Liliana Vess (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2025-08-14 12:23 am
deathsmajesty) wrote in fandomhigh2025-08-14 12:23 am
5 Times Urza Ruined Everything, Thursday, Per 1
"4205 AR," Liliana said at the start of class. "In addition to being a hundred and fifty-five years before my birth--" clearly the most important part of Dominarian history "--that was the year that the Phyrexians began their invasion of Dominaria. Though their general, Tsabo Tavoc, was using the Phyrexian portal in the Caves of Koilos - I'm sure that name sounds familiar - as her headquarters, the invasion itself started in Benalia. Hundreds of planar portals opened in the air, pouring Phyrexian soldiers out onto the civilian population. An odd target, perhaps, as Benalia was small, and certainly not the magical or martial powerhouse that other countries were, but what most people didn't know was that Benalia, and, most specifically, Clan Capashen, was the center of Urza's Bloodline Project. He had introduced Phyrexian traits in several familial lines, and manipulated the breeding patterns to create perfect warriors to fight Phyrexia: seemingly ordinary humans with an affinity for tracking down and fighting Phyrexians." She smiled thinly, but it had absolutely no humor in it. "I mentioned that Urza and Mishra practiced absolute warfare on Terisiare. They did, but the Phyrexians redefined the concept as we knew it. They overran Benalia City and when they were done, there was not a single person left alive within its walls. Some managed to escape, yes, but most others were either killed or taken back to Phyrexia, to be harvested for parts. The Benalish were not eligible for the 'gift' of Phyrexian compleation."
Not that anybody wanted it mind, but just to highlight how thoroughly Yawgmoth had planned to eliminate them.
"They continued that method of warfare throughout the country. Any town or city that fell to them was utterly depopulated. But while the Phyrexians had a particular hatred for the Benalish, no part of Dominaria was spared. Wave after wave of shock troops ravaged the plane, shock troops that had been trained their entire lives to die for the glorious cause. Plague-bombs carrying a were dropped out of portals to infect whole swathes of populations with an advanced form of phthisis, both to soften up the defenders of future targets, and to ensure that no part of Dominaria, no matter how well-shielded or remote, remained untouched. In the years before the invasion, Phyrexia had sent thousands of soldiers to infiltrate as many locations as possible. Most of these infiltrators were aware of their true nature, though not all of them. But when Phyrexia sent out the signal, they all turned, either playing saboteur or exploding into horrific violence.
"So, in all of this, where was Urza and what the hell was he doing? An excellent question. While he sometimes appeared on the Weatherlight in the guise of an old name called the Blind Seer, most of his time was spent besieging the Caves of Koilos to get to the permanent gate that Tsabo Tavoc was using. He had many commanders handling other fronts, though they were sometimes as much of a casualty of Urza's as anyone else. He left Barrin, headmaster of the Tolarian Academy, to handle the second front on Urborg, an island nation rich in black mana, and therefore of especial tactical value to the Phyrexians. However, as the siege continued, Urza began to withdraw more and more forces from Urborg to join him in Koilos. After nearly losing the entirety of his forces - and being saved at the last minute by a necromancer and their undead army, and no, history has not provided their name--" Liliana huffed. Rude to necromancers. "--Barrin protested that he would not be able to hold the island and requested reinforcements. Urza famously said that he could not spare any, and that 'Urborg must fall so Koilos can be saved.' Imagine, pulling a win out by the skin of your teeth and then being told that it didn't matter, they were giving up the territory anyway. Barrin knew better than to think he could change Urza's mind, so instead he said that he was going to find his daughter Hanna and take a break for a few weeks before stepping back into command.
"And that was when Urza informed Barrin that Hanna was dead, and had been dead for the past two weeks."
She let the class sit with that for a few seconds.
"Understandably, Barrin demanded to know why Urza hadn't told him about the death of his only child, Urza replied that Barrin's concentration had been needed to save Urborg--you know the very same island that Urza had just told him was going to be lost, because Urza needed all of the troops at Koilos. I need you to remember that Barrin and Urza had been working together since 3285. We are talking an association of nearly a thousand years, with Barrin being Urza's right hand man. Upon hearing this, Barrin went to where Hanna had been buried, exhumed her body, brought it back to Tolaria, and cast a spell that obliterated the entire island, sinking whatever ruins remained beneath the waves."
You would think after five weeks of teaching this class, she'd be less mad at Urza, but nope. Not even a little bit.
"After Barrin's death, Urza did manage to beat Tsabo Tavoc and close down the Phyrexian portal in Koilos, which shut down the rest of the portals. And he got to sit on his laurels for about two, maybe three days before another general, Crovax, fused the artificial plane of Rath with Dominaria itself. If you're thinking that sounds awful, you're correct! It was! The least horrific thing the Rathi overlay did was transport millions of new Phyrexian troops and monstrosities. However, the merging also caused uncontrollable mutations amongst creatures on both planes, an unknowable number of deaths, and swallowed at least three sentient Dominarian races that we know of, trapping them within the interstitial void between the planes.
"In retaliation, Urza launched a counterattack. He had designed and built nine Titan Engines, huge mechanized suits of powered armor, designed to withstand the the conditions of Phyrexia so he and eight other Planeswalkers could bring the battle to Yawgmoth. Because where he had failed by himself, surely nine would be enough." If Liliana rolled her eyes any harder, she'd give herself a headache. "Amongst their vast array of weaponry, Urza had created soul bombs, bombs with huge devastation capability that could only be powered by souls of powerful sapient creatures. It is worth noting that upon their inception, Barrin had argued that there was no ethical way to charge the devices, that there was no mortal crime severe enough to merit the immortal punishment of being used to fuel the bombs, as well as calling out the number of mortal souls necessary to power the devices as monstrous. Remember all the things he let Urza get away with over the years? These were bad enough for him to speak up about.
"Urza, of course, did not care about the moral or ethical quandaries of using the soul bombs, though he was briefly stymied by the logistical question of how to get enough powerful souls shoved into them. However, he found a way around that in the person of Planeswalker Tevesh Szat. Urza had calculated that Szat had enough power on his own to charge all the soul bombs, and he simply needed to wait until Szat did something to warrant punishment. To that end, he recruited Szat to the Nine Titans and brought him along with the group to Phyrexia. At some point, Szat murdered two of the other Titans in an attempted betrayal, and, in doing so, played right into Urza's hands. With Szat guilty of murder, he activated the kill rubric in Szat's Titan engine, fueling all the bombs with the Planeswalker's life essence.
"But as awful as that was, at least now Urza and the remaining Titans could destroy Phyrexia, right? You'd think so. You'd really fucking think so. The other five Titans set up the soul bombs around the plane, while Urza got as far into Phyrexia as he could, intending to plant the master soul bomb as close to the heart of Yawgmoth as possible. The master soul bomb would have been able to set off all of the others, creating a ripple effect that would have decimated Phyrexia to the point of no return. While the other five managed to complete their roles, Urza found himself becoming fascinated by the nature of the artificial plane. Unwilling to destroy a place full of such potential knowledge, he dismantled the master soul bomb. The Planeswalker Taysir of Rabiah, the step-father of one of the Planeswalkers Szat had murdered, confronted Urza about the destruction, and Urza activated the kill rubric in Taysir's suit as well. And then Urza turned and surrendered to Yawgmoth, asking to study artifice together." Liliana closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "And that is where we'll be leaving off for this week, but before you ask, no. This was not some kind of brilliant scheme to get close to Yawgmoth, Urza really and truly betrayed all of Dominaria and surrendered."
Not that anybody wanted it mind, but just to highlight how thoroughly Yawgmoth had planned to eliminate them.
"They continued that method of warfare throughout the country. Any town or city that fell to them was utterly depopulated. But while the Phyrexians had a particular hatred for the Benalish, no part of Dominaria was spared. Wave after wave of shock troops ravaged the plane, shock troops that had been trained their entire lives to die for the glorious cause. Plague-bombs carrying a were dropped out of portals to infect whole swathes of populations with an advanced form of phthisis, both to soften up the defenders of future targets, and to ensure that no part of Dominaria, no matter how well-shielded or remote, remained untouched. In the years before the invasion, Phyrexia had sent thousands of soldiers to infiltrate as many locations as possible. Most of these infiltrators were aware of their true nature, though not all of them. But when Phyrexia sent out the signal, they all turned, either playing saboteur or exploding into horrific violence.
"So, in all of this, where was Urza and what the hell was he doing? An excellent question. While he sometimes appeared on the Weatherlight in the guise of an old name called the Blind Seer, most of his time was spent besieging the Caves of Koilos to get to the permanent gate that Tsabo Tavoc was using. He had many commanders handling other fronts, though they were sometimes as much of a casualty of Urza's as anyone else. He left Barrin, headmaster of the Tolarian Academy, to handle the second front on Urborg, an island nation rich in black mana, and therefore of especial tactical value to the Phyrexians. However, as the siege continued, Urza began to withdraw more and more forces from Urborg to join him in Koilos. After nearly losing the entirety of his forces - and being saved at the last minute by a necromancer and their undead army, and no, history has not provided their name--" Liliana huffed. Rude to necromancers. "--Barrin protested that he would not be able to hold the island and requested reinforcements. Urza famously said that he could not spare any, and that 'Urborg must fall so Koilos can be saved.' Imagine, pulling a win out by the skin of your teeth and then being told that it didn't matter, they were giving up the territory anyway. Barrin knew better than to think he could change Urza's mind, so instead he said that he was going to find his daughter Hanna and take a break for a few weeks before stepping back into command.
"And that was when Urza informed Barrin that Hanna was dead, and had been dead for the past two weeks."
She let the class sit with that for a few seconds.
"Understandably, Barrin demanded to know why Urza hadn't told him about the death of his only child, Urza replied that Barrin's concentration had been needed to save Urborg--you know the very same island that Urza had just told him was going to be lost, because Urza needed all of the troops at Koilos. I need you to remember that Barrin and Urza had been working together since 3285. We are talking an association of nearly a thousand years, with Barrin being Urza's right hand man. Upon hearing this, Barrin went to where Hanna had been buried, exhumed her body, brought it back to Tolaria, and cast a spell that obliterated the entire island, sinking whatever ruins remained beneath the waves."
You would think after five weeks of teaching this class, she'd be less mad at Urza, but nope. Not even a little bit.
"After Barrin's death, Urza did manage to beat Tsabo Tavoc and close down the Phyrexian portal in Koilos, which shut down the rest of the portals. And he got to sit on his laurels for about two, maybe three days before another general, Crovax, fused the artificial plane of Rath with Dominaria itself. If you're thinking that sounds awful, you're correct! It was! The least horrific thing the Rathi overlay did was transport millions of new Phyrexian troops and monstrosities. However, the merging also caused uncontrollable mutations amongst creatures on both planes, an unknowable number of deaths, and swallowed at least three sentient Dominarian races that we know of, trapping them within the interstitial void between the planes.
"In retaliation, Urza launched a counterattack. He had designed and built nine Titan Engines, huge mechanized suits of powered armor, designed to withstand the the conditions of Phyrexia so he and eight other Planeswalkers could bring the battle to Yawgmoth. Because where he had failed by himself, surely nine would be enough." If Liliana rolled her eyes any harder, she'd give herself a headache. "Amongst their vast array of weaponry, Urza had created soul bombs, bombs with huge devastation capability that could only be powered by souls of powerful sapient creatures. It is worth noting that upon their inception, Barrin had argued that there was no ethical way to charge the devices, that there was no mortal crime severe enough to merit the immortal punishment of being used to fuel the bombs, as well as calling out the number of mortal souls necessary to power the devices as monstrous. Remember all the things he let Urza get away with over the years? These were bad enough for him to speak up about.
"Urza, of course, did not care about the moral or ethical quandaries of using the soul bombs, though he was briefly stymied by the logistical question of how to get enough powerful souls shoved into them. However, he found a way around that in the person of Planeswalker Tevesh Szat. Urza had calculated that Szat had enough power on his own to charge all the soul bombs, and he simply needed to wait until Szat did something to warrant punishment. To that end, he recruited Szat to the Nine Titans and brought him along with the group to Phyrexia. At some point, Szat murdered two of the other Titans in an attempted betrayal, and, in doing so, played right into Urza's hands. With Szat guilty of murder, he activated the kill rubric in Szat's Titan engine, fueling all the bombs with the Planeswalker's life essence.
"But as awful as that was, at least now Urza and the remaining Titans could destroy Phyrexia, right? You'd think so. You'd really fucking think so. The other five Titans set up the soul bombs around the plane, while Urza got as far into Phyrexia as he could, intending to plant the master soul bomb as close to the heart of Yawgmoth as possible. The master soul bomb would have been able to set off all of the others, creating a ripple effect that would have decimated Phyrexia to the point of no return. While the other five managed to complete their roles, Urza found himself becoming fascinated by the nature of the artificial plane. Unwilling to destroy a place full of such potential knowledge, he dismantled the master soul bomb. The Planeswalker Taysir of Rabiah, the step-father of one of the Planeswalkers Szat had murdered, confronted Urza about the destruction, and Urza activated the kill rubric in Taysir's suit as well. And then Urza turned and surrendered to Yawgmoth, asking to study artifice together." Liliana closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "And that is where we'll be leaving off for this week, but before you ask, no. This was not some kind of brilliant scheme to get close to Yawgmoth, Urza really and truly betrayed all of Dominaria and surrendered."
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Listen to the Lecture
Also, please take a moment and think about Urza's 'Bloodline Project' and how deep into eugenics and human experimentation he had to go to get 'humans with Phyrexian traits.' And that's not even bringing the Metathran into it.
Re: Listen to the Lecture
Like Revan, and Exar Kun, and the Rakatan Empire before him, and ugh, he was beginning to realize he might have actually been listening to Mical...
Re: Listen to the Lecture
But because this was all dreadfully familiar. Phyrexian compleation felt as though it drew heavily from the same vein as Magitek soldiers. The Nine Titans basically were Magitek armor. And where comparison to Urza were strongly aligned with Ardyn Izunia before, he now could not imagine anyone there except Verstael Besithia.
Which meant he was also now rearranging his mental schedule to ensure a visit to Prompto. Not today, but...soon.
No reason.
Re: Listen to the Lecture
His hands were twisting together as he sat listening. Sometimes it was hard to be still when faced with new horrors even if those horrors were ancient.
He let out one involuntary noise at the explanation of the soul bombs. Very soft. Not quite a whimper but something close to one. It was all horrible, of course, but that particular bit of knowledge hit hard.
Re: Listen to the Lecture
A muffled "whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy" escaped her about the time of Urza's final betrayal of the day, but it was mostly a rhetorical question at that point.
Re: Listen to the Lecture
He'd never had any for Urza to start with, but dear lord, he was beginning to wonder if there were any awful thing he wouldn't do.
Ends Vs Means
Where is the line where 'justified' becomes 'unthinkable'?
Re: Ends Vs Means
Re: Ends Vs Means
Re: Ends Vs Means
That wasn't even exaggeration; if Jon had to guess, he'd say Urza's laundry was either done by slaves or by someone he pressured into it.
Everything. Wrong.
Invasion Preparation
Re: Invasion Preparation
"I have met goblins with more sense."
Re: Invasion Preparation
Re: Invasion Preparation
Re: Invasion Preparation
So much so, she had to rant about him for seven weeks.
Re: Invasion Preparation
Re: Invasion Preparation
Re: Invasion Preparation
Talk to Liliana
Re: Talk to Liliana
"Mint," he offered, "and matcha, today. Good for settling nerves."
And if there was something else in addition to those things to that effect, as well, then...
Re: Talk to Liliana
So she reached out with both hands, one to claim the thermos, one to claim him--or at least his hand. For now. The rest of him would follow shortly. "Thank you, my darling. I need it--especially since I've realized that I won't be able to cover everything I intended to cover. Too ambitious, I suppose."
Re: Talk to Liliana
And shortly follow the rest of him absolutely would; as soon as she'd claimed the thermos, in fact, meaning his newly free hand could then claim her side as usual, while their fingers entwined together.
"Too ambitious?" he asked, leaning in now to also claim a kiss. "You? Surely not. And in your defense, the subject matter does rather seem like the sort of thing you don't realize is a lot to shove into seven weeks until you actually find yourself in the midst of all the shoving."
Re: Talk to Liliana
"I will get to the end of the invasion next week, but I truly don't think I can fit the Mending in as well." Which, you know. She was really okay with not having to talk about the Mending, but also not getting to talk about how Urza messed up so badly the laws of the universe needed to be rewritten? A loss.
She took another sip and then stole another kiss. "It's true. There are so many things that I barely touched upon, and still others I skipped entirely. It almost tempts me to teach a full course on Dominarian history or culture--even if I only mentioned the most ridiculous things, I'd have a full semester." She chuckled. "Gladio would be thrilled. So many new wars to learn about."
Re: Talk to Liliana
A soft hum, to indicate the search for a good, fitting word choice.
"...frustrating points of interest as well."
Re: Talk to Liliana
Re: Talk to Liliana
Someone may have been enjoying his own impromptu break more than he would ever deign to admit, but for Liliana? He'd have a syllabus ready by end-of-day, if need be.
Re: Talk to Liliana
She paused and gave some consideration. "Unless we found something to teach together, of course."
Re: Talk to Liliana
Re: Talk to Liliana
It might take a few, but she was willing to put in the effort.
Re: Talk to Liliana
"No?" he asked, smirk still firmly there, even after following her kiss with another kiss. Especially after, really. "Just think of how easy it would be to fill the semester. Maybe by the end of it, we'll have managed to sift to satisfaction. Different kinds of sifting. Flour. Sugar. Is it easier to sift wheat over white? What about flour alternatives? A whole lesson on determining the fineness of the mesh of one's sifter...."
Re: Talk to Liliana
Many people would be surprised to know that Liliana had a silly side. She was pretty sure that most people would be surprised to know that Ignis did, too.
OOC