The Mystery behind Xau-Tak and the Shadow Realm

[@lillildipsy49]

RS3 Xau-Tak is pretty interesting, quite cool to see that y'all on OS are getting your own version of them. If anyone here is interested in learning about RS3 Xau-Tak, look into the Elite Dungeon trilogy [not the fourth one, that's separate] and their quest "Curse of the Black Stone", the plot essentially revolves around Blackstone's corrupting influence, with ED3 culminating in defeating a dragonkin whom Xau-Tak resurrected and chose to act as an envoy. There's also something quite interesting in the Kindred Spirits quest, where you can find a book detailing how thousands of years before our players birth, in the second age, one of the people from the expedition you mentioned spoke of our existence, and seemingly spoke to us directly. 'Do you really think you can save them, ? You can't. The spiral of time leads only to the gaping maw of eternity. And this is Xau-Tak.' The interesting thing here is that he spoke those words directly and specifically to Sliske, who would go on to be one of our greatest adversaries, rather than someone such as Nabor, the Mahjarrat asylum caretaker.

[@Gravitybind]

I'll definitely look into the RS3 side of things more, especially with the Elite Dungeon trilogy as you said! It's a lot more fleshed out in RS3 even if theres still a lot of mystery, so it'll be good to see how the story deviates - especially with how interwoven mahjarrat are in the dealings in Gielinor

[@ApexGale]

The words could still be applied to Sliske in OSRS lore - with Xau-Tak maybe having taunted Sliske all those centuries ago in Lassar. Hence his desire for the elder horn, to save his fellow Mahjarrat.

[@birdenthusiast5421]

Good point about how sailing could give more points to integrate Xau-Tak into the storylines! One thing that particularly stands out to me is that Xau-Tak has the capacity to harm even the Elder Gods, having been most likely responsible for the birth defects Mah ended up with- so it may be either the highest tier of deity or a sort of parasite capable of infecting and corrupting even the most powerful entities known to us. I'd noticed that odd pillar on Mos'le Harmless a few times, and just recently looked around the fishing hamlet on Zeah and also suspected it was a lead towards the Xau-tak storyline. DT2 did include a lot of lore/events in Zeah so it'll be cool to see how the OSRS lore deviates to include this whole area RS3 doesn't have.

[@Gravitybind]

Sailings seems like the perfect segway to push more lore about Xau-Tak into the forefront honestly. Very very excited to see where we go forward with the stories going forward, and what Varlamore has in store

[@Pestilencce]

It's a shame that it was revealed the evil fragment of Seren is what influenced the corruption of minds in the Underground Pass. Tying in Xau Tak seems like it would be much more fitting and lore building. The mysterious voice even says "Do you think you can save them..."

[@TheFawly84]

Came across your channel and subbed! Love hearing stuff like this, keep it up 😁

[@Gravitybind]

Thank you! Glad to have you along for the journey :)

[@Aiika__]

this mystery absolutely captivated me in DT2 and im looking forward to the next part of this series so much, even if it never has a finale for years, i just want to know more. Also im so dumb as i never realised it was Sliske in charge of the original blackstone experiments. No idea how i missed that

[@dandelion44444]

I also loved that dt2 was purely for story. There was not dialogue only to annoy us and make us click for no reason. Just so perfect quest

[@troy7762]

So glad to have had this pop up on my recommended, been wanting someone to watch who covers the lore. Can't wait to see more!

[@Gravitybind]

Appreciate it dude, thank you!

[@WarShroud]

I really liked this video, it is really cool to try to figure out something that we have little clue about and finding all these details in the game that allude to blackstone and Xau-Tak.

[@Gravitybind]

With so much history it's hard to not try and speculate honestly, and I'm sure they'll keep dropping hints as time goes on

[@Dantheman-qi7nv]

Great video, Sailing is a fantastic excuse to push the pirate story line further, with that xau tac could be further fleshed out.

[@Shortdood]

that pillar on mos le harmless is VERY interesting. the fact theres no mention of it anywhere else makes me think if it could just be a re-used asset and not signify anything, but part of me thinks theres no way Mod Ed would miss something like that

[@Gravitybind]

That's what I mean! That, plus the black masks being present on the isle, definitely could mean theres a hidden story somewhere

[@MrMadmark7]

You know. What if when sailing is released. We find out we are apart of a world that has already fallen in to ruin, but our entire play area has been protected by Guthix this whole time, and it's why he has to sleep.

[@MikeBachful]

Wish you got more attention, these are great :) Do you think we know enough for a video on the "far east" region, like Ashihama?

[@Gravitybind]

Thank you, hopefully one day! Within OSRS, I don't think so - Ashihama, or even more broadly the eastern lands, are mentioned very scarcely throughout the game atm, the only area I could draw from honestly is Runescape 3. From the light research I've done, even in RS3, we have access to a small part of a long chain of islands. Though I do think when sailing gets introduced properly and everything's settled down, they may start experimenting with the eastern lands considering they're all detached islands so it'd work well within the skill! I will keep digging though as it would make a really interesting video

[@grantdilkes-harrison8852]

Do you think blackstone has anything to do with the madness that has befallen the fishing village to the east of the Wintertodt camp?

[@Gravitybind]

There's a journal that you can find called the 'smelly journal' in the fishing hamlet that describes a series of events that seem very in line with Xau-Tak and his powers over others. The end of the journal constantly says praise him, and the consistent mention of the sea does make me think that he's somehow involved, though a different name is used: Kayzertief