Card of the Week: Ivory Tower

I always liked the art on Ivory Tower. The red sun and the elephant motifs made it feel like an exotic and far-off place to me.

A Pilgrimage

So-called “Dark Ages” do not bear the title for a lack of light, although the one that I was born in did suffer from clouds of dust and ash blotting out the sun. Rather, the dark referred to is a darkness of the mind, a loss or disregard of knowledge. But even in the worst ignorance and superstition of the years after Urza and Mishra ruined the land, tales of the Ivory Towers and the knowledge they cultivated persisted.

The Fall of Terisia City is well-recorded in the lays of the Artificiers’ War, and even in the Dark Age that followed was common knowledge throughout Terisiare. Its popularity was helped, no doubt, by the fact that the mages of the its Ivory Towers were both partially responsible for and victims of its fall—more proof for the Church of Tal that magic was dangerous and forbidden. But no matter what twist the Church put on the story—that all of the Towers betrayed the city to Mishra’s armies rather than well-placed spies—they could not obscure the Towers’ most important truth: that the cooperative scholarship can be as powerful as governments, armies, or religions.

Sometime after leaving Alsoor but before discovering the other planes of Dominia, I took to the exploration of Terisiare. My magic was both strong enough to protect me and costly enough to require ever more ley lines to fuel it, and travel provided an easy solution to both. (It is a path very common to mages, I would guess.) It did not take me long to remember the tales of the Ivory Towers and turn my feet towards the west. Even though I knew that Terisia City had fallen, I would see its ruins for myself.

My journey took me through the Kher Ridges still haunted by the shadows of great birds of prey. I skirted the Great Fallaji desert, following the Mardun River into the heart of the continent until I came to the vast mudflats surrounding Lake Ronom, its ebbing waters stolen by the growing glaciers. At the ruins of Sarinth, I turned once again upstream and followed the river to its source, to where Terisia once stood.

Terisia was as ruined as Sarinth had been, as so many great cities of the past had been. The white walls still stood in places, but not many, and the Ivory Towers that had studded them like pearls on a necklace were all fallen. The heart of the city was little better, with more empty shells of buildings than intact. But Terisia was not entirely abandoned. People lived there, perhaps the descendents of those who resisted Mishra’s might for so long. Maybe they found Terisia’s location too advantageous to abandon for long, or refused to leave their ancestral homes. Or maybe they had nowhere else to go.

I spoke with the people who lived there, and I learned that among them, all of my guesses were represented. But I also learned that there were those who sought out the ruins of Terisia for the legacy of the Towers. Though they had fallen, though no Archimandrite oversaw the research in their halls, still their legacy lived on. In the very place where they once stood, scholars still gathered to share and study magic. Like me, they made a pilgrimage in memory of the Towers. But they didn’t stop at just seeing the ruins—they made the Towers anew.

History and Theory

Terisia City’s Towers gathered scholars from throughout the continent—from the eastern cities of Argive and Korlis, from the Fallaji tribes and Zegon, from Sarinth, from Yumok, from Sardia, and dozens of other places. Within their walls, they researched the theories of magic and laid the foundations of magical study for centuries to come. Considering themselves a Third Path, they turned down alliances from both Urza and Mishra and resisted both until betrayed by spies in their midst.

Throughout the multiverse, the Towers have become a metaphor for those who seek knowledge at the expense of worldly matters. The spirit of the Towers allows those who follow it to focus on their studies without distractions both large, like war and politics, and small, like hunger and romantic attachment. Indeed, some see this isolation as a negative—they say that isolation from the world separates a scholar’s work from worldly applications and practical uses.

Behind the Tower's Walls

Tax/Edge is only one of many uses for Ivory Tower.

The Ivory Tower is a powerful artifact for those mages who rely on patience rather than aggression. Behind its walls, they can bide their time and hoard their knowledge. Rather than leap into battle, they preserve themselves long enough to shape the battlefield to their liking. Only once their preparations are all in place will  they then descend from the heights and join the fight.

Mages of all controlling persuasions can find advantage in the Ivory Towers. In all cases, the Towers allow their occupants to survive the initial assault of their foes. Multiple Towers increase this advantage—unchecked, they can give their occupants such a lead as to be unbeatable regardless of how many minions and spells an opponent can bring to bear.

Danatoth of Alsoor


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