We interview Ree Soesbee, author of the new Guild Wars novel coming June 25th.

The next novel set in the Guild Wars universe comes out next Tuesday, June 25^th. The novel, Sea of Sorrows, was written by Ree Soesbee, ArenaNet’s Lead Narrative Designer. In anticipation of the book’s release, ZAM was invited to a special press interview with Ree about the book and its connection to Guild Wars 2.

The interview began with Ree talking about the two previous Guild Wars novels that were released before the launch of GW2.

With Sea of Sorrows, I’m following in the wake of two really exceptional novels: Ghosts of Ascalon by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb and Rob King’s Edge of Destiny. Both of those novels are sort of in the current timeline of the Guild Wars 2 game. They happen within about five years of that game taking place and they tell stories that are very modern to the game and could be happening within the game around you.

Sea of Sorrows is a little bit of a different bird. It takes place close to 150 years before Guild Wars 2 actually would be starting, which is right between the original Guild Wars and our current game. We did that because we wanted to show one of the real big breakwater moments of Tyria’s history which is the rise of the dragon of Orr, the rise of Orr from the bottom of the sea, the resulting tidal wave that wiped out Lion’s Arch (LA) and destroyed a lot of the coastline of Tyria and the rebuilding of LA into a major city again.

Sea of Sorrows begins with the tale of a young sailor living in LA when it is still prosperous. He grows up over the course of the book through several stages of his life. As he is growing older and maturing, LA is destroyed and he is integral in rebuilding that entire city, bring in people populate and support the city and then defend the city against its enemies. So it is both the tale of the young sailor, Cobiah Marriner, and the tale of the city of Lion’s Arch.

Why were the first books released closer together before launch while Sea of Sorrows was released much later even though chronologically its story happens first?

Those two stories very much describe the game Guild Wars 2 and the world that you will see if you play the game. It would have been confusing to players if we described the world as Sea of Sorrows and then they played the game. Clearly this is historical to that, but it isn’t the game that you log in and see. We very much wanted to present the world first and then tell you the stories within that world that were not as relevant to its current incarnation.

My book is a how did it get here. The rising of the dragon of Orr is one of the most important pieces of history in the last 300 years, so we did want to show it but at the same time it is history and is not what you see when you first log in.

With the novel taking place so far before the previous two novels and the game, will we see any tie-ins with Ghosts of Ascalon, Edge of Destiny or Guild Wars 2?

In a broad sense, yes. A hundred-fifty years ago the dragon of Orr rose, the tidal wave sank Lion’s Arch and the populace of LA was eradicated or turned into wanderers. Those people really had the first experience with the dragon of Orr that everyone is fighting in Guild Wars 2. So they were the first ones to realize that it could be fought at all. Some of the tactics they used and some of the conclusions they had drawn are still prevalent in Guild Wars 2.

You also see earlier events like the Charr-Human War. By the time of Guild Wars 2 they are making a treaty between the two races and are trying to create a peace. During the period of my book there is actually a fairly open war. The Humans discuss the Charr as horrible beasts that murder and eat people and they have superstitions or beliefs about the Charr that are sort of uninformed because the races haven’t had a lot to do with each other. The same goes for the Norn, Asura and other races. Because there hasn’t been a city like Lion’s Arch, the races are not as familiar with each other so you see the establishment of things that later become very commonplace in the game. You can see the trace of how those things began.

There are some things we couldn’t put in like the Sylvari. The Sylvari appeared very close to the origins of Guild Wars 2 so there was just no way that any of them were around 150 years ago. I do have a few references and mentions of tree in the forest here or the original enclave where the tree was planted, but I couldn’t get very much into it because it wouldn’t make much sense in the relevance of the book.

The book very much takes place as a maritime adventure. We have a lot of ships, a lot of sailing, ship tactics including ship battles and individual fights with swords. It was interesting to me to sort of design each of those ships for the races. What kind of ship would the Charr make? Well they’re cats who don’t like water, so their ships would be very sturdy. They are very warlike, so their ships would have more weapons whereas the Asura ships are more magical. I loved the idea of a Sylvari ship like a lily pad or a floating water plant, but unfortunately there was just no way to reference it in the book.

You mentioned all the races except the Norn. Did the Norn play a part in the novel?

Yes. There are at least two major characters that are significant throughout the book that are Norn. A pair of Norn twins actually.

Anything connection to in-game content? -->