Monday, September 12, 2011

Races of Tyria: Charr Do It With Steel, Not Spells

I take it we're not going to talk about the other possible worlds we saw at PAX then?


Maybe if we find time, but it's been a few weeks so we should move on. Besides, that Firefall one (not sure what the actual planet's name was - Urth or something like that) we looked at is supposedly letting other people get more hands-on time in the next couple months, so I might as well wait for that. As for the other one, I'm reluctant to talk about it.

Didn't care for it?


No, I liked what I saw. The problem is I didn't see enough. You and I got to check out Tyria and the WildStar world for 40 minutes. In that 40 minutes we had time to check out combat, questing, gear itemization - pretty much enough time to get a feel for everything we care about. Here I only got 20 minutes and half of that was talking. Don't get me wrong - the quality of the talking was good. I was interested in what everyone had to say. Unfortunately I was also interested in doing non-talky things and there wasn't really enough time for both. I could comment on what I tried, but I feel that would be unfair with the little I was able to see.

Understandable. Where does that leave us for today's post then? I know Lokaja hasn't finished his Ranger profession post because neither of us has seen him for a while.


Actually got the idea from the guys that have been giving out all of the details about Tyria. They're doing a week of posts about one of the five races we get to choose from in Tyria, seeing as how the bulk of us can't just hop over there and expect to fit in.

Ah yes, I'd been wondering when we would get to discussing that. Will we be focusing on the same race everyone else is talking about at the moment?


Where's the fun in being topical? Nah, we're gonna do this the way we talked about the professions: we'll talk about the ones that we've picked out for ourselves. It just works out here because I know you and I are planning on the same race.

Correct. I cannot speak for the remainder of the team, but the two of us at the very least will be adventuring through Tyria in the guise of a Charr.


Seems a little more intimidating than Med as a Blood Elf, huh?


That's right, though I assume for different reasons. I'll be going with the Charr partly because, well, they're the closest match I have to being a Tauren. They're big, they have horns, they're fuzzy - seems kinda obvious to me. They're a bit more warlike than my people, though that's probably going to shift some because of Garrosh (I'm not bitter, no...). To be honest though the bulk of their fighting is retaliatory since this Ascalon place did apparently take their land first and this Flame Legion group of Charr was apparently subjugating the whole race for a while there. When you listen to some of them talk though and hear how much they enjoy their work, you can't really mistake them for peaceful folks. Really though, I think that's the main reason I like them.

As much as I consider myself a Tauren, we're a race of druids, hunters and shamans with some outliers. I'm respected, sure, but you know you're always on the edge of society to some extent when you take up the blade. With the Charr though, everything that makes me who I am is considered a virtue. They value strength in battle and fearlessness. They strive for discipline in everything they do. Most important to an old smith like me though, they honor being industrious, particularly when it comes to working with metal.

Ah, now you're getting to the good part. Sure they value skill in combat and discipline, but most importantly they strive for technological advancement. It just so happens that being in a constant state of war is a great way to make said progress. The Charr have made great advances in engineering and metallurgy over the years, making them militarily and technologically superior to the other races of Tyria.


I'm sure those Asura guys might question us on this.

I know a warrior should prolly be Blood Legion, but I like the attitude of these Iron Legion guys

Bah! Let them argue the point! It doesn't change the fact that they're behind. While they waste their efforts on technomagical constructs like those golems they all have, the Charr have proven their dominance not only with their war machines, but with their finest work: the Black Citadel. The entire city is a vast foundry and haven for crafting and engineering work. While some members of the Charr do practice magic, the bulk of the race places their faith in steel rather than spells. Honestly after reading what you sent me about them, I couldn't find any compelling evidence to choose one of the alternatives.


Yeah. I'm gonna have to find volunteers for the other races. We'll all be able to work on the same stuff, but it's always good to try and spread resources in case we're missing something. Might have to ask one of the gnomes to be our Asura rep though; I can't think of any of the regular crew that would want the assignment. I could be wrong though. For the next post we'll ask Sol which way he's leaning. I'll be the one doing the asking though, not you. Pretty sure he's still sore about the whole "transforming him into a Tauren" thing.

Sigh... It's been months. Sometimes scientific progress has a few side effects. Nobody died, so it's not like anything that bad happened. Besides he'd just have to change for Tyria, so really I gave him practice. He should be thanking me.


Yep, I'll definitely be the one talking to him instead of you.

No comments: