Sea breeze or tree hug

In an early mission in the Guild Wars Factions campaign, our guiding NPC Master Togo discovers a mark on the ground after defeating the enemy (paraphrased):

Togo: “It is the mark of Shiro Tagachi”

My character: “He who turned the forest to stone and the sea to jade?”

Togo: “The very same”

This dialog stuck with me, since I wondered what fairy tale or story about Shiro this was, or if it was just meant as an expression. It was not until later in the campaign when I got to visit the Kurzicks and the Luxons that I realized that it was not empty phrase.