Magic: The Gathering (MicroProse)/Backstory

The backstory of the game, as told in the Player's Manual of Magic: The Gathering (MicroProse).
==History==
===Preface===
Historians in Shandalar call it simply “Lim-Dûl’s War,” and though it ended long ago, its aftereffects have shaped every major event since. What is ultimately worse, like the struggles of a bee in a web, the vibrations of that conflict and the next have spread out into the multiverse. Unfortunately for the residents of this fecund little plane, they’ve attracted attention. Soon, even that first brutal wizards’ war will seem like a golden age. 
For most of its existence, Shandalar prospered alone. This plane is unique in that it is fairly drowning in mana. The magical energy is so rich that in ancient days wizards here were able to create creatures of pure mana. Those creatures and their descendants — among them the great dragons — still roam the land. The richness and purity of Shandalar’s mana is the reason for the plane’s other unusual characteristic — the use of magic is commonplace. Though the more powerful magic is confined to the realm of the wizard, as on the other known planes, lesser spells are used every day by ordinary folk. 
In this happy backwater, knowledge of the rest of the multiverse was the secret worry of a select few powerful wizards. Of these, Kenan Sahrmal was by far the most skillful. A planeswalker who chose to preserve rather than prey on his home plane, Sahrmal was practically immortal. He had dedicated his life to protecting Shandalar from the affronts of less humane planeswalkers. 
Shortly before the war that was to become the focal point of Shandalar’s history, an insanely cunning necromancer who called himself Lim-Dûl came in desperation to the plane. He and two sinister planeswalkers, escaping imprisonment in the Shard, ended up on Sahrmal’s home plane. Soon, the hero discovered them and managed to chase away all but Lim-Dûl. The necromancer chose the aftermath of that battle as an advantageous moment to pierce Kenan Sahrmal with a pitchfork. The hero had been weakened and had no defenses left. Sahrmal’s body disappeared, but his followers immediately beheaded Lim-Dûl. It seemed both were dead, but when magic is involved, things are rarely as they seem.
===Lim-Dûl’s return===
Twelve years thereafter, Lim-Dûl reappeared with an army of the undead at his side and attempted to seize dominion over the entire plane. The war that ensued lasted for years, and it decimated Shandalar. Every major city, save one, was laid waste and destroyed, but even without their protector, the Shandalarians refused to submit. 
Kenan Sahrmal was neither dead nor destroyed, though he might as well have been. He had stretched himself to his absolute limits escaping Lim-Dûl's treacherous attack, and his magical ability was nearly gone. Knowing full well that the necromancer was not gone, but also that he could not face Lim-Dûl directly again, Shandalar’s hero had been secretly training two adepts to take his place. Honorable as he was, Sahrmal did not mean to sacrifice his pupils but to make both of them capable of defeating Lim-Dûl. One was Azaar. The name of the other has never been revealed.
===The siege of Ardestan===
Ardestan, the greatest city of Shandalar and the last bastion of hope, came under siege. It was clear to everyone that Ardestan and Shandalar would, in a few short days, belong to the invader. Nevertheless, Sahrmal counseled patience; he told his students they were not ready. Unwilling to believe and unable to face the tragic consequences of inaction, Azaar fled their hidden sanctuary and went to the defense of Ardestan. When they discovered this, his teacher and his fellow pupil hurried to his rescue, but they were too late to stop the casting of the great spell Azaar had stolen from Kenan Sahrmal. 
The walls of Ardestan had fallen in several places, and Lim-Dûl’ s zombies ran unchecked through the city. Most of the residents had fled. The defenders of Ardestan lay dead at their posts. Huddled in the questionable refuge of a Circle of Protection, Azaar prepared his casting. Lim-Dûl was no fool, however. Rather than mounting a futile direct attack on the young wizard, he waited atop a nearby rooftop. He planned to use the same trick with which he had survived his beheading — a simple, last-second transfer of his spirit into Azaar’s body.
===The Guardian===
Unfortunately for both of them, Azaar’s spell was targeted at the necromancer’s spirit, not his body. It should have imprisoned Lim-Dûl in his body, drawing out all his power and using it to erect a Great Barrier around the plane of Shandalar. It worked, but Lim-Dûl was in Azaar’s body at the time. To Sahrmal and his pupil, it seemed that the necromancer and Azaar collapsed simultaneously. At the same time, they sensed rather than saw the building of the Great Barrier. Kenan Sahrmal had designed his spell as a ward — a temporary obstacle to intrusion by other planeswalkers. The immense energies tapped from the two imprisoned wizards’ spirits, however, had made Shandalar virtually impregnable. 
Azaar’s body lay paralyzed, and Ardestan lay in ruins. Trapped together in a single physical form, the two wizards’ spirits warred for control. Convinced that it would never be so, Sahrmal secretly buried Azaar. Though he grieved for his friend’s everlasting struggle, he could do nothing. The existence of the Great Barrier depended on the continued confinement of Lim-Dûl. 
Before Shandalar even had time to rebuild itself, Azaar’s fellow pupil finished his training under Kenan Sahrmal. Shandalar’s greatest hero chose to invest all of his remaining power in his apprentice, thus making him immortal. Appearing publicly for the first time since his defeat at Lim-Dûl’s hands, Sahrmal named the nameless wizard as his replacement, took a vow to never again take an active part in events in Shandalar, then vanished. 
The new wizard seemed to hesitate in front of the vast crowd that had gathered to hear Kenan Sahrmal speak. When he did speak, moments later, his voice was full of confidence. It carried magically throughout all of Shandalar as he said simply, “I am The Guardian, immortal protector of Shandalar.”
===The Wizards' War===
In time, Shandalar learned to trust the Guardian and accepted him in Sahrmal’s place. With the cooperation of the greatest wizards, he established five guilds, one focused on each color of magic. Each guild was made responsible for teaching and policing the use of that color — for making sure that Shandalar’s living mana was neither abused nor misused. The first leader of each guild was chosen in a great contest. The champions — those most proficient in the use of each color, became the Guild Lords. Every Lord serves until skill lapses with age, then a contest is called, and a new champion is selected. 
Under the protection of the Guardian and the leadership of the Guilds, Shandalar prospered for many years. 
In time, Lim-Dûl’s powerful spirit won out over that of the determined but fatally inexperienced Azaar. Though still trapped in the body, he was determined to wreak his revenge. Emerging from the secret graveyard, he once again attempted to bend Shandalar to his will. This time, however, the necromancer found that the little plane had organized, powerful protectors. In the great Wizards' War, Lim-Dûl was defeated soundly, though the Lord of the Black Guild also fell. The Guardian removed the necromancer’s spirit from Azaar’s former body, but a waiver in the Great Barrier reminded him — that the existence of the barrier still depended on the confinement of Lim-Dûl’s spirit. The cunning enemy was imprisoned again, this time in a magical artifact. 
Thus, the only casualties of the Wizard’s War were the Black Lord and the spirit of Azaar. Though it had been emptied of spirits, Azaar’s body had been exposed to far too much magic to lie still. Now numbered among the undead, it rose of its own accord and stepped in to command the Black Guild, taking the name Lichlord Skavius Sian. The Guardian hid the artifact. It was, after all, Shandalar’s safety.
===Azarkon===
In the time that has passed since then, guild lords have come and gone, save for the eternal Guardian and the undead Lichlord. Many of the magical creatures created and summoned from other planes during the two magical wars were not able to return to their homes. Over time, they learned to live in Shandalar, bathed in the beneficence of the plane’s nearly sentient mana. Most of them came to be as natural a part of the environment as any native creature. 
Quite recently, the Guardian became aware of an extraordinarily powerful planeswalker named Arzakon. The magical emanations of Kenan Sahrmal’s fight with the planeswalkers, Lim-Dûl’ s War, and the later Wizards’ War had spread out through the multiverse. Tracing these powerful ripples to their source, Arzakon had been stunned by the potential power inherent in Shandalar. The planeswalker’s strong desire for control of Shandalar’s rich magical energies urged it into an immediate attempt to penetrate the Great Barrier. Ever diligent, the Guardian lent strength to the barrier and easily repelled Arzakon ’s physical intrusion.
===Revolt of the Guild Lords===
That seemed the end of it until only a few months ago. During a conclave called over some trivial dispute, the current Guild Lords — Skavius Slan, Alsadim K'mer, Starcryst, Morgane and Kzzy'n — rose suddenly as one and struck down the Guardian. What became clear too late was that thwarted by the Guardian, Arzakon had devised more subtle means of invading Shandalar. Over the years, it had found a way to seep part of its spirit through the barrier and had contacted each of the Guild Lords in the wizard’s castle. Arzakon pretended to be a willing advisor, and it slowly manipulated the Lords, nurturing their resentment of the Guardian’s power and immortality. Playing on their jealousies, it eventually convinced them to revolt. 
Before the wizards could begin squabbling among themselves, Arzakon laid a task and a challenge before them. It convinced them that to dominate Shandalar, one wizard must cast the Spell of Dominion. This spell, the planeswalker claims, grants its caster immortality and total dominion over a single plane. Now, the Guild Lords’ minions scour Shandalar in a mad race, searching for any powerful magical resource and taking it by force. Arzakon has promised that when any one of the five gathers sufficient energy, he shall grant that wizard the secret of Dominion.
===The novice===
Somewhere in the countryside, an elderly oneiromancer — a woman touched by the surviving but almost helpless spirit of the Guardian — has divined the real truth. Arzakon intends to conquer Shandalar himself. The Spell of Dominion will do nothing more than seek out the source of the Great Barrier — the artifact in which Lim-Dûl’s spirit is shackled — and destroy it. The barrier will shatter, and Arzakon will swoop in triumphantly. Shandalar will fall into a dark age the like of which has never been seen. 
The first person the elderly woman was able to convince of the truth of her sight was a wandering amateur spellcaster. Through her, the Guardian spoke briefly to this novice. Now, that lone figure is all that stands between Shandalar and its doom.
==External link==
*Shandalar Player's Manual
Category:Storylines