Yawgmoth
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In the fictional multiverse of Magic: The Gathering, Yawgmoth, called the Ineffable by his servants, is the god of the plane of Phyrexia. He was born on Dominaria during the reign of the Thran about 5000 years before the birth of Urza. He was banished for his belief that diseases were caused, not by evil spirits, but by viruses and bacteria, only to return to treat Glacian, the genius of Halcyon, who was stabbed with an imperfect powerstone by an Untouchable named Gix. Yawgmoth is a primary antagonist of the Magic story, and though he was in origin a healer, his ways became perverted towards an unnatural fascination with the mechanics of the body. He came to believe that the body was a soulless construct that functioned off of governed laws and chemicals, and that the machine was the ultimate form of life - flesh being seen as a frailty. Yawgmoth's obsessions would later become a kind of mechanical religion, phyresis, mirrored in the metal realm of Phyrexia.
The greatest concentration of information on Yawgmoth's life is chronicled in J. Robert King's novel, The Thran. Yawgmoth is portrayed as a kind of medical madman, more concerned with proving his methods and theories than actually curing the illnesses he is called upon to remedy. He is jealous to a fault, and when called upon to heal the Thran genius Glacian he quickly becomes enamoured of Glacian's wife Rebbec. Yawgmoth was successful however in diagnosing the cause of Glacian's ailment... the powerstones that fuel the prowess of the Thran empire. Yawgmoth then used his healing skills as a means to entrap the people of the empire in his grasp on the promise of curing the illness he dubbed phthisis.
Yawgmoth then grew on the people, treating them with more modern types of healing, such as dissection. However he grew power hungry and lust-driven, and was exiled by Rebbec, Glacian's wife.
Yawgmoth learned about other planes of existence within the multiverse from Dyfed, a planeswalker. Dyfed took Yawgmoth to a plane that was diminishing due to the death of its creator, a human who enjoyed the form of a dragon. After learning all he could from Dyfed, Yawgmoth mutilated her brain and used his scientists to study her but was not able to gain her ability to traverse the planes, due to his lacking of the planeswalking spark, although he was confident that he would in time be able to walk the planes.
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[edit] Founding of Phyrexia
Yawgmoth built upon the land and renamed it Phyrexia, the ultimate incarnation of his vision of phyresis.
Yawgmoth would return to Dominaria after building Phyrexia to suit his vision to launch a campaign of revenge against the Thran empire. Motivated mostly by the acquisition of power, Yawgmoth sought to encompass all of Dominaria in his grasp and convert it to his will. The ensuing conflict would become known as the Thran-Phyrexian war, and would rage for years.
Yawgmoth's eventual defeat came with the sealing of both himself and his followers in his created land of Phyrexia, with a machine run by the powerstone containing Glacian's soul, to prevent his emergence ever again in Dominaria. Yawgmoth's philosophy became more and more bent on the enhancement of the human body in his exile, and he became obsessed with using mechanical means to strengthen the human biostructure. Therein he bided his time and built Phyrexia into a clockwork hell of mechanized and unnatural constructs, and further "enhanced" his followers. The Phyrexians, as they were called, became more machine and monster than human, and the Phyrexian religion, dedicated to worshipping Yawgmoth and his grand evolution, effaced any traces of humanity within the realm. The flesh was seen as a form of mortal frailty, and in "evolving" a Phyrexian became more and more mechanized.
Yawgmoth then lived in the Ninth Sphere of Phyrexia for 9205 years, fusing himself with the plane. He became the closest thing to a god that the multiverse of Magic had ever seen. Still bent on revenging himself upon Dominaria, Yawgmoth created armies of Phyrexians, perfect war machines and planned the Invasion for his entire captivity.
The powerstone sealing Yawgmoth in his realm would be later broken in the Brother's War, leaving the portal open for Yawgmoth's long awaited attack.
[edit] Yawgmoth and the Brother's War
The war between Urza and Mishra was the catalyst for Yawgmoth's release. The catastrophic events caused by the final acts of the war saw Mishra, Urza's brother, becoming a member of the ancient Brotherhood of Gix, a fanatical order devoted to Yawgmoth. Even after his victory over Mishra, Urza would forever blame Yawgmoth for his brother's corruption and would become the greatest foe of Phyrexia.
Urza, now a planeswalker himself, would become the greatest force in opposition of Yawgmoth's planned invasion, and through the course of four millennia he would frustrate and ultimately defeat Yawgmoth's plans of dominion.
Urza crafted a set of artifacts known as the Legacy to combat Yawgmoth. Designed to only work at the moment of the Invasion, Urza crafted his forces over the course of many millennia. He also manipulated the bloodlines of several Dominarian warrior nations to create his champion, Gerrard Capashen.
[edit] Phyrexian Invasion
After countless preparations, Yawgmoth sent legions of his Phyrexians into the plane of Dominaria, and the human defenders could do little to hold them back. The Weatherlight crew joined in on an attack and closed a portal linking Phyrexia and Dominaria. However, this hardly hindered Yawgmoth's plan. He used a large magical burst to cause the Phyrexian-infested plane of Rath to overlap Dominaria, infusing the plane with its own energies, and the Phyrexians to magically appear. The second stage of the Invasion was an overwhelming defeat for the human defenders, as the hero of the war, Gerrard Capashen (leader of the Weatherlight crew), pledged himself to Yawgmoth in order to restore life to his fallen love, Hanna.
Urza Planeswalker also pledged himself to the Phyrexian God, and the world seemed doomed.
However, after a long battle and the decapitation (but not death) of Urza, Gerrard broke free of Yawgmoth's control and escaped back to Weatherlight. There he led his crew in one final charge, now empowered with Urza's guidance (as a planewalker his head can survive without the body) and fought the giant entity that was Yawgmoth.
Yawgmoth arrived in Dominaria in his complete godly glory, spreading forth waves upon waves of black mana that killed millions and brought untold numbers of the rotting dead back to life. This left Capashen with one remaining plan-shoot down the white mana that had been contained within the Null Moon for centuries on the demon god. This forced Yawgmoth to retreat into the deepest dungeons of the Stronghold, the domain of Crovax.
Before they could celebrate, the god reformed back to his full strength and ready to claim Dominaria.
The crew of the Weatherlight utilized the full strength of the artifacts of the Legacy (most notably Urza's powerstone eyes which contained Glacian's soul, Gerrard himself, bred to be the ultimate warrior, the Weatherlight, and Karn, the silver golem and keeper of the Thran Tome). The blast annihilated Yawgmoth and turned Karn into a planeswalker (Urza's 'death' was truly an absorption into Karn).
Weatherlight was destroyed. Gerrard and Urza died. Many millions around the globe were killed and millions more would die in the wreckage. However, the greatest threat to Dominarian life was extinguished. One hundred years later, a false god named Karona rose from the fusion of the demonic queen Phage and the angelic crusader Akroma. In an attempt to find her godly kin, Karona opened up five portals, one for each color of magic. While opening the Black portal, a dark realm was unveiled: the wreckage and remains of Phyrexia and a great volcano. Inside the volcano rested a great ghost, larger than a continent. Yawgmoth had survived and his vengeance throbbed and pulsated through him.
[edit] Yawgmoth as a Literary Character
Yawgmoth provides a very engrossing antagonism to the nature of the Magic world, as his nature is entirely unnatural. He is a sterile and mechanistic creature, and though originally a devotee of biological medicine he becomes a cultist of a movement to machines. Yawgmoth abandons any admiration he once had for the flesh, and comes to abhor mortal flesh as well as mortal emotion as fatal flaws. Yawgmoth and his vision of ascension are entirely opposite to the organic and natural world of Dominaria, and his somewhat "scientific" and coldly objective philosophy of dominion is diametrically opposed to the romantic idea of "Magic." As a developed villain, Yawgmoth is perfectly engineered to suit his role in the story.
