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Norn Week Begins!

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They come from the land of the ice and snow—the norn! A valiant race of shape-changing barbarians, the norn are one of the five playable races in Guild Wars 2. This week we’re going to get within axe-throwing distance of the norn on the ArenaNet Blog with posts full of lore, art, screenshots, audio clips, fiction, and more. On Thursday, Feb 24^th, we’ll be updating the GuildWars2.com norn page with a brand new video featuring the Shiverpeaks, the norn hunting grounds.

The norn, who first appeared in Guild Wars: Eye of the North, are a larger-than-life race of shape-shifters who revere the Spirits of the Wild. Driven from their homeland in the distant north by the rise of Jormag, the Ice Dragon, the norn resettled in new hunting grounds further south.

So what makes the norn so…norn?

Aside from their size and their ability to shape-shift into a powerful half-animal form, norn are defined by their unique worldview. They value glory and deeds of valor above all – they’re just built that way. “The norn get famous or die trying,” says Lead Writer Bobby Stein.

“They are by their nature a race of optimists,” says Jeff Grubb, Continuity and Lore Designer. “While humans have a long history, and it feels like their best days may be behind them, the norn project a positive outlook, even though they have been driven from their homeland.”

“Many of the races in Guild Wars 2 come from a background of displacement,” says Lore and Continuity Designer Ree Soesbee.  “However, where other races see their tribulations as losses, the norn see it as a challenge, a chance to overcome adversity and reach greatness.”

Ree Soesbee continues, “The norn are absolutely not ‘big humans.’ They have their own culture, their own ethics and morality. A norn seeks to master herself and drive her own body and soul to greatness through constantly testing her own physical limits.”

As you’ll see this week when we take a closer look at the Wayfarer Foothills area, a norn player in Guild Wars 2 will have a completely different experience than a human player. “The norn starting experience is tonally very different from the human one,” Bobby Stein says. “The happenings in Wayfarer Foothills, while dangerous, are more about hunting and celebration rather than outright war.”

In addition to a plethora of wild game and powerful creatures, norn characters adventuring in the Shiverpeaks will encounter the jotun, a race of fallen giants; the dredge, former slaves who claim the lost homelands of the dwarves; and the Sons of Svanir, norn who revere the Ice Dragon. There’s no shortage of opportunities for norn to prove themselves.

Ree Soesbee says, “If you can thank the spirit of Griffin even as you kill one to feed your family; if you instinctively know the difference between a playful brawl and a deadly battle; if you’d climb a dangerous mountain just because someone said it couldn’t be done—then you might want to play a norn.”

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