New Capenna

For the set, see Streets of New Capenna.

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New Capenna
Information
Plane	Capenna
Demonym	New Capennan
Scryfall Statistics
artworks

The metropolis of New Capenna is the one known remaining city on the plane of Capenna. It was introduced in Streets of New Capenna.

Description

New Capenna is a city of steel and chrome that rises from a plateau of vast emptiness and long-abandoned townships, a testament to the might of its long-forgotten founders. The city is surrounded by a skirt of wires and a shield of diffuse Halo, the very essence of the angels. This barrier that the builders had left behind remains, a last bastion of hope against a great, now forgotten evil. Outside the city, the plane is desolate and devoid of life.

The city is encased in a dome that keeps it consistently temperate. Though it has a government, it is so ineffectual that Elspeth still had not learned its name after living on the plane for multiple weeks. Rather, the monopoly on violence within the city is wielded by its five ruling families.

New Capenna is reliant on Halo, with myriad uses including as a healing elixir, for teleportation, and to enhance spells. Its importance to the city's society has caused it to be used almost as currency, and shortages are a cause of citywide tensions. Nido Sanctuary's vault is said to keep a so-called "Doomsday Prophecy" foretelling the city's destruction when its supply of Halo runs out.

History

After the Phyrexians attacked, the plane's situation became dire. An unlikely deal between archangels and demonlords created the metropolis of New Capenna. The angels had become consumed with the defense of the plane, and it had become clear that the demons needed to join the fray as well. When they did, the archdemons appointed five families to rule the city in their name, drafting a contract with the head of each family and conferring demon status to each signatory.

The angels and archdemons began the city's building, sinking the first foundation columns into the capital of an Old Capennan kingdom, and Ziatora and her laborers finished its construction.

Denizens from the rest of the plane migrated to the city in two exoduses before the Riveteers tightened up immigration. The allied forces of the archangels, mortals, and archdemons were the last to enter the city, after holding open corridors for refugees to stream into the lower elevators. The enemy never stopped. Legends tell of the last battle of the war being fought on the final elevator, with allied soldiers throwing enemy knights off the rising platform as it approached the underbelly of the city. The enemy rebuffed, the last elevator arrived, and New Capenna was sealed to all below.

Betrayal of the demons

With the surviving population of the plane safe inside New Capenna, the archangels and archdemons let the people celebrate. However, the archangels could not find joy, as they knew a dark truth. This tower, for all its might and defiance, would still not be enough to stop the Phyrexians. Though well defended and difficult to access, if the enemy could find a way inside, which they would never stop trying to find, the war would rage here as it did far below. Thus, the city's architects puzzled over a stark question: how could they guarantee the safety of the city and the plane upon which it stood when they were so grossly outnumbered?

While the archangels puzzled, the archdemons of Capenna plotted. During the war, Capenna's archangels and their angelic hosts ravaged the enemy with their mere presence. The archdemons studied this divine natural weapon and realized that if they could trap angels and distribute their essence across the whole of New Capenna — maybe even out into Old Capenna — they could drive the enemy back and ensure the city and their people would be saved. Alone, though, they could not accomplish their betrayal, so the archdemons sent their whisperers to the ears of mortal, power-hungry Capennans, planting a bleak answer to the question of the future: trap the angels, and let an age of demons begin. However, the plot against the archangels could only be accomplished through the archdemons' mutual sacrifice.

The archdemons appointed five families to rule the city in their name, drafting a contract with the head of each family and conferring demon status to each signatory. The five became demonic hybrids, gifted and cursed by the archdemons bound to them, their vices magnified and powers enhanced. Together with their archdemon patrons, these demon hybrids and their followers took advantage of a sudden slumber that struck the Phyrexian forces — likely caused by the death of Yawgmoth on Dominaria — to act on their plan and achieve success beyond their most optimistic projections. In place of a prolonged battle, the archdemons and the five captured the archangels and their hosts during a city-wide celebration of victory. While the people were told the archangels had voluntarily sacrificed themselves to send the enemy into a slumber, the five and their organizations, their families, suppressed the grim truth: that the archdemons had used the angels in the defense of the city, trapping them in a kind of stasis that saw their physical bodies converted, slowly, into the fuel of the new age: Halo. The Demon Lords used the Halo to defeat the Phyrexians and then disappeared themselves.

Rule of crime

The five families carved out their spheres of influence, claiming control over specific trades and carving up territory across the city’s three boroughs. They operate both behind closed doors and in the open, fully aware of one another’s schemes. The city’s official government still exists in name only, handling basic civic needs like keeping the lights on, ensuring clean water, and maintaining the streets. But what most planes would call law — rulers, enforcers, courts, strict punishments — has little place here.

Instead, New Capenna runs on an unspoken pact among the families. A shared code dictates how far each family can push, setting boundaries that keep the peace. Fronts and cover operations are a common sight, a kind of elaborate performance where everyone pretends to follow the rules while quietly bending them. It is expected that everyone plays along with this polite deception — ignoring infractions when convenient, granting favors when needed, and tolerating minor trespasses. So long as no family grows too greedy or tries to seize too much, the balance holds and the city stays stable.

The Adversary War

During the events of Streets of New Capenna, Ob Nixilis infiltrated the plane, siphoning members of each of the families and hosting a targeted strike on their leadership on the night of the Crescendo, the plane's new year celebration. At least one boss, Xander, was killed, with Jetmir seriously wounded. After the sacrifice of Giada, possibly the last free angel in the city, the city's other angels began reawakening from their stasis.

New Phyrexia's Invasion

Atraxa was sent with ten thousand soldiers by Elesh Norn to destroy New Capenna and its reserves of Halo. The Phyrexians compleated the Maestros' leadership, including Anhelo. However, a resistance formed by the remaining members of the Families and the newly awakened angels counterattacked, destroying Park Heights in an action dubbed Operation Falling Star, dropping the neighborhood on Atraxa and turning the tide against the invaders. Leaving the defenders to finish their work, the Capennan angels traveled to the other invaded planes to help combat the Phyrexians. Finishing the fight on New Phyrexia, those who traveled to the plane could not return after its multiversal switch.

Revenge of the angels

After the Phyrexian invasion, the remaining angels of New Capenna turned their focus on their captors and betrayers, the demons.

Demographics

Families

New Capenna's five families

• The Obscura () are gifted magicians.
• The Maestros () are the elite assassins of New Capenna.
• The Riveteers () are destruction workers.
• The Cabaretti () are party monsters.
• The Brokers () are the demonic lawyers of the crime world.

Locations

The Caldaia

The city consists of three levels, the down-to-earth Caldaia, the frivolous Mezzio, and the lofty Park Heights.

• The Caldaia - the industrial foundation of New Capenna, forming the city's lowest tier beneath the Mezzio. It serves as the home territory of the Riveteers, a crime family that controls its factories, warehouses, and labor force, and oversees a utilitarian redesign carried out under Ziatora’s direction. The Obscura also maintain operations there. Crowded and gritty, the Caldaia houses a diverse working population whose labor keeps the metropolis functioning, and its factories play a central role in the production of Halo. See Caldaia for more specific locations.
• The core - deep within the heart of New Capenna is the support structure running the entire length of the city. Built by the Riveteers and hidden in plain sight under a maze of girders, it was accessible only through forgotten entryways.
• The Mezzio - the middle tier of New Capenna, situated between Park Heights and the Caldaia. It serves as the largest and most populous borough of the city, acting as its cultural and commercial hub, its midtown and beating heart. The district is home to the Cabaretti, Obscura, and Maestros, who operate numerous businesses, gathering places, and headquarters there. Constantly active and ever-changing, the Mezzio blends industry, entertainment, and intrigue in a space where all levels of society intersect. See Mezzio for more specific locations.
• Park Heights - A rich district above the Mezzio, carefully manicured with aeries, waterscapes, fauna, and terraced gardens supported by girders. It was the least densely populated borough, home to the city's wealthiest citizens, major family leaders, and cultural institutions. It was ruled by the Brokers, though the Obscura and Maestros also had headquarters there, and the Cabaretti operated several recreational areas like opera houses. It was destroyed by Errant to defeat the invading New Phyrexians.See Park Heights for more specific locations.

Trivia

• New Capenna's three levels are based on different cities of the United States during the 1920s: The Caldaia represents Chicago, the Mezzio Manhattan, and Park Heights Hollywood.
• New Capenna's name may be related to the Italian word capanna, meaning shelter.
• Although transgender individuals are not widely accepted in New Capenna, "body-men" can medically transition individuals by changing their humors.

In-game references

Represented in:

• The Caldaia

Associated cards:

• Capenna Express
• Invasion of New Capenna
• Seraph of New Capenna
• Seraph of New Phyrexia

Referred to:

• Artistic Refusal
• Bloodfell Caves (March of the Machine)
• Bribe Taker
• Broken Wings (Streets of New Capenna)
• Ceremonial Groundbreaker
• Civil Servant
• Depopulate
• Fireslinger (Jumpstart 2022)
• Giada, Font of Hope (Foundations, #141)
• Maestros Theater
• Majestic Metamorphosis
• Meeting of the Five
• Metropolis Reformer
• Most Wanted
• Murder (Streets of New Capenna)
• Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin
• Paragon of Modernity
• Raffine's Tower
• Skybridge Towers
• Structural Assault
• Vanquish the Weak