The Golgothian Sylex has detonated. The Brothers' War is over, but its consequences are only beginning. The skies of Dominaria darken, temperatures plunge, and fear drives the survivors toward superstition and violence.
This episode marks the beginning of the Ice Age — a dark period when magic is persecuted, empires crumble, and Dominaria sinks into chaos.
[lore_illustration url="https://images.ctfassets.net/s5n2t79q9icq/3R0Z1CZcKm9l9t6K5rxFhi/e68f3be6a5c3f7e8f8f8f8f8f8f8f8f8/magic-dominaria.jpg" alt="Dominaria plunged into darkness after the Brothers' War" caption="The Dark Age: a world scarred by war, where the light slowly fades. Art: Wizards of the Coast" ]The Aftermath of the War
The detonation of the Golgothian Sylex had not only destroyed Argoth and killed millions. It had wounded Dominaria itself, hurling so much dust and debris into the atmosphere that the sun struggled to pierce the clouds.
Each winter was colder than the last. Harvests dwindled. The kingdoms that had survived the war discovered they could not survive the peace.
On Terisiare, the continent that had been the heart of the war, the great nations collapsed into rival city-states. Refugees wandered the frozen roads, searching for food and shelter.
The Church of Tal
In this chaos, one institution emerged as the dominant force: the Church of Tal. Its priests preached that the war had been a divine punishment — that Urza's and Mishra's artifices, like magic itself, were abominations.
The Church decreed the prohibition of all magic and all artifice. Mages were hunted down, tried as heretics, and burned at the stake. Artifacts were confiscated and destroyed.
For many, this purge was justified. Wasn't it magic that had destroyed the world? Wasn't it artifice that had caused so many deaths? The Church offered simple answers to terrifying questions.
The Persecution of Mages
Mages who refused to abandon their art went into hiding. They practiced in secret, passing on their knowledge in the shadows, always under the threat of being denounced.
Without being able to share their discoveries freely, many mages perished while experimenting alone. Mana burn — a deadly overload of magical energy — claimed as many victims as the Church's executioners.
It was in this context that the figure who would become one of the greatest archmages in Dominaria's history was born.
Jodah, the Eternal Archmage
Jodah was a young man gifted in magic, living in an era that punished that gift with death. When the Church's Inquisitors hunted him, he was forced to flee.
His flight led him to the ruins of the Conclave of Mages — an ancient fortress where the last practitioners of magic had taken refuge. But the Conclave hid secrets far darker than its residents imagined.
Ith and Mairsil
Beneath the Conclave, in a cage that nullified all magic, was imprisoned Ith — the former High Archmage of the Conclave. His own apprentice, Mairsil the Pretender, had betrayed him and usurped his position.
Mairsil kept his former master alive for one reason alone: he was convinced that Ith knew a secret of Urza's — perhaps the location of a powerful artifact, or a forgotten magical formula.
Jodah, guided by mysterious visions, discovered Ith's prison and tried to free him. But at the very moment Ith escaped, the Church of Tal launched an assault on the Conclave.
The chaos that followed completely destroyed the fortress. Ith, his mind shattered by years of captivity, unleashed his rage on everyone he encountered. Mairsil perished in the flames he himself had ignited. And Jodah fled once more.
The Fall of Sarpadia
While Terisiare sank into fanaticism, another continent was undergoing its own apocalypse. Sarpadia, far from the center of the Brothers' War, had not been spared its consequences.
The cooling climate hit Sarpadia just as hard as Terisiare. And every empire on this continent found itself facing an existential threat:
- The dwarves of Sarpadia were overwhelmed by hordes of orcs and goblins fleeing the cold of the mountains
- The Vodalian merfolk saw their kingdom invaded by the Homarids, intelligent crustaceans driven into new waters by the cooling oceans
- The elves lost control of the Thallids — fungal creatures they themselves had created for cultivation
- The human kingdom of Icatia collapsed under the blows of internal religious fanatics
- The Order of the Ebon Hand, a society of black mages, was overthrown by the Thrulls — their own servile creations
Within a few decades, all the civilizations of Sarpadia had collapsed. The continent became a land of ruins populated by the creatures that had destroyed their masters.
The Mirror of Kagrim
In his perpetual flight, Jodah made a discovery that would change his life — and the history of Dominaria. He found the Mirror of Kagrim, a legendary artifact capable of indefinitely prolonging the life of its bearer.
Thanks to the Mirror, Jodah would survive the centuries of ice to come. He would become a guardian of magical knowledge, preserving what the Church of Tal sought to destroy. And much later, he would play a crucial role in the events that would bring the Ice Age to an end.
The Darkness Thickens
By the end of this period, the Church of Tal had imposed its authority over most of Terisiare. The surviving mages were holed up in secret refuges. The artifacts of the Brothers' War had been destroyed or hidden away.
And every year, the temperature continued to drop. Glaciers advanced southward. Forests died. Lakes froze.
The Dark Age was only the prelude. The true Ice Age was about to begin — and it would last more than four thousand years.
In the next episode...
Episode 5.2: The Ice Age
Dominaria is entirely frozen. A few civilizations survive beneath the eternal snow — the Empire of Kjeldor, the barbarians of Balduvia, the mysterious inhabitants of Keld. But beneath the ice, an ancient evil sleeps: the Phyrexians have not forgotten Dominaria, and their agents are preparing the return of their master.
When the world freezes, only the strongest — or the most ruthless — survive...
Sources
- MTG Wiki: The Gathering Dark — The novel detailing this period
- MTG Wiki: Fallen Empires — The story of Sarpadia's fall
- MTG Salvation: The Ice Age I — Analysis of the pre-glacial period
- The Dark (Magic expansion, 1994) — First exploration of this era
- Fallen Empires (Magic expansion, 1994) — The fall of the empires of Sarpadia
