Bandos/History

The history of Bandos, the Big High War God, is fairly extensive, largely as a result of the abundance of sources.

History

Early history

Bandos was born into a small tribe known as the Kal-i-kra, which belonged to a race of warlike and combative rhinoceros-like creatures. When he was still a child, he liked to play with miniature clay Kal-i-kra and made them fight against miniature clay Gozor, an enemy tribe, often smashing them in the process, enjoying the ability to control his toys and use them as he pleased, much to his tutor's disdain. At the age of ten, he was deemed old enough to be trained in combat, at which he excelled. Soon after, Bandos's father, the chieftain of the Kal-i-kra, was grievously wounded after an attack by a Gozor. Seeing that his tribe was now being run by a sickened cripple, Bandos killed his father, claiming to have given him an honourable death, and was subsequently made the new chieftain of the Kal-i-kra.

Bandos and his tribe continued to fight the Gozor, this time using Bandos's superior tactics. While these were effective, they also usually involved sacrificing his own troops to mislead the Gozor. The chieftain, however, enjoyed the battles and marvelled at his own brilliance. Bandos mainly made use of wooden war engines and eventually the Gozor tribe fell. He continued to fight and destroy all the other tribes on the continent until the Hada-i-dar tribe remained. Once the Hada-i-dar fell, Bandos entered their longhouse and found the chieftain's young son. The terrified calf, hoping to be left alive in return, told him about the a group of mystic nomads that would visit the Hada-i-dar on occasion: a group known as the Caretakers of Jododu Otoku, who supposedly knew where the legendary god Jododu Otoku, protector of the world, could be found. After learning all he could from the calf, Bandos killed him.

The young Kal-i-kra warlord then attacked the Caretakers and asked the old leader about the god's resting place. The elderly nomad told him it was Bandos's god as well, to which Bandos replied that he was going to kill Jododu Otoku to ascend to godhood himself, much like the latter had. The shocked nomad reminded him that all of his predecessors had ordered the protection of the god in order to save the world from certain destruction, which Bandos ignored. While the chieftain was off guard, the old nomad thrusted his horn right into one of Bandos' four eyes, destroying it. With a scream of pain, Bandos immediately smote the caretaker with his mace and ordered his followers to interrogate the others.

Eventually, Bandos found Jododu's resting place, and had the sleeping god chained and secured. As he was about to kill it, the old god telepathically warned Bandos that if he would be slain, the world would die with him, but Bandos gleefully ignored the warning. He struck his spear into the god, killing it and painfully ascending to godhood in the process. As Jododu died, his protection of the world dissipated, and it was immediately bombarded with asteroids, annihilating all living things on the planet and laying waste to all settlements. Bandos, now a god, emerged from the cave, and happily observed his dying world.

Housekeeping on Yu'biusk

A throne for Bandos to watch the Kyzaj Tournament on Yu'biusk.

With his newly acquired godhood, Bandos set off into the multiverse in search of a new world he could rule over. At one point prior to the commencement of Gielinor's Second Age, Bandos discovered the prosperous realm of Yu'biusk, which was inhabited by relatively peaceful races such as goblins, ogres and orks, who lived in primitive, tribal communities as hunter-gatherers. Yu'biusk was large and marshy, with massive mushrooms and other strange plants and structures covering the surface; overall, it was rich and fertile. Bandos was appalled by the primitive nature of its inhabitants, and decided to introduce them to civilisation, intending to use them as his toys.

How Yu'biusk originally looked when Bandos found it, as seen in a dream.

Bandos taught Yu'biusk's inhabitants metalwork, agriculture and combat and they became his loyal soldiers. All of the races were initially peaceful and attempted to settle their conflicts with diplomacy rather than war, engaging in small-scale, unorganised skirmishes at most. As Bandos took over however, he forced them to resort to violence on each occasion. Soon afterwards, the realm dissolved into a world of pure war, leaving little trace of its once pristine looks.

Bandos' throne room, built by his followers on his demand into the side of a mountain on Yu'biusk.

Bandos divided the races of Yu'biusk in tribes, each to live separately. Gradually, all traces of the races once being united disappeared, and Yu'biusk trembled with warfare. Bandos divided the goblins in twelve tribes and organised them. These were the Thorobshuun, Ekeleshuun, Garagorshuun, Idithuun, Rekeshuun, Narogoshuun, Drogokishuun, Dorgeshuun, Huzamogaarb, Horogothgar, Saragorgak and the Yurkolgokh. He also created tribes for his other followers, but most of the names of these are unknown, with the exception of the Thrasghdak hobgoblins, Verotark orks, Azkragthog ogres and Goltholglor ourgs. He also crossbred ogres and ourgs, creating the fearsome raurgs and fayrgs for example For thousands of years, Bandos ruled Yu'biusk, his followers soon becoming reliant on warfare, and losing their skills in most everything else. They built statues and other structures for him in worship and fought each other in recognition of his glory.

A culture developed, centred around the worship of Bandos, with prowess in battle as the prime quality his followers sought to obtain. At one point, the ourgs forged a mighty axe for Bandos as a token of loyalty. Impressed by the design, he took its shape and instated it as his symbol, branding it on his armours and banners. The axe itself became part of the sacred Kyzaj Tournament, a large competition for Bandos' amusement in which the various races' champions battled to decide who was the strongest.

Arrival to Gielinor

At some point in the Second Age, Bandos learned of Gielinor and travelled there after finding out that its guardian, Guthix, had left. He started introducing large numbers of his followers from Yu'biusk to Gielinor, ruling them on both planes now. Bandos also started gaining a relatively small number of human followers, such as Amanuensis. He revelled in bloodshed as his armies fought the other gods for him, devising clever but cruel strategies to defeat his opponents, such as Saradomin and Armadyl.

Around the end of the Second Age, Zaros was defeated by his Mahjarrat general Zamorak, and the latter was taken away to Infernus, world of demons, after having done so. However, he returned, having ascended to godhood, and declared war on Saradomin, who had taken the Stone of Jas from Zamorak in his absence, beginning the Gielinorian God Wars. Bandos would become one of the four major factions that fought in the wars.

Involvement in the Wars

"Bandos' Stronghold", a camp erected by Graardor beneath the temple.

Bandos fights Saradomin during the God Wars.

During the God Wars, Bandos seemed to fight for the mere sake of battle. His allegiance was ever-shifting, his sole desire to revel in the bloodshed that threatened to destroy the world. During the wars, most of Bandos' attention had shifted to Gielinor, although he continued to rule Yu'biusk. While at times he fought alone, he is known to have entered alliances with the other gods. This was merely so that he could win certain battles and, once these were over, he would quickly turn against them solely to prolong the bloodshed. The war god became partially responsible for the immense length of the wars due to these actions. While his notorious switching of sides may have been an attempt to prevent any balance of power from developing, Bandos would, near the end of the wars, enter an alliance with Saradomin and Armadyl who had driven Zamorak to the point of imminent defeat.

The goblins were the lowliest of Bandos' army, used primarily as skirmishers or scouts. Typically, large numbers of goblins were sent into battle ahead of the ogres and orks as a means of weakening and disorganising the foe, or, in some cases, "checking the water", if for any purpose other than Bandos' sick pleasure. The twelve tribes each had their own generals. These rose to power through combat, each slaying his successor in order to receive his rank. Bandos, unlike what his soldiers thought of their Big High War God, did not care for his lower soldiers, viewing them as weak, and as such only saw them as living weapons. Often, the goblins were sent into battles Bandos knew they had no chance of winning. On other occasions, different tribes would turn against each other when they were either sold into service by Bandos, such as was the case with the Huzamogaarb and Saragorgak, whom he sold to Zamorak and Saradomin respectively, or were simply put into combat for Bandos' personal amusement, in a similar way to how he ruled on Yu'biusk. By the end of the wars, millions of goblins had died, the Gielinorian groups of ourgs, fayrgs and raurgs had become extinct (except for Graardor, who was frozen in the God Wars Dungeon, and a small group of ourg shamans) and the orks had greatly diminished in number, virtually none to be found on Gielinor today. Despite that, the tribes on Yu'biusk still thrived in the Bandosian art of war.

Bandos led the ogres as they conquered the area of the Feldip Hills, where they established their settlement Gu'Tanoth and brutally enslaved the peaceful skavid race, although the exact time when this happened remains unknown. It is assumed that the area, like many others, was conquered and reconquered many times over and that the ogres established their current leadership of the region in the late Third Age.

Throughout the wars he would continue his manipulations on Gielinor. For example, an ourg named Graardor, consecutive winner of the Kyzaj, at one point became chief of his tribe after Bandos had encouraged him to challenge the previous chief in a dream. As Graardor fought and won more and more battles, Bandos came to him once more and told him to go to a nearby town. Graardor raided the town and he used the large piles of gold he found to bribe the goblins into following him. Soon, Graardor had control over most of the goblin tribes. When his money began to deplete, however, the goblins abandoned Graardor and he had to sell his armies to other gods to avoid defeat. He prayed to Bandos for aid, but this aid did not come. General Graardor was still one of the most powerful Bandosians and owned massive armies. Thus Bandos had stopped supporting him, knowing that he was able to hold his own.

Conflicts with the Dorgeshuun

The tunnels the Dorgeshuun created.

In the thirty-third or thirty-fourth century of the Third Age, in the last millennium of the God Wars, the Dorgeshuun tribe began to develop a resistance against Bandos, realising how terribly he treated them. This was strengthened when Bandos decided to discard the Dorgeshuun as unnecessary force. Unsurprisingly, he sent the Dorgeshuun forth into what would be their last battle. The forces of the enemy, whoever it was, greatly outnumbered and overpowered the Dorgeshuun and the goblins realised they would all be slaughtered. This order proved enough for the tribe to completely defy the Big High War God. Under General Bloodfist's leadership, the Dorgeshuun ignored Bandos' order and moved to what are currently the Lumbridge Swamps. They discovered a large fissure in the ground and, not awaiting what Bandos would do next, marched inside.

Bandos was enraged by this act of defiance. When he saw Bloodfist standing on the surface nearby the fissure after the rest of the tribe had already entered, Bandos demanded that the general lead the Dorgeshuun into battle as he had ordered, but Bloodfist steadfastly refused. Bandos then forcibly smote Bloodfist. The blast obliterating him instantly and the force of the impact sealing the fissure shut, leaving the Dorgeshuun goblins trapped inside. The goblins knew there was no way back and thusly, led by Lieutenant Strongaxe, they explored the caves further and built a massive tunnel network. Eventually, they found a cavern large enough to build a civilisation there, and determined on never dealing with any gods again, they built their city of Dorgesh-Kaan. The tribe had not yet lost their combative nature that Bandos had given them, however. On one occasion, while exploring, a goblin party stumbled upon the Tears of Guthix cavern, where they saw Juna, a snake who is a Guardian of Guthix. Initially curious, they quickly charged at her with raised weapons, and thus Juna swept them into the chasm with her tail. Such encounters were extremely rare, however, and would not take place often.

Over time, the Dorgeshuun would grow acquainted to their new environment. Throughout the Third and Fourth Ages, they adapted entirely to a life beneath the surface, both biologically and socially. They established a Council to lead the city and their society flourished. Aside from a brutal civil war, peace would rest over the Dorgeshuun and they would not hear from Bandos for centuries.

During the God Wars, Forinthry was one of the many sites where armies of Bandos battled, adding to the chaos and confusion of Saradomin and Zamorak's forces, who were destroying the remnants of Zaros' empire there in alliances that did not last long. When a flock of aviantese were transporting the newly forged godsword, which Bandos, Armadyl and Saradomin had planned to use to kill Zamorak, through the mountains of the Troll Country, they were ambushed by Zamorakian demons and a battle ensued. Bandos sent forth an army of Rekeshuun goblins, ogres, orks and others, led by Graardor, to ward off the Zamorakians. As the battle grew between Bandosians, Armadylians, Zamorakians and Saradominists near the Temple of Lost Ancients, who had turned against one another in an attempt to obtain the sword for themselves, the Zarosian Mahjarrat Sliske tricked a group of Saradominists into opening the Ancient Prison, releasing the Zarosian general Nex and her armies, who had been imprisoned there during the Battle for the Ritual Site. As Nex was too powerful to defeat, Graardor temporarily aligned with the other factions to re-imprison her and participated in the ritual to freeze and seal the door. He received one part of the key and entrusted it to a highly-ranked soldier. The battle for the godsword then continued and Bandos' forces would fight viciously.

Zamorak confronted by Saradomin as well as Bandos and Armadyl.

Relatively soon, Zamorak stole and used the Stone of Jas in a last-ditch-effort to save himself, annihilating Forinthry, scorching the Anima Mundi and waking Guthix. Bandos, along with Armadyl and Saradomin and their numerous armies, was present and attempted to stop Zamorak, but the chaos god proceeded nonetheless. Guthix awoke to end the war and had a mage, Aeternam, freeze the Temple of Lost Ancients. Only near the end of the Fifth Age, millennia later, did tectonic activity thaw the temple and its combatants out. They fight over the godsword still, oblivious to time.

Destruction of Yu'biusk

When the God Wars came to an end and the Edicts of Guthix were put in place, beginning the Fourth Age, Bandos was visited by Guthix and was ordered to leave. Knowing he had been beaten, Bandos agreed to leave peacefully with his followers for the time being, and ordered his ourgs to prepare for the journey to Yu'biusk. Guthix denied them to leave with him, however, stating that they belonged to Gielinor now, and deserved to be free of the tyranny of the gods. This infuriated the god of war, who proceeded to attack Guthix, shouting that his followers were his property, to be used as he pleased. Guthix cast a spell however, banishing Bandos, along with most other gods, from Gielinor, leaving their followers behind.

Bandos returned to Yu'biusk and, furious at the end of the war, his banishment, and more prominently, Guthix, for taking away his "right" over his followers, he took out his anger at his followers there by invoking massive wars in the realm. For example, when the hobgoblins of the Thrasghdak tribe built a magnificent statue of the finest resources on Yu'biusk for Bandos, he dismissed it and ordered the hobgoblins to demolish the statue and smith weapons instead. The hobgoblins obeyed, but, meanwhile, Bandos visited the orks of the Verotark tribe and told them how each tribe was supposed to have a statue in his honour before informing them that the Thrasghdak had committed sacrilege by destroying their statue. He ordered the Verotark to assault the Thrasghdak and eradicate them, but to keep the weapons they had forged. When the ogres of the Azkragthog attacked the weakened Verotark, he praised their generals for their cunning. He ordered them to create more weapons like the hobgoblins had, and prove their worth in war. For example, they attacked the ourg tribe of the Goltholglor, whom Bandos provided with the exact same weapons the Azkragthog had obtained and berated them for attempting to settle the war rather than fight back. Towards the end of these wars, even the fights between the Yu'biuskians, which Bandos barely saw as battles, but more as pathetic displays of weakness, would fail to please the god of war, who mercilessly slew all of his followers, regardless of their begging for mercy.

What is left of Yu'biusk after Bandos' wars went out of control.

However, Bandos had accidentally allowed the wars to get out of hand in his blind fury; all life on Yu'biusk was wiped out as a result. Although it had stopped resembling what it had looked like before Bandos' reign shortly after the god's arrival, the world was now completely destroyed by the wars; the once rich land was charred black, covered in craters and poisonous sludge. By the end of Bandos' wave of warfare, it had become completely uninhabitable and no life remained on the plane. What remained of his Gielinorian followers never knew this; they fought for Bandos at the promise of returning to Yu'biusk upon death.

The war god left the lifeless Yu'biusk and turned his attention to Gielinor again, although he was not able to directly interfere with it due to the Edicts. Instead, he attempted to regain control of his followers. Without the guidance of their god, these followers had fallen into chaos. In the Feldip Hills, the ogres of Gu'tanoth resorted to a mass genocide of the goblin tribes in a civil war, forcing the goblins to retreat northwards. They would lose all organisation and fight one another, to Bandos' anger.

The Chosen Commander

The Goblin Temple today, erected after Hopespear's "vision".

While the Dorgeshuun lived prosperously underground, the surface goblin tribes' lives became increasingly difficult. Food and resources began to deplete and the goblins lost territory to other upcoming races, such as gnomes and humans, who were superior in all fields, as they fled the Feldip Hills. As would occur many times in history, such as much later during the Battle of Atarisundri in 1950 of the Fourth Age, the goblins were driven back, unable to reconquer areas. Around the middle of the Fourth Age, tensions increased between the tribes. Tribes without sufficient food attacked those that had food. Eventually, the eleven remaining goblin tribes gathered in central Kandarin and a large battle erupted.

The battle lasted several days and, due to constant rainfall, the battlefield became increasingly muddy, thus earning the Battle of Plain of Mud its name. Bandos watched the battle from the pool of visions in his throne room and desperately watched as the goblins slaughtered each other so greatly, that, soon, the race would be extinct. Having learnt from his earlier mistakes on Yu'biusk, the war god swiftly interfered.

While observing the tribes' camps, he found a goblin gazing directly in his direction. It was Hopespear of the Narogoshuun tribe. Bandos hopefully spoke to Hopespear from his throne room, who was able to hear it. He told the goblin to stop the fight and spoke of his "Chosen Commander", whom he would one day send to lead the goblins to victory over the whole world. This was not true, since it was only a trick of Bandos to be able to manipulate the goblins later and to make sure not all goblins were killed, so that they could fight each other for his fun in the future. However, Hopespear obviously believed him and proclaimed his 'vision' to all the other goblins.

As Bandos had planned, the battle immediately stopped and the goblins cooperatively build a temple for the Big High War God. The muddy ground caused the temple to sink into the ground though, and it remains underground today. Bandos, through Hopespear, also placed his commandments upon the goblins to make sure they would follow him blindly. The commandments were to fight mercilessly ("Merciful must die!"), to always fight in Bandos' name and to never doubt Bandos ("Thinkers must die!"). The historically inaccurate holy goblin book was written in name of Hopespear, the prophet, and some of the goblin tribes gradually began to merge. Goblin high priests who succeeded Hopespear would always tell their followers of the prophecy and of the promised return to Yu'biusk.

Reclaiming the Dorgeshuun

Dorgesh-Kaan, a majestic creation of the Dorgeshuun.

Throughout the Fifth Age, minor tectonic activity began to occur. While usually unnoticeable on the surface, these supposedly minor earthquakes occasionally caused trouble for the Dorgeshuun. On one such occasion, in 169, a Dorgeshuun explorer accidentally mined a hole through the wall of the cellar of Lumbridge Castle. Although it was quickly patched, the "cave goblin" had already been seen. Sigmund, the advisor to Duke Horacio of Lumbridge and a fanatic member of Humans Against Monsters, a cult that strives to "cleanse" the world of "un-pure races", i.e. non-humans, saw the event as an opportunity to persuade the Duke to declare war on the "monsters from beneath". He stole silverware from the Duke and blamed it on the cave goblins, convincing him to declare war. However, due to the efforts of an adventurer, the Duke found out about Sigmund's real plans and fired him. Sigmund left to the H.A.M. Hideout, making it his life goal to wipe out the Dorgeshuun. The Duke then established a peace treaty with Ur-tag, head of the Dorgeshuun Council, and trade began between the Dorgeshuun and the "surface dwellers".

Bandos resurrects his Chosen Commander in the Tears of Guthix Cave.

Some time later, the adventurer was contacted by the council and appointed to guide the first Dorgeshuun to step foot on the surface world for thousands of years: Zanik. It was likely coincidence that Zanik of all goblins was chosen, for she had been born with a small mark of Bandos on her head. She had received this mark when drinking from the tears of Guthix one day. It is most likely that Bandos had picked her as his 'Chosen Commander'. Zanik was unaware of this, however, and knew little of Bandos, if anything at all. After some exploring of Lumbridge and meeting the brutish surface goblins, Zanik insisted on going to the H.A.M. base (disguised in their robes). In the base, they overheard a plot being made by Sigmund, H.A.M. leader Johanhus Ulsbrecht, the deacon and another high-ranked member. Sigmund had prepared machinery in the cellar of the Lumbridge watermill and would use it to drill his way up and flood Dorgesh-Kaan. While eavesdropping, the adventurer and Zanik were caught. The former was simply thrown in the base jail, but once Sigmund found out Zanik was a cave goblin, he had her brutally and violently beaten to death before the H.A.M. dumped her body out like a piece of trash by the River Lum. Once the adventurer escaped the jail and left the camp, the adventurer finds Zanik's dead body. Taking her body to Juna, an acquaintance of Zanik's. Juna allowed them to use the Tears of Guthix to revive Zanik, for she felt that the goblin's destiny had not been fulfilled yet. When using the tears on Zanik, she was suspended into the air and was suddenly resurrected. The symbol on her head had also begun to glow. The trio believed Guthix had allowed Zanik to live to fulfill whatever destiny she had, but this was not the case. In reality, it had been Bandos who revived Zanik to make sure he could use her as his 'Chosen Commander' to fulfill his plans. Zanik and the adventurer then went to Sigmund's drill, killed his lackeys and fought the ex-advisor himself until his ring of life saved him before disabling the drill. The adventurer was given access to Dorgesh-Kaan as a reward.

Later, when Dorgesh-Kaan and Keldagrim began the project of building a train service between the two underground cities, the adventurer and Zanik went to help with the excavation. There they found ancient goblin artefacts - weapons the Dorgeshuun used when they had only just abandoned the surface world. They found an ancient mace and went to the Goblin Village to have it identified by Generals Wartface and Bentnoze. After a conversation, Grubfoot, a small goblin serving as a lackey for the generals (who also has special magical powers, but keeps these secret from everyone, for goblins are not allowed to use them by the commandments), recognised Zanik as the 'Chosen Commander' and had her give a speech for the Thorobshuun and Garagorshuun in the village. She told the story of the God Wars, the Dorgeshuun's ancestry and the evil War God, but the surface goblins simply began to cheer unstoppably about Bandos and thought Zanik a fake goblin for defying him. At that point, two H.A.M. snipers assassinated the village. The goblins scattered and hid in their houses, while the adventurer dispatched of them. As the assassins died, Sigmund appeared and captured Zanik, threatening to kill her. He abducted the goblin and tied her to the railway tracks of the recently finished train, hoping the kill would initiate a war between the goblins and dwarves. The adventurer rescued her though and defeated Sigmund. At least, he teleported away with his ring again.

Zanik comes to the realisation that the vision was false and Bandos has ravaged Yu'biusk.

While Zanik returned to Dorgesh-Kaan, having become close friends with the adventurer, Bandos commenced phase two of his plan. He created a dream for Grubfoot. The dream was a vision of Yu'biusk how it used to be before Bandos had his way with it. In Yu'biusk stood Zanik, there to lead all goblins to victory and Grubfoot understood her to be Zanik. An overexcited Grubfoot made his way to Dorgesh-Kaan and informed Zanik and the adventurer of his dream. He revealed the location of the Plain of Mud Goblin Temple and advised them to go there to find out how to reach Yu'biusk. Transmogrifying into a goblin, the adventurer entered after Zanik, only to find out she had been placed in jail because she couldn't answer any of the high priest's questions about goblin religion. The adventurer freed her and then opened the door to the crypts of the former high priests, for the current one could not help him. The adventurer summoned and asked each of the former goblin priests but they all said that death was dark and they never went to the promised land of Yu'biusk. The oldest priest buried there, Strongbones, told of its legend, but could not help more. With the assistance of Oldak, a brilliant Dorgeshuun scientist and mage, a fairy ring connection to Yu'biusk was established, although the portal was very weak.

Zanik is pulled into Bandos's throne room.

The trio went through to discover the atrocities that had occurred in the once so prosper realm. Bandos had turned it into an utter wasteland filled only with barren rocks, craters and toxic waste. The adventurer and Zanik went on to seek a form of life and discovered an ornamental box with Bandos' symbol on it. Upon opening it, Bandos' power sucked Zanik into the box and she disappeared. Oldak demanded that the adventurer return instantly, otherwise the portal would shut down permanently. Thus, the duo returned, without Zanik.

Meanwhile, Zanik appeared in Bandos' throne room. She balanced on the statues there to get onto Bandos' throne. There, she found a pendant and put it on. She didn't know Bandos had his godly power into the pendant, and was now able to enter the mind of his 'Chosen Commander', and control her actions and thoughts. Zanik got off the statue and approached the other end of the room. The legion of statues stepped aside for her to pass through and kneeled before her. She entered the portal and appeared in Dorgesh-Kaan to witness a fight between the adventurer and someone else.

Bandos' plan had ultimately succeeded; he had given Grubfoot the fake dream of Zanik leading the goblins back to Yu'biusk, for him an idyllic view of the Chosen Commander and the Big High War God, in order to lure Zanik to the realm, so that she could be transported to Bandos' throne room and, most importantly, get hold of the pendant.

Possession of the Chosen Commander

“

You will regret this, cave goblin, but you have already fulfilled your purpose! Now that my pendant is in this world, I no longer need you. Your tribe has hidden from me for too long. I will show you all how I deal with those who defy me!

”

Bandosian statues move aside for their Chosen Commander.

Concurrently, the H.A.M. had sent an agent disguised as a merchant to poison the young Dorgeshuun goblins in the nursery. The adventurer teamed up with Undak, Captain of the Guard, to find the agent and apprehend him. Walton, the agent, proceeded to blind Undak and attack the adventurer, but was defeated by them, with the help of Zanik, who had appeared. Walton was taken to the council, where it was decided that he, like all human criminals, had to be sent to the surface to be tried. Zanik, influenced by the pendant, strongly disagreed and left angrily.

As Undak escorted Walton out of the city, the latter was assassinated by Zanik, who fled to the dark caves south of the city. A warrant for Zanik's arrest was made, but the adventurer found Zanik first and convinced her to face the council. The council, although acknowledging her heroic actions in the past, decided that she was not above the law and they banned Zanik from Dorgesh-Kaan. Meanwhile, the adventurer was sent to the H.A.M. base to investigate, only to find out Sigmund had left the organisation with a splinter group, intent on exterminating the Dorgeshuun. The group were stationed in the cellar of Mill Road Mill near East Ardougne, where they had captured Grubfoot.

The possessed Zanik commands her goblins to attack Sigmund and the others.

While the adventurer rescued Grubfoot from Sigmund and his cronies, Bandos' grip on Zanik's mind tightened. She made her way to the Goblin Temple and spoke to all goblins there to rise against the humans and fight in the name of the Big High War God. She was met with eager enthusiasm and gathered a small army of goblins, including the high priest Bighead, to join her. As Bandos possessed her more and more, cyan armour features began to develop around her body. Bandos decided to enact his plan to conquer not only the Dorgeshuun, but the entirety of Gielinor, by reasserting his authority over his followers, and amassing them into a mighty army. His goal was to use the Goblins, specifically the Dorgeshuun tribe, as his heralds. By using the peaceful Dorgeshuun for his warlike purposes, he hoped to punish them for abandoning his cause in the God Wars.

As the adventurer and Grubfoot were about to escape the base, Zanik and the goblins from the temple stormed in and assaulted the H.A.M. members. Sigmund attempted to escape, but the adventurer confronted him and a duel ensued, with Zanik joining in. As he was low on health, his ring of life was about to save him again, but Zanik cut off his hand in cold blood. Sigmund stated that he'd rather die than live in a world ruled by goblins and Zanik stabbed him, ending his life. Bandos then commanded her to kill the adventurer as well, and a fight began between the two friends. The adventurer defeated Zanik, but the pendant allowed her to regenerate fully without leaving a scratch. The skirmish continued, while the other goblin and H.A.M. forces were diminishing, and the adventurer eventually managed to get Zanik to fight against the possession. Zanik then removed the pendant from her neck and threw it away.

Bandos gains complete control over the much weaker mind of Bighead and uses him as his avatar.

Bandos' Ultimatum and Defeat

“

I am War! I am Power! I am Bandos, the rightful god of all goblins, and through this puppet commander, I shall become god of all RuneScape!

”

The pendant was found by a curious Bighead, who hung it around his neck. His inferior mind was immediately taken by Bandos. The war god commented that he had no more need of his Chosen Commander and left the cave, causing a cave-in. Zanik and the adventurer teleported to safety, although they passed through Juna's cave first: The snake commenting that Zanik still had her destiny to fulfill and that's the only reason why Guthix had supposedly resurrected her (although it had been Bandos, of course). Meanwhile, Bighead, now fully transformed into an avatar of Bandos, stormed into Dorgesh-Kaan and smashed the police that were trying to stop it. The avatar smashed an obelisk into the ground, containing Bandos' ultimatum and left before it could do any more damage. The goblin scribe immediately began to translate the alien markings when the adventurer and the exiled Zanik arrived and were duly summoned to the Dorgeshuun Council.

Bandos, through his avatar, prepares to smite Zanik and the adventurer.

The Dorgeshuun Council was in utter panic when the translation of the text arrived. In summary, it read that Bandos gave the Dorgeshuun a final chance to rejoin him and fight to the death. Otherwise, he would return and have his avatar destroy Dorgesh-Kaan and finish with the goblins what he had started with General Bloodfist. Some councillors wanted to flee, others wanted to retreat deeper into the caves and others still were simply arguing in fear. Zanik reinforced them with courage, stating that the Dorgeshuun had been defying the War God for years and that this final resistance would crown their defiance. She said that the councillors remarked that the Dorgeshuun could not fight Bandos and win, but discarded that statement, saying that "Perhaps you're half right; perhaps we can't win. But we can fight." A moment of silence followed and Ur-tag agreed to fight Bandos against all odds. After final preparations were made, including Oldak modifying Zanik's crossbow to slay gods, Zanik and the adventurer approached the portal to Bandos' throne room and went through.

The avatar of the War God is defeated!

The avatar of Bandos was waiting for them and commented that he was the rightful owner of all goblins and therefore had the right to use them in any way he pleased. He was angry at Zanik for abandoning her privileged position as his Chosen Commander and proceeded to attack her. Zanik fought valiantly, but was losing the battle. With the adventurer's help, the avatar was weakened sufficiently for Zanik's modified crossbow to eliminate him, but a smash of the avatar's mace hit the individual parts off the crossbow and the avatar simply regenerated. Zanik had no means of defending herself and, with the adventurer attempting to collect the scattered crossbow parts while dealing with the statues attacking, she was hit unconscious by the avatar, who then began to attack the adventurer. The latter managed to reassemble the collected crossbow parts and fired a surge of magical energy at the weakened avatar, breaking Bandos' ties to Gielinor and destroying his avatar and the priest in the process. The adventurer then woke up Zanik, who smashed Bandos' pendant, marking the end of his attempt to conquer Gielinor. As a considerable amount of the god's power had been put into the pendant, its destruction left him but severely weakened. With the pendant destroyed, it seemed unlikely that Bandos would be able to rebuild his strength for another assault in the foreseeable future. Back in Dorgesh-Kaan, the adventurer and Zanik were declared outright heroes.

Return from Banishment

Only months after the aforementioned events, the cave where Guthix had retreated to after the God Wars was discovered by an archaeologist. After this discovery, armies of many gods stormed inside to attempt to kill Guthix, abolish his Edicts, and allow their respective god to return to Gielinor. Amongst these was General Graardor, who had left the God Wars Dungeon with a small legion of followers to slay Guthix, intent on returning Bandos to the world, so that he could fight in wars once more.

General Graardor arrives to slay Guthix.

Graardor and his posse attempted to get into the main chamber and were the first to penetrate one of the storage wings. The Bandosians, however, were not very intelligent and were stopped from advancing by the adventurer, who had become a Guardian of Guthix, alongside the other Guardians of Guthix present as part of the Guthixian faction there to save their god. Graardor battled the adventurer valiantly, but eventually had to admit defeat and retreated out of the cave.

Soon, after the Zarosians had arrived and an argument had started, the devious Mahjarrat Sliske broke into Guthix's chamber and slew the god using the staff of Armadyl. Thus, although not by Graardor's hand, the path was cleared for Bandos to return and re-commence his plans. Saradomin teleported into the cave shortly after the kill and stated that the other gods would soon follow, likely referring to Bandos as well. This event opened a new opportunity for the War God to return to Gielinor, since he would not have to work around the Edicts of Guthix anymore. Before the assassination of Guthix, Bandos was not planning to return at all. the reason for this is that his ego was immensely hurt after his previous defeat which was at the hands of mortals, not even fellow gods. This, coupled with the fact he had lost a significant portion of his power with the destruction of the pendant, did not make his return likely. However, with his only obstruction, Guthix, gone, Bandos regained the desire to establish himself as the sole ruling god of Gielinor and he set foot on the planet once more some time in the first year of the Sixth Age.

Sliske's Grand Ascendancy

“

Quiet, coward! I can smell your fear. This great battle will show is strongest once and for all! All you weaklings will fall beneath the god of war!

”

Some time after, Bandos was contacted by Sliske and invited to attend his "Grand Ascendancy", an event during which the Mahjarrat would supposedly ascend to godhood, at the Empyrean Citadel, the former court of Armadyl. At the promise of war, Bandos obeyed and travelled there with General Graardor, though the ourg was denied access to the actual event. The god then waited for the event to take place impatiently as he was joined by Armadyl, Brassica Prime, Saradomin and Zamorak, whose arrivals Sliske had also ascertained.

Bandos silences Armadyl and states why he has come to the Ascendancy.

Eventually, Icthlarin and the same adventurer who had defeated Bandos with Zanik arrived to the citadel in search of Harold Death, who had been kidnapped by Sliske to use as leverage, forcing Icthlarin to attend. The latter began searching the citadel for the Reaper, while Icthlarin entered the throne room to witness the ascendancy, to Bandos' dismay, who deemed it an event for exclusively the mightiest gods and was displeased with the demi-god's attendance. As the adventurer was forced to pass Sliske's puzzles, tensions between the gods began to grow, with Icthlarin desperately trying to convince the others that Sliske was not to be trusted and they had all been manipulated into coming, to which Bandos simply replied the promise of warfare was sufficient for him to come voluntarily. At that point, Sliske himself emerged and revealed two cages, one holding Death imprisoned, the other detaining the enraged Necrosyrtes Dragonkin Strisath, from whom he had stolen the Staff of Armadyl.

Meanwhile, the adventurer had managed to obtain an invitation to the event - as the only non-divine being, with even Sliske's Zarosian Mahjarrat allies being denied access - and joined the scene, to Bandos' displeasure. Sliske then revealed his ascension had been a ruse and the "guests" were actually present to witness his announcement. Initially, Bandos, like the others, was angry and was about to leave, when Sliske proceeded to tell he had managed to obtain the Stone of Jas and announced a contest between the gods: whoever can slay the most gods before the next solar eclipse will be given the Stone. This revelation resulted in shock amongst the gods, except for Bandos, who expressed his satisfaction at the competition, desiring the Stone for himself. Sliske then released Strisath and tossed the adventurer the key to Death's cage before leaving the scene, causing the dragonkin to release surges of dragonfire at anyone present. As the adventurer released Death and, along with Icthlarin, quickly left the scene, Bandos and the other gods, except for Brassica, also teleported away to escape Strisath's fury.

Battle against Armadyl and Death

“

As you saw at the 'Ascension', Sliske will award the Stone of Jas to whoever kills the most gods. I intend to simplify this war. I intend to seize the stone. This is an opportunity to wipe out Armadyl, as a pure example that the strongest will survive.

”

Bandos sitting atop his massive tower.

Shortly afterwards, Bandos assembled an army of goblins, ogres, orks and even humans who had joined him since his name became more widely known due to the efforts of Murknose, an emissary of his. They constructed a massive tower under the ground, complete with throne for Bandos to sit on and a powerful weapon called 'the Scarecrow', which the god intended to load with divine energy that he would use to kill his rival gods. Alarmed, Armadyl started a war with Bandos in hope of killing him before he could complete the Scarecrow. He amassed an army of aviantese and humans, who constructed a similar weapon to defeat Bandos. This action would only serve to increase Bandos's considerable hatred of Armadyl.

Eager to attempt to conquer and rule Gielinor after his previous failure, Bandos' tower emerged from the ground between Ice Mountain and the Goblin Village. However, he failed to realise how much the destruction of his pendant had weakened him and thus entered the battle with great overconfidence. Upon seeing the wisps containing the divine energy necessary to power The Scarecrow near the walls of Falador, Bandos ordered his troops to collect it, after which convoys of goblins mounted on ogres set out to do so. Armadyl also set up a tower just south of Falador and sent forth his followers to gather the energy as well. Additionally, both armies utilised golems in battle to speed up the gathering processes. The gatherings led to many skirmishes around Misthalin and Asgarnia between Bandosians and Armadyleans, with ambushers from the Godless also joining in, content with the prospect of the losing god being slain, while Bandos and Armadyl, seated upon their throne and perch respectively, observed the war.

Bandos is hit by the Divine Focus, beheading and killing him.

After six weeks of vicious battle, the war came to an end when Armadyl's troops filled his weapon with enough divine energy to activate it. It blasted all the energy it had towards Bandos' tower, with the god of war only noticing the attack in total shock after it was too late. The divine energy landed a direct vertical hit, obliterating the tower from the top down and decapitating Bandos on impact, while most of his body was incinerated in the blast. The adventurer, who had participated in the battle, decided to take a look at the site to see what damage had been done, where all that remained was a crater and the petrified remains of Bandos' head. Armadyl landed next to it, smashing the head to pieces with Bandos' own war mace to send a warning message to remaining Bandosians before raising the weapon in a cry of victory.

Bandos' followers have reacted surprisingly calmly to his death, with some stating that he had proved his point that the strong always conquer, while others simply refused to believe he had died. A few, however, blamed Zanik (for significantly weakening Bandos), but also put the blame on most if not all of the humans that sided with Bandos. This group attempted to invade Dorgesh-Kaan and kill all the cave goblins, but Zanik and the adventurer averted this by having another Kyzaj Tournament organised. The adventurer, representing the cave goblins, defeated General Graardor in the final battle of the tournament, leading to the adventurer choosing the next leader of the Bandosians: Zanik or Graardor.