Chandra Nalaar

Template:Character Chandra Nalaar is a planeswalker who is adept at using spells of red mana.

Characterization

Chandra is particularly good with fire and uses it to resolve whatever situation she might be in. She values ingenuity and improvisation with her magic. She is passionate, impulsive, and doesn't much like authority, as typifies characters tightly bound to red mana. Even though Chandra is proud of her independent nature, she also recognizes the volatile nature of her inner fire.

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Chandra Nalaar is a red-magic-wielding planeswalker. Her specialty is pyromancy: spells of fire, fire, and more fire. There's no virtue in subtlety—at least not as far as the fire-mage Chandra Nalaar is concerned. Impulsive, passionate, and short-tempered, she's as ready to explode as the pyromantic spells of her ever-growing repertoire. Chandra's spark ignited when she was still quite young, and as she has grown, so have her abilities as a wielder of fire magic and as a planeswalker. As a source of immense and unpredictable power, authority figures have sought to restrict and control Chandra, which comes into direct conflict with her need for independence and freedom. As Chandra's wild inner fire comes in contact with world after world of rules and strictures, the results are sure to be explosive.

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History

Origins

Chandra was born on Kaladesh, with a "mother who was strict, father who was gentle, two sisters who [she] hated, and an older brother who she adored" in her own words. Her brother was killed in a war at some point. As she grew older, Chandra began to practice and play with her fire abilities, which came to her as naturally as breathing, more and more. However, on her home plane, fire magic was strictly banned, and her parents pursued many ends in an attempt to "cure" their daughter of her wild streak. Believing that "a husband and children would do her good," they planned to marry her to one of the local boys. In an attempt to scare off both her parents and her prospective husband, she set off a huge blast of fire that caught several of the village huts on fire, and then ran to the mountains. In her absence, the police of a temple on her plane rounded up the village, believing the people of the village to be a group of fire magic practicing rebels, as they did not believe that one person could cause such destruction. They placed the villagers into the burning huts where they were to be burned to death. Chandra returned in time to see her family burned, her mother crying for her daughters to be released, and fought against the soldiers until the entire village had burned to death, at which point she surrendered. She was forced onto her knees, head held back, and a blade swung to her throat, her punishment immediate execution. The threat ignited her planeswalker spark sending her to Regatha.

Alternative version

In another version of Chandra's Origin story, there is no mention of her siblings. Her parents were inventors, who secretly trafficked a controlled substance, the mystical Æther, to those who needed it. The fire in the village wasn't lit by Chandra, but by the soldiers of the Consuls, who were prosecuting her. She wasn't punished at the village, but taken to the City of Ghirapur, to be executed in an arena. The bladebearer turned out to be Baral, an officer who secretly had (anti-fire) magic of his own.

Fuel for the Fire

Quite some time after the events in her past, Chandra journeyed to Aretopolis on the plane of Kephalai. There, Chandra stole a scroll known as the Dragon Scroll from the Sanctum of Stars. She was pursued by a Watch Commander, his men, and a pair of gargoyles. They attempted to execute her but she managed to get away using a large fire spell. Since no body was found, they considered the matter closed, but later investigations re-opened it.

The magistrate turned to the Infinite Consortium to retrieve the scroll, and Jace Beleren was assigned to track the thief, and erase the memories of anyone who had read it. He managed to find Chandra on Regatha where she was studying at Keral Keep. Jace confronted her and a fight broke out. Jace gained the upper hand, and left after completing his mission. However, Chandra had given the scroll to the scribes in the monastery who were making copies of it before Jace arrived.

The battle between Chandra and Jace is also covered in the first chapter of The Purifying Fire.

The Purifying Fire

Chandra, at some point after her first planeswalk, has come to live on a plane named Regatha, where she has been studying at the Keral Keep monastery in an attempt to learn better self control and mastery of her powers. The monastery was founded ages ago around the beliefs of another fire wielding planeswalker, Jaya Ballard. Her quotes and teachings are the core of the Keep's beliefs, championing personal freedom and individual choice over all other things, as long as one was not infringing on another's rights.

Chandra became entangled in the politics of Regatha when the Order of Heliud begins a series of events put into place that had begun to enforce its rule over the lands of Regatha, starting with the plains, then moving to the forests, and ideally to the mountains where Keral Keep rests. The Order declared that fire magic was to be punished by death in the cities, and creature summoning, traditionally a way to resolve disputes in the Western Woods, was illegal as well. With that in mind, the allies of Keral Keep in the woods sought to consult the monastery.

After attempting to chase away a specter that served the Order, she set fire to a large portion of the forest, and angered a tribe of ouphes who put a price on Chandra's head. The leader of the Order, Walbert, used this event, and an attack on his soldiers, as an opportunity to order Chandra's capture. Mother Luti, head of the Keral Keep mages, decided that because of the attention drawn to her, it would be a good time for Chandra to "disappear" for a while, and sent her on a quest to retrieve the scroll that Jace had retaken, stating that the true meaning of its words might not be in the words, but in some sort of physical attribute of the scroll itself. Heeding Mother Luti's request, Chandra once more 'walked to Kephalai.

Her attempt to retake the scroll failed, and her attack on a group of soldiers caused the entire Sanctum of Stars, a museum of artifacts and rarities of great power and value, to be completely destroyed, killing all those inside. During her flight, she encountered a man named Gideon who seemed at first to want to help her, but turned her over to the soldiers of Kephalai. After her captors tried to torture the location of the scroll, which she had lost during her flight, from her, she managed to escape from the dungeons of Kelaphai. Blindly 'walking to a plane ruled by a vampire and shrouded in eternal night. Much to her surprise, none other than Gideon arrived shortly after her. Eventually enlisting the help of Gideon himself she sought to find a way off of Diraden, whose only source of mana was black. During this time, Gideon reveals that the plane of origin of the scroll is none other than the mysterious plane of Zendikar, where he claims that mana and magic act in powerful, but erratic ways. Unfortunately for the pair, the inhabitants, though malnourished and horribly mistreated, had grown treacherous after years of exposure to the mana and they were both captured by the ruler himself, Prince Velrav. Chandra awoke in the Prince's private chambers, and she was shown the torture Gideon was undergoing. Eventually, she concocted a plan of escape with Gideon that culminated with the death of Velrav, freeing the plane from its eternal night and restoring the flow of mana. Together, they returned to Regatha.

Her return was not met with good news, though, as the plane had fallen further under the rule of the Order. Gideon revealed that he was agent for the Order, which was a multiplanar organization, promising to bring "peace, order, and law" to the multiverse. After leaving him and getting to Keral Keep with the aid of allies from the forest, the Keep was laid under siege with the condition that she had to be surrendered to them, which not a single one of the free-thinking fire mages were willing to do. The entirety of the Keep valued the idea of individual freedom to the point that they would not dare infringe on Chandra's even if it meant their own deaths. She eventually decided to turn herself over, expecting to encounter an execution.

What awaited her was far, far worse. Planning to use the Purifying Fire, an ancient artifact that "cleanses" a person's soul of their sins and imperfections, Walbert planned to strip Chandra of her fire magic, leaving her powerless, as an example to any who would dare stand against the Order. To Chandra, this fate was worse than death, and she asked Gideon to kill her rather than have her "humiliated and put on display." Before she was brought to the Fire, Gideon speaks with her, and claims that she may be able to keep her power if the Fire accepted her, if she entered it with a "clean soul." She tells him of her history and how her actions led to the death of her family in a painful fire and the destruction of her entire village, something she had been running from and that had been causing her nightmares ever since.

She declared that she doesn't know "what clean is, but I do feel better" after her confession. Walbert, on the way to the Fire, explains that he has seen Chandra in his visions, that she is a cataclysm that will bring an era of lawless madness to Regatha, which is why he aims to stop her, and secure his rule, believing that when a planeswalking fire mage is stripped of her power, the rest of the Keep will fall into place.

The Fire, however, accepts her as she enters it with a clean soul, removing all the wards and shields placed around her by Walbert. She faces her past, her mistakes and victories, her successes and failures, taking them all for what they are and nothing more, no longer running. When she emerged from the Fire, she feels infused with more focus than ever, and decimates the Order's forces around her, burning Walbert and many others to death and cracking the very foundations of the cavern. She is knocked out when the chamber around the Fire collapses.

Gideon wakes her up, harshly chastising her for leading to the deaths of all the members of the Order, yet she feels no remorse for taking down what they believed in. She decides to leave the plane of Regatha forever, and seek out the mystically powerful plane of Zendikar. Before she leaves, though, she tells Gideon a part of her story that she had held back the night before: that the soldiers that so brutally ordered the death of her village at the slightest false provocation belonged to an order that promised to bring "harmony, protection, and law," leaving him to ponder the revelation of his allegiances and what the Order he belongs to has done. She tells him that should anyone proclaiming the virtues of the Order (and by extension white magic) cross her path she would treat them as her enemies without remorse. With that, she leaves, seeking Zendikar.

Journey to the Eye

Chandra arrived on Zendikar, at roughly three years since her quest began, and sought out a guide to the region of Akoum in the area of Affa Town. Her exact goal was to seek the assistance of the ruin sage Anowon, hoping that he could shed some light on finding the Eye of Ugin. After repeated failures on the part of her guides, and more than a few gold coins, she finally managed to track down the League of Anowon's current campsite high in the mountains. She confronted Anowon there and after a brief and tense exchange, Anowon agreed to lead her. Unfortunately, Anowon proved to be a backstabbing traitor. He attempted to kill her in her sleep, but she rebuffed his initial assault. Anowon ranted at Chandra and claimed that she has no right to the scroll he wanted and continued his attack as her magic gave out. Luckily for Chandra, Sarkhan Vol ambushed Anowon, rendering him unconscious with a swift strike to the head.

Awakenings

Though Sarkhan had saved Chandra, he threatened her for intruding into the Eye of Ugin. Chandra then attempted to cast a spell, which backfired but was sufficient to impress Sarkhan. He lead her further into the Eye and began to explain to her the nature of what she was searching for. It was not what she was expecting, and as she attempted to leave Sarkhan wheeled upon her, changing fully into a dragon. Left without her usual magic, she received assistance from the unexpected source of Jace Beleren. With his encouragement, she cast a fire spell that could not be seen. It was enough to down Sarkhan, and as a side effect, Jace as well.

She momentarily considered killing Jace simply because he continued to show up, but she instead woke him up. They had a brief exchange in which Jace questioned the motives of the mysterious individual who had told Chandra of the scroll to begin with. She ignored him and walked away, planning to exact some measure of vengeance on the person who had gotten her involved with the scroll.

Tracking Ramaz

After leaving Jace behind, Chandra bounced from plane to plane searching for clues to who Ramaz actually was. He was the one who had manipulated her in stealing the Dragon Scroll and she was intent to seek her vengeance. Knowing just enough about her target, she tracked his progress across multiple planes, often retreading old grounds that she had visited in the past. Her final goal was finally met on the plane of Kaldheim where she confronted the insane shaman. After a skirmish, he escaped, revealing that he had only been a minion in a yet greater scheme, subservient to the mysterious dragon whose voice he followed.

Abbot of Keral Keep

Chandra returned to Regatha and studied pyromancy at Keral Keep for a considerable time. After her mentor died, she elected to become the new abbot. However the ceremony was interrupted by Jace Beleren and Gideon Jura. Both men attempted to convince her to follow them to help in the fight on Zendikar however a frustrated Chandra who was angry at continuously being compared to Jaya Balard choose to stay. She knew that Jaya would have helped them but she was sick and tired of being compared to her. After rejecting Jace and Gideon who were disappointed with her choice, they told her to come to Sea Gate on Zendikar if she changed her mind. Choice made, Chandra returned to her meeting to reluctantly become the newest head abbot.

In-game references

Represented in:

Chandra as she appears with her hair down, in a rare calm moment.

• Chandra Nalaar
• Chandra Ablaze
• Chandra, the Firebrand
• Chandra, Pyromaster
• Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh // Chandra, Roaring Flame

Depicted in:

• Act on Impulse
• Chandra's Fury
• Chandra's Ignition
• Chandra's Outrage
• Chandra's Phoenix
• Chandra's Spitfire
• Exquisite Firecraft
• Fiery Impulse
• Flames of the Firebrand
• Incinerate (Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra)
• Magma Rift
• Ravaging Blaze
• Seal of Fire (Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra)
• Spatial Merging (Planechase (2012) Phenomenon)
• Volcanic Geyser

Associated cards:

• Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• Pyromancer's Gauntlet
• Pyromancer's Goggles

Quoted or referred to:

• Anowon, the Ruin Sage
• Circle of Flame
• Craterize
• Counterspell (Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra)
• Foundry of the Consuls
• Incinerate (Magic 2012)
• Inferno Elemental
• Magma Rift
• Pyroclasm (Magic 2011)
• Rumbling Aftershocks
• Seismic Shudder
• Young Pyromancer

External links

• Magic Arcana (October 08, 2009). "Chandra vs. Chandra". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Doug Beyer, Jeremy Jarvis, Brady Dommermuth et al. (November 19, 2008). "Fuel for the Fire, Part III". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Doug Beyer, Andrew Robinson, Brady Dommermuth et al. (November 12, 2008). "Fuel for the Fire, Part II". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Doug Beyer, Christopher Moeller, Brady Dommermuth et al. (November 5, 2008). "Fuel for the Fire, Part I". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Christopher Moeller, Doug Beyer, Michael Mikaelian, Karin Powell, and Jeremy Jarvis (October 22, 2007). "Chandra's Ultimate". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Doug Beyer (October 24, 2007). "Planeswalkers Unmasked". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Chandra Nalaar at the Planeswalker Minisite
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