Vass
“Isgarren and Vass stood over the edge of Amnytas, looking down. This place was worth protecting—Tyria. Amnytas would be their vessel to do so.
Vass was a female Forgotten, who was a member of the Wizard's Court. She led the Bastion of the Natural,[1] which has been without proper leadership since her passing some time before 716 AE.[2] Wizard's Court founder Isgarren and Vass were close.
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Vass and her fellow Forgotten were dutiful adherents of the Six Gods, originating from an unspecified "gods' realm."[3] After arriving on Tyria, the Forgotten reached out to the other elder races—dwarves, jotun, mursaat, and seers—and formed an alliance with them by the time the Elder Dragons rose from their slumber to threaten the world and its denizens. It is unknown if Vass participated in the joint Forgotten and mursaat assault on the Elder Dragon Zhaitan which ended in mass casualties due to the other elder races not coming to their allies' aid.[4] Following this event, the elder race alliance would gradually fall apart as the mursaat, feeling betrayed by others not answering the call, used their shadowcraft to temporarily flee from Tyria's physical plane and abandoning the rest of the races to the Elder Dragons' hunger.[5] Vass attempted to preserve whatever she could and saved some flora and fauna from the ravages of the Elder Dragons.[1]
The seers created the Bloodstone to seal the world's available magic within and forced the Elder Dragons into a premature slumber.[6] Around this time, the Forgotten successfully purified the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik's scion Glaust from her Branded corruption with a ritual performed at the Altar of Glaust. The cleansed scion would eventually turn to the side of Tyrians to shield them from the Elder Dragons' wrath while adopting the name Glint.[7] However, the elder race alliance was no longer as united as it had once been as the mursaat eventually returned from their hiding and began waging a millennia-long war against the seers. The Forgotten became shepherds of the surviving races of Tyria whom Glint had shielded, and helped them rebuild their civilizations.
Vass spent time with a kodan, likely Waiting Sorrow after the seer Isgarren had ascended the latter, and observed the kodan migrations south. They were approached by Isgarren around this time, and he began courting her. Both Vass and her kodan companion were curious about Isgarren and the mursaat Mabon whom the seer had ascended to work as his partner. They eventually joined what became known as the Wizard's Court and ascended with Isgarren's ritual to become immortal wizards.[8]
The Six Gods arrived on Tyria at some point in the company of humans who would begin colonizing the different continents and clashing with native Tyrian races for land and resources over time. The Forgotten would gradually withdraw to the Crystal Desert, allowing Tyrian civilizations to develop without their interference.
Life as a wizard[edit]
As a wizard, Vass settled into the Wizard's Tower and grew close to Isgarren. She founded the Bastion of the Natural in the levitating domain of Amnytas and placed the flora and fauna she had saved from the Elder Dragons there in order to tend to them. The bastion celebrated each magnificent creature in Tyria's repertoire; it reminded people that magic was not just for the magical, because the entire world was a marvel worth protecting.[1] Vass was known for her wisdom and her belief in Tyria and its people.[9]
Vass wrote a tome titled Planning for Tyria's Future which held her views on what she wanted for Tyria. Although she could not easily sway Isgarren who viewed outside realms as threats to be shielded against, she held the belief that Tyria would be able to engage productively with those who dwelled outside of it one day rather than view them as enemies.
When Vass and the kodan wizard Waiting Sorrow planned a trek to Orr, Vass decided that Isgarren needed something to keep him company. With this in mind, the jotun wizard Dagda crafted a cat from the very essence of the cosmos. Vass named her Mingoo and left instructions to feed the cat once a century.[10][11]
The Kryptis demons led by Midnight King Eparch invaded the Wizard's Tower circa 604 or 635 AE, after the Astral Ward's founding. Eparch's lieutenants Cerus and Deimos slew Vass during the conflict, while the djinn wizard Akeem perished as well, leaving Waiting Sorrow in shock and unable to aid in the tower's defense. Although the remaining wizards and their Astral Ward followers managed to banish Eparch and his minions back to Nayos shortly after, it would take centuries to recover from their losses.[12][13][14]
Legacy[edit]
The Bastion of the Natural was left without a wizard to guide it since Vass's passing although various mortal Astral Ward members like the hylek Zizel would come to represent the bastion in official matters and carry on Vass's work in the following centuries.[2][15] Isgarren kept a statue of a Forgotten, likely reprensenting Vass, in his bedroom, so the visage would be among the first things he would see when waking up every morning.
In 1330, Isgarren tasked the Pact Commander to retrieve various objects of interest from various locations so they would not end up in the wrong hands after the latest Kryptis invasion. One of these objects was Vass's tome containing her ideas for Tyria's future which had ended up in the ruined tower of Vizier Khilbron in Orr. After receiving the book, Isgarren declared that its contents would be of use to him in the times ahead.[9]
Related achievements[edit]
The Wizard's Tower: Secrets Obscured — Retrieve the scattered wizard relics around Tyria. (3
)
Amnytas: Spire of the Forgotten — Learn more about the Bastion of the Natural and the Forgotten to acquire a powerful and ancient weapon. (3)
Notes[edit]
- Vass Memorial Medical Plaza and Vass's Compassion are named after Vass.
See also[edit]
- Associated items
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Bastion of the Natural ambient dialogue
- ^ a b "An Unofficial History of the Wizard's Court, Volume 4" by A. Hawthorn
- ^ Enduring Icicle
- ^ Mursaat Lore Tablet
- ^ The Unseen Ones: A Primer on the Mursaat
- ^ Bloodstones
- ^ The Ruined City of Arah (explorable) Forgotten path
- Warden Illyra: I have learned that the last time the Elder Dragons came, the Forgotten worked with Glint, who hid the old races from the dragons' power. [...]
- Warden Illyra: Yes. Yes! Look at these runes. The Forgotten were able to remove Kralkatorrik's control over Glint.
- Warden Illyra: Glint remained in crystalline form, but she regained her free will and identity. [...]
- Warden Illyra: This is the altar. It was here, before the human gods came, that Glint was freed of the Elder Dragons.
- ^ Strength of the Unseen
- ^ a b Secrets Obscured
- ^ Archivist Benny
- ^ Weathered Letter from Vass
- ^ Collect evidence of Kryptis infiltration
- ^ Foundation of the Astral Ward
- ^ Lonely Tower Fractal
- ^ Mabon's Fate
- Story journal: They introduced me to Zizel and Galrath, representatives from the Bastions of the Natural and Strength.
