Hi folks, Moonwolf here. You saw a little of my world last year around Halloween. Robbyn has asked me to take you on a bit of a tour as she is tied up today. So I thought I’d show you some of the sights of Tyria.
You have to bear in mind that many places on my world are either rebuilt, in the process of being rebuilt or just plain trashed. It was very beautiful once…
Ashford - before
I always loved this area and had thought I would like to live by that pond with the wheel and the waterfall. But a few years ago we underwent the Searing. How it came about and why are still being discussed but it nearly destroyed the world. That lovely house and landscape? They look like this now…
Ashford - after
Tyria encompasses all kinds of terrains and climates.
Sanctum Cay
Sanctum Cay is on the seashore. That’s Abbey, my wolf, in the foreground. People often refer to her as a pet but she’s not, really. She’s a friend and hell, she’s stronger than I am. Solid, dependable and, believe it or not, a wicked sense of humor. I love when she runs back to me after a battle and goes into the play position, down on her front legs, still full of piss and vinegar after the fight. She’s awesome :)
Those are drakes in the water behind Abbey - about six of them. They’re kind of like small dragons and there are several types - ice, fire - these are lightning drakes.
Magumaa Falls
Magumma Falls is in the jungle and is surrounded by poisonous spiders and scarabs - big ones. There is also another local form of life know as a wind rider. They float around in the air and will suck the life right out of you if you’re not careful! Robbyn tells me they resemble something on your word known as a jellyfish.
Henge of Denravi - Leaf boat
Henge of Denravi is also in the jungle but it’s more in the nature of a rest stop. This boat runs people back and forth but most folks just fight their way in. Just business as usual around here :) There are shops where you can get new armor, improve your weapons and even acquire spells in the form of runes to buff up your skills and health. You don’t use magic in your world - at least most of you don’t, I’m told - which is a real shame. A spell to restore your health or boost your marksmanship can come in real handy! Of course you all probably don’t risk running into monsters whenever you leave town either :) I sometimes wonder what it would be like to live in a world where magic wasn’t necessary just to get by…
Yak at the Deldrimor War Camp
There are still areas of major conflict that don’t involve monsters too. The Deldrimor dwarves and the Stone Summit Dwarves are mortal enemies and will probably always be. The Deldrimor War Camp (above) is right in the middle of the Shiverpeak Mountains and there are Stone Summit all around. These yaks provide labor and fiber for the Deldrimor. For the Stone Summit they also function as beasts of war, carrying their healers along whenever battle is anticipated. You can see how big they are. Robbyn has told me you have a similar creature in your world but not quite as sizeable.
Statue of Droknar
At the other end of the Shiverpeaks range is Droknar’s Forge. Droknar was a dwarf renowned among a race of quintessential craftsman for the strength of his armor and the sturdiness and keenness of his blades. People come from all over Tyria to the Forge for the best armor in the world. It is so cold in this area that ice ships are used to move between the Forge and some of the outlying islands around which the water never thaws.
Ice ship docked at Droknar’s Forge
Of course there aren’t just jungles and mountains. There’s the Crystal Desert too - and quite a lot of it! While there are ruins there, they are not from the Searing. These ruins are ancient. Many mammoth skeletons are scattered about and there are the remains of sailing ships everywhere protruding from the sand. This was a great sea at one time but no one seems to know what happened to the water! There were some records before the Searing but most of them have been lost.
The Crystal Desert Colossus
This statue is, as far as I know, the biggest man-made thing on Tyria. There are pieces of others like it partially buried all over the desert. I know the picture doesn’t really give you a good idea of its true size but it is called the Colossus. That figure in the bottom, right foreground is a desert giant who is about 10 feet tall - if that helps put things into perspective.
Because of the very uneven terrain in the desert, there are transport platforms in various areas to help you get from one place to another. There are four pedestals around each one and the stones have to be activated in a certain order to set up the right magic to activate the transport device. It’s very quick - almost instantaneous, but a bit disconcerting. You walk into the front of the thing and by the time you’ve reached the back, you’re someplace else. Abbey hates them, poor thing. I think it’s the change in smells from one area to another that confuses her.
Desert transport device
In the far south, there is what may be Tyria’s most inimical environment - The Ring of Fire. These islands are all that’s left of what was once one of Tyria’s largest kindoms - Orr. In fact it is said that Orr is where the gods used to live when they were present on this world. In attempt to stem the cataclysm that was the Searing, Orr managed to blow itself up. Almost none of its people survived and these islands are all that is left of the land. Most of them look like this…
Lava flow and blood crystals at Hell’s Precipice
It’s a rough world, I guess. Your world is different, not so dangerous or so desperate. We don’t have what I understand is called technology in your world - but you know, that sounds an awful lot like magic to me. Voices and pictures going through the air, hot water whenever you want it without having to build a fire first and food that comes in boxes and doesn’t spoil! Not to mention being able to step out your back door in the morning without having to fight something with three heads just so you can get to the well. Still, this is what I’m used to, where I grew up and what I know. Besides, Robbyn says your world probably wouldn’t let me keep my wolf.
And that’s unthinkable :)
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Lovely screenshots! I haven’t played Guild Wars in awhile, makes me want to get back into it. Thanks for sharing. 
oh dear, this makes living here on terra firma seem positively dull- while i battle the dreadful trio of crab grass, deerflies, and never-ending laundry, there is a definite lack of ‘zing’ to it- and my pets now seem dreadfully lacking in magical powers and ‘speccial effects’- once upon a time when the children were much younger they did like to imagine that ‘bob the leprachaun’ and ‘fred the apache warrior’ lived and battled under their bedrooms- does that qualify as a fantasy game-
the screen shots are excellent, and it makes me wish i had the concentration (not to mention the coordination) to enjoy games-
stay happy-
Mary - This is the first game of this type I’ve ever gotten involved in and ‘d be embarassed for you to know how truly awful I was when I started. But I learned and it is fun :) We took a long break too - it doesn’t matter. It’s all still there when you go back!
Barb - I would have loved to think about the leprachauns and Apaches under my bedroom floor. It very nifty that you shared your imagination with your kids!
This is a nice little escape from time to time and we enjoy it. Funny thing…I never learn skills for a game without there being some applicable carry-over into the real world. Tetris taught me spatial skills and this is responsible for teaching me something I thought I’d never grasp - strategy. Who knew?
