River Heralds

River Heralds
History
Founded on	Ixalan
Membership
Notable members	Kopala, Kumena, Pashona, Tishana, Tuvasa

The River Heralds are a merfolk nation living on the continent of Ixalan, which is located on the plane of the same name.

Description

The River Heralds are merfolk — a unique species of amphibious humanoids at home throughout the oceans, rivers, lakes, and rainforests of Ixalan. They stand between seven and eight feet tall, with skin that ranges from deep burgundy, violet, and blue, to bright oranges and yellows. They are human-like in shape, with long, bright, colorful fins resembling those of tropical fish that extend from their shoulders and forearms and long legs that allow them to swim or walk on land.

The Heralds are at home throughout the oceans, rivers, and rainforests of the plane, though they prefer freshwater. They can breathe air or filter oxygen from the water. The green-aligned merfolk favor the land, while the blue-aligned merfolk are more at home in water. The River Heralds wield the natural, raw force of nature to protect the world from disaster. Their society consists of nine tribes, each associated with a tributary of the Great River. The myriad tribes of the River Heralds do share many cultural, spiritual, and practical affinities, but they are not united — though after the horror of the invasion, this may change. The tribes are fragmented into bands, which are in constant competition with each other for primacy and control of the richest territory. A merfolk band consists of about a dozen individuals, led by a shaman called a Shaper.

The River Heralds use weapons and armor made from jade. They also use carved pillars of jade to mark and protect their territory. In danger, these transform into elementals. Their magic allows visitors to their empire to breathe underwater, encasing them in a moisture shield.

The wisdom of the elders, passed down orally from shaman to shaman, is central to the River Heralds' society. Though bands may be separated by territory, storytellers and singers that travel between them create a shared culture. They pass on the records of Orazca, the Immortal Sun, instructive stories about life in the jungle, the names of the nature spirits they conjure and command, what foods are safe to eat, the cruel histories of the Sun Empire, news of the plane, and the call for a tribal congress.

Shapers

Shapers are respected merfolk elders and leaders, typically magically attuned, who guide their bands, adjudicate disputes, represent the band to other merfolk, and speak for the band when dealing with humans. Each Shaper has a single apprentice at any given time. Should a Shaper die, the apprentice takes over the band's leadership. If a band grows too large for its territory to support, the apprentice takes a portion of the band away to form a new band and claim a new territory.

Shapers' shamanic magic is focused on controlling wind, water, and their jungle environment. They strive to maintain a peaceful coexistence with nature, not to conquer or defy it. They are called Shapers for the way they alter nature around them. They also summon elementals, living creatures formed from water or tangles of jungle growth.

The nine great shapers

By merfolk reckoning, nine tributaries to the Great River dominate the interior of Ixalan. The headwaters of these nine rivers are considered the prime territory, and the shamans whose bands control the sources are the most respected.

The nine tributaries are known by the names of the first nine shapers, whose names have since become honorific titles, given names that replace the birth names of their bearers. The holders of the name Tishana are regarded as great shapers. Tishana is also called the great source, an acknowledgment of the tributary Tishana being the primary branch of the Great River. Shaper Tishana can claim de jure leadership over every band, as the Great River claims primacy among the nine.

The nine leading shapers are:

• Tishana, the voice of thunder, the great source
• Falani
• Kopala
• Kumena
• Mitica
• Notana
• Pashona
• Tuvasa
• Vuhana

Deeproot Tree

An ancient mangrove of enormous size, the Deeproot Tree towered nearly 400 feet above its smaller siblings in a sprawling mangrove swamp that generations of merfolk had cultivated into a titanic temple, coaxing branches and trees to grow around the Deeproot Tree as buildings would spread out around a central citadel. This was a key meeting site for all River Heralds, the closest thing they had to a capital city. At any given time, there would be hundreds of bands encamped at the tree, engaging in communal rituals and rites. Once a year, all bands who could make a pilgrimage to the Deeproot Tree did so. A visit to the Deeproot Tree and its ancient spring replenished a merfolk's connection to nature.

History

The River Heralds are an ancient people with ancestral and magical ties to the continent of Ixalan, proud stewards of Orazca and the nine tributaries of the Great River of Ixalan. The River Heralds were once the dominant inhabitants of Ixalan, with a large power of their own, and their strength was once enough to keep the Sun Empire out of the interior. During their heyday, the merfolk built villages, and even made a sort of city of their own at the Deeproot Tree.

After the fall of Orazca, the Sun Empire became larger and more powerful, and the Heralds lived a nomadic lifestyle at the fringes of the empire. They believed that the golden city, which housed the Immortal Sun, must be kept hidden from all, even themselves. They ultimately failed in this goal, and Orazca was recolonized, while the Immortal Sun was stolen.

Phyrexian Invasion

The Phyrexian invasion hit the River Heralds hard, winnowing their already small numbers down. But for the few bands who were in Orazca during the sealing of the city or happened to be in the markets of Pachatupa when the emperor ordered the gates closed, the River Heralds fled to deep, hidden places on Ixalan known only to them. Some bands escaped underground into the dark caverns, but the majority of the River Heralds retreated to the holy lands around the Deeproot Tree, seeking shelter under the wide arms of their most sacred temple.

At the Deeproot Tree, the Heralds were protected by tremendous magic. There, the many bands of the River Heralds committed to the defense of the tree and their fellows, withstanding a terrible siege that echoed the brutality of the siege of Pachatupa. The River Heralds were able to resist the Phyrexians for some time thanks to the combined strength of the Deeproot Tree's innate magic and the efforts of their shapers, warriors, and spellcasters, but the Phyrexians were tireless and patient, and the Heralds — though they mounted a heroic effort — were ultimately mortal. Great Shapers Falani, Mitica, Notana, Tuvasa, and Vuhana were killed in the Invasion.

The slaughter at the Deeproot Tree was felt across Ixalan by River Herald shapers and other spellcasters — even those merfolk without anything more than a latent connection to their tributaries and the subtle magics that suffuse Ixalan felt the trauma of the Deeproot Tree's death. The Phyrexians would eventually be driven from the sacred site by the people of Ixalan's Halo-strengthened counterattack, but the River Herald partisans and pilgrims that returned found only a grave, a polluted swamp of stumps and fallen trees trampled by armies, thick with the twisted, metal ruins of the dead invaders.

Matzalantli

Without a unifying sacred site, the River Heralds' fragile unity shattered. Over the course of the year that followed the end of the invasion, many merfolk took to engaging in desperate raids on Sun Empire convoys, Brazen Coalition mining camps, and Queen's Bay Company operations to survive. Others have signed on with the coalition or joined with the Sun Empire to offer their services as guides, hunters, guards, dowsers, or — if nothing else — skilled laborers. The number of bands still operating on Ixalan's surface is few and shrinking: most by now have heeded the call to venture underground and join the congress.

Shaper Pashona rediscovered Matzalantli, a massive gilded city of stepped stone buildings above and below an underground freshwater ocean. Shaper Tishana, de jure leader of all River Herald bands, summoned all merfolk who could hear her to the tribal congress so that they can decide together the fate of the plane. Thousands of merfolk gathered in search of "the Source," the largest assembly of merfolk bands in Ixalan's history.

Trivia

• The River Heralds' culture is loosely based on the Maya culture.

In-game refrences

Associated cards:

• Forerunner of the Heralds
• Herald of Secret Streams
• Herald's Reveille
• River Herald Guide
• River Herald Scout
• River Heralds' Boon

Referred to:

• Chart a Course
• Demystify
• Eaten by Piranhas
• Gilded Sentinel
• Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun (Lost Caverns Commander)
• Jade Guardian
• Jadelight Spelunker
• Mist-Cloaked Herald
• River's Rebuke
• Shaper Apprentice
• Slice in Twain
• Sworn Guardian
• Woodland Stream