The Sylvari Plant People

Of all the races in Guild Wars 2, only the Silvari are new to the Guild Wars world. Their emergence in the southern lands of Tyria is due to two other races, the Humans and the Centaurs.

A human soldier named Ronan discovered a cavern filled with strange seed-pods being protected by terrible plant creatures. When the opportunity arose he entered the cavern and stole a single seed, as big as a man's fist, to show his daughter when he returned home from war. Upon his arrival, Ronan discovered the Mursaat had destroyed his village and murdered all within it, including his family, leaving only burned houses and mass graves. He planted the seed on their graves in the ground of his ruined village along the southern tip of the Maguuma Jungle and swore never to return to battle. This area is mw know as Arbor Bay.

Ronan was joined by a Centaur named Ventari, who had also begun to lose hope in ever seeing peace return to the land. The human and the Centaur formed a friendship and together they decided to begin their lives anew and create a refuge for human and Centaur alike. They built their safe haven near the ocean and the mysterious tree, offering peace, shelter and friendship to all those who sought it.

Over the years, the pale oak grew under the watchful eye of Ventari, becoming healthy and strong. At last, old and grey, Ventari carved his life's lessons upon a marble tablet, which he placed at the base of the tree so that future travelers might read it and, perhaps, learn the ways of peace and harmony. Then, many years after his human companion had passed on, Ventari laid down beside the tree and died. The year was 1165 AE.

Over the next hundred years the tree continued to grow until small cocoons appeared among its branches. These cocoons grew in size, eventually opening and giving birth to a new race of fully-grown people. They called themselves the Sylvari, and these "Firstborn" were only the beginning of a the race, all born from the same "Pale Tree" planted so long ago.

The Sylvari who emerged from the cocoons found themselves strangely guided by the words Ventari had inscribed on the marble tablet. Whether the tree somehow became imprinted with the noble Centaur's ethics and moral code or whether it absorbed both the remains of the Centaur's flesh as well as the essence of his compassionate soul upon his death, no one knows for certain. What is certain is that his influence over the Sylvari is strong even to this day and the Ventari Tablet is their most sacred artifact.

When a Sylvari is born it is already fully-mature and from that point forward will show no signs of aging. They have no children and there are no families in the traditional sense but each Sylvari feels a special connection to each other through what they call the "Dream of Dreams". In this dream, they commune with the inner mind of the race, learning how to walk, talk, use implements and interact with the world. Thus, when a Sylvari is "born" they know a great deal more about the world than one might expect.

Their society is shaped by the proverbs on the Ventari Tablet, the basis of Sylvari honor and chivalry, as well as the Inner Dream that guides them toward their destiny. This Dream also contains hidden whispers behind the voices of their fellow Sylvari. They do not understand what it means - but the Sylvari have yet to experience much of the world around them. They do not know the dangers and troubles of Tyria as well as the other races do. Soon they will understand that the whispers are the beginnings of the nightmares.