Shandalar

Shandalar is a fictional world from the MicroProse PC (Windows 95) and Playstation videogame and is also a plane in collectible card game.

Magic the Gathering card game

In the fictional multiverse of the (see Dominia) trading card game it is a small plane, where mana flows like water.Host of countless planeswalker wars, it is unstable, constantly spinning out of position. It is a rogue plane that was in the middle of a plan to shatter the Shard of Twelve Worlds, which trapped planeswalkers within the twelve immediate planes of the multiverse, when it briefly entered the Shard.

Refuge for , Tevesh Szat, and Lim-Dûl after the end of the Ice Age.

Shandalar was the setting of the .

The Shandalar video game

Not satisfied with giving the players just a card game rendition, MicroProse wraps the entire card-game mechanics around an epic fantasy storyline, set in the world of Shandalar. As a novice wizard, your goal is to defeat the powerful evil wizards who are wreaking havoc on the land. After creating your character, you start with a random deck, which include very standard (i.e. not very powerful) cards, most of the color of your choice. You amass more powerful cards by winning duels with wandering monsters, or taking on quests in the various villages using the multiple-choice interface that is based on a simplified version of Darklands engine. also introduces the concept of gems, which can be used as currency to trade for cards or even for powerful spells called "world magic", that enhance your wizard's power (for instance, magical boots that lets him walk quicker than normal). There are 5 powerful great wizards, one for each color, whom you must defeat, each of whom resides in a heavily-guarded fortress.

The Shandalar story

The coming of Lim-Dûl

For most of its existence the plane of Shandalar prospered alone. The magical energy in this plane is so rich that in ancient days wizards were able to create creatures of pure mana. Those creatures and their descendants, the dragons, still roam the plane. The richness and the purity of Shandalar's mana is the reason that the use of magic is commonplace, lesser spells are used every day by the common people. In the happy backwater that Shandalar used to be knowledge of the rest of the multiverse was a secret worry of a select few powerful wizards. Among them, Kenan Sahrmal was the most skillful. A planeswalker who chose to preserve rather than to prey on his home plane, Sahrmal was practically immortal. Shortly before the war that became the focal point of Shandalar's history the cunning necromancer Lim-Dûl came in desperation to Shandalar, escaping with Tevesh Szat and . Sahrmal managed to chase away the two demons, but was wounded in the battle by Lim-Dûl. The hero had been weakened, and had no defenses left. Sahrmal's body disappeared, but his followers immediately beheaded Lim-Dûl. Both were presumed to be dead.

Lim-Dûl's War and the Great Barrier

Twelve years later, Lim-Dûl reappeared with an army of undead at his side and attempted to seize dominion over the entire plane. "Lim-Dûl's War" lasted for years and it decimated Shandalar. Every major city save one was laid waste and destroyed, but even without their protector, the Shandalarians refused to submit. Sahrmal wasn't dead either, but his magical ability was nearly gone. In secret he trained two adepts to take his place. One was Azar, the name of the other has never been revealed.

Ardestan, greatest city of Shandalar, and the last bastion of hope, came under siege. It was clear that soon Shandalar would fall to the invader. Nevertheless Sahrmal counseled patience, he told his students they were not ready. Unwilling to believe and unable to face the tragic consequences of inaction, Azar fled their hidden sanctuary and went to the defense of Ardestan. When they discovered this, his teacher and his fellow pupil hurried to the rescue, but they were too late to stop the casting of the great spell Azar had stolen from Sahrmal. Huddled in the questionable refuge of a circle of protection Azar prepared his Casting. Rather than mounting a futile direct attack on the young wizard, Lim-Dûl waited nearby. His plan was to use the same trick with which he had survived his beheading- a simple, last-second transfer of his spirit into Azar's body. Unfortunately for both of them, Azar's spell was targeted at the necromancer's spirit, not his body. It should have imprisoned Lim-Dûl in his body, drawing out all his power and using it to erect a Great Barrier around the plane of Shandalar. It worked, but Lim-Dûl was in Azar's own body at the time. Designed by Sahrmal as a temporary ward against planeswalkers, the immense energies tapped from the two imprisoned wizard's spirits made Shandalar virtually impregnable. Ardestan lay in ruins and Azar's body lay paralysed. Trapped in the same body the two spirits fought for control. Convinced that it would be forever so, Sahrmal secretly buried the body. The existence of the Great Barrier depended on the continued confinement of Lim-Dûl.

The Guardian's Peace

Before long Azar's fellow pupil ended his training. Sahrmal chose to invest all his remaining power in his apprentice, making him immortal. Thereafter Sahrmal vanished. Known now only as The Guardian the young wizard took up his role of Protector of Shandalar. In time, Shandalar learned to trust the Guardian and accepted him in Sahrmal's place. He established five guilds which were responsible for teaching and policing the use of the five colours of mana. The first leader of each guild was chosen in a great contest. Each Guildlord serves until his skill lapses with age, and a new champion is selected.

The Wizards' War

In time, Lim-Dûls powerful spirit won out over that of the fatally inexperienced Azar. Emerging from the secret graveyard, he once again attempted to bend Shandalar to his will. This time, however, the necromancer found that Shandalar had organised, powerful protectors. In the great "Wizards War" he was defeated soundly, though the lord of the Black Guild also fell. The Guardian removed Lim-Dûl's spirit from Azar's former body and imprisoned it again, this time in a magical artifact, thus keeping the Great Barrier in existence. Though it now had been emptied of both spirits, Azar's body had been exposed to far too much magic to lie still. Now numbered among the undead, it rose of its own accord and stepped in to command the Black Guild, taking the name Lichlord Skavius Slan. In the time that has passed since then, guild lords have come and gone, save for the eternal guardian and the undead Lichlord. Many of the magical creatures created and summoned from the other planes during the two magical wars were not able to return to their homes. Over time, they learned to live in Shandalar, bathed in the beneficence of the plane's nearly sentient mana.

The coming of Arzakon

Quite recently, the Guardian became aware of an extraordinarily powerful planeswalker named Arzakon. Evidently, the magical emanations of Sahrmal's fight with the planeswalkers, "Lim-Dûls War" and the "Wizards' War" had been traced by this Arzakon who was stunned by the potential power inherent in Shandalar. His following attempt to penetrate the Great Barrier physically was easily repelled by the ever diligent Guardian. That seemed the end of it until recently during a conclave the current Guildlords -Alsadim K'mer, Starcryst, Lichlord, Kzzy'n and the Great Druid- rose up suddenly as one and struck down the Guardian. Over the course of the years Arzakon had found means to seep parts of his spirit through the barrier and to contact each of the Guildlords. Pretending to be a willing adviser, he slowly manipulated the Lords, nurturing their resentment of the Guardian's power and immortality. Playing on their jealousies, he eventually convinced them to revolt.

The spell of Dominion

Before the wizards could begin squabbling among themselves, Azarkon laid a task and a challenge before them. He convinced them that to dominate Shandalar, one wizard must cast the Spell of Dominion, which is supposed to grant its caster immortality and total dominion over a single plane. Now, the Guild Lords' minions scour Shandalar in a mad race, searching for any powerful magical resource and taking it by force. When one has gathered sufficient magical energy, Arzakon will grant him or her the secret of Dominion. The real truth is that Arzakon's intention is to conquer Shandalar himself. The Spell of Dominion will do nothing more than seek out the source of the Great Barrier - the artifact in which Lim-Dûl's spirit is shackled- and destroy it. The barrier will shatter, and Arzakon will swoop in triumphantly.

Locations

The Osai Desert

Known for its vultures

The Nether Lands

A cursed place in which (and alone in there from all Shandalar) the mana is scarce.

Ardestan

A city between the Osai Desert and the Nether Lands, attacked by Lim-Dûl.