Elder Artefacts

Elder Artefacts
The Elder Artefacts, also known as The Elder Twelve[1], are a class of immensely powerful and divine artefacts that were created by the Elder Gods who used them as conduits for their power to carefully craft perfect details in their creations[2]. Most artefacts were created by Zelrat, the most powerful elder god, aligned to time, using his stone.[3] The Elder Artefacts can be destroyed and have been destroyed in the past by the Elder Gods, they did this to remove the prior versions of Elder Artefacts they did not like. There may have been around 10 Stones of Zelrat, before the current and final version was created[4]. It was learnt from the Tribute to Ganodermos, wherein Ganodermo's memories could be read, there are twelve artefacts. At least seven of these are on Gielinor at the time of the Sixth Age.[5]

These artefacts are so powerful that merely spending time with one of the Elder Twelve artefacts will make it possible to attain godhood[6]. Each of the artefacts also has a specific function, though that function may or may not be what it's been used for by the gods. Some of the artefacts are called Elder Weapons, or God Slayers; the most well-known of these is the one referenced by Ganodermos: the Staff of Armadyl.

Zelrat did not imagine that other entities would get their hands on them - the Elder Gods believed that the dragonkin were the only other race in the world, and they had tied them all to the Stone of Zelrat - and so their side effects were possibly not considered. The side effect being that the artefacts leak Elder God energy, and those who were exposed to the artefacts in the long-term would gain powers that approximated the Elder Gods.