Sliske

Sliske (pronounced slis-KAY ) is a Mahjarrat loyal to Zaros and the brother of Wahisietel. Azzanadra describes him as "Sliske the serpent-tongued, who delves the shadows". and Zemouregal calls him: "One of the more powerful of our number. Sliske has particularly strong shapeshifting capabilities and powers over shadows. I would love to catch this guy, but he's a slippery fellow." His name is similar to the Polish word "śliskie" meaning "slippery". Sliske is one of the more mysterious and powerful Mahjarrat, being unfindable unless he desires to seek you himself. He also collects strong warriors and adds them to his collection as his undead wights, which he uses in battle.

Although a devout Zarosian, Sliske is very unlike his fellow Mahjarrat. In line with his titles, Sliske is extremely cunning, an excellent liar and able to betray allies at a whim. He often works towards his own goals while making his allies believe what they want to believe. This is most evident when he turns against an allied adventurer at the 18th Rejuvenation Ritual, and even more when he pretends to agree with Wahisietel and Azzanadra to wake and bargain with Guthix to return Zaros, when in reality he had somehow obtained the Staff of Armadyl, planning to slay the god.

Guthix achieved its godhood by slaying the ancient god Skargaroth with one of the Elder Weapons, transferring Skargaroth's power to Guthix in a similar way as how Zamorak became a god, knowing that it is more than a possibility that Sliske became extremely powerful after killing Guthix. Azzanadra also speaks of this if you talk to him about Guthix's death.

Abilities
Not much is known of Sliske's powers. He is known for "delving the shadows," possibly due to his "powers over shadows," as Zemouregal mentioned in his notes. Sliske's "power over shadows" is noted to be very useful by Azzanadra, who states that "Not many of our kind are able to reach into the Shadow Realm, but of those who can, Sliske’s mastery is unmatched." . Azzanadra has also said of Sliske, "An ally he may be, but I did not become master of my Lord's legions without being sure of the powers wielded by those close to me. Sliske is one whose actions can be seen each and every day in the smallest of this world's details."

Suggested by the fellow Mahjarrat's comments, it is possible that Sliske is intelligent and very cunning, as he was known to Azzanadra as "Sliske the serpent-tongued" and a "slippery fellow" to Zemouregal. His "Serpent-tongue" seems to be similar to the abilities of the Ring of Charos. Azzanadra states that "too many would assume this to be just his manner of speaking – he is far from being a snake. Rather, his words carry weight in the mind, and have a way of bending the weak to his will". Azzanadra has also stated that "power is fleeting, and Sliske always gets what he wants out of deals; I’d advise, should you ever meet him, not to make deals with him.". This is further evidenced by his backstabbing of the player in The Ritual of the Mahjarrat, where he attempts to turn you into a Barrows wight.

He is thought to have great control over the undead, as he is thought to be the stranger in The Fall of Six who granted the Barrows brothers their abilities and to have reanimated their spirits; the stranger in the tale is described as "delving into the shadows at its (the camp's) edge". Azzanadra states that "Sliske himself did not kill his Barrows toys, but it was the power he granted them that sealed their fate." It seems Sliske only controls specific warriors of whom he thinks are worthy of becoming his slaves, unlike Zemouregal, who takes any zombie as his servant, and trains them later.



Arrival to Gielinor
Sliske, like the rest of his kin, was brought to Gielinor from Freneskae, the realm of perpetual warfare, by the Menaphite god of the dead, Icthlarin. The Mahjarrat served him and protected the desert, until switching allegiance to Zaros, who offered them more combat and freedom. Sliske was amongst those Mahjarrat who grew happy with Zaros's reign, although he always retained a certain trait of unpredictability. As Sliske's own combat abilities are yet to be seen, it is likely that he animated the corpses of fallen enemies to serve as his wights, as he does today.

Not a lot is known about Sliske's actions during the fall of Zaros, when Zaros's general Zamorak started a rebellion which ended with Zaros vanished and Zamorak becoming a god himself. Zamorak briefly cooperated with Saradomin to destroy everything that remained of the Empty Lord's empire before beginning the God Wars against the remaining three gods of any significant power (Saradomin, Armadyl and Bandos).

Release of Nex


As the purge of Zaros' followers reached its conclusion, the last army of Zaros was trying to secure the location of the Mahjarrat ritual stone when they were attacked by Saradominists. Zaros' forces were led by the devastating creature Nex. The Saradominists had no hope of defeating such a strong force, so with great effort they drove Zaros' army back into a cave where they were sent into an enchanted sleep, after which the cave was sealed. Saradomin then erected a temple around it. As even Zaros's most powerful champion, Azzanadra, fell to the forces of Zamorak and Saradomin, and the settlements of Zaros fell one by one, Sliske did what he did best and went into hiding as the God Wars began.

Towards the end of the God Wars, a small flock of Armadyl's Aviantese followers were ambushed by a much larger group of demons that Zamorak had sent. The Aviantese carried the "Godsword", an exceptionally powerful weapon imbued with the power of a deity. Unable to repel the attack, the Aviantese fled into the very same temple, unaware of what it covered. Forces from all sides soon arrived, and the Battle for the Godsword erupted.

Sliske, seeing an opportunity, disguised himself as a follower of Guthix and used his manipulating influence on a group of Saradominists. He told them that Guthix was an almighty god, the only one powerful enough to stop the war (which, some time later, turned out to be true) and that a ritual had to be performed to awake Guthix from his slumber. The priests, amongst whose number was Ashuelot Reis, were converted to Guthixism and performed the ritual. To their horror, the ritual instead unlocked the seal Saradomin had placed and thus opened the Ancient Prison. Nex and her forces were free, and caused huge losses amongst all sides. Sliske slipped away again, his work done.

Unbeknownst to Sliske, all four forces (those of Zamorak, Armadyl, Saradomin and Bandos) united for the only time in history to drive back the Zarosians. Eventually, they succeeded and they sealed the army behind a frozen door. Its key was smashed into four pieces, one to be guarded by each faction. Their common threat defeated, the factions once again broke into fighting. With the constant warfare the temple itself collapsed, burying and freezing the four remaining factions for millennia. Ashuelot saw the error of her ways and became a nature spirit in the icy prison, ready to warn people should they ever breach the frozen door.

Morytania Campaign
As a reward for helping in the coup of Zaros, Zamorak granted vampyre overlord Lowerniel V. Drakan the right to invade Hallowland and claim it as his own. So he went in with a huge army of vampyres. The defending icyene put up a good fight, but the country eventually fell. When he reached the capital Hallowvale, where humans and Icyene lived in peace, he managed to kidnap King Ascertes, forcing Queen Efaritay to surrender and give up the city. Drakan gave power to an already strong vampyre named Vanstrom Klause to find the last Icyene of Hallowland, Efaritay's son Safalaan and renamed the city Meiyerditch.

A Saradominist campaign was launched at the end of the God Wars, consisting of an army of several thousand mercenaries and warriors, in an attempt to reclaim "Morytania" in the name of Saradomin. They were led by six brothers, each very adept at their branch of combat. Sliske appeared before them disguised once again, and granted them great powers. The campaign advanced, albeit with difficulty. After one last stop, the army advanced and reached the walls of Darkmeyer and Castle Drakan. Sliske then appeared before the six brothers, Ahrim, Dharok, Guthan, Karil, Torag and Verac, and spoke to them. He told them that he had given them power so that they could serve their god, but now, it was time for them to serve his god. The brothers all died and were interred under barrows just outside Darkmeyer. Sliske raised the brothers as his undead minions and tasked them with guarding a precious Zarosian artefact. Drakan had suffered a blow, but due to the brothers' deaths, the campaign failed and the vampyres were victorious. The indifferent but satisfied Slike disappeared yet again.

18th Ritual of Rejuvenation
Sliske first showed himself to players in Ritual of the Mahjarrat. He revealed himself to the player as the individual who had been keeping The Barrows Brothers trapped as vengeful spirits. He appeared at Ghorrock for the Ritual of Rejuvenation just at the time the player, Wahisietel, Sir Tiffy Cashien and a battalion of Temple Knights were about to fight Lucien and his forces, and joined the fight against Lucien, aiding in defeating the powerful Ice Demons that he summons.

When the Ritual commenced, Sliske went along with Lucien's suggestion that the fellow Zarosian Jhallan should be sacrificed because he is the weakest of their kind. When the decision was about to be made, Wahisietel demanded that Lucien had to be the one sacrificed due to the danger he offers to Gielinor, starting a fight between the Zarosian and the Zamorakian Mahjarrat. During the fight, Sliske summoned the Barrows Brothers once more to fight off Zemouregal's followers, starting with Armoured Zombies and ending with Zemouregal's second in command, Sharathteerk.

After the Ritual was completed and Jhallan was sacrificed, Azzanadra summoned the power of Zaros, almost killing Lucien in the process. Enraged, Lucien touched the Stone of Jas in attempt to use its power to punish the opposing Mahjarrat. However, the Dragonkin are summoned and they kill Lucien after a short but intense battle. After witnessing Lucien's death, most of the Mahjarrat teleported away, terrified by the Dragonkin but satisfied by the Ritual. Sliske was one of the two Mahjarrat that did not teleport away (the other being Wahisietel). Instead, impressed by the player's power, Sliske remained to attempt to claim the player as a new addition to the Barrows Brothers, but failed as Akrisae saved the player by jumping in front of the spell that Sliske had cast. Akrisae was then turned into a Barrows Brother called Akrisae the Doomed and Sliske teleported away with his new minion, commenting that he would do for now.

Slaying of Guthix
In the grandmaster quest The World Wakes, Sliske is encountered in a room in Guthix's temple shortly after the player triggers an alarm while investigating a Guthixian statue of a butterfly. He first pretends to be Guthix but quickly reveals himself. He states that his intention is to find Guthix and simply negotiate Zaros' return with him and not killing him. After that, he wanders around Gielinor with the player while in the Shadow Realm, and discovers that the alarm was spread among many stone circles and that soon many important figures like Zemouregal and generals of gods already knew about it. After that, the player ventures alone within the enchanted rooms of the complex, solves puzzles, sides with Guardians of Guthix (possibly becoming one) and defends Guthix from some Mahjarrat and gods' generals.

After dealing with Kril Tsutsaroth, General Graardor, Enakhra, Zemouregal and Kree'arra, Commander Zilyana appears and kills the Guardian of Guthix Cres. Soon, many powerful and notable Zarosians swarmed the room and after a tense discussion, while no one payed attention, Sliske broke the into the last chamber and quickly killed Guthix with the legendary Staff of Armadyl. It is unknown if Sliske acquired the power of Guthix, if Guthix had transferred his powers to the player or if his power was simply lost. According to many notable Zarosians, Sliske secretly did that to become the most valuable and respected Zarosian and that he didn't betray Zaros, he killed Guthix in his name. They haven't seen him since that event but still state with much security that such thing is normal for Sliske and that he is loyal to Zaros.

It is worth noting that Sliske freed Nex from her prison right before this event, but still, after Guthix died and the Edicts disappeared, Saradomin quickly entered Gielinor and put Nex into her prison once again by himself with apparent immense ease, so she is no longer free.

Jagex has also stated that in a future quest, a known character would rise to godhood. It is possible that it will be Sliske, considering the ending of The World Wakes.

Trivia

 * During The Ritual of The Mahjarrat a possible hint about Sliske's involvement in Player's future is mentioned, particularly when Sliske warns others about Akrisae doing "for now", meaning he might try to add the Player to his collection again.