Some PoF lore questions

[Eclipse.6203]

I have never played GW1 and I don't usually hang around forums but I think I know enough about the lore to that some parts of PoF leave me confused enough to ask for answers to my questions here.

1. I thought Elona was supposed to be cut off from the rest of the world with only the order of whispers having a secret way in. How is it that we are just take an airship and autmatically know where we are going? How do the refugees from Elona in LA know how to get from Elona?
2. I thought in order to talk to the gods you had to go through ascension. In PoF we go through a portal I don't ever remember hearing about to solve a puzzle to talk to Kormir. Anyone know more on that?
3. If the gods left Tyria for the mists and if they are leaving again, then where are they going? I did not know there was anything else besides Tyria and the mists, which are supposed to be infinite. Didn't the gods come to Tyria from the mists?

Just when I thought I was beginning to get Gw2 lore nailed down, PoF seems to bring more questions then solve them.Sorry for any bad English and thanks in advance for any answers

[Janderson.4670]

Elona was cut off. There was no communication in or out. The wiki lists the last contact made about 50 years ago. As for us going there on an airship, we don't quite reach the kingdom of Joko, where we would have surely but fired upon. Now for knowing where we were going,

In the original Guild Wars, there was a portal at the Tomb of the Primeval Kings. After entering the portal, people fought through several areas, the heroes eventually make their way to the Hall of Heroes where they would fight for the Favor of the Gods. This portal in the Tomb of the Primeval kings relating so closely to the Gods, I think, is why we were able to meet with one in PoF.

[JayMack.8295]

This is a question they've deliberately left vague. If you read Kormir's journal she says the Gods are 'needed' elsewhere. I haven't got the exact quote so I'm paraphrasing, but I wouldn't be surprised that there are 'other worlds'. I'm not a lore expert so someone will have to correct me or expand but I believe other worlds outside of the mists and Tyria have already been known to exist. Also Tyria is just a planet - there's other planets and an entire universe out there.

[Aaron Ansari.1604]

1. It's... more complicated then that. Our Lionguard guide says the desert's been on lockdown for 160 years, but most other sources disagree. The last major wave of Elonian refugees came through 60 years ago, and refugees from Ebonhawke became the highland nomads. Aife, a sylvari Firstborn, visited the desert, and Destiny's Edge made it as far south as Glint's Lair ten years ago. The Priory mounted expeditions into the desert at some point during its history, and a few months before PoF the Followers of Ascension came through to set up shop by Augury Rock. Besides, Lion's Arch is more than a thousand years old. It hasn't moved much since Elona was cut off.

2. Ascension never actually let us talk to the gods, but like Janderson said, there's been a portal to the Mists in the Tomb since ~851 AE. It didn't go to the Sunspear puzzle in GW1, but GW2 has introduced the idea that portals into the Mists can vary in their destination (mostly for WvW's sake).

3. Jaymack pretty much has it nailed down. We don't know if Tyria has an outer space, complete with other planets, like the real world does, but at the very least we know that there are other worlds that can be reached through the Mists, like the one humans came from in the first place.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

Tyria is who cut off ties with Elona. What got cut off was basically Tyrians saying "we won't go there anymore". So we re-initiated ties. Nothing actually indicates that Joko was hostile to Tyrian trade - beyond the creation of The Bone Wall to keep people from fleeing into the desert, which seems to have been erected ~60 years ago. And that cut-off is, as Aaron hints at, an official declaration rather than "no one ever managed to get in or out". So individual groups could (illegally) make it through.

While Tyrians believe that Ascension would allow them to communicate with the gods - specifically, this is what the Margonites were hoping when they attempted Ascension through physical means - Ascension never actually allowed that. Though there was the gw1 mechanic of needing to be Ascended/Weh no Su/reaching the Sunspear Sanctuary before accessing the realms of the gods, it was never connected in terms of lore. Ascension was, ultimately, unlocking one's true magical potential and granting a sight into the Mists that overlap with Tyria (thus being able to see mursaat and spirits who "phase out of reality" / "hide in the spirit realm" respectively).

Based on Garden of the Gods they're going to another world, a world without major problems like the Elder Dragons, to begin anew with humanity or possibly other races.

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

3. Based on Garden of the Gods they're going to another world, a world without major problems like the Elder Dragons, to begin anew with humanity or possibly other races.This would be the most hilarious kick in the balls if it turns out to be true. I mean, can you imagine it?The gods brought humanity to Tyria, seemingly fleeing some cataclysm on the world they came from, and now, once it turns out this world also has a cataclysmic event going on, they just leave it, not even bothering to attempt to evacuate even the humans?Its like "You guys are cursed, so we are just leaving you here to die, have fun!"

[ugrakarma.9416]

@Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

3. Based on
   Garden of the Gods
   they're going to another world, a world without major problems like the Elder Dragons, to begin anew with humanity or possibly other races.This would be the most hilarious kick in the kitten if it turns out to be true. I mean, can you imagine it?The gods brought humanity to Tyria, seemingly fleeing some cataclysm on the world they came from, and now, once it turns out this world also has a cataclysmic event going on, they just leave it, not even bothering to attempt to evacuate even the humans?Its like "You guys are cursed, so we are just leaving you here to die, have fun!"

So if Balthazar succeded their deserver the revenge!

[Ayakaru.6583]

I thought Elona was supposed to be cut off from the rest of the world with only the order of whispers having a secret way in. How is it that we are just take an airship and autmatically know where we are going? How do the refugees from Elona in LA know how to get from Elona?Sort of, but world maps are still a thing. Cantha has become ilotariat, so we only know Cantha exists because the name is written in books, but we quite truly know Elona still exists because there are world maps, and the order of whispers using said maps, so we know they're accurate. Of course, the maps may be dated, so towns/ outposts may be relocated, but something like Kamadan or Seborhin's Garden isn't going to move a hundred miles west in 250 years.

I thought in order to talk to the gods you had to go through ascension. In PoF we go through a portal I don't ever remember hearing about to solve a puzzle to talk to Kormir. Anyone know more on that?hmmm.... this is a bit vague for me, too, but the way I remember it is; in GW1 we sought assencion so we could interact with the mists from our own realm, and thusly interact with the veiled Mursaat. In retrospect, canonically speaking, the Nightfall heroes are not ascended, yet they went to the mists, and any player from any realm could go to the Fissure of Woe, the Realm of Torment, and the Primeval Tombs. So I guess Ascension is one means to an end, but not the one-fix-all. Todes will probably correct me on this in a few minutes ;)

If the gods left Tyria for the mists and if they are leaving again, then where are they going? I did not know there was anything else besides Tyria and the mists, which are supposed to be infinite. Didn't the gods come to Tyria from the mists?There's more beside the Mists and Tyria. Since humans came from a different realm as well, we know there's more out there. How the Mists, the Eternal Alchemy and Tyria coincide I honestly can't tell you. It's also entirely possible the gods just made a new realm within the mists where they 'hide', to avoid further interaction with the public mists and Tyria (you know, not 'really really' leaving but just going into exile to the point no one will ever find them again)

[Eclipse.6203]

Thanks for the all answers. I was not expecting as many. Does anyone know where exactly that bit about ''humans not being from Tyria'' can be found though?

[Aaron Ansari.1604]

Most of the time it comes up in out-of-game sources: dev interviews, lore articles, maybe a timeline. If you're looking for an established in-game source, though, Samuel Cuttler comes to mind.