Mercia

Mercia the Smug was a high-ranking mursaat during the previous titan invasion of 1072 AE. They were in support of sacrificing magically potent mortals, identified as the Chosen, on the bloodstones to keep the Door of Komalie shut and prevent the titans from coming through. Mercia, Lazarus the Dire, and Optimus Caliph were responsible for kidnapping White Mantle founder Saul D'Alessio for reeducation after saving Kryta from the charr invasion, and leaving Confessor Dorian as Saul's successor, thus ensuring the continuation of the White Mantle's tyranny in Kryta.

Mercia lost their life alongside many other mursaat while protecting the Door of Komalie from the Chosen heroes' assault on the Onyx Gate, moments before Vizier Khilbron unleashed the titans from the Door of Komalie to fulfill the Flameseeker Prophecies and ensure the mursaat race's doom.

Biography

Early years

Saul D'Alessio is taken by the mursaat.

Mercia was a high-ranking mursaat by the time of the human-charr conflict. They participated in the battle in Kryta alongside Optimus Caliph and Lazarus the Dire by coming to the aid of Saul D'Alessio's White Mantle squad who had prayed for help upon being overwhelmed by charr forces in a daring assassination attempt. After providing their aid to the grateful humans by exterminating the attacking charr, however, the mursaat trio slew most of the "unworthy" White Mantle in the squad because they had seen the mursaat's true form. When Saul protested this massacre caused by his "Unseen Ones," the three mursaat kidnapped him and took him to the Bastion of the Penitent to be reeducated. They left Confessor Dorian and the other surviving White Mantle zealots to continue the worship of the Unseen Ones and the secret sacrifices of the Chosen atop the bloodstones in order to avert the Flameseeker Prophecies from coming true.

Mercia eventually relocated to the Ring of Fire to keep the Door of Komalie leading to the Foundry of Failed Creations, the titans' place of origin, shut. The younger and gifted mursaat researcher Manikaz asked to join his older brethren in the defense of the Komalie fortress, which was shielding the Door and the Ring of Fire bloodstone, when the Chosen heroes and their Shining Blade and Deldrimor dwarf allies were successfully thwarting mursaat and White Mantle attacks in 1072 AE. However, Mercia denied the request and instead ordered Manikaz to continue researching the possibility of transferring souls between bloodstone shards by ramping up sacrifices of not only humans, kodan, and other captives but even their fellow mursaat who were deemed dissident, insane, and weak. Mercia and Lazarus promised to make Manikaz renowned should he succeed in this task while telling him to transfer souls to the Komalie site.

Mercia fought alongside Optimus Caliph, Sarlic the Judge, and Willa the Unpleasant as the last line of mursaat defense when the Heroes and their allies breached the Komalie site at Abaddon's Mouth. All the mursaat at the Ring of Fire ultimately fell, unable to prevent the titans from being unleashed to wreak havoc on the rest of their kind across Tyria.

Legacy

While exploring the Mistburned Barrens in 1338 AE, the Pact Commander came across surviving mursaat writings which referenced the troubled relationship between Mercia and Manikaz. Using the information provided by the writings, the Commander was able to piece together the final tumultous days of the mursaat and their growing desperation before their downfall.

See also

• Saul D'Alessio

References

The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Mercia the Smug.