#and then there's devona (a vanguard captain who is privately furious about the peace treaty)

[anghraine]

I was searching for an unrelated-to-the-Ascalonian-grudgeblogging GW2 thing, but ended up reading a grumpy recap of the core storyline from someone playing a Charr Vigil member. Surprisingly, they were like, "you know, honestly, all these people wondering why Ascalonians still have a grudge against Charr kind of need a slap in the face. Also, why do Krytans have so much say over what happens to Ebonhawke, anyway? Does it have sovereignty or not?"

I do support slapping every person who is like "why don't they just get over a 250-year long attempt to eradicate them? What a silly grudge" but I don't often see actual players saying so!

I also find the sovereignty issue genuinely interesting.

My impression is that Ebonhawke is nominally an independent city-state, but the alliance with Kryta has been critical enough (esp recently) that they weren't in a position for direct conflict over this "regent of Ascalon" business. So the people of Ebonhawke don't accept Jennah as sovereign—there are even Ascalonian residents of Divinity's Reach who don't—but they also can't afford an open break with Kryta and this is where a lot of their resentment is coming from.

Ebonhawke drawing so much of the Charr's attention in the war was pretty beneficial to Kryta, so I suspect their support was not purely altruistic even without the claim to sovereignty. It's made clear in various storylines that Ebonhawke falling would be disastrous for Kryta. Additionally, the Krytan government offered valuable support and supplies to Ebonhawke, but couldn't really spare much direct military support, so Ascalonians are also conscious that they suffered most of the direct casualties of the war, to the benefit of Kryta. So it makes sense that the relationship is complicated and ambiguous!

Honestly, the tensions surrounding the Ebonhawke-Kryta alliance, the various political maneuvers involved, and the effects of all this on the Ascalonian diaspora are some of the most intriguing aspects of the game to me. The writing is definitely skewed towards the Krytan perspective, to be sure—PCs of any background will remark that Kryta is generous(!) to allow Ebonhawke its own representative in the peace negotiations, for instance. But it's not so skewed that you can't see why Ascalonians insist on their independence from Krytan rule.

#this is why my headcanon for my main is that she comes from a mixed family of krytan and ebonhawke ascalonians #because it's so interesting to imagine a pc who would actually navigate that tension with a personal stake in it #even if the game doesn't suggest that human pcs feel the slightest solidarity with ebonhawke #so there's deborah (who is proud of being ascalonian but considers independent human ascalon gone) on one hand #and then there's devona (a vanguard captain who is privately furious about the peace treaty) #on the other #ailoda has been pushing in the krytan ministry for more assistance to ebonhawke without sovereignty strings attached #and is on good terms with her ebonhawke in-laws #who themselves appreciate krytan support but also insist they aren't vassals of kryta #and althea is simultaneously very loyal to jennah as a krytan subject and very invested in ebonhawke's independence #anyway this is a ... lot ... but. well. i'm me. #anghraine babbles #anghraine's gaming #ascalonian grudgeblog #long post #fic talk #fic talk: pro patria #althea fairchild #deborah fairchild #devona fairchild #ailoda langmar #elwin fairchild #calissa tahiri #gw fanwank