Zendikar (plane)

Zendikar
[[File: Murasa |250px]]
Information
First seen	'Zendikar'
Last seen	'Battle for Zendikar'
Planeswalkers	Nahiri, Kiora, Nissa Revane
Status	Exposed to Eldrazi

Tazeem

For the expansion, see Zendikar.

Zendikar, setting for the original Zendikar block and its sequel , is a plane with powerful sources of mana, which flows differently there. Its riches in mana and other wealth has made it a destination for Planeswalkers to explore and exploit. The promise of this is also enough to lure in various local explorers and adventurers.

Geography

Zendikar's landscape is constantly shifting and changing. This process is called The Roil. This makes settlements very scarce and only few outposts of civilization are present.

The plane consists of seven continents: Akoum, Bala Ged, Guul Draz, Murasa, Ondu, Sejiri, and Tazeem.

Another geographical feature to be noted are the large, floating polyhedron-shaped stones called hedrons that litter the landscape. Nobody is sure what they are for but their gravity-defying existence hints at the strange properties of gravity and mana on the plane. These ancient, rune-carved monoliths are strewn across Zendikar. Up to ten miles long, some of these stones drift in the sky; others are buried in the ground, some whole, some broken.

Trap-riddled ruins can be found on every continent. Mysterious glyphs hint at truths long forgotten. Unspeakable monsters lurk in the quiet of these hidden monuments of a forgotten past. These ruins still emanate power, and both planeswalkers and local explorers will undergo great peril to reap their rewards.

Inhabitants

The plane is inhabited among others by goblins, elves, merfolk, humans and vampires. It is also the home of the Kor (who have been abducted to other planes from Zendikar). Other races that can be found on Zendikar are angels, ogres, minotaurs and giants. A reptilian race of questionable sapience, known as the Surrakar, dwell exclusively on Zendikar. Assorted wildlife, ranging from insects to beasts also dwell on the plane, posing another threat for explorers not to be eaten or killed by. Some of them, like the Gomazoa have adapted to the flying topography. These look just like the regular floating rocks.

The Eldrazi

Zendikar is also the prison of the Eldrazi, an ancient and powerful race that devour planes and threatened the multiverse once in the past. They were sealed away by three ancient planeswalkers: Sorin Markov, Ugin, and Nahiri. Now, the prisons of the Eldrazi have weakened, and their minions are breaking free. Sorin returned to the plane to seal them away once more, though his two comrades were nowhere to be found. Nissa Revane, a native elven Planeswalker, assisted him, but her goals were to see the Eldrazi imprisoned elsewhere, away from Zendikar.

Visitors

Chandra Nalaar and Jace Beleren came across a scroll in Kephalai that led to this world. Sarkhan Vol had been sent there by Nicol Bolas in search of an ancient relic. Also, Ob Nixilis, a former Planeswalker whose spark was ripped out by the erratic mana of Zendikar, lurked on the plane, seeking for a way to get vengeance and to restore his powers. Finally, Garruk Wildspeaker seems to have a history upon the plane, but what this means for him isn't clear.

The meeting of Vol, Nalaar and Beleren in the Eye of Ugin chamber loosened the bonds that kept the Eldrazi in torpor, and they rose to feed on the life of Zendikar again.

The Battle for Zendikar

Thousands of years ago when the Eldrazi first awoke from their torpor, the destruction was vast; the natural world nearly perished. The power of the Eldrazi was unfathomable, and humanoids didn't so much as slow down their progress. It took the return of The Three to put the great Eldrazi to sleep again. Since then, the planet created the Roil to battle the drones and with the new awakening, some humanoids received a mana infusion that enabled them to fight back. Within two years of the release of the Eldrazi, Sea Gate on Tazeem and the entire continents of Sejiri and Bala Ged were overrun. adventurers of Zendikar, even severely outgunned as they are, won't fold to the Eldrazi abominations.

Gideon Jura took command, and started gathering allies to take the offensive. Battle-hardened veterans and desperate new recruits flocked to his banner. The vampires of Malakir joined in , as well as the Roil-mages of Noyan Dar. Kiora, a Planeswalker native to Zendikar, brought her own army of merfolk and colossal sea monsters to the fight. They began an attack on the Eldrazi-controlled Sea Gate, joined soon thereafter by Nissa. The Eldrazi were driven from the city, and Sea Gate's defensive ramparts were rebuilt and fortified. The soldiers of Zendikar celebrated a hard-won victory. Then, Jori En arrived with the news that Ulamog was approaching ....

The Planeswalkers enacted a bold new plan. While Gideon's troops and Kiora's forces held the city against this fresh assault, Nissa called on the elemental power of the earth to raise sunken hedrons from the ground and move them into a ring around the Eldrazi titan. Jace activated the hedrons' magic, and Ulamog was trapped! Then everything collapsed. Ob Nixilis appeared, having followed Nissa from Bala Ged. Gleaming with joy, he slaughtered the Kor guards and siphoned the power of the hedrons into himself, reigniting his spark. In one final act of vengeance against Zendikar, he destroyed the hedron network and awoke the slumbering Eldrazi titan Kozilek.

Sources

• Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum
• A Planeswalker's Guide to Zendikar