RuneScape Forum Archive | Varrock:The Red-Gold Concordat

Pupppy II

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*no I don't mean white-gold!*

Hello guys! So I was since a long time awaiting for the rework of the quest Demon Slayer, hoping it would bring a much better story then; but honestly I thought it was really dumbed down, with lore only removed, not added, with the rework.

I kept thinking that Varrock deserves a much wider lore (not that the current isn't good enough, but the richest and largest city of Glielinor do deserve as much stories as it can get! (: ), so I tried writing it myself.

Maybe this can inspire the content team of jagex to add in a great story when they decide to rework the quest Shield of Arrav! This is just a dream, but is worth the shot!

My Idea was that both rogue gangs of Varrock enjoyed the story of the book so much that they offered to buy it: Reldo denied, wanting it to stay at his Library, so that everyone can access it; at the end both the gangs tried to steal it at same time, and when the both groups grabbed the book and tried to pull it to themselves, the pages got torn from it, and each gang took the pages they had to their guild. At the quest you could access them back and retrieve it back to the nice mr Reldo.

This should not replace the getting of the shield halves, just an addition, an eastern egg, a good opportunity for new f2p players to start appreciating the rs lore

I tried to keep this story plausible with the current in-game lore, see Foot Notes for more information, at start of page two. It contains further lore explaining that should help understanding mentions which Reldo would suppose the reader already knew from their previous adventures

Please note that English isn't my main language, so I do know my vocabulary or grammar are not the best. I don't like doing a lot of descriptions either lol, so it is a bit concise yes.

If you wish to contact me in game, pm my main Pupppy (no 'II') instead of this acc

23-Feb-2013 20:01:49 - Last edited on 25-Feb-2013 21:01:58 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

Posts: 6,995 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Summary:
post 1: thread intro
post 2: Prologue: Book Intro
post 3: Chapter 1: Birth Of Mishtalin
post 4n5: Chapter 2: The Vampyre Wars
post 6: Chapter 3: The Precedents of the Conflict
post 7n8: Chapter 4: The Crisis of 1288
post 9: Chapter 5: The Red-Gold Civil War
post 10: Chapter 6: The Red-Gold Concordat
post 11n12: foot notes (my comments on the story itself)

Chapter 0: Book Intro

Greetings, fellow student. This is an essay I greatly enjoyed to write, as it explains the origins of the Equal Rights Letter of our kingdom, one the greatest chapters of our history, better than any battle or war we have won!

I have tried to remain as neutral as possible on the facts gathered, but I am a personal fan of Idalgo for what he brought us, so forgive me if you find any impartiality present in my essay. Saradomin knows I’ve done my best on this book's researches and writing. Now, enjoy the learning!

~Reldo

23-Feb-2013 20:02:00 - Last edited on 12-May-2013 23:56:51 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

Posts: 6,995 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Chapter 1: Birth Of Mishtalin

With the birth of the kingdom of Misthalin, on the fabled death of great hero Arrav and arise of the first king Tarrlo Remanis, and his young noble knight Dimitrius Fitzharmon, caster of the powers of the great Shield, our country has been on constant thrive to expand, which brings conflicts, that many times have shown to be violent, needing military approach.

At the first centuries, when the country was smaller, the kings could still manage the military defenses with relative ease, from the capital Varrock. But as we conquered more and more lands from bandits, barbarians and goblins, the territory turned too extensive to be watched and controlled from the Palace of Varrock.

The solution for the problem was the creation of the noble titles, a relic from the third age, of our ancestors of Saranthum city’s ruins. The nobles were gifted further rights, in exchange of the task to hold and sustain military defenses and battalions at lands far away from the capital, to ensure the protection of our people.

It worked as expected: the boundaries were defended and grew even further, and the population met a good period of peace; as the barons, counts and dukes built their own little villages and towns.

23-Feb-2013 20:02:07 - Last edited on 12-May-2013 01:38:36 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

Posts: 6,995 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Chapter 2: The Vampyre Wars

But the age of peace would not stay forever: soon a shadow grew by the far East, behind the river Salve, where the first barons were starting to build their small castles and farms. At year 1170 of fourth age they awakened an evil spirit, said to be made purely of darkness himself: the vampyre lord Lowerniel Drakan, the terrible.

The hateful monster, said to be a trusted general of Zamorak by age of god wars, saw and desired the new humans he had just seen: strong and healthy, he was thirsty to murder them all and drink every drop of blood from their bodies!

The settlements were destroyed, but a few managed to escape, and rode to tell their terrible encounter back to king Hesell. Hearing such terrible news, our king was fast to call upon all of his subjects to a war for their own survival: the soldiers and nobles of all across the country were summoned to the duty.

Even with the vast army, the war started terribly: the powerful vampyres conquered victory after victory, for our men could barely hurt them. Four brave princes of misthalin died at the morytania front, enough to all the armies retreat back, with the last prince, still alive.

23-Feb-2013 20:02:17 - Last edited on 12-May-2013 01:38:42 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

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The city of Varrock got fortified with equipment and men for the war, but the other towns scattered around the country could not defend so well: many were destroyed, and some even betrayed our king and surrendered, to become vampires themselves, fighting their own brothers: such was the faith of the Count Draynor, betrayer who submitted to the forces of Victor Drakan, both believed to be slain later on the war.

For 30 years the great city bravely defended herself, but would have fallen, if it wasn’t for an unexpected help: far at west, a new kingdom had just arisen; from the ashes of Adathorn’s reign his heir Rongollin had appeared to claim his right to rule the reborn kingdom of Asgarnia.

Truth points to the fact that Rongollin’s had the help of a neighbor misthalin duke to succeed his battles against the goblins at his lands, so now he was returning the favor to his allies. It is still impressive, though, how such a new kingdom managed to gather an army of 1000 men to march in the aid of Varrock.

It was with the joint power and thinking of the both nations that they came to discover a way to defeat the vampyre enemies: the Seven Priestly Warriors, on a courageous act, alone broke through the vampyre siege to reach the ruins of Saranthum, and on a hidden temple recovered a powerful relic of Saradomin: the Bright Light, which, from what stories say, appears to be some kind of blessed medallion.

With its holy powers of Saradomin we humans could finally hurt the minions of Drakan, and so the Seven Priests led the counter-offensive which pushed away the forces of Drakan back to their dark country.

The Priests then used again their relic to forever bless the River Salve, so the evil vampyres could never again cross it, and so brought peace to the people of Misthalin once again, blessed be them!

23-Feb-2013 20:02:23 - Last edited on 25-Aug-2013 13:56:43 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

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Chapter 3: The Precedents of the Conflict

Victory was achieved, but at great costs. Many of the nobles’ villages and town were destroyed by the vampyre enemies, and rebuilding them showed to be an arduous task, as the goblins and bandits, with the previous war, had had time enough to strengthen again, and now threw wave after wave of attacks to murder the constructors and steal their supplies.

As a result, many of the nobles now moved to Varrock: their titles gave them the right to confiscate the houses of any-one non-noble: they occupied the northern side of the city, expelling its habitants to the south, which now became overcrowded.

The city was partially destroyed by the war, and the nobles had the right to claim for their streets to be reformed first: but their standards were high, and the crown ended up spending more than supposed to on the north: so much that no money was left to be spent on the reconstruction of the southern part.

The ones who held a good portion of money from commerce or other activities had to pay it by themselves to rebuild their homes, and those many who didn’t have money for such were simply abandoned, to live in a dirty, smelly, ugly and chaotic slum their districts quickly turned into.

23-Feb-2013 20:02:31 - Last edited on 24-Feb-2013 13:38:08 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

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Chapter 4: The Crisis of 1288

The arrogance of the nobles did not end there: they forbid the southern poor people to even walk among their streets, for their smell and bad appearance made those rich disgusted, though hardly pious.

Following diseases and hungriness would make the situation even worse, for now the southern ones had less and less strength to work on honest jobs and improve their life. Situation got so bad that they saw no other option but to rob and steal.

A massive wave of burglars, thieves and even kidnappers reached the rich and beautiful northern streets, and the nobles, terrorized, demanded for an action from the king Terrus. But he was in doubt, as the poor population was also demanding for help, he knew they were suffering.

With the king remaining undecided, the nobles took action by themselves: contracting bands of mercenaries from the dead Wastelands of the north, they created their own guard, nicknamed as ‘Golden’, for the wealth they protected.

23-Feb-2013 20:02:38 - Last edited on 23-Feb-2013 22:50:35 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

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Such guards were too brute and violent, just like the place they formerly lived at; quickly they gone further from their jobs, indiscriminately beating any poor person they would find on sight, no matter if a honest man or not.

Frustration and rage took all the minds of the slums of south, and a new figure arose to preach them how unfair it really was.

It was Idalgo the red, a zamorakian monk whose origins were from the asgarnian lands: for long he had lived and taught the young knights of Kinshra about their religion, living on a society in which the king and queen claimed all to have the same rights and duties, no matter what their religion or origin may be; their status and wealth were gained through hard work and competence, not heredity.

He was now preaching those same principles to that poor, humiliated population of the south of Varrock, for long tormented by a past they couldn’t even control. His words spread like flames on the driest hays, soon they all were claiming for revolution, for equal rights for all, with the abolishment of noble titles!

23-Feb-2013 20:02:44 - Last edited on 24-Feb-2013 13:43:01 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

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Chapter 5: The Red-Gold Civil War

As Idalgo was gathering his own Red Militia to fight for their rights, heavily supported by the poorest population in numbers and by non-noble businessmen in resources, duke Joan Whitechest organized the Golden Guard, made of hired mercenaries and noble knights.

When king Terrus finally took acknowledgement of the danger of the situation, it was just too late: the city raged on riots and bloody civil war, with houses burning, smoke spreading, people dying and children crying. Hate had spread everywhere, innocent families locked themselves inside their houses, as the wide noises and screams of wild fights roared on the outside.

He then quickly gathered his Royal Guard and himself led the way to reach the pillory square, main location of the battles. There they quickly struck the both sides, pushing the people on the way and arresting the leadership of both factions.

23-Feb-2013 20:02:51 - Last edited on 24-Feb-2013 13:51:04 by Pupppy II

Pupppy II

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Chapter 6: The Red-Gold Concordat

But instead of sending them to jail, he invited both to his palace, and told them: they could either work together and compromise to reach a concordat to make happy the both sides, or they would simply face execution.

After three days being kept on the Palace’s cell, they finally reached a consensus, and the Red-Gold Concordat was signed by Idalgo and Joan, leaders of both sides.

The noble titles were allowed to remain, but under conditions: either it would still be kept hereditary and with local government rights, but for so the noble must fulfill their military duties to protect and manage the land they own;

Or title should be kept just for the individuals, not hereditary, with no further privileges or rights, rather a pompous sign of distinction and respect to the person, being it bought from the Crown for a fee, which would help the king rebuild the city and perform the duty the ‘noble’ refuse to do.

The population of Varrock can now breathe in relief, as now any and every citizen owns the same rights which shall not be negated as long as a king or queen still occupies the great throne of Misthalin!

23-Feb-2013 20:02:58 - Last edited on 23-Feb-2013 23:02:44 by Pupppy II

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Varrock:The Red-Gold Concordat