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Asura being the oldest native of Tyria (of major, of the 5 main ones, or some other criteria?)


Fleebag.1384

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I remember reading an interview with a couple of Anet lore leads in a fan mag sometime around core GW2, When asked which race is the oldest Tyria they answer was Asura. I can't find the article anymore - anyone remember this and can point me in the right direction?A couple of other tidbits from this article to help jog memories:

  • Asura would, if they could sort themselves out, - be the most dominating race in Tyria (accompanied by some description of crazy Asura tech example).
  • The only real threat to Asura domination in this scenario would be a great enough number of Skritt - one of the reasons why Asura feel so threatened (dislike?) by them.

So - Any1 remember this and can link to it?

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I do not recall any mention by developers of asura being the oldest race in Tyria. Do you remember which devs were in this interview?

Speaking of fan magazine, the one that I think of, esp. for old ones, would be GuildMag. But I don't recall an interview stating asura being the oldest native race on Tyria. Usually the statement for that is charr, Giganticus Lupicus, or Mursaat/Seer/Dwarves/Jotun.

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If they said that then it's probably more of a oldest playable race stand point rather than oldest race in lore..

To my knowledge the Jotun, Mursaat(now extinct), Kodan and Dwarfs are older than the Asura as they are all confirmed to have existed prior to the last Elder Dragon cycle.I don't think there is any confirmed lore stating that the Asura were also around during this period of timeThe Wiki does state Asura have been around for thousands of years however but that still puts them in the ballpark of coming around after the last dragon cycle which is believed to be around 11,000 years ago.

Thier existence only became commonly known because Primordus and the Destroyers pushed them out of the Depths and onto the surface world, it stands to reason that if they existed during the previous Elder Dragon cycle then they likely would have been pushed to the surface in the past as well and some evidence of thier surface culture and likely involvement in fighting the Elder Dragons in the past would be known by Tyrian scholars.. they would be regarded as an Elder Race in that case along side the Seers, Forgotten, Dwarves, Mursaat and Jotun.. then again the Kodan are confirmed to have been around during this last cycle as well and they are not considered an Elder Race.. this could be due to racial advancement/evolution though.Compared to the Seers, Dwarves etc the Kodan are not quite as advanced or likely weren't back during the last cycle.. the same could likely be said for the Asura had they existed back then as well, It's highly unlikely they possessed anything close to the technology and intellect they have today.

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The Asura themselves don't even know how old their race is. Their chain of history was broken when Primordus drove them from the Depths, causing them to lose much of their former culture and even most of their spoken language -- "bookah" being one of the few remnants. The majority of what we think of "Asuran culture" now is actually post-Primordus development. One can only imagine how terribly THOROUGH Primordus must have been in destroying their civilization...

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Regarding who actually is the oldest race in Tyria:

Much of the lore about racial origins in Tyria reminds me of what many First Nations or Native American tribes said when questioned about their origins -- "We've always been here."

Among the player races, the eldest race is almost certainly the Asura or Charr. The Norn don't know how old their race is, but if you believe the Kodan, the Norn may be only as old as the last Dragonrise, and the Kodan are certainly old enough to know. The Charr definitely pre-date the arrival of humans in Tyria, and waged war against the Forgotten in pre-human times, but exactly how long ago that was is unclear.

Some of the NPC races -- Jotun, Kodan, Forgotten, Seers, Dwarfs, Mursaat -- were definitely around before the last Dragonrise. Which is the true eldest is unknown.

Others, like the Skritt, we simply don't know. Like the First Nations, "They've always been here."

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@Fleebag.1384 said:Think it was Jeff Grub and perhaps Ree Soesbee - could have been in some german fansite interview.

I went through a bunch of interviews. One of the first was a german interview with Jeff and Ree. While they do cover the topic of world domination plans, there was nothing about them being an old race on Tyria.

@"Jimbru.6014" said:The Asura themselves don't even know how old their race is. Their chain of history was broken when Primordus drove them from the Depths, causing them to lose much of their former culture and even most of their spoken language -- "bookah" being one of the few remnants. The majority of what we think of "Asuran culture" now is actually post-Primordus development. One can only imagine how terribly THOROUGH Primordus must have been in destroying their civilization...

Even before Primordus, asuran history is fragmented because of how paranoid the race can be with other members, constantly thinking others will steal their invention. This has left a lot of labs being lost to time, and history as well.

Which is one of the major reasons why the Rata Sum archives existed - as well as the Inquest. Both were formed out of desire to lose less of their history, both through racial paranoia and external events like dragonrises.

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