The Returning Legends of Modern Horizons 2

Below, you'll find a short bio for every returning legend from Modern Horizons 2. Tomorrow, we'll have the other half of the list with the rest of the new "legends." Meet everyone below, then check back Friday, June 11, for the new-to-Magic crew!

Svyelun of Sea and Sky

The merfolk of Old Vodalia worshipped the goddess Svyelun, who created the merfolk out of silt and seawater. Those ancient Vodalians depicted Svyelun as a merfolk who lived in the sky. Svyelun was a remote figure associated with the Mist Moon, Dominaria's natural moon. She was and is a remote figure; she handed down her teachings in ancient times and has not communicated with mortals since then. Modern-day Vodalians depict Svyelun as a full moon ringed with a gleaming halo, with a bright pair of circular spots on opposite sides.

Tourach, Dread Cantor

Tourach was the founder of the Ebon Hand, a religious movement that split from the Leitbur religion centuries before the fall of the Sarpadian Empires. Tourach and his followers were necromancers able to work great magics by means of sacrifice, often of their limbs, but sometimes of human lives. But Tourach's greatest power lay in chants and hymns that could cause insanity in all who heard them. Upon Tourach's death, the members of the Ebon Hand deified him, while the followers of Leitbur lived in continual dread of his return. The god Tourach is said to have incarnated himself in several individuals during the ensuing centuries, including the immortal warrior Tymolin Loneglade and the Neo-Ebonic priest-king Vetro.

Captain Ripley Vance

Captain Ripley Vance was once a pyromantic mage-pirate with a galleon under her command. She claimed the cannons from each defeated foe until her ship, the Leviathan's Wrath, wallowed under their weight. Having grown too prosperous to continue her vocation as a ship's captain, Vance found a solution in the form of a cliff with a natural lava flow running down it. Blasting the cliff face with her cannons, she carved out a coastal fortress, which she dubbed Spitfire Bastion. Situated as it is on a large island off the Sun Coast between High and Dry and Ixalan, Spitfire Bastion has become a popular place for members of the Brazen Coalition to stop for supplies and recreation. Ships put into port there only at Captain Vance's sufferance, however; those who incur her wrath are pummeled mercilessly by the tremendous batteries of cannons that cover all approaches.

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

Ragavan never really fit in with the other monkeys in the Peema Forest of Kaladesh, so when the airship Sun Chaser put down for supplies one day, he stowed away onboard. Ragavan was soon discovered belowdecks by thirteen-year-old Kari Zev, who recognized in the monkey a kindred spirit. Soon, Ragavan was delighted to discover that the Sun Chaser was crewed by air pirates! He took to the pirate's life with gusto, jumping aboard merchant ships and stealing the most valuable treasure while the rest of the pirates engaged their victims in battle.

With Ragavan's help, Kari Zev became the captain of her own pirate ship, the Dragon's Smile, and commanded a fleet of airships, raiding the Consulate during the Aether Revolt. Their greatest victory was when they crippled the Consulate flagship Skysovereign.

Kari Zev and Ragavan continue to terrorize the skies to this day, reaping great fortunes, which they inevitably spend on fueling and repairing their fleet of airships. It's a good life for a monkey.

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar

Lords of the Pit love to eat. When the mage Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar summoned one of these huge demons without making adequate preparations to feed him, she was offered a choice: serve the Dark Lord (whose name was Vincent) as a chef in the underworld for seven years and seven days, or serve as his dinner immediately.

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar served an incredible variety of dishes to Vincent and his monstrous guests, and she recorded her recipes in a cookbook so that her replacement could be trained more quickly. Published in a limited edition of twenty copies, The Underworld Cookbook included recipes for honey-baked breast of granite gargoyle, sautéed beebles, and gray ogre toes in a sweet black sauce, among other horrible delicacies.

Sales were slow at first; only Vincent and Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar's mother bought copies. Eventually the book found its way to the overworld, where it caused quite a sensation among the jaded members of the ruling classes. Demand for gray ogre toes skyrocketed, causing no small amount of ill-will toward Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, as she discovered when she returned to the overworld.

She is said to be hard at work writing The Underworld Cookbook, Volume Two, which includes a variety of methods for preparing goblin princes, dwarven councilors, and elven aristocrats for consumption, bringing a very literal meaning to the phrase "eat the rich."

Carth the Lion

In ancient Dominaria, centuries before the cataclysmic Brothers' War, Carth the Lion took part in an uprising against the evil planeswalker Geyadrone Dihada. The uprising failed, and Carth was forced to watch as Dihada's champion, Sol'kanar, murdered one hundred of his tribesfolk, including his mother and sister.

After escaping from Dihada's dungeon, Carth summoned the cursed planeswalker Dakkon Blackblade and bound him to his mission of vengeance. Though the pair were unsuccessful in killing Dihada, they were able to escape from her clutches and form a bond of friendship. Leaving the corrupted land of Corondor behind them, they traveled to Terisiare, where Carth's descendants, the Carthalions, played pivotal roles in important events throughout Dominarian history.

General Ferrous Rokiric

Over nine thousand years ago, the city of Ravnica was in a state of disorder. While the magical Guildpact that enforced a division of responsibilities between the ten guilds had existed for four centuries, increasingly destructive rebellions by the Golgari and Rakdos had crippled the city. The Wojek League, responsible for enforcing law and order, was stretched to the breaking point.

Commander-General Ferrous Rokiric devised a solution: ten mighty stone titans, each equal to a hundred soldiers in combat, were brought to the city to put down the rebellions and maintain the peace. When the uprising had quieted, nine of the titans were stationed at the borders of the city, while the tenth titan, Zobor, stood guard over the Tenth District. It served as an awe-inspiring reminder of the power of the Boros Legion until its destruction during the Decamillennial Celebration.

Piru, the Volatile

Piru was one of the Elder Dragons, creatures spawned by the Ur-Dragon when Dominaria was young. With her mate, Chromium Rhuell, she birthed whole nations of dragons, including none other than the Primeval Dragon Crosis, the Purger. Piru and Chromium were among the very few Elder Dragons who survived the Elder Dragon War instigated by Nicol Bolas.

Millennia later, Piru and Chromium were bound to the service of the planeswalker Geyadrone Dihada and sent into battle against Dakkon Blackblade. Dakkon banished Chromium and slew Piru with his cursed sword. So great was Piru's power that the resultant explosion of magical energy cracked Dominaria's crust. The Dueling Chasm of Corondor can be seen at the site of the battle to this day, mute testament to the reckless power unleashed by the machinations of planeswalkers.

Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

In ancient Corondor, on Dominaria, the planeswalker Geyadrone Dihada commissioned the blacksmith Dakkon to forge her a sword in exchange for immeasurable power. This was to be no ordinary weapon. Dihada wanted the most powerful weapon that had ever been crafted. She gave Dakkon ten years to complete the sword.

Dakkon worked the foulest sorcery in the forging of the Blackblade, folding his own blood into the steel, and quenching the blade in the bodies of hundreds of people, including his own son. At the end of the ten years, Dihada returned. Plunging the Blackblade into Dakkon's shadow, she bound his soul into the blade as his planeswalker spark ignited. Her most powerful weapon had been forged, not the Blackblade, but Dakkon himself, who was to be her ultimate champion.

Railing against this fate, Dakkon battled Dihada down through the millennia. History does not record Dakkon's end, but it is known that the Blackblade passed to Gideon Jura, who wielded the sword against Nicol Bolas in the War of the Spark.

Geyadrone Dihada

Geyadrone Dihada is an incredibly ancient demonic planeswalker. Her schemes span millennia, and her lust for power and dominance knows no limits. She is compelled to bring the most powerful beings under her control.

Sometimes, as with the Elder Dragons Chromium and Piru, she finds the champions she seeks and binds them with powerful spells. Sometimes she finds creatures with great potential and molds them, corrupts them, to suit her needs. So, it was with the maro-sorcerer Sol'kanar and the planeswalker Dakkon whom she corrupted into monsters so that they might better serve her.

Dihada left Dominaria at the close of the Planeswalker War, a few years prior to the Phyrexian Invasion. The people of Dominaria believe that she still lives, for legend says that Sol'kanar will be restored to his original form upon her death, and he still rules as a demon king in Corondor to this day.

Garth One-Eye

The folk hero Garth One-Eye was born Galin of House Oor-tael in the city of Estark in Dominaria. At the behest of Kuthuman, the Grand Master of the Arena, House Oor-tael was destroyed, and the child Galin was maimed. Galin escaped from the city and lived in exile for twenty years.

Then, having become a powerful mage, Galin returned to Estark under the assumed name of Garth. He battled in the Arena, winning the right to challenge Kuthuman. At the moment he won vengeance against the killer of his kin, Garth's planeswalker spark ignited, and the Multiverse became his domain.

Kaldra Compleat

On the metal plane of Mirrodin, Glissa Sunseeker collected three mighty artifacts which, when combined, summon the Kaldra Champion, a gigantic avatar composed of blue-white plasma. The Sword, Shield, and Helm of Kaldra were destroyed, along with the champion himself, when the Green Sun, a gigantic ball of mana, burst forth from Mirrodin's core.

Years later, Mirrodin succumbed to an infectious agent and became New Phyrexia. Nearly all the inhabitants were compleated, transformed into flesh-machine hybrid monsters, including Glissa herself.

Glissa was able to restore the Kaldra artifacts and grew a specialized germ creature in the flesh vats beneath the surface. Phyrexia's newest champion will either grow strong enough to rival the original Kaldra Champion in power, or it will be defeated and someone stronger will claim the artifacts. Glissa is content that, either way, Phyrexia will prevail and improve.