Ixalan (plane)

Ixalan
Information
First seen	Ixalan
Last seen	The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
Planeswalkers	Huatli (former)
Rabiah Scale	5
Status	Recovering from New Phyrexia's invasion

Ixalan (/ɪksəlɑːn/ IKS-uh-lahn) is a Mesoamerican-inspired plane full of uncharted jungles where dangerous beasts, magnificent ruins, and lost treasures lie waiting to be discovered.

History

Age of the Sun

In ancient times, multiple civilizations inhabited Ixalan's Core. Many were destroyed by outside forces, and others were unable to master the power of Cosmium. Only the Oltec civilization, the ancestors of the Sun Empire, survived. They worshiped the Core's inner sun, Chimil, for millennia, until giant Coin Empire "colonizers" caged her within a cosmium metal prison, blotting out her light.

Night War

320 years of darkness followed, and Aclazotz and his followers ruled the Core. A conflict known as the Night War ended this period of darkness, ending with the imprisonment of Aclazotz, and the liberation of Chimil. An offshoot of the Oltec known as the Komon Winaq were exiled to the plane's surface, later becoming the Sun Empire. At some point, the Core was sealed off to protect it from the spread of the mycoids, though the cities below the surface were quickly overrun.

The Quiet Age

In 3279 AR, the planeswalker Azor created a powerful artifact known as the Immortal Sun to trap Nicol Bolas. For this reason, Planeswalkers could enter Ixalan, but could not leave until the artifact was deactivated and removed in 4560.

The Immortal Sun was once guarded by holy custodians in a mountaintop monastery on the continent of Torrezon. Its presence gave the local monarch disproportionate influence in regional matters. The monastery fell under attack by the forces of the rival king Pedron the Wicked who stole the Immortal Sun but lost it to Azor, who reclaimed it. Around 3760, the mountainous nation called Torrezon — which later gave its name to the continent — split into three parts when its monarch died, with each portion ruled by one of the monarch's children. A long religious war ensued. It raged on for three centuries, before the first vampire, Elenda of Garrano, ended it. After the unification, many of Torrezon's nobles undertook Elenda's transformative ritual, and it became known as the Rite of Redemption by the church. The United Legion of Dusk began a series of wars and eventually took over the whole continent. When the last city-states were conquered, their inhabitants took to the sea and formed the Brazen Coalition.

On the continent of Ixalan, the River Heralds were once the dominant inhabitants of the continent with significant power of their own, and their strength was enough to keep the Sun Empire out of the interior. The Sun Empire was first founded in Orazca by Chacanto Intli, who united the various city-states into a central empire. Following a devastating war with the River Heralds under Apatzec Intli I, who had gained possession of the Immortal Sun and used it without restraint, their civilization was reduced to a few coastal cities, with Orazca being lost to both sides. The empire still confronted the Heralds on its borders.

The Sun Empire was besieged by pirate raids by the Brazen Coalition and the advance of the Legion of Dusk which was seeking the Immortal Sun. All factions closed in on the Lost City of Orazca, which was said to hide the ancient artifact. The Immortal Sun was found by several of the factions but was stolen and removed from the plane by a henchman of Bolas. The barrier was now broken, and several planeswalkers left the plane. With Orazca retaken, the Sun Empire pushed the Legion of Dusk back to the sea, capturing and reverse-engineering their fleet in preparation for an invasion of Torrezon. Forests were felled to raise a new fleet, known as the Dawn Fleet. Hundreds of ships were built, and nearly ten thousand soldiers and sailors crewed them. The ships were launched to Torrezon, and their last known location was the midway point between the two empires.

Phyrexian invasion

In 4562 AR, the plane mobilized against the growing New Phyrexian threat. Ixalan was a target in New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse, seemingly invaded by the Alabaster, Copper and Furnace hosts.

In the early days of the invasion, the sun was blocked out by smoke and falling ash from constant fires burning across the plane. After the elder dinosaur Etali was compleated, severe hurricanes began forming just off the coast of the continent of Ixalan. The skies flashed with red lightning, and the wind sparkled with razors, preventing aerosaurs from flying.

A dozen towns along the northern barrier of the continent of Ixalan were wiped out, with a thousand reported dead. In the south of the Sun Empire, Atzocan, Otepec, and Little Pocatli suffered similar fates. The Sun Empire, pirates, and the Legion of Dusk banded together to fight the invaders, and Etali was finally felled by Zacama after injuring Zetalpa. As a consequence of the invasion, the bat god Aclazotz awoke from his slumber in the plane's core.

End of the Fifth Age

In the aftermath of the Invasion, entrances to the plane's core were discovered across the war-torn continent of Ixalan. After the death of the Deeproot Tree, thousands of merfolk bands from across the plane gathered in Matzalantli. Both Sun Empire and Legion of Dusk entered the core, meeting the Oltec for the first time since the core was sealed. The latter faction freed Aclazotz, who then attempted to snuff out the plane's inner sun. At the same time, the mycoid hivemind known as the Mycotyrant attacked the Oltec. While the god and the fungus were defeated, both escaped to the plane's surface.

Meanwhile, the factions of the surface continued vying for power. A second Dawn Fleet was constructed in Queen's Bay in the Sun Empire, along with dozens of mechanoquetzacama, in preparation for an invasion of Torrezon. Hoping to prevent war, the emperor's sister Caztaca Huicintli plotted to depose her bellicose brother Atlacan, while Saint Elenda of Garrano hoped to subvert the rising faction under Vona, the Antifex. Admiral Beckett Brass crashed a meeting of the two factions, agreeing to support their causes in exchange for a Brazen Coalition state in the ocean between the two.

Geography

Map of the continent of Ixalan

Ixalan is a hollow sphere. It has at least two large continents on its surface that are separated by an ocean. The journey east from Queen's Bay to the Sens takes one week by ship. Further north, travelers meet only unmelting ice. The Sun Empire has never sailed north of its northern shores. An omenpath to the plane of Arcavios regularly appears.

Stormwreck Sea

The Stormwreck Sea is the home to various archipelagos and numerous pirates.

• The floating city of High and Dry, the base of the Brazen Coalition
  • The Burning Port, an ale house
  • The Boatswain's Rear, another ale house
• The Spitfire Bastion, the base of Captain Vance on an island east of the Sun Coast
• "Useless Island", where Jace Beleren was cast away following his defeat against Nicol Bolas.
• The Corsair Coast
• Sunray Bay, a large Brazen Coalition town outside Downtown. It was left deserted after its population was taken over by the Mycotyrant around 4563 AR.
  • Downtown, the largest and most productive mine in the Brazen Coalition, and responsible for a significant part of the Coalition's economy. Originally an ancient, dry cenote, it was named as a joke, but the name stuck. The town is split between an outpost on the surface and the main village underground in a huge cavern. Hundreds of mining tunnels extend into the rock around the cenote and wooden buildings are scattered around the lip seemingly at random. Pulley-operated elevators are supported by cranes and catwalks, while hydraulic lifts and switchbacks hug the walls. Additional pulleys haul buckets of ore from the mines to carts at the surface. Refineries handle chemical and magical conversions, other processing areas manage the manual cleaning, and silos are filled with products ready for delivery to the surface. Within the mine, everything is usually lit by giant daylight lamps, both magical and mechanical, as well as personal torches, candles, and lanterns. Its mining has caused earthquakes and runoff in the surrounding area, leading to raids by the River Heralds. The entire town was taken over by mycoid infection around 4563 AR.

Ixalan (continent)

Treasure Map

Ixalan, the western continent, bears the same name as the plane (or the other way around). Covered in vast jungles and rivers. It is home to large dinosaurs, that some of the natives managed to domesticate, and numerous secrets are hidden within its forests.

• The Sun Empire
  • Sun Coast, the eastern coast.
  • Pachatupa, its former capital. Standing where the coastal plains rise into the high mountains. The river bordering Pachatupa feeds the city freshwater from vast inland mountain ranges, plunging from Itlimoc through heavily irrigated floodplains. After the Invasion, the capital was moved to Orazca.
    • Tocatli, the emperor's palace at the heart of Pachatupa. During the Phyrexian Invasion, ash blanketed the citadel. The imperial throne room sits high atop the palace, but was converted to an imperial war room in preparation for the invasion of Torrezon. It is dominated by a scale map of Ixalan, Torrezon, and the Stormwreck Sea.
    • The Temple of the Burning Sun
    • Riverside districts
  • Itlimoc state. A state with no cities, only holding small towns and maize, squash, and bean farms.
  • Quetzatl state. A state with no cities, only holding small towns and maize, squash, and bean farms.
  • Other cities
    • Atzocan, located on the low coastal plain. Destroyed by the Phyrexians.
    • Otepec, a vast city of temples built in reverence to the Threefold Sun, located in a high alpine forest at the western edge of the Sun Empire's lands. Destroyed by the Phyrexians.
    • Little Pocatli. Destroyed by the Phyrexians.
• Queen's Bay.
  • Miraldanor, an island stronghold of the Legion of Dusk. An imposing fortress on a barrier island at the mouth of the Bay, it is named after Queen Miralda.
    • Adanto, the First Fort. Strongest fort of the vampires.
    • Conqueror's Foothold
    • Fortress Leor, the Edge of Exile. The middle of the three fortresses of Queen's Bay. After the Sun Empire took Orazca and pushed the Legion of Dusk to the sea, Leor held for months but fell before the end of the year. The Sun Empire reverse-engineered its fleet of blue-water frigates to begin their invasion of Torrezon.
    • Dúrran, the Fort of Faith
• Jungle Region
  • Lost cities Ancient ruins from the Sun Empire's heyday can now be found, overgrown and half-buried, in the depths of the jungle.
    • Quetzatl, once the home of a self-proclaimed king who challenged the authority of the emperor.
    • Pecatli, known for its grand temple of the Threefold Sun.
    • Techepec, a former retreat for the emperor and the imperial family.
    • Tanaztac, a fortress city marking the former western edge of the empire.
  • Icalaquiampa, the temple of sunset. The focus of a religious sect that tried to replace the emperor with a high priest and establish a theocratic rule.
  • The Great River
    • The Nine Tributaries, Tishana, Kumena, Pashona, Vuhana, Mitica, Notana, Falani, Tuvasa, and Kopala.
  • The Deeproot Tree, a remnant of an ancient Merfolk city. Died between 4560 and 4563 AR, potentially in the New Phyrexian invasion.
• Mountain region
  • Lost Valley
  • Temple of Aclazotz, a ruined temple containing a broad, deep cenote. Curved stairs are carved into its sides, leading to a series of catacombs followed by a large, circular room filled with candelabras, an obsidian altar, and a golden door that opened when a sacrifice was offered. Through this door is a massive underground desert that instantly swallows up travelers on the wrong path. At the far end of the cavern is a pathway subtly marked with carved bat wings. This pathway leads to another huge cavern crisscrossed with arching natural bridges over thunderous cascading lava, bright enough to light the entire space. On some of the rocky outcroppings, stone buildings rise, while others are carved directly into large stalactites.
  • Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, a sacred forest for both merfolk and humans.
  • The Primal Wellspring, the sacred source of the Great River. Infused with magical power.
• Inner Sea
  • Hidden coves hold pirate treasures stowed by captains long forgotten.
    • Treasure Cove
  • Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin. A thriving population center until a prolonged conflict with the River Heralds caused it to sink into the waters.
  • Tonalixco, Temple of the eastern sun
• Orazca, the lost city of gold. Now the capital of the Sun Empire.
  • The Threefold Temple
  • Atzal, Cave of Eternity
  • Metzali, Tower of Triumph
  • The Tomb of the Dusk Rose
  • The Sanctum of the Sun
  • The ritual district
    • The Winged Temple
      • The priests' chambers
      • The Three Hundred Steps
      • The recitation chamber

Underground

• Ban Koj, a Malamet city larger than Alta Torrezon. It is built into a cluster of massive stalactites. Some buildings are hewn directly from the rock, while others feature painted white walls like pottery. Rope bridges and nets extend between buildings, as well as thick cables from which aerial lifts hang. The largest stalactite is windowless, its interior covered in enormous cosmium glyphs. Inside is a massive pyramid hundreds of steps tall, leading to a room at the top. Within the pyramid sits the sovereign's throne room. Trespassers are exiled from the city by being placed in a large fountain with a jaguar head at the top that fills with sand rather than water and empties into Matzalanti. No non-Malamet visited the city between when the Oltec closed off the Core and the Queen's Bay Company's expedition around 4563 AR.
• Topizielo, an abandoned city built by the Komon Winaq. In a cavern many miles across, from edge to edge filled with stone buildings and narrow streets. A central pyramid is etched with cosmium. In the center of the plaza is a dry fountain. After the mycoid infestation, the city's buildings were covered in a blue and green luminescent fungus.
  • Matzalantli, a massive gilded city of stepped stone buildings above and below an underground freshwater ocean. Lamps burn above low buildings, while long strings of bioluminescent baubles and baskets holding firebugs light the streets and alleys. A round, corroded copper door covered in glyphs sealed the plane's Core from its surface from the discovery of the mycoids until it was opened around 4563 AR. After the death of the Deeproot Tree, Shaper Pashona rediscovered Matzalanti, and thousands of merfolk gathered in the city, the largest assembly of merfolk bands in Ixalan's history.
• Tecutlan, the Searing Rift
• The Mycoid Maze

The Core of Paradise

Underneath Ixalan's surface is an inverted sphere known as the Core of Paradise with a sun at its center. The sun is the plane's source of cosmium. The only surviving civilization inhabiting The Core, the Oltec, are the ancestors of the Sun Empire. The gravity shift of entering the core was described by Quintorius Kand as a dizzying effect similar to planeswalking.

• Chimil, "the Riven Star," the Inner Sun. Worshiped by the Oltec for millennia. Once a star, it was torn apart by a previous invasion of the Core. The debris that now orbits it is known as the cosmium reef.
• Oteclan, capital city of the Oltec.
  • The Night War memorial contains remains of Coin Empire colonizers.
• The garrison of the Thousand Moons sits in a valley, guarding the door at Matzalantli. In a nearby town, a pyramid rises several stories, with a large, spiked disk at the top. Shorter buildings are scattered around it. Aqueducts wind their way through the town, pooling in stone reservoirs.
• A fetid swamp, where followers of Aclazotz dwell. The swamp features a thick fog and ankle-deep mud with a sulfuric smell and is devoid of animal life. It leads to a cave that appears nondescript from the outside. Inside the cave, a tunnel that smells strongly of corpses ends with a door ringed by glyphs. Followers of Aclazotz can prove their allegiance by enduring pain, causing the door to open by rolling to the side. Within, a proper temple is contained, with tall columns, carved walls, and swarms of bats. After Aclazotz's escape, the temple's location was revealed when bolts of red lightning erupted from within the mountain.
• The Temple of Civilization
• The Temple of Cyclical Time
• The Temple of the Dead
• The Temple of Power
• Colony's End, a remnant of a Coin Empire ship. The semicircular ship juts from the side of a mountain, seemingly cast from a single piece of metal.

Torrezon

Torrezon is the eastern continent. Ruled by an alliance between a powerful church and an iron-fisted monarch. Vampires dominate the continent after a series of wars with other realms. Refugees and exiles from the defeated nations fled to the sea and established the Brazen Coalition. Its citizens are called Torrezonés.

• Alta Torrezon, the largest city in the Legion of Dusk, deep in Torrezon's interior.
• Garrano, birthplace of Elenda.
• Iedo, birthplace of Vona.
• Lujio, birthplace of Adrian Adanto.
• The Deoro, a vast mountain range looming behind a continent-bisecting river between the Free Cities and Alta Torrezon.
• The Free Cities, on the west coast and the plains. Occupied by humans.
  • Magan, a walled village massacred during the Apostasine War.
• The Sens, a small scattering of islands off the western coast of Torrezon. Home to the Orcs.
  • Sen Gael, the main island.

Luneau

Luneau is an island kingdom under the influence of the Legion of Dusk. In its capital of the same name, a dance known as the "Tourdion with the Truculent Thunder" is a popular observance. In smaller settlements, an annual festival involves the running of juvenile raptors in the streets while adolescents steal their feathers.

• The opulent city of Luneau, full of Byzantine alleys and baroque balconies.
  • The Hall of Treasures, a taxidermist museum.
  • The Royal Menagerie, a collection of animals.
  • The Perfumed Court, the royal palace.

Inhabitants

The Brazen Coalition

• Goblins (e.g. Wily Goblin)
• Humans
• Orcs (e.g. Ruin Raider)
• Sirens (e.g. Dreamcaller Siren)

Sun Empire

• Humans

• Dominated animals:
  • Dinosaurs, see below

• Constructs:
  • Golems

River Heralds

• Merfolk
  • Land-favoring (e.g. Waker of the Wilds)
  • Water-favoring (e.g. Kopala, Warden of Waves)
  • Hybrid (e.g. Tishana, Voice of Thunder)

• Harnessed magical beings:
  • Elementals (e.g. Air Elemental (Ixalan), Soul of the Rapids, and Wildgrowth Walker)

Legion of Dusk

• Vampires (e.g. Bishop of Rebirth)
• Humans (e.g. Seeker's Squire)

• Domesticated animals:
  • Bulls
  • Horses
  • Mastiffs

Oltec

• Humans

• Domesticated Animals:
  • Bats
  • Capybaras
  • Llamas

• Constructs:
  • Gnomes
  • Dinomatons
  • Golems

Other sapient races

• Angels, living underground, protecting Ixalan's Core.
• Echoes
• The Malamet, jaguar warriors living underground.
• Demons (seen in Dark Nourishment)
• Dryads (e.g. Blossom Dryad, Old-Growth Dryads, Tendershoot Dryad; seen in Verdant Rebirth)
• Harpies
• The Deep Goblins
• Mycoids
• Skeletons

Dinosaurs

Ixalan is home to a vast array of dinosaurs or quetzacama (parenthesized names have not been used in lore, but are here to help classify):

• Aegisaurs (Ankylosaurs)
• (Ceratopsians)
  • Bronzebeaks
  • Cacophodons
  • Ceratops
    • Siegehorns
  • Frillhorns
  • Horncrests
  • Snubhorns (Pachyrhinosaurs)
  • Tuskodon
• Dracosaurs (also typed as Dragons)
• Frillbacks (Dimetrodons)
• (Hadrosaurs)
  • Bristlebacks
  • Herdcallers
  • Spinebacks
• Hammerskulls (Pachycephalosaurs)
• (Plesiosaurs)
  • Benthisaurs
  • Pelagosaurs
• (Pterosaurs)
  • Aerosaurs
  • Heliopterus
  • Pterodons
  • Sandwings
  • Sunwings
• (Sauropods)
  • Altisaurs
  • Brontodons
  • Whiptails
• (Stegosaurs)
  • Armasaurs
  • Platetails
  • Spiketails
  • Spinetails
  • Stegosauruses
• (Theropods)
  • Axejaws
  • Colossadactyls
  • Deathgorge Scavengers
  • Deathspitters (Dilophosaurs)
  • Egg-eaters (Oviraptors)
  • Raptors
    • Clawfoots
    • Ferocidons
    • Needletooths
  • Sailbacks (Spinosaurs)
  • (Tyrannosaurs)
    • Bladetooths
      • Daggertooths
      • Swordtooths
    • Dreadmaws
    • Monstrosaurs
    • Regisaurs
    • Tyrants
• Mechanoquetzacama
  • Thopterices (also typed as Thopters)

Other wildlife

• Barnacles
• Bat Imps (e.g. Blight Keepers)
• Bears
• Birds, including albatrosses, seagulls, and hawks
• Chupacabras, typed as Beast Horrors (e.g. Lurking Chupacabra and Ravenous Chupacabra)
• Coatis
• Coatls (seen in Favorable Winds)
• Fishes
  • Sharks
• piranhas or anhafish
  • Golden thunnini
• Frogs
• Griffins
• Insects (e.g. Skittering Heartstoppers)
  • Cave Crawlers
  • Fireflies
• Lemurs
• Oysters
• Panthers
• Spiders
  • Mantis-spiders (underground)
• Mycoids
• Saber-toothed Cats
• Salamander Wurms
• Sunbirds (e.g. Rekindling Phoenix)
• Tortoises
• Trilobites (seen in Shore Keeper)
• Wildebeests
• Worms
  • Silkworms

Flora

• Beans, eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Ahuehuete trees
• Avocado
• Coffea, drank in the Sun Empire.
• Hibiscus, used in iced drinks in the Sun Empire.
• Maize, ground into masa and eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Mangos, eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Old man's beard
• Plants , including carnivorous plants (seen in Crushing Canopy)
• A "spiny pinkish fruit," possibly pitaya, eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Squash, eaten in the Sun Empire.
• Tobacco, smoked in cigarillos.
• Toadstool trees

Languages

Ixalan has a variety of languages, though all are generally mutually intelligible between its inhabitants, and all seem to incorporate words from the real world Spanish.

• Itzocan, the language of the Sun Empire. It is spoken in "High" and "Low" dialects, and its written language uses sigils.
  • Abuelo, la — grandfather, grandmother
  • Compañero, — partner
  • Quetzacama — Dinosaur
• Mavren Fein's native language, likely the language of Torrezon
• The language of Yolotzin's village
• The language of the Komon Winaq
  • Its written language uses logographic or ideographic sigils and is similar to Itzocan.
    • Known sigils include farmer, leaf, shadow, and warrior.
  • Abuelo, la — grandfather, grandmother

Trivia

• Besides the mesoamerican civilizations, Ixalan is inspired by the Age of Discovery and Piracy when legends such as El Dorado were created.
• A lot of what inspires both the Sun Empire and the River Heralds comes directly from the Maya and Aztec and the succession of control from one to the other.
• Another source is the Lost world trope. Torrezon and Luneau themselves draw inspiration from colonial Spain and France, respectively.
• The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is Magic's take on the “Underground World” trope.
• Ixalan's various factions use copper, silver, and gold coins as currency.

Planeswalkers

Native

• Huatli

Visitors

• Angrath
• Azor
• Isona Maive (non-canon)
• Jace Beleren
• Kaya Cassir (non-canon)
• Liliana Vess (non-canon)
• Niko Aris (non-canon)
• Quintorius Kand
• Ral Zarek
• Saheeli Rai
• Tezzeret
• The Wanderer
• Vivien Reid
• Vraska

Non-planeswalker visitors

• Kellan

In-game references

Represented in:

• The Core
• The Golden City of Orazca

Associated cards:

• Invasion of Ixalan
• Ixalan's Binding

Referred to:

• Aetherwing, Golden-Scale Flagship
• Angrath's Marauders
• Arguel's Blood Fast
• Blossom Dryad
• Burning Sun Cavalry
• Burning Sun's Fury
• Crash the Ramparts
• Deeproot Wayfinder
• Dusk Legion Duelist
• Grazing Whiptail
• Heartbeat of Spring (Secret Lair)
• Hijack (Ixalan)
• Jadelight Spelunker
• Jungle Hollow (March of the Machine)
• Mana Crypt (Special Guest)
• Out of Air
• Ravenous Sailback
• Snapping Sailback
• Verdant Rebirth

External links

• Chas Andres (October 25, 2017). "Ten Burning Questions from the Ixalan Story". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.