Bava Nisos

From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Spoiler alert: The following text contains spoilers relating to Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure and Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds.
Sealed entrance to Bava Nisos.
“

Bava Nisos. A city built in the light of victory but cursed by the burden of failure.

— Scouring the Archive achievement flavor text

Bava Nisos is the ruins of a former mursaat city, hidden by storms and built within a large mountain on one of the northern Isles of Janthir. Having been abandoned since the mursaat's fall in their war against the titans and the Shining Blade, the city is known as a mysterious and hostile place.[1]

According to the testimony of the White Mantle's founder, Bava Nisos is a city made of alabaster and golden filigree, with massive towers that reach into the heavens.[2]

History[edit]

Section-stub. This key section of the article is incomplete. You can help the Guild Wars 2 Wiki by expanding it.
Reason: Expand lore.

Early history[edit]

The mursaat reveal themselves to Saul D'Alessio.

Descendants of the mursaat faction exiled from Nayos to Tyria had long maintained an outpost near the Golden Lake on one of the northern isles of Janthir as its enchanted waters had been well suited for the crafting of scrying eyes, which would later be known as the Eyes of Janthir, and other spell craft. After the mursaat had triumphed over the Seers at the Valley of Agony towards the end of the millennia-spanning Seer-mursaat war, they realized that the mountain next to the Golden Lake would be ideal for building their new city and have a fresh start.[3] The isles' remote location and hostile territory allowed various peoples to hide from the rest of Tyria, granting the mursaat much needed privacy.[1][4] The Astral Ward was forbidden to enter Bava Nisos to conduct research since at least 610 AE due to mursaat presence there.[5]

Sometime in or before 1067 AE,[6] Saul D'Alessio ended up discovering the city and was greeted by the mursaat whom he mistook for godly benefactors. The mursaat shaped Saul into their follower and eventually sent him back to Kryta to convert more people into the White Mantle cult which would worship the Unseen Ones and promote the mursaat's ulterior motives. Saul's story described Bava Nisos as a city of alabaster and golden filigree with massive towers reaching into the heavens.[2] Saul's words inspired a following, and he returned to the isles with some of his disciples to recruit the people of Gavril to the growing cult by 1069 AE.[7]

After Vizier Khilbron had unleashed the titans on Tyria in 1072 AE, some titans eventually found their way to Bava Nisos and killed most of the mursaat inside.[8] Darda and Orestes were among the few survivors as they fled from the carnage.[9]

Mabon, the atoning mursaat member of the Wizard's Court, visited the abandoned city every now and then for reasons that were limited to the Wizard's Court only. Following the events of the fallen god Abaddon's failed return in Nightfall in 1075 AE, the Astral Ward suspected that Mabon's visit around that time would include establishing a warding enchantment around the isles due to a handful of titans lingering on Tyria.[10] However, Mabon's private confession to members of the Mesmer Collective indicated that he also visited the ruins as penance for the past, a promise made, "one former monster to another."[11]

Living World Season 3[edit]

After being driven out of Bloodstone Fen in 1329 AE, Confessor Caudecus Beetlestone and a group of his loyal White Mantle ventured to Janthir to walk Saul D'Alessio's golden path and locate Bava Nisos where they hoped to uncover the mursaat's secrets and give Caudecus the power to force Queen Jennah to surrender the throne of Kryta to him. However, once the Siege of Divinity's Reach was about to begin, the White Mantle back in Kryta sent word to Caudecus and wished for their confessor to come lead the siege against the queen's forces. Caudecus left a handful of his expedition's members behind to continue finding a way to bypass the magical wards shielding the isle which contained the ruins.[12]

Janthir Wilds[edit]

Some time after the World Spire's fracturing and Mabon's death in 1336 AE, the wards around Bava Nisos weakened, allowing the lingering White Mantle explorers to continue their journey to the ruins unhindered as they were no longer hit by adverse effects from the enchantment.[13] In the aftermath of the battle against three titans in 1337 AE, Isgarren revealed that Mabon's mission to Bava Nisos had involved hiding a Mists gate which existed deep within the city itself and which appeared to lead directly into the Foundry of Failed Creations in the Realm of Torment, the birthplace of many titans.[14]

Layout[edit]

Outskirts[edit]

Bava Nisos is built inside a large mountain located on the south side of one of the northern isles of Janthir. The city's main entrance is called the Gilded Approach which connects the city to its outskirts which contain the Grand Athenaeum and the Nexus of Moonlight. The Athenaeum houses the Veiled Library where both the gildless mursaat youths and the older mursaat have studied numerous texts. The Obsidian Rise is farther west and acts as a staging ground from which visitors and prisoners are brought to the city's grand outskirts.

Gallery[edit]

Trivia[edit]

  • Bava may possibly derive from בבא (bāḇā, or bāvā) which means 'gate' in Aramaic. The term is used in conjunction with the First, Middle and Last Gates (Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, and Bava Batra) which appear as the tractates of the Nezikin (Damages) section of the Talmud dealing with Jewish criminal and civil law; the three gates in civil law are seen as the cornerstone of righteousness within a Jewish state. The three tractates involve damage compensations; the owners' obligation to guard lost property that has been found, or land explicitly entrusted to them; and the laws of inheritance, as well as the responsibilities of property owners towards their neighbors, respectively.
  • Nisos derives from νήσος (nisós) which means 'island' in Greek.
  • The full name might thus mean 'gate island,' which would be fitting as a Mists gate exists within the city on the island, while Mabon's self-imposed obligation to look after his brethren's fallen city as his inheritance to keep the dangerous Mists gate contained and prevent further damage to Bava Nisos's neighboring civilizations might tie into the laws of the Talmud.
  • The name Bava Nisos first appeared as one of the new European team names for the World Restructuring update of World versus World on 15 June 2024.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Unknown Territory
    Vanak Faithwalker: A lot of things come to Janthir to hide from the rest of Tyria.
    Vanak Faithwalker: It's why the mursaat built Bava Nisos here. Though, that place is all ruins and storms now. Hard to get close.
    <Character name>: Bava Nisos? What's that?
    Vanak Faithwalker: Former mursaat city, fixed in the middle of the isles. Been abandoned for a long time. Don't think I'd want to go, anyway.
    Vanak Faithwalker: Mabon told me about it. Didn't sound all that hospitable. He went back from time to time. Memories, I imagine. Or guilt.
  2. ^ a b The Protectors of Kryta
  3. ^ Dusty Tome
  4. ^ Strength of the Unseen
  5. ^ Astral Ward Notice, 610 AE
  6. ^ Mantle Knight Franklin mentions that the Test of the Chosen has been administered for at least five years. As Guild Wars Prophecies takes place in 1072 AE, the earliest known date of White Mantle activity thus dates back at least as far as 1067 AE.
  7. ^ Town Record, 1069 AE
  8. ^ Astral Ward Skirmisher
  9. ^ Scroll (Balrior Peak)
  10. ^ Heavy Book
  11. ^ A Collective History, Volume 6
  12. ^ A History Most Violent: Part 2
  13. ^ A History Most Violent: Part 1
  14. ^ Balrior Peak
    Isgarren: Two hundred years ago, Mabon went to Bava Nisos right after the titans licked it clean... After the mursaat had been killed.
    Isgarren: Mabon told me he went to hide a Mists gate that they kept in the gut of the city... He placed a ward over the isle.
    Isgarren: But when he died, that ward fell. All of Bava Nisos, once again exposed to the world.
    Waiting Sorrow: I was with the lowlanders when it happened. Even they felt their fur stand up.
    <Character name>: Ura mentioned a door being open. Do you think...
    Isgarren: I believe they came from the very gate that Mabon sought to hide. But even I don't know how it opened again.
    <Character name>: If it's still open, then we need to find it and do whatever we can to shut it.
    Waiting Sorrow: I agree, Wayfinder. Before any more titans are forged.
    Isgarren: Bava Nisos is the worst of Janthir. Maybe one of the worst waypoints in Tyria's history...
Retrieved from "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/index.php?title=Bava_Nisos&oldid=2955503"