Anafenza

Anafenza was a valiant woman from Tarkir. She epitomized the unstoppable nature of the Abzan Houses.

Original timeline
When Anafenza was younger, her family was betrayed and given to the Sultai. Anafenza watched her parents and uncle be slaughtered before her Krumar cousin Gvar rescued her. They made their escape and eventually discovered that Oret was the traitor who gave the information to the Sultai. Anafenza spent the next several years building up her reputation in the Abzan until she was elected as Khan. Oret arrived for her coronation as even he could not miss it; just as she planned. She and Gvar confronted him, and Anafenza publicly and spiritually disowned Oret from her family. She declared that Oret was not her family and that she would kill him the next time they meet while acknowledging her Krumar cousin, Gvar as her brother and true family.

As the khan, Anafenza used to lead her army from the front, riding out with her chariot pulled by her prized Ibex goats. Leading from the fortress of Mer-Erk, she waged war not to conquer, but to maintain the trade routes that allowed the clan to function, and to protect her people from the Sultai Brood and Mardu Horde. She was served by an elite of vulture-like Aven. When she held court in Mer-Erk, she sat on the Amber Throne under the First Tree.

Alternate timeline


Anafenza never became khan. She was executed by Dromoka's brood for worshiping her ancestors, and returned to the plane as an ancestral spirit herself. Her killer was her cousin, Oret, whom she was closer to in this timeline; Oret did so at her behalf to secure his position among the Dromoka.

Also in this timeline, as the Krumar system was abolished, Gvar Barzeel was never adopted by her family and indeed in an irony of fate was the one who attempted to kill her during the battle where she revealed the existence of a remaining kin-tree.