I've put this theory out before, and while at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Jagex does something else (I prefer to keep an open mind), I'll go to the usual for me.
In the art for Sliske's Endgame, we see the hexagons of the Stone of Jas peeling off. Now, that could allude to the shards you've suggested, and I could see Sliske wanting to mix things up by making
everyone
a contestant. However, that sounds like something that would happen
in
the quest. It would be a part of Sliske's game. The game would only just be continuing, which goes against the idea that the quest is the
end
game.
I think the Stone is peeling for a different reason. It's not simply shattering. It's hatching. We know that the Stone of Jas is like a boiled egg. It's not sustainable for an Elder God. So I suspect that this entire contest is to ensure that it
can
be sustainable. Winning the contest doesn't just get you the Stone of Jas. There's an unborn Elder God that needs another chance at life. Whoever wins the contest will become a vessel for the unborn, the Elder God that could not reincarnate. The Heir of Jas.
There's another factor to the contest, one that I don't see come up as much: Sliske has a time limit. This isn't just that he's getting bored and wants to speed things up. As his ascension, Sliske alluded to an eclipse. He
needs
the contest to end during the eclipse. There's probably a better analogy for this, but think of it like how a power reaches its peak during a particular alignment of the stars, or to be more mundane, incubating an egg. The eclipse will be what causes the egg to hatch.
We know there are Stonetouchers, and the Dragonkin hunt the False Users. But when the Stone of Jas hatches, and the Heir of Jas is decided? We'll have seen the
True
User.
06-Feb-2016 05:52:08