Nikya

Nikya
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Details
Race	Centaur
Birthplace	Ravnica
Lifetime	Mending Era
Colors

Nikya is a powerful Centaur Druid, and leader of the Gruul Zhur-Taa Clan on Ravnica, one of the Gruul tribes who worships the ancient gods of old Ravnica.

Description

She has the well-muscled physique of a youthful fighter but the battle scars of a veteran. Age lines branch from the corner of her eyes, which seem wiser than many of the elder dryads of Vitu-Ghazi.

Though raised to be a warrior, Nikya soon discovered her natural gifts with magic, which allows her to summon enormous constricting vines from the ancient layers of Ravnica's crust. She considers herself to be the last of the true Gruul druids. At the heart of her beliefs in the "Old Ways" is the expectation of a coming apocalypse, the "End-Raze". In a glorious onslaught, every brick of Ravnica's soaring skylines will tumble to rubble, and the world will return to a state of nature. The bringer of the end times is Ilharg, the Raze-Boar.

History

Nikya had learned that a Gruul infant had been taken into the Selesnyan vernadi in the Rubblebelt, run by the druid Cecilee and her healers. Because the vernadi had been working as a healing center for injured Gruul warriors and was in good standing with the Zhur-Taa, Nikya decided to diplomatically ask for the Gruul child back, rather than attack the vernadi outright. Cecilee refused to give up the infant, whom she had adopted as her own, and named Zi after her brother Ruzi. Nikya took great offense to this, and the ties that had been growing between Gruul and Selesnya were severed. Nikya withdrew her warriors from the vernadi and broke off all contact with the Selesnyans.

A Rakdos war party led by Massacre Girl discovered Cecilee's vernadi and took the opportunity of the withdrawal of the Gruul to attack it. The Rakdos slaughtered all of Cecilee's healers and warriors, and Massacre Girl cut the druid's throat herself. The infant Zi was left undiscovered, however, his cradle was tucked under a table behind some crates. The child's adopted uncle Ruzi discovered the boy and bitterly disowned his Selesnyan affiliation. Swearing revenge upon all three involved guilds, he approached Nikya and informed her that the Rakdos had killed everyone in the vernadi, lying to her that the deaths included the innocent Gruul child.

Enraged, Nikya declared war upon the Rakdos raiding party, and she recruited many strong Zhur-Taa warriors to do battle with Massacre Girl's troops. When battle ensued, Massacre Girl brought her full force to bear, including that of a Rakdos bloodwitch and a score of demons. All seemed lost for Nikya's forces until the Gruul shaman Kal unleashed a learned Izzet rebounding fire spell that blasted through the Rakdos, killing almost all their number, although Massacre Girl herself escaped. Having won the brief war on the Rakdos, Nikya herself claimed the head of the bloodwitch as a trophy.

Phyrexian Invasion

During the Phyrexian invasion, Nikya was instrumental in bottlenecking the Golgari Swarm from the surface of Ravnica with her constricting vine magic. For this, she has become the only real potential challenge to Borborygmos's power as guildmaster of the Gruul.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
In Praise of the Worldsoul, Part 3	Jenna Helland	2012-10-10	Return to Ravnica	Ravnica	Ruzi and Kuma, Zi, Massacre Girl, Nikya
Gruul Ingenuity	Adam Lee	2013-01-02	Gatecrash	Ravnica	Kal, Durri, Nikya, Janik, Massacre Girl

In-game references

Represented in:

• Nikya of the Old Ways

Depicted in:

• Thrash

Quoted or referred to:

• Gift of Strength (Ravnica Allegiance)
• Living Twister
• Rubblebelt Raiders
• Rust Scarab
• Skarrg Goliath
• Stomping Ground (Ravnica Allegiance)