Guild wars 2 Lore

Before the Exodus

The oldest records on Tyria date back to approximately 10,000 BE, the estimated date for the Great Giants' extinction at the claws of the Elder Dragons during their last known time of awakening. The only known surviving sentient races of this time are the dwarves, forgotten, jotun, mursaat, and seers. Not much is known about this time, or the following 8,000 years, although it is known that the mursaat had betrayed the other four races and went into hiding from the Elder Dragons. The exact details of this betrayal are unknown, though implications show that this is when the mursaat and seers warred, with the seers being brought near extinction in the aftermath. Only dwarven legends and jotun stelae remain as records of this time. Jotun lore also make mention of an "Age of Giants" that occurred after the Elder Dragons began hibernating, where the various giant races (including jotun and norn) ruled over and guided Tyria - though the credibility of this is uncertain.

Sometime after the fall of the Elder Dragons the charr race united under their new Khan-Ur and conquered the lands around them - said to travel north, then east along the Shiverpeak Mountains, and ending in the lands now known as Ascalon. During this time they warred with the forgotten at the mountainous edge of the then Crystal Sea.

At some point prior to 786 BE the Six Gods arrived on Tyria at the Artesian Waters in Orr from the Mists and later brought humanity to the world. It is said that the Six Gods brought the forgotten to the world as well; however this is now questionable given their dealings with the Elder Dragons. Regardless of their origins the forgotten were tasked as being caretakers as the Six Gods built Arah and terraformed the land.

Although Dwayna and Melandru of the Six Gods encouraged humanity to be peaceful, Balthazar sought to make the world the human's domain, and with his guidance humanity spread. Currently 786 BE marks the oldest records of humanity, being the time they arrived on the northern shores of Cantha and established the Empire of the Dragon in 510 BE. In 205 BE humans arrived in Tyria and Elona, establishing two kingdoms: Orr and the Primeval Dynasty. Over the decades humanity had continued to spread, pushing into Kryta and Ascalon and claiming them for their own.

In 1 BE Abaddon utilized the seer-made Bloodstone to spread powerful magic to all races of Tyria. Although magic had existed prior to this it was in a much weaker state. However, the ability to use magic brought races to war with each other and caused mass destruction and death. To bring an end to the suffering the human king of Tyria, King Doric, traveled to the City of the Gods, Arah, and pleaded with the gods to take back their gift of magic. To do this the gods took the Bloodstone and divided it into five large pieces in Arah, although smaller shards were made from this. Each large stone represented one of the four schools of magic - Aggression, Denial, Destruction, and Preservation - with the last being a keystone required should one ever want to reunite all five stones. To finish sealing magic the gods used King Doric's blood and then threw the five stones into the largest volcano of the Ring of Fire, Abaddon's Mouth.

Abaddon, however, disagreed with limiting magic and rebelled against the other five gods. He transformed the Margonite civilization into ethereal demonic beings and waged war, assaulting the Gates of Heaven. However, Abaddon was defeated and cast down at the Mouth of Torment; the Crystal Sea's floor rose and created the Crystal Desert and the Desolation. The defeated god and his followers were imprisoned in the Realm of Torment, and they destroyed all records of him on Tyria, going so far as to sink his Orrian temple and pull the Temple of the Six into the Realm of Torment with him.

Having caused cataclysmic damage the remaining Five Gods left for the Mists, legends saying they went to create new worlds. This event was called the Exodus of the Gods.