The year is 1325 AE, 250 years after the events of the first Guild War.

The five races of Tyria stand at the edge of a cliff. The Elder Dragons have awoken. Zhaitan has raised the ancient city of Orr, Kralkatorrik’s flight has made the Crystal Scar, and Jormag holds the North. Primordius’s minions bubble up from the deep places of the earth, and a sinister force has been felt in the deepest reaches of the ocean. The five dragons’ effects are felt everywhere.

Yet there is hope. The five great races of Tyria are finally at a point where they can work together. The long-standing feud between the Charr and the humans has come to a momentary pause with the return of the Claw of the Khan-Ur last year.  While the humans face issues holding their territory, fighting off bandits and centaurs, the Charr face issues in their expansion in Ascalon, namely the ongoing war with the Flame Legion.

The Asura and Sylvari face internal conflicts in the Maguuma Jungles. The Asura  seek to hinder the morally-suspect Inquest, and the Sylvari are dealing with the renegade faction of the Nightmare Court, who threaten the stability of the Pale Tree. The Norn base themselves in the Shiverpeak Mountains, from which they hope to move north and fight the dragon Jormag, as well as the Sons of Svanir who follow him.

The free city of Lion’s Arch, rebuilt after its destruction by the tidal wave created by Orr’s raising, serves as a staging ground for three groups hoping to stop the Dragons from further destruction. The Vigil hopes to stop these beasts directly as a military force, while the Durmand Priory hope to locate some form of lost knowledge through which the Dragons might be defeated.  But the Order of Whispers believes that the Dragons cannot be killed, and instead can only be put sent back into  the deep sleep they awoke from.

Meanwhile, the rest of Tyria marches on.  It is a new era of wondrous machines and magic. The Charr and Asura–geniuses in the areas of engineering and the arcane–have introduced new technologies to Tyria, which will doubtless be used to great effect in the years to come.  Yet some races are being left behind. While the Hylek and the Dredge seem to have begun to catch up with the technology of the other races in their own ways, the Grawl and Ogres have been left behind.

Others have been handling the changes to the world in their own ways.  In the far north, The Kodan have sailed south, fleeing Jormag’s reach, their glacial homes drifting into the newly-made bodies of water.  And all the while, the bird-like Tengu watch the rest of the races from behind the walls of the Dominion of Winds, waiting to see which side they will join.

This is the world your character will make its mark in. It is a world of great danger, but also of great hope.