Notable sapient but non-playable species inhabiting the world of Tyria. Some are peaceful, some are aggressive, and some contain both enemy and ally factions. Part of the core storyline involves player characters allying themselves with one of five groups - grawl, hylek, ogres, quaggan, or skritt.
Centaurs
Tyria's centaurs have warred with humans for almost the entirety of both races' histories, after the growth of the kingdom of Kryta displaced them from their ancestral homelands. While the Harathi, Tamini and Modniir tribes still continue to attack human settlements, smaller groups have been known to live in peace with their neighbors. Notably, it was a pacifistic centaur named Ventari who planted the seed that would grow into the Pale Tree, and wrote the Tablet that served as the foundation of sylvari civilization.Dredge
Mole people who were previously enslaved by the villainous Stone Summit dwarves. After the Stone Summit was wiped out, the resulting societal upheaval was taken advantage of by a dictatorship almost as power-hungry and xenophobic as their former masters. This "moletariat" is opposed by a revolutionary force seeking to free their fellow dredge from exploitation and usher in a truly equal society.- Disability Immunity: Having developed underground, dredge eyes are underdeveloped to the point of being practically blind; they use their conversely advanced sense of hearing to navigate. Dredge are therefore immune to the Blinded status effect.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To Russia, particularly the Soviet Union.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: They make heavy use of sonic weaponry and related technology, as a result of their own near-nonexistent eyesight and strong hearing.
- Mole Men: A (formerly) underground-dwelling race of mole people who are almost always seen in mines.
- Punny Name: Their outposts have names like Moleberia, Molensk, and Molengrad. Some of the first dredge met in the previous game included Molenin and Molachev.
Grawl
A simian-like race, the grawl live in tribal groups. Their belief system is strongly animistic, with different tribes worshiping different manifestations of powerful spirits — anything from a still-intact ancient statue to a natural rock formation to dragon minions. During the personal story, they can be befriended by a charr, asura, or norn character.- Bad with the Bone: Grawl shamans are usually shown carrying skulls as part of their regalia.
- Normally, crafting a race's signature weapons uses two weapon components and a crafted "inscription". Crafting grawl weapons note replaces the inscription with skulls.
- Frazetta Man
Hylek
Frog-people primarily found in Tyria's jungles, with the toad-like Nuhoch and tree-frog Itzel living in the Heart of Maguuma. They worship the sun and tend to be skilled alchemists. The color of their skin is determined by the amount of toxin present in their body, and the more toxic hylek tend to be highly aggressive. They're one of the options for asura, human, norn or sylvari characters to befriend as part of their personal storyline.- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To the Aztecs and Mexica. Their names tend to be of Nahuatl origin.
Kodan
These massive, intelligent polar bears are native to the Far Shiverpeaks, but were displaced by the awakening of the Elder Dragon Jormag. Kodan live in sanctuary ships carved from massive icebergs, and worship a god named Koda. Each sanctuary is governed by a Claw of Koda, their chief warrior, and a Voice of Koda, their spiritual leader; should one fall, the other is expected to stand down for a new pair to take their place. Some believe that they may be related to the Norn.- Cultural Posturing: While they aren't nearly as bad as, say, the krait, they still consider themselves 'above' the other races of Tyria and can come off as more than a little condescending at times, verging on Noble Bigot territory. For instance, they believe your reward for being 'enlightened enough' is to be reborn as a kodan rather than your own race.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: They take a lot of cues from Tibetan monks, hanging prayer flags and believing in reincarnation. The Voice and Claw are more than likely based on the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama.
- Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom: Kodan names generally reflect a personality trait, significant life event, or aspect of nature. Some are short, like Cloudseeker or Many Stars, and some fall under this trope - Black Sail on the Horizon, Raging Inner Fire, Discourager of Hesitancy...
Krait
Cruel and xenophobic aquatic serpent-people who terrorize the waters and coastlines of Tyria. Krait religion preaches that their ancient prophets will one day return to flood the world and enslave all other races, and the Krait perform ritual sacrifice of other races in hopes of hastening their arrival. Anyone unfortunate enough to be captured as one of their slaves is can look forward to a short, painful life imprisoned in one of their shipwreck fortresses - if they aren't eaten first, that is.- Always Chaotic Evil: A friendly or even neutral krait has never been encountered. However, given the tight grip corrupt krait priests have on society, as well as the dog-eat-dog nature of their upbringing, it's likely that any krait that does try to go against the others' beliefs is killed.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: If you're not a krait, you're a slave. Even those they sacrifice are meant to become the slaves of their prophets in the next world.
Largos
An enigmatic race of aquatic, winged elf-like creatures that live in the deepest parts of the ocean. They are a race of hunters that live for bloodshed, and are constantly searching for new quarry to test their skills against.- Arch-Enemy: They absolutely hate Krait, and many of the friendly Largos you can encounter are helping you out primarily because doing so allows them to fight Krait.
- Blood Knight: What little we know about their society paints them as heavily focused on battle and hunting, with a Largos' individual status depending on how many hunts they've completed and what exactly they've killed.
- Proud Warrior Race: The Largos' society revolves around the concept of "eternas", which means showing honor in all things. They are also, to a man, powerful warriors who constantly seek to challenge themselves with greater and greater hunts.
- Winged Humanoid: They have butterfly wings, though since they're primarily an aquatic race they're not seen flying that much.
Ogres
Giant horned hunters who live in the mountains of Ascalon and the deserts of Elona. Ogres are gifted beastmasters - their culture revolves around taming and raising powerful animal companions, and it's not uncommon for aggressive ogres to steal the pets of those they've deemed weak and undeserving. They're one of the options for charr or norn player characters to befriend as part of their personal storyline.- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The strongest ogres tend to be in charge, and any ogre can earn leadership of their tribe by defeating the chieftain in battle.
Quaggan
A race of squat whale/manatee-esque creatures who were driven from their homelands farther out in Tyria's oceans by the awakening of the Deep Sea Dragon. Quaggans are generally peaceful and polite to a fault, but when pushed too far, they transform into a raging bestial form. They're one of the options for asura, human, or sylvari player characters to befriend as part of their personal storyline.- Beware the Nice Ones: Quaggans are almost absurdly friendly and polite. Make one mad, and the consequences tend to be unpleasant. And toothy.
- Hulking Out: When sufficiently angered or threatened, quaggans transform into a more dangerous fish-like form with hard scales and sharp teeth and claws. In this state, they lose all rational thought and are driven solely to destroy whatever's in front of them. Avoiding this "rage" is the primary reason quaggan culture is so doggedly peaceful.
- Third-Person Person: Quaggans speak in third person, but substitute their race's name for their own, as they are so dedicated to politeness and humility that they consider any personal reference to be offensively self-centered.
Skritt
Like the asura, the ratlike skritt used to live deep beneath Tyria before the rise of Primordus and the Destroyers forced them to flee. Skritt are notorious for their short attention spans and tendency to steal whatever shiny thing they can get their hands on, but when in large enough groups, they become markedly more intelligent. They're one of the options for charr, human, or sylvari characters to befriend as part of their personal storyline.- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Individually, they're short-sighted and often preoccupied with shiny things. This trait tends to fade as a group's size and thus intelligence grows, however, as they become more able to discern objects' proper value.
- Hive Mind: A unique variation on the trope. The skritt's native language is extremely fast, efficient and can be individually picked out and processed even if the noise they're making is a cacophony to other races. This means the more skritt are in one area, the smarter they collectively are, because they can analyze, learn, fact-check, relay, and internalize knowledge at the speed of a supercomputer between dozens of individuals and quickly spread this new knowledge to their entire society.
Tengu
Avian humanoids native to the continents of Tyria and Cantha. The Canthan tengu fled to Tyria after the nationalist Ministry of Purity rose to power and expelled all non-humans from their borders; eventually, their descendants founded the Dominion of Winds, a walled city close to Lion's Arch. As a result of the oppression they faced in the past, they are wary of outsiders, rarely leaving the Dominion and not allowing outsiders entry.- Echoing Acoustics: Whenever they speak, their words are backed up by a loud trilling sound like a sharp gust of wind or gnashing teeth.
- Hidden Elf Village: Their civilization shuns outsiders.
