Colfenor

Colfenor
Colfenor the Red Yew Sage Colfenor
Information
Colors
Species	Treefolk
Job	Shaman
Birth, Life & Death
Birthplace	Murmuring Bosk, Great Forest, Lorwyn-Shadowmoor
Lifetime	Rift Era-Mending Era
Born	Centuries before 4520 AR
Death	4520 AR
Family
Children	Sapling of Colfenor
Sources
Lorwyn

Colfenor was one of the most ancient and wisest treefolk sages on the plane of Lorwyn. He was the wielder of great precognition and historical knowledge of the plane, being able to perceive coming events before shorter-lived races could. The last of his species, Colfenor became the architect of a plan that would eventually lead to the downfall of the plane's tyrannical faerie queen Oona.

Description

Colfenor was a taciturn, cryptic personality, showing only a fraction of what he really knew and always pursuing his own secret agenda. He was the only and last living red yew treefolk: powerful shamans whose dark, arcane poison magic was considered the strongest type of magic and unequalled on Lorwyn. He was columnar of face with a mossy brow and stentorian of voice, and his amorphous body created a symphony of creaking wood as he moved.

Towards the end of his life, Colfenor's presence loomed like the fragrance of burning leaves.

History

Colfenor apprenticed a young Gilt-Leaf elf named Rhys and taught him the secrets of yew magic and the wisdom in their peaceful ways of life. It was Cofenor's wish that his protégé become a seedguide, which was an order of elves devoted to ambassadorial service between their kin. However, despite their close bond, their ways parted for a long time after. Rhys became a hunter in the Gilt-Leaf tribe, and Colfenor traveled through Lorwyn alone. Rhys' strict adherence to the Gilt-Leaf's predatory treatment of Lorwyn's other races caused a growing rift between the two, although Rhys would maintain a complex, conflicted attachment to his former mentor and recall him fondly as Old Log. After some time, Colfenor became alerted to a great coming event that would change Lorwyn forever. Deciding he needed to ensure the survival of his species in this world to come, he wandered into the kithkin clachan of Kinsbaile and set in motion a chain of events that would reshape the plane's destiny.

Lorwyn

In 4520 AR, Colfenor met with Gaddock Teeg in Kinsbaile and retained the service of a flamekin messenger named Ashling. Colfenor tasked Ashling with reaching his former apprentice, Rhys. Colfenor had been able to provide Rhys with tenuous telepathic counsel at times, but the elf had proven resistant to his former mentor's attempt to reconcile and reconnect. His plans were not kept safe from Oona, notably, as she had dispatched a trio of faeries named the Vendilion Clique to spy on him as he discussed with Ashling the nature of her role. Nonetheless, Ashling was successful, and he was reunited at last with Rhys.

His former pupil had become an eyeblight and an outlaw after his magic spell had gone terribly awry during an attack on a boggart gathering in the Porringer Valley; Colfenor had attempted to telepathically forbid him from participating in the slaughter, and in fact had bestowed him with the overabundant yew magic that ruined him. During the Festival of Tales, Colfenor tasked Rhys with traveling to Murmuring Bosk, a sacred treefolk grove, and planting his cone there to make certain the yew line would go on. Rhys and his companions, Kinsbaile archer heroine Brigid Baeli, Ashling, the Vendilion triplets, and Maralen, supposedly a Mornsong elf, arrived at Bosk only to find it completely leveled and burned. Rhys planted the cone anyway, performing a ritual to ensure its growth.

Ashling was later doused in water and abducted to Kinsbaile by Brigid, as a result of political intrigues played by Gaddock Teeg.

Rhys returned to Kinsbaile to inform Colfenor of Murmuring Bosk's destruction, only to find himself trapped by his former tribesmen. He fled, but was forced to battle his former commander, Taercenn Nath to escape. Rhys emerged victorious, killing the ruthless Nath. When he finally returned to Colfenor and Ashling, the flamekin was being rekindled by a greater elemental, and as her elemental-fueled fire reignited, the blaze engulfed Colfenor, and the Last Yew burned brightly to his death.

Legacy

Rhys and Ashling, emotional after the death of their friend, returned to Murmuring Bosk to check the progress of Colfenor's offspring, but were surprised by what they found. Instead of decades, the young tree had grown, awakened, and "risen" in a matter of days, and greeted the company in the name of her "seedfather." Colfenor was dead, but his (and his whole species') experience and wisdom survived in the young yew treefolk.

The Sapling of Colfenor went on to play an important role in the events of the Great Aurora, and in the war between Oona and her renegade twin, Maralen.

Trivia

• In the Lorwyn style guide, Colfenor was called Cronan.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Lorwyn	Cory J. Herndon & Scott McGough	August 2007	Lorwyn	Lorwyn	Maralen, Peradala, Eidren, Ashling, Sygg Gauhren Gyllalla Syllvar, Dugah, Unice, Irgil, Ryleigh, Vendilion Clique, Rhys, Yelm, Brion Stoutarm, Kiel, Gaddock Teeg, Colfenor, Collemina, Smitsmott, Brigid Baeli, Angus Gabble, Oona, Tiristan, Grath, Gryffid, Nath, Rosheen Meanderer (mentioned), Thumb, Grieve, Aeloch, Gaevin, Chevor, Sapling of Colfenor
Lorwyn Survival Guide	Doug Beyer	October 31, 2007	Lorwyn	Lorwyn	Oona, Colfenor, Galanda Feudkiller
The Sapling of Colfenor	Jenna Helland	July 2, 2008	Eventide	Lorwyn-Shadowmoor	Colfenor, Rhys, Gaddock Teeg, Ashling, Brigid, The Sapling

In-game references

Represented in:

• Colfenor, the Last Yew

Associated cards:

• Colfenor's Plans
• Colfenor's Urn
• Sapling of Colfenor

Quoted or referred to:

• Rootgrapple
• Scapeshift (Morningtide)