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Kurzicks

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The Kurzicks were one of the two groups of vassals of the Empire of the Dragon. They once inhabited the Echovald Forest, where they dedicated their lives to art, music and the worship of the Five True Gods. After the Jade Wind, they focused on preserving and restoring the Echovald Forest to its former state. Although its people and culture were destroyed, there are a great number of structures and archaeological remains throughout the Echovald Forest, such as Arborstone.

History[edit]

Early History[edit]

Though it is unknown exactly when the Kurzick culture emerged, it is known that they were referred to as Kurzicks long before the Canthan Empire existed as an united nation. After the war and persecution of the Luxons by the Emperor Yian Zho, which ended with the Luxons becoming a vassal state in 48 CC (462 BE), the Luxons fought the Kurzicks as part of the Empire's army. This fighting initially led to the unification of the Kurzick people in a bid to fend off the Empire's forces, but in 51 CC (459 BE) the Kurzicks finally became the second vassal state to serve the empire, like the Luxons seven years before.[1]

Shiro's Treason[edit]

During Emperor Angsiyan's reign, the Kurzicks became more and more enveloped by the Empire due to various treaties, which led to peace between the Kurzicks and Luxons for a short time, until Shiro Tagachi assassinated the Emperor and the vassal states' respective champions, Saint Viktor and Archemorus. With their deaths, the war between the two nations resumed, and due to the geographical changes brought by the Jade Wind, even intensified.

In 1527 CC (1017 AE), the Kurzicks and Luxons openly declared war, finally acknowledging the consecutive 'unofficial skirmishes' as official acts of war. However, in 1568 CC (1058 AE), the formal war returned to a series of de facto border skirmishes, as Emperor Kisu enacted new treaties with the Kurzick leaders.

Shiro's Return[edit]

The Kurzicks and Luxons again signed a truce in 1582 CC (1072 AE), due to Shiro Tagachi's return. This peace did not last long though, and after Shiro's second death quickly resumed. Like the Luxons, the Kurzicks fought against the Canthan Empire when, spearheaded by the Ministry of Purity, it tried to completely assimilate them. As the Empire's foreign wars were said to have ended in 1637 CC (1127 AE) with the Luxon surrender, according to Zei Ri, it's likely that the Kurzicks had already surrendered by this point.[2]

End of Dragons[edit]

Culture[edit]

Prior to Usoku, the Kurzicks were strong practitioners of the arts, had heavy respect for their home in the Echovald Forest and practiced a particularly devout form of worship of the gods, tied to the great Kurzick Houses. These houses bore heroic or otherwise well-known figures, which were associated with each house and patronized as "saints".[3] They particularly revered the Forever Trees, by which they transformed humans into immortal champions called juggernauts.[4]

After the Jade Wind, the Kurzicks built their distinctive buildings and cathedrals out of the petrified trees within Echovald. Currently, only a few of the original, stone-based structures built before the Wind remain. The Kurzicks also focused on preserving and guarding their forest, which included the creation of wards and stone guardians, which defended them against monsters and trespassers.

Government and Religion[edit]

The Kurzicks were a very pious people who worshiped the Five Gods of the humans.

Their society was composed of different Houses, that is, families or clans, the most important referred to as the Great Houses. Along with its unique characteristics, each Great House took a single god it revered above the other gods as its patron god. The houses also had patron "saints", usually ancestors of the respective houses. It is unknown whether the lesser houses adopted a patron god or any saints, however.[5]

Many Kurzicks sought their spiritual and religious leaders, called Redemptors, in important matters. These redemptors offered spiritual guidance, and were said to act as connections to the saints and gods. They were also the leaders of the Council of Nobles that led the nation as a theocratic and oligarchic body, governing the the Kurzicks throughout the Echovald. The Council enacted laws and made decisions that directed the nation. The Council of Nobles was composed of the heads of the five Great Houses, and was in turn guided by the gods and their saints, communed with through the spiritual leaders known as Redeemers.[6][7]

Names[edit]

Although Northern Canthans' names follow a mixture of both Western and Asian naming practices, Kurzicks usually took a mixture of Germanic- and Asian-like names, though the influence of the Germanic side was less prominent after the assimilation of Kurzicks into the society.

Members[edit]

Gwwlogo.png The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Kurzicks.
See also: Category:Kurzicks

Gallery[edit]

Related achievements[edit]

Trivia[edit]

  • The name Kurzick has a German reference.
  • The overall style of art for the Kurzicks faction was inspired by Gothic architecture.

See also[edit]

Associated items

References[edit]

  1. ^ An Empire Divided by Loremaster Ermenred
    Though true secession proved impossible for the Luxons, they eventually gained a new status as a vassal state—independent but not truly sovereign; still technically a part of the empire. It is believed that this, perhaps more than any other reason, is the reason the Luxons turned their ire on their Kurzick neighbors of the Echovald Forest. This rivalry never subsided, and right up to this day, the borders between the two vassal states were marked with frequent skirmishes and bloodshed. [...]
    [Yian Zho's] temper, however, was legendarily short, and he brutally put down a small Kurzick uprising early in this year. This, coupled with the new threat of a unified Luxon state in the sea to the east, led directly to Kurzick unity.
    Belligerent and brutal though he may have been, Lord Emperor Yian Zho was unable to completely drive the Kurzicks from the Echovald Forest. They simply knew it far too well. He was able to contain them within their loose borders, however, and soon was convinced by his advisors to arrive at much the same arrangement as the Luxons. Thus, the Kurzicks became second vassal state. Unlike their neighbors, they remained much more isolated, which in my interpretation is a driving force behind the intense competition between Kurzick Houses for domination within their own unique political structure. [...]
    The Kurzicks are a devout people who take worship of the five gods very seriously. They are divided by blood into five great houses, each of which is devoted to a different deity and its own cultural obsessions. The leaders of the great houses do not always get along, but like all Kurzicks share a deep-seated hatred of the Luxons, their enemies since long before Shiro Tagachi was born.
    Historians doubt the Kurzick nation originated on the Canthan continent, but to this day, even they do not remember whence they came to dwell in the Echovald Forest. The Kurzicks have lost much of their ancient history to the past, and now the stone trees are their only home. Just as the Luxons mine precious veins of magic-suffused jade from the petrified seas, the Kurzicks mine amber from the forest, precious life in solid form that grants great power to those who know how to manipulate it.
  2. ^ Final Words of Zei Ri to His Supporters, 1637 CC
  3. ^ Invoking the Saints
  4. ^ The Eternal Grove
  5. ^ Historian of the Houses
  6. ^ Canthan Culture
    This church-state is ruled by the Council of Nobles, which makes decisions and laws only after receiving counsel from the spiritual leaders known as Redemptors.
  7. ^ Count Petrov zu Heltzer

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