Sengir

The infamous Baron Sengir is a vampire lord, ruling the Dark Barony on Ulgrotha from Castle Sengir.Christopher Ferris (October 1995). "Homelands." The Duelist #7, 10-13 He is the progenitor of the Sengir vampires that can be found on multiple planes. Notable Sengir vampires include Irini Sengir on Ulgrotha, and Arvad, Kazarov, and Verrak on Dominaria.
==History==
===Before Ulgrotha===
Sengir was the son of a small baron. The young baron was described as having perfectly white teeth, hair of a healthy shade of brown flattened on his head and precisely combed, and eyes almost black. His father started dabbling with black magic and, to be provided with fresh corpses summoned a swarm of <c>Plague Rats</c> to infest a village under his protection. The baron intended to become an immortal and he had begun the path towards vampirism, bringing with him his son. The baron also made his son sleep in a coffin, much to the disgust of the latter. 
Realizing the evil intentions of his father and believing he could be a better ruler, he started visiting the graveyard of the nearby village during the night. Here he met a little orphan, whose parents had died of the plague. Sensing some magical potential in her, he taught her the song used by his father to control the rats, asking her to kill the baron to free her village from the plague. He couldn't kill his father, or he wouldn't inherit his barony. After some convincing, the girl finally agreed. The two entered the castle, with a swarm of plague rats subjugated by the girl at their heels. When the girl ordered the rats to attack the baron, he sang the same song of control and repelled them. Confused by the battle of wills, the rats attacked the only other prey in the room: the young Sengir. When the rats slashed the boy's throat, the baron shouted a spell that hit his now-dead son. Sensing the right moment, the girl once again ordered the rats to devour the baron: and they complied. When she opened a window to let the sunlight enter, she heard a scream behind her. The young baron was alive, the slash at his throat completely healed by his father's final spell. However, he was visibly hurt by the sunlight and receded to a dark corner of the room, hinting at his now complete transformation into a vampire. He complimented the magic of the girl and suspected she would become a planeswalker. The two realized they didn't know each other names: the girl's name was Ravi, while the boy had just become the new Baron Sengir. Unbeknownst to both of them, they would be reunited many centuries later.Paul B. Thompson (2002). The Secrets of Magic, Song for the Plague Rats. Wizards of the Coast.
===Ulgrotha===
Centuries later, Baron Sengir was summoned during a planeswalker duel on Ulgrotha. When the planeswalker lost he fled the plane, leaving the Baron stranded. Without any means to leave Ulgrotha, Sengir chose to make the plane his new home. Unfortunately, by this time the vampire had become as ruthless as his father. He found refuge from the elements in the swamps and tried to dominate the local An-Zerrin people. This didn't work as intended since the baron was forced to exterminate them. He settled his eyes on a newly constructed dwarven castle and decided to make it his own.
Sengir began a new barony consisting of several small villages encircling a graveyard. Whenever a villager was buried, they would be promptly raised as a zombie servant of the Baron. Eventually, this self-sufficient system provided him with an army with which to assault the rest of Ulgrotha. He slaughtered the dwarven occupants of the Castle of Morning Light, raising them as undead. When the remaining dwarves came to reclaim the castle he repelled them three times until, to send a clear message to them, he kidnapped the daughter of the king. He turned her into a vampire, charming her to love him like a father and renaming her Irini Sengir. This definitively broke the dwarves' spirit and they abandoned the castle, vowing revenge. At this time, the dwarves decided to keep secret the existence of a planar portal in the dwarven city under the castle.
However, the Baron quickly found hidden stairs leading from his throne room to the Dwarven Gate. Even though he knew little of true magic, the vampire knew that a planar gate was a dangerous thing. None of the minions he sent through the gate ever came back. Searching the underground city and torturing dwarven prisoners proved useless in discovering what lay on the other side of the planar gate, so he decided he would get through only prepared with an army. He would forge this army from the inhabitants of the Homelands. Searching the rest of the plane, he reached far in the Dead Zone where he discovered a crumbled spire and, inside it, a sealed coffin. From it, he freed an old crone, completely mad: the two didn't recognize each other, but this was his childhood friend Ravi. In any case, the baron quickly sensed the magical prowess of the woman and he brought her to his castle, renaming her Grandmother Sengir. She became his teacher of black magic, wisdom, and lost knowledge.
Sometimes later, the Baron started sending his vampires against the citizens of Aysen: his intention wasn't to conquer them but to instill fear in them and erode their morale. At one point, the Baron had his servants kidnap humans from Aysen, as well as a vessel carrying thirty-one families from Onella to Kerselin. He had them set up small villages in the swamp of his Dark Barony, where they lived under his influence. Even if he didn't need the short-lived humans for any purpose, dominating them kept him entertained through the long years, and turning their dead into hand servants and vampire warriors made them useful. He instigated firm rules: if one person tried to flee the Barony, he would murder ten people in their place.
He was aware of the presence of Serra on the plane. After the arrival of Feroz, the Baron met the two planeswalkers and invited them to his castle. Here, he told them that, since his summoning centuries ago, he has considered Ulgrotha his new home, and warned the two not to interfere with this decree. Serra and Feroz didn't agree with him and started to help the peoples of the Homelands to develop, to be better able to repel the Baron. Later, when Eron became the immortal King of the Goblins, the Baron tried to tempt him, to no avail. So, the two worked out a deal: Eron would ensure that the Sengirian Villagers were getting food and necessities that the growing population could not create themselves, and Baron Sengir would take no more hostile actions against the denizens of the Koskun Mountains. Also, with the coming of the Autumn Willow, Sengir sensed a new presence in the Great Wood, hostile to him, and started sending his Royal Hunters through the forest, to find out its secret.
Around 3760 AR, the Baron was confronted by a peculiar Serra paladin. Lord Ihsan asked the baron to make a vampire of himself, hoping secretly that in this way he would have had the power to kill Sengir. The Baron, however, saw through the plan of Ihsan, and instead of turning him into a vampire, he made him into a shade and faithful servant. Thanks to Ihsan, the baron learned that his raids of terror were giving the people of Aysen strength and purpose, instead of fear, and that they were united by his hatred of Sengir. Thus, he stopped his obvious attacks, to wait and see if the citizens of Aysen, without a common enemy, would collapse and turn on themself. In a few years, it began with the persecution of the Death Speakers by the Serrans, a schism fueled by the agents of the Baron.
After Feroz's death, he saw Serra botch a rescue attempt of an old man in the market of Onella. With his poisonous words, he reprimanded her for having interfered, just as Feroz did; shortly after, Serra left Ulgrotha. Later, he sensed the death of his old enemy, and planted a tree on Feroz's grave, in a sense envying the two lovers their eternal sleep.D. G. Chichester (February, 1996) "Homelands"''
With his most powerful enemies gone, Baron Sengir remains the true mastermind behind every trouble on the plane. He has spies in Aysen who fuel the rift between the Serrans and the Death Speakers. Some of the students in the Wizards' School have begun to succumb to his offers of dark power. His faithful hunter Veldrane endlessly stalks the wood, searching for the fabled grove of Autumn Willow. The thieves Joven and Chandler sell the artifacts they steal to the highest bidder, unaware that this is none other than the Baron, arming himself for the future. Even Eron is unaware that his trade agreement with Aysen is tenuous and that many of his guards are secret servants of Sengir.
The great plan of the Baron proceeds smoothly. He will wait until the population of Aysen is firmly divided, then eliminate Eron once and for all, throwing Koskun Keep into chaos. When thousands of Goblins will begin to starve, they'll go where food is easily available: Aysen. Many will die traversing Autumn Willow's wood, but enough will live to destroy many of the villages and farms of Aysen. After a few more years of complete misery, the Baron will reappear, turn the weak leaders of the Homelands to his control, and offer them a choice: follow him to a new world where they can do as they wish, or die here in misery.Backstory for Magic the Gathering: Homelands
===Through the portal===
When the plane was visited by Leshrac on the eve of the Great Mending in 4500 AR, the planeswalker saw a great army of vampires, marching at the order of Ihsan's Shade.Scott McGough (2006). Time Spiral. Wizards of the Coast. The Baron was last seen at the head of this army, walking through the Dwarven Gate. Wherever is on the other side is surely doomed.
==In other media==
===BOOM! Comics===
Sengir was summoned to Ulgrotha by by Sorin MarkovBunn, Cullen. (Aug 2023). "Grave Secrets". Magic Planeswalkers: Notorious. Iss 1. Boom! 
Sorin Markov perceived that the Mending would weaken planeswalkers, which would leave the dwarves' plane at the other end of the Dwarven Gate defenseless against Sengir's hunger, so he erected obelisks in the dwarven city and bound him in a pocket dimension, along with the dwarven vampires.
==Story appearances==
Title 	Author 	Publishing date	Set 	Setting (plane) 	Featuring
The Secrets of Magic (origin story) 	J. Robert King and various 	May 2002 	N/A 	Dominaria, Ulgrotha	Pharon, Barrinalo, Golien, Worlight, Cackluster, Eversson, Ramanash, Regitus, Kyram, King Kjeld, Sirimiti, Sparkfell, Ezni Orimander, Gund, Arnjlot Olasson, Dalath, Sussurion, Penkiron Olubo, Myacanolor, Tishanduras, Alalal Zati, Kufu, Hancoray, Omzatta, Gahadron, Sikrid Veger, Harvald, Kazontas, Arkum Arenson, Ravi, Sengir, Kylor, Graddock, Delva, Jaxle Brey, Wolsey, Multon, Tardis, Bronne, Highsmith, Chaster, Jugrut, Baglag, Liklik, Picknose, Dagdug, Wibbles, Wack Eye, Mukel, Eduarde, Phorodotus, Wells, Mukel, Murad, Aziz, Nesir, Yousef, Sisay, Tenya Vesh, Beric Rycaelin, Farom Vesh, Derc Rycaelin, Kolo Vesh, Ezzik, Dewer Runnda, Lewela, Cowan, Urutor, Gorta, Haynya, Destry, Bo Levar, Blatik, Omen, Yawgmoth, Balthor Rockfist, Matoc, Galdan, Balthor Stoneface (mentioned), Tajaras, Laquatus, Aboshan, Virot Maglan, Valdim Maglan, Vinyata Maglan, Vozama Maglan, Kuberr, Ockeed Ilyssa, Cato Ilyssa, Danske Ilyssa
The Story of Homelands 	Christopher Farris 	October 1995 	Homelands 	Ulgrotha 	Feroz, Serra, Sandruu, Taysir, Sengir, Eron, Hazduhr, Reveka, Autumn Willow
Autumn Willow 	Scott Hungerford 	February 1996 	Homelands 	Ulgrotha 	Autumn Willow, Feroz, Daughters of Autumn, Sengir
Homelands #1 	D. G. Chichester 	Feb 1996 	Homelands 	Ulgrotha, Dominaria	Ravi Sengir, Feroz, Sandruu, Borthon, Serra, Cassie An-Havva, Sengir, Hazduhr, Kristina of the Woods, Taysir, Ravidel, Soraya, Angus, Irini Sengir, Bernatheen, Eron, Ihsan, Daria, Reveka, Joven, Chandler, Autumn Willow
Baron Sengir 	Scott Hungerford 	May 1996 	Homelands 	Ulgrotha 	Sengir, Reveka, Veldrane, Autumn Willow, Joven, Chandler, Halina, Eron
Dominian FAQ part 8 	Pete Venters 	June 1998 	Homelands, Mirage, Legends	Ulgrotha, Dominaria	Sengir, Taysir, Daria, Feroz, Kaervek, Johan, Dakkon Blackblade, Jedit Ojanen, Galina
Dominian FAQ part 10 & Dominaria Timeline	Daneen McDermott & Scott McGough	February 1999 	Urza's Saga, Homelands 	Dominaria, Ulgrotha	Ertai, Urza, Barrin, Morinfen and Gallowbraid, Gerrard, Volrath, Ihsan, Sengir
==Planes visited==
Even though he was not a planeswalker, Sengir traveled the Multiverse being summoned by an unknown planeswalker.
*Dominaria
*Ulgrotha
==In-game references==
==Trivia==
*Baron Sengir's original description claims that "though he has dark tendencies, he is not evil - just practical and rather direct". However almost all posterior media claim he's a villain.
==References==
Category:Vampires
Category:Nobles
Category:Undead characters