What’s gem-encrusted, striped, created by an elder god, and has a need to consume the life force of one of its own kind every so often in order to stay alive and powerful? It’s your friendly neighborhood Mahjarrat, of course! The race of the Mahjarrat have been around since Hazeel’s Cult (back before their models were different from humans), but their lore has only really become interesting and revealing after While Guthix Sleeps came onto the scene in late ‘08. Even then we really didn’t know too much about them, but as soon as they became popular, most players have flocked to their race as a source of intrigue due to their power, likeness to humans, long lives, and sheer badassery. Although their official “storyline” ended with Ritual of the Mahjarrat, their involvement in the game’s lore is far from over.

The race of the Mahjarrat, or “Children of Mah,” find their origins as the first mortal creations of the elder goddess Mah. After them, she created the Mahserrat and the Chelon-Mah, but those are for another article. You see, Freneskae was Gielinor’s equivalent in the previous cycle of universes prior to the “Revision.” It’s harsh appearance is due to the fact that the Elder Gods rested there after the previous cycle and then drained all the anima from Freneskae in order to continue their cycle once more. However, after the elder gods awoke on Freneskae to destroy the old and create new, they found Mah had not absorbed enough anima and thus appeared to be stillborn. Leaving her behind, the other four Elder Gods (Jas, Ful, Bik, and Wen) began the Revision, destroying all worlds but Freneskae, and then creating new worlds. Mah eventually did wake, and upon her waking Mah’s first actions were to create the divine embodiments of light and dark, Seren and Zaros, respectively. Later, Mah’s nightmares of a long-living yet mortal race of warriors were made flesh: the Mahjarrat.

Living on Freneskae was a real hard-knock life for these kids. They never were greater in number than a few hundred, and they lived in constant fear of Mah’s nightmare-induced Muspah. Eventually, Seren saw that Mah’s life seemed to be fading, and decided to make herself appear to the Mahjarrat as Mah herself, and taught them the Ritual of Rejuvenation. It’s original intent was to drain power from the Mahjarrat, and back into Mah to keep her alive. In order to balance this, Seren also taught the Mahjarrat (this is when you should turn on some quiet Marvin Gaye in the background) the Ritual of Enervation. The details of this particular ritual are fuzzy, as we’ve never had them well described. What we do know is that, for one, the ritual drained Mah’s energy back into the Mahjarrat in order to calm her, and that from this ritual, the Mahjarrat were able to… multiply.

Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” May not be available in your country.

*quickly wipes away sweat from forehead*

Sexy time aside, their existence pretty much went on as a war-centric constant battle for survival until the beginning of what would become known as the Second Age. On Gielinor, the battle was raging between the Kharidian and Zarosian empires (as you can find read a bit about in my previous article) to the point that Icthlarin and his sister, Amascut, left the realm in search of aid from another plane. Once they found the Mahjarrat, they made an offer to them promising glory in battle in exchange for their soldierly prowess, and after one death and a Ritual of Rejuvenation, the Mahjarrat agreed and left for their new home on Gielinor, never to return to their ancestral home.

United now under the banner of the Kharidian army, the Mahjarrat became known as the “Stern Judges” and helped stem the tide of the Zarosian forces steadily pushing southward into the territory of the Kharidians. They kept at this for years, eventually earning victory, but once the battle was over, things began to go south. Throughout the war, Sliske had been collecting pets (wights) of some of the Zarosians he had vanquished, and this bugged King Itchy (Icthlarin) to no end. Being the god responsible for escorting souls to the afterlife, Itchy punished Sliske by freeing the souls of his valued wights. After this, Sliske became the first to break his pact with the Menaphite army, and was also the first to swear loyalty to Zaros.

Unhappy with the lack for battles and bloodshed, the rest of the Mahjarrat eventually came to make their move as well, leaving King Itchy and the Kharidians for Zaros and another promise for power and war. Alongside demons, vampyres, and others, Mahjarrat quickly became the elite and most trusted of Zaros’ followers. The three most influential came to be Zamorak who held the title of Legatus Maximus, making him the head of the generals in the Zarosian army given his lust for battle, Azzanadra as the Pontifex Maximus, meaning he was the head of the Zarosian church and effectively the second-most powerful in the empire, and Sliske, his rank being Praefectus Praetorio, the head of Zaros’ secret police.

And this is where I will leave you until the next time. From here, the Second Age continues as things get really interesting (in my opinion). Characters begin to evolve, the Mahjarrat grow apart in their allegiances, and mutiny, dissension, and death are on the horizon!