Phyrexia

Phyrexia is an artificial plane of entirely mechanical "life" created by an ancient planeswalker. Little is known of this planewalker, aside from the fact that he preferred to assume the form of a dragon. This world was not so different from Mirrodin until Yawgmoth arrived, brought there by the planeswalker Dyfed. Yawgmoth, with the remnants and descendants of the phthisis-inflicted Thran whom he "saved" through the process he referred to as "Phyresis" (essentially the replacement of weak mortality with artifice) came here when they were forced out of the Thran Empire as traitors. The ensuing war destroyed the nation of the Thran.

Structure of Phyrexia

The plane consisted of nine nested spheres, each with its own purpose and, often, mechanical ecosystem.

First Sphere

The First Sphere of Phyrexia is a mechanical parody of life. It is covered by artificial jungle bedewed by oily rain. Streams of oil also run through the first sphere's landscape. It is home to a few forms of dragon engines and many others mechanical animals simulating true life. Rusting artifact debris lay around long plains filled with metallic dust and soot. Huge furnaces spew ash into the air. Newts are brought to this Sphere, likely to select those worthy for completion.

Second Sphere

Scraps and ruins from the first sphere are contained in the Second Sphere. Metal beams, pipes, and other structures make up the roof. Smokestacks from lower levels also appear in this level of Phyrexia. These are all that offer any source of light. Gargantuan ammunitions dumps as large as entire communities are located here.

Third Sphere

The Third Sphere is filled with metal pipes, which create space distortions that prevent planeswalking to lower spheres. Horrors of Phyrexia stalk this place.

Fourth Sphere

The Fourth Sphere is where the bulk of Phyrexia's population exists. Here are more smokestacks, as well as the vat facilities where newts are grown and compleated. Vat priests work here, monitoring the Phyrexian newborn and performing the operations of transforming them into Phyrexian machines and warriors. Phyrexian warriors are trained in this place as well.

Phyrexian portals, reinvented versions of old Thran portals, were built here and opened to new planes that would be conquered for Yawgmoth. They were opened only through sacrificing artifacts or the use of a great amount of energy.

Fifth Sphere

The Fifth Sphere is an ocean of Glistening Oil used by Vat Priests of Fourth to breed newts, called the Boiling Sea. Massive steam creatures also live here.

Sixth Sphere

The Phyrexian Inner Circle is housed in the Sixth Sphere. It is a realm for the Phyrexian governmental body; here are the most prestigious of Yawgmoth's servants, such as Phyrexian Demons, the Praetors, and other officials.

Seventh Sphere

The Seventh Sphere of Phyrexia is an eternal furnace of flames used both to power the plane and punish those who have failed Yawgmoth. Gix is the only Phyrexian known to have survived the Seventh Sphere. It is a hellish place known as the "Punishment Sphere." Prisoners, artificers, and failures of any sort are brought here for torture. Phyrexian Gremlins live on this Sphere.

Eight Sphere

The Eighth Sphere is a place of pure energy. Little else is known of it.

Ninth Sphere

The Ninth Sphere is the control center for all of Phyrexia. Up until the Invasion, it was where Yawgmoth resided, plotting his eventual takeover of Dominaria. Yawgmoth also stayed here, dormant within his sanctum for some time, while his minions acted in his will and saw to it that his plans were executed.

Phyrexian life forms

The first stage of any Phyrexian's life is that of the Newt. These creatures are grown in vats of Glistening Oil, and appear as androgynous, hairless humans. They are grown to adulthood then prepared and released for life in the dark plane.

Newts are later put through a process called Compleation. At this point, they are transformed to serve any of a number of purposes for Phyrexia.

Here are the different varieties of Phyrexians:

• Sleeper Agents — Sleeper agents are fully grown and sometimes genetically modified newts who have not been compleated, appearing as regular human beings, sent to spy on other planes and perform clandestine operations outside of Phyrexia. Some are completely unaware of their status and task, simply dropped off on other planes secretly being used as hidden cameras.

• Cults — Yawgmoth and the Phyrexians have active cults around the planes, mainly in Dominaria, who worshipped machines and the power of artifice. The Cult of Gix was one such example, which existed for the later duration of the Brothers' War. Those who participated in the cult would augment themselves with metal, embedding it in their skin in all sorts of ways, as a sign of their willingness to become machine from flesh. Gix, a Phyrexian Demon, orchestrated the Cult from its center and even gave Phyrexian technology and instruction to his worshipers. Similar cults were active on various planes and areas at different times up until the Phyrexian Invasion.

• Minions — These are the agents and specialized creations of Yawgmoth, created as versatile instruments in his mad war against all biological life. Minions serve a number of purposes, such as assassins, spies, or shock troops. Minions include the Phyrexian Infiltrator, the Slayer, and the Broodlings.

• Undead — Phyrexia employs the dead in its fight against the Multiverse. Some are made to function through the adding of artificial improvements. The Phyrexian Monitor, Unworthy Dead, Phyrexian Reaper, Scuta, and the Bloodstock are examples of undead in Phyrexian ranks. Some of them are noxious and harmful to life even through a touch. It is also notable that some of the Phyrexians printed as zombies were intended to be minions, but were changed to zombies for set design reasons.

• Carriers — Biomechanical constructs used to spread Phyrexian-engineered plagues. They can all be utilized as suicide strikers, destroying themselves to release their pathogenic load upon the battlefield. These include the Phyrexian Denouncer, Debaser, Defiler, and Plaguelord.

• Mechanical constructs — Phyrexian inhabitants and creations usually involve mechanical parts and additions, but some are entirely mechanical in nature. These are the massive devices and war machines used to wipe out any resistance left after the initial wave of primary combat troops and the release of the plagues. The Phyrexian War Beasts, Hulks, and the huge Phyrexian Colossus all fall under this category. The largest and most brutal of Yawgmoth's monstrosities is the Phyrexian Dreadnought, another totally mechanical part of the arsenal.

• Horrors — Horrors are frightening monstrosities, sometimes combinations of creatures listed above. Many of them are free-willed and may live apart from the other Phyrexians, not taking part in the efforts of the rest of the plane. They can be dangerous to even their peers. The Rager, Witch Engine, Plague Spitter, Devouring Strossus, Gargantua, and Negator are all Horrors.

• Knights — The most elite of warriors, those that are more intelligent and capable than mere killing devices, are the Knights. They have their human mental attributes, such as free will, but still remain under the command of Yawgmoth. Phyrexian Knights are composed of a few different Orders: the Eastern Paladins, dedicated to eradicating all natural life; the Western Paladins, avid destroyers of all societies that are not of Phyrexia; and the Order of Yawgmoth, the prestigious guard of the Ineffable himself. (There also seem to have been human knightly orders known as the Eastern and Western Paladins on Dominaria that are not connected to Phyrexia.) The Sanguine Guard is another of the knightly orders, though its function is unclear.

Militarization

The plane of Phyrexia had many weapons at its disposal. Aside from the Phyrexians themselves, there were artifacts, biohazardous spores and plagues, and mutational organic implements such as venom sacs.

Typical Phyrexian soldiers made use of nasty blades and saws, though they often were equipped with plenty of claws, fangs, and brute force. Many had venomous fangs implanted in their faces, and others had poisonous stingers. They were stronger and more resilient to pain than the average human being. Power armor, improved upon for centuries from the original suits of the Halcyon Guard, was almost always fitted onto Phyrexians in various ways and appearances, possibly fueled by Phyrexian powerstones. Some Phyrexians had fire-arms, such as those used by the Nightstalkers in Caliman, or the armament of the Reaper. These may have been beam weapons, like the Ray Cannons used in the flying ships of the Thran-Phyrexian War, or perhaps fired projectiles of some sort.

Phyrexians that were entirely compleated were mainly metallic, some of which took entirely different shapes than the newt, becoming huge behemoths of steel, wire, and gears. The Gargantua is one example, using its sheer size to outmatch any opponents it would meet on the battlefield. Its huge claws were large enough to fit as much material and debris as an earthmover, and were capable of crushing down virtually anything in that space. Mechanical devices were one of the potent forces in Phyrexia's armies. Many of Phyrexia's constructs were semi-magical, while others were complex combinations of purely mechanical processes.

One of Phyrexia's greatest weapons was the engineered plague. Nano-technologically improved spores took out entire populations on Dominaria, these plagues were a major threat during the invasion. They were unleashed by Phyrexian carriers, such as the Plaguelord and the Defiler. There were different pathogens created by Phyrexia, but a few may have also been contained or enhanced specimens of the phthisis that inflicted the Thran before their fall. Some plagues were tested on Dominaria around the time of Urza's adventures, as well. These were part of an odd concoction, as described in Phyrexian progress notes; according to the text of other carriers, a disease is described that causes rashes, nausea, fever, cough, muscle aches, then delirium, convulsions, and death. This may have been a generic plague outbreak.

Invasion of Dominaria

The Phyrexians' main purpose after their entrapment in the plane was to invade and destroy their old home of Dominaria. Many years were spent preparing for this invasion, with various plans, weapons, and soldiers being created throughout the ages. Also aware that their artificial home plane would collapse after some time, the survival of the Phyrexian way depended upon the successful entrance into Dominaria and the defeat of its lifeforms. However, this transfer was made impossible for five millenniums because of the closing of the portal between Dominaria and Phyrexia in the Caves of Koilos, where the planeswalker Glacian transfused his being into two powerstones that were used by his wife, Rebbec, to seal off the connection. During this time, the Phyrexians waited, plotted, and built up their forces for the time when their way would be clear into the old world.

After some five-thousand years had passed, the nation of Argive was founded and the Argivian Reckoning system of time measurement began. A boy named Urza was born in this new country on the same date. At the very end of this year, Urza's brother Mishra was born. The two were sent off to a camp to study artifice with the archaeologist, Tocasia, after some time. During an outing to survey a new dig site, the two brothers found the two powerstones on a pedestal in a cave, and inadvertently opened the portal to Phyrexia when they took the stones. This event would ultimately be the undoing of Dominaria. Seeing his opportunity, Yawgmoth sent through the Phyrexian Demon, Gix, to scout. Eventually, the Brothers became involved in the conflict of the Brother's War, and Mishra eventually made contact with the Phyrexians. Gix had built up a religious following of machine worshipers, and he used his influence to manipulate the two sides. He offered aid and Phyrexian equipment to Mishra, even compleating him. The plans to destroy Urza were foiled when the Golgothian Sylex was activated and Argoth, the site of the war's final battle, was obliterated and split into island chains. After the time of this blast, the Shard of the Twelve Worlds was formed, and the Phyrexians were once again unable to travel to Dominaria.

For some time, Phyrexia was again forced to wait until it could resume its attack. It had also unknowingly encountered its greatest enemy, Urza, who had ascended to become a planeswalker. He had become obsessed with the destruction of those he blamed for his brother's sickening transformation. However, Urza was also locked out of Dominaria for a time, and spent his next years wandering the planes. On one of his travels, he met Xantcha, a Phyrexian sleeper agent that had gone rogue and had been exiled from her home plane. The two were chased for a long time through the Multiverse by Phyrexians, who moved by way of Phyrexian Portals. After a time the two returned to Terisiare, at the end of the Ice Age, when Freyalise cast the World-spell and shattered the Shard. Not long thereafter, Gix returned to Dominaria and created another secretive cult. Phyrexians had also began moving into Dominaria through new portals. Urza learned of Gix through Xantcha and traveled to Koilos to meet and battle him, with his allies, Xantcha and the boy Ratepe. A final battle between Urza and Gix broke out in the ancient caves, and Urza defeated the Phyrexian Demon with the help of his friends. Urza then proceeded to build up a global response to the threat of Phyrexia.

The Phyrexians began another plot to gain them re-entrance. Yawgmoth ordered the construction of the artificial plane of Rath, through the use of a newly created substance called flowstone. A giant refinery was constructed in the center of a pocket universe attached to Dominaria, so well-hidden that no planeswalker would find it. The flowstone helped the Phyrexians to construct an artificial world for use as a staging point for their troops. Eventually, the mass of this plane would grow beyond its own ability to contain, and Rath would overlay onto Dominaria. The violent dimensional barriers of the plane caused creatures and things from other planes to be pulled in, and peoples from Dominaria came to populate Rath along with forests and other creatures, as well. To rule Rath, an evincar was elected. The first evincar was a man named Davvol, but the most famous of their number was the mighty Volrath, onetime blood-brother of Gerrard.

Notable Phyrexians

• Croag
• Gix
• Kerrick
• Sitrik
• Tsabo Tavoc
• Xantcha
• Yawgmoth

Diagram of Phyrexia

Diagram of Phyrexia (4205 AR) Copyright © 1993-1999 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Note

The forums in Phyrexia.com imitate the nine spheres of Phyrexia.