The Graaft - Group Project

Graaft have brown skin and hair, with lengthy ears like a bat, where the nose partially resembles that of a goat. Mutts naturally grow facial hair and horns.
Their hands feature dextrous plating that reinforces the back of the hand that scales up the forearm to the elbow; with digitigrade feet also bearing scales across their claw-like feet and shins.
Both genders have a slight plumage at the rear, stitches have a longer one than mutts.

They evolved into unintelligent humanoids unaided, and were discovered wallowing in the mud by the god, Amesgaizto. He saw fit to elevate their intelligence and soon the combined minds of the Graaft and their God realised they could transplant body parts from their dead to replace their damaged ones. However, this wasn't enough for the Graaft, who could theoretically live forever. They wanted a society without death, and this couldn't happen when the only way to prevent one Graaft's death was with the death of another.
They went to Amesgaizto and asked for a solution, and he blessed them with portal magic. They were instructed to go to other planes and take body parts of the dead there, but to never kill someone for their parts. Of course, greedy Graaft disobeyed and their God abandoned them as a consequence.
Still, the Graaft prospered and built a large city, which stands even now.

The Mentir are a race of beings who care about nothing but money, and they're extremely amoral about doing so. They are lead by Muroidea.

The Mentir sell body parts to the Graaft, however, they've been secretly manipulating them in order to stimulate demand. Though you don't learn it until the very last quest, it was them who set the Crul upon the Graaft's homeworld, the resulting war injuring many Graaft and so sending demand for parts through the roof. Many of their other schemes have yet to be decided, but they're helping Strae because they believe his actions will make their business more profitable too.

The Mentir stronghold has a creepy comparison to a hospital, white tiled walls and floors with bright lighting. They don't allow the Graaft inside.

Graaft distrust Mentir, but have become rather reliant on them. They have no solid evidence of wrongdoing on the Mentir's part, so are simply being walked over by them.

In terms of appearance, Mentir are humanoid, with icy blue skin and slightly ratty faces. They are slender and tall. The richer ones wear opulent clothing to show off their wealth, and the majority of them wear facemasks when around Graaft, as they consider them unclean.

The Crul are hive-minded creatures with a limited shapeshifting capacity - they always take on a rocky appearance, their forms are limited and they can only change in the presence of their queen, but they are shapeshifters nonetheless. They tend to take on either reptilian or insect-like forms.

Save for their queen, most Crul are unintelligent. They voraciously devour and destroy anything they see based on instinct. However when separated from the hive mind, they can be trained to act independently. Crul have limited communication abilities, only the queen has enough intellect to speak and communicates through her soldiers and drones.

They are literate and highly intelligent - very well learned both of anatomy and of other cultures.
They have a rite of passage for when their young loose the ability to heal. They are expected to go forth into the other planes and find their first body part, being banned from returning to the Graaft's city until they succeed.
Because aged Graaft do not degenerate like aging humans do, they are highly respected in society, filling many of the higher roles. There is a so called Circle of Elders that aged Graaft belong to, though what this actually means is unclear

The plane of origin for the Graaft is called Moglask. As far as the eye can see, it is a relatively barren place, not unlike the Wilderness. Beyond the Complex, the land is harsh - land is muggy and marshlike but with scatterings of volcanoes, much like Iceland.

The Complex is the main living area for the Graaft; about the size of Kandarin everything the Graaft do goes on inside. After searching through many planes for pieces, the Graaft found habitation technology and created the complex using the terraforming equipment. A surrounding area is partially cultivated in order for agriculture to take place using specially acquired fertile soil. Within The Complex, buildings are made up of different bits and pieces acquired from other planes. These "bits" vary in size greatly, sometimes they're just a few bricks needed to fill a hole in the wall, and sometimes, entire towers have been taken and placed on top of buildings.
The recent Crul threat has lead to the hasty erection of a wall around the city. It too, is made up of various walls taken from various other civilisations. As such, it has strong points and weak points which, thankfully, the Crul cannot distinguish between. Yet...

One particular natural feature of the barren regions of Moglask are strange beehive shaped formations called Nectar Hides. These odd shapes are plants that burrow deep for their water and conceal their stocks inside their tough casings. Like you would in the desert, many creatures who live out here cut open these for water supplies. If the water has been stored for a long time, they can yield nectar, which is very sweet tasting, thirst quenching and can restore some energy. You have to be careful of which Nectar Hides you drink from, not all are helpful. Some Nectar Hides have withered away, but because of their tough skin, you usually cannot tell straight away. Those that have withered have been used by Crul as traps. Inside these hides, tiny carnivorous larvites float about in the water, awaiting the approach of an unexpecting traveller. Once inside their system, the larvites can poison the drinker or even eat them from the inside out. In order to tell which you should or shouldn't drink from, the surrounding soil is the best indication. Since nectar seeps out of the healthy hides, the surrounding soil is fertile and has plants. Those that are traps will have barren soil surrounding.

Like everything else, Graaft leadership is a mix-and-match of different things. They have a council, with one member from each different type of leadership - an elected leader, a religious figure, the head of the military, a king/queen.
The council really struggles to get anything done, creating an inability for the Graaft to deal with their own problems and therefore a need for the player's involvement.

The Graaft have always had an army, named the Great Defenders, however, until the recent Crul outbreak, it has been relatively small.

The army has a simple structure. Under its leader, Pharamedes, are 5 ranks. Graaft are ranked on both their combat prowess and leadership ability, and all Graaft no matter what their rank serve on the front line wherever possible.

All Graaft warriors rely purely on their grafting ability to supply weapons. They do not use swords or shields or armour of any kind.


The Great Defenders have standard issue body parts which their soldiers use for battle. Rank determines what parts you are entitled to, though any soldier is allowed to attain their own parts too.

Cutters are the lowest ranked Graaft. They're entitled to a forearm with a natural blade and another arm with heavy plating that acts as a shield.

Storm Runners are the next rank. In addition to the parts Cutters are entitled to, they get feline-like legs that allow them to run faster.
Battle Hearts are the third and middle rank. They're named so because they get more powerful, stronger hearts to increase their cardiac fitness with this rank. Along with that, they get a spikes grafted to their backs.

Unbreakables are the fourth rank. Named because of one particular new standard issue graft - a shield gland, a glowing purple bio-orb attached to the shoulder that acts as a shield. With the shield gland, they no longer need the arm that acts as a shield, and this is replaced by a poison spitter - an organ which came from the abdomen of a bug-like creature but is placed on the arm of the unbreakables.

Warmasters are the highest rank. They gain no more additional standard-issue parts, but find their own, unique parts.


The Great Defenders have a large barracks near the centre of the town, and the player can visit some areas of it. They can see Cutters (or Storm Runners, if they're lucky) training with one an other or visit the army's own Graafting centre, where they can see the various mentioned parts being put onto Graaft.

The currently unnamed democratic leader has the most obvious means of replacement. Every year, elections are held, and any Graaft can run for presidency. Frequently, 20 or more Graaft will put their names forward, but of course, only one can win.

Leaders of the military have to be the strongest Graaft warrior. To replace them, you must beat them in a fight - not necessarily to the death, mind. Formal challenges are usually made but not a necessity. When such a challenge is made, backing down is not an option.

The Graaft royalty have a graft called the Majestic Blue. It's grafted to the forehead, much like a crown, and appears to a magnificent crest of some animal, probably originally used in mating. When one graft royalty dies, the Majestic Blue is removed from them and grafted onto their heir, who then replaces them. In the event that a dynasty ends with no heirs, whoever claims the Majestic Blue becomes the new royalty.

And I'm waiting for Dusk to tell us more about religion before I decide how religious leaders are replaced.

A female Graaft and the first of her species met by the player. Xana has recently matured and when the player first meets her, she's performing her trial and finding her first body part - she settles for the arm of a mage, giving her magical abilities.
Xana is the daughter of Kareeb, with an unknown mother. The two don't really see eye-to-eye.
Xana spent her whole childhood dreaming of becoming a hero. However, she's got a ruthless and greedy streak and you soon discover that she wants to be a hero a little too much.
You see, upon meeting the player and discovering his/her skills and exploits, Xana swiftly comes to believe that the best way to become a hero is by getting the body parts of an existing hero - us.
This, of course, makes Xana somewhat of an anti-hero. When the Graaft run into trouble, she sees the opportunity to become a hero. But, because the player's helping too, this leaves her with a conflict of interests: does she try to aid the player, or try to kill them?

He's had something of a bad start. When much younger, he was badly wounded and forced to be put together again, but the only parts available were from another one his age, a female.
Having grown up being half male, half female, he's got something of a gender crisis on his hands. He tends not to look at it badly, but instead just behaves erratic.

Originally a high-ranking physician, Strae is now a necromancer. Graaft don't usually leave bits behind, so he's seeking a way into RuneScape to find bits he can put together that would go unnoticed by the rest of the Graaft.
Strae fills a sort of religious extremist archetype. He believes since Amesgaizto hated death that necromancy will appease him. He also refuses to take grafts, and thus visibly appears as a Graaft in base form. Rumor has it, however, that he has the heart of a Mahjarrat.
He is several hundred years old and said to be descended from the first Graaft to betray Amesgaizto

Kareeb is a spiritual leader with a deep knowledge of Amesgaizto, the Graaft look to Kareeb to tell them how to please their absent God. He's highly emphatic and virtuous and so his followers revere him somewhat.
He hates killing, rigidly sticking to Amesgaizto's ancient instructions, and so argues with the military leader.
On his trial, he travelled to the deserts of Gielinor and, upon witnessing a dying Scarabite's devotion to their god, saw fitting to take part of their face. From this, he developed a habit of taking body parts from creatures that showed religious devotion, and subsequently acquired the arm of an aviantese, arm of a crystalline shapeshifer and the legs of a blood reaver.
When he began to become blind in his original eye, he sought out a new eye, that of a Soulgazing Stalker, in order to see better into the souls of other Graaft.
Kareeb has a daugher, Xana, who is also a major character. The two don't really see eye-to-eye.
Kareeb and Pharamedes start out strongly disliking one another, but as the story progresses, they realise that both of them just want what's best for the Graaft, and by the end, the two consider eachother friends, capable of ruling the Graaft without squabbling.

Pharamedes, the Military Leader
Pharamedes is one of the oldest living Graaft, but by no means past his prime. Being the commander of the Graaft military, veteran of hundreds of battles and a skilled soldier, his body is practically a walking, talking weapon.
Pharamedes has never visited Gielinor. He sources his parts from other planes, and so it's hard for the player to tell what came from where.
Through hard work, Pharamedes has taught himself to use 4 arms, something that an ordinary Graaft simply doesn't have the brain-power to do. His lower pair of arms are mottled green, and have natural, jet black blades running down the entire forearm and a few inches beyond his hands, while his other pair of arms, located above the first, are huge, brutish and muscled, beige in colour.
His chest and back are made up of a grey, scaly material that acts as a natural armour.
His legs are shiny black, lean but muscular, and he uses them to run fast - they're his newest part, replacing an old pair that got damaged by the Crul, and he's rather proud of them at the moment. All over his body are small patches of various colours, evidence of many minor cuts and scrapes getting cleared up.
In terms of personality, Pharamedes is a good person, he just believes brute force is the best way to get things done. He cares deeply about his people and leads their fight against the Crul from the front, joining in with every fight and skirmish he can - he never asks a soldier to do something he wouldn't do himself. As such, his army generally respect him. He believes hard work can get anything done, so it saddens him to see his efforts against the Crul failing, and he welcomes the player's assistance - he's not too proud to ask for help.

Muroidea is the leader of the Mentir, and is actually a very nice man at first glance. He seems to be a very caring person, similar to a doctor acting towards a child, but his true colors show when dealing directly with the Graaft or the parts which he provides them. Muroidea, even though he is talking in his cheery personality, is a cold, ruthless thinker, always putting the company's best interests above all else.

Muroidea's harsh personality is best seen in his fighting style and arsenal. Muroidea isn't a very athletic person, but he uses his knowledge in the field of medicine to his full advantage: his primary weapon is a simple rapier, which he uses at the beginning of a battle, but one he draws enough blood, he will switch to his main arsenal of surgical tools and 'healing magic,' aiming at open wounds, reducing healing, making them worse and infecting them, or purposefully healing them improperly, setting himself up to deal more damage.

This needs work

Deleriaus has only had a few parts grafted to him over the last few years; an ink gland from a squeeslet, a pen in the place of a few of his fingers, but most notably a talisman known as the falcon's eye. It's this small lens, in place of his natural eye, that has allowed him to see far beyond the capability of normal Graaft, some believe it has the capacity of foresight.
Deleriaus has a key role in story lines as an Oracle, able to give advice into what is going to happen and who shouldn't be trusted. He has an insane fear of one of the Lifemakers originally sent to observe his case, Strae, but many feel that this is because he might just be frightened of white coats.

Deleriaus has the following lore associated with him:
On a day that seemed somewhat normal, Deleriaus had replaced his eye with the Falcon's eye glass, having lost his original one the last time he went on a hunt. He foresaw a set of events that scared him, a small troupe of Graaft being attacked by a set of unknown creatures, but dismissed the thought as a harmless nightmare brought on by a contaminated bobua. The party consisted of several Graaft and a couple of young Mentir who had supplied some of the tools.

A fair distance from the complex, the small hunting party took a rest. When trying out his falcon's eye, Deleriaus could see for miles and found the area was oddly uninhabited, even the faxgraven, a natural game residing here, were absent from their mating season.

Hours passed and nothing had been seen. Then, out of nowhere the troupe was attacked by a strange group of rocky creatures. Though noone had told him Deleriaus's somehow knew they were called the Crul. Deleriaus tried to protect his group, but failed.

Somehow, the eye became associated with the creatures who attacked him. Using the eye, he was able to foresee all the movements of the Crul before they made them.

Deleriaus then began to have strange visions of the Crul's actions and who could not be trusted. His paranoia gradually became his undoing, when he grafted and ink gland into his system and replaced one of his fingers with a drawing pen specialists were called in.

Since then Deleriaus have been transferred from institute to institute in the hopes of curing the malady bestowed upon him by the falcon's eye. All the lifemakers and sewmasters have come to the conclusion that to remove the falcon eye would damage his brain, so have left it as it is. Alternative therapies have had to be considered when his ramblings would become violent by certain trigger words, where he begins chanting the name of some unknown deity, which has resulted in some lash marks in his back.

His ramblings have proven useful as they have exposed some key Crul movements, seeing as the eye came from their temple, so the Graaft has left him live for this long; some still question whether letting him lived trapped in malady, etching onto canvas all day and near completely naked save for a soiled loincloth as any kind of life.

He believes the falcon's eye was taken from the Crul Queen herself, though nobody believes him

The rise or fall of Xana - Xana's ruthless ambitions lead her character on a difficult journey as she both helps and hinders the player
War with the Crul - the animalistic Crul repeatedly attack the Graaft city and the Graaft repeatedly attack them back. As time goes by, however, the Crul seem to become smarter
The manipulations of the Mentir - the Mentir will do anything to increase demand for their body parts. They've poisoned the ones they already sell, they'll destroy the trial totem and they'll assist Strae in his destructive plans
Lifemaker Strae's necromatic invasion of Gielinor - Strae is working hard to force necromancy upon both the Graaft and humanity in the belief that it'll appease Amesgaizto, who hated death

There are 3 themes behind the plotline: greed, afterlife and community

The Mentir are greedy, and their greed leads their attempt to destroy the Graaft.
Xana is greedy, and it's the undoing of an otherwise heroic character.
Graaft, by their biology, are materialistic. While as humans, we are who we are, the Graaft can buy their way to a better self.
Greed is what made Amesgaizto turn away from the Graaft in the first place.

Afterlife will be expressed largely through the religious aspects of the Graaft, but also through the death of major characters.

As for community, the Graaft's societal structure, particularly their leadership, is odd and should be focused. Those that stand against the Mentir and Strae are disorganised and have personal issues to overcome and the lack of union here can be played upon, too.