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~~~~A Kingdom Divided - Pulling At Loose Threads~~~~

During Leagues I had a unique opportunity to replay all of the Kourend questline, and noticed there were a lot of loose ends to explore. So let's delve back into the juicy world of speculation!

-------------LOOSE END: Who let Ex-Councillor Hughes loose at the start?-------------

I'm convinced Tomas Lawry was the culprit. It had to be someone on the inside for her to escape the top of such a guarded castle, but when the COUNCIL (which he works for but is NOT in, speaking about how he wishes he was though) finds out what happened with the demon, they're furious with Lydia Fullore, so I don't think it was the council themselves, but a disgraced councilor fleeing the country leaves a useful vacancy for him.

-------------LOOSE END: What, specifically, happened to King Kharedst IV?-------------

As we determined, the king started acting strange after buying a cursed amulet and X-shaped flask from the Lovakengj stall owned by the Old Dwarf. He started acting secretive after reading an unusual book. The Old Dwarf had a panflute, charred skull, and dirty book stolen from him. Knowing Xamphur was manipulating things, I believe Xamphur stole those objects, providing the book to Kharedst.



Next, he encounters a strange HOODED PRIESTESS. Given other hints as to Xeric/Xamphur having an additional ally among the pyromancers, I now believe this to be the hooded, female, leader of fire worshipping cult, Ignisia herself! The king was corrupted as part of Xamphur's scheme, leading to the Council taking over, with Andrews being the first, so he could access the Dark Altar. The king is killed by the Council and buried in Shayzien, the energies around it likely from the X Flask. Rose is poisoned by the mind-addling potion provided by Xamphur to the Council but escapes the scene. Headcanon Haven, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.
OSRS Lore: Xeric
Slepe Tight - Slepe Lore

22-Feb-2022 03:22:19 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2022 03:54:02 by Lego Miester

-------------LOOSE END: What, specifically, happened to Rose?-------------

Rose was declared mad a few weeks after her father died, at age 11. Her writings may have occurred in those weeks of lucidity. This would be when the hidden "tread carefully" entry was written as well as the secret notes in her diary. It's been 20 years since. Based off this, we could assume she wrote Tread Carefully, then fled the castle, leaving her riddles behind, hoping the right person would find her hiding spot: a humble shack south of Karaluum. But councilman Liam Orson found her first. There's not many signs of a struggle, but there is a rope, broken chair and table.



Speculating the order of events: 11 yr old Rose flees after realizing she's been poisoned, leaving behind the clue trail, hoping someone trustworthy finds her. Instead Orson gets to her first. In a desperate last act she attempts suicide, but fails and is captured. The council found her Memoirs there (but not the hidden page), tearing them out to try to destroy evidence. After her last act failed, I believe the underground section with the extra bed was added in secret to hold their new prisoner, with Orsen being her guilt-ridden caretaker for the next 20 years.

Headcanon Haven, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.
OSRS Lore: Xeric
Slepe Tight - Slepe Lore

22-Feb-2022 03:25:28

-------------LOOSE END: How did Councilor Orsen die?-------------



Orson, Rose's captor, was moved by Fullore to Xeric's Lookout. We have to remind her a concerning amount of times not to kill him while we're gone. He later shows up dead, seemingly hurled off the top of the tower. She has the motive, but then wouldn't she have just done it when moving him? I still find it most likely he killed himself; he felt overwhelmingly guilty. When you first arrive, paraphrased "I told the councilor what happened to Rose." "How did he take it?" "Not well." When he dies, she says she does not think he was pushed. Though if there was foul play, Lady Piscarilius was the most dismissive, but she's like that with everyone.

-------------LOOSE END: What exactly happened with Xeric and Xamphur between the Age of Strife and now?-------------

Ektheme in the library is where it's said that for his mortal form and Xeric, the remains were not recovered. But I'm going to entertain my inner conspiracy theorist: There's no RECORD of the remains being recovered, and we know the Shayzien line are ashamed of their connection to Xeric.

The Ascent of Arceuus: VERY important information I stumbled upon in the local church: The Ascent DOES leave behind a body. This tells us two things: Xeric and Xamphur did leave behind bodies in their ascents, and there's a huge catacomb of soulless bodies buried below Arceuus. Right next to the Dark Altar. You know I'm sure it's fine.



(cont next post, these next few are a doozy.) Headcanon Haven, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.
OSRS Lore: Xeric
Slepe Tight - Slepe Lore

22-Feb-2022 03:31:07 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2022 04:08:03 by Lego Miester

-------LOOSE END: Xeric/Xamphur continued-------

After being "killed" the first time, Shayzien VII would have left behind a corpse when resurrecting himself as Xeric. What if they were entombed in secret in the Shayzien Crypts? We'll get back to that. Cut off from the Dark Altar in the revolt and driven to Quidamortem, Xeric withered. I believe this is when he created the amulet with the dark crystal in it to use another's body as a proxy ala Voldemort using Quirrel. So then how did it wind up buried in a box in a Draynor pig pen?



To answer, we skip forward many hundred years to about 30-40 years ago when Xamphur, who was originally blamed for Xeric's downfall and imprisoned in Molch managed to escape and convince the lizardmen to follow him instead. Among his other machinations, somehow Xamphur was beaten by a treasure hunter (Veos) but planted the seeds to lead them back together. How?

Trying to tie things together with HEAVY speculation. A resurrection requires an ENSOULED head. Xeric's soul-amulet was buried as far from Kourend as possible. What if Veos was responsible for this, obtaining the amulet from Rose (knowing her, she probably buried it behind a sliding puzzle...) and working with Konar to hide it (Curious Client story)? Xamphur then TRIES to resurrect Xeric in the catacombs, AND FAILS, because the body has no soul. The tomb explodes, the body is destroyed, leaving nothing but a charred skull. (This outburst of necromancy would certainly explain why the area is infested with powerful zombies.) Xamphur, under a disguise, manages to trick Veos with promises of treasure into reobtaining the amulet and getting posessed by it. He later steals the skull from the Old Dwarf after sicking some skeletons on him, believing he will need it to fully restore Xeric. Headcanon Haven, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.
OSRS Lore: Xeric
Slepe Tight - Slepe Lore

22-Feb-2022 03:32:22 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2022 04:00:55 by Lego Miester

-------------LOOSE END: What are Xeric and Xamphur planning?-------------

A dwarf at the bar comments on a particularly big earthquake, he thinks it's coming from "that volcano to the west",Mount Karaluum. The same place Xamphur visited in the short story. This is the same earthquake that caused Veos to "wander off in a trance" and which Xeric later comments was definitely caused by Xamphur releasing a "considerable amount of dark energy I could not ignore." Xamphur is experimenting with other ways to harness the Dark Altar.

Xamphur has been using the council to get access to the Dark Altar. These experiments are unrelated to Xeric finding a new way to accomplish their goals with little need for Kourend. "Soon time will be of little meaning to us. We will meet again in the South."



The Unstable Altar's purpose was to make Xeric and his followers immortal in the same way the Arceuus are. Due to the flashback, we know this altar was Xeric's. To me, this says Xeric has been resuming this old line of research while Xamphur has been doing something new beneath Mt Karaluum. Headcanon Haven, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.
OSRS Lore: Xeric
Slepe Tight - Slepe Lore

22-Feb-2022 03:36:09 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2022 03:41:56 by Lego Miester

Lastly, some unsorted musings I jotted down that didn't make it into dedicated theories:

-------UNSORTED MUSINGS--------

Underappreciated moment: Retreiving Kaht B'alam's last egg. Xamphur may have manipulated the lizardmen into fighting Kourend once more but not all agree with that philosophy.



The iconic "if you consider one option too closely, you'll become blind to all other posibilities" is notably from Lord Arceuus after we suggest Veos is posessed by Xeric. Notably when asked by Fullore "what do you think of the house members?" Arceuus is said to be surprisingly humble, but ancient with his fair share of secrets.

As for where Xamphur's lair is, the elevator in the center seemed the most obvious, but looking at it again, it's VERY distinctly dragonkin. No mistaking it.

https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Mount_Karuulm Wiki indicates all the experiments and labs were them, and the tasakaal came in later, then the Kourend humans.

The Desciples of Yama forsaw our coming and took the Dark Nullifier. So they have a device that can nullify magical connections now. That's probably fine too. Poking around the chasm, a Disciple mentioned the initiation ritual involves bruma roots and a good ol' fashioned human sacrifice. Bruma roots in a demon ritual? Hmm. On a possibly related note, Undor at Wintertodt talks of it being both a fire AND ice spirit, and Esther talks of Xeric being interested in the root's magical properties.


an ancient abandoned lizardman temple near shayzien. completely useless for now, but a big "open me!" door. The temple likely dates back to Xeric's rule, as it is on Shayzien's side of the wall. Headcanon Haven, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.
OSRS Lore: Xeric
Slepe Tight - Slepe Lore

22-Feb-2022 03:47:17

-------UNSORTED MUSINGS PART II--------

Shiro stepping down from the prospect of the throne after Hosidius's leverage notably includes that they would not cycle the kingship between houses as before in the new Accord. Remember he's being blackmailed as he says all this. Hosidius may have died, but he was playing the long game.

The assassins start once we're on the trail of Rose and name Martin Holt first. Next they come for Jorra as he's about to give us incriminating evidence of the council. Lastly, they kill the king with a Varlamore dagger. Who do they work for? Holt thinks the Council, but by the time the king is assassinated the Council is disbanded.

The Dark Altar powers the Doors of Dinh. The Tasakaal understand this power. If we ever learn the origin of the Dark Altar, Dinh and the Tasakaal would be where to look. (I had a quickly discarded wild theory that The Old Dwarf was somehow Dinh himself, but I've got no backing for that one!)

BONUS: under "SPOILERS to the end of A Kingdom Divided] Possible clue I found" on Reddit, JediLincoln14 points out something I completely missed: Lord Hosidius married Shiro Shayzien's sister, so she is the mother currently whispering manipulation to the new king, Artur Hosidius. Very good catch!

This, notably, puts him as a very probable candidate for the assassinations. If kidnapping a Shayzien civilian who was learning too much was permissable, wouldn't sending assassins to kill the king who cost him the throne be as well? Hosidius was worried he would push for war with Varlamore, and this lines up with that motive. Now Shiro Shayzien's sister whispers in the new king's ear.

____________

And that's my musings over for now! It was fun re-experiencing this quest with the benefit of hindsight. This truly deserves to stand as some of Jagex's best work, and a reminder to all to let go of that spacebar while questing once in a while! Headcanon Haven, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.
OSRS Lore: Xeric
Slepe Tight - Slepe Lore

22-Feb-2022 03:52:04 - Last edited on 04-Mar-2022 15:19:25 by Lego Miester

15-Mar-2022 14:52:19 - Last edited on 15-Mar-2022 14:52:58 by Lego Miester

30-Nov-2023 01:15:27

16-Dec-2023 00:03:57