| Lat-Nam | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Plane | Dominaria (plane) |
| Part of | Terisian Isles |
| Status | Present |
| Formerly part of | Terisiare |
Lat-Nam was the largest of several islands west of ancient Terisiare on Dominaria. It survived all cataclysms and is now one of the five main remnants of Terisiare,[1] sometimes referred to as the Terisian Isles.
Description[ | ]
The long island of Lat-Nam lies in the Ilesemare Sea[2], west of Almaaz. Originally, the island lay west of the mainland of Terisiare, across the Lat-Nam Straits.[3] During the Dark Age, the Lat-Nam straits grew narrower due to decreasing temperatures and sea level, with large amounts of water being locked into the growing glaciers of the north. During the Ice Age, the Lat-Nam straits were drained fully away, connecting the former island to the mainland of Terisiare, but sheltering it behind the Great Glacier. After the Thaw, Lat-Nam once again became an island.
On a mountain on the island lies the Duler Sanctum, home of the Duler Angels.[4]
History[ | ]
College of Lat-Nam[ | ]
Lat-nam is best known for the College of Lat-Nam which was founded there before the Brothers' War. At the time of the Brothers, the college was a collection of scholars from all over Terisiare and Dominaria. Its co-founders Hurkyl and Drafna would help to establish the Third Path and became some of the first people on Terisiare for centuries to tap into magic. The college was destroyed in the Fall of the College of Lat-Nam and the land was poisoned[2], but its scholars would not be deterred.[5]
City of Shadows[ | ]
When the Brothers' War ended, the surviving Third Path scholars including Drafna left the main island of Lat-Nam, crossing the Lat-Nam Straits. Drafna kept the philosophy of the College of Lat-Nam alive and was in contact with Feldon through letters during this time.[6]. Drafna and the sages of Lat-Nam came upon the City of Shadows hidden in an unnamed mountain range near the western shore of mainland Terisiare. There, they settled down to create a hidden sanctuary for mages and scholars. They took great pains for the new school to stay undetected, hiding it in many ways from prying eyes.[5]
Some time into the Dark Age, a party led by Vervamon the Elder, following a rumor of the Tomb of the Seven Martyrs, spent a night in the outer part of the City. The city appeared as a dark and foreboding place, entirely deserted and made of glossy black stone that seemed to warp the light around it, casting everything into deep shadows. During their sleep, almost the entire party had horrific nightmares that left several of them quivering on the edge of insanity, and they quickly abandoned the city the following day. This experience may well have been part of the school's magical defenses at the time.[2]
School of the Unseen[ | ]
The college in the City of Shadows was already called a School of the Unseen during the Dark Age. Staying hidden and repelling any would-be invaders proved to be a beneficial effort, as the Church of Tal, strongly opposed to magic throughout the period, might well have raised an army against the school as it did against the rivaling Conclave of Mages in northern Terisiare. Instead, the School of the Unseen survived undetected into the Ice Age, when it had to abandon the City of Shadows due to a massive encroaching glacier spreading south across the former Lat-Nam Straits.[5][3]
As the ice from the Great Glacier crawled south, the straits of Lat-Nam dried up, allowing access to the former island without the use of boats. Although the old land of Lat-Nam was still poisoned from the Brothers' War, poison-free areas had appeared from beneath the sea. As more ocean water became bound in the ice, the water levels sank, revealing new terrain south and west of the original island. Thus, Lat-Nam's magical legacy could continue. Eventually cut off from the rest of the mainland Terisiare by a wall of ice, Lat-Nam was partially buried beneath the glaciers during the Ice Age.[7][3]
The School of the Unseen was the training ground for many of the world's mages over the next two and a half thousand years. After the Thaw had started, however, the sea was slowly reclaiming the land the school stood on. However, before the mages could relocate again, the school was attacked by Soldevi Steam Beasts and destroyed. For the first time in thousands of years, Lat-Nam was left without a school of magic. Survivors of the attack abandoned Lat-Nam, traveling across the sea to the Institute of Arcane Study.[8][9]
Battle of Lat-Nam[ | ]
In 4077 AR, long after the ice had receded from the land, the party of the planeswalker Greensleeves visited Lat-Nam to research the Stone Brain which had been created by the Sages of Lat-Nam.[10] By now, Lat-Nam had become a tropical island, covered by scrub forest and a poisoned glass desert, where once the College stood. The army was attacked by the Duler angels and the merfolk of the Copper Conch. After a fight, Greensleeves communicated with the angels and the merfolk, who had been tasked by the Sages to be guardians of Lat-Nam, and befriended them. The rest of the army was summoned and excavation was started. After revealing a Dragon Engine and other traps, a tunnel was found. However, the rest of the college had collapsed and was underwater.
The merfolk brought Greensleeves to a gigantic sea god/elemental who called himself the Lord of Atlantis. This creature carried the druid to the underwater portion of the College, where Greensleeves found the skull of a Sage, to which she asked the secret of the Stone Brain. When the girl returned to the camp, she found out that they had been discovered by Towser and the other wizards, who were attacking their army. When the wizard Haakon unleashed a fireball against her brother, Greensleeves went mad with anger and sorrow, making the "final sacrifice" of her ideal that every life was sacred. She blasted Haakon with a bolt, then trapped the other wizards in the desert and summoned a Force of Nature. Absorbing the mana of the creature, which was the mana of Lat-Nam and Terisiare itself, Greensleeves became a godlike being and lost herself, seeing her friends and family as mere ants compared to her.
Before she could unleash her overwhelming power and destroy the isle, she was brought to her senses by Kwam and saw that her brothers had survived the fireball. Greensleeves decided to pour all of her mana into the isle of Lat-Nam, curing the land from the poison and transforming the desert into a verdant forest, thus sacrificing her planeswalker powers.[10]
Age of Renewal[ | ]
In the modern era, the island houses a campus of the Tolarian Academy.[11]
Dominaria United[ | ]
Part of the second Phyrexian Invasion included the Tolarian Academy at Lat-Nam. At some point, Geyadrone Dihada disposed of the Academy's archmage and took his place.[12] After his resurrection, Ertai and the Society of Mishra took control, and the Academy at Lat-Nam became a haven for dark research.[13][14]
In-game references[ | ]
- Associated cards:
- Referred to:
Notes and references[ | ]
- ↑ Martha Wells (March 21, 2018). "Return to Dominaria, Episode 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c Dark Legacy
- ↑ a b c Ethan Fleischer (April 20, 2018). "Dominarian Cartography". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Final Sacrifice
- ↑ a b c The Gathering Dark
- ↑ Jeff Grubb (October 27, 2014). "Loran's Smile". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ The Eternal Ice
- ↑ The Eternal Ice
- ↑ The Shattered Alliance
- ↑ a b Clayton Emery (1995). Magic: The Gathering - Final Sacrifice. Harper Prism.
- ↑ Blake Rasmussen (March 26, 2018). "Dominaria Card of the Day: Wizard's Lightning and Retort". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Brian Evenson (August 15, 2022). "The Education of Ulf". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 29, 2022). "Dominaria United States of Design, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Flavor text for Academy Wall