Dragon jade = (re)discovered bloodstone tech

[Kayberz.5346]

I dont have any solid concrete evidence for this theory, just some fun speculation 

 

The main premise is that dragonjade tech is extremely similar if not identical in purpose/function to bloodstone and what the canthans have discovered, or rather i should say rediscovered, is the same technology/magic behind the ancient bloodstones

 

They are both stone/crystals that can store and release magic and be used in components of magitech as a powersource.

 

I can envision this connection being explored in cantha when it comes to exactly how the dragonjade is "fueled". 

We dont really have a ton of info yet on how exactly it works, which makes this speculation pretty flimsy  but im assuming that the jade either contains the magic from the jade wind itself or the jade is being used to absorb the ambient dragon magic that has been being released when the elder dragons are dieing.

 

Now the bloodstones themselves were filled with all kinds of magic from unknown sources, but one source of magic we do know that was contained in the bloodstones was essentially the "souls" of many sacrificed upon the bloodstone.

Im speculating that the bloodstone could essentially store/siphon any kind of magic you put into it, but that the mursaat and white mantle were using the magic of living being's spirit or soul to fill the bloodstone which has a lot to do with the maddening/tormenting nature of bloodstone overexposure as we have experienced,  because essentially the bloodstone was "tainted" by this "bad" ill gotten  magic.

On the shing jea teaser stream they talked about how the "new" form of ritualism was about concent and the mutual cooperation of spirits and that the old way was basically subjugating the spirits. They showed that there were some more "opportunistic" towards the spirits that sought to use the old methods to abuse the spirits and use them for their own means.

What if there is a plotpoint in cantha about these "opportunistic" types rejecting the traditions of living in harmony with the spirits of the dead and instead seek to use them as fuel to power their new dragon jade tech?

 

Basically a subplot of using dragon jade in a very similar way to how the mursaat and white mantle used bloodstone, using spirits as an alternate powersource. 

 

Thoughts?

Edited November 6, 2021 by Kayberz.5346

[AgentMoore.9453]

Sounds grimdark; I'm in.

This kind of thing is also why I was hopeful we'd get a ghost/spirit-themed Necromancer (Exorcist?) with this expansion. The souls of the dead are so prevalent in Cantha, it feels like a waste not to explore that at all with magic. I'm curious to see what their cultural/story involvement is like based on what was said in the livestreams - if we discover that Jade Tech is actually 'evil' because it uses people's imprisoned souls as the source of its power, that'd give us a hard moral dilemma trying to convince an entire nation built on its benefits to give it up for moral reasons.

On the other hand, the EoD trailer seems to be narrated by a dragon who claims to have provided the jade they've built their civilization on, so it's possible that all the juice is coming from the dragon and the ghosts won't be involved at all. That'd be a much less interesting plot in my view, but I guess we'll see in February.

[draxynnic.3719]

Now, what were the mursaat constructs called again?

 

It's definitely a possibility that dragonjade can absorb souls. I suspect it is similar to bloodstone, though - it has the potential to absorb ANY form of magic, including the magical energy linked to souls. So if there is sufficient magic from other sources, powering dragonjade through binding human souls may not be necessary (it's just that that was what the mursaat magitech the White Mantle inherited was made to do).

[Kayberz.5346]

I was more thinking of the possibility that maybe after the EoD story if perhaps they don't have dragons around to fuel this dragon jade tech there may be some seeking to continue using this technology they have become dependent on and with there seeming to be an abundance of spirits/ghosts in cantha that they would then turn to using them to sustain the dragon jade tech

[Fueki.4753]

According to the GW1 wiki, the souls of the Chosen weren't absorbed into the Bloodstones. Killing the Chosen on the Bloodstone caused their souls to be channelled into the Mursaat's Souls Batteries. But these Souls batteries may have been made from the same material as the Jade Constructs and the Mursaat towers.

Another titbit that may be worth noting here is that in GW1, the Jade constructs had faces that resemble Abaddon (less resemblance in GW2 though). And Abaddon is the one who caused Shiro to go mad and end whose death caused the Jade Wind. Incidently, some people even try to connect Abaddon the Selbbub.

So, the Bloodstones might not be a connecting factor, but Abaddon's (albeit loose) relation to both kinds of Jade (Mursaat jade and Canthan jade).

But Canthans having reverse-engineered the Bloodstone and based their jade technology on that is a neat idea. That also might mean, one of the two remaining shards of the Bloodstone was found in Cantha.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Fueki.4753

[draxynnic.3719]

9 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

According to the GW1 wiki, the souls of the Chosen weren't absorbed into the Bloodstones. Killing the Chosen on the Bloodstone caused their souls to be channelled into the Mursaat's Souls Batteries. But these Souls batteries may have been made from the same material as the Jade Constructs and the Mursaat towers.

That was the end result, yeah, but the impression I always had was that it was a two-step process: the Bloodstone absorbed the soul, and then it could be extracted again using the Soul Batteries, and the mursaat could then choose to use the soul to power something else (from memory, there's a spirit who mentions being trapped in either one of the towers or one of the "statues"). The mursaat couldn't just take a Soul Battery and extract the soul of a prisoner anywhere, the Bloodstone was an important part of the process.

 

Dragonjade, from what we've been told, has a similar property of absorbing magical energy. I suspect that it's not as potent as bloodstone - bloodstone seems to have had its magic-absorbing properties turned up to 11 by the Seers. But it's possible that dragonjade is comparable to the material that the Seers made the original Bloodstone from.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

On 11/7/2021 at 10:05 AM, Fueki.4753 said:

According to the GW1 wiki, the souls of the Chosen weren't absorbed into the Bloodstones. Killing the Chosen on the Bloodstone caused their souls to be channelled into the Mursaat's Souls Batteries. But these Souls batteries may have been made from the same material as the Jade Constructs and the Mursaat towers.

17 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

That was the end result, yeah, but the impression I always had was that it was a two-step process: the Bloodstone absorbed the soul, and then it could be extracted again using the Soul Batteries, and the mursaat could then choose to use the soul to power something else (from memory, there's a spirit who mentions being trapped in either one of the towers or one of the "statues"). The mursaat couldn't just take a Soul Battery and extract the soul of a prisoner anywhere, the Bloodstone was an important part of the process.

Should be noted that in GW2, souls of the Chosen returned to the Bloodstone after the events of Prophecies and resided within - as well as later White Mantle sacrifices - until the Bloodstone exploded.

So it does seem to be a two-step process by GW2 lore.

On 11/7/2021 at 10:05 AM, Fueki.4753 said:

Another titbit that may be worth noting here is that in GW1, the Jade constructs had faces that resemble Abaddon (less resemblance in GW2 though). And Abaddon is the one who caused Shiro to go mad and end whose death caused the Jade Wind. Incidently, some people even try to connect Abaddon the Selbbub.

I wouldn't put too much faith on this. There was a lot of six-eyed entities with no notable relation to each other or Abaddon, from the Jade Constructs, to undead, to titans. Jade Armor and Abaddon were simply the most noted. On top of that, Abaddon was developed in lore well after Prophecies was written as confirmed by Jeff Grubb, so it wasn't some subtle hint from day 1.

More likely that one of the artists of Prophecies->Nightfall had some big interest in multi-eyed villainy, similar to how often Kekai Kotaki tends to include tribal, celtic, and norse tattoos in his artwork - from Echovald Wardens to norn to charr to tennak to even minotaurs and more.