Morytania



Morytania (pronounced "Morry-tay-nee-ah") is a members-only kingdom located east of Misthalin. Morytania is ruled by the evil vampyre race, making it one of the darkest places of Gielinor. Players must complete various quests to gain access to most content in Morytania, however, players no longer have to complete the Priest in Peril quest to gain first access to the kingdom as of March 2012. They will, however have to get past a Ghoul, which should not be hard, even for a skiller - all you will need are two 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. In March 2012, Jagex released the Morytania Task System.

Areas
The regions of Morytania are:
 * Canifis is a village inhabited by dangerous and hungry werewolves. This village contains a bank, an inn and several stores. Attacking the human-appearing citizens in this town will turn them into level 88 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, bloodvelds, aberrant spectres, abyssal demons and so on.
 * Mort Myre Swamp is a very large swamp south of Canifis. Players need to complete the Nature Spirit quest to access this area. Mort Myre contains aggressive giant snails and an enormous number of Ghasts. Ghasts will rot your food when they attack you, or, if you have no food in inventory, they will damage you. A druid pouch from Nature spirit will make them visible and attackable.
 * 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, and a wishing well that is a Summoning shop.
 * The Haunted Woods are located east of Canifis. They contain level 52 Leeches and many Vampyres at levels 60 and 72.
 * Fenkenstrain's Castle is where a most of the Creature of Fenkenstrain quest takes place.
 * Port Phasmatys is a cursed port town on the north-east coast of Morytania, Phasmatys is inhabited almost entirely by ghosts, who charge a toll of 2 Ectotokens 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 just north of Port Phasmatys. Players can train Prayer here.
 * Abandoned mine - Located south of Mort Myre. This is where the Haunted mine quest takes place. After the quest players can get salve amulets here, which increases damage against undeads.
 * 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 rest of the dead, 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, is under constant threat of Vampyre occupation, and is 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. From Burgh de Rott, players can travel to Meiyerditch and 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 quest. Meiyerditch is ruined and dilapidated, and the whole city is one big maze that requires level 65 Agility to pass through. The Legacy of Seergaze quest also takes place here. The Vyrewatch patrol the city and can stop any players who look suspicious.
 * Darkmeyer is the capital of Sanguinesti Region, where most of the Vampyres live. The Branches of Darkmeyer quest occurs here.
 * Barrows Town, or the abandoned town, is the unofficial name of the empty town next to where the Barrows Brothers are buried. Players can enter only one building here, but can play the Barrows activity to the south of the settlement.

History
Morytania is a land of darkness and evil, inhabited by the vampiric race, the Vyrewatch (in Meiyerditch), werewolves (found 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, Morytania was ruled almost entirely by the god Zaros, with many fortresses like Kharyrll. Kharyrll was the most important in this region for Zarosians, as it had its own teleport in the Ancient spellbook, to help Zaros' military move around easily and go to the aid of the town if ever it needed it. Near the end of the second age, there also existed an enormous castle existed at the north-west of Kharyrll. This castle belonged to the powerful warrior Viggora and stills stands today known as the 'Slayer tower'.

While the northern and western areas of Morytania belonged to Zaros, the southern parts belonged to Saradomin and were known as the Hallowland. Hallowvale, the capital of Hallowland, was a very powerful city ruled by the Icyene queen Efaritay and king Ascertes. At the south-west of Hallowvale a village existed which is now known as Burgh de Rott.

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 reward for his hand in the rebellion.

Drakan was in search of a foothold for himself and his vampyre followers. Drakan jumped at the opportunity to seize Hallowvale as his own.

Drakan and his followers entered Hallowvale via Silvarea, the mountain pass to the north, which would later serve as the site of Paterdomus. From there he attacked the capital of Hallowvale, now known as Meiyerditch. Not much is known of the details of this conquest, but what is known is that Ascertes was somehow captured and held hostage by Drakan. The Queen, due to her unlimited love for her husband, surrendered unconditionally to save him. Their exact fates are not known.

After the fall of Hallowvale, Drakan renamed the city as Meiyerditch. The citizens were held in the city so that Drakan's vampyres could drink their blood. And so, Hallowvale turned into a blood-farming ghetto. Drakan focused his gaze upon the rest of the kingdom. At one point he controlled Burgh de Rott, but the people later managed to liberate themselves from complete vampyre control. At that time, Drakan cast a spell so powerful that it darkened the entire Morytania with thick rain clouds, so that the Vampyres weren't interrupted by the sun anymore. The death that Drakan brought destroyed the lands of Morytania. He turned fields into swamps, in which any that died became undead known as ghasts, and lush forests into dead clusters of trees.

Drakan never did manage to conquer all of the Hallowed Lands; the town of Port Phasmatys was defended by Necrovarus, who, using some vile magic, transformed the entirety of the townspeople into ghosts so that they could no longer be tithed for blood to satisfy Drakan's teeming vampyre hordes.

In the late Third Age in which an army of Saradominist soldiers from Misthalin, led by six brothers, Ahrim, Dharok, Guthan, Karil, Torag and Verac attempted to eradicate the evil creatures of Morytania. These commanders had been given extremely powerful sets of armour and weapons by the Mahjarrat Sliske, a follower of Zaros, and 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.

However, it seems that, whether the achievements of the Six are wholly true or not, the campaign was an astounding success. Saradominist forces pressed from Paterdomus on the River Salve, all through Mort Myre Swamp, to the walls of Darkmeyer itself. Here the brothers made a heroic but bloody and catastrophic stand against Drakan's forces, slaying many. However, as they did, the mysterious stranger that had blessed them before their campaign arrived and told them that they must die, and 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 back to their camp. They tried to treat the brothers' wounds, but their lacerations proved fatal, and they all succumbed to their injuries.

The soldiers were distraught. They knew that without the commanders, their campaign would end in failure. So, pausing only to bury their dead generals in six barrows, they turned back and fled to their beloved Misthalin, and the campaign ended in failure.

Drakan continued his reign into the Fourth Age, and sometime around the year 1100 he felt strong enough to attack Avarrocka (Varrock). He was, however, narrowly defeated and the River Salve was blessed by seven now-famous priests so that his hordes could never cross into Misthalin again.

In the year 1777, settlers from Misthalin entered Morytainia, building many villages North of Mort Myre Swamp. Drakan conquered them all, with the exception of Port Phasmatys, whose people were enslaved by Necrovarus; and the people of Canifis, which is ruled by Werewolves. Most of the captured villages in Northern Morytania were deserted soon after, leaving no ruins behind. A few of these settlers inhabited the North Coast of Morytania, where they set up a fiefdom independent of Misthalin, which went unnoticed by Drakan until well into the Fifth Age. Eventually, the Vampyres began demanding the settlers provide them with victims; however, this only increased their appetite, and they subjugated the humans soon thereafter, leaving their castle to the treacherous Dr. Fenkenstrain, whose idea it was to attempt to appease the Vampyres.

Drakan still rules the land East of the Salve today, and it is believed he may have found a way to send Werewolves over the river. Only a small group of freedom fighters known as the The Myreque resist him.

Trivia

 * Most of the places in Morytania are derived from Latin. See individual towns.
 * Morytania has a similar name to Mauritania, a country in Africa.
 * Morytania could have been derived from Mortiana, which was the name of the witch in Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves.
 * The first half of the name is the Latin root "mort" which means death.
 * The name, "Morytania" may be derived from Transylvania and Romania, which is where Dracula and Werewolves are based and thought to live in.
 * On 14 October 2009, an expansion to the Funorb game Armies of Gielinor allowed members to play games on Morytania themed maps.
 * Most of the names of the NPCs in Morytania (such as Radu or Florin) are Romanian-only names.
 * Morytania sounds similar to the French town Mortain which is on the river Cance (which sounds similar to Canifis), a tributary of the river Selune (similar to Salve).
 * Morytania appears to be based on a mixture of Romania and Transylvania, based on its overall properties.
 * Although Lord Drakan, the controller of Morytania, assisted Zamorak in the overthrow of Zaros, and the werewolves have a festival in honour of Zamorak, there is no chaos altar to Zamorak in all of Morytania. There is, however, an altar featuring a gargoyle statue in Darkmeyer.
 * The island in the River Salve between the Mort Myre Swamp and the Mage Training Arena is swampy just like Mort Myre, but it cannot be accessed from the swamp. Instead, there is a bridge to it from the Mage Training Arena side of the river. There is a cave entrance on the island, but attempting to enter the entrance results in a message that "Ladyship" is not ready for you yet. On 28 November 2011 the Polypore dungeon was released, using the cave entrance.
 * Along with the Morytania achievement diary update on 27 March 2012, the completion of the 'Priest In Peril' quest is no longer required to reach Morytania.