A low buzz arouses your consciousness.

Concentrating on the constant sound lifts the fog of sleep slightly, but your eyelids remain too heavy to lift.  Unsure of where you have awakened, you remain still for fear of some animal.  The ground beneath you is firm but soft.

The droning slowly grows louder as your consciousness rises.  You finally open your eyes to the sight of stacks of books topped by candles.  With a final leap your mind is reminded of how you had fallen asleep in Issar Roon’s study while listening to his tale.

…moon composed of blue mana was called the Eye of Doom.  The black one, Ingle thanks to…

The voice continues without pause.  You are unsure of how long you had slept, but it seems to have gone unnoticed by the old man.  Attempting to remain quiet, you push yourself off the colored rug and sit in what you hope is an attentive position.

…green moon was the last ejected, and named Lyese by Glissa Sunseeker after her sister.

Not only were the moons defined by the color of mana that imbued each, but so were the environments of Mirrodin.  The plane was separated into five distinct locales, each home to their respective Lacuna.  They were the Razor Fields, the Quicksilver Sea, Mephidross, the Oxidda Chain, and the Tangle.  The Lacuna were passages by which the moons escaped Mirrodin’s core and all led to that sixth and final region of Mirrodin, home to Memnarch’s Panopticon and Karn’s Palace.

Your mind fully awake at last, you listen closely to hear more about the strange plane.  The old man pauses in his tale to turn pages rapidly until he finds what he is looking for.  He turns towards you with the book held forward.  Half of a page is taken over by a beautiful sketch which can only be part of Mirrodin.

This is the Razor Fields, the location of white mana upon Mirrodin.  Its name comes from the Razor Grass that grew across much of the land.  This grass would chime in the wind, but was stronger and sturdier than any glass or metal you might find in a wind chime.  Its edges were as sharp as a blade, cutting anything that would brush against it.  It could even grow fast enough to impale an unwary traveler before they knew to move.

Though a dangerous place, the Razor Fields were the home to a scattering of races.  Nomadic humans called Aurioks lived among the Razor Grass.  They survived through trade, and were fierce warriors when threatened.  Their allies, the Leonin, preferred a permanent home, and built a city of gold called Taj-Nar.  A third race, the Loxodons, seemed to avoid contact with other races, but lived peacefully within the Razor Fields.

The old man turns the page a few more times.  Each page holds another beautiful sketch or painting of the Razor Fields.

The locale of blue mana on Mirrodin was the Quicksilver Sea.  A sea of an unknown liquid, this was the home of the Vedalken and Neuroks.  The Vedalken populated spires of quicksilver while the Neuroks lived in tin settlements along the shores of the Quicksilver Sea.  The Vedalken spires that rose high into the air were believed to have been created by solidifying the liquid in the sea.

You look closely at the sketch in the old man’s book and easily identify what appear as giant thorns stabbing the sky.

Of course, a highly intelligent race like the Vedalken needed a center for their government, and so they built Lumengrid, a huge interconnected city that rose atop a giant pedestal.  Lumengrid was the core of Vedalken society, as well as the center of commerce.  It was there that they lived, traded, and trained their Neurok slaves.

The old man turns more pages.

If the Quicksilver Sea and Razor Fields were lands of beauty on Mirrodin, then Mephidross was the dark pit.  Bordering the Quicksilver Sea, it too had liquid and spires, but these were corrupted reflections infused with black mana.  The knee-deep water was covered with scum and noxious gas called necrogen.  The ominous chimneys in Mephidross were as black as obsidian, and emitted a constant thrum that spoke of a hidden and dark energy.

Almost entirely inhospitable, Mephidross held two races, the Nim and Moriok.  The Nim were zombie-like creatures, twisted remnants of life that had strayed too deeply into the dark recesses of the swamp.  The Moriok were humans, those ever-adaptable beings, who found a way to live within the swamp.  Unable to fully resist the necrogen, the Moriok had metal plates over their eyes, and were often missing pieces of flesh and bone.  The Moriok were ruled over by a warlord named Geth.

Again, the pages and pictures flash by.

The Oxidda Chain was home to red mana on Mirrodin.  Giant mounds of rusted iron, these mountains were scrap heaps and piles of ductwork.  Some mountain tops had even separated, floating hundreds of feet in the air thanks to the strong magnetic fields within the Oxidda Chain.  Deep within the mountain range laid the Great Furnace, Kuldotha, a place of molten metal.

Humans and goblins inhabited the Oxidda Chain, living off of the metal and furnaces located throughout.  The humans, called the Vulshok, were great smiths, the creators of Mirrodin’s best weapons and armor.  Though they held strained relations with outsiders, they were amiable towards the goblins near their home and often traded with them.  Many of the goblins on Mirrodin lived around Kuldotha, scavenging and becoming artificers.  All but a small cult believed in a creator of their world called the Steel Mother, and often sent her offerings through Kuldotha.

More pages turn, and you begin to feel sleep clawing at you once again.  You resist, hoping the old man will soon finish his story.

The final locale on Mirrodin’s surface was the Tangle, the domain of green mana.  The Tangle was a conglomeration of copper, much of it in the forms of trees and living plants.  One might imagine it alive, thanks to the verdigris that covered almost all surfaces.  Deep within the Tangle laid a tree called Tel-Jilad, or Tree of Tales.  Inscribed on the trunk was the entire history of Mirrodin.  Though, the beginning had been mysteriously erased.

Though the Tangle itself was not living, life was able to flourish.  Many animals made it their home, along with some plants and intelligent species.  As with all other areas of Mirrodin there was a human tribe, the Sylvok.  The Sylvok were a hunter-gatherer culture, and kept mostly to themselves.  There were also Viridian elves who lived alongside the Tel-Jilad trolls, keepers of Tel-Jilad.  Glissa, an important figure in Mirrodin`s history came from among the Viridian Elves.

The old man’s story comes to an abrupt end, and he closes the book with a soft thump.

That is all for today.  You seem tired.  Take care of those feet, and get some sleep.  I will tell you a new tale when you are more awake.

You had forgotten about your feet, but after the old man speaks you begin to feel the pain return.  You make your way to the door as gingerly as possible, and hope that the pain remains at bay until you are able to lie down again.  As you make your leave, you catch a glimpse of the old man’s gentle smile before he turns back to his books.

This is a work of fiction based on the stories and entries provided by Wizards about some of the early characters. The author takes some liberty with the story for dramatic purposes. So the story portrayed here may not be the exact story according to Magic Canon. The author has found references and art to use in the following locations: Encyclopedia Phyrexianna and the MTG Salvation Wiki. Written by Brendan Weiskotten.