Noyan Dar

Noyan Dar is a merfolk lullmage on the plane of Zendikar, a powerful lullmage able to suppress and control the force of the dangerous and terrain-altering Roil.

History
Noyan Dar, the founder and the leader of Coralhelm Refuge, is an unlikely hero. Born in the city of Sea Gate, he studied with the Emeria-creed mystics at the original Enclave but secretly followed the creed of Cosi for most of his life. He showed great magical aptitude and became a powerful lullmage, while also secretly studying the rigorous methods of the Ula creed. He cultivated contacts in North Hada and among the Dojir nomads and personally spied on the workings of power in Sea Gate. He amassed a network of loyal supporters in the Enclave thanks to his charisma and his talent ay manipulation. If his life had gone differently, he might have become a criminal mastermind, at the center of a vast spy network or blackmail ring. Instead, the myths of the gods and the monsters they fought in the distant past caught his attention. He began using his contacts to acquire ancient relics, historical information, and long-forgotten magic. He hired out his services as a lullmage to explorers who were undertaking particularly significant expeditions. Eventually, long before the Eldrazi titans awoke, he developed a suspicion that the merfolk deities were not actually gods but destroyers. Then the Eldrazi did awake, and his suspicions were confirmed.

When Sea Gate and the merfolk Enclave fell to the Eldrazi spawn, he found himself thrust into a position of leadership by virtue of his knowledge and experience in the world. Somewhat unwillingly, he led refugees from the Enclave farther upriver to found Coralhelm Refuge. He has grown to accept his position, not least because of the personal power it gives him, while also retaining his interest in history. Noyan Dar sees that the only path to survival is for all the merfolk and survivors of other races to work together. By coordinating their efforts to understand the ancient ruins and using hedrons to fight the spawn, the peoples of Zendikar can triumph, or so he believes. Hee now organizes the merfolk's expedition efforts and compiles the information they bring back to Coralhelm. He has also started training a new generation of lullmages to use their magic, not to calm the Roil, but to turn its power against the Eldrazi.

Ironically, Noyan Dar's greatest enemy is someone who shares his goals as well as his skills: Thada Adel, leader of the Tikal Harborage. The two merfolk first crossed paths when Thada was studying at the Enclave, and Noyan Dar attempted to recruit her into his circle of cronies. The younger merfolk took an instant dislike to him, which has persisted through the years since. They have often found themselves in conflict over information or ancient artifacts, and both harbor bitter grudges.

With the Eldrazi unleashed and rampaging through the land, Noyan Dar and his fellow mages realized that the power of the Roil could be something to be harnessed and used as a weapon rather than suppressed. Noyan Dar is extremely arrogant and has little patience for those he deems to be idiots or unintelligent. When Gideon Jura visited him to gain his and his student's allegiance, Noyan considered the planeswalker to be both. Noyan was not interested in joining the Zendikari army. He compared himself to Cosi the Merfolk god who in the stories tricked the more stupid god Ula into dancing to his tune. After demonstrating both his and his student's capabilities he was flattered by Gideon who mentioned that "Cosi, he is too smart for me."

A buoyant Noyan took this as an acknowledgment of his superior intelligence and skill and agreed to join Gideon's army. Later that night while nursing a drink he realized that Gideon had tricked him just as Cosi tricked Ula into doing something that he did not want to do.

Despite Gideon's trickery, Noyan honored his promise. Both he and his roilmage students were present during the Liberation of Sea Gate and helped in driving off Ulamog's brood. After the awakening of Kozilek by Ob Nixilis, Dar was the last roil mage standing. He also survived the last confrontation with Ulamog and Kozilek, in which the titans were defeated by the Gatewatch and their allies.