Welcome back, Lore Seekers! Today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite settings in Magic: Zhalfir! Zhalfir has a long history, it was one of the first settings on Dominaria fleshed out in detail, but we haven't seen much of it since the sets Mirage and Visions in the 90s - for a fairly good reason! It's been gone this whole time, phased out of time, and has been the primary pathos of the planeswalker Teferi, regretting his mistake ever since.

The History of Zhalfir

Teferi's Protection by Chase Stone

• The Story of Jamuraa
• Mirage Character Profiles
• Visions: the Backstory
• Mirage: Oasis - A Braided Novel
• Short Story: Scalebane's Elite
• Short Story: Dying Breath
• Love Song of Night and Day
• Visions: the Oracle

The nation of Zhalfir was considered one of the most advanced nations in Dominaria. Located on the opposite side of the plane from Terisiare, it escaped the worst effects of the Ice Age that plagued the rest of the world. A lot of the history of this saga I've already dived into in The Life of Teferi, so I'm not going to talk too much about specific history.

The nation of Zhalfir was located on the northwestern tip of the continent of Jamuraa on the plane of Dominaria. You can see where the Zhalfirin Void is (in tiny print) there now. We know very little about the earliest days of Zhalir before Teferi, and Teferi irrevocably changed the nature of the country as its royal mage. He created a guild system that is still a central part of its identity, although they've been changed from guilds to creeds when we see them in the Phyrexia: All Will Be One story Alone. I'll get into them in a second.

These creeds (and specifically the Shadow creed) cause a bit of a religious schism in Zhalfir that ends with a large chunk of southern Zhalfir declaring independence. This region became Femeref, which means 'Judgment' in their native language. Then Teferi phased out his island, which attracted the attention of three powerful mages: Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse, Kaervek, the Spiteful, and Mangara, the Diplomat. They come to an agreement that none of them will try to claim whatever power Teferi unleashed, and go their separate ways. Mangara ushers in an era of peace between Zhalfir, Femerem, and the vaguely arab-influenced Suq-Ata.

However, Kaervek was not content. He tricks Jolrael into turning on Mangara, and imprisons him in an Amber Prison. When Teferi's island phases back in, he sends visions to Zhalfir's heroes to free Mangara while he cleaned up the magical mess he made. Less than a decade later, a Keldon Invasion in northeastern Jamuraa (known as the Prophecy War) requires the intervention of Zhalfir to help turn back to the invading force. Finally, when the Phyrexians themselves invade shortly afterwards, Teferi phases out all of Zhalfir to protect it, an action he would come to regret, as centuries later during the Mending he loses the power to return it to it's proper place.

Now, that phased out Zhalfir has replaced New Phyrexia, while New Phyrexia has been shunted into the inaccessible. Surprisingly, the two locations are somewhat comparable in size, although the exact metaphysicals of a partial continent emerging is the space New Phyrexia once occupied hasn't been detailed.

https://twitter.com/jay13x/status/1642519332952350723?s=20

The Worldbuilding of Zhalfir

Based on the coastline present in the Dominaria map, it's pretty easy to tell what was phased out with Zhalfir... and it's a lot! A lot of these location names may sound familiar if you peruse the Mirage and Visions card sets, but let me point out a few.

Kipamu is the capital city of Zhalfir, the lead city in a coalition of nations that made up the Kipamu League in the Prophecy War. It's the seat of power for Queen Wenza, who we currently know very little about except that she is justifiably angry with Teferi for phasing out her nation. The rest of Zhalfir is governed very loosely, with national bureaucratic functions usually undertaken by the various creeds and different villages and cities have their own local leaders. Various warclans are led by chiefs called Sidars.

The Uuserk Marshes are home to the Pillar Tombs of Aku, which is the most secure facility in Zhalfir, where both former royals were entombed to prevent grave robbing, and later we learn, also housed Amber Prison where Kaervek had been imprisoned. The last key location I'll mention is the Talruum Mountains, home of the Talruum Minotaur, the clan that it hails from. They're also the only ones who know how to make Tekyl blades, swords carved from a famous crystal.

Portions of the Arab and North African-inspired Suq'Ata were also phased out with Zhalfir, including the city of Wayraqa. Suq'Ata was ruled by a Vizier, but it's not clear if the section that phased out was folded into Zhalfir's kingdom yet.

Zhalfir itself is primarily home to humans, but the subcontinental region was composed of humans, minotaur, dwarves, goblins, viashino, merfolk, djinn, efreet, and elves. Any or all of them could show up in the setting, as could any of the Mirran survivors, adding primarily Viashino, Leonin, and Loxodon, but also a new variety of goblin.

The Guilds/Creeds of Zhalfir

There are five guilds, or creeds, of Zhalfir. Each of these different creeds are centered on a color, but also skew into the ally colors, and each is responsible for a different aspect of Zhalfirin government, and they're almost all magically inclined.

Civic Guild

Maxim: To condemn the innocent you must first condemn yourself. (Civic Guildmage)

The Civics are responsible for the actual governance of Zhalfir. They're the magistrates, healers, and bureaucrats of Zhalfir, although they don't typically have a rigid structure, instead going to administer where they're needed.

Shaper Guild

Maxim: Shape this world in Zhalfir's image. (Shaper Guildmage)

The Shapers are the artificers, wizards, and scholars of the guilds. They're the ones who innovate and create. We don't actually know much else about what they do.

Shadow Guild

Maxim: To keep the dead so others may live. (Shadow Guildmage)

The Shadow Guild is a faction of mages responsible for the burial of the city's dead and the appeasement of the city's ancestor spirits. They also handle some of the darker aspects of magic in Zhalfir, although the extent of this isn't clear. This changed up some long-held tradition about handling the dead, which is what led to Femeref's secession.

Armorer Guild

Maxim: Zhalfir's destiny rings in tempered steel. (Armorer Guildmage)

The Armorers are pretty straightforward. They create the weapons and armor used by Zhalfir's warclans, many of which are magically inclined, like the burning weapons of the Askari.

Granger Guild

Maxim: Leave no mouth agape, no stomach unfilled. (Granger Guildmage)

The Grangers are another fairly straightforward guild. They're responsible with ensuring that there's no one who goes hungry in Zhalfir, presumably meaning they grow food and also handle logistics.

The Legends of Zhalfir

Invasion of New Phyrexia by Chris Rallis

While we've already seen one of these characters, I also wanted to call out other Legends we might see return on modern Zhalfir. Presumably, anyone we haven't seen or heard from again since the Phyrexian Invasion could still be alive there. I'm only focusing on characters with existing Legends, although there are more worth mentioning, like the incredibly skilled artificer Teeka of Teeka's Dragon.

• Sidar Jabari - The leader of Zhalfir's standing military during the Mirage War, and the leader of the army that invades New Phyrexia as Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir.
• Rashida Scalebane - A folk hero of the Mirage War, she also wields a banesword, a type of magical weapon that is especially strong against a specific kind of enemy (in her case, dragons).
• Mageta the Lion - The general of the Kipamu League forces during the Keldon Invasion. He was injured during the story Alone, which is why Jabari was leading the army against the Phyrexians.
• Jolrael, Empress of Beasts - A former royal mage of Zhalfir who got tired of court politics and retreated to live in the Mwonvuli jungle. She's ancient and powerful, and friendly with Teferi.
• Kaervek the Merciless - Imprisoned at the end of the Mirage War, he's a merciless and powerful wizard with command over fire and necromantic magic. He's also escaped his prison at the end of Alone.
• Mangara of Corondor - Like Kaervek, Mangara was not a native of Zhalfirin but spent a lot of time there helping keep the peace between nations. His Time Spiral flavor text could be taken to mean he was in phased-out Zhalfir.

Next Time: Flavor Gems!

That's it for this week, I'm going to somehow find a way to cover all the incredible flavor gems of March of the Machine starting in a couple weeks!