Jwar Isle
| Jwar Isle | |
|---|---|
| The Isle of Secrets | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Plane | Zendikar |
| Colors |
  |
| Type | Island |
| Demonym | Jwari |
| Part of | The Serpent's Maw, Silundi Sea, Ondu |
| Formerly part of | Makindi Empire |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
Jwar Isle, also known as the Isle of Secrets, is a small, mist-shrouded island lying just off the southern coast of Ondu on the plane of Zendikar.
Description
Jwar Isle is infamous for its swirling ocean currents, jagged reefs, and the territorial sea serpents that prowl its stormy shores, making landing there perilous. Despite this, the island has long drawn mages, explorers, and pilgrims seeking its hidden magic and ancient enigmas.[1][2]
Scattered across Jwar Isle are dozens of immense granite sculptures called faduun. These towering, thin stone heads resemble elongated human faces, except for their gaping mouths, which emit an eerie bluish glow. Many lie half-buried in the coastal sands or tilt at odd angles amid the brush. Travelers claim to hear rumbling voices echoing from their open maws, speaking ominous warnings in a language long forgotten. The faduun were crafted by an ancient cabal of human mages — scholars of hidden lore and esoteric magic — who shaped them as guardians for a secret stronghold hidden deep within the island. Their lingering enchantments instill an oppressive dread in any intruder who nears the entrances to the mages’ sanctum. Only the sphinxes that dwell here remain immune to the faduun’s unnerving presence, guarding what secrets they wish and revealing none.[1] The faduun are counted as one of six sites known to be pre-Eldrazi, meaning they are at least 6000 years old.[3]
Some religious pilgrims bury their dead beneath the watchful faduun, believing that bodies interred in the island’s soil vanish completely if tended and watered often enough, leaving behind no trace but the haunting hush of the wind among the stones.[4]
The island is also home to the enigmatic Strand of Jwar, a swirling beam of concentrated aether that rises from a seawater-filled pit at the island’s heart, glowing with an unnatural bluish light. On chill nights, the Strand lures drakes and even dragons to its glow. Some kor believe it to be a spiritual thread binding Zendikar to the afterlife, while merfolk see it as an ill omen and forbid their kin from glimpsing it - wisely so, for since the rise of the Eldrazi, monstrous spawn of Ulamog have emerged from its depths.[1]
Above the isle's stormy clouds drifts the ancient Ondu Skyclave, a floating Kor ruin of deadly arcane traps, and site of the former lair of the hydra Grakmaw.[5] Encircling it all is the Serpent’s Maw, a treacherous stretch of churning sea and lightning-lashed storms that guard Jwar Isle’s secrets as fiercely as its stone sentinels do.
Gallery
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Jwari Ruins -
The Jwari Faduun -
The Ondu Skyclave
In-game references
- Represented in:
- Associated cards:
- Depicted in:
- Referred to:
References
- ↑ a b c James Wyatt (January 5, 2016) — The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Zendikar, WotC.
- ↑ Magic Creative Team (September 9, 2009). "A Planeswalker's Guide to Zendikar". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-10-31.
- ↑ James Wyatt (April 2016) - Plane Shift: Zendikar, WotC.
- ↑ Magic Creative Team (November 11, 2009). "A Planeswalker's Guide to Zendikar: Ondu". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-08-12.
- ↑ Brandon O'Brien (September 25, 2020). "Hunger". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.