ISSUE 19

Who had the biggest influence on the White Mantle? We compare the two leaders.

S AU L VS CAUD ECUS

Why has Balthazar returned to Tyria? Explore the possibilities inside!

WHY BA LT H AZA R?

We sit down with that_shaman to talk data - mining and more.

INTERV I EW WI T H THAT_S H AM A N

2 GUILDMAG #19 | In This Issue

FEA TURED

GUILD S POTL IGHT

AR T & F I CTION

I

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Va liant MANAGING EDITOR Miko SENIOR WRITER Drax ynnic SENIOR COPYEDITOR Tauz

WRITER S Kent Benson, NovaInfu se, Starconspirator, Via n de Bod COP YEDITORS Littleboat, Kalabajooie, Talus DESIGNER S Anthonz, Xero e

t’s a lmost time for th e fi nale of Season 3 of G uild Wars 2 ’s Living World. So far, we’ve seen a resurgence of the Whi te Mantle; the so-called mursaat Laza rus reveal himself as Balthazar, human God o f War; and not to mention a plethora of new maps to explore and yet another season with out much of Rytlock! As July 25th approaches, it’s my pleasure to present to you GuildMa g’s 19th digital magazine: Flame s of the Mantle. In this issue, we explore everything you need to

prepare for whatever may come in the fi nale. From lore on Balthazar, White Mantle leadership and the War in Kryta to our Season 3: Episod e 4 & 5 recap and a n exclusive interview with community legend that_shaman, there’s plenty to keep you bu sy for the next couple of weeks. As always, we’ve also packed this ma gazine with hand- picked community a rtwork and thrilling pieces o f fi ction produced by our talented team of wr iters, a ll centering around this issu e’s theme. In “Faithful”, a White Mantle Inquisitor’s nerve is tested as she journeys to the bloodstone. Meanwhile, Ken t

Benson continu es h is series with parts two and three of “War Pro fi teers” - if you missed the fi rst in stalment, make sure to c atch up in GuildMag I ssue 17 fi rst! To close, I’d l ike to r emind our readers that we’re alway s looking for new volunteers to join our awesome tea m. From writers and copyeditor s to designers and streamers, there’s a position for any skillset; if y ou’re looking for new skills t o add to your resume, GuildMag is the perfect place! You can fi nd more information at www.guildmag.com/join.

4 GUILDMAG #19 | LORE - To Humble a God

BY DRAXYNN IC

Like it or hate it, the reveal that “Lazarus” was Balthazar al l a long has dropped a bombshell o n the Guild Wars 2 story. While it would not be true to say that the twist w a s entirely without h ints*, few expected that the human god s wou ld be returnin g to the story any time soon, let alone that one already had in the guise of a mursaat. So, how is it that we come to find ourselves fighting again st a god?

We can deduce Baltha zar’s motivations for the actions w e see from the dialogue in the instances. If you stick aroun d after the fi ghting ends in the Tai mi’s Pet Pr oject instance to talk to NPC s such as Marjory and Taimi, a recurring theme is tha t Balthaza r does not appear to be as strong a s he sh ould b e - a human PC, i n fact, will observe that viewing Balthazar’s true form should have blin ded all onlookers. I n the Heart of the Volcano instance, w e see the culmination of this - just before the destruction of Taimi’s machi ne, Ba lthazar states “I was weak… I’m feeling much better n ow.” So it appears that something had caused Balthazar to lose his power, and his reason for being on Tyria wa s to absorb eno ugh power t o renew himself - fi rst from a bloodstone, and then from Primordus and Jormag. This does raise the question, however : what caused Balthazar to lose his power, and what ra mifications might this  have for t he story going forwards? We do have one hint  to this: earlier in the final batt le, Balthaza r states that a mysterious “they ” was responsible for “dimming his light”. This suggests two things. First , it

indicates that Balthaza r’s depowerin g was not accidental, or wa s at least the result of the actions of a third party. Secon d, unless Balthaz a r is using the singula r “they” for an ad versary whose gender is indetermina te, i t suggests that Balthazar’s depowering was cau sed by a group, not by a single entity. And his statement th at “they will see me now” su ggests that Balthazar will be looking for a rematch with his recentl y renewed power. Another curious thing is that Balthazar states, “I have learned there is no h onour in war.” To pu t this in context, Balthaza r has always been portrayed as a god that feels that there is hon our and

glory in war, and that wars should be fou ght in an honourable manner (as opposed to the deception and trickery employed b y Menzies). Something must have happen ed to cause this shift in charact er. So, what caused Ba lthazar’s depowering in th e fi rst place? Who are th e mysterious “they”? In the rest of th e article, I will consider three possible scenarios, and th e possible directions the stor y could go in each. The first possible scenario as to how Balthazar has been depowered is that he was supplanted by a challenger w ithin the Fissure of Woe, in a similar manner to h ow Grenth deposed Dhuum. The prime suspect for this is, of course, Menzies, wh o has been attempting to  su pplant Balthaza r since the original Guild Wars. However , it is possib le that som e new challenger has arisen in the intervening time,  one w ho proved more successful

than the Lord of Destruction. If th e challenger proved victorious through the use of some trick, pa rticular ly one that exploited Balthaza r’s sense of h onour, th is might also explain his changed attitude. One fl aw in this scenar io is that Balthaza r states that “they abated me” - the “they” indicates that a gr oup was responsible, not a single entity . However, the precedent o f Grenth had Dhuum being defeated not by Grent h alo n e , but by Grenth and seven companions, who wou ld become the seven Reaper s. Similarly, Balthazar may have been brought low by a group - possibly M enzies and a group of Shadow Army commander s and/or traitorous Eternals, or possibly some other group. In this scenario, there are at least two possible directions the story could go. On e is that we support Balthazar’s replacement agai nst the newly re-energised Balthazar. The alterna tive, however, is that despite the PC’s current (and quite understandable) opposition to the  former God of  War, we will find   ourselves supporting Balthazar to  retake hi s throne; as  distasteful as it may be,  Baltha zar may be better than the alternative.

A second possibility is that, to

put i t bluntly, the rest of the pantheon (or a substan tial majority, anyway) had enoug h

of Balthazar’s shenanigans and pulled him down themselves. Balthazar has a lwa ys been presented as on e of the most morally questionable of the human gods. According to the Or rian History Scrolls, it was Baltha zar that encouraged humanity to  go to war a gainst t he other r aces - a gainst the explicit wishes of Melandru at least. The story of Kaolai gives another example: to spar e a  vil lage from

punishment for a brea ch of etiquette, Kaolai challenges Balthazar to a game o f Nui.

What the breach of etiquette was, what the punishment w a s going to be, and even the

*

nature of the game is n ot know n - however, when Balthazar found himself defeated by a mortal seven days later, he slew Kaolai in a fi t of rage. While h e later repented and raised Kaolai’s spirit to a place of honour in Tahnnakai Temple, these acts show a readiness to resort to violence that could w ell be viewed as a liability b y the res t of the pantheon. It’s possible that, at some stage after Kormi r’s ascension, something caused the other gods to decide that the liabili ty was too much. Perhaps it was a single act that was so outrageous that th e other gods simply could not forgive him, or perhaps it was simply the cumulativ e effect of multiple such a cts that made the other gods d ecid e that it was the last straw. Regardless, the end result is with Balthazar cast  down and the pantheon needing a  replacement - perhaps this time, unlike Abaddon, they had on e prepa r e d i n advance, or perhaps they are still looking. Balthazar’s lesson,  here, might  be an ironic  repet ition of something that one of the other gods might have said to  him as

they were administ ering his depowering - one could easily imagine that one of the more peaceful goddesses such as Dwayna or Melandru might express such an opinion , especially if the tr igger was Balthazar engaging on an otherwise unnecessary war over some point of hon our. One flaw in this scenario is, of course, Lyssa’s mirror . Interacting with the mirro r with a human mesmer in the Taimi’s Pet Pr oject inst ance indicates that Lyssa “must have helped Balthazar for reasons known o nly to her ” - however, this may be the PC jumping to c onclusions. The mirror might have been stolen, or it might have been a gif t given before

Balthaza r’s fa ll from gr ace. Alternativ ely, Lyssa might have given it to Balthazar for her own reasons (to taunt Balthazar with his d epowered state, o r to give him a means to assume a new id entity to hide from any enemies that might take the opportunity to fi nish him o ff ) withou t anticipating the use that Balthazar would put it to. Another possibility is that there may be dissent w ithin the pantheon, with Lyssa still supporting Balthazar, possibl y without the knowledge of th e other gods. If the decision to cast Balthaza r down was unanimou s amo ng the gods, we’re probably looking at another si mple “ fi nish o ff or contain the fallen god” scenario, similar to Abaddon and Dhuum. Alternativ ely, we may be looking at a the possibility of a struggle a mong the gods, where the fall of Balthazar i s simply the fi rst sign to be see n on Tyria. If so, it’s l ikely that we’ll eventually fi nd ourselves in the position of supportin g one sid e of the pantheo n against the other. The third possibilit y is that it isn’t just Balthaza r that has fall en - the entire pantheon is in trouble, and Balthaza r is just the first w e’ve seen.

I’ve seen theories linking the depowering of the gods to th e rise of the dragons, but I’m no t inclined to agree with those. The dragons, while powerful, are still fundamentally beings of Tyria, while the gods are… not. While the dragons do have some ability t o in fl uence the Mists, I don’t think there’ s any direct connection that would allow the dragons to siphon power from the gods. However, there are hints that there might be other threats in the Mists. The cause of th e destruction of th e human homeworld rem ains a mystery, that perha ps even the gods themselves had mostly forgotten. The Orrian History Scrolls state that “what passed beyond in the M ists, only (Abaddon) remembers” - perhaps this information was passed onto Kormir, but even if it was, it might have come with so much other knowledge that it would take time for her to sift through. The Mists also constantly create demons and other beings, some of which might rival the gods, or there might be other pantheons of gods, Elder Dra gons, and similar beings from oth er worlds. In particular, the Forgotten Virashek in the Ga t e of An guish passed on the rumour that the Ravenhea rt Gloom links to places “worse than the Realm of Torment”, from which an attack might come. One of the bat tles against such a foe might have caused Balthazar’s power to be drained, causing him to

seek re-empowerment b y whatever means necessary in order to re-enter the fray. H uman legend states that when th e gods left Tyria, they left in order to shepherd other worlds. This may simply be an exaggeration of the actual r esponsibilities of the gods, as many human legends have shown to be - however, this might lead to a possible justification for Balthaza r’s seeming d i sregar d for T yria. If the destruction of one world allows for the ability to protec t many mor e, that may well be a sac rifice worth making, although the inhabitants of that world m ay, of course, think differently. In this  context, Balthaza r  may have  reached the  rea lisation that  honour in war is something you can often only afford from a  position of strength, where your existence is not truly on the line.

If th e situation is truly desperate, any dirty trick or sacri fi ce becomes justi fi e d if it means that you, and the majority (or at least some) of those you protect, survive to feel bad about it later. This scenario is probabl y the most interesting, as it could lead to an entirely new direction for the story. The concept of a ‘mist war’ has been in Guild Wars 2 from release, but it has largely bee n portrayed as a simple bat tle for the resources of t he Mists. Outside that, however, there may be a second Mist War, against a foe which might trul y be out to destroy worlds… a n d we may find ourselves fighting alongside the gods and their servants to protect Tyria against this threat. It’s also possible t h at this scenar io can be combined with one of the others - that th e pressure of a conflict of this nature caused

Balthaza r to do something that his peers saw a s crossing a moral event hori zon, causing them to depose him or to allow a third party to overthrow him. I should note that there is als o a theory fl oating around that the situation may b e so bad that the other go ds may also be hidin g in disguise among the people of Tyria (including Lyssa being Jennah, or Jennah and Anise). While this theory cannot b e entirely discounted , I consider it do ubtful, at least without the additional f actor of Balthazar having gone rogue. If the other gods are hiding on Tyria, it seems unlikely that Balthazar would have such a cavalier attitude towards Tyri a’s destruction as he shows in the Heart of the Volcano instance. So, all up, we have three broad possibilities for  what has happen ed: Balthazar w a s cast  down by a  direct challenger ; by his fellow gods in the pantheon; or by some external force which

threatens all of th e gods. Whichever i t is, there may be a good c han ce w e’l l see a revi si t to Orr before it’s all over, as the Season 3 Episode 6 teaser image released on J uly 12 suggests. It’s poss i b l y the bes t place t o learn more about the gods, even if it probably won’t help much with whatever i s going o n with the gods now. While I generally try to be non - judgemental wh en discussing the lore, I d o have concerns that a situation where w e end up having to fi nish o ff Bal tha zar o nce a n d f o r a l l - or , worse, the entire pantheon if it turns out that they’re fully cooperating with Balthazar - will feel like they’ve sacri fi ced a key piece of the gam e’s lore for the sake of a boss fight (or six). What I’d prefer to see is a situatio n where, once we get the full picture, Balthaza r’s actions and  his willingness to sacrific e Tyria become at least

understandable. This does not mean that we won’t end u p bringing him down noneth eless - some of the best villains are people w ho genuinely think they’re do in g what’s necessary - but it woul d put it in the context o f things having gone so badly that we might at least consider that the r isk Balthaza r took was worth it. A para llel could be drawn to h ow many people believe that the mursaa t were justi fi ed in sacri fi cin g the Chosen to keep the Door of Komalie closed - w hile cert ainly a distasteful a ct, it may well be justi fi ed if it helps to hold back a threat wh ich might destroy so much more.

BY DRAXYN N IC

SA UL D’ALESSI O

CAUDECUS BEETLESTON E

o r those intereste d in the history of the White Mantle, the update of th e 8th of Februa ry, despite its delays, certainly delivered. In Episode 4 of the third Living World story arc, w e saw the culmination for Caudecus’ plots to seize the throne of Kryta, leading to the dow nfall of th e present Con fessor of th e White Mantle and,

perhaps, the destruction of h i s faction of the White Mantle at the hands of the Seraph and the S hining Blade. Meanwhile, in Bastion of the Penitent, raiders hav e the opportunity to learn of the fate of the fou nder of the White Mantle, Saul d’Alessio… and, if they have the skill and valour, to r escue him from that fate, if only t o his death.

It says something a bout the evolution of the White Mantle that these two men almost cou ld not be any more di ff erent. As much as the Shining Blade w ould like to paint things otherwise, the White Mantle under Saul w e re gen u ine h eroes, a militi a that saved Kryta in its darkest hour when its standing army and royal line had failed. If the mursaat had trul y been

F

the benevolent beings that Saul had believed them to b e, he would likely now be liste d among humanity’s gr eatest heroes. However, that was n o t the case, and Saul’s remova l allowed the mursaat to reshape the White Mantle int o fanatics that would murder in their name. W ith the defeat of the mursaat and the W hite Mantle evicted from Kryta (openly, a t lea st), devotion to the religion o f the Unseen would fade and steadily b e replaced by a determination to seize Kryta a t any cost. In this context, it seems worthwhile to look b ack over the lives of the two men, and to compar e and contrast t o see how this re fl ects on the White Mantles that they lead. Three areas in particular stan d out a s distinctions between the two men: their respective social standings before joinin g the White Mantle, their degre e of faith, and how much they actually care about Kryta . We don’t know much about Saul d’Alessio’s soci al standing before his disgrace. It’s possible that, prior t o amassing his gambling debts, Saul may have been of higher standing, making his fa ll analogous to that of Kasmeer’s family - however, one might suspect that if Saul had b een a noble or otherwise o f high station, this wou ld be mentioned i n the records of the W hite Mantle’s fo unding.

Whatever he might hav e been, Saul arr ived a t the city of the mursaat from the dregs of society. G ambling debts had driven him to commit robbery t o survive, and on being caught, he was sentenced t o banishmen t - not simply b y sending him to another nation, but instead his sentence was carried o ut b y abandoning him i n a regio n of hostile wilderness w here he was expected to die. He stumbled upon the mursaat as a convicted criminal on the verge of starvation. Given this background, it is surprising that a man who ha d e ff ectively been sentenced to dea th was accep ted so rea di ly by the people of Kryta on h is return.

Perhaps it speaks of the transformation worked upon Saul by the mursaat - t hey had taken a broken man and

rebuilt him as a charisma tic

leader, and replaced his rags with the white mantle that wou ld give th e name to the organisation he wou ld found . Or perhaps it simply speaks o f the situation of Kryta that the y were willing to accept anyone wh o might be able to lead a defence a gainst the charr , however d ubious his past background might be. By contrast, Lord Caudecus Beetlestone has likely n ever experienced a day of privatio n in his life. He joined the White Mantle as the holder of th e second most p owerful o ffi ce in Kryta, and that only after his term of regency wa s ended b y Jennah reaching her age of majority. His ‘p rotectiv e custody’ in Jennah’s palace wa s certainly an inconvenience to him, but little comparison to what Saul likely su ff ered in the jungle. Without having been forma lly accused of anything, h is privilege among Krytan society remained until he openly announced h imself as the Confessor of the W hite Mantle, and by th en he was fi rmly ensconced among his followers that l ikely conti nu e d to serve his every need. In the

Saul arrived at the city of the mursaa t from the dregs of societ y [. . .] a s a convicted crimina l on the verge of starvation .

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height of a rrogance, he would even return to the manor he had been forced to abandon after his failed a ttempt on Jennah’s life - and i t was there , in his expansive mansion, tha t justice fi nally caught up with him. According t o all evidence, Saul genuinely believed that the mursaat were divine beings w ho w ould protect and care for the people of Kryta in the ab sence of the Five Gods. He was the founde r and, for a time, the strongest spokesman o f the religion of the Unseen. However, he also demonstrated toler ance towards the old religion of the Fiv e Gods - his decree that the Temple of the Ages and other holy sites be left unmolested was r espec ted by his successors, and ma y have been respon sible for the preservation of the Krytan royal line, a lthough he could not have kn own it at the time. While his faith was not unshakeable, su ff ering a critical blow when confronted with eviden ce that the mursaa t were not the b enevolent beings h e had believed they were, according to all evidence he genuinely

believed in the mu rsaat as divine saviours up to that point. For Cau decus, on the other hand, th e beliefs of th e White Mantle were just one more tool in his b id to ascend to th e

t h rone of Kryta. Not only d oe s he fail to share those beliefs, but when it appeared that the more devout members of the White Mantle w ere close to returning a mursaat to life, he saw this as a threat to his power, actively seeking to sabotage Lazarus’ retur n. Fortunately for Caudecus, it seems that enough members of the White Mantle agreed with his policy that he retaine d a signi fi cant army even after ‘ Lazarus the Dire’ had declare d him to be apostate. It is, perhaps, in their attitude towards others that th e greatest contrast between th e two can be seen. Where one, for all his mistakes and fl aws, seems to have been genuinel y motivated b y seeking to achieve the best for Kryta,

the other was driven only by naked ambition. Despite having been sentenced to be left to die by the judges of Kryta, Saul w as willing t o put his life on the line for its people. Even the

small front ier village of Demetra was worthy of his personal attention, and it was there that Saul’s faith in the mursa at was put into con fl ict with his desire for a bright future for Kryta… and lost. Saul recognised that in founding the religion of the Unseen, h e had not b een the saviour of Kryta but instead brought d own a n ew doom. When the mursaat sensed this realisation, they took him to b e tortured until he agreed to become their puppet. H is refusal to help them maintain control of Kryta led to his torture being prolon ged for hundreds of years, until deat h wou ld come as a release. Even after being con fi ned in the Bastion of the Penitent, it appears Saul did not give up - a note planning an escape attempt stresses that “t hey must know th e truth” and is signed with the initial ‘S’. For Caudecus, by contrast, the people of Kryta were merely pawns to be sacri fi ced if it brought him closer to the throne. In the human personal story we see his machinations: spawn a crime

Saul genuinely believed that the mursaat were divine beings who would protect and care for th e people of Kryta in the absence of the Five Gods.

“

wave in Divinity’s Reach and Queensdale; sabotage Kryta’s water infrast ructure; and incite a centaur invasion. This caused signi fi cant loss to the people of Kryta in both lives and property, all in the name of undermining the Q ueen’s reign in h ope of having h er declared u n fi t to rule. His disregard for the welfare of the people h e would rule only becomes clea rer a fter he is unm asked as the Confessor of the W hite Mantle and he declares that h e would rather see Kryta destroyed than in the hands of anyone else… and backs up that declaration with a full-scale assaul t on Divinity’s Reach. E ven his own family was not immu ne - when his wife an d daughter realised what sort o f man he had become, he arranged for each to pay with their lives. While Saul rose from a convicted cr iminal that was e ff ectively s e n tenced to d e a t h to become the de facto ruler o f Kryta, Caudecus had alr eady been the de facto ruler of Kryt a before, and his life ended wit h execution for treason. W here one was empowered b y his faith on ly to be broken anew

after the revelation that his faith had been misplaced, the other acted pur ely on his own behalf, even to the p oint o f sabotaging the resur rection of the o ne to wh ose religion he ga ve lip service. Where one su ff ered a fa te worse than death on behalf of Kryta, never knowing if his sacri fi ce was in vain, the other was willin g to sacr i fi ce a s much of the nation as it took if it meant he could rule over the ruins of what was left. These distinctions echoed the changing face of the White Mantle. In Saul’s time, it was a militia r a ise d from the peop l e , for the people, at a time when Kryta’s tr aditional leader s had fa iled them. The White Mantle of Caudecus, on the other hand, was dominated by corrupt ministers seeking to preserve and expand their power and wealth at any cost, deliber ately sabotaging Kryta in order to wea ken the established (and, to a ll evidence, q uite competent wh en not being u ndermined from within) government.

In one ironic fashion, however , the White Mantle seems to have come full cir cle. While Saul was a true believer in the mursaat, talking with some of his followers in the “Rise of the W hite Mantle” storybook instance y ields responses tha t indicate that many of them are not i n fact true believers, but join ed the White Mantle as that was their best way o f contributin g to the defence of Kryta. Even in th e time of Guild Wars: Prophecies , it’s questionable how many of the lower-ranking member s of the W hite Mantle truly believed o r whether they wer e just serving in what was then Kryta’s de facto national army. However, it is certain tha t, with Saul’ s death, devotion to the Unseen w ould become an increasing par t of the White Mantle’s identity. Over the centuries where La zarus remained divided into aspect s and all other mursaat wer e believed dead, however, this religious i dentity would dwindle, u ntil for many the focus shifted from the service of the mursaat to the building of temporal p ower for themselves.

For Caudecus [. . .] the people of Kryta were merely pawns.

“

BY VIAN DE BO D

ryta , the last fr ee nation of humans, has been plun ged into civil war . Minister Caudecus, recently revealed to be the cur rent Confessor of the W hite Mantle, has rallied his forces against the crown. Once again , the White Mantle has p ulled Kryta in to a b loody con fl ict. Once again, the human natio n stands divided . “Once again?” you ask? Indeed , for Kryta was involved in an inner con fl ict once before. Nearly two hun dred and fi fty years ago, the fi r st Krytan civil war ended; a civil wa r that was, in fact, instigated by th e White Mantle as well. It is important to understand the events that transpired all those year s a go. For those unfamiliar with the tales, it is valuable to under stand history. When we un derstand history, it c an be ea sier to assess the present and the future. For those w ho kn ow the old stories, it is important to refresh one’s mem or y. A gem, no matter how brilliant, can always bene fi t from a thorough polishing every now and th en. So then, what exactly happened i n the war? Wh at was it that transpired during this bloody time i n history? It is a tale of fanaticism, betrayal , sacri fi ce, and loss. But it is not without hope. I t is both complex and elementary. It is a cornerstone in the history of the human race. It is, as the

old tomes ca ll it, the War in Kryta.

In order to u nderstand the war itself, one must fi rst understand the reasons for its occurrence. Back dur ing the height of the war betwee n the charr and the humans, th e Krytan king fl ed the throne in order to escape the coming charr forces. When the charr fi nally arrived, they fou nd themselves not facing the Krytan army, but the forces of Saul D ’Alessio: th e W hite Mantle. After driving the charr forces back with the h elp of their “Unseen Gods”, the W hite Mantle were made the official governing body of K ryta, with Confessor Dorian taking  charge in the  wake of Saul’s disappearanc e. With no known royal candidate to take the throne, the Krytan people gladly accepted the rule of their new saviours. Unbekn ownst to the Krytans and the Mantle, the former king had sired an illegiti mate heir to the throne. Her name was Salm a. The discovery of Pr incess Salma div ided Kryta . Many people believed that Salma was the rightful heir and

that the White Mantle had committed atroc ities tha t were entirely unforgi vable. Others believed that the Mantle were justi fi ed in their sacri fi ce of hum an lives in order to protect the inhabitants of Kryta, and that the Mantle had done well in protecting their people. Though limited to those who knew of the sacri fi ces, si nce the Mantle did well t o h id e these deeds, this divide made some inhabitants of Kry ta unruly and di ffi cult for the Mantle to control. In response , the Mantle established a forc e dedicated to keeping the country in a peaceful sta te. This force was kn own a s the Peacekeeper s. The Peacekeepers, h owever, were little more than bandits paid for and sponsored by the Mantle. They constantly extorted people out of their mon ey and har assed locals for their own gain or amusement. On top of that, t ravel bans were put in place, al lowing only those with permits to tra vel between Krytan provinces. Unfortunately, very  few permits were given to those who need ed them, effectively placing Kryta in a self-imposed siege. The White Mantle seemed completely indi ff erent to the harassment o f their people as well as the economic