Gielinor (Series)

Gielinor is an ongoing RuneScape-based story serial on the RuneScape Fan Fiction Wiki that was created by Mr. Garrison in 2008 and initially continued until Summer 2009. After a two year hiatus, the series was revived in late 2011, picking up from the exact point it left off under new 'showrunner' Mister Garrison.

Gielinor is set in the Gieliverse and is intended to be truer to the game itself than the Runiverse-based projects of the timeframe the first three volumes were written in took place, with Gielinor being set in a "present day" 5th Age RuneScape. It is split into "volumes" rather than seasons or series, taking inspiration from the television series Heroes. There have been three volumes so far, Economy, Elements and Origins respectively, while the fourth volume Conflict is currently being released. The use of volumes to connect chapters allows for several short-term and long-term story arcs to play out, with each volume having a main arc and theme to it. Each volume consists of varying numbers of chapters, the longest being Elements which had 32. The following volume, the fifth, is currently entitled Foundations and is set to begin soon after the conclusion of Conflict.

Gielinor has had a variety of writers over the course of its history including The evil dude and Ugozima, but currently the series is only being written by Mister Garrison. This has led to the creation of several characters, more than any other story serial on the RuneScape Fan Fiction Wiki — which has also contributed to it having the most stories as well, at 65 as of December 2011.

Creation
After limited success experienced with the Wikia's series Morytania in mid-2008, which was hindered by its scope and enjoyment of contributing to Runiverse-based serials such as Time Fractures, Mr. Garrison wanted to create a popular new series on the Wikia. The main rule would be however that unlike Runiverse-based projects, the series would not pretend to be a television programme, but simply be prose-based and exclusive to the Wikia.

Initially he aimed to make a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek series entitled Tarqinder the Dragon Slayer, based on a humorous forerunner of Gielinor's Tarqinder. Deciding on a more serious tone, Mr. Garrison abandoned these plans and set on making a more serious story serial.

Early days
After toying with names such as The People, Gielinor was finally chosen and the series page was created, announcing the first volume (then untitled) would revolve around an economic crash in present-day RuneScape, and that anyone wishing to write should contact Mr. Garrison.

With Tarqinder already established as appearing, (debuting in the first ever chapter, "He Who Slays Dragons") Veedi Limstrood was next to appear leading the way for a variety of different characters to feature. With The evil dude, Fegaxeyl, Jigo22 and Ugozima all signing up to write, many more characters came into play such as Tony de Fillo, Bruce Brysworth, Jake Rottham and Dancus Frumac.

Expanding from 18 to 22 chapters, the first volume was a success, and as the storylines began to tie together they were finally rounded off in the series finale "The Battle of Ardougne". This set the scene for the next volume which Mr. Garrison already announced would pick up two months later.

The "Golden Age"
The second volume commenced writing not long after in Summer 2008, and all the writers returned. ToaBionicle also signed up to write, but due to time constraints was unable to continue, transferring his completed work to Runiverse-based serial Before the Storm which he created not long after. An unused plan for this volume would have seen every story being written by at least two writers, to weave in ongoing storylines to every chapter, but Mr. Garrison abandoned this for the sake of timing.

It also introduced the naming of volumes, with the first one being named Economy and the second Elements. This volume based itself on the real world topic of global warming which was given a RuneScape twist while The evil dude introduced the Sea Life Army's rise and rebellion against humankind as the main threat, which had been hinted at in the first volume.

At 32 chapters it became the longest volume and finished writing in Autumn 2008, and had seen the introduction of several new characters such as Sir Raef, the villainous Sharkros, Hecate and Iyla, while properly introducing Raiah Gestoff and Falsotine Vadas who had cameoed in the first volume's conclusion. Ultimately it had the highest death toll to date, and by the final chapter "The End of Days", nearly all of The evil dude's characters had been killed off while the fate of Veedi Limstrood at the hands of "Husband" was left ambiguous, paving the way for the next volume...

Beginning of the end
The third volume was announced as Origins and was written from Winter 2008 to 2009. Initially proposed to contain seven chapters, this was shortened to six as Ugozima did not put his story forward, and this became the short story "Remembrance 134". This meant all original writers aside from Ugozima returned.

Basing itself on the premise of flashbacks into several main characters' origins, it brought many full circle outlining their pasts while also setting up the Human-Gnome conflict that would take centre stage in the fourth volume. This formed the story arc of the volume, as we discovered Veedi's narrow escape from "Husband" who we discover to be plotting the extermination of gnomekind due to his bad experiences revealed in "The Dawn of Dark Times". It also introduced new gnomic characters Ronthin and King Boelryn while establishing Paula Hidrigg from the first volume's "Gnomic Relations" as a main character.

The series seemed to have hit a stride on the Wikia, gaining a forum to discuss series plans and the successful deal with the main RuneScape Wiki to promote Gielinor stories (and the Fan Fiction Wikia) through story excerpts in their Wiki Post. The first such story was "Coming of Age", and plans were outlined for "Stories of Hemenster" and the first chapter of volume five to do the same. On top of this, a set of short stories were written by Mr. Garrison and The evil dude to hint towards the events of the next volume.

Mr. Garrison however announced that the 14 chapter fourth volume Conflict would become a solo project, would only involve the Human-Gnome conflict as the arc rather than storylines such as the rise of General Grotesque as outlined by The evil dude. Mr. Garrison then stated the fifth volume, Foundations, would be the longest yet with at least 50 chapters, and would effectively be "a revamp" to the series. All five writers were set to return, with 4ndrepd also joining the writing team. This move proved to be a fundamental factor in Gielinor's end, as with the amount of time taken to get round to writing the fourth volume in Summer 2009 and the prospect of writing 14 chapters alone facing Mr. Garrison, he decided to give creative writing a break.

On July 15th 2009, following the writing of "Sins of the Father", Mr. Garrison announced that the series would officially become rated at an age of 13+ due to the introduction of scenes which some readers may find particularly unpleasant.

The hiatus period
Taking time out from the Wikia to pursue other projects, Gielinor reached its end with the third chapter of the volume, "The Fool on the Hill" being partially written. Story arcs had been set up with the introduction of Veedi's father and brother Arthur and Stanley respectively, but Garrison's departure in late Summer suggested an end.

By the end of 2009, Gielinor was classed as a discontinued series and Mr. Garrison an inactive user. This marked the start of the hiatus period which would last for over two years.

Out of the ashes
In late October 2011, Mister Garrison, a successor to the series' creator Mr. Garrison joined the Wikia, although all the other Gielinor writers had long since departed. Aspiring to redevelop the writing skills from younger years, Mister Garrison hoped to continue this work and put Gielinor forward as now being a continuing series, picking up where the incomplete Volume Four left off.

With "The Fool on the Hill" finally released and the next chapters announced, the series officially returned, and in November the first official logo was released to promote the return of the fourth volume from "late 2011". In December 2011 it was finally decided (after several changes) that the volume would be 15 chapters long.

It is also known that there are preparations afoot for the fifth volume which will likely commence in 2012, suggesting Gielinor has a secure future ahead of it.

Primary characters

 * Primary characters are worthy of their own character page and have contributed significantly to the plot across several chapters.
 * Italics denote a deceased character, although these characters may continue to appear as a ghost.
 * Former characters are not necessarily deceased, some have been written out.

Minor characters

 * See List of minor characters in Gielinor for more information.

Minor characters also appear, these are characters who have made a significant impact in one chapter or have appeared in non-important roles on several occasions. An example of the former being Chinelle, and an example of the latter being Dalmius.

In-game characters
In some chapters, characters from RuneScape either cameo or serve a minor role, adding to the authenticity of the series. These are not characters who serve as important characters, but are merely seen doing their recognised roles.

Volume One: Economy
Volume One introduces the principal characters over the course of the first few chapters who are all hit by an economy crisis. As the story progresses they converge in Ardougne and discover that it is linked to a rogue monarch.

Volume Two: Elements
Picking put two months after the battle which struck Ardougne at the end of the economy crisis, the cities of the world have begun to repair themselves and the world is getting back on its feet once more.

However, a number of deadly storms have been hitting various regions of Gielinor which has provoked much fear among the people of the world, and also the Sea Life Army are preparing to take revenge on mankind for their constant fishing and disruption of the world's seas.

Volume Two features 32 chapters and the authors remain the same as Volume One.

Volume Three: Origins
Volume Three: Origins is set six months after the events of Volume Two, and now the world is finally at peace and our characters can look back on their pasts and how they got to where they are.

Volume Three is primarily flashbacks, but these may be linked by scenes set in the present. The volume has one chapter per writer plus two more which begin and end the volume with a storyline which is a lead-up into Volume Four.

An incomplete story exists entitled "Remembrance 134" written by Ugozima. Also, two short stories were written to be loosely connected to this volume as part of the competition Music to my Eyes set up by The evil dude. The stories were set in the present day, but still provided background information for characters. The first story "Psycho Killer" by Mr. Garrison and "Indestructible" by The evil dude.

Volume Four: Conflict
Volume Four continues the storyline which begins during the final moments of "The Dawn of Dark Times". It takes the series in a new direction and offers a much darker tone to the stories, as well as being the only volume to date to involve one important storyline, the purgury of gnomekind.

This volume was to be solely written by Mr. Garrison, and its primary character is Veedi Limstrood who was noticeably absent from Volume Two but returned in Volume Three. It was to be 8-12 chapters long and began writing in June 2009 and was expected to last until August 2009.

The hiatus lead to a two year gap in the writing, although new writer Mister Garrison will be picking up from the exact point the series was left off and following the same premise from October 2011. The volume has however been shortened to 10 episodes for the sake of time constraints.

Volume Five: Foundations
Volume Five was to mark a revamp in the series, according to creator Mr. Garrison. Several characters had been confirmed to be returning, though a significant amount would be appearing to finish their storylines to allow new characters to be introduced.

It would involve the aftermath of the previous world problems and marked a new era in the world which is said to involve a change in attitude and some sustainable development in the world.

It was said to contain at least 50 chapters, making it what would have been the longest volume to date and would have had at least four writers; Mr. Garrison, Ugozima, The evil dude and Jigo22, all having signed up to it on The Gielinor Forum, with 4ndrepd also joining as the first new writer since Volume One. This would also have been the first volume to utilize the newly created forum as a place to discuss plans and storylines. It was expected to commence writing in Summer 2009 when Volume Four reached its end.

With the Gielinor hiatus of two years (2009-2011), these plans have now been abandoned due to writers leaving the wiki, although new head writer Mister Garrison will be following the same premises outlined, though it is likely the series will be shorter than planned.