Apparently, the calendar in Gielinor has ten months. It seems that the length of a day has never been clarified, so it's probably 24 hours. There are still 365 days in a year. The days of the month (and their corresponding real world days) are:

1. Rintra
(39 days long, Jan. 1st - Feb. 8th)
2. Moevyng
(38/39 days long, Feb 9th. - Mar. 18th. Every 4 years, an additional leap day is added to Moevyng to account for calendar inaccuracies)
3. Bennath
(32 days long, Mar. 19th - Apr. 19th)
4. Raktuber
(34 days long, Apr. 20th - May 23rd)
5. Pentember
(38 days long, May. 24th - Jun. 30th)
6. Fentuary
(31 days long, Jul. 1st - Jul. 31st)
7. Septober
(38 days long, Aug. 1st - Sep. 7th)
8. Ire of Phyrrys
(40 days long, Sep. 8th - Oct. 17th. Named for the incompetent apprentice of the ancient mathematician and astronomer Scorpius, who is only notable in his comical failures to complete Gielinor's first calendar after the death of Scorpius. An additional 40 days were still unaccounted for in the solar year, and the 'challenged' Phyrrys spent the remaining years of his life trying to find ways to make these days fit his master's work. Later scholars discovered the remains of his efforts and easily corrected the issue by simply adding the 40 days to the calendar between Septober and Novtumber. The new month was named in honor (or mockery) of his work.
9. Novtumber
(39 days long, Oct. 18th - Nov. 25th)
10. Wintumber
(36 days long, Nov. 26th - Dec. 31st)

• Humans are the most common race in Gielinor. They can be found everywhere except Tirannwn. Generally, humans enjoy making kingdoms and going to war with eachother. They're adept at pretty much anything they try; generally feared by elves, and hated by goblins, trolls, giants, vampyres, etc.
  
  Humans generally die anywhere from 60-80 years after birth. Humans worship all three of the gods, though Saradomin is the most popular.


• Dwarves are short guys who reach 4'0" at their tallest. Dwarves are a peculiar type of creature with a clockwork mind, incorruptible in their love of material wealth. The easiest way to get rich is to dig for valuable metals, which their short stature makes easy. Due to their lack of exposure to sunlight and predisposition to not do things like farming, dwarves are uniquely obsessed with booze; it takes quite a lot (like, a lot) to get one drunk, and beer is mostly consumed for the calories it contains. It may even have different effect on dwarven bodies, but no one really knows. What we do know is that dwarves love it and apparently need it to survive. They can also transform into rocks to hide. Crazy stuff.
  
  Male dwarves almost always grow very large beards, and both male and female dwarves usually live into their 250s. Dwarves most often worship Guthix, though most dwarves don't really take the time to concern themselves with religion.


• Gnomes are eternally youthful and playful humanoids who have an arcane connection to plants; take one too far away from nature and they start feeling sluggish and weak. No taller than 3 feet, gnomes are known for being very cute and for changing little from the youthful, attractive appearance of a 20-something for most of their lives. Once they hit about 350, they rapidly change to look very elderly and begin to die around 400, transforming into flowers and small plants when they do. They love to play and be lazy, often dedicating years upon years to a craft or project, making them surprisingly productive inventors of contraptions or other small gimmicky time-wasters. Gnomes universally love to wear pointed cloth hats, and are almost never seen without them.
  
  Gnomes are steadfast worshippers of Guthix, as one might expect.


• Elves are strange, wild creatures from the kingdom of Tirannwn. They almost never leave their homeland and when they do, they're never seen further away than Kandarin. They paint their bodies in strange wild colors and patterns similar to the Picts or other tribal cultures, and, along with strange, brightly colored hair (blues, greens, etc.), they also possess animalistic features such as deer antlers and tails. Their ears are quite long and droop low, though they're able to control and move them like a rabbit. Lastly, their eyes reflect light like a wild animal's eyes; it can be alarming to spot them peering at you in a dark forest.
  
  Elves are seemingly driven to live in small tribes within the forests of Tirannwn, though they do have some sort of monarch that no human has ever seen. They eat raw meat and forage and often behave like animals, but elves are not unintelligent; it seems that this is just how they live. Elves are strangely timid and afraid of humans, but apparently gnomes get along with them quite well. They're presumed to live only slightly longer than humans, dying at around 150.
  
  Elves can be assumed to worship Guthix, if they worship anything at all.

• Guthix
  
  Guthix is a being of an unknown origin who is said to have discovered our world much like one discovers a rare and fascinating plant; his gentle and delicate hands cradled his discovery, a perishing and dear miracle of creation. On it, humans were living like wild beasts on a world of barren stone, and Guthix nurtured the world: his breath forming the sky and tears of joy forming the seas, his faith for our future causing the verdant greens and yellows and reds of nature to burst forth, until our world became Paradise.
  
  As a final gift, Guthix left behind a fragment of his being known to us now as the "Anima Mundi", the world-soul, in the most beautiful and serene grotto he could find. The humans exposed to this magnificence in physical form were uplifted from naked, wild beasts into the first Men. The surrounding mushrooms and trees formed the first Gnomes and Elves, while the roots in the fertile soil beneath the Anima Mundi became the Dwarves. His sole other act as a god was after being roused from his slumber by the coming of "the antipodeon", an attempt by future gods Saradomin and Zamorak to destroy humanity in order to prevent the coming of a new god. Guthix seized the Anima Mundi and decreed the Edicts of Guthix, forever sealing the gods away in their heavenly dominion, never again to so directly influence the world...
  
  Those events still to come, however, and satisfied with the worldly paradise he had created, Guthix descended deep into the core of the world to become its Genius Loci. In the blissful repose of eternal slumber, Guthix is said to watch our world through the eyes of the birds and the insects and the beasts of the forest. His soul is said to wander the world, a figment of his dreams, disguised as an elderly traveler.
  
  This hands-off approach is what makes Guthix the most worthy of veneration among all the gods in the eyes of his followers; he trusts nature to continue its rhythms as it always has, and are mortals not part of that grand design? Who are we to ask anything of the Summer and the Autumn, of the winds and the tides? The babbling creek and sunset's rays through the canopy are Guthix's reply.
  
  Guthix is a god of nature and silence. Animals sacred to Guthix include the hermit thrush, the elk, and the dragonfly. The flower sacred to Guthix is the prairie flax. His worship resembles that of real-world pagan religious celebrations such as Midsummer. Temples to Guthix typically take the form of dolmens or other types of simple, ancient monument such as cairns or stone circles. Guthix is not a god who wishes to intervene in the lives of mortals, nor does he make his presence known. The sprinkling of freshwater at a stone circle or joining in a chant under a full moon at a Guthixian holy site are two common examples of methods of worship.
  
  Guthixian religious beliefs are similarly about releasing ones' hold onto the ego that mortals are somehow above the power of nature; to fight, struggle, succeed or fail is as natural as the rising and setting of the sun. A commonly repeated summarization of what followers of Guthix believe is "change what you can; accept what you can't".
  
  Guthix is not a particularly common god for humans to worship, though many do, especially in the Asgarnian town of Taverley. Typical Guthixian devotees include dwarves, gnomes, elves, and human druids.





• Saradomin
  
  Saradomin was one of humanities' first kings alongside Zamorak. They were mere humans then, but it is said that even before his godhood, Saradomin seemed to almost walk on air; his kindness and knowledge of the world almost appearing supernatural, as if he were a being from outside of time. There was nothing "human" about Saradomin the Wise. His contemporary, Zamorak the Great, was similarly gifted with seemingly endless knowledge, though Zamorak's nature was one of endless ambition rather than kindness. It was perhaps inevitable that Zamorak would one day have designs on the empire of Saradomin.
  
  The war between the two kings raged for forty years, transforming the two great leaders into feeble old men. Zamorak's empire was losing ground, and as the virtuous Knights of Saradomin (a modern anachronism) were closing in on Thammaron, a spiralling Zamorak sent his four wise men to seek the Anima Mundi, wherever it might be, so that he might gain some divine power or holy insight needed to be victorious. Eventually these four wise men did locate the Anima Mundi far, far away, and as they struck it with their tools, the shard that fell off recognized their twisted intentions to kill their fellow man and warped them into grotesque beings of pure evil and sin; the first demons.
  
  The four demonic horrors dutifully returned to Zamorak with the shard of the Anima Mundi, which too corrupted Zamorak. This shard granted him the power to wield godly power against Saradomin, what we now understand to be magic. The flakes that fell from the shard could be wielded by his army, which became the first runestones.
  
  Driven nearly to the point of destruction, Saradomin personally traveled the land, gathering support wherever he could; it is said his inspiring words and profound rallying cries moved the hearts of all mankind, and with all of humanity at his side, they drove the demonic soldiers of Zamorak back and defeated Zamorak himself; Saradomin seized the shard of the Anima Mundi to keep it hidden from any others who might seek to wield its wicked powers, ascending to godhood in the process. He banished Zamorak, and intending to himself depart to the heavens, left command of his kingdom to his most trusted commander, Armadyl the Just. His body had become very frail from his journeys and the stresses of war, and in order to not deprive his people and his fellow man of his instruction, decided to forever guide mankind with the immortality and omnipotence of a god.
  
  Saradomin would be (allegedly) partially responsible for the coming of "the antipodeon", a divine retribution to return the world to the dust and stone of Guthix's time as punishment for Emperor Zaros' attempts to locate the Anima Mundi, as both Saradomin and Zamorak feared that the sheer enormity of the Zarosian empire would gather him so many acolytes that he would be a god of unprecedented power who could destroy all others.
  
  Their petty and selfish destruction of nearly the whole world to retain their grip on power is a HOTLY contested theocratic issue. Saradomin revisionists will go to great lengths to reframe this as a necessary evil, that Saradomin believed it was truly the righteous option, or that this story in the religious texts is a piece of Zamorakian propaganda, or that the entire event is apocryphal and never happened, among many, many other explanations. Followers of Saradomin are often even at odds with eachother over the interpretation of religious texts on this issue, and it's something of a jab or faux pas to mention to a Saradominist, especially hardcore ecclesiasts who ascribe to an interpretation of Saradomin as a faultless manifestation of man's capacity to do good.
  
  Anyway, sorry for the aside. The rains of blood, the locust plagues, the cracking of the land as humans melted into ashes under the light of a red sun were so catastrophic that Guthix is said to have been shaken from his eternal slumber. Zaros had finally claimed the Anima Mundi, but with his empire of millions dead, no one was alive to even remember his name. His power extremely limited, he simply faded away and was forgotten. Guthix seized the Anima Mundi once and for all, removing it from our world, and decreeing the Edicts of Guthix, banishing gods from ever returning to the physical world and drastically reducing their power over it. Saradomin would never again be able to do more than speak through his most faithful priests and perform the smallest gestures of his divinity to those who seek his wisdom.
  
  Saradomin's benevolence and wise tutelage is what draws most of humanity to follow his faith. Saradomin is eager to teach and help man make moral and rational choices in the struggles they face in their daily lives. It seems to be true that symbols and items of religious significance dedicated to Saradomin have the power to repel evil, which suggests to those familiar with the scriptures that his war with Zamorak will never truly be over, even as both are gagged and restrained by the Edicts.
  
  Saradomin's religion is interesting in its extension into non-religious modes of thought and ethics; "Saradominist Thought" was a relatively popular philosophical movement in Varrock, outlining a systematized structure to identifying ethical solutions to moral dilemmas by making calculations based on an inviolable system of principles. Arguing about religious texts and the history of the Saradominist faith is almost as common as preaching about the faith itself.
  
  Saradominist beliefs are, in a nutshell, "counsel thyself before all else" and "act with kindness". Saradomin is about logical and rational determination behind all choices, and about manifesting goodness in the world by being good; kindness and generosity are considered pious or holy acts in themselves, regardless of it being in the context of Saradomin's teachings or not. Worship of Saradomin is done in cathedrals, churches, and monestaries; stained glass and light are important representations of his warmth, presence, and guidance by literally illuminating the world, so these are common features in Saradominist churches.
  
  Touching the palm of one's left hand with the index and middle finger of their right hand, then touching ones forehead with those same fingers is known as "The Instruments of the Faithful", a symbolic gesture demonstrating that ones actions are done with presence of mind, an idea very important and meaningful idea in Saradominism. Gatherings such as mass where one priest speaks to others about Saradomin is very important to the symbolism of Saradomin teaching humanity. The larger the gathering the better.
  
  Saradomin is a god of wisdom, light, and good judgement. Animals sacred to Saradomin include the owl, the lion, and the rabbit. The flower sacred to Saradomin is the morning glory. Humans comprise almost the entirety of Saradomin's worshippers. Any human settlement is almost guaranteed to have at least one church dedicated to Saradomin's glory.





• Zamorak
  
  Zamorak was one of humanities' first kings alongside Saradomin. Unbelievably gifted in the art of statecraft and a natural leader, Zamorak founded Thammaron, history's first city at the precocious age of only 20. His ability to convince others of his strength and right to rule was legendary, and by the time his erstwhile fellow king was just establishing his own kingdom of Saranthium, Zamorak headed a formidable polycultural empire; gnomes dwarves, and even the occasional elf were all his loyal subjects alongside humans. Zamorak was known for his meritocratic system of promotion, where origin or background had no bearing on ones' chances of being given prestigious command of things such as the army or as a minister of his court. Challenges to his authority were heard and hashed out personally between the concerned citizen and the Great King.
  
  Zamorak was nothing if not endlessly ambitious, and his unstoppable military (the Kinshra, the oldest royal guard in history which still exist today) fed an appetite to grow his empire across the entirety of Gielinor. The conquest was something he excelled at, but Zamorak was a statesman at heart, and was known for being firm yet fair in his governance. This expansionism was fated to clash with the rising power of Saradomin, far to the east. Zamorak was about 32 when the war with Saradomin began, and would last for 40 years.
  
  As his empire yielded to the battle-hardened legions of Saradomin after a brutal and long war, a now elderly Zamorak sent his famed Wise Men; his four court advisors of whom he fully trusted, to draw from their knowledge of all things to seek the legendary Anima Mundi. Together, Chronozon the Faithful, Porazdir the Strong, Mazchna the Cunning, and Nezikchened the Learned set out to combine their knowledge of the land and Guthix to complete their quest. Thammaron would be forced to endure another 5 years of siege before their task would be complete.
  
  The Anima Mundi had been discovered by the Wise Men, and finding it too large to bring with them, Porazdir struck it with his greatsword; a sizeable shard was broken from the Anima Mundi, and as Porazdir picked it up, the Anima Mundi rendered judgement unto the Wise Men. Knowing the dark intentions for which the four men sought the power of Guthix, the shard transformed them into a reflection of what was in their hearts; they became the first demons.
  
  Bound by blood oath to serve Zamorak, the now twisted and evil monsters returned to Thammaron with the fragment of the Anima Mundi, loyal even into demonhood, and presented it to their emperor. Zamorak was similarly warped, becoming a force of malice, incapable of love and unstoppably powerful as he became the first mortal to ascend to the status of a god. Transformed from a feeble, dying king to a powerful, confident man once more, Zamorak personally incinerated an army of 40,000 men in one night using the shard he now possessed. This is the origin of our understanding of magic; the flakes that could be scraped from the shard could be used by his commanders, and became the basis for our understanding of runestones. These flakes corrupted anyone who used them, and soon close to the entirety of his army were warped into monsters we know today; goblins, trolls, and giants.
  
  Even still, despite this newfound power, Saradomin managed to return to Thammaron, this time with millions willing to rally to his side to defeat the now wicked sorcerer king. As Zamorak lay dying, his soul departed to the heavenly realms, but his hatred cast a long shadow over all of Gielinor. This war will last until Saradomin is dust and forgotten. Saradomin gained access to the fragment of the Anima Mundi, also becoming a god and intentionally following Zamorak to the realm of the gods.
  
  Though their bitter struggle against one another will last for all time, they temporarily joined forced to bring about "the antipodeon", a reckoning of all mortals where the seas will boil and the sky will darken with torrents of blood. Though this was the work of Zamorak, it is a biting counterpoint Zamorakian worshippers can use against their holier-than-thou Saradominist adversaries; not even the holy and wise Saradomin was capable of resisting the power and wit of Lord Zamorak, and the wicked desire to destroy potential rivals proved that even Saradomin is not faultless.
  
  The Antipodeon was wrought to destroy the empire of Zaros, a new god king who sought the Anima Mundi himself; his empire was larger than Zamorak's ever was, and he was truly loved by his people. That kind of militant, fanatical population would have easily made Zaros the most powerful of all the gods, and the Antipodeon was an attempt to wipe the mortal slate clean to limit the power of Zaros.
  
  The destruction caused was so severe that Guthix was shaken awake from his slumber, and though the deaths were in the hundreds of millions, Guthix undid the damage he could and permanently banished all gods from ever interceding in the realm of mortals ever again. Zamorak's power is thusly forever limited except through those who are most faithful to his cause, to whom he confers great power -- and doles out wicked punishments for failure or lapses in faith.
  
  Zamorak is easily painted as "a god of evil and darkness" by his detractors, though one would then reasonably ask why anyone would ever pledge themselves to damnation and hatred. Zamorak is more accurately described as a god of power; he asks for your service in continuing to wage war against his hatred enemy, Saradomin and his followers, and is willing to impart terrifying magical power and unparalleled strength for loyal service. However, his mercilessness when it comes to failure (rightfully) earns him a reputation as a dark god; no other god is willing to torture, malform, or otherwise kill his own acolytes.
  
  Though the circumstances of his history as written in Zamorakian religious texts are obviously not good, one does not necessarily have to be evil in order to worship Zamorak; his teachings are easy to understand for anyone who feels subjugated or in need of assistance to accomplish a goal: "embrace strength; death is weakness" and "struggle and i shall aid you" are some basic ideas guiding the religion. Zamorakians are expected to assist one another, and though Saradominists all like eachother for their shared belief, Zamorak asks his followers to be eachothers' ardent supporters and allies.
  
  Worship of Zamorak is usually done through sacrifice or offering. Though ritual killing is certainly a powerful tribute (blood is believed to be a vessel for the soul in Zamorakian tradition), such cruel and dramatic acts are not commonly performed by the more common Zamorakian devotee. Offerings of the bones of dead animals or even surprisingly banal things such as onyx jewelry and wine are said to curry favor with Great King Zamorak. Chants, usually of the kind promising servitude and vengeance against Zamorak's enemies are typical, though worship of Zamorak is more of a personal affair than one with large gatherings. Black candles are religious items sought for such communion with Zamorak.
  
  As Zamorakian faith positions itself as the diametric opposite of Saradominism, worship of Zamorak is almost never public; temples to his glory are usually constructed in very remote areas or even underground, away from the eyes of the common person who is more likely than not to favor Saradomin. To find out someone is a Zamorakian usually is grounds for scandal and gossip in the largely Saradominist lands where humans dwell.
  
  In short, Zamorak is a god of power, darkness, and victory. Animals sacred to Zamorak include rams, ravens, and tigers. The flower sacred to Zamorak is the azalea. Zamorak is beloved by monsters and very few else; giants are usually too dim-witted to understand religion, but are easily swayed by the promises the religion guarantees. Trolls often want to be left alone and choose to live in seclusion, so religion does not easily reach them. Goblins are typically fans of Bandos, but some are known to worship Zamorak instead. Vampyres and the undead are the greatest and most common Zamorak acolytes, and Morytania is the only region in the world where worship of Zamorak is done openly.





• Zaros
  
  Zaros is more of an extremely obscure historical figure than a god, if "god" assumes regular worship or even written records. Ironically, most of what we know about Zaros comes from the religious texts of Saradomin and Zamorak; Zaros was apparently the emperor of a region called "Forinthry", but whose empire stretched to cover all of what is currently Morytania down to Lumbridge, based on archaeological discoveries. This would have made it one of the largest empires in history, made doubly impressive by the seeming peace and stability of his reign. The Zamorakian Empire technically was larger, but these were military gains that were quickly lost, and is thus discounted by most scholars.
  
  For reasons unknown to us, Zaros sought the Anima Mundi to become a god. Academics have extrapolated that with an empire seemingly stable for an extended period of time, Zaros must have been quite popular, which would explain Saradomin and Zamorak's apprehension towards Zaros, an extremely beloved emperor, gaining such a colossal number of worshippers immediately after attaining godhood. This does not fully explain everything; its possible that the Zarosian empire was anti-religious and that Zaros intended to become a god in order to kill the others, or it could be as simple as a man seeking immortality and divine power.
  
  Whichever is true, Saradomin and Zamorak worked together to usher in "the antipodeon", an apocalypse to render the world back to the barren wasteland Guthix found it as, hence the "antipode" of what it currently was. If Saradominist texts are to be believed, Zaros was closing in on the Anima Mundi as he and Zamorak were literally boiling the seas and raining fire on Forinthry. The empire collapsed in his absence; torrents of blood surged through the streets and the red sun unmade all things. Fathers and mothers, children, pets, works of art, weapon smiths, farmers, mages, animal carts, castles, birds and insects, scrolls and books, coins, leatherworkers, bankers, ministers, young lovers, respected elders, best friends... Saradomin and Zamorak turned Forinthry to ash.
  
  With no followers, Zaros was essentially completely powerless as a god; Forinthry had been rendered a mass grave. With no one alive to remember the once famous and beloved king, Zaros faded rapidly from the consciousness of mortals, literally erased from existence by his fellow gods.
  
  Based on nothing but speculation from magically-trained archaeologists, religious scholars, and very, very scant evidence, it seems that Zaros' sole act of god was to lay a vicious curse across the charred wasteland of his former empire. It is unknown why the lands' own king would do such a thing, but the most common theory is that it was an attempt to turn the land into a monument; this is what Saradomin and Zamorak do to innocent people.
  
  Archaeological digs in Forinthry would certainly help paint a much clearer understanding of Zaros' empire and what the Antipodeon was like, but lingering in Forinthry for more than three nights is said to cause ones' mind to be lost completely. Young students and research teams have departed into the cursed land with heavily armed escorts, and none of them ever return. The only denizens of Forinthry are the mad who lingered too long and the most twisted abominations Gielinor has to offer.
  
  Absolutely nothing is known about the cult of Zaros. By the time he became god, anyone willing to worship him were turned to blackened corpses. No one alive worships him; although modern archaeology has revealed his existence, nobody is going to just start following a god who has been essentially dead for thousands of years.

• Armadyl
  
  Armadyl was Saradomin's valiant hero-commander, the leader of his army against the forces of Zamorak. When Saradomin attained divinity and ascended to the realm of the gods, Armadyl was personally appointed by Saradomin himself to rule the victorious empire he was leaving behind. By all accounts, Armadyl was beloved by the people for his bravery in the struggle against Bandos, particularly for a crucial battle at what we now call Mount Lassar in which Armadyl's embattled, tiny force defended the freezing mountain peak for forty days and nights against Bandos' onslaught.
  
  Armadyl I is a well-known historical figure who came to be the first mortal king of the empire that would eventually lead to the foundation of the modern Saradominist kingdom of Misthalin. Although Saranthium collapsed for reasons unknown, things like the Armadyl Codex (Gielinor's first codified legal system), and Misthalin's current Saradominist religious culture are surviving relics from the ancient empire Armadyl governed. A statue in his likeness stands outside of the Varrockian Chamber of Justice, and his head in profile is commonly used as a seal or emblem on the walls of forts across the Saradominist world.



• Bandos
  
  Whereas Armadyl was directly appointed to rule Saranthium in Saradomin's absence, Bandos was the chief commander of Zamorak's army, and essentially just took over. Horribly deformed by the corruptive magic eminating from the shard of the Anima Mundi, he resembled a colossal behemoth of a man, skin a foul green with four arms and bestial tusks. Bandos was a brutal, hawkish commander during the war, allegedly standing at an incredible 11'6". His mercilessness towards his own soldiers paled in comparison to the treatment he doled out to the defeated armies of Saradomin, of which there were many; Bandos only lost 2 out of 35 documented battles in the entire war. After Zamorak's ascendency, he ruled Thammaron as a smouldering ruin; unlike Saranthium, the ancient Zamorakian capital would never be built over, its legacy forever tainted by the terrible end to the war and the wretched transformation of its citizens.
  
  Most of Zamorak's remaining army, resentful of Zamorak for betraying them by leaving and for corrupting their forms (an unfortunate side effect of the Anima Mundi), decided to continue following their famed commander even after the fighting stopped (these soldiers became Gielinor's goblins, giants, and trolls). Bandos was not at all a competent king and was increasingly consumed with rage, leveling the ruins that still stood in frenzied dances of screaming fury over the loss of the war rather than attempt to rebuild or lead. Bandos eventually died anonymously at some unknown point, essentially forgotten by humans, yet deeply revered and venerated in the oral traditions of goblins, giants, and trolls throughout history. He was never a god, but is essentially remembered as one.