Gix

Gix was a Phyrexian demon and praetor who served as one of the highest-ranking lieutenants to the Dark God Yawgmoth. Originally a human Thran from the continent of Terisiare on the plane of Dominaria, Gix was converted into a Phyrexian Demon by Yawgmoth himself during the events of the Thran-Phyrexian War. His demon body was built of bone, machine parts, and soft meat.
==History==
===Origin===
Gix first appeared during the final years of the ancient Thran Empire as a human rebel operating out of the Caves of the Damned, a network of tunnels beneath the Thran capital that served as home to the outcasts of Thran society.J. Robert King (1999}. The Thran. Wizards of the Coast. Most of these outcasts, including Gix, suffered from a deadly sickness known as phthisis, which was caused by radiation from powerstones, the very energy source that fueled the Thran Empire and all its technological advancements.
Channeling the anger and resentment of the outcasts, Gix ambushed and attempted to assassinate Glacian, the genius Thran artificer who had pioneered powerstone technology. He stabbed Glacian with a powerstone shard, thus infecting him with the same radiation sickness that afflicted the outcasts in the Caves of the Damned. 
As Glacian's health deteriorated over the next few years, his wife, the Thran architect Rebbec, summoned the exiled medical prodigy Yawgmoth back to the capital to treat him. During this time, Gix led multiple violent uprisings in the capital, but in the end, his rebellion was pacified by Yawgmoth, who finally devised a cure for phthisis and offered to share it with the sick inhabitants of the Caves of the Damned. Using the cure as leverage, Yawgmoth was able to coerce an oath of loyalty from Gix, who, in return for the phthisis cure (and his life), vowed to serve Yawgmoth faithfully forever.
After the founding of Phyrexia by Yawgmoth, Gix became one of the first living beings to be Compleated, shucking aside his humanity to become a Phyrexian monstrosity and rising to serve as Yawgmoth's right-hand man throughout the Thran-Phyrexian War. After the War, he was banished from Dominaria along with all of Yawgmoth's minions, trapped on the mechanical plane of Phyrexia when the Thran architect Rebbec closed the portal connecting Phyrexia to Dominaria. The Thran Empire collapsed in the War's aftermath, but Yawgmoth, Gix, and the other Phyrexians remained sealed away from Dominaria for eons. Augmenting themselves with machinery and dark technology, the Phyrexians transcended their former mortal lifespans. Over the millennia that followed, Gix became a powerful demon and praetor while his master, Yawgmoth, ascended to become a god deep within the core of the plane.
===The Brothers' War===
Five thousand years after the fall of the Thran, a Phyrexian demon entered Dominaria during the events of the Brothers' War, after the portal between Dominaria and Phyrexia reopened due to the unwitting interference of the brothers Urza and Mishra. The demon took over the dreams of the monks from the Monastery of Gix and sent them out as evangels to spy and convert in the name of Phyrexia.Jay Annelli (2022). Magic: The Gathering - The Visual Guide, DK. ISBN-13 978-0744061055. The Brotherhood of Gix journeyed to Koilos and reopened the portal there, allowing the demon to step into their world physically. He scanned their minds and saw there their worship of Gix, and then announced himself as that very same Gix.*
As the brothers' rivalry escalated into a world-shaking military conflict, Gix cultivated human servants and manipulated both sides of the war in the hopes of laying the groundwork for a future Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria. He initially intended to murder the brothers and steal their stones, but after trying that with Mishra, Gix discovered that the Weakstone protected both itself and its master. Changing tactics, Gix then decided to instead corrupt the brothers.Jeff Grubb (1998). The Brothers' War. Wizards of the Coast. Gix found Mishra's faction to be especially susceptible to Phyrexian influence, and toward the end of the war, he oversaw Mishra's Compleation, bringing the younger brother fully into Phyrexia's grasp. He also lured both brothers to Argoth, starting the Battle at Argoth where he made all the participating artifact creatures mad.
Although Gix's machinations resulted in widespread disaster for the Brothers, his efforts ultimately failed when Urza unleashed the apocalyptic sylex blast during the final battle of the war, wiping out the armies of both brothers and forcing Gix to escape back to Phyrexia with a handful of human followers. 
===Sleeper agents===
In the immediate decades following the Brother's War, Gix oversaw the creation and development of Phyrexian sleeper agents to be seeded throughout Dominarian society. The first sleepers appeared on the continent of Terisiare about twenty years after the War; however, these early sleepers all looked eerily identical. This roused the fear and suspicions of the local populace, who proceeded to exterminate them. Gix developed new sleepers, these more convincingly human, but just as they were being dispatched to infiltrate Dominaria, a rift began to form between Phyrexia and Dominaria, preventing the Phyrexians from crossing over. This rift turned out to be a delayed result of the sylex blast, which had been so powerful that it had torn the very fabric of the Multiverse, creating the Shard of the Twelve Worlds and once again cutting Dominaria off from Phyrexia.
This was a disastrous setback for Phyrexia, and Yawgmoth's wrath was terrible. Someone had to be punished, and the dark god's anger fell upon Gix, who had been leading Phyrexia's activities on Dominaria during the time of the Brother's War. Gix was seized, excoriated, and cast down into Phyrexia's Punishment Sphere to be tortured indefinitely.
===Final incursion and downfall===
Gix's punishment lasted several thousand years, but eventually, he was released from torture following the destruction of the Shard of Twelve Worlds, which once again opened up the path between Dominaria and Phyrexia. Gix was placed in command of the Phyrexian incursion into the small Dominarian nation of Efuan Pincar.Lynn Abbey (1998). Planeswalker. Wizards of the Coast. 
Urza, who had become a planeswalker at the end of the Brothers' War, discovered Gix's involvement through the rogue Phyrexian newt Xantcha. After careful planning, Urza activated a sonic trap, destroying all the sleeper agents of Gulmany, and rousing Gix from his lair in Avohir's sanctuary beneath Pincar City. Fleeing the scene, Gix headed to Koilos, the Thran's former Caves of the Damned. Urza followed him there, and Gix engaged him in a climactic final battle. When neither combatant could gain the upper hand, Gix attempted to use a temporal shift to rip out Urza's powerstone eyes and destroy the Planeswalker. But Xantcha and the human Ratepe intervened and sacrificed themselves to disrupt the spell, causing it to implode upon Gix in a blinding inferno and annihilate him at last.
Gix's legacy lingered on, however, and sixty years after the Mending, his name is <c title="still not forgotten">Rona, Disciple of Gix</c>.
==Trivia==
*It is unclear whether the Thran human that turned Phyrexian and the Phyrexian demon that later stepped out of the portal in Koilos are the same individuals. The demon learned the name "Gix" from scanning the minds of the Brotherhood of Gix, and has no personal memories of the Thran, indicating that the Thran Gix and the Phyrexian Gix may be two different individuals. Another possibility is that the millennia passed in Phyrexia caused Gix to forget both his name and his former origins, as such things are individualistic and do not belong in Phyrexia.
*Although he is frequently referred to as a "demon", he lacks the demon type.
*Some likely apocryphal legends state that Gix pulled the Golgothian Sylex from Phyrexia's deepest ichor well.
==Story appearances==
Title 	Author 	Publishing date	Set 	Setting (plane) 	Featuring
The Thran 	J. Robert King	December 1999 	Antiquities	Dominaria, Pyrulea, Phyrexia Mercadia 	Curtisworthy, Yawgmoth, Glacian, Rebbec, Dorin, Gix, Jameth, Xod, Jonas, Dezra, Caron, Dungas, Dyfed, Delsuum, Elyssendril Lademmdrith
The Brothers' War 	Jeff Grubb 	May 1998 	Antiquities	Dominaria 	Urza, Mishra, Tawnos, Ashnod, Tocasia, Loran, Bly, Ahmahl, Richlau, Havack, Rahud, Hajar, Kantar, Kayla bin-Kroog, Rusko, Warlord of Kroog, Maurik, Gix, Sharaman, Rendall, Sanwell, Harbin, Jarin, Feldon, the Archimandrite, Drafna, Hurkyl, Martyrs of Korlis, Gwenna, Melana, Doril, Thaxus, Titania, Jarsyl
Planeswalker 	Lynn Abbey 	September 1998 	Urza's Saga	Dominaria, Phyrexia, Serra's Realm, Equilor, Vatraquaz, Moag, Gastal	Urza, Kayla bin-Kroog, Jarsyl, Tawnos, Meshuvel, Ashnod, Loran, Xantcha, Sanisar, Ninkin, Gi'Anzha, Gix, Tabarna, Tucktah, Garve, Ratepe, Avohir, Mideah, Arnuwan, Assor, Hatusan, Catal, Korde, Suppulan, Sosinna, Serra, Kenidiern, Manatarqua, Varratsu, Romom, Tessu, Pakuya, Brya
Forgotten Lore: The Sleeper Agent Awakens	Scott McGough 	November 1998 	Urza's Saga	Dominaria 	Urza, Xantcha, Gix
==Planes visited==
Though not a planeswalker, Gix traveled through the Multiverse using the portal to Phyrexia.
*Dominaria
*Phyrexia
==Gallery==
File:Painful Quandary.jpg|"In Mishra’s desperation to destroy his brother, he allowed Gix to destroy him instead."
==In-game references==
==References==
Category:Phyrexians
Category:Praetors
Category:Humans
Category:Deceased