Talk:Crystal Desert

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The Crystal Desert is the opposite of verdant. Shido 18:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Not in GW2. Read the movement of the world article. Lord of all tyria 19:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Joko dammed the Elon, redirecting its flow to the north into the Crystal Desert, creating a lush, green area where the desert formerly was. Calor (t) 19:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Formerly? Technically, it's still a desert. "Desert" is technically defined by how much rainfall a region receives -- you can irrigate a desert to make it as lush as you like, but it's still a desert, regardless of how green it gets. --68.187.144.197 21:08, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

In everyday terms, you're not going to call a lush paradise a "desert", even if it does technically qualify for one. Calor (t) 21:17, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Technical terms pwn everyday terms. You don't call antarctica a desert, generally, but it is. -- Armond Warblade 07:55, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

When using desert here, we're using it in the sense of "Dry Rocky or Sandy area with little plant life", not in the technical rainfall sense. it will still probably be called the crystal desert, though, just because that's the name of the region from the first game. Anyway, the point is the same that the crystal desert has been made much lusher.98.212.211.163 03:36, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Wasn't it a sea or river to begin with, hence being called the crystal sea in some place?(Zyko Wolfven 19:13, 7 May 2008 (UTC))

Where? Cress Arvein 22:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

I believe the Margonites reached the Crystal Sea via their ships, but the war between Abaddon and the Five Gods made the sea dry up and become the desert it is now. I think that lore is conflicting though because it says one thing in-game and another thing in the manual. -- pling | ggggg 23:42, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Abaddon was the god of water before being condemned, so his temples were probably by the Crystal Sea. When they were "swallowed", Abaddon perhaps took some water with him, as it could have been him who diverted the flow of the sea. 217.116.248.25 21:26, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

That seems highly unlikely to of happened, because the ground would still be below sea level. And as such, the water would just go rushing back in, unless he took enough water from the whole planet to free that much land from water. And as such, would mean that Kryta at least was flooded prior, which is not the case, as there is no mention and there by far would be. The only logical way the Crystal Sea "dried up" would be if the ground was raised. The theory about it that I have, is that a copy of the gw1:Cauldron of Cataclysm, which can be found in the gw1:Crystal Overlook was used and the crystals that fell caused the event depicted in the Scriptures of Abaddon - with a little distortion from time. Very hot crystals hitting cool water would explode, causing the water to "boil and explode", perhaps it wasn't only the crystals via the Cauldron of Cataclysm *since there are a lot of things that happened in that*, but it would explain the boiling and exploding of the water, and the turning to nighttime. And, the crystals that fell, eventually eroded and became "sand". The few still large crystals that can be found *mainly in Elona's Reach where the priests are* are rather similar to the ones from the Searing. And, the sand is said to be tiny grains of crystals, not actual sand. -- Konig Des Todes 22:11, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

But considering it's right next to Elona some sand could have blown in from the desolation. 72.174.166.211 22:25, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

its crystals not sand. Its a desert in its curent form, so its natural to be tempted to call it a desert now. 250years...Being that its still a formidible barriar and probably the majority of it is still desert minus the area around the damn, theres no reason not to call it a desert. More like there is an oasis in the desert. How the hell does vegitation grow on top of crystals?Justice 11:26, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

The same way it groes on top of sand. Sand has a moleculair cristal form, and crystal is nearly the same as sand (I am talking about wich elements are used, not the shape of the crystal).

when i said crystals i meant like those giant crystals in ascalon and glints lair only smaller type of crystals, but is sand a crystal anyhow? Im not sure on the process its formed but heres my uneducated imagination of it, big sheets of melted silica in layers underground cracked from earth quakes and now they are too small to crack any further, SAND! :-) Justice 14:43, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Something like that yes. Although crystal is formed with the help of minerals (and sand the way t you discribe), they are chemicly for a large part the same. But it's about the shape here. :Crystal has the same form as sand at that size, so something could grow on crystal. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 19:36, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

You do realise i was being a complete idiot on the sand thing right?. Crystals actually grow and form a certain structured patern, similar to snowflakes i think--Justice 06:09, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

That doesn't make you less right. It's about the way sand is formed I believe. But when Crystal is as big as a grain of sand, we're talking pretty much the same thing. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 07:19, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Aren't crystals just deposits of minerals? If so, sand and "tiny crystals" are really the exact same thing. Sand itself is of different composition depending on location, so wouldn't this "sand" be just ordinary sand? Therefore, it's not really necessary to call it "not sand."--Mezon 21:18, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Its funny, never thought i would have a disscusion about sand... Crystals actually grow. THey start very small and grow in a "latice work" structure. I believe its more then just a deposit of minerals. The only place I recall them saying the crystal desert was crystals and not just ordinary sand was the lil lore book from prophecies, thats like 4 years old and maybe was just filler for their lore book. But i guess they would probably defend it as cannon--Justice 16:14, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Turai Ossa in the Amnoon Oasis also says that the sand are a bunch of crystals. The Dragon's Lair mission (not outpost) is a single grain of sand we get teleported/shrunk into. There are circles of crystals around the Ritualist Priests in the Elona Reach mission as well. A main theory on how the Crystal Desert was formed would be a Searing-like magic caused from the Cauldrom of Cataclysm copy in the Crystal Overlook. The event of this would have taken place during the Scriptures of Abaddon's passage. However, the sand would look like sand, and from a non-lore point view, most sand are tiny rocks, rocks are minerals, crystals are a type of minerals. Thus, tiny crystals can make sand. So it is both "sand" and "crystals". Also, it is known that vegetation can at least grow on these sands (it's a game, doesn't have to match real life 100%) via the lower spots which have water in them *i.e., the oasis' throughout the Crystal Desert* most dominantly seen in The Scar explorable area where about 50% of it is vegetation. What is there to discuss? -- Konig Des Todes 09:01, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Sand (Silicon dioxide) is a crystal, actually :) --84.24.141.169 16:26, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

To clarify the crystal vs. sand discussion: Naturally-occurring sand is created by the weathering of rock. As such, each grain of sand is in fact a tiny fragment of rock. The crystals of that rock are randomly aligned; thus, while it is formed of crystals, it is not A crystal. The sand in the Crystal Desert, by contrast, is not natural sand. Each grain is a single crystal, a perfect self-contained lattice, not the random amalgamation of different crystals seen in natural sand.

I wouldn't be too sure, personally I think what happened was the "copy" of the Cauldron of Cataclysm found in the Crystal Overlook created its own "searing" which rained crystals from the sky, and those crystals were eroded - Some large crystals can be seen, with a similar color to the Ascalonian searing crystals, nearby the priests in the Elona Reach mission, as seen here. So it could be easily eroded crystals. -- Konig/talk 13:23, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

That is actually an interesting point. The Cauldron was said to have contained the power of an ancient god, so it could easily have caused a similar catastrophe in that area long before the Gods arrived. Regardless, even if the sand was created by weathering of giant crystals, they wouldn't form ordinary sand. As I said before, rock is the source of most sand and rock consists of millions of randomly arranged crystals. Break off a piece and you have a small cross-section of randomly-arranged crystals. By contrast, the giant crystals you propose would have been largely arranged in the same manner. When they broke down into grains, they would have maintained a uniform lattice, thus becoming a self-contained crystal.