Cool Things To See In Kourna: A Nostalgic Guide
The new Living World episode arrives tomorrow, and there are plenty of reasons to be hyped. I know most of us are focusing more on our new Beetle Boi, but I’m hyped for a whole different reason: We’re going back to Kourna, guys!
Like most things in Path of Fire, Kourna is a place with a lot of history behind it. We’ve been there before, and we’ve seen some some pretty cool stuff along the way. Now that we’re going back, we’re gonna see that stuff with the full glory of Guild Wars 2′s awesome graphics.
In the interest of hype-building, here’s a small list of things I’m particularly excited to find:
The Old Sunspear Sanctuary
Palawa Joko isn’t the first one to try his hand at exterminating the Sunspears. Varesh Ossa made an attempt during the Nightfall, and like Joko, she came oh so very close. But it was never gonna happen. After all, running guerrilla campaigns out of hidden bases in the wilderness is pretty much the Sunspear signature move.
The Sunspears have two Sanctuaries in the modern day. One is beyond the Brandstorm in Vabbi (which you helped set up – good job, you!), and the other is right under Joko’s nose in Istan. But if you thought Kourna was missing out on all the fun, you’d be wrong. Kourna is where the Sunspears hid when the forces of Abaddon were hunting them down, two centuries ago. Like the one in Istan, we built it up and used it as a staging ground to rebuild the Sunspear Order.
We don’t know what happened to the Sanctuary after Nightfall. It could be that it was abandoned after it served its use. Or maybe Joko stormed the place after getting the location from the Mordant Crescent. Either way, it’s unlikely to still be in use after two hundred years. But it is a powerful source of nostalgia for old players, and I look forward to my triumphant return.
The centaurs, by all accounts, were purged from Elona generations ago. But even though they may be gone, their legacy could remain. That legacy is the Ancestor Tree.
The Ancestor Tree is was a sacred place to the centaurs. As the name implies, they believed their ancestors lived on in the branches of the tree, passing on their wisdom through the fruit the tree bore. While the bit about centaur ghosts was never explicitly confirmed, there’s definitely something about this tree that makes it – and others like it – a very special plant.
I’ve heard a lot of theories about the Ancestor Tree, my favorite being the idea that it’s connected to the Dream. Ever since Heart of Thorns, I’ve been starved for good sylvari lore, so I find the possibilities here particularly exciting. Here’s hoping Arenanet takes that angle and runs with it… assuming Joko didn’t just burn the thing down.
Kourna, as you’ll find out two entries down, has a bit of an obsession with impenetrable fortresses. The Fortress of Jahai is one of the most impenetrable they’ve ever constructed. If Fort Briggs and Helm’s Deep had a child together, this would be that child.
(Yeah, I know that was a weird analogy, but just go with it.)
The fortress was built over the Grand Cataract of Jahai, the section of the Elon River that connects Kourna and Vabbi. Other than the Desolation, it’s pretty much the only land road into Kourna, and as militaristic as they are, the Kournans decided it should be heavily guarded. It didn’t stop Joko, but it was a bit of an inconvenience the Sunspears during Nightfall, so that’s something.
If we’re going into Kourna, it’s likely we’ll have to go through Jahai first – or at the very least the semi-secret passage that skirts around it. Joko will have commandeered it to control traffic between different parts of his domain, so we can’t just walk in through the front door.
A Monument to the Defeat of Palawa Joko
A great battle won. A monument to stand the test of time. A jinx that changed the course of history. All of these things and more are embodied herein.
This delightful statue was built, as the label says, to commemorate Turai Ossa’s victory over Palawa Joko. Merchants would pass by as they traveled through the Jahai Bluffs, unaware that it also served another purpose. For nothing built by the Order of Whispers is ever as simple as it appears.
Little did they know, the monument was built to mark the location of a secret prison, the resting place on none other than Palawa Joko himself. Liches are notoriously difficult to kill – even after stabbing him, throwing him off a cliff and stabbing him some more, Ossa just couldn’t manage it. So he was sealed away, and remained sealed for centuries until Nightfall mucked the whole thing up.
I’m curious to see what Joko did with the monument after he was freed. In the intervening centuries, he could have erased it from existence, turned it into a personal shrine, or provided some other deliciously ironic fate.
Gandara, the Moon Fortress
Gandara is, in many ways, Elona’s equivalent of Lion’s Arch. A port city on the continent’s corsair-infested coast, this is a major hub of trade and travel, and the seat of power for some truly powerful individuals. There’s just one tiny difference between the two, really: unlike Lion’s Arch, nobody ever attacks Gandara. Because trying is pretty much suicide.
It’s not called the Moon Fortress for nothing – every inch of this crescent-shaped island is covered in walls and bristling with weapons. Invaders can only land their ships on the Consulate Docks, heavily guarded by the best soldiers Kourna can muster. And probably undead, too, now that Joko controls it. Even the Sunspears couldn’t take this place in a direct assault.
Being so heavily fortified and central to Elona’s trade network, I suspect Joko made Gandara the seat of his new dynasty. His throne might be up in the Bone Palace, but all the administrative work that comes with running an empire? That probably happens here. Which means we’ll have to pay Gandara a visit sooner or later. Probably later, because there’s no way we’ll be able to assault the place without bringing every ally we have to bear.
Honorable Mention: Right off the coast of the Moon Fortress is a second, equally-fortified island, Bokoss Prison. Known as “Devil’s Island”, it houses Kourna’s most dangerous criminals. Kormir herself was briefly held there, before we got in and busted the place open. Being the sadistic tyrant that he is, Joko’s probably getting a ton of mileage out of this place. If we end up storming Gandara, we’ll probably spend some time storming Bokoss, too.
I’m not sure how big the new map is going to be – probably not large enough to cover all of the above, honestly. These locations are very spread out, and even a Vabbi-sized map couldn’t get them all. But no matter where in Kourna we go, we’re pretty much guaranteed to get something.
And whatever that something is, it’s gonna be awesome.
jacobvanloon
theartofmadeline
areudirty
yousharknotpass
izzy806
titsay
