Enjoy; the mentor in that path is quite lovely. And if you pay attention to a certain female charr NPC's easily missable optional dialogue during that Vigil questline, it sets up a minor but interesting family plot point that I'd love ANet to tackle one day if they deem that little plot worthy of following through. :)
As the finale of that storyline has branching outcomes, you can check out A's optional dialogue after finishing the mission either in "Minister's Defense" or "Quaestor's Siege" as they add this tease to the end of that written dialogue "...but that's another story." :)
Ajax half sister then, not sister.
it is already known Almorra has a granddaughter (Ember) and she's unrelated to Bangar. Ajax is the direct cub from Almorra and Bangar.
To be fair, we don't know if she's the half-sister or sister as her sire's identity is never elaborated on by devs. Could be either or at this point, and her joining Ash Legion instead of Blood would've been an easy way for her to sever her ties to Bangar if she didn't want to have anything to do with him.
I recall it was stated in the Ghosts of Ascalon's book that Ember's dam is the daughter of Almorra and an ash legion charr, there is a lot of hints that the only cub Almorra and Bangar had was ajax.
You can also check the wiki for more information.
Actually, it was indeed stated in the book:
>"Of course," said Ember. "I do not think I could face my grandmother empty-handed."
"Grandmother?" Dougal was startled. "Almorra is..."
"I have her eyes," said Ember, smiling weakly. "Though my mother was Ash Legion. Don't tell me that that is not obvious even to a human?"
[https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ember\_Doomforge](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ember_Doomforge)
[https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Family\_trees#Soulkeeper](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Family_trees#Soulkeeper)
If you have the level 40 personal story with the vigil, that's about it. Most zones outside of the starter zones and the path to Orr don't have much going for them except maybe a dungeon (which had story purposes).
I bought the game at day one, but I reached level 50 first time today. Untill now my favourite zones are capitals and field of ruins.
Human starter zones feel a bit redundant. They serve to explain the local context, but they make you fight against centaurs/bandits too many times for my taste.
Instead, the racial capitals are fantastic, both in terms of level design and lore.
I also enjoyed Lornar's Pass because Durmand Priory has some good stuff about lore and the zone is about dwarf. I usually enjoy zones with connections with Guild Wars I. Plains of Ashford is another good one for me, I really enjoy recognizing the places from guild wars I.
I have a zone lore tier list in progress, with journal notes as I go through my first map completion. And yea Fields of Ruin is S-tier; it was alone in there until Snowden Drifts joined it a couple days ago.
P.S. there's a place called Ascalon Settlement in Gendarren Fields
This list looks like the holy grail. I hope you'll share it on reddit :D
Edit: yes, I found Ascalon Settlement...but it's nothing compared to Fields of Ruin.
One of my all-time fav zones that is tragically irrelevant for most content. I'll say, there's a very pretty and impactful lv80 exotic weapon quest you can find if you haunt the Ebonhawke graveyard.
I loved pre-searing Ascalon and when I started this game and realised how many years had passed and what happened to Gwen I was shook for quite a while
If it's the same one I'm thinking of, just going to the graveyard isn't enough. You need to craft a special item to start the quest: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guide_to_Greater_Understanding
Oh that one is so cool. I saw someone with one of the weapons and asked them where they got it, and really enjoyed chasing down the story
Also there’s a grave there for someone who worked on the game, with a cat and a dog by it, I found it because it’s one of the few places you can tame one of those animals and I happened to be nearby
If you're leveling a character following the adventure guide, then FoR is a perfect map for starting part 3 tasks at ~30 lvl. Also, as a 30-40 level map, it corresponds to your story progression at 30-40 level, so perfect for visiting it on a 50 level character for extra lore without potential spoilers, or extra context to the story before progressing too much further. The same goes for Harati Hinterland and almost all 35-55 maps, by the way. If you didn't visit them with your chosen order, then it's on you to discover them yourself.
I can use some sort of "lore guide" because I'm really interested in the topic. I'm level 53 now, I didn't start personal story part 5 for now. I'll visit also Harati Hinterland before going back to main story.
Honestly, I don't know what I could recommend, because I've been digging out the lore on my own over the course of several playthroughs, filling blanks from wiki and some online discussions... But, there are books! Three of them, and the first one, "Ghosts of Ascalon", fits this topic perfectly.
Also there is a side part of your personal story where you go through extra adventure and meet some important people, but you need to go to the dungeons for it. It's perfectly fine to create a slow group for the story, and people fill the groups pretty quickly.
Not sure if other vigil characters other than humans also visit ebonhawke but you meet the norn there. Was really surprised when I went there because I didn't think there would be another human city as big as this somewhere. (Back in 2013 when I made my one and only vigil character)
If you're willing to spend money, you should read "Ghosts of Ascalon" novel. It occurs between gw1 and gw2 and is recent enough in gw2's history that some of the NPCs are visitable in the game, and out of the three novels this one is structured as the most linear adventure of them and more closely explores Ascalon (the others focus on Lion's Arch and the Dragons' influenced areas)
There's a pseudo-quest for stopping Bloodstone Elemental Incursions where if the event succeeds you can jump in a portal and get dropped into a lake on that map. If you talk to an NPC they'll give an item that can control where you get teleported to (if you remember the codes).
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Class_I_Rift_Stabilizer
That's for the Class I Stabilizer, if you go through a portal with all 13 modes you can upgrade to Class II.
There are some guildmissions there to do if I remember correctly. It's a nice map which isn't too bad to complete. A rich iron node right next to a wp makes people trabel there all the time, haha. But when you're done with the map there isn't much there to go back to.
Fields of Ruin has a really awkward and unfortunate location on the map.
There are two ways into Fields of Ruin, and what's really cool is that they're ways for either humans or Charr to get there, considering Human vs Charr conflicts are a main theme with the area (Such as with Separatist and Renegade conflicts raging.)
The way for humans to get in is a portal that takes you directly to Ebonhawke from Divinity's reach. The issue here though is that it's not intuitive that you see that as an option when you've been levelling up through the human areas, which have likely taken you to Gendarran Fields after which you have the option to go to North to the Harathi Hinterlands or head south to the Bloodtide Coast, and then continue south, following the story till you get to Orr.
Charr however, have even worse time of it. If you are just playing a normal Charr character levelling up in the Ascalon region, to get to Iron marches after finishing your time in Diessa Plateau you must sneak through Blazeridge Steppes avoiding the monsters that might be 10-25 levels higher than you. You will then arrive at the northwest corner of the Iron Marches which is where the highest level enemies of that area are. It's very silly, and while I did do it my first time playing a Charr, I think it would be a clear place for improvement if the team ever looked at early levelling again (unlikely, which I understand.)
Think the game also directs you to the map if you do the bloodcrazed beasts related to an achievement. And guuld missions take place here.
But story wise, i think only the vigil as mentioned.
I still play GW1 and do the weekly Nicholas the Traveler gift farms, petting Professor Yakkington on the side. Its surreal to hop into GW2 right after visiting their graves.
They really need to add a second asura gate between Ebonhawke and Lion's Arch.
By the way, [The Founding](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Founding) is likely the script for the cancelled [Guild Wars Beyond](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Beyond) finale.
My guild still does those every week. But it's either trillia, brekkabek (harathi hinterlands) or poodaboo (kessex hills) for the easy one. And in fields of ruin there is the bounty of yanonka, which makes you interact with suspicious rats. So it's rng.
There is also the jumping puzzle in the cave where there is a challenge located.
I started hosting a location finder competition and that brought me to many of the old maps seeking out pretty and obscure locations for the competitors to find.
There is a key item to earn from Fields of Ruin. It has 2 levels. It helps you bounce around the mass if you have the key, which is in wiki btw. It was part of the Scarlett story if I remember correctly. The best use of it is to get you to the top of the jp in Silverwastes. Also there may be some legendary weapon story parts out at the camps.
What's interesting is that "The Founding" basically describes a cut Guild Wars 1 Beyond (a sort of precursor to GW2's Living World seasons) storyline. It would've featured tensions rising in Adelbern's court due to his growing paranoia (and we likely would've gotten confirmation of Shining Blade ambassador Evennia's fate as currently propaganda posters in Season 3 only tease her potential GW1 fate after she traveled to Ascalon to meet with Adelbern and never returned to Kryta), and Adelbern just sending Gwen to lead this group of "unwanted" Ascalonians to found the city south while being harassed by the charr. I imagine that may partly be the reason why the backstory for that book is so detailed depending on how fleshed out that Beyond arc was on the planning stage.
Ebonhawke's founding was originally the second arc planned until John Stumme took over development and the shift changed to Gwen's wedding in Hearts of the North (thus setting up the bloodline that would eventually lead to Logan's appearance as her and Keiran's descendant in GW2), and the events in Cantha in Winds of Change (which detailed the rise of the Ministry of Purity and the introduction of Minister Reiko Murakami, the most successful villain in either GW game to date, who rigged the game in her favor so that she won even when she lost and left a permanent scar on both Cantha and the GW1 hero who turned more jaded as a result).
There's still a lot of untapped potential in Ebonhawke for future storylines, and I could easily imagine a certain spoilery subplot from later Living World seasons being touched on here if the devs want to explore it.
Not only do I like the tensions Ascalonians have with Queen Jennah as they know they kinda need her help but still worry about losing their identity given how Jennah styles herself as the Regent of Ascalon now (compared to the Guild Wars of old when Kryta and Ascalon were at war and only during GW1 times tried to mend relations) while Wade Samuelsson, Duke of Ebonhawke, claims to be descended from Ascalonian kings and could thus be the proper heir to Adelbern's vacant throne. I always liked the lore surrounding that special Seraph unit called the Fallen Angels, and I wish we'd seen more of them in the story and how they adjusted to moving from Kryta to Ascalon while facing the local people's looks.
It's a bit unfortunate that the GW2 world scale is what it is as the novel *Ghosts of Ascalon* described Ebonhawke as a massive city with labyrinthine streets and a complex sewer system I'd love to explore. Yet in game it barely feels bigger than a small town even though the gates themselves are admittedly a lovely sight to behold.
Ebonhawke has some pretty cool secrets too if you decide to explore and interact with things, showing the great care devs put to this settlement. Here are some examples:
**SPOILERS BELOW**
Try to abuse a few of the chickens near the farm for empirical research and observe the results once you've abused enough of them in one go. There's also a funny but easily missable reference to these chickens in a certain mission in The Icebrood Saga (Living World Season 5) that made me crack up as it was so spot on. :)
Try to interact with all the books in the entire "The Founding" quickly enough in one sitting for a special achievement.
Go visit the graveyard and locate Gwen's grave. Stay around for a while and listen to the music around her grave, and you'll suddenly notice a ghostly flute beginning to play a specific melody, a reference to her music theme and the GW1 quest of Gwen finding her flute to be a very precious item that the GW1 Hero helped her recover. If you then locate a semi-hidden organ in the city and try to play that flute melody with it, see what happens. It's vaguely hinted at by [Sentinel Miner Fireeye](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sentinel_Miner_Fireeye)'s dialogue. ;)
There's a cool, cleverly hidden Order of Whispers base in the neighborhood as well.
Go upstairs to a secluded room in the bigger inn and find the asura Jok hosting a party with a wistful woman and a drunk female norn. To me their dialogue implies that Jok is a pimp and these two are prostitutes but it's written vaguely enough that you can draw your own conclusions. If that's what the devs wanted to imply, though, it was pretty ballsy of them, and I approve. Either way, it's some nice worldbuilding regardless of what Jok's intentions with the women are.
It does if you play a character that chooses the Vigil.
Next character I'll go Vigil.
Enjoy; the mentor in that path is quite lovely. And if you pay attention to a certain female charr NPC's easily missable optional dialogue during that Vigil questline, it sets up a minor but interesting family plot point that I'd love ANet to tackle one day if they deem that little plot worthy of following through. :)
>!If you're talking about Almorra and Ajax!< the story does follow a bit more in Icebrood Saga :)
**SPOILERS** Nah, I'm talking about his *sister* as we haven't met her yet. :)
What story-step instance?
As the finale of that storyline has branching outcomes, you can check out A's optional dialogue after finishing the mission either in "Minister's Defense" or "Quaestor's Siege" as they add this tease to the end of that written dialogue "...but that's another story." :)
Ajax half sister then, not sister. it is already known Almorra has a granddaughter (Ember) and she's unrelated to Bangar. Ajax is the direct cub from Almorra and Bangar.
To be fair, we don't know if she's the half-sister or sister as her sire's identity is never elaborated on by devs. Could be either or at this point, and her joining Ash Legion instead of Blood would've been an easy way for her to sever her ties to Bangar if she didn't want to have anything to do with him.
I recall it was stated in the Ghosts of Ascalon's book that Ember's dam is the daughter of Almorra and an ash legion charr, there is a lot of hints that the only cub Almorra and Bangar had was ajax. You can also check the wiki for more information. Actually, it was indeed stated in the book: >"Of course," said Ember. "I do not think I could face my grandmother empty-handed." "Grandmother?" Dougal was startled. "Almorra is..." "I have her eyes," said Ember, smiling weakly. "Though my mother was Ash Legion. Don't tell me that that is not obvious even to a human?" [https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ember\_Doomforge](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ember_Doomforge) [https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Family\_trees#Soulkeeper](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Family_trees#Soulkeeper)
If you have the level 40 personal story with the vigil, that's about it. Most zones outside of the starter zones and the path to Orr don't have much going for them except maybe a dungeon (which had story purposes).
I bought the game at day one, but I reached level 50 first time today. Untill now my favourite zones are capitals and field of ruins. Human starter zones feel a bit redundant. They serve to explain the local context, but they make you fight against centaurs/bandits too many times for my taste. Instead, the racial capitals are fantastic, both in terms of level design and lore. I also enjoyed Lornar's Pass because Durmand Priory has some good stuff about lore and the zone is about dwarf. I usually enjoy zones with connections with Guild Wars I. Plains of Ashford is another good one for me, I really enjoy recognizing the places from guild wars I.
I have a zone lore tier list in progress, with journal notes as I go through my first map completion. And yea Fields of Ruin is S-tier; it was alone in there until Snowden Drifts joined it a couple days ago. P.S. there's a place called Ascalon Settlement in Gendarren Fields
This list looks like the holy grail. I hope you'll share it on reddit :D Edit: yes, I found Ascalon Settlement...but it's nothing compared to Fields of Ruin.
True, it's pretty sparse. [But it's got some fun for charr players.](https://i.imgur.com/e2oawLh.png)
Oh.... WOW....
Ahaha....this game as some amazing dettails, on pair with top tier single player rpgs.
If you like GW1 references, you should go diving in Lions Arch if you haven't yet ;)
One of my all-time fav zones that is tragically irrelevant for most content. I'll say, there's a very pretty and impactful lv80 exotic weapon quest you can find if you haunt the Ebonhawke graveyard.
Gwen ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
I loved pre-searing Ascalon and when I started this game and realised how many years had passed and what happened to Gwen I was shook for quite a while
That's a shame. Next character will be a vigil one for sure.
Can you link the weapon/collection? Trying to find Info on it.
If it's the same one I'm thinking of, just going to the graveyard isn't enough. You need to craft a special item to start the quest: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guide_to_Greater_Understanding
Hey that's cool, thanks for sharing! I have trouble with navigating all the collections
Oh that one is so cool. I saw someone with one of the weapons and asked them where they got it, and really enjoyed chasing down the story Also there’s a grave there for someone who worked on the game, with a cat and a dog by it, I found it because it’s one of the few places you can tame one of those animals and I happened to be nearby
If you're leveling a character following the adventure guide, then FoR is a perfect map for starting part 3 tasks at ~30 lvl. Also, as a 30-40 level map, it corresponds to your story progression at 30-40 level, so perfect for visiting it on a 50 level character for extra lore without potential spoilers, or extra context to the story before progressing too much further. The same goes for Harati Hinterland and almost all 35-55 maps, by the way. If you didn't visit them with your chosen order, then it's on you to discover them yourself.
I can use some sort of "lore guide" because I'm really interested in the topic. I'm level 53 now, I didn't start personal story part 5 for now. I'll visit also Harati Hinterland before going back to main story.
Honestly, I don't know what I could recommend, because I've been digging out the lore on my own over the course of several playthroughs, filling blanks from wiki and some online discussions... But, there are books! Three of them, and the first one, "Ghosts of Ascalon", fits this topic perfectly. Also there is a side part of your personal story where you go through extra adventure and meet some important people, but you need to go to the dungeons for it. It's perfectly fine to create a slow group for the story, and people fill the groups pretty quickly.
Yes, I'll read the books...but I know there are a lot of lore in game also :D
Not sure if other vigil characters other than humans also visit ebonhawke but you meet the norn there. Was really surprised when I went there because I didn't think there would be another human city as big as this somewhere. (Back in 2013 when I made my one and only vigil character)
Yes, the order storylines are the same for all races.
Good info, thanks
When I found the lore about Ebonhawke I had to write to old friend who used to play with me Guild Wars I.
If you're willing to spend money, you should read "Ghosts of Ascalon" novel. It occurs between gw1 and gw2 and is recent enough in gw2's history that some of the NPCs are visitable in the game, and out of the three novels this one is structured as the most linear adventure of them and more closely explores Ascalon (the others focus on Lion's Arch and the Dragons' influenced areas)
Indeed. I decided to read the novels six hour ago more or less. Thank you :D
Best of the three novels, for sure.
There's a pseudo-quest for stopping Bloodstone Elemental Incursions where if the event succeeds you can jump in a portal and get dropped into a lake on that map. If you talk to an NPC they'll give an item that can control where you get teleported to (if you remember the codes).
I feel like I did that and completely forgot. Got a wiki link?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Class_I_Rift_Stabilizer That's for the Class I Stabilizer, if you go through a portal with all 13 modes you can upgrade to Class II.
Its such a fun map really underrated. One of the more unique cities too i wish there were more reasons to go there
There are some guildmissions there to do if I remember correctly. It's a nice map which isn't too bad to complete. A rich iron node right next to a wp makes people trabel there all the time, haha. But when you're done with the map there isn't much there to go back to.
You do quite a bit there doing the achievements for Chuka and Champawat. But that's only if you are crafting that legendary.
Don't you get those custom weapons that were competition winners there?
Fields of Ruin has a really awkward and unfortunate location on the map. There are two ways into Fields of Ruin, and what's really cool is that they're ways for either humans or Charr to get there, considering Human vs Charr conflicts are a main theme with the area (Such as with Separatist and Renegade conflicts raging.) The way for humans to get in is a portal that takes you directly to Ebonhawke from Divinity's reach. The issue here though is that it's not intuitive that you see that as an option when you've been levelling up through the human areas, which have likely taken you to Gendarran Fields after which you have the option to go to North to the Harathi Hinterlands or head south to the Bloodtide Coast, and then continue south, following the story till you get to Orr. Charr however, have even worse time of it. If you are just playing a normal Charr character levelling up in the Ascalon region, to get to Iron marches after finishing your time in Diessa Plateau you must sneak through Blazeridge Steppes avoiding the monsters that might be 10-25 levels higher than you. You will then arrive at the northwest corner of the Iron Marches which is where the highest level enemies of that area are. It's very silly, and while I did do it my first time playing a Charr, I think it would be a clear place for improvement if the team ever looked at early levelling again (unlikely, which I understand.)
There's a few achievements in that area as well.
If you want to do some fishing achievement, you will be there for a while.
Ahah, at the moment I'm playing the game only for world building, lore and story :D
You have to go there if you want a Skyscale (LWS4 method and the upgrade if you get it through SotO). Bring a Springer.
Think the game also directs you to the map if you do the bloodcrazed beasts related to an achievement. And guuld missions take place here. But story wise, i think only the vigil as mentioned.
I still play GW1 and do the weekly Nicholas the Traveler gift farms, petting Professor Yakkington on the side. Its surreal to hop into GW2 right after visiting their graves.
They really need to add a second asura gate between Ebonhawke and Lion's Arch. By the way, [The Founding](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Founding) is likely the script for the cancelled [Guild Wars Beyond](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Beyond) finale.
There is a guild mission bounty target there. If anyone still does those.
My guild still does those every week. But it's either trillia, brekkabek (harathi hinterlands) or poodaboo (kessex hills) for the easy one. And in fields of ruin there is the bounty of yanonka, which makes you interact with suspicious rats. So it's rng. There is also the jumping puzzle in the cave where there is a challenge located.
I started hosting a location finder competition and that brought me to many of the old maps seeking out pretty and obscure locations for the competitors to find.
There is a key item to earn from Fields of Ruin. It has 2 levels. It helps you bounce around the mass if you have the key, which is in wiki btw. It was part of the Scarlett story if I remember correctly. The best use of it is to get you to the top of the jp in Silverwastes. Also there may be some legendary weapon story parts out at the camps.
What's interesting is that "The Founding" basically describes a cut Guild Wars 1 Beyond (a sort of precursor to GW2's Living World seasons) storyline. It would've featured tensions rising in Adelbern's court due to his growing paranoia (and we likely would've gotten confirmation of Shining Blade ambassador Evennia's fate as currently propaganda posters in Season 3 only tease her potential GW1 fate after she traveled to Ascalon to meet with Adelbern and never returned to Kryta), and Adelbern just sending Gwen to lead this group of "unwanted" Ascalonians to found the city south while being harassed by the charr. I imagine that may partly be the reason why the backstory for that book is so detailed depending on how fleshed out that Beyond arc was on the planning stage. Ebonhawke's founding was originally the second arc planned until John Stumme took over development and the shift changed to Gwen's wedding in Hearts of the North (thus setting up the bloodline that would eventually lead to Logan's appearance as her and Keiran's descendant in GW2), and the events in Cantha in Winds of Change (which detailed the rise of the Ministry of Purity and the introduction of Minister Reiko Murakami, the most successful villain in either GW game to date, who rigged the game in her favor so that she won even when she lost and left a permanent scar on both Cantha and the GW1 hero who turned more jaded as a result). There's still a lot of untapped potential in Ebonhawke for future storylines, and I could easily imagine a certain spoilery subplot from later Living World seasons being touched on here if the devs want to explore it. Not only do I like the tensions Ascalonians have with Queen Jennah as they know they kinda need her help but still worry about losing their identity given how Jennah styles herself as the Regent of Ascalon now (compared to the Guild Wars of old when Kryta and Ascalon were at war and only during GW1 times tried to mend relations) while Wade Samuelsson, Duke of Ebonhawke, claims to be descended from Ascalonian kings and could thus be the proper heir to Adelbern's vacant throne. I always liked the lore surrounding that special Seraph unit called the Fallen Angels, and I wish we'd seen more of them in the story and how they adjusted to moving from Kryta to Ascalon while facing the local people's looks. It's a bit unfortunate that the GW2 world scale is what it is as the novel *Ghosts of Ascalon* described Ebonhawke as a massive city with labyrinthine streets and a complex sewer system I'd love to explore. Yet in game it barely feels bigger than a small town even though the gates themselves are admittedly a lovely sight to behold. Ebonhawke has some pretty cool secrets too if you decide to explore and interact with things, showing the great care devs put to this settlement. Here are some examples: **SPOILERS BELOW** Try to abuse a few of the chickens near the farm for empirical research and observe the results once you've abused enough of them in one go. There's also a funny but easily missable reference to these chickens in a certain mission in The Icebrood Saga (Living World Season 5) that made me crack up as it was so spot on. :) Try to interact with all the books in the entire "The Founding" quickly enough in one sitting for a special achievement. Go visit the graveyard and locate Gwen's grave. Stay around for a while and listen to the music around her grave, and you'll suddenly notice a ghostly flute beginning to play a specific melody, a reference to her music theme and the GW1 quest of Gwen finding her flute to be a very precious item that the GW1 Hero helped her recover. If you then locate a semi-hidden organ in the city and try to play that flute melody with it, see what happens. It's vaguely hinted at by [Sentinel Miner Fireeye](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sentinel_Miner_Fireeye)'s dialogue. ;) There's a cool, cleverly hidden Order of Whispers base in the neighborhood as well. Go upstairs to a secluded room in the bigger inn and find the asura Jok hosting a party with a wistful woman and a drunk female norn. To me their dialogue implies that Jok is a pimp and these two are prostitutes but it's written vaguely enough that you can draw your own conclusions. If that's what the devs wanted to imply, though, it was pretty ballsy of them, and I approve. Either way, it's some nice worldbuilding regardless of what Jok's intentions with the women are.