Castigator.3470

However, we do not know to what extent the dwarves settled the ascalonian basin, nor do we know which faction eventually drove the dwarves back. There are dwarven ruins in what is today the Blood Legion Homelands, the lack of dwarven remains suggests, however, that these places were abandoned, rather than conquered. It is likely that the dwarves evacuated due to the presence of both Primordus and Kralkatorrik, who would have made it impossible to hide either above or underground. Ascalon, or rather its south was inhabited by the forgotten, who at some point retreated south into the Crystal Desert. Before that, the charr avoided any area with a larger presence of forgotten by using the mountains as fallback positions. as stated in the "Ecology of the Charr". So if we're super pedantic the forgotten may have been the earliest documented inhabitants of (southern) Ascalon within the last cycle of elder dragon activity. If I recall correctly that cycle ended on a sour note. The Mursaat phased out, the Seers swore vengeance, the Jotunn abandoned their magic in order to survive, the dwarves hid underground and the forgotten hid in the Mists, while maintaining some presence on Tyria.There were also sparsely distributed grawl tribes, many of which exist to this day, but since they have been annoying, but never threatening to the other races, there was never a large campaign to get rid of them. In fact not even the Flame Legion has attempted to drive out the grawls, they did employ them as slaves, though, see the Pig Iron Mine in Fireheart Rise. The book "Ecology of the Charr" also states, that the charr subjugated or destroyed anyone who opposed them. "Planet of the Grawl" even mentions the existance of charr artwork depicting charr leaders, who recieve tribute from the grawl, so it's safe to say the grawls were not driven out, but milked for tribute.The next sentient race to settle the land is the charr, who were quick to claim Ascalon and in the absense of the forgotten declare themselves undisputed rulers of the land. This coincided with the unification of the charr warbands under a leader so ferocious and awe-inspiring, that he managed to put an end to their infighting. Thanks to another event, we can somewhat accurately date the charr settlement of Ascalon somewhere between 200 B.E. and 100 B.E., but much more likely somewhere between 150 B.E. and 100 B.E. Since charr seem to mature at about the same rate as humans, that's about one generation, with one generation of charr being born in Ascalon.The humans arrived on the surface of Tyria in 786 B.E. in Cantha, brought into the world by their gods. The Kingdoms of Orr, Istan and Elona were all founded around 205 B.E and it took them another 105 years to arrive in Ascalon in 100 B.E. The human arrival coincided with the assassination of the Khan Ur, which made the charr vulnerable and easy to push out of the immediate area. And while the Kingdom lasted an incredible 1190 years, I presume, that Ascalon in the time of 100 B.E. until 1 B.E. was a sparsely settled Kingdom centered around its initial settlement and gradually expanded into the surrounding countryside. In the year before the Exodus, however, the humans were granted immense magical power by the gods, which allowed the humans to really crank up the expansionist attitude, subjugating, or driving out all the other races, encouraged to do so by Balthazar. The charr, like other cats, are incredibly stubborn and put up a fight. While they were pushed back more and more, they did not give up. Instead they constantly led assaults on Ascalon, which led to the construction of the great wall. Even if the territories north of the wall got periodically overwhelmed, the humans could always bounce back from the wall's protection. Until 1070 A.E when the wall was breached by the Searing. Without the wall, the Ascalonians valiantly held out for another 20 years, but in 1090 A.E their capital fell. The ascalonian basin still has a human population in Ebonhawke at the southern edge of the region. The duchy of Ebonhawke is a de facto vassal of Kryta, however.Ascalon is also home to the Harpies, who seem to be similar non threats to the charr. They have migrated from Elona, sometime after 1090 A.E.The newest sentient race to enter the land is the ogres, who push into Ascalon in search of land and creatures to tame. The ogres seem to have increased their efforts in 1320 A.E. but they are periodically pushed back into the Blazeridge Mountains by both humans and charr.

It would make sense if charr were able to toggle the flappy vest thingy. That way your charr would run around bare chested, kinda like a flame shaman, which would likely have its own set of issues, but only because of the mental connection with the flame legion.

While the last Titans fell to our adventurers, if we recall EoTN, this wasn't the end of Flame Legion's attempts at idolatry as a means of social control. Remember how Hierophant Burntsoul tried to establish destroyers as the new focus of worship? Last time I checked destroyers are a lot easier to kill than Titans.And that was just the new fad of 1078 AE. I suspect that the Shamans had a few more objects of mandatory worship n the 38 years until Scorchrazor's rebellion.And then some in the 206 years Flame Legion had to come up with new types of bovine excrement.I mean technically Flame Legion is still building their Effigies in 1325. At one point they will have attempted to force Effigy worship down the throats of the other legions. Not to mention Gaheron appointing himself as a god in recent times. Given enough attempts at decieving the charr, I can see why they are so opposed to worship in general.So while the Titan claim is likely propaganda, it's not like there was a shortage of other Flame Legion "gods" for the other charr to kill. ! About the retcon part: I pondered a bit on that. I mean, had you known that the charr are sentient beings, I suspect many would have had at least mixed feelings when farming charr for their Warrior Elite Charr Hide Armor. I mean technically the player character was hunting and killing sentient creatures for the charr hides to give them to a collector and get your fur squares. Plus, we didn't learn why the charr and Ascalonians were at war. Only that they were. The NPCs told us charr were these evil monsters and we had no reason to disbelieve them, as we were dropped right into the story.! Remember how Guild wars Prophecies started? King Adelbern was preparing another offensive into charr territory. To quote:! >Sir Tidus said:! >! >"I've been looking for you everywhere, (Character name). The king has ordered a new offensive against the Charr. This is your chance for glory and adventure, but you'll need to know more about your craft before going north of the Wall.! After you complete your profession training, you hear rumours of charr preparing an attack. You'll meet Vatlaaw Doomtooth, who was scouting the area south of the wall. The searing happens and two years later you find your character in the ruins of Ascalon. At this point you see that the charr have managed to breach the great wall and turn Ascalon into a wasteland via magical nuke. Ascalonians have been fighting for their lives for two years, until finally Prince Rurik decides that the humans are slowly losing the war and evacuated half of the remaining population over the Shiverpeaks. To this day, the humans of Gendarran fields and eastern Kryta are ethnically Ascalonians.!! Also, there is a big indicator that the charr were not just beast like wolves, bears, or mountain lions. They have names. Quite a few in fact. Do you think the Ascalonians named each charr they encountered? Swag the Lasher, Drub Gorefang, Slur Scharchest, Maul Riptear, by the way, remember that Maul and the other charr necromancers drop their armor, which is named Ash FiendTrappings? Does that indicate their legion even back in Prophecies?! Then there's the fact that they use class abilities.!! We even Speak to a charr questgiver back in Nightfall. Recall Scorch Emberspire?! That was before Eye of the North, but somehow our character was not surprised to do two quests for the charr. He even thanked us after completing "Dismember the Titans", where we killed two Titans in the Realm of Torment. Then again, having a conversation with a charr is one of the least weird things that can happen there.!! And finally in EoTN, where we meet Pyre and his warband. We learn that the charr in general don't like humans, don't like other charr, and don't like being sacrificed. Our character is not surprised that they talk. In fact, we quickly make a deal with him. See the video by AcashicAtticus.!! So, the Prophecies campaign did not have you talk to the enemy. Justified, in that humans and charr had a kill on sight policy in Ascalon. Nightfall had a charr questgiver, EotN finally introduced more dialogue and you could hear their battle cries. This was before GW2.!! Is this development non plausible? Or maybe it is, but you as a player feel betrayed? The game started and you were the good humans and there were these evil animals called charr, who are at war with the humans. As Gwen said:"All charr are evil!" You may feel tricked by the narrative, but our player characters did what he or she held to be the right thing at the moment. Their perception filters were applied to you, the player, which made the game overall very immersive. The downside is that the limited information makes you, the player, share the biases of your character. The rest is history. Quite literally so. Ascalon fell. It was certainly sad to see Ascalon go down in flames, but this is why the campaign was named Prophecies.

While no one can say with absolute certainty what the future holds, we can find some arguments, that make it appear unlikely that the charr will be pushed out of Ascalon by the ghosts of the foefire. Namely: In the 241 years since the foefire (1331 AE) the ghost have been trapped reliving the same moment, the same fight, not learning, not changing. They have been consistently been defeated by charr forces and there's no sign of that changing.In fact, there have been great technological improvements since 1325 AE. Ghostbore Ammunitions®, ghost containment units, turrets and anti ghost batteries have greatly diminished the need for active personnel dealing with ghosts.Not only has there been less need for charr on ghost duty, there have been more charr overall in Ascalon. In 1090 the foefire failed to eradicate the charr. Since that time the charr population of the Iron Legion, but also the other legions has only multiplied. The number of human ghosts has stayed largely constant and even decreased a little in 1327 AE when Rytlock made his first attempt to pull the ghosts into the mists. As time moves on Adelberns final gambit will become less and less relevant.Other threats to the charr have been contained or eliminated aswell. The separatists never really stood a chance. See this thread for likely dimensions of population matched against each other. Add to that, that Ebonhawke has made peace with the legions and Caudecus, who financed the separatists, having died and the separatist movement may have gone inactive.In addition to these points, the current leadership of the Iron Legion seems very interested in good relations with Kryta, especially since humans have entered an economic relationship with the legions. There is one major trader artery over the shiverpeaks. Between Foewatch Camp and Splintercrest Fort there seems to be a mutual assistance agreement between charr and humans against the branded and the ogres.The brand may even weaken since Kralkatorrik has moved much further south than he did previously. Then again, his newly acquired magic may increase the brand's power. However, where there were originally only the sentinels watching over the brand there are now the Fallen Angels watching their northern border, Sentinels watching the Brand in general, Tribune Steeleye keeping the eastern territories accessible, the Pact consisting of Priory, Vigil and Order keeping the dragon minions in check.Flame legions has likely capitulated between 1325 and 1330 AE. In a situation like this, the only thing that could jeopardize the charr's success is the charr themselves. There are some ways this could concievably happen.The charr could unite under a Khan Ur. Depending on who that is, they might do something stupid because of it. Or the legions turn to infighting (again). In any case, the Kingdom of Ascalon is unlikely to ever return. Even if you magically got rid of all the charr, the ghosts would just kill anybody who entered their realm, since the curse doesn't terminate through passing time nor does it end when the charr are gone. The place would just become a dead land where retarded ghosts attack anyone who enters, because to them, any living creature is a charr. And lastly. The retcon issue:

I actually disliked the shantytown of old Lion's Arch. It just couldn't compete with the bustling, yet ordered activity of the Black Citadel.Yet what I did like about the place was the history, the atmospheric dialogue, the rumours, in short, you could start a conversation with an NPC and they had things to say, how the city went about its daily business, how the world interacted with Lion's Arch and how its inhabitants interacted with each other.The female charr speculating whether Tribune Brimstone has a mate, there was talk about water closets, you could go to a bar and get all kinds of conversations.Today's Lion's Arch has two big problems: There is a severe lack of conversations, ambent speech or normal conversations with bystanders.The central Plaza is way too large, making the city feel even more empty.At least the first one should be possible to address. What is happening in this world? All roads lead to Lion's Arch, so I'd expect the news over current events to spread there eventually.