Great Kourend

Kingdom of Great Kourend
Released		7 January 2016 (Update)
Members		Yes
Capital		Kourend Castle
Inhabitants		Human, Dwarf, Citizens of Arceuus
Map
Advanced data
Type		region

Great Kourend is a kingdom found in the continent of Zeah, found far west of the mainland across the Western Sea. It is one of the three regions that make up the continent, the other two being the Kebos Lowlands and the Kingdom of Varlamore. One of the largest kingdoms in Gielinor, it is larger than Misthalin and Asgarnia combined, and is similar in size to Kandarin.

Despite being called a kingdom, Great Kourend is actually a republic, currently ruled by the Kourend Council, with the five houses of Great Kourend ruling over the kingdom's five cities: Arceuus, Hosidius, Port Piscarilius, Lovakengj, and Shayzien. Although the five Houses can rule over their city as they see fit, they must also enforce and obey the laws set out by the Kourend Council. However, after the events of A Kingdom Divided, Great Kourend is once again ruled by a monarchy.

Players can travel to Great Kourend by speaking to Veos, whose boat is located in front of the Rusty Anchor inn in Port Sarim. They can then choose to travel to Port Piscarilius, where most newcomers to the kingdom sail to, or Land's End, a small settlement in the south-western area of the kingdom, near the Kourend Woodland. In order to utilise teleports that take the player to the kingdom, players must have travelled to Great Kourend via Veos at least once.

History

The following section uses date conventions different from conventional formats. The date convention in Great Kourend, according to Arceuus horologist Imerominia, is to state the number of days and decades since the signing of the Royal Accord of Twill. For example, 3,573 - 73 is the 3,573rd day of the 73rd decade. For convenience, dates in this section will be followed by a conversion of the amount of years that has passed since an event. Decades with BA, short for "Before Accord", following them refers to the time before the Accord was signed.

Early history

A statue of King Rada I, founder of Great Kourend.

Great Kourend was founded by refugees fleeing from the mainland during the God Wars; the exact date of this remains unknown. At the time, only Arceuus, Port Piscarilius and Lovakengj existed, led by leaders of their respective houses; Hosidius and Shayzien were founded later during the Dragonkin Conflicts in the Fourth Age about 2,000 years ago. Out of the five cities, only the founder of Shayzien is known: Camorra Shayzien, a heroine who fought alongside Robert the Strong, Tristan Corvo and Aivas during the Conflicts.

During this time, the Shayzien Crypts were built, burying Camorra there. In the future, these crypts would host the tombs of the kings and queens of Great Kourend.

It was not until the 10th decade BA (1,510 years ago) that the five cities were united into the Kingdom of Great Kourend by King Rada I. Most of kingdom's history before the uniting of the five cities remains largely unknown, as they were lost during the Age of Strife in the 38th to 47th decades (1,030 years ago).

Sometime during the reign of King Rada III from the 7th to 6th decade BA (1,480 years ago), the Tower of Magic was constructed. The Tower has many powerful enchantments and traps, with many rooms and levels hidden from sight. It is assumed the Tower was used for magical experiments, as Lord Trobin Arceuus is currently using it for such a purpose.

The general of Zamorak

Sometime during the God Wars, before the arrival of refugees that would go on to found Arceuus, Lovakengj and Piscarilius, Skotizo, one of Zamorak's generals, made his way to Zeah after betraying and decimating the expedition team by taking the power of an unknown artefact found within the Karamjan Temple for himself. Here, he used the artefact to summon a large variety of monsters, creating what is known today as the Catacombs of Kourend. What happened to him afterwards is not known, but today, Skotizo remains deep beneath the Catacombs.

The Council of Elders

During the 6th decade BA (1,470 years ago), the families of the five houses rebelled against King Rada III, and formed the Council of Elders. The Council used the chambers in the Tower of Magic as their meeting place, and governed Great Kourend for fifty years from the 5th - 1st decade BA (1,460 years ago).

Hosidius is the provider of a majority the kingdom's food, and remains the largest city in Great Kourend today.

Sometime during the rule of the Council of Elders, a famine struck the kingdom. Five years after the famine began, Lord Hosidius met with the Lords of the other four houses, coming to an agreement that half of each house's lands be granted to Hosidius in order to grow more crops to stop the famine.

The next day, he wrote a letter to the Council of Elders to, once more, grant this request as he had already done so multiple times before. The request was granted, and the famine ends sometime after. Today, Hosidius remains the largest city in Great Kourend.

The Royal Accord of Twill

The Council of Elders was disbanded during the 1st decade (1,410 years ago) after the lords of the five houses (Ethrain Hosidius, Seabry Shayzien, Ret Piscarilius, Solange Lovakengj and Bourath Arceuus) wrote the Royal Accord of Twill, a document which detailed the transition of authority from the Council of Elders to the Royal Lords of the five houses.

The document detailed the rotation of succession between the Royal Lords of the five houses, with one Royal Lord becoming the Grand Lord of Great Kourend for one decade, and passing the office to the next Royal Lord. Thus, the Lord of Hosidius, henceforth known as Lord Hosidius I, ruled the kingdom for one decade. The next Royal Lord to rule was Lord Lovakengj I, then Lord Shayzien I, Lord Piscarilius I and Lord Arceuus I. After the rule of Lord Arceuus I, the cycle would repeat and Hosidius would have their Royal Lord rule Great Kourend.

The Long Winter

During the 2nd decade (1,400 years ago), the Winter Beast (now known today as the Wintertodt), an entity of unknown origin, ravaged the lands north of Great Kourend, causing them to experience perpetual winter, with livestock and crops freezing. The Winter Beast continued to ravage the Northern Tundras for another three decades, with the kingdom's attempts to subdue it unsuccessful.

On 1,778 - 5 (1,360 years ago), fearing the Winter Beast may eventually ravage Great Kourend, Lord Arceuus I ordered the construction of the Arceuus Library, filled with texts, documents and research from all cities, in order to preserve the history of Great Kourend. Meanwhile, the most important texts were stored in the Library Historical Archive, a repurposed chamber of the Tower of Magic, for further study and additional protection.

On 1,748 - 7 (1,340 years ago), a master Lovakengj smith named Dinh creates a plan to defeat the Winter Beast. Meeting with the Order of the Sacred Flame, Dinh believed that the roots of the Bruma tree, a magical tree lying within the heart of the Northern Tundras, can emit the heat required to subdue the Winter Beast. Dinh proposed to construct a large prison in which to lure the Beast in, and seal it with a large set of doors made from various materials, including lovakite and bark from the Bruma tree, with enchantments placed by the Order.

The Doors of Dinh continue to seal the Winter Beast to this day.

With Lord Lovakengj II approving of the plans, the prison's construction was completed 800 days later, with known casualties of sixteen Order members and two scouts. On 2,548 - 7, after five decades, the Winter Beast was successfully imprisoned and sealed behind the Doors of Dinh, with Lord Lovakengj II declaring the day as Winter's End.

Breaking of the Accord

The cycle of succession continued until 1,048 - 13 (1,280 years ago) when Lord Shayzien III seized control of Great Kourend using the military under his command, and crowned himself king. Writing the Royal Charter, he abolished the Royal Accord and formed the State of Kourend, which would serve the monarchy, govern revenues and mobilise forces.

On 2,547 - 20 (1,210 years ago), King Shayzien VI married Enia Hosidius, the daughter of Lord Hosidius. Their son was crowned king four decades later (1,170 years ago), and took the name King Hosidius IV in order to distance the family from the breaking of the Royal Accord of Twill. King Hosidius IV ruled for four decades, and his son, King Hosidius V, succeeded the throne and ruled until the early days of the 33rd decade (1,080 years ago).

The Great Expedition

In the early days of the 33rd decade (1,080 years ago), King Shayzien VII took control of Great Kourend. During his reign, he was obsessed with the Dark Altar, and had spent a large majority of his time in the Tower of Magic performing experiments on citizens he summoned. Here, he oversaw the construction of various new sections, presumably to conduct magical experiments.

Seeking to expand the territory of Great Kourend, on 1,740 - 36 (1,050 years ago), he ordered an expedition to explore the Kebos Lowlands west of the kingdom. A team was assembled and surveyed the immediate area west of the kingdom in order to assess the danger and scope of the king's expedition.

Thirty-three days later, the survey team returns, reporting findings of a mountain beyond the swamps of the region. King Shayzien VII then ordered to have the mountain as their main focus for the expedition, and assigned Magnus Rimor, a Shayzien commander and seasoned explorer, as the party leader.

After a week of interviews, Magnus selected five more members for his expedition: Doctor Bev Crushim, Lieutenant Thomas Berlin, Sergeant Henno Garvie, Corporal Rytin Edshirt and Corporal Keith Jones. With the party assembled, King Shayzien VII approved of the expedition plans on 1,800 - 36, giving the party 250 days to ascend the mountain and return with details of their findings.

The party never returned. Assuming the party perished in the field, the expedition was declared a failure; the mountain would become known as Mount Quidamortem, meaning "certain death" in Latin. During this time, King Shayzien VII also ordered the construction of a prison in the Tower of Magic.

An ancient temple housing an unstable altar, constructed sometime after the Great Expedition and before Xeric's reign.

However, a temple was constructed, presumably under the orders of King Shayzien VII, in a cave on the western side of the mountain sometime during the 37th decade (1,040 years ago). Within the temple, an unstable altar was created, giving off a similar power to the Dark Altar, while having the ability to amplify the true Dark Altar's powers, allowing it to reach areas it previously could not.

Here, the natives species of lizards in the Kebos Lowlands were experimented on, creating creatures such as the Corrupt Lizardman. King Shayzien VII noted in a journal he wrote during this time mentioning compatible creatures in Quidamortem for mass production, suggesting he was creating the lizardmen as an army for Great Kourend. Records of the experiments that remain imply that the process involved a combination of the breeding of humans and lizard creatures using dark magic.

The Age of Strife

A weathered statue on Mount Quidamortem depicting an ancient Xerician priest, or possibly Xeric himself.

Main article: Xeric

Sometime during the late 37th decade, the Battle of the Concourse began. King Shayzien VII was eventually killed in the battle on 3,316 - 37, ambushed by his own army of Elder Warriors; however, his body was never recovered.

A few days after the battle, Xeric appeared and was said to have had a similar appearance to Shayzien VII. It was quickly discovered that he had used the power of the Dark Altar and moved his spirit from his mortal body into an incorporeal one. With this newfound power, Xeric proceeded to kill the remaining leaders of the five houses, and claimed Great Kourend as his own, using the lizardmen army he had mass produced in Mount Quidamortem as his guards and enforcers. The lizardmen would sweep cities and farms, kidnapping people for his experiments.

During Xeric's Age of Strife, many fled from Great Kourend, seeking refuge south-west of the kingdom, beyond the Kebos Lowlands. Here, the refugees founded the kingdom of Varlamore.

At the height of his reign in the 43rd decade (980 years ago), a resistance group called HAX (Humans Against Xeric) attempted to storm the Tower of Magic and defeat Xeric, but had failed, resulting in the loss of two hundred members.

King Byrne I

A portrait depicting an artist's impression of King Byrne I.

During 312 - 47 (940 years ago), Byrne, a farmer, witnessed a lizardman guard murder a child whilst working his farm. Outraged, he slaughtered the lizardman, with the entire town as witnesses. Urging the people to fight back, the people revolted, and within seven days, the lizardmen were outnumbered and driven beyond the kingdom in the Kebos Lowlands. During the revolt, the temple surrounding the Dark Altar was destroyed as well, weakening Xeric's power and forcing him into exile, travelling west to Mount Quidamortem. After the successful revolt against Xeric, Byrne was crowned King of Great Kourend on 339 - 47.

During King Byrne I's rule, he established the Kourend Royal Guard, as he felt that it was dangerous for the Shayzien House to have control over the Shayzien Army, the kingdom's only military, and also allowed people from other cities in Great Kourend to enlist in the Shayzien Army. King Byrne I would rule for three decades, with his son King Byrne II ruling for another three decades after his father.

The Ascent of Arceuus

During the reign of King Byrne II (910 years ago), Trobin Arceuus and his brother-in-law, travelled to Mount Karuulm to seek the Tasakaal, a powerful race of golem-like creatures. Trobin's wife had become very ill, and he pleaded to them to help his dying wife. The Tasakaal then granted them the knowledge of immortality, saving his wife.

However, Trobin used this knowledge and shared the secrets to the Citizens of Arceuus, making them able to become immortal. While not all of them accepted immortality, those that did were granted new bodies to house their souls, which are sustained by the Dark Altar.

Queen Biyrene I

Sometime during the reign of King Byrne II, he died of unknown causes, and his wife, Biyrene, was crowned as Queen Biyrene I, as their son, King Byrne III, was too young to rule the kingdom. During her reign in the 53rd decade (880 years ago), she took Lord Piscarilius, who was responsible for Great Kourend's spy network as Lord of Intelligence, as her consort, and birthed a daughter, Queen Biyrene II.

Once her son, King Byrne III, came of age, she unwillingly gave up the throne. Had the law of succession made by her late husband never existed, she would have not given up the throne for her son, wishing to finish the work for this kingdom that she had started.

During King Byrne III's reign in the 54th decade (870 years ago), he was stabbed to death in his chamber by an assassin. As King Byrne III had not achieved anything of note during his reign, it is believed that the assassination was arranged by Lord Piscarilius through the spy network in order to return his wife to the throne.

Queen Biyrene I would rule for another two decades before passing the throne to her daughter, Queen Biyrene II.

War of the Five Houses

Forthos as it appears today after its destruction in the War of the Five Houses.

During the 120th decade, King Agata IV was overthrown by the leaders of the five houses. With no one next in line to the throne, an alliance between the Lovakengj and Piscarilius House formed to murder Lord Shayzien, which was short lived as the two houses began to fight one another. Meanwhile, the Hosidius House began to mobilise their forces, and Lord Trobin Arceuus has begun to reinforce the defences of Arceuus, not wishing to participate in the civil war.

Though the exact casualties are not known, structures that were known to have been destroyed include Shayzia, once a castle belonging to the Shayzien House, and Forthos, the former seat of the Hosidius House.

While the war was seen by some as a petty squabble and a war of pride between the houses, the war ultimately lasted from the 121st - 123rd decade (200 to 180 years ago), with Arceuus never participating in the war. Despite this, the conflict became known as the War of the Five Houses.

Relations with Varlamore

Varlamore, a kingdom south-west of Great Kourend, maintained a stable relationship with them, managing to avoid any conflict with the kingdom since their founding during the Age of Strife.

As part of a celebration of his 30th birthday some years ago, Emperor Imafore invited the royal family of Great Kourend to Varlamore, and gave them a grand tour of the kingdom. However, during the grand feast at his palace in Civitas illa Fortis, he killed the royal family by poisoning their drinks, prompting Great Kourend to declare war on Varlamore.

The war had ended sometime before or during the reign of King Kharedst III in the 132nd to 135th decade (90 to 60 years ago). In the hope of repairing the relationship between Great Kourend and Varlamore, which had been destroyed after the war, the King ordered an envoy be sent to Varlamore to transport the Royal Accord of Twill to be displayed in the Grand Museum of Civitas illa Fortis. However, the Accord became lost at sea, and remained so until it was recovered by Artur Hosidius in the 141st decade.

Today, the betrayal of Emperor Imafore remains fresh in the minds of Great Kourend's people, and the trust has yet to be regained, although it appears that Queen Zyanyi Arkan, Varlamore's current ruler, is eager to ease tensions between the two kingdoms during her visit to Great Kourend.

King Kharedst IV

A statue of King Kharedst IV in the Kourend Woodland.

During the 138th decade (30 years ago), King Kharedst IV's wife died giving birth to his only daughter, Rose. The day before Rose's 11th birthday, she and her father made their monthly trip to Lovakengj, where he purchased an ornate flask and an old rose-shaped locket from an old dwarf tinker. The locket was given to Rose as a present, whilst he purchased the flask for himself. Unbeknownst to the King, the flask he purchased was corrupted with dark magic, and soon his mind became corrupted.

Soon after, an Arceuus mage reached out to David Andrews, one of the King's advisors. An expert on old curses, the mage claimed that the King's curse had deteriorated his mind beyond saving, and gave a poison for David to kill him. Accepting that the King could not be saved, the King's advisors proceeded to kill him with the poison. As Rose was too young to take the throne at the time of his death, the King's advisors formed the Kourend Council in order to rule the kingdom until Rose was ready to do so.

The Kourend Council

Rose soon discovered what the Council had done to her father. Unable to risk her telling the truth, the Council sought out the mage, who gave them a potion to stop her from revealing the truth. While the potion did work on Rose, it was in actuality a poison made to destroy her mind and induce her into a comatose state.

To cover up Rose's condition, the Council declared that Rose became insane after the death of her father, and considered her unfit for rule. She was then moved away to an unknown location, away from public life. With no suitable heir for Great Kourend, the Council was made permanent, turning the kingdom into a republic. Despite this, its people still refer to it as a kingdom.

The Council proceeded to rule over Great Kourend for twenty years. While crime rates have risen, unemployment rates fallen, and housing becoming scarcer under the Council's rule, the Council has also achieved notable progress within the kingdom, such as the installation of a sewage system in Port Piscarilius, and establishment of safe trade routes from the mainland, which ended Great Kourend's long period of isolation and allowing relations between the other kingdoms to be established.

Rose's Accord

Since the death of King Kharedst IV and Rose, the Council has been accused of corruption, with the Royal Society claiming the convenience of Rose going insane, the same four councillors winning every quadrennial election since their formation, and Councillor Sophia Hughes' recent arrest after the discovery of her ties with the Disciples of Yama, a Zamorakian cult who follows the demon Yama in the Chasm of Fire.

During a protest by the Royal Society in Kingstown, the adventurer who had lent their assistance in arresting Sophia Hughes is informed by their leader, Martin Holt, that she escaped, and that an investigation by the Royal Guard, led by Commander Lydia Fullore, is currently underway. Upon an investigation of her home in Kingstown, it is discovered that she intends to escape to the mainland by via Veos' ship, and the adventurer and Lydia manage to intercept her. In a last ditch attempt, Sophia summons the Judge of Yama, who incinerates her for taking advantage of Yama's generosity and his trust, and proceeds to battle the adventurer.

The adventurer discovers Rose and Councillor Liam Orson.

Before her death, Sophia Hughes had mentioned that she and the rest of the Council had done something a man and his girl, whom is believed to be King Kharedst IV and Rose. Afraid that Councillor Andrews will be keeping a close eye on Lydia, she reluctantly asks the adventurer to seek Martin regarding Rose's fate. The adventurer and him proceed to investigate, with Martin getting arrested by Tomas Lawry in the process.

Eventually, the adventurer's investigation leads them to a small shack at the base of Mount Karuulm in the Kebos Lowlands. Here, a hidden entrance to the basement results in the discovery of Rose and Councillor Liam Orson, who had been taking care of her since she entered into a coma. Having been discovered, he confesses to the adventurer and Lydia that the Council conspired to kill King Kharedst IV, but that they did so out of necessity. Liam reveals that they remain in contact with the mage, who helped them kill the King to obtain potions to help treat Rose. The mage was discovered to be Xamphur, Xeric's closest comrade. After surviving an encounter with him, the adventurer discovers that Xamphur was the one who gave David the poison to kill the King, and that he was also responsible for redirecting energy from the Dark Altar, causing loss in power from the Dark Altar among the Citizens of Arceuus and the death of Thana.

After moving Liam to Xeric's Lookout, the adventurer and Lydia decide to end Rose's suffering, and hold a funeral for her outside the shack. With Liam's confession and the knowledge of Xamphur's involvement with the Kourend Council, the leaders of the five houses, Trobin Arceuus, Kandur Hosidius, Vulcana Lovakengj, Shauna Piscarilius, and Shiro Shayzien are asked by the adventurer to meet at Xeric's Lookout where they would decide on the next steps. After much deliberation, it is decided a new Accord, named Rose's Accord, will be signed into law upon a vote by the people, where Kandur Hosidius would be crowned as the King of Great Kourend.

The Kourend Council is removed from power.

After agreeing on the next course of action, the leaders of the five houses proceed to Kourend Castle and remove the Kourend Council from power. After disbanding the Council, the vote to sign Rose's Accord passed, and Kandur is crowned King.

However, during the coronation banquet, King Kandur is killed by an assassin, and his son, Artur Hosidius, is crowned King afterwards. Asteros Arceuus, son of Trobin, serves as an advisor to Artur at Kandur's request before his death, as well as Martin Holt, who used to work for the Council.

Culture

The inhabitants of Great Kourend experienced a long period of relative isolation for thousands of years, primarily due to its distance from the mainland and the relative lack of awareness of lands beyond Kandarin (though few were aware of the Tirannwn region, but was not easily accessed due to the Galarpos Mountains making travel difficult). As a result, the kindgom has had little contact with the mainland, and has gained a cultural identity unique among the other kingdoms.

Date convention

Great Kourend has a date convention which is to state the days, then decades, since the signing of the Royal Accord of Twill. For dates before the Accord was signed, "BA", short for "Before Accord", is added onto the date. However, in recent years since trade routes were estbalished with the mainland, most citizens have quickly adopted the standard calendar used in the mainland, though Great Kourend's date convention continues to be used in academic environments such as the Library Historical Archive.

Religion

The Altar of the Sun in the Forthos Dungeon.

Despite thousands of years of isolation, Saradominists continue to be the primary religion in Great Kourend,, though Zamorakians appear have a small following as well in the cult of Yama. Even so, different religions began to develop in Great Kourend, such as the religions of Ralos and Ranul, whose origins are traced back to the Temple to Ranul and Ralos, known today as the Forthos Dungeon. However, they are no longer commonly worshipped in Great Kourend, and instead became the primary religion of Varlamore, the kingdom to the south.

Citizens of Arceuus, who have achieved immortality during the Ascent of Arceuus, no longer worship the gods, with their church repurposed to be a place of meditation and an ecumenical church where citizens may worship any god.

Traditions

Great Kourend is known to celebrate a holiday known as the Decade Dawn Gathering, which takes place on the first day of a new decade. A day known as Winter's End is also commemorated as the day the Wintertodt was imprisoned behind the Doors of Dinh.

Not much else is known about holidays and traditions within the kindgom.

Transportation

Transportation map for Great Kourend and the Kebos Lowlands

Players can travel to Great Kourend by speaking to Veos by his ship (or Cabin Boy Herbert after A Kingdom Divided) in Port Sarim, directly south of the Rusty Anchor Inn. Doing so will take players to either Port Piscarilius, the easternmost section of the city, or Land's End, the south-western docks near the Kourend Woodland. Players are able to choose to which point they want to be taken.

• Players may use the Kharedst's memoirs book to teleport here after completing the Client of Kourend quest. This book allows players to teleport to each of the five cities.
• Players with level 25 Construction can have their player-owned house moved to Hosidius north of the Charcoal furnaces for 8,750 coins. Players may also make use of a Hosidius teleport tablet, made by combining a Teleport to house tablet and a Scroll of redirection if they do not wish to move their house. This still requires level 25 Construction.
• In the Arceuus Library players can find transportation incantations, a book which will unlock the Kourend Castle Teleport spell. Finding the book does not require Arceuus favour. Location of the book changes with world.
• A fairy ring, code CIS, will take players north of the Arceuus Library. Players must pay a one-off fee 80,000 coins to Trossa in order to use it.
• The fairy ring DJR teleports players near the Chasm of Fire.
• Players may receive Xeric's talisman from lizardmen, which can be charged with lizardman fangs. The talisman can teleport players to Shayzien, Hosidius and Lovakengj, Kourend Castle, and Mount Quidamortem.
• Players can also gain access to the mine cart transportation system that runs beneath Kourend at 65% Lovakengj favour. To open this mode of transport players must first speak with Miriam.
• Players can use a Games necklace to teleport to Wintertodt Camp, in the northern area of Great Kourend.
• With the addition of the Woodcutting and Farming Guilds, the Skills necklace also provides teleports to Great Kourend. There is only one requirement to use this teleport: players must have travelled to Great Kourend at least once before.

Favour system

The Kourend Favour interface found within the Quest List interface.

Main article: Architectural Alliance § Gaining favour

Most features available within the five cities of Great Kourend are locked behind a favour system, in which players must perform certain activities (marked on the minimap as ) for an individual city to gain favour from them. Once players have gained a certain percentage of favour from a city, they will be able to access more of the city's features. For example, players must have gained Arceuus favour before they are given access to the Arceuus spellbook.

By default, an overlay interface is displayed in the top-middle of the game client when the player is in Great Kourend. Hovering the mouse over the overlay allows players to view the percentage of favour the player has within a city in Great Kourend, as well as a small button on the right-bottom corner to view favour-gaining tasks and milestones for gaining a certain percentage of favour. Players can remove the overlay by clicking the small purple icon in the Character Summary tab and disabling the Favour Overlay.

Cities of Great Kourend

The kingdom is split into five cities (sometimes referred to as Houses), each with their own speciality and features.

Arceuus

The inhabitants of Arceuus are mystics who focus on spirituality and magic. It features:

• The Arceuus Library, where players can assist customers in seeking texts found in the library.
• The Arceuus essence mine, where players can mine dense essence blocks, which are processed to create fragments used to create blood and soul runes.
• The Dark Altar, an ancient altar that allows players to process dense essence blocks into dark essence blocks.
• Tyss, a wizard who will allow players to access the Arceuus spellbook, which contains spells for necromancy.

Hosidius

The inhabitants of Hosidius are primarily farmers who focus on farming and cooking in order to supply food for the city. It features:

• The Tithe Farm, an intensive farming minigame.
• An allotment patch, vine patch, and spirit tree patch.
• Saltpetre deposits which are used in the creation of dynamite and sulphurous fertilisers.
• Charcoal furnaces, which are used to burn juniper logs into juniper charcoal, an ingredient used in dynamite.
• The mess, where players can feed Shayzien soldiers for favour and cooking experience.
• A general store, Little Shop of Horace.
• A farming store, Vannah's Farming Stall.
• Two pubs, The Golden Field and The Haymaker's Arms.
• The Woodcutting Guild, contains many low to high level trees, including the redwood tree, exclusive to the Farming and Woodcutting Guilds.

Lovakengj

The inhabitants of Lovakengj are dwarves who provide equipment for Shayzien military, and focus on Mining and Smithing as crafts. It features:

• The sulphur mine, which is the only mine containing volcanic sulphur.
• The lovakite mine, which contains lovakite rocks, coal rocks, and a bank.
• A pub known as The Deeper Lode
• A general store, Little Munty's Little Shop
• A pickaxe store, Toothy's Pickaxes, that sells pots in bulk.
• The blast mine, where players blast rocks with dynamite to obtain ores.

Port Piscarilius

The inhabitants of Port Piscarilius are fishermen who rely on the fishing industry for their source of income, and are also rampant with thieves and smugglers within the district. It features:

• Anglerfish fishing spots
• Stealing artefacts for Captain Khaled
• A general store, Leenz's General Supplies
• A fishing store, Tynan's Fishing Supplies
• A food shop, Frankie's Fishing Emporium

Shayzien

The inhabitants of Shayzien are soldiers of the military force who provides law, order and defence for the kingdom. It features:

• The Infirmary, where wounded soldiers recover
• Tackling crime for Captain Ginea
• The combat ring, where players obtain Shayzien armour.
• Lizardman Canyon, where lizardmen, brutes, and shamans reside
• Jennifer's General Field Supplies

Other areas of the Kingdom

Kourend Woodland

The Kourend Woodland is an area found in the south-western coast. It contains various hunter creatures and a small barbarian settlement in the eastern area (directly south of the Woodcutting Guild), along with three magic trees and four yew trees nearby.

The Old Memorial used to charge Kharedst's memoirs can be found here.

In the southern part of the Woodland, a small settlement named Land's End can be found. Players can reach the settlement via Veos by choosing to travel to Land's End rather than Port Piscarilius.

Northern Tundras

The Northern Tundras comprise of the snowy region north of Arceuus. Largely uninhabited due to the extreme cold, two abandoned settlements can be found here, the Settlement Ruins and the Fishing Hamlet.

In the centre of the region, the Wintertodt can be found imprisoned beyond the Doors of Dinh. Players can help subdue the Wintertodt for supply crates as a reward.

Music unlocked

Name	Unlock details	Music track
Arcane	Unlocked in Arceuus or the Catacombs of Kourend
Country Jig	Unlocked in Hosidius
Down by the Docks	Unlocked in Port Piscarilius
Dwarven Domain	Unlocked in Lovakengj
The Forlorn Homestead	Unlocked at the southern Hosidius coast
Kourend the Magnificent	Unlocked at Kourend Castle
The Militia	Unlocked in Shayzien
Rugged Terrain	Unlocked by the Graveyard of Heroes or in the Lizardman Canyon
Soul Fall	Unlocked near the Soul altar
A Walk in the Woods	Unlocked in the Kourend Woodland

Development history

This section focuses on the development history of Great Kourend after its release. For development history prior to the release of Great Kourend, see here.

Favour criticism

A map of Great Kourend upon release.

Great Kourend was released 7 January 2016 as the phase 1 update of Zeah. During this time, favour gain within what was referred to as the biggest city in the game was twice as slow, as the percentage gained for various activities was half of what it is today. In addition, the established lore was that the five Houses of Kourend are endlessly fighting for power after the death of their last king, thus gaining favour in one House while having favour in others would result in the loss of favour for those Houses.

Four days after Great Kourend's release, a Developer's Blog was released in response to player feedback that gaining 100% in some Houses are less rewarding than other Houses. The following additions passed the following poll:

• Arceuus: Addition of thematic teleport spells to the Arceuus spellbook and the Resurrect Crops spell
• Hosidius: Access to the Vinery as well as the farmer's outfit and seed box from Tithe Farm
• Shayzien: The dragon warhammer as a drop from lizardman shamans
• Other: Graceful outfit recolours for each House of Kourend

Criticism of the restrictive nature of the favour system was still evident after the release of the additional rewards; this was changed with the release of the Architectural Alliance miniquest on 3 March, which allowed players to lock in their favour in a House once they have reached 100%, making it possible to earn 100% favour in all Houses.

Favour gain was further tweaked with the release of Client of Kourend on 20 April 2017, which rewarded 20% favour in a chosen House, and doubled favour gain in all Houses (the lore being that the word of Xeric's return has spread, and that the houses are now too busy to care about the player's loyalty).

Further balancing changes to favour gain was made with the release of Tale of the Righteous on 19 April 2018, which removed the doubled favour gain reward from completing Client of Kourend, now being the default rate of favour gain. In addition, changes were made to rebalance the average time spent to reach 100% favour.

The final change to favour gain was made with the release of X Marks the Spot on 7 February 2019, which removed the mechanic of losing favour in one House while performing tasks for another, thus no longer requiring players to lock in their favour. As a result, the Architectural Alliance miniquest now rewards an antique lamp.

Design criticism

A map of Great Kourend on 3 March 2016.

Though players criticisms with the design of the city (the unnatural 'square' geographic design of the city was the most common complaint) were prevalent ever since the release of Great Kourend, only minor adjustments were made throughout the months after its release, with the most major changes being done in an update on 3 March, which involved the addition of more scenery and clearer roads throughout the city and the change from a large clear field with the statue in the centre of the city to a large, tall monument. Despite these changes, the overall shape of the city did not change.

On 26 April, Reddit user GentleTractor created a post titled Zeah Redesigned, which addressed the design issues that players have had since its release. The post went viral and quickly gained the attention of Jagex Moderators, with Mod Mat K leaving a comment in the post that although GentleTractor's map was "very nicely designed", and that they may well take a few ideas from it, there is difficulty in changing what is already there without impacting the growth of Old School RuneScape as a game and as a business investment.

On 4 May, a Month Ahead newspost was released, revealing that the Old School Team will be releasing a Developer's Blog the week after, aiming to add small to medium sized updates to fill out unused areas of the city:

• Magic tablets for Arceuus spellbook teleports - 12 May
• Sand Crabs and the Bear Your Soul miniquest - 19 May
• Hosidius fruit stalls and botanical pies - 26 May
• The Woodcutting Guild and the Lovakengj Minecart Network - 2 June
• The Catacombs of Kourend and Arclight - 9 June
• Skotizo, The Archaic Demon - 16 June

The team then stated that later in the year, they will be making major design changes to Great Kourend, with a concept image showing their design goals, which was made with the help of GentleTractor.

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  Reddit user GentleTractor's proposed redesign of Zeah.

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  Jagex's Great Kourend redesign concept, made with the help of GentleTractor.

Mod West's Redesign

After the release of the Wintertodt on 8 September, work on redesigning Great Kourend began, with Mod West spearheading the project. Seeking feedback from players throughout the entire redesign, he posted his progress on Reddit on a weekly basis:

Image	Description
	Mod West's Great Kourend redesign concept.
	Update #2, which fleshes out the Northern Tundras with the addition of the Settlement Ruins and the Fishing Hamlet (initially named "Destroyed Village"), and adds Land's End and the Kourend Woodland.
	Update #3, which replaces the centre of Great Kourend with Kourend Castle and adds a river that flows through Hosidius. Xeric's Look out is added as an actual location.
	Update #4, which shortened the Piscarilius pier, tweaks to the western end of the city (in preparation for the upcoming raid update) and changed the Hosidius coastline to appear more natural.
	Update #5, which relabeled Great Kourend as a kingdom rather than a city. In addition, the colour scheme of Arceuus was changed and a path was added to Lovakengj via Arceuus. Part of the Shayziens' Wall was added as well. Lastly, the graveyard south of Shayzien had railings added around it, and more graves were added to the western side of the city, with the graveyard being given a name: the Graveyard of Heroes.
	Update #6, which replaced some paved roads with natural dirt roads in the southern part of Hosidius, and the Crabclaw Isle is added.

Satisfied with the redesign, and needing to move on to mapping what would be Mount Quidamortem and the Chambers of Xeric, the Great Kourend rework was released on 17 November 2016.

In honour of GentleTractor for pushing the redesign of Great Kourend, an ancient machinery (in reality, a tractor) was added by the windmill in Hosidius. In addition, a knight was added in the Kourend Castle, who says he is from Varlamore, a kingdom to the south-west that GentleTractor had included in his original post.

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  A map of Great Kourend on 8 September 2016, before Mod West's redesign.

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  A map of Great Kourend on 17 November 2016, after Mod West's redesign.

Quests and lore

Upon Zeah's release, there were no quests that took place within the continent. Furthermore, the only lore that was available to players about Great Kourend were found in the Arceuus Library as well as small snippets about the Wintertodt through dialogue with NPCs in the Wintertodt Camp. Though it named some important events in its history such as the creation of the Royal Accord of Twill and the death of King Shayzien VII, there was no solid chronological timeline that players could rely upon.

The Library Historical Archive, developed by Mod John C as a side project to expand the lore of Great Kourend.

The release of the Chambers of Xeric on 5 January 2017 saw the addition of the Library Historical Archive, which added lots of lore about the kingdom's history, the story of Xeric and a timeline of ruling powers. Within the archive were historians who when spoken to, would tell players about specific subjects, as well as historical texts preserved that players could read, such as the Official Order of Construction and The Great Expedition. In addition, the unique date convention used by the people of Great Kourend was added.

On 4 April, a revision was added to the Slayer & Dungeons Developer's Blog proposing the addition of Great Kourend's first quest, developed by Mod Wolf: Client of Kourend. The quest, released on 20 April, revealed that Xeric was the client, who possessed Veos, a treasure hunter and portmaster, to inform himself about the current state of the kingdom.

Mod Ed, who developed the Great Kourend storyline and standardised its lore and history.

Mod Ed, a Junior QA Analyst who had left after the release the Wintertodt due to having completed his summer internship, returned to work at Jagex on 20 April 2017 and was promoted to a Junior Content Developer on 31 July 2017. He would soon develop more quests to continue the Great Kourend quest series and set up the quest's storyline through a novice quest for each of the five cities:

• The Queen of Thieves and The Depths of Despair, quests involving the leaders of the Piscarilius and Hosidius Houses, were released together on 9 November 2017 as part of Mod Ed's personal projects. This update also retconned the identity of Veos' Client, no longer being Xeric.
• Tale of the Righteous, a Shayzien quest about The Great Expedition was released on 19 April 2018.
• The Forsaken Tower and The Ascent of Arceuus, quests involving Lovakengj and Arceuus, were released together alongside the Kebos Lowlands on 10 January 2019.

During development of the Kebos Lowlands, Mod Ed went through every possible dialogue and item in order to centralise the lore of Great Kourend and set a consistent timeline of the kingdom's history. The changes he made included the removal of the term "Zeah" from the game and the term "House" from the names of the five cities (now used to refer to the leaders of the cities), as well as changing the texts of many books that still referred to Great Kourend as a city two years after Mod West's rework.

Trivia

• Great Kourend was originally planned to be named "Great Goureng" by Mod Reach, who quickly changed the first and last letters after Mods Ash and Mat K pointed out its similarity to Hermann Göring (or Goering), a notorious Nazi military leader.
• The sigil of Great Kourend was designed by a player named Aaron Alluyn, who submitted the winning submission as part of a competition ran by Mod Ghost, a senior graphics artist in the Old School RuneScape team.

Concept art

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  Early concept of general layout of Great Kourend

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  Concept of the Great Kourend Houses depicting a possible pirate faction

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  Great Kourend being mapped out as a city during the early design stages

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  The ancient machinery, a tractor, in tribute to Reddit user GentleTractor.