Your encounter with the creature named Kyri has faded into the past, but your walks and explorations around the monastery have only grown. You now spend much of your free time discovering sights and niches you never knew existed such a short distance from your home.

When you contemplate the reason for these adventures, you are left wondering. Nothing inside you can explain the change that has occurred over the recent months. Yet you are aware enough to know that there has been a change, and that is acceptable for now.

Along with these thoughts comes the realization that you have not visited Issar Roon in almost a moon’s time. Today you set out to correct that. You are unsure of the teacher–student relationship the old man seems to imagine exists, but you care enough about him that you now consider him a sort of mentor in life—and perhaps a bit of a friend, as well—in a strange sort of way.

You open the familiar door and greet the old man—his nose buried in a book as usual.

It is kind of you to grace this old man with your presence once again. I would scold you more harshly for your recent absence, but I am not displeased—much to your surprise, I am sure. You see, I had actually hoped you would begin exploring much sooner than this. So, in actuality, I should be reproaching you for waiting so long to do what you are now doing.

I have told you many times in the past that I have plans for you. Do not think that I would choose a pupil thoughtlessly. I may be unable to force you to choose the path I wish you to take, but I was careful to select someone who would be willing—or curious, even—to walk it.

Why do I wish for you to explore? You ask such simple questions. Expand your mind and think more deeply. If you do, you will see the answer before you.

Now, I believe a little geography lesson is in store for you today. I admit, there will be no heroes or intriguing plot lines within today’s tale, but you must hear it all the same. It is vital for one to understand how a world is arranged, else one cannot comprehend the reasons for many of history’s events.

Today, I shall talk of the continent Terisiare on Dominaria. Though not the largest or most powerful of continents upon the plane, it holds the key distinction of playing host to the Thran civilization, and eventually, the Brothers’ War. In recent millennia, Terisiare has faded into the background of Dominaria’s events, but who is to say it will not once again affect the course of history?

I must preface my tale with an explanation of sorts. Though Terisiare held one of the most significant events in the Multiverse from the past six millennia, not all of Dominaria is aware of its existence. In fact, few of Dominaria’s sentient creatures know much about their world beyond their own small towns and communities.

It is the same as here, in your monastery. Few have been beyond the woods that surround your stone home, and, of those few, none have gone across the seas. I alone have traveled to other planes, and that is so rare that not even one in a hundred thousand beings, from any plane across the Multiverse, will have set eyes on a planeswalker, much less talked to one.

And so it is everywhere. Villagers know little of the lands beyond their immediate neighbors, and even great cities have little knowledge of what lies across the seas. This I say so that you understand Terisiare is separated from the rest of Dominaria, connected with only thin threads woven by planeswalkers and a few brave adventurers.

At the time of the Brothers’ War, Terisiare was a full continent, with only one major island lying to the southeast: Argoth. Argoth, which you will remember, was the site of the Sylex Blast, and the end of the Brothers’ War. There was a scattering of smaller islands along various coasts, but only one was ever of any significance. The island, the name of which has been lost to the winds of time, lay along the west, and was home to the College of Lat-Nam, a school of magic that I shall tell you of one day.

Along the east coast lay three powerful kingdoms: Argive, Korlis, and Yotia, in descending order from north to south. These three each held power in one of the three key areas of an empire: politics, trade, and military might, respectively. When Urza formed a kingdom to fight his brother Mishra, it began with an alliance of these three.

The central portion of the continent was covered almost entirely by desert or water. The lower two-thirds was mostly desert, dotted with small patches of livable land, all controlled by the Fallaji Empire. When seeking power, this is where Mishra fled, and he soon ruled the entire empire, along with its large army. The northern reaches held Ronom Lake, the only enclosed large body of water on Terisiare, and the southern edges of the Ronom Glacier, a famous excavation site for historic artifacts and relics.

The western edge of the continent was considered “the wild side” of Terisiare. Recorded history and stories say little about civilization there, other than of the famous cities Terisia and Almaaz. Terisia City was the oldest city at the time of the Brothers’ War, and it attempted to declare neutrality during the conflict. Sadly, Mishra believed anyone who was unwilling to join him to be an enemy, and he razed the city to the ground. Though the continent retains its name, the city that shared its namesake no longer exists. As for Almaaz, its only distinction is that it alone survived with the same name from the time of the Brothers’ War to the present.

Why does that make Almaaz significant? Because everything changed during the Ice Age. The cold brought about by the Sylex Blast drew glaciers south, carving up the continent of Terisiare and turning it into an archipelago. Today, Terisiare remains a collection of large islands with new names and kingdoms.

And that is the geography of Terisiare, my young student. I hope you remember my earlier lessons about some of these locations, and I hope you now have a firm grasp of where each took place. Perhaps I shall go into deeper detail to describe these locales, but not today. Now, away with you.

Unsure of whether you learned anything actually useful from the old man—if any of his lessons could be considered practical—you retreat out the door. At least you have fulfilled your obligation to see the old man, and you are free of guilt for a time.

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