The Chosen (Quest Series)

The Chosen is a seven-part quest series which was released on RuneScape from December 2008 onwards on a monthly basis. It follows a storyline involving time travel which follows on from the introduction of the concept in the quest Meeting History which was released earlier in the year.

Overview
Throughout the series the player will travel through time using specific portals to certain places. Initially you travel to one of the final battles of the God Wars known as the Battle of Draynor which results in the Zamorakians escaping battle without being killed and the course of history being altered.

A select few people notice this change in time, including the player, and they form the titular group known as "The Chosen" - and their mission is to put history back on track before Zamorakian forces can fully resurface and claim the world as their own.

For much of the series you find yourself in an alternate world in which Zamorakians have gained a more prominent hold on the world, and things have turned out very different. It is however optional to return to RuneScape where history is on track by entering a portal, as the change in history is yet to hit the main timeline.

Development
The Chosen was developed throughout 2008 around the time that Summoning was completed and released. While most of the Jagex team focused on releasing RuneScape HD, the quest development team began working on the storyline.

"While everyone else [at Jagex] was having fun with graphic updates and summoning etc. We wanted to have some fun ourselves! So we got talking with the other Mods and they recommended another quest series, something that would also push the graphics team to their limit, something we decided to do something we hope you will all enjoy!"

- Jagex Development Team, The Chosen Press Release 1/12/08

The idea of a time travelling quest series had been considered as early as 2004, but it had never been expanded on until plans for the Meeting History quest were organised. A storyline had been thought of in 2007 when possibilities of a time travelling quest were considered and when it was given the go-ahead to make, the storyline was expanded on. It went through several rewrites including possibilities of travelling to the Sixth Age, but Jagex felt this would be "too sci-fi for [them]". Following on from the journey made to the First Age in Meeting History, the quest writers decided to focus on the effects of the God Wars, especially after the popularity of the God Wars' Dungeon and players requesting more historical detail be revealed. The final storyline used the concept which A Sound of Thunder revolved around; changing the past and subsequently the future.

The time travel element meant that areas featured we have to be copied and remade to how they would have been in the past which meant the construction of several "plains" as the Jagex Development Team referred to them. These "plains" are similar to the ones used for the land in which a Player Owned House stands on except larger and without blackness around the edges as it had to be a full rendition of RuneScape in a different time period and timeline. The construction of these took several months, lasting from as early as April to as late as early September, the designs having gone through several stages. Some renditions were deemed "to close to what [the players] have already seen in the game, and others "too apocalyptic" or "too over-the-top and random" in comparison to the actual areas.

The series was hinted towards throughout October and November beginning with a cryptic message from the Chaos Elemental in October's Postbag From the Hedge.

"Jumping jumping fun it is! Yes it's nice....scary woodland - where from? Big big hole laying on the ground!"

- Part of a letter from the Chaos Elemental included in October 2008's Postbag From the Hedge

Finally, in the November 2008 Behind the Scenes Jagex made it clear that a new monthly-based quest series would start in the following month, and in December it was announced along with the first quest, The Chosen: Genesis.

Release
With the first quest released, much discussion began on the forums, leading to the release of a separate sub-section in mid-December, though this was removed on the mid-January updates due to a lack of posts.

The week after the release of Genesis the Christmas 2008 Event was released, but despite it being popular with non-members, the members' community lost interest and many (especially the higher-levelled) turned their attention to completing the quest. This caused the Christmas Event to be extended by an extra week so that members would still have a chance to gain the Santa costume as well as keeping up with the quests.

The website also received a minor makeover, with a new banner on the main page and a new subsection in the Manual on the Knowledge Base. The background colours were also darkened, to match the world in the broken timeline.