Great Aurora
| Great Aurora | |||||
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| Information | |||||
| Era | Mending Era | ||||
| Date | 4520 AR | ||||
| Location | Lorwyn-Shadowmoor | ||||
| Sets | Shadowmoor | ||||
| Storyline Sources | Morningtide, Eventide | ||||
| Characters | Ashling, Brigid Baeli, Maralen, Oona, Rosheen Meanderer, Sapling of Colfenor | ||||
| Outcome | |||||
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| Timeline | |||||
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The Great Aurora was a powerful cyclical planar event that alternately transformed the world of Lorwyn into its shadowy and distorted counterpart, Shadowmoor, and reversed this transformation. The final known Great Aurora occurred around 4520 AR, its effects echoing across the plane and reshaping the fates of many of its denizens.
Description
For ages, the Great Aurora was orchestrated by the fae queen Oona, who extended Lorwyn’s day-night cycle unnaturally, making each phase last for centuries. This made the transformation between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor exceedingly rare, in contrast to the yearly and benign (normal) Aurora, a radiant phenomenon celebrated with events such as the Festival of Tales. Unlike its smaller counterpart, the Great Aurora initiated a sweeping metamorphosis: nearly every creature, landscape, and even memory on the plane was altered, with identities rewritten and appearances reshaped as bright Lorwyn faded into dark, dreamlike Shadowmoor.
The final Great Aurora was triggered prematurely, influenced by the widespread upheaval caused by the Great Mending, which disrupted the fabric of planes across the Multiverse. Fearing that the Aurora might affect her for the first time, Oona sought to preserve herself by killing the elf Maralen and using her body as a vessel for a mental duplicate of herself. However, a flaw in this act of self-replication allowed Maralen to become truly independent, eventually turning against Oona and emerging as a rival for control over the fae.
Ironically, Oona remained unchanged by the Aurora, as in previous cycles, despite her lack of control over the timing of the shift. This rendered her creation of Maralen unnecessary — and disastrous — for Maralen soon proved both autonomous and adversarial, ultimately claiming Oona’s title and power.
The Aurora’s effects were far-reaching. The merrow Sygg was twisted from a genial ferryman into a merciless cutthroat. The broken-horned outcast elf Rhys emerged from the transformation as a whole-horned safewright of the Wilt Leaf order. On the other hand, Maralen, along with her loyalty-bound Vendilion Clique, retained their identities thanks to the remnants of Oona’s stolen power. The Sapling of Colfenor was shielded from the Aurora’s effects by the lingering magic of the ancient treefolk sage Colfenor, while Brigid Baeli was protected through her bond with the Crescent of Morningtide, a powerful water-shaping artifact connected to the Source of the Lanes.
The elemental Ashling was central to the triggering of the Aurora. Through a mystical trial and contact with her greater elemental form, she ignited the transformation and became a destructive force of nature known as the Extinguisher. Her rampage consumed vast swaths of the plane in fire, leaving only fragments of her former self behind. Her emergence forced the plane’s newly transformed inhabitants to rally in defense against the catastrophic threat she posed, eventually leading to the Fusion of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor.
In-game references
- Represented in:
- Quoted or referred to:
Sources
- Morningtide
- Eventide
- Rei Nakazawa (March 31, 2008). "The Deepening Shadowmoor". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25.