Ashling
| Ashling | |
|---|---|
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Ashling of Tanufel Matchstick (Lorwyn) The Extinguisher The Destroyer (Shadowmoor) | |
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| Information | |
| Colors |
 (Lorwyn) (Shadowmoor) (Rimekin) |
| Species | Elemental |
| Jobs | Shaman, Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Birth, Life & Death | |
| Birthplace | Mount Tanufel, Lorwyn-Shadowmoor |
| Lifetime | Mending Era, c. 4520 AR |
| Sources | |
| Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Eventide | |
Ashling is a female flamekin from the plane of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. Although she did not know it, her destiny would lead her to become one of the most preeminent figures in shaping the course of the plane as she herself was transformed by her own extraordinary circumstances.
Ashling the Pilgrim
Pilgrimage
In 4520 AR, Ashling journeyed on a pilgrimage through Lorwyn, serving occasionally as a messenger for various races. She was searching for a greater elemental, a mythical embodiment of higher principles, whose call she subconsciously followed, though she did not know where it might lead.
Ashling had accepted a seemingly innocuous messenger job from the treefolk sage Colfenor, whom she was to meet in Kinsbaile; she had been tasked to find and retrieve the sage's apprentice. Along the way, Ashling picked up the company of the mischievous fae siblings, the Vendilion Clique, unaware that the very queen of the fae herself had secretly taken an interest in her service because of Colfenor's involvement. Kinsbaile's leader Gaddock Teeg worked as an intermediary and sent Ashling on her way, along with a Kithkin folk hero, Brigid Baeli, to serve as her guide as she departed the town. Between Brigid's constant boasting and the Clique's grating frippery, Ashling begrudgingly resigned her pilgrimage (meant to be one of contemplative, self-reflective solitude) to one of numbing interruption for the time being.
Ashling's task in Kinsbaile intertwined her fate with Colfenor's aforementioned disciple, a Gilt-Leaf elf named Rhys, who was outlawed from his tribe. Rhys had an encounter with a greater elemental in the Porringer Valley, and the flamekin decided to keep close to Rhys. Her meeting with Rhys also brought her into the orbit of an uncanny elf named Maralen. Although immediately suspicious of this woman and her intentions, Ashling was relieved that Maralen quickly began to shoulder the brunt of the Vendilion Clique's irritations. Her return to Kinsbaile with Rhys and the others coincided with the beginning of the annual Festival of Tales, and the party was summarily ambushed by Gilt-Leaf soldiers that had been hunting Rhys. Ashling protected her new friends valiantly, repelling volley after volley of poison-tipped arrows with sheets of fire and, pushing her power to newfound limits, willed the flames wreathing her body to burn so hot that they incinerated all arrows within a few feet of reaching her. Thanks to her protection, they escaped and made their way to the Murmuring Bosk where Rhys was to perform his duty for Colfenor— the cascading events begot by Ashling's simple messenger service were about to unfold.
On their journey, Ashling was nearly killed by Brigid under the presumed instruction of Gaddock Teeg, unaware that the directive was modified by Colfenor to suit his own ends. Instead of subduing Rhys and bringing him back to Kinsbaile to win Nath's good favor, Brigid doused Ashling in water and brought her to her clachan. Ashling was then placed in the custody of Colfenor. In her final hour, before her flames would be extinguished forever, Ashling was approached by the greater elemental she sought. A surge of energy from the elemental's blessing rekindled her fire and set Colfenor ablaze, obliterating the yew.
Abused and Angry
Unbeknownst to her, this all was a plan of the ancient yew sage. He captured the elemental himself and, in fact, forced it to get in touch with Ashling. Though rekindled, Ashling quickly became uneasy, nervous, and angry. She devoted her life to the pilgrim's path thereafter, trying to find her element and meet it at the right time. Now, she was forced to meet him far in advance, and she was not prepared for it, and neither was the elemental, who, instead of joy and enlightenment, was displaying terror before rekindling her. This was not as it should be. Ashling felt worthless, having failed her true path...or worse, having been made to fail by another's plot. Thanks to the contact, she also ascended a step on the Path of Flame, from a red flame to a white one. From time to time, a seizure-like state occurred when she heard and felt the presence of the elemental near her, unable to perceive anything else. She helped Rhys and Maralen to free Brion and Kiel from the embrace of nettlevines, but then her mind snapped. Instead of guarding the giants and helping the group, she decided to take her path now, to hunt and punish the elemental.
The Ember Fell Monastery
Using the borrowed power, she flew to the place of her birth, the Mount Tanufel. Here she was attacked by the flamekin monks of Ember Fell monastery, who asked her to enter the order and make her ascension in the Path of Flame properly. Ashling refused, and the monks animated a huge stone titan to fight with her. With the unexpected help from Colfenor's sapling and the groundling fae under the leadership of Endry, the giant was bound to the ground. Later, she freed the giant again to attack the monastery itself. The leader of Ember Fell let the giant crush the walls and gates, then obliterated him. He repeated that Ashling must undergo a certain ritual to ascend her path properly.
Destiny Fulfilled
Ashling reluctantly agreed and was faced with a shadow reality with distorted, feral flamekin. She reinstated their fire with her borrowed power and learned what she was destined to do - to be a vessel to bring the flamekin fire through the shadowy future. This should have been made by uniting with the greater elemental and Colfenor's sapling, who bore the ancient wisdom of yew sages. The ritual began at the top of Mount Tanufel at the precise time of the Great Aurora. For sixty heartbeats, the sunny Lorwyn and its shadow counterpart reality, Shadowmoor, should coexist before the shadow takes its place. The unity of the sapling, Ashling's greater elemental, and herself, the last flamekin child of Tanufel, should have produced a supreme being that would rule and endure the shadow, as Colfenor planned. However, Ashling had had enough of being used. In the culmination of the ritual, she seized the unsuspecting elemental's power and the sapling's wisdom by force. The elemental was absorbed by her, and Endry and the groundling gang attempted to rescue the burning sapling. Part of the energy was also diverted to Maralen via a faerie mushroom ring at the sapling's body. Lorwyn gave place to the dreadful Shadowmoor, with Ashling becoming one of the mightiest beings on it.
Ashling, the Extinguisher
In Shadowmoor, Ashling became the Extinguisher, also known as the "Destroyer" to the other races. She was both worshiped and hated by the cinders, the creatures that the Great Aurora had changed the flamekin into, who blamed her for their wretched state. Unable to control the elemental rage and power and driven by her desire for revenge on those who abused her, Ashling laid waste to many places in Shadowmoor. She was repelled from Mistmeadow at the cost of the life of Vigilant Eidren of Wilt-Leaf, and from Kinscaer by the protective magic of the kithkin augur Warree Tarcha. The combined effort of Maralen, Brigid Baeli, Captain Sygg, and the Source of the Wanderbrine managed to subdue the Destroyer. Oona stepped in and tried to gain the elemental power for herself, but Maralen, aided by the scroll of Rosheen Meanderer, gained the power instead. Ashling, reduced to flamekin level again, repented for her actions and tried to atone by helping Maralen's party defeat and destroy Oona.
Gallery
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Ashling Magic: The Gathering Arena avatar released for Modern Horizons 3.
Story appearances
In-game references
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