Time to don my shiniest tinfoil hat and talk about the
"Magus Dam conspiracy"
(I'm gonna talk about this in-character for the bit)
So we're told that Vloxx had warned the Council about the risk of collapse of the Magus Dam. They dismissed him and barred him from taking any action about it, and then it eventually happened. Now, we don't know when it happened, but we can all see that the water is still there under Rata Sum.
But.. isn't it kinda weird that a race of super geniuses can build a floating city, yet struggles to build a pump system to get the water out? *adjusts tinfoil hat* That's because the Arcane Council wanted to get rid of something that was under the city, and keeping it underwater after a disaster was the natural and "easier to handwave" solution they chose! That's why the ignored Vloxx's warnings and barred him from taking action! It was all an inside job!
Now, why do I say "natural"? Because the water under the city should actually be there! The valleys are actually under sea level after the Rising of Orr!
From historical accounts and the maps, we know that the Tyrian coastline as a whole was heavily impacted by the tsunami that hit it, and that the water level also rose permanently. Many coastal towns and seaports got wiped out in the cataclysm, with only the areas on higher ground being more or less spared. Old Lion's Arch was left in ruins, the Olmakhan remember the disaster that decimated their tribe, but the waves also hit as far as Cantha with still enough strength to destroy Old Kaineng.
And Maguuma? It was even closer to Orr than Lion's Arch. Would you look at that, the Maguuma area is completely changed!
The vallyes probably didn't get hit with the brunt force of the waves due to the angle, likely collecting saltwater that spilled into them, and Old Rata Sum was far enough inland and on high enough ground to easily survive the flooding that followed. (Current Rata Sum is probably not old enough to have seen it happen, as golems still work on seemingly expanding its lower level, but it's also not super recent due to its pretty developed vegetation and thick root system. It wouldn't be surprising if the cataclysm was the catalyst for the idea/motivation to build a floating city.)
Still, it looks like the disaster did damage to the coastline, letting even more sea water flow down into the valleys. Some of the changes were also probably asura-made (2.5 centuries have passed since the first game and a century from that disaster), but now we can see proof of the higher sea level: there's that one southern dam blocking the saltwater from flowing INTO the valley.
"Wait a moment", you'd say, "couldn't that be the Magus dam itself?" Well, we don't know, it's not named in any way!
We only know that the Magus dam "collapsed" at some point in time, so, since this one is still here, the actual Magus dam could have been further up the valley. I would make sense if these dams were built as fast as possible after the disaster, in order to reclaim the valleys and salvage what was there, since the area under the city was probably inhabited in some way (Zhaitan awoke nearly 150 years after the first game, so it wouldn't be weird if labs and asuran civilization had expanded down into the valley by then). The upper dam could have slowed and redirected the river water through more controlled paths, possibly even ejecting it into the sea through the lower dam that kept the saltwater out. And now we can't see its remains after the collapse, because the southern dam also kept the water from flowing out, flooding the valley once again.
But then… Why keep the lower dam active without quickly rebuilding the upper one? And again, why not find a better solution, like a way to pump the water out somehow?
Well, you see…
The water level is actually even on both sides.
"But the game did not support bodies of water at different levels back then," you say, "they only introduced that with SotO. That's just a limitation because you're not meant to see it so up close from above." I know, and I thought so as well, but then I took a closer look and...
THE DAM HAS HOLES.
And there doesn't seem to be a way to close them.
Was the dam opened as a bandaid measure to keep the basin's water level from raising above sea level?
Or was there just one dam the whole time, and this is actually the Magus dam? Was it patched up in order to still function as a bridge (between stuff we can't see, given the area was never meant to be seen upclose) after its collapse?
Or was it so recent that there was no bureaucratic time to address it yet? Why does no one talk about it then?
And again, WHY NOT BUILD A WATER-PUMPING SYSTEM? Do floating cities actually require water under them in order to float, so the valley was already flooded before the collapse? We saw how Rata Primus was just barely touching the surface with the point of its bottom tip, while Rata Sum dives a good deal into the water. Was it intentional/an older magitech limitation or a result of the dam collapse's flooding?
OR MAYBE, hear me out, the Arcane Council wanted something down there to stay buried, and they silenced any dissent or question on the matter, be it mentioning the collapse or arresting anyone who goes down there to investigate. Ask me how I know!
… Uhm, can someone come get me out now? Please?
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Screens from That_Shaman's Guild Wars 1 Interactive Map and Historical Guide to Tyria
