Leng
Leng is a frozen world with a bleak and jagged landscape of dark stone mountains.
History[edit | edit source]
Leng was one of the first worlds to be created by the Elder Gods. It was not originally a frozen planet - it originally appeared to have a molten surface - and was home to an industrious civilisation. At an unknown point in time and for unknown reasons, the glacor race invaded the planet from space, initially appearing as icy comets that caused destruction upon landing. The glacors spread ice over the entire planet, covering its cities and inhabitants beneath a sheet of ice miles thick. The glacors remained on the planet for aeons ever since.[1][2][3]
During his trip across the universe, Zaros discovered Leng. At some point he killed an Arch-glacor and used its essence to create the ice crystal.[4] He would later use this crystal, along with three others infused with the ancient elements of smoke, shadow and blood, to create the nihil in Freneskae.
At an unspecified time, Fell Arnessen, a Fremennik man, travelled to Leng through a portal in a cave he ventured into. He became trapped after the portal closed itself and encountered the various geographical features of the planet, a hopping slug that attacked him[5], and a mysterious wanderer who ignored him.[6] Fell then encountered and attempted to defeat an Ur-Glacor and was likely killed.[7][8]
During his time as a playwright, Sliske wrote a play titled "The Whispering King" that seemed to describe aspects of Leng, which concerned "glacial planes", "secrets buried deep beneath the ice", and "wandering philosophers" who "walk the world in silence, contemplating what it means to be truly forgotten". It also made jokes about "being hollowed out and fed to ancient jaws that would grind us to dust and make us glad for it".[9] The play's title seemingly referred to Vos' whispery voice, implying a link between the being and the planet.
After the Elder God eggs were stolen by the mortal races, the elder god Wen looked to Leng and found the glacors upon its surface. For unknown reasons, shadow anima had suffused both the planet and its denizens. Seeing this, Wen conjured portals to bring the glacors onto Gielinor to help reclaim her own egg, unwilling to approach them directly.[10] The glacors were eventually returned to Leng following the battle.
Features[edit | edit source]
It has very strong winds and many large blizzards,[11] as described by Fell Arnessen in his journal. Leng has an eternal, frozen plain, miles deep and several large cities encased in ice.[3]
On Leng, there is a road circulating the whole planet which was created by a frozen wanderer who walks this road. This man cannot be stopped and does not respond to other stimuli.[6]
Leng is also home to two species; the Glacors, who came to Leng from afar and can be considered invasive species[2], and a race of aggressive slug-like creatures with impressive agility capable of emitting a foul ichor that prevents them from being eaten.[5]
Before it was invaded and frozen by glacors, Leng had a barren surface and what appeared to be rivers of lava.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Leng is likely a reference to the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, who featured an icy plateau called Leng in several of his stories.
- Leng could also be a reference to the Chinese character for cold, 冷, which is romanised as "lěng".
References[edit | edit source]
- ^ Jagex. RuneScape's Twitter account. 30/8/2021. (Archived from the original on 3/08/2021.)
- ^ a b "The Glacor Front", RuneScape. "Leng was one of the first planets created by the elder gods. It was no paradise, but it birthed an industrious civilisation whose name is now long forgotten. When the icy comets appeared in the sky, the people of Leng had no idea what awaited them. The crashing comets wrought devastation as they landed, but something worse rose out of the craters. The incorporeal invaders formed towering suits of armour from the ice they brought with them. That same ice spread across the whole world, covering the cities and freezing their people. Their work done, the glacors stood vigil over a silent, dead world for countless aeons."
- ^ a b The Journal of Fell Arnessen, written by Fell Arnessen, RuneScape. "This was no slow-moving glacier, but an eternal, frozen plain, miles deep. In places the snow was blasted away by the wind, and I could see the murky ice reach down into the depths below where the roots of the mountains lay... As I wandered, I saw shapes through the ice, on the bottom far below. They were too regular or too incredible to be natural rock. They were buildings, great cities even, buried in a frozen, sunken slumber."
- ^ The Promised Gift, written by Nex, RuneScape. "'Finally I created the stone of ice from an arch-glacor on the frozen world of Leng. These creatures, that tower ten or a hundred times taller than their smaller kin, dominate the landscape of that brutal and inhospitable wasteland.'"
- ^ a b The Journal of Fell Arnessen, written by Fell Arnessen, RuneScape. "I encountered only one thing in that walk which could be confused for something edible. A large and voracious slug-like thing attacked me from a snowdrift. With impossible agility it leapt at my face, and I was barely able to cut it down. I tried to eat it, but a thick and stinking ichor repelled me and I left it on the ice."
- ^ a b The Journal of Fell Arnessen, written by Fell Arnessen, RuneScape. "Finally through the snow ahead of me I beheld a man on the road... I found a cloaked figure, his face impossible to make out, walking slowly and determinedly down the center[sic] of the road, never breaking stride.... He ignored me as though I did not exist, and trod on. I rushed ahead of him, such that he would have to greet me or go around. Instead he simply walked into me without acknowledgement, and although I put my arms out to stop him and pushed with all my might, I could do nothing to halt or even slow him. I saw then that nothing could stop his travel, and I realized the impossible truth. He was not walking along the road, he was making it. The slow tread of his unwavering footsteps had carved an exact line, around and around this world, for ages I could not fathom."
- ^ The Journal of Fell Arnessen, written by Fell Arnessen, RuneScape. "Every Fremennik knows the legend of the glacor's, those savage beings of ice brought forth by unholy sorcerers. What appeared on the horizon was a glacor of truly titanic size."
- ^ The Journal of Fell Arnessen, written by Fell Arnessen, RuneScape. "I can see no hope, no survival in this place, but I can still find honour in battle and death. To be the first to slay such a beast. Is it even possible? If this account lies unfinished, you will know that I failed."
- ^ A critic's review (article 4), written by Critic, "Night Theatre", RuneScape. "But this play does none of that. It talks of glacial planes and secret doors buried deep beneath the ice. Of wandering philosophers who walk the world in silence, contemplating what it means to be truly forgotten. It makes jokes about being hollowed out and fed to ancient jaws that would grind us to dust and make us glad for it."
- ^ "The Glacor Front", RuneScape. "When the elder god Wen needed powerful servants, she found them waiting in this inhospitable place. Anathema suffused the planet and its denizens. Could she really unleash them against Gielinor - the hatchery for her precious egg? Unwilling to approach such tainted beings, she opened portals for them, and turned her face from the destruction to come."
- ^ The Journal of Fell Arnessen, written by Fell Arnessen, RuneScape. "All around the biting wind howled, and in the distance blizzards raged, each large enough to swallow Rellekka and all the lands around."
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