Akoum

Akoum
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Information
Plane	Zendikar

Akoum is one of the seven continents of Zendikar, mainly aligned to red mana. The sprawling region is geologically unstable; at the center is a massive supervolcano.

General

The circular Akoum is a mountainous continent where magma glows from crevasses in the earth. Crystalline fields shimmer beneath the sun, but the sharp edges of most surfaces will slice through skin and bone. In some areas, the temperatures are extreme — burning an explorer's skin during the day and causing frostbite during the night. Gases occasionally spew from the ground, and around these vents, bizarre trees and plant life have arisen in pockets of weird biome. The region is plagued by geological instability caused by the Roil, causing magma geysers to erupt unexpectedly and shards of rock to rain down unexpectedly. Insect-like creatures and carnivorous plants dominate the fauna and flora.

Akoum connects to the subcontinent of Bala Ged through underground rivers. A small sea separates Akoum from Ondu.

The Life Bloom

Beneath the surface of Akoum is an impossibly old world, and many layers beneath the surface lay trapped pockets from ages past. From time to time a volcanic burst will bring gases and earth trapped for centuries up onto the surface. For a time, the surface of Akoum will burst into beautiful and often-times bizarre flora. The elvish pilgrims that tend these regions refer to the event as a "Life Bloom".

Notable locations

• The hazardous cliffs of the coasts of Akoum are a deathtrap to travelers. Seismic activity and spires of volcanic glass make landing a ship onto the mainland a near impossibility.
• The Teeth of Akoum are a series of northern mountain ranges that are essentially impassable without some means of flight or a very experienced and clever guide.
  • A small settlement of explorers can be found high in the Teeth. It's a small training camp founded by the League of Anowon.
  • Affa, a mostly human settlement at the base of the Teeth, though elves, kor, and even the occasional vampire will call it home for a time.
  • Fort Keff, a high-walled encampment built at the mouth of a deep ravine.
  • The Eye of Ugin, a secret underground cavern.
• Goma Fada, literally "The City that Walks," an enormous caravan of wandering kor, humans, and a few elves that moves at a slow pace through Akoum.
• Tal Terig, or "The Puzzle Tower", a ruin site rising hundreds of feet high out of Akoum's basin.
• Ora Ondar, sometimes called "The Impossible Garden", an exceptional Life Bloom that has lasted almost a hundred years. The plants contain the raw, wild magic of Zendikar and mutate the elves who live there.
  • The Khalni Stone, a powerful ancient mana refractor at the heart of Ora Ondar that is feeding the Life Bloom.
• Glasspool, the only fixed body of water of any notable size in the region — a huge lake, strangely hexagonal in shape, over two miles across. Seismic activity somehow fails to affect it.
  • Ior, a ruin site at the bottom of Glasspool

In-game references

Represented in:

• Akoum

Quoted or referred to:

• Cinder Glade
• Stonefury

• Akoum Battlesinger
• Akoum Boulderfoot
• Akoum Firebird
• Akoum Flameseeker
• Akoum Hellkite
• Akoum Refuge
• Akoum Stonewaker

Quoted by Sachir, Akoum Expeditionary House:

• Goblin Tunneler (Rise of the Eldrazi)
• Heat Ray (Rise of the Eldrazi)
• Molten Ravager
• Sphinx of Jwar Isle (Zendikar)
• Summit Apes

Sources

• Magic Creative Team (January 13, 2010). "A Planeswalker’s Guide to Zendikar: Akoum". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum