Since I returned to tumblr I’ve realized most of us have missed the first season of the Living Story and specially the Lost Shores event, which has not been re-released in any way. It was where we were introduced to Canach and I think it gives a lot of information about his personality.
There’s a big gap in Canach’s story between the Meeting the Asura flashback and the very first time we meet him in The Secret of Southsun storyline. I’m one of the many players who missed the Lost Shores events (and lucky enough to have been there for the Last Stand at Southsun one, so in canon, the first time Marilyn met Canach was when she helped Ellen Kiel to capture him at Canach’s Lair). As I am a very lore-obsessive person, I have researched online anything related to the very first time he appears in game, and information is so scattered here and there, the scavenger hunt was really fun and challenging to me.
It is a lot of information and I think that, even if I am like 13 years late, maybe some other people as obsessed as me (in case they didn’t find it yet) will appreciate it, so I have made it readable (my own notes were a mess) and here it is. In the worst of cases, I will have it in here classified and reachable. Also, some of the sources are so old and so well hidden I am still finding facts, so I will edit if I find anything new.
I’m going to divide the post in two parts: canon events (that is, things that are stated like that in the information) in chronological order, and extra facts with a bit of headcanons (what I think should be even if it is not told).
Information under the cut.
Canon events (with links to the sources):
Canach was hired by the Consortium in 1325 AE to map, explore, and begin construction of settlements and tourist facilities at the newly-discovered Southsun Cove. Although his contract prevented him from exploiting animal, mineral, or magical sources on the island, it did not mention local flora, and Canach ordered his team to collect samples of Passion Flowers as they explored.
The lost shores: Prelude event started on November 1st to 5th 2012. Since during that time the release dates were canon in game (that changed when they realized new players wanted to play the Living Seasons too and made them re-playable), that means the expedition took place some time before Colossus 36 1325. Probably while the Commander was full hands busy defeating Zaithan.
The first expedition ship was the SS Prospect. According to the wiki, it was destroyed, and wreckage from it started washing up not long before the karka attacks began. We have a list of the crew and a log book fragment which was available only during the Last Stand at Southsun live event.
The crew list doesn’t include Canach, but it doesn’t include Owain either, who was the only survivor of that expedition. Now, Canach being actual part of the expedition is not clear, though.
According to the log book, both of them were in the ship too: “Canach brought a chef along of some renown, he says it's to help discover new food sources. All I know is that we've never tasted anything better than what this sylvari Owain prepares". "First Mate Sharphorn doesn't trust Canach, but I keep assuring him that this charter will put our fortunes on a better course once we're back in the Arch. I just wish I could believe it myself.” – while it is not clear he was on board, the Captain talks about him as if he were present.
When you talk to Owain at Southsun’s Cove (she’s still there), and ask her about the expedition, she will say “There was a prospector, a cartographer, the cap-captain... (choke) I don't want to talk about this anymore”. Since Canach was sent to “explore and map the island”, it feels safe to assume he was either the prospector or the cartographer. He isn’t in the memorial list because he, obviously, didn’t die.
According to dialog with Canach at Lion’s Arch in Lost Shores Phase 2: “ Very well. Weeks ago, I sent an expedition to an unknown island to the south. They were to ready an asura gate as part of the Consortium's development plans. My team never returned. The gate remains inactive, and wreckage from their ship started washing up not long before the karka attacks began”. – He talks as if he just “sent the expedition” and was not part of it. But that’s a bit contradictory with the fact that he was the one who decided to get flora samples “as they explored the island”.
During one of the events at Last Stand at Southsun, Ellen Kiel states that: “He spent a lot of time here exploring the place. Didn’t think he’d ever come back, though.” – That means he was there physically BEFORE the karka attacks. Now Southsun’s shore is full of wrecked ships and maybe there were lots of expeditions after the first one, so he could have come later in one of these.
So there are two options: either he was part of the first expedition, survived somehow and karka followed him and his samples to Lion’s Arch, or there were more expeditions despite the first one’s demise and he was part of them. Both options are equally valid I think and I leave it to each one’s headcanons (if anyone has evidence for any of them I'd be happy to add it here)
The Lost Shores event was short (just one weekend) and the story is scattered in the wiki in a quite confusing way. But I found this article which tells it in a narrative way, and found it very useful to understand how it went. There are also some videos in youtube if you want to watch them, but they’re messy because there are lots of players clicking things at the same time:
Phase 1 of Lost Shores started on November the 16th 2013 (Colossus 47 1325). After the first attack (we don’t see Canach here yet) there’s an initial investigation you can see in this video, which leads to finding and arresting Canach in Garenfhoff - aprox in minute 11:48.
Phase 2 of Lost Shores started on November the 17th 2013 (Colossus 48 1325). There’s a second attack to Lion’s Arch, and after it you get to interrogate Canach about the first expedition (the dialog quoted previously, aprox in minute 17:20). According to the wiki, you also have a chance to speak to him “on the boat during the invasion” but I couldn’t find the dialog in the video.
Phase 3 of Lost Shores started on November the 18th 2013 (Colossus 49 1325). Canach doesn’t appear here, so it is safe to assume he has already fled.
Between Lost Shores and The Secret of Southsun (which starts on May the 14th, 2013- Phoenix 44 1326) there’s a span of 6 months (the wiki says 5 but whatever) in which he has been on the run and he changes his looks, according to dev Scott McGough.
That’s when the short story An After Hours Meeting takes place. Now, in the story images we already see Canach with his current look (spiky hair, grey skin...). BUT in the text it says Blingg recognizes him because he “was every bit as grim as Blingg remembered” (that doesn’t say much, but it seems he still had his old look) and, more over, when he moves around Blingg in the darkness, “Canach was close enough for Blingg to hear leafy hair rustling and smell the scent of freshly cut grass” (his scent is canon for me now, btw). LEAFY HAIR RUSTLING. So, the story takes place BEFORE he changes his look.
Flame and Frost started on January 28th 2013 (Zephyr 28 1326). It is in this short story when he learns about the Molten Facilities and the refugees, so it makes sense that he took over one AFTER talking to Blingg. That should make his change after this date.
He returns to Southsun some time before the Secret of Southsun release, and he gets the help of, at least, one of the settlers to perform his plan of using the karka to destroy the contracts. That settler is Henrika and she provides some interesting information when you talk to her, during one of the events. None of them are currently available though, but there are videos (she talks about Canach in minute 2:20 approx).
That information leads the Commander and Ellen Kiel to Canach so he is captured in the (this one re-playable) Canach’s Lair dungeon. That happens just before the June the 6th (Phoenix 65 1326) update.
After this update he’s already captured, but we get to help Ellen Kiel to destroy the contracts, in the stance Contractually Obliged.
Extra facts, mixed with a bit of headcanon
He feels the world owes him something. If you click on him during the second phase attack, he will say:
He also refers to his status as a secondborn in the dialog I couldn’t find in video, the one “on the boat during the invasion”: “I am Secondborn sylvari; I don't make excuses. What's done is done”
He has always been a snob. Even Henrika says so: “He was...a sylvari. Kind of a snob. Tough, though. He knows this island inside and out”.
Despite having all the reasons to hate asura (having been tortured by Vlorpp, and betrayed and abused by Noll and Blingg), he doesn’t seem to have any kind of grudge against them as a race. And he knows some golemancy since he was able to re-program a golem to help him in Southsun (Subdirector NULL). So it is safe to assume in his early years (we have a gap of 20 years of his previous life we know NOTHING about) he contacted other asuras who helped him and maybe even became friends.
He used the Fervid Censer to spread the toxins. You could get the original one as a back item as an achievement (not available anymore) or a copy with Laurels (still available). I like the idea of keeping it as a trophy XD.
The reason why Canach messed up everything in Southsun Cove in the very first place is because he collected botanical samples using a loophole in his contract, which “prevented him from exploiting animal, mineral, or magical sources on the island” (source: wiki), so, since “it did not mention local flora, Canach ordered his team to collect samples of Passion Flowers as they explored” . If he used a loophole, the only reason I can imagine for that is that he wanted these samples for personal profit. So he was not that different from the billionaire he has become nowadays.
Moreover, he insisted on bringing Owain "along to help discover new food sources" (sic). And Owain herself has a special line of dialog if you’re making The Dreamer leggy saying her dream is “to start a business exporting the eggs. I think I could make a fortune selling omelets in Lion's Arch”. So maybe they were planning to open a restaurant together? Does that ring a bell? HE HAS ALREADY OPENED THREE OF THESE! I see a pattern here XD.
This is more of a headcanon of mine (I have more XD) but I think he and Owain had some kind of relationship. No necessarily a romantic one, maybe he was his protector or something like that (since she seems so fragile), but definitely they were close. Clues: he INSISTED on bringing her along, and she choked when talking about the other members of the expedition, specially the prospector/cartographer.
Maybe everybody knew all of this and I was the only one to think I had discovered anything, but if this was useful for any of you to help you build your headcanons or fanfics I'll be happy to know about it!
I had to get my dragonite sent to me from my parents place for this trip we set out at 10 this morning and landed in galar around 1 I'm in motostoke rn at Rayne Labs meeting with Professor Loren Rayne to meet with the new residents we're getting from her lab.
Alright, so, we just got a new permanent resident at Wind Labs Alexis the half blind Alolan Exeggutor. Where we're well equipped to take care of Alexis I need to go to alola to get all of her care supplies from Astral Labs over on Ula'Ula Island where she was sent from but we also got word that there are a couple other labs that we're picking new residents up from, so yeah, I'm essentially going on field research
These enormous ice caps hold on immense amount of water. Just imagine if they melted away. Its been recorded that the sea level would rise by at least 60 metres!”
In the documentary “Climate Change” Living on water, the main theme for the film is that we are at great threat from the sea levels rising. I researched some of the methods that are mentioned within the film by the interviewed and found some interesting content.
There are architects scientists and engineers that are all interviewed, and all have drawn the same conclusion. on the vast changes that will need to make in the near future. Many methods to combat this is delaying the inevitable, however strategies are being taken to work with the water rather than against it.
In Amsterdam, Sascha Glasl a partner of ‘Space and Matter’ architectural studio has invented a house boat initiative that doesn't function as a boat, but a buoyant house. He is featured in the film to show a community of houses that function off of the buoyant jetty’s power supply, he mentions they have both Wi-Fi and internet in these floating houses.
Although this may seem like an expensive stretch, the studio are actually working towards making this attainable. This reflects directly onto New Zealand and how we should be going with the flow, rather than against it. The people who live in these houses at the moment are those who backed the project and want to, instead of out of necessity.
The Waterstudio architectural firm located in Rijswijk is working towards an even more extreme approach to combat the issue. Koen Olthuis, the founder is internationally know for developing urbanized “floating solutions.”
Having created and still proposing many floating buildings and landmasses, Olthuis is optimistic of the capability of creating floating communities globally. He is currently working with engineers to create a visualization for a whole floating city. Some of the work he has already created:
IJburg in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Upon seeing the successes in these floating homes in Holland, Olthuis has stretched his horizons and decided to endeavor a step further, he has recently released the plans for an expansive residentials area that is floating. Taking him one step nearer to his goal of entire cities.
Although it may seem impractical, for centuries, native people from Asia to the Americas have made their lives on the water. Whether perched atop lakes, in streams, the ocean or the sea, far-sighted pioneers have worked with the waves to support their families, homes and communities. Why don’t we harness the strengths utilized within those communities in the past, and adapt them to our future? Dutch Docklands Maldives the client for this project have moved in that direction.
“Floating homes like these could offer refuge in a crisis. In an event of an emergency for example you could move to a different location. The difference with this project, its not a house, or a boat, its a house on water.”
Article titleMaldives Floating City, a benchmark for vibrant communities
URL https://www.waterstudio.nl/projects/maldives-floating-city-a-benchmark-for-vibrant-communities-beyond-the-waterfront/
Website titleWaterstudio
Article titlespaceandmatter.nl
URL http://www.spaceandmatter.nl/
Website title spaceandmatter.nl
Article titleClimate change – living on the water | DW Documentary
URLhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy3gMVGwjuc
Website titleYouTube
