Gielinor

Gielinor (pronounced Gill-in-or) is the world in which most of RuneScape takes place. It was the final creation of the Elder Gods, and was later discovered by the god Guthix in the First Age when he was exploring realms with the elder sword. Gielinor's most notable areas include Misthalin, Asgarnia, the Kharidian Desert, Kandarin, Karamja, Troll Country, the Fremennik Province, Tirannwn, Morytania, the Feldip Hills, the Wilderness, The North and the northern and southern seas. The demonym of Gielinor is Gielinorian.

"This realm's name is in truth Gielinor, yet is called RuneScape in the common tongue by its inhabitants."

- Guthix

Astronomical location
Gielinor is surrounded by a moon which is the realm of Zanaris, being the last place that Guthix visited before arriving in Gielinor. Gielinor is also far to be the only planet of the universe, having many others at currently unknown positions. Shooting stars are also a relatively common phenomenon, occurring when Gielinor enters a new area of its particular universe and also enters a belt of these 'stars' — these are actually home to the star sprites. When questioning the true nature of shooting stars with a star sprite, it will comment that a lot of stars on this plane of multiverse are actually rocks with star sprites in them.

Geography
Gielinor is a mixture of mountainous, barren, forested, volcanic, snowy and tropical areas. Most of its cities lie in kingdoms, and others on numerous islands. Much of Gielinor is lush with water resources, enabling the existence of vast rivers and seas. There is also a large, destroyed continent to the north called the Wilderness. Known continents of Gielinor are the Wushanko Isles and the Forinthry site, which is today called Wilderness. Tropical areas lie to the south, while the north is cold and icy. The south-east is largely a barren desert, the west is a dense taiga forest, and the east has a humid climate.

Creation
Gielinor was created by a trio of Elder Gods, including Jas and Ful, very long ago. It was their perfect and last creation. The TokHaar, a race created by them, were tasked to design the mountains of the world. They forged the Xil to dig up the earth and rock, the Mej to blast it into size that the Ket could carry, and the Hur to craft the sediment into cliff-faces and slopes. This race is immortal and very powerful but directly dependent on the Elder Kiln.

Gielinor was 'discovered' by Guthix when he was travelling between realms with the elder sword. When he found it at the beginning of the First Age, it was "perfect" and had many Elder Artefacts on it. Guthix decided it had to be shared with mortals, so he opened gateways allowing them to enter it, "shaping" the world in the process. After that, he entered his slumber in order to let mortals fully enjoy it. Eventually, those mortals began to form the first civilisations, including the elves and the humans. At some points, other gods arrived and the Second Age started. During the Meeting History quest, it was discovered that when Guthix found Gielinor, he hid runes throughout the land. This resulted in mortals calling the world RuneScape; a portmanteau of rune and landscape.

Second Age
The Second Age started after Guthix entered his slumber, with the arrival of other major gods like Zaros and Saradomin, who wanted to conquer Gielinor. During this time, Armadyl had his followers composed mainly of humans and Aviantese, Saradomin had mainly humans and Icyene under his control and Zaros had his followers composed of mainly Mahjarrat, Dragon Riders, demons, Auspah and humans. Zaros had the biggest and mightiest empire and was the most powerful active god. He had many expanding campaigns and between his targets was Saradomin's territory and the Kharidian Desert. At the peak of his empire, Zamorak, one of his most worthy generals betrayed him and managed to defeat him with the Staff of Armadyl's help, banishing him from Gielinor. After that, Zamorak was briefly banished by the other gods but soon returned and declared war against all the gods in order to compete Zaros' legacy with them, starting the Third Age.

Third Age
Near the end of the Second Age, the god Zaros was betrayed by his general Zamorak and impaled by the Staff of armadyl, transferring some of Zaros's power to Zamorak and later turning him into a god. Zaros was gone, but other gods wanted his lost achievements for themselves, such as his fortresses and settlements.

After several events that happened after Zaros' banishment, such as the banishment and return of Zamorak, the hunt for the Elder Artefacts and the Godsword, the competition of the gods soon led to the God Wars. It caused the extinction of many races and resulted in a war the likes of which had never been seen on the planet. The last event of the God Wars occurred when Zamorak finally had the Stone of Jas under his control. With its support, his powers were enhanced and he incinerated the entire continent of Forinthry. The destruction was so intense that Guthix himself awoke. He created the Edicts of Guthix, which banished all the major gods from Gielinor and prevented them from returning. After solving some matters like hiding the Stone of Jas again, Guthix entered his slumber once more so that mortals could enjoy Gielinor, but not before weeping at the sight of destruction and creating the Tears of Guthix.

Fourth Age
The Fourth Age was marked by the absence of major gods, the reconstruction of settlements destroyed by the God Wars, the invasion of the Dragonkin, and the creation of many kingdoms. It lasted roughly 2,000 years.

At the very beginning of the Fourth Age, the Dragonkin invaded Gielinor due to the heavy use of the Stone of Jas during the God Wars and revealed themselves to be a true threat to other mortals. Having no gods to protect them, mortals rose and fought them by themselves, the most notable of these being Robert the Strong. He forced the Dragonkin back to their stronghold and became one of the most important heroes in Gielinor's history.

Also at the beginning of this age, a stone circle was built on Taverley as part of the security of Guthix's home, as revealed in The World Wakes quest. It is also used as a place of devotion to Guthix.

Around the years 700 and 800 of the Fourth Age, a new hero named Arrav was gaining popularity in in the newly founded Avarrocka. He defended Avarrocka from the invasion of a very dangerous Mahjarrat named Zemouregal, who was seeking a very powerful shield, which became known as the Shield of Arrav, to use in his plans. After bravely fighting against Zemouregal, Arrav was stuck in the back by Zemouregal's sword, composed of smoke and shadow. After that, Zemouregal stood on his body and used ancient magic to kill him. Zemouregal disappeared with Arrav's body, and he would later use it to bring him back to life.

In the middle of this age, Seven Priestly Warriors drove back the evil creatures coming from Morytania and blessed the River Salve with the power of Saradomin, creating a protective barrier and making the west safe from them.

At the end of the Fourth Age, in the year 1937, settlers established a town on the River Lum. Across the river, they built a bridge and hence the town was called Lumbridge.

Fifth Age
The Fifth Age is the shortest age of history; lasting only 169 years but with many important changes in the context of Gielinor, mainly consisting of the growing dominance of the humans.

In the first years of the Fifth Age, human mages discovered the rune essence, but kept their locations a closely guarded secret between a select few of them, so as not to let the information fall into enemy hands. They used the power of the essence and elemental altars they knew about to create various runes. Due to the power of the runes, humans started to become more significant within the world, and the human kingdoms of Misthalin and Asgarnia quickly grew to become one of Gielinor's most important kingdoms and cities we know today. The mages who discovered the runes created a great tower in southern Misthalin, which became known as Wizards' Tower.

After many awful accidents involving magic, at the year 9 of the Fifth Age, the Mage Training Arena was built to properly guide the mages, who had just discovered magic and runecrafting, preventing further disasters.

At the year 12 of the Fifth Age, Scorpius, an astrologer of the Fourth Age, built a gigantic telescope at the west to track the stars and predict the future, gaining dark knowledge. After some time, still in the early Fifth Age, his ways were rediscovered and the Observatory was restored.

At the year 47, the Fremennik, who were extremely discontented with the practice of magic and runecrafting as they thought it was something to be used by gods and not mortals, destroyed the Mage Training Arena. It was later rebuilt but significant magical knowledge was lost.

Sixth Age
The Sixth Age started with Guthix's death at the hands of Sliske, a powerful Zarosian Mahjarrat. This marked the end of the Edicts of Guthix, and paved the way for the gods to return to Gielinor.

Although Guthix died, his powers can still be seen, they are dissipating in the nature of Gielinor, causing strange events such as trees glowing with power, "crying" at his demise and butterflies propagating his power and distant memories. Despite the Edicts of Guthix's undoing, many gods still haven't entered Gielinor. According to Wahisietel, they are first examining the situation of the context to create strategies before taking actions. Zaros for example, had abandoned his body in the brawl with Zamorak to avoid being annihilated during the Second Age and is currently looking for a host body to then put his plans in motion.

Trivia

 * "Gielinor" is an anagram for religion.
 * It takes approximately 15 minutes to run from Port Phasmatys in the east to Port Tyras in the west and 30 minutes to walk from Mobilising Armies to Port Phasmatys.