Zaros/History

Origins
Zaros was created on Freneskae by Mah, the youngest of the Elder gods. After her abandonment by the other elders, who thought her to be stillborn, Mah climbed out of Freneskae's volcano and instinctively created both Zaros, the divine aspect of dark energy, and Seren, his light opposite, with the little energy she had. Seeing that Mah's birth resulted in her lacking any intelligence above primitive instincts due to the world's lacking anima, she was unable to teach Zaros anything and treated her creations as toys more than anything.

He felt only resentment towards his cruel creator and desired to leave her. However, he also felt attracted to Seren, being her opposite, and she was interested in him as well. When close to each other, intense feelings towards the other would be triggered in both gods, breaking Zaros' concentration. He suspected this to be a measure applied to them by Mah to coerce them to stay with her, but he eventually abandoned her and Freneskae while she was sleeping. Seren chose to remain, taking care of Mah on the grounds that she owed her creation to her.

After Zaros left, Mah would often cry out for him, with Seren able to do little to comfort her. She also created sentient life in the form of various tribes, which included the Mahjarrat.

Traversing the Multiverse
After fleeing from Mah, Zaros traversed hundreds of other, primordial, realms, eventually stumbling across Infernus. There, he encountered the first intelligent life he had seen other than himself, Mah, and Seren. The creatures he saw were demons and he took note of their intricate culture, civilisation and language, both concepts that had been foreign to him before encountering them.

After visiting Infernus, Zaros continued on his journey, finding himself om a realm he named Vampyrium, where he observed vampyres living as feral beasts and preying on the weaker creatures in packs. Seeing their method of feeding as inefficient, Zaros introduced society and culture, both of which he had learnt from the demons, to the vampyres, giving rise to a nobility class which exists to the current day. In gratitude, the vampyres swore allegiance to him.

From Vampyrium, Zaros went to the other planes, and eventually encountered the four paths the other elder gods had taken, calling their destinations the Elemental Planes. There, he encountered other gods; ascendant mortals. He attempted to recruit these other gods to his cause, but was rebuffed, at times violently. Nor did he have much luck in convincing the mortal followers of these gods to join his cause. Amongst others, he would encounter the Icyene of New Domina and the aviantese of Abbinah.

Next, he encountered the higher planes, where the paths of the Elder Gods merged again.

Return to Infernus
Eventually, Zaros arrived to Gielinor, more commonly known as RuneScape, around the beginning of its Second Age. This occurred relatively soon after Guthix, the god who had shaped Gielinor, had entered his first sleep. Although Zaros knew of Guthix, though only vaguely from Guthix's few, rare followers, Guthix had no knowledge of Zaros at all. Upon seeing how the ascendant gods had carved out territories in the lands, he was angered by their arrogance to claim the world for themselves, and their proclaiming of themselves as gods, when only he and Seren were of truly divine origin. Therefore, he decided to teach them obedience, seeing it as his duty.

Therefore, he returned to Infernus, where he approached the demons' leader, a massive Chthonian called Hostilius the Autocrat, who had devoured many Infernals during the Chthonian Rebellion, and requested twelve demonic legions in return for teaching the demons how to travel between worlds, so that they could attack and eat inhabitants of other realms rather than each other.

Hostilius, who had accumulated significant intelligence due to absorbing the knowledge of his victims, decided to trick Zaros, in spite of easily being able to miss twelve legions. After many slick discussions, the demon set up an unbreakable contract - the deal involved the twelve legions and the knowledge being given to the eldest signatory, whom Hostilius assumed to be himself. Although Zaros immediately noticed the deception, he signed the contract regardless. While the demon erupted in laughter at his own brilliance, Zaros spoke to the demonic crowd of his origins and how Zaros had been created aeons before Hostilius even spawned, and Hostilius fell quiet as he realised he himself had been tricked.

As a result, Zaros, the eldest signatory, received twelve legions while the humbled Hostilius got nothing in return. The legions, consisting of Chthonian nobles (known as Dukes) leading their Avernic slaves, would give Zaros tremendous military power, exceeding that of any other god.

Invasion of Gielinor
Returning to Gielinor, Zaros and his armies arrived near the town of Senntisten, which, along with its surrounding villages, was ruled by a powerful god with several heads, Loarnab, although it was of limited intelligence. Zaros' demonic forces attacked Loarnab and trapped the god before Zaros used his magic to transform it into a living power source. This feat, coupled with the mere sight of Zaros' might, led the inhabitants of Senntisten to immediately accept him as their new ruler. He proceeded to conquer more territory, although Senntisten would remain the capital of his lands. He would never engage in direct combat himself after the encounter with Loarnab, leading his armies passively instead.

Soon enough Zaros began building a large empire in and around the continent known as Forinthry. Many humans joined his side, if only because his ever-growing armies conquered territory owned by other deities such as Saradomin. Zaros wanted to unite all the gods for his cause as well, but soon found out that gods were not as easy as mortals to bend to his will, and thus none of the other gods rallied to his cause. He also discovered that an inherent trait in himself that would subtly enforce loyalty to him in others, as long as they remained in his proximity. Despite the benefits, he despised this ability, deeming it wrong and unnatural to control mortals like that, much like he hated being manipulated by Mah.

Building an Empire
Over the course of several centuries, Zaros' empire grew to massive size, stretching more land than any kingdom ever established since, and the god ruled with force, aiming to put the entirety of Gielinor under his control. Its capital remained Senntisten, a large city in the south of the empire and the most advanced settlement of its time, possibly rivalling the elven city Prifddinas. It was also the centre of Zarosian worship, housing a renowned temple to the god in addition to at least one basilica. Other fortresses and cities rose from the ground as well, scattered throughout the empire, the most notable of which are Ghorrock, north of the Troll Country, Carrallangar, Dareeyak, Paddewwa, Kharyrll, bordering the Saradominist Hallowland, and Annakarl.

The empire was constantly expanded through campaigns to the south, west and east, which were usually successful. Soon enough, the other gods came to despise and fear Zaros in equal measure. Although they could have taken him down in an alliance, their fear for him as well as disagreements with each other presumably prevented this from happening.

However, the constant warfare and dominance of aggressive and hostile races such as demons made for poor living conditions for those in the lower-class of society, most notably for the humans living under Zaros. Although they had access to better technology and magic than, for example, the humans living in Hallowvale, life in his empire was generally dangerous and unsatisfactory. Additionally, humans were considered the lowliest of the Zarosian races, not dissimilar to goblins in the army of Bandos, and often looked down upon, with even the Avernic demons enjoying a better life than most humans. It was not unheard of for homeless humans to be eaten by Chthonian demons, and despite being against the law, Zaros was seemingly unaware of this, and it was ignored by those in the higher tiers of society.

Despite this, better-off humans such as the the priests and merchants in Senntisten, had more reasonable lives as the city grew ever larger. Its original inhabitants were converted into his clergy and educated in matters such as religion, law and the language of the Infernal demons. The city would always be the first to benefit of advances in fields such as agriculture, engineering and architecture. Centuries later, it was described as follows by Akthanakos:

"Great halls and towers and aqueducts sprang up over the city and the lands around were filled with efficient, irrigated fields, mills, jennies and straight, well-maintained roads. The population continued to rise uncontrollably and the proportion that belonged to the clergy or the military fell and fell. More and more so, the humans devoted themselves to the provision of luxury and services for each other. The city had become its own purpose, not just an administrative centre but a great living creature in the centre of the empire."

- Akthanakos

Clash with the Menaphites
At one point, Zaros launched a campaign to the south in an attempt to add the Kharidian Empire, ruled by the Menaphite Pantheon, to his empire. The Menaphites assembled an army, supplemented with mercenaries, to fight back but the overwhelming Zarosian forces proved too powerful. Therefore, Icthlarin, god of the dead, and his sister Amascut, set out to other planes in the hopes of finding allies who would be strong enough to defend their lands in the Kharidian - Zarosian War. They found these allies on Freneskae, realm of constant warfare, where he made a deal with the Mahjarrat; a tribe of extremely powerful magicians and creations of Mah. After a bloody battle between supporters and opposers of the proposition, the Mahjarrat agreed to venture to RuneScape with Icthlarin and defend the Kharidian Empire in return for the promise to revel in bloodshed, never to return to Freneskae.

Icthlarin and his 'Stern Judges' arrived in the midst of battle and the Mahjarrat immediately vanquished the Zarosian troops with little effort. With their help, the Menaphites were able to stop the Zarosians' advancing and pushed them back to the northern fortress Kharid-et over the course of several years. However, the Zarosian commander, Duke Ceres, offered the Mahjarrat to join Zaros instead. The Mahjarrat Sliske, who had got into a feud with Icthlarin, agreed to join him and the Mahjarrat convened to discuss the offer.

Some of the Mahjarrat argued that, in line with their traditions on Freneskae, a sacrifice should be made to appease Mother Mah through the Ritual of Rejuvenation, although they were far from Mah's volcano and the ritual marker was absent as well. Azzanadra explained the history of his tribe and the purpose of their rituals to Zaros, who, realising they were all Mah's creations, immediately understood how the marker functioned and agreed to create another for them.

The Mahjarrat performed their ritual and sacrificed one of their own. Zaros explained that the sacrifice's energy had not gone to Mother Mah, whose existence he did not doubt, but had instead been dispersed among themselves. He also revealed that, on Gielinor, the Mahjarrat would have to perform rituals regularly to replenish their slowly withering powers and avoid dying, and advised to hold them every five hundred years. Later, the ritual would coincide with on Wahisietel's suggestion and the marker would be moved to an icy plateau near the fortress Ghorrock. Zaros' deep understanding of their tribe was a major factor in the decision of most of the tribe to join him.

The now Zarosian Mahjarrat emerged from Kharid-et and joined arms with the Zarosian legion, attacking the Kharidian forces who fled to the south. During their pursuit, the lesser number of Mahjarrat that didn't betray Ictharin prepared to make a last stand against the Zarosians. However, Tumeken, god of light and head of the Menaphite Pantheon interfered. Sacrificing himself, Tumeken exploded in a massive blast which not only obliterated the Zarosian legions, but his own army as well, incinerating all combatants to ash. Only a few dozen Mahjarrat were spared because Azzanadra had erected a protective barrier around them. Around four hundred other Mahjarrat, the majority of the tribe, had died along with the remainder of Zaros' troops. Wounded and exhausted, the Mahjarrat retreated to Forinthry. Due to the sacrifice made by Tumeken to protect his people, a large desert was created seperating the Kharidians in the south from the Zarosians in the north, both preventing any further large-scale incursians by Zaros, and forcing Zaros to realise he had begun to act like the gods he claimed to fight against. Thus, he retreated back into his empire and ordered his troops to do the same.

In accordance with their merit, Zaros granted the Mahjarrat high positions in his army and priesthood. Many became tribunes and pontifices, with four - Hazeel, Wahisietel, Zamorak and Zemouregal - being given the rank of legate and thus leadership of an entire legion. A few years later, Azzanadra became Pontifex Maximus, leading the entire Zarosian clergy. To avoid an internal conflict, Zamorak was lifted to Legatus Maximus. Zaros also formed a secret police in Senntisten, the Praetorian Guard, led by Sliske and Trindine. The former became Praefectus Praetorio for liberating the Mahjarrat from Icthlarin, and was known to abuse his position for his own amusement, being known to force "unwanted" humans to wear masks and kill each-other as part of a sadistic play for the highest echlons of Zarosian society to enjoy, although he quickly grew bored of it. Those who disagreed with Sliske's actions didn't speak up for fear of social disgrace, or being subject to the inquisition of the Praetorians.

With his ranks led by the immensely powerful Mahjarrat, who replaced the twelve Chthonian dukes, Zaros became practically unstoppable. His empire would continue to expand, becoming the greatest the world would ever see. He intended for the Mahjarrat to inherit it, which, coupled with other reasons such as his distaste for his compelling of loyalty, prompted him to retreat from public and rule his self-sustaining empire from behind the scenes. Although Zaros had had knowledge of Seren's presence since the moment he had arrived, the two did not meet. Annoyed by the Guthixian, pacifistic and isolationist influences on her, he took the World Gate from her and the elves in Tirannwn, seeing use in it for himself. With it, he was able to travel across the multiverse more easily in order to search for more life and gain more knowledge.

The Ilujanka Conundrum
At some point, Zaros travelled to Iaia, where he discovered the Ilujanka, a race of infertile reptilian humanoids riding creatures known as gurh. Iaia was a realm very different to Gielinor, both geologically and culturally; it was a peaceful world, with no need for conflict. Eventually, after some time observing them, Zaros came before them, and offered them to join his army on Gielinor in return for a cure to their infertility. Faced with the promised prospect of the return of childbearing to their race, some of them accepted Zaros' offer and accompanied to Gielinor through a portal. Adapting quickly to the ways their new world worked, learning the concepts of combat, war, betrayal, loyalty, and lies, they began to tame dragons instead of gurh and thus became known as the Dragon Riders. Over time, they proved to be formidable soldiers, becoming feared by Zaros' enemies.

In order to find a solution for the Ilujanka's infertility, Zaros required elder energy, unable to create life himself. Therefore, he returned to Freneskae, where he found Mah in a coma-like sleep and began to harvest her energy from the muspahs. Using this energy, he manipulated aviantese, demons, vampyres and Icyene. Reforming their essence into new beings, he created hordes of powerful and dangerous monsters. Although they were zarytes, he dubbed them the Nihil, for they meant nothing to him as they were not the solution to the Ilujanka's problem. Although he had discarded the nihil as a failed experiment, Zaros chose to uplift one in particular, who had outgrown the others. He infused her with some of his essence, and she became sentient and intelligent, naming herself Nex and becoming part of the army.

Realising he required transcendence to be able to help the Ilujanka, Zaros decideed he needed to become an Elder God himself, and sought to ask Mah's four sisters for aid in doing so. He searched for Gielinor's Elder Halls but instead of support, he discovered the Elder Gods' horrifying purpose. He found out about the Elder Gods' cycles and that Gielinor served only to provide them with sufficient anima before they would reawaken, destroy the entire universe in a process called the Great Revision, and start creating worlds anew. Zaros realised the world had not been made for mortals and that he needed to save all mortal life from annihilation.

He immediately commenced preparations to disappear from the public completely, instead hoping to become a "guiding voice" in mortals' heads in ordeer to protect them from the Elder Gods. Zaros decided to leave his entire empire to Azzanadra and Zamorak while he would leave. Meanwhile, the dragon riders' numbers had greatly diminished - at the end of the Second Age, only five of them remained: Ablenkian, Apropos, Balustan, Hannibus and Morvannon.

Growing rebellion
Eventually, nearly two millennia after Zaros' arrival, some of his followers began to grow dissatisfied with the strict regime and poor living conditions. Most notable amongst these was Zamorak the Scourge, the most powerful of the Mahjarrat and Zaros' supreme legate. Zamorak approached some of his ilk and successfully convinced some of them to join him by playing in on their interests and promising them land and armies in return. With the Mahjarrat Lakosta, Lucien, Enakhra, Lamistard, Ralvash, Hazeel and Zemouregal, as well as other powerful Zarosians such as the Avernic Tsutsaroth demons Thammaron and Zebub, the human general Viggora and the vampyre Lord Lowerniel Drakan on his side, Zamorak began planning a rebellion against Zaros, hoping to usurp his master and rule for himself. It has been speculated that his motives were ideological, or simply a putsch to attain power - the exact reasoning remains unknown.

On a mission to the Fremennik Province, he took the journal of the scribe Perjour, which directly communicated his thoughts to Zaros, and substituted it with a fake duplicate, thus preventing the Empty Lord from finding out about his plans. Even though Zaros did not fully trust Zamorak, he did not suspect any betrayal until the moment Zamorak would strike.

Zamorak, in addition to deceiving Zaros, also began to eradicate opposition. For example, during a reconnaissance mission to Prifddinas to find out about Seren's plans, in whom Zaros expressed significant interest, Zamorak attacked the Auspah Char during an elven ambush and poisoned her, thus preventing her from stopping his plans and providing her with a slow and painful death. However, Char powered down and entered a magical sleep, allowing her to resist the poison's effect for millennia.

Despite this, Zamorak's rebellion would not have succeeded due to his master's immense power. However, when he managed to obtain the legendary Staff of Armadyl, the tides turned. The staff had been taken from its temple by the explorer Valdez, who planned to give it to Saradomin, until he was robbed by a thief named Rennard, who decided to sell the staff to Zaros and sent a messenger, Kharrim, to deliver the news. Kharrim was part of Zamorak's conspiracy, however, and went to the Mahjarrat instead, who was able to buy the staff from Rennard for a bargain. Being in possession of an Elder Artefact, Zamorak's powers were increased sufficiently and his followers would have a chance of succeeding.

Zamorak was aided further when Lennissa, a Saradominist spy in Zaros' camp, found out about his possession of the staff and informed her superior, the Wizard Dhalak. Figuring that Saradomin would benefit from Zaros' being defeated, Dhalak cast a concealing spell on the staff, enabling Zamorak to carry it without the Zarosian loyalists detecting it, rather than informing his god. After requesting the services of Morvannon and Apropos, two of the last five Dragon Riders, as bodyguards, and somehow obtaining the Stone of Jas, Zamorak and his followers made their move.

Defeat by Zamorak
Under the pretence of discussing war plans, Zamorak cum suis approached Zaros' fortress and went inside. There, Zamorak unsheathed the Staff of Armadyl and struck it into his master's back while his cohorts engaged in combat with the Empty Lord's forces. The events that followed are described by General Viggora as follows:

"While we distracted the Empty Lord with our feints and attacks, and kept his bodyguards busy, Lord Zamorak outflanked him, unsheathed the staff and plunged it into his back! [...] The Empty Lord turned away from our battle, eyes burning with hatred, and towards Zamorak instead. Seeing this, we all fought with extra vigour, so that General Zamorak would not face our lord alone, but we were outnumbered by many hundreds of warriors and demons, and could not reach him to assist him. [...] The Empty Lord was a powerful god, stronger than any of the others awake at the time, possibly even as strong as Guthix is, and Zamorak was but a mortal: a Mahjarrat warrior all the same, with all of the strength and power that that entails, but mortal nonetheless, but to see him fight, you would not think of him as a ‘mere’ anything… He was war itself! Flurry after flurry of blows he rained upon the Empty Lord, and the very castle walls shook and quivered with their power, but the Empty Lord would not fall! Even with the weapon of a god embedded in his back, he fought on, and with each blow our victory seemed less and less certain…"

- Viggora

Even with the Staff sticking out of his back, Zaros fought Zamorak and overpowered him, lifting his former general into the air and proceeding to choke him as the Mahjarrat was screaming and kicking defiantly. It is likely that, aside from the physical battle, the two beings were also involved in a mental clash, unperceivable by 'simpler' beings such as humans. However, at that moment, Zaros "lost his footing", according to Viggora, and fell over, which caused the Staff, still sticking out of his back, to impale Zamorak as well. What exactly happened remains a mystery, although it is quite unlikely that the god simply tripped, as Viggora believes. At that moment, by pure chance, a great part of Zaros' divine power was transferred into Zamorak with the staff as conduit.

Realising he was going to die, Zaros abandoned his body in a "bright flash followed by cold darkness" and his spirit left the scene as his body began to fade from existence, while Zamorak's newly acquired power made him seem more present than before. Nevertheless, the Mahjarrat collapsed next to Zaros' shrivelled corpse out of exhaustion. While Zaros, now incorporeal, was fleeing, a powerful curse struck all those who had played a role in the theft of the Staff of Armadyl. Valdez, Rennard, Kharrim, Lennissa, Dhalak and Viggora, although there may have been others, momentarily faded from the material realm and were trapped for eternity in the Shadow Realm. What exactly caused this remains unknown. The ghosts themselves believe the curse to have been uttered by Zaros as a final act of vengeance, at least one of them even claiming to have heard it as a "whisper in the wind," while Lucien deems this impossible and theorises it was a side effect of the crude stabbing with the Staff. Moreover, it is open to doubt whether Viggora's accounts of the rebellion can be trusted due to the afflicted state of his mind after being shadow for thousands of years.

Thammaron and other Avernic, whom Zamorak had promised to aid in overcoming the Chthonian regime in return for their support in the rebellion, gathered around the Mahjarrat's body and took him to Infernus. There, he would lead their revolution for nineteen years, after which he returned triumphantly to Gielinor, this time as a god himself, and with many hordes of Avernic, who had either destroyed the Chthonians or banished them to the Abyss, following him. Meanwhile, Saradomin and Armadyl had found out about Zaros' defeat and taken the Stone of Jas, respectively, the Staff of Armadyl from Zamorak in his absence. Their followers began to spread rumours of how the two gods had banished Zamorak themselves, which they did not stop. Zamorakian sympathisers and other gods began to attack the Zarosian empire, which began to crumble from all sides as the forces of Azzanadra, who had taken up leadership of the remaining Zarosians, depleted. Zamorak's followers were driven out of Senntisten and hunted by the Zarosians while members of the Zarosian leadership tried their best to commune with Zaros and lead the empire in their god's absence. The five remaining Dragon Riders, for whom Zaros had not been able to find a cure, were viewed as traitors by both the Zarosians and Zamorakians for not choosing sides in a timely manner, and assassinated. The exception was Hannibus, although he was eventually captured and petrified by Enakhra.

Upon seeing that Saradomin had taken the Stone from him, and Armadyl the Staff, Zamorak declared war on both of them, throwing the world into a war of gods, ending the Second Age.

Diminishing of Zarosian following
Throughout the Third, Fourth and Fifth Ages, Zaros' spirit travelled the multiverse and ventured far away from Gielinor. He eventually arrived on Freneskae, where he would indefinitely remain. In this state, he did not have the ability to think or perceive anything, and through the slow process of absorbing the energy of the Muspah, creatures spawned by Mah's nightmares, only was he able to recover his power and restore his mind.

Meanwhile, the Zarosian Extermination was performed mainly by Zamorakians and Saradominists throughout the entirety of the Gielinorian God Wars; in an attempt to completely of the Empty Lord from the world, the Zarosian settlements were systematically attacked and destroyed. Zarosians themselves were persecuted; those who did not flee to safe harbours such as Senntisten, which would remain safe from attacks until the final few centuries of the wars, were mercilessly slaughtered. However, most of them remained loyal, believing Zaros to be ruling from the Shadow Realm rather than dead, and high-ranked Zarosians such as archbishop Ayanetka urged the others to remain vigilant.

Indeed, the Zarosians did not lose their faith. Mahjarrat such as Wahisietel and Azzanadra, whose prowess in battle and unconditional loyalty had earnt him the title 'Champion of Zaros', defended the Zarosian settlements with relative success. Nex defended the Mahjarrat ritual marker in the Battle for the Ritual Site but was lured into a cave by the opposing army of Saradomin, where she and her troops were imprisoned beneath the Temple of Lost Ancients for centuries. Meanwhile, Azzanadra continued to try and re-establish contact with Zaros from Senntisten, to no avail, but becoming psychologically affected by the absence of his god in the process.

Towards the end of the wars, however, the Zarosians were unable to persevere. During the Battle for the Godsword, Sliske tricked a group of Saradominists into releasing Nex from her prison before disappearing, but an alliance between Saradomin, Zamorak, Bandos and Armadyl magically sealed her once more. Eventually, Azzanadra fell to a Zamorakian-Saradominist alliance and was imprisoned in the Jaldraocht Pyramid in the Kharidian Desert. Before he was imprisoned, however, he had provided Sliske with an artefact for safekeeping, which would allow them to re-establish contact with Zaros later. The latter would do so faithfully. In addition to trapping Azzanadra in the pyramid and filling it with mamy traps to prevent anyone from rescuing him, his defeaters also placed some of his life force in four diamond, which were subsequently spread around the world by safekeepers and linked to four obelisks outside Jaldraocht, which, in turn, made the pyramid inpenetrable to ensure Azzanadra's imprisonment.

Around the year 3700, Wahisietel's attempts to make the Zamorakian and Saradominist besiegers of Senntisten turn on one another failed, prompting priest-king Dagroda to order the city's immediate evacuation, believing that its fall was plan of Zaros' "grand scheme". As the Zarosians fled to Ghorrock, Dareeyak and Carrallangar, the only fortresses to remain standing, Senntisten was taken over by Zamorakians and utterly levelled by Saradominists a century later, who built a new city on top of it; Saranthium.

When Guthix awoke from his slumber and ended the God Wars another two centuries later, he established the Edicts of Guthix and banished nearly all gods from the planet. By this time, Zamorak had utterly destroyed Forinthry with the aid of the Stone of Jas he had succeeded in stealing from Saradomin, completely laying waste to all Zarosian fortresses except for Ghorrock, which housed a small number of Zarosian refugees led by matriarch Lamarinta. As such, the Zarosian Extermination had not been completely successful; although most inhabitants of Gielinor had forgotten about the Empty Lord and those who hadn't did not dare utter his name, he was still worshipped, even though his followers had been reduced to the colony in Ghorrock and a camp of bandits in the desert.

Only in the Fourth Age did the few remaining Zarosians come to realise that Zaros was not ruling from the Shadow Realm, but had truly gone. By the end of the age, knowledge of Zaros had almost completely disappeared, save for his very scarce few followers.

The god himself continued to slowly regenerate his power as well as the ability to think on Freneskae.

Communication restored
In 169 of the Fifth Age, an adventurer and newly qualified archaeologist working for the Varrock Museum discovered the ruins of the Senntisten Temple in the digsite east of the city. They found a Zarosian talisman and a stone tablet with Zaros' name upon it, both of which are now on display in the museum, and thus returning knowledge of Zaros to the world, to a small extent.

Some time later, the same adventurer was recruited by Eblis, leader of the desert bandits, to release Azzanadra from the Jaldraocht pyramid in the southern part of the Kharidian Desert. To do so, the adventurer had to defeat three of the Zamorakian Guardians tasked with the protection of the Diamonds of Azzanadra, whilst the fourth gave up his diamond in return for a favour. The collection and subsequent placement of the diamonds on the exterior obelisks surrounding the pyramid allowed it to be opened. Azzanadra, who had lost track of time and transformed into a ghostly being, was shocked to learn that the God Wars were over and that Zaros had disappeared from his mind as well as the dominance of Saradominism, Guthixianism and Zamorakianism before leaving to think and plan. The adventurer also released Akthanakos, another Zarosian Mahjarrat, from the grip of his rival Enakhra, who had likewise imprisoned him thousands of years prior in a temple built by herself.

Azzanadra and Wahisietel, who had gone into hiding by assuming a human alias after the fall of Senntisten, began to plan Zaros' return and requested the adventurer's help in rebuilding the Senntisten Temple to establish contact with Zaros. Disguised as the human archaeologist Dr Nabanik, Azzanadra acquired clearance to renovate the temple with his new ally's help and oversaw its reconstruction by Kharidian workmen. He had the adventurer retrieve a collection of items, namely the frostenhorn from Ghorrock, the icon that Sliske had been safekeeping from the Barrows and another ancient relic which an accomplice had taken from Entrana. With these items, Azzanadra was able to create a communion portal in the restored underground temple, the magic of which could be amplified to reach even the farthest and most distant realms. He contacted Zaros, who made contact with Gielinor for the first time in millennia from an area on Freneskae known as the sanctum. After rewarding Azzanadra for his efforts, the two began to plan the god's return in secrecy. A significant problem was that Zaros was still incorporeal, and would require a body, even though he had more than regained his former power by this time.

Some time later that same year, tectonic activity caused the magical seal imprisoning Nex to weaken, making the Ancient Prison accessible. Char was also restored in her cave near the Galarpos Mountains by the aforementioned adventurer. At the very end of the year, after the eighteenth Ritual of Rejuvenation, which saw the sacrifice of Jhallan, the resting place of Guthix himself was discovered and various factions raced inside to claim the kill, for Guthix' death would allow their respective gods to return to Gielinor. The Zarosian Mahjarrat, Char, and Nex convened and decided that Guthix should be woken and bargained with rather than killed, and Sliske enlisted the adventurer's help to aid them. When the other Zarosians arrived to the cave after a series of battles with other factions had already taken place and only the Guthixian defenders and Saradominist attackers remained, Azzanadra asked the adventurer to wake Guthix, but Sliske betrayed his allies and assassinated Guthix using the Staff of Armadyl, which he had secretly obtained beforehand. Although this cast doubt on his loyalty to Zaros, the death of Guthix was accompanied by the abolishment of his Edicts, thus allowing Zaros to return more easily. Additionally, the adventurer had been uplifted to World Guardian by the dying god, giving them resistance to divine magic.

Zaros and Azzanadra hence continued to plan the former's return as the Sixth Age began. A problem was, however, that the other gods had begun returning as well, which immediately led to clashes, such as the one between Saradomin and Zamorak at the Battle of Lumbridge. To prevent these other gods from posing any difficulties, Zaros ordered Sliske to create a distraction for them in order to keep his own return secret. He did this by obtaining the Stone of Jas with the Dragonkin's inadvert help and gathering most of the major gods at the Empyrean Citadel, where he promised to award it to whoever would have slain the most gods by the next solar eclipse, to his fellow Zarosians' great dismay. Indeed, the gods seemed to be occupied by this as Armadyl and Bandos engaged in a heated battle shortly after, which ended with the latter's death.

Return to Gielinor
With the other gods distracted, Zaros ordered Azzanadra and Sliske to make the final preparations for his return. To this end, Azzanadra travelled to a spot near the Arandar pass where the World Gate was located, albeit in the Shadow Realm. There, he met with his friend and ally, the World Guardian, and explained to them that they were to journey to Freneskae through the gate and do whatever necessary to return Zaros. He reluctantly revealed that Sliske's services to pull the World Gate into the material realm were also required, at which point the latter appeared. He took the adventurer into the Shadow Realm so that they could activate the World Gate, which they successfully did, but also suggested that they did not necessarily have to help Zaros, but could also choose to sabotage his return, since he would be entirely at their mercy. Afterwards, the two returned to the material realm and the adventurer set foot on Freneskae.

After a considerable time spent traversing the hazardous environment of Freneskae, avoiding streams of lava, toxic gases and lightning along the way, the adventurer reached the sanctum, where they unlocked a door leading into The Pit, where Zaros was waiting for them, although he quickly vanished. A flock of nihil then arrived and the adventurer was forced to kill them in order to progress. Afterwards, they climbed out of the pit to appear on Freneskae's volcano, where they saw Mah sleeping as well as Zaros' spirit. Zaros took the two of them inside the adventurer's mind to be able to talk without rousing Mah and revealed that he needed a dark simulacrum woven from Mah's elder energy to serve as his new body, and that only the World Guardian would be able to create such an artefact. He also allowed them to ask him questions on many topics, such as his views on other gods, or races such as the demons and the Ilujanka. When the conversation was finished, Zaros sensed that Mah had indeed been roused by their presence, and offered the adventurer to enter their mind in order to better withstand whatever she might do.

As they left the mind threshold, Mah's nightmare spawned hordes of muspah, who proceeded to attack the adventurer, while she herself occasionally produced devastating screams. After some time, Mah calmed down again, and the adventurer was safely able to descend into the volcano's crater, which also contained Freneskae's Elder Halls. There, they found The Measure, an Elder Artefact, which they used to siphon Mah's energy. After gathering a sufficient amount of energy, they wove a simulacrum for Zaros, either a dark one to support him, or a light one that would reject his essence and sabotage his return. Returning to the surface, Zaros accepted the simulacrum and entered it.

Zaros shaped the simulacrum into a new body, sustaining heavy damage if given a light simulacrum, and reformed his robes and mask. At that moment, his full presence caused Mah to awaken. Alarmed, the adventurer gave Zaros permission to teleport the two of them away and Zaros transported them out a fraction of a second before Mah would have crushed them. The elder god screamed in agony and rose up from the volcano to chase the two. Meanwhile, Zaros and the adventurer left Freneskae through the World Gate and they gathered in a mind threshold once more, this time joined by Azzanadra, Sliske, Char and Nex.

As the Zarosians rejoiced, the god himself reprimanded Sliske for his dubious past actions, most notably the suggestion to sabotage his return. Therefore, he promptly excommunicated the Mahjarrat from his following, to the latter's great anger. Sliske threatened the adventurer before leaving the scene. Next, Zaros ordered Char to watch Sliske, making sure his possession of the Stone of Jas would not invoke the Dragonkin's wrath. He charged Nex with keeping the activities of the warring gods in check, while Azzanadra was to search for Gielinor's Elder Halls so that Zaros could fulfill what he had attempted to do before Zamorak's rebellion: to find the elder gods, convince them not to destroy the universe, become an elder himself and cure the Ilujanka's infertility. He rewarded the adventurer for their efforts by giving them a crystal shard of his own body, which would protect them and enable them to contact Zaros from the sanctum on Freneskae any time. He then left to reacquaint himself with Gielinor and prepare his next moves.