The cold has won. Dominaria has become a world of eternal ice. Glaciers cover entire continents, oceans freeze over, and the few survivors cling to existence in a daily battle against nature itself.
But even in this frozen world, life — and conflict — persist. Empires rise from the snow, heroes emerge from the cold, and in the shadows, ancient enemies prepare their return.
[lore_illustration url="https://images.ctfassets.net/s5n2t79q9icq/5n4ZmT3mDz3D3P7Jb5pHqR/7f8f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f9f/ice-age-lands.jpg" alt="Dominaria covered in ice during the Ice Age" caption="The Ice Age: 4,000 years of merciless cold transformed Dominaria into a hostile world. Art: Wizards of the Coast" ]A Frozen World
The Ice Age proper lasted more than four thousand years. That's a timescale difficult to grasp — entire empires were born, flourished, and died, their ruins buried under layers of snow without spring ever returning.
On Terisiare, the continent that had been the cradle of the Brothers' War, only a few pockets of civilization survived:
- The Empire of Kjeldor — A human kingdom organized around fortified cities
- The Balduvian Barbarians — Nomadic tribes hardened by the cold
- The Keldons — A warrior people whose culture centered on the survival of the fittest
- The remnants of the Academy mages — Led by the now-ancient Jodah
The Empire of Kjeldor
Kjeldor was the largest surviving kingdom of the Ice Age. Its citizens lived in cities half-buried under the snow, heated by magic and ingenuity.
The kingdom was ruled by a line of kings and queens who maintained order through force and tradition. But Kjeldor was not at peace — it was constantly threatened by external enemies and internal intrigue.
King Darien
Darien, one of Kjeldor's most famous kings, reigned during a crucial period in the empire's history. Under his rule, Kjeldor had to face a threat from the past.
Because the Phyrexians had not forgotten Dominaria.
The Agents of Phyrexia
For millennia, the Phyrexians had worked in secret to prepare their return. Unable to reopen the main portal sealed by Rebbec, they had found other ways to infiltrate Dominaria.
One of their instruments was Lim-Dûl, a necromancer of terrifying power. Lim-Dûl had discovered an ancient Phyrexian artifact — a ring that granted him immense power over the dead.
What he did not know was that this power came at a price. The ring was a link to Gix, one of Phyrexia's praetors, who manipulated the necromancer like a puppet.
The War of the Undead
Lim-Dûl raised an army of the undead and launched an offensive against Kjeldor. Thousands of frozen corpses rose to march on the cities of the living.
Faced with this threat, traditional enemies were forced to ally. Kjeldor and Balduvia, which had fought each other for generations, joined forces. The Academy mages, led by Jodah, lent their support.
This coalition managed to defeat Lim-Dûl, but the necromancer himself escaped — and the true masters of the threat remained in the shadows.
Jodah's Academy
For those four millennia, Jodah had survived thanks to the Mirror of Kagrim. He had become the eternal archmage, keeper of the magical knowledge that the Church of Tal had tried to destroy.
His Academy had become a refuge for mages of all stripes — a place where magic could be studied and practiced far from persecution. But even this sanctuary was not safe from Phyrexia's plots.
Jaya Ballard
Among Jodah's allies was a pyromancer with an explosive temperament: Jaya Ballard. A master of fire magic, she was one of the most powerful mages of her time — and also one of the most unpredictable.
Jaya would play a crucial role in the events to come. Her power and determination would be essential to defeating the forces of darkness — and eventually, to ending the Ice Age itself.
Legends of the Ice
The Ice Age gave rise to many heroes and legends, each fighting for the survival of their people:
Lovisa Coldeyes led the Balduvian tribes with an iron fist. Her warriors were renowned for their ferocity in combat and their resistance to a cold that would have killed anyone else.
Zur the Enchanter was a mystic with strange powers, capable of manipulating enchantments with unmatched mastery. His motivations remained obscure, but his power was undeniable.
The Price of Survival
Surviving the Ice Age had demanded terrible sacrifices. Entire cultures had vanished. Libraries of knowledge had been lost. Millions of people had died from cold, hunger, or in the countless wars over resources.
But the survivors had become stronger. They had learned to master magics their ancestors could never have imagined. They had forged alliances that would once have seemed impossible.
And some of them were beginning to wonder whether there might be a way to end this eternal winter.
Signs of Change
After four millennia, scholars noticed that temperatures were rising — very slowly, but measurably. Prophets spoke of the end of the Ice Age.
Some believed this thaw was natural — that Dominaria was finally healing from the wound inflicted by the Sylex. Others believed it was possible to accelerate the process.
A group of mages had discovered the existence of the World Spell — an enchantment of colossal power, capable of altering the climate of an entire world. This spell had been created during the Dark Age, then lost.
The race to recover the World Spell would set off a chain of events that would change Dominaria forever.
In the next episode...
Episode 5.3: Alliances and the World Spell
Kjeldor and Balduvia form a historic alliance to face a new threat. Mages search for the World Spell, the legendary spell capable of ending the eternal winter. But the thaw will also release ancient dangers — and the consequences of this spell will echo across time.
The end of winter is near... but at what price?
Sources
- MTG Wiki: Ice Age — The complete history of the Ice Age
- MTG Wiki: Kjeldor — The human empire of the Ice Age
- MTG Wiki: Lim-Dûl — The necromancer and his ties to Phyrexia
- Ice Age (Magic expansion, 1995) — First exploration of this era
- Coldsnap (Magic expansion, 2006) — Return to the Ice Age
