The Charr are a race of cat like humanoids that were one of the many antagonists in the original Guild Wars and will be returning as a playable race in Guild Wars 2. They’re a fierce carnivorous race that reside east of the Shiverpeaks and were responsible for the destruction of the Ascalon. You cannot call the Charr noble nor can you call them caring, but you can say that those traits do help in the dirty war against the Elder Dragons.

The Unification of the Charr

The Charr have a very rich history as a race being that they’re older than the Human race by far. They originally lived somewhere in the northern Shiverpeaks roaming in various warbands that were loosely held together with all of the in-fighting from power hungry Charr. They lived like this for a long period of time until they united under a single leader, the Khan-Ur, in order to put an end to the internal strife. This allowed them to expand eastward and toward the southern expanses.

The Charr eventually found their way to the border of the Crystal Desert where they began a war against the Forgotten, the snake like creatures who maintain the Temple of Primeval Kings and the area surrounding it. The war was evenetually won with the Forgotten leaving the Charr alone. The Charr finally found a bit of “peace,” well as much as a power hungry war like race could have.

Of course there can be no peace in the Guild Wars universe. The Charr are not the heroes of this story, someone else needed to come along to fill that role. Eventually the gods, who were already enemies with the Charr, solved this problem by bringing forth Humanity who began to invade the Charr lands. The Humans were powerful much in part due to their control of magic granted to them by their gods.

The Rise and Fall of Ascalon

As a boy I spent much time in these lands. Look at them now. Instead of ponds and streams we have pools of bubbling tar and rivers of sludge. It saddens me to see Ascalon in ruins. – Prince Rurik

Humanity invaded the Charr lands claiming the entire southern area. The Charr planned to lead an all out assault against Ascalon but were stopped in their tracks when the Khan-ur was assassinated by an unknown assailant. This drove the Charr to break up and the children of the current Khan-ur to fight to try and take control. The Humans took advantage of the situation by building a massive wall that prevented the Charr from invading southward into what the Humans called Ascalon. Humanity didn’t stop there. They began building settlements north of the wall, which the Charr could raid with little success.

The Charr broke into four major warbands: Iron Legion, Flame Legion, Blood Legion, and Ash Legion. All of these will be part of your personal story choice at character creation (except for the Flame Legion). They remained north of the wall for thousands of years while the Humans rested easy in their kingdom of Ascalon. That was until the Charr found themselves their own gods.

Two hundred years before the searing the Charr began to ally themselves with the Titans. The Titans began to give them power which they could use to fight the Humans and their tools given to them by the gods. The Flame Legion was the first to swear fealty to these new gods and was given magic in which they could use to destroy the Humans south of the wall. The only one to deny this new magic, Bathea Havocbringer, was defeated which resulted in all of the females being removed from the battlefield

The most powerful of this magic brought about the Searing, an event which destroyed much of Ascalon and began the massive Charr invasion into the south. Surmia was first to fall due to it being outside of the wall. The wall was quickly overran and the Charr invaded deep into Human lands until two years later when the Humans defeated the Titans and removed their new found source of power.

After the invasion of Ascalon, the Charr moved south into Orr. It was there that they marched to the footsteps of the capital city when the advisor to the king used a "Lost Scroll" to bring about Orr's complete destruction. The Charr never stepped foot into the city, but Orr no longer existed. You could not say this was a victory for either side, although the Charr lost a lot less than those from Orr.

The Movement of the World

The war continued still, for years until the Charr had destroyed and conquered every single city until nothing was left by Ascalon City. It was there that King Adelbern summoned the Foefire which killed much of the Charr invasion force and brought back the spirits of the guards who now remain within the dead city defending it even after death. The remnants of the Humans fled to Ebonhawke, which now remains as the last Ascalonian settlement.

The Charr were never able to conquer Ascalon City, but they were able to build the Black Citadel on top of the old Ascalon capital city of Rin. They were also able to secure all of their lands, sans Ascalon City, of which they reside in now.

Of course, this would not have been possible if it was not for Kalla Scorchrazor who united the Charr and defeated the Shamans of the Flame Legion. The female Charr who were cast out many years ago had been training hard in order to retake their role in battle and bring order once more to the Charr.

Now the Charr reside in their old homelands ready to fight the elder dragons. They have allied themselves with the other races, although one must wonder if it is an alliance out of convenience or need. Time will tell with this cat like race of war hungry brutes.

What do you think about the Charr? Ready to play as one or can you not forget when you were a boy, in those lands, and what they looked like then. Well, look at them now and come share your opinion on our Ten Ton Hammer community forums.