Dominaria: Story and Lore from 2018

As is usual with this fan blog, we write and compile all useful information for the interested Vorthos, by world or block of sets (within a world!).  This article will highlight the 12 stories by author Martha Wells, as well as the Magic Story Podcast featuring portions of Dominaria lore and geography, and go into detail for the Sagas and Legendary Sorceries that Wizards described.

Magic Story: Return to Dominaria, by Martha Wells.

All 12 chapters can be read in the main Magic Story archive.

One.  Two.  Three.  Four.  Five.  Six.  Seven.  Eight.  Nine.  Ten.  Eleven. Twelve. 


Art by Tyler Jacobson, copyright Wizards of the Coast.

Planar Description.

Dominaria Cartography by Ethan Fleischer

Dominaria Retrospective, by Mark Winters

The Historic cards of Dominaria

Sagas and Sorceries by Jay Annelli
An Art review of Sagas by Vorthos Mike
A brief history of Dominaria's Thallids by SEV8

Sagas of Sagas

The Mirari Conjecture
The Ice Age
The First Eruption of Shiv

Legendary Events: Sorceries

Karn's Temporal Sundering

(editor's note: none of the other Legendary Sorceries  or Sagas got a full description article!)

Individual Card Flavor for areas of Dominaria:
Memorials

All the legends from the set, with some history!

Story Podcasts: 

All Archives of Podcasts can be found on the official site.
Introducing Martha Wells.
Reintroducing Dominaria
Dominaria Geography
The Mending
The Church of Serra
The Cabal and Otaria




Art by: Svetlin Velinov, copyright Wizards of the Coast

More of the history of one of Dominaria's oldest Planeswalkers is revealed in the Core 2019 story

Chronicles of Nicol Bolas: Core 2019
by Kate Elliot

Part 1. The Twins

Part 2. The first lesson.  Where more is revealed about Bolas and Ugin.

Part 3. Things Unseen.

Part 4. Whispers of Treachery.

Part 5. Blood and Fire.

Part 6. A familiar stranger.

Part 7. A different Perspective than one before.

Part 8. The Unwritten, now.

Smoke Signals

Fair girl

Why do you send your thoughts to the sky?

The wind carries them aloft to mingle with the crows

Trimmed with blue, your flags fly again today. 

-From Up on Poppy Hill

Dominaria Geography: Terisiare Through the Ages

Welcome to the fifth article on Dominaria Geography!

This article is to help people get an understanding of the geography and places of Terisiare, one of the largest continents on the plane of Dominaria.  There are many sets of Magic: The Gathering that have taken place on Terisiare specifically, and with images and links, we'll go over what is most relevant for the plane's events and sets.

The basic events we know of:

Around 0AR, near the birth of Urza and Mishra.

The Brother's War - A time of conquest, not much changing until the climax of the war and golgothian explosion. The battles between Urza and Mishra can be found in the novel, "The Brother's War, by Jeff Grubb.

Time ~30AR, notice Urza's Tower and Mishra's Fortress on the map. Copyright Wizards of the Coast, 1993-1999.

Around 30-33AR, near the end of the Brother's War

From West to East, on Terisiare, we see Lat-Nam, the island where the school of Wizards began practicing magic (later the School of the Unseen, cut off by glaciers).  Several cities took place of conflicts between Urza and Mishra, such as Terisiare City, Penregon, and Kroog.  The city of Kroog was destroyed by Mishra's forces after a trade conference, when Mishra's forces arrived from the great desert to negotiate talks of excavation of Thran artifacts.

Between them lie Urza's Tower and Mishra's Fortress.  To the north is the Monastery of Gix, and looking at the map far above, we see the Caves of Koilos, where a portal to Phyrexia exists.    The caves of Koilos was where much of the Thran civilization existed, and was destroyed by Yawgmoth's bombs.  The portal to Phyrexia was held closed by the powerstone that became the eyes of Urza, but was split into the Mightstone and the Weakstone.  Combined, they contained Glacian's spark, who was a Thran artificer in the time of Yawgmoth.  


The Dark Age - The Brother's War came to an end when Urza activated the Golgothian Cylex;  Mishra and Urza had arrived in Argoth to fight to exploit the resources the forests.   The plane was shattered, and isolated from the rest of the multiverse along with 11 other worlds (only 2 others were ever mentioned, as Azoria and the Nether Void).  Dominaria began to get colder, and lots of upheaval occurred over Terisiare.  The church of Tal began to form an inquisition, and hunted any magic users while goblins began more raids on human settlements.  The City of Shadows (on Lat Nam) and Conclave of Mages (location unknown) found sanctuary on the West side of the continent. 

We have no recorded map of Terisiare at this time period.  The world grew colder and darker, and many of the cities known in the time of the Brothers were abandoned for new settlements, especially in the goblin raids.  

The Ice Age - The isolation from the rest of the multiverse from the Golgolthian explosion caused an ice age for thousands of years.  New civilizations survived the ice, and old ones fell.  The glaciers came down across Terisiare, and we see them splitting much of the landscape of the continent.  Ronam Glacier is the glacier in the center of the continent.  The entire plane was covered in an ice age, but Terisiare, being more northward than many continents, began to be covered by glaciers and ice continuously.  The necromancer Lim-Dul rose to power in the Ice Age, and threatened the two human civilizations: the Balduvians and Kjeldorans.  The task mage Jaya Ballard and archmage of the School of the Unseen, Jodah, both aided the formation of an alliance between Balduvia and Kjeld, and helped the planeswalker Freyalise end the ice age with the 'World Spell', reuniting the shard of the 12 worlds with the rest of the Multiverse. 

AR 2934

The flood ages- The glaciers of the ice age melted, and caused the people of Terisiare to have to form new alliances to survive the age.  They eventually united the forces of Kjeldor (containing three cities of Krov, Kjeld, and Soldev) with Balduvia (made primarily of barbarian clans) to form the country of New Argive, and watched as the continent was cut into three.  The forest of Fyndhorn and Yavimaya are to the south, with much of the forests together eventually surviving as a single forest of Yavimaya for at least lore.   There were some that disliked the ending of the ice age, and the final battles with Lim Dul were over Soldev, excavating Phyrexian artifacts.  The flooding was also increased by help of northerly moving Homarids, coming north from the continent of Sarpadia. 

An unknown amount of time later, the continent can be seen as three islands, as seen below.

A globe image posted around 2004, Copyright Wizards of the Coast.

 Finallly, we see the full map of Dominaria, with Terisiare to the left.  It has broken up into Gulmany (North Terisiare), Almaaz (South Terisiare), and New Argive.  This map is around 4000AR.  Yavimaya is also now an island off the coast of New Argive, which is a fully forested island. 

After the time of the Ice Age and Flood ages, not much story occured on the continent of Terisiare.  Mirage block was focused on Jamuraa, Tempest and the Weatherlight Saga occured mostly in Aerona, Shiv, and Jamuraa.   And very little of the Time Spiral stories occurred in Terisiare. 

Dominaria Geography: The Weatherlight Events

Welcome back to the series of articles describing Dominarian history.  This article will describe the path of the Weatherlight's adventures, up to the Phyrexian Invasion.  The Weatherlight saga was a multi-block series across sets to show the story leading up to the invasion by the Phyrexians into the plane of Dominaria from which they were exiled millennia ago.  The Weatherlight is a flying ship able to travel between planes of existence with its crew, and the story follows that crew on their first mission together to save their captain...

The weatherlight crew finds a map of Dominaria.
You can clearly see Terisiare on the left with Aerona on the right. 
The Spice Isles are in the center, with a line leading to them shaped like an "S".

To tell a bit more of the invasion, the Phyrexians had planned for millennia to invade their original homeworld of Dominaria- they had been displaced when building the world of Phyrexia, and cut off through the portal at Koilos by Rebbec.

To accomplish this invasion of a planetary scale, the Phyrexians had a two-fold plan; use planar portals open at specific locations to send initial waves of forces through, and secure important Dominarian sites, and use the artificial plane Rath to overlay on top of Dominaria to bring the main force of their army to the plane.  The first map shows Dominiaria just before the invasion, at 4205AR, with specific countries and lands on the map. The first part of the invasion targeted Aerona, Jamuraa, and Shiv.  There were other plans for Terisiare later.

This map shows the specific color and coalition affiliations for each area of Aerona and Jamuraa. 
The top map shows a more natural drawn map of this part of the world.

The second map, using the same spatial area, shows this part of Dominaria from the Phyrexian perspective.  Notice, that this is part-way through the invasion, as Zhalfir is already missing.  Each location is a primary target for the Phyrexians to invade, usually where a planar portal arrived.

During the invasion, the planeswalker Teferi had become skilled with the magic of phasing, and found a way to phase out entire landmasses.  To protect his land and people, he phased out both Zhalfir and Shiv.  Urza was furious at him for abandoning the plane's defenses, but Teferi had made his choice.  The Coalition and Urza eventually defeated Phyrexia, but there was still much damage to the plane.

Battled with Phyrexians raged in all the continents, even places that weren't mentioned in the story, like Otaria, had their own battles.  To win the Phyrexian Invasion, many Dominarians took creative strategies- Multani the Maro sorcerer found his battles won in Yavimaya forest on Terisiare, but used almost all his power in order to move the entire forest to the edge of Urborg in Aerona.  Many planeswalkers (some of whom were only known in the comics), such as Kristina of the Woods, Taysir, Commodore Guff, or Bo Levar lost their lives battling alongside Urza fighting Phyrexians or altering and Protecting Dominaria. 

The plane survived not only massive plagues released by Phyrexians, but also invasion through the portals noted by the rectangles, and an eventual overlay of an entire plane (Rath), as well as the full body of Yawgmoth entering Dominaria. The two surviving planeswalkers, Freyalise and Lord Windgrace set about protecting their world, and errected the Heroes' Monument, to commemorate the loss of life against the Phyrexians. 

This map shows Jamuraa without Zhalfir,
how it will stay for infinity, as the time rift was closed
without restoring the country, 4500 AR, 300 years after the Invasion

Three hundred years later, Teferi returned to restore both landmasses, finding however, the time rifts were destroying the plane.  Time and space were out of balance, and it was changing the multiverse forever.  He managed to restore Shiv by sacrificing his planeswalker spark, however, when the planeswalker Jeska found a better means to close time rifts through channeling another walker, she closed the rift without returning Zhalfir to its proper place, causing Zhalfir to be phased out forever. 


The time spiral events were a quest to close time rifts above all the major areas of Dominaria where a massive world changing event had occurred.  The goal was to heal the world; the time rifts would not only destroy Dominaria but all magic itself if not fixed.  With the help and sacrifice of multiple planeswalkers (even Nicol Bolas), the world and multiverse was saved, despite many planeswalkers perishing in these events also.  We haven't seen Dominaria since this time, so the world is set to heal, and somewhere between 60-80 years have passed since the time spiral events on Dominaria.


The final article of the set will show us the maps and changes of Terisiare, and how it changed from the Brother's War, the Ice Age, and beyond.  

Dominaria Geography: World Changes through the Ages

Dominaria is one of the few Magic: The Gathering worlds that has actual maps of the plane and continents, and so they can be used for reference for the upcoming 2018 expansion: Dominaria.  See the previous article to check out the locations mentioned today!

This article will help readers see what has changed from the multiple world-changing events throughout Magic: The Gathering sets, rather than just a timeline, it will describe these events as well as give some history to the culture, trying to tie together the maps and locations with the timeline and events. 

The first planeswalker Battle  (Madara Rift)
Nicol Bolas engaged in what is presumed to be the first planeswalker battle, along with his rival, a great leviathan planeswalker.  They battled near Madara, which destroyed much of the continent, and created a time rift.  You can still see the Talon Gates off the coast, which were made from the bones of the levianthan walker.


The Brother's War (Yavimaya Rift, 64 AR)
The brothers Urza and Mishra battled for control of the continent Terisiare, both seeking ancient relics and designing artificial soldiers and beings to fight their war with each other.  While Mishra gained the aid of Phyrexia (corrupting him), Urza found a relic known as the Golgothian Sylex, which, when activated with mana, destroyed both armies, the island of Argoth, plunged Dominaria into an ice age, and split it and 11 other worlds off from the rest of the multiverse. 


Sarpadia's Fall (~170-300 AR) and the Dark Ages (Terisiare ~170-450 AR) - The Ice Age (2934 AR)
With the Brother's War over, the world of Dominaria began to plunge into an ice age.  Terisiare faced a cultural dark age, with suspicion and fear of magic occurring in the cities, while the continent of Sarpadia's civilizations fell to more feral races, one by one.  The Ice Age saw new civilization survive the thousands of years of cold.  Finally, a planeswalker, Freyalise, found use in a magic mirror to cast a ritual to end the ice age, and rejoin the 12 worlds with the multiverse, in conjunction with a traveling world, Shandalar. 

The Two Tolarian Explosions (Tolarian Rift)
Urza, after returning to Dominaria when he realized the ice age was over, and the world was again vulnerable to Phyrexian invasion, began experiments and building an army on the islands of Tolaria.  When his test with a time machine failed due to Phyrexian sleeper agents, it exploded, causing time bubbles to exist all over the island, and opening a time rift above it.   During the Phyrexian invasion itself, Barrin, the Headmaster of the Tolarian Academy, returned to find the school overrun, and in grief over his daughter Hanna's death, cast his most powerful spell to obliterate the entire island, further worsening the rift.

Zhalfir and Shiv Phasing out (Zhalfirian and Shivan Rift)
During the Invasion, many planeswalkers came together to fight the Phyrexians and protect a world they called home.  One planeswalker, Teferi, decided instead of just fighting, he would also protect two areas of Dominaria, Zhalfir and Shiv, by phasing them out of existence from the plane, instead of defending them. He could then fight off Phyrexians upon their return, many years later.  He was unaware of time rifts however, and one opened above each area. 

The Rathi Overlay  (Urborg Rift, Skyshroud Rift)
In the main campaign plans for the Invasion, the second portion was the use the artificial plane, Rath, to overlay itself on Dominaria, bringing landmarks such as the Evincar's Stronghold and Skyshroud forest with it, to transport the majority of the Phyrexian army to Dominaria.  Two rifts were opened here, over Urborg, and near Keld, where Skyshroud forest appeared.




Yavimaya Moving (4205 AR)
Yavimaya forest, once part of Argoth and Fyndhord forests, was the best equipped to fight Phyrexians.  Where other countries and areas struggled, Yavimaya easily repelled the invaders.  The Maro sorcerer, Multani, realized that to win the war against Phyrexia, the forces of Yavimaya were needed in Urborg, near the stronghold which had recently overlaid on Dominaria.  With all his life force, he teleported the entire forest to the continent of Aerona, near the country of Urborg, to allow Yavimaya to join the fight there.

The Mirari incident and the The coming of Karona (Otarian Rift, 4306 AR)
One hundred and one years after the Invasion was won, and the Phyrexians repelled, on the southern continent of Otaria, a prophesy of three mothers, three sons was fulfilled to birth the false-god incarnation Karona.  With her passive ability to drain all mana from all lands around her (being an incarnation of Magic itself), her death caused another rift to open above the continent, but and still had mana draining from the land into the rift.

The closing of the Time Rifts
Around 300 years after the invasion (4500 AR), Teferi and Jhoira return, and find Dominaria ravaged by the time rifts.  They begin to mend the damage to the plane, and find the help of other powerful mages and planeswalkers, to close all the timerifts, and start the healing of Dominaria.

Wizards storyline team has stated that it has been around 60 years since the mending.  The planeswalker spark has changed, and the story has not returned to Dominaria until now.  What will the world look like?  Which of these countries and continents are still around, or recovered from damage?

Dominaria Geography: Locations and Continents

Dominaria is one of the largest worlds of the multiverse, and is often known as the hub world of Dominia.  It is home to numerous continents, and many Magic sets have all taken place on it.  Below we will describe the important continents which appeared in a variety of sets, and point out locations on maps that are generally more well known to players of Magic through card names and flavor text.  Dominaria once had two moons orbiting the world, its natural moon, as well as the Null Moon, a Thran artifact for gathering white mana and information, on which all inhabitants died when Phyrexians overthrew the Thran. 

 We will be covering the continents that are circled below.  Not that these maps may have inaccuracies, as well as updates for the new 2018 expansion: Dominaria.  You'll also notice that as maps have been made, there are some new additions, or changes to what appears on them. 

Terisiare

The Continent of Terisiare was the location of early Magic, where the brothers Urza and Mishra fought for dominance of the continent.  It was also location of the Thran empire which spawned Phyrexia, as well as the events of the Ice Age saga with the Archmage Jodah, and many other locations throughout Magic's history.  The main events that occurring on Terisiare are covered in another article.   Terisiare used to be one continent, but now it has broken up into three after the Ice Age and Yavimaya moving to Aerona in the Phyrexian Invasion. 

Sarpadia

Sarpadia (SAR-PA-DIA) is the continent where the Fallen Empires expansion took place.  Five different civilizations all collapsed with the coming ice age, over run by more wild species.  Not much else is known about Sapardia, as we have never truly revisited the continent.

Sapardia is a southern landmass island on Dominaria, and was one of the last areas to succumb to the ice age after the Brother's War.

The Elves and the Order of the Ebon Hand both fell to races they created, the Thallids and Thrulls respectively.  Orc and Goblin hordes overran the dwarf kingdoms, and Icatia fell to conflict between the Farrelites and the Order of the Ebon Hand, but then also Orcs and Thrulls.  The cooling waters gave biological advantages to the Homarids (a lobster based race) over their aquatic adversaries, the Vodalian merfolk. 

Aerona

Also known as the Domains, Aerona is a continent of islands with many well known locations, such as Benelia, the Hurloon mountains, Keld, and Llanowar. Centrally located, Aerona is close to Madara to the south, and Jamuraa to the East.  It was one of the main spots to attack for the Phyrexian invasion.  Some include the Spice isles as part of Aerona, as they are just off the coast of the continent to the west, and also included the island of Tolaria.  The new academy is also built in the Spice Isles, and was named Tolaria West to commemorate the famous school founded by Urza and Barrin.

A black and white map to highlight commonly known areas. 

This map comes courtesy of Phyrexia.com, and was taken originally from a magazine. 

Jamuraa

The continent to the East of Aerona where Teferi originated, the three main countries of Suq'Ata, Zhalfir, and Corondor fought a war over the discovery of phasing magic, near to Teferi's Isle.  The Jamuraan continent is more tropical than most other continents on Dominaria, and has a distinct real world 'Africa' vibe, in human cultures, biology, and climate. Zhalfir no longer exists on Dominaria, having been 'phased out' by Teferi's magic, its time rift was incorrectly sealed, and it simply ceased to exist instead of returning to the world. 

Madara

The island to the South of Jamuraa was once controlled by Emperor Nicol Bolas.  Emperor Bolas ran an Imperial Empire to use as a base of operations for his control over Domnaria.  At the coast are two gigantic pillars shaped like whale ribs- they are all that remains of the defeated Leviathan Planeswalker ages ago, when Nicol Bolas defeated it.  Bolas was defeated by the Imperial Champion, Tetsuo Umezawa, and sealed away in an artificial plane connected to Dominaria- The Meditation Plane.

Otaria

The setting for the Odyssey and Onslaught blocks, Otaria is a continent battled over by two main factions, the Order and the Cabal, with the Cephalid kingdom on the coastline influencing it from the sea.  Otaria had a prophesy to the coming of a god of Magic, and Karona, False God, was born of that prophesy.  Her coming opened a time rift and drained much of magic from the world, and she was eventually killed by her own servants with help from the Mirari.

Shiv

Shiv seen in two different time periods.  On the right, is Shiv at the start of the Phyrexian war, 4205 AR.  To the left is the present day Shiv, at around 4566 AR.  The mending occurred in 4506 AR, 300 years after Teferi and Jhoira phased Shiv out.  Jeska used Radha's spark to safely return Shiv to Dominaria, closing the time rift above it. 

Home to Shivan dragons, Shiv is a volcanic continent of mountains and fire to the Northeast of Jamuraa.  The Thran forge/rig was located here, and the continent is home to Viashino, lizards, and Goblins as well as dragons. 

The next article will cover the large, world-rending changes that occurred on Dominaria, often scarring landscapes and changing the maps as well as civilizations.

Dominaria Geography, the Center of All Worlds

Dominaria is the center hub planes of the multiverse- once known as Dominia.  Dominaria was the central stage for a large number of sets and worlds for Magic, showing of a variety of settings and continents, and being filled with multiple races for each color, continent, and culture.

You can see the continent Aerona to the right, with parts of Terisiare in the shadow on the left. Copyright is by Wizards of the coast, image posted originally at phyrexia.com

The world included sets: Antiquities, The Dark, Legends (parts of it), Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Alliances, Coldsnap, Mirage, Visions, Weatherlight, Urza's Saga-Legacy-Destiny (parts of Serra's Realm and Phyrexia are also explored), Prophecy, Invasion, Planshift, Apocalypse, Odyssey, Torment, Judgement, Onslaught, Legions, Scourge, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight. 

Any novels associated with those sets take place at least partially on Dominaria, including both Legends book trilogies.  

A brief (as possible) quick history of Dominaria: 

Ancient Days: The Thran were a race of ingenious inventors.  Their civilization birthed powerstone artifacts, and wonderous mechanisms.  They were destroyed by Phyrexia, and their founder, Yawgmoth, whom the Thran sought out for help long before any corruption on his part. 

The Dominaria timeline is measured roughly by Argivian reckoning.  It starts at 0 AR for the birth of Urza, and soon after his brother Mishra. 

The brother artificers went to war, which ended in the Golothia sylex exploding in 63 AR. 

Feldon, during the time after the Brother's War, remembers Loran's smile.

The world begins cooling (~2400 AR), and over a few thousand years, freezes into an Ice Age.  Freyalise, with help from Jodah and Jaya Ballard, restore the shard of the 12 worlds to the rest of the multiverse (2934 AR). 

Not everyone is happy about the flood age and the melting.  Heidar, Rimewind master has a plan to continue the Ice Age.  Heider has his stories. 

Throughout all this, Urza is planning his defense of the world against Phrexian invasion (~1800-3250 AR).  He founds the Tolarian Academy in 3285 AR. 

Gerrard, Mirri, and Rofellos join the Weatherlight (4198 AR), The Rath cycle events occur, and subsequently, the Phyrexian invasion.  Dominaria is victorious in 4206 AR with the killing of Yawgmoth by activating the entire Legacy and crashing a moon's worth of white mana into him.

In the continent of Otaria, the Mirari causes massive upheaval (4305 AR) and Karona the False god demands service from all (including magic itself, 4306 AR).

The plane becomes unstable with time rifts from so many world changing events, and the Mending is performed by Teferi and other planeswalkers (4505 AR).  Welcome Home (2006).  Dominaria was left with weak mana sources and somewhat broken after the Apocalypse and Karona. After the mending, Dominaria begins to heal and rebuild its mana. 

Side Story during the time rifts and planar chaos: Time twists and destinies interchange.

In current storyline times, it has been around 60-80 years since the Mending. This is the time of the Gatewatch meeting and forming, and traveling to Amonkhet.  This is estimated to be around 4567 AR.

Isolated Lore:

• Our time 2013: Jhoira of the Ghitu.
• Our Time 2016:  The Prodigal Sorcerer
• Jamuraa: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/roons-tales-jamuraa/
• World Page: http://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planes/dominaria
• Nexus of the Multiverse (12 worlds): Dominaria, Azor, and possibly the Nether Void are three of the twelve worlds.  The other nine were never fully described. 

In the next few articles, we'll be exploring parts of the world and history that may be relevant for the return to the plane in Dominaria (spring 2018), and what a more cohesive world may look like when it comes to Dominaria.


Update: 2018.  New story from the Magic sets: Dominaria and Magic Core 2019 released new stories.  You can find them listed and compiled in this article.