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Zegana
Prime-Speaker-Zegana
Details
Race Merfolk
Birthplace Ravnica
Lifetime Mending Era
Death c. 4563 AR

Zegana was a stately and reserved merfolk wizard from Ravnica. She used to be the Speaker for Zonot One and also spoke at the discretion of the Speakers' Chamber, fulfilling the role of guildmaster of the Simic Combine. She upheld the traditional way of the guild and its utopian philosophy. She was replaced by Vannifar as Guildmaster, and later murdered by Etrata while the assassin was under the influence of Trostani's mind control pollen.

History[ | ]

Some believed Zegana had controlled the Chamber. She delivered the Fathom Edict,[1] which declared a new beginning for the Simic Combine, after the fall of Momir Vig.[2]

Regal and reticent, Zegana always maintained that she served as Prime Speaker only at the sufferance of the Speakers' Chamber. The chamber, she said, could revoke her status at any time and appoint another of their number prime speaker. Even within the guild, some believed that she had had far more influence than she let on and that the speakers would not or could not remove her. Outside the guild, some expressed doubt that the Chamber met at all. Zegana had meant every word of it. When some people of the guild, members of the Adaptionist faction argued that her ways were outdated and the guild required more practical leadership,[3] Although she believed Vannifar's rule a dangerous experiment, she accepted the chamber's judgment and yielded her place.[4]

She returned to the seclusion of Zonot One, which is the smallest zonot, and always tended to keep quiet.[5] There she became a vocal advocate for the Utopian movement, opposing Vannifar's more extreme initiatives and engaging in outreach to other Ravnican guilds.[6] She had hoped her niece Kaszira would be able to help unite the factions in the future.[7]

Zegana, Utopian Speaker

Zegana, Utopian Speaker.

After her ouster by Vannifar, the remaining Utopians in the guild have clustered around her, but by nature, their work was both quieter and slower than the Adaptationists. If Vannifar went too far, Zegana would be there to make a case to the Chamber that the prime speaker should be removed. Until then, she sought to curb Vannifar's excesses and guard against her failures.[6]

During the Phyrexian invasion, Vannifar and Zegana settled their old grievances.[8] The guild leader allowed Zegana to experiment with the Phyrexian oil on Ravnican animals in an attempt to find a cure for phyresis.[4][9][10] A year and some months later, Zegana was assassinated during a celebration at Karlov Manor.[11] There were no signs of struggle on her body, which was arranged to show the symbols of the ten guilds, with a black iris flower representing the Simic held in her left hand. Detective Alquist Proft later deduced that Zegana had been killed by the Dimir assassin Etrata, who was under mind control from a plant cultivated by Oba, the central dryad of Trostani,. The former guild leader was targeted because of her experimentation with the Phyrexian oil. Oba had been under the mistaken impression that Zegana was using the oil to advance Simic's goal of evolution, rather than trying to cure the oil's effects.

Story appearances[ | ]

Title Author Publishing date Set Setting (plane) Featuring
The Fathom Edict Brady Dommermuth 2013-01-09 Gatecrash Ravnica Zegana
The Principles of Unnatural Selection Nicky Drayden 2019-02-06 Ravnica Allegiance Ravnica Simic Combine, Zegana
Episode 1: Ghosts of our Past Seanan McGuire 2023-12-05 Murders at Karlov Manor Ravnica Teysa Karlov, Kaya Cassir, Ezrim, Lavinia, Tolsimir Wolfblood, Aurelia, Judith, Tomik Vrona, Kellan, Vannifar, Zegana, Krenko, Yarus
Episode 2: Monsters We Became Seanan McGuire 2024-01-08 Murders at Karlov Manor Ravnica Teysa Karlov, Kaya Cassir, Ezrim, Aurelia, Zegana, Vannifar, Kellan, Alquist Proft, Etrata, Lavinia

In-game references[ | ]

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References[ | ]

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