SPOILER Theory On The Rune Guardians

I wanted to get this theory out before 1.20 (or the beta) would come out, since I assume 1.20 might bring some new things to the table with rune guardians and their (currently inexistent) lore. This is my second theory I post on the forums, so once again I'd like to hear all sorts of feedback.

There are many unanswered questions surrounding this strange group. Who are they? Why are they spread out in only Gavel and Corkus? What is their purpose? What is the Forgery? Why is there a Tol altar in the Olmic city?

I started to connect some dots, and ended up with these conclusions:

Spoiler: Conclusions

The Rune Guardians must be Olmic, at least some of them
For what we currently know, there is no way anyone else apart from the Olm could have built the Tol altar. The altar was sealed, and it is clear that the humans never reached it. There is also another church in the Olmic city with a similiar symbol on it. It may also have been owned by the Rune Guardians.

There is a very high chance the Rune Guardians consist of many species
I doubt that the Rune Guardians fought in Gavel and Corkus are just some remaining Olm. The Uth shrines utilize Avos magic, and not many people other than Elves have access to Aldorei. The spread to Gavel and Corkus must have happened after 900AP, since that's when the waves of the Ocean were calmed.


The Twains might have been Rune Guardians
The Corrupter of Worlds has been sealed using rune magic. Seeing the previous point, I see it as likely that the Twains were also a part of the Rune Guardians.


The Rune Guardians made Az
This can be deduced by looking at Az's lore. The things do start to connect, since
- Some of the Olm were rune guardians, and the Ancients might have been Olmic
- There are no Nii guardians in Dernel Jungle, even though it is in the level range of the corrupted dungeons.
- Just a small detail, but the Dernel ruins look very AZtec-like.

So, if the Olm were indeed the Ancients, it may have been Az that finally caused the civilization to collapse. I have heard from a minor leak that 1.20 will make certain changes to fix the Ancients' lore, so I will update this theory accordingly once that is revealed.

The purpose of the Rune Guardians
Right now, it is hard to think of what the purpose of this cult/group/whatever would be. The Forgery is clearly the most important structure of the Rune Guardians. It can see to alternate, bad, futures that have not yet happened. Could this be the purpose of the guardians? To guard the future? Do the runes have some sort of magic that allows the access to these possible futures?

With all these in mind, this is a simple timeline that I constructed:

Spoiler: Timeline

> The Olm found the Rune Guardians and build the Tol altar.
> The Olm escape the Dern Beast.
> The downfall of the Olm, possibly caused by Az. The location for this happening may have been Dernel Jungle.
> Rune Guardians just sort of exist for a long time. The Twains are recruited.
> After 900AP, the Rune Guardians finally spread out to Gavel and Corkus. At this time, they very likely mostly consist of humans. In the two provinces, mainly Avos and Elves are interested in joining. The Uth shrines are built, utilizing Avos magic. The Forgery is built. The Rune Guardians never returned to Wynn.

...and that is mostly it. Once again, I'm assuming (mostly hoping tbh) that 1.20 will expand on Rune Guardian lore. I would not call this theory an extremely reliable one, but I definently see it as an option. But, that is not all. There is yet one thing I want to talk about.

Spoiler: The Tome menu

In the new 1.20 changelog, we are introduced to the Tome menu. If looked at closely, the symbols of the five runes can be seen on the menu.

Some people have also wondered that why does this thing obtained in GAVEL have WYNNIC text on it instead of the new High Gavellian.

The answer is, as you might have expected, the Wynn-originated Rune Guardians. Not to forget, the "Raids" section on the 1.20 website has a picture of an Az rune next to it.

With this, I think it is safe to assume that the Runes, and possibly the Rune Guardians have something important to do with Raids.

Well, I have nothing more to say and can't think of a good ending for this

so uh

Spoiler: enjoy this beautiful image i had stored for years idk where it even came from

 

That image will haunt both my dreams and my nightmares

 

@oculism was this fixed too?

 

why
just why

 

The civilization's collapse was caused by the dernic beast before the portal even opened, iirc the collapse of the Olm civilization was foretold by a meteor falling (i dont exactly remember the discovery), after the dernic beast went ape mode in the Silent Expanse most Olm died (except Bob's mother and the Olm who hid in Time Valley, also there were some that were in the Dernel Jungle but they went insane, see my point about the Dernel Jungle timeline below), so I don't think it was Az that destroyed them

Bruh

Probably, the runes could be a way to gain access to the raid itself, since I don't think accessing the raids will be free (maybe you need a key that you need to make with runes? idk)

I read your point about the Dernel Jungle, but I don't think the Rune Guardians would spawn there anyway because iirc the only region of the Dernel Jungle that's level 70 is the area around Ka L'argwit's village (the one in Troubled Tribesmen) and I don't think it would really fit for the rune guardians to spawn there, since there is no use for the runes in Wynn, the only other areas that are level 70 are outside of Wynn so...

They are

They didn't really escape, like I said most of them got massacred
Also, the only thing of interest the Olm did in the Dernel Jungle was create(?) the Leaf Crystal, which was later hidden by the Twains (Though I know that some Olm DID live in the Dernel Jungle, we also know that they devolved into Enderman-like corrupted beings after the Dernic Beast had Bak'al place the Eye on top of EO and went insane either because of the constant terror they lived through with the Eye watching them, or they went insane due to the influence of the Leaf Crystal, similar to Amadel)

I want to point out that the Twains were considered gifted individuals, this means they didn't learn any magic (since learning magic iirc is something only the player, the Olm and Fruman royalty can do) but were merely born with their magic. None of the four Twain children specialized in Rune magic, not even Mael. However, we don't know what the Twain patriarch (Marius)'s type of magic was. So I do think that Marius knew rune magic (otherwise how would the CoW have been sealed?), in which case not ALL of the Twains were rune guardians.

I think there's a difference between Tomes and the Tome menu, since we don't actually have access to the text within the Tomes those could be written in High Gavellian. Which would raise the question of where the Tome menu even is from but that's like asking where the Skill Point menu is from

Or maybe the Elves just let the Rune Guardians do their thing close to Aldorei, since the Elves don't strike me as the type to learn some weird magic from Wynn, after all they already have their own magic tied to the Realm of Light

Surprised that you didn't mention the fact that the only race that can alter time and has time magic is the Olm, further strengthening your theory that some Olm were rune guardians

Overall this is a good theory, good use of several "stray" lore points to string up a central theory

 

Not exactly.

It was foretold by Anya
The discovery is happening right before the attack begins

Due to lore incinsistency you can't be really sure the Ancients are the Olm (although I think it too)

Proof?

The final moments: "Shortly after the portal broke into this hidden land, a beast from an unknown realm laid siege to the city forcing the Olm to his domain."
Not a word about the killing

Crystal are from the space

We only know that they protected one of them.

The Twains weren't just about the 4 brothers. They were just the most notable ones. Also there is the possibility of the Twains sealing CoW before Theoricks and others were born.

 

emolga I told you not to leak your real face on the forums wtf

 

The Dernic beast definently killed a lot of Olm in SE and Time Valley, but the final reason as to why the Olm (assuming they are Ancients) died was a bit different. Quoting from WynnExcavation D secret signs:
"The magic we harnessed to escape..." "I do not think it was wise to tamper with it." "It has driven many of us insane.."
"We must seal away the power, hide it across the globe" "It should never be used. We should have never used it" "If only we had more time."
And many other signs going along the lines of:
"AAAAAAA KILL EVERYONE THE EYE EXISTS DEATH DEATH"

though that sounds a hell of a lot more like the four shards of power than Az. Anyways, Az is still very likely to be of Rune Guardian origin, but maybe the civilization that fell in its lore wasn't the Ancients

The crystals are from space, but I just realised that this theory actually also helps explain why the Twains hid the four shards of power, since they were working with the Olmic Rune Guardians (this also means that the crystals just sat in the Ancient City or somewhere until the Twains hid them).

I think it was said that the Tome menu unlocks from the new Worm Holes (RoL 1), or maybe I just made that up. I guess we will know for sure once the update drops.

Remember that very few non-elves are allowed in Aldorei. The player had to go through those weird trials and bring some goddamn gemstone from the other side of the world (hmmmmm the gemstone is from a Dernel temple, what if the Rune Guardians were behind this too), and I don't think every Villager/Dwarf Rune Guardian or whatever would be ready to go through those trials. Elves are also the most magical species in Gavel, but I do see your point about the Light.

 

Yeah I know, I didn't mention Anya my bad. Anyway still I don't think the meteor was a mere coincidence, either it was sent by the dernic beast or it was simply an omen.

Name an alive Olm that we see in game besides possibly Old Man Martyn

There's a difference between cosmic items (meteors, Lake Gylia crystals, maybe Sky Island crystals?) and most crystals we find on the Wynncraft planet.

I doubt the crystals of power were from space. There's certainly a separation between the crystals from space that we find in Gavel (the only types of space crystals we know are colored purple and blue, also white I think?) and the power crystals. For one, the power crystals don't cause any form of dizzyness or insanity (mind you I said insanity, not corruption). You may argue that the power crystals led Amadel to insanity, however it's also as likely that he went insane because of the enormous amount of power he had thanks to uniting the 4 crystals, which either led him into a power-hungry frenzy or the amount of power given to him by the 4 crystals was simply too much for his mind to handle (this is the most likely possiblity as, thanks to Order of the Grook, we also know that villagers aren't the most magical of beings). Furthermore, as the Magical Effects teacher says in Order of the Grook, "Depending on its formations, they can have natural effects as well. These crystals were found in Gavel's floating islands, and... well let's say it's difficult to keep it in its case." Since the Floating Islands crystals are also purple and blue it's possible they came from space too, but anyways, if extraterrestrial crystals really are unstable (they are), then how come the power crystals are so stable? They might've been trapped in their locations for millenia for all we know, yet no disaster or calamity occured because of them.
Not to mention that the crystal the Twains protected was a purple crystal, yet no Twain went insane because of it, nor did the WynnExcavation crew go insane or feel dizzy because of it.
Furthermore, there is one crystal that we know for sure came from space, and that presents the dizzying and insanity (The Death atop the ToA probably went insane because of the crystal) properties of the Gavel space crystals: the crystal at the top of the Tower of Ascension. Yet, there is no WynnExcavation activity in the Ice Canyon whatsoever. Heck, besides the merchant NPCs, there is no villager in the canyon. Also, the ToA crystal has the (I think shared with the Gylia crystals) property of twisting the environment near it. The power crystals do not have this property. Before you say, "Well, Death would've stopped WynnExcavation from extracting the ToA crystal", the CT spent 4 quests building WynnExcavation up to be an extremely powerful society above governments and kings. They certainly had the power to shove Death away from the tower, either by overpowering him or by just planting an explosive below the tower and making it crumble. Not to mention that the ToA crystal can't possibly be a power crystal because there are 4 power crystals, not 5 or more.
P.S.: How would a crystal that came from space find its way deep into, for example, the Volcanic Islands, without tearing an enormous hole into the island itself? If it was a space crystal who could have transported it into the core of the Volcanic Islands without going insane or straight up dying, and why? There's a reason we had to wear a special helmet to even get close to a SMALL space crystal.

Oh, also, WynnExcavation D straight up says that "The ancients placed some of that power in various crystals, and it is said that the one to reunite them has the power to change the world." "That power" referring to the power that forms when Darkness and Light clash, AKA corruption. (mfw I could've avoided writing that whole paragraph because I found this out later)

Conclusion: The power crystals have NONE of the space crystals' properties. The only known space crystals are purple and blue. There was no method or motive for a space crystal to end up in the middle of the planet's crust. Also the ancients straight up made the power crystals.

Good point. Also I correct myself when I said that the crystals were hidden by the Twains. They were hidden by the Ancients/Olm.

I disagree. The library of Lusuco sheds a bit more light on this whole thing.
The Twains were created by Marius Twain. Marius Twain was most likely just an adult when he took the young Twains (Theorick, Mael, Rickeo and Dwendle) in since they were orphaned and had magical gifts. As said by the library, Marius Twain was mortal, so it's very unlikely for him to be able to have lived like, 200 years before the birth of the 4 Twain children, meaning that there couldnt've been no "earlier Twain", since Marius was the first and there couldn't possibly have been more than a century-wide gap between Marius' birth and the oldest Twain child's birth. Could there have been a fifth, or sixth, or more Twains besides the original 4 that Marius took in? Maybe, but there is no evidence of their existence. No trace of them in the Twain mansion, there was no other Twain that attended Marius' funeral, the library didn't mention any other Twain. So, sadly the claim of more Twains existing is baseless.

I agree. The remaining Olm that weren't subjugated or worse to the Dernic Beast's will probably escaped with the help of the crystals, but using their power drove them insane and turned them into enderman-like twisted beings. We know that the creators of the Power Crystals were the Ancients, so them being driven insane by their own creation is quite ironic.

See the paragraph above for the "crystals are from space" thing.

True, but since the player speaks Wynnic I don't think its a huge shock that the tome menu is also in Wynnic.

I think the Rune Guardians would very much be able to complete those trials, if they're as benevolent as you picture them to be. The Elves say that no Villager has completed the trials but I'm pretty sure (again, long time since I completed Aldorei's Secret) some humans made it at least into the Valley. About the purple gemstone, we don't know if that gemstone is one of a kind or widespread (though I presume we would see more if it was widespread), so it could've been a "personalized" test for the player. Also, I don't think the Rune Guardians had anything to do with that gemstone, unless (unlikely) they were the ones who sealed that weird dude who possessed the child into the stone in the first place. There's a bigger possibility of the Iboju tribe or Inrekei's tribe sealing him in, though. And I doubt even more that a Rune Guardian would place some random cursed gemstone into a random temple.

 

ok but

where is this said? the player literally needs a transcriber that they unlock in Wynn Plains monument

________________________________

"hidden by four individuals who inhabited a mansion a long time ago" as said in WynnEx C

 

I mean the player CHARACTER, not the player as in the guy sitting behind the screen, it'd make sense if he spoke Wynnic otherwise he wouldn't be able to understand anything and I doubt English is a language in the Wynncraft universe, it's kinda like in movies or shows where people who don't speak English speak it anyway to make it more clear for the viewer (or in this case player) so they don't have to translate every single sentence in the game

However the WynnExcavation D signs that you quoted say that the Ancients hid the power across the globe themselves so people don't use it. It might either be referring only to the Purple Crystal or it's a contradiction in the lore

 

Fate of the Olm: "[2/4] Olm Astrologer: What? More meteors hitting the mountains again? When has that ever been an issue before?"

That doesn't mean they were all killed. Bob is almost surely partially Olmic. Lost Soles mentions an unknown individual that could fit.

A Wynnic Excavation discovery. In combination with the quote above I wpuld call this some proof.
And yours

Second paragraph:
1) WynnExavation could propably defeat Death.
PS: Meteors have a great amount of force. Look at the craters.

No proof they created it. There are many crystal and few were changed by the Ancients

There are many different crystals, also counter proof is above

It wasn't until Marius Twain, a particularly gifted man, decided to organise a team.

Lusuco's Library:
"Being an orphan during the war was very common place. And like many others, this included gifted individuals.

Marius took in any orphaned children with gifts. Gifts for magical prowess, particularly those with elemental magic.

All the children he adopted took on his name, Twain and lived with him in his formidable manor hidden from the prying eyes of the portal.

Marius taught them to control their powers and use them to fight the corrupt. His 4 true proteges were Rickeo, Theorick, Dwendle and Mael."
More Twains existed. The 4 brothers were just the best ones.r

Uh, what? Family -> one powerful magician = Marius Twain

Lusuco's Library:
"Mael wondered if Marius really was mortal; he seemed to tell stories at least 200 years old. Alas, he was mortal."
No one said he was 200 years old. He might have just a lot of knowledge...

Ancients hide it -> Twains find it -> Twains hide it again

 

Sorry I was busy for a bit.

I meant fireballs. Sorry, again it's been a while since I last read that secret discovery.
"[3/4] Olm Mage: There's a series of fireballs heading towards the city."

We don't know if the Lost Soles unknown individual is an Olm, let alone if he's still alive. Take in mind he lived before Sarnfic even existed, though I'm not sure we know when Sarnfic was created. Bob is dead.

Oh, I see. I would argue that "out of this world" could mean the conflict between Light and Dark that's beyond our plane of existence but honestly that's just stretching it, and I doubt that's true. It makes me wonder, though, how the Ancients were able to extract cosmic energy out of a crystal without causing a disaster (maybe they did?). Also seeing WynnExcavation's resources, yeah Death might be a good rival for WynnExcavation but eventually he'd succumb.
Also, I wasn't talking about meteors, I was talking about crystals, the purple and blue ones present in Lake Gylia and the Sky Islands.

So you argue that another Twain that wasn't nearly as powerful as the 4 brothers was able to seal away the most powerful beast of the Corruption? I doubt it. Theorick was arguably the strongest of the Twain children yet he succumbed to the Nether Portal, other Twain children wouldn't possibly stand a chance against such a powerful force, so I still believe it was Marius Twain, since there's no other valid candidate.

200 years old was a figure of speech to say that he wasn't anomalously old, the fact it matched up with what the Lusuco Library said is a coincidence.

Makes sense, since "Traitor" Amadel says that it was a power hidden by 4 individuals who inhabited a mansion a long time ago.

 

it's still super likely that he is olmic, as the Abysso Galoshes are made of a dernic stone

________________________________

"Fireball" may just be a synonym for meteor in this case

 

Then I don't see the point. If you see fireballs heafing towards your city you are pripably under attack...

What dies it prove? The fact almost no Olm are alive doesn't mean Dern Beast killed nearly all of them.
It means there were not enough Olm to reproduce and creat a community to survive

Marius Twain had surely family too, propably rich one because he could build the Manor (even if it was him to build it)

CoW is not Corruption, especially the one in the Nether. We even killed CoW and we are not some almighty person (ok, it might seem like we are but...)

Although I think that it could possible to be Marius I don't it is 100% confirmed.

And that was supposed to mean...

This is not a contradiction

________________________________

Wait, what? Why?

 

at first they talk about meteors landing being a problem, but suddenly refer to the problem as fireballs

and you know

meteors are balls. with fire.

 

No, they said it is not a problem

"[2/4] Olm Astrologer: What? More meteors hitting the mountains again? When has that ever been an issue before?"

 

If there weren't enough Olm to reproduce and create a community to survive then the Dern Beast DID kill nearly all of them, or at least enough to doom the Olm species to extinction. Which takes a lot honestly

That he's not that old

Yes I was agreeing with you

Yes, but the CoW is still extremely powerful. The fact that Bak'al had us unleash him to destroy an entire fortified city already says a lot about him. Since he's the first one to enter (and exit) the portal he's probably the most powerful one too, maybe even more powerful than Bak'al. The situation's further exacerbated by the fact that CoW canonically can respawn ("Garull: While I have seen people return from killing the "beast" he talks about, it isn't often.") making him one of the most powerful beings in the game. The CoW can probably give people like Theorick a lot of trouble, it would be an even match or slightly on CoW's side, so the lesser Twains wouldn't stand a chance against him. The player is simply overpowered, he's the only human who can respawn, he slayed The Eye, Aledar, Tasim, Bob, etc. Also, about Marius' family, even if he had any besides his parents, we don't know if they have magic powers too (if there's evidence that magic gifts are bloodline related please let me know), let alone as powerful as Marius.

Oh, also, one of the 4 Twain children fell to Bak'al (It's not known whether it was Dwendle or Rickeo), so it's very possible for someone with equal or higher level to kill a Twain.
________________________________

I believe that as well. While I don't know if we'll ever find out how that Olm guy was able to survive Dern/the SE it's extremely likely that it was indeed an Olm. We don't know if he's still alive though.

 

Afaik there is not

Ok, I am getting lost in the discussion

 

we went from runic guardians to discussing twains and the crystals thats amazing