Maat... What?

[Frangeo Munda]

I'm surprised that I didn't find anywhere, but I searched for it, so hopefully I'm not just being stupid :). I'm not sure this should go in here, but it seems sort of Lore-ish
I just got Factions yesterday and, having done a fair amount of the "training" exercises, I passed at numerous times a point in the small Shing Jea Island mountains that held the oft-troubled Shrine of Maat.
As soon as I saw this, I recognized the name. Maat is an Ancient Egyptian Goddess. She was the bringer of truth and justice, sort of the patron god of all honest lawyers, policemen, and judges. According to Wikipedia, it was said that Maat had no creator and came into existence at the moment of creation through a sort of spontaneous self-creation. She was the reason that primal chaos didn't take over, and was the female counterpart to Thoth (God of Wisdom, Writing, and having a really long, absurd-looking pointy beak)

[Quintus Antonius]

That's interesting considering that the forces of Chaos attacked this shrine.

That said, I'd say Maat is or was someone of significance to the Canthans, as there is an outpost called Maatu Keep, an obvious derivative of the name "Maat". We see this else where, such as Kaineng Center, and Vizunah Square. The Canthans name their outposts after people of significance.

[Katscratched]

Not a good sign that one of Lesser Grasps attacked the Shrine of Maat then, I suppose.

We haven't really seen anything like "local gods" since the Unseen Ones, have we?

Here's the wikipedia link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%C3%A0t). I haven't been able to find a definate cartouche for her yet though. Its also been years since I did any study in hieroglyphs.

[Quintus Antonius]

We don't know if Maat is a god in the realm of Guild Wars. Just like "Janthir" could be a concept or word in the Mursaat tounge, so too could "Maat" be a concept or word in the Canthan tounge. Also keep in mind that ancestor worship is prevalent in Cantha as well. Maat could be a specific person, or even a family name.

[Santax]

Good points there... Maatu Keep/Maat sounds good to me.

But the thing is, other people who have places named after them (Vizu/Vizunah Square, Kaineng Tah/Kaineng City, Elder Rhea/Rhea's Crater and Archemorus/Archipelagos) are all well-documented. I'd like to meet someone who hasn't heard of the names and locations listed above. Maat, who has Maatu Keep named after him/her, is only ever mentioned at the Shrine of Maat. Mind, "Maat" may just be a prominent family name, or some kind of an in-joke by the devs (Tahn also seems prominent, Yijo Tahn, Sickened Guard Tahnjo, Adept Tahn and Tahnaki Temple, just to name a few).

[The Stiehl]

Archipelagos are a bunch of little islands out in the middle of nowhere on the open sea. (OK, so don't take that literaly.)
The Jade Sea, being water-type, just had an area named "Archipelagos."
I am 99% sure there is no relation to archipelagos and Archemorus. Your other points are valid, though.

[Haravin Anubis]

Also note where the shrine is - Tomaat pass - To Maat? I noticed this when I first started Factions - I thought it quite unusual that there should be a shrine for an Egyptian god in a Asian-themed continent. And, if you look at the one Dragon Festival quest, there were at least eight people there when the shrine was attacked - could the peasents, too far away from Shing Jea monastery, have been celebrating the festival at the shrine? Anyways, it's an interesting thought.

[Mularc Templare]

I don't know whether this thread needs bumping, but the word "Maat" actually has Asian contentions as well as Egyptian ones - a set of 42 rules, called the laws of Maat were written governing what a huamn could/could not do. Sort of like the ten commandments, but much older...2000 years or so.

Unfortunatley I cannot link to the forum in which I found them, because it goes against GWO rules.

Mularc

[Quintus Antonius]

As long as you are posting something for research purposes, you are allowed to offlink on the Lore Forum.

If you are quoting something, please use quote tags, and simply cite the source. No need to offlink directly.

[Mularc Templare]

Kool..been so long I forgot Qunitus :P

Here is the Link (http://www.evilbible.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?p=29941&sid=f5e7162043cb291c7bfc6da2e5a02d8a)

Mularc

[Divinity Archer]

Also note where the shrine is - Tomaat pass - To Maat? I noticed this when I first started Factions - I thought it quite unusual that there should be a shrine for an Egyptian god in a Asian-themed continent. And, if you look at the one Dragon Festival quest, there were at least eight people there when the shrine was attacked - could the peasents, too far away from Shing Jea monastery, have been celebrating the festival at the shrine? Anyways, it's an interesting thought.

I also noticed tomaat pass right away, but thats because tomaat is 'tomato' in Dutch :laugh:

So I don't think it has anything to do with an Epytian god, or tomatoes for that matter, it's just a fantasy name that they made up. I think noone from Anet actually knew Maat as a goddess :rolleyes:

Just my 2 cents :wave:

[Ranger Nietzsche]

you'd be surprised what those ANet developers know.

One of them knew enough about The Life Aquatic to make an entire very long quest about it.

If you check the community lounge thread about ingame references to real life things there are a lot of diverse and impressive links.

You never know which developer took a class on Egyptian Theology in college.