Asurai Kane - Commander of the Pact

Hello good people of GW2Style. This is my first attempt at creating a look that most suits my image of Commander. As a still very much new player who's going through a story in order I like to roleplay a bit in my head.
I included a little story of how he got his pet bear as my profession is Ranger and how he became who he is which is mostly just recapitulation of Personal Story with some added details to help flash out my character a bit more. I also headcanon that my character has suffered a trauma after Claw Island that explains his switch in personality from warm, cheerful and welcoming person to cold (sometimes kinda dick sounding) Commander that is shown to us in later stories (I'm currently playing through a Hearth of Thorns so I don't know about any personality switches in newer stories). There are some differences in the origin as in my headcanon my Commander comes from a bloodline of my GW1 character and who is also born in Ascalon and is not a standard Krytan character. It's a small change in the usual story but I like it like this more.

For my outfit. I always hated flashy armors with billion neon effects that blind everyone around you while wielding a 5 ton sword that you wouldn't even be able to lift let alone hit someone with it. But that's just me. I don't mean to offend anyone who prefers flashy outfits, it's just not my thing. I always liked more grounded looks that looked (as far as fantasy games go) realistic. When I saw the Ebon Shoulders on wiki I instantly knew that I wanted to make an outfit around them.
It's still work in progress as I haven't been able to match the colors of the cloak perfectly with the shoulder cloth but that's probably the last thing I want to work on. I like the general design and idea of the Forest Scout Cape but when you look at it too much with those shoulders you start to notice the clipping and even if you use the same colors they don't match at all. If I don't figure it out I might ditch out the cape altogether.
Also, Guild Wars 2 unfortunately has a serious lack of realistic looking swords so I opted out for something that looked at least passable in my mind. I'm looking almost every day at TP to check the price of Galant Sword skin that would fit perfectly tho this character (you know - the whole HAWK on the hilt of a sword and my character being from EbonHAWKE)

I think I'm already rambling for too long so props to you if you read it all and sorry to those who's bothered by walls of text.

Cya in Tyria



Sorry if this is not interesting to you but I had fun while creating this. Also sorry for any grammatical mistakes for English isn't my first language.


List of items:

Head - Invisible

Souhlders - Ebon Shoulders (Midnight Rust, Charcoal, Midnight Rust)

Chest - Glorious Brigantine (Midnight Rust, Charcoal, Charcoal)

Hands - Sneakthief Gloves (Charred, Midnight Rust, Midnight Fire)

Pants - Rubicon Leggings (Charred, Shadow Orange, Charred)

Boots - Assassin's Boots (Charred, Charred, Chareed)

Back - Forest Scout Cape (Shadow Orange, Charcoal)





Asurai Kane

Born in one of the last remaining Ascalonian settlements - Stronghold of Ebonhawke but he didn't have the opportunity to properly visit the city until he was already an adult. For that reason, he will forever consider Divinity's Reach his home.

As a small child he and his parents moved to Kessex Hills to be closer to Divinity's Reach for his parents were spies and members of Shining Blade of the last King of Kryta, father of Queen Jennah. They helped track and destroy White Mantle cells, saving many lives in the process.

Unfortunately he hadn't had a chance to learn the whole truth of his parents for a long time because they were killed before he even had a chance to properly meet them. To this day he doesn't even know how he got to Divinity's Reach, maybe it was some friends of his parents, maybe other agents of Shining Blade. It doesn't matter now. Somehow, with only the clothes he had on himself and a half of an amulet as a memento on his neck he ended up in Divinity's Reach orphanage. That is where his own story began.

Although a shy kid at first as years went by he learned to open up to other children in the orphanage and people in general. He never made that many friends but the ones he made were all loyal. They formed a small gang in their home in Salma District and caused many mischiefs. It was during this time where his naturally inherited leadership skills began to shine.

At some point those small innocent mischiefs started to drift in the direction of real crime and that's where the teenage Asurai decided that this was not the life he wanted to live. He tried to persuade other members of his gang to drop this life as well but since they were all kids from an orphanage who never had anything, all they saw was life of gold and luxury. He left the gang in the hands of his best friend Quinn on the promise that Quinn will look after them and do everything he can to make them stay out of serious crimes.

He left the Salma District and began to work various jobs in the city. During this time he learned the trade of leatherworking which had helped him survive alone in such a big city as Divinity's Reach by providing at least some gold for food and a small cabin in the Village of Shaemoor.

He always loved exploring new places be it in the relatively safe space of the city or the wilderness behind the city walls. Although Queensdale was a relatively safe place because of its closeness to the human capital city, you still had to be on your guard thanks to the wild animals in the forests and bandits roaming around Queensdale waiting for the unaware traveler. That's why he never left his home without his trusty bow and a quiver full of arrows, it saved him many times.

One day during his exploring endeavors in the woods of Queen's Forest he met a wounded bear trapped in a bear trap that was probably arranged by the hunters from the closeby Hunting Lodge. This is where he found his affinity for animals. Even though the bear was trapped it was still a dangerous animal that could kill him in seconds. But something inside him wouldn't let him let the trapped animal die alone like that. He slowly approached the trap despite the animals dangerously sounding growls. He knelt close to the trap and reached with his hands to the mechanism, ignoring the bear's attempts to scare him off. It must have been at this moment the bear realized that this human wasn't trying to hurt him but instead release him of his pain. Asurai opened up the trap and the second the bear caught a whiff of freedom he stormed out to the forest. After a few yards he stopped, turned around and looked the young man straight in the eyes as if he wanted to thank him but didn't know how. Then he continued his run deeper into the forest.

It was a strange encounter for Asurai but he knew he did the right thing. It was close to dusk and he knew he won't make it home till night comes and didn't feel like going to the Hunting Lodge so he decided to stay the night in the forest. It wasn't the first time he had to sleep in the forest, he knew what to do. He hunted some wild rabbit and set up a camp. But for some reason he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was watching him. As much as he tried, he couldn't see anyone so he decided that the best course of action was to just make a meal, get some rest and leave the forest at the sight of dusk. While the rabbit was slowly roasting on the fire he just sat there, enjoying the sounds of the forest. It was a calming thing for him. Then all of a sudden he heard a cracking sound as if someone was getting close to him. He grabbed his bow in anticipation of an incoming attack and waited.
From a forest emerged the bear he saved from the trap earlier. He was slowly approaching the young man and stopped a few yards from the fire. He just stood there, looking straight at Asurai who was aiming the arrow at him. But something told him that the bear didn't want to hurt him so he lowered the bow and put it aside. Then he simply sat back to fire and took off the rabbit so it didn't burn to ashes. The animal stood there for a few seconds, still looking at the young man. When he recognized that he was in no danger from the young man he lay down by the fire. Asurai decided to throw him half of the rabbit because the animal must surely be hungry too after such a long day. The bear caught the meal still in the air and ate it in one piece like it was nothing.
„Sorry friend, that's all I have,“ Asurai told him as if the animal was able to understand what the human was saying to him.
Asurai layd on his back and just looked at the sky, there were so many stars that night. He figured that if the bear wanted to, he would already eat him so since he didn't do it yet there was no danger. It was a long day and he felt his eyes slowly closing, his body ready for a sleep. „He will probably be gone in the morning“ was the last thought before he fell asleep.

The chirping of birds woke Asurai early in the morning and to his surprise his night visitor was still here, sleeping next to him. He didn't want to wake up the bear so he just slowly crawled away closer to the fire. He poked the burnt wood in a campfire with a stick in an attempt to get some last remnants of heat out of it and put his hands closer to the campfire to absorb some of that remaining heat. Then he turned his head to the bear and noticed he was watching him the whole time. He didn't feel any fear though. It was a strange feeling for him but he felt like the animal didn't want to hurt him in any way. As if he knew what the animal was thinking.
„I will head back home friend, you can go to yours now“ told Asurai to bear but the animal just stared at him in confusion. He packed his gear, stomped the remnants of the campfire and started walking in the direction of Shaemoor Village. After some time he noticed that the bear was following him from a distance. He sat on a nearby tree trunk and waited for a bear to come closer. „So, you want to come with me ?“ he asked the bear but only the animal's silence was his answer. The animal came closer to him and put his big head in the young man's lap. „I'm gonna take that as yes.“ told Asurai to himself. „An unlikely companion on the travels but I guess that stranger things have happened. I hope the people in the village won't be scared of you and that you won't be trying to eat anyone.“ Asurai smiled to himself. „Well almost everyone in the Shaemoor has some kind of animal and although they have mostly just dogs and cats a bear is still an animal, it's not THAT different.“ he laughed for himself. It was a good thing his cabin was on the outskirts of the village and not many people were coming to him for a visit.
„I'm gonna name you ...“ he stopped to think for a second „Claw“.
From that moment they were inseparable companions and even though the people in the village were suspicious of the choice of a pet Asurai made after a while everyone got used to him being around and occasionally bringing him fresh meat.

Another four years pass by and a twenty-two years old Asurai wakes up to a Centaur attack on the village. He grabs his bow and whistles at Claw. He storms out of his house to help repel the attack.
He helped repel the invading Centaurs and this is where he met Captain Logan Thackeray. Unbeknownst to him this event started a chain reaction of his whole life journey which earned him the title of "Hero of Shaemoor'' and eventually led to a life of adventure, friendship, battles, exploring but also a loss of close friends and comrades. With the help of Logan Thackeray he saved the Divinity's Reach from attempts of bandits trying to poison the water supplies, saved Queen Jennah, joined the secretive Order of Whispers. After losing the first battle of Claw Island he suffered a trauma caused by seeing the heavy losses among the defending soldiers and having to abandon his mentor and friend Tybalt after which he started to become increasingly cold with everyone. Eventually after he helped with reconciliation of Destiny's Edge became a Commander of the Pact as a second in command after Pact Marshal Trahearne in a campaign into Orr to confront an Elder Dragon Zhaitan.

During this time he discovered the truth about his parents and also visited the place of his birth in the Stronghold of Ebonhawke where in the archives he found the history of his bloodline. There he also honored the memory of Ebon Vanguard Commander Gwen Thackeray who traveled with his ancestor 250 years ago and who is also an ancestor to Logan.

This isn't the end of Asurai's journey, this is just the beginning...