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Guild Wars Lore: Mursaat, White Mantle, and the Shining Blade

“Offer protection to the weak. Give solace and shelter to those who need it. Be ye a salve to the wounded.”

Hey guys, time for my weekly lore post! Today’s post comes from a request by willumfreshv2 about the Mursaat, Shining Blade, and White Mantle. Remember, if you ever have any lore you want some background on, just send us an ask!

Kryta in Peril Kryta was one of the 3 Human Kingdoms of Tyria and was the last of the three to be established, founded in 300 AE (After Exodus). It was originally a colony of Elona, but was able to win its independence in 358 AE, and put in place a monarchy that claimed lineage from King Doric, the only King to unite all humans under a single banner in Tyria. The human kingdoms became embroiled in many conflicts throughout the years, culminating in the Guild Wars, a series of bloody wars that had been fueled by the power the Guilds had in each nation in influencing everything from trade, to the government. These wars created an immense hatred between the human kingdoms of Ascalon and Kryta. The Third, and last, Guild War began in 1013 AE, and it was the first to include Orr, they had did their best to remain neutral but when foreign guilds started fighting in the streets of Arah, the City of The Gods, they had little choice but to enter the war. For 57 years the bloody conflict raged until it came to a very sudden end, thanks to an invasion by the Charr in 1070 AE. The Charr burned Ascalon in The Searing, and then marched westward towards Orr and Kryta. As the Charr marched on Arah, an event known as the Cataclysm destroyed not only the invading Charr forces, but the entire continent was destroyed, plunged into the ocean. This left only Kryta, alone and weary from the Guild Wars, not ready to stave off such an invasion. With the Charr at their doorstep King Jadon fled from the throne, abandoning his people. Assured destruction seemed to be their destiny, but salvation would come from an unexpected source, and they would find ‘salvation’ had a price.

Rise of The White Mantle Saul D’Alessio was not a holy man by any means, he was a thief, a drunk, and a cheat. His luck finally ran out when he lost a bet he had no way to repay, running afoul of a gambling guild called the Lucky Horseshoe. Rather than default, and most likely be killed, he took to robbing merchants on the road to pay off his debt, he repaid the guild, but was fingered by one of his victims. He was tried and convicted as a thief, his punishment: Exile. He was blindfolded and rode out 3 full weeks from Kryta, there, the authorities left him to fend for himself. He staggered through the forest eating what meager berries he could find, until one day, delirious from hunger and thirst, he gazed upon what he was sure was a hallucination, a great golden city, towers reaching all the way to the heavens. The citizens of this city seemed to walk without touching the ground, with thin winglike appendages that waved around in the breeze, with melodious voices the likes of which Saul had never heard. Dirty, hungry, and covered in rags, Saul dropped to his knees and prayed to what he was sure were gods, begging for help. These beings obliged, and nursed him back to health, and when he was well again he was sent out by his ‘gods’ to recruit followers.

Saul then returned to a ravaged Kryta, Charr invading, and the people leaderless. Dressed in a sleeveless all white robe, he went on the streets to proclaim to all the salvation in his new gods, the ‘Unseen Ones’, that they could save them from the Charr. He gathered a small following, all of which took Saul at his word, as no one other than him had seen these new gods, or their city. He gave his most devoted followers the same white robes, and in about 1067 AE the White Mantle was formed. This new army was able to slow the Charr, but they were still advancing, so Saul devised a desperate plan, to sneak into the main Charr encampment and assassinate the Charr leaders. As they fought, it seemed the Charr would overrun them, so Saul then prayed, calling upon his Unseen Gods to help them defeat the Charr, and they answered. They appeared before Saul and his party, granting Saul their most powerful magic and decimated the Charr, helping to end the invasion, but this help came at a great price. The Unseen Ones killed all but the most devoted worshipers in the group, Saul learned that day that his gods were neither kind nor good. They left the most devoted to lead Kryta in their name, as for Saul, who they had imbued with their most powerful magic, was taken by the Unseen Ones to ensure his silence, he was never heard from again. The survivors of this raid went out to tell the tale of how the White Mantle defeated the Charr with their Unseen gods, and the heroic sacrifice of Saul D’Alessio, killed by the Charr. In 1070 AE they assumed control of Kryta, and almost immediately they began the Test of the Chosen. This ‘test’ would be looked upon by the people as a way for those most gifted in magic to better help the White Mantle and the Unseen Ones, its true purpose would only be revealed years later. Around the time the White Mantle took power, the Shining Blade was created to oppose them. The Shining Blade sought to reinstate the Krytan royal line to the throne, suspicious of the White Mantle and their Unseen Ones. They hid in the jungle, striking out at the White Mantle using guerrilla tactics, trying to warn the people of the true nature of the Unseen Ones and their ‘test’. Despite their best efforts, the White Mantle held onto Kryta with a firm grip for 2 years, worship of the Unseen ones began to outpace the worship of the (at the time) 5 true gods. Little did most of them know, but the Unseen Ones were simply using Kryta to prevent their own demise, a prophecy that foretold the end of their kind was at hand.

Chosen In 1072 AE the player character arrives with refugees from Ascalon, where they once were brutal enemies, the Ascalonians now begged for shelter. The White Mantle agrees, and appears to be openly welcoming to the people fleeing the destruction brought on by the Charr and The Searing. The player even helps the White Mantle in the Test of The Chosen, a ritual that helped to recruit citizens with a great affinity for magic. These Chosen would be taken to the Unseen Tower to learn magic from the Grand Masters. As the player interacts with people, and the White Mantle, it is revealed that all is not as it seems. The White Mantle are brutal and controlling, all must follow their rules and pray to the Unseen Ones above all others. Dissenters are not tolerated. Finally the player meets the Shining Blade in the Jungle, and they show the player the true fate of The Chosen. The player learns the terrible truth deep in the Maguuma Jungle at Bloodstone Fen, here, they witness the White Mantle sacrificing the Chosen atop a Bloodstone, no tower, no Grandmasters, only death. They learn that the Unseen Ones fear the Flameseeker Prophecies, it tells of the complete extinction of the Unseen Ones at the hands of a Chosen. The player then learns that they are actually one of the Chosen, destined to destroy the Unseen Ones. With this knowledge, they join the Shining Blade in fighting the White Mantle, this leads them far away from Kryta, to the Crystal Desert, here they meet the author of the prophecies, the Crystal Dragon Glint.

After going through many trials they become Ascended, making themselves closer to the 5 true gods. With Ascension, the players received the gift of true sight, enabling them to see the Unseen Ones. They learn that these ‘gods’ are not invincible, but instead, an ancient race of powerful spellcasters called the Mursaat.

The Mursaat The Mursaat are among the 5 sentient races to survive the last rising of The Elder Dragons, along with the dwarves, jotun, seers, and forgotten. When the dragons last arose about 11,000 years ago, they started consuming all the magic in the world, as they are now currently. They destroyed civilizations, and wiped out whole races, and all of creation seemed doomed. The seers eventually came up with a plan to stop the dragons from consuming all magic, and it required the help of all the others. The seers created the original bloodstone, and with it they planned to seal away the magic of these 5 races, keeping it safe from the Elder Dragons and starving them. During this time the 5 races worked together to resist the Elder Dragons, and to try and put an end to them. The Mursaat eventually learned of a way to become invisible, even to the Elder Dragons, becoming out of phase with Tyria. When it came time for the races to give their magic to the Seers to be sealed away, the Mursaat betrayed the other races, fleeing to a half-world with their magic, leaving the other races at the mercy of the Elder Dragons. They reappeared several years later and began a war with their former allies, the Seers. The Mursaat wielded a powerful magic ability called Spectral Agony that could quickly destroy anything that was exposed to it. The Seers eventually learned of a defense against this magic, but it was too late and they were defeated. The race was almost completely wiped out following the war, but a few remain, doing anything they can to make sure the Mursaat pay for their betrayal. The Mursaat were said to have lived inside golden cities deep within the Maguuma Jungle, just as Saul D’Alessio had first staggered into. The Mursaat then learned of the Flameseeker Prophecies, foretelling their end brought upon by the Chosen and the one called the Flameseeker. They sought a way to stop their end, and Saul’s devotion at their sight gave them their answer. Using The White Mantle they attempted to prevent the prophecy from coming to pass in several ways. First, the rounding up of the Chosen in the guise of recruitment to only be killed later prevented them from fulfilling their destiny. Then, the sacrifice of these Chosen on top of a Bloodstone would power the Soul Batteries that kept the Door of Komalie closed, behind which was the ‘Flame’ that the Flameseeker sought, demonic beings called the Titans. These Titans could be controlled with the Scepter of Orr, which the Mursaat also had the White Mantle collect, and with that, the Mursaat may have felt they had successfully prevented the prophecies completion.

The Flameseeker With the knowledge of what the Mursaat were, and their goals, the player heads out to fulfill their part of the Chosen in the prophecy. They first find a survivor of the war with the Mursaat, the ancient Seer, and with its help they are able to infuse their armor, enabling them to survive the devastating Spectral Agony of their enemies.

Now, with the ability to both see, and fight the Mursaat, the player and their Shining Blade allies go on the offensive. In the Ring of Fire island chain, the prophecy is finally realized, when the Flameseeker is finally revealed. The player had been aided throughout their adventure by the only survivor of Orr, Vizier Khilbron, he had agreed to help the Shining Blade in exchange for the Scepter of Orr. Once he has obtained this and the Door of Komalie is insight, he reveals his true form, that of The Undead Lich, and he reveals how he caused the Cataclysm which in turn, transformed him by reading from a forbidden scroll. He proclaims that he is the Flameseeker, and wishes to use the Titans to not only destroy the Mursaat, but to rule all of Tyria, using the Scepter of Orr to control them. The Door is opened, and the Titan’s pour out, destroying the Mursaat as they encounter them. The player is eventually able to defeat the Lich and the Titans, the prophecy was completed, and the Mursaat were almost wiped out, but some still lingered. Even with their Unseen Gods defeated, the White Mantle still managed to hold onto power in Kryta, but that too was soon to fall.

Krytan Civil War The Shining Blade desperately wanted to return the Krytan throne to the Royal bloodline, and in 1072 AE a Lionguard discovered that King Jadon had fathered an illegitimate child, Salma, with Priestess Berea at the Temple of Ages. While he helped pay for her upbringing for many years, once the Charr invaded, and he fled Kryta, the king also left behind Salma and her mother. She lived her life as a priestess until the Shining Blade contacted her, asking her to take the throne that was now hers by birthright and she agreed. Now, with a member of the royal bloodline ready to assume the throne, the Shining Blade’s cause was stronger than ever. In 1079 AE they started to recruit more and more help for the cause, calling upon allies, and even old enemies to help them. They obtained the help of an Asuran named Zinn, cast out of Rata Sum for crimes he didn’t commit, he agreed to help create weapons and golems for the cause. The Shining Blade even went so far as to ask Ascalon for help in their war, even though the two still very much viewed each other as enemies. King Adlebern in Old Ascalon refused to send any help to Kryta, determined to defeat the losing war in Ascalon against the Charr, he felt he could spare no one, especially not for Krytans. A few members of the Ebon Vanguard stepped forward to help however, these members were part of an elite detachment known as the Ebon Falcons. The White Mantle was struggling to hold onto power and resorted to hiring thugs to keep the populace in check, but when 3 of the surviving Mursaat are assassinated, it triggers the final battle in Lion’s Arch. Here the White Mantle, and the remaining Mursaat are finally defeated, and Salma is crowned Queen of Kryta, finally putting back in place the royal blood line of King Doric to the throne. The Shining Blade were rewarded for their loyalty to the crown, becoming the royal guards, acknowledgement for the years they spent fighting the oppressive regime of the White Mantle. In present time, many people are not aware that the Shining Blade even exist, and they like to keep it that way, using covert actions to try and stop enemies to the crown. The current leader of the Shining Blades is Countess Anise, she was hand picked by the current ruler, Queen Jenah, to head the Shining Blade and to train them into the most elite force in the Krytan military.

“Countless generations will suffer for your actions this day!” The Mursaat and White Mantle may have been removed from power, but that does not mean they are completely gone, rumors still stir of their survival. During the Krytan Civil War a Mursaat named Lazarus the Dire is revealed to have split himself into aspects to survive the Titans. These aspects were imbued into members of the White Mantle in the guise of a blessing. Once the threat of the Titans had passed, he attempted to make himself whole again by freeing each aspect from its host which killed them. The last host, Justicar Naveed, sought a way to remove the aspect without killing him, but that was proved to be impossible, instead they resolved to foil Lazarus’s plan. They corrupted the aspect, and when Naveed was killed, and Lazarus absorbed the last aspect, his own power turned on him. Wounded, Lazarus fled, but not before promising revenge. He is not seen in the final battle at Lion’s Arch, so it is possible he has survived, and is waiting for the perfect time to enact his revenge. As for the White Mantle, outside of the Shining Blade, many people in present time view the White Mantle as only a Myth. However, it is revealed that the White Mantle do still exist and operate in Kryta. In 1325 AE in the Hunting Lodge in Queensdale it is revealed that the Mantle use the lodge, unbeknownst to the owners, as a base of operations. It is also rumored that many of the bandits that operate in Kryta may actually be under the command of the White Mantle, and run the black market in Divinity’s Reach.

The White Mantle was started by a man who very much thought his new ‘gods’ could save Kryta, but his trust in them almost led to its destruction. Saul D’Alessio was taken by the Mursaat for unknown reasons, and his fate, even today, is unknown. Even today the threat of the White Mantle looms in the shadows, and then even with the prophecy fulfilled, the Mursaat may still be waiting out there in the Jungle, survivors of an almost extinct race. The question is that with the return of the Elder Dragons, their goal has always been survival, how would the return of these dragons change them? It has been 250 years, things change, how would our old eneMies look to us today?

Alright guys, hope you enjoyed this weeks lore, I’ll see you next week for more, and as always, keep those suggestions coming!

-Karn Vileclaw

#for when i come back

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