Second, I would like to say beforehand that this post is rather lengthy. Make sure you have, say a glass of water near you and a few minor snacks. I would like it if you took the time to read the whole thing through, but I acknowledge that some of us out there do not have the same level of patience as others.
Anyhow, without further ado, here is my suggestion for a new minigame (and a new, not just area, but several cities).
Memories of Kí
The days and nights of the Kharidian Desert were always cruel ones. The merciless sun beat down upon Al-Kharid during the day, and the cold, swift night swept in as the sun set below the horizon. The Kharidians were used to these harsh conditions, and life prospered.
But not this year. This year, in the high heat of afternoon, a sandstorm blew in; a sandstorm so strong its likeness had not been seen for two hundred years. For seven days and seven nights, it was fatal to walk outside. The gates were closed to outsiders for their own safety. It was fatal to walk outside, whether you had rune armor or no. The residents of Al-Kharid stayed shut inside their tents and houses; they lived off what food and drink they had in their dwellings. Several were close to death from starvation when, on the dawn of the eighth day, a sudden calm dropped upon the city like a blanket.
Cautiously, the Kharidians opened their doors. Sand was piled everywhere to a depth of three feet - that was to be expected. Grumbling at their misfortune, but otherwise stunned speechless, the Kharidians began the long, wearisome task of cleaning up.
So it was that a young man, by the name of Ossar, walked behind the Palace to clear sand away from its walls. With his spade, he started shifting the piles of sand when something bright caught his eye. It shone with all the colors of the rainbow, and he had a sense that there were more colors, besides. Something vague flashed briefly, enough to show it was there, but too quick to leave a lasting impression. The eight color of the rainbow.
He leaned in, curious as to what was making this pretty light. He found a shiny piece of metal, torn off the roof and polished smooth by the sand. The metal was reflecting something that lay behind him. Ossar turned, and there, perhaps thirty feet away, he saw a strange sight.
Sand was flowing into a hole in the ground. It wasn't a rift like that left by earthquakes; it was a square hole, with sides five feet long, cut in the desert bedrock. The object emitting the light lay on the edge.
Ossar walked closer, and picked up the object. He was that it was some sort of gemstone, not rough like those found in ores, but not symmetrical, like the cut ones he saw in the gem seller's stall. It was irregular and looked as if it had chipped off of something larger. It had a sort of icy color, a light blue that he could not identify. The sunlight shining through it was refracted into the colors he had seen earlier. Or...no, silly to think, the gem couldn't possibly be giving off the colors.
He put it into his pouch and looked into the hole. At the end close to him he could see a flight of steps. Dank air flowed out from inside the space, dank, stale air that had not been outside in a long, long while. It all had the appearance of some dark, dangerous crypt, the type that would be swarming with skeletons and ghouls.
Ossar shrugged and stepped in.
The stairs continued for a short while, then opened up into a wide chamber. Columns held up the high roof to the right and left of the stairs, with arcane symbol-writing on them. They created a sort of hallway of columns, and at the end, about ten feet away, there was a wall with a large hole in it.
Puzzled, Ossar stepped forward. Before he had taken three steps, a loud crack! echoed through the chamber. Veins of icy-blue light race along the walls and floor, converging on the hole. They swarmed inside it, and soon covered it with a sheet of pure magical energy. A slight hum arose. This, at least, was familiar. Ossar knew what this was.
Smiling, he stepped through the portal.
***************
He came out in a desert much like the one he had left. Behind him, the portal rose from the ground and hovered, a circle of stone covered with light.
Ossar saw a building in the distance. Crying out at signs of civilization, Ossar strode forward, happy.
Two minutes later, he found himself in what seemed like Al-Kharid. Only.... He looked around. Where was the Palace? Where were the bank, the general store, the gem seller, the silk stall, and the scimitar shop? They were gone. All around him, unfamiliar buildings rose around him.
Desperate, he reached out and tapped the shoulder of a man passing him. "Excuse me, friend," he said, "but do you know where I am?" The stranger laughed, and said, "You are in the mighty city of Zharam, foreigner."
Ossar knew of no Zharam. Then, a horrible thought struck him. "Sorry," he said to the stranger once more, "but when am I?"
The stranger looked at him as if he were mad. "Why," he said matter-of-factly, "this is the eighth year of the Third Age, my friend."
***************
Here begins the tale of the city of Zharam, and the all-mighty Kí. Zharam is the Al-Kharid of the Third Age. At that time, the desert was a grand Kingdom, with several cities. The Desert Kingdom was called Irsander, and its capital was Zharam. It had three other towns, Hadmar, Kíalund, and Toreth. Zharam was a center of trade the size of Varrock. It had two banks, several anvils, a furnace, a crafting store, and archery shop, a pub, a splendid Palace, and a general store. Hadmar was a small fishing village by the side of an oasis. It had a general store, a fishing shop, a few houses where you could find a cooking fire, and an axe store. In the oasis, players could catch some new fish, including stlitfish, hippopotamus, and crocodile (okay, the last two aren't really fish. But you can catch them with a harpoon.) Toreth was a mining community, with a mining pit just north of it containing coal, mithril, a few adamantites, some iron, and even a rune rock, although it was guarded by a Demon Lord (level 100) that you had to defeat to gain entry to the rune rock. The Demon Lord would stand in the passage that separated the rune rock from the others and challenged anyone who tried to enter. Toreth itself contained a bank, a general store, some anvils, a pickaxe shop, and a furnace for people with at least 60 smithing and 65 mining.
And Kíalund? Kíalund had a small bank, a general store, a few yews. But mainly it wasn't an industrial town.
It was a holy town.
This is where Irsanders came to pray to their god, the Great God Kí, Lord of the Sands and all who dwell therein. In the very center of the town was a huge temple, bigger than the White Knight's Castle. The God Wars had been fought, and two gods emerged on top of all the others. These were Zamorak and Saradomin. They were later joined by Guthix to be the Three Gods of RuneScape. Zamorak was the god of Evil, Saradomin the God of Good, and Guthix the God of Balance. They were often described as a set of scales. Zamorak would be at one end, weighing down with all his hatred. Saradomin was on the opposite end, fighting for the forces of Good. The set of scales was Guthix himself, striving to bring the whole thing into Balance.
But what many knew, but later forgot in the Fourth Age, was that there was a fourth god. No one knows where this god came from, but all agreed he was there. Think back to the scale illustration. Zamorak at one end, Saradomin at the other, and Guthix in between, supporting both and trying to bring them into Balance.
But what, the philosopher asks, is the scale standing on? And so we find the essence of the fourth god - the Great God Kí, Lord of Sands, and God of Being, God of Substance. Zamorak and Saradomin were trying to twist the world into their images. Guthix was trying to prevent it. But all the while, ever present was the Great God Kí. Guthix cared too much. Kí couldn't care less. Guthix created RuneScape. Kí was RuneScape. Kí was the God of Being, and so he made up everything. All were his to command, if he so chose. But he never did choose to do so. Zamorak, Saradomin, even Guthix, all where at his mercy. They left him alone as a type of self-protection. Makes no sense to poke at sleeping dragons, as the saying went.
The Irsanders worshipped Kí. As his loyal subjects, they followed his example and exiled themselves from the rest of RuneScape. They built gleaming walls around their Kingdom. Just like Kí wouldn't interact with the other gods, they wouldn't interact with the rest of RuneScape. As a result, if you ever take the portal back in time and walk the roads of Irsander, you won't be able to go beyond the borders. At that time the Desert was larger than it is now, so don't bother yourself trying to figure out how four entire cities fit into an area the size of Al-Kharid. The whole thing is about 1.5 times the size of the Wilderness.
In the center of the temple, there hung a huge crystal from the ceiling. Carved in the shape of a tendril of energy, Kí's holy symbol, this crystal glowed with an icy-blue light, illuminating the temple. Every so often, streaks of light would flash across it, green then red then gold then crimson, as fast as thought.
As fast as thought....because that is what they were. Kí's being is RuneScape; the land is his body. If he so chooses, he can appear as an apparition of whatever shape he wants, in order to converse with mortals; but the land and what it is made of is Kí's being. And as every being must have a brain, so it was with Kí. That is what this crystal was. Kí's mind.
On three sides of Irsander, the borders were surrounded by a gleaming wall of stone and brick. On the fourth, however, the fourth side which faced away from the rest of RuneScape; there the land was rent by a great gash, stretching up and down the east coast.
It was so large that the far side could not be seen, not even on a clear day, and so deep that the bottom was likewise hidden. Irsanders tried, once, to determine its depth by dropping a torch in and trying to see how far it fell. The torch was swallowed in mid-air.
Legend has it that, in the days when the other gods had just recently become aware of Kí, Zamorak tried to attack him. Combining his forces, he let loose a flame that ravaged this section of land and created this deep pit. In retaliation, Kí, with the flick of a hand the size of a castle, crushed several Chaos Temples. Zamorak, and the other gods, soon learned to leave him alone after that.
Nevertheless, the damage was done. The Edge, as it became known, instantly acquired a vile reputation. A power soon began to flow from it. Some deep, primordial force had stirred in the depths and now sent its thought out to terrorize Irsander. The Irsanders prayed to Kí for help, and Kí responded.
He appeared in ghostly form and, by merely thinking about it, called into being an outpost on the edge of the Edge, as it were. Then he vanished, retreating back into his crystal. The Irsanders sent their best warriors to man this camp. Inside the main building, they found ropes, spikes, hammers, torches, and pickaxes - not the mining type. These pickaxes seemed to be meant for....climbing.....
Yes, you heard me. Irsander's new minigame, Cave Wars, requires a band of healthy adventurers to shrug on their harnesses and step out over the bottomless pit. Sound easy? As you step over the Edge, your view will shift so that you're looking at your character's back as he/she crawls along the wall. Nightwings, a type of overgrown bat/eagle, fly about randomly, and if one starts heading towards you, you better avoid it, because while you're climbing you can't be wearing any armor or wield a shield (the armor weighs you down; the shield you can't use because your shield arm is busy hanging onto a rope for dear life.) The only weapons you can wield are a dagger (for warriors) or a crossbow (for rangers) and even with those you cannot move while attacking, because you need two hands for climbing, and at least one for holding on.
As you explore the wall of the Edge, you might come across a cave or two. This is where the minigame gets exciting. If you choose to enter the cave, you will be able to put on whatever armor and weapons you like. You will find a narrow corridor which soon branches off into a series of passages making for a very confusing maze. As you try to navigate it, the cave's poisonous atmosphere occasionally leeches some of your health. Constant earthquakes rack the place, so the way in will be different every time, and the way out changes behind you. Occasionally you will be trapped and will have to wait for the passage to open up again. If this happens, you better hope it opens before the poisonous air kills you.
At the center of this maze is the thing whose very thought terrifies the people of Irsander. A strange creature, it was drawn into this plane when Guthix created RuneScape and imprisoned in the earth until Zamorak unknowingly unleashed it. It resembles a chaotic tangle of thorns and bones, shaped roughly into the shape of an enormous reptilian skull. It is large. It has a combat level of 780, surpassing TzTok-Jad and making it the most dangerous monster in all of RuneScape. It can attack with all three styles, magic, range, and melee, and it can use "protect" prayers. And, of course, it can heal itself. This monster is known by one name: the Death Elemental. Some people will argue, though, that it is easier to kill than TzTok-Jad because on this monster, unlike on Jad, you can team.
That's exactly what you'll find as you enter the cavern. Here, the poisonous air vents out through a charred hole in the ceiling, and you are able to breathe safely. That's little comfort, though, knowing that you're in the same cave as the most powerful monster RuneScape has ever faced. There is a fair crowd of warriors around it, hacking with rune scimitars, dragon battleaxes, and other tools of destruction. The Death Elemental releases a small bolt of magic that sends three of them flying. Orderly rows of archers fire in unison and mages tint the air with the scent of magic. Bolts of fire and earth, arrows of adamantite, runite, and dragon, they all fly up at the Elemental's head. The magic is absorbed except for one small spell that manages to singe a small patch of bone. The arrows clutter off the Elemental's skin, but a dragon arrow hits and sticks in the Elemental's head. The Elemental retaliates, vaporizing a row of mages, but the small damage has been done. All the fighters and rangers and mages give a great cheer and prepare for another attack. This is what you will face. A monster that could kill you easily, whether you have protect prayers or no, whether you have armor or no. The only way to defeat this Elemental is through sheer force of numbers. It takes about 165 decent-level players to take down the Elemental, but it can be done. A good deal of them would die, yes, but you just have to hope it won't be you. The good thing is that Kí arranged some magic so that whoever dies fighting the Death Elemental will respawn in Kíalund. Their gravestone would fall into a large space beside the Edge. If a player had a decent gravestone, and a few players showed kindness by blessing or repairing it, then they could get their items back by running directly to the outpost's graveyard. If you are miraculously left alive after the Elemental falls, you will be teleported by the same magic to Kíalund. When you are gone, the Elemental will respawn, ready for the next set of adventurers to slaughter.
You'll be far away by then, though, inside the Temple at Kíalund. There, the crystal of Kí will speak to you, thanking you for slaying the evil creature and giving you a few rewards to choose from. These rewards will vary as you rise or fall in Kí's favor. If you go to fight the Elemental, you will rise in Kí's favor. If you actually survive the ordeal more than once, you will rise even more. Your favor will be represented by a ranking, like at Fist of Guthix. The higher the ranking, the better the rewards.
Rewards
The numbers represent ranking.
100 - ~ Robes of Kí = These resemble combat robes, druid robes, or battle robes, except they are icy-blue. They offer great bonuses to prayer, and while worn your prayer points will be boosted by ten.
101 - 300 ~ Orb = This an icy-blue orb which can hold magical charge. Unlike the orbs at the tops of staffs, this can hold any type of rune, and any combination of runes at once. Also unlike the orb on a staff, it can be mounted onto pretty much anything - you can put it in the center of a rune platebody, on the top of a normal staff, in the hilt of a sword, on a ranger's cape.... You can draw energy from this orb to cast spells. Unfortunately, unlike the orbs atop staffs, it does not have an unlimited supply of energy. Once it runs out, you will have to put more runes into it. Basically it's like a pouch for runes that can never get full and can be put on armor/weapons.
Spoiler - Orb mounted on a Rune 2h:
301 - 800 ~ Power = Just what it sounds like. Players this high in Kí's favor will receive a tendril of power that can give 100k of xp to the skill of your choice (F2p can't advance in member's-only skills, though). Because of the large amount, you can only choose this reward once every month.
801 - 1,500 ~ Kíat-helt = Kí's holy book. When wielded, it occupies the same slot as your shield would. You hold it in your left hand. It gives a substantial bonus to prayer and the same bonus to defense as a mithril kiteshield. You can also read prayers out of it, like you can with the other Holy Books, and you can use it to bless symbols.
Spoiler - Kíat-helt:
1,501 - 2,500 ~ Amulet of Thought = This is a small shard of crystal from the very mind of Kí, carved in the shape of a swirl of power and hung on a runite chain. When worn, it gives +8 to all stats except prayer, +10 to prayer, and has a very, very special side effect. I'll take a moment to explain it.
As anyone who has talked with the Wise Old Man of Draynor Village knows, the discovery and mastery of magic is what vaulted humans into the Fifth Age. Irsander, though, existed in the Third Age. There were no teleport spells, fire blasts, binds, and whatnot. What, then, did they use instead? Prayer.
Yes, prayer. Magic, as we know it, is "offensive." A great majority of it is used to harm foes. Prayer is "defensive," most of them focus on increasing your own power rather than decreasing other's. But this has not always been the case. In the olden days of the Third Age, magic was altogether unknown and had a fine replacement - offensive prayers.
When you wear the Amulet of Thought, the picture of your spellbook will be replaced by a picture of the Kíat-helt. When you click on it, you will see a completely new interface. The magic spells will be replaced by prayers. Where fire blast is there will be Divine Flames - when you use it on a player flames will arise around them and burn them, causing, at maximum, +10 more damage than fire blast could have. Where varrock teleport is there will be Sunray, which can call down a shaft of sunlight to burn and blind a foe. None of these require "ammunition," like magic requires runes. Instead, you will have something called "divine points." These equal your prayer level times your magic level. So, if you have maximum prayer and magic, 99 each, then your divine points will be 99 X 99 = 9801. These will deplete as you use a prayer, the higher prayers depleting faster than the lower ones and also requiring a higher magic level to use in the first place. The highest prayer, which requires 99 magic and depletes 1,000 divine points each time you use it, is called Blessed Power, will encircle you in an orb of icy-blue light, which will explode outward and severely damage (not to mention freeze, literally crystallize) any enemies (or friends - be careful in a PvP zone!) around you.
Your Divine Points recharge slowly at a rate of about 100-150 per day. The higher your maximum Divine Points, though, the faster they recharge. There is also a secret room in the caves that has an alter that can help recharge your DP. The poisonous air makes sure you can't stay too long, and the frequent maze-changing earthquakes make it hard to find.
You think this is all this Amulet has to offer? For those with a favor rating of 2,000 or more, it has yet one more special trick. It is, in essence, a piece of Kí's mind. Thus, you're carrying a god with you if you wear the Amulet. This, of course, has several advantages. For one, if you go to the "worn" inventory, right click on the Amulet, and select "operate," you can release some of Kí's energy and use it to clone yourself.
Yes, clone yourself. Kí, never forget, is the God of Being, so he can summon any being whenever he wants. When you use this power, a ghostly form of yourself will appear and fight alongside you. It cannot use prayers, and can only wield/wear what you were wearing at the time you summoned it. It cannot heal itself. It will vanish when it runs out of health. This power you can use once a month.
A few of these items can make you extremely powerful, even godlike, if you use them with the right timing. Thus, you can only claim one reward every half-month. If you lose it in between that time, well, you'll have to wait. The Robes of Kí, the full set, count as one item in this regard.
This is my proposal for a new place, a few new cities (because we haven't had enough of those lately) a new time, and a new minigame. Say what you want about it, I think it's not bad. A few things seem rushed, but mind you, it took me a few days to revise it. If you have any comments/criticism/suggestions, please post.
Thank you.
Note on the pics ~ I'm not a profesional faker. The two pics there are meant to give a rough visual example as opposed to a line of text. If anyone out there has more skill than me (and there is an almost endless number of people like that), feel free to make a pic of anything in this post - redo the existing ones, for example, or make a map of Irsander, or make a pic of the Amulet of Thought, or a pic of the Death Elemental. I would greatly appreciate it.
you kinda over exagerated the Death Elemental is all and never stated the rating and restoration rate of Divine points. I still think there should be some sort of alter somewhere...maybe a secret room in the caves? 