Lore
The Six Gods
The human pantheon, present in Guild Wars 3's era in the world rather than remembered.
The six gods brought humans to Tyria, and Guild Wars 3's humans spotlight places that arrival roughly seven hundred years before the game's present. That timing is the setting's central promise: this is the era when the gods walk, told from inside it rather than in retrospect.
In the later games the gods are history and absence. Here they are current events.
Relations
HumansHumans are playable in Guild Wars 3, as they have been in every Guild Wars game. They arrived on Tyria roughly seven hundred years before the game's present, brought by the six gods, which puts the player's era close to the founding myths rather than long after them. The player character originates among the Vaelwardens.Humans
Humans are one of four playable species, newcomers in Orr building a home beneath the six gods.
OrrGuild Wars 3 begins in Orr while the kingdom still stands. This period is more than a thousand years before Guild Wars Reforged, long before the formerly sunken ruins raised by Zhaitan in Guild Wars 2.Orr
Guild Wars 3's setting: the human kingdom of Orr, standing more than a thousand years before the original game.
ArahArah is Orr's capital city in Guild Wars 3's period. The gods hold high council sessions there, in a living centre of the kingdom rather than a ruin.Arah
Orr's capital, with the high city of the human gods on its horizon.
SignetsSignets are small gems that contain fixed expressions of magic. In the Orrian golden age, Dwayna and Melandru gave the early Vaelwardens the ability to create and refine them.Signets
Small gems containing fixed expressions of magic, created and refined by the Vaelwardens through gifts from Dwayna and Melandru.
Updates
13 August 2026
Playable Species Spotlight: Humans
11 June 2026
The Setting of Guild Wars 3: Stepping into Ancient Orr
5 June 2026
Announcing Guild Wars 3
Related reading
Everything We Know About Guild Wars 3
Confirmed Guild Wars 3 facts: ancient Orr, four launch species, buy-to-play, PC and PlayStation 5, and a chance at autumn 2027 beta.
Guild Wars 3 Playable Species: Humans, Asura, Kodan, and the Fourth Mystery
Guild Wars 3 has four playable species: humans, asura, kodan, and one unrevealed new species. New spotlights add each culture's path to ancient Orr.
Ancient Orr: Guild Wars 3's Setting
Guild Wars 3 begins in living Orr, more than a thousand years before the original game, while the gods still hold Arah.
Guild Wars 3 vs Guild Wars 2: What Changes, What Carries Over, What Happens to GW2
Guild Wars 3 goes action combat, four species, PC and PlayStation 5. Guild Wars 2 keeps running. Confirmed differences from ArenaNet's announcements.
Who Are the Vaelwardens? Guild Wars 3's Player Guild, Explained
The Vaelwardens are your guild in Guild Wars 3: god-sanctioned artificers wielding signets to protect Orr's Vael spirits from industrialist Mavenwrights.