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Marienburg

2023-03-08T13:24:52Z

2600:387:9:5:0:0:0:3E: Fixed small error

{{Whfb-stub}}{{NeedsImages}}
[[File:Warhammer Fantasy - Marienburg, Empire City State.png|900px|center|]]
'''Marienburg''' is the not-Amsterdam of [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]], the huge trade port that stands in the mouth of River Reik (not-Reyne of Warhammer) between [[Bretonnia]] and [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|The Empire]]. It's a capital of small but proudly independent country named '''The Wasteland''', and fittingly the only big city of it.
== History ==
Like many other major coastal city in the Old World, Marienburg was originally a [[High Elf (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|High Elven]] colony called '''Sith Rionnasc''' built amongst the swamps of [[Fimir]]. It was also the finest port the High Elves had in the old world.

After the [[War of the Beard]], it was taken over by [[Dwarfs]], but they had to abandon the city after their empire collapsed. According to the novel version, Sith Rionnasc was destroyed by flooding when the Dwarfs catapult a powerful rune enhanced artillery at the city's dam. The Dwarf who ordered this assault was '''King Brynnoth''', the ruler of Barak Var who did it out of retribution for the Elves killing their city's ancient rulelord '''Agrin Fireheart'''(it was caused by Malekith's agent and the greatest reason why the war was started), as well as for High Elves' many assaults on the city of Barak Var.

Roughly a millenia later, it was inhabited again by a tribe of primitive humans called '''Jutons''', who migrated there to escape the enslavement by Teutogens (future [[Middenland|Middenlanders]]). They defeated the Fimir and founded their own realm called '''Jutonsryk'''.

Unlike [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|their slowly rising neighbour]], Jutonsryk was essentially an incredibly primitive and isolationist state that barely even managed to expand beyond the capital. So naturally, in 501 IC it was steamrolled by an Emperor Sigismund II and turned into a thirteen [[Elector Count|Elector County]] named '''Barony of Westerland'''. With most of their borders secured (aside from the western one, which was at the time populated by wild [[Bretonnia|Bretonni]] people), Westerlanders turned to the sea, due to a sudden realisation of their trade importance and a start of "friendly" visits from [[Norsca|Norscan]] raiders.

At first the whole trade was in the hands of nobility, but after several centuries of hedonistic and lazy lifestyle they handed all of their work to commoners. This, eventually, came to bite them in the ass, as trading companies of simple folk became so powerful that they started to crave for power, even requesting to join Baron's advisory council named '''Stadsraad''', which started a major conflict between nobles and merchants. But then unexpectedly, the downfall of Marienburgian monachy was delayed when Baron Matteus van Hoogmans managed to sign a trading agreement with [[Ulthuan]], thus making this city the biggest trade hub in all of the Old World.

It didn't last long, however.

When some Marienburgian pirates found the donut island and razed an Asrai city, Elves decided to strike back. [[Aislinn]] sacked Marienburg, and while he was too inefficient to bring it down, the toll taken on the city (intermixed with [[Great War Against Chaos]]) was enormous. Soon after that Baron Paulus van der Maacht died without a heir, so Emperor-at-the-time [[Magnus the Pious]] had to abolish the monarchy and relegate the power to the Merchant Houses, as he was too afraid of a civil war inside the realm (both Counts of [[Talabecland]] and [[Nordland]] had claims to Marienburg and gathered armies to bring each other down, which would potentially ruin the Empire that was still recovering from a [[Chaos]] incursion).

Thus, the Directorate was born - a parliament consisting of the wealthiest merchants in the city. They suffered heavily from Imperial taxation and other shit, so in a true <s>American</s> Dutch style, the Directorate decided to split from the Empire by bribing Emperor Dieter IV. The fallout of this was insane, with Dieter being deposed and Wilhelm III, the newly elected Emperor, sending armies to Marienburg, which all were defeated. After several unsuccessful attempts, the Emperor recognised the newly independent republic, which is basically Marienburg of today (well, before the [[End Times]]).

== Government ==

The Directorate is the Executive Council of the Stadsraad, which meets in weekly sessions to make the major decisions affecting the Wasteland's affairs. Its meetings in the New Palace in Paleisbuurt are open to any citizen of Marienburg and its debates are a matter of public record. Decisions are made by a majority vote, with the Staadtholder voting in case of a tie. Its membership consists of the High Priests of Manaan, Verena, Shallya and Haendryk, the Rector of Baron Henryk's College and the heads of the ten wealthiest Merchant Houses. Its public image is of Marienburg's finest citizens working mightily in a dangerous world for the best interests of all the Wasteland's people. The reality is a microcosm of the squabbling petty struggles of imperial politics but focused on the fights between the merchant houses and international trade companies.

=== Merchant Houses of Marienburg ===

* House van de Kuypers
* House van Onderzoeker
* House de Roelef
* House van Haagen
* House van Scheldt
* House Fooger
* House van den Nijmenk
* House den Euwe
* House van Raemerswijk
* House Rothemuur

== Religion ==
A summary of religion in marienburg would be that the cults of Manaan lord of the sea and Haendryk aka Handrich who represents all that is money, power, and influence are very influential in Marienburg as their leaders have a vote akin to the heads of the cult of Verena & Shallya. The difference being that Manaan & Handrich are directly tied to trade, the thing Marienburgers value the most, making these two cults the most powerful and on a side note that even if the cult of Sigmar is not outright banned it is looked down upon as any true Sigmarite will usually advocate for reunification.

=== The Star chamber and Illegal Cults ===

The star chamber also known as the temple court serve as the witch hunters of Marienburg who deal with crimes against religious dogma such as heresy, apostasy and worshipping cults proscribed as illegal. Accusations of consorting with demons, mutants and necromancers are judged in secret trials in a candlelit chamber beneath the court building. Defendants may not call witnesses on their own behalf and are allowed no counsel other than that appointed by the court itself. This has often led to the odd scene of a counsel for the defence referring to their clients as the "heretic" or the "chaotic filth". The verdict is usually "Guilty".

=== Major Cults ===
* Cult of [[Manann]] - The Cult of Manann is the most prominent Cult within Marienburg, due to their shared relations with trade and the sea.
* Cult of [[Haendryk]] - The second largest of the Cults, Haendryk is the God of Merchants and trade which are the lifeblood of Marienburg.
* Cult of [[Verena]] - The Cult of Verena has extensive reach within Marienburg, due to the city's close relations to Tilean ports & trade.
* Cult of [[Shallya]] - Nearly every city with large populations of people suffering poverty & abuse will always have a Cult of Shallya to nurse them.
* Cult of [[Ranald]] - The Cult of Ranald is prominent within Marienburg, due in most part to the cutthroat society of its inhabitants and the large amount of smuggling going on everyday.

=== Minor Cults ===
* Cult of [[Sigmar]] - Being Imperial in origin, the people of Marienburg have had many dealings with the scions of Sigmar.
* Cult of [[Morr]] - The Cult of Morr is almost a common occurrence within every facet of Human society, and Marienburg is no exception.
* Cult of [[Solkan]] - An ancient and almost forgotten Cult which was once worshipped as a vengeful deity of Light.
* Cult of [[Ulric]] - There are few worshippers of Ulric within Marienburg, & those who do worship him are usually former Norscans.
* Cult of [[Myrmidia]] - A Tilean Cult brought about by close interactions with Tilean merchants and trade.

==In Mordheim==
Marienburgers are one of the three "subfactions" that a player can choose for their Human Mercenaries warband in [[Mordheim]], alongside [[Reikland]] and [[Middenland]]. A Marienburg Mercenaries warband gains two special rules to reflect their origins. Firstly, they gain a +1 bonus when attempting to find rare items. Secondly, they start play in a campaign with +100 gold crowns to amass their warband with. These traits represent their connections to the merchant's network of Marienburg, and the subsequent wealth it gives them.

== Total Warhammer ==

The city can define relations between the empire and bretonnia its occupation by bretonnia can lead to the would be allies going to war over the city.
Marienburg is an extremely profitable settlement because of its port. When playing as Louen or Karl Franz, Marienburg should be conquered as quickly as possible. This is much easier for Louen than Franz as of the Empire Undivided patch.

{{Provences_of_the_Empire}}
[[Category:The Empire]]

Marienburg

2023-03-08T13:21:03Z

2600:387:9:5:0:0:0:3E: These are the most relevant merchant houses of marienburg, will add summary of their specializations and quirks later.

{{Whfb-stub}}{{NeedsImages}}
[[File:Warhammer Fantasy - Marienburg, Empire City State.png|900px|center|]]
'''Marienburg''' is the not-Amsterdam of [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]], the huge trade port that stands in the mouth of River Reik (not-Reyne of Warhammer) between [[Bretonnia]] and [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|The Empire]]. It's a capital of small but proudly independent country named '''The Wasteland''', and fittingly the only big city of it.
== History ==
Like many other major coastal city in the Old World, Marienburg was originally a [[High Elf (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|High Elven]] colony called '''Sith Rionnasc''' built amongst the swamps of [[Fimir]]. It was also the finest port the High Elves had in the old world.

After the [[War of the Beard]], it was taken over by [[Dwarfs]], but they had to abandon the city after their empire collapsed. According to the novel version, Sith Rionnasc was destroyed by flooding when the Dwarfs catapult a powerful rune enhanced artillery at the city's dam. The Dwarf who ordered this assault was '''King Brynnoth''', the ruler of Barak Var who did it out of retribution for the Elves killing their city's ancient rulelord '''Agrin Fireheart'''(it was caused by Malekith's agent and the greatest reason why the war was started), as well as for High Elves' many assaults on the city of Barak Var.

Roughly a millenia later, it was inhabited again by a tribe of primitive humans called '''Jutons''', who migrated there to escape the enslavement by Teutogens (future [[Middenland|Middenlanders]]). They defeated the Fimir and founded their own realm called '''Jutonsryk'''.

Unlike [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|their slowly rising neighbour]], Jutonsryk was essentially an incredibly primitive and isolationist state that barely even managed to expand beyond the capital. So naturally, in 501 IC it was steamrolled by an Emperor Sigismund II and turned into a thirteen [[Elector Count|Elector County]] named '''Barony of Westerland'''. With most of their borders secured (aside from the western one, which was at the time populated by wild [[Bretonnia|Bretonni]] people), Westerlanders turned to the sea, due to a sudden realisation of their trade importance and a start of "friendly" visits from [[Norsca|Norscan]] raiders.

At first the whole trade was in the hands of nobility, but after several centuries of hedonistic and lazy lifestyle they handed all of their work to commoners. This, eventually, came to bite them in the ass, as trading companies of simple folk became so powerful that they started to crave for power, even requesting to join Baron's advisory council named '''Stadsraad''', which started a major conflict between nobles and merchants. But then unexpectedly, the downfall of Marienburgian monachy was delayed when Baron Matteus van Hoogmans managed to sign a trading agreement with [[Ulthuan]], thus making this city the biggest trade hub in all of the Old World.

It didn't last long, however.

When some Marienburgian pirates found the donut island and razed an Asrai city, Elves decided to strike back. [[Aislinn]] sacked Marienburg, and while he was too inefficient to bring it down, the toll taken on the city (intermixed with [[Great War Against Chaos]]) was enormous. Soon after that Baron Paulus van der Maacht died without a heir, so Emperor-at-the-time [[Magnus the Pious]] had to abolish the monarchy and relegate the power to the Merchant Houses, as he was too afraid of a civil war inside the realm (both Counts of [[Talabecland]] and [[Nordland]] had claims to Marienburg and gathered armies to bring each other down, which would potentially ruin the Empire that was still recovering from a [[Chaos]] incursion).

Thus, the Directorate was born - a parliament consisting of the wealthiest merchants in the city. They suffered heavily from Imperial taxation and other shit, so in a true <s>American</s> Dutch style, the Directorate decided to split from the Empire by bribing Emperor Dieter IV. The fallout of this was insane, with Dieter being deposed and Wilhelm III, the newly elected Emperor, sending armies to Marienburg, which all were defeated. After several unsuccessful attempts, the Emperor recognised the newly independent republic, which is basically Marienburg of today (well, before the [[End Times]]).

== Government ==

The Directorate is the Executive Council of the Stadsraad, which meets in weekly sessions to make the major decisions affecting the Wasteland's affairs. Its meetings in the New Palace in Paleisbuurt are open to any citizen of Marienburg and its debates are a matter of public record. Decisions are made by a majority vote, with the Staadtholder voting in case of a tie. Its membership consists of the High Priests of Manaan, Verena, Shallya and Haendryk, the Rector of Baron Henryk's College and the heads of the ten wealthiest Merchant Houses. Its public image is of Marienburg's finest citizens working mightily in a dangerous world for the best interests of all the Wasteland's people. The reality is a microcosm of the squabbling petty struggles of imperial politics but focused on the fights between the merchant houses and international trade companies.

=== Merchant Houses of Marienburg ===

* House van de Kuypers
* House van Onderzoeker
* House de Roelef
* House van Haagen
* House van Scheldt
* House Fooger
* House van den Nijmenk
* House den Euwe
* House van Raemerswijk
* House Rothemuur

== Religion ==
A summary of religion in marienburg would be that the cults of Manaan lord of the sea and Haendryk aka Handrich who represents all that is money, power, and influence are very influential in Marienburg as their leaders have a vote akin to the heads of the cult of Verena & Shallya. The difference being that Manaan & Handrich are directly tied to trade, the thing Marienburgers value the most, making these two cults the most powerful and on a side note that even if the cult of Sigmar is not outright banned it is looked down upon as any true Sigmarite will usually advocate for reunification.

=== The Star chamber and Illegal Cults ===

The star chamber also known as the temple court serve as the witch hunters of Marienburg who deal with crimes against religious dogma such as heresy, apostasy and worshipping cults proscribed as illegal. Accusations of consorting with demons, mutants and necromancers are judged in secret trials in a candlelit chamber beneath the court building. Defendants may not call witnesses on their own behalf and are allowed no counsel other than that appointed by the court itself. This has often led to the odd scene of a counsel for the defence referring to their clients as the "heretic" or the "chaotic filth". The verdict is usually "Guilty".

=== Major Cults ===
* Cult of [[Manann]] - The Cult of Manann is the most prominent Cult within Marienburg, due to their shared relations with trade and the sea.
* Cult of [[Haendryk]] - The second largest of the Cults, Haendryk is the God of Merchants and with trade being the lifeblood of Marienburg,
* Cult of [[Verena]] - The Cult of Verena has extensive reach within Marienburg, due to the city's close relations to Tilean ports & trade.
* Cult of [[Shallya]] - Nearly every city with large populations of people suffering poverty & abuse will always have a Cult of Shallya to nurse them.
* Cult of [[Ranald]] - The Cult of Ranald is prominent within Marienburg, due in most part to the cutthroat society of its inhabitants and the large amount of smuggling going on everyday.
=== Minor Cults ===
* Cult of [[Sigmar]] - Being Imperial in origin, the people of Marienburg have had many dealings with the scions of Sigmar.
* Cult of [[Morr]] - The Cult of Morr is almost a common occurrence within every facet of Human society, and Marienburg is no exception.
* Cult of [[Solkan]] - An ancient and almost forgotten Cult which was once worshipped as a vengeful deity of Light.
* Cult of [[Ulric]] - There are few worshippers of Ulric within Marienburg, & those who do worship him are usually former Norscans.
* Cult of [[Myrmidia]] - A Tilean Cult brought about by close interactions with Tilean merchants and trade.

==In Mordheim==
Marienburgers are one of the three "subfactions" that a player can choose for their Human Mercenaries warband in [[Mordheim]], alongside [[Reikland]] and [[Middenland]]. A Marienburg Mercenaries warband gains two special rules to reflect their origins. Firstly, they gain a +1 bonus when attempting to find rare items. Secondly, they start play in a campaign with +100 gold crowns to amass their warband with. These traits represent their connections to the merchant's network of Marienburg, and the subsequent wealth it gives them.

== Total Warhammer ==

The city can define relations between the empire and bretonnia its occupation by bretonnia can lead to the would be allies going to war over the city.
Marienburg is an extremely profitable settlement because of its port. When playing as Louen or Karl Franz, Marienburg should be conquered as quickly as possible. This is much easier for Louen than Franz as of the Empire Undivided patch.

{{Provences_of_the_Empire}}
[[Category:The Empire]]

Ixalan

2023-03-08T13:11:43Z

2600:387:9:5:0:0:0:3E: Small error in capitalization.

{{stub}}

[[Ixalan]] is the name of a [[Magic: The Gathering]] [[plane]] featured in the Ixalan block, the last block to be released under the Two-Block Paradigm. It features [[Meme|pirates fighting dinosaurs,]] vampire conquistadors, merfolk elementalists, and heavy tribal themes, all in a setting based on the Age of Discovery and Indigenous Mesoamerica. It also features [[Jace Beleren]], who's lost his memories after the events of HOU, and [[Vraska]].

Right before the start of HOU spoiler season, photographs of an uncut rare sheet were leaked. Wizards of the Coast were forced to reveal the cards leaked on said rare sheet early as a result, deviating from the usual flow of spoiler season reveals.

==Ixalan Itself==
Ixalan consists of two known continents; Ixalan proper, a steamy tropical continent of swamps, jungles, mountains, rivers and marshes, and its eastern neighbor/rival of Torrezon, which is more Europe-esque. The four major factions of the plane are divided neatly between the two in terms of origin.

==Races==
Sapient races indigenous to Ixalan consist of [[human]]s, [[orc]]s, [[siren]]s, [[goblin]]s, [[merfolk]] and [[vampire]]s.

==Factions==
This being a plane in M:tG, naturally, Ixalan has various different groups of people who want to kick the shit out of each other for various reasons.

===The Brazen Coalition===
Originating out of Torrezon, the Brazen Coalition are an anarchic and unruly conclave of rebels who fled their homeland when the Legion of Dusk took control of the continent after a protracted (700-years-long) campaign of conquest. United, albeit barely, by their refusal to bend the knee to anyone and their hatred of the Legion of Dusk, the Brazen Coalition operates out of a vast floating city built from half-scuttled ships, known as "High & Dry". They predominantly support themselves by acts of piracy against the fleets of Torrezon, but the more unscrupulous members of their ranks aren't above preying upon the weaker members of their own faction. They're very interested in the idea of using the Immortal Sun at the heart of Orazca to destroy the Legion of Dusk and take back their original homelands.

The only mixed-race faction on the plane, the Coalition counts humans, orcs, goblins and sirens amongst its rank.

In case you haven't figured it out, this is the Pirate faction, the representatives of the mercenaries and thieves who profited from the Age of Sail by attacking cargo ships from other nations.

===The Legion of Dusk===
A theocratic monarchy of humans ruled by vampire priest-nobles, the Legion of Dusk originated in a mountainous province called Torrezon, before they forcibly renamed their entire continent after that original territory. Torrezon had been charged with guarding a powerful magical artifact, called the Immortal Sun, a charge they ultimately failed when a jealous neighboring king attempted to steal the artifact from it. This led to one of its guardian warrior-nuns, Saint Elenda, the Dusk Rose of Garrano, to develop a magical rite that transformed her into the first vampire. She went on a crusade to retrieve the Immortal Sun, but never returned, but the Rite of Redemption she created was used to create a ruling caste of vampire-saints, who went on to conquer their continent, in no small part to ensure a steady supply of "guilty" victims to feed their hunger for blood. This ultimate leads to their seeking out the Immortal Sun, which they believe can be used to create a new version of the Rite of Redemption that will grant them true immortality without the need for blood.

Except... it turns out that the history books had gotten a little creative over the centuries. It turns out that the Rite of Redemption was never intended to be a path to power and immortality, but a heroic sacrifice, a means to pursue greater humility and to enable an adherent to better serve humanity. Needless to say, when Saint Elenda finds out - because it turns out that she found Orazca, couldn't get past the traps, and so decided to set herself up as an eternal guardian for the city - she is ''pissed'' at what the vampires have turned into.

The Legion is the Conquistador faction, being the arrogant, ruthless, self-righteous band of conquerors who want to exploit the denizens of the New World (in this case to use them as livestock).

They're still the most popular faction on /tg/ at the moment, though, because, hey, they're still vampires in gilded armor who at least claim to live up to a noble religion based on self-sacrifice through damnation. They might literally be [[Lawful Evil]] by the D&D writeup of Ixalan in [[Plane Shift]], but, as [[TVTropes]] says, "Evil Is Cool". You can run a mixed black/white card set or a majority white/majority black set. In lore the narrative representative of white is [[Lawful Good|Saint Elenda]] & the narrative representative of black is [[Lawful Evil|Vito]].

===The River Heralds===
The merfolk known as the River Heralds were the original dominant race of Ixalan the continent, where they warred with the humans of the Sun Empire. Despite being reduced to scattered, nomadic bands by the Sun Empire when it possessed the Immortal Sun, they are the current guardians of its resting place in the Golden City of Orazca. They currently exist in competitive tribal groups, or bands, each led by a single [[shaman]] (although, in D&D terms, their powers are more of a blend of [[druid]] and [[illusionist]]) called a Shaper.

As a once-mighty empire that fell from glory and reverted to tribal roots, the River Heralds are the Maya faction of the plane.

===The Sun Empire===
The dinosaur-taming humans of the Sun Empire are the current masters of Ixalan, seeking to reclaim the Immortal Sun that they once possessed and use it to conquer the world. They are also rather pissed off about the Legion of Dusk invading their lands and trying to use them as livestock.

Obviously, these are the Aztec faction.

The Sun Empire are basically the creator's darlings of the set; the only new [[planeswalker]] introduced in the set, [[Huatli]], is a resident of the Empire, and the storyline ends with them reclaiming Orazca and making plans to counter-invade Torrezon.

==Pretentious Metaplot==
So, what's the big deal with this Immortal Sun malarkey? Well, as usual, it all stems back to a couple of [[Planeswalker|Oldwalkers]] fucking things up for everybody.

See, around 1300 years ago, the [[sphinx]] planeswalker [[Azor]] and the [[dragon]] planeswalker [[Ugin]] got together to discuss their mutual hatred for another dragon planeswalker: the infamously dickish [[Nicol Bolas]]. Determined to put an end to his long career of douchebaggery, they came up with what they thought would be the perfect plan: finding a suitably unimportant backwater world in the middle of multiversial nowhere (aka, Ixalan), they extracted Azor's planeswalker Spark and used it to create a powerful magical item, the Immortal Sun, which could be used both to forcibly summon a planeswalker and to turn an entire plane into an inescapable prison for planeswalkers. Ugin would go to [[Tarkir]] to lure Nicol into a confrontation, allowing Azor to know where to aim and thusly he could zap Nicol into Ixalan and trap him there. Then Ugin and Azor could use the Immortal Sun to free Azor from Ixalan and restore Azor's spark, leaving Nicol confined to Ixalan forever.

Naturally, it went completely tits up. Nicol had already been looking for Azor to kick his ass just because, and so he found out about their plans. On Tarkir, Nicol beat Ugin like a drum, kicking his ass so thoroughly that if it weren't for the assistance of a time-displaced planeswalker who sealed Ugin away in a protective shell of stone to recover, the Spirit Dragon would have died. Azor, meanwhile, was left stranded in Ixalan.

After a few decades, Azor got bored and decided to go back to his old ways of founding new lawful societies. And, just like all the other cultures he set up, they eventually turned into disasters. When he gave the Immortal Sun to a monastery in Torrezon to guard for him, it kicked off three centuries of civil war before Azor got sick of it and stole the Immortal Sun back, flying off to Ixalan. There, he gave it to the Sun Empire to guard, but they misused it as a tool for conquest, so he destroyed their empire and took what had been the heart of it, Orazca, as his new demesne, charging the River Heralds with guarding him.

Cue the present day, when Nicol Bolas sends the [[gorgon]] planeswalker [[Vraska]] to Ixalan to retrieve the Immortal Sun, having decided that it could be useful in his plans to conquer [[Ravnica]]. But, on Ixalan, she meets an unexpected face; an amnesiac [[Jace Beleren]], who had instinctively planeswalked to Ixalan after nearly being killed by Nicol on [[Amonkhet]]. Together, the two find their way to Orazca, where they unravel Nicol's basic plot - to use the Immortal Sun to conquer Ravnica - and try to set up a counter-plan, involving Vraska becoming an unconscious sleeper-agent against Nicol.

In the wake of this, they go their separate ways; Vraska returns to [[Ravnica]], where she makes her "successful" report to Nicol Bolas and is rewarded by being presented with Jarad, Guildleader of the Golgari Swarm, so she can petrify him and take his place as Guildleader, whilst Jace planeswalks to [[Dominaria]] in search of [[Gideon Jura]]. Oh, and [[Huatli]], the Ixalani planeswalker leaves her home in the Sun Empire by planeswalking to [[Kaladesh]], whilst the Sun Empire officially claims the Golden City of Orazca for its own and starts making plans to consolidate power on Ixalan-the-continent before counter-invading Torrezon.

== Mechanics ==
=== Treasure ===
Create a colorless Treasure artifact token with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool." ''Treasure was quite popular and made a return in Ravnica Allegiance and Core 2020, being less game-breaking than Kaladesh's energy.''

=== Explore ===
Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back on top or into your graveyard.

=== Enrage ===
An action word that triggers whenever a creature with it is dealt damage. As of this edit, the ability word is only found on Dinosaurs.

=== Raid ===
Returning from Khans of Tarkir, it checks to see if you've attacked before activating an effect. Associated with Pirates.

=== Vehicles/Crew ===
They're back after a block's absence! This time, they're usually used to represent boats, in line with the piracy and exploration themes of the set. They work the same as they did on Kaladesh: artifacts that temporarily become creatures when you "crew" them by tapping creatures that meet a specific total power. ''The ships of Ixalan were mostly Timmy cards, being too big and costly to have the meta breaking ramp of Smuggler's Copter or Heart of Kiran.''

=== Double-Faced Cards ===
Their fourth appearance in the game, after Innistrad block, Magic Origins, and Shadows over Innistrad. There are only ten in Ixalan, all of them rare. Five are artifacts, while the other five are enchantments, but all of them permanently transform into lands.

{{MTG-Settings}}
[[Category:Magic: The Gathering]]

Ixalan

2023-03-08T13:10:19Z

2600:387:9:5:0:0:0:3E: In games as the legion you'll usually end up making a mixed black & white deck however the specialization of that deck will lean one way or another.

{{stub}}

[[Ixalan]] is the name of a [[Magic: The Gathering]] [[plane]] featured in the Ixalan block, the last block to be released under the Two-Block Paradigm. It features [[Meme|pirates fighting dinosaurs,]] vampire conquistadors, merfolk elementalists, and heavy tribal themes, all in a setting based on the Age of Discovery and Indigenous Mesoamerica. It also features [[Jace Beleren]], who's lost his memories after the events of HOU, and [[Vraska]].

Right before the start of HOU spoiler season, photographs of an uncut rare sheet were leaked. Wizards of the Coast were forced to reveal the cards leaked on said rare sheet early as a result, deviating from the usual flow of spoiler season reveals.

==Ixalan Itself==
Ixalan consists of two known continents; Ixalan proper, a steamy tropical continent of swamps, jungles, mountains, rivers and marshes, and its eastern neighbor/rival of Torrezon, which is more Europe-esque. The four major factions of the plane are divided neatly between the two in terms of origin.

==Races==
Sapient races indigenous to Ixalan consist of [[human]]s, [[orc]]s, [[siren]]s, [[goblin]]s, [[merfolk]] and [[vampire]]s.

==Factions==
This being a plane in M:tG, naturally, Ixalan has various different groups of people who want to kick the shit out of each other for various reasons.

===The Brazen Coalition===
Originating out of Torrezon, the Brazen Coalition are an anarchic and unruly conclave of rebels who fled their homeland when the Legion of Dusk took control of the continent after a protracted (700-years-long) campaign of conquest. United, albeit barely, by their refusal to bend the knee to anyone and their hatred of the Legion of Dusk, the Brazen Coalition operates out of a vast floating city built from half-scuttled ships, known as "High & Dry". They predominantly support themselves by acts of piracy against the fleets of Torrezon, but the more unscrupulous members of their ranks aren't above preying upon the weaker members of their own faction. They're very interested in the idea of using the Immortal Sun at the heart of Orazca to destroy the Legion of Dusk and take back their original homelands.

The only mixed-race faction on the plane, the Coalition counts humans, orcs, goblins and sirens amongst its rank.

In case you haven't figured it out, this is the Pirate faction, the representatives of the mercenaries and thieves who profited from the Age of Sail by attacking cargo ships from other nations.

===The Legion of Dusk===
A theocratic monarchy of humans ruled by vampire priest-nobles, the Legion of Dusk originated in a mountainous province called Torrezon, before they forcibly renamed their entire continent after that original territory. Torrezon had been charged with guarding a powerful magical artifact, called the Immortal Sun, a charge they ultimately failed when a jealous neighboring king attempted to steal the artifact from it. This led to one of its guardian warrior-nuns, Saint Elenda, the Dusk Rose of Garrano, to develop a magical rite that transformed her into the first vampire. She went on a crusade to retrieve the Immortal Sun, but never returned, but the Rite of Redemption she created was used to create a ruling caste of vampire-saints, who went on to conquer their continent, in no small part to ensure a steady supply of "guilty" victims to feed their hunger for blood. This ultimate leads to their seeking out the Immortal Sun, which they believe can be used to create a new version of the Rite of Redemption that will grant them true immortality without the need for blood.

Except... it turns out that the history books had gotten a little creative over the centuries. It turns out that the Rite of Redemption was never intended to be a path to power and immortality, but a heroic sacrifice, a means to pursue greater humility and to enable an adherent to better serve humanity. Needless to say, when Saint Elenda finds out - because it turns out that she found Orazca, couldn't get past the traps, and so decided to set herself up as an eternal guardian for the city - she is ''pissed'' at what the vampires have turned into.

The Legion is the Conquistador faction, being the arrogant, ruthless, self-righteous band of conquerors who want to exploit the denizens of the New World (in this case to use them as livestock).

They're still the most popular faction on /tg/ at the moment, though, because, hey, they're still vampires in gilded armor who at least claim to live up to a noble religion based on self-sacrifice through damnation. They might literally be [[Lawful Evil]] by the D&D writeup of Ixalan in [[Plane Shift]], but, as [[TVTropes]] says, "Evil Is Cool". You can run a mixed black/white card set or a majority white/majority black set in lore the narrative representative of white is [[Lawful Good|Saint Elenda]] & the narrative representative of black is [[Lawful Evil|Vito]].

===The River Heralds===
The merfolk known as the River Heralds were the original dominant race of Ixalan the continent, where they warred with the humans of the Sun Empire. Despite being reduced to scattered, nomadic bands by the Sun Empire when it possessed the Immortal Sun, they are the current guardians of its resting place in the Golden City of Orazca. They currently exist in competitive tribal groups, or bands, each led by a single [[shaman]] (although, in D&D terms, their powers are more of a blend of [[druid]] and [[illusionist]]) called a Shaper.

As a once-mighty empire that fell from glory and reverted to tribal roots, the River Heralds are the Maya faction of the plane.

===The Sun Empire===
The dinosaur-taming humans of the Sun Empire are the current masters of Ixalan, seeking to reclaim the Immortal Sun that they once possessed and use it to conquer the world. They are also rather pissed off about the Legion of Dusk invading their lands and trying to use them as livestock.

Obviously, these are the Aztec faction.

The Sun Empire are basically the creator's darlings of the set; the only new [[planeswalker]] introduced in the set, [[Huatli]], is a resident of the Empire, and the storyline ends with them reclaiming Orazca and making plans to counter-invade Torrezon.

==Pretentious Metaplot==
So, what's the big deal with this Immortal Sun malarkey? Well, as usual, it all stems back to a couple of [[Planeswalker|Oldwalkers]] fucking things up for everybody.

See, around 1300 years ago, the [[sphinx]] planeswalker [[Azor]] and the [[dragon]] planeswalker [[Ugin]] got together to discuss their mutual hatred for another dragon planeswalker: the infamously dickish [[Nicol Bolas]]. Determined to put an end to his long career of douchebaggery, they came up with what they thought would be the perfect plan: finding a suitably unimportant backwater world in the middle of multiversial nowhere (aka, Ixalan), they extracted Azor's planeswalker Spark and used it to create a powerful magical item, the Immortal Sun, which could be used both to forcibly summon a planeswalker and to turn an entire plane into an inescapable prison for planeswalkers. Ugin would go to [[Tarkir]] to lure Nicol into a confrontation, allowing Azor to know where to aim and thusly he could zap Nicol into Ixalan and trap him there. Then Ugin and Azor could use the Immortal Sun to free Azor from Ixalan and restore Azor's spark, leaving Nicol confined to Ixalan forever.

Naturally, it went completely tits up. Nicol had already been looking for Azor to kick his ass just because, and so he found out about their plans. On Tarkir, Nicol beat Ugin like a drum, kicking his ass so thoroughly that if it weren't for the assistance of a time-displaced planeswalker who sealed Ugin away in a protective shell of stone to recover, the Spirit Dragon would have died. Azor, meanwhile, was left stranded in Ixalan.

After a few decades, Azor got bored and decided to go back to his old ways of founding new lawful societies. And, just like all the other cultures he set up, they eventually turned into disasters. When he gave the Immortal Sun to a monastery in Torrezon to guard for him, it kicked off three centuries of civil war before Azor got sick of it and stole the Immortal Sun back, flying off to Ixalan. There, he gave it to the Sun Empire to guard, but they misused it as a tool for conquest, so he destroyed their empire and took what had been the heart of it, Orazca, as his new demesne, charging the River Heralds with guarding him.

Cue the present day, when Nicol Bolas sends the [[gorgon]] planeswalker [[Vraska]] to Ixalan to retrieve the Immortal Sun, having decided that it could be useful in his plans to conquer [[Ravnica]]. But, on Ixalan, she meets an unexpected face; an amnesiac [[Jace Beleren]], who had instinctively planeswalked to Ixalan after nearly being killed by Nicol on [[Amonkhet]]. Together, the two find their way to Orazca, where they unravel Nicol's basic plot - to use the Immortal Sun to conquer Ravnica - and try to set up a counter-plan, involving Vraska becoming an unconscious sleeper-agent against Nicol.

In the wake of this, they go their separate ways; Vraska returns to [[Ravnica]], where she makes her "successful" report to Nicol Bolas and is rewarded by being presented with Jarad, Guildleader of the Golgari Swarm, so she can petrify him and take his place as Guildleader, whilst Jace planeswalks to [[Dominaria]] in search of [[Gideon Jura]]. Oh, and [[Huatli]], the Ixalani planeswalker leaves her home in the Sun Empire by planeswalking to [[Kaladesh]], whilst the Sun Empire officially claims the Golden City of Orazca for its own and starts making plans to consolidate power on Ixalan-the-continent before counter-invading Torrezon.

== Mechanics ==
=== Treasure ===
Create a colorless Treasure artifact token with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool." ''Treasure was quite popular and made a return in Ravnica Allegiance and Core 2020, being less game-breaking than Kaladesh's energy.''

=== Explore ===
Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back on top or into your graveyard.

=== Enrage ===
An action word that triggers whenever a creature with it is dealt damage. As of this edit, the ability word is only found on Dinosaurs.

=== Raid ===
Returning from Khans of Tarkir, it checks to see if you've attacked before activating an effect. Associated with Pirates.

=== Vehicles/Crew ===
They're back after a block's absence! This time, they're usually used to represent boats, in line with the piracy and exploration themes of the set. They work the same as they did on Kaladesh: artifacts that temporarily become creatures when you "crew" them by tapping creatures that meet a specific total power. ''The ships of Ixalan were mostly Timmy cards, being too big and costly to have the meta breaking ramp of Smuggler's Copter or Heart of Kiran.''

=== Double-Faced Cards ===
Their fourth appearance in the game, after Innistrad block, Magic Origins, and Shadows over Innistrad. There are only ten in Ixalan, all of them rare. Five are artifacts, while the other five are enchantments, but all of them permanently transform into lands.

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[[Category:Magic: The Gathering]]