Rise of the Skyclaves

[["Information",[{"data":"[[Mending Era]]","label":"Era"},{"data":"c. 4561 [[AR]]","label":"Date"},{"data":"[[Zendikar (plane)|Zendikar]]","label":"Location"},{"data":"''[[Zendikar Rising]]''","label":"Sets"},{"data":"[[Iona]], [[Kesenya]]","label":"Characters"}]],["Outcome",[{"data":"\n*The [[Guul Draz]] skyclave rises from its drowned position in a swamp\n*The [[Bala Ged]] skyclave soars up from its overgrown ruins\n*The [[Murasa]] skyclave emerges from the sea, and is quickly overgrown by plants\n*The [[Ondu]] skyclave floats up from [[Jwar Isle]], its chambers still partially submerged\n*The [[Akoum]] skyclave ascends from its mountainous location into the sky\n*The [[Sejiri]] skyclave breaks free from its icy prison and returns to the clouds"}]],["[[Timeline]]",[{"data":"[[Siege of Drannith]]\n\n[[Rise of the Skyclaves|Rise of the Skyclaves]]\n[[Healing of Zendikar]]"}]]]

Rise of the Skyclaves
Information
Era	Mending Era
Date	c. 4561 AR
Location	Zendikar
Sets	Zendikar Rising
Characters	Iona, Kesenya
Outcome
The Guul Draz skyclave rises from its drowned position in a swamp The Bala Ged skyclave soars up from its overgrown ruins The Murasa skyclave emerges from the sea, and is quickly overgrown by plants The Ondu skyclave floats up from Jwar Isle, its chambers still partially submerged The Akoum skyclave ascends from its mountainous location into the sky The Sejiri skyclave breaks free from its icy prison and returns to the clouds
Timeline
Siege of Drannith Rise of the Skyclaves Healing of Zendikar

The Rise of the Skyclaves was a major event on the plane of Zendikar in 4561 or possibly as soon as 4560 AR, during the Mending Era. It marked the sudden reactivation and levitation of the ancient Skyclave ruins, long thought lost or destroyed following the fall of the kor empire. Although the Skyclaves had lain dormant or buried for millennia, they were abruptly reawakened when an adventuring party accidentally triggered the lingering magics within Emeria, the Sky Ruin. The event led to the aerial emergence of six additional Skyclaves across the plane, reigniting widespread interest in Zendikar's ancient history and drawing the attention of adventurers, scholars, and treasure-seekers alike.

Description

The fall of the Skyclaves

The Kor Empire, once dominant across Zendikar, constructed immense floating fortresses called Skyclaves over each of the major continents. These bastions embodied the Kor's technological mastery and served as centers of rule and military power. However, over a century, the empire fractured and ultimately collapsed. Each Skyclave met its ruin differently:

• The Skyclave over Guul Draz was consumed by the unpredictable magic of the Roil, which destabilized the region and submerged the fortress in a vast swamp.
• In Bala Ged, the native elves, led by the living warrior Obuun before his transformation into a spirit, staged a rebellion against their kor oppressors. Their uprising succeeded in bringing down the Skyclave, which crashed into the jungle.
• The Murasa Skyclave was dragged from Murasa and into the sea by an enormous aquatic beast — possibly an ancestor of Lorthos, the Tidemaker, or even Lorthos itself.
• Amid civil war, the Ondu Skyclave turned against the empire's capital at Makindi, leading to Makindi's destruction and the creation of the surrounding trenches. The Skyclave fell from the sky and came to rest on Jwar Isle.
• In Akoum, the Kargan tribes, having tamed the dragons of the region, launched a successful aerial assault on the kor. Their efforts shattered the Akoum Skyclave and ended Kor dominance there.
• Iona, the archangel of Emeria, destroyed the Tazeem Skyclave herself, reducing it to the floating ruins known as the Sky Ruin of Emeria.
• The final Skyclave to fall was the one above Sejiri. When the planeswalkers Sorin, Nahiri, and Ugin lured the Eldrazi to Zendikar to imprison them, one of the titans destroyed the Sejiri Skyclave with a single flick of a tentacle. The shattered remains of the fortress were frozen within the continent's polar ice.

The reawakening

Centuries later, following the defeat of the Eldrazi, a group of adventurers led by Kesenya climbed into the ruins of Emeria after Iona had departed to battle the titans. The merfolk had long claimed that the ruin was once the castle of their goddess of the same name. During the exploration of its crumbling halls, the adventurers inadvertently triggered the Skyclave's dormant magical defenses. This act set off a chain reaction across the plane, awakening the residual magic of the ancient Kor Empire. One by one, six additional Skyclaves lifted back into the sky and activated, returning to a state of partial function despite their ruin and decay.

The reemergence of the Skyclaves transformed Zendikar's landscape once again. Shattered pieces of cyclopean architecture now drift through the skies above every continent, each fragment marked by its unique history and ecological state. The Akoum Skyclave, broken into scattered fragments, has become a series of floating dungeons and monster lairs — some even occupied by dragons. The Murasa Skyclave, partially flooded from its time underwater, is rapidly being overtaken by the region's aggressive vegetation, with vines and foliage climbing across stone halls that only recently reentered the open air.

Aftermath and impact

The sudden return of the Skyclaves ignited a surge of activity across Zendikar, particularly among the Expeditionary Houses. The adventurers who first discovered the ruins of Emeria retrieved powerful relics, including weapons forged by long-dead stoneforgers, and became the founding members of the newly founded Sea Gate Expeditionary House. Their success inspired a wave of new expeditions across the plane, with adventurers eager to explore the ruins, unearth ancient technologies, and claim powerful artifacts from the Age of the Kor Empire.

Though the Skyclaves remain dangerous and unstable, they represent one of Zendikar's most tantalizing mysteries. Their rising has not only reshaped the skies but also reawakened the legacy of a lost civilization whose magic and ambition continue to echo across the plane.