For Gold & Glory: Card of the Week: Northern Paladin

I guess I'd better look into getting an Alpha and a Beta Northern Paladin to round out the set.

A New Beginning

Fleeing my home city of Alsoor was only the beginning of a long exile. During my travels I learned to harness my magical abilities, and eventually unlocked the secret to planeswalking. In the sands of Rabiah, in the depths of the Nether Void, in Ergamon, in Cabralin, and in countless other planes I honed my spells and bound myself to many lands. But none of these planes felt like home. And so, many years after I had first left it behind, I returned to Dominaria to find a place of my own.

In the time I had spent traveling on other planes, Dominaria had changed greatly. Alsoor was gone, as was much of the rest of the Terisiare I was familiar with. The very land had reshaped itself, split into an array of islands and seas where once was only land. It had become strange to me, so I sought a home elsewhere. I have spoken before about the Savannahs of Parma, and they are what drew me to this land in the first place. But soon after my arrival, I learned of the Northern Paladins that call this land their own...and I have come to value them just as much as the land itself as part of my home.

My initial view with the Northern Paladins was one of suspicion, as the double-sunburst of Tal’s church was prominent on their banners and clothing...the very church whose inquisitors drove me from Alsoor all those years ago. Though I was no longer afraid of what these churchmen might do to me—I had learned much in my exile—I did not wish to live near zealots who saw my very existence as a challenge against which to prove their faith. But my fears were allayed when I first met with them.

To the credit of the history of their religion, the Northern Paladins recognized me for a mage from the first—their skills in finding witches and sorcerers has not diminished. But instead of sending soldiers and torturers to me, they came to me themselves to judge whether or not I was a danger to them and the people of their land. Once they decided that I was unlikely to cause trouble, they welcomed me to stay as I wished. I was, of course, expected to earn my own living and to contribute to the well-being of the community, but as long as I harmed none and served the greater good, I was welcomed with open arms.

With the exception of the flavor text on Holy Light, all of the Book of Tal's violently puritanical passages come from The Gathering Dark. Its only positive passages come from the flavor text on Northern Paladin and Southern Paladin.

It seems that the lands of Dominaria have not been alone in changing, but the people of Dominaria have changed as well. The Book of Tal that the Northern Paladins follow still contains the scriptures that justified the inquisitors’ brutality—“suffer not a magician to live”, “and I will take a sword to the infidel and the unbeliever, and my blade shall shine with the fire of righteousness”, and such. But they mostly ignore such hateful passages; at most, they tend to acknowledge them as relics of the “barbaric past”. (I have not had the heart to tell them that I was there during those “barbaric” times, and that they differ little from today.)

Instead, the Paladins have chosen to emphasize the parts of their scripture that speaks of community and belonging. They have taken the passage of “look to the north, there you will find aid and comfort” to heart, and gladly accept any who seek them with pure intentions. They have treated me with kindness where I expected none, and I am fortunate to have met them.

Knights in Shining Armor

There are many orders of knights and paladins throughout the planes, but the Northern Paladins is the rare order that truly lives up to the ideals of knighthood. All knights are bound by a code of bravery, honor, fairness, loyalty, and other such virtues, though it is all too common for a knight to fall short of these ideals. Some orders are also bound to a religious tradition, these are often called paladins after the twelve greatest followers of a holy emperor. This title has since spread to encompass all chivalrous heroes of a religious persuasion.

The term "paladin" originally referred to Charlemagne's twelve greatest knights as per the Song of Roland and other tales of the Matter of France.

Riding to Battle with the Paladins

Though they are powerful warriors, the Northern Paladins’ focus on their fight against evil limits their usefulness when assisting mages in battle. For those who fight against black mages, allying with the Paladins is extremely advantageous. But few mages can pick and choose to fight only against those who wield black magic, and against other foes the Paladins are no more effective than the common Hill Giant.

Changing the color that a Paladin affects can also change which direction he's from.

A few clever but unscrupulous mages, however, have managed to manipulate the Northern Paladins into a more versatile role. With a Sleight of Mind, these mages twist the perceptions of their allies so that every adversary seems to share the corruption and evil of their traditional foes. These illusions are so potent that they could force the Paladins to turn on each other, though I know of no such intranecine conflicts that have happened.