Disclaimer: I do not approve of the conclusion i achieve in this post and would be happy to be proven wrong. The statements here aren't intended to insult or refer to real-life humans or cultures or religious believes or the values of atheism or religion at large. Please do not bring them up in this Thread.

After "One path ends" (Season 3, Episode 6) i explored Sirens Landing and came across a lot of ambient dialogue that frames Humans in a very negative light:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Risen_Lowlands#Ambient_dialogue (eleventh dialogue from the top)https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abaddon%27s_Reliquary (number 4: While this implies this is somewhat true of all races, it frames it as a need for unquesting obedience for humans, while other Species seam to have a "proper" system of.)https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lyssa%27s_Reliquary (number 2)

These depict humanity as a weak species that needed its gods to survive and can not function without them. This drove me to question how much of a reliable narrator these sylvari are. After all, they could be biased. Humanity had stopped Abbadon, after all. Plus they were the ones to stop. I searched for interviews and hints in the story and found out that human were pretty weak magic wise:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Angel-McCoy-Interview/page/3#post2821776

Well, okay.So at least i tried to find counterpoints to the whole "humanity is backwards and can't think for themself" bit. Turns out, these Sylvari were right and humanity seams to have an innate desire to be ruled and dominated, plus having a misplaced faith on the human gods:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Doomsayer_Senughttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Arid_Gladefields (8th from the top)https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Free_City_of_Amnoon (Palawa Joko can somehow convince them he is a loving father figure or the whole thing with "becoming awakened is a blessing")

I could go on about the quotes, but do not have the time to sift through all the dialogue and quote it verbatim. Take as other examples the ravings of Warden Amalya (other Awakened, Koss for example, showed enough willpower to defy Joko, when they hated him enough), the Zaishen, the Elonians mistaking Balthazar rampage as a productive -notworld-dooming activity, the continued believe that the gods are coming to save them, while Kromir explicitly denied that, the fact that under only non human rule, sane humans can improve themselves and experience technological advancement, (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Donal_Regland), and so forth.

And then i realised that humanity and the gods were the cause for at least Abbadon (who would not be a problem if Humanity didn't exist) and all the entailing things like Murassat, Titans, nightfall and so forth. Humanity caused all the Problems it "solved" (with a lot of help from other species)My conclusion: Humanity (with some exceptions) is a cruel, stupid and childish species who relied on the gods to achieve anything of note, like robbing the Charr of Ascalon. Now that they are gone, humanity faces its deserved downfall. Maybe a more enlightened species can subjugate and redeem them.My question is: Do you think that humanity as depicted in Guild Wars 2 have positive qualities distinguishing them from others? Charr and Norn are stronger than them, Asura and Charr smarter and more advanced, Sylvari more "cultured", kind and empathetic than them. The only thing they are "better" at than one other species is strength... compared to the asuras, who have a lot of GOLEMs that are stronger than humans and numbers(Kralkatorik, Joko and all the other threats are working on fixing that).I would be delighted to be proven wrong. I will not be able to respond in the following hours, my apologies.

I think you're reading a bit too much into it. Humans are really magically inclined. Like...they're really one of the strongest races. I know people like to talk about asura master race and poke fun at the memes - but I wouldn't doubt that if the united human effort was to lay claim to the rest of Tyria, it could be done. Think about the Ministry of Purity or the White Mantle. Humans are less like toddlers unfit to lead themselves and need the gods to spoon-feed them accomplishments - it's more like they're the wise old elves of Tyria and instead they're splintered because there are some who think they're fit to rule (White Mantle, bandits, separatists - the "dark elves" sort of?) because of their higher position and there are those who believe that it's more dutiful to promote peace.

I believe Henry Kissinger said it best: Empires have no interest in operating within an international system; they aspire to be the international system.

To add, when people first came to Tyria, they dominated Cantha. Which was probably a peaceful paradise at that time.Eventually they struck out all the charr of ascalon, and advanced into Kryta, Orr, build settlements in Elona.In a relatively short span they dominated a large part of the world.The Charr relied on heavy magics to drive the humans back out, who retalliated with equally heavy magic which caused the Searing and the Cataclysm.

IIRC the charr wouldn’t have had stood a chance if they didn’t make a deal with the deviAbaddon’s Titans (the titans are not made by Abaddon, but followed his demands).

Rather than humans not having any merits, I believe they were a pretty powerful race when they first appeared, but living in civil settlements and the gods quieting down, dwayna settling with her son etc, i think humans became a lot weaker. I dont have an estimate on how badly we devolved magicwise, though.It might also be a rebuccal of the bloodstones, which were made pre-human era. When humans came, they must’ve had a relative abundance of magic which the other races did not. But that last part is all just speculation

Humanity is, in Guild Wars, in the same place that elves tend to be in most fantasy settings. They're the "old and declining race". The "race that has power, but was once far more powerful, and retain history". And it took the thousand years worth of planning of a fallen god to bring humanity to the beginning of their decline.

Though ArenaNet does seem to go a bit over the top in proclaiming humanity's flaws in GW2, as part of their attempts to make GW2 less human-centric than GW1 was. Even though the "what humanity brings to the Orders" was presented to be history and knowledge in GW2 promotions, now most human history tends to be falsified lies of the gods.

First of all thank you for the answers. i edited the Post and deleted a redundant sentence.Still, i would like to have some examples for the power the humans have. I understand there are exceptions like Queen Jenna or Kasmeer, who are powerful mesmer (with enough preparation). But except the white mantle troops i have difficulties finding ingame examples of a lot of "regular" humans that are more adept at magic than, say all the fire shamans of the flame legion or the nightmare court sylvari or the inquest golemancers. I have difficulties of finding an ingame quote that suggests human potential regarding magic, but at this point it would suffice for me. I thought the human aptidude was there because the gods gave humanity some kind of head start with manipulating the bloodstones in humanities favor and giving them magic earlier this way and now with more magic around the other species are making good on the head start. (SPOILER ALERT Episode 2:For example the olmakhan only needed 200 Years of learning for their impressive magical feats; forming an instant Barrier that was impenetrable and repeatedly ressing the commander, plus buffs as one example.) That was the part with "Only got stuff together because of the gods": Without them, one could argue, humans have only average magical potential, a culture of unquestioning obedience and their physical and mental abilities are average at best, compared to Norn, Asura and Charr respectivly. Their magical advantage is only one of having had more time to practice it.And the part with conquering a lot of peaceful kingdoms in Tyria and shamelessly lying about your history doesn't reflect good on the question of human morality.

1v1 I've never heard of humans being "superior" to any other race. I think we're probably talking sheer numbers and various traits like creativity, resolve, flexibility, independence, etc. All the stereotypical traits of humans in fantasy settings. Note that charr possess these too, and were winning against the humans until things like the mursaat and cataclysm happened.

Having their own set of super-beings looking after them surely didn't hurt their domination of the known world, but in the current world they're just another race.

Maybe exploiting circumstances is humanity's defining feature in GW (or Earth.)

Human's merit in GW2 is the same merit humans always have in fictional settings. They aren't great at any one thing, but decent in everything, giving them a jack of all trades toolset that makes them very flexible.

@"Fluffball.8307" said:Note that charr possess these too, and were winning against the humans until things like the mursaat and cataclysm happened.

The kingdoms were also divided. Kryta was willing to offer more military aid to Ascalon and would've repelled the charr after The Searing but Adelbern turned it away. Far different than just "the mursaat" and "the cataclysm" - they were simply divided and didn't help one another after the original Guild Wars. At the time though the charr were relatively all united - even if unwillingly - by the flame legion. A united humanity is a force to be reckoned with: see Cantha, the expansion from, and all of the internal conflicts that relied on uniting their countrymen.

It's a common theme in their storytelling - unity trumps division.

As far as I was aware Ascalonian soldiers were perfectly capable of facing down one or more charr at the same time. Just saying.I don't think it's fair to say they rely on the gods. They're the ones that end up policing their own gods.

@"ThatOddOne.4387" said:As far as I was aware Ascalonian soldiers were perfectly capable of facing down one or more charr at the same time.

Is that based on gw1 npcs, or book references, or? The game presents some individuals as being sort of non-earth-realistic heroes that are capable of defeating a nearly infinite number of "average" opponents. Devona or Rurik would fit that category.

@Fluffball.8307 said:

@"ThatOddOne.4387" said:As far as I was aware Ascalonian soldiers were perfectly capable of facing down one or more charr at the same time.

AKA Plot armour.

I very much doubt your average human soldier could go one-on-one with an average Charr soldier. The size difference, the muscle, the natural weaponry etc etc.

the impression on the history of the humans guild wars franchise is that they are a lot of retarded who easily fall into power fratricidal wars without measuring the consequences ....., well well well our real world work exactly in this way.

AFAIK GW2 don't divide the "racial capabilities" in such a hard way as other worlds tend to do. Letting aside the off-world mechanical "homogenization" done to allow every race to have every profession and a very capable main PC, I think the races are still very close in potential.

Although their start point can be very different, we get truly similar results in the end: Asura seems to be more intelligent but physically weaker than the rest, but this doesn't matter too much thanks to magic and technology. Norn doesn't have a great academic tradition, but they share knowledge all the time and travel around a lot, and magic and technology also can help to cover any lack in education. Charr are super militarized and have clear innate combat advantages over humans, but humans seem to assimilate magic to produce really sturdy and capable warriors too. Etc...

In the end, any species individuals could be good at anything. The idiosyncrasies are quite different, and the way their respective culture work also are really significant, but each individual has a good potential in almost every direction. There are basic directions, but not hard limits.

Since the only things that varies are the starting points and the general "focus" of each culture, we can assume Humans start mostly balanced, and have to confront or embrace the "religious" focus their culture has to achieve their true potential. Thats why they seem so undefined and even weaker at first glance. But they aren't weak: they are just truly booooring...

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Fluffball.8307 said:

@"ThatOddOne.4387" said:As far as I was aware Ascalonian soldiers were perfectly capable of facing down one or more charr at the same time.

Ya that's kind of what I meant, humans are pretty obviously physically weaker. However plot armor often combines with the notion of heroes in fantasy settings. There is absolutely no way even the best swordsman in any land can take on more than two semi competent opponents at the same time, and yet every book or game has "heroes" doing that. If I remember right the notion of a hero was even a game concept in D&D.

Devona was not only protected by the story but she was also intended to be a bit of a force that could slaughter charr.

@"Ardid.7203" said:AFAIK GW2 don't divide the "racial capabilities" in such a hard way as other worlds tend to do. Letting aside the off-world mechanical "homogenization" done to allow every race to have every profession and a very capable main PC, I think the races are still very close in potential.

It does actually. In the lore. But there is a deep divide between the lore and actual gameplay in favour of balance.

For example, a Norn is canonically even stronger than you'd think by looking at him or her. The story of Aesigr Dragonrender knocking that tooth out of Jormag's maw is a literal one. No other race would stand a chance in a situation where raw strength is taken into account in a one-on-one and a Norn, properly trained, could probably trounce a squad or two of Charr or Human soldiers with ease.

Unfortunately, while the original (where Norns weren't playable and could remain a mystery) heavily played on this angle in regards to Norns it has, understandable with the Norns being playable, been all hushed-up in GW2.

@Fluffball.8307 said:

@"ThatOddOne.4387" said:As far as I was aware Ascalonian soldiers were perfectly capable of facing down one or more charr at the same time.

I think he refers to the generic allied NPCs in GW1, but they were able to fend for themselves far better than the generic allied NPCs in GW2 on an overall scale.

@Fluffball.8307 said:

@"ThatOddOne.4387" said:As far as I was aware Ascalonian soldiers were perfectly capable of facing down one or more charr at the same time.

I'd say it's based on lore references in the game. Let's be real, we can't take NPC performance as lore - the game would be boring if all of the NPCs acted as they should. As much as I love the memes that came out of GW1 escort missions, I'd be really bored if Togo and Talon were able to defeat most hostile groups by themselves.

@Cuddy.6247 said:I'd say it's based on lore references in the game. Let's be real, we can't take NPC performance as lore - the game would be boring if all of the NPCs acted as they should. As much as I love the memes that came out of GW1 escort missions, I'd be really bored if Togo and Talon were able to defeat most hostile groups by themselves.

What lore references then? I just can't recall anything saying that average humans can take down 2 or 3 charr at a time. That seems absurd to me, unless there are sources that confirm that somewhere (and even then it would seem completely absurd.)

A lot of this is copied over from a 2RP thread from a while back, but as a run-down:

*Magic. I know this gets thrown out very early in these discussions, but unjustly so. The power we see Jennah and Xera throw around is on an entirely different level to any asura spellcasters. Odran was able to tear open portals to the Mists and throw the most sacrosanct portion of the afterlife into chaos. Joko and Khilbron have commanded entire nations worth of undead. Against that, for the non-humans, we have Gaheron, mayyybe Ulgoth, but no one else on the same level. That's too great an imbalance to be a coincidence. Even looking aside from these giants, Sea of Sorrows shows that modern Krytans have spellcasters integrated into their military in a way no other race can claim: elementalists, guardians, mesmers, all play a seamless part in the strategy during the final navel engagement. (And that's without getting into what Orr was capable of before the Cataclysm.)

I know that doesn't show well in-game, but if you're throwing the White Mantle out, the Flame Legion, Inquest, and Nightmare Court have to go too. The fact of the matter is that none of the allied forces in the game, the sylvari Wardens and charr Ash Legion partially excepted, show much spellcasting. In the base game, the asura Peacemakers do nothing but hit things with a hammer.

All in all, my gut says that magic might be more common among the asura and sylvari, but when humans do take to it, they rather consistently get better results. Maybe they did have a headstart at first, and maybe not, (remember that all the stories say that the gods gave magic to every race, not just the humans; that's most of the reason that things so terribly that they had to gather it back) but either way it's been more than 1300 years. You can't say they're still coasting on that. Especially given

*Cultural achievements. Human contributions in this field have been ubiquitous, to the point that you see many folks on these forums arguing that they've diluted the other races. The universal written language? Human. The calendar? Human. Any sense of history going back more than three hundred years? Human or charr, and as much as we like to gripe about the soft retcons, the human records are still more accurate. Two out of three of the now multi-racial orders? Started as human organizations.

And that's the rub on this category. The reason that these things don't seem to count for anything is that, ironically, the humans have been too free in spreading them around. The charr and asura tend to cling to their advantages, but at least for the past couple centuries, through the work of the Priory, the humans have been openly sharing their own.

(It also might be worth noting that they tend to be more culturally sophisticated than the other races. This isn't entirely a point in their favour, since snobbery doesn't get you very far, and since the intricacies of their politics usually works against them, but they do at least seem to have developed more nuance than the way other races seem to always pound the same archetypical notes.)

*Defensive works: Humans have, without question, created the most impressive fortifications in Tyria. Looking at the walls of Divinity's Reach or Ebonhawke, or even the ruins of the Great Northern Wall, they dwarf anything that the other races have ever built for such purpose, and they perform astonishingly well. All the charr's military advancements? The humans built the wall that made it all futile for more than two hundred years.

*Nautical tradition: This is another one we don't see very well in-game, simply because we haven't given the ocean much thought, but humans are the great seafarers of the setting. They've traversed vast gulfs of water to settle other continents, produced three separate cultures devoted to seafaring as a way of life, and built navies. By contrast, the charr and norn have spent almost all of their time landlocked, the sylvari are new, and we have no evidence the asura have ever looked into anything besides merchant vessels. Even with Kryta abandoning the coasts, more than half the captains you see in game- more than all the other races put together, be they from Lion's Arch, pirates, or undead- are still humans.

*Irrigation: I know, I know, what is this boring stuff? But the only place we see irrigated fields, the basis of any large-scale agriculture and all the boons that come with it, is Kryta and around Lion's Arch where the other races could copy it. That, and the large scale pumps we see around DR, Queensdale, and just outside Dry Top put them as the leaders in Tyrian hydraulics.

(Granted, the impact of this is lessened by the fact that the asura and sylvari have apparently sidestepped the problems that are solved by fields of crops.)

*Aerostat vehicles, maybe: Mind you, they didn't seem to do much with it until the Pact combined them with charr and asura tech to make airships, but Kryta does seem to have invented the hot air balloon- another spot that shows humans leading in any technology that doesn't fall under magitech or steampunk industrialization.

All in all, it's definitely not that the humans have less things that they're good at. The problem seems to be that they just don't have anything that pops the way the other races do. A big wall isn't as eye-catching as a floating city, and it's less interesting than tanks and cannons. Being really good with ships doesn't mean much when the game cuts out all of the sea travel sequences. Nobody likes thinking about plumbing, and 'culture' loses it's shine pretty fast once every other race has copied it.

Still, the stuff is out there. They aren't entirely bland rip-offs of the real world. Nor can they credit it all to their gods; with the exception of magic, where, again, I'm skeptical of the headstart argument, all of this was refined or outright developed long after the Exodus.

On Humans & their Relationship with Magic

In alignment with what Aaron said, anyone who claims that humans are inferior at magic needs only to replay Head of the Snake and take a gander at Jennah's force field i.e. plot dome. It's the size of Divinity's Reach, a city large enough to fit ["hundreds of thousands"](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tyrian_Travels:_Chapter_Five ""hundreds of thousands"") of people, and strong enough to withstand bloodstone artillery fire for god knows how long. Weeks? Months? Compared to that, a guardian during the novel Sea of Sorrows had to sacrifice their life to block a single siege shot fired by Zhaitan's risen ships.

Magic is the one things that humans excel at—a point conceded even by the Charr as I will show you. Note these lines and where they come from and you will see why humans are the undisputed pioneers of modern magic to which all scholars owe a great debt:

"King Doric founded Rin for the study of arcane arts and in order to create a powerful defensive force with mages of immense power." —Arae Lorehunter

King Doric's reign lasted from 100 BE to 1 BE which means that according to Arae Lorehunter's theory, Rin was founded somewhere within that timeframe with the purpose of creating "mages of immense power". 100 BE is also the year that 'High-plains human settlements become known as Ascalon. Humans drive the Charr out of Ascalon. Doric is crowned king during the Season of the Phoenix in Ascalon, and Ascalon's new king receives first Canthan ambassador.' The first humans arrived on the continent 105 years earlier, giving us a generous timeframe for when the first Charr-Human War took place resulting in a victory for the humans. Let's also not gloss over the fact that Arae Lorehunter, a Charr historian, uses the word "study". If she wanted to spout legion propaganda, she could have easily said: "Rin was founded by greedy humans who were handed magic on a silver platter by kissing the ground their gods walked on." Instead, she describes their learning of magic as a proactive endeavor—much to their credit.

Arae Lorehunter's theory is that the early humans of King Doric's era were pioneers who worked hard to further their understanding of magic. They built entire cities dedicated to the cause and many academies would rise up from Ascalon in the centuries to come. Their knowledge grew as the years went on and reached its zenith during the Guild Wars which began when guilds rediscovered the Bloodstone and engaged in fierce contests over who had the right to use it. 'The Guild Wars raged for decades,' says Thadeus Lamount, the historian. 'Fueled by the desire for power and the influence of the Bloodstones.'

Of course, you could argue that Arae Lorehunter is but one Charr and a member of the Durmand Priory at that. She does not speak for her entire species, and that is true, but what she says about human magical superiority is nothing strange. Her view is only confirmed by the Ecology of the Charr which gives us further insight into what the Charr would tell us of their race's history:

[T]he humans came, an infestation caused by beings called gods that had been enemies to the Charr since the beginnings of history. The humans worshiped and revered these gods, and in return were given magic the likes of which the Charr had never before. This upstart race spread like a plague across the continent, and the Charr soon faced the true challenge to their dominance–the threat of humanity.

[...]

Before the time of the humans, it is said the Charr had no gods, no concept of divine beings with more power than themselves. They knew of Melandru, and even had legends that described how she created the world. But to the Charr, these beings were not to be worshiped or feared–they were to be fought, and if possible, destroyed. Yet when the Charr saw the humans worshiping gods–and receiving power from them–they blamed this power for the humans' victory. Only with such powers on their side could the humans have ever defeated the Charr.

So, in order to fight the human threat, the Charr sought a god of their own. Two hundred years before the Searing, the Burnt warband, a group dedicated to the Flame Legion, ventured to the lands surrounding the Hrangmer volcano (translated to human, the name means "Jaws of Oblivion"). Upon its return, the warband claimed to have found gods for the Charr at long last.

Eager for a new purpose and filled with pride, members of the Flame Legion swore allegiance to these new gods, converting or destroying anyone who stood in their path. One by one, the legions of the Charr fell beneath the control of these "gods" and their Shamans, and the Charr at last learned new magic; a new means of destroying their human enemies south of the Wall.

The Charr believed so fervently in the powers received by the humans through the worship of their gods that their only logical conclusion was that they must find beings to worship themselves or be defeated time and again. They were right, and it was only by their unwitting 'allegiance' with the fallen god Abaddon and consorting with his demons that they gained the knowledge and power necessary to drive the humans out of Ascalon.

Humanity was betrayed by the strongest of their own pantheon—the one who rebelled against the other five and paid for it with over a millennium of psychological torture—and was broken by his retribution. The rise and fall of human Ascalon is a story spanning over a thousand years, almost perfectly timed with the story of Abaddon's rise and fall. They rose to power stemming from his gift of magic and were ultimately undone by his vengeance, never to rise again.

"To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." These words by Herman Melville could just as easily describe Abaddon's sentiments towards human civilization, and like the death of Spock in 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan', his vengeance also carried a price.

If there's one merit that the humans deserve most, it's that their mythology is full of the most epic stories.

Reacting to the above post: Out of all the races, humans are also the one most lacking in other natural abilities. It makes sense they'd want to get better at magic. Much like earth humans have no protective hides or fur, no claws or horns, can't sprint fast, aren't strong, not particular good climbers, slow reflexes, etc. But we're (supposedly) smart.

Norn are... well norn, charr are natural predators and have attributes of all sorts of deadly creatures, asura rely on technology, and slyvari are friggen dragon minions.

@"Fluffball.8307" said:Reacting to the above post: Out of all the races, humans are also the one most lacking in other natural abilities. It makes sense they'd want to get better at magic. Much like earth humans have no protective hides or fur, no claws or horns, can't sprint fast, aren't strong, not particular good climbers, slow reflexes, etc. But we're (supposedly) smart.

Norn are... well norn, charr are natural predators and have attributes of all sorts of deadly creatures, asura rely on technology, and slyvari are friggen dragon minions.

No supposedly about it. We're not saying smart like "can come to political agreements and understand the nuances of space science" but smart as in we (at least in good physical condition) know how to pace ourselves to be one of the best runners on land (we can run for miles, some other species have speed but tire quickly), smart enough to figure out tools and use them, smart enough to quickly process danger and nonverbal cues. Actually one of the reasons that dogs and humans get along so well is dogs share many of these same traits: they are great paced runners, learn patterns and can grasp nonverbal cues.

@Fluffball.8307 said:

@Cuddy.6247 said:I'd say it's based on lore references in the game. Let's be real, we can't take NPC performance as lore - the game would be boring if all of the NPCs acted as they should. As much as I love the memes that came out of GW1 escort missions, I'd be really bored if Togo and Talon were able to defeat most hostile groups by themselves.

Some of GW1 missions and quests were around you and other Ascalonians putting your thumb down on the charr. The primary goal was to escape though, so Ascalon lost a lot of soldiers in the war and ended up getting conquered. I think it stands to some reason that if people didn't flee and Adelbern hadn't been so prideful as to not accept Kryta's aid that the White Mantle and the full Ascalonian army would have driven them out. They made it painfully obvious and stressed it as much as they possibly could that Adelbern lost because he was prideful, not because he was outmatched.

Magic is, I think, an important part of the puzzle, as people have pointed out before. People point at the asura as being the most magical race, but that's only partially correct - the asura are the most technomagical race. Asura generally don't become incredibly powerful spellcasters through 'classical' means - their magical power comes through treating magic as a science, concentrating it into power storage devices and channeling it through technomagical constructions in order to increase their power. If you go through most asura enemies that are champions or above, they often get their power through some sort of device.

Humans, however, have a more instinctive feel for magic. Most magic-using humans are on the same level as other races, but when you come across someone from one of the modern races who has immense magical power without the aid of asura technomancy, it's usually a human. Humans also explicitly invented the guardian profession, and had strong influences over most other professions.

One thing that also often gets overlooked is that while humans are often aggressors, they can also be one of the races most inclined towards cooperating with others. THe had the alliance with the dwarves in GW1, and in EOTN and the years afterwards, it was humans that brought the asura and norn together. There's an mention in an obscure and now hard-to-find interview that after the disastrous first contact with asura, humans were the first race that sylvari had a positive first contact with, and humans (along with sylvari) are one of the races that is most open to welcoming refugees from other races into their territories, including quaggan and skritt.

Well humans have a simple economic advantage over charr. It doesn't sound like much, but humans can live on a vegetetarian diet, while charr need to consume meat. Even if they can sustain themselves on other stuff for a few days a charr will likely develop health problems without proper carnivore diet.

This may sound insignificant, until you realize that meat is more land intensive to produce. Plus a Charr is larger than a human, so you need more food per charr than per human. I'll compare a charr to the african lion in terms of food consumption. This means body mass between 150 and 300 kg, with the average somewhere around 225 kg, and a meat consumption of seven to ten kg per day (7 -10 kg).Lest I forget, the charr will likely cook most of their meat to get the most calories out of it. This increases nutritional value, so let's cut that down to around 5.5 - 7 kg of meat per day for each charr.Now imagine a warband, a centurion and his warbands, a tribune and his centurions, a legion and finally all four legions. That is a lot of meat.

The charr are not stupid, of course, so I doubt they'll be wasting any animal product. Intestines, organs, nothing gets wasted, since they cannot afford to do so. In the citadel itself (command core, near ash legion office) there's talk of the new military grade beef jerky, which indicates some kind of early industrial meat processing.

All this effort may not even be enough to match the potential human population, so the charr have to be working very hard to maintain their superior position. Iron legion is onto something, when they build machines to conserve labour, because every charr is a noticeable resource investment.

This might be even more pronounced in places like Lion's Arch, where the local charr have to compete with members of all the other races, in order to get their meat onto the table. Granted, the Norn are a race of giants, so the charr's consumtion issue is likely amplified for them, but humans, sylvari and asura are able to undercut a charr in the same occupation.

And that's before you factor in the human's unique talent for magic. Unlike the asura, who are reliant on gadgets and gizmos, the humans can practise magic like a bard practises music, you just go out and do it. So humans are capable of doing pretty much anything they set their mind to and for less cost than asura, charr, or norn would be able to. We don't know enough about the Sylvari at this point, but I guess their numbers are extemely limited due to the pale tree being the only (known) source of new sylvari.