Innistrad: The Complete History | Magic: The Gathering Lore

[Music] innistrad is a world dominated by dark forces and black magic gothic have taken a stranglehold on this plane filling it with all matters of nasty creatures classic era monsters such as werewolves ghosts vampires and zombies all make prominent appearances on innistrad they may be driven by different forces but all have the intended consequence of plaguing the natural human population of innistrad who fight back often in vain against this ever-growing shadow werewolves are some of the most ferocious creatures on this plane these were once humans now cursed with lycanthropy a transmittable affliction that forces the bearer to transform into a hulking man wolf with a hunger to match it's believed the mysterious moon of innistrad holds sway over this transformation but one thing is clear in this state a werewolf loses all of its former humanity likely to kill its own family if they crossed its path the afflicted is hit even harder as they return to their human form cursed with the knowledge of their horrible actions legends of the huntmaster of the fells placate the minds of humans living in outstretched villages while even planeswalkers aren't immune to this curse's power arlen cord was a native of innistrad before her ascension but even before her spark ignited she was attacked by the mandronant werewolf pact in the woodlands of avabrock her former home though she initially fought against this change and her new nature arlen eventually learned to control and use this magic power retaining her human mind even after taking this monstrous form the shambling dead of innistrad roamed the world in gigantic hordes as if large bands of hurt animals they shift and pool like the tides mindlessly crashing into helpless human gavenies on innistrad there are two main categories of zombies ghouls and scabs ghouls are reanimated corpses controlled by dark necromatic magic this can occur naturally on innistrad but just as often can be attributed to the work of a necromancer building their own personal undead army the other are scabs which are a product of science rather than magic as necromancers are to ghouls stitchers use their practices to combine various body parts together creating massive zombie constructs while ghouls can be mass-produced quickly scabs can be made with a number of unique augmentations such as wings leading to some very creative combinations so on innistrad rarely does the dead ever stay dead the competitive nature of the necromancer vs stitcher debate is best exemplified by the rivalry between the siblings gissa and giroff gissa grew up a talented necromancer and giroff honed his taxidermy skills as a stitcher they even decided to put their professions to the test laying siege to a holy city on innistrad to see exactly whose creations would prove more successful we'll get more into this siege later in the video but the winner was never clear and so the debate on which undead or better continues on as the bodies of the fallen can come back to haunt the living so too can the disembodied spirits they once hosted ghosts are a common sight on innistrad responsible for all manner of hauntings those humans who die of tragedy or in extreme situations will often stay bound to the world of the living cursed with feelings of pain anger and fear feelings which drive them to terrify other humans sometimes out of jealousy for the lives that they still live geist are a powerful essence left behind when a human passes but never moves on on innistrad this is known as the blessed sleep yet with no limits to the terrible ways one can die on innistrad many are denied this blessed sleep which means that their spirit can move peacefully onto the next realm and so it's no wonder why many still haunt the world long after their demise still not all lost spirits are malicious others of noble hearts may stay with their former comrades aiding them against the dark forces of innistrad even from beyond the grave a great example of a kindly spirit would be the geist of saint draft this fallen hero of the light in human society stayed on as a protective ghost continuing his service to the church and ultimate mission to free humanity from the shackles of evil vampires are what you could consider the most intelligent of the monstrous threats facing the humans of innistrad they're not commanded by some primal urge to kill only the need to feed on human blood but rarely in excess vampires of innistrad are aristocrats the aristocracy nobility and even royalty they control their own populations and even quote-unquote farm humans for blood maintaining human populations to ensure there won't be a future shortage but also calling humans numbers when there is an abundance in a magnificent display of callous calculations vampire families are separated into houses specific groups who control different regions with their own history and lore to them while they all vie for power one ancient house commands their utmost respect house markov whose origins predates all other vampires on innistrad in ancient times there lived a man of high esteem and nobility a human who pushed the boundaries of self-importance his name was edgar markov in life he was an acclaimed alchemist probing the unknown of curses and various illnesses at one point he seemed genuinely invested in helping his fellow humans in their defense against the evil forces of innistrad but as he aged that mentality waned and edgar markov grew more isolated he cared now only for his own life and the lives of his direct family and he wouldn't let something like death stand in the way of their greatness but nor would he leave his family shambling on as a member of the countless undead so he began to search for an alternative everlasting life through countless experiments and trials edgar and his sons found some promising results from blood magic but they were never able to make that singular breakthrough it took a famine and a demon for them to discover that secret as the famine swept through the human populace of innistrad food became scarce and the dwindling humans looked for any alternative this is when the desperate edgar markov was approached by a demon named shogengar the demon whispered to edgar an ancient ritual performed with blood similar to the trials he had already conducted giving edgar the final piece he was looking for in disobeying one of the few human cultural taboos on innistrad edgar and his sons captured an angel named marquise and drew strength from its blood over and over and over again slowly exsanguinating the holy being over time edgar and his family found that this blood sustained them but also changed them they could now draw strength from the blood of others as well they had transformed into the first vampires of innistrad this vampirism gave the family unnatural strength magic and what they truly wanted everlasting life it also effectively ended the famine by giving this population a secondary food source while also calling the number of humans overall this vampiric curse spread through those who survived their encounter with the markov family other bloodlines sprouted and the vampire ranks swelled it was only after edgar markov spread the gift to his grandson a young soren markov that the tides of this growing force finally start to slow it was sorin whose transformation into a vampire was so traumatizing that his latent planeswalker spark ignited we saw past the selfishness of his bloodline to the calamity that they would soon face soren's foresight saw as vampires feasted carelessly on humans growing in their own numbers they would soon hunt them to the brink of extinction soren having grown in his experiences as a planeswalker returned innistrad to a more restrained path to ensure their own survival vampires must make an effort to safeguard humans as well if they disappear their primary food source would be gone and the vampires would delve into cannibalism and they too would eventually go extinct while many vampires regarded humans as nothing more than cattle wanting nothing to do with these human hunting restrictions sorin went beyond his own people in order to protect them from themselves he used the substantial magic offered to him by his planeswalker spark to create the humans a means of protection avacyn a symbol of hope to the dwindling human populace and one of betrayal for the vampires [Music] though dark forces on innistrad are considerable there are those who stand with humanity in their defense their greatest allies being the angels angels on innistrad are much like angels on any other plane their beings of pure mana coalesced into a sentient form though their base mana the foundation of their entity is typically white other colors could mix in the angel's essence during its creation these variations of mana alignments led to various flights of angels to form one innistrad all working together to smite evil but all standing for differing ideals to the humans who cherish them the three main flights on innistrad consist of the gold knight the alabaster and the herons with old flights disbanding and new ones being created over the plane's history but more on that later in this video though angels were a natural occurrence on innistrad they weren't enough to stem the tide of monsters hunting humanity not alone with the rise of vampirism and a new threat to the human's existence angels and the forces of light needed a new champion one who would come from an unexpected source the vampire plains walker soren markov grandson of the vampire progenitor saw it as his duty to spare his race from self-destruction to keep vampires from overhunting humans he created the artificial angel avacyn using his incredible magic to the point of pure exhaustion and nearly death sworn pulled in as much white mana as he could and compressed it into this the symbol of compassion and hope avacyn was born soren charged his new guardian with protecting the humans of innistrad from all dark threats she would lead the angels in this glorious effort and give rise to a stability and balance that innistrad hadn't seen in well over a thousand years along with the creation of avacyn and arguably a more taxing creation was innistrad's secondary protective measure the hell vault this was a prison crafted from the plane's moon which two held magical properties this moon rock was fashioned into a monolith and infused with avacyn's holy magic in practice the hell volt acted as an extra dimensional jail an endless internal expanse of never ending darkness avacyn would use the hellvolt as a mean to ensure evil would never come back to innistrad while creatures like werewolves and ghouls could be outright destroyed demons and devils were a bit more persistent demons if killed simply faded to another realm before being revived however with the hell vaults avacyn now had a permanent means of dealing with these evil forces the hell vault also had the unintended benefit of warden off interplaner threats its magic pulsed through even the blind eternities making it difficult for outside threats to enter innistrad altogether soren didn't just make an angel with no real plan he understood innistrad and its people their culture he knew of myths the humans had about the plane's moon and the power of faith in regards to the other angels so he crafted avacyn to essentially be the payoff for those beliefs in doing so soren's power granted everson a sort of faith magic that the angel spread throughout innistrad this means that those who followed and prayed to avison were offered new spells to help defend themselves belief and faith in avison as well as other angels provided protection even if no angel was physically there prayers were being answered literally as avason 2 had the power to hear each prayer to her throughout the plane churches began to spring up throughout hamlets and gavin's and the church of avison rose to prominence where these churches sprouted wards of light followed beating back the dark forces and physically protecting entire villages of humans finally humanity had a tool a real fighting chance at survival all thanks to a generous vampire still avacyn wasn't hopefully accepted by the other angels of innistrad essentially avacyn just appeared out of nowhere the strongest most noble angel anyone had ever seen she was a beacon of hope and immediately generated respect and followers of the other angels but still some felt odd in her presence avison was rather aloof kind and compassionate yes but she didn't connect with the other angels she led but didn't bond this is likely due to her artificial nature and while the native angels never learned of abison's origins this strange feeling always placated this new symbol of hope though avison herself didn't enjoy the act of smiting it became a pivotal role in her charge however it was most difficult to smite one of their own as one of the earliest tests that avacyn's incredible power came from within before avison's creation there existed a flight known as the flight of dusk angels of white and black mana alignments led by the angel liza they had a different tactic when dealing with the forces of evil rather than attack devils demons and the undead outright they studied these monsters learned about them hoping that this knowledge would lead to a more permanent victory rather than hopelessly slaying them even with avison's arrival this tactic was given her approval though evasin and the other flights did feel that it drew a thin line that line however was utterly crossed when liza actually made a deal with a demon lord the deal was more of an understanding a peace agreement in a way that ensured humans would be spared the demon lord's wrath in exchange for the angel ignoring his other activities though noble in its ambition it crossed the line all other flights of angels believed to be unforgivable angels do not consort with demons liza and her flight of dusk were branded heretics and while her sisters the other native-born angels fell short of actually acting against liza avison did not avason fully displaying her power was able to utterly destroy the flight of dusk along with liza scrubbing their existence from innistrad everson took no joy in smiting liza but found it necessary to ensure their angelic purpose the other flights impressed by her conviction and strength agreed that this cemented avison's status among their ranks from then on the mention of liza was forbidden but still legends and myths of the lost flight carried on [Music] though balance was achieved and soren again left in astrad to explore the multiverse this stable piece would be upended thanks to a powerful demon lord named grizzlebrand grizzlebrand defied the church of avison effectively spitting on everything they held dear and literally defiling the hell volt itself a direct challenge to the archangel to avacyn grizzlebrand was nothing more than another demon to lock away but grizzlebrand was nothing like she had ever faced up to this point he was a demon lord but not any demon lord one who had in the past consorted with the dragon planeswalker nicobolus on a scheme that saw the soul of liliana vest divided among others of his kind the necromancer and planeswalker liliana vest signed away her very soul her free will over to this council of demon lords in exchange for everlasting youth and power beyond her mortal imagination however as much as liliana lusted for power she lusted for freedom more so sending the necromancer on a quest to kill her demon lords and end her contractual agreements what avacyn saw as blind arrogance from gristle brand and desecrating the hell vault was in fact a tactical retreat by the demon gristlebrand knew of liliana's crusade and sought a means of escaping his untimely fates his mission to trap himself safely within the hell vault avacyn of course gladly took up this challenge with only the highest members of her church coming along to bear witness to this battle the angel and demon lord were evenly matched but after putting up a good show avison had enough of cast a spell which drew the demon into the hell vault russell brand still being a demon decided on one final dark act before his imprisonment just before his essence scattered he threw his weapon a spear piercing the chest of avacyn this wouldn't be a mortal blow however gristlebrand pulled the spear back towards him and the gaping maul of the hell vault which swallowed both he and avacyn in a flash of magnificent light as the clergy watched on stunned they opened their eyes to an empty battlefield the demon lord and their angel of hope had both vanished the high lunarquake of the church machaeus took command eveyson was gone but the only way to retrieve her would be to shatter the hell vault releasing countless other demons and years of hard work back onto innistrad michaelis decided to cover up abison's fate leaving her absence unanswered all the while collecting more personal power for himself among the church's members tempted by this vacuum left with avacyn's imprisonment no one outside of a select rather corrupt few individuals would ever know of abison's true fate however machaeus had made a grave miscalculation he wasn't aware how dependent the humans of innistrad had grown on avison's lights their protection was directly tied to the angel and with her now gone their wards began to fade and then fail entirely priests who once controlled the darkness with spells of light saw those same spells flicker and fizzle leaving them defenseless to the common hordes of night faith was dwindling and without faith their magic would not protect them the armies of werewolves undead and vampires sensed this weakness and attacked in earnest every night's growing bolder and more driven as if making up for lost time humanity was on the decline yet the church of evasion kept faith despite those in power knowing the truth of their predicament behind their stone walls and fortified cathedrals the lunar was safe and became more powerful as the rabble became more desperate those on innistrad weren't the only ones to sense this in balance soren mark called the self-declared guardian of innistrad too felt the disturbance returning to his home in search of his angel his avacyn he didn't know where avacyn had gone but still felt her essence was at least together meaning that she had not died she was missing kept prisoner somewhere soren began his search for avacyn looking to stem the red tide of humanity before innistrad was too far gone but as he scoured his world he came across another threat the half devil planeswalker tibolt this madden masochist communed with devils and reveled in inflicting pain upon others if left unchecked countless humans would die to tibble alone sora knew this plans walker would need to be dealt with and so put his search on hold tibot was young a new planeswalker and clearly was outmatched by the experienced soarin not only did zorin defeat tibult in combat it wasn't even really a fair fight tibbles was smacked about so hard that only planes walking away stood between him and death zorn believed that he got his message across to tibblts that innistrad wouldn't be a playground for his sadistic practices while the humans prayed in vain and soren was distracted another was on the hunt for what the hell vault contained the necromancer liliana vest this powerful and dangerous planeswalker found her way back to innistrad discovering intermission that it harbored one of her demonic overlords who now owned a fragment of her soul this was gristlebrand's domain and liliana looked to snuff out his existence and clear her debt liliana decided to seek answers from those forces opposed to a demon-like gristlebrand believing the humans of this church of avison would have probably tracked such a powerful evil force she decided to go straight to the top the lunark of the church michaeus who of course wouldn't give up such precious information willingly especially to a stranger from outside the order as luck would have it liliana wouldn't need to wait for michaeus to see reason or force her way through scores of priests as the holy city of thraben was about to be attacked giving liliana vest an opening draben is the heart of human society on innistrad it's where the high cathedral of avacyn resides and it's where the hell vault stands as a symbol of the angel's great influence as such it was the greatest prize for the forces of darkness those who would conquer thraben would go down in history forever a title far too tempting for some such as the siblings giza and giroff the unholy brother and sister had always squabbled over whose undead were more effective giza was a traditional necromancer summoning zombified slaves from existing corpses while giroff was more of a scholar using science and magic to create scabs these hulking amalgamations of body parts stitched together each wanting to prove their techniques superior and what better way than to siege thraben together the siblings marched on thraben whose defenses were nearly shot by this point with only a dedicated army of the faithful left between them and the lunar this force known as the cathars were skilled warriors but still only human without their faith spells there was little hope that they could stand against this endless tide of undead now marching towards them as the siege of thraben began one of the early casualties was the cathar commander lothar who was named the guardian of threatened by the high lunar himself with his death a new leader was needed and that responsibility fell to a young cathar named thalia lunark michaeus despite his holy city being sacked by the undead felt it too trivial for him to attend to its defenses deciding to rather retreat deep within the cathedral to complete his paperwork dahlia newly in command rallied her forces and even began to push back their enemies however this was only because one of their commanding officers giroff had abandoned his scabs leaving them to his sister's control who in turn struggled to maintain the siege giroff skulked away for a much more subtle mission one he believed would clearly make him the winner in their little contest sneaking through the various tunnels and passageways of thraben jarrah found himself within the main cathedral now emptied by their siege he walked the halls without care finding his way to the lunar sanctum knocking on the door michaeus answers only to be met by a letter opener stabbing him through the chest over and over and over giroff had killed the high lunar cutting out his heart to present it to his sister giza proof of his victory and his undeniable skill as giroff left another dark agent who used the siege to their advantage gaining entrance to the cathedral liliana vest questioned the stitcher on the lunark's whereabouts draft tells leliana of the lunar's fate yet liliana isn't deterred she was going to question the man with or without his consent and he didn't need to be alive for that to happen she finds michaeus's body and resurrects him as a mindless undead completely tying his mortal memories to her will like a puppet dancing on strings michaeus lets loose the secret he had been keeping from his fellow man the fate of avacyn and gristlebrand liliana's mission could continue she would need to shatter the hell volt in order to get to her demon lord now liliana only needed to crack this prison but as she cast her normal variety of death spells on it they seem to have no effect with the hell volt being made up of innistrad's moon silver and blessed by avacyn's fate it was meant to keep dark forces in and wasn't susceptible to those powers outside either to break in liliana was going to need some help from the other side of the magical spectrum but it didn't very much matter how she acquired that help as the fight for thraben continued its new leader thalia was now winning the conflict the cathars rallied to the guardian of thraben and the zombie ranks were breaking but then a new threat approached them a necromancer liliana through a few displays of unpleasant trees liliana made it quite clear to thalia the damage she could do to not just her but all those under her command she presents her a simple choice destroy the hell vault a meaningless rock standing in the middle of a courtyard or watch as her men withered died and marched again as zombies upon their own sacred city to thalia the choice was easy she valued the living those who trusted her and using what little faith magic remained on innistrad thalia shattered the hell vault endless scores of demons ghosts and devils poured out but through the sea of darkness a light pierced through avacyn their lost angel she had finally returned revealing to everyone that she had been trapped within the hell volt this entire time exposing the lies of the lunar and the corruption of their original purpose though evil was released on innistrad humanity's greatest weapon now stood by them in an instant faith was restored and priests again were wielding its divine power everson took to the field to defend thraven as countless other angels rallied by their leader's example the cathars picked up with renewed strength and the undead horde was obliterated the siege of thraben was over sorin having dealt with tybalt found that his little avacyn problem had resolved itself feeling that faith magic had returned to humanity the vampire believed balance would again be restored and that innistrad no longer required his steady hand with that soren left his home in the care of avacyn setting back out into the multiverse to deal with another emerging threat one far greater than innistrad had ever faced before liliana vest soon found her own target grizzlebrand and used her considerable power granted to her from the chainvale artifact then literally imploded the demon lord without much of a fight it was a stark reminder of how dangerous and determined liliana had grown in her quest to free her soul a quest that was just now beginning while she enjoyed her time on innistrad and its dark nature which she felt comfortable in the necromancer 2 felt the return of avacyn and the reinvigorate force of her angels liliana detests angels too judgmental for her like and with no further business on this plane she leaves innistrad to its fate whatever that may be shortly after avason's reappearance a group of humans from the village of gatstaff prayed to the angel for aid their cries were answered but it was a rather unique request the whole of gatstaff a rural village nestled near dark foreboding forests were suffering from lycanthropy they were werewolves however the majority refused to join a local pack and fall victim to their bestial desires to hunt they sought a blessing from avacyn a cure however avacyn was unable to answer their prayers the nature of the werewolf curse means that it binds the wild spirit with that of the human spirit meaning that killing one would likely kill the other if avacyn was to smite the wild spirit now residing within them they would simply die as well however there was an alternative avacyn could cast a spell to effectively bind the two warring spirits together the wild and human aspects would become one this had two effects the individuals would regain and keep their human minds morality and ability but they would also remain in their bestial states permanently with both aspects living in complete harmony if they accepted this they must do so under a single condition they would forever be protectors of humans they would be the church's wild guardians a force for good on innistrad those of the village accepted this offer and avason cast what would be known as the curse mutes a series of spells that pulsed throughout the whole of innistrad this ended the werewolf curse for many creating a race known as the wolfier wild beastmen who were guardians of light and humanity it also had some extra unrelated consequences it decursed several haunted places and objects it greatly reduced the power of necromancy on innistrad it freed forlorn spirits trapped in the mortal plane it ended covets of witches and demons and it imposed a powerful warning on dark forces that humanity was an institution not to be threatened any longer this was an age for mankind the rise of humanity on innistrad this human golden age wouldn't last forever though as soren markov's past would return to threaten innistrad [Music] as previously discussed sora markov comes from a long line of vampire nobility of the markov house on innistrad his bloodline is that of the progenitor of all vampires on this plane and as his grandfather edgar markov discovered the rituals and rights that brought about this curse yet unlike others of his kind sorin is also a planeswalker meaning he can leave innistrad and traverse the wide multiverse in his travels soren learned a great deal about planes and how they can and sometimes can't cope with certain threats it gave soren and his long extended lifespan a great perspective for the future playing the long game for innistrad's survival freed from the shackles of short-sightedness and gifted with experience sauron made himself the guardian and lord of innistrad and would seek to protect it at all costs we already discussed how these traits aided him in the creation of avacyn going against even his own vampiric race being branded a traitor all for the greater good of innistrad's long-term stability but there was another threat one the natives of his world were ignorant to which would mean the instant and utter destruction of innistrad the eldrazi this threat goes back to the very first spark of life in the multiverse from the dark blind eternities crawled forth the audrazi eldritch horrors who feed off the mana of planets until their barren husks devoid of life their massive physical forms don't even materialize on the planes they're feasting on rather sending out drones and avatars to its surface killing and devouring as they go they are nearly impossible to stop because very little is known of them despite all of this sworn set off to deal with the eldrazi threats before eventually they appeared in the skies of innistrad in this effort he banded with two other planeswalkers who knew of the audrazi and the threat they posed to the multiverse the first was a young core a native of zendikar named nahiri though ancient as a premium ending planeswalker she was still the youngest and least experienced of the group with soren taking her on much like a pupil mentoring her on the responsibilities of a plans walker nahiri's experience wasn't as necessary as was her magic she was a lithomancer a mage who can manipulate stones minerals and gems the other was the dragon planeswalker ugin this ageless and wise planeswalker was the first to discover and record information regarding the eldrazi proper tracking their path of destruction throughout the multiverse and giving us the little knowledge we have on these ether born nightmares ugin founded this team with its members specifically chosen because of their unique magical abilities to combat a threat like the eldrazi each had to play a very specific role the three main eldrazi titans the ultimate physical forms and progenitors of all scions that would attack a plane are known as emrakul ulamog and kozolak in order for this threat to be stopped their physical forms must be restrained not just their avatars the group agreed that nahiri's world of zendikar would be used as bait as the plane's chaotic and abundant mana would prove too tempting in a meal for the eldrazi to pass over nahiri would use her lithomancy to construct hidrons floating constructs that channeled the natural flow of zinderkar's mana into a beacon a shining sigil in the blind eternities that coax the inn once present the naturally colorless eldrazi would need to be weakened this is where sorin came into the battle plan soarin possesses a unique type of life leeching magic which ugin believed would sap the eldrazi of strength making them much more vulnerable finally ugin would use his colorless ghost fire spell to complete a seal locking the physical essence of the audrazi titans away forever deep beneath a labyrinth formed by nahiri in the crust of zindikar the plan worked together the three as they became known used their combined efforts and successfully drew in weakened and imprisoned the physical bodies of emerical ulamog and kozolak as a precaution ugin set an elaborate series of conditions that must be met before their prison could ever be unlocked in case some unforeseen issue arose in which the audrazi would for some reason need to be freed it would require the three or knowledge of their abilities to come back to zendikar together so before departing all three agreed to set out a signal calling them back should there be any trouble and as this was nahiri's plane she agreed to stay back and act as zendikar's guardian keeping tabs on this prison sounding the alarm should she need any assistance from the others and that was that ugin and sauron went back soarin especially happy to know that another looming threat to innistrad had been dealt with but unbeknownst to him sorin had just laid the groundwork for the near destruction of innistrad [Music] years after the imprisonment of the eldrazi with the helvolt's destruction scores of demons weren't the only threats released on innistrad shockingly the plane's walker nihiri 2 was set free it was revealed that sorin was forced to lock nihiri within the hell vault sometime after the eldrazi were sealed on zendikar as nihiri watched over their confinement their magical bindings waned and scions the fingertips of the titans themselves began to leak out as eldrazi drones terrorized the landscape nihiri set off the signal seeking aid from her former companions but no one answered her allies had abandoned her and her world nihiri was dismayed but went about plugging the league on her own successful in this and knowing that zinder car was safe for the time being she went out in search of soren and ugin sadly nahiri found that ugin had died which made for a very reasonable alibi for his absence so she then traveled to soren's home of innistrad finding the vampire lord going about his normal business at first nahiri wasn't angry exactly in fact she was relieved to find her friends safe fearing the worst when he didn't answer the call but the tone of the conversation quickly soured when asked why he never arrived soren explained that the hell volt he created had unknowingly absorbed the message acting as sort of a net for anything that comes in from the blind eternities however he also showed very little remorse in not coming to nahiri's aid he wanted no blame no accountability for the oversight of this hell vault because to him it meant the security of his world he was callous towards nahiri a former pupil one he had trained as a young planeswalker in their early adventures together finding her tone disrespectful for one of her level of experience this attitude left nahiri feeling as if they were never really friends that soren cared more about his home than anything else in the multiverse that her world of zendikar and even her were expendable while this wasn't completely true soren's demeanor did very little to convince nahiri otherwise nahiri lashed out threatening her former teacher and soren answered that threat with a lesson don't step in where you're not prepared and the two began an epic conflict after a few blows were exchanged soren showed that skill and experience did provide an upper hand the melee was interrupted by the angel avacyn soren's guardian sensed the hatred building in hiri's heart her disdain for her creator soarin and lust to seek vengeance on innistrad in avison's eyes nahiri was a threat just as real as any devil or demon and as she was created to do she attempted to neutralize this threat as the lithomancer and angel traded blows soren's heart sank watching effectively two of his creations trying to end one another in an effort to put a stop to the quarrel sorin locked nihiri away within the hell vault hoping time there could cool her down and result in a more reasonable conversation later on while soarin found it to be a reasonable solution nahiri decidedly did not finding herself trapped in an endless dark void falling falling with no sense of space or time all nahiri had to keep her company were the occasional cackles of evil beings trapped alongside her their red piercing eyes breaking the endless abyss and her hatred rotting in her mind all the time in the world was allotted to her to plan her vengeance with thalia's breaking to the hell vault at the siege of thraben hope was restored with avacyn's return but so too freed was inustrad's ultimate damnation [Music] with nahiri freed her desire to see zendikar safe outmatched her desire for vengeance on soren in that moment she immediately plans walk to zendikar to check on the plane's status and to her shock and horror in her absence the seal imprisoned the eldrazi had completely broken the aldrazi titans were in the process of devouring the whole of zendikar if she had only not been constrained within soren's accursed hell vault perhaps she could have stopped this calamity as she had so many years ago but this the destruction of zendikar was in nihiri's mind a direct outcome of soren's betrayal leaving her world lost nahiri went back to innistrad seeking vengeance while trapped within the hell vault nahiri had plotted her scheme and now it was time to put those plans into action she started by completely uprooting soren's ancestral home of markov manor the seed of his family dynasty the progenitor bloodline of vampires on innistrad there the lithomancer twisted the stone walls and foundation into abomination of masonry fusing those vampires inside sauron's kin into every brick slab and column of the manor embedded in the walls and floors immortal vampires lay in constant agony causing a cacophony of anguished moans to billow forth this however was not nahiri's vengeance simply a warning to her former teacher of the destruction still to come when sorin came across his home and witnessed its fate he knew immediately who was responsible shocking only sauron time in the hell vault with the demons didn't calm the hiry down at all she was out for blood and she wouldn't stop at just markov manor still soren had no idea what nahiri had planning so he began to investigate and inquire trying to catch up and stop his student soren wasn't the only one following the hiri's breadcrumbs though the mind mage jace beleran was also one innistrad conducting an investigation jace is a founding member of the gatewatch a group of planeswalkers bound together in a mission to protect planes from threats they naturally couldn't contend with such as the eldrazi in fact jace and the gatewatch were able to spare zendikar from utter destruction by defeating the titans ulamog and kozolak a victory nahiri wasn't yet aware of still believing that her world was lost to the eldrazi scourge jace was on innistrad looking for the whereabouts of sauron who the gatewatch just learned about in their fight against the eldrazi believing the planeswalker stood for the same beliefs as the gatewatch jace hoped to recruit the vampire to their organization but finding soren was proven to be a difficult task even on his home of innistrad but soon this recruitment mission turned to one of mystery and concern as jace slowly uncovered strange corrupting forces twisting the denizens and monsters of this plane a foreboding feeling of a coming disaster jace was all too familiar with nahiri was laying the groundwork for the same mechanisms she had used years ago on the world of zendikar she was creating what were known as cryptoleths which acted in a very similar fashion to hedrons they collected and redirected the natural mana leylines of innistrad forcing the decidedly dark essence of this world to her will jason soren both were following these constructs with the lady lines all pointing to what came to be known as the drown yard temple a massive array of cryptalists arranged in what looked to be a summoning circle nahiri's plan was uncovered first by another planeswalker the moon folk tamio who was visiting in astrad for research purposes from her home of kamagawa tamiya was a humble observer cataloging the strange magic of innistrad in her journal she was the first to discover the power innistrad's mood had over the denizens humans and otherwise and she too was recording the effects of these newly appeared cryptalists within her journal found by jace tamio described how the mana of innistrad is what cursed the plane and led to the madden darkness of the world now with these ley lines being redirected it was causing all sorts of madness to spread tamio's ultimate conclusion was whoever had set up these cryptalists did so with the intention of pulling forth some quote large cosmic body to act as innistrad's second moon end quote jace observed the drown yard temple and noticed how madness in the people near it had taken hold he also witnessed a construction crew of zombies working to build it this immediately led the my mage to accuse the no necromancer liliana vest of being involved liliana has a long and storied history with both innistrad and jace bellerin both being love interest at one point but now jace needed to stop whatever new plan she had for innistrad before it went too far this of course was not a design of liliana's making nihiri was orchestrating the drown yard temple's construction having manipulated the necromancer gissa and supplying the raw undead power to build it nahiri wasn't sitting idly by waiting for her triumph to be created though with the ley lines of innistrad at her disposal she began hitting soren where she knew it would hurt the most his precious balance the thing he worked tirelessly on to secure innistrad's future the very thing he had abandoned his duty as her ally for and here he carved a wave of destruction through the dark forces of innistrad with a particular disdain for vampires as such he was seen as a champion by the people of the church of avison a new hero in their fight against the darkness her zealous nature brought forth some of the most extreme and fanatical supporters who too began to feel the pools of madness creeping in nihiri was using the ley lines to instill panic horror and anger across the mortals of innistrad paranoia was at a peak and to many nihiri looked like the only savior they needed and so they flocked to her creating a devoted cult of followers that she intended to use as an army the people of innistrad weren't the only ones being warped and maddened by the whispers of nahiris cryptoliths the main prize of her vengeance outside of the plane itself was the angel avacyn soren's pet as she too was falling to the lithomancer's effects the prayers of the people who once avacyn cherished now sounded like nails scraping against a chalkboard the humans she loved in her clouded vision appeared to be more monstrous than any werewolf or vampire avacyn's change was solidified when she saw a mother strike her child for disobedience such callous action towards the innocent it played on her programming to stand for all those in need of justice if humans would act this way to their own offspring then they too are monsters who need to be called in an act defiant of her very nature her purpose addison rallied many of the other angel flights who too felt the maddening effects of the cryptoliths and began to raise the villages of man beams of light flash from the sky smiting the wicked and innocent alike angels descended beating on blood-stained wings of course while most of the angels bent to the will of their unquestionable leader at least one flight saw through the corrupting influence and stood by the side of humanity zigarda of the flight of herons refused to fly alongside avacyn who had rallied her sisters bruna and gisela along with their flights although avacyn couldn't kill sergata in fear of abandoning her other allies she did make her displeasure known by literally blowing the roof off of sargarta's sanctum still the skies had some human allies left even if they were the minority the news spread like wildfire the angels had betrayed humanity they had angered avacyn in some way and now the protector was raining hellfire down on every village she passed it wasn't long until soren caught wind of his creation's deeds and he quickly rushed to meet her avacyn was created to bring balance to innistrad to ensure humans never verged towards extinction and now she had become their greatest threat drastic measures needed to be taken but still there was a secondary motive in dealing with avacyn in order to stop nahiri who now surrounded herself with an army of fanatics sorin 2 needed a force to command however his fellow vampires especially of those prominent houses would never deal with someone they considered to be a traitor they still felt a great shame in sauron unleashing avison against them and offered him no help with his plight yet one house the voldarin house led by the magnificent olivia voldaron offered her assistance but with a catch he and her would command a great vampiric army against soren's enemies so long as avacyn was destroyed sorin accepted the bargain knowing that avicen was no longer the savior of innistrad soren and avison met at the place in which she was created the spot upon which the great thraben cathedral was eventually built avacyn first lashed out at soren her madness leaving the angel blind to even her own creator but slowly soren was able to reach avacyn and she became more lucid and rational soren could see the magic corrupting her teeming with nahiri's influence she had poisoned his greatest creation just for revenge despite his previous deal with olivia soren looked to help his angel hoping to pull her back to sanity soren tried to bring avison down into the cathedral crips the physical spot in which she was created over a thousand years ago the place where he could alter the magic that made her and undo this madness but avason having learned everything about her own flaws turned to sauron and blamed him he was her creator he crafted her to be imperfect and susceptible to this corruption he caused her to go mad with his faulty design the deaths of the innocent lay squarely at his feet meaning in avason's eyes sauron was the greatest evil on innistrad avacyn tried to smite sorin with her magic but being her creator the spells had no effect frustrated with this monstrous defiance everson called forth a flight of angels to deal with a vampire sauron was strong enough to easily dispatch the fallen guardians just as the full madness of nahiri again gripped abison's mind avacyn charged sorin causing the two to tumble through the cathedral walls they clashed and met again and again nearly tearing down the structure around them soren had had enough he gripped his creation and used his vampiric magic to drain the angel's blood weakening her enough for him to plummet them through the cathedral floor and into the crypt below the very chamber of her birth again soren pleaded with avacyn begging her to let him help he could remake her anew free her of the corruption avison stood resilient either because of the madness or the revelation of her very nature the hope of innistrad demanded that her creator destroy her saying quote if i am not the daughter you want then we must battle again and again forever for i will never yield i am no monster's instrument i will not be altered by the likes of you soren pulled upon the same magic that had created addison a thousand years ago and began to unmake his guardian as she faded to nothingness her final thoughts were i am avacyn i am to protect the same words that brought her into this world with the unmaking of avacyn the final seal that shielded innistrad from external threats was broken and nahiri's real endgame could begin [Music] as tamio's research proved the drown yard temple and realignment of innistrad's manila lines were being used to pull forth a cosmic body this being the final eldrazi titan emrakul just as innistrad's native moon holds sway over the cycles of life and death werewolf transformations and the like this new eldritch moon two held significant power over the denizens of innistrad emerical is an ethereal monster whose pressure forces twisted mutations upon mortal creatures it wishes to corrupt unlike the other two now destroyed eldrazi titans emerald doesn't only disperse scions to act as her forces on the surface rather she infects sentient beings creating these horrific amalgamations of mortal eldrazi hybrids nothing was safe from abracal's influence humans vampires werewolves even the undead couldn't escape this horrendous fate being added to the world devouring army of emrakul nahiri's final judgment she would make innistrad bleed just as sauron had let zenderkar bleed upon realizing what the cryptalists were designed for and making the connection between them nihiri and the hedrons of zendikar soren understood what killing avacyn meant he had by his own hand doomed his world without the faith aura avazon expressed on the entirety of innistrad people and even angels fell under the maddened whispers of emrakul those already partially corrupted by the cryptalists who only transferred a small fragment of emerical's power to the plane were now hopelessly wrapped around the eldrazi's tentacle even the leaders of great flights like gisela and bruno were woefully twisted in the light of the eldritch moon soren sensed that this was truly the end and should innistrad fall it would fall fighting soren called upon his alliance with olivia valdarin gathering the vampires of innistrad and marched onto hiry and her cultist followers sauron could not save his world from america but he could avenge it while the armies of the household darren are forming the humans left within the church of avison well formerly the church of avison are experiencing a moment of crisis while many fall to madness some still keep hope perhaps no longer having faith in avason or the other angels but keeping faith in their fellow man for kinship for protecting the innocent and the defenseless these are the traits those of the church the warrior cathars kept despite the collapse of everything else around them and it was that belief which gave them at least some resistance to emerical's presence leaders like audrick and dalia stood out as the vacancies at the highest positions within the church of athens became filled with cultists and demon worshippers hoping to prey on this low point of the church these true followers of faith abandoned the church and formed a new order with new unlikely allies as thalia leaves the church she seeks a new figure to rally around they have lost avacyn but not faith in what she stood for luckily she finds deliverance in a ghost not typically the type of ally a cathar would find comforting but this was no ordinary forlorn spirit this was the geist of saint traft saint draft in life was the premier example of what a cathar strode to be he was honorable faithful and defended the innocence against the forces of evil even onto his dying breath despite falling to a demon sane trapped felt that his work was incomplete so his spirit lingered fighting back the darkness despite the lack of a physical body his faith was so strong that even as a geist angels of avacyn fought beside him matching every thrust of his incorporeal sword it was this ghost thalia found at her lowest of lows and saint traft pitied the state of the church together the geist of saint traft and thalia founded a new order the order of saint draft one that stood not to worship a single entity but to carry out the ideals of the church as word spread strong cathars gathered in their modest cathedral with the ranks of the order growing just as their first and most vital test loomed defend the holy city of thraben and the innocent who reside there from the sea of eldritch monstrosities twisted by emerical now barreling towards them the mortals weren't alone in this fight however like saint traft other cathars who were slain in this conflict many by the corrupted angels stayed on as ghost tormented by their failed mission these geists too joined the order and partnered with their still living cathar brothers the geists would possess these warriors working alongside the mortals rather than taking control of them the geist would enhance their strength speed and reflexes but also protected their minds from the whispers of emerkol the order wore these geists almost like invisible armor the right tool for the war to come even with this force of holy warriors combined with the amassing vampiric army innistrad's survival was unlikely it would take more allies those who had faced this kind of threat before who knew how to handle the eldrazi for the plane to even stand a remote chance luckily jace bellerin was still on innistrad to witness the coming of emerical and knew immediately the magnitude of this threat he traveled back to his companions known as the gatewatch fresh off their victory against two other eldrazi titans ulimog and kozilak on the plane of zendikar together this band of planeswalkers looked to save yet another world from these inter-planar horrors other planeswalkers on astrad 2 were preparing to lend aid in the plane's defense and unlikely ally was the necromancer liliana vest the one who had originally shattered the hell vault and set nahiri's vengeance free in the first place a consequence sorin quickly berated the arrogant planeswalker about of course this didn't shame liliana in fact she cared little about innistrad's survival she had only returned to the plane in order to further increase her power by quieting the curse of her accursed artifact the chain veil the chain veil offered her untapped magical potential but it was cursed with the ghosts of an entire civilization who constantly tempted her to lose herself in its power she thought with innistrad's proficiencies in geists that there was somebody here who would be able to exercise these spirits giving her all the artifacts power without any of the drawbacks sadly that wasn't the case so liliana thought to hell within a strad but still the necromancer had at least one soft spot left jace balerin jace met liliana basically to accuse her of the plane's misfortunes which liliana didn't take too kindly luckily she was able to dissuade her former love interest in her cooperation in these schemes but stopped short in actually helping his little planeswalker squad though even with jace leaving her manor liliana felt some regrets jace could and would likely die in this fight against them recall and liliana had grown rather fond of her as she put it little puppy it wasn't that she loved jace exactly not in the way that we think of it anyway but that she loved the way he needed her needed her emotionally physically and for protection he would always come back that one constant in her traumatic life so with that she put her necromancy to use raised a massive zombie army and added them to the war against emrakul whose biggest battle was bound for the city of thraben [Music] nahiri marched her army of eldrazi twisted horrors and cultist fanatics to soren's ancestral home of markov manor the place she declared war on her former teacher there soren marched an army of vampires to meet his troubled pupil alongside the beautiful countess olivia voldarin their alliance was a strained one at most but here they stood ready to do battle against a common enemy between the manipulated masonry the two forces did battle while the rank-and-file soldiers clashed below sorin and nahiri met one-on-one above in columns and towers of what used to be markov manor sorin believed that nahiri would be more or less the same level of strength if not weaker after her time in the hell vault but soren was shocked as nahiri's rage spurred on attacks much more ferocious than their first bout nehiri's time within the hell vault the betrayal she thought about over and over during her confinements was enough encouragement to best her former friend they traded blow for blow soaring draining her life essence and nahiri hurling molten hot spears in every direction she crafted an endless armory of molten weapons during this fight with sorin struggling to keep pace he had underestimated his opponent believing her still a child but that old nahiri had died within the hell vault and now he faced something far more dangerous while sorin was able to land a few considerable blows significantly injuring nahiri a lithomancer's spells were far superior surrounded by masonry nahiri entombed sorin within the walls of his family's house trapping him just like every other marco vampire in the manor nahiri planned for him to attempt escaping this justice through planeswalking so she forced a molten spike to pierce the vampire's side enough to cause extraordinary pain but not enough to kill the planeswalker the pain was so severe that soren couldn't concentrate enough to plane's walk meaning that he was stuck being tortured both physically and psychologically nahiri wounded goaded soren leaving him in case to watch the eldrazi destroy his world just as they had as she believed destroyed zendikar nihiri planes walked away leaving the so-called lord of innistrad to witness its final moments without nahiri's command the cultists and eldrazi who had followed her were left leaderless and easily swept away by the immortal vampire army olivia voldaron was first to find soren stuck between a rock and a hard place literally but their alliance had come to an end and olivia believed innistrad was in need of new leadership she too goaded over her adversary's predicament leaving soren trapped within his manor walls olivia walked away claiming lordship over innistrad for herself while a personal conflict had come to an end the struggle for innistrad's survival was still waging olivia still wanted to rule over innistrad a little longer so she rallied her remaining soldiers to march when thraven the highest concentration point of these monsters now threatening her world there she met with an unlikely ally the catharthalia now leading the warriors of the order of saint draft they were able to come to a truce believing that the external threat of the eldrazi far surpassed their eternal squabble of light and dark now free of avason's no tolerance policy the order of saint draft could make these uneasy alliances that benefited the whole of innistrad together the vampires alongside the geist enchanted cathars and then later joined by the wolfier the uncorrupted guardian werewolves of innistrad led by the planeswalking werewolf arlen cord formed a formidable army capable of holding their own against the drones of emrakul but still there was little they could do against the eldrazi titan itself and her strongest corrupted minions the former angelic flight masters bruna and gisela now fully twisted with the eldrazi's essence the two former angelic beings fused together forming a monstrous sight known as brisella the voice of nightmares speaking in madden rants and commanding scores of corrupted angels to attack the holy city the only real match for this threat were the few angels left obeying their original purpose the flight of the herons led by sagarda sagarda wept at the sight of what her sisters had become but stood against them and the others siding with the humans now being led by thalia sigarda led the assault blessing the cathars with protective spells which caused them to in turn pray for the angel's good fortune in battle with this faith sagarta was able to tear apart the horrific priscilla ending her insane cacophony and devastating her link to the other corrupted angels zagarda's act was the single event in this conflict that turned the tide against the eldrazi drones now it appeared the mortal and immortal denizens alike had a fighting chance but still emerical herself was something of a different matter one that would require the efforts of the gatewatch jace baleron had rallied the gatewatch to come to innistrad's defense hoping they could employ the same tactic they used in their audrazi victory on zendikar the idea was to have nissa ravine a powerful elf planeswalker redirect the mana of the plane to act as an anchor changing the physical body of americal ii the physical realm then nissa would redirect that mana to their pyromancer chandra nalar who'd use it to power a giant explosion to incinerate the eldrazi entity they would be supported by gideon jorah who protected them from drones as they channeled the spells and jace would act as the tactician mentally tying the group together and directing orders however this plan soon became unmanageable on a world like innistrad because innistrad's mana ley lines its world soul didn't respond like zenikars did nissa found it difficult to control if she could control it at all emerical's considerable forces of corrupted minions also far exceeded what they had previously encountered on zendikar they were becoming overwhelmed both physically and mentally jace the mind mage was the group's only protection from the mental assault of emerical but even he struggled to shield them all until eventually he was overpowered and was forced to pull all the members in sort of a psychic ward while there jace witnessed the fears of all of his companions as they struggled for survival outside but he also came across a nearly empty room with a shrouded figure in a single chessboard somehow the mental energy of the eldrazi emerical herself found its way into jace's thoughts the figure took the shape of an angel and jace quickly realized that this was his mind's attempt to represent the consciousness of americo as the entity tried to communicate with him he was talking with an audrazi the angel was courteous even polite offering to play a friendly game of chess with jace as they played they discussed abstract concepts of love kinship sanity but it never felt confrontational while jace won the game of chess emrakul twisted the pieces so that his pawns all turned against his king symbolizing that no alliance is ever secured certainly an ominous warning emrakul is very cryptic here but she seems to suggest that she too wants to be defeated that this isn't her time she is quote incomplete and unfulfilled that she quote just no longer wanted to play and that quote innistrad should welcome her not reject her there should be blossoms not barren resentment the soil was not receptive it is not my time not yet end quote with those words jace is flung back into the physical realm where his allies still fight in vain against the overwhelming force this time jace has a revelation using the knowledge he gained from tamio's research on innistrad's moon and its power to contain evil beings and with tamio now actually joining them in innistrad's defense jace coordinated a new tactic just as a new ally revealed herself liliana vest and her army of undead took the field helping relieve the exhausted gatewatch with much needed if not alive reinforcements though members of the gatewatch were uneased by this new alliance they worked together to free up space needed for their new wind condition trapping emerald within inner strides moon as liliana attacked emerical's body with endless zombies nissa pulled on the essence of the eldrazi with whatever mana innerstride could muster jace mentally relayed orders for nissa to instead redirect the mana to tamio charging a spell that would cast emerical into innistrad's moon just as avacyn used to cast demons into the hell vault the spell was working but emerical was just too powerful it strained the moon folk to keep up pressure to pull such a massive entity but as if possessed tamio reached into her bag of scrolls pulling forth forbidden knowledge she had promised to never use even to save her own life even to save a plane it was a power that could never be unleashed however here she read from the ancient texts giving tamiya the boost she needed to complete the ritual emricole's physical form was cast into innistrad's moon nissa closing it with a marking to seal away the adrazi the gatewatch were victorious and innerstrad had survived [Music] with innistrad's victory jace looks to recruit both soren and tamio to the gatewatch soren is nowhere to be found but tamio still considers herself more of a passive observer than an actor in the history of the multiverse outside of this one instance of course still what really leaves tamio on edge was her use of that forbidden scroll she tells jace that she didn't use the scroll herself even at that dire moment she wasn't prepared to forsake her val she was indeed possessed by an external force a powerful mental assault that commanded her to use it jace thought back to what his consciousness believed emerical said to him that she was not ready that she wanted to rest did the eldrazi lose on purpose did she orchestrate the gatewatch's victory what was the eldrazi's greater plan with those ominous thoughts jace was able to make at least one new member for the gatewatch liliana vest who formally joined the planeswalker organization after realizing how personally beneficial it was to have allies she of course looked to direct them to her own goals but for now it was enough for her to take the oath of the gatewatch despite some members not being so thrilled of their newest member nahiri left innistrad believing she had accomplished her goal of the plane's destruction again returning to zendikar to discover her home survival at this point the lithomancer had grown cold and callous towards what previously brought her joy the events on innistrad made her bitter and utterly demanding though zenikar survived it was left imperfect by the eldrazi's corruption something she looked to correct no matter the cost sauron on the other hand remained encased in stone at markov manor though he would eventually be freed by an unknown force perhaps olivia voldaron sprung the vampire in exchange for an agreement maybe a marriage alliance or perhaps the events of the war of the spark forced him to plan his walk from his prison either way the former lord of innistrad is now free as mentioned before the two feuding characters from innistrad did meet again on the plane of ravnica as players in the grand schemes of the dragon planeswalker nicobolus rather than joining with those heroic planeswalkers fighting against bolus's tyranny soren and nahiri continued their conflict engaging in single combat they did however for a time set aside their issues and fought against the armies of bolus even staying on to see the mission to completion but make no mistake things are hardly settled between them zigarda thalia and the order of saint draft joined together to re-establish the church that stood for the ideals that avason once represented those uncorrupted angels of the flight of the heron became the last remaining symbols of peace on innistrad and joined this new order with sagarda as their leader thalia continued on partnering with the geist of saint trash to train a new age of cathars who stood for true justice and meant only to protect the weak all their alliance with the likes of vampires may have come to an end a new understanding was forged while their conflict would always persist thanks to their very nature few felt as if they would ever return to an endless hunting of humans for sport in that a sort of balance was achieved at least for a time replacing that which was forced by the creation of avacyn [Music] with two major crises dealt with in innistrad's past what can this dark world expect in its future with nothing more than a flimsy truce existing between humans and vampires innistrad is expected to fall into a deeper imbalance than even the days before avacyn the human population was devastated by emerical and hardly any time has passed for their civilization to rebuild from the ashes despite the rise of the order of saint draft the humans of innistrad are offered very few protections from the gathering dark forces that never seem to stray too far from sight while many of their previous words are now obsolete with avacyn's death the humans turn to old rituals and pagan ceremonies from their past since abolished by the church of avison they're now seen as their best chance at survival as the autumn season looms villages throw festivals of revelry and worship for the moon the cosmic body that commands the changing seasons with these festivities the humans beseech for a quick winter and a stop to the endless night that lay just on the horizon observing these activities is a strange outsider planeswalker known as ren ren is a mysterious dryad with the power to fuse with tree folk and control their bodies almost like a parasite we don't know much of this character but she has shown interest in these autumn festivities or perhaps is more interested in the changing nature of innistrad itself of course we still have the after effects of emerical's attack to contend with surely all those affected by the eldrazi titan have not gone quietly into the knights eldrazi twisted abomination still hunt the lands eating away at the plane's mana and attacking as if its master was still with them hovering as innistrad's eldritch moon and what if any impact does emerical's imprisonment mean for innistrad the plane's moon is responsible for so much of the world's transformative traits the changing seasons night and day werewolves does the presence of america change any of this perhaps its influence is what could be bringing forth this endless night or perhaps this is just one of the other natural cycles of innistrad sorin we know was freed from his stony prison and surely he looks to protect the balance that is now so deeply threatened however with the markov bloodline in ruins thanks to the hiri's wrath sorin is but a mere individual who cannot hope to guard innocent alone this is where we see a possible alliance come into play a political marriage to solidify power and concentrate efforts beneficial for the whole of innistrad while olivia voldering considers herself the lord of innistrad her bloodline is not the true progenitors despite soren's status as a traitor and his house's collapse the markov name still commands the respect of many with sauron as her husband perhaps she would finally grasp the power she so desperately desires and soren of course sees this as an opportunity to ask for a few favors of his own working with olivia while distasteful means he can try to counsel moderation when it comes to human feastings whomever the lord this marriage will be between anything but equals [Music] you

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Keywords: mtg, mtg lore, aether hub, magic arcanum, magic the gathering, eldrazi, eldrazi lore, what are the eldrazi, new eldrazi, eldrazi return, elrdazi lore, ulamog, ulamog lore, mtg history, innistrad, innistrad history, innistrad story, emrakul, emrakul lore, emrakul return, innistrad return, midnight hunt, crimson vow, sorin markov, sorin markov lore, new innistrad, midnight hunt spoilers, midnight hunt preview, crimson vow spoiler, wreen and six, wrenn and seven, wrenn lore

Id: i-zuEG3C15I

Length: 75min 50sec (4550 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 19 2021