Sisay | |
---|---|
Details | |
Race | Human |
Birthplace | Zhalfir, Jamuraa, Dominaria |
Lifetime | War with Phyrexia-Rift Era |
Born | 4176 AR |
Died | After 4206 AR |
Relatives | Shanna Sisay (descendent) |
Colors | |
(formerly) Center: | |
Sources | |
The Secrets of Magic, Rath and Storm, Mercadian Masques, Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse | |
Scryfall Search | |
lore:"Sisay" |
Captain Sisay was the Zhalfirin captain of the skyship Weatherlight and an important figure in the Weatherlight Saga.[1][2][3] She was immune to magic, a trait she passed on to her descendant, Shanna.[4]
Description[ | ]
Sisay had black hair and dark skin.[5][6] She was left-handed.[7] She wore a gold ring as a reminder of her village in Jamuraa.
History[ | ]
Early Years[ | ]
Sisay's family had been manipulated in Urza's bloodline project long before her birth. This project was designed to make sure a native from Dominaria would be born that was worthy of becoming the heir to the Legacy, Urza's ultimate weapon against Phyrexia. Sisay's family also kept one of the main parts of the Legacy: the skyship Weatherlight.
The Phyrexians discovered this, however, and Sisay was orphaned at a young age when they raided her village. She eventually learned how to use Weatherlight. Since her parents were killed while she was still young, they hadn't been able to tell her the truth about Urza, the Legacy, and Phyrexia. Sisay just knew parts of the tale and the legends surrounding it. Knowing only that her ship was part of a collection of artifacts capable of killing the Lord of the Wastes, who in truth was the leader of the Phyrexians, Yawgmoth, Sisay set out to gather the Legacy.
Sometime after the death of her parents, she was captured by Suq'Atan slavers who were sailing the seas of Jamuraa, but ran afoul of the pirate ship Burning Vengeance. The crew rescued the young girl and after taking vengeance upon her captor, burning him to death within the brig of the pirate ship, she asked to join the crew as the ship's cabin boy. She trained under Captain Murad until she became a full-fledged sailor, and presumably took command of her birthright.
She became a minor celebrity during the Mirage Wars. In her flying ship, she was able to spy on enemy positions, an ability greatly appreciated by the Zhalfirin armies. However, she kept looking for pieces of the Legacy. While on the trail of the Juju Bubble, she set sail towards the ruined city of Oneah. On her way, a volcanic dragon attacked her and forced her ship to land near the Talruum Mountains. In order to avoid having herself and her crew killed by the area's minotaurs for trespassing, Sisay challenged the leader of the group. Feeling she had the heart of a minotaur, the young minotaur Tahngarth offered to fight as Sisay's champion, and proved himself by defeating his opponent. He joined her crew and quickly proved himself.[8] Notes in the Great Library of Oneah led the crew to the Adarkar Wastes, where they fought a mech leftover from the Brothers' War and recovered the Bubble from a dead village. Meida was killed in the fight, and Tahngarth later took her place as first mate.
Dreams sent by the planeswalker Teferi compelled Sisay and her crew to rendezvous with the force led by Asmira and Rashida Scalebane. Together, they freed Mangara, the man who had brought peace to the region before and would do so again.[9]
Continuing on her travels, she met several other people influenced by the bloodline project, who joined the Weatherlight crew. Among them Gerrard, the true heir to the Legacy.
Rath and Storm[ | ]
While searching for a piece of the Legacy, she ran into a Rathi fugitive named Starke, who told her much about the Legacy and where to find its pieces.[10] Sisay happily gathered them, only to be betrayed. In truth, Starke had been a servant of the Phyrexians and had been sent to capture Sisay and the Legacy.
After her disappearance her first mate, the minotaur Tahngarth, tracked down Gerrard, who had quit the crew after his friend Rofellos had died. Gerrard did not want to have anything to do with the Legacy, but could not ignore his friends in their time of need either. He led Weatherlight to the plane of Rath where they freed Sisay and retook the Legacy from Volrath, who was the evincar of Rath, but also the compleated form of Gerrard's step-brother Vuel.
After fleeing from Rath, Weatherlight crashed on Mercadia, where Sisay helped gather several artifacts known as the Bones of Ramos and the Power Matrix to repair the ship, as well as leading the oppressed peoples of the plane to a successful rebellion.
Invasion[ | ]
Once returned to Dominaria the crew had no time to relax however, as shortly afterward the Phyrexian Invasion began. Sisay stood at the helm of Weatherlight during many battles against the Phyrexian fleets, but eventually, the ship crashed when the Primeval Dragons attacked Phyrexian and Dominarian alike.
Luckily the memory of Karn, the silver golem who was part of both the Weatherlight crew and the Legacy itself, had been coming back, and he could use the Thran Tome to fully integrate the Legacy into the ship, recreating the broken hulk, and upgrading its total potential, and finally, granting the ship sentience.
Shortly afterward, Yawgmoth personally invaded Dominaria in the form of a globe-spanning cloud of death and necromancy, and drastic measures were to be taken to stop him. First, the crew attempted to absorb all the mana of the Null Moon and channel it through the ship to kill Yawgmoth. Unfortunately, though it wounded him, the Phyrexian master survived and focused his attacks on Weatherlight, whose sentience had died whilst channeling the mana. Gerrard, Urza, and Karn then merged, fully completing the Legacy at last, which was enough to defeat Yawgmoth and purge his essence from contemporary Dominaria. Since Weatherlight was exhausted in the fusion with the others, it sank into the seas surrounding Urborg, leaving Sisay adrift without a ship to captain.
One year after the end of the Invasion, Karn, now a planeswalker, visited his old friends during the remembrance ceremony and took the ship's healer, Orim, back to Mercadia so she could marry her love Cho-Manno. Sisay and the only remaining members of her former crew, Tahngarth and Squee, received a new vessel from grateful Dominarian leaders, which she named Victory.
Planes visited[ | ]
Though not a planeswalker, Sisay traveled through the Multiverse as a crewmember of the Skyship Weatherlight.
Trivia[ | ]
- During Weatherlight design and development, Kij Johnson was put in charge of establishing Sisay's mannerisms and style of speech.[11]
Gallery[ | ]
Sisay in the first draft of Noble Benefactor.[12][13]
Story appearances[ | ]
In-game references[ | ]
- Represented in:
- Associated cards:
- Depicted in:
- Abduction
- Ancestral Knowledge
- Blockade Runner
- Coalition Victory
- Dehydration (Mercadian Masques)
- Fugue (Exodus)
- Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero
- Harsh Judgment
- Jaded Response
- Mischievous Poltergeist[14][13]
- Reins of Power (Stronghold)
- Save Life (Unhinged) [15]
- Soothsaying
- Specter's Wail
- Squee's Embrace
- Sustenance
- Tremor (Mercadian Masques)
- Vine Dryad
- Volrath's Shapeshifter
- Worldly Counsel (Invasion)
- Quoted or referred to:
- Alms
- Angel of Mercy (Invasion)
- Archangel
- Captain's Maneuver
- Ceremonial Guard
- Cerulean Wyvern
- Cloud Elemental (Visions)
- Crovax (Vanguard)
- Duskrider Falcon
- Flametongue Kavu
- Galina's Knight
- Gerrard (Vanguard)
- Hull Breach
- Mana Chains
- Mire Kavu
- Peacekeeper
- Razorfoot Griffin (Invasion)
- Restrain
- Shanna, Purifying Blade
- Short Sword
- Sinew Sliver
- Stun
- Tahngarth (Vanguard)
- Teferi's Drake
- Teremko Griffin
- Tranquility
- Turf Wound
- Vodalian Mystic
- Waterspout Djinn
- Zap
References[ | ]
- ↑ Mirage Character Profiles
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (December 03, 2007). "Weather(light) Report". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (October 1996). "A Who's-Who Guide to Mirage." The Duelist #13, p.58-61.
- ↑ Martha Wells (March 28, 2018). "Return to Dominaria: Episode 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ J. Robert King (1998-1999). "Born to Greatness" The Duelist #29, 32, & 34.
- ↑ Michael G. Ryan (June 1997). "Maelstrom". The Duelist #17, p.62-64
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (April 1, 2022). "Secret Lair Knows its Left From its Other Left". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Kij Johnson (1998). "Sisay's Quest" The Duelist #21, 23, & 25.
- ↑ Pete Venters (February 1997). "Visions Told: The Resolution of the War for Jamuraa." The Duelist #15, 63
- ↑ Michael G. Ryan (August 1997). "Weatherlight Takes Center Stage". The Duelist #18, p.70-74
- ↑ Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes]] (August 1997). "The Set of Sails". The Duelist #18, p.60-63
- ↑ Tony DiTerlizzi. "Noble Benefactor (archived)"
- ↑ a b Tony DiTerlizzi. "TonyDiTerlizzi". Twitter.
- ↑ Tony DiTerlizzi. "Mischievious Poltergeist (archived)"
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 14, 2017). "Get It? Unhinged Edition, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.