Icthlarin

Icthlarin
Released								26 April 2005 (Update)
Members								Yes
Race								Jackal
Quest								Icthlarin's Little Helper
Location								Klenter's Pyramid
League region								Desert✓
Gender								Male
Examine								A jackal headed demi-god.
Advanced data
NPC ID								4199
Link								MOID

Icthlarin (pronounced /ɪkˈθlɑr.ɪn/ "ick-thlar-in") is the Menaphite demi-god and guardian of the dead, responsible for guiding the souls of the deceased to the Grim Underworld. He is the creation of Tumeken and Elidinis, and brother of Amascut.

He was also the original leader of the Mahjarrat before they defected and joined Zaros. Unlike most gods, Icthlarin wasn't banished by Guthix following the God Wars. This was because though he and Amascut were made from the divine essence of both Tumeken and Elidinis, they were still far less powerful than true gods;^[1][2] Icthlarin's role as the guide of the dead may also have played a part in Guthix's decision not to banish him.

Icthlarin is encountered in Icthlarin's Little Helper quest.

Icthlarin was presumably created in the early Second Age by the gods Tumeken and Elidinis. Together with the other gods of the Menaphite Pantheon, Icthlarin helped establish and rule the Kharidian empire, one of the most prosperous areas on Gielinor at the time.

During the Second Age, the peace of the Kharidian Empire was threatened when the god Zaros sought to expand his already vast empire into Menaphite territory, beginning a long and bloody conflict known as the Kharidian–Zarosian War or the "Great War" by the Menaphites. Amascut and the rest of the Pantheon fought to defend the Empire, but even combined they struggled to resist the might of the Empty Lord, and slowly but surely more ground was lost to the invaders.^[3]

Eventually, as the situation began to become particularly dire, Icthlarin realised that they alone could not turn the tide of battle, and resolved to find allies who could. Leaving Gielinor, Icthlarin and Amascut eventually came upon the war-torn world of Freneskae, home of the powerful and near-immortal race known as the Mahjarrat. Here, Icthlarin was able to convince a number of them to join him and help bring an end to the Zarosian incursion.^[4]

With the Mahjarrat in tow, Icthlarin and Amascut returned to Gielinor. Almost immediately, the tide of the war began to change as the Mahjarrat — dubbed the "Stern Judges of Icthlarin" by the Kharidian defenders — quickly started decimating Zaros' forces. For the first time since the war began, the Kharidians were on the offensive.^[5]

Ultimately, the Kharidian army and its Mahjarrat allies, under the leadership of Icthlarin were able to successfully expel the Zarosians from the land. Peace, albeit a temporary one, had returned to the land. This peace, however, would not last, as the Mahjarrat were convinced by one of their own to betray the Menaphite Pantheon and join Zaros.^[6]

At some point, Icthlarin began to face trouble from within his own family. His sister Amascut, the then-goddess of rebirth, was driven insane and declared herself The Devourer, intent on feasting upon the souls of the deceased^[7] and reap destruction upon the land, in direct opposition to her brother and the rest of the Pantheon, whom she now held in great contempt. Icthlarin and Amascut have been locked in a rivalry ever since.

Sometime after her metamorphosis, Amascut began to destroy her own temples and clergy. In response, her followers, including Neite - then one of Amascut's chief priestesses - rose up against her, cursing her that her name would be forgotten, any body she held would cast her out before long, and never again could she assemble willing disciples. Amascut, however, retaliated with a curse of her own, binding her priests in her own form, dooming them to walk the world as cats, which she in turn grew deathly afraid of.^[8]

Icthlarin, seeking to protect Neite and the others from his sister's wrath, brought them under his wing, gifting them with immortality that they may never die from natural causes.^[9] Around the same time, Icthlarin also appointed the Sphinx as the guardian of feline kind, safeguarding them against the agents of the Devourer in return for eternal life.^[10]

Amascut's insanity would cause great problems for Icthlarin, as in addition to causing troubles on the surface, she had created beasts to prowl the underworld, eager for souls to devour. This meant that escorting and guarding souls through the underworld took up more of Icthlarin's time, and meant that he would not always be successful, with many souls being devoured by Amascut's beasts. Icthlarin's role now consumes so much of his time that he has little time to devote to what happens on the surface, only interfering when he absolutely must.^[11]

In the year 169 of the Fifth Age, Amascut sought to obtain the soul of Klenter, a recently deceased High Priest of Icthlarin. To this end, Amascut, disguised as a Wanderer, hypnotised a passing adventurer into infiltrating his tomb and stealing one of the canopic jars. This act of depravity, however, did not go unnoticed by the god of the dead, prompting Icthlarin himself to appear before his sister's latest tool and relinquish the Devourer's hold over them, denying Amascut Klenter's soul.

• Holy symbol

• A statue of Icthlarin found in the Uzer Mastaba.

• Icthlarin is based on Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god of death and mummification.