Terrent Amese
| Terrent Amese | |
|---|---|
| Durran D'mese | |
| Information | |
| Species | Unknown |
| Birth, Life & Death | |
| Birthplace | Unknown |
| Lifetime | Unknown |
| Sources | |
| Legend of Jedit Ojanen, Legends Cycle I | |
Terrent Amese, known as "Durran D'mese" among the Scarwood apes, was a mythical human-shaped being who created the first tribe of Jamuraan tiger warriors by fusing the essence of man and tiger. He created them to guard the Dark Heart of the Wood in Scarwood. Deeply religious, these tribes worshiped him, their creator, whom they believed to be a god.[1]
Description
Terrent is depicted as a tall, dark, roughly handsome man, in plain trousers with a white apron, and sandals. A halo of gold radiated from his head. In the man's hand dangled a white metal instrument like the curved horns of a ram - the Glyph of Life.[1]
History
Terrent Amese named the first tiger warrior Ojanen, and he was to be the leader and guide of the tribe: under his supervision, the cat people followed the instruction of their "god" and built The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale both as a place of worship to the god and as a base to watch over the Dark Heart of the Wood.
In the story of murals at the Tabernacle, Terrent Amese is also credited with creating the minotaurs and viashino.
Ojanen, being the only one in direct contact with Terrent Amese, soon realized that his people were little more than slave labor to him and that he was no god. He rallied his tribe behind him and tried to obtain their independence from their creator.
Enraged by what he viewed as a betrayal, Terrent Amese cursed the Ojanen line and created the monster Ur-Drago to exterminate the tribe before disappearing, never to be seen again. Ojanen took on the beast one-on-one in the halls of the Tabernacle while the tribe fled Scarwood in what would be known as the exodus. The result of the duel between the two champions of Terrent Amese would remain a mystery for generations, before Jedit Ojanen would be magically transported to this crucial point in time and defeat Ur-Drago himself.
The tribe would settle in the Sukurvian Desert, before splintering into different bands: the Hooraree, the Efravan, the Khyyiani, and the Sulaki. All would steer clear from the Scarwood for ages, considering it both a lost sacred place (as it was where their species came to exist) and a dangerous and cursed place, as it was were they defied their god and lost their sacred land in return.
The cat warrior culture would end up remembering Terrent Amese as a benevolent god who had abandoned them because of the heresy of their cursed leader Ojanen. The descendants of Ojanen, particularly those who would be named after him, would be treated with defiance as troublemakers to keep an eye on. This led the tribes to become very isolationist and conservative: adventure and expansion were seen as risks not worth taking and opposed to their god's will. Their culture became stagnant until reaching a point of decline, both in terms of demography and philosophy.
It would take another Ojanen, Jedit, to rediscover the true origins of the tribes and shake their society once more, ultimately leading them out of their deeply religious and conservative ways into a more enlightened and prosperous society. The four tribes would end up making peace with one another, go back to Scarwood, rebuild the The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, and found a mighty empire that would lead the cat warriors to take their place amongst the peoples of Dominaria.
Continuity and trivia
- Although there are mentions of Terrent Amese as a planeswalker, this is never confirmed by a lore source. While his abilities do resemble those of a planeswalker, there may be other in-lore explanations. He may simply be a powerful wizard without a planeswalker spark, or he might even be completely fictional, as his actual existence is never shown, only spoken of or depicted on murals made by his worshippers.
- One possible indication he may be fictional is the description of Terrent Amese as the creator of cat warriors, minotaur and viashino being around 2300-2600 AR, according to the ghost that Jedit Ojanen met in Scarwood[1]. However, all these three races are seen in action as early as during Thran times, over 7000 years earlier.[2] Either the ghost is mistaken somehow, or Terrent Amese never made those races to begin with.
Story appearances
References
- ↑ a b c Clayton Emery. (2002.) Hazezon, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 0-7869-2792-5.
- ↑ J. Robert King (1999). The Thran. Wizards of the Coast.