GW2 Posting

this page is dedicated to my OCs, their perspective on the story, and some neat screenshots i've taken.

i've only finished the core storyline so far, so i'll be updating as i make my way through the other story content.

- Meet the Commanders -

✿ Willow Aldern ✿

RACE: Sylvari

GENDER: Cis woman (she/her)

PROFESSION: Core Ranger

HEIGHT: 5'4 (163cm)

BIRTHDAY: June 12

SUMMARY: Willow has been intensely shy her whole life, and frequently relied on her brother Hazel to do the talking for her. Despite this, she's also always had a desire to learn, and had a dream that one day she would see all of Tyria. This dream was sidetracked by the resurgence of the dragons, and was almost crushed by the trauma of confronting the loss of life that comes with war. Though the grief almost broke her, with the support of her brother and his new friend Laila, she was able to pull through and defeat Zhaitan. She has now resumed her goal of exploring Tyria, and has been learning more about what is possible for her as a Ranger in the process.

PERSONALITY: Introverted, curious, compassionate, sincere

LIKES: Exploration, her numerous pets, the jungles of Maguuma, cooking, gardening

DISLIKES: Too many people, death, warm tempuratures, claustrophobic

TRIVIA: Willow's room at the Terrace is (somewhat) affectionately called The Zoo, due to her keeping her pets that aren't needed for her explorations in there. She almost compulsively adopts animals she comes across that have no family, hence her vast array of creatures. She also sometimes takes items that people leave behind, hence her Canthan hairpin despite not going to Cantha yet. She's the only decent cook of my three commanders, and the only one that's any good at jumping puzzles.

SONG: Secret Garden by Spiritbox

☢ Hazel Aldern ☢

RACE: Sylvari

GENDER: Cis man (he/him)

PROFESSION: Core Engineer

HEIGHT: 5'10 (177cm)

BIRTHDAY: June 12

SUMMARY: Pod twins with Willow, though he awakened 12 hours earlier. This early awakening has led to him being very protective of his little sister. Eventually, due to differing goals, he and Willow went their seperate ways for a while, and it was during this time that he met Laila. They ran into Tybalt at the same time, and so they ended up going on the same initiation mission together. During said mission, Hazel ended up getting very drunk and was hitting on Laila. It was only when he sobered up and Tybalt told him what happened that he realized he really did have a crush on her. These feelings, as well as his desire to protect Willow, were put to the test during the battle at Orr. Hazel proved himself to be the most reliable of the three commanders, and he was the one to land the killing blow against the Elder Dragon. Running off of such high emotions, he ended up kissing Laila, and it was then that he realized his crush had turned into something deeper.

PERSONALITY: Confident, resourceful, playful

LIKES: Tinkering with lost charr and asura tech, chatting up people he finds interesting, making people laugh

DISLIKES: Isolation, getting too sincere, quiet

TRIVIA: Since he's somehow always at the Terrace while Willow's away (and away while Willow's there), he ends up taking care of her menagerie of animals. Somehow very successful with the ladies, despite being so small and also a tree. Though he's the biggest damage dealer of the three, he's actually physically kinda wimpy. He straight up does not know about the asura experimenting on sylvari thing and no one has the heart to tell him.

SONG: Living After Midnight by Judas Priest

ꕤ Laila Aulikki ꕤ

RACE: Norn

GENDER: Cis woman (she/her)

PROFESSION: Mesmer

HEIGHT: 9'0 (274cm)

BIRTHDAY: July 5

SUMMARY: Laila was born into an isolated Snow Leopard cult, which instilled in her the idea that emotions are antithetical to logic. Thus, to best embody Snow Leopard, she was taught to bury her emotions. This got easier due to bullying from her peers over being a woman and tall even by norn standards, which thickened her skin. She eventually managed to turn her reputation around by being a vital asset to her community. Eventually, she had to leave the nest, and it was when she decided to join the Order of Whispers that everything changed. First, she met Hazel, a charming sylvari with a similarly strategic mind. When he began flirting with her during their initiation mission, she was startled to find that he actually made her heart flutter. Then came the disaster at Claw Island, and subsequent push to take down Zhaitan's forces. It was clear the sylvari boy and his sister were not ready for a war yet, but she knew she could help them become ready.

PERSONALITY: Aloof, strategic, ambitious, brave

LIKES: Rain, her mother's Snow Leopard Shrine, proving sexists wrong, Hazel despite her best efforts

DISLIKES: Warm weather, small spaces, condescension, liars

TRIVIA: Laila has three siblings, all younger brothers. Her mesmer magic shows up as icy blue butterflies. She only takes her mask off around people she trusts. The fact that she's so much slower and clumsier than the Aldern twins frustrates her to no end. Though it's not on her in-game model, Laila has freckles on her cheeks, shoulders, and stomach.

SONG: Blood Moon by TOWER

- Will's Pets -

dedicated to the person on tumblr who became a fan of gatorio after i rambled about him in the tags on their post

Gatorio

Species: Jungle Stalker
Name Meaning: Combination of the Portuguese words for “river” and “cat”. Both the name and origin language are a reference to the IRL Jaguar, which Jungle Stalkers are clearly based on.
Lore: Gatorio was Will’s very first pet! He was orphaned as a cub by the Risen that were afflicting Caledon, and he wandered all the way to Astorea in search of food. Will found him and immediately knew she had to take care of him. Though she now has many pets since defeating Zhaitan, Gatorio is still her most ride-or-die companion. In terms of personality, Gatorio is basically an overgrown kitten; very high-energy and very Cat.
Why I love him: A lot of nostalgia tbh, since Will was my first character, and thus Gatorio was my first pet! I do feel like he must have gotten buffed recently tho? For some reason he feels a lot less squishy than he used to, and so I find I’m bringing him along for open world stuff a lot more.

Evora

Species: Fern Hound
Name Meaning: Portuguese word meaning "Forest".
Lore: Will’s second ever pet! While sitting in on some sapling lessons in the Grove, she spotted this girl wandering around as if looking for something, with no Warden accompanying her. Will put two and two together and realized that the hound’s Warden must have been killed, and she was now looking for an owner who didn’t exist. Of course, she soon got her owner by way of Will adopting her! She’s generally a sweet, well-mannered dog, but she can be a bit overprotective of Will after what happened to her first owner.
Why I love her: First of all, probably one of the most aesthetically pleasing pets in the game imo. Second, I think she makes a good “back up pet” for when my main one is getting its ass kicked (the price to pay for using a lot of cats), with her decent damage and extra healing.

Aronoa

Species: Lynx
Name Meaning: (Allegedly) Eastern European variation of Aaron, which (allegedly) means “high mountain” in Hebrew (allegedly).
Lore: Will found him while venturing into Shiverspeaks for the first time. At first he was hostile, until Will killed some Icebrood hounds that were already hunting him down and going in for the kill. He then yielded to Will, respecting her strength, and continued journeying with her the rest of the way through Snowden Drifts, and all the way back to the Grove. As their meeting might imply, he’s a very spicy, fighty boy, and he’s got a bad attitude around seemingly everything but Will and her bear (who she had when she rescued Aronoa).
Why I love him: Probably the highest damage of my land pets so far (have not done expansions yet). Also, I saw someone on tumblr mention swapping out pets based on the climate, and now I’ve started doing that lol. He’s my go-to for cold climates now.

Rubi

Species: Pink Moa
Name Meaning: Spanish/Portuguese variation of Ruby, from the pink/red gemstone. Obviously a reference to the pink coloration, but I went with the different language in reference to the Caribbean, where flamingos are from!
Lore: She was a first birthday present from Aife… sort of. In reality, Rubi was being a massive pain in the ass all over the Grove, but since Will had established her reputation as an animal lover by then, the firstborn decided to dump the bird on her. Though Will has come to realize as well that Rubi is the type to choose violence and chaos first, she still loves her all the same!
Why I love her: One word: breakbars. She has come in clutch too many times to count when my dumbass accidently started soloing a [Group Event] boss.

Momi

Species: Shark
Name Meaning: “Pearl” in Hawaiian! Since this shark is mainly found in tropical locations, I wanted a tropical name.
Lore: Will found her biting at Hazel’s leg when they ran into each other at Bloodtide Coast. After rotating Momi (idiot) to get her off Hazel, Momi suddenly became very affectionate, enjoying the attention she was getting from Will. Unlike Will’s other pets, Momi didn’t actually follow Will home. Instead, they keep running into each other across Tyria’s many oceans. It’s almost like Momi can sense when Will is near, and shows up to help her out.
Why I love her: Highest damage of my water pets. I think she has more kills in the water than I do lol.

Nen

Species: River Drake
Name Meaning: Surprisingly not a HunterXHunter reference. It’s an Egyptian name (allegedly) meaning “ancient waters” (allegedly). The river drake kind of reminds me of a crocodile, so that’s why the Egyptian name.
Lore: Pretty standard as far as Will’s pets go. Was getting bothered by Risen, saved by Will, decided to follow her home because she was nice. He’s definitely the weird one of Will’s pets. She often finds him chewing on the most random of creatures if she leaves him unattended for 2 seconds.
Why I love him: Carried my ass during the later parts of leveling Will, especially once I reached Orr. Also came in clutch during the Halloween event with his multi-targeting lightning ball.

Joe

Species: Brown Bear
Name Meaning: Brown bears seem like a very American bear, so I wanted an Extremely American Name. This was what immediately came to mind.
Lore: Unlike most of Will’s other pets, Joe was the one to get Will out of a sticky situation involving the centaurs. Will later figured out that this was because Joe was a mama bear that lost her cubs, and she’d come to view Will as a surrogate cub. Will did not learn this until after naming Joe lol.
Why I love her: “Guild Wars 2 has no Tanks!” Wrong. Look at this girl. Another good “back up pet”, since her health is insane.

Pele

Species: Red Moa
Name Meaning: From the Hawaiian kupua Pele of course! The coloration of the bird reminded me of a macaw, and Red Moa’s are described as having a temper, so I thought it was fitting.
Lore: Pele was rescued from a cruel ogre that Will faced off against. Pele soon showed Will how she ended up with such a formidable owner, as she’s been the hardest to work with of Will’s pets. Since Will’s been bringing her on her adventures, and showing the bird the farthest reaches of Tyria, she’s grown to respect Will a lot more.
Why I love her: First of all ur girl had to solo a [Group Event] Champion to get her. I still don’t know how I didn’t die instantly. Secondly, she also has pretty good damage, and I’ve been experimenting with using her for fury while relying on Frost Spirit for might. I have been finding lately this strat works better using Gatorio for might and Storm Spirit for fury tho tbh.

✓ current gameplay goals ✓

map completion with willow, since i'm looking to make her a legendary like a fool.
the legendary in question is the bifrost. in case u couldn't tell i think i'm gonna make her a druid once i get to heart of thorns stuff lol.
make my way through living world season 2
since i get the impression that the heart of thorns stuff is Hard. i want to gear up some of my characters *cough*laila*cough* since i don't even have everyone at all exotic yet lol
i have 3 more non-commander characters i wanna make, which are a thief asura, a guardian charr, and a human elementalist. however, i think i'll work on them at least after i finish the living world stuff first.