RuneScape

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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 nearly killed by Zamorak. 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.

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.

Bandos

Bandos is the rank 3 god of war. He looks like an armored rhinoceros man with three eyes and one missing eye. He is worshiped mainly by goblins and ogres and other similar races, although goblins never say his name. He encourages his followers to be violent and stupid. 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 the goblin homeworld turn on each other. 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.

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.

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, which backfired on him spectacularly. 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.

Brassica Prime

Brassica Prime is the rank 5 god of deliciousness. Brassica Prime is a giant cabbage and is also a complete lunatic. 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.

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.

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.