[Arghore]

I know i should do more research and present pictures of various rocks, but instead i will just write what i have on my mind now and assume from my discriptions you will know the rocks or crystals im talking about ...

The most pressing thing i like to agree upon, is the property of rock/crystal to store magic ... wether or not specified by an inscription...
'We' see this happen in numerous familiar rocks troughout the game:

1. The bloodstones, from my point of view on rocks on tyria it isnt so strange that the gods used a stone to write down their magic restricting spells. If rock were not to have the magic storing/infuencing properties by itself; if all the power were to be in the spells, then why not use a piece of paper, a sheet of metal, a tree or some bark ... mainly because Stone itself allready has the apparent property of storing/influencing magic, the spells merely influenced the way the stone influences magic ... In this case they controll the ammount of magic that is available to one creature ...

In small 'we' see this happen with runes..
2. Runes, these slaps of stone have been inscripted to harber a certain kind of magic, but it is clear that the inscription were it written on paper does not achief the same result as said inscription put on a slab of stone ... Depending on the inscription and size of the stone, it raises the power of one's magic by 1, 2 or 3 points... where the more powerfull inscriptions also have a drawback on one's health points...

3. Other interesting pieces of rock can be found mainly in EotN Asura area's in the form of Floating rocks, apparently these rocks are made up of certain elements that make them magically float in the air (Verata's castle is also build upon such stones. Very likely it is an element that, when it stores a certain amount of magic, it makes it have minor anti gravity properties (i say minor because they float, and thus this means their mass still has some influence) ..

Crystals are mainly other forms of rock, mostly in a pure form of a specific element in a crystaline grid ... The crystaline structure might make them more receptive to storing magic or 'energy', crystals get mentioned a couple of times in GW lore:

1. The Soul Batteries used to power the door of Komalie, these crystals are 'hooked' onto the bloodstone in Abaddon's mouth, and killing the lich on top of the bloodstone power's them up, with enough energy to close the door of Komalie again (human sacrifices of the chosen have apparently kept these crystals charged enough to keep the door closed, untill we started to meddle with it) ... both the bloodstone and power crystal, get used to store magic and relay it to achief something else.

2. When passed the shiver peaks, one hardly returns to Ascalon (unfortunatly) so it would be easy to forget that this place is littered with Crystaline structures that discharge lightning and besides creating an 'destructive atmosphere' are basically crystals that somehow store allot of magical energy, and at a certain point release this energy in the form of lighting ... Although there is no way to test these crystals, they seem to be of a similar (by looks) element(s) as the Power Crystals used to store energy to power the door of Komalie, This crystaline element seems to be very commen to the area of Abaddon's mouth, where this specific crystal is actually 'mined' to create the soulbatteries (if indeed these crystals are made of the same element).

3. In the bloodstone cave mission, a crystal is being suggested to be used to collect some of the magic stored in the bloodstone found there. Other missions in the same area seem to deal with crystal's aswell..

4. Crystals are also found in the Nightfall elite area's although (I am) unsure if they harbor a specific magic, they do make nice armbraces and can be exchanged for various weapons (would be nice if someone that frequents that place were to elaborate what these crystals do and what they are for)

5. In various dungeons there are specific crystals that emit light, from this list sofar it is easy to assume that these crystals are made of a specific kind of element that, when stored enough magical energy, this element will start to produce light ...

!! Now, im not saying all stone can store the same amount of magical energy or release it, interact with it the same way, as these examples clearly show different elements reacting different to magical energy (store/release, emite light, float), but it does mean that Tyria itself is mostlikely a giant battery of magical energy in all sorts of forms, and all the species that practice magic might well draw from this energy, i bolded might for emphasis because, allot of speculation/reasoning suggest that The Mist itself might be a big factor aswell ..

* I would like to mention another element on Tyria that seems to interact with magic in a similar way, mainly Water, now Gmr Leon wrote an extensive peice on this on GW1Guru, though it might be nice if he could rewrite this on this board, for future reference, and perhaps include a link in this post ...

[Gmr Leon]

Until I get around to that, I'll simply link to the existing threads here and here.

With that out of the way, the only points I'd like to disagree on are the appearance of the Searing crystals to the Jade material seen in the Ring of Fire Islands Chain. These do not, at least as far as I'm concerned, appear similar. One is of a lighter blue/purple mix (Searing crystal) whereas the Jade is a deep purple/violet differing greatly from the aforementioned specimen. I would also like to suggest the usage of Soul Battery rather than Power Crystal, as I seem to recall there is another, different as I recall, specimen called that used in the golems. There isn't a single type of crystal that I'm aware of used in the golems, though.

Adding on to your list, and supporting your stone examples, is the Soul Stone, which is infused with souls (or magic? Konig is more familiar with these than I) to animate the Shiro'Ken. Although I'm not sure if you want to include it or not due to its inclusion of, unless I'm mistaken, a soul, instead of pure magical energy.

[pumpkin pie]

I like to add something that i quite dislike to use in the game the Flux Matrix ... although I am not quite sure what this flux matrix is, are they rock or stone, but having to run back and forth to get them charged is a pain and hope we do not see this type of game play :p unless my character doesn't run like their feet are bound when carrying stuffs ...

[draxynnic]

Going off on a tangent (already...)

We've seen signs that magic may be stored and transmitted in water and in rock. Fire we haven't seen used in this fashion so much, but this is likely because it's rare to see a permanent region fo flame - but there are certainly examples of magically significant flame in the storyline (the flame at the shrine in Jaga Moraine, for instance).

What do all these have in common? They consist of three out of the four classic elements, and all in fairly high-purity forms (considering crystals to be a high-purity form of "earth", which when you consider that most rocks are formed from finely ground crystals of various minerals, may not be that far off the mark). Having observed three, and with the fourth being one of the hardest to contain - and possibly one of the hardest to reach, if magically saturated air turns out to be inclined to rise rather than fall - I wonder if at some stage we'll see evidence of the quartet being filled by finding a powerful air-based magic node?

[Lord Bazaah]

pumpkin pie said:

I like to add something that i quite dislike to use in the game the Flux Matrix ... although I am not quite sure what this flux matrix is, are they rock or stone, but having to run back and forth to get them charged is a pain and hope we do not see this type of game play :p unless my character doesn't run like their feet are bound when carrying stuffs ...

I always thought that it was the Kan-Kan! :p

[Renita of the Darkness]

Well, there IS such a thing as a bloodstone in real life, though they look nothing like the Tyrian ones (real ones are a dark green with reddish spots as though it were stained by blood drops, hence the name), and the idea of stones holding energy is as old as the stones themselves, especially crystals. Specifically quartz is known as a good holder of energy, so I am not surprised at all that these old theories would be drawn upon for Tyria.

[Sha Noran]

Don't forget golems. A classic example of lifeless stone being animated to life by magic; if the stone were unable to conduct magic (very well, I might add), this wouldn't work. We see lots of golems in GW, in many forms.

[Konig Des Todes]

Don't forget that all Golems (seem to) have "power stones/crystals" - which seems to be the powering aspect, thus the conductor. Basically, crystals act as a Golem's CPU.

[Corpsesarefun]

Konig Des Todes said:

Don't forget that all Golems (seem to) have "power stones/crystals" - which seems to be the powering aspect, thus the conductor. Basically, crystals act as a Golem's CPU.

I would disagree, the main crystal block seen in most golems appears to be the power cell or battery, the CPU (which i admit is likely to be crystal circuit baseD) seems to be located in the head.

[Konig Des Todes]

Eh, I got my computer piece roles mixed up. :p

[Gmr Leon]

Corpsesarefun said:

I would disagree, the main crystal block seen in most golems appears to be the power cell or battery, the CPU (which i admit is likely to be crystal circuit baseD) seems to be located in the head.

Actually, it would seem to be the processing unit as well, at least in the sense that it seems to have programming within it as sort of indicated by the dialogue below.

Golem User Manual said:

My entire business has been built on the backs of eccentric clients, so it never even occurred to me to turn away the stranger when he appeared. He had a most curious request, but again, I was not about to refuse a paying customer, so I obliged the dastardly fellow. He even brought along a custom power crystal to be used in the construction of a golem. This, perhaps, should have raised a red flag, but free parts are free parts, especially when I can still charge full price.

Golem User Manual said:

I prolonged completion while secretly modifying one of my other projects, the M.O.X. golem. He is now my greatest creation. I was even able to synchronize multiple power crystals for a single purpose. Yes, M.O.X. is the first dual-core golem in existence.

The terminology used there also hints to me at its acting as both processor and power source, personally.

Also, Sha, depending on the golem in question, especially considering the Asuran type, they are made of a mixture of materials, of which metal appears to be the primary one we observe in-game.

[Corpsesarefun]

Gmr Leon said:

Actually, it would seem to be the processing unit as well, at least in the sense that it seems to have programming within it as sort of indicated by the dialogue below.





The terminology used there also hints to me at its acting as both processor and power source, personally.

Also, Sha, depending on the golem in question, especially considering the Asuran type, they are made of a mixture of materials, of which metal appears to be the primary one we observe in-game.

I would say the first quote could refer to a new type of power crystal that could last for longer however the second quote deffinately seems to be refering to the chest crystal as the processor with its use of "dual-core".

Although thinking back, mox has TWO crystals, one in his chest and one in his head... perhaps the dual-core system is refering to it having two seperate crystals in series which would boost the processing power if said crystals were processors or just the power if they were cells...

[Sha Noran]

Gmr Leon said:

Also, Sha, depending on the golem in question, especially considering the Asuran type, they are made of a mixture of materials, of which metal appears to be the primary one we observe in-game.

Oh, I wasn't talking about Asuran golems. I meant like Ice Golems and such... and yes obviously Ice Golems are actually water based, but water is well known to conduct magic also. I'm pretty sure there are some stone based golems around the game somewhere... if not, meh, maybe I've been playing other games too much to recall properly.

The Asuran Golems are another whole ball of wax; in these cases yes their crystal power cores are clearly key to how they operate... and I could digress into arguing about metal being essentially stone of a different elemental structure... but I guess I won't do that.

[Thalador]

Well, basically every Golem (not the Asuran ones) can be categorized as Elementals, however, not every Elemental is a Golem (for example, the Djinn are not - but of course there are several other examples as well).

Thus, you're correct there, Sha. If the general description of an elemental Golem is "semi(?)-intelligent entities(?) created from one of the four elements by increased magical activity or by the 'intervention' (put something more fitting here) of another creature", then I suppose we can consider these Elementals as Golems as well (one example for every element):

• Flowstone Elemental
  
  
• Ice Golem
  
  
• 
  
• Stone Elemental (Also, there's an exact match for what you've been saying, Sha: the Stone Golem.)
  
  
• Air is a little bit tricky. While Wiki considers the Crystal Guardian as a an Air Elemental (and surprisingly, it has only one air attuned skill) it's not made out of the air element. So, it's far from the perfect example. Other than this, I couldn't find a real "Air Golem".

[Sha Noran]

Oh good, I'm not crazy. Come to think of it, -duh!-, there are stone elementals right outside of Ascalon at the beginning of the game. Lol.

[nilzardo]

http://guildwars.wik...an_of_Suffering
Since Djinn are also elemental, maybe this could be considered an elemental air creature?

[Thalador]

That's true, although they are elemental spirits, not golems. The Djinn.

But yes, there are some air attuned Djinn.

The Guild Wars Nightfall Manuscripts said:

Djinn are spirits with deep ties to the Elonian continent, usually bound to spiritually strong areas.

Edit: What Corpsesarefun said perfectly sums up what I was trying to say with my usual "reference-spamming".

Edited by Thalador, 13 February 2010 - 04:18 PM.

[Corpsesarefun]

Djinn arnt golems, the elementals Thalador and Sha are referring too are man-made elemental golems rather than nature spirits whereas Djinn are the latter.

Damn, ninja'd by thalador :P

[Konig Des Todes]

Using Thalador's terms, "elemental golems" are attuned to the solid while "elemental spirits" are attuned to the gases, liquids, and plasma. As such, there are no "air golems."

And I wouldn't say "elemental golems" are man-made, as there's no given origin of the Sand Elementals. They seem, to me at least, to be created from large amounts of unused magic, which doesn't have to be man made, necessarily, though it is interesting there are none (unless plant creatures could be called such) around the bloodstones.

[draxynnic]

That's been my thought as well - the difference between an elemental golem such as the Ice Golems and a straight elemental is that the former was deliberately created by a sapient builder, while the latter arose spontaneously.

[Sha Noran]

Well, it's not hard to imagine where the huge amounts of left over magic came from in the Crystal Desert, considering the battle that occurred there when it was a sea, between the gods. I would presume that raising the sea bed far enough to cause it to be higher than sea level, and thus draining the water away, would probably be such an extraordinary display of magical power that there should be some left over; probably enough for Sand Elementals to spontaneously rise out of that same sand that was the direct target of those magics.

[Gmr Leon]

An interesting bit of speculation out there on that topic, though, is that the water was actually just seared or boiled off, based on the Scriptures of Abaddon's descriptions. Either way, the results are the same, a load of magic saturated the region.

[Sha Noran]

Gmr Leon said:

An interesting bit of speculation out there on that topic, though, is that the water was actually just seared or boiled off, based on the Scriptures of Abaddon's descriptions. Either way, the results are the same, a load of magic saturated the region.

Oh, interesting. How come the water didn't just rush back in and fill the region from the ocean then? Odd.

But yes as you say, the result is essentially the same; loads of overly generous magic use in direct contact with the soil in question.

[Konig Des Todes]

Well, if there was a lot of salt in the area (which might have been the cause of the name), then when the water boiled (if it did), then the salt would of remained and could of became higher than sea level (which would of also lowered at the time with the evaporation of the water) preventing the area to be refilled with water.

Though that's just a "what if" situation. I do believe that the event described in the scriptures is an event similar to if not the same magic of the Searing, and as such there would of been additional "material" to make the land (and there are even large blue crystals that remain in the desert in Elona's Reach, at least).