Concept art of the insides of Hostilius. Shown at a
RuneFest PvM talk.
Hostilius the Autocrat was a particularly corpulent Chthonian that once ruled the world of Infernus.[3] Mod Pi was developing Hostilius as a boss monster.[4] However he has since said that this would have to be developed in his own time and require more assets so wouldn't be released in the near future.[5] In January 2022, Mod Pi confirmed that Hostilius is not in active development.[6]
Hostilius seized rulership of the Infernal Dimensions following the Chthonian rebellion against the Infernals - the original rulers of the realm - thousands of years ago.[7] During this tumultuous time, Hostilius himself devoured many of his former Infernal overlords and fellow Chthonians, causing him to grow to a size that could dwarf even a god and granted him the accumulated cunning of everything he had ever eaten, something which greatly factored into him keeping his throne for so long.[8]
After taking control of Infernus, Hostilius transformed his newly acquired dominion into a great bureaucracy which rendered direct conflict socially unacceptable, and encouraged the practice of legal trickery among the Chthonians in order to ensnare and earn the right to consume their peers.[9][10] Hostilius' power eventually became so great, even matching that of a powerful god,[11] that a dozen legions reflected only a fraction of his might; something which the Autocrat, being the intensely greedy creature that he was, was determined to retain.[12]
Eventually, in one of the most notorious chapters in Infernus' history, Hostilius' court became host to the Empty Lord, Zaros, who arrived in the Autocrat's realm seeking an army for the purpose of invading Gielinor. In return, Zaros would gift Hostilius the secrets of travelling between worlds, that the Chthonians might consume entirely new races instead of resorting to preying on one another.[13]
Hostilius, not wanting to give away even a fraction of his forces, sought to use the legal trickery commonplace amongst Chthonian society to deceive Zaros.[12] Defining and redefining terms in the subsequent contract, Hostilius eventually specified that leadership of the twelve legions Zaros requested would pass to the eldest signatory, whom the Autocrat believed to be himself. Hostilius underestimated the Empty Lord however, who saw the Autocrat's attempt for what it was yet said nothing, knowing the significance of Hostilius' miscalculation.[14]
When the pact was eventually signed, Hostilius, believing his ploy to have succeeded in his favour, barked in triumph before the demons present. He would not gloat for long, however, as Zaros revealed the truth: that he was far more ancient than Hostilius believed, having traversed countless worlds for aeons, long before the Autocrat had even spawned. It was Zaros, not Hostilius, who was the eldest signatory. Having unwittingly foiled himself, Hostilius was humbled before the Empty Lord, to whom he pledged his twelve mightiest Dukes and their legions for nothing in return.[15]
Thousands of years later, on Gielinor, Zaros was betrayed by his greatest general, the Mahjarrat known as Zamorak, who defeated his master in a confrontation using the two most powerful Elder Artefacts, the Staff of Armadyl and the Stone of Jas. Zamorak, infused with new divine power as a result of his duel with the Empty Lord, was brought to Infernus by several Tsutsaroth to fulfil his promise of freeing the Avernic - who had steadily gained a rebellious spirit of their own during Zaros' reign on Gielinor - from the shackles of their Chthonian overlords.[16][17]
True to his word, Zamorak led the Avernic against the Chthonians - including Hostilius - on Infernus in a rebellion that would last nineteen years.[18] Hostilius and the other Chthonians were ultimately overthrown, with those not destroyed being exiled to the Abyss.[19] Hostilius survived, for it is questionable if a creature such as Hostilius can even truly die,[20] and now languishes between worlds. Currently the Chthonian Dukes and the Infernals are fighting for possession of his body, it being a potent source of power.[21]
Hostilius is slated to be released as a boss at some point in the future, with Mod Pi personally working on his development. Due to his immense size and power, the fight is slated to take place from within his own body, as the player attempts to destroy him from the inside out. He is planned to scale to the number of players who take the challenge as well as have three different kinds of difficulties, casual, normal, and hardcore mode.
This response was posted by Mod Pi with the current status of Hostilius.
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Wassup, I do indeed!
Hostilius is sadly not in active development and technically never was as it was a personal project of mine so I wouldn't expect to hear anything on it I'm afraid.
We showed it off as part of a RuneFest talk by the combat council but it was in a section titled "TAPP" and it was what we were playing with in our personal time as we thought attendees would enjoy some behind the scenes info on the council. This is why it was part of a council talk and not part of the main stage "what is coming" talk.
While Hostilius is cool other initiatives have fit in schedules etc better and as such it isn't something we're likely to take on. Things such as the casual/story mode and group size scaling did get folded in to other bosses however which is cool!
I'm very happy that the concept has some hype around it but in the interest of open and honest communication, don't hold your breath for it I'm afraid.
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| — Mod Pi[6]
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- In the Infernal tongue, Latin, Hostilius translates to "rather hostile" or "too hostile".
- It was stated by Mod Jack that Hostilius is as powerful as a tier 5 god.[22]
- ^ Scions of Erebus, RuneScape. "During the Autocrat's long road to total domination, each of its elders were devoured in turn, and perhaps some vestige of their memory lingers on within its twitching corpse."
- ^ Zamorak, "The Zamorakian Undercity", RuneScape. "I strung up his corpse as a message for all to see. Such is the fate of all tyrants."
- ^ Sliske's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "The ruler of Infernus is a great corpulent thing called Hostilius the Autocrat."
- ^ RuneScape Combat - from RuneFest 2017. 27 September 2017.**
- ^ In the Games Industry - An interview with Mod Pi!. 06 January 2020.**
- ^ a b Mod Pi. Does Mod Pi still work at jagex?. 28 January 2022.**
- ^ Palkeera's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "Thousands of years ago, the Chthonian race rose up, overthrew the Infernals, and took their place as overlords."
- ^ Sliske's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "Hostilius had grown immense from consuming so many Infernals - and his own kin - during the Chthonian rebellion. [...] Though he towers over me, Zaros was like a mouse before the great bulk of Hostilius that occupied nearly the entire open-air amphitheatre that was his court. [...] Hostilius had retained his position for thousands of years because he had the accumulated cunning of everything he had ever eaten..."
- ^ Sliske's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "As ruler, he span a great web of law and bureaucracy all across his world which made direct conflict socially unacceptable. The Chthonians were cannibals though, and the system implicitly encouraged the use of legal trickery to entrap, and then earn the right to devour, one's peers."
- ^ Palkeera's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "Despite their chaotic and highly varied appearance, the Chthonians were creatures of laws and rules, and their culture was a fussy bureaucracy that had largely replaced open warfare with a legal system. They were cannibals, and could steal the power of any creature they consumed."
- ^ Mod Jack. "Zamorak's return: lorehole!." 06-June-2014 11:12:15. RuneScape Lore Discussion Forums.
- ^ a b Sliske's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "Although twelve legions was only a fraction of his total might, and very little to pay for the knowledge Zaros was offering, Hostilius was absurdly avaricious and wished to give up nothing."
- ^ Sliske's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "Zaros plainly requested the use of twelve legions of demons. Hostilius, too surprised to be offended, demanded to know what the tiny purple creature offered in return, and Zaros offered the secrets of travel between the worlds, to allow the Chthonians to devour whole new races rather than be reducing[sic] to preying on each other."
- ^ Sliske's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "By defining and redefining terms throughout the document, he specified in fine legalese that leadership of the legions would be passed, not to Zaros, but to the eldest signatory, i.e. Hostilius. Zaros saw the deception immediately, but rather than call attention to it he allowed it to remain, knowing what Hostilius did not."
- ^ Sliske's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "The Chthonian contracts are magically binding and cannot be broken. In the centre of the court, Zaros leaked the tiniest quantity of his essence to sign the contract in lieu of blood, and Hostilius barked in triumph at his own cleverness. Zaros then told the assembled throng of demons a tale of his own origins on a distant world aeons ago, of having walked between uncountable worlds in a time long before Hostilius had even spawned, and of the consequent outcome this had on the contract. The magical contract made the truth of this claim unquestioningly clear to the audience. The humbled Hostilius pledged to Zaros his twelve mightiest Dukes and their legions, and since the same language had been used for Zaros's part of the trade, he received nothing in return."
- ^ Palkeera's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "As the Chthonians lived lives of distant luxury, they failed to notice that some urban Avernic were beginning to develop a sentiment of rebellion. Zamorak played on this to sway many Avernic to his side, although only two of the Tsutsaroth were prepared to make an outright pledge of allegiance."
- ^ Zemouregal's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "The Tsutsaroth who ruled the Avernic demons were not so easily swayed. Zamorak offered to help them throw off the shackles of their oppressive enslavement to the Chthonians... Once the battle was won, and Zaros's shrivelled remains lay at Zamorak's feet, the Tsutsaroth saw no reason to wait. Zamorak, though visibly coursing with the divinity of our former lord, collapsed to the ground in agony and exhaustion. With the death of Zaros, the surviving loyalist Tsutsaroth sought direction from the victor as was their custom, and Thammaron gathered them around Zamorak's body, opening a portal to Infernus. Between them, the mighty demons were able to lift the new god, and they carried him out of Gielinor."
- ^ Zemouregal's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "Many demons remained in our legions, and through them we learned of Zamorak's fate. He was on Infernus, using his new power to lead another rebellion, this time for the Avernic against their Chthonian masters, and he was winning. [...] Nineteen years later, Zamorak returned to Gielinor at the head of an Avernic demon army even larger than the one Zaros had invaded with, although admittedly not as well-disciplined now that the Chthonians had been exterminated or exiled to the Abyss."
- ^ Palkeera's memory, written by Kharshai, "Mahjarrat Memories (miniquest)", RuneScape. "After the destruction of Zaros, Zamorak fulfilled his pledge to the Avernic by travelling with them to Infernus to overthrow the Chthonians. Even with his new divine powers, this took him nearly twenty years, but by the end every Chthonian had been destroyed or exiled to the Abyss."
- ^ Mod Jack. "Zamorak and Infernus." 18 Mar 2014. Lore Discussion Forums. Lost reference
- ^ "Twilight of the Gods", RuneScape. "Cyrillus: We fight for possession of the body of the Most Bloated!
Dahaka: The corpse of Hostilius is a potent source of power."
- ^ Jagex. "Zamorak's return: Lorehole!." RuneScape Forums.
