Norn spirits of the wild question

[Sinitar]

How exactly do they worship their gods? More than one time my fingers ached with desire to click the bug report button and tell them that shamans wear the hides of animals which represent their god So, my common sense says that if you worship a spirit, you don't kill their emissaries in the physical realm for fancy hoods.

Also, to refrain from being offtopic, I'll ask one more question. Does choosing a god impact the skills you acquire later? Does it have any impact at all? It would be a shame to have some scribbles etched into my biography only.

[Pud'n]

Choosing what animal spirit to revere in your biography, doesn't affect at all what Norn-form elite skills are available later on.

I'm not so sure about your first set of questions though.

[Tithonus]

Its more reverence than worship.

They do not worship the spirits as greater beings but venerate them for the strength that they bring to the norn that calls them.

You might be able to find more to an answer in one of these links. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Norn and http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spirits_of_the_Wild

edit- As far as wearing the skins of animals related to the Spirit it would tie into their culture of aiming to be great hunters, to be renowned for their strength/cunning/etc. A Norn may hunt and slay the largest/meanest bear he can find to prove his strength and wear the hide not only to show his accomplishment but also as a sign of reverence.

[Larynx]

A clarification, they are not gods. They're simply spirits. And the Norn do not think of them as gods either.

[DrakeWurrum]

I really doubt they worship them the way people do at church. Their religion is very pagan.

[Fencers]

The Norn hold the spirits in high esteem, but the spirits themselves represent all facets of their nature and nature as whole. While say, Bear Spirit is pretty important to the Norn- the Norn recognize the good & negative in wild bears and the ferocity of nature itself.

Think of it more like Native Americans or Inuit; A Norn might hunt a Snow Leopard or kill one, yet they do so with respect and reverence for nature.

Edit: Yar. Forgot to refresh the tab again. FML.

[Larynx]

The Norn hold the spirits in high esteem, but the spirits themselves represent all facets of their nature and nature as whole. While say, Bear Spirit is pretty important to the Norn- the Norn recognize the good & negative in wild bears and the ferocity of nature itself.

Think of it more like Native Americans or Inuit; A Norn might hunt a Snow Leopard or kill one, yet they do so with respect and reverence for nature.

What would they think of somebody/thing killing one of the spirits? Hatred, or admiration?

[Fencers]

Think it depends. To use the Native American analogy, I think the Norn would feel disgust & animosity toward those that wrecked nature with careless vandalism.

[Loaf Lord]

In real life a lot tribes and eskimo people wore the hides of the animals they worship because they believe the great spirits of these animals put the animals on the earth for the purpose eating them and using their hide for warmth. They kill them but respect the sacrifice the animal made, even if the animal doesn't want to. I guess their justification is that if their aim is true and they kill the beast, then the spirits willed it and it was meant to be. If it wasn't meant to be they either miss and the beast runs off, or the beast brutally murders them...

[zcks]

Its more reverence than worship.

edit- As far as wearing the skins of animals related to the Spirit it would tie into their culture of aiming to be great hunters, to be renowned for their strength/cunning/etc. A Norn may hunt and slay the largest/meanest bear he can find to prove his strength and wear the hide not only to show his accomplishment but also as a sign of reverence.

This^.

As someone who is part native American & lives on a reservation I can tell you that the Norn religion of spirit worship is very similar to what many tribes of Native American Indians used to believe in & in some cases still do.

They/we Revere spirits which are representations of various characteristics like strength, loyalty, wisdom, speed, stealth ect... & may occasionally offer prayer or tribute but for the most part don't do so formally like Christians do except in some special cases. (celebrations & times of mourning)

Edit

There are also some Native American tribes that believed in a "Great Spirit" which was the first & creator of all things, later when Christians tried to convert the Native Indians these tribes tended to have the least trouble accepting Christian belief in a singular god. Though they intermingled the two religions more then converted in the end.


Other religions that are similar but not exactly the same to the norn spirit worship are, druidism as found in the Briton isles before Rome & Saxon forces took over.

[Glytch]

Choosing what animal spirit to revere in your biography, doesn't affect at all what Norn-form elite skills are available later on.

I'm not so sure about your first set of questions though.

its supposed to determine which one you get first last i heard

the norn revere (they do not worship) their spirits. they strive towards those ideals in the animals, such as bear's strength and wolf's cunning