options drawn from paragon techniques. One question this does raise is that of how overloads come into the picture. Here, though, it is worth noticing that the use of most overloads also come with vocalisations: it’s possible that overloads are, in fact, the ultimate result of mixing the magical chants of paragons with elemental magic. An overload, then, could potentially represent a chant that gathers elemental energy to the singer until it is released at the end of the chant. Paragon animations in Guild Wars 1 established that the magic in paragon chants could create glowing wings that lift the paragon into the air - in this context, the effects associated with overloads do not seem too farfetched when elemental magic is also brought into the picture. It is worth noting, however, that overloads are not that different in behaviour from previous long-casting-time elemental spells like Meteor Shower; it’s possible that the original tempests simply started by refining such spells into overloads, and only afterwards were inspired by the example of Stormcaller (and God’s Vengeance, if they knew of it) to draw a link between the storm magic they had discovered and the magic that can be activated through song and sound. Another possibility for the connection between storms and an otherwise fairly
support-oriented specialisation could, similar to the berserker, come from religion. In human religion, Dwayna is both the goddess most associated with storms (wind and lightning, at least) and with healing… and it’s difficult to overlook that the tempest we see in the game is also strongly associated with storms and healing. While the tempest makes use of all the elements, it’s worth noting that many of their abilities come from the effect of wind on another element. With the apparent disappearance of monks from Tyria, the nature of Dwayna’s clergy also appears to have changed. Priests and priestesses of Dwayna are still fairly common - when provoked to fight, however, their preferred means of defending themselves (best seen at the Ebonhawke delegation in the Fields of Ruin during the wasp event)
is with an orb of lightning that would not be out of place as an air attunement skill, and which may have been originally designed as such. So it appears as though the clergy of Dwayna might have switched from being predominantly monks to predominantly elementalists… with a preference for air, of course. With this being the case, it’s possible that some of Dwayna’s more devout followers may have gone further, and sought to develop a tradition that embodied Dwayna as much as possible. During the time of Guild Wars 1, the separation of healing magic and air magic into different schools would have complicated such a goal, leading to most of the clergy of Dwayna considering healing magic to be the more important consideration and studying the magic of monks. Now, however, the
LORE - To Sow the Wind | GUILDMAG #20
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