Abzan Houses

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Abzan Houses
Scale of the Dragon
Lore Information
Dragon Aspect	Endurance
Khan	Daghatar (bef. 3279 AR-c. 3282) Reyhan (c. 3282) Felothar (c. 4562-Present)
Game Information
Colors
Mechanics	Outlast (Khans of Tarkir) Bolster (Fate Reforged) Endure (Tarkir: Dragonstorm)
Creature Types	Humans Aven Orcs Ainok Loxodons Spirits
Scryfall Search
watermark:"Abzan" art:"Abzan"

The Abzan Revealed

One of the five Clans of Tarkir, the Abzan Houses (/ɑːbzɑːn/ AHB-zahn) admires the ancient dragons' aspect of endurance. Their color wedge is white (focus color), black and green.

Description

The Abzan Houses are resilient warriors who fight in tight-knit groups. Their homes are on the harsh, rugged desert plains of the Shifting Wastes. The center of the clan is the fortress city Arashin. They are regarded as promoters of stability and peace, managing a robust trade network between the clans. The Abzan are empowered by their connection with their ancestors' spirits.

Culture

The central belief of the Abzan is perennation. The Abzan consider it their responsibility to preserve the world for future generations, a duty that persists even in death. Every member of the clan must ensure the continued existence of the clan by completing the cycle of life and death, ensuring the next generation survives and endures.

The Abzan Houses model themselves after familial units to survive their harsh environment. Family as a concept is of extreme relevance to the Abzan, believing it to be the institution that allows them to thrive in the harsh desert environment. Referring to another clan member as "sister" or "brother" is a mark of high esteem, while ritual disowning is a grave matter. While the Abzan Houses look like a unified entity, in reality, they are a web of families competing politically, trying to form alliances while isolating rivals. That said, they are all too aware that disunity is to be avoided at all costs if they wish to survive.

The Abzan are welcoming, their fortified cities offering respite to travelers and outcasts from other clans. Though welcoming to visitors, the Abzan are selective in bringing other clans' members into their family houses. As such, marriages and adoptions are governed by strict rules. In both cases, the ancestors must approve and bond individuals to their family's Kin-Tree. After decimating their enemies, the Abzan take in the orphans and adopt them as their own, these orphans being known as Krumar, and are considered true family and treated as equal to any other Abzan.

What was once a solemn time to converse with the ancestors has now become a lively festival that takes place once per year within each house. To show appreciation to the ancestors, the living put on feasts and performances in their ancestors' names. All those present go before the Kin-Tree to give thanks and gift the fruits of their labor, such as traditional foods, original poems, or dance performances.

The Abzan are self-sustaining when it comes to their water resources and most of their food supply. They have taken up agriculture and maintain farmland both in and surrounding their fortresses, specializing in warm-weather crops such as melons, peppers, herbs, and squash. They also care for many herd animals.

Artistry

The Abzan are fervent poets and musicians. They embroider poetry into their clothing, etch verses into their weapons, and recite poetic invocations before battles and as part of ancestral summonings. Abzan poetry is often paired with music. Abzan musicians delight and entertain with uniquely Abzan percussion instruments and high-energy songs.

The most well-crafted weapons, those that have been wielded in great feats, are given names. These weapons pass down through generations within a family and are attuned to ancestral spirits as they go through an extensive process of treating the weapon with resin and sap taken fresh from the family Kin-Tree. Some named weapons have a spirit indefinitely bonded to them.

Trade

The Abzan are known for their highly skilled artisans, particularly experts in textile manufacture such as weaving and carpet making. They are also prized for their glass making and carpentry. The Abzan export a wide variety of finely crafted goods in exchange for food and materials they do not have access to in their deserts. As frequent traders with heavily protected trade caravans, they are often sought out by other clans to act as trade intermediaries. Because of the insular nature of the Abzan fortresses, many Abzan civilians are naturally very curious and enjoy trading for the chance to experience something new.

Kin-Trees

A Kin-Tree is a sacred fruit-bearing tree that is home to the ancestral spirits of a family. Family members who die are buried near one of their House Kin-Trees to be absorbed into its roots. They connect their spirits to the tree, allowing them to be summoned by descendants. When the body cannot be buried, an artifact or other important objects may be buried instead. Some Abzan carry and consume resin, sap, or amber to connect with the spirits. One must be bonded with the tree to be considered part of that family and therefore part of the Abzan. Each Abzan family once bore a Kin-Tree to which the dead members of the family were fed and where their names were carved, zealously guarded by the firstborn child, known as a "tree warden/caretaker." Younger children were free to choose other paths, and eventually plant their Kin-Trees and families.

During Dromoka's time, the Kin-Trees were nearly rendered extinct. The present Kin-Trees are composed of spiritual energy combined with a living tree; most no longer bear fruit and are propagated through transplanting cuttings taken from the few Kin-Trees that survived Dromoka's destruction. Today, Kin-Tree wardens are chosen by the ancestors and are responsible for tending and maintaining the sacred family Kin-Trees. Powerful magic users, wardens are the most versed in summoning ancestral spirits.

Since Dromoka's defeat, many wayward Abzan spirits have emerged and made requests of their descendants to soothe their souls and improve their family's Kin-Tree. Fulfilling these requests is often a way for house members to prove themselves or improve their social status. An entreaty might require an Abzan to solve a mystery from generations ago or retrieve a series of items from around Tarkir. Occasionally, abandoned ancestral spirits turn malevolent and dangerous, forming swirling storms known as "ancestral maelstroms." To ease their souls, many Abzan must band together to free them from their torment. A maelstrom is typically found near an abandoned Kin-Tree; finding and nourishing the tree is often the quickest way to ease a maelstrom.

Kin-Tree bonding is a ceremony where the individual's blood is fed to the roots of the tree to be introduced and accepted by the spirits. It allows the individual to summon the spirits connected to their house's Kin-Tree regardless of blood relation and is a marker of being part of an Abzan House. Kin-Tree severance is an extremely rare process of family disownment where an individual's spiritual connection to their Kin-Tree is severed. A fire is started on bark taken from the Kin-Tree, blood from the individual is thrown into it, and their crimes are explained to the spirits. Disownment is a grave matter, as not only are the disowned social outcasts (though open to more life paths, such as wandering, adventuring, or becoming mercenaries) that cannot be adopted by any family, they also lack a kin-tree, and their spirits become malevolent and restless after death.

Military

The Abzan are adept war strategists, relying on disciplined troops, massive fortifications, and ample resources. The Abzan military consists of highly organized soldiers who specialize in defensive approaches to battle. They combine long-range support troops with mounted heavy cavalry to divide up enemy lines and draw them toward ranged soldiers in defensive fortresses. The Abzan also utilize elaborate defensive nomadic camps designed similarly to their fortresses. Although they are slow moving, they are extremely difficult to penetrate. Troops value bolstering their numbers with field-splitting tactics and summoning their ancestors to battle. Heavily armed and armored, their approach is "slow and steady," preferring to outwit and outlast their opponents. They often forego chasing after the losing enemies to maintain strategic ground but have learned to exploit the desert to their advantage, often leading enemies into the shifting sands to finish their opponents without lifting a finger.

Abzan mounts are heavily armored and chosen for battle because of their strength and temperament. Mounts are used for sieges and general transportation and are often combined with the might of earthcarvers.

The Yathan are the best of the best from across the Abzan military. They serve as scouts, assassins, and elite soldiers. The Yathan are a largely self-governing group who operate independently from Felothar and the Council of Houses.

Magic

Abzan magic centers around earth manipulation and spirit summoning. Earthcarver mages can control the earth around them, such as raising protective barriers of rock, promoting plant growth, and wielding sand to obscure their forces in the desert. Within the Abzan, anyone connected to a Kin-Tree can call forth the spirit of an ancestor. Spirits can strengthen the summoner, provide guidance, and even take on tangible forms to interact with the world.

Original timeline

While much about the Abzan was the same in the original timeline, there were some notable differences. The Abzan were severely distrustful of outsiders, except for the Ainok, the original inhabitants of the desert, who taught the clan how to survive in the inhospitable environment.

History

After Sarkhan Vol saved Ugin's life and sent the dragon into a deep slumber in 3279 AR, the dragonstorms of Tarkir increased in intensity, generating the highest number of dragons the plane had ever seen. Dromoka and her brood thus laid a systematic genocide on the Abzan, to the point of utter desperation. Daghatar, consulting the amber relic known as Remembrance, the last remnants of the first kin-tree holding the spirits of the first ancestors, decided to hold an audience with Dromoka, hoping to kill her in a moment of vulnerability and save his clan henceforth.

Instead, he learned of the reasons as to why Dromoka massacred his people. The dragons saw the practice of kin-trees and raising ancestor spirits as an affront to life and the natural order, and though they admired the compassion and tenacity of the Abzan themselves, they were dedicated to eliminating what they saw as necromancy. Seeing no other option, he ignored the dictates of the Remembrance spirits and shattered the relic, pleasing the dragon. To further solidify this, he ordered the end of all kin-trees and spirit ancestor practices, the very heart of Abzan traditions, thus forging a pact with the dragon.

The clan as a whole seemed to have been abolished, Dromoka forbidding the very use of "clan" and "khan", with the people living under her having no formal name of their own. "True" Abzan kept holding their ground, under the khan Reyhan, until the latter went to consult with the khans of the other tribes. Ojutai, Silumgar and their broods attacked the meeting, killing her and thus the last chance of the "true" Abzan to survive, leaving Daghatar and the others under Dromoka as the sole survivors.

These remnants later formed a new Clan, under the leadership of dragonlord Dromoka. However, the practice of ancestor worship persisted in secret, despite repercussions from the dragons.

Revival of the Abzan

Under Dragonlord Dromoka, necromancy had been outlawed, the Kin-Trees destroyed, and communing with ancestors forbidden. Yet even as Dromoka and her followers tried to wipe out any necromantic practitioners and ancestral callers, there remained those who heard the ancestors' cries. The spirits of the dead spoke of a world where the people were not subjugated by the dragons and individuals retained deep connections with their families and history.

Resistance to Dromoka grew from defectors like Anafenza who challenged the dragonlord and were ultimately killed for their disobedience. The fledgling rebellion gained steam during the Phyrexian invasion when even Dromoka's sturdy defenses proved no match for the invading force. In their desperate time of need, many among Dromoka's brood turned to their ancestors, summoning their spirits in defiance of Dromoka's will. Decreed heretics after the invasion, these rebels took refuge in the rocky caverns of the desert regions where the dragonlord struggled to reach them. This rebellion grew as discontent grew, eventually leading to Dromoka's defeat alongside the other dragonlords.

Houses

The Council of Houses leads the reformed Abzan, a group composed of a representative from each of the major family houses and the Abzan Khan. The present houses emerged as a combination of revived historical houses, those who could trace a lineage back through their ancestral connections. While other houses were newly formed, comprised of individuals without a clear lineage due to the dissolution of family ties enforced under Dromoka's rule. There are five major ruling houses:

• House Gudal — The House of Wit. Controlling much of the infrastructure and distribution of water. Many minor houses seek favor from House Gudal. Gudals are known for being adventurous, inquisitive, and devious.
• House Emesh — The House of Courage. Specializing in weaponry, they have revived many traditional weapon-forging techniques from before Dromoka's rule. Emeshes are known for being blunt, powerful, and ambitious.
• House Mevak — The House of Peace. Master textile workers and smiths, they create much of the Abzan armor and clothing. Mevaks are known for being dependable, organized, and calm.
• House Fenzala — The House of Hospitality. Expert traders who maintain an extensive network of connections outside the Abzan. Fenzalas are known for being adaptable, politically savvy, and open-minded.
• House Zanhar— The House of Grit. Known for their large numbers, giant Kin-Tree, and dragon-hunting prowess. One of the oldest families of the Abzan, several minor houses are related to them. Zanhars are known for being strict, uniform, and scholarly.

Khans

• Daghatar, who relied on careful strategies to achieve his goals. He constantly analyzed his surroundings, which made him seem aloof. Daghatar rode on a black ibex, and he was clad in elaborate mail crafted from dragon scales. The head of his mace was hewn from amber, in which a malevolent spirit was bound. In the current timeline, he surrendered his clan to Dromoka, the first Khan to submit to the power of the dragons.
• Reyhan led the remaining "true" Abzan for a short period until she was killed in a meeting with the other Khans.
• Felothar, head of House Zanhar and a descendant of Reyhan, was chosen after rebelling against Dromoka in the aftermath of New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse.

Original timeline

• Anafenza, a valiant Khan who led her army from the front. She waged war not to conquer, but to maintain the trade routes that allowed the clan to function, and to protect her people from the Sultai Brood and Mardu Horde.

Creature types

The following is a comprehensive list of races and classes found in the Abzan Houses:

Races

• Beast
• Bird (Aven)
• Elephant (Loxodon)
• Djinni
• Dog (Ainok)
• Human
• Orc
• Rhino
• Spirit
• Wall

Classes

• Archer
• Assassin
• Cleric
• Scout
• Soldier
• Warrior

Relationship with the dragons

Dromoka's Brood, the dragons named after their female champion, were revered by the proto-Abzan Houses for their endurance. They were robust, Ankylosaurus-like beasts, well-protected by scaly armor, that breathed beams of light. The brood was drawn to Tarkir's hot, sunlit deserts. The Abzan faced these dragons by forming impenetrable defenses and wearing their attackers down.

Dragon hunts

Though less nimble than many other clans when chasing or predicting dragonstorms, the Abzan spread-out outposts within the southern regions of the plane allow them to quickly respond to oncoming storms. The Abzan utilize their large numbers and defensive tactics to minimize their losses and maximize the number of wild dragons they can fight and capture. They prioritize larger and more imposing creatures and often outlast dragons they intend to capture, able to easily subdue them after they are exhausted.

Clan dragons

Within the clans, dragons are considered part of a house and are treated like family members, though they are not bound to a Kin-Tree and are not able to summon or speak with ancestors. Because of this, Abzan considers both ability and temperament when selecting dragons. Abzan dragons tend to be large, heavily defensive, and mild-tempered. They work alongside Abzan soldiers to form a defensive frontline. Abzan dragons wield searing light as a breath weapon able to strip the flesh from a creature in a matter of moments with a powerful blast of energy.

Inspiration

The Abzan Houses are loosely based on the Ottoman Turks.

Mechanics

Abzan cards, with a focus on the clan's aspect of Endurance, were announced to feature tough creatures and control elements as well as a clan-specific mechanic that helps you win the long game. This was later revealed to be Outlast, an ability that allows creatures to pay mana and tap to place +1/+1 counters on themselves, with other cards triggering from outlast activations. In Fate Reforged the Abzan House featured Bolster, instead. This mechanic puts +1/+1 counters on the creature with the least toughness.