Morytania

For the music track, see Morytania (music track).

This article lacks references. This page has unsourced or disputed statements. Please cite relevant sources. For more information, see here.

[view] • [talk]

Morytania
Release						29 June 2004 (Update)
Also called						The Dark Land, The Dark Realm, The Undying Land, The Black Land
Members						Yes
Map

Morytania (pronounced "Morry-tay-nee-ah") is a members-only kingdom located east of Misthalin. Morytania is ruled by the vampyre race, making it one of the darkest places of Gielinor. Players must complete various quests to gain access to most content in Morytania.

In order to access Morytania for the first time, players must either complete the Priest in Peril quest or kill a ghoul in the mausoleum below Paterdomus, accessed from the stairs in the graveyard, north of the temple, then go through the holy barrier keeping Morytania's dark forces outside of Misthalin. This should not be hard; even skillers can do this with rings of recoil, and an inventory of food. Players should only need to attack the ghoul once, then equip the ring of recoil and the ghoul will do the rest.

Region info

Morytania
Leader	Lady Vanescula Drakan, Efaritay Hallow, Safalaan Hallow (current); Lord Lowerniel Drakan, Ranis Drakan (former)
Inhabitants	Vampyre, Werewolf, Human, Shade, Ghoul, Undead, Araxytes
Demonym	Morytanian
Capital	Darkmeyer
Religion	Zamorakian
Features	4, 2

Getting there

Canifis

Approaching the werewolf village

Canifis may be accessed after completing the Priest in Peril quest or defeating the ghoul and passing through the holy barrier in the basement of Paterdomus via the mausoleum outside and just north of the Paterdomus for the first time. After doing so, players may travel to Canifis through any of the following methods:

• Canifis lodestone just north-east of Canifis.
• The Ancient Magicks spell Kharyrll Teleport.
• Focusing one of the portals in the Portal Chamber of their house to Canifis (Kharyrll).
• Fairy ring code CKS.
• After completing Ghosts Ahoy, using the ectophial to teleport to the Ectofuntus. This gives a moderately-close teleport that is free and unlimited. If lost, one may obtain a replacement from Velorina.
• After completing In Search of the Myreque, taking the shortcut to Mort'ton down a ladder south of the Hair of the Dog inn that leads to the north-east part of the Mort Myre Swamp.
• Taking the Swamp Boat between The Hollows and Mort'ton. This cuts out around half the distance.
• Using a ring of slaying to teleport to the Slayer Tower just north-west of Canifis.

Areas

Entering the dark lands for the first time

The regions of Morytania are:

• Canifis is a village inhabited by werewolves. This village contains a bank, an inn and several stores. Attacking the human-appearing citizens in this town will turn them into level 63 werewolves. A wolfbane dagger, obtained in Priest in Peril, prevents them from turning into werewolves.
• The Slayer Tower is a large tower north-west of Canifis. This tower contains monsters used for Slayer assignments, such as crawling hands, banshees, bloodveld, aberrant spectres, abyssal demons and others. Markus, camped outside, gives out slayer contracts for the creatures.
• Mort Myre Swamp is a very large swamp south of Canifis. Players need to partially complete the Nature Spirit quest to access this area. Mort Myre contains aggressive giant snails and a large number of ghasts. The atmosphere of the swamp can periodically decay you by damaging you for a small amount of lifepoints unless you bring a silver sickle (b), Rod of Ivandis, or Ivandis flail. Ghasts have a chance to rot food carried in the inventory when they surprise attack you. If you have no food in inventory, they will damage you. A druid pouch from Nature Spirit will make them visible and attackable. The Ouroboros pouch acts as a druid pouch that never depletes and can be added to the tool belt, making the player invulnerable to the ghasts' surprise attacks.
• The Nature Grotto is in the Mort Myre Swamp on a small island. It contains spawns for items used to make druid pouches. Inside the grotto is one of the few prayer altars in Morytania, a summoning obelisk, and a wishing well that acts as a Summoning shop.
• The Haunted Woods are located east of Canifis. They contain level 58 leeches and many level 61 feral vampyres.
• Fenkenstrain's Castle, north-east of Canifis, is where most of the Creature of Fenkenstrain quest takes place.
• Port Phasmatys is a cursed port town on the north-eastern coast of Morytania, inhabited almost entirely by ghosts, who charge a toll of 2 ecto-tokens for those desiring entry; after completing the Ghosts Ahoy quest, players can enter the town for free. Despite its curse, the town still has a bank and a furnace close together, which attracts player smelting ores for Smithing. Players can also use the brewery in the cellar of the pub to make ale via Cooking.
• The ectofuntus is a temple run by Necrovarus just north of Port Phasmatys. Players can train Prayer here.
• The Abandoned mine is located south of Mort Myre. This is where the Haunted Mine quest takes place. After the quest, players can obtain salve amulets here, which increases damage against the undead. In addition, the Lair of Tarn Razorlor can be found in the mine.
• Mort'ton is a human-inhabited village that became infected with a foul gust of wind known as the Sanguinesti Affliction from Castle Drakan, which turned the populace into the near-mindless afflicted. The affliction also disturbed the town's deceased, who have risen as undead, evil Loar Shades. Ghasts from Mort Myre also clutch at players along the north edge of the village. After the Shades of Mort'ton quest, players gain access to two shops and the Shades of Mort'ton minigame.
• Burgh de Rott is the last free human settlement in Morytania. The town is in ruins, under constant threat of vampyre occupation, and running out of food fast. However, players who help the citizens during the In Aid of the Myreque quest can rebuild and open a bank and furnace here. Players can travel from here to Meiyerditch or start the Temple Trekking minigame.
• Meiyerditch is a vast and sprawling ghetto, used by the vampyres as a large holding-house for humans, whom they farm for blood. This city is accessed during and after The Darkness of Hallowvale. Meiyerditch is ruined and dilapidated, and the whole city is one big maze that requires level 65 Agility to traverse. The Legacy of Seergaze quest also takes place here. The vyrewatch patrol the city and can stop any players who look suspicious until Vanescula orders them to cease early on in The Branches of Darkmeyer. The vyrewatch leave the city after River of Blood.
• Barrows Town is the unofficial name of the empty town next to where the Barrows Brothers are buried. Rise of the Six can be started through the well in the town's centre, and players can play the Barrows minigame to the south of the settlement on the burial mounds tended by the Strange Old Man.
• Darkmeyer is the capital of Sanguinesti Region, where most of the vampyres live. The Branches of Darkmeyer quest occurs here.
• Castle Drakan, located on the west end of Darkmeyer and towering over Morytania, is the home of the Drakan overlords and the main setting for The Lord of Vampyrium and River of Blood.
• The Araxyte Hive, where a group of spiders known as araxytes have settled in just south of Port Phasmatys. The vampyres fear the Araxytes, but why they fear them is unknown. Players may enter the hive to fight Araxxor and his mate, Araxxi.
• The Port Phasmatys South mine is located just south of the Araxyte hive outside of Port Phasmatys. At level 70 mining players can mine from three phasmatite rocks to obtain phasmatite. Phasmatite is also available in the abandoned mine, however, this requires completion of the Haunted Mine quest and is further from a bank than the Port Phasmatys South mine.
• During the Sixth Age and with the release of Archaeology, Everlight was unearthed, rising from the bottom of the sea to the southeast of Morytania. This was the first settlement of the icyene race when they were brought over to Gielinor by Saradomin in the Second Age. The dig site's centrepiece is the Everlight itself, a permanently illuminated lighthouse that served as a beacon of hope for the icyene. It also includes structures and features reminiscent of icyene life on New Domina. Level 42 Archaeology is required to begin discovering its secrets.
• The Icyene graveyard is between Meiyerditch and the Everlight dig site. It holds the remains of dead and fallen icyene, and contains a small catacomb with a statue of Efaritay. The small cemetery plays a role in Lord of Vampyrium, River of Blood, and Archaeology.

Corruption

At some point after the Vampyres conquered Morytania, the land was corrupted, turning Humblethorn into a decaying swamp called Mort Myre, and mutating much of the native fauna. It is not known how or when this corruption occurred. The Natural Historians of the Varrock Museum theorise that there is some sort of pollutant or environmental influence in the swamp that's responsible for the mutations. Drezel believes that the denizens of Morytania corrupted the swamp with their "evil emanations". The citizens of Mor'ton claim these "emanations" began in the Sanguinesti area, somewhere to the north-east of their town, before gradually spreading outwards. Now they are said to come from Mort Myre and the rest of Morytania. These emanations apparently look like a mist and have a foul stench.

Although the vampyres have lived in Morytania for millennia, Drezel suggests the corruption was relatively recent, within his friend Filiman Tarlock's lifetime. Likewise the citizens of Mor'ton suggest their affliction as a result of the emanations is also a recent event.

History

Second Age

Morytania is a land of perpetual darkness, inhabited by the vampyric race (mostly in Meiyerditch and Darkmeyer), werewolves (in Canifis), ghosts of unruly souls (in Port Phasmatys), and humans, most of them either afflicted or enslaved by the vampyres.

During the Second Age, part of Morytania was ruled by the god Zaros. Kharyrll was an important fortress in this region for Zarosians, with its own teleport in the Ancient spellbook. Also during this time, the human General Viggora built an enormous castle at the north-west of Kharyrll, mocked by his contemporaries as Viggora's Folly but now simply called the Slayer Tower.

Lord Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan, the ruler of the vampyres.

Queen Efaritay, the Queen of Hallowvale.

While the northern and western areas of Morytania belonged to Zaros, the southern parts belonged to Saradomin and were known as the Hallowland, or Hallowvale. This is where the icyene arrived from their home planet of Hallow; Everlight was the first icyene settlement in Gielinor, marked by an everlasting lighthouse meant to guide and comfort the new arrivals. Hallowvale was a powerful but peaceful region ruled by the icyene Queen Efaritay and human King Ascertes.

Third Age

At the end of the Second Age, Zaros was betrayed by Zamorak, leading to his downfall. Zamorak distributed Hallowvale to Lord Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan, a vampyre lord who followed Zamorak during the God Wars, as a reward for his hand in the rebellion.

While Saradomin's forces were occupied besieging Senntisten in the west, Drakan, his siblings, and his followers entered the Hallowland via Silvarea, the mountain pass to the north, which would later serve as the site of Paterdomus. From there, he attacked the capital. The icyene military commander Archon Bable was left to hold the line, but Drakan was able to slip past the defences, breach Efaritay's castle in the night, and take King Ascertes hostage as the Saradominists withdrew to Everlight. However, Bable ordered Hallowvale's military to retreat even further to the east. The queen, out of options and out of love for her husband, surrendered unconditionally, but not before attempting to sabotage access to Everlight. Eventually, Lord Drakan sank the Everlight, along with the peninsula it stood on, beneath the waves.

Now in the Third Age, Drakan constructed the city of Meiyerditch, its people confined in the city so that Drakan's vampyres could drink their blood. At one point he controlled Burgh de Rott, but the people later managed to liberate themselves from complete vampyre control.

In the late Third Age, an army of Saradominist soldiers from Misthalin attempted to eradicate the evil creatures of Morytania, spearheaded by six brothers: Ahrim, Dharok, Guthan, Karil, Torag, and Verac. These commanders had been given extremely powerful sets of armour and weapons by the Mahjarrat Sliske, a follower of Zaros, and they led their army with valour through the gloomy swamps of Morytania. There are many tales of the accomplishments of the army and the six brothers, mostly noted in an ancient crumbling tome and a variation on that story currently in possession of Varrock's librarian, Reldo, entitled The Fall of Six. Both sources speak of tremendous feats and glorious victories, though the enormity of the events may be exaggerated in the books.

It seems that, whether the achievements of the Six are wholly true or not, the campaign had many astounding successes. Saradominist forces pressed in from Paterdomus on the River Salve, all through Mort Myre Swamp, to the walls of Darkmeyer itself. Here the brothers made a heroic but catastrophic stand against Drakan's forces. Though they slew many, the mysterious stranger that had blessed them before their campaign appeared and proclaimed that they must die. When they fought with Drakan once again, their powers were greatly diminished. They received horrific wounds and many of their soldiers were killed, until the troops were forced to retreat. The army tried to treat the brothers' wounds, but they proved fatal, and the Six all succumbed to their injuries. The soldiers were distraught, knowing that without their commanders, their campaign would end in failure. So, pausing only to bury their dead generals in six barrows, they turned back and fled to Misthalin, ultimately ending the campaign in failure.

Fourth Age

Drakan continued his reign into the Fourth Age, and sometime around the year 1200, he felt confident enough to attack Avarrocka (now Varrock). He was, nonetheless, narrowly defeated, and the River Salve was blessed by the Seven Priestly Warriors so that his hordes could never cross into Misthalin again. The priests are immortalised with the Paterdomus church, built in their honour, as well as with the names of the Gielinorian days of the week.

In the year 1777, human settlers from Misthalin entered Morytania, building villages north of Mort Myre Swamp. Drakan conquered them all, with the exception of Port Phasmatys, whose people were still enslaved by Necrovarus; and the people of Canifis, who were werewolves. Most of the captured villages in northern Morytania were most likely deserted or taken by the vampyres soon after, the remains reclaimed by the swamps, leaving no ruins but a few graveyards behind. A few of these settlers inhabited the North Coast of Morytania, where they set up a tiny fiefdom independent of Misthalin, which went unnoticed by Drakan until well into the Fifth Age. This fiefdom was based around a castle, originally owned by a diplomat named Charos who personally assisted Lord Drakan. After Charos, a lordship ruled until Lord Rologarth and his family, the last of their line in Morytania, were murdered by their treacherous castle physician. Dr Fenkenstrain, in league with the vyres, managed to convince Rologarth to offer up his own subjects as tithes to appease the vampyres until there were none left. He was left the castle as reward. Some time after this, Lord Drakan retreated to his castle in the vampyre city of Darkmeyer, and would not been seen for years.

Fifth Age

A small resistance group called the Myreque, determined to end vampyric tyranny, had been forming in Mort Myre and Meiyerditch. It was led by Veliaf Hurtz and Safalaan Hallow. Together with an adventurer, the group faced many setbacks, mostly caused by a particularly cruel and high-ranking vyrelord, Vanstrom Klause. But the Myreque persisted—establishing contact between the two cities, creating the Ivandis Flail, infiltrating Darkmeyer, discovering and crafting powerful weapons from the Blisterwood tree, and vanquishing Vanstrom for good. Their efforts caught the attention of Vanescula Drakan, Lowerniel Drakan's younger sister. She secretly allied with the resistance, providing invaluable help and even murdering her own brother, Ranis Drakan. With the deaths of Vanstrom and Ranis, the final assault on Castle Drakan would begin in The Lord of Vampyrium. Though sustaining terrible losses, the Myreque finally confronted and battled Lord Drakan on the roof of the castle, the adventurer dealing him the killing blow. However, immediately after, Vanescula turned on the surviving members, betraying Safalaan whom she revealed to be the long-lost son of King Ascertes and Queen Efaritay. With her new knowledge of Haemalchemy, plus Safalaan's blood, she was poised to attack Misthalin.

In River of Blood, Vanescula raised an army composed of vampyres, werewolves, and a wyrd, and laid siege to Paterdomus at the River Salve. In response, Misthalin mustered its own army and, with the help of the adventurer, strengthened the enchantment of the Salve. This turned any vampyre who attempted to cross the River Salve feral. The adventurer reforged the legendary Sunspear used to slay Lord Drakan and managed to subdue the wyrd, who turned out to be a vampyric Safalaan. Using Safalaan's blood, refined daeyalt, and Ivandis's serum, the adventurer created an Extreme Guthix balance. With it they cured Safalaan, and his mother Efaritay came out of hiding after escaping her imprisonment. After strengthening the Salve for the second time using the Extreme Guthix balance, Vanescula's army fell apart due to the River Salve's effect of turning human-born vyres back into humans. After witnessing four Vyrewatch being cured, the werewolves openly took a stand against Vanescula. A tentative peace treaty was signed between Misthalin and Morytania, upon which trade commenced between the two lands. The werewolves honoured the treaty's terms.

Reconstruction

Following the end of the conflict, the triumvirate of Safalaan, Efaritay and Vanescula began to govern Morytania from Castle Drakan, endeavouring to sort out the great social and political changes for both humans and vyres. Misthalin also installed Aeonisig Raispher as ambassador for Varrock. For a time the blood tithe was halted and the blood stores of Castle Drakan were used to feed the vyres, but the stores depleted rapidly. The triumvirate hoped to eventually open voluntary tithing stations throughout the kingdom, where humans could be paid to donate blood.

The younger converted vyres eagerly took the vampyrism "cure". The older trueborn vyres remained more conservative, however, and struggled to grapple with the new alliance. Many of them refused the serum and remained aggressive towards humans. Vanescula predicted that they would take longer to change than the humans. In Meiyerditch, the former resistance leader Veliaf Hurtz headed various humanitarian projects such as reuniting families, tending to the sick and wounded, and ensuring everyone had access to food and water, with the long-term goal of renovating the Meiyerditch slums. After centuries of oppression, the humans still harboured resentment towards the vyres, so Efaritay also voiced a desire to rebuild her old castle to send a positive message to the citizens.

Sixth Age

Presently, Efaritay, Vanescula and Safalaan continue to rule Morytania. Much to her annoyance, Vanescula also runs the dig site of Everlight, which mysteriously re-emerged from the bottom of the sea and is once again shining brightly. Vanescula and Efaritay's relationship has purportedly grown more cordial, fostering a friendlier environment within the kingdom, much to the chagrin of more traditionalist vyres. With the vyre population dropping, they are unwilling to press the issue, however.

For the first time in centuries, Morytania has opened trade with other kingdoms, exporting Splitbark and importing pigs for their blood. The voluntary tithe has been instated, and humans who donate blood are compensated. Although life has improved for humans and remains good for vampyres, werewolves continue to live in poverty, face discrimination and are relegated to menial tasks such as guard duty.

Transcript

This article has an associated transcript page. Click here for the transcript.

Gallery

• 

  2022 swamp foliage concept art created for potential reuse in older swamp areas like the Lumbridge Swamp and Morytania

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included – see here for how to help out!

• patch 31 October 2016 (Update):
  • A seam in the Morytania skybox has been fixed.

• patch 22 August 2016 (Update):
  • Updated a tile that had an old floor texture in Morytania.

• patch 8 February 2016 (Update):
  • An old safety teleport in Morytania has been removed.

• patch 24 August 2015 (Update):
  • Morytania skyboxes now appear dark blue when turned off.

• patch 21 January 2014 (Update):
  • Some trees in Morytania have been given chop options.

• patch 13 August 2013 (Update):
  • Players who logged into RS3 from a long hiatus can once again enter Morytania.

• patch 2 April 2012 (Update):
  • A spelling error on the Morytania entry warning interface has been corrected.

• patch 7 October 2009 (Update):
  • Fixed some lighting issues in Morytania.

• patch 10 August 2009 (Update):
  • Typo when climbing a bridge in Morytania.

• patch 6 May 2009 (Update):
  • Fixed a map height issue in Morytania.

• update 29 June 2004 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• The names of most places in Morytania are derived from Latin.
• The name "Morytania" may be derived from Transylvania (current region of Romania, which also sounds similar), which is where the fictional vampire Count Dracula and werewolves were based and thought to live in.
• Previously, the quest Priest in Peril was required to access the region, but this was changed in March 2012.
• Morytania is a Homophone (a word pronounced the same as another, but with different meanings) with Mauretania, the Latin name for northwest Africa, and Mauritania, a nation in Northwest Africa.