Mishra's Fortress
| Mishra's Fortress | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Plane | Dominaria |
| Part of | Kher Ridges, Terisiare |
Mishra's Fortress was the heavily fortified base constructed by Mishra following the Fall of Kroog. Positioned in the Kher Ridges of Terisiare, the fortress became the center of Mishra's industrial and magical experimentation, serving as both a workshop and a military stronghold. It was notable for its integration of natural and artificial structures, including massive oak trees hollowed out to house laboratories, workshops, and foundries, as well as for the early use of dragon engines and automatons. The fortress played a pivotal role during the Brothers' War, witnessing the rise of Mishra's power, his manipulation by Gix, and the eventual Phyrexian influence on his industry.[1]
Description
Mishra selected a site on the northwest tip of the Kher Ridges with a dominating view of the arid lands to the west - the Great Desert. Through a trick of the weather patterns, this area was well-watered and was swathed in trees so large that they might have been planted by the Thran themselves. They were some type of oak, with thick, heavy trunks and long, horizontal branches. Some of the quarters and laboratories were nestled among those branches. Surrounding the grove of great trees, most of the smaller timbers downslope had been cleared. Part of the clearing was for cultivation, but more of it was for smaller foundries and forges. The residue of those forges spilled slag, the unusable remains of their industry, down the slopes and into the streams at the foot of the hills. [1]
One of the great trees had died eons ago, leaving a massive stump over sixty feet high and twice that in diameter. Mishra had the stump hollowed out and converted into his private workshop to rival the crushed ornery in now-dead Kroog. The workshop towered over visitors, the windows carved through its outer bark lit by fires within. The windows were oddly shaped, formed more by the twists of the once-living bark than by Mishra's own needs. They looked like malignant, winking eyes. The workshop proper was two parts library, two parts workshop, and two parts throne room. A great dark oak throne had been pushed against a wall, piled high with pillows and resting on a purple carpet, pulled from the wreckage of the palace of Kroog.[1]
A few years later, during the siege of Sarinth, Gix was brought by the Brotherhood of Gix to the fortress while Mishra was planning to relocate his headquarters to Tomakul. At that point, the great trees that had originally cradled the factories were dead, their lumber sawn up and used to make catapults, rams, dragon engines, and other war machines. The surviving stumps had been hollowed out and converted to barracks and foundries and plated with sheets of thin copper. There were still humans about, both warriors and slaves, but much of the work was now done by automatons - great clanking beasts that shuffled mindlessly from one task to the next. Gix found that he could not murder Mishra and steal the Weakstone, as the stone defended both itself and its master. Instead, Gix decided to corrupt Mishra and bring him over to the side of Phyrexia.[1]
Gallery
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Mishra built one of his factories inside the hollow of a giant dead tree. -
Mishra's factories eventually took on aspects of Phyrexia in their design. -
The factory had several floors of assembly workers. -
The workshop produced a lot of slag and industrial waste. -
The workshops were manned by assembly workers. -
The workshops, too, started to incorporate Phyrexian materials.
In-game references
- Associated cards:
References
- ↑ a b c d Jeff Grubb (1998). The Brothers' War. Wizards of the Coast.