NCsoft announces Guild Wars novel Ghosts of Ascalon

By Stephany Nunneley

NCsoft has announced Ghosts of Ascalon, an original Guild Wars novel, written by fantasy authors Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb.

The book pretty much sets the tone for the release of Guild Wars 2.

Description:

Two hundred fifty years ago, Ascalon burned.

Desperate to defend his land from advancing hordes of bestial charr, King Adelbern summoned the all-powerful Foefire to repel the invaders. But magic can be a double-edged sword—the Foefire burned both charr and human alike. While the charr corpses smoldered, the slain Ascalonians rose again, transformed by their king’s rage into ghostly protectors and charged with guarding the realm—forever. The once mighty kingdom became a haunted shadow of its former glory.

Centuries later, the descendants of Ascalon, exiled to the nation of Kryta, are besieged on all sides. To save humankind, Queen Jennah seeks to negotiate a treaty with the hated charr. One obstacle remains. The charr legions won’t sign the truce until their most prized possession, the Claw of the Khan-Ur, is returned from the ruins of fallen Ascalon.

Now, a mismatched band of adventurers, each plagued by ghosts of their own, sets forth into a haunted, war-torn land to retrieve the Claw. Without the artifact, there is no hope for peace between humans and charr–but the undead king who rules Ascalon won’t give it up easily, and not everyone wants peace!

Ghosts of Ascalon is scheduled for release in North America and Europe in the summer of 2010, and Guild Wars 2 is out sometime in 2011, with a Beta expected sometime this year.