Tarnished Coast and Eye of the North

[Quintus Antonius]

That's a game mechanic, but there is a lore element to it. Most places you can map travel to also have a "dial" like the ones in Nolani. So, there may be some ancient, commonly accepted, magic at work. But because it isn't ever directly addressed in-game, we have to figure it is just made for player convienance.

[Fira]

It shows a (Serpentine) Dragon and a Man. This shows that the original structures of the Tarnished Coast were originally manmade.
The Dragon also explains why the same bird statues can be found in the CTC, namely the original purpose of the CTC would have been to guard Primordus (Note: Asumption on the name, as the real Primordus is unrevealed thus far).

Wait, why do you think the original purpose of CTC would have been to guard Promordus (or some other dragon)?

[Sir Jack]

So yeah, I meant to post here a lot earlier again with some pics, but then I got booted to smallband (12GB DL limit = teh suck), then I forgot and remembered again now. Except I'm back to smallband, which means uploading pics isn't really fun...

That being said, the Rata Sum description is pretty clear that it was built by the asura.

Part of it maybe, but definantly not everything. Unless Asuran archetecture is based on ripping designes from other cultures and using them as their own.


(Sidenote: Also found on the ruins in Arbor Bay, where the Asura are trying to build something new during "O Brave New World")

So yeah, human depiction for no particular reason and designs in their city found on buildings that are confirmed to be not Asuran...
At the very least, they scavenged of parts of an old city that was there before, just like they're tryong to do in the quest "O Brave New World".

EDIT:

Wait, why do you think the original purpose of CTC would have been to guard Promordus (or some other dragon)?

Well, because there are signs in the CTC that point to not having been made by Asura originally, though Vekk does state that the Asura built the CTC there because of that statue (Primordus) that actually bled magic. It could be the Asura did build the CTC on the remains of another load of leftovers from a civilisation, like they might have done in Rata Sum and are doing in Arbor Bay.

[PwnyRide]

Unless Asuran archetecture is based on ripping designes from other cultures and using them as their own.

Would you really put it past such a callous and selfish race?

[rex silverbane]

Would you really put it past such a callous and selfish race?

i agree, look what they did to the mursaat gate and contruct technologies

[Troal]

Would you really put it past such a callous and selfish race?

I'd put it past a prideful race that believes all others to be inferior. Why would they adopt the ruins and architecture of creatures they believe unworthy of respect?

[Quintus Antonius]

I'd put it past a prideful race that believes all others to be inferior. Why would they adopt the ruins and architecture of creatures they believe unworthy of respect?

Because they'd find some way to justify that the races wouldn't even exist without them or something so that the architecture is actually theirs.

[Karn the Betrayer]

I'd put it past a prideful race that believes all others to be inferior. Why would they adopt the ruins and architecture of creatures they believe unworthy of respect?

remember that they do call us 'booka'

'oh great another booka'

Asuran's label humans like teh boogy man

[Laibeus Lord]

Nice. Mursaat's again. Recalling all the other speculations and theories, like the Mursaat as we know them is an evolution of a race... and there's another that the old gods could be once mortals of Tyria. It fits well (if not perfectly) that the Mursaat's were tasked to be guardians.

We already know that GW:P, the 'bad guys' are really us (if you look at the bigger picture). If it is true that the Mursaats are guarding the dragons, then it also explains why Glint used us to defeat the Mursaats and retrieve the Sceptre of Orr to just give it freely away to Glint.

Now it really is probable that the old gods, when they were still mortals, built EotN as a safe haven against the Dragons. These Heroes became gods, and the rest of their race evolved into the Mursaat. Now Glint got the Sceptre of Orr which could have been one of the keys how they defeated and locked up the dragons. What's even more fishy is that Glint simply disappeared from the Scene after getting the Sceptre of Orr and putting the Mursaats out of the way.

Glint could very well be creating havoc so we will not notice what she is doing. Remember how she ordered us to kill all the titans then disappeared with the Sceptre of Orr?

(Above are speculations, tieing up the previous theories and speculations, adding mine.)

On topic:

The Asurans are another part of the plan (if there is a plan). With the Asurans now on the surface and have discovered the other dragon, whose guardian is the Great Destroyer, the CTC was rebuilt.. thanks to the Asurans. Now the stoned dragon in the Great Destroyer chamber has a room to do what he wants.

And, all this time, I really believed that the Asurans acquired or learned about Gate Travel through another race's tech-magic. Now reading the other replies, it seems I'm one of the few who thinks so. It never came to my mind that the Asurans developed CTC and gate travel all on their own, and by their own knowledge.

[kerinad]

Suggestion:

The Eye of the North, the Ruins of the Tarnished Coast, and the various other ruins with similarities throughout the whole of Tyria may well have their origins with the same race of creatures, possibly the Forgotten, the Seer's race or the Mursaat or possibly something older, I mean they could have been a race of Tengu for all we know (would explain the bird motifs), but one way or another either through conscious choice or not other later races such as the Asura and the Dwarves may well have taken on certain styles or architecture through trade or assimilation of culture.

However, it is massively possible that where one race, e.g. the Forgotten, did build the Eye of the North but ancient human tribes built what are now the ruins on the Tarnished Coast, the bird heads and other similarities being coincidental. I mean the Eye of the North bird decorations may well have been inspired by the ravens that live in the mountains there. The bird decorations on the Tarnished Coast however may have been inspired by the Tengu or any number of other jungle birds living there.

As for the transporter technologies for each individual race and similarities between them, let me put it this way; all the magic using races can do it, one way or another they can all teleport themselves from point A to point B without a problem. Even necros and assassins can instantaneously transport themselves from one point to another by use of simple skills. The Mursaat teleporter, the desert teleporters and those employed by the Luxons and Kurzicks, even the one at Nolani all use a single path. They go from one to the other and back again. The Asuran gates however seem to be part of an interconnected system allowing them to set up a gate anywhere and instantly attach it to their network and therefore travel to any point from there, much in the way that the Asuran gate at Ebonhawke fortress is likely to be used although more for transporting various materials and supplies than people.

My point is that trying to guess at which race created things like the Eye of the North and the Scrying Pool by comparing their technology and magical abilities is pointless as all those granted magics by the gods can in one way or another move themselves distances without the aid of a mount or their own legs (if they have legs).