Curse

MegaMouse · Jan 13, 2007, 07:53 PM // 19:53

I got this off the main Guild Wars website buried possibly frgotten but by a few.
This is all about the Kingdom of Orr and possibly the origins of The Ring Of Fire:

Situated on a peninsula south of Ascalon and southwest of the Crystal Desert, Orr was a vibrant, proud, and prosperous nation. Its citizens were the favoured of the gods, living in the shadows of Arah, the deserted city once inhabited by the likes of Melandru, Dwayna, and Balthazar. Deeply spiritual, the Orrians looked after the buildings and structures left behind when the gods left Tyria, caring for them in the hopes that one day, the divine beings who created magic and bestowed it upon the world would return.

The Orrians were a peaceful people, hoping only to do their duty toward their gods and content to be rewarded in either this life or the next. When the guilds began feuding, Orr as a nation tried to stay out of the conflict. This was not the sort of struggle that entire kingdoms got involved in. But when the strife overflowed into armed conflict, and guilds from the other human nations began fighting in the streets of Arah, Orr rose to defend itself and the city of the gods.

Soon after Orr mobilized its armies, Kryta and Ascalon did as well, and what had started as a dispute between localized groups became an all-out war. The Guild Wars raged for nearly fifty years. During that time, none of the three human empires was able to assert dominance over either of the other two. While Ascalon, Orr, and Kryta were busy fighting with each other, they became blind to the threat from the north—the Charr. The northern beasts swept in, taking Ascalon in a spectacular magical battle.

At first, Orr was saved from much of the fighting. The guilds with allegiances to Ascalon and Kryta withdrew, heading back to defend their homes. Orr regrouped, granted a moment to prepare simply because they were farther south. The Charr had to make their way through Ascalon before they could reach the gates of Arah. But eventually Ascalon fell, and the Charr arrived in Orr.

Hopes were high that the Charr would be defeated quickly. The Orrian army was the equal of any in Tyria, and the invaders had already fought a long battle against the Ascalons. But those hopes were dashed in less than twelve hours.

The invaders reached the gates of Arah without breaking stride. The Orrians failed to protect their charge. With defeat at the doorstep and the kingdom nearly in ruins, one man turned to a forbidden magic. The king’s own personal advisor in the matters of the arcane took it upon himself to destroy the invaders, no matter the cost. Unrolling one of the Lost Scrolls, kept inside a warded vault deep within the catacombs below Arah, he spoke the words of a litany that spelled the end of the Kingdom of Orr forever.

There are few who survived that day, now known as the Cataclysm. While the Charr were never allowed to step foot in Arah, few count what the king’s advisor did on that day as a victory. The resulting explosion felled the invading army where it stood, but so too did it sink the entire peninsula, leaving only a scattering of small islands in its place. The beautiful city of Arah was consumed. What’s left above water now lies in a pile of ruins, blackened by the Cataclysm and years of neglect. All that remains in the wreckage of Orr are the wandering dead—those souls unable to rest in the shadow of this great disaster.

I do hope this can help out with some of the questions that I have been seeing as of late.

Mega Mouse

Maria Moon · Jan 14, 2007, 01:15 AM // 01:15

not to impose, but the ring of fire chain isle cant be the remnants of orr due to information stated here

particulay the part of how the gods placed the bloodstones in the giant volcano on the island before they left tyria,this means it cant be orr because orr was not a chain of islands and there is no account of a volcano in orr espcially the bigges volcano in tyria, the only amount of island formation i can see on the map in the island just off the crystal dersert which you never got to explore even though it was such a large land mass, now i am not saying this is the remnamts of orr but just saying it is the closest thing i can see to it, "south-west of ascalon in the peninsula and west of the crystal dersert"

either way thank very much mouse for the info, always nice to have people helping with info

Shyft the Pyro · Jan 14, 2007, 03:07 AM // 03:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegaMouse

Situated on a peninsula south of Ascalon and southwest of the Crystal Desert...

You seem to have missed the peninsula part. The most popular theory for the location of Orr is reflected on the guildwiki page: it is the broken peninsula west of the Crystal Desert. I would guess it is mentioned as being "southwest" of the Crystal Desert because the kingdom itself stretched further south, possibly along the coast following which would (presumably) eventually lead to Elona.

Maria Moon · Jan 14, 2007, 03:20 AM // 03:20

ahh sorry i just read my post it hardly makes sense, thanks pyro you put it into a "cleaner" form than i did, thanks

MegaMouse · Jan 14, 2007, 06:55 AM // 06:55

The only reason that I think it is the Ring of Fire is in the info I got from Guild Wars website in the last paragraph it says "The resulting explosion felled the invading army where it stood, but so too did it sink the entire peninsula, leaving only a scattering of small islands in its place. The beautiful city of Arah was consumed. What’s left above water now lies in a pile of ruins, blackened by the Cataclysm and years of neglect". This in itself does not prove it is the Ring of Fire island chain, but they are the only small island chain in the approximate vicinity of where Orr could have been. It does state hat the "Great Catclysm" was a forbidden majic "The king’s own personal advisor in the matters of the arcane took it upon himself to destroy the invaders, no matter the cost. Unrolling one of the Lost Scrolls, kept inside a warded vault deep within the catacombs below Arah, he spoke the words of a litany that spelled the end of the Kingdom of Orr forever." Taken this into account the "Great Cataclysm" could have been the creation of the volcanoes that are now in the Ring of Fire. But that is my personal observations.

Mega Mouse

Symeon · Jan 14, 2007, 09:50 AM // 09:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegaMouse

The only reason that I think it is the Ring of Fire is in the info I got from Guild Wars website in the last paragraph it says "The resulting explosion felled the invading army where it stood, but so too did it sink the entire peninsula, leaving only a scattering of small islands in its place. The beautiful city of Arah was consumed. What’s left above water now lies in a pile of ruins, blackened by the Cataclysm and years of neglect". This in itself does not prove it is the Ring of Fire island chain, but they are the only small island chain in the approximate vicinity of where Orr could have been. It does state hat the "Great Catclysm" was a forbidden majic "The king’s own personal advisor in the matters of the arcane took it upon himself to destroy the invaders, no matter the cost. Unrolling one of the Lost Scrolls, kept inside a warded vault deep within the catacombs below Arah, he spoke the words of a litany that spelled the end of the Kingdom of Orr forever." Taken this into account the "Great Cataclysm" could have been the creation of the volcanoes that are now in the Ring of Fire. But that is my personal observations.

Mega Mouse

The Ring of Fire is not related to Orr. The volcanic islands have been there for just over a millenium at least - quote from the manual:

Quote:

Just south of the Tarnished Coast [that's the coast that runs along the southern edge of the Maguuma] lie the volcanic islands that together make up the Ring of Fire. The large volcano at the centre of the ring is where the gods reportedly dropped the Bloodstones before leaving Tyria for good.

The Gods left Tyria in Year 0. That's ~1071 years before the destructon of Orr. The 'scattering of small islands' you're looking for lies at the end of the peninsula that stretches west from the Crystal Desert. This is where the Kingdom of Orr once stood:

Quote:

Situated on a peninsula south of Ascalon and west of the Crystal Desert...

But I appreciate you posting this info, as a lot of people have been making excited remarks that Orr could be the location of the next chapter. Considering that 1. It's on the map of Tyria, 2. Most of it lies underwater after the Cataclysm, and the scattering of small islands above are in ruins and inhabited by Undead, and 3. Orr most likely has nothing to do with the Mursaat... it simply cannot be the focus of a new chapter, unless there's a whole underwater world spread out beneath Tyria that was created by the Cataclysm. Dream on.

MegaMouse · Jan 16, 2007, 08:48 AM // 08:48

Ok looking at the maps again I do admit that maybe the Ring of Fire islands may not be the location of Orr. But all will agree on Orr cannot be the location of Chapter 4 due to the problems associateds with 1 Orrr is on the tyrian map, 2 We cannot go back in time. Even if we went back in time what would it do to the world we know now? Not sure that messing with the past would be such a good idea.

Mega Mouse

mrmango · Jan 17, 2007, 01:14 AM // 01:14

Orr is south of Kryta and north of the Amnoon Oasis area. It's now underwater...

MegaMouse · Jan 17, 2007, 06:55 AM // 06:55

Actualy there was a person that posted some very nice screenshots on the location of Orr.Its location is the small Islands between Amnoon Oasis and the Ring Of Fire islands. That is the only place it could be. Although I still think that it is possible that the Ring of Fire islands may have been a part of that penninsula at one time or another.

Mega Mouse

gilgameshx · Jan 17, 2007, 08:00 AM // 08:00

I don't think Orr is connected to the Ring of Fire. It could look like it. It even almost looks as if Orr is connected Southeast of Kryta, look carefully at the texture. But that's probably wrong.

But the undead somehow love to travel to Kryta and wreak havoc.

NinjaKai · Jan 17, 2007, 08:07 AM // 08:07

Considering their undead. It wouldn't have been too hard for them to stroll along the sea floor. But it was not long after presearing it happened. So approximately 2 years is plenty of time to travel around there.

MegaMouse · Jan 17, 2007, 07:44 PM // 19:44

Dang I just relized something. This lore kills anyones idea of going after the Char for revenge. Unless I am mistaken it says "The resulting explosion felled the invading army where it stood". If this doesn't mean the Char were completely destroyed by the kings advisor then I unsure about a few things. Was it just the army that was trying to invade Arah that was felled or the complete Char army? It makes no sence that it could have been the total army as after the cataclysm we still go after them in Tyria in several mission. A little confusing to say the least.

Mega Mouse

Free Runner · Jan 17, 2007, 07:54 PM // 19:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegaMouse

Dang I just relized something. This lore kills anyones idea of going after the Char for revenge. Unless I am mistaken it says "The resulting explosion felled the invading army where it stood". If this doesn't mean the Char were completely destroyed by the kings advisor then I unsure about a few things. Was it just the army that was trying to invade Arah that was felled or the complete Char army? It makes no sence that it could have been the total army as after the cataclysm we still go after them in Tyria in several mission. A little confusing to say the least.

Mega Mouse

Think of it like a spilt up of forces. One char army went to Orr,one to Kryta and the rest remained in Ascalon.

MegaMouse · Jan 18, 2007, 06:41 AM // 06:41

Ok that clears it up some. Thanks Free Runner I realy do not know why I didn't think of it that way.

Mega Mouse

Sophitia Leafblade · Jan 18, 2007, 10:14 AM // 10:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free Runner

Think of it like a spilt up of forces. One char army went to Orr,one to Kryta and the rest remained in Ascalon.

The forces wernt 1 army to begin with, since the road to kryta was in there territory, i would make sence that a seperate army went to Kryta without going to Ascalon since the charr never crossed the shiverpeaks (since there no mention of the Dwarves getting involved with the Charr)

The Charr army that did break Ascalon is the same army that went to Orr since that was there Primary target (of both armys.) The charr just moved more forces in Ascalon to mop up the remainders once there other army was wiped out along with there target. They still have a formiddable amount of forces in there territory as seen in the early missions and general exploration north of the wall but they wont commit a large army to finish off ascalon (probally in fear of another Cataclysm style event)

Free Runner · Jan 18, 2007, 04:39 PM // 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sophitia Leafblade

The forces wernt 1 army to begin with, since the road to kryta was in there territory, i would make sence that a seperate army went to Kryta without going to Ascalon since the charr never crossed the shiverpeaks (since there no mention of the Dwarves getting involved with the Charr)

The Charr army that did break Ascalon is the same army that went to Orr since that was there Primary target (of both armys.) The charr just moved more forces in Ascalon to mop up the remainders once there other army was wiped out along with there target. They still have a formiddable amount of forces in there territory as seen in the early missions and general exploration north of the wall but they wont commit a large army to finish off ascalon (probally in fear of another Cataclysm style event)

Actually it makes more sense that they are one big army. We do not know the true layout of their own land but the Charr spliting up would of worked well. We know they were driven by the same force.

It is possible that the Charr never meant to stick around in Ascalon for long but got caught by sudden forces (us) immediatly after the searing (not 2 years later). One army (or warband) could of gone along a route through there own land to the shores of Watchtower Coast while the other had to get through Ascalon and could of used the bridge (now in ruins) to get through the Crystal Desert and over to Orr. Of course the routes i have mentioned are just theorys.

draxynnic · Jan 19, 2007, 02:06 AM // 02:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sophitia Leafblade

The Charr army that did break Ascalon is the same army that went to Orr since that was there Primary target (of both armys.) The charr just moved more forces in Ascalon to mop up the remainders once there other army was wiped out along with there target. They still have a formiddable amount of forces in there territory as seen in the early missions and general exploration north of the wall but they wont commit a large army to finish off ascalon (probally in fear of another Cataclysm style event)

Or they simply may not have a large army left to commit. They have had two armies large enough to swarm through the human kingdoms routed (one by the Mantle/Mursaat and one by the Cataclysm), after all. Those losses have got to sting...

Personally, I see the war in Ascalon post-Searing as basically being a struggle between two broken armies that refuse to give up. While the Charr may have the edge, they don't have the forces to sweep away the Ascalonian armies in the way they did immediately after the Searing... although Bonfaaz Burntfur certainly made a convincing attempt.

gilgameshx · Jan 19, 2007, 04:06 AM // 04:06

It has to be one big army from Ascalon since most of the Charr are there. There's no Charr located in other Northen areas. That big army defeated Ascalon easily, then half of the army split up to Kryta and Orr. There was something about the Great Northen Wall saying that it helped protect the rest of the human kingdom from the Charr (kind of like the great wall of china and the mongolians).

The Charr did go through Shiverpeak Mountains. I'm not sure why we can't find any dead Charr bodies in Shiverpeak Mountains. Their bodies must've been buried in snow for 2 years. After the 2 years, the chosen (heroes of prophecies) steps foot in Shiverpeak. I wonder how the dwarves felt when they saw the Charr.

If you look carefully at the map, there's a river between Shiverpeak mountains and Ascalon. That river is below the greatwall near The Breach, so most likely the Charr sailed through the river and arrived in Orr that way.

Omega X · Jan 19, 2007, 05:38 AM // 05:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilgameshx

If you look carefully at the map, there's a river between Shiverpeak mountains and Ascalon. That river is below the greatwall near The Breach, so most likely the Charr sailed through the river and arrived in Orr that way.

Seems likely since we all know that the Charr hate water. Walking through a snowy mountain to them would feel like lava.

Taala · Jan 19, 2007, 07:04 AM // 07:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by draxynnic

Personally, I see the war in Ascalon post-Searing as basically being a struggle between two broken armies that refuse to give up. While the Charr may have the edge, they don't have the forces to sweep away the Ascalonian armies in the way they did immediately after the Searing... although Bonfaaz Burntfur certainly made a convincing attempt.

At the end of the Nolani mission cutscene Rurik does say how the charr has amassed an army of many thousands, so that sounded like the charr could have enough resources to do another assault. But I suppose the Stormcaller helped Ascalon to prevent the charr from using their magic to take the wall down as easily as they did back at the searing.