Bava Nisos
Bava Nisos is the ruins of a former mursaat city fixed in the middle of the Isles of Janthir, covered in storms. It is said to have been abandoned for centuries since the mursaat's fall in their wars against the titans and the Shining Blade.[1] According to the story of the White Mantle founder Saul D'Alessio's visit, it is a city of alabaster and golden filigree with massive towers reaching into the heavens.[2]
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
The mursaat faction exiled from Nayos to Tyria is suggested to have built the city of Bava Nisos on Janthir because the isles' remote location and hostile territory allowed various peoples to hide from the rest of Tyria.[1][3] It is unclear if the mursaat dwelled there since their arrival on Tyria or only built the city after returning to Tyria following the previous dragonrise. Astral Ward was forbidden to enter Bava Nisos to conduct research in 610 AE due to mursaat presence there.[4]
Sometime in or before 1067 AE,[5] 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 words inspired the following, and he returned to the isles with some of his followers by 1069 AE when recruiting the people of Gavril to the growing cult.[6] Saul's story described Bava Nisos as a city of alabaster and golden filigree with massive towers reaching into the heavens.[2] After Vizier Khilbron had unleashed the titans on Tyria in 1072 AE, some titans eventually found their way to Bava Nisos and killed the mursaat inside.[7]
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.[8] 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."[9]
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.[10]
Janthir Wilds[edit]
Some time after the World Spire's fracturing and Mabon's death, 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.[11]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b The Protectors of Kryta
- ^ Strength of the Unseen
- ^ Astral Ward Notice, 610 AE
- ^ 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.
- ^ Town Record, 1069 AE
- ^ Astral Ward Skirmisher
- ^ Heavy Book
- ^ A Collective History, Volume 6
- ^ A History Most Violent: Part 2
- ^ A History Most Violent: Part 1
