The infusion of magic into the cultures

One common thread in Guild Wars is that magic is a gift form the gods to all the thinking races. It is everywhere, all inclusive, and somewhat easy to access. Even the pesants can be seen using the most basic of warrior skills.

My thought is this, with a vast majority of classes being casters or at least partly caster (aka using Energy), what kind of effect does it have on the cultures? In a world where Monks can easily cure people of disease, how healthy is the average citizen? Or, how rich is the average Monk, and do the caster 'elite' of society work to keep down the pesantry, as the merchantile class did during the 1500's in our own world.

Discuss. |||It looks like the ability to heal is posessed by almost everyone. Even the lowest Krytan peasent seems to have a healing signet (which is a ring, not a magical ability, but the point stands).

Because of the nature of monks, as.....well monks, they seem to be humble and not charge to heal, at least not to the point of unaffordability. From what we've seen of Ascalonian culture pre-Searing, it looks like Warriors, Mesmers, and Elementists are generally among the nobility.|||I agree with QA. Monks are too much Ascetics to be nobility, except in the case of organizations like the white mantle, where religion and state are very very very infused. Rangers are off in the forest and necromancers are generally in their own underground organization.

That leaves warriors, ele's, and mesmers. At least for Ascalon.

Where Assassins and ritualists fit in for cantha im not sure. Assassins seem to be much too tools of the state to be nobility per se (who are usualy more hands off). Ritualists seem relatively in touch with the surreal as well.

Emporer Kisu is a warrior after all, along with Adlebern and Rurik.|||Actually,Emperor Kisu is a Ritualist.|||Quote:








Actually,Emperor Kisu is a Ritualist.




Actually, based on the staves he carries with him in cutscenes, he's probably a mesmer.

Assassins in Cantha appear to congregate in guilds, just like any other tradesmen in a medieval era. Some guilds (like the Obsidian Flame) appear to be state-sponsored, while others (like the Am Fah) appear linked to underground elements. There are also freelance assassins (like Panaku) that simply hire their services out to the highest bidder, but I haven't seen very much evidence of them in the game, suggesting they are rarities.

It's fairly obvious that the state-sponsored assassin guilds operate very much like covert agencies in the modern world; specialising in espionage, sabotage and assassination, they are used to perform discrete tasks for the Emperor (or more likely, the Emperor's Hand) that would otherwise be frowned upon in normal judicial or social circles.

There's less information on the role Ritualists play in Canthan society, but given that Canthan society still appears to largely embrace the practice of ancestor worship, Ritualists would probably occupy something of a religious and spiritual role, much like the religion of Shinto in modern day Japan. Lore appears to suggest that while their influence in society has waned with the increasing worship of the True Gods, ritualists are still very much held in respect by the Canthan populace.|||Quote:








Actually, based on the staves he carries with him in cutscenes, he's probably a mesmer.

omissis




i agree with your theory, however Kisu is a Ritualist :)

the game manual says:

Name: Kisu

Profession: Ritualist|||Because he's the Emperor, I hardly think he is bound to carry only the staves of his profession. Odds are he never uses his skills anyway, because he has so many lictors to do everything for him. Whatever he is, it is probably only ceremonial anyway.

If anything, the Ritualist carrying mesmer staves just shows that.|||Assassin's probably either band together into groups or work as part of a whole guild. They seem to do the dirty tasks. Probably it's split between those who are mere killers for hire, fanatic killers who like it and those who see it as something important and necessary (state ones).|||i just assumed kisu is a warrior based on his dance.|||Quote:








i agree with your theory, however Kisu is a Ritualist :)

the game manual says:

Name: Kisu

Profession: Ritualist




Ahh, right. I forgot about that. Well, perhaps as Emperor, he liked the design of the mesmer staves so much he had a ritualist staff crafted for him with a mesmer staff skin.