Guild Wars 2 Charr

The Charr, are humanoids cats. Huge and massive humanoid cats. They look like lions and they stand 2.1 - 2.4 meters (7-8 feet) tall. They are incredibly muscular and amazingly strong. Only the Norn can be compared physically with them, but it is a hard call which of those two races is superior. Their stamina is also amazing and they can fight or run without rest for hours. They constantly train until they die. Actually they are walking war machines. A Norn can have a good fight with a Charr, and that 's the only reason why they respect them. All the other races if they are not highly trained and prepared, in a fight with a Charr the only thing they will achieve is to become a bloodstain on the ground. I know that from a personal experience (in the game). Their appearance can make someone petrify with fear. When they roar men run away like little children.
But despite all those scary attributes there was a time where Humans hunted them down without mercy.

The Charr have lived in Tyria and particular at the area east of Shiverpeaks for centuries before humans arrive from the south. That area was their home and their feeding grounds. Of course they had to hunt down other minor races who claimed that area. But eventually they became the rulers of the area that a few centuries later would be named Ascalon.

At some point the Humans arrived from the south following their 5 Gods. Those Gods had given the gift of magic to humans and of course they used it only to cause pain and misery to their new enemies. Yes humans arrived at the Charr homelands as conquerors. They didnt want to live peacefully with the Charr they wanted everything for themselves. Not that the Charr would share their homeland with someone else. It is not in their nature. So the humans with an amazing nerve waged war to the Charr . Humans thanks to their magic achieved to push back the Charr and to populate their lands. They built cities, they started to trade with the other human kingdoms and the human race prospered. But the war was not over. It continued for centuries but the Charr could not win it. What ever they did the human magic was to powerful. But the Charr believed in no gods so they could be granted the same magic.

One day one of the Charr warbands traveled to a volcanic area for an unknown reason. They returned with the promise that they had a solution to their problems. A solution it could defeat the humans once and for all. The Titans, creatures made of lava with incredible power, gave to the Charr a device, Cauldron of Cataclysm, which contained an ancient magic power. That device was the beginning of the end for the humans and the kingdom of Ascalon. The warband which returned bearing the new power became the shamans of the new gods, and they started to manipulate all the Charr. So they convinced them it was time to end the war on their favor. Only one female Charr Bathea Havocbringer, saw immediately that those gods were fake and she protested. Her fate was to be sacrificed to the new gods.

So the Charr with their new false gods, and their new powers began a final assault against the humans. They fought for years and years and they managed to take back most of the areas around the capital. But the Great Northern Wall was impassable. So the shamans begun a ritual, the Searing. During the Searing burning crystals fell from the sky destroying everything. Most of the Ascalonian cities were destroyed. The water vanished from all the lakes and rivers. The vast grasslands and the forests were burned to the ground and only ashes were left. Huge craters created by the crystals changed the landscape forever. Ironically the Great Wall was almost intact after the attack. Only a small opening had been created but it was enough for the Charr pour through and attack the humans from the other side. The lands behind the Great wall were occupied and controlled now by the Charr but the capital held for 8 years after the Searing.

When the Charr managed to breach the defenses of the capital, Ascalon, the king Adelbern in a moment of desperation summoned a great unspoken curse which caused the, Foefire. The Foefire killed most of the Charr and made them flee but the price was huge. The king Adelbern and the rest of the defenders died instantly and were transformed into ghosts cursed to guard Ascalon city for eternity. But the Charr took back their homelands after several centuries.
The last human position in the Charr homelands is the fortress of Ebonhawke .

During all those events the shamans and the Fire Legion had a hard time deep at the Charr homelands. After the rebellion of the female charr Bethea, the shamans forbidden to the female charr to participate in battle and they were denoted to only non war duties. Pyre Fierceshot and his warband managed to start a rebellion against the shamans and their false gods. The rebellion continued for many years but the Flame Legion was too strong. Until the grandcub of Pyre Kalla Scorchrazor led all the secretly trained females and with the rest of the legions , Iron, Blood, Ash managed to almost eradicate the Flame legion. After that battle they all the Legions made a pact not to worship any kind of gods again.

All this belong to the past. The Charr are the ultimate rulers of the former kingdom of Ascalon now.
But it doesnt mean that their hands are not full. At the former Ascalon capital the ghosts protect fiercely the ruined city like it has never changed. The ghost king walks on the walls and gives orders to the soldiers without knowing or understanding that many years have passed since those old days and they are actually dead.
On the west the fortress of Ebonhawke has been an open wound for the Charr for too long.
The awakened dragon has opened a passage up to the north mountains allowing to the ogres to seek new feeding grounds for their herds.
The Flame legion has been weakened but they are still a threat.
And to the south the minions of the dragon have blocked the way to the Crystal Desert.
It seems that they are surrounded but many things have changed since they retook their homelands.
The Charr have evolved technologically much much more than the other races.

The constant wars have made the Charr excellent crafters. Their skills are far superior than the Dwarves. Weapons, armors, war machines are the most finely made and advanced in whole Tyria.
After the victory over the humans and the Flame legion the other legions granted control of their new territories to the Iron legion. Since they are the most technologically advanced of the Charr legions the city they have founded is mainly industrial. In Black Citadel great foundries and factories are everywhere in the city.
Although this is a city controlled by the Iron legion, the presence of the rest of the legions is also strong. In the Imperator's Core is where the leaders of the legions have their offices, this the place where their main strategy and moves are decided.
The Charr have changed a lot since the invasion of the humans. A new crysis is threatening them now. A threat they cannot deal with on their own. They have started using diplomacy instead of weapons and they are learning to honor treaties between the races for the greater good. Cooperation is what will save them

Charr practice all the Guild Wars 2 professions but you already that only a few of them dare to use magic..