In the Mist War (mechanically represented as the World versus World game mode), these different versions of Tyria fight each other for resources in their own respective battles against their worlds' Elder Dragons-the borderlands are the literal borderlands between different versions of Tyria. in all of them Glint and Snaff have died. The timelines in these alternate Tyrias do not diverge, so e.g. Destiny's Edge) exist across all versions of Tyria. Important non-player characters, however (e.g. The Grand High Sovereign and Grand Vice Admiral Shodd, alternate versions of the asura Pact Commander and Shodd in the Infinity Ball storyline, are not actually from an alternate reality, but from a potential future that exists within the Mists. Player characters are unique to every world there are no "alternate versions" of player characters that exist in other worlds. There are a set number of versions of Tyria, each mechanically corresponding to a world. At the center of the Mists is the Rift, and within the Rift is the Hall of Heroes, the final resting place of powerful and virtuous souls. Some worlds are enormous, such as the Underworld, the home of the dead others are simply residences for powerful spirits or deities. The Mists resonate from the worlds around them, forming bits of their own reality-islands of existence that reflect the histories of their worlds. The alien riftstalkers, riftcrawlers, and "otherworldly" fungi which have manifested in Jahai Bluffs originate either from the Mists or unknown realms within the Mists. Humans are from one of these worlds, brought to Tyria by the Six Gods. Within the Mists are worlds (of which Tyria is just one), each with their own realities and histories, floating as islands in the ether. Lord Odran's map of the Mists, from the Durmand Priory's Special Collections.
The Mists serves as the setting for Player versus Player, and all players entering the Mists will be scaled up to level 80. Everything that has existed, does exist, and will exist is made out of the Mists. The Mists are the oldest thing in existence, the proto-reality that exists between the worlds, constituting the fabric of time and space that connects the multiverse together. But within the last century all that has changed. It was the Land of the Dead, an exclusive club whose membership cost the blood of one's own life. This latter honor goes to only those few whose deeds in life were legendary enough to be known across multiple worlds, and fewer still earn a place among the souls ensconced inside the Hall itself.įor a long while, the Rift and the Hall of Heroes were accessible only by those who had passed from the mortal world into the immaterial. When a hero dies, his spirit goes to one of two places: either it is buried with the deceased body, forever trapped inside the rotting flesh and rancid bones of the corpse, or it is released into the Rift. This structure is the pinnacle of the afterlife.
In the center of the Rift, deep inside the Mists, stands the imposing walled fortress known across the multiverse as the Hall of Heroes. Those who have the know-how to travel across the universe through the Mists must pass through the Rift on their way to all other places.
This place is known as the Rift, and there is nothing to which it does not connect, nothing that cannot be reached from inside it. It is a tear in the fabric of the cosmos, the point of perfect balance between all forces of the universe. In the middle of the Mists is a spot where time moves neither forward nor back. It is said that all forms of life, no matter how simple or complex, can trace their origins back to this one place. They are the source of all good and evil, of all matter and knowledge. They are what binds the universe together, past, present, and future. Before there were humans or dwarves, before there were even worlds or the stars that light the night sky, there was but one thing in the universe-the Mists.