Talk:Shaman caste

Given the fact that most instances of "Charr Shaman" are linked to the respective GWW article, I think this article should be deleted. Unless anyone thinks it should stay and get a re-write, in which case I could do it. --Cjad the Nord 01:00, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Maybe deleted, then an article made at Shaman or something on the class of Charr. Calor (t) 01:02, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

K, it's on my list of things to do, right below talking to random women at the bar, and above breathing. --Cjad the Nord 01:05, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

so shaman will be a new profession? fck no--Virus Angel 13:36, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Just because you sometimes are one doesn't mean you should heed everything vandals say. :P Lord Belar 22:54, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

No, the Shaman class of Charr that was rejected by society. Calor (t) 23:11, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Article overhaul is done, feel free to cut out some of the fluff/stuff it full of more fluff. --Cjad the Nord 02:06, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Looks great to me. -- Armond Warblade 07:53, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Shaman in Guild Wars 2 are norn who serve the spirits, not charr. 07:43, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

You do realize that "shaman" is a very generic term and that in GW1 there were possibly half a dozen races that used it (I know the centaurs, charr, and grawl did right off the top of my head - and I know that the first two still use the term in GW2). The Shaman caste is the caste of charr shamans. Look at Biography#Charr - one of the options for the father is a shaman. There are still charr shamans in GW2. The Shaman caste is unrelated to the norn. -- Konig/talk 08:20, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

Charr Magic-User = Shaman? Or is being a Shaman like joining a club?

The definition in the article actually isn't clear who exactly they are in GW2. They had their role in the race's history. They are found in all legions, even in the present day(1). They are made up of those skilled in magic (which implies non-mages aren't among them).

But how does a Charr end up counting as a shaman? Is it a group you join? Is membership in the caste(2) something that you voluntarily obtain? Or does the term actually refer to any magic-users among the Charr given their disdain for magic and how it affected their history? If so, that would explain why Dinky from your warband gets so much abuse. Also, it would mean that your own character would be in for abuse if he was a Scholar or a Guardian (magic users, especially Guardians whose powers are the same as GW1's Charr Shamans).

1- I wonder if the shaman sire in the Charr bio question is a shaman in your legion or from another legion, even from the accursed Flame Legion (which begs the question how it happened, but glad to know Charr society is still somewhat merciful to their kids).

2- "Caste" is a rather complex and complicated term to use and understand- even here!

Any real answers or enlightening discussion would be much appreciated. --Messenger 11:06, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

The Shaman caste is a complicated situation as it's never really explicitly defined. What we know is that for roughly 250 (from 200 years prior to GW1 to Kalla's time), they were effectively the leaders of the charr race; they're also hinted to me to be kind of minister-like levels within the "official" rankings of charr society (that is, adviser-esque figures for the Imperators). They existed in all four legions and are said to be spell-casters (whether this is fact is questionable due to the number of warrior bosses in the charr-related quests in EN). Whether they existed prior to the finding of the titans is not very clear, nor is their current state in GW2 (they seem to be used interchangably with "Flame Legion" after Kalla's actions).

I'm going to stop you with the guardian-abuse thing... in GW1, the NPC "Charr Shaman" was not the only kind of Shaman caste charr. In fact, the highest ranking Shamans were fire elementalists - Bonfaaz Burntfur, Hierophant Burntsoul, the Fire Callers were the highest ranking for generic NPCs, etc.

On your numbered points: 1) Possibly, possibly not. Considering the current interchangingness of "Shaman caste" with "Flame Legion" I'm guessing that shamans are no longer part of the Iron, Blood, and Ash legions. 2) Caste merely means a social standing, more or less - like being upper class or middle class in economic terms. "Caste" is just as the meaning of "class" in that example, but it's religious based. With the charr, however, there's only one caste and then "everyone else" (or so seems to be the case). Konig/talk 19:02, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Re: Guardians and Monks only as Shamans: I stand corrected, sir. What gets me is that Dinky gets pushed around explicitly for being a Guardian, while Euryale doesn't seem to get the same treatment as an Elementalist. Then again, it may be because Euryale doesn't sound like the type who takes crap from anyone while Dinky has to fight with a size disadvantage.

I doubt the Shaman sire from the Bio questions is Flame Legion. The bio says he "is treated with suspicion and mistrust". If he was Flame Legion, given the civil war, he wouldn't be treated merely with those two but with outright hostility and hate. That leads me to believe he belongs to whatever Legion the player's character is in- or at least not among the Goldies.

As such, any "shaman" not among Flame Legion likely doesn't share their beliefs in searching for a divine power to lead the Charr race. Any affiliation with them is likely not something voluntary. This leads me to suspect being called a shaman in GW2 is more about distrust for having magical powers than because you joined an organization.

I just really which someone from ANet's story team cleared this up. It's gonna be awhile before we find out firsthand through the game. --Messenger 10:09, 5 November 2011 (UTC)