After four thousand years of ice, hope is reborn. An unlikely alliance between Kjeldor and Balduvia, ancient magical discoveries, and a legendary spell capable of changing the climate of an entire world. The Ice Age is coming to an end — but the consequences of this thaw will echo through the ages.
This episode concludes the Ice Age and sets the stage for the temporal catastrophes that will follow.
[lore_illustration url="https://images.ctfassets.net/s5n2t79q9icq/6D2Rz7WM8pOqvBrFPLR4Kh/a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0a0/alliances-art.jpg" alt="The alliance between Kjeldor and Balduvia against the forces of darkness" caption="Alliances: Two enemy peoples unite against a common threat. Art: Wizards of the Coast" ]The Alliance of the North
For generations, Kjeldor and Balduvia had been at war. The Kjeldorans despised the Balduvians, whom they considered barbarians. The Balduvians hated the Kjeldorans, whom they saw as arrogant oppressors.
But faced with Lim-Dûl's armies and Phyrexian intrigues, the two peoples were forced to set aside their rivalry. The Alliance of the North was born of this necessity — a military and political union that would change the history of Terisiare.
Kaysa and the Druids of Yavimaya
The alliance was not limited to humans. The forest of Yavimaya, one of the few areas of Dominaria still verdant, sent its own representative: Kaysa, a druid of exceptional power.
Kaysa represented the spirit of the land itself — a Dominaria that refused to die under the ice. Her natural magic perfectly complemented the military forces of Kjeldor and Balduvia.
The Hunt for Lim-Dûl
Though defeated, Lim-Dûl had not been destroyed. The necromancer had taken refuge in the most remote regions of Terisiare, continuing to raise armies of undead.
The Alliance of the North launched a campaign to eliminate him once and for all. This war was long and bloody, fought in extreme weather conditions against an enemy that could not truly die.
Eventually, Jodah and his allies managed to defeat Lim-Dûl. But the victory revealed a troubling truth: the necromancer had been merely a pawn. The true manipulators — the Phyrexians — remained out of reach.
The Quest for the World Spell
While the Alliance was fighting Lim-Dûl, other mages were pursuing a different goal: finding the World Spell, the legendary spell capable of ending the Ice Age.
This spell had been created millennia earlier by a group of mages who had foreseen the coming of the Ice Age. They had hidden it, knowing it should be used only at the right moment — when the world would be ready to warm naturally.
Freyalise
Among those searching for the World Spell was Freyalise — a planeswalker of extraordinary power. Freyalise had devoted her long existence to protecting the forests of Dominaria and fighting Phyrexian corruption.
She was one of the few planeswalkers who had truly invested herself in the fate of Dominaria — her home plane. For her, ending the Ice Age was not just a magical feat, but a sacred duty.
The Casting of the World Spell
After years of research, the World Spell was found. Freyalise, assisted by Jodah and other powerful mages, began the preparations to cast it.
The ritual required a colossal amount of mana — more than any mage had ever channeled. It also required a perfect alignment of the stars, a synchronization with the natural energies of Dominaria.
When the day came, Freyalise cast the spell.
The Thaw
The World Spell worked beyond all hope. Within a few years, temperatures rose. The glaciers began to retreat. The first flowers appeared on lands that had known only snow for millennia.
But the spell also had unforeseen consequences.
The amount of magical energy released created temporal disturbances across the Multiverse. These disturbances would not be immediately visible, but they would weaken the fabric of reality for centuries — setting the stage for the rift crisis that would nearly destroy existence itself.
The Legacy of the Alliance
The Alliance of the North outlasted the Ice Age. Kjeldor and Balduvia merged to form a new kingdom: New Argive, named in memory of the ancient nation destroyed during the Brothers' War.
The ruins of the ancient civilization, preserved under the ice for millennia, were exposed by the thaw. Artifacts from the Brothers' War, lost knowledge of the Thran Empire, forgotten secrets of the Dark Age — all of it resurfaced.
This rediscovery would launch a new era of exploration and innovation. But it would also awaken ancient dangers.
The Heroes of the Ice Age
Those who had survived four thousand years of ice — and ended the eternal winter — passed into legend:
- Jodah — The eternal archmage who had preserved magical knowledge through the ages
- Freyalise — The planeswalker who cast the World Spell and ended the winter
- Jaya Ballard — The pyromancer whose flames had warmed more than one frozen heart
- Kaysa — The druid who maintained the bond between humans and nature
- King Darien — The sovereign who forged the Alliance of the North
Their deeds would be celebrated for generations. But some of them would survive long enough to see the consequences of their actions — both good and bad.
The End of an Era
The Ice Age was over. Dominaria was beginning to live again. But the World Spell had left invisible scars in the fabric of reality.
These scars would worsen over time, compounded by other magical catastrophes. And one day, they would tear wide open, creating the temporal rifts that would threaten to destroy the entire Multiverse.
But that's a story for the Time Spiral Era.
In the next episode...
Episode 6: The Scars of Time
Centuries after the thaw, Dominaria thrives once again. But the wounds inflicted by the Brothers' War, the World Spell, and countless other magical catastrophes begin to open. Temporal rifts appear, spilling out creatures and energies from other eras. And at the center of this crisis lies a dangerous artifact: the Mirari.
Time itself begins to tear apart...
Sources
- MTG Wiki: Alliances — The story of the Alliance of the North
- MTG Wiki: World Spell — The spell that ended the Ice Age
- MTG Wiki: Freyalise — The planeswalker who cast the World Spell
- Alliances (Magic expansion, 1996) — The end of the Ice Age
- Coldsnap (Magic expansion, 2006) — A return to this period
