Vorthos Guide to Innistrad

art by James Paick, (c) Wizards of the Coast

We saw many questions about the story/flavor behind the cards, well, here's everything compiled!


Welcome to the new site for the complete collection of all the stories for the Innistrad block, and stories relating to the plane.  For those that don't know, Innistrad is a Gothic horror setting of a world, one with werewolves, zombies, ghosts, vampires, and humans.  Dread is at every corner, and the moon rules all. 

Planeswalkers guides to Innistrad:

Mountain, by James Paick (c) Wizards of the Coast

Introduction to Innistrad

Gavony and Humans

Kessig and
Werewolves

Nephalia and the Undead

Stensia and Vampires


Set up for the Dark Ascension

Planeswalker's guide to Avacyn Restored:
Avacyn Restored: Angels (part 1)

Avacyn Restored: Humans (part 2)

Devils

Swamp by James Paick (c) Wizards of the Coast

Trailers:

Innistrad's trailer

 Dark Ascension's Trailer

Avacyn Restored Trailer

Lore and Planeswalkers:This section covers the lore of the Innistrad card set block, from the rise of the monsters to the dark ascension, to Garruk hunting down Liliana to remove his curse, to the fight between Liliana and Thalia, and the release of Avacyn!

The Dark Ascension

Art by Ryan Yee, (c) Wizards of the Coast

Liliana’s Mission  Liliana solves problems, and her latest problem brings her to Innistrad.

Sorin's Homecoming  Sorin returns to the Innistrad he knew, but things have changed. 

Cathars (and Liliana vs. Garruk) Repeated from above, this article tells the story of the confrontation between Garruk and Liliana. 


The Prison of Silver 
Here is the tale of the Helvault, and how Avacyn began collecting Demons to be trapped inside- and what became of her final attempt at it. 

The Church’s response  Mikeaus, the Lunarch of the Church of Avacyn, makes a hard decision on what to do, having seen Avacyn defeated and imprisoned in the Helvault.

The Fall of Mikeaus (Gisa vs. Geralf)  Gisa and Geralf are having a war of zombie-calling, and decide to take the fight directly to Innistrad's greatest city, Thraben. 

The Guardian, the Witch and the Angel  The fight between Liliana and Thalia, in front of the Helvault.

Avacyn Returns and Griselbrand’s Release This story covers how Avacyn and Griselbrand are released.  Liliana faces off with Thalia, to break the Helvault.



Stories from 2013:

Odric, master Tactician, and the fate of Garruk (part 1) Odric encounders a planeswalker. 

Sorin, while cleaning up Innistrad, has come across Tibalt, and the duel begins!

Stories from 2014:
Garruk awakens from his curse (part 2).  What is not described in the lore anywhere is the plotline of the Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 version.  In the game, you follow Garruk's murders and hunts of other planeswalkers, eventually meeting Jace, who removes the sealing hedron from Ob Nixilus (on Zendikar), to implant it into Garruk (on Shandalar), stifling the curse from the Chain Veil.  Garruk, thereafter, sees himself as a monster.   Ob Nixilus, begins his journey to reignite his spark. 

Vronos, Planeswalker Cathar

Vronos, and Avacyn's mission  Avacyn sends one of her best Cathars after the cursed Garruk. 

Avacyn, restored, is cleaning up her areas, and asks a Cathar, Dovid, to help restore part of a loft. 


2016: The Shadows gather over Innistrad. See the new blog post!

The "world of" Articles:

The Plane of Innistrad, a quick comprehensive look-in for the world and its denizen.

Archived:  The world of Innistrad articles.



Stories: (Individual lore set on Innistrad)

The Journal of Raben, Cathar. Image of the "Bloodletter"

The Cursed Blade: Raben, the AR Game, and the Bloodletter
(AR game explained) [Both links are dead, please instead use the reprinting link here:
https://changevoyage.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-cursed-blade-retelling-arg-game.html

Death Trap  A story set in Innistrad. 

The Tale of Saint Traft

The Fall of Mikeaus (Gisa vs. Geralf)


Post Cards from Innistrad (part 1)

Post cards from Innistrad (part 2)

Worldbuilding descriptions of Dark Ascension:

The darkness rises against the humans, in Dark Ascension. 

Sorin Markov returning to Innistrad.

Specific points of plotline in Avacyn Restored:
Thalia vs. Liliana and the Helvault  This (at the bottom) article tells the tale of Thalia facing off against Liliana, and why Liliana wants to see the Helvault destroyed.


Tamiyo the Moon Sage Tamiyo's Biography, and what she's doing on Innistrad.

Tibalt the Fiend blooded  Tibalt's biography, a native of Innistrad.


Other random clips and look ins:

The Champion of the Parish  A side tale.


Inboxing Day: Dark Ascension- some explanations of faith and angels.


Character Blurbs from supplementary sets and releases:
"Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge – Commander (2013 Edition).  Back before Avacyn was restored (yay Avacyn!), the good folk of Nephalia often served as lunch for the not-so-good folk of Nephalia. Even today, after the Helvault was opened, Jeleva remains a constant threat to the province."

From the 10 commanders tales:  The name of Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, invokes terror in Innistrad. Known to play cruel games of cat and mouse, she preys on her victims' minds before devouring their blood. She spends her days sequestered in an opulent mansion in Nephalia, but by night, her merciless predations know no bounds. No one's throat is safe from Jeleva, but it's the minds of archmages that she truly craves. She targets the most renowned personalities of Innistrad, intent on stealing their knowledge for herself. The powerful Church of Avacyn has put a price on her head, and monster hunters from across Innistrad track her through the dark province of Nephalia. Jeleva welcomes them. She likes the blood of monster hunters, and will happily steal their minds as spoils in her private war against the Church.

2013: Dack Fayden visited Innistrad in his chase after the planeswalker, Sifa Grent.  She was controlling vampires with a dagger artifact known as the "Ancient Fang", which Dack found on Ravnica.  After saving some townsfolk and Cathars (Ingrid) from Vampires, they help him track down Sifa's base, but she had just left.  The vampires are horrified to find that Dack brought the dagger, and Sifa takes Hermann, the Cathar Ingrid's father, hostage along with the entire town using zombies.  In the ensuing battle between Dack and Sifa, Dack summons a Sturmgeist to defeat the zombie, saving most of the townsfolk, but Sifa escapes.  Tracking her off world, Dack eventually loses the trail, and returns to Innistrad.  Meeting with Hermann and Ingrid, Dack gets some clues as to a "Malfegor" and is about to tell them about planeswalkers, but the two Innistrad natives are suddenly frozen- by Sorin Markov.  Sorin demands the Ancient Fang from Dack, in exchange for sparing Ingrid and Hermann, but also gives Dack the location of Sifa's homeworld, Grixis. 



Updated 7/6/16- Links and cleanup.