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Enjoy! Stephen. ---- Stephen D'Angelo == dangelo@netcom.com
Gabriel ---- Gabriel Huecas == gabriel@dit.upm.es
A long time ago in Dominia, there were two great artifact creators named Urza and Mishra. These two brothers studied under the great master Tocasia. She was an intelligent person who taught many of the skills and the ways of thinking that Urza and Mishra later put to use. Some of this learning was acquired from the Su Chi . The Su Chi were replicas of relics from the Thran Empire which once ruled Dominia.
The brothers began studying under Tocasia when they were young. In their childhood, she took them to the sacred cave of Koilos. In this cave, Mishra discovered the Weakstone in the Hall of Tagsin.
No one is certain what caused the great rift between the Artificers that led them to a war across all of Dominia. Perhaps it was love for a woman, or just an attempt to prove who was better.
Less is known about Mishra than of Urza. Mishra lost the war, and there is something to be said about the winners writing history. Mishra was known for the creation of the fearsome The Rack which kept mages from using their full magic capacity for fear of the pain caused by being so drained. The Ankh of Mishra is another example of the limits he put on opponents. He also made the great Dragon_Engine which smashed the town of Kroog.
Mishra made great Factories and produced his machines using immense resources. Mishra's War Machine was the outcome of this venture. It was an incredible machine, but it drained the spellcaster controlling it immensely.
Ashnod was Mishra's luitenant. Ashnod studied torture and provided the Cursed Rack to limit a wizard's power. She also studied the conversion of life into artifact and created Ashnod's_Transmogrant to do the deed. Not many dared try the device, for it was fearsome. Ashnod's Altar was used to sacrifice people and power her vile spells. Ashnod's Battle Gear was what brought her to Mishra's attention and with this gear many a battle was fought.
She also created the Staff of Zegon and gave it to the people of that town to weaken enemy attackers and thereby protect the town.
Urza was a powerful artificer. Early in his training with Tocasia, he created the Ornithopter . Creating artifacts was difficult work, and so he used Urza's Chalice to regain his strength. His students did not understand at the time, but this chalise lent strength to the drinker whenever artifacts were created.
When battle lines were being drawn, Urza created the Amulet of Kroog and gave it to the people of that city. The people there chose to follow him and lent troops to do battle. Unfortunately for Kroog, however, the city was crushed by Mishra's forces (primarily Dragon Engines ) while the troops were not in the city! Urza was so upset over his failure to defend his ally that he created the Yotian Soldier so that his ally's homes would never again be undefended.
Urza spent a good deal of time developing the land to aid his artifact production. He created Urza's Mines , Urza's Tower and Urza's Power Plant to feed the massive need for resources. With this power he began to produce Urza's Avenger .
Urza was the first to realize that the war would be lost due to lack of troops rather than lack of power, and so he constructed Rakalite to heal troops on the battlefield. The Battle of Tomakul taught him another lesson--do not rely to heavily on reinforcements for Misha's Obelisk of Undoing lost that battle for him. After that battle, he used the Jalum Tome to make sure he was prepared for surprises.
Urza's greatest student was Tawnos. Tawnos studied the way of the artificer and gained master status upon completion of his Clay Statue . He followed this with the Candelabra of Tawnos , and turned the tide in Urza's favor with the versatile Triskelion . Late in the war, when resources dwindled, he replaced Urza's expensive machines with Tawnos's Weaponry , and the clever use of Tawnos's Wand to evade enemy defenses.
It is speculated that the true turning point was when Urza developed the Glasses of Urza so that he could spy on his brother's actions. The Sunglasses of Urza were also made at this time and allowed Urza more flexibility with his spells.
The war leveled the Forest of Argoth. This angered Gaea and her minions. The Argothian Pixies and Argothian Treefolk took to fighting when they had once been peaceful. The Citanul Druids were driven mad by the raping of their land and dedicated themselves to war against the artificers. Gaea gave power to her most vengeful followers and the fearsome Gaea's Avenger was born. Later, the forest creatures mastered the ability to Crumble artifacts and the Powerleech was formed to help resist them.
Drafna spent his time studying the recreation of artifacts and created the great Drafna's Restoration and Reconstruction spells. With this knowledge, he founded the College of Lat-Nam to study this aspect of magic. The Sages of Lat-Nam advanced his work even after his death.
Drafna's wife Hurkyl was also quite skilled, and is responsible for Hurkyl's Recall .
The city of Argive produced the Argivian Blacksmiths and Argivian Archaeologists . These people learned how to mend the great machines and to get them working again from the scattered parts.
Early in the war, mages developed the Artifact Blast to counter artifacts. This spell became popular but was found to be of no use during the war when already created artifacts rolled onto the battlefield.
The members of the Ivory Tower promoted scholarship over war and provided help to those who chose to study rather that use their powers.
From the mountains of Sardia came the great Colossus of Sardia . This beast was uncontrolled, and both Urza and Mishra fought it at one time. It was immensely powerful but seemed to rest for some time between onslaughts.
Feldon's Cane was discovered by Feldon in the Ronom Glacier.
The Tablet of Epityr is just a footnote in history. It was once thought to be one of Urza's work, but it is now known as a forgery.
In the end the land of Dominia was Strip Mine 'd and bare of resources. The people and land were greatly damaged and the great machines left where they stood until they were discovered just recently. With each day even more of these vile machines have been dug out. We can only hope that history does not repeat itself and that these machines do not once again grind Dominia under.
-- Serrin the White