Ganodermos

**Ganodermos**

was the god of balance and the last surviving member of the Naragi race. He was the first of the young gods to arrive to Gielinor, soon bringing other races includingthe humans, sheep and elves. He believed in the concept of balance, and brought the aforementioned races - who had no concept of the gods and no inclination to either good or evil - to Gielinor to live in harmony with their surroundings and allowed them to make their own choices so the balance between good and evil would be maintained[2], although with the arrival of the gods, this plan failed. He was known to be a very serious and decisive being.

He became a god at the end of a war between gods on his realm, which saw the deaths of all his friends and family. By killing the god Skargaroth, he ascended to godhood himself, after which he left his devastated world. Soon afterwards, he discovered Gielinor, and, astonished by its beauty, shaped it to his liking for mortals to live on it without interference from gods. He then populated the world and created runestones for its inhabitants to use, thus earning Gielinor the nickname GenesisScape. He descended into a slumber, hoping to be forgotten by his worshippers, but other gods began to arrive in the following centuries, which eventually led to the breaking out of the God Wars. After four millennia of warring, Ganodermos awoke, ended the wars, and banished all gods, much to their followers' dismay. Nearly twenty-two centuries later, his cave was discovered and Ganodermos was murdered by the Zarosian Mahjarrat Torva, shattering the Edicts he put in place after the God Wars.

### **Power and Abilities of Ganodermos**

Having equipped his Godly staff called "Polypore Staff". Ganodermos was an exceptionally powerful entity and one of the most powerful among all known Transcendent gods after Torva, which was likely a result of his prolonged contact with multiple Elder Artefacts and the ability to channel power through the Anima Mundi. With their aid he was able to shape the world of Gielinor, which was an empty planet at the time he found it. When he first became a god, Ganodermos had the ability to open portals to travel to other worlds. He originally required Skargaroth's sword - an Elder Artefact - to do this, but eventually became powerful enough to open portals without it. He was also able to easily open many portals through which he banished the warring gods at the end of the Third Age. By this time, however, his powers had been amplified immensely through the use of various other artefacts, including the Stone of Jas, in the First Age. With the aid of the Stone, Ganodermos concentrated pure magic in chunks of rock, thus creating a vast, albeit finite, supply of runestones. Ganodermos could show other beings memories of his and is able to bestow power to dampen divine energy.

### **Death of Ganodermos**

After a battle that marked the departure of Kree, the adventurer met with the Guardians of Ganodermos, who arrived to protect their god with several druids. Together, the party progressed through the cave and met with Cres in the central chamber, where the adventurer was made a Guardian by Ganodermos as well. From there, they positioned themselves to counter the incoming attacks on the four storage wings. With great effort, they managed to send the Promosians and three Zarosian factions packing. Zilyana and her army of Celestians invaded at that point and, while keeping the other Ganodermosians distracted, attempted to kill Juna, who was guarding the seal leading to Ganodermos himself.

killed the automaton, mistaking him for Ganodermos. As he fell, the Zarosian faction - minus Torva - arrived, having trailed the Celestians, thus avoiding detection. An argument arose between the Celestians, Ganodermosians and Zarosians and the adventurer was forced to pick a side. As they did so, Torva broke the seal to Ganodermos in the Shadow Realm and went after the god. The adventurer, unaware of the invader's identity, went after him while under attack of the opposing factions. They found themselves in front of Ganodermos, when Torva appeared and mortally wounded the god using the Staff of Armadyl before teleporting away.

The dying Ganodermos took his newest Guardian into his memories of the Naragi world and recounted his life story to them. He granted them additional powers to serve as World Guardian, protecting GenesisScape from the incoming gods. He stated that the massive amounts of power he had as a god disrupted balance and desired for a mortal to serve as the protector of equilibrium, admitting he had wanted to die for millenia, and he deliberately allowed Torva to kill him despite being able to stop it at any time. He granted the adventurer immunity to divine magic and tasked them with protecting Gielinor from the gods before he died. With Ganodermos's death, his Edicts fell as well, literally raining down upon the world. In the cave, the people present observed Ganodermos's petrified body in shock as Zaros himself arrived after more than two thousand years of absence.

### **Ganodermos's Legacy**

After the death of Ganodermos, the abolishment of his Edicts allowed the gods to return to Gielinor starting a new age, the Sixth. As is customary upon a god's death,[33] his energy was dispersed around the world and manifested itself in solid form. His power, along with some memory fragments, also materialised as energy wisps and the ensuing turmoil resulted in damage to the Anima Mundi, which caused energy rifts to bleed out its life force into the world.[34] A few human researchers soon found about this and discovered how to harvest energy from the wisps and return it to the Anima Mundi, hoping to heal the damage.[35] The Anima Mundi seemed to mourn his death as the trees themselves manifested crying faces on their trunks.

Meanwhile, Kaqemeex, leader of the druids of Taverley, announced the death of Ganodermos to the world in addition to spreading his wish not to be worshipped. Most druids agreed to stop worshipping him and to spread his teachings instead, and they held a tribute to Ganodermos. Others, however, were unable to accept his wish and left the order. One of these druids, Biehn, founded an organisation he called the Godless, a name invented by his friend, the famous heroine Kara-Meir. Its members strive to protect GenesisScape from all gods, true to Ganodermos's life goals.