RuneScape

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RuneScape is a MMORPG owned by a company called Jagex. The game began in 2001, just before World of Warcraft. The game is updated regularly, with new updates coming out every week or two. Besides being super old school, one reason for runescape’s longevity is that it was a free browser-based game, opening up its player base to people with even the crappiest computers and stingiest of wallets. In 2004, a entirely new version of the game called RuneScape 2 was released, with the old version of the game being renamed RuneScape Classic. Although RuneScape Classic no longer received regular updates it continued to run until it was permanently shut down in 2018. In 2013 Jagex released Old School RuneScape, a new version of the game based on a backup of the game from 2007, by the demand of players who didn't like some of the controversial changes to the game in the recent years (mainly a poorly received overhaul of the game's combat system and adding microtransactions to the game). The same year RuneScape 2 was upgraded to RuneScape 3. Both games receive regular updates to this day and have loyal fanbases. Although Jagex has made some dumb mistakes that alienated players over the years, they actually care very much about their fans and treat them far better than some other game companies.

History of the world of RuneScape

The Universe is destroyed and recreated in cycles by 6 beings known as the elder gods. In the beginning of the current cycle, something went wrong with Mah's rebirth and the other elder gods abandoned her, thinking that she was stillborn. Mah actually survived but lost all her memories and was rendered severely retarded and also slowly dying. While the other elder gods continued the cycle of creating planets without her, Mah created two young gods named Seren and Zaros to keep her company. Seren and Zaros eventually got sick of taking care of their retarded mother and left to explore the universe going their separate ways, so Mah created a new race called the Mahjarrat to be her toys. Seren eventually landed on the homeworld of the elves and became their goddess. While the elder gods were creating the new universe, they were confronted by survivors from the previous cycle of the universe called the Dragonkin, who demanded that the elder gods stop destroying the universe. Jas responded by putting a curse on the Dragonkin which forced them to act as guardians of the Stone of Jas, which was one of several artifacts the elder gods used to create planets, but also has the ability to grant godhood to mortals that used them. The elder gods later created a perfect world called Gielinor, and went to sleep there. While they were sleeping, many intelligent races evolved on the planets they made and several of them rose to godhood using the artifacts the elder gods left behind. These many gods battled with each other for control of the universe. On one planet, an entire race was completely wiped out by the war between the gods, except for one mortal named Guthix who rose to godhood by killing one of the gods that had destroyed his world. Guthix then wandered through the universe until he found Gielinor. There he met with Seren, and they decided to create a paradise where mortals could live away from the wars between the gods. Seren brought the elves to Gielinor and Guthix brought in many other races from across the universe, including humans. Guthix then went to sleep, while Seren peacefully ruled over the elves. But other gods started arriving on Gielinor. Zaros was one of those gods. He conquered much of the planet and built a great empire. Ictharin, the demigod of the dead, brought the Mahjarrat race to Gielinor to fight against Zaros, but the Mahjarrat ended up switching sides to Zaros, and most of them were wiped out when the god Tumeken sacrificed himself to wipe out Zaros's army. A Mahjarrat named Zamorak later betrayed Zaros and attempted to assassinated Zaros to steal his power. Zaros survived in a severely weakened and incorporeal state, and Zamorak rose to godhood. Zamorak started a massive war between the gods that lasted for thousands of years. The war finally ended when Zamorak unsuccessfully tried to use the Stone of Jas to kill the other gods, and the resulting explosion woke up Guthix. Guthix was enraged by what he saw and banished most of the other gods from Gielinor. The only gods he spared were those of demigod rank or below, plus Brassica Prime who was only allowed to stay because of him being good for the health of the planet and also being too crazy for most people to worship. He demanded that Seren go to sleep with him, but instead she chose to shatter herself into pieces so she could remain with her elves in a weakened form. Guthix created the Edicts of Guthix, which forbade any gods from entering Gielinor and also forbade mortals from waging large scale wars. He then went to sleep. The game takes place on Gielinor, over two thousand years later. You are a human adventurer, and there is a whole world for you to explore. Adventures you can have include freeing several imprisoned Mahjarrat just in time for a ritual where one is sacrificed to extend the lives of the others, saving a city from a zombie invasion, attempting to recover the Stone of Jas and learning about the danger of the Dragonkin, helping a resistance movement free a nation from its vampyre [sic] rulers, uncovering a conspiracy of evil elves planning to sacrifice half of a city to awaken a mysterious Dark Lord, discovering the resting place of Guthix which has huge consequences for the world, stopping an invasion of communist penguins, going on a series of wacky pirate adventures inspired the Monkey Island games, and many more adventures varying in tone from Grimdark to quite silly.

Gods

The gods of RuneScape are ranked from 1 to 7, with the elder gods elder gods at rank 1, and young gods ranked from 2 to 7.

Elder Gods

The Elder Gods are six extremely powerful being whose origin is unknown. They have the power to create planets and are impossible to kill under normal circumstances. The known elder gods are Jas, the goddess of sand and the most powerful of them, Ful, the goddess of fire, Wen, the goddess of Ice, Bik, the goddess of forests, and Mah, the goddess of light and darkness. The sixth elder god is unknown, and is implied to be more abstract than the others. They fill the universe with planets until they manage to create a perfect world, after this they go to sleep for hundreds of thousands of years before they wake up and are reborn. After this they destroy all the planets they created except for the perfect world, which turns into a Death World, and then start the cycle all over again.

Young Gods

Most of the young gods are former mortals who ascended to godhood using the power of the twelve artifacts that the elder gods left behind, especially the Stone of Jas. It is also possible for a mortal to ascend to godhood by killing a god and taking their power, or by a god giving some of their power to a mortal. Only Zaros and Seren are the direct creations of an elder god.

Saradomin

Saradomin is the rank 4 god of order. Saradomin is an ascended human and looks and old man with blue skin. His church resembles Catholicism. He is bitter rivals with Zamorak because of their opposing philosophies. In the distance past he was a horrible tyrant who demanded all bow down to him but has come to regret his actions and wishes to redeem himself. His symbol is a four pointed star.

Guthix

Guthix is the rank 2 god of balance. He is the last survivor of a race called the Naragi. Guthix's followers believe a philosophy of balance between good and evil and order and chaos. Guthix actually hates being worshiped because he despises most of the other gods. He is responsible for banishing most of the other gods from Gielinor at the end of the 3rd Age. His symbol is a wavy vertical like that thickens at the bottom, representing an upside-down snake.

Zamorak

Zamorak is the rank 4 god of chaos. He was a Mahjarrat and one of Zaros's generals before he betrayed Zaros and stole his power. He teaches his followers a philosophy of survival of the fittest. His symbol is a pair of horns, or an upside-down lowercase omega (not the Ultramarines symbol, that is an uppercase omega).

Zaros

Zaros is the rank 2 god of control. He is the son of the elder god Mah, and brother to Seren. Zaros is emotionless and pragmatic, although he does believe in the value of mortal life, and wants to keep the elder gods from destroying the universe. He once ruled over a massive empire resembling the Roman Empire before he was betrayed and nearly killed by Zamorak. He was left an incorporeal spirit by the attempted assassination and remained that way until he is restored back to a physical form with the help of the player. Most of his followers were wiped out and the survivors were either imprisoned or went into hiding. Anyone who is around Zaros for a prolonged time will become loyal to him, although the effect is not permanent and he can't turn this ability off. Zaros is an eight-eyed humanoid made of purple crystal, although his body is always concealed by his clothing. His symbol resembles a Celtic cross with the inside of the circle rotated 45 degrees.

Seren

Seren is the rank 2 goddess of harmony. She is the daughter of the elder god Mah and sister to Zaros. Seren is opposite of her brother, being passionate and kind. She is worshiped by the elves. Anyone who is around Seren for a prolonged period will gain feelings of adoration for her, although the effect is not permanent and she can't turn this ability off. Seren is an eight-eyed humanoid made of cyan crystal. Seren and Zaros avoid each other because of their different philosophies and because they are not immune to each other's powers and don't want to become charmed to each other again. Her symbol is a diamond.

Bandos

Bandos is the rank 3 god of war. Probably inspired by Gruumsh. He looks like an armored rhinoceros man with three eyes and one missing eye. He is worshiped mainly by goblins and ogres and other races from Yu'biusk, although goblins never say his name and simply call him The Big High War God. He commands that his followers be violent and stupid. He ascended to godhood by killing the previous god of his world, which resulted in the extinction of his race because said god was the only thing keeping the planet from being destroyed by meteors, and he knew this would happen and didn't care. After his ascension, he conquered the planet of Yu'biusk, and brought its races to Gielinor. During the God Wars he frequently changed sides just to prolong the war, and after he was banished he had all of his followers on Yu'biusk turn on each other, which eventually killed all life on the planet and left it a polluted and blackened dead world. He attempted to return to Gielinor by transforming a goblin into an avatar for himself in order to circumvent the Edicts of Guthix blocking him from entering personally, but his plan was stopped by the player character. The destruction of his avatar downgraded him to a rank 4 god. His symbol is a stylized kyzaj, a fictional axe like weapon.

Armadyl

Armadyl is the rank 4 god of justice. His is a member of a race of bird people and one of the nicest of the major gods, as he wants to protect mortals rather than rule over them. He abandoned Gielinor in the 3rd age when he thought that his race has been wiped out. He despises Bandos for being the god of war. And he also hates Zamorak for causing the death of his second husband. His symbol is a pair of wings.

Ictharlin

Ictharin is the rank 6 god of the dead. He is part of a family of eight gods worshiped by the people of the Kharidian Desert. He is based of the Egyptian god Anubis. He was the one responsible for bringing the Mahjarrat race to Gielinor during a war with Zaros, which backfired on him spectacularly as they ended up switching sides and forced his father Tumeken to sacrifice himself to wipe most of them out. As a rank 6 god, he was spared from being banished by Guthix. He protects souls in the afterlife from his insane sister Amascut, who seeks to devour the souls of the dead. His symbol resembles an ankh.

Brassica Prime

Brassica Prime is the rank 5 god of deliciousness. Brassica Prime is a giant cabbage and is also a complete lunatic. Jagex originally created Brassica Prime as an April Fool's Day joke but later made him a canon character. It still has not been explained how a cabbage became a god. Brassica Prime is the only god ranked above 6 that Guthix allowed to remain active on Gielinor after the God Wars, due to him being good for the health of the planet, and because very few people bother to worship him because of his insanity. Zamorak is actually afraid of him because all forms of plant life on Gielinor are his spies and servants and suspects that Brassica Prime is only pretending to be insane. His symbol is a cabbage.

Marinbo

Marimbo is the rank 5 goddess of hedonism. She is a gorilla who ascended to god by beating a god in a drinking contest. Although she is one of the nicest gods and isn't interested in fighting, her monkey and ape followers are very xenophobic and militaristic. Her symbol is a diamond with a line at the bottom corner and the top corner cut off.

V

V is the rank 5 god of heroes, worshiped by the Fremennik tribes. He is the inventor of the art of runecrafting, which enables mortals to create the rune stones that make casting spells easy for anyone. His real name is unknown, though often goes by an alias starting with the letter V. His symbol is a stylized V.

Xau-Tak

Xau-Tak is a god of unknown rank of oceans and undeath. He seems to be RuneScape's version of Cthulhu, only instead of looking like a squid dragon thing, what we have seen of his so far has been nothing but hands made of black stone. He is slowly spreading his corruption through the world of Gielinor. His symbol is unknown.

Races

Humans

Humans are the most populous race in the world of Gielinor. They originated on a planet called Teragard but were brought to Gielinor by Guthix. On the main continent, humans control three kingdoms called Misthalin, Asgarnia, and Kandarin (average medieval European fantasy kindoms), as well as the Khardidian Desert region (based on Egypt), and the Fremennik Province (Vikings). Humans are also found on many islands including the primitive tribes of Karamja, as well the people of the far away eastern lands (Asians). On the main continent the most popular gods worshiped by humans are Saradomin, Guthix, and Zamorak.

Dwarves

Originated on an unknown world and were brought to Gielinor by Guthix. Most dwarves are not religious, but do respect Guthix. Dwarves cannot uses magic due to a curse put on them by Zamorak that causes them to turn into chaos dwarves if they use magic. Dwarves can be found scattered about the human kingdoms, but they also have their own underground city called Keldagrim. Keldagrim is ruled over by an organization called the Consortium, which is made up of the eight largest dwarven companies. In recent years many dwarves have become unsatisfied with the Consortium and want to return to being a monarchy.

Elves

Standard fantasy elves. Were brought to Gielinor from a planet called Taridad by Seren. Elves mostly live in an isolated region called Tirannwn to the west of Kandarin, separated by a mountain range. Their capital is the crystal city of Prifddinas. Most players who aren’t at least mid-level will never see an elf, as getting to them requires completing a long-ass quest series that requires you to 1) break into a plague-ridden City, 2) traverse a gigantic cave system teaming with insane cultists, and 3) navigate the maze-like forest that the elvish country resides in.

At one time the elves had been far more common throughout Gielinor, with a couple of ruins scattered about, but they’ve since fallen into obscurity due to hiding out in their homelands since the God Wars. The elves are firmly devoted to Seren to the point of needing to be in her presence to survive; they do this through the use of crystals that they shape to use for whatever tool they need. Later, a civil war between clans; the ruling Iowerth clan became fanatically loyal to the “Dark Lord,” an aspect of Seren that thrives off of Death energy, with the smaller rebel population still loyal to the original Seren. Said death cultists are also the de facto rulers of West Ardougne, with King Lathas as their puppet.

Gnomes

Gnomes are a race of small humanoids that prefer to live in trees. During the God Wars they fled underground to escape the war. Gnomes are talented at invention and can fly all over Gielinor using gliders. There are two gnome settlements located in the kingdom of Kandarin, but are independed from it and each have their own king. There also is an underground city of evil gnomes called Arposandra located somewhere beneath the mountain range that divides Kandarin from the elven lands. The pollution from this city is poisoning the swamps in the south of the elven lands.

Races of Yu'biusk

The races of Yu'biusk include many of the typical stupid bad guy fantasy races, including goblins, trolls, ogres, hobgoblins, orks, and cyclopes. They were brought to Gielinor from a planet called Yu'biusk by the god Bandos. Almost all of them are fanatically loyal to Bandos, and follow his commandments to be violent and stupid.

Goblins

Most goblins are ugly big nosed creatures who are too weak to be a threat to anyone and spend most of their time fighting each other. Goblins almost never say the name of Bandos, and simply call him The Big High War God, because they think that he can hear them if they say his name. One tribe of goblins rejected Bandos during the God Wars when he ordered them to go on a suicide mission and fled underground where they evolved into cave goblins, who have big eyes instead of big noses, and invented electricity and lightbulbs to light their underground city. The cave goblin city is called Dorgesh-kaan and is located underneath Misthalin. After they were rediscovered, a railway was built connecting them to the Dwarven city of Keldagrim.

Trolls

Trolls come in several breeds. The most commonly seen type are mountain trolls, who are large brutes with rock-like skin who love to eat humans. Trolls are less religious that most of the other races of Yu'biusk. Mountain trolls rule over a region called Trollheim located north of Asgarnia, from which they are currently at war with the city of Burthorpe. Other types of trolls include ice trolls, sea trolls, and river trolls.

Ogres

Ogres all look like ugly fat giants. They are mainly found in a region called Feldip Hills, located to the south of Kandarin. Male and female ogres live segregated from each other in separate cities, meeting only to mate. Females are stronger than males and are not as violent. Aside from common ogres, there are also two subspecies. Jogres are green-skinned ogres that live in the jungles of Karamja and Mogres are ogres that live underwater.

Vampyres

It is always spelled with a "y". Unlike most settings, vampyres are not a form of undead, but are a race of blood drinking bat monsters with shapeshifting abilities. They also do not transform humans into more vampyres by biting them. Instead they have a factory where they convert humans soaking them in vampyre blood and exposing them to a strange mineral. The few natural born vampyres are the nobility. They originated on a planet called Vampyrium, and were brought to Gielinor by Zaros. Vampyres rule over a nation known as Morytania, where humans are kept as livestock to feed their thirst for blood. Vampyres are uncommon outside of Morytania because Morytania is surrounded by a magical barrier that vampyres can't cross. A group of human rebels called the Myreque seeks to overthrow the vampyres. In recent years, the vampyres have begun to have problems because too many new vampyres are being made and their aren't enough humans to feed them all, and the king of vampyres hasn't been seen for many years.

Dragonkin

A race of humanoid dragons. They are survivors from the previous universe who were cursed by Jas to guard the Stone of Jas. Anytime somebody other than Jas uses the stone, the Dragonkin are driven mad with rage. Some succumb to their rage and go on rampages, while others turned into mad scientists who seek a either a cure for the curse, or a way to get revenge on Jas. The various species of dragons in the world are the result of failed attempts to create a new race without the curse.

Tzhaar

A race of people made of living volcanic rock with four arms. They were originally spawned from an artifact of the elder gods called The Kiln. The elder god Ful used them as workers for helping to form Gielinor. Newborn Tzhaar inherit their parent's memories. They turn into black coins when they die. Though they love violence, no Tzhaar has ever committed a crime in their entire history.

Mahjarrat

The Mahjarrat are a race of grey skinned humanoids with gems in their heads. As they age and grow weaker, they turn into skeletons. Because they were directly created the elder god Mah, they can be considered low-tier gods. They were first brought to Gielinor by Icthlarin. Once every 500 years, one of them is sacrificed to restore the youth of the others. Some are loyal to Zaros, and some to Zamorak, who is a Mahjarrat who achived full godhood. They are now close to extinction, and the only remaining female isn't interested in breeding. In the present day, many of the surviving Mahjarrat, especially those aligned with Zaros, are imprisoned or dormant, and several of the game's quests involve the player discovering and freeing or reviving a Mahjarrat.

Demon races

Demon refers to any creature native to the planet Infernus, including unintelligent animals. The demon races were first brought to Gielinor by Zaros. Most demons are evil, but not all of them. The most commonly seen demons are known as Avernic demons, who mostly look like huge red skinned beasts with hooves and horns that explode when they die. Less commonly seen are Chthonian demons, who come in a wide variety of horrifying Lovecraftian forms and have the ability to absorb the traits of what they eat. Most Avernic demons are loyal to Zamorak because he freed them from being enslaved by the Chthonians.