Madara
| Madara | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Plane | Dominaria |
| Part of | Jamuraa |
| Card art | art:"Madara" |
Madara is a Dominarian nation, once featuring the powerful Madaran Empire ruled by the Elder Dragon planeswalker Nicol Bolas, now considered part of the supercontinent of Jamuraa.
Description
Madara is an island group, located west of Jamuraa.[1] Madara is the largest of the island cluster and the former seat of the Madaran Empire. The northwest portion of Madara is covered with swamps and marshland and a salt-crusted shoreline, while the Gitte-Yatay Mountains cover the northeast and dip down along the eastern coast. Through it all, the powerful Suido River bisects the continent, spreading out and forming a wetland and salt flat in the southwest, where Umezawa Manor lies. At the center of Madara, blue, black, and red mana met at a single point, and this was where the Imperial Shrine used to stand, until its destruction.[2] The cultural and economic center of Madara lies between the eastern mountains and the western sea. The Suido forms two great marshes, and branches into three streams that all run to the sea.[3]
Notable locations on Madara are:
- The Edemi Islands - an archipelago of smaller islands[3]
- The Gitte-Yatay Mountains - an eastern mountain range of Madara[3]
- The Hakkan Delta - a delta where river meets sea.[3]
- Sekana - a village and fisherman's port[3][2]
- Pelada - another port, located on the west coast.[5]
- The Suido River - the river that branches south through the marshlands where Dark's Keep used to lie.[2]
- The Talon Gates - two spires of rock set at the southern mouth of the Suido River.[3]
- Umezawa Manor - the ancestral manor of Clan Umezawa.[3][2]
History of Madara
About -15,000 AR, the first battle between planeswalkers on Dominaria took place at Madara. It was a fight to the death between the elder dragon Nicol Bolas and an unknown Demonic Leviathan.[6] Their battle caused the Shattering of Madara, destroying one-third of the continent, and caused the first Time Rift on the plane. The rift was located at the Talon Gates, a remnant of that conflict.
Many millennia later, in c. 3226 AR, the Madaran Eempire was founded by a warrior queen who styled herself a god-empress. She started a dynasty of emperors that lasted for about 250 years.
Because of the three mana lines that met, Nicol Bolas thought Madara would be a good place to start a foothold on Dominaria. After insinuating himself into the leylines of Madara for some time, the dragon slew the warrior-queen in 3455 AR, and took the empire, becoming a real god-emperor.[4]
For around 150 years Bolas ruled Madara through three individuals: the imperial assassin, the imperial champion, and the high general of the kentsu.
During the Madara-Edemi War, the Emperor realized this system was becoming obsolete as assassin Ramses Overdark was successfully replacing the other imperial officers with his minions. Bolas then made a new system with only one placeholder for the emperor: imperial regent Ramses Overdark.[4]
But not soon afterward, former champion Tetsuo Umezawa killed Overdark and exiled Bolas, destroying that system as well. After this, the empire plunged into chaos, with various nobles buying parts of the kentsu as their armies and oppressed islands and tribes rebelled. Tetsuo set out to restore balance to the empire, but how this ended was never revealed.
Madara is currently overrun by the cat-dragon race, the nekoru. The humans of Madara exist solely as servants, clerics, and slaves.
Trivia
- The relative size of Madara compared to that of Jamuraa is that of Japan compared to Russia.
In-game references
- Associated cards:
- Referred to:
References
- ↑ Martha Wells (March 21, 2018). "Return to Dominaria, Episode 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d e Scott McGough (2003) - Emperor's Fist, Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Scott McGough (2002) - Assassin's Blade, Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d Scott McGough (2003) - Champion's Trial, Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Scott McGough, J. Robert King, ed. (2003.) "Who is Queen?", The Monsters of Magic, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 0-7869-2983-9.
- ↑ James Wyatt (2018). "The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Dominaria". VIZ Media.