My name is Malakai Laplante, and I am an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist. Here in Divinity’s Reach, I have finally completed over 15 years of research on the origins of the Tyrian Races and I would like to present my preliminary results.
Let me start by saying that my results do not intend to contradict any of the accepted histories laid down before me, but rather to fill in some gaps and origins of the races of Tyria. I have started my work based on the well known Timeline of Tyrian history, but expanded that information with biological data and some archeological findings of colleagues.
Let us start by reviewing what the analysis of the genomes of the races of Tyria tell us. The sciences of Biochemistry and Genomics have become quite advanced in recent years and while it takes long and painstaking work to study the genetic material, or to produce significant, although as still incomplete sequences of that material, we have made great strides.
Humans – A Place to Start
From incomplete and ancient texts left over from the time of humans arriving on Tyria, we know that scientists at that time were quite advanced in the areas of Biochemistry and Genomics. And while not very much of their work survived the Searing of about 1070 AE, we have determined from these ancient texts that humans call their genomic material DNA and at that time it was understood to comprise two intertwined strands of sugars cross-linked by a sequence of four different chemicals that carry the genetic code.
We have recently advanced to the point where we can replicate these findings. And while we have a long way to go to reach the level of our forebears, we can confirm these basic findings from the ancient texts.
Now that we can do this basic analysis, we can apply this method to the other races of Tyria to see how they are all related. This has given is quite a surprise.
Norn – Human’s Cousins, Apparently
In studying freely provided blood samples – For who would want to try to take one forcibly from a Norn? – We have determined that the Norn Genome is practically the same as that of a human. While we do not yet have the ability to completely sequence the Genome of the two races, we see remarkable similarities:
- The same DNA structure, which is not surprising for races with a common ancestor.
Changes in key places, designed to provide the size differences, shape-shifting, and cold resistance of the Norn. - Other changes which are apparently designed to make it impossible for Humans and Norn to interbreed.
Our conclusions are that the Norn were created, probably by humans, in order to colonize the Far North of Tyria. Not only does the Biology bear this out [no pun intended] but ancient texts can now be interpreted in a new light and from fragments left from shortly after the arrival of Humans, it appears that they intentionally created a separate species of themselves to better adapt to parts of Tyria.
Now that humans and Charr are working together near the great wall, digs are appearing that combined teams are working. Some of these digs indicate technology, different from Human, Charr and Asura, that may be from the time of Human arrival on Tyria. Of course the Searing and millennia of time have made these sites difficult to study, but with the help of Charr we hope to get answers in the following decades.
Asura – In No Way Related to Humans
Our detailed examination of the Asura genome indicate that the Asura have a completely different genomic structure from all the other races of Tyria. Rather than a dual spiral cross linked by the codon amino acids, the Asura genetic code is carried in a spiral of three chains with all the chemicals being different from those in Humans and Charr. At this point we are confident of this result but beyond this surprising finding, we have not yet worked out ways to sequence this genome or to say much more about it. My only comment would be that the Asura have somehow developed Triple-Redundancy into their genome and whether this was a self designed change or whether it arose naturally remains an open question.
This result also indicates that Asura are immigrants to Tyria as well, although we have less information from their ancient history than we do for humans. Two things probably account for this:
- Asura arrival on Tyria may have been several millennia before Human arrival and so more time has elapsed for records to be lost.
- Many more records were lost in the great uprising of Primordus in about 1078 AE, which drove the Asura out of the underground with little of their ancient records preserved.
Charr – Different, and Native to Tyria
Our studies of the Charr Genome indicate that it is too different from Humans to be derived from them or even from any life where Human’s originated. That seems a surprising statement? Aren’t Humans native to Tyria as well. Apparently not. In studying the other fauna, the widespread native fauna of Tyria have genomes more like Charr than like Human. While there are a few fauna and plants that were apparently imported when Humans arrived, most of the flora and fauna of Tyria have Genomes like Charr rather than like Humans.
The Charr Genome is again a double helix with cross linked chains and it works basically in the same way, but the chemicals make up the chains and the codons of the sequence are completely different. Surprisingly, some of the bio-chemicals created by this code are the same as those in Humans and their important fauna. We have made a leap of judgment that since the overwhelming number of wild flora and fauna have the same code structure as Charr, that Charr are Native to Tyria. We have developed quite a simple test that it is 99.99% accurate in this regard and have used it on hundreds of species from around Tyria. We are quite confident in this result.
Sylvari – A Created Race, Unrelated to All others
[Spoiler alert]
We now know that the Elder Dragon Mordremoth created the Sylvari as a race of servants or minions but lost control of them. This result is also suggested by their genetic code. Their genetic material is a single strand. Since they are not designed to reproduce on their own, but are designed to simply grow on a host from a bud, they need no redundancy in the genetic code, but only replication so that they can grow. Unlike other creatures created by evolution, there is no junk Genes in the Sylvari code and it is quite short since it only contains the genes necessary for their life and no history of their evolution. The code looks like it was adopted as a single strand of the genome of the Flora of Tyria, so in that sense Sylvari are native to Tyria, but so much has been removed that they do not have a History on Tyria before their creation.
This is the information we have so far. I hope that our future research will lead to more answers in this regard. As you can see, we have tried our best to align this new information the body of knowledge we already have about Tyria.
Your servant in science,
Malakai Laplante
Windy Weather 