Runescape

If you played Runescape back in the the old days or currently play Old School Runescape, then I’m very sure you’ve spent a lot of time grinding for Pest Control points to get that magnificent Void armour. While it’s barely used in the main game, it’s still very popular in Old School Runescape, especially amongst ranged PK’ers. Despite being such a popular minigame activity, the Void Knights had barely any backstory until the first of the Void Quest series arrived on the 22^nd of April 2010. As a personal note, I really enjoyed the quest series but I felt like the lore wasn’t extensive enough as I wanted to learn more about them. While I was researching the Void Knights, I discovered a trove of information I hadn’t come across before. Therefore, this month’s installment will be about the Void Knights.

As I’m sure the majority of people know, Guthix is the God of Balance, and in the past we’ve covered many of his followers; Some examples would include the Druids who are mostly peaceful, and the Legiones who are extremists. The Void Knights, however, are different, as they consider themselves as being the military side of the Guthixians. Nowadays we know that they’re keeping the world safe from the Pests entering Gielinor, but this was not always their job. The Void Knights were actually assassins who killed to keep the balance, and any threat to that balance would face their wrath. Sadly, due to unknown reasons the Knights Order collapsed.

During the Fourth age, a Saradominist called Dracs Melrose had a vision; Guthix spoke to him in his dreams about a threat about to befall Gielinor, and Guthix tasked Dracs with reviving the Order to combat this threat, as the Druids could not due to their pacifist nature. Dracs abandoned his status as a Saradominist, which he had never felt comfortable claiming to be regardless, and became a Guthixian. His goal? Revive the Void Knights. Dracs wrote a handbook which all followers would obtain upon joining. The revived Order believed that Guthix was the true creator of Gielinor and that they required true balance within themselves. They would use military force to create balance where their pacifist brethren could not. In addition to this, they were warned that a future threat would one day come and that they were the ones who would defend Gielinor against it.

As the Order grew bigger over time, the King of Falador intervened and restricted the Knights to Taverly. This was most likely to stop their political influence from increasing even further, and so they remained in Taverly for about fifty years. Around this time reports came in from the south stating that strange beasts were reported to have been invading the seas, and the Void Knights understood that this was the threat they had been warned about. Admiral Boyce Khael ordered Commodore Matthias to rally the troops to combat these Pest creatures. The Void Knights built the outpost on an island so they could sail out to any island that played host to the Pest portals. Ever since then the fight has been seemingly never-ending, and the situation has grown dire enough that the Void Knights would enlist mercenaries, such as the player, to aid them.

In Year 169 of the Fifth Age, the Void Knights’ status quo was challenged when a Pest was spotted on the mainland. Sir Tiffy of the Temple Knights would go on to send the Adventurer (who would later become known as the World Guardian) to investigate the matter, and after questioning several people on the Outpost the Adventurer discovered that the researcher, Jessika, had released the Pest. She empathised with the creature and wanted to grant it its freedom. Commodore Matthias would set sail to the mainland with the intention to deal with the Pest, but he and the other Void Knights were ambushed at sea. Commodore Matthias and his Knights died at the hand of the Pest and the wizard known as Melville Grayzag, although this would not be discovered until later.

Afterwards, Jessika, Korasi, and the Adventurer would go on to investigate the escaped Pest and its whereabouts as more and more people fell ill. After much investigation, it was discovered that the Kinshra were using the escaped Void Leech’s purple goo to weaken people. Their plan was to use this toxic substance to overthrow the White Knights of Falador by delivering it to people via Waxwood crates, which was the only container waterproof enough to hold the goo.

The Adventurer was then sent undercover to the Kinshra hideout, where they broke into the Kinshra storeroom and would go on to discover that Melville was the mastermind behind this dastardly plan. His plan was to summon the Pest Queen to Gielinor with the intention to wreak havoc. In order to be able to stand against this threat the Void Knights, Temple Knights, and even the Kinshra formed a temporary alliance. Their armies marched towards the summoning ritual site, and it was here that Melville successfully summoned the Pest Queen with the death of either Jessika or Korasi depending on the players choice. The allied forces fought together alongside the Adventurer until the Pest Queen lay dead upon the ground. Melville was then either captured or killed by the one of the members of the alliance depending on the players choice, and the status quo in the Void Knights’ battle against the Pest creatures was once again restored.

To this very day, their fight to defend the mainland from Pests continues. While they only have one quest series consisting of three quests, I feel like they’ve obtained quite a bit of interesting lore with their release. I personally hope that Jagex will once again cover the Order in a future quest. Especially with the Elder God Wars threat currently raging on, I feel like the Void Knights would be one of the first to show up to defend Gielinor. We hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s installment of Forgotten Lore. See you next time for more lore! Until then, defend the Void Knight!