Rebirth of Karona
| Rebirth of Karona | |||||
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| Event Information | |||||
| Era | Rift Era | ||||
| Date | 4307 AR | ||||
| Location | Otaria, Dominaria | ||||
| Sets | Legions | ||||
| Characters | Akroma, Averru, Elionoway, Kamahl, Karona, Phage, Stonebrow, Zagorka and many others | ||||
| Outcome | |||||
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The Rebirth of Karona was an event on Otaria, on the plane of Dominaria during the Rift Era.[1]
Description
In the aftermath of the Nightmare War, the continent of Otaria was a broken land, its magical fabric strained to the point of collapse. Yet, from this ruin was born one of the strangest and most catastrophic events in Dominaria’s long and tragic history: the Rebirth of Karona.
As armies converged on Sanctum — the ancient heart of Otaria's dormant magic — three mythological Mothers moved into alignment. Akroma, leading the forces of Topos, was granted entrance to the city by the strange Glyph people that now animated its walls. These Glyphs, long dormant, distributed enchanted medallions to her soldiers, twisting their loyalty from the fallen creator Ixidor to the ancient numen, Lowallyn, who sought resurrection. In essence, Akroma was Lowallyn's Mother, the avatar created by her magic.
At the same time, Phage, leading a reanimated army of the Cabal and other allied forces, was allowed entrance by the same glyphs. Phage was Kuberr's Mother in flesh, having physically born the god, who aged a day for each death in his name. The purpose of the Glyphs was sinister: warfare would fuel the resurrection ritual of Averru, the ancient magic designed to birth a new god. Meanwhile, the wild forces of Krosa battered their way into the city, led by Stonebrow and Kamahl, now wielding the Soul Reaper axe, a weapon capable of sundering body and soul. Unlike Phage and Akroma's army, the Krosans were not welcome by the Glyphs, but they charged forth nonetheless, smashing the Glyphs as they galloped to the center of the struggle.
At the apex of the battle, in the dome at the city's heart, Akroma and Phage met once more in mortal combat. Akroma, a being forged of vengeance and grief, and Phage, a soul corrupted by guilt and death, clashed with ferocity that shook the heavens themselves. Their duel, however, would not be decided by their weapons or spells.
Kamahl, seeing no other path to end the devastation, intervened. Riding upon the mighty centaur Stonebrow, Kamahl charged into the heart of the battle and swung Soul Reaper with fatal intent, throwing the wicked axe from his hands in a spinning arc. His blow was meant to slay both combatants and end the cycle of hatred. Yet, at that very instant, Zagorka — the third Mother, whose life had been bound to the ancient magics of Otaria — hurled herself from a tower, hoping to stop the inevitable. Zagorka, having reawakened the soul of Averru by reviving the city of Sanctum, was this numen's spiritual and titular Mother.
The Soul Reaper struck true against Akroma, Phage, and Zagorka, cleaving them all in twain. In that terrible moment, the simultaneous deaths of these three Mothers, each deeply tied to the fate of Otaria, unleashed an ancient magic older than the memory of men. A blinding explosion engulfed the Sanctum. When the light receded, a new being stood where once there had been three.
"I am Karona," She spoke first. Karona was not merely a fusion of the body and soul of the three Mothers, but the manifestation of all the magic of the world. Magic was her fourth Mother, her true Mother. Karona was at once creator and destroyer, goddess and child, wise and bewildered. Her very presence disrupted the fragile balance of magic across Dominaria. Those who beheld her, even from afar, fell into awe and worship, for Karona reflected their deepest desires and fears — anything believed of her, she could momentarily become.
Overwhelmed by her sudden existence, Karona sought her place in the cosmic order. She opened portals to memories of the world to seek her equal, but none proved her peer, and learning that the true World Soul of Dominaria was the slumbering Gaea, and not herself, drove Karona to rage and madness.
Thus, Karona, once merely the accidental offspring of war and vengeance, became the self-proclaimed goddess of magic — a force that would, for a time, bring Dominaria to the brink of utter ruin in Karona's War. Her reign would be brief but catastrophic, shaping the world forever after.
References
- ↑ J. Robert King. (2003) Legions, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 0-7869-2914-6.