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(This has been explained as Phyrexian "holdouts." Otherwise it would imply that Elspeth lived centuries before turning 13, then aged normally afterward.)
 
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| image = NCP.webp
| image = NCP.webp
| first = [[Honor Bound]], Part I
| first = [[Honor Bound]], Part I
| last = [[Streets of New Capenna]]
| last = [[March of the Machine]]
| planeswalkers =[[Elspeth Tirel]]
| planeswalkers = [[Elspeth Tirel]]
| rabiah = 6
| rabiah_ref = <ref>{{DailyRef|making-magic/the-rabiah-scale-part-3|The Rabiah Scale, Part 3|[[Mark Rosewater]]|2024-05-13}}</ref>
| status = Devastated by Phyrexians
| status = Devastated by Phyrexians
| demonym = Capennan
| demonym = Capennan
}}
}}
'''Capenna''' is the plane on which the metropolis of [[New Capenna]] is located.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/685142024968699904/is-the-name-of-the-plane-streets-of-new-capenna|May 24, 2022}}</ref> New Capenna is the plane’s only major settlement, as the rest of the plane was devastated by invading [[Phyrexia|Phyrexians]] and is largely uninhabited.<ref name="Criminal History" />
'''Capenna''' is the [[plane]] on which the metropolis of [[New Capenna]] is located.<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/685142024968699904/is-the-name-of-the-plane-streets-of-new-capenna|May 24, 2022}}</ref> New Capenna is the plane’s only major settlement, as the rest of the plane was devastated by invading [[Phyrexia|Phyrexians]] and is largely uninhabited.<ref name="Criminal History" />


==Description==
==Description==
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The city of New Capenna is centuries old, at least older than the [[Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria]].<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://vorthosjay.tumblr.com/post/681549206000959488/hey-jay-can-you-explain-why-people-dont-know|April 14, 2022}}</ref> Its inhabitants have little memory of its past, perhaps because the [[demon]]s didn’t want people to remember it, or because people simply forgot the details over generations after fleeing from Phyrexian invaders.
The city of New Capenna is centuries old, at least older than the [[Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria]].<ref>{{EzTumblr|https://vorthosjay.tumblr.com/post/681549206000959488/hey-jay-can-you-explain-why-people-dont-know|April 14, 2022}}</ref> Its inhabitants have little memory of its past, perhaps because the [[demon]]s didn’t want people to remember it, or because people simply forgot the details over generations after fleeing from Phyrexian invaders.


Elspeth grew up in an encampment of Phyrexian holdouts, long after their initial invasion. Her life immediately prior to her [[Planeswalker/Igniting|ascension]] was spent as a prisoner along with many other beings, locked tightly away and tortured.<ref name="Honor bound">[[Jenna Helland]] (2009), "''[[Honor Bound]]''", [[Wizards of the Coast]]</ref> In this prison, the Phyrexians of her homeworld tended to those of their numbers they felt insane. Elspeth and her peers were a distraction meant to soothe the insanity of the flawed Phyrexians. When her dark warden came for her, she responded instinctively with a powerful spell and planeswalked away to [[Theros (plane)|Theros]]. She was only 13 at the time.
Elspeth grew up in an encampment of Phyrexian holdouts, long after their initial invasion. Her life immediately before her [[Planeswalker/Igniting|ascension]] was spent as a prisoner along with many other beings, locked tightly away and tortured.<ref name="Honor bound">[[Jenna Helland]] (2009), "''[[Honor Bound]]''", [[Wizards of the Coast]]</ref> In this prison, the Phyrexians of her homeworld tended to those of their numbers they felt insane. Elspeth and her peers were a distraction meant to soothe the insanity of the flawed Phyrexians. When her dark warden came for her, she responded instinctively with a powerful spell and planeswalked away to [[Theros (plane)|Theros]]. She was only 13 at the time.


After leaving [[Theros (plane)|Theros]], Elspeth met with [[Ajani Goldmane]] who told her where to planeswalk in order to find her home plane. Arriving in New Capenna, she felt out of place as the plane was nothing like she imagined it.<ref name="Homecoming">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-1-homecoming-2022-03-28|Episode 1: Homecoming|[[Elise Kova]]|March 28, 2022}}</ref>
After leaving [[Theros (plane)|Theros]], Elspeth met with [[Ajani Goldmane]] who told her where to planeswalk to find her home plane. Arriving in New Capenna, she felt out of place as the plane was nothing as she imagined it.<ref name="Homecoming">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-1-homecoming-2022-03-28|Episode 1: Homecoming|[[Elise Kova]]|March 28, 2022}}</ref>


[[Vivien Reid]] claims the plane outside of the city is essentially dead, devoid of life and nature.<ref name="Homecoming">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-1-homecoming-2022-03-28|Episode 1: Homecoming|[[Elise Kova]]|March 28, 2022}}</ref>
[[Vivien Reid]] claims the plane outside of the city is essentially dead, devoid of life and nature.<ref name="Homecoming">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-1-homecoming-2022-03-28|Episode 1: Homecoming|[[Elise Kova]]|March 28, 2022}}</ref>
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===History===
===History===
====Kingdom Era====
====Kingdom Era====
Several centuries before the modern day, Capenna was a plane of chivalry, castles and fantastic beasts, similar to [[Alara]]'s [[Bant]]. The predecessors to the five families served in different roles. The Maestros served as the plane's nobles and art aficionados. The Riveteers made up its artisans, blacksmiths, edificers, and architects. The Cabaretti made up a popular druidic faith. The Obscura served as mystics, wizards, and advisers to the plane's Angels. The Brokers were paladins.<ref name="Criminal History">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTK3BofsvWg Criminal History] (Video). ''The Command Zone''. YouTube (March 31, 2022).</ref>
Several centuries before the modern day, Capenna was a plane of chivalry, castles, and fantastic beasts, similar to [[Alara]]'s [[Bant]]. The predecessors to the five families served in different roles. The Maestros served as the plane's nobles and art aficionados. The Riveteers made up its artisans, blacksmiths, edificers, and architects. The Cabaretti made up a popular druidic faith. The Obscura served as mystics, wizards, and advisers to the plane's Angels. The Brokers were paladins.<ref name="Criminal History">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTK3BofsvWg Criminal History] (Video). ''The Command Zone''. YouTube (March 31, 2022).</ref>


====Phyrexian invasion====
One of the deities worshiped on the plane was [[Serra]].<ref>{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-6-the-last-to-leave|''March of the Machine'' - Epiosde Six: The Last to Leave|[[K. Arsenault Rivera]]|March 23, 2023}}</ref>
Some time before the [[Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria]], [[Phyrexia]] invaded Capenna. When the invaders attacked, they ate hope, turned parents against their children, and poisoned the plane for millennia. It was only through the intervention of Capenna's [[archangel]]s and their hosts that the plane's mortal defenders stood a chance. Allied with these divine warriors, Capenna's defenders managed to hold a small pocket of land, encircled but defiant against the end.<ref name="Guide"/>


The Phyrexians sent their forces again and again against the spears of Capenna's final defenders, and though the angels and mortals held, it was plain to the archangels that they could not win. The enemy's numbers were inexhaustible; in addition to their own knights, the enemy added the mortal dead to their number, sending the [[animate]]d corpses of fallen defenders to fight against their comrades.
====First Phyrexian invasion====
{{Main|Phyrexian Invasion of Capenna}}
Sometime before the [[Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria]], a single [[Phyrexia]]n ship invaded Capenna.<ref name="Triumph">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-1-triumph-of-the-fleshless|''March of the Machine'' - Episode 1: Triumph of the Fleshless|[[K. Arsenault Rivera]]|March 16, 2023}}</ref> When the invaders attacked, they ate hope, turned children's parents against them, and poisoned the plane for millennia. Their invasion was successful for the better part of a year. It was only through the intervention of Capenna's [[archangel]]s and their hosts that the plane's mortal defenders stood a chance. Allied with these divine warriors, Capenna's defenders managed to hold a small pocket of land, encircled but defiant against the end.<ref name="Guide"/>
 
The Phyrexians sent their forces again and again against the spears of Capenna's final defenders, and though the angels and mortals held, it was plain to the archangels that they could not win. The enemy's numbers were inexhaustible; in addition to their knights, the enemy added the mortal dead to their number, sending the [[animate]]d corpses of fallen defenders to fight against their comrades.


====The creation of New Capenna====
====The creation of New Capenna====
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====Betrayal of the demons====
====Betrayal of the demons====
With the surviving population of the plane safe inside of New Capenna, the archangels and archdemons let the people celebrate. However, the archangels could not find joy, as they knew a dark truth. This tower, for all its might and defiance, would still not be enough to stop the Phyrexians. Though well defended and difficult to access, if the enemy could find a way inside, which they would never stop trying to find, the war would rage here as it did far below. Thus, the city's architects puzzled over a stark question: how could they guarantee the safety of the city and the plane upon which it stood when they were so grossly outnumbered?<ref name="Guide"/>
With the surviving population of the plane safe inside New Capenna, the archangels, and archdemons let the people celebrate. However, the archangels could not find joy, as they knew a dark truth. This tower, for all its might and defiance, would still not be enough to stop the Phyrexians. Though well-defended and difficult to access, if the enemy could find a way inside, which they would never stop trying to find, the war would rage here as it did far below. Thus, the city's architects puzzled over a stark question: how could they guarantee the safety of the city and the plane upon which it stood when they were so grossly outnumbered?<ref name="Guide"/>


While the archangels puzzled, the archdemons of Capenna plotted. During the war, Capenna's archangels and their angelic hosts ravaged the enemy with their mere presence. The archdemons studied this divine natural weapon and realized that if they could trap angels and distribute their essence across the whole of New Capenna — maybe even out into Old Capenna — they could drive the enemy back and ensure the city and their people would be saved. Alone, though, they could not accomplish their betrayal, so the archdemons sent their whisperers to the ears of mortal, power-hungry Capennans, planting a bleak answer to the question of the future: trap the angels, and let an age of demons begin. However, the plot against the archangels could only be accomplished through the archdemons' own mutual sacrifice.
While the archangels puzzled, the archdemons of Capenna plotted. During the war, Capenna's archangels and their angelic hosts ravaged the enemy with their mere presence. The archdemons studied this divine natural weapon and realized that if they could trap angels and distribute their essence across the whole of New Capenna — maybe even out into Old Capenna — they could drive the enemy back and ensure the city and their people would be saved. Alone, though, they could not accomplish their betrayal, so the archdemons sent their whisperers to the ears of mortal, power-hungry Capennans, planting a bleak answer to the question of the future: trap the angels, and let an age of demons begin. However, the plot against the archangels could only be accomplished through the archdemons' mutual sacrifice.


The archdemons appointed five families to rule the city in their name, drafting a contract with the head of each family and conferring demon status to each signatory. The five became demonic hybrids, gifted and cursed by the archdemons bound to them, their vices magnified and powers enhanced. Together with their archdemon patrons, these demon hybrids and their followers took advantage of a sudden slumber that struck the Phyrexian forces — likely caused by the death of [[Yawgmoth]] on [[Dominaria (plane)|Dominaria]] — to act on their plan and achieve success beyond their most optimistic projections. In place of a prolonged battle, the archdemons and the five captured the archangels and their hosts during a city-wide celebration of victory. While the people were told the archangels had voluntarily sacrificed themselves to send the enemy into a slumber, the five and their organizations, their families, suppressed the grim truth: that the archdemons had used the angels in the defense of the city, trapping them in a kind of stasis that saw their physical bodies converted, slowly, into the fuel of the new age: [[Halo]].<ref name="Expect"/><ref name="Tests"/> The Demon Lords used the Halo to defeat the Phyrexians and then disappeared themselves.<ref name="Hymn">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-5-hymn-angels-2022-04-05|Episode 5: Hymn of the Angels|[[Elise Kova]]|April 5, 2022}}</ref>
The archdemons appointed five families to rule the city in their name, drafting a contract with the head of each family and conferring demon status to each signatory. The five became demonic hybrids, gifted and cursed by the archdemons bound to them, their vices magnified and powers enhanced. Together with their archdemon patrons, these demon hybrids and their followers took advantage of a sudden slumber that struck the Phyrexian forces — likely caused by the death of [[Yawgmoth]] on [[Dominaria (plane)|Dominaria]] — to act on their plan and achieve success beyond their most optimistic projections. In place of a prolonged battle, the archdemons and the five captured the archangels and their hosts during a city-wide celebration of victory. While the people were told the archangels had voluntarily sacrificed themselves to send the enemy into a slumber, the five and their organizations, their families, suppressed the grim truth: that the archdemons had used the angels in the defense of the city, trapping them in a kind of stasis that saw their physical bodies converted, slowly, into the fuel of the new age: [[Halo]].<ref name="Expect"/><ref name="Tests"/> The Demon Lords used the Halo to defeat the Phyrexians and then disappeared themselves.<ref name="Hymn">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-5-hymn-angels-2022-04-05|Episode 5: Hymn of the Angels|[[Elise Kova]]|April 5, 2022}}</ref>


====Rule of crime====
====Rule of crime====
The five families settled in to dominate niche industries and command territory in the city's three boroughs, operating in full view of each other and in secret. A nominal, all-but-vestigial city government ensures the lights stay on, the water is clean, and the streets are kept in good repair. Law as other planes know it — a crown or government and a police force, with hard rules and penalties for those who break them — does not exist in New Capenna. Instead, there is an agreement, a code agreed to by the five families.<ref name="Guide/> Fronts, subterfuge, and clandestine operations are played out as mutually understood theater. They all do it, and they all understand that it is polite to try and hide their flaunting of the rules, a nod to the fact that the rules exist. Flexibility, allowances, favors, and looking the other way is key in New Capenna: as long as no one family attempts to take too much for themselves, neither will the other families, and there is peace in New Capenna.
The five families settled in to dominate niche industries and command territory in the city's three boroughs, operating in full view of each other and also in secret. A nominal, all-but-vestigial city government ensures the lights stay on, the water is clean, and the streets are kept in good repair. Law as other planes know it — a crown or government and a police force, with hard rules and penalties for those who break them — does not exist in New Capenna. Instead, there is an agreement, a code agreed to by the five families.<ref name="Guide/> Fronts, subterfuge, and clandestine operations are played out as mutually understood theater. They all do it, and they all understand that it is polite to try and hide their flouting of the rules, a nod to the fact that the rules exist. Flexibility, allowances, favors, and looking the other way are key in New Capenna: as long as no one family attempts to take too much for themselves, neither will the other families, and there is peace in New Capenna.


====The Adversary War====
====The Adversary War====
During the events of ''[[Streets of New Capenna]]'', the [[planeswalker]] [[Ob Nixilis]] infiltrated the plane, siphoning members of each of the families and hosting a targeted strike on their leadership on the night of the [[Crescendo]], the plane's new year celebration.<ref name="The Font">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-4-font-2022-04-04|Episode 4: The Font|[[Elise Kova]]|April 4, 2022}}</ref> At least one boss, [[Xander]], was killed, with [[Jetmir]] mortally wounded.<ref name="Hymn">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-5-hymn-angels-2022-04-05|Episode 5: Hymn of the Angels|[[Elise Kova]]|April 5, 2022}}</ref> After the sacrifice of [[Giada]], possibly the last free angel in the city, the city's other angels began reawakening from their stasis.<ref>Flavor text of <c>Majestic Metamorphosis</c></ref><ref>Flavor text of <c>Soul of Emancipation</c></ref><ref>Flavor text of <c>Paragon of Modernity</c></ref>
During the events of ''[[Streets of New Capenna]]'', the [[planeswalker]] [[Ob Nixilis]] infiltrated the plane, siphoning members of each of the families and hosting a targeted strike on their leadership on the night of the [[Crescendo]], the plane's new year celebration.<ref name="The Font">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-4-font-2022-04-04|Episode 4: The Font|[[Elise Kova]]|April 4, 2022}}</ref> At least one boss, [[Xander]], was killed, with [[Jetmir]] mortally wounded.<ref name="Hymn">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-5-hymn-angels-2022-04-05|Episode 5: Hymn of the Angels|[[Elise Kova]]|April 5, 2022}}</ref> After the sacrifice of [[Giada]], possibly the last free angel in the city, the city's other angels began reawakening from their stasis.<ref>Flavor text of <c>Majestic Metamorphosis</c></ref><ref>Flavor text of <c>Soul of Emancipation</c></ref><ref>Flavor text of <c>Paragon of Modernity</c></ref>
====Second Phyrexian invasion====
Capenna was a target in [[New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse]].<ref name="Panel">{{YouTubeRef|-y3G-nFhN0I|First Look at March of the Machine|channel=[[Magic: The Gathering]]|date=February 19, 2023}}</ref> [[Atraxa]] herself was sent by [[Elesh Norn]] to lead the efforts of the Machine Legion against the Capennans.<ref name="Triumph">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-1-triumph-of-the-fleshless|''March of the Machine'' - Episode 1: Triumph of the Fleshless|[[K. Arsenault Rivera]]|March 16, 2023}}</ref> She was commanded to salvage the ship of the Old Phyrexians, scavenge any remaining Phyrexians for parts, kill all citizens and destroy the [[Halo]] wellspring.
The Maestros and their vampires were the ones most vulnerable to compleation, as Atraxa's directive was not general compleation but to uncover the old Phyrexians, which the Maestros' museums likely had clues to. The Obscura, Riveteers, and Brokers fought in sparse groups, with the Cabaretti absent in action. The plane had no planeswalker champion to defend it but had the advantage of halo stockpiles as a ready-made chemical weapon. The gangs formulated a plan to collapse the structure holding Park Heights on Atraxa, killing her. With the stragglers manageable by the citizenry, the slowly-reviving angels entered the [[omenpath]]s to attack New Phyrexia.<ref name="Fall">{{DailyRef|magic-story/the-fall-of-park-heights|''March of the Machine'' - New Capenna: The Fall of Park Heights|[[Elise Kova]]|March 27, 2023}}</ref> Finishing the fight on New Phyrexia, those that traveled to the plane could not return after its multiversal switch.<ref name="Old Sins">{{DailyRef|magic-story/episode-9-the-old-sins-of-new-phyrexia|March of the Machine - Episode 9: The Old Sins of New Phyrexia|[[K. Arsenault Rivera]]|March 28, 2023}}</ref>


===Known locations===
===Known locations===
*'''[[New Capenna]]''', a warded city built by [[angel]]s on girders above the remains of the capital of an Old Capennan kingdom.<ref name="Guide"/>
*'''[[New Capenna]]''', a warded city built by [[angel]]s on girders above the remains of the capital of an Old Capennan kingdom.<ref name="Guide"/>
*'''The Outside''' / '''Old Capenna''', the devastated plane around New Capenna.<ref name="Guide"/>
*'''The Outside''' / '''Old Capenna''', the devastated plane around New Capenna.<ref name="Guide"/>
** Walls have long since fallen, slumped into a pile of rubble. A girder of the upper city splits an ancient castle in two. Old Capenna can be reached via "weak spots" (hidden tunnels, ladders, gaps in the structure.) On occasion, new arrivals with old names ride the ancient lifts up from below, bringing with them stories of hard-lived lives and wasteland nightmares.
**Walls have long since fallen, slumped into a pile of rubble. A girder of the upper city splits an ancient castle in two. Old Capenna can be reached via "weak spots" (hidden tunnels, ladders, gaps in the structure.) On occasion, new arrivals with old names ride the ancient lifts up from below, bringing with them stories of hard-lived lives and wasteland nightmares.


==Languages==
==Languages==
* Druidic, a language spoken by the Cabaretti's predecessors.<ref name="Criminal History"/>
*Druidic, a language spoken by the Cabaretti's predecessors.<ref name="Criminal History"/>
 
===Writing Systems===
*[[Wikipedia:Tag_(graffiti)|Tagger's Scrawl]], a symbolic language of unknown origin used by graffiti artists on the streets of [[New Capenna]].<ref>{{DailyRef|mmagic-story/the-fall-of-park-heights|''March of the Machine'' - New Capenna: The Fall of Park Heights|[[Elise Kova]]|March 27, 2023}}</ref>


==Inhabitants==
==Inhabitants==
===Sentient races===
===Sentient races===
* [[Angel]]s {{w}}{{u}}{{b}}{{r}}{{g}}
*[[Angel]]s {{w}}{{u}}{{b}}{{r}}{{g}}
* [[Avatar]]s {{W}}{{U}}{{B}}{{G}}
*[[Avatar]]s {{W}}{{U}}{{B}}{{G}}
* [[Aven]] {{w}}{{u}}
*[[Aven]] {{w}}{{u}}
* [[Cephalid]]s {{u}}{{b}}
*[[Cephalid]]s {{u}}{{b}}
* [[Demon]]s {{w}}{{u}}{{b}}{{r}}{{g}}
*[[Demon]]s {{w}}{{u}}{{b}}{{r}}{{g}}
* [[Devil|Devils]] {{B}}{{R}}
*[[Devil|Devils]] {{B}}{{R}}
* [[Dragon]]s {{r}}
*[[Dragon]]s {{r}}
* [[Elemental]]s {{R}}{{G}}
*[[Elemental]]s {{R}}{{G}}
* [[Elf|Elves]] {{w}}{{g}}
*[[Elf|Elves]] {{w}}{{g}}
* [[Faerie]]s {{u}}
*[[Faerie]]s {{u}}
* [[Horror]]s {{B}}{{G}}
*[[Horror]]s {{B}}{{G}}
* [[Human]]s {{w}}{{u}}{{b}}{{r}}{{g}}
*[[Human]]s {{w}}{{u}}{{b}}{{r}}{{g}}
* [[Leonin]]{{g}}{{w}}{{R}}
*[[Leonin]]{{g}}{{w}}{{R}}
*[[Ogre|Ogres]] {{B}}{{R}}
*[[Ogre]]s {{B}}{{R}}
* [[Phyrexian]]s {{b}}{{r}}
*[[Phyrexian]]s {{b}}{{r}}
* [[Raccoon]]folk {{b}}{{g}}
*[[Raccoon]]folk {{b}}{{g}}
* [[Rhox]] {{g}}{{w}}
*[[Rhox]] {{g}}{{w}}
* [[Shapeshifter]]s {{u}}
*[[Shapeshifter]]s {{u}}
* [[Sphinx]]es {{u}}
*[[Sphinx]]es {{u}}
* [[Spirit]]s {{W}}
*[[Spirit]]s {{W}}
* [[Vampire]]s {{b}}
*[[Vampire]]s {{b}}
* [[Viashino]] {{R}}{{B}}{{g}}
*[[Viashino]] {{R}}{{B}}{{g}}


===Domesticated===
===Domesticated===
* [[Cat]]s {{w}}{{G}}
*[[Cat]]s {{w}}{{G}}
* [[Dog]]s {{w}}{{G}}
*[[Dog]]s {{w}}{{G}}
* [[Fish]]es {{U}}
*[[Fish]]es {{U}}
* "Miniature"/"teacup" animals.
*"Miniature"/"teacup" animals.


===Wildlife===
===Wildlife===
* [[Bird]]s {{w}}{{u}}
*[[Bird]]s {{w}}{{u}}
** Blackbirds<ref name="Expect"/>
**Blackbirds<ref name="Expect"/>
** [[Wikipedia:Corvidae|Corvidae]]<ref name="Expect"/>
**[[Wikipedia:Corvidae|Corvidae]]<ref name="Expect"/>
** [[Wikipedia:European_robin|Erithacus rubecula]]<ref name="Expect">{{DailyRef|magic-story/what-you-expect-see-2022-03-29|What You Expect to See|[[Kaitlyn Zivanovich]]|March 29, 2022}}</ref>
**[[Wikipedia:European_robin|Erithacus rubecula]]<ref name="Expect">{{DailyRef|magic-story/what-you-expect-see-2022-03-29|What You Expect to See|[[Kaitlyn Zivanovich]]|March 29, 2022}}</ref>
** Pigeons - Touched by Halo, they are smarter than on other planes.<ref name="Alley">{{DailyRef|magic-story/alley-cat-blues-2022-04-05|Alley Cat Blues|[[Rhiannon Rasmussen]]|April 5, 2022}}</ref>
**Pigeons - Touched by Halo, they are smarter than on other planes.<ref name="Alley">{{DailyRef|magic-story/alley-cat-blues-2022-04-05|Alley Cat Blues|[[Rhiannon Rasmussen]]|April 5, 2022}}</ref>
* [[Crocodile]]s {{U}}{{B}}{{R}}{{G}}
*[[Crocodile]]s {{U}}{{B}}{{R}}{{G}}
* [[Kraken]]s {{U}}
*[[Kraken]]s {{U}}
* [[Pegasus|Pegasi]] {{w}}{{G}}
*[[Pegasus|Pegasi]] {{w}}{{G}}
* [[Phoenix]]es {{B}}{{R}}
*[[Phoenix]]es {{B}}{{R}}
* [[Plant]]s {{G}}
*[[Plant]]s {{G}}
* [[Streets of New Capenna/Trivia|Plant]] [[Dinosaur]]s {{G}}
*[[Streets of New Capenna/Trivia|Plant]] [[Dinosaur]]s {{G}}
* [[Rat]]s<ref name="Expect"/> {{b}}
*[[Rat]]s<ref name="Expect"/> {{b}}
* [[Insect|Rust flies]]<ref>Flavor text for <c>High-Rise Sawjack</c></ref>
*[[Insect|Rust flies]]<ref>Flavor text for <c>High-Rise Sawjack</c></ref>


===Artificial===
===Artificial===
* [[Gargoyle]]s {{B}}
*[[Construct]]s {{C}}
*[[Gargoyle]]s {{B}}


==Planeswalkers==
==Planeswalkers==
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{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
*[[Ajani Goldmane]]
*[[Ajani Goldmane]]
*[[Chandra Nalaar]]<ref name="Magic 18"/> (non-canon)
*[[Davriel Cane]]<ref name="Magic 18"/> (non-canon)
*[[Garruk]]<ref name="Magic 18"/> (non-canon)
*[[Huatli]]<ref name="Note">{{DailyRef|magic-story/note-stranger-2022-05-02|Note for a Stranger|[[Alison Luhrs]]|May 2, 2022}}</ref>
*[[Huatli]]<ref name="Note">{{DailyRef|magic-story/note-stranger-2022-05-02|Note for a Stranger|[[Alison Luhrs]]|May 2, 2022}}</ref>
*[[Isona Maive]]<ref name=hp4/> (non-canon)
*[[Kaya Cassir]]<ref name="Brief">{{TwitterRef|ArtistEliMinaya|1643686516336599043|author=Eli Minaya|title=The brief provided a list of places, all very different from one another|date=April 5, 2023}}</ref>
*[[Liliana Vess]]<ref name=hp4>Mairghread, Scott. (2022). ''[[Magic: The Hidden Planeswalker]]''. Vol 1, iss 4.</ref> (non-canon)
*[[Niko Aris]]<ref name="Magic 18"/> (non-canon)
*[[Ob Nixilis]]
*[[Ob Nixilis]]
*[[Saheeli Rai]]<ref name="Note"/>
*[[Saheeli Rai]]<ref name="Note"/>
*[[Serra]]
*[[Teferi Akosa]]<ref name="Magic 18"/> (non-canon)
*[[Tezzeret]]<ref name="Homecoming"/>
*[[Tezzeret]]<ref name="Homecoming"/>
*[[Tibalt]]<ref name="Magic 18">[[Jed MacKay]] (2022). ''[[Magic (BOOM! comic)|Magic]]''. Iss 18. Boom!</ref> (non-canon)
*[[Vivien Reid]]<ref name="Homecoming"/>
*[[Vivien Reid]]<ref name="Homecoming"/>
}}
}}


==Other visitors==
===Non-planeswalker visitors===
*[[Urabrask]]
*[[Urabrask]]
*[[Atraxa]]
==In-game references==
{{In-game
|cards=
*<c>The Caldaia</c>
}}


==References==
==References==
Line 128: Line 159:


==External links==
==External links==
* {{DailyRef|feature/planeswalkers-guide-streets-new-capenna-2022-04-28|Planeswalker's Guide to Streets of New Capenna|[[Miguel Lopez]]|April 28, 2022}}
*{{DailyRef|feature/planeswalkers-guide-streets-new-capenna-2022-04-28|Planeswalker's Guide to Streets of New Capenna|[[Miguel Lopez]]|April 28, 2022}}


{{Capenna|state=collapsed}}
{{Planes of the Multiverse}}
{{Planes of the Multiverse}}
[[Category:New Capenna| ]]
[[Category:New Capenna| ]]
[[Category:Planar types]]

Latest revision as of 20:12, 4 June 2024

Capenna
[[File:{{#setmainimage:NCP.webp}}|250px]]
Information
First seen Honor Bound, Part I
Last seen March of the Machine
Planeswalkers Elspeth Tirel
Rabiah Scale 6[1]
Status Devastated by Phyrexians
Demonym Capennan

Capenna is the plane on which the metropolis of New Capenna is located.[2] New Capenna is the plane’s only major settlement, as the rest of the plane was devastated by invading Phyrexians and is largely uninhabited.[3]

Description

Elspeth Tirel on her home plane

The people of New Capenna act like there was no history before the city; they're wrong. There was a plane out there centuries ago, one of many cities, kings, cultures, and wonders. That Capenna, Old Capenna, is gone, lost in a cataclysmic war against a forgotten enemy — the same war that prompted the creation of the towering city.[4]

The city of New Capenna is centuries old, at least older than the Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria.[5] Its inhabitants have little memory of its past, perhaps because the demons didn’t want people to remember it, or because people simply forgot the details over generations after fleeing from Phyrexian invaders.

Elspeth grew up in an encampment of Phyrexian holdouts, long after their initial invasion. Her life immediately before her ascension was spent as a prisoner along with many other beings, locked tightly away and tortured.[6] In this prison, the Phyrexians of her homeworld tended to those of their numbers they felt insane. Elspeth and her peers were a distraction meant to soothe the insanity of the flawed Phyrexians. When her dark warden came for her, she responded instinctively with a powerful spell and planeswalked away to Theros. She was only 13 at the time.

After leaving Theros, Elspeth met with Ajani Goldmane who told her where to planeswalk to find her home plane. Arriving in New Capenna, she felt out of place as the plane was nothing as she imagined it.[7]

Vivien Reid claims the plane outside of the city is essentially dead, devoid of life and nature.[7]

History

Kingdom Era

Several centuries before the modern day, Capenna was a plane of chivalry, castles, and fantastic beasts, similar to Alara's Bant. The predecessors to the five families served in different roles. The Maestros served as the plane's nobles and art aficionados. The Riveteers made up its artisans, blacksmiths, edificers, and architects. The Cabaretti made up a popular druidic faith. The Obscura served as mystics, wizards, and advisers to the plane's Angels. The Brokers were paladins.[3]

One of the deities worshiped on the plane was Serra.[8]

First Phyrexian invasion

Main article: Phyrexian Invasion of Capenna

Sometime before the Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria, a single Phyrexian ship invaded Capenna.[9] When the invaders attacked, they ate hope, turned children's parents against them, and poisoned the plane for millennia. Their invasion was successful for the better part of a year. It was only through the intervention of Capenna's archangels and their hosts that the plane's mortal defenders stood a chance. Allied with these divine warriors, Capenna's defenders managed to hold a small pocket of land, encircled but defiant against the end.[4]

The Phyrexians sent their forces again and again against the spears of Capenna's final defenders, and though the angels and mortals held, it was plain to the archangels that they could not win. The enemy's numbers were inexhaustible; in addition to their knights, the enemy added the mortal dead to their number, sending the animated corpses of fallen defenders to fight against their comrades.

The creation of New Capenna

To save the people of Capenna from total defeat, the archangels turned to an old, familiar enemy: the archdemons.[10] The angels had become consumed with the defense of the plane, and it had become clear that the demons needed to join the fray as well.[11] This unlikely deal laid the foundation for a new place that would hold the plane: a fortress that became a city, which the people called New Capenna.

Denizens from the rest of the plane migrated to the city in two exoduses before the Riveteers tightened up immigration.[12] The allied forces of the archangels, mortals, and archdemons were the last to enter the city, after holding open corridors for refugees to stream into the lower elevators. The enemy never stopped. Legends tell of the last battle of the war being fought on the final elevator, with allied soldiers throwing enemy knights off the rising platform as it approached the underbelly of the city. The enemy rebuffed, the last elevator arrived, and New Capenna was sealed to all below.

Betrayal of the demons

With the surviving population of the plane safe inside New Capenna, the archangels, and archdemons let the people celebrate. However, the archangels could not find joy, as they knew a dark truth. This tower, for all its might and defiance, would still not be enough to stop the Phyrexians. Though well-defended and difficult to access, if the enemy could find a way inside, which they would never stop trying to find, the war would rage here as it did far below. Thus, the city's architects puzzled over a stark question: how could they guarantee the safety of the city and the plane upon which it stood when they were so grossly outnumbered?[4]

While the archangels puzzled, the archdemons of Capenna plotted. During the war, Capenna's archangels and their angelic hosts ravaged the enemy with their mere presence. The archdemons studied this divine natural weapon and realized that if they could trap angels and distribute their essence across the whole of New Capenna — maybe even out into Old Capenna — they could drive the enemy back and ensure the city and their people would be saved. Alone, though, they could not accomplish their betrayal, so the archdemons sent their whisperers to the ears of mortal, power-hungry Capennans, planting a bleak answer to the question of the future: trap the angels, and let an age of demons begin. However, the plot against the archangels could only be accomplished through the archdemons' mutual sacrifice.

The archdemons appointed five families to rule the city in their name, drafting a contract with the head of each family and conferring demon status to each signatory. The five became demonic hybrids, gifted and cursed by the archdemons bound to them, their vices magnified and powers enhanced. Together with their archdemon patrons, these demon hybrids and their followers took advantage of a sudden slumber that struck the Phyrexian forces — likely caused by the death of Yawgmoth on Dominaria — to act on their plan and achieve success beyond their most optimistic projections. In place of a prolonged battle, the archdemons and the five captured the archangels and their hosts during a city-wide celebration of victory. While the people were told the archangels had voluntarily sacrificed themselves to send the enemy into a slumber, the five and their organizations, their families, suppressed the grim truth: that the archdemons had used the angels in the defense of the city, trapping them in a kind of stasis that saw their physical bodies converted, slowly, into the fuel of the new age: Halo.[13][10] The Demon Lords used the Halo to defeat the Phyrexians and then disappeared themselves.[11]

Rule of crime

The five families settled in to dominate niche industries and command territory in the city's three boroughs, operating in full view of each other and also in secret. A nominal, all-but-vestigial city government ensures the lights stay on, the water is clean, and the streets are kept in good repair. Law as other planes know it — a crown or government and a police force, with hard rules and penalties for those who break them — does not exist in New Capenna. Instead, there is an agreement, a code agreed to by the five families.[4] Fronts, subterfuge, and clandestine operations are played out as mutually understood theater. They all do it, and they all understand that it is polite to try and hide their flouting of the rules, a nod to the fact that the rules exist. Flexibility, allowances, favors, and looking the other way are key in New Capenna: as long as no one family attempts to take too much for themselves, neither will the other families, and there is peace in New Capenna.

The Adversary War

During the events of Streets of New Capenna, the planeswalker Ob Nixilis infiltrated the plane, siphoning members of each of the families and hosting a targeted strike on their leadership on the night of the Crescendo, the plane's new year celebration.[14] At least one boss, Xander, was killed, with Jetmir mortally wounded.[11] After the sacrifice of Giada, possibly the last free angel in the city, the city's other angels began reawakening from their stasis.[15][16][17]

Second Phyrexian invasion

Capenna was a target in New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse.[18] Atraxa herself was sent by Elesh Norn to lead the efforts of the Machine Legion against the Capennans.[9] She was commanded to salvage the ship of the Old Phyrexians, scavenge any remaining Phyrexians for parts, kill all citizens and destroy the Halo wellspring.

The Maestros and their vampires were the ones most vulnerable to compleation, as Atraxa's directive was not general compleation but to uncover the old Phyrexians, which the Maestros' museums likely had clues to. The Obscura, Riveteers, and Brokers fought in sparse groups, with the Cabaretti absent in action. The plane had no planeswalker champion to defend it but had the advantage of halo stockpiles as a ready-made chemical weapon. The gangs formulated a plan to collapse the structure holding Park Heights on Atraxa, killing her. With the stragglers manageable by the citizenry, the slowly-reviving angels entered the omenpaths to attack New Phyrexia.[19] Finishing the fight on New Phyrexia, those that traveled to the plane could not return after its multiversal switch.[20]

Known locations

  • New Capenna, a warded city built by angels on girders above the remains of the capital of an Old Capennan kingdom.[4]
  • The Outside / Old Capenna, the devastated plane around New Capenna.[4]
    • Walls have long since fallen, slumped into a pile of rubble. A girder of the upper city splits an ancient castle in two. Old Capenna can be reached via "weak spots" (hidden tunnels, ladders, gaps in the structure.) On occasion, new arrivals with old names ride the ancient lifts up from below, bringing with them stories of hard-lived lives and wasteland nightmares.

Languages

  • Druidic, a language spoken by the Cabaretti's predecessors.[3]

Writing Systems

Inhabitants

Sentient races

Domesticated

Wildlife

Artificial

Planeswalkers

Native

Visitors

Non-planeswalker visitors

In-game references

Represented in:

References

  1. ↑ Mark Rosewater (2024-05-13). "The Rabiah Scale, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 24, 2022). "Is the name of the plane streets of new capenna...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  3. ↑ a b c Criminal History (Video). The Command Zone. YouTube (March 31, 2022).
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Miguel Lopez (April 28, 2022). "Planeswalker's Guide to Streets of New Capenna". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. ↑ Jay Annelli (April 14, 2022). "Hey jay can you explain why people dont know...". Ask Jay. Tumblr.
  6. ↑ a b Jenna Helland (2009), "Honor Bound", Wizards of the Coast
  7. ↑ a b c d Elise Kova (March 28, 2022). "Episode 1: Homecoming". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  8. ↑ K. Arsenault Rivera (March 23, 2023). "March of the Machine - Epiosde Six: The Last to Leave". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. ↑ a b K. Arsenault Rivera (March 16, 2023). "March of the Machine - Episode 1: Triumph of the Fleshless". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  10. ↑ a b Elise Kova (March 30, 2022). "Episode 3: Tests". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  11. ↑ a b c Elise Kova (April 5, 2022). "Episode 5: Hymn of the Angels". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  12. ↑ Tobias S. Buckell (March 28, 2022). "The Contract Breaker". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  13. ↑ a b c d e Kaitlyn Zivanovich (March 29, 2022). "What You Expect to See". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  14. ↑ Elise Kova (April 4, 2022). "Episode 4: The Font". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  15. ↑ Flavor text of Majestic Metamorphosis
  16. ↑ Flavor text of Soul of Emancipation
  17. ↑ Flavor text of Paragon of Modernity
  18. ↑ First Look at March of the Machine (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube (February 19, 2023).
  19. ↑ Elise Kova (March 27, 2023). "March of the Machine - New Capenna: The Fall of Park Heights". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  20. ↑ K. Arsenault Rivera (March 28, 2023). "March of the Machine - Episode 9: The Old Sins of New Phyrexia". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  21. ↑ Elise Kova (March 27, 2023). "March of the Machine - New Capenna: The Fall of Park Heights". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  22. ↑ Rhiannon Rasmussen (April 5, 2022). "Alley Cat Blues". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  23. ↑ Flavor text for High-Rise Sawjack
  24. ↑ a b c d e f Jed MacKay (2022). Magic. Iss 18. Boom!
  25. ↑ a b Alison Luhrs (May 2, 2022). "Note for a Stranger". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  26. ↑ a b Mairghread, Scott. (2022). Magic: The Hidden Planeswalker. Vol 1, iss 4.
  27. ↑ Eli Minaya (April 5, 2023). "The brief provided a list of places, all very different from one another". Twitter.

External links

Capenna sets
Supplemental
Capenna storyline
Magic Story
set settings
Seen on
plane cards
Other planes
Non-canon
Related
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