Cantha... And then what ?

[Dante.1763]

> @"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > For a start the full world map file shows a massive amount of lands east of Ascalon and Elona which we know absolutely nothing about: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Tyria_map_(clean).jpg

> Most of the lands east of Ascalon are Charr territory. Ascalon is only the Iron Legion's territory, witch Blood's territory being north of that, and Ash, presumably, to the east.

>

> Presuming all three have fairly equal territory sizes, the Charr empire is fairly large

> 

>

>

>

 

Still a -huge- amount of land we havent seen over there, and up north even further. and to the West...Jeez the globe maps you can find in game have continents that arent even on that map if i recall correctly.

 

Wish we could go to those..

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Krzysztof.5973" said:

> What comes after? Build templates working as templates, although that might be more even distant future.

 

I'd like to be wrong, but I think that ship has sailed.

[Super Hayes.6890]

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> Alliances.

>

> Wait no, the end probably have time to come before that.

 

This made me laugh. Factions in GW1 brought PvP elements to PvE so maybe with this expansion they'll ignore alliances and do that ;)

[Blur.3465]

> @"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > For a start the full world map file shows a massive amount of lands east of Ascalon and Elona which we know absolutely nothing about: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Tyria_map_(clean).jpg

> Most of the lands east of Ascalon are Charr territory. Ascalon is only the Iron Legion's territory, witch Blood's territory being north of that, and Ash, presumably, to the east.

>

> Presuming all three have fairly equal territory sizes, the Charr empire is fairly large

> 

>

>

>

 

-insert amazed Pikachu picture-

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Super Hayes.6890" said:

> > @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> > Alliances.

> >

> > Wait no, the end probably have time to come before that.

>

> This made me laugh. Factions in GW1 brought PvP elements to PvE so maybe with this expansion they'll ignore alliances and do that ;)

 

I really hope not. In my opinion, this would have significant backlash.

 

Unless you're referring to something similar to Silverwastes/Drytop?

[Dante.1763]

> @"Super Hayes.6890" said:

> > @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> > Alliances.

> >

> > Wait no, the end probably have time to come before that.

>

> This made me laugh. Factions in GW1 brought PvP elements to PvE so maybe with this expansion they'll ignore alliances and do that ;)

 

They did? all i remember about factions in GW1 was those few instances you could enter to earn Jade or Amber. Unless you meant the trolling inside cities about the factions..wait..did that even happen?

[Super Hayes.6890]

I was referring to the instances where you fought against other players taking the side of the Kurzicks or Luxons to move the territory line and guilds would control the cities.

[Super Hayes.6890]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Super Hayes.6890" said:

> > > @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> > > Alliances.

> > >

> > > Wait no, the end probably have time to come before that.

> >

> > This made me laugh. Factions in GW1 brought PvP elements to PvE so maybe with this expansion they'll ignore alliances and do that ;)

>

> I really hope not. In my opinion, this would have significant backlash.

>

> Unless you're referring to something similar to Silverwastes/Drytop?

 

It was more of a sarcastic comment that they won't give us what we want but will implement something else we didn't ask for. Alliances are pretty much meme status now right?

[Dondarrion.2748]

> @"Eday.4850" said:

> Despite the fact that I'm bored to see that the future extension will be AGAIN human focused, I asked myself a question

 

What if the 3rd xpac will be Tengu focused? ;)

 

[Raizel.1839]

Nothing, GW2 can end with Cantha if done well and maybe then it will be time for GW3.

[Dante.1763]

> @"Raizel.1839" said:

> Nothing, GW2 can end with Cantha if done well and maybe then it will be time for GW3.

 

Awful idea if GW3 where to be an MMO, i know i wouldnt play it. I dont have the time, desire or energy to start another MMO over again. I dont think it would do well these days, alot of MMOs struggle outside of the ones that are already pre established..even ESO, and KOTOR struggled so hard they had to go F2P.

[Kossage.9072]

Well, if not counting any potential Primordus and Depths of Tyria shenanigans, there are still quite a few teased plots that the writers can go for (let alone create entirely new plots) for post-Elder Dragons content. Some of these plots are bigger than others, and most of them are not expansion material per se, but they're fun to think about. :)

 

**1) Glint's Legacy and the hunt for the replacements**

 

Although Tom Abernathy has said that GW2 is Aurene's story, I'd disagree with him slightly and say GW2 is less about Aurene than it is about Glint's Legacy to replace the ravenous Elder Dragons with more benevolent balancers of magic who share a deep bond with the mortal races rather than being distanced from them. Like Kralkatorrik stated, Aurene is "the first of her kind" and thus plays a crucial role in guiding future Elder Dragon replacements to take their mantle as balancers of the cosmic Antikytheria system that balances Tyria's The All.

 

The current problem we face with the remaining Elder Dragons is that we can't kill any more of them without finding replacements. Aurene barely balanced things out by replacing Kralkatorrik, but Zhaitan and Mordremoth's orbs are still inert in the All, and we know from Season 3 that we need at least four balancers to keep the Antikytheria mechanism somewhat stable. It follows, then, that we need to find a replacement for Jormag (or Zhaitan or Mordremoth) ASAP to further balance the magic system as Aurene can't contain all six dragons' worth of magic in her let alone keep the push/pull motion of the orbs stable. I just don't see how we'll manage to rush that plot to find some sudden replacement if the Icebrood Saga ends up being as short as that_shaman's datamining of the portal tome entries suggests; I guess we'll see how the narrative handles it unless we simply incapacitate Jormag for a time while working on a solution.

 

Either way, eventually we'll have to find at least three replacements, although the optimal number would be five replacements and Aurene, or maybe twelve replacements in total if we want to truly lessen the burden and torment of magic caused by being subjected to too much magic. It's still unknown if the Elder Dragons' torment was caused by them controlling two spheres of magic instead of one, or if the torment such as Kralkatorrik's predates even that. But I feel it would benefit the plot (and give writers more room to navigate and even things out) to have us hunt for 10-11 replacements in the system. Maybe Aurene can be special and hold on to Kralk's two spheres, but the rest of the replacements can just hold one sphere each. For example, we could possibly let Pale Tree and Malyck's Tree (if she's deemed another suitable and trustworthy candidate) take over Mordremoth's spheres so Pale Tree controls Mind while Malyck's Tree controls Plant.

 

We know a few things about limitations for becoming an Elder Dragon as per Glint's plan: a) lesser dragons that are not capable of speech (skyscales, drakes, hydras, wyverns, rockhides, and likely dragon mosses) can't become Elder Dragons (possibly because they can't contain all that magic without going insane like the ley-affected bounties we fight in Elona), and b) the replacements need to bond with Tyrians, possibly from a very early age, to empathize with them (which is why using the jaded and adult Vlast as a replacement would've seemingly failed as he never cared for mortals and only helped them because he wanted to honor his mom Glint's wishes). It's unknown if Cantha's saltspray dragons (who can speak since birth as shown by the saltspray hatchling Shiny immediately calling its mercenary caretaker Goren as its "mommy" in GW1) will be classified as lesser dragons or if they're actually "high dragons" who have the potential to become Elder Dragons due to their intelligence and control of impressive magic (like the saltspray dragon Albax granting people good or bad luck, or Kuunavang having great control of the elements and other blessings). If they do, then Shiny is a very good candidate for a future Elder Dragon since it (he? she?) was actually raised by Goren and the djinn of Ahdashim and thus had plenty of time to bond with one lovely mortal and a bunch of wise, nigh-immortal elemental caretakers. Devs left it open-ended what had happened to Shiny since it was absent during Qadim's invasion in the Key of Ahdashim raid, so that's a story hook right there.

 

What's also fascinating about this hunt for replacements is that we can use the Scrying Pool with Aurene's guidance to find their locations, thus opening the entire world of Tyria for us to explore (kind of similar to the globe-trotting adventure we had in Season 3). We may end up with a trial and error scenario of meeting potential candidates where some of them turn out to be rotten eggs (either because of their personal ambitions or because some villains corrupt them and lead them astray), so not every quest will necessarily end in a victory for us. We also don't know if there's a way to circumvent the magic sickness via the Shadowstone or otherwise and if theoretically we could even bestow some mortal races' representatives with the power to become such replacements without the nasty side effects so we don't just have to rely on draconic replacements.

 

We've already seen hints that factions like the Inquest want to control dragon minions and potentially the Elder Dragons as well, weaponizing their magic. In this "hunt for replacements" story we might encounter cunning mortal villains (from Inquest or otherwise) who race to get to the candidates before we do so they can get their own Elder Dragon into the system and grow their own power in the process while enslaving the new dragon to their will. We may see stories where heroic candidates ultimately fall to the dark side and have to be fought while candidates who were initially villainous or led astray are redeemed with the power of love, friendship etc. in a heartwarming moment or two to balance the scales.

 

This also opens the plot regarding the fate of the current dragon minions. We know since personal story that dragon minions and the champions continue existing even after their dragon master is gone. While the intelligent champions may become aware that Zhaitan, Mordremoth and Kralkatorrik are gone, they may still seek to carry out their master's wishes while also developing a personality of their own. Imagine us encountering some empowered Risen, Mordrem and Branded champions who are amassing their armies to realize their own vision of the world and how they cope with the fact that their master is no longer there and they're "free" to do as they please if they have the will to do so. One of my dream scenarios would be having Chief Kronon, a notable villain from the novel *Edge of Destiny* who was unceremoniously killed off as a PoF bounty, actually return as Death-Branded Kronon as he amasses a Branded army to ostensibly carry out Kralkatorrik's will while his former personality as a grieving father starts materializing through the cracks. He might remember how Caithe, Logan and Rytlock killed his beloved son (there's a really touching moment in the novel where Kronon discovers his son's body and lets out a wail of anguish that any father can sympathize with), and he plans an elaborate revenge on the trio for the sake of his son. We could see some Risen potentially reaching out to sylvari and/or Awakened, maybe even offer a chance for a redemption story for the more reasonable Risen champions if they choose to embrace a path of atonement. The Mordrem may still hold some Mordrem Guard in their ranks, and seeing their and Nightmare Court's interactions would be fascinating, ditto if they seek out Malyck's Tree and all the drama it leads to.

 

Then we also have the wild card in the equation: the crosscorrupted minion Subject Alpha who was explicitly shown to survive the battles against us in Crucible of Eternity's explorable mode. What if Alpha survived the facility's destruction and has spent the time out there in the wild gaining strength via devouring beings and magic to increase its intelligence? Alpha was basically immortal in the dungeon as it could separate itself if on the verge of death, and it seemed a very curious individual who had the uncanny ability to take control over rival dragon minions, potentially becoming a "seventh" Elder Dragon of sorts. Alpha could be the kind of morally grey figure who may be an antivillain who only seeks to find a reason for its existence in the changing world while perfecting itself via devouring more magic, and we might have some intriguing interactions with it if it became a temporary ally or even if it showed up as a recurring, dangerous antagonist. Alpha would be a nice contrast to its seemingly more docile cousin, Subject Beta, who is currently under the control of Inquest's Overseer Kuda. An encounter between Alpha and Beta would certainly be juicy and give its own spin on this "replacements" storyline.

 

**2) Verata, Marjory, Riot Alice, and the Great Collapse**

 

Back in the early days of GW2, we had a few mysteries going on. Riot Alice from human personal story was convinced that the Great Collapse of the Canthan district in Divinity's Reach and the Shining Blade silencing people who tried to investigate it on their own was part of some conspiracy, and she set out to find the truth among bandits. We last saw her at Prosperity in Dry Top before the Mordrem invaded. In her origin story, Marjory got to briefly talk with the ghost of the boy Mendel who revealed having witnessed some macabre sacrifices somewhere in DR before his ghost was banished by a necromancer mercenary Kraig the Bleak who working for someone; this also led to Marjory's first encounter with the enigmatic spymaster known as E.

 

At the time I thought that both Marjory and Alice's stories would ultimately tie into the White Mantle storyline (especially as devs like Scott McGough said that they intended to let Marjory find out the truth and finish her one unsolved case as an investigator) but nothing came out of it as Mendel's murder is still unavenged and Alice is still MIA.

 

When asked about if the Cult of Verata was still around, Bobby Stein left a cryptic answer where he neither confirmed nor denied it, preferring to leave such a plot for later if the writers ever felt exploring it. Verata was a necromancer from GW1 who went rogue, causing alarm among the Order of Necromancers who didn't like the bad press he was causing. Verata formed a cult around himself, was fascinating with experimenting with undeath in ways that seemed to frighten even the Order.

 

What if the Cult survived to the present day and has bided its time in the catacombs of Divinity's Reach? They may have continued experiments with living subjects, hence the grisly display that Mendel witnessed, and these experiments may have even caused the mysterious collapse that had the Shining Blade on edge. Perhaps this way the story could still resolve Marjory and Alice's unfinished plots and tie them to another unsolved plot from GW1 (Verata surviving the hunts against him and continuing his cult). The story could even show that Verata has since become a lich, and we'd finally learn what exactly is required in GW verse for one to become a lich since the writers chose not to explore that subject with Joko.

 

We've never gotten a chance to truly explore the crypts of DR which were depicted in *Ghosts of Ascalon*, but we know some crypts were located below the Canthan district that later became the Great Collapse which was transformed into the Crown Pavilion. Verata's cult and its sacrifices could even open up possibilities that Verata and his lackeys might be collaborating with some demons, opening up more Mists lore for us to explore.

 

**3) Demons, Razah, and the Mists**

 

Although Elder Dragons are notorious villains, most of them seem to have somewhat "justifiable" goals based on clues even if their methods are quite warped. Zhaitan wants to reunite loved ones and create an eternal kingdom where death doesn't exist, Mordremoth wants to become the sustainer of all life and create a perfect world with its "superior" mordrem clones that are all part of the same harmonious hivemind so there is no conflict anymore while nature thrives etc. But there are worse things out there than the dragons can ever hope to be, beings that are born of malignant energies themselves: demons.

 

So far demons have been shown to make pacts with greater forces or being forced into servitude. In the "voluntary" cases they, more often than not, just bide their time before they start manipulating their summoner so they can betray the foolish mortals at the right moment. Our knowledge of demons and how powerful they can become is still somewhat unknown although GW1 gave us some vague clues. What we do know is that demons love to prey on and devour the weak amongs their kind, they enjoy torturing their mortal and ghost victims as they savor their victims' life essence or they rob their victims of their memories. It's known that some demons can digest souls in their stomachs for centuries, likely for the sheer pleasure of it. Demons are basically pure evil or as close as we get to it in GW verse.

 

Now imagine if we ever encountered greater demons who start controlling vast armies of demons, and if these greater ones become archdemons. Such beings with potentially limitless power (as they form from the Mists and can theoretically siphon Mist magic to empower themselves) can become a force that rivals the Elder Dragons and the gods themselves. The writers could have fun with such characters as we need to not only empower our demonic villains but also outsmart them.

 

Then there are beings of unclear origin like Razah who was hidden deep within Abaddon's domain. There must've been a reason why the God of Secrets wanted to hide him away although we don't yet know if Razah was potentially one of Abaddon's children (assuming if the noncanonical, datamined entry for the Graveyard of Abaddon's Rebellious Children will ever be canonized), if he was intended as Abaddon's new vessel once Abaddon's corrupted and splintered body had served its uses, or if Abaddon's plans were greater than we could've anticipated. We've yet to learn what Razah's been doing in the centuries since he was taught heroic actions by the GW1 Hero; maybe he's found similar beings of the Mists like himself and has become their teacher so they learn to control their ravenous impulses and become forces of good for the worlds in the Mists. Maybe one of Razah's apostles becomes power-hungry and betrays him and the rest of the group, becoming a major antagonist in the future. The possibilities with Razah are endless and could be tied to an overarching threat of demons.

 

**4) The gods and Menzies**

 

PoF left quite a few plots open regarding the gods. We were told there's more to being a god of war than we know, we don't know what happened to Balthazar's half-brother Menzies, why Kormir's depiction shows Lyssa as less caring than other accounts, why Balthazar didn't curse Lyssa in his final moments, what the gods intend to do in the future, and if the Mad Souls' prophecy of Kormir continuing the cycle of Abaddon and his predecessor and ultimately causing the downfall of the gods becomes true. The gods' story isn't over like Linsey Murdock has said, so there's a chance we may explore it via Kormir, Menzies or even Lyssa.

 

Perhaps Lyssa's two halves are different, and, say, Ilya might be the chaotic half who agreed with Balthazar's methods. If even a mere Mirror of Lyssa was enough for Balthazar to hide himself from the gods, then it should be easy enough for one half of Lyssa (let's say Ilya) to eventually return to Tyria. If they went with this idea of an "evil" half of Lyssa causing mayhem, they'd just need to explain why Lyss would let Ilya go on a rampage, why Ilya didn't help Balthazar if there was some sort of alliance between them etc. Devs like Scott McGough have said how fascinating it'd be to go to a city fully under Lyssa's illusion and how the people whose minds are affected would act there. Imagine Ilya conjuring all too lifelike images of all our loved ones from personal story etc. suddenly being alive and happy in this utopia and we know something isn't right in the back of our mind but we still can't help but go along with the illusion because these emotions overwhelm us. If the writers intend to escalate the threat with each antagonist, it'd make sense to eventually fight one half of a proper god (Ilya or Lyss) in contrast to a former god who was at most at demigod level in PoF (Balthazar, Dhuum).

 

If Menzies has survived to the present day and wasn't defeated off screen by Balthazar, it'd make sense for him to seek revenge after learning that the Commander and Aurene defeated his half-brother before he had the chance to. If Menzies himself is compelled by the curse of the Shadow Army to fight Balthazar, he'll sense the remnants of Balthazar in Aurene and thus be naturally opposed to her. If the plot wasn't already going for the Jormag and Bangar manipulations plot, it would've made sense to involve Menzies as a shadowy Lord of Destruction stoking the fires of conflict via power and deceit to weaken the races of Tyria to get close enough to Aurene. It would be fascinating if Menzies initially appeared to us as a seemingly benevolent spirit (or even masquerading as a mortal) whom we befriend over several episodes until he reveals his true colours and name and betrays us in a shocking twist.

 

I'm also curious how Linsey's words about there being more to the gods' plot will be realized. There are suggestions that they may be searching for a new world to transport humanity (and possibly the other races) to in case Glint's plan doesn't work, but what other roles may they have in future storylines? I'd be happy to meet with the rest of the gods and learn more about their reasoning for not only leaving Tyria on its own for now but not even bothering to inform at least their high priests of their contingency plan or the weaknesses of the Elder Dragons that the gods seemed to know of to some extent. Perhaps we'd also learn who has replaced Balthazar as the new god of war; my bet would be on the GW1 hero to explain his or her odd absence from Tyria when it needed the Hero the most, and the fact that canonically there may have been more than one Hero active in GW1 would give the writers enough leeway to leave the Hero's identity ambiguous enough so roleplayers wouldn't have to worry about their personal stories being trampled on regardless of which Hero became the god.

 

**5) Humanity's homeland, Sunrise Crest?**

 

Although we'll have explored most of the human lands once Cantha's released, there's at least one more notable land that we could yet explore. If we look at [the map of the world of Tyria](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/a/ac/Tyria_world_fan_map.jpg), we see dots which indicate cities with naval trade routes, and a particularly notable area to the west called Sunrise Crest. Why is this area so intriguing then, you might ask? A couple of reasons:

 

In the personal story, the Whispers Preceptor Doern Velazquez hints that he doesn't come from any of the known human kingdoms, which suggests there's another human land out there. In the Factions lore documents like "An Empire Divided" it's suggested that the Luxons and the Kurzicks arrived from somewhere else to Cantha even though Cantha is the first historically documented (that we know of) human kingdom. Given how the majority of Canthans are Asians while the rest of the human cultures are of different ethnicities, it suggests that various human tribes sailed to their future homelands from somewhere else. We know the gods took humanity to Orr but quickly took them elsewhere, leaving to a gap in history until some humans appeared in Cantha in 786 BE.

 

As such, it's reasonable to suggest that Sunrise Crest might be humanity's first kingdom in Tyria, long before Cantha became the Empire of the Dragon, and is the cradle of all the ethnicities that eventually spread around the world. Perhaps Sunrise Crest will have Hispanic influence as a tribute to the scrapped GW1 Utopia expansion whose Mesoamerican influences were transferred to asura. Perhaps Doern's homeland is more advanced than the other kingdoms, and we could truly get to learn about the first years of the gods and humans and what led the gods to leave Sunrise Crest (if that's where Doern's from) and settle into Arah instead. In this land we might even discover clues to humanity, Forgotten and gods' original homeworld if any such evidence survived over the millennia in some obscure, long forgotten stories.

 

**6) Forgotten, mursaat, the Isles of Janthir, and the remaining Bloodstones**

 

Bastion of the Penitent gave us a rather big hint that one of the mursaat's prisoners had been a Forgotten. However, when we explored the bastion after the prison riot, we didn't find any Forgotten body there despite every body in the bastion being preserved due to the magic there. This might suggest that the Forgotten prisoner successfully escaped the bastion during the riot and Samarog's rampage, and might now be out there in the Woodland Cascades as the last living Forgotten on Tyria. What if this Forgotten had gone mad from torture and was seeking out the mursaat capital (implied to potentially be somewhere in the Cascades) or the Isles of Janthir for some reason? What if it turns out that the mursaat aren't fully extinct, and the Eye of Janthir simply phased into the Mists to find the last mursaat survivors there?

 

We could eventually find our way into the abandoned mursaat capital and maybe even explore the Isles of Janthir and finally reveal if the Eye of Janthir was a mursaat creation or potentially tied to the Seers, and how the war between Seers and mursaat began. Perhaps the mursaat in the Mists would wish to atone for their actions while the crazed Forgotten would want to kill them all to fulfill the Flameseeker Prophecies, and in a twist we'd have to defend these mursaat from the Forgotten. I always like a good redemption story, and it'd be nice to see the remnants of mursaat society being humbled by their setbacks and realizing that the path of Lazarus only leads to destruction. The Forgotten could likewise be made into a sympathetic villain due to the torture he or she experienced and how the Forgotten has legitimate grievances with the mursaat.

 

The plot could even involve the four remaining Bloodstones. Since the Maguuma Bloodstone's explosion, we know that the Ring of Fire Bloodstone is located at Abaddon's Mouth where the Flame Legion excavated Sohothin from, the Shiverpeaks Bloodstone is (was?) at the Bloodstone Caves in northeastern Straits of Devastation (although the cave in GW2 is empty, so it begs the question if the stone is now deeper inside or if someone has transported it from there), while the locations of two other Bloodstones (one of which is potentially the Keystone which is said to be able to unite the Bloodstones into one) are unknown. These could tie into the Forgotten's plot, or they could be tied to demons, Menzies, Inquest, or whatever other force the writers deem fit for them.

 

**7) The Fourth Guild War**

 

If I were to decide a definite end for GW2 as a whole, I'd prefer the final saga take place after we've found all the replacements in the All and fought off most of the villains. Like the gods said, Tyria is our world now, so we need to face our greatest enemy as our final trial: ourselves.

 

There have historically been three Guild Wars that were devastating, and GW1 began towards the end of the Third Guild War. It would make thematic sense if the races of Tyria, empowered by their victories and having new Elder Dragons aligned with them, began desiring more power as they gain more magic. Perhaps we'd face a similar calamity as in King Doric's time where magical warfare would begin and be close to devastating Tyria unless the gift of magic is revoked.

 

The Commander's ultimate challenge would be to prevent the escalation into a Fourth Guild War as various nations' and tribes' guilds grew into prominence and began competing for the available magic and the blessings of the neo-Elder Dragons. The solution to this problem might ultimately be similar to the ending cutscene of the Key of Ahdashim: perhaps Aurene and the rest of the replacements need to fulfill Abaddon's wish and martyr themselves to truly spread magic to every race on Tyria so--similar to the Key of Ahdashim sharing the elemental power with all the djinn rather than keeping it all to herself or creating four cardinals--*everyone* becomes part of the Antikytheria as a balancer of magic and thus no one can overpower the other due to equal distribution.

 

Regardless of how the Fourth Guild War plot would go, the writers would need to be extra careful not to demonize most of the guilds too much. While each of the Tyrian races and heroes have their respective flaws, the lesson from Glint (and to an extent, from Abaddon) is how sharing is caring. Only through patience, understanding, friendship and love can we overcome the final trial and prevent repeating mistakes from the past where the magic was only hoarded by the elite (whether it was the ancient races or the Elder Dragons themselves). This is the ultimate lesson of both GW1 and GW2 and, like Andrew Gray said, the overarching storyline of the franchise concerns the responsibility and burden of magic. The best way to handle your burden is sharing it with someone who is kind enough to help you, and that's what friends--and ultimately guilds who are big groups of friends--are for. This would be the perfect finale for the Tyrian saga, leading us to the golden age that both Abaddon and Glint had envisioned in their own ways. :)

 

> @"hugo.4705" said:

> Btw, what are they doing in rata novus? The arcane council and phlunt are here for a quite long time now....

 

Well, the Arcane Council was interested in that place, and we know Councillor Yahk is the Inquest's representative in the council. We also know how thrilled the Inquest were to discover Rata Arcanum in Draconis Mons so that they ditched Balthazar's mercenaries to go explore the ruins instead. If the Inquest are as crafty as they seem to be, Yahk should be sending lots of Inquest to explore every nook and cranny of Rata Novus, especially now that Phlunt's takeover has left the Dragon Lab open for more exploration. I'm sure Overseer Kuda would be most interested in the research Zinn's council did on the Elder Dragons and their spheres and weaknesses as she and a few other Inquest seem to be thinking of weaponizing the Elder Dragons' magic via crosscorrupted, controllable minions and control devices (as seen in the Specimen Chamber and Arah's mursaat path, respectively)... ;)

 

> @"Terra.9506" said:

> I wonder if Kurzicks and Luxon still fight each other, but it there's other expansion I would expect it focus on the ocean and pirate theme.

 

That seems unlikely unless the Empire of the Dragon has slipped up in the centuries after Emperor Usoku annexed the Kurzicks and the Luxons into the Empire:

 

> In the year 1127 AE, Emperor Usoku, successor to Kisu, took a firm hold of his nation. He raised the Canthan military, spending millions in gold to arm his troops, and then swept the countryside. He defeated the Luxons and the Kurzick, incorporating these disparate people back into his nation. Usoku unified Cantha behind a strong national identity and began to drive out all non-humans. His regime was ironclad, tyrannical, and fierce. Those Canthans who did not agree with the emperor's dictates were given no choice but to leave their homeland, seeking refuge and sanctuary in Elona and Tyria. [(Source)](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Movement_of_the_World#Cantha)

 

Incidentally it turns out that [Minister Reiko](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Reiko), the villain of Guild Wars Beyond: Winds of Change, is the only villain in GW franchise history who actually won in the end. She planted the seeds of the Ministry of Purity to unify and purge Cantha, rallied the people behind her, became a martyr via her "heroic" last stand against the meddling "heroes" whom she had manipulated earlier to advance her cause, and inspired her successor Ashu to improve on her methods. I'm sure quite a few GW1 veterans have beef with all of this and want to set things right...although that's easier said than done because most Canthans should be more grateful towards their Emperor/Empress and Prime Minister of Purity than most of the oppressed Elonians were under their dictator Joko unless the writers introduce a twist of a large Canthan underground rebel movement being active against the seemingly ironclad imperial regime. The Commander also shouldn't have any political right to meddle in Cantha's affairs and its politics unless we get the Joko scenario of the Ministry and/or the Empire declaring war on Tyria which would justify Tyria's aggressive measures against the Empire.

 

Given how Reiko's death took place in 1080 AE and Emperor Kisu's successor Usoku began realizing the Ministry's vision by 1127 AE, it took less than 50 years for these ideas to bear fruit and turn Cantha into the kind of state Reiko had always wanted it to be. It's possible that Ashu (who was quite young during Winds of Change) was still alive to witness these events and possibly approved of them unless the idea is that it was Ashu's successor in the Ministry who manipulated/collaborated with Usoku to realize the new Emperor's ambitions, or someone else in the Ministry acted behind Ashu's back to coerce the Emperor to carry on Reiko's flame. It'll be fascinating to (hopefully) learn more about this timeline and see where Ashu went wrong despite the GW1 Hero saving him from Reiko's manipulations.

 

Perhaps the Zephyrites, who are heavily implied to have visited Cantha between Seasons 1 and 2 (the trip during which the Master of Peace also fetched the egg containing Aurene from the Crystal Desert from an unknown individual who is yet to be named but who I believe was Vlast) as per the Season 2 prologue where Marjory (who has confirmed Canthan ancestry) mentioned the Zephyrites' Canthan decorations reminding her of her family belongings, also know a thing or two about Cantha. Maybe the Zephyrites can offer us some pointers about Cantha's current political climate since they seem to have a good enough relationship with Canthans to be allowed to trade with them. Healthy trade with foreigners also suggests that Cantha may still be relatively prosperous and hasn't seen much warfare (as far as the Zephyrites know, anyway) while Canthans should have hopefully learned about the Pact's victory over Zhaitan if the Zephyrites divulged that information to them. The big question here becomes if the Zephyrites only visited Cantha to trade or if the Master of Peace had some other reason to visit that land rather than beelining straight to Aurene to carry on the Legacy project. Maybe he sought out the wise saltspray dragons Albax and Kuunavang to consult with them about Glint's plans to replace the Elder Dragons. There are lots of story possibilities there depending on what route the writers take... :)

[Vayne.8563]

Underground to where Rata Sum used to be before the Asura came to the surface. After all, we know there's a vast unexplored underground and we know that there were many Asuran cities not just the one. Also we've not done a deep delve into the Asuran, but we have done Sylvari, and we're currently doing Charr and Norn. Of course we've done a lot of human as well. So logically after Cantha, an Asura based story would be next.

[hugo.4705]

> @"Vayne.8563" said:

> Underground to where Rata Sum used to be before the Asura came to the surface. After all, we know there's a vast unexplored underground and we know that there were many Asuran cities not just the one. Also we've not done a deep delve into the Asuran, but we have done Sylvari, and we're currently doing Charr and Norn. Of course we've done a lot of human as well. So logically after Cantha, an Asura based story would be next.

 

I very hope so, I even made a prototype of asuran expansion not long ago. During all those years we just only briefly adressed them. Rata novus act was really fast and not showing a lot of their past sadly. More recently we got rata primus, and it was again a deception for me, invading an inquest "hq" and not even an archive about their past or future potential projects...

 

I don't want to forget the idea of a forgotten mega-city underground. Exception exist, one of those city could have heard about destroyers and shutting itself down letting us think they all got wiped out.

[Thornwolf.9721]

> @"Eday.4850" said:

> Right now, we are in The Icebrood Saga in the story. But all good stuff have an ends and Anet just showed us a fanart that looks like we will go to Cantha in the next extension. Despite the fact that I'm bored to see that the future extension will be AGAIN human focused, I asked myself a question :

>

> If Cantha is the pinacle of GW1 fanatics... What would come after that ? The End ? (I hope not in my opinion)

 

Probably a depths expansion with us exploring the subterranean levels of the world as we try to help the asuran do a thing. (We know norn will never get anything, and norn and asuran are the last ones to really need their own arc. This saga has been mostly about the charr~)