Dreaming of Echovald (Kurzick Look)

In his dream, Morcar saw Echovald. Huge trees turned into stones in the dim light under a heavy canopy of marble. He saw ancient ruins and wreckage, interwoven with the forest and nearly crumbled. Gargoyles and other monsters made out of stone lurk in the darkness. The only thing that emits a sense of life and brightness is the amber dripping from the trees, indicating that somewhere under this stony exterior, there might still be life in Echovald.

Dreaming of this strange and foreign place, Morcar was taken away by the gothic beauty of the place. He could see massive castles and mansions that blended in so well with the surrounding forest that it seemed like one obscure living thing of bricks and branches. Their dark and sinister beauty was so strong that Morcar couldn´t turn away his gaze from the darkness. His eyes wanted to stay even longer, he wanted to absorb every little detail in this place. He wanted to wander under the great arches of stone with the noblemen and women of these houses. Their names still lay on his tongue when he awoke - Brauer, Durheim, zu Heltzer....
He wasn´t one of them, but he deepy wished he would be. Unable to turn away his gaze from his dream, Morcar was sent into this world blind and with a deep longing for Echovald in his heart. His whole body, his armour seemed to serve only one purpose: to be closer to Echovald. On his search for what Morcar figured to be his real home he even went beyond the Rift, only to return as a Revenant, searching even more frantically for the place from his Dream.
But from the beyond he brought back a hammer and some directions to send him further on his way, towards his destiny and towards Echovald Forest.


Hey guys,

I saw a lot of great tributes to GW1 on the site already and I wanted to contribute to this hommage with my very own Kurzick look! Guild Wars Factions was always my favourite addon of the series (even until today) and what captivated me the most were the Luxon and the Kurzick. While I really loved both of these factions, the Kurzick always resonated deeper with me - the dark gothic atmosphere always fascinated me and even now I think back to Echovald Forest fondly. The atmosphere there was just pure gold! So I am proud that I always was part of the Kurzick! (Please don´t lynch me, Luxon supporters out there! :p)

For this look I wanted to combine the gothic architecture, the petrified vegetation and the amber the Kurzick used for trade. While the top and legs are to resemble the gothic architecture and the noble nature of the Kurzick, The forms just felt right to me. With gloves and boots in particular I tried to symbolize petrified plants and the amber theme was included in shoulders, headpiece and the weapons.
Dyewise I kept on the darker side, but since Echovald Forest also wasn´t completely dead and devastated, I incorporated some dull green shades in there. The orange in the shoulders and headpiece are a subtle hint at the amber that the Kurzick used as a mean of trade.
Of course I had to use this hammer and with the rest of the weapons I tried to find a balance between amber and gothic inspired styles.

Screening was made a lot easier by Hylek pointing me towards the WvW castle; it just captures the Kurzick´s style so well! I am pretty sure there is even concept art for the Echovald Forest on the walls. Even if that place was as close as it could get, I wish I could have travelled back to the real place and screen there; nothing will ever be able to quite catch the creepy atmosphere and the haunting feeling that place evoke in me back then.

I hope some of the GW1 veterans among you can feel at least a little bit of the nostalgia I tried to wake with this look and for the people who never played GW1: I hope this look made you maybe a little bit interested in the beauty that was this game and its concepts! I had tons of fun creating this look, so let me know what you think of him ^^