Lore
The story of Gielinor, as it was known in the year 169 of the Fifth Age, when the game takes place.
- The First Age: Guthix finds an empty world and shapes it. He brings many races through portals from other worlds and lets them live in peace. Tired, he then falls into a deep sleep beneath the earth.
- The Second Age: With Guthix asleep, other gods arrive. Zaros builds a great empire in the north. Zamorak, one of his generals, betrays him and banishes him, then rises to godhood himself.
- The Third Age: The God Wars. For thousands of years, the gods fight through their followers. Whole lands are ruined, and the north becomes the Wilderness. Guthix finally wakes up, horrified, and forbids the gods to walk the world: these are the Edicts of Guthix.
- The Fourth Age: Peace returns. Humans spread across the land and found the first cities and kingdoms.
- The Fifth Age: The age of the game. Kingdoms like Misthalin, Asgarnia and Kandarin rule the land, and runecrafting has returned to the world. You arrive in the year 169.
The gods can no longer walk Gielinor, but their followers still compete for land and influence.
- Saradomin: god of order and wisdom. His church is the main religion of Misthalin and Asgarnia, and the White Knights of Falador serve him.
- Zamorak: god of chaos and change. His followers often work in the shadows, from the Black Knights to the dark wizards.
- Guthix: god of balance and nature. He sleeps beneath the world, and the druids keep his teachings alive.
- Zaros: the banished Empty Lord. His ancient magic still survives, and some of his old servants still wait for his return.
- Armadyl and Bandos: the god of justice, worshipped by the bird-like aviansies, and the god of war, worshipped by goblins and ogres.
- The desert gods: Tumeken, Elidinis and Icthlarin watch over the Kharidian Desert, its cities and its dead.
- Misthalin: the kingdom where every adventure begins: Lumbridge and its castle, Draynor Village, and Varrock, the capital of King Roald.
- Asgarnia: home of Falador and its White Knights, the harbour of Port Sarim, and the warriors of Burthorpe.
- Kandarin: the large western kingdom: Ardougne, Catherby, Seers' Village, Yanille and the Tree Gnome Stronghold.
- The Wilderness: the ruins of the old Zarosian empire, a lawless land where players may attack each other.
- Morytania: a gloomy land east of the River Salve, ruled by vampyres. Werewolves live in Canifis, and the Myreque fight in secret.
- The Kharidian Desert: a hot land of sand and pyramids, from Al Kharid to Pollnivneach and Sophanem.
- Karamja: a jungle island with Brimhaven, Shilo Village and the volcano of the TzHaar.
- The Fremennik Province: the cold north, where the proud Fremennik live in Rellekka.
- Tirannwn: the land of the elves, beyond the Arandar mountain pass.
Humans are the most numerous, but Gielinor is home to many other peoples: dwarves in their underground city of Keldagrim, gnomes in their tree villages, elves in the west, goblins forever arguing about the colour of their armour, trolls in the mountains, ogres in the Feldip Hills, and the TzHaar, born from the fire of the volcano.
Older and stranger beings also walk the world. The Mahjarrat, ancient servants of Zaros, still plot for power, like Lucien, whom you may meet in the Temple of Ikov.
The best way to discover this world is to play its quests: each one tells a piece of its history.
