever hear about this but I would like to know if that locket may ever come back in the future.

Angel McCoy stated at a Tracon a few months back (Reddit Thread Here) that there was a plan to make a plot about this, but it was dropped, likely in favor of other plots. Said plot was to revolve around Jennah searching for a successor to the throne (which in of itself makes little sense to me so that's probably why it got scrapped). I'm guessing that it was to be involved with getting Jennah to join the World Summit but they swapped out for what we get during Party Politics story step instead.

@Khorthall.1682 said:

• This relates to Living World Season 3: Flashpoint (Spoilers) - After the big battle with Balthazaar in the heart of the volcano we learn that Primordus and Jormag have basically gone back to sleep. This relates to the Sons of Svanir who worship the Elder Dragon Jormag. If Jormag has returned to sleep would there be an effect on the Sons of Svanir? This also goes to the Icebrood and Destroyers since both Dragons are now asleep - Does their power or influence change at all?

Probably not as the Sons of Svanir worshiped Jormag before he woke too, via Drakkar, and their worship was in part of what allowed Jormag to wake up "on time" (or more specifically, from what we were told, it seems that Drakkar had siphoned magic from the Sons of Svanir to wake Jormag up). At best, it'd be a blow to morale and some recruits may question if their path is right (though they may end up blaming Taimi and thus more misogynism grows though even that should put some doubt into some Svanir's heads if their "greatest Spirit of the Wild" could be felled due to a teenage asura's device).

Dragon minions power do not seem to greatly be affected by the waking state of their dragon - though as their dragon gets stronger, there's a chance for more numerous strong minions. As we see in Path of Fire, there are still destroyers out and about in Tyria. Likely the same goes for icebrood. And we saw destroyers, branded, and icebrood (though we didn't know it for the latter two) in GW1 technically speaking.

@"Arden.7480" said:The only difference is that when the Dragons are awakened they send much stronger minions.

More quantities of stronger minions, but not necessarily stronger minions. Primordus had the Great Destroyer while it was asleep, and the Great Destroyer created numerous strong minions like the Disc of Chaos, Plague of Destruction, and a few others. Meanwhile, Glint created the facets and Drakkar corrupted Svanir while Kralkatorrik and Jormag were sleeping, respectively.

When I read "Ghosts of Ascalon" I just assumed the attack from Kralkatorrik was akin a laser or a liquid: It had a very sharp limit, and Almorra was just ten centimeters out of it. Pure luck. I've never seen anyone, not Almorra either, pretending to be strong willed enough to resist Kralkys "transformation beam".Think on two people waiting at the bus stop. A car looses control, jumps on the sidewalk and pass running over one of them. Fast, brutal, unavoidable, only affect one, traumatic, and sheer luck.

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

Angel McCoy stated at a Tracon a few months back (Reddit Thread Here) that there was a plan to make a plot about this, but it was dropped, likely in favor of other plots. Said plot was to revolve around Jennah searching for a successor to the throne (which in of itself makes little sense to me so that's probably why it got scrapped). I'm guessing that it was to be involved with getting Jennah to join the World Summit but they swapped out for what we get during Party Politics story step instead.

It doesn't seem so unreasonable to me - while we don't know just how Krytan succession works, there's a good chance that if the monarch dies without a clear heir, the Legate Minister or the Ministry in general would have a significant influence in selecting the new monarch. It would make sense for Jennah to want to establish an heir to avoid simply handing control of the country to Caudecus.