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(Adding Alara Guide details; Inhabitants can probably be cleaned up a bit.)
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==History==
==History==
===Ancient Alara===
===Ancient Alara===
Alara was once a vast plane whose realms, including an ancient kingdom known as Vithia, flourished in an era of peace and wisdom. The archangel [[Asha]] watched over the plane, protecting its inhabitants from the forces of [[Malfegor]].<ref name="NewAge"/> Ancient Alarans built obelisks across the plane which focused the five colors of mana.<ref name="Graduation">{{DailyRef|savor-flavor/graduation-day-2009-06-10|Graduation Day|[[Doug Beyer]]|June 10, 2009}}</ref>
The plane of Alara was once a single, immense plane, rich in mana and natural resources.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> Its realms, including an ancient kingdom known as Vithia, flourished in an era of peace and wisdom. The archangel [[Asha]] watched over the plane, protecting its inhabitants from the forces of [[Malfegor]].<ref name="NewAge"/>
 
Ancient Alarans built enormous artifacts called obelisks across the plane which focused the five colors of mana.<ref name="Graduation">{{DailyRef|savor-flavor/graduation-day-2009-06-10|Graduation Day|[[Doug Beyer]]|June 10, 2009}}</ref> When Alara was one plane, mages channeled and filtered its rich sources of mana with these obelisks.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> The obelisks tamed Alara's wild mana into easily manageable sources for rituals, summonings, and other spellcraft. With such powerful and reliable mana, Alara, in its early days, was one of the Multiverse’s most accommodating environments for spellcasters.


===The Sundering===
===The Sundering===
Millennia before the [[Great Mending|Mending]],<ref name="AlaraGuide">(2008). ''[https://archive.org/details/shards-of-alara-players-guide-magic-the-gathering-2008 Shards of Alara Player's Guide].'' [[Wizards of the Coast]].</ref> in an event later known as the [[Sundering]], an unknown Planeswalker plundered Alara for its mana.<ref name="NewAge">{{DailyRef|feature/new-age-alara-2009-04-13|A New Age for Alara|[[Doug Beyer]]|April 14, 2009}}</ref> The drain on the plane's mana shattered something deep in its metaphysical structure, causing it to undergo a radical planar refraction. The plane broke into shards along mana lines, diffusing into its component parts like light refracted in a prism - and shattering Alara's civilizations and ecologies along with it. Whatever agent caused this destruction abandoned what remained of the plane, its spell presumably finished.<ref>[[Doug Beyer]] & [[Jenna Helland]] "The Origin of Alara's Shards" ''[[A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara]]''</ref>
Millennia before the [[Great Mending|Mending]],<ref name="ALAGuide">(2008). ''[https://archive.org/details/shards-of-alara-players-guide-magic-the-gathering-2008 Shards of Alara Player's Guide].'' [[Wizards of the Coast]].</ref> in an event later known as the [[Sundering]], an unknown Planeswalker plundered Alara for its mana.<ref name="NewAge">{{DailyRef|feature/new-age-alara-2009-04-13|A New Age for Alara|[[Doug Beyer]]|April 14, 2009}}</ref> The drain on the plane's mana shattered something deep in its metaphysical structure, causing it to undergo a radical planar refraction.<ref name="AlaraGuide">[[Doug Beyer]] & [[Jenna Helland]] (2008). ''[[A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara]]'', [[Wizards of the Coast]]. ISBN-13 978-0786951246</ref> The plane broke into shards along mana lines, diffusing into its component parts like light refracted in a prism - and shattering Alara's civilizations and ecologies along with it. Whatever agent caused this destruction abandoned what remained of the plane, its spell presumably finished.
 
The shards that resulted from Alara’s refraction drifted away from each other in the Blind Eternities.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> They were planes unto themselves, but not complete {{-}} each was cut off from two different colors of mana. As the shards' mana supplies slowly replenished themselves again, this mana imbalance dramatically altered life on each world. Environments warped to match the changed mana landscape, and life changed with it. Many species fell to extinction, while new forms of life adapted and prospered.


===Conflux===
===Conflux===
Line 29: Line 33:
===Phyrexian Invasion===
===Phyrexian Invasion===
Alara was targeted by [[Elesh Norn]]'s [[Machine Legion]] as part of [[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> Not much is known about the plane's defense, as neither Alaran natives in the compleated Ajani or the traitorous Tezzeret interacted with this particular front of the invasion. The knights of former Bant such as Rafiq were amongst the defenders, but curiously the [[Maelstrom]] itself seemed to fight on behalf of Alara.<ref><c>Awaken the Maelstrom</c></ref>
Alara was targeted by [[Elesh Norn]]'s [[Machine Legion]] as part of [[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> Not much is known about the plane's defense, as neither Alaran natives in the compleated Ajani or the traitorous Tezzeret interacted with this particular front of the invasion. The knights of former Bant such as Rafiq were amongst the defenders, but curiously the [[Maelstrom]] itself seemed to fight on behalf of Alara.<ref><c>Awaken the Maelstrom</c></ref>
==Inhabitants==
When the plane sundered, species that did not fit the colors of their shard slowly went extinct.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> Humans were the only race that inhabited all five shards.
*[[Angel]]s ({{mana|WUBRG}}; Bant)
*[[Avatar]]s ({{mana|WUBRG}}; The Maelstrom)
*[[Bat]]s
**Plague Bats (Grixis)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Beast]]s
**Baloths<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
**Cerodons ({{mana|WR}}; Naya)
**Dreg Reavers ({{B}}; Grixis)
**Kranioceroses ({{R}}; Naya)
**Plowbeasts ({{mana|WUG}}; Naya)
**Rannets ({{mana|RG}}; Jund)
**Thoctars ({{mana|WBRG}}; Naya)
*[[Bird]]s
**Cormorants ({{mana|WU}}; Esper)
**Halcou (Bant), an alabaster bird with legendary grace and speed<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
**[[Aven]] ({{mana|WUG}}; Bant)
***Kathari ({{mana|UBR}}; Grixis)
*[[Cat]]s
**Leotau ({{mana|WG}}; Bant)
**Nacatl ({{mana|WRG}}; Naya)
**Small cats (Naya)
*[[Construct]]s ({{mana|WUB}}; Esper)
*[[Crocodile]]s ({{G}}; Jund)
*[[Demon]]s ({{mana|UBR}}; Grixis)
*[[Devil]]s ({{R}}; Grixis)
*[[Dinosaur]]s (Jund)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Dragon]]s ({{mana|UBRG}}; Grixis & Jund)
**Hellkites ({{mana|BRG}}; Jund)
*[[Drake]]s ({{mana|UBR}}; Esper & Jund)
*[[Elemental]]s ({{mana|WUBRG}}; Grixis & Jund)
*[[Elephant]]s
**Mosstodons ({{G}}; Naya)
*[[Elf|Elves]] ({{mana|WURG}}; Naya)
*[[Faerie]]s ({{U}}; Esper)
*[[Fungus|Fungi]] ({{mana|WG}}; Jund)
**Thallids ({{G}}; Jund)
*[[Gargoyle]]s ({{mana|WUB}}; Esper)
*[[Goblin]]s ({{mana|BRG}}; Jund)
*[[Golem]]s ({{mana|WUB}}; Esper & Grixis)
**Bone Golems (Grixis)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Griffin]]s ({{mana|WRG}}; Naya)
*[[Hellion]]s ({{mana|RG}}; Jund)
*[[Homunculus|Homunculi]] ({{mana|WU}}; Esper)
*[[Horror]]s ({{mana|UBR}}; Grixis)
*[[Horse]]s (Bant)
*[[Hydra]]s ({{mana|WUBRG}}; Jund & Naya)
*[[Human]]s ({{mana|WUBRG}}; All Shards)
*[[Illusion]]s ({{mana|UB}}; Esper)
*[[Insect]]s (Esper, Grixis, Jund, & Naya)
**Banewasps ({{B}}; Grixis)
**Carabids ({{mana|BR}}; Jund)
**Logger-ants (Naya)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
**Scarlet wasps (Naya)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
**Sludgestriders ({{mana|WUB}}; Esper)
**termites (Naya)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Jellyfish]] ({{U}}; Esper)
*[[Kraken]]s (Esper)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Leech]]es ({{mana|BG}}; Jund)
*Lemurs (Naya)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Leviathan]]s ({{mana|UB}}; Esper & Grixis)
*[[Lizard]]s ({{mana|BRG}}; Jund)
**Gharlizards<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
**Iguanars ({{mana|BRG}})
**Thrinaxes ({{R}})
*[[Minotaur]]s ({{mana|URG}}; Naya)
*[[Ogre]]s ({{mana|WUBRG}}; Grixis)
*[[Ooze]]s ({{mana|UBRG}}; Jund)
*[[Phoenix]]es ({{R}}; Jund)
*Pip fawns (Naya), fawnlike creatures about the size of a goat.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> Cultivated by Naya's humans for meat and milk.
*[[Rat]]s ({{mana|BR}}; Grixis)
*[[Rhox]]es ({{mana|WURG}}; Bant)
*[[Saproling]]s ({{G}}; Jund)
*[[Serpent]]s ({{U}}; Esper)
**Sluice serpents
*[[Skeleton]]s ({{mana|UBR}}; Grixis)
*[[Snake]]s
**Coatls ({{mana|UG}}; Naya)
*[[Specter]]s ({{mana|UBR}}; Grixis)
*[[Sphinx]]es ({{mana|WUB}}; Esper)
*[[Spider]]s ({{mana|WG}}; Naya)
*[[Spirit]]s ({{mana|WU}}; Esper & Naya)
**Brinewraiths
**Hauntcreeps
*[[Turtle]]s ({{U}}; Bant)
*[[Vampire]]s ({{mana|UBR}}; Grixis)
*[[Vedalken]] ({{mana|WUBG}}; Esper)
*[[Viashino ({{mana|WUBRG}}; Jund)
*[[Wolf|Wolves]]<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Worm]]s (Grixis & Jund)<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*[[Wurm]]s ({{mana|WBRG}}; Jund)
*[[Zombie]]s ({{mana|WUBRG}}; Esper & Grixis)
**Aether-liches ({{U}}; Esper)
**Dreg Reavers ({{B}}; Grixis)
**Scullers ({{mana|WB}}; Esper)
===Flora===
*Bloodthorn trees, short, bushy trees with long, poisonous thorns with a hook at the end.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> If they remain in the skin too long they're fatal. Naya's humans have developed an immunity and sometimes build their settlements inside bloodthorn groves.
*Fig trees, tended to in the walled and organized groves of Bant.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*Lianas, thick, woody vines that can grow up to five feet in diameter and lace together Naya's canopy.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*Mushrooms, a source of food for the humans of Grixis.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*Olive trees, such as the '''Twelve Trees of Valeron'''.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*Thuja trees, massive examples of which are housed in The Sun-Dappled Court.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*Tukatongue trees, the primary food staple for Jund's humans.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> Growing on high plateaus, the tree's supple wood and tough bark helps it survive fierce winds and a marauding dragon's fiery breath. The tree's roots can be ground into a sticky paste for an unappealing, but reliable, food source. Many stone weapons are wrapped in the spiky bark. Humans live in temporary shelters made from tuka frames and covered in lizard skin.
*Wanat Trees, the major year-round food source of Naya's elves.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/> Their nuts are high in protein and their flowers make an energy-enhancing drink.


==Trivia==
==Trivia==
Line 38: Line 150:
*Nacatl <ref><c>Winged Coatl</c></ref>
*Nacatl <ref><c>Winged Coatl</c></ref>
*The old language of Vithia
*The old language of Vithia
**Grixis translates to "traitor"<ref name="Alive">{{DailyRef|savor-flavor/alive-and-unwell-2008-09-24|Alive and Unwell|[[Doug Beyer]]|September 24, 2008}}</ref>
**Grixis translates to "traitor"<ref name="Alive">{{DailyRef|savor-flavor/alive-and-unwell-2008-09-24|Alive and Unwell|[[Doug Beyer]]|September 24, 2008}}</ref><ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*Goblin
**This may be the language from which [[Thraximundar]], meaning "he who paints the earth red," derives.<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
**''Plikintok Agat'' is goblin for "wearing a garment of rock", aka squeezing through a tight crack.<ref name="AlaraPGuide">[[Doug Beyer]] & [[Jenna Helland]] (2008). ''[[A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara]]'', [[Wizards of the Coast]]. ISBN-13 978-0786951246</ref>
*The language spoken by Jund's Viashino
*The pseudo-written language of the Nacatl, chiseled on the [[Coil]].<ref name="AlaraPGuide"/>
**Challik translates as "toad's tongue."<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*The language spoken by Jund's Goblins
**The phrase ''plikintok agat'' translates to "wearing a garment of rock."<ref name="AlaraGuide"/>
*''Scratchforms'', a pseudo-written language and the writing system employed by the nacatl.<ref>{{DailyRef|savor-flavor/running-wild-2008-09-09|Running Wild|[[Jenna Helland]]|September 10, 2008}}</ref> Among Wild Nacatl, scratchforms are predominantly used by [[shaman]]s. The most important text set in scratchforms was the [[Coil]].


==Planeswalkers==
==Planeswalkers==

Revision as of 10:11, 15 May 2023

Alara
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Obelisk of Esper.jpg}}|250px]]
Information
First seen Shards of Alara
Last seen March of the Machine
Planeswalkers Ajani Goldmane, Sifa Grent, Tezzeret
Rabiah Scale 5[1]
Status Reunited; recovering from New Phyrexia's invasion

Alara is a plane in the Multiverse. It was once a serene plane with few internal conflicts, but the Sundering broke the world into the five Shards: Bant, Esper, Grixis, Jund and Naya. The event known as the Conflux reunited the shards, causing much chaos and mayhem to their respective residents.

History

Ancient Alara

The plane of Alara was once a single, immense plane, rich in mana and natural resources.[2] Its realms, including an ancient kingdom known as Vithia, flourished in an era of peace and wisdom. The archangel Asha watched over the plane, protecting its inhabitants from the forces of Malfegor.[3]

Ancient Alarans built enormous artifacts called obelisks across the plane which focused the five colors of mana.[4] When Alara was one plane, mages channeled and filtered its rich sources of mana with these obelisks.[2] The obelisks tamed Alara's wild mana into easily manageable sources for rituals, summonings, and other spellcraft. With such powerful and reliable mana, Alara, in its early days, was one of the Multiverse’s most accommodating environments for spellcasters.

The Sundering

Millennia before the Mending,[5] in an event later known as the Sundering, an unknown Planeswalker plundered Alara for its mana.[3] The drain on the plane's mana shattered something deep in its metaphysical structure, causing it to undergo a radical planar refraction.[2] The plane broke into shards along mana lines, diffusing into its component parts like light refracted in a prism - and shattering Alara's civilizations and ecologies along with it. Whatever agent caused this destruction abandoned what remained of the plane, its spell presumably finished.

The shards that resulted from Alara’s refraction drifted away from each other in the Blind Eternities.[2] They were planes unto themselves, but not complete — each was cut off from two different colors of mana. As the shards' mana supplies slowly replenished themselves again, this mana imbalance dramatically altered life on each world. Environments warped to match the changed mana landscape, and life changed with it. Many species fell to extinction, while new forms of life adapted and prospered.

Conflux

The shards reunited, a jagged fusion of now poorly-fitting pieces. As the Conflux progressed, it became not the same Alara that had once been, but a new world, a patchwork plane composed of five distinct microverses—Alara, but reborn. As the barriers between worlds dissolved and lands overlapped in chaotic incursion zones, the denizens of the five shards ventured forth, meeting their long-lost fellow Alarans for the first time. Prejudice gripped these races that were once allies, made strangers by history and fate. The rejoined plane flows with all five colors of mana once more. Waves of raw power crash across the former planar boundaries, bringing long-forgotten magics to all the shards and mingling them in unprecedented ways. As the boundaries between the shards dissolve, cultures clash, and wars ensue.[3]

The combined Obelisk

The forces of Esper invade the other shards looking for carmot, an element necessary to create more of their dwindling etherium. Hordes of Grixis undead mount an assault to maim, enslave, and drain the life energy from other shards. The warriors of Jund extend their "life hunts" to the newfound game throughout Alara's vast hunting grounds. Naya's forces follow the elves' decrees and march out of the jungle, searching for answers to the Anima's prophetic visions. And the armies of Bant clash with the horrors swarming over their borders, defending their homeland in the name of their guardian angels.

The Maelstrom

At the point where the five Shards met, a chaotic storm of mana came into existence: the Maelstrom. Nicol Bolas, the ancient dragon Planeswalker, planned this all along. He came to Alara to feed on its rich mana and, in one massive ritual, restore his lost power. He was ultimately stopped from destroying all of Alara by Ajani Goldmane.

Phyrexian Invasion

Alara was targeted by Elesh Norn's Machine Legion as part of New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse.[6] Not much is known about the plane's defense, as neither Alaran natives in the compleated Ajani or the traitorous Tezzeret interacted with this particular front of the invasion. The knights of former Bant such as Rafiq were amongst the defenders, but curiously the Maelstrom itself seemed to fight on behalf of Alara.[7]

Inhabitants

When the plane sundered, species that did not fit the colors of their shard slowly went extinct.[2] Humans were the only race that inhabited all five shards.

Flora

  • Bloodthorn trees, short, bushy trees with long, poisonous thorns with a hook at the end.[2] If they remain in the skin too long they're fatal. Naya's humans have developed an immunity and sometimes build their settlements inside bloodthorn groves.
  • Fig trees, tended to in the walled and organized groves of Bant.[2]
  • Lianas, thick, woody vines that can grow up to five feet in diameter and lace together Naya's canopy.[2]
  • Mushrooms, a source of food for the humans of Grixis.[2]
  • Olive trees, such as the Twelve Trees of Valeron.[2]
  • Thuja trees, massive examples of which are housed in The Sun-Dappled Court.[2]
  • Tukatongue trees, the primary food staple for Jund's humans.[2] Growing on high plateaus, the tree's supple wood and tough bark helps it survive fierce winds and a marauding dragon's fiery breath. The tree's roots can be ground into a sticky paste for an unappealing, but reliable, food source. Many stone weapons are wrapped in the spiky bark. Humans live in temporary shelters made from tuka frames and covered in lizard skin.
  • Wanat Trees, the major year-round food source of Naya's elves.[2] Their nuts are high in protein and their flowers make an energy-enhancing drink.

Trivia

Languages

  • Nacatl [10]
  • The old language of Vithia
    • Grixis translates to "traitor"[11][2]
    • This may be the language from which Thraximundar, meaning "he who paints the earth red," derives.[2]
  • The language spoken by Jund's Viashino
    • Challik translates as "toad's tongue."[2]
  • The language spoken by Jund's Goblins
    • The phrase plikintok agat translates to "wearing a garment of rock."[2]
  • Scratchforms, a pseudo-written language and the writing system employed by the nacatl.[12] Among Wild Nacatl, scratchforms are predominantly used by shamans. The most important text set in scratchforms was the Coil.

Planeswalkers

Native

Visitors

In-game references

Represented in:
Associated cards:
Referred to:

Sources

References

  1. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 10, 2021). "You recently answered a question about returning to Alara...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Doug Beyer & Jenna Helland (2008). A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 978-0786951246
  3. ↑ a b c Doug Beyer (April 14, 2009). "A New Age for Alara". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  4. ↑ Doug Beyer (June 10, 2009). "Graduation Day". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. ↑ (2008). Shards of Alara Player's Guide. Wizards of the Coast.
  6. ↑ First Look at March of the Machine (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube (February 19, 2023).
  7. ↑ Awaken the Maelstrom
  8. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (January 8th, 2010). "Premium Foil Booster". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. ↑ Mark Rosewater (February 10, 2019). "Will we ever return to Alara?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  10. ↑ Winged Coatl
  11. ↑ Doug Beyer (September 24, 2008). "Alive and Unwell". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  12. ↑ Jenna Helland (September 10, 2008). "Running Wild". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  13. ↑ a b Jed MacKay (2023). Magic. Iss 22. Boom!
  14. ↑ Ral correctly guesses that Ajani is from Alara, implying that he himself has been there.
  15. ↑ a b c Greg Weisman (November 2019). "War of the Spark: Forsaken." Del Rey.
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