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Asuran cities


hugo.4705

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I'm wondering, is there any motivations to use "Rata" instead of "Quora" as prefix of city names?

This is pure theory crafting, but I think that Rata refer to cities having a cube within them. (Sum, Primus and Novus), for the last two ones: Rata Arcanum and Rata Pten weren't finished.Considering the wiki, they are 6 huge subterranean asuran capitals, Quora Sum was one of them.I think Quora define the most advanced cities (prior to Primordius awakening). Quora Arcanum, Quora Novus or Quora Hortus also sound great as possible names.Whereas Quora Sum was wiped out, I don't think it was the case with all of them. Different cities mean different peoples and so surely different minds. I can perfectly associate one of the city concentrated on Security, another on Education and a last one simply based on Surviving using natural resources ala Rata Novus. Surely some may like to be connected to others but some want to stay hidden.

What about the building dates? We don't know a lot of things, Rata Novus felt in 1173 AE, the date 1147 AE is engraved on Rata Sum, imagining, it's the building date."It's been 751 days since a hazardous incident. Outstanding job, Rata Novus!" Dialogue may indicate the city was built in 1171 AE.

Rata Arcanum end was in 1175 AE, at least it was when Zinn died. Rata Pten was old, having writing describing orr before cataclysm (before 1071 AE).No date concerning Rata Primus but the advancements are similar to Rata Sum, so approximately built in same time.But we have again a dialogue, intentional or not: "PA Announcer: Attention, krewe. Eighty-seven days have elapsed with no reported lab accidents or security issues."So less than one year. The first step of that episode takes place in 1331 AE, putting Primus as most recent. It kinda question us about the Asuran capacities in building cities. If Rata Primus is made in 3 months, surely Rata sum too.

So the Quoras are probably more than old compared to our character (1325 AE, we have around 22 years old I would say), Primordius awaken in 1078-1120 AE, so the cities are more than surely older than that date.

So to sum up, ??? Quora Sum -> Before 1071 AE Rata Pten and Rata Sum -> 1171 AE Rata Novus -> 1173 AE Rata Arcanum -> 1331 Rata PrimusSo it would mean that Rata Novus is more recent than Rata Sum? Sure that 1147 inscription is wrong. Or the ambient dialogue shouldn't be considered.I think Rata Sum building date is also before 1071 AE.

Happy if someone correct any mistakes in chronology, I'm just wondering how old are the different cities.

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Rata Sum (at least it's very earliest stages, a few ground structures, some repurposed ruins, and a fair few tents) goes back to Eye of the North, 1078 A.E, when the asura established themselves on the surface after the destroyers drove them from the Depths. It is indeed older than Rata Novus. It is, however, quite possible that the massive floating cube that makes the GW2 version was 'built' (raised?) in 1147.

As for Rata Primus, I don't think that line has anything to do with how old the city-cube is. That kind of phrasing- 'X number of days without an accident'- is pretty common in certain kinds of businesses, at least in the States, and is just a way of tracking/discouraging damage to property and employees.

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I think it's more likely that "Rata" is more related to "surface" than "has a cube".

Rata Pten, by all indication, is not "unfinished". It's an archeological cite of an asuran outpost/city that was on the surface and inhabited, and abandoned, sometime before the Cataclysm of Orr. While Rata Arcanum was left unfinished, there's no indication they began a cubic construction. Similarly, as Aaron pointed out, Rata Sum was named such before they had any cubic installation.

@"hugo.4705" said:Considering the wiki, they are 6 huge subterranean asuran capitals, Quora Sum was one of them.I think Quora define the most advanced cities (prior to Primordius awakening). Quora Arcanum, Quora Novus or Quora Hortus also sound great as possible names.Whereas Quora Sum was wiped out, I don't think it was the case with all of them. Different cities mean different peoples and so surely different minds. I can perfectly associate one of the city concentrated on Security, another on Education and a last one simply based on Surviving using natural resources ala Rata Novus. Surely some may like to be connected to others but some want to stay hidden.

One of the six cities is the Central Transfer Chamber. So they didn't all follow the Quora naming scheme. And by lore, all six have been wiped out by now:

According to the records of the eldest archivists of their race, there were at least six cities as large and grand as Rata Sum in the asura-dominated lands beneath the surface, though none survived into the modern age.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/That_Old_College_Try

The reason why all six cities fell was because they were all connected by always-active asura gates, as we witnessed in Eye of the North. The asura overran the Central Transfer Chamber as the Great Destroyer made its way to the hibernating Primordus, and used these gates to send a swarm of destroyers throughout the network, resulting in surprise assaults on the asuran cities.

What about the building dates? We don't know a lot of things, Rata Novus felt in 1173 AE, the date 1147 AE is engraved on Rata Sum, imagining, it's the building date."It's been 751 days since a hazardous incident. Outstanding job, Rata Novus!" Dialogue may indicate the city was built in 1171 AE.

Rata Sum's construction began sometimes between 1072 and 1078, whenever it was the asura were forced to the surface (it didn't happen when we met them, but some time before; how early before is unclear though). Chances for the date is 1075 AE, given the book Discourse on a Tome (1075 AE), and the prophecy that the Great Destroyer would rise should the contents of the tome be read. Though there is one curious thing: the book says the Durmand Priory was discussing the tome, when the Priory didn't exist until three decades later (1105 AE). Oddity with the name of scholars aside, if the idea of reading the contents of the book did cause a rise, then it'd be 1075-1078. Alternatively, Kormir says that Abaddon's death (in 1075 AE) triggered Primordus' beginning to stir, thus could be what sparked the Great Destroyer's rise. Either way, we got the same year: 1075 AE.

Since the Shining Blade had interactions with the asura for a while by the time we get to them, it wouldn't be surprising if the asura surfaced in late 1075 / early 1076 AE.

Rata Novus was established by Zinn, an asura who we met in Eye of the North. Zinn built Novus after the events of GW1, after being exiled by the Arcane Council due to events in GW1 (a quest chain titled Zinn's Task). We don't have an exact date for Novus' establishment, but it was not very long after the War in Kryta content (1079 AE).

But we have again a dialogue, intentional or not: "PA Announcer: Attention, krewe. Eighty-seven days have elapsed with no reported lab accidents or security issues."So less than one year. The first step of that episode takes place in 1331 AE, putting Primus as most recent. It kinda question us about the Asuran capacities in building cities. If Rata Primus is made in 3 months, surely Rata sum too.

That dialogue doesn't show or hint to when Primus was made. It merely shows that Primus existed for 87 days without reported accidents. It'd be better to look at Olmakhan dialogue and lore, which mention the asura showing up; based on Of Maelstroms, the asura showed up "in recent times", and marks Zhaitan being before, and a Pact airship crashing as being after. This would give us the very wide timespan of 1219 AE to 1328 AE for when the asura showed up. Given it's "recent times", it's no doubt closer to the latter.

The reason I say 1328 AE, is because the only time we know the Pact had airship marginally close to Dajkah before thhe assaults on Kralkatorrik, was the battles over Orr. And since Mordremoth wiped out the fleet, and the airships built after were close to the Aetherblades' airships with the techno-plating which the wreckage lacks, we're looking at a 1325 to 1328 Pact Airship.

This puts Primus as being at least 3 years old when we get there.

And while the time gap is from 1219 to 1328, I would argue we can shorten it to 1325-1328. Why? Zhaitan again. Zhaitan's forces prevented access from Central Tyria to southern lands via sea and coast, while Joko's and Kralkatorrik's forces prevented such further inland. The best the Inquest were able to do for getting around Zhaitan's territory, was a highly-mechanized base underwater with dozens of weaponry while being hidden away (there is the Arah base, but dialogue and appearances indicate it was set up post-Zhaitans' death). In short: not even the Inquest should have been capable of getting far while Zhaitan lived. This would also fall in line with it being "recent times".

Thus, we can theorize, that Primus is somewhere between 6 and 3 years old.

If Rata Primus is made in 3 months, surely Rata sum too.

Technically, Rata Sum is still under construction. The Golem Mines are an excavation to further expand Rata Sum. Rata Primus doesn't seem to have such developments going on. But as brought up, the initial form of Rata Sum, which was created fairly quickly (probably less than 3 months tbh), was pretty small compared to GW2's Rata Sum.

So to sum up, ??? Quora Sum -> Before 1071 AE Rata Pten and Rata Sum -> 1171 AE Rata Novus -> 1173 AE Rata Arcanum -> 1331 Rata PrimusSo it would mean that Rata Novus is more recent than Rata Sum? Sure that 1147 inscription is wrong. Or the ambient dialogue shouldn't be considered.I think Rata Sum building date is also before 1071 AE.

A TL;DR of all the above:

  • Central Transfer Chamber, Quora Sum, and Four Unnamed Citadel-Cities: Construction date unknown, fell in1075-1078 AE.
  • Rata Pten: Rise and fall was before 1071 AE (it's likely that the same builders built the ruins found in Tarnished Coast that became Rata Sum later on).
  • Rata Sum: 1075-1078 AE.
  • Rata Novus: Post-1079 AE.
  • Rata Primus: 1325-1328 AE.
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Thanks that very detailed and insightful response. Yes, it makes more senses for Rata to be tied to the surface.

I don't really know if they are expanding Rata Sum, sure you have some golems digging in the walls of Golem Mines, but since the start of our adventure, nothing have been made, no additional floors or anything, or at least not even dialogue that the works have advanced . (Through I can understand that the dev don't want to add anything, Rata Sum is currently nice) The very bottom with the rubble I guess is made on purpose ("many areas are blocked off" due to destroyers cf Peacemaker Officer Rupo)

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@hugo.4705 said:but since the start of our adventure, nothing have been made,

This is more game limitations than anything else. ArenaNet doesn't spend much time in Rata Sum, so there's no need to expand more layers into the city. In addition, all maps have at most 4 layers, and Rata Sum already has that many layers. It's unclear (to us players) if ArenaNet can have 5 layers show on the map, and if not, then ArenaNet wouldn't be able to provide a proper map update for new additions into the Rata Sum cube.

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