TzHaar

This article is about the race. For the music track, see TzHaar!. For the city, see Mor Ul Rek.

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The outer city of Mor Ul Rek, home of the mighty TzHaar.

The TzHaar (Jagex: /zɑːr/ ZAR) are a race of golem-like creatures that inhabit Mor Ul Rek, a lava-filled region beneath Karamja Volcano. The word "TzHaar" means "holy (sacred) fire". The TzHaar society is unlike any other, and only vaguely resembles any that exists on the surface.

Despite their fearsome appearance, the TzHaar are a peaceful race, and have existed beneath the surface of Karamja for thousands of years. Even today, the finer aspects of their society remain a point of great mystery amongst scholars.

Biology

Biologically, the TzHaar are one of Gielinor's greatest marvels. They appear roughly humanoid, but are made of solid obsidian and magma. Even though they appear fearsome, they are actually gentle and kind, albeit still wary of outsiders. They possess four powerful arms, and are physically very strong, with their guards capable of lifting massive mauls using a single hand.

TzHaar eggs can be seen incubating in the lava throughout the inner city.

Strangely, they are born from eggs, which are incubated in birthing pools of molten lava throughout the inner city. The TzHaar have the unique ability of memory transfer; a TzHaar will retain all of the knowledge and memories its ancestors had before it. This generally makes the TzHaar a very wise race. The deeper the egg is placed in the lava, the more memories they would absorb. This however, has lead to the birth of feral monsters which remain trapped within the Inferno, an ancient incubation chamber.

A TzHaar terminal chamber found in Mor Ul Rek.

TzHaar live very long lives, although the exact length is unknown. As they grow older, their bodies begin to lose heat and solidification begins. They are able to delay this process by resting in terminal chambers, where they draw warmth from the volcano.

A Haar-Tok, a former TzHaar that has cooled to rock form in old age.

Even stranger than their birth is their death. When the TzHaar die, their bodies harden and lose all mobility, becoming Haar-Tok. Yet, even as their bodies fail, their minds remain eternally locked within their corpses, which are often displayed in a statue-like state or broken down into the holy currency known as Tokkul.

The caste system

The most important part of TzHaar society is its caste system, which dictates what a TzHaar will do in life. At birth a TzHaar's caste is chosen based on their physical and mental traits, and they strictly follow this for the rest of their life.

The caste operates on four types; the TzHaar-Ket, the TzHaar-Xil, the TzHaar-Mej, and the TzHaar-Hur. Unlike many caste systems, each of the TzHaar castes is considered equal in power and respectability, but differs in its role in society. By dividing themselves, the TzHaar are able to effectively manage their people and retain a power balance.

TzHaar-Ket

Main article: TzHaar-Ket

The TzHaar-Ket are the guardian and police force of the TzHaar. Towering over the other castes, the TzHaar-Ket are fearsome soldiers that follow a code not unlike the concept of chivalry.

In combat they use weapons such as Tzhaar-ket-om and Tzhaar-ket-em and protect themselves with Toktz-ket-xil. If ever their city were threatened, the TzHaar-Ket would be the first to defend it.

TzHaar-Xil

Main article: TzHaar-Xil

The TzHaar-Xil are the hunting class, being agile, yet adept in combat. They attack with ranged and melee attacks. The melee version attack with the Toktz-xil-ak and the rangers attack with Toktz-xil-ul.

TzHaar-Mej

Main article: TzHaar-Mej

The TzHaar-Mej are the mystic class of the TzHaar, although they are also the city's leading and governing class. Whether or not a single TzHaar rules is unclear, and it is possible that all TzHaar-Mej are part of a council.

As mystics, the TzHaar-Mej are generally the wisest. They are capable of defeating their opponents with magics, wielding an obsidian staff known as a Toktz-mej-tal.

TzHaar-Hur

Main article: TzHaar-Hur

The TzHaar-Hur are the craftsman class of the TzHaar. If pressed to combat, the TzHaar-Hur use only their fists, but would call other TzHaar to their aid.

Despite their lack of combat ability, the TzHaar-Hur are incredibly important to the TzHaar, and are capable of forging weaponry from obsidian found in the volcano.

History

Very little is known of the TzHaar's early history. They have inhabited the Karamja Volcano since ancient times, and in the distant past built a large incubation chamber deep in the volcano. At some point "when the ocean was only a stream", some TzHaar (later called the Tasakaal) left Karamja to travel to Mount Karuulm, committed to the preservation of balance and serving an unknown higher power.

The large sinkhole in the centre of Mor Ul Rek, which used to be a pool of lava where the TzHaar placed their eggs.

Over the years, the city of Mor Ul Rek was built under the volcano. At its center was a large birthing pool, used to incubate TzHaar eggs in lava, allowing them to absorb ancestral memories. Over time, the TzHaar experimented with the pool, deepening it to incubate eggs more deeply in the volcano, where they would absorb increasingly ancient memories. Eventually, the birthing pool collapsed, revealing the ancient incubation chamber, which came to be known as the Inferno. The TzHaar continued to experiment, placing eggs from Fight Caves creatures in the chamber, but this backfired when the resulting creatures became stronger and more aggressive.

While exploring the Inferno, they also discovered the prison of TzKal-Zuk, a powerful and hungry creature seeking memories from outside the Inferno and threatening Mor Ul Rek. Thus far, TzKal-Zuk has remained imprisoned in the inferno, with the TzHaar offering him sacrifices to keep him at bay.

By the Fifth Age, a more continuous stream of contact was established between the TzHaar and the outside world. The TzHaar remain cautious of humans, and most of their city still remains off-limits to outsiders, only allowing those whom they deem worthy to enter their inner city. They also allow the most trusted JalYt (foreigners) to challenge TzKal-Zuk.

Language

The TzHaar language has not been fully translated, and as of yet, only a few basic words and phrases are known to humans. From what little is understood, the TzHaar language combines words to form longer phrases; for instance, in the TzHaar word for humans, "JalYt", "Jal" translates to "foreigner" and "Yt" translates to "cold"; literally meaning "cold foreigner".

Fortunately, most TzHaar are willing to speak the human language, although a basic understanding of certain words is helpful when visiting the city.

The language doesn't work in the same way as human languages, so it's more about the emotion and passion behind the word rather than the literal translation. Most of the current knowledge consists of nouns, adjectives, and an extremely limited selection of verbs.

Words

Most of these words are taken from RuneScape's TzHaar Tourist Guide or other texts from RuneScape, which Old School Jagex Moderators have used in TzHaar related content.

• Ak - Forked, twin
  
• E - It, the
  
• Ek - Blade, knife
  
• Em - Hammer, mace
  
• Haar - Holy, sacred
  
• Hur - Builder, crafter, sculptor, small
  
• Im - Pickaxe
  
• Jad - Elemental
  
• Jal - Foreign; not TzHaar
  
• Kal - Champion, victorious
  
• Ket - Blunt, defender, guard, large
  
• Kih - Air, fly, wing
  
• Kl - Us, we
  
• Kot - Protect, save
  
• Kul - Token, value
  
• Mej - Mage, magic, priest; also loosely translated as parent
  
• Mor - old, retired
  
• Om - Club, maul
  
• Rek - Baby, young, youth
  
• Tal - Rod, staff
  
• Tok - Hard, material, rock, obsidian
  
• Tz - Burn, fire, hot, life
  
• Ul - Circle, ring
  
• Xil - Dangerous, hunter, killer, sharp
  
• Xo - Plus
  
• Yt - Cold, dead, freeze, ice
  
• Zek - Attack, harm
  
• Zi - Minus
  
• Zo - Ring

Untranslated

• Hej
  
• Jak
  
• Kra
  
• Nib
  
• Rah

Titles

In dialogue with most of the inhabitants of Mor Ul Rek, the TzHaar will address the adventurer with a bespoke TzHaar name fitting certain of their attributes. This name is a compound of two to three prefixes attached to the player's common tongue name. In general, a TzHaar name adheres to the following structure:

Race — Caste — Honorific — Given name

Unlike some of the other names assigned to the player (such as the goblin or vampyric name), the elements that compose their TzHaar name are not chosen randomly, but are determined by specific conditions. These conditions are laid out in the table below:

Race	Condition
JalYt	If the name refers to a human.
TzHaar	If the name refers to a TzHaar.
Kaal	If the name refers to a Tasakaal.
Caste	Condition
Mej	If the sum of the player's Magic and Prayer is the highest among the listed skill pairs.
Ket	If the sum of the player's Strength and Defence is the highest among the listed skill pairs.
Xil	If the sum of the player's Attack and Agility is the highest among the listed skill pairs.
Hur	If the sum of the player's Crafting and Smithing is the highest among the listed skill pairs.
Honorific	Condition
Xo	If the player has gained access to the inner core of Mor Ul Rek by showing their fire cape to a TzHaar-Ket.
Kal	If the player has defeated TzKal-Zuk in the Inferno.

In case multiple skill pairs add up to the same value, the caste prefix assigned to the player is determined by the following order of priority:

Mej → Ket → Xil → Hur

Religion

TzHaar religion is a mystery. Some believe they follow an ancient god, who created the volcano. This has not been confirmed in Old School RuneScape, but is confirmed in the RuneScape lore of the Tzhaar, with this god being Ful.

Whether they follow a god or not, the TzHaar seem to see their volcano as sacred. TzHaar legend says that they were created along with it at the dawn of time, from the sacred fires of the forgotten earth. The creatures that were created along with it, such as the fearsome TzTok-Jad, are viewed as sacred as well.

The TzHaar believe that when they die, their souls will eventually be brought to the heart of the volcano and given new life. TzHaar prophecy says that one day their race will draw to an end. The volcano will sink back into the earth, and the cold seas will flood their city, bringing an end to their people forever.

Trivia

• Much more detail about TzHaar history is explored in RuneScape 3. There, they are said to be the descendants of an ancient hivemind, the TokHaar, created by the Elder God Ful. The TokHaar assisted in the creation of Gielinor. Some TokHaar separated from the hivemind, and these became the TzHaar. They made contact with humans in the Fourth Age, although some TzHaar may have also participated in the God Wars.
• The Toktz-Xil-Ul is based on the real-life chakram, an Indian circular weapon which features a sharpened outer edge. It was primarily used as a throwing weapon, although it could also serve in hand-to-hand combat.