91 replies to this topic

[Raysura]

Whilst playing the second beta weekend event, I came across a fairly interesting new race whilst at the Song of Final Exile which as far as I am aware haven't really been referenced anywhere before.

Obviously, it's not new to us that Arena Net have conjured up new races for Guild Wars 2 (The Kodan, for instance.) but I felt that this one in particular was fairly interesting. Unfortunately as soon as the event finished he vanished into the air and I missed getting a close up screenshot of him, but I have a couple of fairly good ones here.

Spoiler

Pictures are in the spoiler above.

Personally, and clearly this is based on aesthetics alone as I know nothing about them, but they look fairly Sylvari-ish to me. But then again, the pointy ears and butterfly wings are very out of place which basically throws the Sylvari idea out of the window.

To be honest they look like some sort of elf, however I have never ever heard of elves (or anything similar) being featured in Guild Wars lore.

Do you guys have any thoughts or perhaps know/have seen something to do with these guys that I haven't

[Konig Des Todes]

This was brought up before. I found them during the first BWE and made a wiki page on them (which has a better image of it).

It's been suspected by a few that they may be linked to seers and/or mursaat due to appearance and ability. The lore on them is fairly unknown - they come from the far north and seem to have went south either due to Jormag or in search for new game. They are a race of assassins who, not dissimilar to the norn, seek challenge. They hide most of the time until they meet their prey where the only one seen thus far revealed and announced itself for combat. Quaggans from the north say that they are almost never seen, but they leave a scent where bodies are found and they never take meat from their kills (which frighten the quaggan as it shows the largos kill for the sake of killing).

We've also seen an image of a female "Orrian largos" - which means that some traveled further south than Snowden Drifts. We may even see some in Ascalon, Kryta, or the Maguuma.


On first looks, I agree that they look a tad bit sylvari-ish, but if you get a close look you can see that their skin texture matches mursaat more, while their color matches seer. Incidentally both races have wing-like appendages and mursaat are also able to disappear and remain unseen. But the link to mursaat and seers are fairly limited and are based on loose physical appearance mostly.

[nilzardo]

I decided to necro this thread from its 5 day slumber with some concept art that I found in some videos.

These pieces of concept art can be seen on the walls in Anet's office as seen in two semi-recent video interviews. I immediately recognized them as the Largos and I think they look really neat.

Spoiler

Top left (obviously):

The videos:

Spoiler

Edit: added spoilers

Edited by nilzardo, 18 June 2012 - 02:40 PM.

[Razuuli]

The wings in the concept art look better than the ingame model, imo. Or maybe I've just seen badly engled shots of the ingame model -- are their wings solid?

Edited by Razuuli, 18 June 2012 - 05:14 PM.

[Konig Des Todes]

Agreed that the wings in the concept art look far far better. I hope they improve the Largos model...

[Flaming_Foxx]

<3 The largos, they look awesome. Definitely a lot of visual similarities between them and the Seers (Glowing blue eyes and dots).
But that fact that can be "invisible" could imply some relation to the Mursaat couldn't it? Since they "They have the ability to hide themselves"  .
I think it would be really cool if there was some kind of connection between the three (Seers, Mursaat and Largos).

Just a side question. Are the Largos discoverable as enemies or are they just NPCs?

[Sirius]

The only one I saw in the beta was an enemy (he/she/it attempts to kill the Claw of the kodan settlement Song of Final Exile).

[Hedge]

It's odd how awesome and unique the Largos look in the concept art, but then.. that model.. those square-y wings.. *shudders*
They really should update the model. It looks really odd. Like the wings were an afterthought to the already existing model of some kind of elf.

[Amannelle]

I too thought the wings looked a bit off when I saw them. I trust that this is just a model for sake of release, and they may get an updated look as time progresses (and more of them are introduced)

[Konig Des Todes]

The wings aren't really boxy, though they do look tacked onto a pre-existing model, so I hope they get improved. And heck, maybe they have been.

[Hedge]

Konig Des Todes, on 05 July 2012 - 01:13 AM, said:

The wings aren't really boxy, though they do look tacked onto a pre-existing model, so I hope they get improved. And heck, maybe they have been.

I hope you are right, because they seem like an interesting race.
Though it does strike me as a bit odd that a butterfly-like race should come from the north. I would think that in cold and stormy environment, the key to survival was as little body mass exposed as possible, and lots of fur.

I can't wait to further read what you discover about them, Konig. Release the lore-hounds!

[Konig Des Todes]

Actually, typically you need more body mass - as it helps keep you warm. But its different for different animals really. What's important is having a means of keeping cold. And look at the creatures we've seen in the far north... Ice Wurms are larger, there's the norn who come from the north, the jotun who live in the coldest areas, the kodan, blubber-filled quaggan, etc. They're all fairly well insolated.

But largos do seem odd.

Also, I don't think anything says the north is stormy.

And of course, the cold north could have simply been a hunting ground area for the largos, seeing how only their kills were seen up there.

[Red J]

Well there is (or was) rather greenish-looking area north of Verdant forest and east of far shiverpeaks. Maybe that was the homeland of largos.

[NeHoMaR]

That's the big brother of Fairy on Zelda.

[draxynnic]

Konig Des Todes, on 05 July 2012 - 06:11 PM, said:

Actually, typically you need more body mass - as it helps keep you warm.

Yeah, it's surface area that you want to keep minimised. Body mass is actually something that you want to help, as higher body mass means more volume within which heat can be generated by biological processes. With a simple scaling-up of size, body mass tends to increase as a cubic while surface area increases as a square, so growing larger is an advantage in cold climates. Which is why things tended to be larger in the Ice Ages than they are now.

Large animals in hot regions typically have adaptations to compensate for this, such as increasing their surface area to assist in cooling (a modern elephant's ears versus a mammoth's, for example).

[Craywulf]

I'm not liking the pointy ears. Too much like WoW elves.

[Flaming_Foxx]

draxynnic, on 06 July 2012 - 12:18 AM, said:

Yeah, it's surface area that you want to keep minimised. Body mass is actually something that you want to help, as higher body mass means more volume within which heat can be generated by biological processes. With a simple scaling-up of size, body mass tends to increase as a cubic while surface area increases as a square, so growing larger is an advantage in cold climates. Which is why things tended to be larger in the Ice Ages than they are now.

Large animals in hot regions typically have adaptations to compensate for this, such as increasing their surface area to assist in cooling (a modern elephant's ears versus a mammoth's, for example).

That involves operating under the assumption that they are warmblooded mammals though does it not?

[Konig Des Todes]

Well typically cold blooded animals won't be in freezing temperatures, if I remember my biology correctly (it's been several years so I may be wrong).

[draxynnic]

Flaming_Foxx, on 06 July 2012 - 01:26 AM, said:

That involves operating under the assumption that they are warmblooded mammals though does it not?

No, actually.

Being warmblooded helps, but "cold"-blooded animals still produce some heat through biological processes, and the bigger they are, the more heat is produced and the better the heat they've already got is retained (an argument, incidentally, that was used by certain palaeontologists a couple of decades ago so they could keep their head in the sand regarding dinosaurs being warm-blooded despite dinosaur fossils being found in places that were just about the Jurassic equivalent of Siberia). You can get cold-blooded animals in cooler climes, and they have a tendency to grow larger as the temperature gets colder (all else being equal) - it doesn't change the tendency, it just changes the point at which it's just too cold for the animal.

[Shinga]

Artistically, these guys look like they would fit more in an Asian MMO than Guild Wars, which is going for a more Western art style.  That, and the wings... *twitch*  Gosh, are they annoying!  I'm all for the butterfly wing-thing (*fondly remembers the elves from Allods Online*) but that style is clumsy and clashing with the rest of the body.

[Lokheit]

O.o First time I see them... And I love how they look!

They remind me a lot of Dark Elves (my favourite fantasy race) with insect atributes like the wings.

Their description as assassins and killing for the sake of killing puts them on the evil side which combined with their "racial" ability to keep stealth would make them unprobable as a playable race... but they're so cool...

i hope we can at least get their armor at some point, or even in a dungeon in a future expansion or something similar!

Spoiler

Yes, I love Warhammer Dark Elf armors and this one is really similar to them

Edited by Lokheit, 07 July 2012 - 02:09 AM.

[Konig Des Todes]

Becoming invisible - to some degree - is already thief and mesmer skills, so having that as a racial skill isn't unlikely actually.

And they don't really have a morality tied to them - being assassins? We played assassins in Factions. Killing for the sake of killing and/or sport? Well, hello there charr and norn!

[Lokheit]

Konig Des Todes, on 07 July 2012 - 03:28 AM, said:

Becoming invisible - to some degree - is already thief and mesmer skills, so having that as a racial skill isn't unlikely actually.

And they don't really have a morality tied to them - being assassins? We played assassins in Factions. Killing for the sake of killing and/or sport? Well, hello there charr and norn!

Now you're filling my head with hopes of them being playable in a future xD I know nothing about their lore and they have become my favorite non-playable race just because how cool they look. They're concentrated coolness in a bottle!

But some of the descriptions given seem to put them closer to the Krait than to the Charr or the Norn.

Is there any dialogue in the event where that guy tries to kill the Kodan Claw? If it's some kind of honorable combat, and there are good enough arguments, I think there might exist hope for them, if he declares he wants to assassinate him and just announces himself because he wants everyone to know how cool he is, I think that would mark them as an enemy race (while still existing the possibility of that guy being to his race what a Flame Legion would be to the Charr).

As I said, if they won't be playable, at least I want their armor *.* and probably a dungeon exploring their origins. BTW the armor looks exactly like the second concept art posted by nilzardo, I love how arenanet fully replicate their concept arts

Now I'm really intrigued and I know during next BWE I will go to that event and try to find more like him. I'm intrigued too about the possibility you mentioned of a relation with the Mursaat and/or the Seer. Maybe there could be some kind of expansion involving the final confrontation between Mursaats and Seers, with this guys involved too? With the world being so big they could have a lot of possible origins.

Edited by Lokheit, 07 July 2012 - 08:54 AM.

[Tevesh]

The problem is they don't look insectoid at all, but rather as a dark elf wearing a slightly insectoid-looking helm with a set of butterfly wings attached to its back.

[Lokheit]

Judging by the Orrian largos female image skull, I think we can expect them to have a very humanoid face. It has pointed teeth, but everything corrupted by Zhaitan ends up with pointed teeth, humans included, so I think it's more the orrian corruption than a physical trait from the Largos.

That largos zombi also shows that the wings might be more fleshy than "butterfly-esque", and it has 4 small cavities on her abdomen that might be either part of her constitution or another deformity caused by the orrian corruption, as other orrian zombies have been altered so their torsos resembled skulls (the 4 cavities seem like nosebone cavities, and under them there is some kind of serrated division on the torso, in the orrian corruption line of twisting bodies).

Spoiler

Edited by Lokheit, 07 July 2012 - 05:01 PM.

[Konig Des Todes]

Lokheit, on 07 July 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

I know nothing about their lore

You demonstrated that you know just as much as we do.

Lokheit, on 07 July 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

But some of the descriptions given seem to put them closer to the Krait than to the Charr or the Norn.

Is there any dialogue in the event where that guy tries to kill the Kodan Claw? If it's some kind of honorable combat, and there are good enough arguments, I think there might exist hope for them, if he declares he wants to assassinate him and just announces himself because he wants everyone to know how cool he is, I think that would mark them as an enemy race (while still existing the possibility of that guy being to his race what a Flame Legion would be to the Charr).

Definitely not like the krait from what I saw. From the one example, however, we can't be certain.

What occurs from what I saw was the guy appears and says (I got pics of it, it seems):

Veteran Largos Assassin: Champion of the kodan, perhaps you can offer me the challenge I seek! Prepare yourself!

Veteran Ice Raking: No need to call an alarm. The strength of Koda flows through me!

*after fighting, Largos defeated*

Veteran Largos Assassin: I am impressed, kodan. You have earned your reprieve, but this fight is not over.

Veteran Ice Raking: One of Koda is no man's prey, assassin.
Veteran Ice Raking: The strength of our will predicted this success.



The kodan claw changes if he's killed, chosen between Ice Raking and another who's name I forgot.

[Lokheit]

So the Largos would kill the Claw if he has success, but he leaves "sparing his opponent life because he fought well" if you defeat him. I wonder if he's really powerful enough to kill him anyway but spares his life for his bravery, or if it's just a bad excuse to scape the fight.

Konig Des Todes, on 07 July 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

The kodan claw changes if he's killed, chosen between Ice Raking and another who's name I forgot.

The OP images show the Claw as Silent Snowfall. Could there be infinite succession of different named Claws or just those 2 rotating a new Claws with the same name with failed events?

[Konig Des Todes]

As far as I saw, the system is that it's 2 kodan. When one is killed, some time is passed then the Voice comes out for a funeral, and his assistant announces a competition will occur for the next Claw. Silent Snowfall will go to meditate while Ice Raking will go to train - two events will occur that's timed, and when those events end the two shall do battle and one will be chosen as the Claw. I don't know how it's chosen, as I only saw Silent Snowfall become a Claw (stopped the competition and saying Silent Snowfall was more resolved than Ice Raking).

Then a quaggan ambassador comes, then the largos, then the ambassador, then the largos, so on and so on until the claw dies.

That's what *I* saw though.

Sad thing, though, was that Ice Raking never died - even when I did nothing. Hope that changed.

[Dawbles]

Are there back-shots as well? how are the wings attached to their bodies? Is there some kind of "slot" through which they protrude? Now that I come to think of it, how on earth would they get that armour on in a reasonable timespan? (considering that it's not completely open in the back - which would be rather stupid)

[Hybarf Tics]

Dawbles, on 09 July 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

Now that I come to think of it, how on earth would they get that armour on in a reasonable timespan?

Velcro which was invented by the Asura.