SPOILER ALERT: This article contains information that you might not wish to know about yet.
"The deep breath before the plunge." is what Gandalf called it. A more contemporary phrase would be "The silence before the storm." Whichever way you want to look at it, we've just witnessed a major turning point in Gielenor's history. Zaros, The Empty Lord, one of the most powerful beings (rivalled only by Guthix and Seren) ever to roam our world, is has returned.
The new quest this all happened in is called "Fate of the Gods". While it only has moderate level requirements and only one quest needs to be completed, it is still a Grandmaster quest. This is due to the amount of lore and dangerous areas you'll encounter on your way, but I think has more to do with the list of recommended quests you should do before starting this quest. Honestly, they might as well have written "All of them!"
But I digress. The main focus of this quest is obviously the lore and cinematics, which surpass those found in quests like The World Wakes, and While Guthix Sleeps. In other words, If you haven't done the quest yet you'd be a fool to click through all the dialogue boxes.
Speaking of lore, when you think of Zaros, the Mahjarrat also spring to mind. These powerful magical beings, Zamorak among them, once served Zaros, until half of them decided that he wasn't progressive enough with the expansion of his empire. This civil war between the ones that call Elder God Mah their mother, still continues today, although allegiances of opportunity and the prospect of the Mahjarrat being a dying race have somewhat blurred the lines between the camps.
During the quest, we'll be advised by Azzanadra and Sliske on what to do and how to act. Both are very powerful in their own right, but we have up to this point a more amicable relationship with Azzanadra. We freed him from thousands of years of imprisonment, helped him contact his former god, and stood on the receiving end of his aid during the battle with Lucien at the Ritual site. Then again, his devotion to Zaros might make him turn on us in the future in the end if Zaros wants it so.
Our relationship with Sliske is much more strained. He tried to turn us into one of his Wights (and he still wants you for his collection), he ruined the peace by turning all the gods against one another, and last but not least; he broke his promise to us and the other Zarosian Mahjarrat that he wouldn't kill Guthix, putting us in the mess we are currently in.
Before the quest, the cards were stacked against trusting Sliske. He either lost his mind and power play is nothing more than some light afternoon entertainment for him, or he is too big a genius that we simply cannot comprehend the scope of his plans. In all honesty, I believe he was even before this quest convinced of his cunning, and the belief in his own propaganda rivals that of your average Russian these days. Either way, he is very dangerous and very unpredictable, even more so now that, post-quest, Zaros has cut all ties and therefore lost all control over him. Right now there are two things about him we can depend on about his future plans; First of all, he will go to any length to achieve his goals, whatever they may be. And second, Sliske will always do what's best for Sliske.
I wish I could say that these were not the only Mahjarrat to be featured in this quest, as I had a feeling that more of them were going to be involved. Some of the Mahjarrat might have wanted to have a word with you before you release the most powerful enemy of then-Mahjarrat-now-God Zamorak and his followers upon Gielenor. And like clockwork the ones on the side of Zaros would show up to prevent the Zamorakians from stopping you. An opportunity missed, but perhaps a future quest will deal with this.
Another major piece of content featuring in the quest is the Stargate. The Portal of Life is what it was called by Guthix, since it brought humans, elves and a whole range of intelligent(ish) beings to Gielenor. During the quest The World Gate will be opened and transports us to Freneskae, the Mahjarrat homeworld, which turned out to be only one of many worlds that the Gate can connect to, including Kethsi and the home world of the Aviansie, something we got polled on recently, and will probably feature in a quest that will see the return of the birdmen to Gielenor.
That all said, I wasn't as curious about his history as I am still about Zaros' future. It should go without saying that, once he consolidated his position back on this world, he'll go straight after Zamorak. In fact, it could well be the next quest, and not a World Event, to feature Zaros and Zamorak since this battle is such a foregone conclusion. Zamorak is, after all, still weakened from his defeat at the hands of Saradomin. But no. Zaros came to us in the nick of time with even a grander mission to prevent the world, indeed the universe from being erased from existence.
A mission of this magnitude being put on our shoulders only months after we're already charged to protect the world from Younger Gods seems a bit excessive. Then again, Guthix must have known about this as well, and for some reason decided not to tell us this. Is this then a ploy to give us a new good-guy-God to take orders from? Who knows. In the end, it's more likely that we'll save this universe from being wiped out. Unless someone at Jagex has some plans they aren't telling us...
