Barl

Barl
Details
Race	Human
Birthplace	Terisiare, Dominaria
Lifetime	Dark Age
Born	c. 380 AR
Died	After 430 AR

Barl was the chief artificer of the Conclave of Mages during the Dark Age on Dominaria.

Description

Barl was a stocky, muscular man with a thin, neatly trimmed beard. His hairline had receded to produce a wide forehead patch, often furrowed. He was dressed, in leather leggings and a white, ruffled shirt, which did nothing to conceal the muscles of his arms and legs. He wore no jewelry, and his eyes were blue and sharp as daggers. He was not tall, being shorter than both Jodah and several other students at the school, yet he radiated his aura of confidence and power that made him seem much larger than he was.

Barl was a tidy man, according to the conclave. He was a peacekeeper, a scholar, and an organizer. He seemed to be everywhere in the conclave, omniscient. While he did not have any spellcasting ability, he was responsible for powerful and intricate artifacts such as Barl's Cage, used to imprison Lord Ith, and the Stone Calendar, a highly detailed and precise timepiece that consisted of multiple cogs of various materials such as jade or nephrite. Barl was very practical; every time he would do something for Mairsil that was practical and downright obvious, Mairsil would say “Hammers, Barl! You’re using hammers!”

History

Imprisonment of Ith

Barl and Mairsil imprisoned Lord Ith, the founder, in Barl's Cage - a watersilver cage that was suspended above a bottomless pit. Not much was known about how Barl and Mairsil imprisoned Ith, but evidence of Ith’s imprisonment was plentiful, and he stayed in that cage for fifteen-odd years.

Meeting with Jodah

Jodah came into Barl’s presence after temporarily blinding one of the guards at the gate of the Conclave with a spell. Barl interviewed the young mage to see if he had the right skills needed to enter the Conclave of Mages. Jodah amused Barl by mocking Primata Delphine’s appearance, but in his stories, one name cropped up that Barl did not recognize – Jarsyl, Jodah's great-great grandfather. When Jodah had finished the interview with Barl, the Conclave artificer spoke to Mairsil. Mairsil went over the notes that Barl had taken and recognized Jarsyl's name from a book on The Antiquities War, written by Jarsyl's own grandmother, Kayla bin-Kroog. Jarsyl had been a mage that had somehow entered Phyrexia and lived to tell the tale. Mairsil told Barl that Jodah was to work in the library. Barl made sure that Jodah had a comfortable time in the conclave. He sent one student, Shannan, to ensure Jodah’s safety.

The duel

After a while of Jodah’s stay, another mage, Sima, who dabbled in blue mana came to the conclave. Barl suspected that she was from the City of Shadows, a magic school opposed to the workings of the Conclave. After interviewing her, Barl was suspicious and went to report to Mairsil. Mairsil at this point was annoyed that Jodah did not give him the results of his experiments of trying to open a gate to Phyrexia like Jarsyl had. Jodah was a mere boy and already knew more than what Mairsil read in a lifetime. Barl’s report of the suspicious Sima only added more insult to injury. After a discussion with Mairsil, he recounted the story that Jodah told him when he first joined. It sounded strangely familiar to the story that Sima told. Thus, Barl concluded – Sima had lied. “She avoided all questions about her training. She told half-truths when pressed. She lies badly and covers her misstatements even worse. I mentioned the City of Shadows, and she asked me, wide-eyed, what it was. I told her it was a community of goatherds in the mountains. She did not seem pleased by my definition.” They concluded that Jodah was a novice mage from the City of Shadows, sent to destroy the Conclave. Since Mairsil still needed Jodah, he made a plan with Barl. The idea was to get Jodah to kill Sima. That way, Jodah would stay with the conclave. The plan was to do this deceitfully, and indeed make it seem that it was not their fault. Barl made sure Sima was kept busy in a room for three days. He caught Jodah going into Mairsil’s study from the previous experiment. Barl was, again, suspicious of the boy, and Mairsil told Jodah that he was going to duel an opponent for him, a mage he disagreed with. It was customary to do this in the form of a proxy and told Jodah that he would need to learn some more spells. Barl oversaw that Jodah gained more spells, and made sure that both of the mages would not recognize each other. While Jodah was kept busy by the other mage, Barl made sure also that Sima was given the necessary items: food, drink, and reading material. Three days later, Jodah and Sima clashed. It was quite a quick duel, but a hard one for both mages. When Jodah succeeded in burning her clothes and making Sima fall, Jodah stopped, and Mairsil went to finish them off.

The attack

Then the Church of Tal struck. This was no act, and Mairsil started shouting at Barl. Barl organized the counter-attack. Both Barl and Mairsil came to the same conclusion, Sima and Jodah were sent by the City of Shadows, to bring the Church of Tal and destroy them. “You had me fooled, I must admit. I saw you worm your way into the Lord High Mage’s good graces. At the time, I wondered why. And now I know. This confirmed it. You probably brought the church here, didn’t you? Anything to keep your City of Shadows the most powerful group of mages in the land.” Barl took his magic crossbow and went out to fight. After killing one of the members of the Church, the ones who saw this display fled. However, Barl knew that more of them were to be defeated. Then he caught Jodah and Sima together.

Barl's fate

Jodah had told Barl that Ith had been released. Threatened by Barl's crossbow, Sima told Jodah to run and help Ith and unraveled the crossbow with a blue spell. Deprived of his weapon, Barl fled. After the Fall of the Conclave of Mages and the death of Mairsil (and the soldiers of Tal), it was revealed that Ith created a new Rag Man to replace the one that was destroyed during his liberation. The new Rag Man turned out to be created by none other than Barl. The artificer thus received his deserved punishment for his allegiance to Mairsil.

Note on continuity

According to some older sources, most notably the card Dark Sphere, Barl is the name of the man titled "Lord Ith". Barl and Lord Ith became two separate persons due to a mixup during the creation of the Ice Age block novels.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
The Gathering Dark	Jeff Grubb	June 1999	The Dark	Dominaria	Arkol, Ith, Mairsil, Rag Man, Vervamon (mentioned), Jodah, Voska, Jarsyl (mentioned), Thargrin (mentioned), Tanar, Delphine, Michelle, Dobbs, Sima, Togath, Fendah, Tivadar, Barl, Lucan, Drusilla, Alex, Betje, Shannan, Ophenia, San-Lo, Dorine, Dervish, Jonko, Orm, Nedastophalites, Remarin, Ingles, Wode

In-game references

Associated cards:

• Barl's Cage

Quoted or referred to:

• Dark Sphere