#gw2 ibs

[animasolascreenshots]

[lady-quen]

"Ten foot walls, I'm looking up, singing this song What took me so long? I've been searching for ways back Looking for hope, somewhere in the cold Took my time to realize it's fine I'll find it there, don't need a kiss goodbye"

An AU to our Icebrood Saga, where Maolmuire becomes the Voice of Jormag instead of Bangar.

Beset by whispers during the party's overnight stay at Still Waters Speaking, Maolmuire steals Caladbolg in a desperate cry for help to be his own person, but is unable to find it in himself to slay the sleeping Maelmordha like Jormag urges. Nonetheless, the Dragon's primary objective is complete; They use the mesmer's unnaturally strong connection to the Dream as a conduit through which to invade it. The whispers spread through the network quickly, and a large chunk of the sylvari population defects to the beast's cause and marches North.

Maol's own generation, the Broken Dreamers, who awakened following the Pale Tree's injury at the claws of Mordremoth's servant, make up the core of this army. Born with physical deformities and strange Dreams that bestow incomprehensible, hidden or otherwise warped Wyld Hunts, they covet purpose and place their faith in Jormag, who issues them their own Hunts. This elite honor guard call themselves the Reclaimed Dreamers, and serve zealously under the Voice.

As always, Maolmuire belongs to @commanderteag.

[mistfallengw2]

General ramble on my "tinfoil hat theory" of the lost "twin expansions" [Read: this is NOT canon or insider information, just what I personally headcanon would have happened if the Icebrood Saga had not been canned during development in favor of EoD, leading to the botched rushed ending of my favorite expansion. It's the basis for my Crystal Warband AU's story]

- The twin expansions were meant to be a two-parter, with each focusing on the respective dragon and their relationship, not just Jormag with a dash of Primordus. The story we got in Champions was the utmost-abridged cliffnotes of the second expansion crammed into the husk of the chopped up ending of IBS. - IBS as we know it would have been the same up until the end of Jormag Rising, then things would have changed. After that, Primordus would still stir, causing earthquakes at first and then small destroyer attacks in many places (with dynamic events*), but at a slower rate since he's still sleeping. The first major attack would still be in Rata Sum, then maybe Brisban (chat with Caithe and Ryland) and Gendarran (confirmation that the attacks are random), but after that it'd slow down to the open world events. Likewise, aside from little encounters with Ryland who is "sent to help" and Bangarphone messages, we'd get little more of Jormag for a while. Instances around the map would still happen to give context and lead into other regions. [*I imagine them as "the more enemies you kill/things you do to save the area, the stronger the boss at the end is" with a difficulty cap increasing with story]

- Instead of Champions and DRMs, the next map would have been in the northern regions of Kryta, south-west of Drizzlewood and specifically in centaur land. Centaurs were already dealing with years-long tensions/civil war of their own, following the centaur alliance imploding after Ulgoth's death (he only held the alliance together through fear). Eventually the tribes increasingly split apart, and the Harathi's deal with the White Mantle caused further issues. Of course, the recent presence of the Frost Legion in the region stirred it all up to a breaking point, with some maybe even siding with them and giving them territory. Eventually, one of the three tribes (or factions from all of them) called for help, freeing their human slaves as an act of goodwill towards other races (or possibly the slaves themselves offered to broker the deal). Pact Marshal Logan is too busy playing the politics game along with Jennah to get humans to reconsider their stance on the centaurs, so we go try to fix what we can in the meantime. We see Frost centaurs running around, then we discover they experimented with the Frozen concept on the slaves, and proof of that finally kicks politics into gear. [This covers the centaur slavers clip in the announcement trailer + the fact we were meant to have centaurs as an allied faction + Lake Doric DRM. Map maybe named after Tamini since they're the less active ones so far? And maybe some tengu live there as well since they were in DW.] [Map would have no meta for the first release, just little chains of aiding/raiding camps and freeing prisoners kinda like Mistburned Barrens. Maybe a herd of Frost centaurs could be a strike.]

- Charr being the main focus for the Jormag expansion did feel a bit out of left field thematically, BUT that was specifically because we had Frost Legion forming on one side (deserters from the "good" Legions) during the first part of IBS, and then by the end of it a non-reformed Flame Legion (the "bad" ones) would end up submitting themselves to Primordus titan-style to ensure their own survival. The Old!Flame faction had its own Imperator (maybe an ex-warband mate of Efram, for that juicy drama), and given what Frost Legion had just done, Burntsoul's idea of making the destroyers their own gods was suddenly very interesting again. With their shamans' rituals ensuring they wouldn't just go fully mindless, it was a perfect plan given the circumstances. And of course, those remaining in the ("good") Legions would have one hell of a time about it all, giving us a bunch of lore to fill in the gaps as they try to keep it together. [A bit of a substitution of the Fireheart Rise DRM, where "saving old!Flame to maybe change their minds" is still Efram's idea, but then we learn of their Imperator and what he was already doing elsewhere]

- Due to the attack on Rata Sum, the Arcane Council would still end up siding with Jormag as the lesser of two evils. Seeing that as a betrayal from long-term allies, a faction of norn would push to side with Primordus as the "logical and positive opposite" to Sons of Svanir (Pack of Primordus/Primal Pack anyone? and they summon Ragefire wolves like Braham), and maybe even look up to Braham and push him to do the same as the Norn of Prophecy. Taimi would still have her DRM discussion with Braham, but with a lot more context behind it, and Braham would have a lot of struggles with his own people directly and the leadership he didn't ask for (wasn't in the Norn of Prophecy's contract when he signed it). Bonus: reflections between him and Rytlock on how Eir and Dragon's Watch fought champions from both dragons.

- The Frozen thing had shocked Tyria at large, and then Owl's death would be the leading cause of a meta-wide fight against Ryland in a secondary release for the centaur map. We'd win, partially because the Destroyer-Flame Imperator, now Primordus's Champion, saw an opportunity to attack, but it'd be a bittersweet half-victory: Ryland escaped, we got distracted by the destroyers and many ended up Frozen or as casualties in the crossfire, and the magic-race between the twins had officially escalated. [Meta starts on a timer or after chains have been completed a certain amount of times. Allies would be mainly the centaurs and locals, plus the Pact and some Seraph and United Legions. Setting like DW, but organized more like Kaineng Blackout and Gang War]

- Epilogue is a "darkest hour" kind of ending, with the world bracing for the twin dragon's fury as political and internal tensions threaten everything built so far.

~~~

- In the sequel expansion, we'd get Primordus and Jormag amping up their magic like in Champions, but with higher stakes and larger consequences, as well as a conundrum: try to keep the twin dragons in balance as they become more dangerous and mad (due to the still-unknown Void), or tip the balance when we (read: Aurene) can handle the aftermath.

- Map-wise and story-wise, everything would kind of mirror IBS (because twins), and we'd get: 1. After the Ebonhawke DRM equivalent, we get to go into Ash territories (not the actual Ash Citadel, but a base of operations important enough) and the developments post-Drizzlewood: lots of Ash grumbling since United Legions means Ash has to be more open (reason why we're right there in the first place), dealing with all of the Dominion prisoners, tensions from Kindleshot becoming Iron Imperator, lots of early talks about a potential new Khan-Ur, signs of alliance-coexistence with ogres, the intervention in Ebonhawke ruffling feathers and renegades/separatists still being a problem, etc. Overall similar to Grothmar, but much more tense instead of festive due to the multiple crisis at hand. | 2. Thunderhead DRM equivalent happens, then the Dwarves ask us to help clear their base of operations from the ever increasing Destroyers. They lead us to the Central Transfer Chamber and we help them, maybe with Aurene's help too (we make prisms to communicate if she can't be there). It acts as a twin hub instance to Eye of the North, has its strike where we clear it. | 3. an asuran capital (Quora Sum maybe), as we get intel from spies that Ryland is leading a Frost Legion squad there to either find old tech/knowledge or to kill an important Primordus champion. Bjora Marches equivalent, two-parter of investigating both the lost city and what Ryland is doing. Both of our theories were correct: we find lots of interesting lore (a small group of surviving asura and skritt learned to cooperate and live together for a while, or maybe their descendants are still there), but more importantly we stumble on the champion first. After a brief fight [strike material], we discover it is not mindless and can actually communicate (in a simple way like Braham did, and maybe the aforementioned survivors had something to do with it). We're considering the implications of it all and trying to learn what's in the fire dragon's mine, when Ryland jumps in and kills it, awakening Primordus for good and sending him into a rage. | 4. a map in the Ring of Fire that had become the Destroyer-Flame's base (along with the norn who joined them). Drizzlewood-like meta, but with us interrupting fights between Frost and Flame to keep either from winning, as well as killing equally (gotta kill them at the same time). In the release, Ryland ends up killing the Imperator-turned-champion of Primordus, but before that it becomes really clear that both dragons are losing their mind to the Torment (aka Void). Braham does his thing (see below). | 5. Dragonstorm. It all happens similarly, we still gather factions, but it's a much bigger deal and a meta map like Dragon's Stand and Dragonfall.

- Braham still ends up as Primordus' champion after the Flame-Destroyer Imperator dies in the fight against Ryland. With balance thrown out the window, he decides to take his place in the Prophecy. While we're discussing what to do, he leaves in secret to go and do what he did in Wildfire (he had the talk with Aurene prior to everything, as he sensed our plan to stop Ryland would fail), asking the Pack norn to guide him to the dragon, yet still protected by the Spirits of the Wild to avoid being taken over completely.

--- Every playable race gets something out of this extended plotline: humans get to try to make amends with the centaurs, asura and norn their their share of lore and talks about their respective exodus and grievances, charr get even more lore and attention by being the vector for the whole crisis, and sylvari get to give their honest opinion on what being a dragon minion is like now that most of Tyria has been playing with fire and ice a bit too willy-nilly (with a good dose of very gentle "are you fucking stupid?!").

In all of this, we also get some hints about Soo-Won and the Deep-Sea Horror (we thought of them as one back then, so we'd be surprised of the discrepancies), Lowlanders (centaurs not daring to go west to the delta for more reasons than the ice dragon), Mursaat lore around the Door of Komalie, Astral Ward npcs keeping a closer eye on things (we see them again in the Tower). We also would get some better continuations, like the ripple effects of Almorra's death (Jhavi taking the role of General of the Vigil, charr society mourning their hero instead of celebrating her like at the concert, etc), Kas and Jory talking at all, more chances for both Dominion of Winds and Olmakhan to deal with Tyria, where Eir's bow ended up (maybe it gets recovered by the centaurs or UL spies, but at that point even Ryland is already too powerful to be more than inconvenienced, let alone Jormag) etc.

"The Destroyer Saga/Epic" and "The Destroyer of Sagas" sound nice, but they all technically lack an acronym that works well with IBS, so I got nothing for the name.

[sheetani]

Made it after replaying the icebrood saga

[vulturereyy]

Aegis Fellspire Callatriche Baelfyr

Blood Legion Centurion. Primus of the Blood Keep Fahrar. Seasoned combat medic. Leader of the Spire Warband. And listed as MIA since the battle of Drizzlewood.

My newest Charrdian firebrand and milf of all time :)

[balladofchefsalad]

Wanted to share a follow up to what I wrote here as i've continued replaying Icebrood Saga.

One of the Dragon Response Missions is to go save the Flame Legion remnants who are still loyal to Gaheron from dragon attack. Rytlock rightfully implies nobody is going to stick their neck out for the leftover fringe shitheads who have been everyone's enemy for centuries, so not to expect reinforcements.

Because the support you get for each DRM can be one of several factions, I must have simply not paid attention to what an interesting turn it was when the ones who show up for the very worst of the charr are none other than The Ebonhawke Vanguard. Not only does it answer some of the questions Crecia asked, but it asks a new question: Can the extremists who are stuck in their ways see humans arriving in their territory to help them and decide not to sink themselves and everyone else out of spite? There's this profound optimism in believing that these nasty old bastards could somehow find themselves eventually living in peace when nobody thought it would ever happen, not even themselves.

It all got lost on me the first playthrough, I think because i was so disappointed with DRMs being dreadfully, arbitrarily grindy recycled maps and assets (which has sadly become par for the course post EoD and so the decline in quality from previous living world and expacs is no longer as shocking). I also have a lot of thoughts about how stinky the Norn of Prophecy plotline & its execution is, but that might be its own post.

[blufox3542]

Alright, I’ve personally been wondering what other people’s opinions on this would be, so

Based on what we’ve seen so far, which GW2 expansion* is worse?

Icebrood Saga

Secrets of the Obscure

Voting ended onApr 20, 2024

*I know IBS isn’t a true expansion but it’s got its own mastery line so I’m counting it

[starlightsuncrow]

Why...            won’t you....                                R̨̛̗̬̥̓ͫ̒́e̵̤͗́ś̴́ͅt̛̩̽ ...